Maple Canyon Climbing over Halloween

The first day we were in Maple Canyon we headed up to the Pipedream Cave. Having just finished setting a bouldering competition the massive lines out the cave with 20+ bolts were not all that appealing knowing I would just get completely shelled. Instead Mark and I warmed up on a couple of routes right of the main cave then headed to the furthest left route that gets regular action, Orgasmo. This 5.12+ was a fun route for sure but it also made it quite obvious that my endurance needed a bit of work, although I did manage to fight through the pump and finish, that one route pretty much ended my day of climbing.

Half way up Orgasmo 5.12c, photo by Kate Anderson

 Linda did several warm-ups including this one, The Waterfall Route

Linda on The Waterfall Route 5.11b

 Before trying Dry Times which follows a fun corner up a steep wall. I finished the day by getting beat down on The Diggler, which by now seems like ritual for me when I head up to the Pipedream. The route used to be graded at least 5.13b and now people call it at easy as 5.12d because there is a near no-hands knee-bar in the middle of the route. Well I suck at knee-barring and can't rest there to save my life, making the route feel harder than anything I've done at Maple.

The next day Linda, Kate and I climbed at the Low Standard Cave while Mark took a rest day. This is a wall I had looked at at least a few times over the years but never actually climbed at. To the left and right of the cave are a few very long routes from 5.10- to 5.12- while the cave hosts several 5.13's long with a few variations. We did a couple of the long routes to warm up before I decided, what the heck and gave the most obvious and traveled of the 5.13's, Welcome to Fitness, a burn. Being a shorter route I figured I had a shot at sending it. The start went pretty smoothly and I was quickly at what appeared to be the crux, 2 moves into it a hold appeared that I had not seen from the ground, to use it or not to...I decided that while it was not as good as the hold I was on it would make the next move shorter so I moved my feet quickly and fired through to an obvious rest in a big horizontal break. After camping out I romped up the final head wall to the anchor, always a nervous point for me since you can't see the holds as well from the ground and you are more flying by feel. I was happy to clip the chains and redeem myself somewhat.

The following day Linda and I rested while Mark and Kate climbed. We headed to the cliff with them to help watch Logan, their little boy, or belay while Kate of Mark watched him. They chose to climb in The Box which was one of the first areas developed and a spot I had first climbed at 15 or 16 years ago on my first visit to Maple Canyon. Here is Dylan hanging out,

 When Logan was occupied with food or toys and Kate was able to belay Mark I took the opportunity to set up a fixed line and shoot some photos. Here is Mark attempting a short but very powerful 5.13- in The Box called, Meathook Sodomy.

Mark Anderson on Meathook Sodomy 5.13a

 And here he is on Captain Bullet, another 5.13- that overhangs the road. Sadly, on this route he skipped a clip at the lip of the roof hoping for better holds above that did not materialize. This meant he had to make a choice between going for the anchors and risking a ground fall if he blew it or jumping off before he got too high which he opted for.

Mark Anderson on Captain Bullet 5.13a

 On the last day, everyone was climbing again. We started the day at The Minimum and headed to Cragganmore to finish. We mostly took the opportunity to get on bunch of long routes but nothing much too hard, except for Linda who managed to on-sight Zoaster Toaster, 5.11+ at The Minimum. Even though I've climbed several times at The Minimum I managed to only climb routes that I had not been on before which was great. I always try to make it a goal to at least do one new route each day I'm out, and on this day I managed to climb only routes I'd not done before. The afternoon at Cragganmore was great and I got the chance to climb the big routes of Daddy and Popcorn, pictured below.

Climbing Popcorn 5.12b at Cragganmore, photo by, Mark Anderson

Easter and Christmas

We've gotten busy lately. Dylan started soccer on Wednesday evenings to go along with karate 2 days a week after school.

