Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The 2011 Hit List and a Link

Alright as promised here is my (current) list of routes to do for 2011:

Route                                                       Crag              Grade
1) The Mighty Expectation of Relief      Prairie Creek       5.12a
This is a route that I should have gotten last year. As soon as it's warm enough this jug haul is going down.

2)Sisyphus Summits                              Ha Ling Peak      5.10d
This route a super long multi-pitch... I think it's like 500m? I've just always wanted to do it. Hopefully this summer will be the time.

3)Outer Limits                                     Cougar Canyon    5.12a
This is a route at a crag that I have yet to get around to visiting. I was planning on checking it out last season but had other projects other places. I'll definitely make it there this summer. This is a route that looks good from what I've seen in the guide book and online. I may change my mind on it when I see it though.

4)Dutch Boy Magic                             Heart Creek         5.12d
This is a route that I would like to do to step up my game a little bit. I have yet to redpoint something this hard (although I was close on my trip to Red Rocks recently -see video in previous post). So, this will be one of those longer term projects I think.

5)The Convincer                                  Heart Creek            5.12a/b
This route is in a really cool looking spot up on the amphitheatre cliff. The guide says 12a but it seems that there are some who think it may be harder (see picture in link to follow the list).

6)This Week in Bible Prophecy            Prairie Creek           5.12b
The word on the street is that some holds may have broken on this route since it received its grade and it may be a little harder. A buddy of mine I has been working on it for quite some time. Looks like a good route.

7) Massive Attack                                Grassi Lakes              5.12c
This route looks pretty good although there are a bunch at Grassi that look good.

8) Altius                                                Acephale                  5.12c
This looks like a pretty classic route. I've never climbed at Acephale before because there isn't a lot there below 5.12 and most of my climbing buddies haven't been climbing that hard. However, I think this year is going to be a time of change and exploring. I look forward to it.

9) The Silver Rocket                             Prairie Creek            5.13a
I'm always trying to push myself with new goals and harder challenges and one of my goals for 2011 is to do a 13a. I think it's a realistic goal.

10) ????                                                 ?????                         ????
There always has to be room to try something that looks awesome or something that someone recommends or whatever!


On another note:

I recently found this page. It's a bunch of pictures from routes in my local area. Some of the routes shown are actually on my list! This page also seems to be announcing a new guidebook for the area. I'm curious how it will compare to the current Canadian Rockies sport climbing staple - Sport Climbing in the Canadian Rockies 6th ed. Updated bt John Martin and Jon Jones.

Friday, January 14, 2011

2010 in Retrospect

2010 was a good year for me and my climbing. I was able to climb outside a lot more than I did in 2009. I had some good projects that I enjoyed working. While I did enjoy working projects I must say sometimes projects can be really annoying! Annoying because all I think about during the week are the moves and clipping positions on my project and then when I'm all psyched up for the weekend - it rains :(. For a while I just had one project at one crag. I think that was a bad idea because I think some of my climbing partners may have gotten sick of that crag and they may have had projects at other crags and then the beginning of the day is all about who gets to go work on their project. With a little thought on my part that didn't last too long. I started finding projects at different crags so no matter where we went there was something that I was working on. I plan to continue this into 2011 except I'm hoping to expand on it a little more. My plan is to have around 2 projects at all of the crags that we go to. I am a little worried that I'll have a bunch of projects on the go and that I won't send any of them but I think with some planning things will go well.

At the beginning of last year I posted a list of routes that I wanted to climb for the year. I climbed a bunch of them and some of them I didn't even come close to attempting for various reasons. Following is the list and then the play-by-play of what happend with them in 2010.



