Finally an update

I didn't post anything for a really long time because our climbing gym was closed after summer quarter for a little over a month, and I didn't get to do any climbing while I was in Japan. So, there was nothing climbing-related to really talk about.

But School is now back in full swing and I'm back to climbing a lot. It took me a good two weeks to get my full strength and endurance back, which isn't really saying much but it really sucked during the first week.

I got a little tired of bouldering but they set up a lot of cool new problems that caught my attention again. I'm projecting V3's as usual, although I just need to overcome the mental block that prevents me from doing what I have to do to prowl through whatever crux there is.

My sport climbing is more or less the same...I went outdoors to World Wall I over at Exit 32 today with David, Max, Natalie and Jessie. It was a little intimidating at first because the routes there are 5.10a - 5.14b. I did two 5.9's and wasn't really feeling that good about them. I bouldered intensely the day before so I figured I was just tired, because I took a lot of takes on the second 5.9. Outdoor climbing still makes me edgy, I suppose you just have to get used to it.

But then I got on a 5.10 c , named 'Son of Jesus' and I prowled through it. Stemming's my best technique so far, I don't know if I'd even be able to do a normal 5.10b on a slab. There was a 5.11b called aboriganee (typo) that I really wanted to try but never got around to it. David and Max did some 5.12a's....I'll get there some day.

Lonely Online

I just realized I don't have anybody on my AIM list that climbs or knows what I'm talking about when I talk about climbing. Err, there's Andrew Cheung, but he hasn't really been into it and whenever we talk online it's usually about relationships/women. Anyways, it's lame! I talk so much to other climbers in the gym all the time.

Today was especially cool and packed for some reason. I met Nathan Fuerst again. We exchanged numbers a month ago but never got back to each other about climbing and he was in the gym today. He's pretty strong and climbs at about V5-V7 outdoors and at stone gardens, but at the UW gym he's humbled by V4, which is pretty encouraging. He said if I ever went out and climbed at other places I'd be 'pleasantly surprised.'

I've been climbing with these guys Brad and Jeff, both older grad students who have a few years of climbing under their belt. It kicks my ass everytime but I make much more progress and I'm getting much stronger because of it, feels good.

There's still some V2's I can't do for the life of me but I'm putting together a few V3's. I guess this means that I should be able to do V5 (at best) elsewhere. The current bar is V15 and V16, so let's see how far I can push it...

Teh

Sent Caveman Games, a V2/3 set by Glenn. Sent the 'walls of avalon', weird 5.9 route. Not much new.

I started projecting a V3 set by Alex spott, and I'm pretty close. I just have to connect all the moves. Took me a solid hour yesterday just to figure out the start, and one of the more experienced guys had to help me out on it.

Wilson and Andy are coming back soon. Should be fun to climb with them.

This summer I've probably been 'test dummy' in 6+ belay tests for various people. Basically when people get their belay tests done, they need a climber (me) to go up while one of the other guys tests their actual knowledge and watches their belay technique. I just go up and take some falls (on purpose) really.

Matt (the manager) knows my name and he's pretty relaxed with me. I think it's just cuz I go in all the time, one of maybe like 5 regular climbers during the summer quarter. I forgot my shoes once and had to rent some, and he let me have some chalk for free, etc etc. Small things like that.

It's nice, maybe I'll get a job there.

Exit 38 pics

Andres on 5.11a 'steep street', he actually did it. Ryland redpointed it to set up the top rope. I almost got past the crux, I really want to go back and give it another go.




















Me sending my first 5.10c - 'Open project'






















This is the insane bastard who was climbing with a broken leg. It was a 5.11 something too...god.





















Erika and I on 5.9's, way easier than they look.

That's the best of them, with me anyway. There's a ton of others, if you're seeing this you probably have my facebook and you can see them there anyway.

Climbing at Exit 38

Apparently the routes in the gym are 'sandbagged' as Chris puts it. It basically means that the routes in the UW gym are way harder than they're rated at. Erika, Andres, Kevin, Chris Ryland and I all went out to Exit 38 yesterday to get some outdoor climbing in. I flashed a lot of 5'9s, knife in the toaster, blockhead, had to take due to Chris's jynx on one of them. The first 9 was over at write-off rock, and then the rest were at 'we did it rock'. I even did a 5.10c (10+) that was called 'open project' in the book. The book is a little over 2 years old though, so it should have a name and stuff in the next edition. We stayed in deception crags area, then went down to substation.

We were in substation earlier practicing repelling on a 5.7 crack under this bridge, when we got there we decided it was far too crowded so we went on over to a wall called Nevermind. Ryland led a 5.11a for us to try. I almost got around the crux (which happened to be at the very start) but ran out of juice. Andres got it after a few tries, which was really inspiring.

There was a guy who had a broken leg in a cast and he was still climbing...he was actually doing well too which was both crazy and amazing.

There's a few new V2's I've been working on that I've managed to piece together most of the moves, but by the time I figured them out 3 hours in today I was just spent. I couldn't even repeat some of the warm-up problems I usually do, so I just took that as a sign to call it a day. I posted pics on facebook, but I suppose I'll post some here later.

Epic Climbing

I didn't sleep last night.

Today I tried my first crack route ever, a 5.9, forgot the name. Flashed it.

Went up a 5.10b right after that. First 10.b ever and it was amazing. I had to take a few times, but only because I was trying to onsight it. Next time I'll be able to do it clean.

Went and got revenge on the 5.7 I fell off of two weeks ago and destroyed it in about 20 seconds.

My boulder projects are starting to come into play.

I'm really happy right now.

Going Up

I'm really not that much of a fan of top roping. I've been up enough times now to really kind of have a feel for what it's like. Even if I send a route I just don't really get that much of a sense of satisfaction out of it. I don't know. I can think of a few reasons why I don't really enjoy it as much as bouldering.

1) I'm not that good at it - this is a pretty standard reason for why people don't like anything I guess. I know I can do all the moves, I just have terrible efficiency when I'm going up, and the routes are often long enough that I can't look and plan it out.

2) I'm nervous - even though I'm not conscious about being actually 'afraid' of heights - I'm not. I think I'm always a bit more tense/anxious when I'm going up a top route. It rarely flows really well with me either.

3) Gear - setting up/using gear is sometimes cumbersome for me. I know it's a complete serious necessity in vertical climbing, and I should take it far more seriously than I do, and one day I probably will.

4) It's much harder to project - If you get stuck at a spot on a route, and you want to keep trying during the next day and such, you have to get all the way back to the point where you get stuck at. It uses up a lot of energy and time. If you get stuck on a boulder problem you can just keep getting back on over and over again without any hassle.

5) Less Creative - At the level I can currently top rope, there really isn't all that much creativity in the moves. You pretty much just go up.


So, in short, I'm much more into bouldering. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. I like top roping/leading as well, but currently most of my peers are much better vert climbers than I am, so it's hard to really be inspired. With bouldering I can at least keep up with them, and I progress at it much faster. You can just hang out with people and watch a boulder sequence and just hang out. When you're up top roping you're all alone. There's tons more reasons but I'm getting bored with this...

My First Climbing Blog

So I finally did it. I made a climbing blog, taking that one ever so slight step further into obsession.
I talked too much about my experiences climbing in my own personal blog, so I decided to make one here.

'nth ascent' seemed fitting, because I highly doubt I'll be lucky enough to have a first ascent of my own one day, but who knows?