Here are some pictures from the end of my trip to Africa!
Sky! Best boulder ever!
the Tiida! she held strong!
nice sunset on the beach
bird island
the unrepeated "Oliphants Dawn"
Friday, August 8, 2008
Pictures from the end of the trip
I just got to Salt Lake City yesterday for the Outdoor Retail Show. The competition this year is going to be huge and i cant wait to compete in qualifiers this evening!
Here are some pictures from the end of my trip to Africa!
Sky! Best boulder ever!
the Tiida! she held strong!
nice sunset on the beach
bird island
the unrepeated "Oliphants Dawn"
Here are some pictures from the end of my trip to Africa!
Sky! Best boulder ever!
the Tiida! she held strong!
nice sunset on the beach
bird island
the unrepeated "Oliphants Dawn"
Monday, August 4, 2008
home and very jet-lagged
The last few days of my trip were extremely productive and i was so psyched to finish off a bunch of the climbs that i had come close to earlier on in the trip! I went back and looked at my 2008 send list again that i had posted earlier this year (p-d-robinson.blogspot.com/2007/11/2008-is-on-its-way.html) and even though i did not look at it once during my trip to africa i climbed every single boulder problem on my list and am psyched to continue on with the rest of my year!!! The only boulers so far that i havent done that i definetely wont get to finish up this year are "rasta man sit" and "dominated" i was hoping to get a short trip to yosemite this spring but was unable to pull it off before the hot weather arrived. And well rasta man, that was an epic and will be saved for 2009! The biggest chunk of my list is still to come and that comes from all over Europe. I leave on September 1 and am already so psyched for the 3.5 month trip ahead of me!
I arrived home on the 31st and felt pretty fine the first day but the next morning when i woke up at 5 am i knew that jet lag had set in. Now it is monday morning at 8 am (the 4th) and i have already been awake for 2 hours. hopefully it will all subside soon. i have been frantically going to the climbing gym trying to get into some sort of decent indoor climbing shape before the big OR Competition this upcoming weekend. I pretty much feel like crap inside, right now im blaming it on the jet lag! Hopefully tonight in the gym will be a different story and i will feel at least a little bit stronger.
Wish me luck! I will try to post some pictures from the end of our trip later this week so stay tuned.
I arrived home on the 31st and felt pretty fine the first day but the next morning when i woke up at 5 am i knew that jet lag had set in. Now it is monday morning at 8 am (the 4th) and i have already been awake for 2 hours. hopefully it will all subside soon. i have been frantically going to the climbing gym trying to get into some sort of decent indoor climbing shape before the big OR Competition this upcoming weekend. I pretty much feel like crap inside, right now im blaming it on the jet lag! Hopefully tonight in the gym will be a different story and i will feel at least a little bit stronger.
Wish me luck! I will try to post some pictures from the end of our trip later this week so stay tuned.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
mooiste maise
The other day was a super fun day of climbing. Though i thought i was not going to try anything new before the end of the trip, after watching daniel attempting "Mooiste Maise" i could not refrain from trying the beautiful line. The first day on it was really crappy conditions and the slopers felt so bad. But the next day i came back to it and finished it up in a few tries. Below is a picture of me on the send.
Mooiste Maise, V14 Photo Andy Mann
Update: Beth has sent "Petit Hueco," V8 but claims that it only felt like 12b, all i have to say is what a beast! And Tommy has been continuing to kill it with great progress on an amazing project and sending "Black Shadow," V13 in a very short amount of time! Everyone else is continuing to send at an alarming pace and i don't think a day goes by without at least one person sending one of their projects. The trip is coming to a close shortly but hopefully not without some more amazing rock climbing before departure.
Hot weather is rolling in and we are all resting for the next two days, but with skin hopefully healing, hopefully more sending will be coming soon!
