I'm still been working on Lolita at Priest Draw. I've now progressed to the point where the boulder can be segmented into 3 parts, which is where I usually am for the other lines on the roof when I haven't climbed on them for a while. Objectively, it's a good line, but I have not had a good experience due to the inconsistency of where I find the cruxes. I find it quite similar to my experience this semester, which is thankfully over. The material is good, but the presentation and experience has been all over the place. Besides constantly falling on this thing, I have also spent some time revisiting or doing new-for-me climbs. A few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to learn how to rope up headwalls for taller boulders. However, I didn't rope up for ascents of Turbid Waters or Siege of the Citadel, when it was probably better to do so. I did learn on another occasion, however.
I also achieved my goal of wiring some sequences on the Puzzle Box roof a bit more. I was able to do R God is Neither's foot cam release sequence without doing a complicated recycle, which significantly reduces the amount of moves needed to do the problem. I was also able to finally figure out that I had been doing Cosmic Tricycle with some poor kneebar beta, and now I have a sequence that feels remarkably consistent.
I also ended up visiting the Upside Down, and put in about 30 minutes of work on cleaning up the sequences on Demogorgon/Demodog. It's certainly a step up from some of the other boulders I have done in the Hinterlands, but it is lovely to see that the moves are not out of my conception.
In my session last Friday, I fell at the end 3 times, due to ticking the wrong foothold that I use for a big right hand finish move. I'm quite good at getting in my own way on this roof. I also left a sign of my failure in the form of blood in the stacked mono pocket.
I also went back to Mars roof yesterday and I regressed to falling at the toe hook. On the upside, I managed to sort out the start and make it consistent, and did the last move correctly a few times this session in isolation, so there is some progress. It's a little discouraging to regress back to something I thought I had figured out. As a reward for my troubles, I managed to rip open the skin on my left middle finger, which is due to the mono-stack pocket I need to use in my sequence, and also chunked out a sizable part of my right index sidewall in the bridge pocket. After the fiasco of burns on Lolita, I put some time in learning Suplexing Navajo, and finally did the remaining moves on the roof quite quickly. I like this one a little bit more than Lolita, as it is more straightforward.
The last half of the fall season at Mars roof has been quite frustrating. None of the moves are all that difficult, but I do feel slightly morphologically disadvantaged on the lines I have left, so my experience will likely feel more difficult than they usually do. That being said, I feel like I'm mostly limited to my elbow tendonitis, skin, and weather. Unfortunately, I can only manage two of the three, and the tendonitis is mostly a matter of time, so I may not get a chance to finish a line on Mars roof this year, and perhaps fell just short of my goal to climb a double digit on 4 different roofs this year. In hindsight, spending time in the hinterlands during the majority of the season didn't transfer as much back to the draw as I hoped it would.
If the roads close, I'll plan on sorting out my elbow and the rest of Mars roof early this coming year and the Puzzle Box linkups so that I'll have more fitness and power going into the spring.
I went exploring in the Superstitions with Thomas Rotchford a few weeks ago. We checked out a small canyon that seemed to have some boulders, and we found some things that could be worth cleaning. It's no fish creek, but we found some good boulders. One is a perfect 45 degree wall, with a massive start jug in the middle and some water-polished volcanic pockets and pinches that go all the way up to a slabby topout. Unfortunately, there is a lake underneath the boulder so cleaning it will have to come after the water dries up. At some point, the canyon was flooded enough that it didn't make much sense to go much further, so we had to turn around. In addition to the standout 45, there are a few other highballs and other easy climbs as well as a neat roof with a sandy landing. I hope the holds still are intact after cleaning.
I didn't take too many photos, but I also checked out an area developed by Jothan and friends near Broadway in the Superstitions the day after. The bouldering is in a classic oak-flat vertical style, but with superstitions-style blocky holds. The climbing there is tall, and we put up a nice 4-move board climb and top-roped the left side of a tall vertical boulder. I was able to top it cleanly, completing the vision done by Jothan and a visiting climber, RJ, though it's not really a true ascent until it's been bouldered. Given that the fall zone is right next to a cactus, I'm in no hurry to go back to do it until the holds are all clean.
