Monday, February 20, 2012

When life gives you rain. . . You go to the gym and train



Like the title says, it has been raining recently. . .
A lot!
In some ways, this has been a bit of a good thing. I have been able to focus solely on training in the gym or on my home board (hockey stick) without the ever present thought that I may be making myself too tired for reasonable outdoor climbing on the weekend. As such, these past few weeks have been full of great training sessions. I've been doing a bunch of weighted hangboarding and recently started campusing on the smallest rungs on circuit's board. It was a bit of a shock to the fingers at first, but they have adapted quite nicely. I feel like I have made some significant gains in finger strength these past few months and can't wait to translate it to some real stone.

On another note, I'm getting pretty psyched for spring break and a week at Smith. I'm thinkin of heading off into the unknown (for me) and having a go at another classic line on the Monkey. After sending Spank the Monkey last year, I've been itchin to throw myself at the Backbone. It looks super rad and mega exposed! Gives me something to think about during those boring training sessions. . .
Runnin it out on Spank the Monkey

Till next time,
Eric

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

DARK TOWER

The last two days have had somewhat of a crossroads feeling to me. Leaving the beautiful climber's paradise of Bishop for the cold and damp air of Portland has left me somewhat sad. Aside from the odd day mission to Smith, inhabiting Portland in the winter means lots of time spent pulling plastic in the gym and dead hanging from my hockey-stick hangboard . If i'm lucky, I spend a few days a month freezing my fingers off at the Rat Cave or Bat Wall at Broughton. Although I love training indoors, I also enjoy having a long term outdoor project on which I can gauge my growth as a climber. Plus, it adds to my training psych if I have a solid goal to work towards. The conditions in Portland guarantee I won't skip TOO many days of training projecting my life away. Anyway, I'd gladly give up a day of training for a day spent outdoors on real rock with my friends. I also feel like picking the right project can work perfectly with a training cycle.  I'll elaborate. . .

As I begin the project, many moves will be difficult to complete and I spend much time breaking the route into boulder problem-length chunks. Essentially, I am increasing my level of strength and power until I can pull each sequence.At the same time, I am refining my outdoor technique and having fun in the process! This phase of projecting coincides with my strength and power training period. As I polish the moves on the project, I begin to link larger and larger chunks. Usually failures at this point come from being pumped. This phase works perfectly with my aenerobic endurance training cycle. All the while, I remain psyched as attempts get closer and closer to success.

This all works great. . . In theory

Everything revolves around finding that perfect project. Last year, I had Bloodline out at Broughton. It was my first harder 5.12, felt extremely unlikely at first, and slowly came together. My first burn on Bloodline was in October, and I finally sent it in February after much work and many goes. It ushered in a new level in my climbing, and I haven't looked back since.
Crux Roof of
Bloodline


This year, project-wise, I had . . . nothing.
Dorkboat at the RC is awesome, but the bitter-cold of the east wind, lack of sun, and seepage issues mean it will have to wait until spring. I felt basically done with Broughton as I had already sent all the hard routes  I was interested in . . . or had I?

A few months ago while surfing Mountain Project, I noticed a route on the north wall of Broughton called Dark Tower. It was estimated that it went at low to mid 5.13 but had not yet been sent. I thought it would be dirty, abandoned and basically unclimbable. Unbeknownst to me, it had been cleaned and prepared (including the addition of a new bolt) by a recent acquaintance, Phillip. In the passing months, I  began climbing with Phillip and we made it out for a day on Dark Tower. Phillip had figured out great sequences through the entire route, except one large move lunging over a roof to a full pad edge that had not yet gone. My lankiness and a creative foot placement allowed me to quickly figure out the roof move. With my new beta for the roof, Phillip made quick work of the move and looked close to sending. Even with a full beta spray, the rest of the route felt unlikely for me. The sequences on the upper headwall are intricate, bouldery, and difficult.  Exactly what I was looking for! Poor conditions and the busyness of life got in way of making it back out to Dark Tower for quite sometime. I almost forgot about it. . . until today.




