Yesterday we also went to the riverside boulders and saw the amazing "Oliphants Dawn" 8B and "Moistie Masie" 8B+. So psyched to go try them! Tomorrow, if the rain stops, wither monkey wedding or quintessential!!!
"Pinotage" = AMAZING
Friday, June 20, 2008
more rain.
It has been continuously raining for a few days now unfortunately. Yesterday the rain cleared for a few hours and Daniel, Andy Mann, and myself headed out to this amazing roof compression boulder called "Black Shadow" 8B. I did all the moves very quickly and figured out a few linkages and sent the boulder in no time! Its such a good feeling to finish stuff off with a true sense of execution, just not getting in any sort of epic mode and just doing the boulder and moving on. PSYCHED! We will see what tomorrow brings but hopefully there is no more rain!
Yesterday we also went to the riverside boulders and saw the amazing "Oliphants Dawn" 8B and "Moistie Masie" 8B+. So psyched to go try them! Tomorrow, if the rain stops, wither monkey wedding or quintessential!!!
"Pinotage" = AMAZING
Yesterday we also went to the riverside boulders and saw the amazing "Oliphants Dawn" 8B and "Moistie Masie" 8B+. So psyched to go try them! Tomorrow, if the rain stops, wither monkey wedding or quintessential!!!
"Pinotage" = AMAZING
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Getting internet is harder than sending V15
So getting internet has been such a hectic mess! The photographer, Andy Mann, has not been able to send out any pictures to anyone, i have not been able to updaye the blog, and pretty much its mass confusion when trying to get internet in this country. We finally found a small cafe about 1 hour from our house where we can get some extremely slow internet! I am psyched to have now been here for one week and now am feeling like i am climbing up to par finally. Today it is raining and thats why we made the trek back to the main town. It is a small town called Clan William and is well... rustic. I dont really know how to explain it. The grocery store is nice but the rest of the town is pretty beat down and it definitely reminds you where you are every time you turn a corner.
Yesterday we climbed at a newer area known as the sassies! It was as usual really nice rock with jaw dropping views. Daniel and I quickly did the test piece of the area "Shoshalosa" originally graded 8B+, but we felt 8A+ was more appropriate with the two of us giving it no more than 10 goes total to send it. We then quickly dispatched a few other really nice lines including "paula abdul" 8a, "leap of faith" 8a, "unnamed" 8a, and flashing the probably best 7c+ in the world "pinotage."
Hopefully the rain will stop soon and we can continue climbing. Daniel and I are both very close to the unrepeated 8b+ "Monkey Wedding" at the roadside area!
Monkey Wedding 8b+
classic warmup!
More updates to come!
Yesterday we climbed at a newer area known as the sassies! It was as usual really nice rock with jaw dropping views. Daniel and I quickly did the test piece of the area "Shoshalosa" originally graded 8B+, but we felt 8A+ was more appropriate with the two of us giving it no more than 10 goes total to send it. We then quickly dispatched a few other really nice lines including "paula abdul" 8a, "leap of faith" 8a, "unnamed" 8a, and flashing the probably best 7c+ in the world "pinotage."
Hopefully the rain will stop soon and we can continue climbing. Daniel and I are both very close to the unrepeated 8b+ "Monkey Wedding" at the roadside area!
Monkey Wedding 8b+
classic warmup!
More updates to come!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
south africa: the beginnings
I have finally made it! I have never been on a single airplane for this long in my life. I now fully understand the term jet lag! So after a super long plane ride, which was made a lot more enjoyable because of great friends sarah orens, daniel woods, and laura griffiths, we eventually found ourselves in the cape town international airport feeling quite distant from home, but extremely psyched for the over 50 day adventure ahead of us!!!
We quickly got our rental car and hit the streets! Wow, I would have never imagined how hard driving on the opposite side of the road would be! It is by far one of the most bizarre things to be thrown straight into the middle of, especially Cape Town rush hour traffic! So after some close calls and a few days, I am finally starting to become accustomed to their driving style and not being scared out of my mind every time I get behind the wheel. Other than that, the roads around the rocklands are heinous dirt roads and we already lost a rim, or possibly was stolen in Clan William.
After making the long trek to Clan William, we got groceries and headed out to our village in the middle of the rocklands. It is a nice house with a bunch of climbers and friends. I am very excited to be here! Along with daniel, laura, sarah, and myself is wills young, lisa rands, tony lamiche and his friends.
On our first day we headed up, in the evening, to a small bouldering area by the road a few miles from the house. It was small but had a few very nice moderates. This one in particular "pardon my french" 6c+ was a perfect climb to stretch out on after such a long plane ride. We all sent and continued on to a few harder climbs. Daniel and I both did this nice small arete called "tony problem #2" 7c+/8a very quickly despite the hot temps. After that I strolled up the hill to see another classic moderate and dispatched of it as the sun was setting.