    Route           Grade          Crag

1. Gravity Boy 5.11d White Buddha

2. Dharmakaya 5.12b White Buddha

3. Wicked Gravity 5.11a Lake Louise

4. Masterbretter 5.11b Heart Creek

5. Beat Farmer 5.12a Heart Creek

6. Paint it Black 5.11a Heart Creek

7. Heart of Darkness 5.11b Heart Creek

8. Hecubus 5.13a Heart Creek

9. Sisyphus Summits 5.10d Ha Ling Peak

10. Blank of the map 5.11a Barrier Mountain

11. Pull Fat Boy Pull 5.11c Barrier Mountain


1)Gravity Boy - I think this was the first on the list that I did. I personally think that it is the best route at White Buddha. At the time this was the hardest route that I had done outdoors. The odd thing was that I didn't try anything else at this grade for quite some time.
2)Dharmakaya- I never got around to attempting this one. Probably because I decided I wanted to do every 5.12 at White Buddha and so this one got pushed aside for other ones.
3)Wicked Gravity - I never even went to Lake Louise in 2010 :(
4)Masterbretter - There were other lines nearby that called my name and I answered. I'll probably do this one at some point in 2011 but it won't make it back onto the list.
5)Beat Farmer - I fell from the top of this route like 30 times probably. Mostly because I couldn't find the hold to clip the chains from. So, I probably put more work into this route than I probably would have needed to if I had known where that hold was. Good route though. Short.
6)Paint it Black - I did this one earlier in the year. Loved it. I think the way this route felt to me will stay with me for a long time I will/have been using this route to compare what 5.11a should feel like.
7)Heart of Darkness - I onsighted this one and it felt good. I really liked the crux move that I did. I recommend this one.
8)Hecubus - I was gonna do this one as my big hard 5.13a project but everytime I was there I just wasn't feeling it so I never did it and I will probably take it off the list for 2011
9)Sisyphus Summits - This is one of those "ultimate" routes. It's like 21 pitches(?) or something. It's on a cliff overlooking the town of Canmore. I never got around to it in 2010. But this is definitely gonna stay on the list for 2011.
10)Blank on the Map - Did this one second go. It's a one move wonder and I didn't really think it was anything special.
11)Pull Fat Boy Pull - This one took me way longer to send than it should have. Rain, tiredness, and figuring out the crux made this route take quite a while for me. Once I figured it out though it was great to complete.

In making a list for the year of routes that I would like to do sometimes I choose routes based on what I've heard from friends. Sometimes I decide because I really like the look of the line and I think it looks like it will be really cool. I occasionally pick routes based on what the guidebook says although that is usually how I do it if I'm going to a crag that I've never been to - and then I reserve the right to change my mind once I get there and see it. I often climb routes that are not on my list as well. I don't think it's a good idea to restrict yourself like that. You can miss out on some pretty awesome opportunities that way.  

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Red Rocks Trip

I got back from my trip to Red Rocks (near Vegas) a little over a week ago now. It was a pretty fun trip although some unfortunate things did happen. The weather was pretty cold. It even snowed in Vegas while we were there. There was also a lot of wind and rain. I brought my new video camera along to document the trip but ended up not filming a lot of the climbing that we did do (mostly because I was concerned about the effects of wind and rain on my new camera). I did get some climbing on video however including: Me working Wonderstuff 5.12d, a really bad onsight attempt of Man Eater 5.12a, My onsight/flash of Caustic, and an interesting sped up version of my buddy Robin working Baseboy Direct 5.11a. I call the send of Caustic an onsight/flash because three of the four draws were in when I did it. Robin had worked the route before but I didn't watch him because I really wanted to onsight it. Not caught on tape was my onsight of Michael Angelo 5.11b and my flash of Range of Motion 5.11d. All the video taken was at the Canibal Craig in the Calico Basin. Enjoy! I included a bunch of the drive down to illustrate how long of a drive it was (feel free to skip it if you get bored). I also put a shot of some of the weather we dealt with after the credits.

I started getting some kind of overuse injury on my left ring finger from working Wonderstuff so I guess I'll be climbing without that finger for the next little while. We'll see how it goes tonight at the wall.

Last year on my old blog (on my 8a.nu page) I posted a list of routes that I wanted to climb for the year. My next post here will be a little review of those routes and some thoughts for 2010. My post after that I will reveal my list of routes for 2011.

Here's the video:

Vegas Trip 2010/11 from MikeG on Vimeo.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Short Note

So, I haven't written anything on here in a while because I've been on a road trip to Red Rocks! I'll be postings some video and a summary of the trip within the next couple of days.