First of all, it's about 1AM, so there's probably some grammar mistakes here.
I have been hit with a case of involuntary funemployment, so I have had a bit more time for rock climbing. The current routine that I've been implementing is climbing at Mars Roof, Puzzle box, and the hinterlands at least once a week. At Mars roof, I've been working on Lolita. I have been trying this boulder on and off for the last 2 years or so, but this is the first season where I've put in legitimate sessions dedicated to this boulder. There are several reasons to why I was so hesitant to put in work on the last two exits.
The start. The typical start beta for both Lolita and Suplexing revolve around a right hand stab to a 3-finger gaston off of a finicky left foot toe-cam.
The headwall encounter. There are two typical betas- one revolves around setting a left hand to a 1-1/2 finger mono stack to a throw to a decent sloper. The other method revolves around going foot first and setting a toehook at the lip and moving your right hand to the sloper. For me, I had two troubles. The first method is very skin intensive and wouldn't be very suitable for repetition. The second method is quite finicky and is more suitable to someone who fits a larger box (i.e. longer legs), and I'm more prone to small-box beta.
I finally decided to put in work on this after implementing some alternative start beta this spring. At the time, I was preoccupied with climbing at the burrow and the watchtower, so I did not put much time into the climb. During the fall, I was working Flesh Eater, so most of my attention was placed onto it. Now I have some more time, and I'm able to make my way over to the headwall, where I keep falling off the toehook, which I hear is quite typical. My difficulty right now with this boulder is two-fold. The first is a snatch-like move to a good right hand pinch off of a bird beak. That move is quite difficult. The second issue is skin. Some of the holds are quite skin-intensive for me, and I am currently in the process of healing splits. I think it is quite pointless to do redpoint burns while my skin is healing, but I think it will be good to build up the fitness for this boulder problem. Last Wednesday, I reached my highpoint of setting the toehook, but my toehook slipped as I got my right hand to the sloper. But progress is still progress, regardless of how small it is.
Toehook frustration
In order to keep up my body power, I started also climbing a bit more at Puzzle Box Roof. I typically do not climb at this roof a lot, as I opted to focus a bit more on climbing at Mars when I was climbing at the draw regularly a few years ago. Because of this, while I have done the standard lines here, I would say that I'm far away from understanding the style here. The style at this roof is big, open-handed holds, which require a lot of body tension and power, while minimizing the finger strength requirement. I'm not good at this style, so I've been coming here after my project sessions to better learn the style and dial in the lines. Currently, I've been trying to run multiple laps of the boulders here in order to build up my body power, but the most I can usually do is do the original starts, and then fall near the end. At the end of these sessions, my body is very sore, but I have hope that the fitness laps I'm trying to run will result in me improving my body power and ability to climb on sloping/non-pocket holds. Recently, I've been focused on dialing in the Cosmic Tricycle and R God is Neither as my base fitness so that when I tackle the other linkups on the roof, I will be in better shape. I hope to see some improvements as the season is coming to a close.
In the hinterlands, I've been mostly focusing on Dermestid/Carcharodon, which is the direct exit to Flesh Eater, which climbs out the blue streaks on the left sides of the roof. The landing slopes away slightly as the roof changes to the headwall, so there is an awesome feeling of exposure. I went out there today with Bobby and I was able to negotiate the roof moves, so now the next step is to set up a rope to sort out the headwall and dial in my sequence. I feel a bit closer on this then I do with the climbing at Mars roof and Puzzle box, but I think the time that I've spent out at the Blue Ridge Reservoir has drastically improved my power-endurance. I've also spent some time at the Reservoir roof, where I was trying Swivelhip. I haven't been back since the second week of October, since rains came in and made the road very undriveable, but with the good weather, I hope I can get back out there soon to put a bit more work on it if I can lock down Dermestid or Lolita.
