the big worm and area b

Lately I have been heading up to Evans in an attempt to finish up the last couple of lines in area A and also find some new lines in Area B.

I made a quick repeat of Dave's "Big Worm" last week. The line is all encompassing and about 20 or so moves out a huge roof. The line climbs quite well and I was very pleased to start off the alpine season with a fast send of this line.

Last week I explored area B a bit and with the help of a picture from Carlo, found a great project right in the beginning of B. Though a jug broke off in the middle making the line quite a bit harder, i still believe that the line will in fact go and may be one of the harder lines in all of Evans. Hopefully within the next few weeks i will have a better understanding of how hard this line may actually be.

Here are some pics taken by Alex Kahn.

a dedication to my hero

It has been a little while since I have updated my blog and i just have not really been able to think of words to put down. I flew back from NJ on Sunday evening to a week of relaxed climbing before the World Cup in Vail, CO. Prior to my departure my dad was admitted into the hospital due to complications from his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He had been fighting this for quite a few years and as i left i just was under the assumption he was going to get better and be back in no time to his good ol' self. The week went by and by Friday I had to try my best to turn all of my attention to concentrating on doing my best in the competition as i know that what he would have wanted me to do. I barely made it to semi finals and knew that i would have my work cut out for me on Saturday. Fortunately Saturday morning i climbed well and qualified for finals in 1st place. During the final round i had a hard time keeping my concentration and fell quite a bunch which slipped me back to 4th place where i finished the comp.

As soon as i was done competition i spoke with my mom who told me it was necessary to make my way home. I booked a flight for early the next morning. I unfortunately did not make it home in time and lost my absolute best friend that Sunday morning.

I wanted to write a blog in his dedication as he is the one who was always on top of me to make sure i updated. Since he was back in NJ and i was traveling the world this as well as our daily phone conversations was his way of seeing all the amazing things that i was up to. He definitely was my number one fan since i first put on a pair of climbing shoes at the young age of 11. He was by far the strongest person i have ever met and fought a really hard fight for many years. He has and always will be the person in life that i look up to most of all. I will definitely cherish the memories we have had together and push forward as i know he would want me to.

Finals

I am back in Boulder after a long flight home... Philadelphia's airport has a tendency to get you into the plane and have you sit in a line of about 20 planes before taking off. Anyway, the comp went well on Saturday night and fortunately i came out on top! The field was extremely strong and walking into iso i knew that it could have been anyone to take down the Gravity Brawl this year. I felt as if i climbed smart in finals and kept my head together.

This week is the final push before the World Cup this upcoming weekend! I am glad to have won the comp this last weekend giving me a lot of confidence for the main event this weekend. I am going to go climbing at Evans tomorrow in hopes to get the lungs ready for the high elevation that Vail will offer this weekend. Besides that it is back to summer school for me Modern Art 2 begins today.

I have been painting a ton and am about to finish off a new piece soon. I will post it up as soon as i complete it. Also the beginings of a new website are in effect, p-rob.com coming soon, hopefully!!!