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.
