Erich's World

Friend of the Week

2012-02-01T11:57:00.001-08:00

While I spend my time in school, my friends in Boone are crushing rigs. This makes me very sad but happy for them at the same time. They might have climbed more rocks this week but could they draw an ER diagram or create a digital photojournalism display in 4 different platforms and host it as a part of the cloud? I think not. A certain rock climbing spray site combined with facebook and various text messages and phone calls clued me into what my friends have been up to lately.

First up is Brian Clevenger who climbed Black Crack at Blowing Rock (or the tongue in cheek name, Jimmy Webb Crack) and downgraded it in the process. Like a greyhound, BClev sleeps a lot and saves his energy for when it really matters. Below is a cool shot of Taylor McNeill on Black Crack from Dalton Hilfinger.

It might have been last week, but Dalen climbed Don Johnson on the 221 Circuit. This below is another one of Taylor McNeill climbing. I don't know who took the shot.

Even Tilley climbed a few this week including Apocalypse Prow at Lost Cove and Brackish Water at Rumbling Bald.

WINNER!

Cody Brys is on quite a streak having climbed The Devil, Brackish Water, Love Rocket, Clamper, All Jazzed Up, Thresh Weasel, Zen, and probably some others all in the last 7-10 days! Good show old boy. C Beibs is on a roll much to the delight of teenage girls everywhere.

A shot of Cody on All Jazzed Up

Hands Across America

2012-01-29T09:56:00.000-08:00

My buddy Andrew Miller climbed "Hands Across America" at T Wall. From what I hear it was quite an epic send. Quite a determined effort. Way to go buddy!

Here is a picture of Rob Robinson on the route from Climbing Magazine.

2012-01-23T13:10:00.000-08:00

Rock climbing is all well and good but I have really been missing skiing lately. I have heard App terrain park built its best jump ever and an epic session (by North Carolina standards) went down over the weekend including some switch double rodeos from Berkley Wilcox. Let me remind you, this is not the first double to go down at App. Charlie Owens laid down a double frontflip a few years ago. This brought me back to a few incredible jump sessions I have had at App over the years. One in particular comes to mind. I even remember the date. February 1st 2007. The stars rarely align to create a good jump with good conditions in North Carolina but this day we had 40 degrees, a 55 foot jump and sunny skies. All the homies were out: Ross, Chase, Grayson, Josh P, Drew, a bunch of snowboarders, and more. People were stomping everything from zero spins to 1080s. I was 19 years old. Life was good.

There are a ton of other good days to remember. The day Berkley, Owens and I sessioned a slushy jump one night but learned about 5 tricks a piece, a day at Northstar with Josh hitting the leftover Mack Dawg jump, a solid week of at Mammoth in May of 2008 with the biggest jumps I have ever hit (80-85 ft?).

I feel like a war hero recounting his days of glory, except I was never a very good skier. I wish I had pictures to remember all these days but I sadly do not. It would at least make for a more interesting blog post.

I booked a ticket to Portland, OR for spring break. I am sooooooooo ready to spend a week in Bend, Oregon skiing at Mt. Bachelor. I might get out and climb at Smith Rocks for a day if I can swing it.

Just to show you the state of things in park skiing today, here is a video of Tom Wallisch KILLING the Breckenridge park.

A Walk in the Park - Tom Wallisch from Jiberish on Vimeo.

Shit People Say

2012-01-21T14:34:00.000-08:00

Its all the rage these days on the internet. Here are two I can really relate to.

Shit Skiers Say

Shit Climbers Say

Shit Climbers Say from Louder Than 11 on Vimeo.

RIP Sarah Burke

2012-01-19T14:19:00.000-08:00

The best female freeskier who ever lived passed away today. Sarah Burke was 29 years old and died after sustaining head injuries after a crash in Park City's superpipe a few days ago. RIP Sarah. You will be missed.

Emily Pomfrey is now a rock star! Check out this Misty add in the upcoming Rocktown guidebook.

MLK Weekend

2012-01-16T17:29:00.001-08:00

I have been a bit down in the dumps since coming back to Chapel Hill for school for a variety of reasons. This weekend did a good job cheering me up. It just goes to show me a huge reason why I like rock climbing. It makes me happy!

Today, MLK Day, I had no school so Robert and I made a trip to Moore's Wall. This was my 2nd time climbing there. It was a bit cold. Tilley is a good friend and came to visit from Boone and supply some bro power. We did not exactly get an alpine start but after getting warmed up we tried a few cool problems including Tsunami, which Robert punted in shameful fashion. I flailed on it, this one is really not my style, and my tips were pretty bad from Asheboro on Saturday, which I will get to later. Afterwards we headed to the Valley and tried Proper Modulation. This one is a classic! Tilley and I sent it with the old one-two punch. Afterwards, I gave Luna some love and they had to go home. Robert and I then went to the The Vandal, which is a beautiful feature but not really much fun to climb on, which bummed me out. Maybe I missed beta? We ended the day climbing some more moderate problems including Boy Love (eliminate but fun) and Jay Z/Beyonce. Robert and I didn't actually climb that much, we were both tweaking some body part or another, it was cold, and I was pretty thrashed after Asheboro. Regardless, the day was fun.

Tilley getting properly modulated.

I made a trip to Asheboro on Saturday, as I previously stated. This place gets a bad rap sometimes, but I don't know why. It is a really unique and techy style. I will say the climbing is a bit one-dimensional and really wouldn't want to come here too often. I met some people, made some friends, and thrashed my tips pretty badly.

Here you can see Bennett climbing FUSP. You might recognize his signature yell, or maybe his right hand (he is missing his right pinky).

Bennett and I tried this at the end of the day. I was close, but Bennett climbed it. Way to go buddy. That topout is not a gimme.

Another highlight from Asheboro was Johnny Quest and Johnny Quest direct, the latter being pretty tall, insecure and scary!

One of the Greensboro dudes groping some bad slopers. You can't tell from this angle why the problem is called Dolly Parton, but from the ground it is very obvious.

Last but not least, is this weeks PUNT OF THE WEEK (POTW)

Honorable mention- Robert for punting Tsunami. See above for details.

Winner!- Ryland for punting 2 problems on her trip down south. First was Slush Puppy at Horse Pens, which has foiled her several years in a row now. Second was Tri-Star at Little Rock City, which she later redeemed herself on. Bad form Ryland. Its a pity you are so weak. She also climbed some other problems on her trip, so it wasn't a bitter climbing performance, merely bitter-sweet.

My Douche Bag

2012-01-11T12:58:00.000-08:00

I saw this and thought of you, my beloved readers/fans. As if Swedish ski-superstar Jon Olsson was not "boutique" enough already, he has now signed on with a ski bag sponser, My Douche Bag. I admit, this guy in the picture kind of looks like a douche bag, pulling his douche bag behind him but if you have ever carried skis through an airport, you can appreciate this. I anticipate My Douche Bag infiltrating the climbing world and collaborating with Organic to produce "my douche pad" and with Wild Country to produce "my douche bag friend", and so on.

Visit www.mydouchebag.com

Chattanooga 2012

2012-01-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

Another year has come and gone. Goodbye 2011. I had not been back to Chattanooga since moving away at the end of March. We spent a week staying with Daniel and Kristin. Thanks a lot for having us! Sorry I broke your electic tea kettle and I hope you like the new one. This trip was the culmination of my winter break and I got to spend a week being a boulder toad, climbing at some of my favorite areas. Chattanooga is the place to be for rock climbers around New Years. Friends gathered from far and wide and I was happy to see all of them! You know who you are. Daniel and Kristin live on the complete opposite side of the city that I did last year so I got to learn a new neighborhood in Chattanooga. We spent our nights drinking, watching westerns and a british sitcom "Peep Show". If you have netflix you should watch it. Very funny.

Visiting all the boulderfields again is like visiting old friends to me. I spent a lot of time at all of them last year, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. One short week is not enough to revisit all the places I came to know last year but it is better than nothing. I climbed slightly better than I had last year, which is great. Sometimes people make serious jumps in their climbing abilities, revisit areas and crush their old projects with ease. That is never the case for me. I keep plodding away, ticking off a few lines each time. I managed to do a few new problems and a bunch of old ones this trip and they were all classic as far as I am concerned

Josh on The Orb at Rocktown. We visited Rocktown on day 1 and were subjected to the annual new years crowds. That is OK. The wind was a little cold though

Kristin on A New Sherriff in Town.

Bri on Croc Bloc. A pretty girl on a pretty rock.

The next day we climbed at Little Rock City. We debated bailing because of the cold but showed up anyway. The thermometer read 24 degrees when we rolled up to the parking lot. Thankfully the sun was out and we had a great day! We tried to climb Space and failed of course. Maybe I will do it one day.

Eric getting off the deck on Storming the Castle

Heroin. One of the most unique problems at LRC. I was happy to do it this year after failing last time I tried it. This was not before I punted after sticking the move to the big sloper. Eric punted too but did not redeem himself.

Charging Station for electic cars at Greenlife. My jaw dropped a little when I saw this. Here is to being progressive!

Riverboat in downtown Chattanooga. We spent a rest day wandering around downtown and then throwing the frisbee for Kora until her little heart almost exploded.

The next day we climbed at Cumberland and Mountainbrook. I really like these 2 little areas because of the lack of crowds and the outstanding rock. No pics from Cumberland. Bri and Josh were nice enough to wait around while I epiced on The Brain, a really awesome slab climb at Mountainbrook. It is not too difficult but it is one of the scarier problems I have done in a while. Here is a picture of me on The Brain last year from Brian Clevenger

Staring down the finish hold on The Brain this year. Gripped! I was very happy to do the problem.

Kora bring adorable.

Rachel taking a winger off Razor's Edge at Zahnd. We climbed at Zahnd the last day of the trip and had a fun day. This area is great! It deserves more traffic than it gets, especially if you are not crazy strong which I definitely am not. I punted really badly on a problem called Solar Flare towards the end of the day. Shameful.

Josh on Two Pitch problem.

Cheesecake Arete from Brian Clevenger. Last year

It was a great trip!

I am so thankful for having good weather and great friends this christmas break in Boone and Chattanooga. I had an awesome time climbing, drinking, working, etc with all of them. I will miss you all. I am very sad to have to go back to Chapel Hill and grad school and responsibilities.

Lastly...Punt of the Week time. Thanks to Matt de Camara and Tilley for nominating punts of their own.
Nominees...
-Eric and I for punting the top of Heroin at LRC

-Me for punting Solar Flare at Zahnd

-Ryan from Columbia punted off the topout of Pulling Teeth at Grandmother in front of Dean Melton. Talk about adding insult to injury!

-Tilley came off the very end of Apocalpyse Prow

All the punts were bad but I am calling myself the winner this week for punting twice. I am going to give myself a pat on the back now.

Downward Dog

2012-01-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Dalton for making this video of Josh climbing Downward Dog!

Downward Dog from dalton hilfinger on Vimeo.

2011-12-31T08:08:00.000-08:00

The weather has been very non winter-like in Boone. I have been climbing as much as my body allows and then some. My finger feels good too! I suppose this will just be a typical post with some low quality pictures and unimaginative captions for them.

We had a big crew out at Upper Lost Cove the other day. Some of my friends from Chapel Hill joined a bunch of us here in Boone.

BClev does his best James Litz impression on Black 45.

Eric on Apocalypse Prow. The hike up to this problem really sucks but Apocalypse Prow is worth it. Eric, Britton and I all should have done it but none of us did. Especially Eric, who is this weeks winner of Punt of the Week for falling at the very end on his flash go. Poor form!

Josh on Downward Dog. Josh sent this very pretty and hard arete problem! Josh doesn't epic as much as he used to.

Bri does the hard part of A Very Thin Stretch at Blowing Rock. She let go of the topout and gets 2nd place punting honors this week. But she did finally send Harvester and did a problem on her list. Good Job!

Rachel on the 5.10 wall

The Plow

Is Tilley tall enough to climb v10? or v12? FLAGYL

Cruise climbs Center 45. This is my attempt to be artsy.

Xmas Eve bouldering

2011-12-25T09:32:00.001-08:00

Everyone went home for christmas leaving only the TRUE Boone locals behind. Natalie, Leif and I went out to the 221 circuit on christmas eve day. I haven't climbed on the 221 boulders in a while and forgot how awesome they are. Some of the spots we visited included car jackers, boulder's boulder, the iceberg, the cube, fight rock, the dungeon. My finger is feeling pretty good and I was happy to be able to try and pull on small holds again.

Natalie on "Mike's Face" on the Car Jackers boulder. Best rock in the world?

Me grabbing the top of "West Texas", a classic moderate

2011-12-18T13:41:00.000-08:00

The crew had yet another good climbing day in Boone. Conditions were pretty awesome. It was the kind of day you wait for all year. Tilley managed to recruit a whole gaggle of pads so he could climb the "Roof of Death".

Leif and I have been trying to climb "Pinchin' Loaf" lately. Leif punted a few days ago and has since not been able to regain his highpoint. Next time buddy. I managed to send the rig first go of the day.

Natalie on a classic highball "The Horn"

As I mentioned previously, Tilley became a Boone hardman today and climbed the "Roof of Death". If you know anything about Tilley, he has a one track mind when it comes to a rock climb he thinks he should do. Watching someone climb the "Roof of Death" for the first time is always a trip and there is usually much fanfare involved. After much hemming and hawing over the past several days, Tilley sent the rig. He was definitely psyched and I felt like a proud father. Climbing this boulder problem is a seminal moment for any Boone climber.

Tilley Babe Ruthing his shot. "Im going up there!" He earns + gnar points for a successful Babe Ruth.

Tilley on the "Roof of Death"

Tilley basking in the golden light of overexposure while I spot. "Climb on my son, I have your spot"

Me failing to press out "Raw Terror". Who has some beta for this topout???

Muffin Top

2011-12-16T05:15:00.000-08:00

I thought my camera might have finally died but it lives on. Leif and Farmer Dave took us to a pretty obscure spot yesterday somehwere in the Grandfather Mountain vicinity after we tried to climb at Grandmother and most of the rocks were wet. The spot is called biscuit rocks, biscuitville, muffin top, etc. There were a few standout boulder problems and everything was dry.

Farmer Dave on a very hard jughaul

B Clev on probably the best problem at this area. We didn't know any names or grades.

Sticking "the move" on this one.

Lindy took a nap

Crush face for Cruise on "Clamper" at Grandmother

2011-12-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

This just in, a man was found critically wounded in his apartment at 119 Ashley Forest Dr. This was after a group of 3 men broke into his apartment and shot him. I live at 120 Ashley Forest Dr....

http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2011/12/chapel_hill_police_investigate_ashley_forest_drive_shooting

2011-12-10T12:01:00.000-08:00

My climbing career reached a new low yesterday. Due to time restraints I was not able to get to the climbing gym and resorted to climbing at the Foster's Market tunnel in Chapel Hill. Some one put in a lot of work to epoxy broken cinderblocks, river rocks, and other assorted things to the side of this tunnel to create a long and overhanging traverse. I actually had a lot of fun! This is definitely the best place in Chapel Hill to get your endurance up. The moves are pretty good too. The only downside is the cinderblocks are pretty rough on your skin. I have been told that bums sometimes live under there but I didn't see any this time.

I am done with my first semester of grad school and it feels good! I am going to Charlotte tonight to see my friends Emily and Abby and then Boone tomorrow for some climbing and the Gamekeeper Christmas party. The weather in Boone looks really good for about 5 days so hopefully I will get to climb alot! And if you don't know, Charlotte is not my town...

The Tunnel.

Start Hold #1

What is this thing?? Some random hold glued to the wall

Thanksgiving Update

2011-12-01T14:23:00.000-08:00

The thing I was most thankful for over thanksgiving break was not thinking about school for a few days. I did not get to climb as much as I would have liked but this is maybe a good thing, my finger needed some time off. The times I did get out climbing, I performed really badly. It was very discouraging to be honest. But that is OK, you can't win them all. My biggest mistake was volunteering to work at the Gamekeeper on Thanksgiving day. I will say this, working there again makes me remember why I went back to school. Its not that I don't love the people there but working in a restaurant is over rated!

I am also thankful for all my friends in Boone, who I got to hang out with a lot while I was around. One night we went to Twigs where Tilley was bartending. We pretty much had the place to ourselves and came with a purpose: To make Tilley kick us out of Twigs. Mission Accomplished....