We headed back to the house and continued to have a great night. With immense jetlag I was extremely tired and fell asleep at around 10 pm and did not awake until after 11 the next morning. The past few nights have all been this way, trying to get over the tiredness of traveling to the other side of the world.
The other day (6/13) was our first real climbing day! We headed to the "roadside area" which is a 35 minute hike from the car! Daniel was super psyched to show me a bunch of amazing lines that he had done, tried or seen his last trip here. It was a hot day and I was still very tired, but it was awesome to see some amazing lines for the upcoming weeks! They got us very psyched. Daniel and I warmed up and quickly dispatched a nice 8a called baboon master and 7c+ caroline. The girls worked caroline a bunch and will hopefully send it very soon!
As the sun set daniel and I did a obligatory lap on the classic highball "creeky heights" 7a. It is quite amazing! I can't wait to get back to the roadside area to try some of the harder lines!
Yesterday was third day on but I am finally getting accustomed to climbing here. Though it is still a bit hot, the weather should be cooling off in the next few days. So yesterday we went to the alpha farms, a small area located up a hillside from this guy’s house. To climb there you have to pay him 30 rand a person, about 4 USD. The bouldering up there is on some amazing rock! I worked on this amazing 8b, "ray of light" that I got really close to. Daniel was psyched to head up there because he had worked all of the moves out on his previous trip and was psyched to go for the send! He sent and it was super inspiring to watch. I can't wait to get back up there to hopefully send! After this climb, just around the corner, we stumbled upon an amazing 8a called "gliding through waves like dolphins" its pretty much a perfect pinch fest up an extremely overhung barrel! I sent in a few tries and am super psyched on the boulder.
Today is a rest day (6/15), we scoped out some boulders at a newer sector called "the 8 day rain" area. I am pretty psyched for this one boulder "quintessential." There is also this other area called the riverside which has some amazing hard lines and some great projects! More to come!!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
We quickly got our rental car and hit the streets! Wow, I would have never imagined how hard driving on the opposite side of the road would be! It is by far one of the most bizarre things to be thrown straight into the middle of, especially Cape Town rush hour traffic! So after some close calls and a few days, I am finally starting to become accustomed to their driving style and not being scared out of my mind every time I get behind the wheel. Other than that, the roads around the rocklands are heinous dirt roads and we already lost a rim, or possibly was stolen in Clan William.
After making the long trek to Clan William, we got groceries and headed out to our village in the middle of the rocklands. It is a nice house with a bunch of climbers and friends. I am very excited to be here! Along with daniel, laura, sarah, and myself is wills young, lisa rands, tony lamiche and his friends.
On our first day we headed up, in the evening, to a small bouldering area by the road a few miles from the house. It was small but had a few very nice moderates. This one in particular "pardon my french" 6c+ was a perfect climb to stretch out on after such a long plane ride. We all sent and continued on to a few harder climbs. Daniel and I both did this nice small arete called "tony problem #2" 7c+/8a very quickly despite the hot temps. After that I strolled up the hill to see another classic moderate and dispatched of it as the sun was setting.
We headed back to the house and continued to have a great night. With immense jetlag I was extremely tired and fell asleep at around 10 pm and did not awake until after 11 the next morning. The past few nights have all been this way, trying to get over the tiredness of traveling to the other side of the world.
The other day (6/13) was our first real climbing day! We headed to the "roadside area" which is a 35 minute hike from the car! Daniel was super psyched to show me a bunch of amazing lines that he had done, tried or seen his last trip here. It was a hot day and I was still very tired, but it was awesome to see some amazing lines for the upcoming weeks! They got us very psyched. Daniel and I warmed up and quickly dispatched a nice 8a called baboon master and 7c+ caroline. The girls worked caroline a bunch and will hopefully send it very soon!
As the sun set daniel and I did a obligatory lap on the classic highball "creeky heights" 7a. It is quite amazing! I can't wait to get back to the roadside area to try some of the harder lines!
Yesterday was third day on but I am finally getting accustomed to climbing here. Though it is still a bit hot, the weather should be cooling off in the next few days. So yesterday we went to the alpha farms, a small area located up a hillside from this guy’s house. To climb there you have to pay him 30 rand a person, about 4 USD. The bouldering up there is on some amazing rock! I worked on this amazing 8b, "ray of light" that I got really close to. Daniel was psyched to head up there because he had worked all of the moves out on his previous trip and was psyched to go for the send! He sent and it was super inspiring to watch. I can't wait to get back up there to hopefully send! After this climb, just around the corner, we stumbled upon an amazing 8a called "gliding through waves like dolphins" its pretty much a perfect pinch fest up an extremely overhung barrel! I sent in a few tries and am super psyched on the boulder.