Right after sending Amandla
Mooiste Maise, V14 Photo Andy Mann
Update: Beth has sent "Petit Hueco," V8 but claims that it only felt like 12b, all i have to say is what a beast! And Tommy has been continuing to kill it with great progress on an amazing project and sending "Black Shadow," V13 in a very short amount of time! Everyone else is continuing to send at an alarming pace and i don't think a day goes by without at least one person sending one of their projects. The trip is coming to a close shortly but hopefully not without some more amazing rock climbing before departure.
Hot weather is rolling in and we are all resting for the next two days, but with skin hopefully healing, hopefully more sending will be coming soon!
Right after sending Amandla
Friday, July 18, 2008
12 days left (an actual update)
The Rain has stopped and the climbing is going super well!!! The temps have been better, the rock has dried up, and the climbing days are getting better and better. People have left the house and more people have come. Tommy, Beth, and Courtney are the newest inhabitants and super fun to have around. Sarah left the other day but not without leaving a final amazing mark at the end of her trip by sending her 10 day project “Caroline” V10. This was the first of the grade for her and she was super psyched to leave the trip having sent her amazing project!
For the remainder of my trip, I told myself that there were 8 boulder problems that would be awesome to do before leaving. The list is as follows: Amandla V15, Madiba V14, Sky V14, The Power of One V13, The Vice V13, Green Mamba V13, Quintessential V13, and a project at the Fortress. So far in the last 3 days of climbing I have sent four of them and am super psyched to continue on with the rest as my trip winds to an end before the departure date of July 30th.
After the rain finally subsided, I was so psyched to get back to working on my projects again! The first day I gave my first attempts on “Quinntesential.” Though the rock was still a bit moist and it was near dark, I got very close and am very psyched to get back on it as soon as my tips heal enough to crimp on those sharp crimps again. The next day was dedicated to my project of choice, “Sky.” This line is absolutely amazing and climbs the underside of this amazing roof on huge moves between decent holds. I did the stand start but was so close, but still unable to link it from the bottom. I so psyched to try this one again. After a rest day it was up to “Madiba,” which on the first day of attempts felt extremely hard and maybe impossible for me. But today was different; I felt really good on it and sent on the 3rd go of the day. Madiba climbs out this amazing roof through 16 powerful moves. Daniel and I thought the boulder in our minds was a link crux that pieced out consisted of a V9 followed by a V12 followed by a V9/10 final redpoint crux. After this climb, we were both psyched and headed down to “Green Mamba.” This prob was not on my list at first, but after a few tries quickly hopped aboard. The conditions were not so prime the first day and I came back the next day and quickly finished it off in 2 goes.
Yet again another rest day which consisted of driving Sarah to Cape Town to catch her flight back to the US. It was a nice day away from the dirt roads and simple life of the rocklands, but as quickly as I was glad to get away, the boulders were calling me back for another day of climbing. I was psyched for “Quinntesential” but at the last second decided to go up to Road Crew for my first attempt on “Amandla” and “The Power of One.” “Power” went quickly, both Daniel and I sent it with quite differing beta. It was really cool to solve a boulder problem using the exact same handholds but completely different feet due to the differences in our styles. After sending this and realizing colder afternoon temps were coming in we quickly headed over to “Amandla.” At first I thought it looked sooo hard! I tried the top first; after a few falls off the top bit I had it pretty figured out, but knew the bottom was the crux. I tried the bottom bit a few tries and figures out some pretty good beta for myself. With a nice 10 minute rest I felt strong, stuck the crux move and climbed it to the top! What a great feeling it was to climb the most impressive and possibly the hardest line in the Rocklands in less than 2 hours on my first day of attempts. I will admit, the climb is my style to perfection and crimps up a 45 are what I love to climb on I may be a little biased in saying it was one of the most amazing climbs I have ever done. Big Up Productions was there to catch the send on film and will surely be a part of the Real Rock Tour this upcoming Fall. Daniel did most of the moves but was unable to do the crux bit. I am not sure on the grade at the moment, other than realllly really hard. I hope that he will send in the upcoming two weeks and we can talk about a consensus of how hard we think it is. But, for now I will say it is at least V14 and in my eyes a harder version of “The Swarm” in Bishop.