Probably none of you care but the bouldering gym has been closed this week in Chapel Hill to set up for a competition this sunday. I took this as a sign to also avoid the other climbing gym on campus (it sucks anyway) and not climb for a week. I have been icing my finger a lot and it is feeling pretty good. This is also good for school because this week has been my busiest week of school ever! I am just hoping to get back in shape by the time this semester of school is over and it just so happens that I am going to be able to leave Chapel Hill a few days early!

Bri and Luna at Blowing Rock

My roomate Alex caught in the act wearing his true colors before the Wisconsin/UNC basketball game last night.

Some Underworld Action

2011-11-28T19:53:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, Ryland posted some pictures up on facebook from a day at the underworld over the summer. This place is seriously awesome! Sure, its not the best rock but its not too bad and the setting more than makes up for it. It makes me jones to get back on the rope. Im not any good at bouldering anyway.
Remember you can click on the image for a bigger shot! I highly recommend it.

Thanksgiving weekend update coming soon...

Tired Luna after the hike out.

Happy Dahlia after the hike out.

Dalen whippin' off the "deal with the devil" project

Zach Hypes on the arete. A little perspective shot for you.

Me belaying Tilley, another perspective shot. I really like shots that give the viewer a feel of what the place is really like. Especially a place like the underworld that is pretty disorienting to be in.

Tilley showing off some poor rope management skills.

Punt of the Week / The future of spray?

2011-11-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

After a long absence, Cody Brys gets this week's POTW award for pumping out on the v1 finish of "Clamper" at Grandmother. You really blew it this time.

Cody did redeem himself a little bit by scoring friend points along with Chris Collins for visiting me in Chapel Hill last week. B Clev scores even more friend points for visiting me on a night that I had free time to drink beer, even if we did go to 2 of the lamest bars in town (not my decision, sorry BClev).

MORE IMPORTANTLY!! If you have not been paying attention to the latest internet spray reports, 8a.nu is OUT! The super cool kids like Daniel Woods, Paul Robinson, and Sean McColl have been logging their latest sends on sites such as 27crags.com and sendage.com. I would just like to say to whom it may concern that I will now be logging all my ascents at www.boonebeta.com, for it is the future of rock climbing spray.

Also, I am predicting the French grading scale is on its way out too. The new standard will be Australian grades. So for god's sake, next time you send a 31 don't log it as 7b+ on your 8spray account, you n00b.

That is all for now, see you in Boone for Thanksgiving!

Asheboro

2011-11-20T06:20:00.000-08:00

Robert Holcomb, Lil John and I went out to the Asheboro boulders yesterday. I hadn't climbed on real rock in about a month so I was jonesing for it. I spend the majority of my days looking at a computer screen now, which is depressing. I have heard a lot about Asheboro in the past including everything from "this is the most fun bouldering on the planet" (Mike Grimm) to "this is the worst bouldering on the planet" (grade chasers who shall remain nameless). I decided to go for myself and make my own opinion.

I thought Asheboro was really good! It is definitely not my favorite area but it is always good to see a new boulderfield. The rock is really solid granite which is kind of abrasive on the skin, but what granite isn't? I prefer the rock texture of Asheboro any day compared to other hyped up granite boulderfields (ie: Buttermilks). There was no choss. Also, leave your ego at home. This is no place to chase grades.

My biggest complaint about Asheboro is that is lacks variety. The majority of problems are vertical face/arete climbing with few holds. John had been once or twice but Robert and I had not so we spent a good chunk of time wandering and looking at things.

We spent our day climbing on classics like Lightning Bolt Crack, Ihop, Darth Vader, Johnny Quest, FUSP (and its many variations), Picasso Arete and more.

I managed to punt Picasso Arete on the proverbial "last go of the day". Its a pity I'm so weak. Asheboro is a historical NC boulderfield and is best enjoyed on a cold winter day. A lot of the problems are not obvious at first glance so it takes a trained eye to spot them. All in all Asheboro was a good time and I will hopefully get back there soon!

Old man Robert on FUSP. (fucked up sloper problem) It climbed a squeeze arete feature to a heinous top out, rivaling any Boone mantle.

John on the classic Lightning Bolt Crack.

Boone Update-

Apparently temps were prime on Friday. Dalen claims to have done Full Throttle at Grandmother but we all know this is a lie. Josh did Preferential Treatment at Blowing Rock. Bri did Stems and Caps at Blowing Rock. Way to go friends! I also got word that Cody Brys punted off something so hopefully I will get some more details soon on that.

2011-11-16T18:34:00.000-08:00

No tongue. They must not like eachother that much. You can see this in person somewhere in Paris.

Dewey Decimators- An Inspirational Story

2011-11-10T11:51:00.000-08:00

The library school at UNC is not known for its athletic prowess. In fact, no one could remember winning a game in SILS intramural sports history.... until last week that is.

Check out this feel good story

Spray Update

2011-11-08T15:09:00.001-08:00

Cody Webb-Sharma just sent AHR and sprayed shamelessly on facebook. What are your thoughts on facebook spray? Sure, a little here and there is all in good fun but in the immortal words of Greg Kerzhner, save the spray for 8a. In related news, Dalen Bag couldn't stay away and got back on the 8a teet after he had spent so much time weening himself off it.

-Stay tuned for more bro-bashing and feel free to join the fun!
-In all seriousness though, Dalen and Cody both climb harder than me. Way to go boys!

Punting Update ####updated####

2011-11-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

This just in...
I am sitting in Chapel Hill at the moment, doing some homework. Meanwhile, the boys (and girls) are at HP 40 in Alabama for the third leg of the 2011 Triple Crown. Cody Brys informed me that Tilley is currently punting. What problem? How shameful? I don't know but I am sure I will get the complete spraydown from the crew upon their return to Boone. Big thanks to Cody and please stay tuned for up to the minute punting updates.

####Updated####
I have come to find out that Cody was actually not even at the Horse Pens event. Why did he feel it necessary to take a jab at Tilley? Cody must have known I would take this information and run with it. Mr. Brys's spokesperson issued this statement on Monday morning: "I speak on behalf of my client, Mr. Cody Brys, who stated he did not mean to stir up shit between Tilley, Erich Purpur, or any other party involved. Jay Tilley is my friend and co-worker and we share a mutual admiration and respect for Mike Stam, cheap beer, and rock climbing. It is with my deepest regrets that this statement was taken out of context and I hope our we can reconcile our differences."

Please stay tuned for future updates on the Brys-Tilley dispute.

Additional Information- Bri Wills put on her big girl pants and send "Fat Cat" at Little Rock City last week. Way to go Bri!

UCMag's top 100 boulder problems

2011-10-30T17:44:00.000-07:00

So Urban Climber Magazine made the leap of faith and listed their top 100 boulder problems in America. They acknowledge the list is subjective to style, tastes, etc. Perhaps the 100 greatest boulder problems in America lie at some undiscovered boulder field in the mountains somewhere? I admit I was excited to see a few Boone problems in there, I definitely do not agree that "Center 45" is the 3rd best problem in the country. Sure, its a good problem but is it really that good?

So just for kicks I decided to make a top 10 best boulder problems in America. These are just what I have seen, which does not include many many areas out there. I have not been to Hueco or any of the Colorado bouldering areas but I wouldn't include any of those problems anyway because those places are overhyped choss.

Flame me if you want, I don't have a set criteria for this list. My biggest motivation for these choices are aesthetics. I have not climbed all these and probably will never be able to climb the majority of them anyway. If you don't like my list why don't you get off your lazy butt and write your own blog?

10- Salo's Roof- Cumberland- One of two problems on this list I have done. Totally my style and probably the hardest thing I have climbed. I think its a great line. Friendly sandstone grips out a large roof. This one was a personal victory for me and a really special line.

9- Full Throttle- Grandmother- I think this is the prettiest line in Boone. I have done the easy version, Throttle, many times but the sit start is way out of my league. It follows the perfectly cleaved arete. They just don't make em this good anywhere but North Carolina.

8- Croc Bloc- Rocktown- I haven't been able to do this one yet but it climbs some slopers, pinches and crimps up a steep and tall face with a wonderfully flat landing. I think I will be able to send this one next time!

7- Atlantis- Yosemite- I was chomping at the bit to get on this one but unfortunately the landing was mostly water. I think you have to wait until the fall for the Merced River to be small enough. Beautiful granite slopers.

6- Spence Ridge Fin- Linville Gorge. This thing is the tits.

Spence Ridge Fin - V3 from Far From Home Productions on Vimeo.

5- King Air- Yosemite- Holy Cow! What a line. Super Tall, Super beautiful.

4- Skywalker- Horse Pens 40- People say the traverse start in from the left is not so great but the end climbs a perfect floating ball of slopers.

3- Grand Dragon- Horseshoe Canyon Ranch- One can clearly see how this appeared. The boulder split in half at some point leaving an incredible line of iron crimps which traverse across the middle of the boulder.

2- Evilution- Bishop- This one totally blows me away every time. What a splitter line of crimps up an absolutely gigantic boulder in a beautiful setting.

1- The Shield- Little Rock City- I agree with UCMag here. This thing is absolutely incredible. Nothing further is needed to be said about it. How can such a perfect piece of stone even exist?

Lifetime Achievement Award- Midnight Lightning- Yosemite. I also agree with UCMag on this one. You cannot possibly group the most iconic boulder problem there is with the rest of these. Just go to Camp 4 in Yosemite and try not to cream your pants when you see it. Watch the people line up when you start trying it and be a spectacle or drink beer and watch others try it after a long day of climbing elsewhere in the valley. Maybe I can do it one day.

I have not been to every climbing area in the USA and probably never will but Yosemite makes everything else look like weaksauce. If you didn't notice I have a total hard on for it.

Fall Break

2011-10-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

I have never been a visiting climber to Boone. Now I am one of those "fucktards" (Matt Pomfrey's words, not mine) who lives in the Raleigh area and comes by on the weekends occasionally. Combine the 2.75 hour commute with my inherent disdain for long drives and I don't come home often these days. Boone has some great rock but it is all on Grandfather Mountain and off limits to climbing. The remaining rock is mediocre at best and hardly warrants a blog post but I had nothing better to write about today. I meant to finish this post several days ago but school has kept me busier than ever this week. Grad school is hard! I met up with Tilley and Cody Webb-Sharma for a gym session Wednesday night and they peed on the boulder problems which were hard for me. Later the bros met up for some hot dogs (imagine that) and beers at Town Tavern.

Thursday I mostly lounged/did homework/hiked due to wet rock. I hiked around the backyard boulders and am really excited to get out there next time I come home. I have only been talking about "The Massive" project for 2 years now so I might as well get on it next chance I have.

Friday was spent at Grandmother. The weather was beautiful and we climbed some low quality, polished, chossy, dirty, eliminate, contrived lowballs. Kitty litter is probably a better climbing medium. The company was good though.

We returned to Grandmother Saturday and went to some other parts of the boulderfield. The weather and friends were equally spectacular. Sunday we went to Blowing Rock and my pasty schoolboy ass was too tired to climb anything but a few warmups.

BClev on a classy "project" on the Banjo boulder which is located just off Shull's Mill Road. Let it be known that this is ABSOLUTELY NOT Jay Tilley's project, which goes right to "Champagne of Beers" and is much more worthy/pure.

BClev in mid-air after snapping a key piece of choss off said project. Like a champ he got back on the horse and sent the problem next go, pulling on a razor blade crimp and in sandbagging fashion proclaimed the rig was "stout v4".

Broken Holds

Bri stylin "Champagne of Beers". This problem is a pretty good arete with a big last move which is not a dyno for most.

Ryland mid flight. Due to her small stature, Ryland decided to huck meat.

Rachel on some boulders in a local neighborhood in Boone. She and I went out there Friday morning for an hour or 2 in the bitter cold and wind before going to Grandmother.

Cruise and Kora wrasslin over a stick. Kora loves to play fetch with any and all sticks but the bigger the better. If only human girls shared the same values. Crux and Dalen brought a friend, Will, back from the Red for a little while.

Matt Pomfrey on "Center Long Wall" showing off his fancy footwork.

Eric n' Erich session on "Undertow".

Luna!

Rachel again, this time on "Classic Arete" at Blowing Rock

Josh on "Brutal Crack" similar to brutality finishes in Mortal Combat.

Brutal Crack

Josh finishes "Heady Undercling"

Quinn lounging at Blowing Rock.

Josh on "Residential Street Map". Josh somehow manages to boulder hard in his Anasazi lace ups which completely boggles my mind. I have a pair myself and acknowledge that these are a superior sport climbing shoe shoe but lack the aggressive design to climb overhanging rock. I think I am just a weak bitch.

Obama visits Boone

2011-10-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

Obama at the Mast General Store. Apparently he has a sweet tooth.

Moore's Wall

2011-10-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

The weekend was a good one. I will start by giving out my "Friend of the Week" award to Ryland who was the first one to visit me in Chapel Hill! We had lunch on friday. She beat out Tucker by a mere 3 hours. Tucker gets some serious friend points however, because he drove me to and from the State Fair in Raleigh and gave me a bunch of ride tickets too! Thanks Tucker.

The State Fair was a good time. I was about 13 years old last time I went. I generally expected to see more rednecks and freaks in general. I ate all kinds of fried food, watched the tractor pull and rode some of the carnival rides with Tucker and his endless supply of lady friends.

I could not bear missing an opportunity to go climbing outside on a beautiful fall day so a crew of us gathered for a trip to Moore's Wall. Allison, John, Eric, my old friend Chris Ball and myself all made the trip. The weather was cool and the day was gorgeous. I had been to Moore's wall with Bclev once about 5 years ago but we only went hiking so this was my first climbing experience. I have to say that I am really impressed with the bouldering at Moore's! Yes, we were boulder toads on this day. Plenty of trad climbers scoffed at us in the parking lot while they racked up for some "sicky splitters" as we unloaded our boulder pads. I have always been skeptical of piedmont climbing but I no longer have any reservations because this place is seriously awesome.

The climbing is quartzite and is a very unique style. Different from other parts of North Carolina and the Southeast for sure. The boulders are numerous and sometimes enormous. The lines are widely varied from slabs to roofs, small and large. The lines are generally aesthetic and fun to climb on. The holds a generally more crimpy but with good variety overall. Eric played tour guide and showed us all kinds of awesome problems of all grades and styles. I can't wait to return. That being said, the 1 hour 45 minute drive crushes my soul but I have a feeling I will be making it a lot over the winter.

A sea of crimps on the Tsunami Wall. Eric almost sent Tsunami from the lowest start his first go of the day and his subsequent burns were much worse. Maybe next time. The rest of us played around on the various problems on this wall. I really liked Tsunami and Rogue Wave. Both feel doable if I flog hard enough.

Eric split his head open the night before. He still came out to climb despite getting staples in his head and staying in the ER until 3am.

Pretty sunset at Moore's Wall. The colors were not quite peaking yet but they are well on their way.

A Moore's Wall video from LT11

Moore's Wall: A Few Piedmont Classics from Louder Than 11 on Vimeo.

American Pride

2011-10-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge

Hound Ears 2011

2011-10-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

We had all be waiting a full year for Hound Ears weekend 2011 and now it has come and gone. I left Chapel Hill on friday afternoon and arrived in Boone to some very pleasant temperatures. A group of us went to the Friday night happenings at the campground, drank a few beers, and played some bag toss (corn hole). Nothing too exciting here, we were all saving our energy for Saturday. The weather forecast looked ominous but we were all optimistic at this point.

Saturday dawned rainy and wet. Even though I awoke before light my spirits were low. Nevertheless I went to Tilley and Josh's house to assemble with the rest of the troops. To make a long story short, there was a glimmer of hope but the event was eventually postponed until Sunday. We all wanted to make the most of a day without responsibilities so a crew of us rallied and went to go bouldering at Stone Mountain. At one point going out of town it began snowing very hard and we were all sure we had made the right decision. The crew was Leif, Bill, Rob, Rachel, Bri, Tilley and myself. The weather was absolutely beautiful at Stone Mountain. High of 55 degrees, sunny, breezy. Not bad for the first cold day of fall. We made a leisurely day of bouldering, drinking bourbon, and lounging on top of a big flat rock. Nobody climbed too hard, we all wanted to save ourselves for the next day. Stone Mountain is known for its slabby runout "sport" routes but the Bouldering is good too. High quality granite.

An old picture from Jim Horton of someone on "Skag Baron". A classic problem at Stone Mountain. Bill was the only one to send it but I would like to try this one again.

Left Whale. Another photo courtesy of Jim Horton/Boulderdash. The nature of the bouldering at Stone Mountain is to climb the obvious features. Face holds are often few and far in between.