 Linda did not get injured like myself and is in her "peak" for climbing. After finishing off the route at Socorro she moved on to Straight on Till Morning which she sent 2 weekends ago. It is just her second 5.12c ever, her first coming when we were on a 2 month road trip, so not bad results for one training cycle. She has since moved on to this route, Rubber Mission.

 I've been bolting a few things down at the tower as well. Most still need a bit more cleaning, though one is finished and I lead another on one bolt and a couple of sketchy cams, just to get it done, it could use about 4 more bolts.

So since Easter rolled around we decided it would be a good time to take down...

 Christmas decorations.

Linda dressed Dylan up for the day and was quite pleased with results.

 I took Dylan to the aquarium so Linda could have some quiet time to work on taxes. They were feeding the animals in the shark tank while wearing rabbit ears.

 Later on Sunday we had a nice dinner with the Eckstein family. Dylan loves all of them and the dogs.

Trinity, their daughter set up an Easter egg hunt for him and they repeated the hiding and finding several times.

On another note, this past weekend was Open Nationals for route climbing in Boulder, CO. Our local hard woman, Page Brown headed out and made finals.

Climbing and more Climbing

In the last month we've been getting out to Socorro a fair bit. Linda started working on a really good route there called Bat out of Hell that is quite sandbagged at 5.11d. With all the trips out there I found myself a little project in a new route to the right of the Demon. It even fit in with where I was in training, an easy start up to a hard boulder problem with holds that are all decent size but oriented the wrong way or far apart and topped with a romp to the finish.

It took me 2 sessions on TR, though the first was on self belay, to figure out how to do the boulder problem. Then on a third day I went back, bolted and climbed the route in a couple of tries, I decided to name it Devil's Plaything. Good thing too because it is starting to get too hot out there. We made one more trip out to Major Wall and Linda wrapped up Bat out of Hell, here is Linda finishing out here successful ascent.

At some point in this whole time Mark (aka: Monomaniac) and Kate came out and I headed to the Enchanted Tower for a day with them and their 1 year old. Mark and I got on Child of Light which has really cool movement but exploits all my weaknesses as a climber (shallow pockets and high overhead shoulder moves). While Kate got to run several climbs and get used to climbing outside more. More about it HERE in their blog. 

We managed to get in a trip to Hueco this past weekend. We had made reservations for volunteer tours only to find out that most of the guides left at the end of the week and no volunteer tours were going out leaving us waiting at the gate to get in. We got lucky the first day and some friend that were in line ahead of us knew a guide that was already in the park and was able to come out and get us on his tour. On the second day we checked to see if there was a guide for the tour we had signed up for then headed to the Rock Ranch to set up a commercial tour which is expensive ($20 per person vs. $4). We managed to get on one of their tours and it happened that another group from Albuquerque was with us. Here is a shot of Dylan doing some "V-5" bouldering, as one person on the tour described this wall.

 And Richard, from ABQ bearing down on the start of D.I.G. which is a fun but painful problem that I flashed years ago and Richard flashed on this day. I highly recommend taping your tips if you get on this problem.

Anyway, dealing with Hueco as always turned into a big hassle. 

On the other hand Today I made it back out to Socorro with Dylan and a friend, Karl to put up another new route. Yes, it is now too hot to climb, at least anything hard in the sun there, but this was an easier and friendlier route than the last. The end result is HERE I have not decided on a name yet or know if there was a previous one for the line, but it is another nice option to warm up on for future visits. 

Weekend in Austin

This past weekend we headed to Austin to visit with Linda's family. Dylan had not seen his cousins since sometime early this year before we headed to China. 

Dylan checking out the cockpit of the Southwest  plane that we flew out on.

On Saturday after the cousins were ready to head off to their respective weekend activities we met up with Thu, Nat, Noah, Matt and Katie to climb at Flat Creek. In the past there has been plenty of water for the kids to play in and for us to cool down in between burns right in front of the cave. Right now there is almost no water.

Thu walking with the boys in the dry stream bed.