After topping it out I realized I had a quite heinous split on my left pointer finger, so the next few days will be used to heal it up in an attempt to finish the last four climbs I want to do on my list before leaving this amazing place on July 30th. All I can say is that there is a 100 percent chance that I am coming back next year! This place is just beyond comprehension and there will never be a shortage of hard amazing climbs to be done here.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Update
It seems as if we may be able to climb tomorrow!!! Lately we have just been trying to pass the time, a few of us drove to Cape Town to enjoy a day of indoor climbing and to see the scenery of cape town in the pouring rain.
The climbing gym was fun! It was nice to climb after having not had for 3-4 days :(. the next day we went to the aquarium in cape town which was awesome! We walked through the whole place and saw some amazing creatures from under the sea. In about ten days i have to drop of my girl friend, Sarah off at the airport and me, tommy, and a few others are hoping to go cage diving with the great whites if all falls into place! Stay tuned for more info on that...
Anyway, we are now headed back to the rocklands to hopefully climb tomorrow.
UPDATE: we got to climb three amazing days! it has been so much fun and some amazing boulders got sent! I finally did "ray of light!" and did a joint fa with daniel "el corazon." hopefully the weather will remain good for the rest of the trip!!! Tomorrow will be a rest day for me and Sarah will be attempting her project, "Caroline." good luck to her on that!!
The climbing gym was fun! It was nice to climb after having not had for 3-4 days :(. the next day we went to the aquarium in cape town which was awesome! We walked through the whole place and saw some amazing creatures from under the sea. In about ten days i have to drop of my girl friend, Sarah off at the airport and me, tommy, and a few others are hoping to go cage diving with the great whites if all falls into place! Stay tuned for more info on that...
Anyway, we are now headed back to the rocklands to hopefully climb tomorrow.
UPDATE: we got to climb three amazing days! it has been so much fun and some amazing boulders got sent! I finally did "ray of light!" and did a joint fa with daniel "el corazon." hopefully the weather will remain good for the rest of the trip!!! Tomorrow will be a rest day for me and Sarah will be attempting her project, "Caroline." good luck to her on that!!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
and even more rain...
yep it sucks. I feel as if my trip is getting completely shorted due to the lack of climbing we have been able to get done. Today marks the 6th straight day of rain in a row unfortunately. The forecast says that it will stop in 2 days and hopefully we will get to climb again soon.
As of now, i have a bunch of projects that i am really psyched on! especially this one roof called "madiba." it is a longer problem going out a huge roof about 9 feet off the ground. The boulder is approximately 15 moves and never eases up until you are topping out the boulder!
Hopefully more updates soon that actually relate to climbing... but until then we will continue to watch the rain fall.
As of now, i have a bunch of projects that i am really psyched on! especially this one roof called "madiba." it is a longer problem going out a huge roof about 9 feet off the ground. The boulder is approximately 15 moves and never eases up until you are topping out the boulder!
Hopefully more updates soon that actually relate to climbing... but until then we will continue to watch the rain fall.
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!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
2 weeks away
So as the world cup quickly approaches, I am becoming more and more nervous each passing day. I am excited to compete in the comp with a ton of extremely strong competitors from all over the world. I took a look at the structure of the wall yesterday on the ifsc website and it looks like a great venue for a competition of this stature! I am also pleased to see that there is a lot more walls that are not super super steep. I have always been a fan of the slightly to a bit over hanging walls when competing in comps. But i also feel that these angles will be where the Europeans will succeed as well.
Other than continuing my training for the world cup i have been working on two forms of art, my painting and also shaping holds for Nicros. It is definitely really hard working on a 3-dimensional plane! i have definitely never tried any type of sculpture but have been having a lot of fun working out ideas for holds in this crazy foam material. I have found the best technique is to use my finger like sand paper, though it is a slow process it allows me to work out a lot of details as i shape the hold. Below are two of more recent paintings:
Other than that not too much has been going on. It has been very hot in Boulder and climbing outside unless at the high altitude areas which have tons of snow, is still very difficult. I can't wait for South Africa in just over 2 weeks, the list of boulder problems i want to do during my time there is ever increasing! I hope we get some phenomenal weather while I'm down there!