One of the more fun things I have done in a long time is scramble around on the big granite slab in tennis shoes with my friends. It was pretty trippy to run 200 feet up the slab and be relatively safe. One false slip would have been instant death however. Tilley, Bri and I had a mini-epic on the way home. We almost ran out of gas. I say almost because to this day I have never run out of gas. The streak continues. Most of us laid low Saturday night except Tilley who had plenty of liquor drinks at The Gamekeeper and was asked to leave when he got too rowdy.

The day of the event dawned cold. Once again, we all met up at Josh and Tilley's and went to the event. My plan was to star chase. B Clev ended up winning star chasers, narrowly defeating Tilley and I got a distant third. Rob tagged along with me all day and had not climbed at Hound Ears before. He did a good job climbing almost all the problems he got on except for one spectacular punt off "Silk the Shocker" and narrowly avoiding disaster in a way only he can on "The Heretic". The last move on "Heretic" involves a pretty easy reach to the top of the wall from two crimps. Rob went two handed to the top and his feet blew in the process. He held a spectacular superman swing that would have put him way over everyone's head and down he hill had he let go. He also took some big craters off an obscure mossy slab later in the day. I am just glad it wasn't me.

Here is a great video that Matt de Camara put together very quickly of the event. Featured in the video are a lot of the local characters including but not limited to Tilley, B Clev, Josh, Rob, Howie Feinselber, Tim Larick, Christian, Benny G, Zach, Horton, Matt Pomfrey, Anthony Love, Eric Heigl, Mike Trew, and myself.

Hound Ears 2011 (Triple Crown Bouldering Series) from Far From Home Productions on Vimeo.

This energy at the awards ceremony was way low due to the majority of the competitors leaving early due to real world responsibilities. I am still waiting for a Star Chaser's podium shot from Ryland. Josh especially cleaned the prizes up thanks to being the only one to finish the "Heavy Roast" premium blend. He won a pair of 5.10 shoes and a crash pad among other things.

Back to Saturday- Apparently many people scattered around the Boone area looking for dry rock and astonishingly dry rock was had at Blowing Rock, Grandmother, 221 and Lost Cove! I doubt the day was as pleasant as our's at Stone Mountain. Here is a video from Brion Voges of the strong kids climbing Kratos at Lost Cove and 2 new boulders at Hound Ears. Looks pretty sick!

One Old, Two New from Brion Voges on Vimeo.

All in all Hound Ears was a fun weekend although maybe not at spectacular as it could have been. I am a little dissapointed with my low star total but I ended up climbing a lot of new problems and generally harder problems overall. Sure, v3s and v4s arent that hard but when you do 35+ boulder problems, it wears on you! I felt really good climbing over all and I am excited about fall break and/or Hound Ears locals day coming up in the near future. In the mean time I am back in Chapel Hill concentrating on school and climbing in the gym a lot.

Congratulations to BClev for winning star chasers, Tilley for 2nd and Rob for hanging with me all day. Josh for winning the premium blend. Nate for putting up a huge point total and getting 2nd overall. Ben Newton for 3rd in advanced. Rami for splitting every one of his tips. Kat for winning intermediate ladies. All my friends in Boone who make it an awesome place to go back to.

I would also like to give a special thanks to Josh and Tilley who put up with bands of roving climbers staying at their place (myself included). These two never turn anyone down and often have cookies and beer for their guests.

None of the girls would tell us how the "Scheffe Chaser" category went so maybe we will find out in the future.

Biggest Little Wall in the World!

2011-10-04T17:47:00.000-07:00

Yes! Reno is at it again! This just in: The tallest climbing wall in the world at 160ft is now in downtown Reno, Nevada on Virginia Street! Reno proves yet again why it is the most awesome town there is. Yes folks, that is a climbing wall just behind the "Biggest little city in the world" sign.

2011-10-04T06:21:00.000-07:00

Hound Ears update coming soon! As soon as I can get some kind of media on the event I will include it in a full writeup of the weekend. Twas a good one!

In the mean time, check out local boy Charlie Owens while he kills in in Mammoth's main park.

CHUCKTOWN MAMMOTH from Stept Productions on Vimeo.

Prelude to Hound Ears

2011-09-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Hound Ears competition starts one week from today and I couldn't be more excited. I am experiencing a serious lack of rock climbing, cold weather, mountains, fall colors, etc... here in Chapel Hill. Sure, I have been climbing in the gym but it is not the same. This town really isn't my scene. Sure, I am having a good time and enjoying school but I would not choose to live here on my own free will. I need some mountains in my life!

Anyway, I will be competing in star chasing again this year at the Hound Ears bouldering competition. I can't wait! Last year's even was easily the most fun day of rock climbing I have ever had and one of the better days in my life I can remember in general. I just hope I haven't set my expectations too high. Apparently Josh wont be doing star chasers this year because he wants to "experience the boulderfield", whatever that means. In his place will be BClev and maybe Rob Lenfestey and of course Tilley. I invite all challengers but heed my warning: you boys better bring your A game because ITS ON!!!

Last years podium
1st-Tilley
2nd-Me
3rd-Josh

An unhappy rant

2011-09-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

I don't like to read blog posts without some kind of media but I am really down at the moment and wanted to vent. I have been doing my best to train and try and get stronger so that one day I will be a better rock climber. I have been doing pretty well lately climbing in the gym as much as my fingers will allow and lifting weights too. I played flag football with my roomate and some other people yesterday and have not been so sore in a long time. I really can't move my lower legs at all and I jammed my pinky finger pretty badly too. I guess I am not used to sprinting for three hours?

Fast forward to today. I barely was able to get out of bed this morning and after a prolonged stetching session I can more or less walk without hobbling. I went to the climbing gym this afternoon and immediately noticed that a bouldering session was not going to happen. I could hardly move my legs and I noticed that climbing anything was much more difficult without them. So I thought "I will climb some routes instead". I failed at this too. Climbing is just hard when you can't move your legs.

To make a long story short I am being a sour patch kid at the moment and this was the worst climbing session outdoors or indoors in a very long time and I am feeling very demoralized. An outside viewer would say: "Erich, you won't be sore after a day or two and then you can move on with your life."

Isn't it funny how a good climbing performance makes you feel invincible and a bad one makes you feel like the smallest person in the world?

Nerd Update

2011-09-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

I am taking a class on basic IT stuff like how to use an FTP/client server, unix commands, html and css website design. I created a little website for myself yesterday and I am proud of it. Basically I stole a CSS stylesheet and just changed text to suit my purposes. Here is a screenshot of my homepage. I can't send you a link to the website since it is stored on UNC's home server. I think one of the highlights is the cityscape image of downtown Reno, which I added. To an experienced website designer this is the equivalent of a 5 year old learning how to write. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Punt of the Week- Cody Brys admitted that he punted off the top of "Pinchin Loaf" at Blowing Rock Boulders. Congratulations Cody, you are this week's winner.

2011-08-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

I thought my climbing adventures were over for a while but I was wrong. I ended up at at the NRG again last weekend. Its a long story how I got there but I was persuaded by my friend Kati and made an impromptu trip. It ended up being a great weekend, as the New always is. I have yet to have a bad trip to Fayetteville and the place continues to amaze me. This weekend was the battle royale to settle the great debate: New River Gorge or Red River Gorge? This is big time folks like Yankees/Red Sox or Duke/UNC. Someone had the bright idea to host a best of 5 basketball tournament at Gene and Maura Kistler's house. I was on the NRG team for a minute but I was obviously not needed or wanted so I sat out and drank beer instead. I did get a NRG Sock Monkey Tshirt out of it though. The Bball was very closely matched but the NRG won 3 games to 2. The party was really cool on Saturday night. There were cheerleaders on both sides, a bunch of friends, a keg of beer, food. The weather was surprisingly pleasant with clouds and low temps/humidity. It seems Hurricane Irene blew the heat away.

The climbing was good as always. I have not climbed a whole lot due to moving to school/bad weather in Boone before that so I was not expecting a lot from myself. I didn't do too shabby though. As I anticipated, I had no endurance. We spent Saturday at central Endless Wall, the sickest wall at what is now officially the best crag in the country. I climbed a few trad routes and a few sport routes. A crew was out there including Anthony, Tim, Jaime, Pat, Jessa, John A, some other Fayetteville locals and probably some people I forgot. Pat had done a resurrected new route that was bolted back in the day, was chopped for an unknown reason and then done on gear just recently. The route traverses a little and Pat did it with double ropes for the re-FA. I got to see Jessa do the route for what I assume is the re-2nd ascent. Very cool to see. Pat said the route was 5.12 PG13. Not R rated but a little spicy.

Anthony was generous enough to let me borrow some sunscreen. The man is a trickster. Turns out it was liquid chalk. I fell for it hook, line and sinker.

Let it be known Anthony that I will get you back when you least expect it. This is not over yet!.

On Sunday Tim, Jamie, Anthony and I went to Kaymoor and climbed at Butcher's branch and 7-11 wall. Jamie sandbagged both of us into getting on a route called "Scenic Adult". This has got to be the headiest sport route I have ever gotten on. At the mild grade of 5.11c it might sucker you in but be warned! This thing is a wild ride. By the top I was a jibbering mess and I usually have an OK head. I am not the boldest guy out there but usually I do alright. Scenic Adult trumped me for the 2nd time (i got on it a few years ago with a similar result) and it will probably take me another 3 years to work up the courage to try it again.

Tim on the immaculate white stone of "Slash and Burn". Almost buddy.

Thanks to John Averette for letting me crash at his place again. I really mean it!!

2011-08-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Tucker took some pics of us at the Red and I stole them for your enjoyment. Thanks Tucker

Bri at the Beer Trailer

Luna at her happiest. You don't want to see her when she is grumpy

Me on "Amarillo Sunset". I cannot stress enough how badass this route is. Probably the best pitch of 5.11 I have done.

Tilley being Tilley

Bri on the beginning of "To Defy the Laws of Tradition". Bri and Tucker did the old 1-2 on this route on our last day. A classic 5.10

Most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

Chapel Hill

2011-08-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

Whats up!

I have experienced some big changes in my life lately. I am actually trying to make something of myself. Since graduating from ASU in December, 2009 I have been more or less nomadic. Staying here and there for a while. I took the plunge and moved to Chapel Hill this past weekend to pursue a master's degree in Library Science. My mom was the inspiration for this move. I have been really busy these past few days which is not a bad thing. Every bit of the experience was an unknown. My living situation is good but very interesting. So far I have a roomate from Nigeria who is a doctor, a (female) roomate from Russia, a cool guy from Wisconsin and a mystery man who I have not yet met. The mystery man is going to be mostly staying at his girlfriend's house. As long as he pays the bills, he can do whatever he wants. The russian girl(Katya) and I have become friends. She is relatively helpless, not having a car and being naive to what America is all about. Being the strapping young man I am, I lend her a hand when possible. Chapel Hill in general is a new experience to me too. Even though I am from Boone, I never ventured into this neck of the woods. This was mostly by choice. I can't say I dislike the town and I am giving it a fair shake. It is hot and flat but that is to be expected. One major plus is that I live very close to many many miles of mountian bike trails which are surprisingly good. Another plus is the abundance of girls. Being in a college classroom again is a big change but everyone I have met in my program has been very friendly. Everyone agrees that we are all in it together, for better or worse. My climbing life has been put on hold for the moment which is OK. I went with my friend Robert to a gym in Cary (TRC) on Sunday and I meant to climb today but my plans were thwarted after finding out I had to take a belay test before I was allowed to climb at the wall (I just wanted to go bouldering!).

Here is a shot that B Clev took of a boulder in the backyard boulders dubbed "The Massive". It will be a sick line for sure and the picture does the problem no justice. To all you strong kids, check out the line just to the left, starting on an undercling. The thing will be v10+ for sure.
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Chick power? POTW

2011-08-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

Chick Power definition- "The power provided by girls to make men do things they normally wouldn't be able to do". example- "I didn't think I could shotgun that 4 loco but thanks chick power I pulled through!". Chick power not only applies to rock climbing but all walks of life.

In this photo here you can see 5 girls in the background while Tilley attempts a dyno in the Linville Gorge. He did that move but then failed to mantle while these 5 girls as well at 6 bros cheered him on. Its a pity you are still weak.

We took Josh and Tilley's friends from college camping down the Spence Ridge trail in Linville Gorge on Monday night. The 5 girls in tow may be the most girls in Linville Gorge at one time in the history of the Linville Gorge. We also carried a cooler of beer.

NRG/RRG annual

2011-08-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

I spent the whole summer of 2011 in Boone after getting back from our cross country road trip on May 1st. The climbing around Boone is unique and there is no other place with better summer weather in the Southeast. This whole summer was spent climbing on a rope at familiar crags and unfamiliar crags around Boone. I did not climb anything that bros around the country would acknowledge as "sicky hard" but I did learn to trad climb which is pretty awesome. As much as I like climbing around Boone, the high country still can't beat national destinations like the New River Gorge and Red River Gorge.

I met Matt de Camara in Fayetteville, WV on July 30th for a week of climbing at the New. The new is still without question my favorite place to climb. Maybe one day I will wise up and make a trip to the new when temperatures and humidity are below 85. We hung out with more than a couple friends along the way. Thanks to everyone who made this trip awesome, you know who you are. Matt D spent a lot of time hanging on the rope with his camera and took some cool pictures.

Me on "Psycho Wrangler" at Cotton Top. This was on our last day. Psyche was still high but muscles were tired. I tried this route briefly last year and punted way after the crux. The route climbes a roof to a "mini Proper Soul" dihedral. It is definitely a classic. Cotton Top is a good little crag at the same are as the Hawksnest Dam boulders.

Dalen flying high at Summersville Lake. Dalen is a dyno gumby to the fullest extent.

Dalen eyes down the dyno on "One for the Gipper" at the Meadow River.

Bloody knees. En Route to get the previous shot, Matt climbed a 5.9 trad route to the top of the Brilliant Pebble on the Meadow River. On the ensuing bushwhack across the top of this 50ft boulder he ran into some growth which prevented him from making forward progress. After much swearing he made it across and took average pictures of Dalen and I on some classic rock climbs.

Matt on "Brown Star" another classic route on the Brilliant Pebble.

"One for the Gipper"

Pretty view on top of Kaymoor

Brynn on "Narcissus" at Summersville.

Ben on "Reckless Abandon" at the lake. This awesome line climbs right over the water!

Nice day at Summersville.

What is not included in these photos is a big thank you to Lydia for letting us stay at her house, matt and I schwacking through heinous poison ivy at the bridge buttress (requisite gumby epic of the trip), out of control shit talking even though it wasnt monday, me shredding a dogbone on one of my quick draws, Matt hang dogging harder than I have ever seen anyone hangdog, Matt Paden almost doing "Narcissus" relatively off the couch, Emily putting the hex on my knee, etc etc etc. All in all it was another successful trip to the New! I have yet to have a bad trip here and as I stated earlier, it is my favorite place to climb.

But the story isnt done yet...

As fate would have it Tilley and I schedule a trip to the Red the following week. Somehow the stars aligned and we were able to get more time off than we had both anticipated. We started the trip by returning to the new for 2.5 days. We got spanked on some trad climbs at the Bridge Buttress (I almost had to bail off a 5.8), got our pump on at the Meadow on day 2, climbed at Beauty Mountain on day 3. I actually took a rest day this day but Tilley took some awesome whippers on a 5.10 trad route and mangled a yellow TCU in the process. Good show old boy! Big thank you to John Averette who let us hang out at his house with he and Emily.

We then drove the Red River Gorge in Kentucky and met up with Bri and Tucker. I don't have any pictures of our 4 days at the Red but here are some highlights.

-Bri climbing just as hard off the couch after her return from Europe as she did before the trip. Apparently there is something magical in those crepes.

-Tucker going from bumbling gumby on day one to an awesome send at Left Flank on the final day. Tucker is not afraid to go for it, take whippers none of us wanted to take/see, and then go for it again.

-Tilley learned to aid climb on a 5.9 dihedral. Tilley made an ascent of the route and it went at 5.7 A0 with 6 points of aid including a tree root. I barely pulled the route off clean on top rope and it goes to show you that we are not crack climbers.

-Tilley and I climbed one of the best sport routes I have ever been on called "Amarillo Sunset". This thing was absolutely amazing.

-Tilley made a young girl cry

-Luna bit one kid and two adults

-I got really butt hurt after paying an exorbidant amount for a jar of peanut butter

-we decided not to get a cabin and instead spent our money on Miguel's pizza and breakfast burritos

-the rain on Saturday night was nothing short of a monsoon

-The capping of the RRG trip was spending saturday afternoon hanging with the locals at the Torrent beer trailer. This place is exactly like it sounds and is an excellent exhibition of local culture.