Phillip and I headed out to The Bluff today to check the condition of the route. I didn't expect much, as I thought the north facing wall would be soaked and seeping. Surprise! It was perfectly climbable (if a bit slimy). Another go on the route, and I am confident it will be a great project! I will be psyched to belay Phillip on the second ascent (the FA happened this summer), and psyched to send it myself! I can't wait to dive into the process: get frustrated. . . get strong. . . send.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

New year, New sends, New friends

I know it's been a while since I've updated, but life has gotten busy and not a lot has happened in regards to outdoor climbing. I did, however, hit the gym hard and made some significant gains in strength and power.
I should be able to update much more frequently now that school obligations have eased. I'm on my way back to Portland from Bishop now, and finally have a minute to write up a trip report on my iPhone.

It's only a week into the new year, and I am totally psyched for what's to come in my climbing and non-climbing life. I feel like I have snapped a slump in my climbing performance and am finally starting to send again. After a summer of only sport climbing, I felt a bit weak. I was fit, but was continuously being shut down by difficult crux sequences. A couple months of gym bouldering and finger boarding later and I felt ready for a bouldering trip to Bishop.

Now, on the drive home, I can honestly say the trip could not have gone better. We had a great group, great conditions, and loads of great sends. With unseasonably warm weather in Bishop, the high altitude and cool breezes of Buttermilk country proved to be a fantastic spot to drop pads and throw down. The tall and proud boulder problems of the 'milks provide as much a challenge for the mind as they do the finger tips. We did, however, spend our first and last days in Bishop at the volcanic tablelands climbing the gymnastic and powerful tuff-sculpted lines of the happy and sad boulder fields. The volcanic tuff of the Happys and Sads is reminiscent of the welded tuff of Smith rock and it was easy to feel at home pulling on the deep pockets and sharp edges of the tableland boulders. The relatively smooth stone of the tablelands provided a great first day warmup and last day reprieve for our raw and screaming tips worn thin by the coarse quartz monzonite of the 'milks.

Team Bishop 2012 consisted of myself, my fellow Smith Rock summertime crushers-Jon Rhoderick and Nic Sabo, my housemates Michael and Greg, and a late showing by Jon's schoolmate Brett Bessen. This distantly connected group would prove to be a dream-team as we shared many laughs, adventures, and inspiring sends.

The first couple days were spent shaking the cobwebs off of my outdoor bouldering skills and shrugging off the jitters inherent to highball bouldering.

Day 1- Sad Boulders
I managed a quick repeat of the beautiful Strength In Numbers V5 in my first half hour at the sad boulders. Nic repeated it as well and we moved on to the classic V5, Molly. After a brief flurry of attempts and a quick beta spraydown from a generous passerby, I stuck the crux toss to the lip and pulled over. Nic sent as well. The rest of the crew came close, but no other sends were logged. We then moved onto a fun and slightly sketchy V1 called The Black Stuff. My friend Curtis from last year's Bishop trip happened to be in the Sads on the same day. Nic, Curtis, and I quickly sent the lowball but fun, Anti-hero V5. Nic impressively sent the notoriously tricky Rio's Crack V6 in a couple quick goes. We stopped at the supposedly classic highball, Professional Widow V4 and Nic and I pulled the last move-crux on our way to a couple quick sends. A great re-intro to the Bishop climbing scene!

Day 2- Buttermilk Country
Warmed-up on the easy and juggy routes on the backside of the 60 foot tall grandma Peabody boulder. Finished up with a fun V0 to the top of the boulder and had some fun reversing it to the ground. I then headed to the classic V7 High Plains Drifter. Within 3 goes I had fallen from the last crux move, but ended up splitting open the backside of my right index finger from intense crimping pressures. This would prove to be a theme on this problem throughout the rest of the week. Nic impressively sent HPD in good style 2nd go. The rest of the day was spent climbing easier problems and getting used to climbing with a bit of altitude under our feet. Some highlights of these easy problems were the techy King Tut and Funky Tut and Greg's send of the sandbagged V1- Buttermilk Stem

Day 3- Rest Day at the Happies

I was feeling a bit beat, so I decided to take a rest day. I headed to the Happies with the crew and climbed a bunch of easy problems while everyone worked on the ultra-classic V6 The Hulk. No one had any luck, except Nic- who repeated it smoothly- Did I mention he was taking a rest day too? The rest of the day was spent watching failed attempts on Serengeti V5 and watching Nic crush the tall V8, Highbrow.

