Workin the Proj and a Climbing Trip

I started working on a new project out at Barrier Mountain on saturday. It's called Kiwis Fly (5.12d). It's a pretty sweet route with a tough crux. I just worked it for the first time on Saturday and then returned on Monday for some more. On Monday I was able to get all the way to the crux in one go which felt pretty good. The new guide book Bow Valley Sport Climbs says to cut left at the roof (crux) but my beta goes straight over - cutting way to the left seems a bit off route to me. Here is a picture of my hand after getting owned at the crux.

My fingers were bleeding quite profusely but I just kept chalking 'em up and and kept climbing. It seemed to stop the bleeding after a while. I think I'll be able to do this route. It's just a matter of time. 

On a completely different topic. I am gonna be going to Skaha for 4 days. Should be a blast. I will mostly be focusing on onsighting, which is what I usually do when I go on a climbing trip. So, we'll see if I send anything awesome. 

I'm going with a bunch of people that I recently met at the climbing wall. I haven't done that very much (tagged along with people I don't know very well on a climbing trip) although I've had people tag along with me before. It should be an interesting time. 

A Short Post

This isn't about climbing so much, but I'm graduating from university! That's pretty exciting. I'm gonna have an engineering degree. I majored in civil engineering with a minor in structural engineering.

Hopefully I'll get a decent job in the near future.

I was just thinking tonight that after I get a job I would like to purchase one of these:

http://www.toolnut.com/Bosch_11536C_1_36_Volt_Lithium_Ion_Hammer_Drill_p/11536c-1.htm

Maybe contribute to the climbing community a little bit in the future. In the mean time I'm thinking this summer maybe I'll borrow a drill and start the learning process.  

That Guy

So, I was thinking today about my recent climbing adventure at White Buddha. I realize that I was dangerously close to being "that guy". I had just come down from doing my project (Yay!) and I was kinda just sitting there watching these other climbers trying to do a boulder problem that (I think) I had done before. I was tempted to go over there, strike up a brief conversation, and then give the problem a try - assuming of course that I would crush it and may even be helping them out by showing them some beta. Then I realized that that would be (pardon my french) a real dick move. So, I didn't do it. But realized that I was pretty close to being that guy.

It reminded me of this blog post from a couple of weeks ago. It is a pretty good blog post and I recommend reading it. It's good for a short laugh until you start seeing yourself in the various climber personalities that he talks about.

I remember when I started climbing - watching

Tick on the Cleaning List

Today I was able to clean up one of my leftover projects from last summer. That always feels good. It was a boulder problem that turns into a route at White Buddha. The boulder problem is a V5/6 called Trout Fishing in America that turns into a route called Brown Trout (5.12c). It was weird because I did the boulder problem like a year ago (no rope) and then was unable to do the route until now. The route adds like 2-3 moves that are a little tough (not nearly as hard as the previous boulder problem) and then it's pretty much smooth sailing from there. I honestly think that I just had bad luck in taking so long to do it. I had bad weather and injuries occuring at the wrong moments for it all to come together. I also had issues forgeting my beta for some reason which was pretty strange for me. I remember cruising the start one week and then coming back and barely being able to get my butt off the ground - the problem was where I was putting my feet.

Well, I got it now. No video and no pictures. I do have a video of my failing horribly on it somewhere... I probably won't post that. Well... maybe I'll include it as part of another video or something later.

If only I can now clean up the rest of my list from last year. That would be fun.