Fear of Commitment

2011-08-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

Mike Stam is a bad man. Video by TC Webb.

Mike Stam - Fear of Commitment from Thomas C. Webb on Vimeo.

Famous

2011-08-14T15:51:00.001-07:00

Matt Paden and I became famous this past week at the annual outdoor retailer trade show in Salt Lake City, UT. Play "Where's Waldo?" and try to spot us in the picture. Check out Goose holding down the Misty booth.

Josh and Cruise get epic

2011-07-29T06:27:00.001-07:00

Two of my friends, Josh and Cruise, are each projecting a sport route at the Dump. Each are perfectly capable of sending their respective projects but neither have yet. Each has one-hung their route quite a number of times. This would lead someone to believe that either one will send something, eventually. Who really knows? Josh and Cruise's epics make Stephen King's Dark Tower series seem like a short story. Of course one can always blame their struggles on bad mid-summer conditions. In honor of this occasion I have started a poll, which you can find on the right side of your screen. Please feel free to vote. Who do you think is getting more epic? I took the opportunity yesterday to lower down with my super expensive camera to capture the epicness. I also snatched not one but two bail beaners off "Old Yeller". Who climbs that route anyway?

Cruiser sticks the Busch Lite deapoint on Unwritten Law.

The Flapper of Shame

Josh on Porter's Route

Sticking the top jug, after one hang of course.

The Whipper of Shame.

2011-07-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

Dalen, Leif, Zach and I went out climbing yesterday. We decided to go to Moon Rocks in the morning. Cruise made an appearance too, before leaving for the dump to check on the bro situation and maybe skeeze a belay or two. The bro situation was in full force at Moon Rocks however. This crag is located just off 221, right next to the Ominous Roof pull off. This may be the strangest place I have climbed around Boone yet. The routes are not so long but are very technical in a different way than other crags I have been too around here. I had been up to Moon Rocks to look around before but had not climbed there. It is not my favorite crag yet but I have a feeling it would grow on me. The highlights of the morning at Moon Rocks were Dalen sending "Moon Pocket Rocket", and Zach and I getting on one of the most unique and strange routes I have seen, "Moon Dance". I was totally stumped by this one but that is the essence of Moon Rocks I suppose.

After Dalen's take down of "Moon Pocket Rocket" we had had our fill of Moon Rocks but still wanted to climb. We threw out some ideas like The Dump, Sunken Treasure, Holloway, Ship Rock, and even the Orange Soda Crag when someone (I think it was me) threw out Flat Rock. Flat Rock! Why hadn't we thought of this earlier! The three of us had heard there were some good routes there including a classic 12a sport route. Leif peaced out but Zach, Dalen and I went for it. Neither Dalen or I had a clue where the crag was but Zach had hiked there some time ago and vaguely remembered where things were. The crag only has 5 or 6 routes but the wall is very pretty and what we climbed on was really good. The only downside of this crag is the entire thing is perched on a slab a la the tilted room at Mystery Hill. The belay was a bit uncomfortable but we climbed said 12a sport route. I barely sent it my 2nd go of the day. My first go up hanging the draws I was being a ham pussy but I pulled myself together for the send. Dalen peed on the route as was expected. Zach did not send it but definitely could if we had been more fresh, this was the end of the day after all. Dalen also went up the route to the right and seemed to enjoy it.

If any of you out there have info about the names of these routes at Flat Rock let me know please!

Me at Flat Rock

Me again, I am not in love with myself but I was wearing an orange shirt.

Zach Hypes.

Things got a little bit epic while cleaning this route. At one point Zach appeared to be aiding up El Cap. Look closely and you can see a chain of 4 quickdraws connecting Zach to the lone draw yet to be cleaned. Sometimes gumby epics happen to the best of us.

The late

2011-07-14T19:30:00.001-07:00

Lately in Boone the weather has been pretty hot but I have still gotten out climbing a good bit. Last weekend my homie Matt visited from South Carolina and we climbed at the dump on Friday morning. He finally sent his long standing project, "Unwritten Law". A couple years ago he was close to sending the rig but got injured. After a long recovery process he finally did it! Good job buddy. It just goes to show you how persistence (ie: flogging the hell out of a route) pays off. Afterwards, we went down the road to a small crag called Sunken Treasure. I had been here before but had not climbed. The crag is a bit too short and broken to yield any really good routes but it isn't too bad either. Mike Trew and company developed the crag after all the Grandfather Mountain crags got shut down back in the day. The best two routes are probably "The Stain" and "Swashbuckler". The routes start the same and one goes left, one goes straight up. Matt took a picture of me on the beginning of both routes. He did a really good job with photoshop enhancing my muscles and whatnot. A key jug was kind of wet but we climbed it anyway.

Shortoff, NC

2011-07-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

Leif, Dalen and I made a trip out to Shortoff Mountain in the Linville Gorge last week. Leif had been hounding us to climb in the Tilted World and we finally gave in. Cruise was too cool to climb anywhere but Ship Rock, we totally forgot to call Zack and everyone else had work so that left the three of us. There are 3 routes breaching the imposing steep walls of the tilted world and we each got to choose one route to onsight. I am the most gumby and got the easiest of the three, "Built to Tilt". Dalen was the strong one and got "Full Tilt Boogie". Leif was the trad hardman and got "Pinball Wizard". We each onsighted our respective routes! Way to go crew. Since there were three of us, this also freed one person up to take pictures which would not have happened otherwise. I managed to break Dalen's previously indestructible camera (the jesus camera). I must be satan.

Shortoff is probably the most "real" place I have climbed. I have not traveled to climb extensively and especially not to climb on a rope. Shortoff is a wall topping out at about 500 feet at its tallest featuring very few bolts, clean lines, steep walls, obvious features, and very good rock. It is the most southern major feature in the Linville Gorge and faces mostly south/southwest. The tilted world, however, is a very steep section of the cliff featuring very striking horizontals and a northern exposure. The tilted world is the most summer-friendly part of Shortoff and this is where we climbed for the day. In the full sun it was damn hot but in the shade it wasn't too bad. It is some of the most unique climbing I have done. It took some figuring out how to get down in there but we rapelled off the top and got up to the belay ledge.

At the end of the day we leisurely hiked down the ridge, enjoying views of Lake James and proceeded to drink PBR tallboys at the car. It doesn't get much better than that!

Dalen on "Full tilt Boogie"

"Full tilt Boogie"

"Full Tilt Boogie"
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That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball. Leif on "Pinball Wizard". This route we all agreed was the best of the day. It climbed to the base of a roof where the wall kicked back into some hand swallowing jugs that you cannot believe unless you experience them yourself.
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We each passed around the green T-shirt in order to be more camera friendly. Leif was a brave man to wear it up the 3rd route of the day. It was already sweat stained before he put it on.

The Linville Gorge continues to amaze me. Each area has its on character. Whether it is the boulders down on the river, the high altitude metasandstone at Hawksbill, the decomposing choss of Table Rock or the bullet quartzite at Hawksbill. This place is awesome!

GORGE

2011-06-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

My friends and I made a trip monday to a spot in Linville Gorge called the Underworld. This spot is off the Rock Jock trail roughly opposite the ampitheatre on the west side of the gorge. The place is a large cave similar to the Colliseum wall at Summersville Lake, WV. While the Underworld lacks a lake to swim in, it makes up for it with spectacular views of the Linville gorge in a unique location not many people get to see. This cave was initially developed by Doug Reed in the late 1980s. He put up one route on the left arete and then abandoned the place after he discovered the potential for new routes at the New River Gorge. The crag was "rediscovered" in 2008 by Ben Sachs. Ben immediately set upon developing the other lines in the cave along with Andrew Miller, Christian Drumm, Zach Lesch-Huie and maybe some others. This group put in an incredible amount of time and money to bolt the lines ground up with shiny new hardware and fixed quick draws. The fixed draws are necessary due to the very steep nature of the routes. This place packs a pump that rivals the Red River Gorge and to my knowledge are the best concentration of endurance oriented routes in North Carolina. The rock is orange and white quartzite. Photos are courtesty of Dalen Gray.

Me on "Dark Angel"

Cruxn on "Dark Angel"

Sticking the crux of "Dark Angel"

Yet another of me on "Dark Angel"

Jay Tilley on "The 8th Sin". This is my favorite shot of the day. It really shows that this place is a cave sitting on the edge of the Gorge. The ground slopes away dramatically from the mouth of the cave, down towards the Linville River.

Leif Carter eyeballing the chains on "The 8th Sin"

I also borrowed some of Dalen's pictures from last year to let people see more angles of this place. This is of Tim Larick at the top of "Dark Angel".

Dalen gets a rest on "Tiers of Satan".

Josh Shepherd on Doug Reed's original line "Satan's Glory". The route was re-equipped and renamed with his permission. When asked about the line, Reed had very little recollection he had even done it in the first place. It is just one of hundreds of classic routes he established over the years.

Also, here are a couple more shots of our bouldering exploits in the Gorge on Tuesday.

Leif on "Seconds thing second". A Colorado classic squeeze job. Pretty fun!

Dalen on "first things first". Not just a Colorado classic but classic by any standards.

We followed up the gorge by eating at Dos Amigos, a much needed feast for the group of Linville Gorge warriors. I am super tired sitting here today writing this, I hope everyone else is hurting as bad as I am. It was a good two days!

Summer Solstice

2011-06-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we climbed in the Linville Gorge. Afterwords we spent the night drinking at Josh and Tilley's. The next day (today) happened to be Tilley's 27th birthday. To make a long story short, we ended up going back out to the Linville Gorge that night and camping out at the Sitting Bear parking lot. Im not a spontaneous person so this was a big deal for me. Quite a group assembled (Bri, Ryland, Tilley, Leif, Dalen, Kristen, Luna, Dahlia and me). We hiked down the devil's hole trail the next day to go bouldering. If you have not been down this trail, it embodies the Linville Gorge. It hurts the knees to walk in an hurts everything to hike out. With 7 crash pads and 3 girls it might be the largest gathering of crash pads and/or girls in Linville Gorge bouldering history. The Linville River is a rugged but beautiful place. There is rock all around you but accessing anything is difficult. Getting around is no easy task. Our plan was to climb in the morning, swim/siesta, climb some more. Early afternoon brought some ominous clouds so we booked it out which proved to be a good call. The faster hikers in the group made it to the car without getting wet but the slow pokes got drenched after making a wrong turn on the way back.

Ryland on a nice arete problem

Tilley on "Exhalted". Tilley had projected this thing forever. After a couple tries he definitely had the eye of the tiger and made the risky maneuver to "call his shot", Babe Ruth style. After announcing his impending send I did not believe him but he silenced my doubts and peed on the rig. The best birthday presents have no price tag.

Bri on "first things first". Very classy

NC action

2011-06-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

Life has been pretty good lately. I really haven't done much lately but work at rock climb. It isn't so bad. I recently got accepted to grad school at UNC. I have been trying to make some headway as far as registering for classes and whatnot but their systems move at a glacial pace. It didn't take them long to accept my enrollment deposit though. Typical.

Josh and Dalen celebrated their 27th and 21st birthdays on Monday night. Ryland made a bad ass ice cream cake. It really is the gift that keeps on giving. Much debauchery occured at the Town Tavern. Several people may or may not have had too much to drink. I might have been the only one not hung over the next day.

I stole some pics from Dalen as well. Today we climbed at Little Wilson which I haven't been to in 2 years or more. I had a good time. The weather was amazing. Im not sure the temps even got into the 70s and it was cloudy with a breeze to boot! I have also been spending some time at Ship Rock, the Dump, and Linville Gorge when I get the chance. About 2 weeks ago I got out to Hawksbill and climbed an awesome line with Leif called "Carpe Freeum". His dad established the line in 1991. I hadn't had the chance to get back to it, I had not had a day off work in quite a while. I managed to persuade Tilley to get on it with me. The line is seriously awesome. Its like a sport route but without the bolts. Anyway, enough talk, more pics.

Tilley on the "Fat Lady" a totally awesome line at Lower Hawksbill. He gave it a valiant effort and pitched off the top of the "Encore" finish.

Tilley on "Fat Lady"

Tilley on the "Encore" finish. The regular version of this route goest right up a cornet but this one goes left out a very steep arete at the top of the wall.

Zack Hypes on "The Broach" at Ship Rock. Our crew has been running train on this thing lately. A serious gang-bang if you will. Cruise has racked up double digit laps on this thing in like 2 weeks. It is maybe the best endurance route I have seen in North Carolina with some serious exposure that makes you squirm up there.

Dalen on "Ice Cream Direct" at Lower Hawksbill. He and Tim got worked on this thing.

Crux Mclean sticks the mystery move of "Alternative Man".

Dalen on "Aretenaphobia" at Ship Rock. He finally bought himself a pair of climbing shoes.

Linville Gorge Bouldering

2011-06-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

A lil' vid from Matt de Camara of a trip he and I took down the Spence Ridge trail in April 2009 for a little bouldering in the Linville Gorge. Not a bad line at all.

Spence Ridge Fin - V3 from Far From Home Productions on Vimeo.

Early Summer Action

2011-06-02T18:50:00.001-07:00

Lately the weather in Boone has been unseasonably hot but dry as well. The temperatures have reached 85+ degrees which is very hot for Boone, especially in late May/early June. This has sent us to the high elevation crags, namely Ship Rock and Hawksbill. I have always wanted to learn to trad climb but I can't afford a rack so I am at the mercy of others. Luckily I have some really awesome friends around here who are willing to let me borrow their gear, so long as I belay them in return. It has been really awesome to step down the difficulty but step up my head space lately. In the past I always felt like I might as well have been free-soloing while placing gear but lately I am really learning a lot about good gear placements and even taking falls on gear which is a huge mental block that every one has to get through. I even took some pictures from the past week or so, as mediocre as they are.

Today a little crew of us (Matt, Cody, Zach, Cruise, Leif, and I) went to Hawksbill in the Linville Gorge. This might be my favorite place to climb in NC. The quality and setting of the routes are really unmatched. I stole this picture from Matt de Camara of Zach Lesch-Huie doing the first ascent of "Hemlock Arete" last summer at middle Hawksbille. Leif endured a long belay session while I climbed up, climbed down, figured out some gear, and finally onsighted the route in one spectacular long pitch from the ground. The route climbs a slab to the base of a spectacular orange/white arete with beautiful position and a ton of exposure with the Linville Gorge stretched out behind you. Although its not the hardest number-wise it was a great pumpy route which required a tricky gear placement at the crux and some route reading skills. I was really happy to onsight the route after watching Zach do the FA a year ago. Good route Zach!

Zach Hypes on the encore finish to the "Fat Lady". This picture is bad but this route could be one of the best single pitches I have seen and I haven't even climbed it yet! The route is at Lower Hawksbill which I had not been to before today but the wall is seriously awesome.

Another big thumbs up goes to Leif Carter who sent "Carpe Freeum" at middle Hawksbill today. The route is steep and pumpy and bears some historical significance to Leif because his dad, Lee, established the route in 1991. The only downside to this route is that it has no anchors.

I have also been out to Ship Rock twice in the past week. On Wednesday Cruise, Cody and I climbed together. In typical Cody fashion I picked him up at his house and he was obviously still wasted drunk from the night before. Never one to be stopped by a hangover, Cody rallied and went out to the crag with us. He spent the first 2 hours sleeping and forgot his harness, food and water. That is why we all love Cody.

Cruise fires "The Broach"

Me following, Cruise belaying.

Me on "Gumfighter". This route is pretty spicy and features a terrible 00 TCU, a 25 year old piton and a bolt below the crux but with bit of a runout to the next gear placement. If you blow it you could take quite the winger. Nevertheless, its great and is a rite of passage for our little circle of friends.

Punt of the Week returns after quite a hiatus:

Runner Up - Today while on the approach to Hawksbill I had my head down and was sweating bullets and ran head long into a tree fallen across the trail. I whacked my head pretty good and was knocked head over heels backwards while everyone laughed at me.

Winner! - A few weeks ago Leif Carter punted shamefully off the topout of "Roadside Arete" and hurt his shoulder in the process. For shame!

OMG

2011-05-29T07:14:00.000-07:00

check it out. Squaw Valley never fails to produce

Shenanigans

2011-05-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend it seems like anyone worth their salt went to the New River Rendezvous in West Virginia, some of us stayed around in Boone. In an attempt to be legitimate rock climbers we have been doing a lot of bolt clipping and even some trad climbing! Here are a few shots Dalen took from last week. If he ever becomes inspired he will one day finish our road trip video, of which 90% is completed.