Day 4- Buttermilk Country

We started with the normal warm up routine on Grandma Peabody. I managed a quick send of Go Granny Go, V5 and headed over to High Plains Drifter. Two more attempts, and my finger was split again. I decided it would be best to move on, so we
headed to an outlying area of the 'milks called the Pollen Grains. I hopped on an ultra-classic V5 called Suspended in Silence. It's a beautiful highball whose opening sequence completely shut me down on my last trip. One can either choose to pull hard on a small crimper or dyno to a large jug. You must then hold it together through the thrilling upper section of the 50 foot boulder. I crimped. Nic dynoed. We both sent. Suspended in Silence is one of my favorite problems I have ever climbed and is probably one of the best climbing experiences I have ever had. We then moved onto Jedi Mind Tricks V4 I quickly repeated it while the rest of the crew sent it for the first time. A great day of Buttermilking!

Day 5- Buttermilks- Dale's Camp

We went to another outlying area of the Buttermilks called Dale's camp and climbed some great problems on day 5. Highlights were Green Hornet V4 highball and Nic's attempts on Xavier's Roof. Brett and Jon had a serious session on Green Hornet and both managed to send after an afternoon of work.

Day 6- Buttermilks

Started the day with a standard warm up and more goes on HPD. No success, much more blood. We took the middle part of the day off and returned to the 'milks feeling rested. I managed to send Saigon V6 in a few goes. It felt really good to send as it revolves around a crux dyno to jug. Large dynos are a weakness of mine and it was fun to put one down for once! The temps were perfect with the absence of the sun and I managed a quick send of the beatiful and techy Leary/Bard arĂȘte- V5. Balancing up the holdless upper section was a great experience and quite exciting! With failing daylight, Michael and I ran a few laps on the amazing V0, Hero Roof and Michael got painfully close to sending Iron Man V4. Another fantastic day!

Day 7- Buttermilks

A restful morning was in order, so we took it easy and spent the morning hiking around Dale's camp and mid day at the "Looney Bean" coffee shop in town. The evening brought more great temps and fun Buttermilking. Jon, Nic and I managed to flash the aesthetic V5, Bowling Pin and Nic and I managed to send the sit start extension, V6 first go. Shouldn't have done the stand first! The night ended with a flashlight session on Iron man.

Day 8- Happies

Morning of day 8 brought about a fierce wind and fairly cold temps. We decided to take refuge in the sheltered canyon of the Happy boulders. I was a bit bummed as I knew this would
mean I wouldn't get another shot at the Drifter, but I knew the tablelands would have much better conditions. Michael and I managed to send a hard V4, Solarium (Repeat for me, first for him). Nic got me psyched to try The Hulk (totally my anti-style), so I decided to give it a go or two. It is incredibly physical and quite fun. I surprised myself and sent it in 5 quick goes and we moved on to Serengeti. Jon and Michael each sent it quickly. Michael seemed to finally be getting his outdoor legs back under him and was climbing quite strong. I wanted to try a V6 called Action Figure, so I carried the pads over and threw on the trusty solutions. Two hard cranks, a drop knee, and a mono pull later and another V6 was down. A solid end to the trip!

All in all, it was a fantastic trip - lots of fun times, a bit of sending, and a whole lot of adventure. I'm already looking forward to my next Bishop trip this coming spring and can't wait to see what I can do with a few months more training!

-Stay tuned for a video of all the sending action!

Eric



Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The Big Three

So. . .

Chain didn't quite go for me last. I repeatedly fell off the final dyno. However, I have had some success out at the Rat Cave with quite a few low and mid 5.12 ascents. I'm hoping the power endurance intensive climbing I have been doing at the RC and in the Gym will give me that little push I need to reach an inch higher and stick the finishing jug of Chain. After next weekend, send or not, it'll be time for me to get down to business and start training for the Bishop trip that I'll be taking in late December.

The basic idea of this training plan is to eek as much strength gain as possible into the first 4 weeks and then have some fun cutting loose with a bit of power and recruitment training for the last 2 weeks before the trip. It is important that the differences between the entities of strength, power and recruitment are fully understood before one can understand the methods that are used to train them. First, lets examine strength. When I say my climbing strength, I am referring to the absolute maximum amount of force that my forearm muscles can channel into my fingers. Simple as that.  Whether it takes me a half second or 10 seconds to produce this maximum force is irrelevant. Power on the other hand has everything to do with time. When I say Power, I am referring to the amount of time it takes me to achieve my maximum force. Essentially, the amount of time it takes me to recruit all the muscle fibers I can and put maximum force into whatever climbing hold I'm grabbing. This brings me to the final entity; recruitment. Recruitment refers to the percentage of muscular fibers that are activated when gripping a hold. For example, if I look at 100 total muscle fibers, and 10 fire, I have a recruitment of 10%.