Anyway, Linda continued to work on Scapegoat, a very steep 5.12. I ran a couple of laps on a 5.11+ so that Katie could work it on TR, it was her first time climbing at Flat and her first time on a rope since she had Tyler.

Katie with Tyler, who has amazingly fat thighs, you have to fight to get the pants on and off.

Katie managed to get the route down to one hang on her second try, not bad for someone that gave birth less than 7 months ago. Though she climbed her first 5.11 when she was 7 month pregnant so it really is not a surprise, probably won't be long before she climbs 5.12 as long as she and Matt manage to get out regularly. After the warm up I surprised myself by fighting my way up a new route for the flash. It is a route Vinnie put up this year and I don't remember the name but the climbing was good and thankfully had a jug and a good rest right before the top out or I surely would have fallen trying to top out. After that I struggled my way up Scapegoat  hanging on pretty much every bolt, my skin but mostly forearms, had had enough.

Overall t was a promising day of climbing for me. After the rush to get in shape for Paris-Brest-Paris I am not desperately trying to get into climbing shape to set for a competition in the middle of next month. As a setter I don't need to be able to climb the boulder problems but I do need to be able to do the moves. Needless to say, being able to peddle a bike forever has not helped my ability to climb. While climbing Vinnie's route would have been a given on many other occasions that I've visited Flat, it is at this time the first route I've done of that grade in at least 6 months and a good marker for where I stand as far as getting back into climbing shape.

On Sunday I borrowed a bike  from Pam (one of Patricia's friends) and rode with a group for the "cream cheese ride" which starts at an Einstein's Bagels and goes about 60 miles. I felt pretty good for the first 50 miles or so until the 100 degree heat got to me and I hit the wall and went into survival mode. Jason, the group leader was nice enough to slow up and pull me in to the finish where I started lunch with chocolate milk and a cookie followed by chips, bagel sandwich and juice then more water in about 15 minutes.

Monday was a lazy day. Linda and I found a pool that was open in James' subdivision and hung out there for a bit then got lunch with her mom and sister before heading to the airport. At this point without Monday the week seems to be going pretty fast, nice.

China Post #40 Yangshuo 1

Quick post before we head off to Linda's home town where we will not have internet access.

Busy night scene on West Street in Yangshuo.

On our first day we hired a "guide" to take us climbing. It was going to cast us about half as much to rent a rope and hire a car to get us out there and back anyway. Our guide, Dane, was great with Dylan and Popo so it was well worth the 400 yuan. We headed to the Egg on the first day, the trail head.
Popo and Dylan hanging out in an arch that separates 2 sections of cliff at the Egg.
Dylan with Popo and GonGong.
Linda cleaning a 5.10+ that was really reachy in the upper half.
Interesting family store next door to the climbing shop that we used and hired Dane through.
Whoops, forgot to rotate this one. Anyway, this is the sign at the gate to Moon Hill, lucky for us they don't enforce it, it is probably meant more for scrambling though.
The view looking out through the moon hill arch back down at the village where our hotel was.
Starting up the great route, Over the Moon 5.12c
High on Over the Moon, right before my lack of climbing and related fitness reared its ugly head resulting in various responses from the spectating hikers.
After my battle I needed a cold drink which we bought from this little 70 year old woman that hikes up the 800 steps to Moon Hill every day with a cooler, she also has beer.
Our guide/friend Dane riding the Flying Horse, the Chinese name for Over the Moon, while cleaning the route.
This is the sign that guards the trail to get to the actual top of the Moon Hill arch.
Linda and I climbing the pole planted in the very top of Moon Hill.
The family in front of the hotel in the small village below Moon Hill, the Yangshuo Village Inn.

Jaxon's birthday party, distress and a frozen river

This weekend Dylan's friend, Jaxon West turned 3. His parents went over the top in making the invitations and setting up a pirate party. Here is a shot of a pirate ship that Jason made for the kids to play in.

