Finally a new post!

Friday 22 April 2011

Climb at the Pit with Lori, a five foot Flagstaff local who boulders V10 (!).  Easy warmups plus do 'Purple Shark' (5.12a) again, then try the 'Joker' (5.12c) into 'Total Recall' (5.13c).  Doing this linkup ('No Joke' I think its called?) makes for a very cool 5.13a/b.  Did all the moves, but some were very hard to do off the rope, so on link I think they will be beyond me right now.  Still, a good one to train on.

Went out to Priest Draw bouldering area at night, to a camping spot nearby, and attended a going away party of some friends of BK and Lori.  Some guys decided that, see as I am a foreigner and not accustomed to the traditions of this country, I should do my first keg stand.  Needless to say, my performance was sub-par compared to the Australian stereotype!  7 seconds is apparently equal to that of a pre-teen girl, or so I was told.  They even pumped slower for me!  For me drinking comes way down the list in priorities, well after climbing, so I eased off the booze and retired to the van ready for a day of bouldering tomorrow.

Saturday 23 April 2011

Climb at Priest Draw after a very long breakfast with BK and Lori.  Tried a very cool problem called 'Wife Beater' apparently V8.  I hopped off the ground (instead of doing it static to start) and topped out, so I didn't really climb it properly, but I could do the start move fine so I'm sure I could send it.  Hard to believe it's V8 if I can do it in an hour.  Apparently the original beta is much harder than the way I was shown, so I guess that's why the grade feels off.


Dinner at Beaver Street Brewery with some bouldering friends.  I was refused bar service because I could not produce a US driver's licence or a passport!  They wouldn't accept my Australian driver's licence, and when I questioned why they couldn't just use common sense and see I was over 21 they fed me some bullshit about liquor licencing laws and so on.  Ridiculous!

Sunday 24 April 2011

Easter BBQ with some friends.  Fantastic food, great company!  Overindulged of course, but I think I can work it off at the Pit tomorrow.

Monday 25 April 2011

Climb at the Pit.  Try "No Joke" 5.13a again and refine beta a little, but still feel miles away from sending.  Left draws hanging, so will have to get back on it before we leave for Bishop later this week.  I don't have any pics of me trying it, so here's a stock photo!

Tuesday 26 April 2011

Buy snowboard.  Yay!  Also helmet, goggles, boots and bindings.  All set to rip it up!

Thursday 28 April 2011

Take draws off "No Joke" 5.13a - couldn't get through the first part of the crux on redpoint.  Will have to wait until I get back from Bishop.  Hopefully I can get stronger there and send it when I get back.

Friday 29 April 2011

Climb at the Upper Owen's River Gorge with Patty and some of her local friends. The style of climbing there is similar in some ways to the quarry climbing back home, and the grades are a lot stiffer than Red Rocks and Flagstaff.  Onsighted an 11d but didn't try anything harder.  Did an awesome 10c with a cool roof move, and fell off an 11a (!) First 11 I've fallen off of in long time!  Misread the crux sequence and couldn't make it go any other way than the obvious sequence that I only saw sitting on the rope.

Saturday 30 April 2011

Climb at a very small crag near Mammoth with Patty and her local friend Jen.  Some granite routes up to 11a.

Sunday 1 May 2011

Snowboard on Mammoth Mountain. New board is great!  Change stance from 15 degree duckfoot to a little over 0 degree duckfoot; seems to have made a little difference.  Getting S turns better on gentle slopes, but still not confident on steeper stuff.  Looking forward to doing some riding with some of Patty's instructor friends so they can give me some tips.

Monday 2 May 2011

Boulder at the Happys down at Bishop.  Do a couple of V3 problems quickly, plus a few other warmups.  A V4 called "Big Chicken", a V6 called "Incredible Hulk", and a V5 called "Serengetti".  Fantastic bouldering!  Here is a sequence of shots from Hulk:

 The crux move; toe hook in pocket and throw back over head to "The Boss"

And a few shots of Serengetti:

 Left foot heel hook above the head is very important!

 Bad left hand hold, and ordinary right hand sloper

The throw to the jug; feet cut off.  Very satisfying!

Camp out at "Wild Willies" hot spring, with pizza and wine.  The spring is a magical place to sit and soak, and relax after a hard day's climbing.  A shame so many other people feel the same way!  At least there were no nudies there!

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Wake up and have coffee and fruit with a view of the Eastern Sierras, a lake and the hot spring.  Beautiful warm morning!

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Boulder at the Buttermilks.  Onsight an unknown V3 and flash a V4 called "Iron Man Traverse".  Tried some other problems including a cool V5 "Go Granny Go" on the Grandma Peabody boulder, but didn't send anything else cool.  Checked out some of the hard classics "Mandala", "Evilution", "The Buttermilker".  Hard to see how anyone could get up these problems.  The holds are so small!






Thursday 5 may 2011

Climb at Upper Owen's River Gorge with Patty, Martin and Neva again.  Onsight an awesome 5.11b with a cool roof, and try a tricky 12c arete but couldn't do all moves, let alone send it.  Tomorrow snowboarding again!  I think we'll stay for another week, then head back to Flagstaff.  I'll stay there for a week, then I'd better start the journey up to Canada so I can fly across to France for the bro's wedding.  Should be an awesome drive, albeit a long one, but I'm giving myself almost 2 weeks to do it in case I have car trouble.