Now that we have these entities defined, let's figure out what factors influence their development. To me, it's a simple matter of training and genetics. Some people are born with great tendon insertion causing naturally strong fingers. No matter what your thoughts are regarding nature vs. nurture, it is inarguable that each person has a set genetic maximum for any activity. There is a maximum level of physical adaptation that each person's body will make. The good news, I believe most all climbers (professionals excluded) are quite far away from this genetic maximum. Most people climb and train in a haphazard way with little focus or direction. They boulder one day without resting enough to regain full strength and power between burns.The next day they go sport climbing. The next they traverse and call it training. Certain people respond well to this sort of "training" and become strong climbers regardless. I'd say that's about 1 percent of people. The rest of us will quickly plateau and gains will become slow or non-existent. Frustration then ensues as people cannot understand why they stopped improving like they did in there first year or so of climbing. Beyond genetics, the only way to quickly improve and break plateaus is through focused and intelligent training.


In the coming week or so, I will post training schedules and plans and explain how they relate to the big three training principles.

Eric

Monday, October 17, 2011

Gettin back to it!

So. . .

It's been a while since I lasted posted and I didn't even write a wrap up post to the Ten Sleep trip. Long story shot, I repeatedly fell from the last move to the chains of a 13a for the final four days of the trip. In the end, I feel that not sending was not the worst thing that could have happened. I came back to Portland with more psych to train and get strong than I have ever had. I had a  plan to get a quick training cycle in to prepare for a hopefully succesful fall break at Smith. It's now fall break and I feel that I made some critical errors in training that I need to fix for my next cycle. I started out strong with hangboard sessions on the homemade hockey stick hangboard to gain some strength (felt much stronger than ever before). However, after my planned 2 weeks of fingerboard hypertrophy training, I somewhat lost focus as I tried to transfer into a maximum recruitment campusing based phase. I ended up simply bouldering at the gym with only a session or two of campusing. I was climbing in the same style much too frequently and not allowing myself to recover. As my artistic and atheletic outlet, it is difficult for me to go a day without climbing. It has become my way of relaxing after a long day of class and work. With a schedule of 5 to 6 days at the bouldering gym a week, however, I felt as though I was entering a slow spiral into exhaustion and sub-par performance. I was not providing enough time for recovery or varying my routine at all. I simply pulled down on plastic boulder problems all the time. Two weeks before fall break, I finally came to my senses and busted out five or so sessions of pumpy, intense traverses all over the climbing gym and anaerobic endurance intensive weekend rat cave sessions. Not quite enough to feel fully fit, but better than nothin I guess. Even so, after a week off, I feel as strong as ever from all the bouldering, but not super ready for pumpy routes.

I'm currently sitting in a Redmond coffee shop, typing away on my phone and waiting for jessi's flight to come in. I spent the last two days onsiting a bunch of Smith 5.10s and 11s (which somehow never seem to get easier and always keep me on my toes) and working on Chain Reaction. After two days of effort and 4 goes, Chain will go any time. I one hung it 3rd go with a bumble in between the two cruxes and feel like I have all the sequences down and merely need to execute. To my surprise, Chain is actually one of my favorite routes I have touched at Smith. Maybe it's the substantial history of the route, the atheletic and bouldery sequences, or it's contrast in style to the standard Smith vertical techfests, but I feel that even after sending, I will continue to climb the route for years!

After Smith I plan on taking a couple days off then returning to training with renewed motivation and focus. I currently have an 8 week training cycle planned out. It is planned around a winter bouldering trip to Bishop and will therefore have an abbreviated Aenerobic Endurance training phase. I will force myself take more rest days during Max Recruitment and Hypertrophy phases. I will accomplish this either by jogging or super low intensity ARC traversing on rest days if I cannot stand not climbing. I also plan on posting on this blog much more frenquently and will continuously provide updates as to my progress and more specifics on my training practices. This is as mostly to provide a record for myself and stay on track as I do not believe anyone reads this blog.

Till next time

Eric

Photos taken by Toby. Thanks!

