Halloween Costume Boulder Comp Announcement

Hello....wow, I've been pretty lazy about this here...But I must announce this from every forum available to me. And I forgot about this one until just now....



We are psyched to invite EVERYONE!! ALL ages & abilities are welcome to join our Halloween Costume Boulder Comp! November 1st, 1pm in our backyard. A $20 dollar cover will be charged, but that is only to supply you all with food, drinks and sweet CASH PRIZES!! Not only will 1st, 2nd & 3rd place in the comp win CASH, but so will other categories, such as Best Costume, Best Attitude/Effort & the much coveted "Who Annoyed Kris the Least" Award! And to make things fair for all competitors, we've created a format unlike anything you've climbed in before! Not only will everyone be in costume, MANDATORY!, but they will also be PAIRED with a partner! Partners will be decided for you on the day of the comp. A partnership maybe chosen by competitors for an additional $10 entrance fee. Sandbaggers will NOT be allowed to partner together! More intriguing details will be unveiled at the comp! And remember...the more people climb, the bigger the pot!!

The new cave

Kris and Pi had been throwing the idea around about adding a cave to one side of the wall...Kris put it together in under a week, with less than 24 hours of time spent on it. And yet it's still over built & painfully fun!!!



The only help he got was from me, (helping place 2 panels of plywood) and several of us screwing in T-nuts at the end. Kris parked his truck under the wall so no one could climb until all the nuts were screwed down. Thanks to Aaron for his extra drill, as well as Mike Reneke, Chris Hirsch, Jonathan Williams for all their help...and NO THANKS to Pi who showed up late, right as everything was finished...just for that, I have inserted a picture of Pi landing on his face!

Hot Summer Happenings....

I've been badgered a bit to post something here...apartently I'm not entertaining some people at work enough...

I'll start a the beginning since I've last posted anything. Over the 4th of July, Kris, Pi, Alex, Phil & Corey headed up north to Sawmill. Friday, the 4th, was actually pretty nice for July in the woods! Not too hot, not too many bugs, and got a lot of climbing in, as well as some exploring. Around the backside of the dome, just down the trail a bit further than exodus, seated in a shady, mossy glen, is a vertically fractured arete. It's totally filthy, which makes us certain that no one has probably ever tried it, much less climbed it. It has a really good, flat landing, and a definite line with a slopey top out around 20 feet up. There are actually 3 aretes next to each other...all look like they could be climbed. Sorry, but I didn't take any pictures of this! Why the hell not!!! I don't know.

This is on the Budda Boulder, the sharp right arete has already been climbed from a stand by Tschol, so Pi began working a UBER HARD sit start...







That little crimp rail is about a quarter (coin) thickness! I couldn't put an ounce of weight on that thing!



I've known Alex for a while...but I'm just begining to realize what she may be capable of.





This is everyone on Absolution...WAY too climate specific for a day like this one! But fun anyways.












All the pics shot from this angle are thanks to Pi, up on his little perch...come to think of it...does anyone else feel the Pi crushing down on you from above?




Then, some other day...Kris got a little twitchy and wanted to do something with the lumber left over from the wall. We took a chunk of 4x6 and made a nice 2 sided jug. Then we took some 2x4's and cut the corners off lengthwise to make a few little pinches. Pretty low tech, but super comfy!







Then, on Saturday, with some encouragement from Pi and other's at our Friay night session in the yard, Kris got "a bug" wedged securely up his butt and started in on Phase 2 of the wall. It will be a 12ft x 12ft cave off to the left of the wall. It has a 1ft drop from front edge to the back, and will climb up into the triangular space between the wall and the front, left support beam. Someone said our backyard wall is fast becoming a bouldering gym...no shit! Maybe next time we'll win the "Show Us Your Woody" contest in Urban Climber-damn it.







And here's the silly, little, boulder wall builder who just can't stop himself...

Alex Wins the Boulder World Cup!!

I've got an article that just posted to www.8a.nu.....go there to check it out!

Sawmill Sunday

I got to ride in Nic's new Yaris, much to the chagrin of Pi, who road in Chris Hirsch's Escort. You can fit 2 pads in a Yaris with the back seat up, and 4-5 with the back seats down. And we got 35 mpg going 75 the whole way.
On a four hour drive in tandem, things can get silly. Fruit bombing one another's cars entertained us for the last two hours of the drive and had our faces aching from laughter.
It was bright and sunny out, but the air was still cool. Conditions were perfect. Pi hadn't been up here in a while, and was unfamiliar, somehow, with the western end of the boulder field. The slab, Vag Badger & Poppy Cock, everything there was new to him. We showed him around, and ended at a previously unclimbed line on the backside of the split open Backslapper boulder. Jim Merli had suggested the line before, and the boys were intrigued enough to clean it up and give it a go.
I don't know why the name "Foreplay" had been suggested. It seemed like it was the next name in line in their back-log of potential names for new boulder problems. The immature, yet hysterical, conversation was primed and driven by the proposed name. I left a fragment of that in the video..."balls" aren't a swear word, right?
Here's my second video I've made today with iMovie...sweet...