Today is a rest day (6/15), we scoped out some boulders at a newer sector called "the 8 day rain" area. I am pretty psyched for this one boulder "quintessential." There is also this other area called the riverside which has some amazing hard lines and some great projects! More to come!!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Monday, June 9, 2008
the time has come
So i completed the World Cup and had a great time in my first ever world cup competition! I ended up placing third and was extremely happy about that! I know what to train for next time and how to do things a little differently to hopefully do even better the next time i compete.
Other than that in less than 12 hours i will be on my way to africa for almost two months! keep a look out on my site as well as the Five Ten website for write ups on how my trip is going etc!!!
Back to packing! Have a great summer everyone!!!
Other than that in less than 12 hours i will be on my way to africa for almost two months! keep a look out on my site as well as the Five Ten website for write ups on how my trip is going etc!!!
Back to packing! Have a great summer everyone!!!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
semifinals
quick update! I made finals in 4th place!!!! so psyched right now. as i ended my climbing i thought there was no way i was gonna make it but did and am suppppperrr psyched for finals to come tonight!!!
Male Finalists -
1. Killian Fischuber
2. Gabriel Moroni
3. Ty Landman
4. Paul Robinson
5. Jerome Pouvre
6. Daniel Woods
Sorry i don't know the womens list. Team USA Representing!!! hopefully we can take this world cup down! Good Luck DW and the American women that made it to finals!
Male Finalists -
1. Killian Fischuber
2. Gabriel Moroni
3. Ty Landman
4. Paul Robinson
5. Jerome Pouvre
6. Daniel Woods
Sorry i don't know the womens list. Team USA Representing!!! hopefully we can take this world cup down! Good Luck DW and the American women that made it to finals!
Friday, June 6, 2008
day one - Team USA represent!
Day one of the world cup has finally concluded. After having to sit in isolation for just about 6 hours i am now done my first ever qaulifying round of a world cup competition! I ended the day in 1st place. The problems were extremely hard and i only managed to get two top total! More info to come, hopefully good news!!
To keep my mind off of being nervoud i have been playing this game a bunch! A true classic. my high score is level 112!!! Post up a comment if you beat my score!
Congrats to everyone from USA that made it to the semis: Chris Sharma, Daniel Woods, Mark Hobson, Carlo Traversi, Kyle Owen, Alex Johnson, Tiffany Hensley Alex Puccio, Charlotte Jouett, Lisa Rands, and Lizzy Asher!!!!
Tomor should be exciting!
EDIT: Level 119! JYYEEAAAHHH hahaha. i think i may go professional in city jumper soon.
To keep my mind off of being nervoud i have been playing this game a bunch! A true classic. my high score is level 112!!! Post up a comment if you beat my score!
City JumperCongrats to everyone from USA that made it to the semis: Chris Sharma, Daniel Woods, Mark Hobson, Carlo Traversi, Kyle Owen, Alex Johnson, Tiffany Hensley Alex Puccio, Charlotte Jouett, Lisa Rands, and Lizzy Asher!!!!
Tomor should be exciting!
EDIT: Level 119! JYYEEAAAHHH hahaha. i think i may go professional in city jumper soon.
Monday, June 2, 2008
The Time has come!
Wow! how time flies! There is only 2 days left until Dosage 5 premieres at the Boulder theater, only 4 days until the qualify round of the World Cup in Vail, and only 8 days until I leave for South Africa for almost 2 months!!! I am super psyched about all the awesome opportunities i will be having in the next week and can't wait to get to South Africa!
I have been continuing to train a lot over the course of the last few weeks and finally felt really good the other day while climbing at the Spot! The other day when talking with a friend about climbing we discussed reaching a new level in your own climbing fitness. I dunno if what we said really made any sense, but i feel like possibly it could have. We thought that you are more or less at a certain level. If you continue to climb you will hopefully break into a new level of climbing. But before you break into that new level you kinda suck for a short period of time. We felt that this was because your muscles and body are adapting to being at that new level and then after sucking for a little bit you are like at a new plateau, above the last and ready to continue on. I just felt super crappy the past few weeks and am starting to feel really good again. I truly hope i have reached the next level in my climbing growth especially since South Africa is right around the corner!!!