Other than continuing my training for the world cup i have been working on two forms of art, my painting and also shaping holds for Nicros. It is definitely really hard working on a 3-dimensional plane! i have definitely never tried any type of sculpture but have been having a lot of fun working out ideas for holds in this crazy foam material. I have found the best technique is to use my finger like sand paper, though it is a slow process it allows me to work out a lot of details as i shape the hold. Below are two of more recent paintings:
Other than that not too much has been going on. It has been very hot in Boulder and climbing outside unless at the high altitude areas which have tons of snow, is still very difficult. I can't wait for South Africa in just over 2 weeks, the list of boulder problems i want to do during my time there is ever increasing! I hope we get some phenomenal weather while I'm down there!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
home
Black wallstreet for life!
Yesterday i flew back to NJ to visit my family for a week before heading back to CO to continue my training for the world cup and South Africa. But before i went home i had some business to take care of up at the park! After 3 days of work and one extremely hard move later, i sent the FA of Mendax, 8B. This problem is on the Veritas Boulder in RMNP and starts on the same starting holds as low left veritas but rather than climbing right, it climbs directly left and up to a heinous right hand pich to a big move to a not so good sloper at the lip. I sent the line just before i had to leave the other day and am psyched to have finished it up! Keep a look out for video from the one and only Sneeldoggggg aka Scott Neel
Now all i've got to do is wait for a day that is not hot in boulder to go back and attempt Suspension of Disbelief. I truly think this boulder hates me! Every time i go back there, there is just something wrong (its snowing, its hailing, its raining, its deathly hot, theres no wind, the ticks are taking over, etc.) But none the less i have decided this isn't going to stop me from trying to send in the next few weeks i have left in CO!!!
(A visual representation of the death that has become Eldo on previous attempts to send!)
Last but not least i got my tickets to europe for the fall the other day!!! I fly into Zurich on September 1st and depart on December 12th!!! sooooooo psyched!!!
More news to come soon!
Yesterday i flew back to NJ to visit my family for a week before heading back to CO to continue my training for the world cup and South Africa. But before i went home i had some business to take care of up at the park! After 3 days of work and one extremely hard move later, i sent the FA of Mendax, 8B. This problem is on the Veritas Boulder in RMNP and starts on the same starting holds as low left veritas but rather than climbing right, it climbs directly left and up to a heinous right hand pich to a big move to a not so good sloper at the lip. I sent the line just before i had to leave the other day and am psyched to have finished it up! Keep a look out for video from the one and only Sneeldoggggg aka Scott Neel
Now all i've got to do is wait for a day that is not hot in boulder to go back and attempt Suspension of Disbelief. I truly think this boulder hates me! Every time i go back there, there is just something wrong (its snowing, its hailing, its raining, its deathly hot, theres no wind, the ticks are taking over, etc.) But none the less i have decided this isn't going to stop me from trying to send in the next few weeks i have left in CO!!!
(A visual representation of the death that has become Eldo on previous attempts to send!)
Last but not least i got my tickets to europe for the fall the other day!!! I fly into Zurich on September 1st and depart on December 12th!!! sooooooo psyched!!!
More news to come soon!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
the recent
Training is going super well which i am very pleased with. The extent of my training is as follows on a daily basis:
Wake up at like 8:20 or so, head downstairs and do the first part of my training exercise (55 pushups, 15 ab rollers, 100 crunches, and 25 pull ups). Then I eat breakfast, Cocoa puff preferably. Head to school, do the school thing for a few hours and come home. If its a nice day outside and I don't have too much work to get done ill head outside to climb but if not its to training central, CATS! Lately i have been starting my work outs with a good session of bouldering followed by an intense power endurance work out. This climb "Hudz" is kicking my butt! its like 45 or so moves long and probably around 5.14 with jibs and tracking for feet. I hope to send soon. While doing my endurance work outs if someone is climbing on a cool new boulder prob i will be likely to try that and then get back to the "Hudz" epic. There is this other climb at CATS as well that is awesome and perfect for training too. It is about 30 moves of straight micro crimps! So hard my guess is probably v14 to link the entire thing together. My best effort was when i did approximately 28 moves in a row. After my workout I do exactly what I do in the morning (55 pushups, 15 ab rollers, 100 crunches, and 25 pull ups) and then head home extremely tired.