I've been climbing a bit more recently at the Megalodon Roof, trying the Flesh-Eater. The holds and moves are quite good, climbing a bit more like a hard version of Seeker, but certaintly harder than Wrackspurts at the Burrow. I was able to do all the moves on my second session, including the topout, but I've been getting stymied by the second and third move. The sequence forces a very tight bicycle to a bad undercling, followed by a personally difficult snatch move to a jug. I will be revisiting, so I hope my luck will be better this coming session as the weather gets better.
Recently I was able to do one of my projects at the Burrow, a variant of The Niffler, put up by Matt Gentile. This variant shares the same first 5 or 6 moves of Deluminator and its link into the black gaston of Seeker. However, instead of finishing up Seeker, the line links into the Sectumsempra exit, which is on the right side of the roof. I found the climbing interesting, though not as dramatic as Niffler. While there's a big huck to a jug at the end of the roof climbing portion, there is no actual headwall to ascend. Despite this, I still found it satisfying to complete a line crossing from left to right, and so I dubbed it the Hand of Glory, which is named after the severed hand used to provide light to the holder (primarily thieves). It is also a reference that the hand that does the crux move and the jug finish are the same.
Unfortunately, the video I captured of he send was not in my usual style. I ended up missing the initial gaston stab to a critical pocket when climbing to the black gaston hold. Through some miracle, I didn't end up dabbing the pads, but I would have preferred to have done the ascent in a cleaner style.
I will try to get a repeat uploaded to my video archive at some point, but for now, I plan on climbing my other projects elsewhere. Although there are a few lines left here at the burrow to complete, I think it will do me some good to climb on something that requires a bit more commitment and power, so that will be on my agenda to try this fall.
This month of August has been very slow. The heat is suffocating, and so I've resorted to night sessions out at Blue Ridge to get some projects done. There still are a few things left that I would like to do this season, but the humidity and heat has made skin conditions very difficult, and the length of the climbs means that you only get a few goes per session before a tear happens that ends the session or fatigue catches up to you that further redpoint burns are no longer feasible. On one hand, my fitness for climbing on sharp pockets is quite possibly the highest I've ever had at the cost of power. On the other, I've been falling on the same moves for a while, and the window feels like it is growing short. I'll need to climb on some shorter, punchier problems to build my power back up.
I haven't found much time to update this shindig in a while, but a lot has happened in the last few months. I've spent a bit more time the last two months dedicating both days of the weekend to being outside, so things have been more productive. Things have been going down in the hinterlands. As the temperatures have increased, I've resorted to more power endurance projects and other lines that I've placed on the backburner that I haven't been able to get to. As such, I spent a bit more time climbing at the burrow.
About a month ago, I got the first ascent of The Firebolt, which is a line that links the start of Mischief Managed, and climbs through 2 finger pockets, which exits out Seeker. I keep telling myself that I wouldn't do any more power endurance lines after Polybolos, but they just keep drawing me back in. The line is quite flowy, with a Flesh Eater-like hand foot match sequence on 2 finger pockets before linking up into Seeker. Afterwards, I started working some other linkups established on the roof with Trevor, Anthony, and Skyler. Most recently, I was trying Niffler, a linkup that starts Deluminator, and exits Seeker. There's a few more illogical lines to be done, one from the far right into the left-most exit, and vice-versa- both feel quite difficult.
Cranking off of monos from the Deluminator start
Sampling Wrackspurts
Since I've been trying the Deluminator start (and all its variants), the mono-move has been quite painful on my finger, so I've tried to shake things up by climbing a bit more at the Watchtower. I was working on the traverse line on the roof with Bobby, but the mono was still flaring up. As such, I decided to take a break from the limestone roofs and go on vacation to the cooler weather of the PNW to visit my friend Egor, who lived in Seattle, and my old friend, Ben, who was living on the road was currently posted up in Washington and planning to travel to Squamish for the summer. The plan was to take some time away from the limestone pockets, go touristing, and eat some dope ice cream.