Sequence of the top dynoish move and the lower crux





Monday, August 22, 2011

Breaking New Ground

For rest day numero dos we find ourselves in another quaint coffee shop in the town of Worland, WY where Eric and I have snagged the comfy recliners in the corner. After waging war on some viscous assailants, ie. mosquitos, for the past couple of days we are both enjoying some iced coffee and reprieve from a losing battle. According to a few people we have talked to there was a flood earlier in the season that made for prime mosquito conditions the rest of the summer. Luckily we came armed with Bushman's 80% deet and pants.

Happy Campers . . .



After a full week in Tensleep Canyon, it is looking like two weeks is not going to be enough with the overwhelming amount of quality routes that are still yet ticked, but holy toledo we have been climbing as much as we can and enjoying every second of it. A trip chock-full of exploration, maybe some climbing, and new scenery were my only expectations as we headed out of Portland, but what we have found here in Tensleep seriously gets no better than this. After putting our time in at Smith Rock all summer we were somewhat prepared for the technical climbing in Tensleep and have excelled quickly in our short time here. Even with all of these slabby and techy routes I tend to be drawn to, I have really enjoyed trying some of the overhung and juggy routes Tensleep has to offer with massive pockets that go up some pretty significant bulges. It seems every time one of us is lowering off another route there is a theme following, "that was so fun!!!", or "seriously that was SO quality!!!!", or "I HAVE NEVER CLIMBED ANYTHING THAT GOOD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! Did I mention how fun it was?"

This trip has been so much more than quality climbing though, including improved pots-O-stuff for dinner, absolutely breathtaking stars in the arvo, and late night fires with new friends. I am confident I would be able to eloquently recall every move on every route we have climbed in the canyon since we last checked in, but I think I'll leave that for Eric.. take it away!

-Jessi

The climbing in Ten Sleep has continued to impress us with its quality and overwhelming quantity. Just when I think it can't get any better, it really does. Each day we have been exploring new areas in hot pursuit of challenging routes. For me, I have been on a search for a fine 13a. Jessi has been sampling the canyons offerings in the 11 to 12- range. On Saturday, we decided to check out a new (to us) area called the French Cattle Ranch. The stone in this area is astounding. It is composed of bullet hard stone with alternating tan and blue streaks. The holds in the FCR  tend to be small, positive crimp edges, rather than the sinker pockets that define most the other routes in Ten Sleep. After warming up on a fun 11a, Jessi and I started our day at the Ranch with an onsight and flash of a techy and quality route called Wyoming Flower Child 5.11d/12a (Probably 11b at Smith). Next, I threw myself at a 5.13a/b called Blue Light Special. The movement was fantastic, but the holds a little small for my taste. I clipped the chains with many hangs and sore finger tips. Jessi attempted a 12b called Center El Shinto and made it to the top with a few hangs and rests. It was a pumpy affair with some long lockoffs and little relief until the chains are clipped. This seemed to be the route she was looking for. We'll be returning to that one!

What was my beta? . . .



The next day, I really wanted to check out an area called the Cigar Pillar. I had heard rumors of a supposed 5 star 5.13a called Name of the Game taking plum line up the center of the pillar. We quickly knocked out the uphill approach to the Cigar and looked with awe at the four bolt lines up the back side of the pillar. The Cigar is a rare feature in the climbing world as it basically always facilitates hard climbing with perfect temps. The back side of the pillar (where the 4 classic lines are) has a constant breeze and never sees the sun. The breeze continuously blows the moisture from your fingertips and allows for cool and comfortable climbing. I quickly warmed up and jumped on a 12a on the left side of the Cigar. It was a bouldery line with a low crux and fantastic climbing up the exposed upper arete. A perfect warm-up for my main interest: Name of the Game. I took a 3 burns on Name of the Game and figured out good sequences all the way through. The route consists of 8 bolts of quality 5.12 pocket pullin', with a harsh and fingery crux right at the end. A true heartbreaker. In between burns on Name of the Game, Jessi ran up a bunch of fun and recently bolted 5.10s and 11s surrounding the Cigar. I will be returning to the Cigar tomorrow to see if I can walk away with my first 5.13 send! Hope I didn't bore you with all the painful details about these slabs of stone in which we take so much interest.

Inspecting the cigar from the opposing warm-up. . .


Till then . . .

Eric





Friday, August 19, 2011

Gettin Rowdy in Cowboy country!