I feel a lot stronger in the week or so i have been doing this and i cant wait to continue to feel stronger the more i keep training!
This past weekend i headed up to the park for the first time of the season to climb on the veritas boulder! I managed to climb dave's low left veritas which is super pumpy and an alright addition to the boulder. Though that is not what i went up there for. This project to the left of veritas is sooooo sick! I did it from a stand start and it feels really hard. I cant wait to go back and try to link all the bottom moves in, its definitely going to be a sick new test piece for the park when it gets completed!
And last but not least, i ordered some pizza the other night and who would have guessed who would have wrung the door bell to deliver my pizza.... OLSON! what a beast!
As it is kinda hard to tell from the picture, Olson works for a pizza restaurant called double d's. I mentioned to him that he should hire a girl like this to deliver the pizza and he might get better tips.
Wake up at like 8:20 or so, head downstairs and do the first part of my training exercise (55 pushups, 15 ab rollers, 100 crunches, and 25 pull ups). Then I eat breakfast, Cocoa puff preferably. Head to school, do the school thing for a few hours and come home. If its a nice day outside and I don't have too much work to get done ill head outside to climb but if not its to training central, CATS! Lately i have been starting my work outs with a good session of bouldering followed by an intense power endurance work out. This climb "Hudz" is kicking my butt! its like 45 or so moves long and probably around 5.14 with jibs and tracking for feet. I hope to send soon. While doing my endurance work outs if someone is climbing on a cool new boulder prob i will be likely to try that and then get back to the "Hudz" epic. There is this other climb at CATS as well that is awesome and perfect for training too. It is about 30 moves of straight micro crimps! So hard my guess is probably v14 to link the entire thing together. My best effort was when i did approximately 28 moves in a row. After my workout I do exactly what I do in the morning (55 pushups, 15 ab rollers, 100 crunches, and 25 pull ups) and then head home extremely tired.
I feel a lot stronger in the week or so i have been doing this and i cant wait to continue to feel stronger the more i keep training!
This past weekend i headed up to the park for the first time of the season to climb on the veritas boulder! I managed to climb dave's low left veritas which is super pumpy and an alright addition to the boulder. Though that is not what i went up there for. This project to the left of veritas is sooooo sick! I did it from a stand start and it feels really hard. I cant wait to go back and try to link all the bottom moves in, its definitely going to be a sick new test piece for the park when it gets completed!
And last but not least, i ordered some pizza the other night and who would have guessed who would have wrung the door bell to deliver my pizza.... OLSON! what a beast!
As it is kinda hard to tell from the picture, Olson works for a pizza restaurant called double d's. I mentioned to him that he should hire a girl like this to deliver the pizza and he might get better tips.
Monday, April 21, 2008
dear fellow readers of my blog,
as was my hopeful desire to send rasta man sit start this weekend, I am unfortunately reporting back with a lack of success. I could easily make excuses for why i did not send (85 degree highs, being very jetlagged from 6 flights in the course of 8 days), but no i have decided that rather than making excuses i am going to work even harder to become a better climber for my upcoming trips! Starting today I have decided i am going to up my training by a ton to become the best boulderer i can possibly be. I hope that by the time south africa comes in less than two months from now i will feel fully prepared and ready to destroy anything that the Rocklands has to offer!
A picture i found on google of Amandla, SOOO RAD LOOKING!
Other than not sending i had an awesome weekend none the less! Amazing rock and great friends to climb with. Did some classics i had done before along with a few new lines that made the trip that much more memorable.