I was able to accomplish all those goals, and a bit more. Seattle is a fun city to visit, I stayed in a hostel close to the city, and felt it was quite safe. I shared a room with two Mexican travelers coming from Vancouver to Seattle, so we found it slightly funny our paths went in completely opposite ways. Seattle is a very walkable city compared to Phoenix, so I had fun wandering around the city. In particular, I really enjoyed the aquarium and zoo. Both attractions were quite expansive and informative, and I really appreciated how most of the animals were rescues.
In my 3 days in Seattle, I spent one day with Egor getting a tour of Leavenworth. The granite was quite fun, much better quality than what we have in Arizona, and I was pleasantly surprised at how little it hurt my wrist, which typically happens when climbing on the desert granite at Groom creek. We did not do much in the stifling heat but we chased shade, starting out at the Forestlands, and then moving over to Swiftwater, ending up at the Schist cave after a long day of sampling. I was able to do a few moderates, and left with a positive impression of granite climbing.
Sampling Schist Cave Center
After another day of touristing around Seattle, I began my trip to Squamish. Squamish granite was extremely fun to climb on, and although rain and a bear sighting around the grand wall and apron boulders had derailed 2 days out of my 5 day trip, I still had a lot of fun checking out and climbing on the various lichen-covered boulders. Unlike the granite that I had climbed on, I found Squamish granite quite featured with fun and varied movement on all kinds of holds ranging from jug grips to crimpy seams, and fantastic underclings and sloper holds akin to what you would find at Hueco Tanks. I did come in with the goal of taking a look at Tatonka and Secret Lives of Children, though I was not expecting to do either, and it would also depend on the group we had with us. Fortunately, Ben was very psyched to check out both, though the bear closing down the grand wall and apron boulders meant that I was now relegated to only trying Secret Lives of Children. The boulder is quite overhanging, more akin to the limestone roofs, but the holds were big and blocky, with a compressive climbing style. If Hueco Tanks and Squamish combined styles, what you would get is that boulder. In my first session, I was able to do all the moves, though the crux for me that everyone else cruised is a finicky left heel hook that acted as a pull foot while you push through a tiny foot to do a big right hand slap to a sloper. A second session wasn't any more helpful, but on my third session the day my trip ended, I was able to figure out that I could replace the heel hook with a toe hook, which instantly unlocked the move and I sent two tries later.
Jason one burn away from sending on Secret Lives of Children
Ben on Space Monkey
The Chief
Due to the heat and wetness, I had to take some forced rest days. I spent some days wandering around the town of Squamish, playing hacky sack with my friends, and frequenting the local gear store. I did not buy anything there, but one thing I had to keep in mind was that this was the money was in Canadian dollars. The current exchange rate shows that 1 USD is equivalent to 1-2 CAD, so prices were actually reasonable, but my heart still skipped a beat whenever I saw the price at the register. One interesting thing I did was an active rest day by doing a 10-pitch 5.7 sport route at Mt. Chek on my penultimate day. I climbed the route with Ben, and it was more akin to a scramble as we linked 3 pitches at a time and ran up the mountain. I ended up leading 7 out of the 10 pitches, and ran out the last 60m with 2 quickdraws. I was surprised by how good my fingers and body felt afterwards, even after hiking back down the mountain. We passed by a crag called the Monastery, which looked epic- it looked like a Rifle with Squamish quality rock.