The trip is off to a killer start! I can't believe how many fantastic routes exist in this Bighorn Dolomite (Basically Limestone) wonderland. The most difficult part of this trip has been trying choose which of the limitless number of killer 5.11 and 12 sport routes to go after. . .


Rolling into Ten Sleep canyon is an awesome and almost overwhelming experience that instantly builds psyche for pulling pockets and clippin bolts. The flat fields of Wyoming slowly transition into sheer rock walls of some unknown red stone as you drop into the canyon where the small town of Ten Sleep rests. As you enter town, you are greeted by a road sign claiming a population of 304 and an elevation of 4,206 feet. A small bakery and coffee shop (where I am currently sitting), two bars and an ice cream shop soon follow. Pass a Connoco station and you are on your way up into the hills where the shear pocketed faces of Ten Sleep canyon reside. The red and crumbly stone that is prevalent near town slowly gives way to pocketed faces of Dolomite as you wind your way upwards.


Jessi and I made this journey into the hills on Tuesday after our 5 hour drive from Bozeman and a wild goose chase to acquire Aaron Huey's Ten Sleep Climbing guidebook (which is awesome, mostly informative, and artsy all at the same time). In almost all cases, presentation and creativity takes precedent over information in this guide! This makes it a little fun to find the crags at first, but once you gather  your bearings, the route finding is mostly simple. A bizarre array of symbols indicate the quality of routes. A picture of a kitten means 3 stars, a Porn Star means 4, and an American Flag or other patriotic symbol means 5 stars. After reading through the book and getting a few laughs, our first order of business was to find camping. There are a few paid campgrounds managed by the National Forest Service off the main road. But at 13 dollars as night, Jessi and I decided it might be better to set up camp in the expansive and boundless free camping area down the road and fill up our water jugs at the paid campgrounds when necessary. We blindly drove around the old road for a bit until we found a suitable spot to set up camp. Most spots were vacant and we eventually decided on a nice shady spot a ways back from the road. (We later found out from some new friends that this was one of the most desired spots in the free camping area). After hurrying to set up camp, we decided to run up into the hills across the way and see if we could get some climbing in (even though it was after 6). After a nice 20 minute hike to the Mondo Beyondo area, we were greeted by absolutely perfect climbing temps and shade. With a little bit of exploring, we decided to run up a classic 5.10b called Beer Bong (a five star American flag route). It involved some simple and fun face climbing leading to an airy and exposed stemming section. It was my first experience with Limestone and I must say it was love at first sight. We decided to call it a night after this route as it was starting to get dark.

Beer Bong . . .


The next two days involved a flurry of climbing and a fair bit of sending for Jessi and I. Climbing days start at noon in Ten Sleep and don't end  until after 8:00. These are the hours in which perfect sending temps can be consistently found.  The first full day climbing involved an awesome 10d and 11a warm-up to start things off. Next, I managed to send a short, steep, and bouldery (not at all the style I excel at) 5.12a. Jessi managed an onsight of a 5.11b (her first onsight at this grade) of a fantastic pocketed route called White Buffalo. A successful first day!

The hike in to Mondo. . .


The next day went even better. I warmed up on a sweet overhanging 5.11b/c and Jessi managed to send it second go. I then went on to onsight one of the most fantastic 5.12 pitches I have touched. It is a 95 foot long, 15 bolt route called Cocaine Rodeo that involves sequential and strenuous pocket pulling and many rests. Next we traveled down the cliff line a ways to a gigantic free standing chunk of white stone called the Superattic Pillar. Jessi wanted to try a 12a called Tricks for You that she thought could be a potential project. It was a less than vertical, slabby affair, with heinously technical movement and holds that are invisibly small from the ground. Just Jessi's style! Jessi confidently hopped on, and what followed was some of the best climbing I have ever had the privilege of watching. She climbed confidently and well. 15 minutes of concentrated effort later, and she was clipping the chains on her first ever 5.12 send. A pure onsight! We couldn't have been more excited! We walked to the other side of the pillar and I was able to pull my way to send of a fantastic 5.12b called Great White Behemoth. It was truly one of the best routes I have climbed. Probably even better than Cocaine Rodeo. 65 feet of athletic movement through overhanging two finger pockets and even a mono pull on flawless white stone! What more could you ever want? We returned to camp tired but buzzing with excitement. What a wonderful day.


Today, rest and Ice cream at Dirty Sally's are in order.

Until next time,

Eric