Jason also got to drink a bunch of beer (tough assignment) to generate bottles to stuff the invitations into, think treasure map stuffed in a bottle. Will post a photo of this later.

Dylan was quite upset this evening over really nothing. Here is one of the things that got him worked up. We give him sections of the newspaper as a placemat for eating and tonight he did not want to eat so he pretended that there was a snake in his placemat and was rolling it up. Next the snake escaped and so he got more aggressive about trying to keep it contained. He crumpled the paper up after rolling it, but being a whole section of the paper it would not stay crumpled which lead to a fit. Eventually we were able to get him to calm down by letting him put rubber bands around the paper to keep it crumpled and the snake from escaping.

Last, here is a video of Dylan playing with Aiden, the son of one of Linda's co-workers, at Upper East Fork when we were up there last weekend.

New FA? at Upper East Fork

On Friday Dylan and I headed up to Upper East Fork in the Jemez Mountains to climb with Chris E, his doggies and Matt Moore. I'd been putting some effort into a project on Monster Wall as had a couple other guys from Los Alamos. There are 2 ways to climb through the crux section and the first time I got on the route i was trying the holds to the right of the bolts which are nasty and thin. The second time I got on it about a month ago the right line of holds had chalk on them and it seemed way more doable. Nice moves compressing on an arete.

It took a month before I was able to make it back up to the wall and we were hiking in through snow which I was happy about because it had been too hot just 1 month ago and the wall bakes in the sun. I hung the draws after warming up and re-learned the moves. There is a long sideways move at the top that had me a bit worried and on the send I barely caught the hold but managed to bear down on it and fight through to the top. Here is a shot that Mat Moore took on his iPhone, the only camera we had, of the send when I was just above the crux. While there are several people that were hoping this route would be 5.14- since it is a relatively appealing line and would be one of the longer routes of the grade in the state making it easier on the body it is likely 5.13c or d, I'm not really sure which, others can decide when they do it.

Matt did the 5.12c, Godzilla Meets Bambie with ease on his second try, only one move kept him from doing it on his first attempt. Chris managed to do all the individual moves on the new route even though he has not really been climbing. Dylan had a blast playing with the dogs and making apple sauce (snow and dirt) and even got to swing a bit.

Now I don't know if either of the other two guys working this had climbed it clean or not. Since there were still quickdraws on it through the hardest section it is safe to assume that one of them was still working on it. So I think that the name of Mike Wazowski (the little one eyes guy from Monsters Inc) is a good name since it is on Monster Wall, for now anyway. Thanks to Josh Smith for bolting and cleaning the line several years ago even though he could not do it himself at the time.

Pictures, no Words

Thanksgiving Week

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

We are having an entertaining stay in Austin for the holiday week.

Dylan did great on the drive out, even napping when we asked him to on the second day.

Our first day out here Linda and I headed to Riemer's Ranch to do some climbing with Matt and Katie (who is almost 6 months pregnant) and Thu and Natalie. I was experiencing an "I hate Riemer's" day, climbing like crap and in general not enjoying the activity though I did have a good time hanging out with friends. Katie nearly sent her second 5.11 ever, before she got pregnant she had only climbed 5.10, so the bigger she gets the harder she climbs, go figure, Linda could not climb after about 4 months. Linda worked out the moves on Learning to Crawl, which is a pretty stiff 5.12c with lots of powerful moves and no real rests. Matt finally laid to rest Super Cruiser 5.13b which he probably got on the first day he climbed at Riemer's maybe 3 years ago and claimed it was easy and would go down any try, well 3 years later and countless tries it finally did.

On Tuesday I did a 200km permanent, which was basically a combination of 2 local rides. One, the dam loop is largely in town with a handful of big (for Texas) climbs and the other, the Fitzhugh full on Flog is an out and back to Johnson City (home of Lyndon B.), called a flog because of the endless rolling hills.