So I thought i was going to have a pro blog for Urban Climber, but i'm not sure what went down with that and haven't heard anything from anyone so i had this cool little section where i put down some of the more recent songs i have been listening to so people could go out and download them or whatever if they were psyched on the artist or genre of music. But none-the-less since that kinda fell through i guess ill update on here so hot JAMZ haha. Download, buy the cd, I dunno, do whatever you do to get your music, but these songs I think are really good so if your into hip-hop/rap then take a minute and check them out!
-Slim Thug off the album Already Platinum, “3 Kings”
Pretty much Slim Thug is amazing! Straight from Houston, Texas Slim Thug has some amazing beats and lyrics with a DJ that can chop and skrew to perfection. Pretty much his entire CD is great, definitely worth checking out! I mean who doesn’t love that Dirty South gangsta rap about sipping on that lean!?
-Notorious B.I.G. off the album Life after Death (Disc 1), “Kick in the Door”
Going old school on this one, but who doesn’t love Biggy. I had this song on my ipod for a while but was really bored one day on an airplane and was searching for new songs to listen to and stumbled across this Biggy masterpiece. “kick in the door, wave in the 44, all you heard was poppa don’t hit me no more.” Classic!
-Mobb Deep off the album Blood Money, “Capital P, Capital H”
I was in a record store a few months ago itching for some new music and stumbled upon this album. Though I am not usually a fan of G-unit or its affiliates, I decided why not give this cd a try since Mobb Deep had only recently been signed by g-unit records and hopefully would not be another CD for the infamous snitch, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, to show off his rapping “ability.” I was correct; there are only one or two songs with 50 and the rest of the album is pretty good with a few really good songs.
BTW: If you haven’t seen it yet check out the DVD “Stop Snitchin’ Stop Lyin’” produced by The Game, it’s a must see for all G-Unot fans and is absolutely hilarious!
I finally finished shaping my holds for Nicros and will be sending them off to them in the next few days. I hope they make a line out of them! I will be taking tons of pics in South Africa and will try to update as much as possible so stay tuned for some awesome adventures from my trip to the other side of the world!
I have been continuing to train a lot over the course of the last few weeks and finally felt really good the other day while climbing at the Spot! The other day when talking with a friend about climbing we discussed reaching a new level in your own climbing fitness. I dunno if what we said really made any sense, but i feel like possibly it could have. We thought that you are more or less at a certain level. If you continue to climb you will hopefully break into a new level of climbing. But before you break into that new level you kinda suck for a short period of time. We felt that this was because your muscles and body are adapting to being at that new level and then after sucking for a little bit you are like at a new plateau, above the last and ready to continue on. I just felt super crappy the past few weeks and am starting to feel really good again. I truly hope i have reached the next level in my climbing growth especially since South Africa is right around the corner!!!
So I thought i was going to have a pro blog for Urban Climber, but i'm not sure what went down with that and haven't heard anything from anyone so i had this cool little section where i put down some of the more recent songs i have been listening to so people could go out and download them or whatever if they were psyched on the artist or genre of music. But none-the-less since that kinda fell through i guess ill update on here so hot JAMZ haha. Download, buy the cd, I dunno, do whatever you do to get your music, but these songs I think are really good so if your into hip-hop/rap then take a minute and check them out!
-Slim Thug off the album Already Platinum, “3 Kings”
Pretty much Slim Thug is amazing! Straight from Houston, Texas Slim Thug has some amazing beats and lyrics with a DJ that can chop and skrew to perfection. Pretty much his entire CD is great, definitely worth checking out! I mean who doesn’t love that Dirty South gangsta rap about sipping on that lean!?
-Notorious B.I.G. off the album Life after Death (Disc 1), “Kick in the Door”
Going old school on this one, but who doesn’t love Biggy. I had this song on my ipod for a while but was really bored one day on an airplane and was searching for new songs to listen to and stumbled across this Biggy masterpiece. “kick in the door, wave in the 44, all you heard was poppa don’t hit me no more.” Classic!
-Mobb Deep off the album Blood Money, “Capital P, Capital H”
I was in a record store a few months ago itching for some new music and stumbled upon this album. Though I am not usually a fan of G-unit or its affiliates, I decided why not give this cd a try since Mobb Deep had only recently been signed by g-unit records and hopefully would not be another CD for the infamous snitch, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, to show off his rapping “ability.” I was correct; there are only one or two songs with 50 and the rest of the album is pretty good with a few really good songs.
BTW: If you haven’t seen it yet check out the DVD “Stop Snitchin’ Stop Lyin’” produced by The Game, it’s a must see for all G-Unot fans and is absolutely hilarious!
I finally finished shaping my holds for Nicros and will be sending them off to them in the next few days. I hope they make a line out of them! I will be taking tons of pics in South Africa and will try to update as much as possible so stay tuned for some awesome adventures from my trip to the other side of the world!
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