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.

Injuries and 2012 Goals

I recently read this little blog post by Dave Macleod. He talks about how much you may or may not need to break from climbing due to tendon injuries. He has some interesting ideas that contradict the conventional wisdom on the subject. I recently injured my tendon pulley on my middle finger of my left hand... the article gave me a little bit of hope.

On a quite different subject, I would like to mention some of my goals and projects for 2012. I previous years I have made a list of 10 routes that I would like to do that year. I usually end up doing very few of them. I get to the crag and see other stuff I want to try or I don't even go the crag cause I'm wanting to climb a new project I found or I just don't have enough time! So, this year I'm gonna do things a little differently. I still have a few projects (or routes that I would like to do that I hope don't become projects) in mind though.

It Is Warm Enough to Climb

So far this year I've probably gone climbing outside around 5 times (in Canada). So far I've only been to White Buddha and the Big Rock though. For those in the area who are wanting to climb the early season, here are few places that CAN be good in the early parts of the year:

1) White Buddha - it gets sun all day and is just oddly warm... even when places nearby are not. This crag has both bouldering and some short sport climbs.

2) The Dust Bowl (Moose Mountain) - not far from and similar to White Buddha

3) The Big Rock - a bouldering location near Okotoks. This place can be really nice early in the season. Look it up in the guide book "Bouldering in the Canadian Rockies".

4) Barrier Mountain - This place gets sun in the afternoon. It will get nice a bit later in the season than White Buddha but early than some of the other popular areas like Heart Creek or Grassi Lakes.

5) Wasootch Slabs - not far from Barrier. This is a destination that is mostly geared towards the beginner.

6) Bataan - This place gets a lot of sun and can be very climbable early in the season. That being said, I must give the usual warning that it does have a bit of a hike to get to the climbing. Also, I think the easiest route at Bataan is 5.10a and there aren't very many 5.10s either. So be warned.

7) Big Choss - I've never bouldered here but I'm thinking it could be doable in the early season. Someone let me know if they've tried!

There are a few other places to go to as well. Frank Slide might be a doable bouldering place this time of year and there are a couple other places in the Bow Valley but they are smaller/obscure.

Happy hunting!

Vance's Blog and a little bit about recent climbing

Here's a link to a blog with an eerily familiar sounding name! http://thealaskanclimber.blogspot.com/ 
It is a link to Vance's new blog. He's a guy we met in Red Rocks in January (see Red Rocks 2012 video below).

On a completely different note... I can't believe how warm it has been here this winter. Last weekend I went out to the Big Rock near Okotoks and bouldered for a few hours. It was so warm it was ridiculous for February. I'm hoping to get out to do some sport climbing here in the near future. Hopefully the weather stays awesome. I do have a week off of school soon. Maybe we'll be able to get out to one of the early season crags in the area. White Buddha, Moose Mountain's Dust Bowl, or Bataan. Maybe even Barrier Mountain. We'll see. :)

Red Rocks Climbing Trip 2012

Well, I made it out to Red Rocks near Las Vegas again this winter break! It was awesome. I went with my friends Claire and Tim, and our friend Kami met up with us down there. Claire had her hardest onight yet - Back Gold 5.10b at the Black Corridor. Tim learned how to lead climb, his first lead was on Brief Encounter 5.8 at the Panty wall. And I onsighted another 5.12a which was pretty sweet. I was also able to onsight some pretty cool 5.11s. I decided that like my trip to Skaha I was not really going to try to redpoint anything. I decided to focus entirely on onsighting - that way I get more routes in, instead of tiring myself out on one route. I made a video to document some of the awesomeness of the trip. It's a little bit long (20 minutesish) but I think it's pretty good and gets a bunch of the highlights in there.

Claire was complaining about how she hates the font "Comic Sans" so I made all of the fonts Comic Sans (alhtough I think I forgot to make the credits Comic Sans). I hope you enjoy it Claire! And I hope everyone else who watches enjoys it too!

We met a guy named Vance on the trip. I told him to check out my blog in like a weeks time. I included his TR ascent of Rebel Without a Pause 5.11b. If you ever see the video Vance make sure to leave a comment!

Without further ado, here's the video:
PS: If you watch the video from Vimeo's website you can watch it in HD!!! :)

Red Rocks Climbing Trip 2012 from MikeG on Vimeo.

Another Sweet Send

It was a little chilly on Saturday October 8th but we decided to go out to Grassi Lakes anyway! We had a fun time with frozen appendages (fingers, hands, toes) and managed to climb some stuff too! My gf and my friend Claire and I went out and climbed. We warmed up on a 5.9 at the White Imperialist Right wall called Lawyers, Guns and Money. It was alright. Then Claire hopped on her new project Meathooks 5.11a. She looked good on it. I think it's only a matter of time before she gets that one. I continued my warmup by cleaning Meathooks for Claire. We then headed over to the Gardener's wall where Claire climbed another 5.9. After that it was still sunny up at White Imperialist Right again so we headed back there.

There is a 5.12a up there that is a direct start into a 5.11a. I figured that would be a good candidate for an onsight since the the 12 crux is at the bottom. I had never onsighted a 12 before but definitely felt like it was in the realm of my possibilities. After a long time studying the bottom boulder problem I some how slapped my way through it. The rest of the route was a slightly overhanging 5.11a pumpfest. I was pretty pumped by the time I was near the top but I was not about to let go. It's a few days later now and I'm still excited about having onsighted that route and happy with my current physical shape. I have definitely pumped off of stuff easier than that in the past so it felt good to affirm that I have been progressing! Cool stuff. Climbing is so much fun. I should get some pics from this excursion from my friend to post on here soon.

Update: Some pictures,

Keeping the fingers warm.

Claire on Meathooks 5.11a

Me at the top of A Bold New Plan Direct 5.12a

The thumbs up from the anchor.