Anyways, I'm now back in the desert, and although there are some monsoons and rain coming in (it rained a bit at the Burrow this past weekend), I'm back to working away at the projects there and at the Watchtower. There are a few other things that I'm stoked on too. Walking past the Monastery has gotten me stoked on the sport climbing, so I may try a bit of those. Squamish has gotten me stoked on some of the sport climbing, though I would like to get my bouldering projects done before I delve into more sport climbing. I got very close to doing Niffler this past weekend, though my car's steel skid plate got damaged while exploring the Moonshine draw the day after, so I think I will need to fix that first before getting back out there.
It is now officially the time of high double-digits to triple digits now in the valley, so this finally means that I once again have some free time to devote to rock climbing. However, a few things still remain in my path, namely Seedling. I've ended up committing most of my crashpads and equipment to the roof so I anticipate that I will be stuck there until I decide to throw in the towel, or send.
In other news, I was able to finish off the Polybolos project earlier this month. The line is the center start from the back of the watchtower, exiting out Ballista. Overall, it adds a 7-8 move boulder akin to Stinky Ass in difficulty to the actual 10 move sequence of Ballista. With 17 actual moves of roof climbing to a droppable sequence when turning the headwall, it felt similar in length to The Girl from Ipanema, with slightly more difficult climbing since there is no rest at the midway point. The fitness I gained from climbing was notable, as the day after, a visit to both Flesh Eater and Seedling felt much more reasonable than when I had last tried them. I suspect my fitness and overall ability to climb on tweakier holds or longer sequences had improved. The plan for this summer will to keep establishing and excavating new lines at the Watchtower while trying established lines.
Nevertheless, neither Seedling nor Flesh Eater went, but there is still time in the season now that summer is in full swing. I also spent some time visiting family on the east coast, and I had a session at Lincoln Woods. Every time I go there, I land in better and better conditions, so maybe one day, I will do something that isn't a steep overhanging boulder. The crimping and granite out there is a fun change from the limestone roofs over here, so I may plan a trip this summer to sample a bit more of the other rock types. I'm finding that diversifying my climbing has led to some good results, so I plan to continue on doing so.
Went back up to the draw Sunday to climb with Bobby again with Skyler and Anthony. Surprisingly, there was no one around when we showed up. We started with a middling warmup on the Monster Roof. It was Anthony's first time trying Move N' Groove, and both him and Skyler put in several close burns, with Anthony coming close to flashing. Bobby was trying the linkup of The Beautician and Move N' Groove. I was able to manage a clean ascent on Move N' Groove after dabbing on the throw on a repeat last week. Despite the lackluster warmup, it ended up being a great session at Mars roof as Bobby smashed his first lap of The Girl. It was a really fun send to watch, and a testament to his dedication to working on climbs that tackle your weaknesses and mental endurance to get it done. Nice work!! Skyler got close following Bobby on it, and Anthony started working The Girl.
I decided to be disciplined this time around and not pull on The Girl at all, instead opting to optimize the start of Suplexing Navajo, which also shares the same start with Lolita. The typical method for climbing these two lines starts with a finicky left toe cam and a thrutchy first move to a 3-finger gaston. For a while, I had been quite discouraged from working these moves as the start move was incredibly low percentage. Until today, I had a 1 in 5 chance of snagging the pocket and successfully starting the line. The main reason why the line suddenly felt different today was a change in the starting beta that I had saw last week from another climber, Raina, who was also working the line. The funny thing was that I initially wrote off the beta entirely when I first saw it, but it's funny how quickly things change once you try it. The thing I noticed was that she first moves her left hand to another undercling closer to her starting foot, which lets her set up better for the 3 finger gaston. I implemented a similar method, starting with my right hand in a tiny two-finger pocket gaston, and then walking my right foot into the heart-shaped cam and my left foot toeing down into a larger foot. Suddenly, the 3-finger gaston move was doable, and now it actually feels like the remaining two exits can finally go instead of being some far-off pipe dream. It's nice having a breakthrough so I think I'll be climbing (and posting) a bit more from Mars in the future.. Anyways, here's some photos and videos from today. I'll get some more action shots of Anthony in the future too.