The ultimate boulder toad on a rope shot. Brian on "Unwritten Law" at the Dump. Brian was being a sour patch kid and threatened to quit rock climbing again but I think deep down he really liked it.

Me on "Anguish of Captain Bligh" at Ship Rock. Im trying to be a trad climber.

Brian makes a big throw.

Brian clips the chains.

Me at the top of Anguish, relieved. Thanks a lot to Matt Pomfrey who belayed me, it was not my finest climbing performance but I did the route anyway.

Me on Anguish

How to: Develop a bouldering area

2011-05-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

Its been a minute since I updated and that is OK because not a whole lot has been happening lately. Boone has been pretty rainy which limits rock climbing. I have been doing some training in the dungeon at Josh and Tilley's house. Today is absurdly cold for mid-may in Boone with temperatures in the 40s. I was browsing Jamie Emerson's website today and reading some stuff about new problems in Colorado, etc. This guy gets a lot of hate (I don't know why, I don't know him) but he is at the front of leading the bouldering development on the front range in Colorado. He goes out to find a lot of boulders or if someone else finds new rock, he is there soon after. This kind of thing gets me really excited. Although we haven't been out there a bunch lately, my friends and I have been developing a bouldering area of our own right here in Boone, NC. Our backyard boulders sees hot and cold periods of activity. Sometimes it is the place to be, others it is shunned. The area catches a lot of flak for being "chossy, dirty, lowball, sharp, uninspiring, just not that good" and so on. Sure it is all of these things but it could be worse! In there among the bad rock are plenty of gems. Some of which are pretty classic. In my opinion, Josh Shepherd's problem "Evil Monkey" is as good as just about any problem in the Boone area.

Ok so enough of me waxing poetic about the backyard boulders. Bottom line is that in the beginning this place sucked. Even the best problems were entombed under moss and dirt. I will use select photos of backyard bouldering development in order to help the gumbies out there learn how to create a classic bouldering area out of a dirty chosspile.

Josh on "Strugglefish". This is a nice arete problem Josh did first and pulled the rug right out from under me in the process. After intensive studies I have found the "snake" first ascent is absolutely essential for any area in development. I found this line, spent 2 sessions cleaning it, several more figuring out the beta, and brought Josh out to spot me for my glorious send of the first ascent. If there is any greater motivating factor to climb a first ascent than knowing your friend could do it first, I haven't found it. Josh did the problem and I had to come back the next morning and do it myself. Another key to the development of a good bouldering area are the route names. Josh is largely incapable of choosing a good name for boulder problems so sometimes the problem has to be named by the commitee (other backyard boulderers). "Strugglefish" was an inside joke at the Gamekeeper Restaurant and it is what I would have named the problem, had I climbed it first.

Joey Henson on "Mud Puppy". Sometimes an area needs the vision of someone who has developed countless other climbing areas. Who knows how many problems Joey has climbed first. He has also added a handful at the backyard boulders included a huge, incredible dyno. Tim Larick climbed this problem first (another snake ascent) after Josh had put some effort in previously.

Another essential piece of the development puzzle is the highball. Personally, I like tall problems. I think this is mostly because I am a weakling so in order to feel manly, I climb really high. A first ascent is more motivation to flex my nuts. This wall had been dismissed as too tall to boulder. Matt Pomfrey one day looked at me and said "there are holds on this wall". Since then, 4 "boulder" problems have gone up on it including this one "Raining Blood". I named it after my favorite Slayer song. Ethics also come into play when climbing highballs. Should you go ground up? Toprope? Should it be lead on gear? That is up for you to decide. Personally I toproped this one and figured out the moves before pulling the rope. The top is definitely no fall territory. Ben Newton one-upped me by flashing the problem without toprope inspection.

"Raining Blood" toprope session

Brian Clevenger on "Gulley Master". Another key part of development is exploration. You have to be willing to go out and find the amazing lines in order to climb them. This problem is definitely the best First Ascent I have done. I feel like it is one of the more striking lines in the Backyard Boulders. I did the problem the day this picture of Brian was taken. Brian climbed two different problems on the same boulder that day as well. This shot is actually of him climbing "House of Flies" which climbs out the underside of the boulder, into the same finish as "Gulley Master". But my point here is that you have to go look for the awesome lines the boulders have provided for you! The beauty of doing new problems is that you don't know what the problem will be like in the end. It could be impossibly hard, but look easy. It could look bad, climb good. Go and try the problems that get you excited!

Mike Trew on Pomfrey's choice. Another one on the same wall as "Raining Blood". Again, Matt Pomfrey looked at the wall and decided it should be climbed ropeless. Bring your friends out! They will see things that you wont. There is no sense in hogging all the good rock for yourself.

Rachel on "Peace, Love and Skulls". Another excellent problem down in the gulley.

Josh on the doom boulder. Lastly, I wasnt to state that the backyard boulders are not tapped out. The best is yet to come! I feel like the backyard boulders will have another renaissance one day when the truly bad ass lines are climbed. On the underside of the boulder Josh is pictured on here is a line Jimmy Webb climbed, "Comfort Arete", to a jug in the middle of the wall. However, the line goes to the top! There are two exits, one out to the right and one up the middle. These lines are awesome on some of the best rock in the backyard boulders. There are also several next-level highballs to the left of "Comfort Arete". Some other noteworthy projects are the "Concave" which is usually wet and "Power of Silence". The latter is a seriously awesome line which climbs out a cave into a dihedral with marginal holds. All the moves have been done (by Josh) and the rig will go sooner or later. I cleaned an amazing project on a wave shaped boulder that we have dubbed "the massive". Also, to the left of it is a line starting on underclings that looks like it will be v12+ but has features. I think its an incredible line.

We have had a lot of fun climbing some seriously bad new problems as well as some classics. It is overall a rewarding experience. Much more so than repeating problems at other areas. I've had some of my best climbing days cleaning and sending boulder problems in the backyard and hopefully one day I will come across an untapped area, just like this one.

2011-05-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

I spent the whole trip taking pictures of other people so it was good that Bri took some of me. She took pictures of other people as well but I am just THAT photogenic!

The delicate arch!

Me on a dyno at big bend boulders

"Seven Spanish Angels" in Bishop.

Road Trip Conclusion

2011-04-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

Bri, Tilley and I left Breckenridge, CO yesterday morning at 7:00 am mountain time. We arrived in Boone today at about 1:00 pm east coast time. If you do the math that is about 31 hours people!! The plan was to drive slightly past St. Louis and then find a place to sleep but for whatever reason that didn't happen. It is probably for the best anyway, we were all ready to get the drive over with as quick as possible. We left Dalen on Wednesday in Green River, Utah. This place does not have much going for it, to say the least. We had to drop Dalen off in the morning and his train was not until 6 pm. This left him quite a bit of time to kill. I am not sure what he did but I can't imagine there was much to do in this place.

We left Green River and drove to Gunnison, CO to stay with Brandee, Bri's twin sister. They are identical twins but I could still tell them apart. We didn't stay for too long but it was awesome to sleep indoors. I had never been to Gunnison before but I expected it to be more in the mountains, but overall it wasn't so bad. Brandee's boyfriend Jake and roomate Peter have assembled an impressive man cave, which Tilley and I enjoyed while the girls did god knows what. We thought Luna was interested in Chaz, Peter's Dog, but she turned out to be a prude in the end. We took a walk to an awesome community park and took a walk the next day at Hartman's Rocks, a local climbing/biking/hiking/dirtbike area. The rock was jumbled granite and we ended up not climbing after all since we didn't know where the goods were. Brandee pigeonholed us as the average climber, hating on everything in sight. We scrambled around on some rocks and found this large bird's nest. We also found a condom wrapper in it. This is why we can't have nice things anymore!

Twins! Bri and Brandee

We left Gunnison and headed to Breckenridge, CO for the night. On the way we drove through Fairplay, CO which is the town that Comedy Central's "South Park" is based on. This picture may not look like much but this is where Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny live. I have been to Breckenridge twice but hadn't been since I was about 15 years old so it was great to come back. The mountains in Colorado are big but they are also flat. I didn't get to ski this time but it was good to visit again anyway. Thanks to Ed for letting us stay at his house for the night.

Luna made herself comfortable on the ride home.

Breck on the last day.

All in all it was a great road trip. We saw a lot of amazing places. We had some bad times but you need these to appreciate the good times. Now as sit in Boone and look back on the trip, it was awesome and I would love to take another some time.

Road Trip Installment #9

2011-04-26T15:58:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day in Moab. We are dropping off Dalen on the train tomorrow and heading to Gunnison, CO to see Bri's sister. Moab has been a really good time. We made some friends and climbed on some great boulders. We got rained on a little bit. The guy in charge of the Big Bend campground is a total douche bag though. Not everything can be perfect. I took a couple shots of the past couple days at Big Bend.

"Chaos"

The obligatory Stone Crusade shot of "Circus Trick" at Big Bend. This is a serious contender for the most sandbagged problem in the country. Rated v4, it is significantly harder. You can see the lighthouse formation in the background

Bri on "Split Decision"

Polygamy Porter. Why have just one?

We are all climbed out and today we visited Arches National Park. I would have to say it is now my 2nd favorite national park to Yosemite. The park has a ton of cool sandstone walls, towers, columns, phalluses, etc. The park is famous for its arches, of course. We visited two, the famed delicate arch and the lesser known landscape arch.

Balanced Rock

Cool petroglyphs left over by some native americans.

The 4 of us under the delicate arch.

Landscape Arch. You can fit a football field inside this thing!

Go check out Arches National Park.

Road Trip Installment #8

2011-04-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

Since I last wrote we left St. George, UT and went to Joe's Valley, UT. We had all been anticipating good things from Joe's Valley. Our weather window did not look long but we figured we would give it a shot anyway. To make a long story short, we really didn't get to climb at all and got snowed on in the process. So the jury is still out whether Joe's Valley is good or not. The nearby town, Orangeville, seems to be the dregs of the earth. There is absolutely nothing going on here. Joe's Valley is a beautiful place. It was good to see some trees and things after being in the desert for a while. We ended up being at Joe's for less than 24 hours because of the crappy weather and went to Moab, UT. Tilley had been here once before a few years ago and we can't go too far east since Dalen has to catch a train on the 27th in Green River. We haven't been here too long yet but this place is awfully beautiful. There is all kinds of stuff going on around here this weekend being easter and whatnot (mountain bikers, jeep rally, etc). Today we went to the big bend boulders for a little while. This area is awesome! Great sandstone blocks along the Colorado River in a desert canyon with huge walls in every diretion.

Dalen on "Gryption" at Moe's Valley

Tilley looking homeless at a park in St. George

Crappy weather in Joe's Valley

Dalen on "Chaos" at the Big Bend boulders in Moab.

Road Trip Installment #7

2011-04-21T15:44:00.001-07:00

We are still in St. George, UT for the rest of today. The weather is pretty warm so we are in the habit of climbing a short session in the morning and a longer session in the afternoon and at night. We are all feeling the after effects of a week in Bishop which pretty much wrecked us completely. I have rested a day and a half now and I am excited for tonight's session. We are going to Joe's Valley tomorrow for about two days. We had originally planned on a week or so at Joe's but the weather wasnt cooperating.

Bri on "Hermione". Bri was smart enough to take some rest after Bishop. Brisaronno on the rocks.

Tilley on the "Huntsman Problem". This problem is named for Jay Huntsman who scribed his name at the base of the boulder in 1937. Apparently, back in the day, St. George was a popular spot to film western movies. Jay Hunstman was John Wayne's stunt double.

Dalen on "The Beast". This line climbs out a pretty cool cave. This cave is of historical interest because native people used the cave for cooking and whatnot and the roof of the cave is stained black from campfires over the past 1000 years.

Joel topping out the classic problem "Shot Hole". This problem is perched up on a small cliff giving you some exposure.

Bri and Luna

Triple Cork

2011-04-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Bobby Brown lands the first ever triple cork 1440 on skis at Squaw Valley

Red Bull Bobby Brown Triple Cork 1440 from Poor Boyz Productions on Vimeo.

Road Trip Installment #6

2011-04-19T14:19:00.001-07:00

My computer's wireless card is in fact not defunct, it just needed a change of scenery just like the rest of us. I would have gone more in depth about our last few days in Bishop but blog posts take a lot of energy, and memory, so some pictures will have to do.

All of us except for Dalen were getting beaten down on the rocks and in general in Bishop and decided we needed to go somewhere else. We had planned on going to Joe's Valley, UT but the weather wasnt looking so hot. Instead we decided to gamble and check out Moe's Valley which lies just outside St. George, UT. The weather is kind of hot but the area is sick!

Session at "The Hulk" at the Happy Boulders. Bishop

Tilley on an awesome highball slab at the Happy Boulders. Bishop

Dalen on "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" at the Buttermilks. This line is impressive to say the least. Bishop

Tilley makes an attempt to grow some facial hair.

A decent background for bouldering at the Buttermilks. Bishop

Dalen on "Solitaire" at Dale's camp. Bishop

Ben on "Zen Flute". A Chris Sharma problem. Bishop

We really didn't know anything about Moe's Valley but we have come to find out that the area is really awesome. I have never climbed on desert sandstone before and it is similar to southern sandstone, but a bit sandier (go figure). I highly recommend this place. It is definitely worth a visit if you are passing through the area. All in all it is exactly the change I needed from the granite at the Buttermilks. Personally, I was getting shut down as hard as anyone has ever gotten shut down in Bishop and there was no end in sight. I anticipated this, but it is still a hard pill to swallow. We are planning on staying in St. George for another day or two and then going onto Joe's Valley.

Tilley on "IsRail" at Moe's Valley

Bri finally is starting to send some rigs. Here she is on "The Goose" at Moe's

Luna made a friend! Which one is which?

2011-04-17T13:28:00.001-07:00

My computer's wireless card may have crapped out so I had a bunch of pictures lined up to use but I am unwilling to go through the hassle of loading them all onto someone else's computer. We are leaving Bishop tomorrow and going to St. George, Utah. We planned on going to Joe's Valley but the weather looks bad so Moe's Valley it is!

Road Trip Installment #5

2011-04-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody-

We are still in Bishop, CA. Life is pretty good here. We have been camping up at the Buttermilks for better or for worse. The setting is beautiful up there. Today was more than a bit windy so we were forced to abandon camp and retreat into town. The Sierra Nevadas are capped in angry looking clouds at the moment. We might climb at the Happy boulders later, we might not. While we are all enjoying ourselves a lot here, there are some downsides that east coasters may not be aware of when visitng Bishop. First of all, the sun is relentless. So is the dry air. This combination tires us out and no amount of water is enough. Also, Buttermilks road may be the death of me. The van is not so nimble and we have to drive it at about 10 mph.

Bri on a cool problem called "Funky Tut". The last move involves standing on a bad foot and jumping for a hidden jug.

Dalen nearly flashes "Checkerboard". A truly world-class problem.

Kevin Jorgeson eyes his new super-highball project on the Grandpa Peadbody boulder. This problem climbs to the right of Evilution. We were total fanboys and parked on the road and watched him try for a little while.

Kevin falls off his project.

Road Trip Installment #4

2011-04-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody-

Since my last installment, quite a bit has happened. On Saturday we left Big Bear and headed towards Bishop. Some road closures took us almost into Los Angeles. I am pretty sure I saw Bill and Ted at a Circle K in the area. Strange things were afoot. We got onto highway 395 and proceeded to almost lose the right front wheel of the van. To make a long story short, we were towed to a town called Tehachapi (60 miles away) and the van was fixed. Things could have been a lot worse.

The tow truck driver puts the van up on the tow truck.

We eventually made it to Bishop at about 8:30 that night and camped in the table lands. The next day we awoke ready to climb and went up to the Buttermilks. I have to say, even though this is my 3rd time in Bishop, this place still blows me away. No amount of pictures and videos can do it justice. You simply have to see this place to believe it. One one side of town the White Mtns rise to 14000 ft. On the other side the Sierra Nevadas rise to 14000 ft. The Sierra side is especially beautiful with snowcapped mountains and huge granite rock formations all over the place. You cannot help but love this place. So we climbed all day at the Buttermilks and met some cool people from Reno.

Session at the Grandma Peabody boulder. Dalen finally managed to break out of his slump and crush some rigs at the Buttermilks. These were only the first of many he will do. Tilley and Bri also climbed well. We are all excited that Bri actually got excited about rock climbing! It only took driving to the other side of the country for it to happen, too.