Im back in Colorado now and loving the nice sunny weather. Im hoping for a cool day to go and try suspension so hopefully some news on that soon! Other than that i have exactly 2.5 weeks left of school until my 8 month climbing road trip!!!!!!! cant wait! This blog will be the place to get all the info on my upcoming travels so stay posted!
A picture i found on google of Amandla, SOOO RAD LOOKING!
Other than not sending i had an awesome weekend none the less! Amazing rock and great friends to climb with. Did some classics i had done before along with a few new lines that made the trip that much more memorable.
Im back in Colorado now and loving the nice sunny weather. Im hoping for a cool day to go and try suspension so hopefully some news on that soon! Other than that i have exactly 2.5 weeks left of school until my 8 month climbing road trip!!!!!!! cant wait! This blog will be the place to get all the info on my upcoming travels so stay posted!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
rumney and the east coast
I am now back in Colorado until Thursday to get some school work done, attend class, and hand in a few papers. Then it is off to Bishop Thursday afternoon! So psyched for Rasta Man Sit, hopefully this time i will send!
This past weekend I flew out to the north east so that i could try to send the fly in Rumney, NH. My single day of attempts was luckily enough to pull it off and am super psyched to have sent the line. After my day in Rumney and before heading to the airport to head back home i got to go try the "book of bitter aspects" in bradley, CT. Though extremely tired from the day before i gave it some really good attempts and can't wait to get back on it at a later date! It is such an inspiring line that i hope one day to finally send. 2 hard moves followed by a short v8 up an intensly steep wall! PERFECT!
Updates to come regarding my weekend trip back to Bishop!!!
Smug alert in full effect, beware!
This past weekend I flew out to the north east so that i could try to send the fly in Rumney, NH. My single day of attempts was luckily enough to pull it off and am super psyched to have sent the line. After my day in Rumney and before heading to the airport to head back home i got to go try the "book of bitter aspects" in bradley, CT. Though extremely tired from the day before i gave it some really good attempts and can't wait to get back on it at a later date! It is such an inspiring line that i hope one day to finally send. 2 hard moves followed by a short v8 up an intensly steep wall! PERFECT!
Updates to come regarding my weekend trip back to Bishop!!!
Smug alert in full effect, beware!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
rumney
so I am heading back to the east coast this weekend for an EMS photo/video shoot and am very excited to try the fly. the problem being that the forecast is calling for rain every single day I am there! UGH!! UGH!! It just seems as if everywhere i have been trying to go lately the weather turns to crap the entire time i am there. We'll see hopefully it will get better, it would be nice to give the fly a good honest effort! But alas, I am going to keep my hope high until I have to get on a plane back to Denver on monday evening.
To everyone that is looking at a weekend of possible rain, keep your fingers crossed, its gonna be perfect i know it!
Bishop in 7 days!!! Rasta Man Project must go!
To everyone that is looking at a weekend of possible rain, keep your fingers crossed, its gonna be perfect i know it!
Bishop in 7 days!!! Rasta Man Project must go!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
quick update
So, there was no send and my barely healed tip busted open again. But the tries I did get to give it were some of my best yet! I am back in Boulder now and planning a trip back for a long weekend in 3 weeks to try and finish it up! I can't wait! I will post some video of my best attempts in the upcoming days once I get the footage. Keep posted!
Below I have posted the video of one of my closer attempts on the sit start. I think I fell on this move at least 20 times from the bottom, followed by video of me sticking the move in isolation. I can't wait to get back to this thing!!!
Sorry about the crappy quality.
Below I have posted the video of one of my closer attempts on the sit start. I think I fell on this move at least 20 times from the bottom, followed by video of me sticking the move in isolation. I can't wait to get back to this thing!!!
Sorry about the crappy quality.