On Wednesday, Thu got off work early and we headed out to the crag which is on land that he and Nat own, Flat Creek. Dylan and Noah had a great time playing naked in the creek and sharing food. The adults had a good time pulling on some steep rock and Linda worked out the moves on Scapegoat 5.12b and basically did it with 1 hang on her second try to lead the route. Thu came quite close to finishing off the 5.13b he has been working for the last few months and Nat got some good beta for the crux section of the route she has been working on. I on-sighted Amnesia 5.13a and Carl's Route 5.12c, it is always interesting finishing routes at Flat since there are no anchors. You have to mantle and top out, then rest and reverse the mantle and drop. We will probably be headed to Flat again tomorrow, hopefully, and with cooler weather.

Today is a big Thanksgiving party at Linda's sisters house with family and their friends. Since just about everything is closed today I got to make blue cheese hamburgers for everyone for lunch. I think we finished 6 pounds of meat, but there may have been 15 people.

I have some photos of the kids playing in the creek and Linda climbing that I will try to get up once I can downsize them.

Dylan with Buzz and a Weekend of Climbing

Here is a video of Dylan playing with his Buzzlight Year toy.

On Saturday we headed to Datil which should be too cold to climb at by this point, but instead it was too warm to climb in the sun. It seems as though it is going to be a warm and dry winter. Linda got back on "Straight on till Morning" which is 5.12c she had tried once a couple of years ago. She nearly did it on her second try this time around. It would only be her second route of the grade that she had done. Hopefully it will stay warm enough for us to make another trip out this year so she can get it done.

On Sunday I headed up to the Sandias with John Kear to try and climb a new route that was put up earlier this year called Daisy, named after the first ascentionists dog, that is reportedly 5.13. John had gotten on the route on Friday and worked out the moves but not been able to link it without falling because it was too hot, how can it be too hot at 10,000 feet in November? We warmed up by climbing a couple of pitches up a neighboring route since the hard pitch was the first off the ground. John then gave a great fight, squeezing for all he was worth and nearly puking and managed to send the route for the second? ascent and after watching him on it I was able to do the route first try as well. It probably is low end 5.13 and not mid range but still a great route. The second pitch is really fun and quite a bit easier on good hold up a steep red wall. Sadly the last pitch leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth as the rock quality deteriorates dramatically and it seems as though the first ascent party did not put much effort into cleaning it, though they may have put more time into cleaning it than the other pitches it could still use some more. All in all a pretty good day out in the mountains for John and I, and a really good route if you can look past the final pitch.

Photos from Sitting Bull Falls

Here are some photos from our second weekend at Sitting Bull Falls. These first ons were taken by Matt Menotti who came out with Katie from Austin to meet us for Labor Day weekend. This is me hanging the draws for everyone on Counting Coup 5.12, which is one of the best routes of its grade in the state. Linda sent this on her first try one she gave up on the very reachy short person beta and used a real hod that made the moves shorter. This is at the start of the route just getting up to the rest before the hardest moves.
Her I am in the middle of the crux.
Counting Coup is a great route and very fun. Linda was quite pleased with her success and it started a string of days out climbing during which she climbed a 5.12 every day. including the next day when she did the 5.12a to the left in 2 tries.

This second group were taken by our friend Matt Moore who works with me at the climbing gym and the are on Kootenai Cruiser which is 5.13+ and I managed to do on my second try.

There is some physical climbing on underclings to get up to the hardest section.
Followed by a very physical clip,
And capped by a pretty long throw to a good edge,
Which I barely caught.
Then a ways to the anchor on easier 5.12 climbing.
Finishing off Kootenai Cruiser means that I've finished off the cliff, except for the undone project right out the middle which has some very viscous looking holds on it and will probably require someone with much stronger tendons than mine. Something about the shallow sloping two finger pocket and V slot mono that is only a pad on a 45 degree wall with poor feet is unappealing to me, though if we go back I need to try something....