Hound Ears...

Post savage climbing day.

Hound Ears was lot of fun. A lot of sharp holds and many problems left me brutalized.

I think I may have ended up 4th which is cool since every problem I did was new for me. And all were done with 5 split tips. One tip had 3 splits on it WTF!!!

The hardest one I climbed was called Random Man V11,

Thanks to Dave Wetmore for the stills. And check out www.meaning2memorize.com for Max making the 2nd ascent and me having a nice freak out. Just one of many I had during the day. I know I'm a P. Ham.

All jokes aside the comp was great and I would tell anyone to go. The organizers did a great job and if I'm around next year I'll be there.

A report from the CO high country is that a fresh foot+ has fallen. This may be the end of season but you never know what will happen up there. It could be 80 deg. tomorrow.

Training Hard...

Climbing in RMNP can be pretty dangerous.

But in the end its worth it.

I've been climbing alot outside preparing for this weekend. Tomorrow I'm leaving for the first of the Triple Crown Bouldering Comps. The first comp kicks off Saturday morning at Hound Ears, outside Boone N.C.. I lived in Boone for 4 months during the fall of 1999. I climbed my first V6 and V7 there at Blowing Rock. My time in Boone opened the door to bouldering for me. Needless to say I'm excited to go back for the first time in 10 years.

Yesterday as my final training day, I headed back to Upper Chaos to circuit and climb Pterodactyle. The weather was snowy and a bit wet. The thought of toping out the highball-ish Pterodactyle seemed crazy so I headed over to the savage little Friday the 13th.

After running a lap the skies cleared but enough to give Pterodactyle a burn.

After figuring it out the other evening. I knew I had a good shot to send first try. I pulled on and pumped my way to the top. I had dropped back from here two times before. This time I knew what to do and toped it out. Not that it's the scariest thing I've climbed but it's the scariest in a while so my heart was beating pretty fast. I spent the rest of the day circuiting and left exhausted.

When get back from N.C. I'll be spending most of my remining time in the park this season, suffering on Aslan.

Fall Time...

Yesterday my wingman J.P. and I headed to Mt. Evans for a late afternoon sesh. As readers may remember the last time I went to Evans my finger looked like this.

Last time,

This time my finger looked like this,

Which means that I finished Ode,

J is unfortunately recovering from shoulder surgery and didn't get to climb. I finished off the day repeating some classics,

hopeing to get some training in for Hound Ears next weekend. Fall is here and the conditions are perfect.

I Comb My Hair Like God...

Today I went to the park with my side kick Matt. We arrived to what looked like primo conditions.

Bear lake.

I wanted to finish off my project, the undone low start to Jamie Emerson's Mirkwood. Matt was keen on Mirkwood so off we went. The clouds backed off a bit as we made it to our destination. But there was still some snow in the air. I was close last time to sending the low start so after warming up I managed it second try.

I'm not one for re-naming a sit start or low start. But since everyone else does I'm naming it, I Come My hair Like God V12(maybe). I'm not sure about the grade. My gut tells me v11 but I don't want to be a sandbagger.

Matt was doing well on Mirkwood,

But then this got in his way,

Later we walked down to Top Notch, I had been trying this for a while now. I could never do the first move. After a beta discussion I was enlightened to a new way to do the first move. And it worked.

I was really happy to finish Top Notch. The name says a lot about the problem, it is one of the best, high caliber problems.

After a day like this lunch was well deserved,

Video of each problem coming soon.

The Last Day Of Summer...

I went up to the park this past Tuesday.

It just happened to be the last day of summer. From the picture it looks more like the first day of winter. It's ok though I know it's not over yet.

On the bright side my friends from Dungeon Training arrived,

They were sycked to see me and I predict the best of times to come.

Today I was blessed with the new Team shoe from 5.10,

I can't wait to climb in these. I'm also prediction that these shoes will become my new favorite.

Today my mates from Dungeon Training are arriving. They are making the trip from the Yay Area, driving out in style.

I'm very sycked to have the bro's out here. And just when the temps are dropping and the summer is ending.

Good form!

Ode..

Yesterday I made my first trip of the season to Mt Evans. My bro's and I left early to ensure we'd get there before the sky's opened up on us. I had my mind set on finishing up Ode since I was close last year.

I was making good progress

until,

I looked back to my last blog entry about Ode and came across this familiar image,

Kind of a bummer. Once I heal up I'll be back again. Hopefully with out another picture.