Tilley on the classic "High Plains Drifter". I really do not mean to focus all my pictures on Tilley but he has been wearing a blue shirt.

Tilley on the "Iron Fly" dyno.

**On a more personal note. I think the Buttermilks are absolutely amazing and I really enjoy climbing there, but they go against everything I am good at in rock climbing. Most problems are very crimpy and somewhat powerful and I am neither of these. I knew this day would come, the time when I have to confront my fear of crimps. I have avoided them since I blew out a finger 4 years ago. However, I just have such a good time climbing at the Buttermilks. I really am not that motivated to climb at the happy/sad boulders. I really just want to spend my time in Bishop climbing (more like flailing) at the Buttermilks, even if I don't send a thing (which is quite probable).

After camping out at the Buttermilks we went back down to the table lands today to climb at the Happy Boulders. Bri and I took a rest day. Tilley and Dalen climbed some things.

Dalen on the colorado flash of "The Hulk" at the Happy boulders.

Crush time for Tilley on "Bleached Bones".

Road Trip Installment #3

2011-04-08T22:18:00.000-07:00

OK. We stayed in Phoenix, AZ for a day and a half with Tilley's friends Ariel and Kelsey. They were very nice for putting us up. Thanks so much! Our day in Phoenix was the definition of a rest day. I slept most of it. Today we left and drove to Joshua Tree, CA and went bouldering for a few hours. It took us a minute to figure where the boulders were but we had a good session. Nothing too crazy went down. None of us had ever been to J Tree before and it was quite the experience. It is an ultimately cool place to hang out. Blobs of rock rise out of the desert floor all over the place and all kinds of desert life such as Joshua Trees, Yuccas, Chollas, lizards, etc abound. This place is definitely worth a visit. I wish we had longer to spend there but maybe in the future. We planned on driving from J Tree to Bishop tonight but in a change of events, we ended up in Big Bear, CA. Bri's relatives have a sweet mountain cabin here and were nice enough to let us stay. We went from facing a long drive into the night and some cold camping to staying in a ballin' cabin with a hot tub. Tomorrow we are driving to Bishop.

In n Out in Phoenix.

Bri and Luna

Tilley on a Bike.

J Tree. Near hidden valley campground.

Barker Dam. I believe this is the definition of a desert oasis. This place is definitely worth visiting.

Me on High Noon at the Barker Dam boulders.

Tilley on Saturday Night Live. Dalen and Tilley were able to flash this problem while I flailed like a bitch for a while. I can't jump...

New Digs in Big Bear!

Bri in Cowell, AR. A good picture from Dalen.

Road Trip Installment #2

2011-04-06T18:12:00.000-07:00

Whats up! I know I just updated yesterday but Bri hooked me up with a couple more pictures. Most of them were pretty redundant. I chose a couple though. We left Flagstaff this morning and drove to Phoenix, AZ to visit a couple of Tilley's friends. I saw my first cactus today! My first large cactus, I have seen some scrubby ones. I have a goal to get a picture of me next to one, it seems pretty reasonable. Phoenix is a big city, bigger than I thought it would be. We spent a few hours playing basketball and soccer at a park while his friends got home, it was very refreshing. We are thinking about playing "not my town" here but none of us have that much money to spare. "Not my town" is a fun game to play on the road. Basically you go to a city/town that you have never been to and know nobody and act like an idiot and the next day you wake up and say "oh well, its not my town!". The southwest is an interesting place, it is totally like an alien landscape compared to the southeast. But that is what the road is all about! Seeing new things, new experiences, etc. Our ultimate destination is Bishop, CA but the weather doesnt look so hot for a few more days. We are thinking about going to Joshua Tree, CA for a day or two, but might just stay and Phoenix and climb a bit/enjoy the city. Tilley's friends Ariel and Kelsey have a sweet BBall court in their yard and bikes for all of us so we might cruise around the city on the bikes. Here a few pics I stole from Bri

Me on "Anorexic" at Priest Draw. A super classic roof climb I was able to do. Dalen climbed it last year, Tilley crushed it in a few hours and I barely pulled it out the day after Tilley. I think it is one of the hardest problems I have done, even though I have climbed harder numbers. I was really excited, it was THE problem I wanted to do at Priest Draw.

Dalen on "Carnivore". I mostly put this picture up so he could tag backyard burgers on facebook. Carnivore is one of the burliest problems I have ever seen. Dalen didn't quite do it but he definitely could have given more time. I have a video of a failed attempt but my computer cannot handle it so I can't upload it. Dalen hasn't sent anything at his limit yet but he will, it is only a matter of time. The boy will destroy in Bishop. You heard it here first.

Road Trip Installment #1

2011-04-05T14:47:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

This is our first blog post since hitting the road. We have been on the road 5 days now. This post will be short since we are at a Barnes and Noble in Flagstaff, AZ and everyone else is antsy to go downtown and walk around. We originally planned on driving straight to Arkansas but made an impromptu stop at the Lilly Boulders near Knoxville, TN. We had a nice afternoon session. We continued on to Cowel, AR. We climbed here for only one day (the weather was due to crap out) but this place is awesome! Highly recommended, it is the finest grained sandstone. While not the biggest area, it is worth a visit, especially if you are strong enough to climb on Fred's Roof (mostly v10+ boulder problems). I had no batteries so I have no pictures of Arkansas. We planned on going to Boulder, CO from here but the weather looked bad so we made a decision to go straight to Flagstaff, AZ. It was quite a drive but this place is awesome. We have been camping and climbing at Priest Draw for two days now. We plan to climb tomorrow and leave thursday when the snow/rain comes in. Here are a collection of shots thus far.

Snowy in Boone! Departure day.

Tilley on OPP at the Lilly Boulders.

OPP

Bri on Hooker. A really nice arete traverse problem.

Dalen on The Mother of all Boulder Problems (MOAB) in Priest Draw.

Bri on the coolest warm up ever at Priest Draw. The juggiest wall I have ever seen.

Bed Head.

Dalen on Carnivore. The burliest problem ever.

Dalen on Carnivore.

Beautiful Priest Draw setting. The picture doesnt really do it justice but the meadow is beautiful, the sky is blue, and the rock is good.

Road Trip

2011-03-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

This friday, April 1st, 4 of us are leaving on a road trip! Tilley, Dalen, Bri and I will spend a month driving around the country in my parent's sweet van (thanks mom and dad). We will be largely boulder toadin'. Perhaps in the future we can upgrade to a roped climbing trip. We have a rough itinerary planned. We will be avoiding the state of Texas for Tilley's sake. Another trip there may well be the death of him.

Jasper, AR -First we will hit Arkansas to climb the sweet southern sandstone which will perhaps be the best rock of the trip. The downside is that it looks a bit warm and Jasper is in a dry county. The nearest beer lies an hour away in Missouri.

Boulder, CO -Next we will hit the center of the climbing universe to climb overhyped choss. I have been tanning and picked up a fresh pair of LaSportiva solutions and a pink and orange Organic pad to make myself fit in better. Sadly, I only have last year's prana jeans which clash with my 2 year old Patagonia semi-puff. But, if I am wearing my outdated Patagonia jacket, how will everyone see my Verve tank top??? The van will probably not look very trendy next to everyone's Subaru or SmartCar. Even though I dont climb as hard as the average 10 year old girl in Boulder it should be a fun time. Next up is perhaps a day in Moab, UT on our way to Flagstaff, AZ.

Flagstaff, AZ -In Flagstaff we plan on climbing crumbly desert sanstone in Kelly Canyon and very polished limestone at Priest Draw. Rat shit under the roofs at Priest Draw will abound. All the while we will visit the local native american drinking grounds and maybe even attempt to hit on some local college girls. From here we will move on to Bishop, CA.

Bishop, CA -We plan on climbing on some (barely) welded volcanic tuff at the Happy and Sad boulders as well as shred our tips at the ultra crimpy buttermilks. Although my bouldering game improved (slightly) over the winter, the Buttermilks are my anti-style on crack. Nothing about them could be farther from my climbing style. I will be happy to get up a v4. Our off time from climbing will be spent riding scooters in the local skate park and avoiding the wind. I look forward to eating from Schatt's Bakkery daily. Last year we spent our down days at a local coffee shop, The Looney Bean, but apparently has since closed. I was informed that it was the gay coffee shop in town anyway.

Joe's Valley, UT -Our final destination will be Joe's Valley. None of us have been here and the climbing looks really good. However, Joe's lies deep in the heart of Mormon country and I have already been banned from the church for selling my holy underwear. I plan on drinking plenty of 3.2% beer/water or maybe importing the real stuff from neighboring states.

A very windy scene in Bishop

Me climbing horizontal at Priest Draw

Mt. Tom. Pretty scenery in Bishop!

Kadwell hucking meat at the Happy boulders.

It should be an awesome trip!

In other news, we will be playing the game of GNAR. More on that later.

illbillies 3

2011-03-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

Some shredding on the hard streets of Boone! The third installment of a local web series by Charlie Jonas

v5 race Conclusion

2011-03-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

I make it a point to include some kind of pictures or videos in all my blog posts because frankly, I don't like reading other blogs without some form of media. I have none that pertains to this one so I guess I will have to do without.

I climbed my 100th v5 today. I meant to get out to Zahnd early but it didn't happen. I arrived at 11 am. Tilley had been climbing like a madman and closing in quick on me in the v5 race. He managed several yesterday while drunk/in the dark. The final score is 100-95. While I am glad to have won this arbitrary contest, I am actually more glad not to have to climb any more for a while.

Maybe I am a pussy but lately I have been suffering from a serious lack of rock climbing psyche. Maybe this has to do with rising temperatures in Chattanooga but I feel like it has to do more with my body's need for some rest. I have never climbed all through the winter like this before, instead taking several months off a year to ski. After a wrist injury in the fall I bouldered non-stop for 3-4 months and I feel I just need some time to rest and get my head back in the game. Even though it is to be expected not to send your bouldering project when it is 70 degrees or hotter, my body should still feel fresh. My shoulders are tweaked, my lower back is sore and my fingers are stiff. I need some REST.

At Zahnd today, I managed 3 new v5s. One of which I seriously did not expect to do (Chisel Chest). This problem is very unique and climbs very wierd. The beta is totally backward from what you think you might do. I managed to figure it out though. My final climb of the day (Sailor Moon) is a slabby traverse. Although this sounds lame, it is an obvious line and climbs very well. After a few tries I was very tired and barely barely barely barely, and I mean BARELY pulled it off. It might be the most desperate I have ever been finishing any boulder problem. A fitting end.

I was elated after finishing this one. It meant the end of my v5 chase and the end of my time in Chattanooga. I felt very satisfied. Afterwards I went to the overlook at Zahnd and sat/read a book for a long time. It was very peaceful.

v5 Race update! POTW returns

2011-03-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patricks Day! The Irish blood in me wants a drink.

So as you might know, Tilley and I are in a tight race to 100 v5s. I have recently pulled in the lead. The score now stands at 97-91 and I am on top. I did 2 new ones at Rocktown today, the classic "Little Bad" and the dumb eliminate "Mr. Stiffy". I was really hoping to finish off 3 today but it was hot out there! Yesterday I managed 5 new ones at Little Rock City. However, I made a huge tactical error and could have done 6. Instead, I punted off the top of the final problem of the day and slightly tweaked my shoulder in the process. To the untrained eye you might say: "Erich, you are up 6. You can definitely knock out 3 before Tilley does 9". Possibly. As many of you know, if anyone is capable of scrounging boulder problems from the darkest recesses of Boone bouldering obscurity, it is Tilley. He is a force to be reckoned with. He climbs every day regardless of his physical/mental health. So I have a serious dilemma to face.

Should I hit up Zahnd my next day out? There are 2 v5s I am pretty sure I can do and 1 more I might be able to do, but that is a big maybe. I also have a harder project out there. This would leave me at 99 and leaves Tilley more time to close in on me!

Should I just bite the bullet and go to LRC? I have major qualms about paying $3 to go rock climbing. Every time I think about going there in my head I say "you can totally sneak in without paying". Be that as it may, my morals will simply not allow me to do this. It would be a slap in the face to climbing activism everywhere. Also, I am pretty sure I can knock out 3 new v5s here but I have done almost all the good ones. The remainders are either grovels in the dirt or very much against my style (crimpy, dynos).

I am considering a trip to the Lilly Boulders for some fresh v5s.

Anyway, its Punt of the Week time! Its only been a month since my last POTW update.

Runner Up- Emily uses Microsoft Word to spellcheck things before she writes them on facebook. No problem here. Yesterday she made sure to spell check "definitely". Instead she wrote "defiantly" which was spelled correctly. Apparently neither microsoft word nor facebook is completely idiot proof. Congrats Emily!

Winner- Josh Shepherd threatened me physical violence if I did not give him credit for falling off the top of "Matt's Prow" at Lost Cove. Its a pity you are still weak. Congrats on your POTW!

The v5 Challenge

2011-03-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

Jay Tilley and I are dedicated rock warriors. Tilley even more so than I. We are also probably the 2 worst climbers who have dedicated much of their life to climbing over the past few years. No one else I know climbs so much and is so bad at it as us. This is just further proof that we really enjoy rock climbing. As a testament to our mediocrity, we have decided to race to climb 100 v5 boulder problems. You see, two people like us who suck so badly have to set goals too. We cannot hope to climb v10, but climbing big numbers is not the whole picture right? The beauty of rock climbing is multi-faceted. One day in the fall of 2010 the idea was born. I believe at the time Tilley had climbed about 72 v5s and I had climbed about 64. As of today, Tilley has climbed 91 v5s and I have climbed 90. This got me thinking. I have climbed so many now, which did I enjoy the most?

To answer this question you have to understand some of my personal climbing history. When I began as a lowly boulder toad my friends had just broken into the v5 realm and the mushroom boulder at Blowing Rock was the center of my climbing universe. To a noob like me, v5 seemed such an unachievable goal. I thought that if I ever got to that level I would be a climbing god. It took me a year to get there after laying seige to "Low Boy" at Blowing Rock's mushroom boulder. This was a significant milestone for me. My first v5! Four years have passed since then and I still do not climb very hard. v5 is hard for me and I think that is why i appreciate the grade so much. For those that climb v10, v5 really isnt hard enough to appreciate. v5 is just a blip on the radar to them. For me, sending a v5 is a significant achievement. So back to the original question, which of the 90 v5s I have done are the best? Roughly in order starting with the best, I hope you enjoy hearing me wax poetic for a moment...

1. Roof of Death- Blowing Rock, NC. This is probably the best problem I have done of any grade, any place, any time and maybe it always will be. It is a problem rich in Boone bouldering history.

2. Mighty Mouse- Grandmother, NC. Another historical Boone boulder problem. Like Roof of Death, this is one of the Boone standards. Full value and a sandbag grade make this one a must do.

3. The Wave- Little Rock City, TN. One of the most obvious problems at LRC, an area chock full of beautiful and classic problems. Southern sandstone at its best.

4. Stems and Caps- Blowing Rock, NC. This problem has a lot of sentimental value. While it is not a great line, I have this problem more dialed than any other problem I have ever tried. Like I said, the mushroom boulder was the center of my climbing universe. I have done this problem barefoot, in the heat, in the rain, and even with my eyes closed. I think I will forever have it dialed.

5. Strong Arm- Linville Gorge, NC. This problem is right on the Linville River down the Babel's Tower trail. Although it is probably more like v6 or maybe harder, the moves are perfect on bullet proof river polished stone.

6. Commando Crack- Grandmother, NC. Plenty of people hate on this problem. I think it is because they cannot handle how badass it is. What is not to like about it? It is a splitter crack with perfect rock. If you can't handle it, maybe you really dont like bouldering?

7. Drama Queen- Grandmother, NC. Another stunner at Grandmother. This problem climbs a tall and perfect arete via pinches, crimps, sidepulls, etc.

8. Done with the South- Bishop, CA. Another one at the Happy boulders people probably overlook, I really really enjoyed this problem. This climbes out a tall roof on pockets and finishes with a big move out to the lip and a heady mantle.

9. Riverfront- Cumberland, TN. A beautiful leaning boulder right on the creek holds this problem. It is totally splitter, 3 moves and finishes with a lunge to a sloping lip. Simply awesome.

10. Golden Shower- Rocktown, GA. This one is overshadowed by its harder neighbor, Golden Harvest. This climbs the left side of one of the prettiest boulders at Rocktown on classic southern sandstone.

What are your favorites? Let me know!