Friday, March 28, 2008
1 day left...
the past five days since i split my tip i have just been resting in the near impossible hope that my finger will heal for one more good try on rastaman sit. As tomorrow is my last day i'm going to attempt one last time before driving back to reno. Though my finger is not healed i hope it will be enough to be able to bear the pain and maybe sending the amazing project! Hopefully a miracle and some good news to come tomorrow after climbing! wish me luck!
Monday, March 24, 2008
blugh
got unlucky today and unfortunately got a very bad split on my right pointer finger while trying rastaman sit. It has been going very well other than that! i felt extremely close today with many tries that could have been the one but just couldnt hold on to the very hard swing at the end. Hopefully my tip will heal before i have to leave.
On a side note: Happy Birthday Dad!
On a side note: Happy Birthday Dad!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Bishop Day 1
I made into Bishop last night to start my spring break trip. I will be here until next Saturday and have one problem on mind, the rasta man vibration sit start project. The stand was put up a few years back by justin roth and originally graded v12. the full line definitely still needs to be done though. I began working it last year and knew it was possible. today was the first day back on it. I surprisingly felt really strong on it, doing all of the bottom moves in a short period of time. It is quite hot here in bishop now and after a short morning session it became fully aware that trying it more would just result in a lot of skin loss. I then climbed the backside of the boulder and rapped into the top section of the boulder to see how the top was before going for it from the bottom. It is ridiculously scary! I had assumed it would be over after doing the bottom crux, but i was unfortunately very wrong! the top is involved and quite difficult! Pulling the lip is an interesting crux that i would say is at least v8 or 9. then a jug to rest on and then a very very technical crux to get into the easier climbing of the top of evilution. this part is very scary because the feet are bad and the hand holds are small and you are at least 25 feet off the ground at this point. I practiced the moves a lot and feel confident now to go forward and try for the send in the upcoming days of my trip, but still am very scared of having to do all of that top without a top rope attached to me. Here are some pictures from the day of me on the top of the line working it out.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Midnight Express and Bishop
The weeks seem like days here in Boulder. It just seems like yesterday I was coming home from Hueco and starting the new semester of school. Now it is practically spring break and I cant wait for another 10 day trip to Bishop! This year the main focus will be the Rasta Man Vibration Sit Start Project. It has definitely been on my mind for the past year and cant wait to begin trying it again with some more serious effort.
Lately I have been just climbing around Boulder and have been trying to heal my right middle toe. I had to get stitches in it because i had a cist and the doctor had to cut it out. It kinda sucked not being able to wear a shoe for about 2.5 weeks but just in the past week or so i have been able to wear both climbing shoes again! As soon as I found out i could wear both shoes i returned to my short term project of Midnight Express. The day I sent (saturday) was absolutely perfect. The weather was cold (31 feels like 9 said weather.com for Nederland with a good steady wind)! PERFECT! cold but warm enough to not be frozen the whole time. After warming up i felt confident and ready to go. My first attempt was really good and i knew that today could be that day! After several bad attempts, i finally stuck the under-cling perfectly and climbed it to the top without any hesitation! It felt good, it had been a while since i had done something hard that i was proud of.
photo A. Mann: The final overwhelming moves of the infamous Midnight Express
Psyched! Bishop 2 days!
Lately I have been just climbing around Boulder and have been trying to heal my right middle toe. I had to get stitches in it because i had a cist and the doctor had to cut it out. It kinda sucked not being able to wear a shoe for about 2.5 weeks but just in the past week or so i have been able to wear both climbing shoes again! As soon as I found out i could wear both shoes i returned to my short term project of Midnight Express. The day I sent (saturday) was absolutely perfect. The weather was cold (31 feels like 9 said weather.com for Nederland with a good steady wind)! PERFECT! cold but warm enough to not be frozen the whole time. After warming up i felt confident and ready to go. My first attempt was really good and i knew that today could be that day! After several bad attempts, i finally stuck the under-cling perfectly and climbed it to the top without any hesitation! It felt good, it had been a while since i had done something hard that i was proud of.
photo A. Mann: The final overwhelming moves of the infamous Midnight Express
Psyched! Bishop 2 days!
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