Beastin' It

A lot has happened over the last week and a half here in the desert.  One of my dawgs from CT. , Dan , flew in on the fifteenth psyched to climb and also make the journey back east with us. Also joining the crew is Will, our friend from the Yay who arrived bringing with him an outstanding bunch of aussies , Dave, Teegan, and Chris. Crawling out from the back of his pick up this morning and armed with his Nikkon D487659807 is our newest addition, photographer Pete “Stingray” Mc Dermott. We have all  been knocking them doors down.  Chris got straight to rippin’ Hueco a new one by beasting both Diabolic and Slash Face , completing each in under twenty minutes. After recovering from a beat rotator cuff a few few months back, Dan came of the couch to make a quick ascent of The Feather.  Dave has also been on a roll, making a quick ascent of Sex after Death along with most of the North Mt. classics. The lovely ladies Nikki and Teegan are looking sharp on Sex After Death as well.  Will has also been getting at it , falling a hair short on Sex and looking very strong on Better Eat your Wheaties. I predict that both problems will be in the satch for Will quite soon. With the arrival of January twenty first we have been witness to a lot of good stuff happening. The Bush regime has finally left the oval office ,the Obama’s have safely made it in, and Diabolic went down. SILK.........

Keep an eye out for Pete’s photographs, and enjoy the video footage of various problems being sent!

Beastin' It from Phillip Schaal on Vimeo.

Who's That Girl?

Really who is that girl?  Nikki has been gettin' after it lately.  The other day she hit her high mark, climbing Daily Dick Dose V7.  I'm so proud of all the hard work she's put into climbing.  Now she is starting to see the rewards of it.  Good job babe.

Watching Nikki climb her first V7 gave me a tremendous feeling .  I was more excited watching her succeed than the feeling I get when I succeed.  All of Nikki's hard work is paying off and it's reminded me of all the hard work I put into this sport.

When I was 15 I started going to the gym.  I was more interested in the hardware (harnesses, belay devices, chalk bags), than the actual climbing.  It showed too.  I sucked.  I couldn't do a single pull-up.  My friends burned me off with ease.  Soon there after I realized that I had zero natural talent for climbing and I needed to train.  First goal was to master the pull-up.  I asked my mom to buy me a pull-up bar.  Then I started jumping up to the top pull-up position (I had to jump since I couldn't use my arms to get me there), I would hold that position for as long as I could.  Working the negative force eventually gave me the strength to master the pull-up.  After the pull-up there were many things I had to work on and still I find myself looking for improvements.  What takes climbers starting out today to achieve, like bouldering V8 in a few years or maybe less than a year, would have taken me double if not triple the time. V5 took me 3 years, V8 took me 5, and 5.13 took me 4.

In the end the work has paid off and it will for anyone who is willing to suffer through it.

Now check out that girl.

El Techo...

Nikki and I finally made it back to North Mt. yesterday.  For the past couple of weeks Hueco's been a zoo.  North Mt. has been on complete lock down (unless you have res.), until now.  Most of the masses have left so now the park is less of a hassle.  

Yesterday I started out the day hooking up these beauties. 

Then finished off the day hooking up this Beauty.

I couldn't think of a better day. Hooking up some Nike SB's and knocking down a proj.  All in all the last couple of days have been stunning.  The weather's perfect and the crowds are leaving.  Good decision Nikki and I made about staying longer. 

Here's the video of El Techo, and I wanted to thanks Isaac Palatt for taking some nice pictures one of which is above.

That Go!!!

Nagual finally went down.  Maybe it was my new shirt or the rest days but whatever it was she went down first try today.  Nikki finished up the day with a nice flash of "Big Dick Jim", a cool V3 with a funny story.  Even funnier was that our guide for the day was the "real" big dick Jim.  Jim was a local in Hueco years back and was also one of the first boulders in RMNP.  I guess he is gifted in many ways.

So here it is,

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!

None of my Pj's would be complete without the fall at the last move burn.  It's frustrating but also comforting.  Like a lil' reassurance you're not in over your head.  The other day I had the "fall at the last move burn", on Nagual.  so I'm glad for the progress but frustrated I didn't finish.  I was just looking at the jug but I couldn't feel my finger tips,  punter!!!

After Nagual our tour moved over to East Mt.  Nikki wasn't climbing much and I was feeling spent after Nagual.  We were at the Crimping Christ boulder (which Ryan managed to satch up),  then we were on to the Dragon's Den.  Adam was keen to try The Butterpumper so we moved on the the Dark Heart.  Adam shortly made it through the bottom crux but, butterpumped out on the top out.  Next time.  I tried a few moves out for myself but saved myself for Le Chnikel, which is a dope roof next to The Butterpumper.  I fell on the top out the other day so I knew I could send.  I was tired but managed to make it through first try.  Unfortunately my "boys" were a bit ruffed up on the top out.

Then when we were packing it up for the day, Texas climbing legend Clayton Reagan, pulled on the The Butterpumper and climbed to the top.  Luckily I was there to catch the send which was at dusk so the footage is grainy.

Enjoy the video,

A lil' spray for the new year

For the past couple weeks things have been going smoothly.  I survived New Years without much damage, Nikki came back from CT, and I feel close to many a problem.  Now I need to consolidate and hopefully finish some of them off.  The one I'm closest to now is Nagual.  I'm weary talking about what I'm close to since in past blog posts I've fallen short of success on them.

All I can say is I hope I'll take care of business soon.

I was thinking, since I haven't had much to update about lately maybe I would release my tick list for 2008.  Its a bit vain I know but I'm not going to be on 8a anytime soon so how else can I spray about myself. 

So Here it is, all the boulder problems that made it into my little tick list book for 2008.

Fireball V10

Tool Shed Left V10

Friday the 13^th V10

Guerillas in the Mist V10

Silverback V10

Hard Boiled V11

Elegant Universe V11

The Gobot V11

Left El Jorge V11

Dead Raccoon V11

Barbed Wire Beard V11

Bush Pilot V11

Super Gui V11

Skipper Roof Left V11

Bully V11

Pro Series V11

Nazgul V11

Wik’s V11 (flash)

Phallus V11/12

Low left Veratas V12

Clear Blue Sky V12

Mental Masturbation V12

Shadow Warrior V12

European Human Being V12

Wild Cat V12

Stranger in a Strange Land V12

Riddles in the Park V12

The Mystery V12

The Centaur V12

No More Greener Grasses V12

Dark Waters V12

Lockness Monster V12

Freshly Squeezed V12/13

Don’t get too Greedy V13

Nothing but Sunshine V13

Freaks of the Industry V13

The Automator V13

Direction V13

Crown of Aragorn V13

I just want to add one more thing and say thanks to anyone that has found there way to this blog.  I wish you all the best in 2009.