LRC -updated-

2011-03-05T14:47:00.000-08:00

Nothing too exciting has happened in Chattanooga lately. Our friend Ben from Asheville has visited a couple times in the past 2 weeks. His stay was short this time. On thursday we climbed at Little Rock City. On wednesday night I didn't sleep a wink. I am not the kind of person that does well without sleep. Brian and I thought of a great plan to get out to LRC at dawn to take advantage of good temperatures since it has been kind of warm here lately. It really wasnt that cold even when we arrived at 6:45 am at LRC. We still had a big day of climbing. None of us climbed too well but we did do a classic arete called "Destroyer". It is tall and pretty and one of the best problems I have done in a long time. Brian swore off climbing only to snap out of it and actually enjoy himself. Good for him. I think it is a big step for Brian to enjoy climbing some moderate problems only because it is fun. That is why we are all into climbing in the first place right?

Ben on "Destroyer". The angle really does not show the height of this problem. You do not want to fall off the top.

Ben on "Spanky".

###UPDATE###
I stole some pictures from Brian Clevenger for the purpose of sharing with all of you. For more good stuff from Brian, check out www.bclevs.blogspot.com

Ben Newton on a nice slab. We don't know what the name is but it was fun to climb.

Me on "The Brain" at Mountainbrook boulders. I actually didn't finish this one and I am disgusted with myself for it, but maybe next time. It is such a beautiful feature.

Me on "Mouse Trap" at Little Rock City. This is maybe in the top 3 most beautiful problems at Little Rock City and that is saying a lot. For pure aesthetics I put only the Shield and Deception on top of this one.

Henrik Harlaut

2011-02-27T07:36:00.000-08:00

Hello, I just wanted to bring to my readers' attention this edit by Henrik Harlaut. This is the most BANGIN' park edit I have seen in a long time. Check out :58 seconds and tell me if your jaw doesn't drop.

E-Dollo Bonus Edit from Level 1 on Vimeo.

EPIC is a state of mind...now with media!

2011-02-19T16:24:00.000-08:00

Brian, Ben and I went climbing at Cumberland today. I have been trying a problem called "Salo's Roof". Ive gotten closer and closer every day since my first day tring it. For the last 4 days I have been claiming a send. Today I fell off the tip tip top of the boulder. I really could not have been any closer without actually sending the rig. I am defining EPIC in every sense of the word but I am not that worried. I really enjoy climbing on it and I like it so much that I am going to keep trying it until I do it. I have also earned myself Punt of the Week. I came off waaaaaay after the first crux, after the 2nd crux, after the 3rd crux. I have been in somewhat of a climbing slump lately. I haven't really done anything too hard, but instead ALMOST doing a whole bunch of boulder problems. I feel like when one of them goes, they are going to fall like dominos.

Aside from my failings, Brian sent a project of his today. Gross Roof v11. After a pretty low psyche beginning of the day he sent the rig. Way to go buddy! Congrats!

###update###

Me on the bottom of Salo's roof. Photo- Brian Clevenger

Brian is a flip video machine. Here is a vid from our day at cumberland.

Cumberland Blues from Brian Clevenger on Vimeo.

A Day at Zahnd

2011-02-18T17:11:00.000-08:00

A Day at Zahnd from Brian Clevenger on Vimeo.

Punter's Weekly

2011-02-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

Its that time again. Punt of the Week time. Since I started this blog installment, it has been rather hit or miss whether I recieve notification of any punting going on. Sometimes to fill the void I have had to rise to the occasion and punt off something myself. Not this week though. Since last POTW I have been inundated with punting reports. I had better get these out of the way to make room for more next week. I am happy to hear there is some good solid punting going on out there.

Runners Up:

1- Carl brought it to my attention that he punted off the end of "Behind the Eye" at LRC. He told me he did the low crux and got way up top, where he botched his feet and came off. Bad style Carl, good punt though.

2- It was reported that Cruise punted off "Patio Roof" at Rumbling Bald. Too bad, that would have been a good send but it makes for an even better punt.

3- Brian Clevenger had himself quite a day at Dayton Pocket this week. He managed to punt off the end of "Lord of the Dance" one time and the jughaul finish of "300" twice! I was not there in person but he said they were quite shameful. He returned a few days later to send both boulder problems.

4- Emily Pomfrey gets the runner up this week for a punt off of "Shotgun" at LRC. This problem is probably the hardest one she has ALMOST done up to this point. She threw convetional beta out the window and got to the top 3 times. All she had to do was grovel over the top but it didn't happen.

Winner- Donald from Ohio came for another visit this week. He has been an LRC warrior, spending maybe 15 days climbing there without seeing any other areas Chattanooga has to offer. He was finally taken out to Rocktown the other day for his first time. While at the orb area, Donald punted off the top of some warm up. I was told he spent at least 5 minutes wrestling with the topout of this v0 and got 85% of his body over the lip, and still managed to come off. To make matters worse, it was his first problem at Rocktown EVER. What a bad way to start. Congratulations Donald.

"Welcome to Firehouse"

2011-02-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

I got myself a job at Firehouse subs a few weeks ago. To make some pocket change, you know. If you haven't heard of Firehouse, it is very similar to Jimmy John's. Anyway, I am starting to actually enjoy it. My coworker Mike told me to check out this gem on youtube. We got subs!

Cumberland again

2011-02-07T16:21:00.001-08:00

The past two days I have gone climbing at Cumberland. The first day was Carl, John, BClev and I. Today was John, Emily, and myself. Nothing too exciting happened. Sunday was beautiful. Sunny and warm. Today was not quite as nice but still good to be outside. I thrashed myself on Sunday and was completely worthless today. One highlight was Brian's send of Salo's Roof. In typical Brian fashion, he slept late, showed up and climbed my project. After "warming up" by doing a couple moves on the bottom of Salo's Roof, he went to the top. I have been obsessed with this problem lately. I am very confident the next nice day I get to try it, I will do it.

John on a nice face problem today.

Pontiac Vibe Battle!

POTW

2011-02-03T17:10:00.001-08:00

Its that time again. Punt of the Week time. B Clev and I went out to the Cumberland boulders again today. The high was about 32 degrees. We had high hopes of climbing "Salo's Roof" but instead spent most of our energy trying to stay warm. We both gave the climb some good efforts, most notably Brian who got sooooo close. The problem climbs like a route, complete with a kneebar rest halfway. Today proved to be just too cold. Once we got to the kneebar, our hands went completely numb.

So... who wants to hear about some punters?

Honorable mentions

1. I got word that Jay Tilley punted the mantle on "Lost Cove Cranks". I know for a fact he has done the climb many times, and should have known how to finish it. Maybe next time Tilley.

2. Also, a little bird told me that Dalen Gray punted off the top of "Matt's Prow", also at Lost Cove.

Winner- I mentioned Brian got close to sending Salo's Roof didn't I? Well let me finish the story. So Brian climbs 90% of the problem and at this point is pumped and numb. He threw his heel high on a jug and lunged for another hold. He blew it and took the mega whipper. He fell completely flat on his back from 12+ feet up. Luckily he was OK. Only his pride was hurt.

Cumberland

2011-01-31T10:11:00.000-08:00

"Hide your wife, hide your kids, even hide your husband cuz they shootin' errybody"- Tosh.O. I changed this quote a little bit but Emily, Brian and I are hanging out at home at the moment and I am pretty sure we just heard some gunshots. This is a rough neighborhood here in Rossville. We came to the conclusion that someone was shooting a corpse, or hammering loudly, or hammering a corpse loudly.

Anyway, it happened again. I got taken to another bouldering area that blew my mind. This one is called Cumberland. In fact, it is about a mile from LRC. The rock is different from LRC though, mostly steep. Sort of like Rocktown but more white/gray colors. The name comes from the Cumberland trail, which winds through the area. This spot is not huge, but it is big enough and has a very nice creek which flows through. Overall the environment is very nice. Brian, Haley, Andrew and I climbed there Saturday and Sunday. We thought this spot was low key and would not be too crowded. Saturday was a different story. A crew of 20 gym kids rolled up as soon as we got there. We were not psyched. Later some other guys like Nate, Brad and Voges came out. I got to witness some crushing. Brad had not been to the area before and did 4 really hard lines. Impressive to say the least.

Salo's Roof. This is the first problem you walk up to at the area and it is really impressive. The picture does this problem no justice. It is basically a compression boulder problem into a rest under the roof, to another boulder problem on big holds, but big moves and it gets a little tall at the end. I am so into this problem! I am pretty sure I can do it next trip or maybe the one after to Cumberland, if I have a few pads and spotters that is. Andrew took this problem down on Saturday after a lengthy session. Way to go Andrew!

The Seven Eleven roof. I have seen video and pictures of this roof before and I totally did not get the picture. First of all, this roof is awesome! Great holds, horizontal roof. Second, there is a beautiful stream running by. I took this shot not to show someone climbing but to try and capture the fact that it is not only good to climb on but also to show the setting. My camera is not capable of all this but you get the idea. I managed to do the stand start to a great problem called Seven Eleven. The low start involves 360 degree campus moves into the same start. There are also 2 other lines which start the same and break off in different directions. I would love to be able to pull these one day! Usually the stand start to a problem is not that cool, I would rather do the full line but I felt satisfied only doing the high start in this case. Haley flashed this problem from the same start, making it look like a warm up. On top of that she had a bum finger.

Haley on a beautiful problem called "Riverfront". It is a splitter line right on the creek. I didn't finish this, but I am pretty sure I can do it quickly next time. Haley had to make a huge dyno to the lip and almost did the problem. This little girl is strong!

B Clev on Gross's Roof. Brian spent all of Sunday on this problem. It looks really hard (and I am sure it is). He is pretty confident he can do it next time. Yet again, another horizontal roof.

All in all, Cumberland is a great area and I can't wait to go back. I haven't even seen everything yet. There is so much good rock around Chattanooga I cannot even wrap my head around it. I haven't heard of any good punts lately so there will be no Punt of the Week. Keep me informed if you see any.

Zahnd

2011-01-25T07:54:00.001-08:00

I stole this photo from Brian. He brought his camera out to Zahnd on Sunday and took some pictures. Here is a shot of Andrew Graham on a cool problem called "Scream 3". The name comes from 3 small pockets which look just like the scream mask. Graham sent the problem, my foot blew and I punted. Brian claims that Zahnd is not that good but I disagree. Lets be real here, there just aren't enough hard problems to keep him interested.

Photo credit Brian Clevenger. www.bclevs.blogspot.com. See more pictures from the day here!

Hustlin

2011-01-24T15:23:00.001-08:00

I never appreciated the impact 9/11 has had on the US economy. It never affected me personally so I never worried about it. I have gotten a healthy dose of reality here in Chattanooga. Finding a job was quite the challenge. Before I moved here I thought "Chattanooga is a big city, of course I can find some kind of job." Well it took much longer than expected to find one, and a menial one at that. I was not only in competition with my own age group but of all the unemployed masses in the area. This includes people my parent's age and older. It is very sad to put it lightly. In order to raise some extra cash for a road trip in April, I have resorted to selling my blood plasma. I get $50 a pop for the first five donations. The process is long and somewhat painful. I don't recommend this unless you are strapped for cash. The other people in the plasma center are clearly under dire circumstances, much more so than myself. I am just trying to raise money for something superfluous. These people need it for rent, bills or maybe even food. Some are obviously crackheads though.

Life is really not as bad as I make it sound. I still get to climb a lot! I have been trying to climb some harder boulder problems. I haven't sent any yet but I will let you know when I do. Andrew Graham and his girlfriend Haley stayed at our place Saturday night and took us out to Zahnd on Sunday. I was super impressed with Zahnd. One cluster of boulder houses more classics than you can shake a stick at. Some of these include "Razor's Edge", a pefect pinch arete and "Harvest Moon", a splitter 2 move problem. I did not send too many problems because there were too many to focus on only one. I tried maybe 10 problems, aside from warm ups, and they were all super classic. A few tries on one then I had to move to the next. I will be back to do as many as possible soon I hope! Big thanks to Andrew and Haley for the tour.

Here is a picture of "Bear Hug", one of the few problems I got on top of.

In other news. I am pretty bummed out the Chicago Bears lost the NFC playoff game. maybe next year.

Desert Spines

2011-01-19T15:19:00.001-08:00

and you thought Southern Utah was only for climbing. Ian and Neil Provo made this really cool video

Snowy

2011-01-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

We had another round of guests stay at our house over the weekend. Donald and Ruth came from Ohio and Ben came from Asheville, NC. Ben also brought his dog, Chewy. Chewy is a long haired chihuahua and is surprisingly awesome for a small dog. Ben had not been to climb in the Chattanooga area in some time. I tried to persuade him not to come, thinking that the snow would just be too much to justify driving 3-4 hours. He came anyway and we climbed at LRC on Saturday and Sunday. Despite the snow, the weather was sunny and we had a really good time. Enough problems were dry to satisfy our needs although many of got wet from dripping at the end of the day. Those who climbed at LRC over the weekend can thank us for cleaning the tops of several problems. You are welcome.

Ben on "Tennessee Thong".

Ruth on "Mystery Groove"

Punt of the Week time!!!

Due to the weather there has not been a whole lot of outside climbing but I have 2 entrees this week.

1. Donald punted off the top of "Grimace". He threw a wobbler or two despite a key hold at the top of the problem being caked in ice. Next time buddy.

2. B Clev gave a valiant effort to try and climb "Dragon Slayer" on Saturday. The rock itself was dry... but a constant stream off the top dripped into his face while he climbed and totally water logged his crash pad.

ILLbillies #2

2011-01-16T16:38:00.000-08:00

Charlie Jonas's second web episode. Im lovin it.

Chimney Sweep

2011-01-13T10:27:00.000-08:00

The snow in Chattanooga has kept me indoors and gotten me thinking about skiing. I found this picture on unofficialsquaw.com and was taken by Grant Kaye. This person is standing on top of a line called "Chimney Sweep". The line is a fast straightline to an air out the bottom. Can you ski it?

I climbed at the local gym the past 2 days in order to try and improve myself. I was in the top 3 weakest people in the gym. The other 2 were an 8 year old girl and a homeless guy who wasn't climbing but only came in to get out of the cold. Humbling to say the least. I would describe my gym climbing like 2 elephants mating. You know it happens, but its not pretty and you definitely don't want to watch it. There is only one way for me to go, up!

BClevs got a blog!

2011-01-11T06:41:00.001-08:00

Brian has taken it upon himself to enter the blogging world. Check it out! www.bclevs.blogspot.com. He is challenging me for house blogging domination. He by far has a nicer camera and that is a plus.

Bro days in Ross Vegas

2011-01-09T07:47:00.001-08:00

Oh my, what a post this will be. Where do I begin? A short blog post is not enough to do this trip justice, and I wasn't even on a trip! A mega Boone crew assembled at our house in Ross Vegas for a week of rock climbing in the Chattanooga area.

The Crew: Me, B Clev, Emily, Josh, Dalen, Cody, Tilley, Chris Ball, Leif, Ryland, Brent, Matt Pomfrey, and Leah. Donald, John McCauley, Alex Savage, Nate D, Rami, Jimmy and others made short appearances as well. Although there were several girls present the crew was decidedly male. No worries, we used our collective bro power the the fullest. We bro'd out as hard as anyone outside of California. At the boulderfields we intimidated other people by rolling deeper and harder than any other group out there.

Cold and snow have driven the masses to climb in Chattanooga this winter. We spent our time at Rocktown, Little Rock City, the Citadel, and Mountainbrook boulderfields. With only one official "rest day" in which no one climbed, we all thoroughly trashed ourselves. Everybody sent something, which is more than we can all say about previous climbing trips. Our evening were spent cooking large feasts, playing sporcle, consuming copious amounts of alchohol, watching the Standard Snowboard Show and blowing up 8spray. Thirty racks of cheap beer have never been killed so quickly.

B Clev on the Orb. I took this picture on day 1 shortly before the crew arrived at Rocktown. The previous day was super rainy but this day was surprisingly dry.

Excited bros warming up on the first day at Rocktown. Uncontrolled psyche

Crowded house. One lucky person got the couch each night. This night it was Cody, look at that smile on his face.

Bro sesh at the Golden Harvest wall. We ran send train on "Golden Shower".

Jay Tilley in classic form on "Drunken Barn Dance" at Rocktown. This problem climbed a couple moves to a big dyno to a sloper.

Chris Ball on "The Wave" at LRC. This problem might be my personal favorite at this area. It is a beautiful feature and it climbs so well.

Side note- Worthy of mention is our session on "Heroin". A classic line with a really cool and big move to a sloper bucket in the middle of the wall. Several of the crew sent while several others got painfully close.