After that we headed back to the main area, where I intended to try Sticky Icky again. But first we had to go around to the east side and check out a few other unclimbed lines...uncleaned...unattempted...makes them so much more tempting.
But I still, like always, had unfinished business on the arete of Jim's boulder. It was starting to get cool, so the guys built a little stone fire ring and started a fire with the bark from a huge fallen birch tree next to us. Birch bark is VERY flammable...as these pictures Nic took of Pi suggest...







(Images of Pi on Fire by Nic Oklobzija)

(I've finally typed Nic's screwed up last name enough to know how to spell it by heart now.)

So anyways, I gave Sticky Icky a few goes, but was unable to consistantly keep the first heel hook on a thin crimp. The last time I worked it sucessfully, (2 seasons ago?) I was wearing old Anasazi's, with the flat mounted heel, that makes for a nice little edge-grabber for heel hooking little stuff. I determined then that it was a lot easier to do it with that particularly styled heel, while I watched everyone else's heel easily slip off it. But my heel, with my Anasazi's, would stick most every time, with out too much effort.....didn't bring the Anasazi's along...damn. My foot did stick a few times well enough to stick the move before the jug, but then it slipped off. I also noticed the first right foot was spliting from the boulder. I'd better do it quick, before someone breaks it off. I won't forget my left Anasazi next time! Hopefully it will be a cool summer, and the northern boulder fields stay cool and climbable. Seeing as we didn't have a spring season at all this year, I just think that's fair.

Chris bouldering Genetic Control

So here's the video...enjoy...

Awesomely Exhausting Weekend

I was a zombie by Monday...

Our Friday night Backyard Bouldering Session started ominously with (girl) Phil arriving with the rain. Then it stopped...then it rained only in the backyard...then it stopped again. "Damn cumulobumbous!" But with a wall as tipped down as ours, it just proved to be a decent shelter, with the occasional drop finding it's way through a bolt hole into your eyeball. The bits of rain didn't last long, and with a hardwood flooring fire roaring next to us, the weather couldn't have been better.





We got a really great turn out too! Lots of first timers...






and lots of regulars....






I feel it's safe to say everyone had a lot of fun, and no one got hurt! Excellent! I feel I can say they had a good time, cuz when I went to bed at 1am, there was still a ring of people around the fire....I had to go to bed...I was going climbing tomorrow too.

These next two pictures were discovered later on my camera...I believe they arteest to be Pi...

Kris looks extra handsome blurry and slightly slanted...


I think this is Pi's lap...


Saturday morning Chris Hirsch came over to claim a pile of crash pads left in the backyard. He was going to "boulder" Genetic Control. A 30 foot wall only previously top roped. Or, as far as I know, has never been bouldered. There's speculation Mike Helke may have...but I haven't seen him around to ask.

Chris planned to top rope the line twice before trying it untied. He fluidly climbed through the moves, obviously hardwired, but climbed slowly and methodically none the less. Kris was on belay, the first time he'd been in a harness since we went to Redwing together, before we were dating, um, 2-3 years ago? He's pretty ashamed of being seen in it...









He figured out the top out and lowered back down. Feeling good about his first warm up, Chris decided to go for it on his next try. We had 9 1/2 pads covering the sharp boulders directly under the line. Kris held a pad up against the pile to help catch Chris, should he go down. I stood just behind Kris and shot a video of his ascent. Video to come...I want to add a little music to this one...

Then we headed into the B2 pit. There were several kids already in there, some local, some down from Duluth. We dropped Kris's monster pad on top of theirs, they were more than happy to have it.



I was a bit concerned that I might forget my beta for this problem. I haven't climbed on it for over two years. My beta for this problem, like most, is very different from others taller than me. So watching these guys from Duluth would only provide inspriation to climb it, not really information(beta) to climb it.

And sure shit, I forgot.

This is not my old beta.

Walked right up to the boulder and didn't know where my hands went, much less my feet. After a few frustrated attemps, I tried any way that looked good. I got to my old high point, under the finish jug, but wasn't in the right body position. The foot smears were getting really slick, and kept spitting me off.

Just to show everybody up, Kris walked right up it, statically.


I was annoyed enough by forgetting my methods that I abandoned that line for another. Right behind B2 Bomber is Crash Landing. A short series of perfect crimps over mud. This is the last part of the pit to ever dry out. After a few tries I topped it out. Which brings me to my point, numbers are stupid. B2 Bomber is rated V3, some argue 2. Chris thought Crash Landing was supposed to be a 5. If that is the case, and I struggled on a 3 and easliy did a 5 after struggling on that 3. WTF. Stupid. Don't get lost in the numbers game. It's not all that accurate or consistant.

Chris had ambition to climb the sit start to Mike's Left, and Kris had an ambition to be lazy and stay on the Minnesota side. We worked Lloyd's Sit start, but there was a wet foot. And with out Chris, we kinda lost our motivation. We walked down to the edge of the river, where the paddle boats dock, and yelled across the river to say goodbye. He called back over that his feet weren't sticking, probably wasn't going to go. We waved goodbye, I'd see him again tomorrow. We hadn't even pulled out of our parking spot when I got a text, "Sent sit start to Mike's Left." Nice...Chris Hirsch is on some kinda climbing dream streak.

Sunday at Sawmill to come....