Les from Atlanta on "The Graduate" at LRC. This problem climbs a really nice, tall arete. He didn't send the problem but he had on a nice red shirt which made for a good photo.

Dalen GTSing at LRC. This was at the very end of the day. Several bros had send the classic line "Cyclops" and were now trying the harder extension into this problem. Tilley came along a little late and now had limited time and skin to send the line. He managed to pull a send out on the last literal try, in classic Tilley form.

About 6 of us bros took a trip out the Citadel in Alabama on Friday. I had not been to this area before and was pleasantly surprised. This was possibly my favorite day of the week. New areas are so good for the motivation. This is a picture of "The Snail", one of the area classics. It is quite the unique formation. This is the site of the "Bro Horn" invention. I was getting epic on this problem and Tilley was doing the same on a problem around the back of this boulder. We were trying to summon all the bro power we could but it just wasnt enough. Someone mentioned the idea of "sounding the bro horn". When sounded, the bro horn brings forth bros from all directions and the combined power of these bros will be enough to get someone up a boulder problem.

Lunch Spread at the Citadel.

The last day we planned to check out at area near LRC but the weather looked pretty menacing. Instead we went to a low key spot in the back of an apartment complex. I had been to these boulders on a rainy day to check them out but had not climbed here yet. We were pleasantly surprised. There is quite a bit of rock with good lines of all grades. Seen here is Leif on a really beautiful brainy slab. It was harder and scarier than it looked.

Josh had himself a day on the final day of the trip. Here he is pictured sending the compression problem "Jah Natty". Those present contributed bro power and he sent pretty quickly, although not without a bit of groveling on the topout. We agreed that this was the send of the trip. Josh was not done yet...

Beat up tips

This boulderfield had more than a few good lines which had not been climbed in a very long time, or had not been climbed at all. We found this scrub brush and set to work cleaning some problems.

The best one we cleaned up is this. Judging by the amount of moss on the topout we think it is a first ascent. If it is not, let me know! Anyway, Josh figured out the moves and sent the problem. He dubbed it RossVegas aka Big Titty Smittys aka Bro Power. A good line indeed!

Dalen put together the first of several short videos from this trip showcasing some of the bro bras sending a few problems at LRC and Rocktown.

Southeastern Brews from Dalen Gray on Vimeo.

Lastly, the climbing trip would not be official without some punting. There were many but two stand out above the rest.

#1- Chris came off the very tip top of "Golden Shower" at Rocktown. We all thought he was done for sure. Chris came off, missed all the pads and exploded his water bottle in the process. A good punt for sure.

#2- I cant shotgun a beer.

POTW

2010-12-30T13:37:00.000-08:00

Its that time again. Punt of the Week time!
I don't know who the winner should be this week so I declare it a tie.

Brent Perkins volunteered himself for punting off the end of "Robbing the Tooth Fairy" at Little Rock City. I didn't see it myself but he said it was a good punt so I will take his word for it.

I want to bring to everyone's attention Jon Holofchak. Jon is the only one who answered the call to duty out there in internet land. I have been asking for people to submit their punts to me by email, phone, etc. Jon sent me a facebook message saying this:
"Actually last week. My cat attempted to dyno from the bed to the mini-fridge and landed on a lit candle. Only to find herself on the floor punting in flames...no serious injury. But she is missing whiskers on the right side of her face and had one nasty fire dread on her chest."

I guess Jon's cat is the punter in this situation.

Until next time, dont be afraid to send in your punts!

Lastly, here is a video Dalen put together of some boulder problems this fall.

Tis the Season, Boone 2010 from Dalen Gray on Vimeo.

Boone/Xmas

2010-12-30T13:19:00.000-08:00

I made the trip home to Boone for Christmas last week. I was greeted by typical mountain weather, snow and wind. I love the snow but I do not miss the wind one bit. Here are some photos from the days at home.

Rachel is ready to go to work and shows she is in touch with snowboard culture by wearing a Misfits shirt.

We paid a visit to the Misty factory to pick up Cruise's custom harness for christmas.

On Christmas eve day I went out to ski and ran into Grayson. Grayson and I spent A LOT of time skiing and hanging out together while growing up. We have not gone in different directions and havent seen eachother much lately but we spent a few hours skiing together, just like old times.

ATP guru. Big thanks to my best friend Chase and Drew Stanley for hooking me up with a lift ticket.

Tanner Sinclair and the Lenoir crew were out that day as well. These kids went from gumbies to park slayers in no time at all. Tanner slides a tube in the AppalJack park.

Xmas Tree. My parents decided a real tree is not worth the effort and we now have 2 plastic ones instead. It really doesn't make any different to me.

A winter Wonderland on Christmas day. My family and our neighbor Jennifer went for a hike at Bass lake in the snow.

The day after Christmas mom and I went Cross-Country skiing on the Greenway Trails.

All in all it was good to be home for Christmas!

Hot Laps !

2010-12-27T05:26:00.000-08:00

I went out to App Ski Mountain on Christmas Eve day. It was a nice day, good snow, good jumps, good rails. A good time. I saw almost all my ski/snowboard buddies in one day. I had a great time! Charlie Jonas put together a hot laps video of the day. First up is a lap through the park with Santa. Second is a lap through the park with me. Third is 1.5 laps through the park with Berkley Wilcox. This was only my second day on snow this year so I didn't do too bad!

Big thanks to Charlie Jonas for making the video. Big thanks to Chase Weaver and Drew Stanley for getting me a lift ticket.

Lastly is this week's "clip of the week" with Santa. I bet you didn't know Santa could ride like that!

Clip Of The Week: 12/24/10 from App Terrain Park on Vimeo.

POTW - Rumbling Bald

2010-12-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

Its that time of week again. Punt of the Week!

The weather was looking bad in Chattanooga so I decided to drive to Rumbling Bald on my way home to Boone for the Holidays. I met up with Leif, Josh, and Will. It is good to see some familiar faces again and also good to be in the mountains. I really miss the mountains living in Rossville. The weather was cloudy, but chilly. Good for climbing. I didn't climb worth a damn but everyone else did! We spent the day at Rumbling Bald's east side boulders. Good to be out there!

Warming up.

Pit BBQ

Down to business. I have been fearful for some time now that I would take top honors for this week's Punt of the Week (POTW). I did Tilley proud this past Saturday at Little Rock City (LRC). Matt Pomfrey and I figured out this cool problem, "Shotgun". Claimed by LRC's guidebook as "possibly the most classic line in the field". Be that as it may, we were both close to doing the problem. Matt managed to send the rig, putting the pressure on me. The next go I stuck the crux move and got to the top out, a classic sandstone slopefest. To make a long story short, I punted shamefully. The outlook was grim, I was destined to earn yet another POTW award. Or was I...

Yesterday we climbed with some kids from Chapel Hill at Rumbling Bald. They all seemed to be good guys, fun to hang out with. One guy (Don't remember your name, sorry) was trying "Brackish One". A good v4. He managed all the hardest moves and got to the topout, which is not that hard. All the spotters had vacated the scene, he had it in the bag. Then out of nowhere this kid wings off, missing all the pads and hip checking from 12 ft. He managed to sprain his ankle in the process. So here is to you, Chapel Hill kid! You just earned yourself PUNT OF THE WEEK.

Until next time just remember....I am always watching.

According to google analytics, I have hundreds of blog visitors every month. I assume most of you are rock climbers which means you and your friends are out there punting as well. I can't stress this enough, send me your punts! I don't want just 1 honorable mention every week, I want 10! I wan't all the details too. Pictures/video are a plus. Send me your punt submissions to yuiruprup@hotmail.com or call me at 828 773 7140.

Rocktown

2010-12-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

After a few cold/snowy/rainy days in Chattanooga, the weather the past few days have been excellent for rock climbing. Matt Pomfrey came to town. Yesterday B Clev, Matt and took a day trip to Rocktown. None of us were that familiar with Rocktown yet, which is frustrating because we know there are some great problems out there, but how do we find them? We eventually figured out where some stuff is and had a great day. Conditions were great, low 40's and sunny. We all had some good sends as well.
Brian sent "Helicopter Traverse" and also flashed "The Hobbit" while wearing crocs.
Matt sent "Pythagorean Theorem" and flashed "The Hobbit"
I send "Blue" and "Pythagorean Theorem". I was particularly happy to do Pythagorean Theorem. This problem is not that hard but it is steep and it was a good confidence booster to see that my wrist could handle pulling on a steep problem.

Here is a shot of Brian on "Spoons". I cant wait to try this once my wrist improves. Looks like a lot of fun!

I think I am going back to Boone on Wednesday night for Christmas. Hopefully I will be able to ski for a couple days. I also need to do some last minute christmas shopping.

2010-12-15T06:48:00.000-08:00

This photo is simply amazing. This guy is airing into the palisades, naked, spread eagle.

Coming at you live from RossVegas

2010-12-13T13:15:00.000-08:00

Today I was hit with a flash of brilliance from the most unusual source. So I had decided that today I was going to go out and find a job here in Chattanooga, get out of the house and make something of myself for a change. The only thing standing in my way was the AT&T man. We have had some problems setting up a wireless network in our house and finally a technician came to fix the problem. He was a nice guy and we got to talking. He started talking about how you need to be satisfied in your job, etc. Any job I am going to get around here is definitely not going to be a good one, really one just to pass the time in between rock climbing and for a little spending money. Really, we all just work in order to support ourselves so we can do what we want during out free time, right?

The issue here is that (supposedly) a bunch of people from Boone and elsewhere are coming to visit around New Years. I don't want to be stuck at some dead end job while my friends are here to climb! So maybe I wont get a job until after New Years. I have a little money saved. I moved here to rock climb. Might as well rock climb! This interspersed with the odd day at Able Body working with crackheads should hold me through.

Here are some Little Rock City pictures I took last week. They are all of the highest quality and I will understand if some of your computers are simply not able to handle them.

Sam on "Jerry's Kids". Sam and Peilee came to visit from Knoxville for a few days. Everyone wants a piece of the house in Ross Vegas.

Brent on "Space". I am really starting to get into this problem. It is a hard slab, maybe the hardest slab I have tried. It is really enjoyable to try and not too strenuous on my wrist. Hopefully I will send this thing sometime. The crux seems more of a commitment issue than a strength issue.

Nate on "Psychosomatic", a v9 slab, no big deal. I have run into Nate and Rami several times out at LRC in the past week. They are always entertaining

This was spotted in the LRC parking lot.

Cletus on "Midnight". A problem he put up about 6 years ago. You wont find this one in the guide book. In fact it is a little bit outside MontLake property. Anyways, this photo does not do the problem justice. This problem has perfect rock and is very striking.

B Clev on a nice warm up at LRC.

In other news.... Daniel Woods sightings around Chattanooga! Maybe his energy will rub off on me.

Punt of the Week - Chattanooga Update

2010-12-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

I have a bunch of pictures to upload but my blogger is not cooperating at the moment. Anyway, things have been going well here in Chattanooga lately. I have been keeping up to date on the weather situation around the southeast, namely in Boone, NC. It seems the poor unfortunate wretches still living in Boone have been enduring the cold and it is not going to stop any time soon. This is good news if you are a skier/snowboarder but very bad for everyone else. The weather in Chattanooga has been ideal for rock climbing lately. I gone bouldering at Little Rock City 4 times this week due to hunting closures at Rocktown and my ignorance of other low key bouldering areas. I think I am going to focus on bouldering for a while due to the cold and most of my friends are boulderers anyway. I cannot stress enough how much I like climbing at Little Rock City (LRC). The $3 entry fee is totally worth it. My wrist is improving daily. It is still not at 100% but I have managed to climb some problems. I have stayed mostly on lower angle stuff, which is better on my wrist. Anyway, here are the latest POTW entrees. Rumor has it that Cruise McLean punted terribly off of "Lost Cause" at Rumbling Bald and there is video for it. I want this video!

Runner up:
I have not been aware of a whole lot of punting going on so 2nd place this week goes to me. I punted off a problem "Fame" at LRC yesterday. The problem involves a hard opening slab move to easier climbing above. I surprised myself by doing the first move. Then I was moving my feet around and put my right hand (my bad one) in a pocket for balance. I heard a "click" in my wrist and before I knew it, I was off. I couldn't repeat the first move again. Not such a bad punt but a punt nonetheless.

Winner!
Winner winner Chicken Dinner. Rami Annab had an epic time climbing "The Orb" at Rocktown this week. After several near sends and a lot of yelling he finally redeemed himself and sent the problem. Hats off to Rami who fessed up to his actions personally, calling himself out with a POTW nomination. Little did he know that he would take this week's top honors.

Ski Update

2010-12-11T07:03:00.000-08:00

Opening day hot lap at App Ski Mtn with Charlie Owens.

Hot Lap through the park. Opening day from App Terrain Park on Vimeo.

Tahoe News. More specifically, Squaw Valley news. Mike Wilson sends a 75 ft backflip over the fingers... in November! Definitely November's fingers winner.

2010-12-05T14:41:00.000-08:00

Wow! Quite a lot has happened in my life in the past week or so. This is going to be quite the lengthy blog post.

OK. First of all, I moved to Chattanooga, TN this week. Well, I actually live across the border in Rossville, GA (aka Ross Vegas). I live in a nice little house with Emily and Brian (Brian is on his way here as we speak). Since I have some of the greatest friends ever, they threw me a little party in Boone last monday night. Here are some shots from the party, mostly the dogs at the party.

Luna. Im going to miss you girl!

Blossom, the cutest thing you have ever seen.

Blossom.

I am going to miss all my friends and family a lot. You dont really appreciate what you have until its gone! I am faced with a great dilemma. To live in Boone or not to. Boone is a beautiful place that I am very familiar with but I feel like I have lived there for too long. This prompted the move to Chattanooga.

Just like anyone moving to a new environment, I am not quite settled in here yet. I think this has to do with me not finding a job yet. Given, I haven't tried. But I dont really have any schedule. This is compounded with my wrist injury which leaves me with not a whole lot to do. I have recently been able to climb again though, which is great.

Matt De Camara was our first house guest. He rolled in Thursday night. Friday, Matt and I went climbing at Tennessee Wall with a NC crew (Mike and Mike, Ben Johnson and Stuart). It was our first time at T Wall and the place has more splitter cracks than you can shake a stick at. Add sandbagged grades and southern exposure and you have yourself a good time.

PUNT OF THE WEEK #1. I dropped Matt off the end of the rope from about 3 feet. Sorry buddy! He was OK, but it was a good lesson for both of us. Its not my fault every route at T wall is about 100 ft.

PUNT OF THE WEEK #2. We returned home that night to feat on deer chili. Matt was nice enough to bring it for us. Some friends from VA came for the triple crown event. We also invited over some other people, it was quite a party for our 2nd night in a new house. Much beer was had. While cooking the venison, Matt ate a piece raw. He would pay dearly. He spent most of the night awake, vomiting and with diahrea (wrong spelling). We planned to climb at Foster Falls the next day but due to food poisoning, we were unable. The day ended up being rainy anyway so we didn't miss out on much.

The Triple Crown wrapup party was that night and after putting Matt to bed, we went out for some fun. It was good to see a bunch of familiar faces.

Today we climbed at Rocktown. I haven't climbed here in 4 years. So sick! How could I forget? My wrist limited my action to mostly warmups but I did send a couple problems and improved confidence in my wrist which is a plus. I plan on climbing at Little Rock City tomorrow, and then I begin my job hunt. Wish me luck!

Punt of the Week

2010-11-28T14:58:00.001-08:00

Its that time again. It has been more like 3 weeks since the last "POTW" honors. Here are this week's entries

1- Lana punted off the topout of "Cock and Balls" at Grandmother more than once despite beta spray from onlookers.

2- Dalen punted off post-crux on "Blunt Mentality" at Blowing Rock. Whatever Mr. Flagyl, you cant send everything.

Winner!

I dont know this guy but I was told this was quite a worthy punt. Traylor punted off the topout of "Matt's Prow" at Lost Cove a few days ago. Apparently he couldn't summon the courage to top the thing out.

Until next time, just remember: no one is safe from "Punt of the Week"

Thanksgivings

2010-11-28T14:20:00.000-08:00

I titled this post "thanksgivings" because I had more than one celebration this year. The first was last monday at our house in Boone. You can see the action in these photos.

Turkey #1

Dinner group. This isnt everyone. We had about 25 people total.

Turkey #2

Tilley was tired after all the festivities and had to take a nap.

Chalk dust in the living room this morning.

I spent Thanksgiving day itself with my family in Atlanta. I didn't take any pictures but it was great to see everyone. I don't get to see my entire family that often so it is always a treat.