indie

if i said my heart was beating loud

2011-07-21T14:18:00.001-06:00

When I haven't been busy writing 9 page emo/angry papers about why hasty unnecessary cesarean sections are an aberration to the human species, I have been getting up to the mountains some. Yesterday I got all motivated and decided I was going to hike down the switchbacks that begin at Echo Lake and hike up to the reservoir. Then I was going to run down from the reservoir and up the switchbacks all the way to the car. I waited until the weather looked kind of shitty so as to have extra motivation to get up the switchbacks - fast. Well running downhill is easy enough, and I may have even danced to Lady Gaga a bit and spun in circles; however, after running up the first switchback I couldn't run any further. My lungs were burning. I don't really know what I was expecting. I told my friend Kris my plan before I went and she said, "wait... I have never heard of you running anywhere voluntarily." I thought, hence the bad weather Kris...when I hear thunder I will HAVE to run. Well, it didn't thunder and I did run the 8th switchback and across the little ridge there and all the way to the car. I am sore today too, so I must have done something right.

here is a photo of Echo Lake (Steve and Katie if you ever came to Colorado you could see this lake)

On the way down from the mountains I stopped near Evergreen to take some photos of the clouds. Well that didn't work out so well and I became overwhelmed by the flowers on the ground so I began to take photos of them instead. I am pretty sure this is how ADHD works. So I spent an hour or so taking flower photos. I didn't know Colorado had so many fun flowers.

As a result of being so stupidly busy with school, I rarely get to climb these days. The other day I realized I have 5 weeks to get in shape for a potential climbing trip because I have one week off of school. I drove to the Spot to climb for a few hours and as I was warming up I hurt myself. The problem with not climbing and then going to the gym is this...I see a 3 spot and I am like..oh that is easy. Well in my head I can easily climb the problem, yet my body wholeheartedly disagreed with me. Pretty soon I had a throbbing deltoid and shoulder. Using all of my logic, ignored this and kept climbing until it was unbearable. I had been there for only 45 minutes and I was injured. I was tempted to ask for my money back. Below is a picture of me warming up on a vertical wall.

We have been having some crazy afternoon storms here in Denver. I am pretty sure I have an anxiety disorder when it comes to lightning now, as a result of being traumatized last summer at Lincoln Lake. Every time I hear thunder I feel very unsafe no matter where I am. The building we live in has a lightning rod so I don't think it gets much safer than that, but I am still inconsolably terrified. I think I get more worried than the dog, and that says a lot. This particular storm was super loud and scary. I took these photos from the balcony.

I mixed in my flower photos with the lightning photos so my blog isn't too scary.

These little yellow guys were at different stages of birthing themselves.

This one was all milky and sticky and this poor fly was stuck to it by its wing

oh so scary

This is a random building downtown

Help me Tom Cruise!

Jeff's friend Mandy made some jelly and kindly sent us some in the mail. To honor the jelly I made biscuits as a vessel to eat the jelly with melty butter. So delicious.

Kona was less than pleased that I left her in the car while I took photos of flowers. I stalked her with the long lens.

mmmm biscuits

someone so kindly left a bottle of Jagermeister among the flowers

oh and Nic got married. Congratulations Nic and Molly.

panoramas, rainbows, and a climbing video!

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

Panoramas!!

On our hike out of Lincoln Lake I wild crafted this nice bouquet. It is probably illegal to pick Columbines but we hit the Columbine jackpot so I didn't feel too bad. I love the flowers that pop up all over the alpine tundra.

Echo Lake

Here we have two very dirty and wet dogs. After convincing them that they won't die if they ride in the back of the 4runner Kona decided to sit on Abby. They sat there like this for about 10 minutes watching the world go by. Eventually the one on the left relaxed her front legs and they fell asleep like this. So much entertainment is had from these two furry creatures.

Jeff ordered this Balsamic off of wine woot and it is delicious. Last night we had tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil and this tasty balsamic along with some gin and tonics. Oooe.

another rainbow shot

Here is a video from this spring of Jeff climbing Replacement Killers in Boulder Canyon.

magical things

2011-07-01T19:22:00.001-06:00

Ahhh Lincoln Lake how I have missed thee. In between a lab at school and having to be at the hospital early the next morning, I ran up to Lincoln Lake to climb for an extremely short amount of time. I love love love it up there. There are no photos of climbing on this blog so you can stop reading it now JJ. Just some quick photos off of my phone.

This is a magical unicorn that lives up in Bailey

And these are the magical chickens that my friend Jess owns...Big Mama, Margaret and Dorothy.

This is her super magical dog

This is Eric desiring to eat Kona

This is my nephew (he fell in the lake so I had to put my shirt on him)

This is what friends are for

smörgåsbord

2011-05-18T16:52:00.003-06:00

smörgåsbord (by the way I made those baguettes)

we finally made it to the sunny part of the country for my break which has been over for two weeks now :( we went to indian creek and quickly decided that cracks are painful so we went to joe's for a few days. it was quite nice.

we threw sticks at the dog's face and took pictures as she caught them. she looks amazing.

Things I Saw Today

2011-04-24T22:29:00.000-06:00

Today I spent some time watching these eagles in Iowa.

http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

I also watched the weather.

This is a picture of my shower curtain. It has been edited by me to depict what is currently happening across the US. I have two weeks off of school and my plan was to spend it in the Red River Gorge in Kentucky sport climbing. Apparently it is not the best time to travel to Kentucky, so my thoughts headed west. In looking at road conditions it appears that the mountains just west of Denver are getting hammered with snow making driving conditions suck. I am shown in red. I just want to get to the sunshine part of the country. Jeff and I both have colds so I guess it isn't the end of the world, but still. I just want to rock climb a little.

So instead of actually climbing, Jeff and I have taken to wearing our climbing shoes around the house, just to feel like we are doing something useful.

As far as super useful things go, we did test out this bottle of wine on our dreary Easter day.

Kona and I went for a walk in the rain. She swam in the narsty river for a bit and then came back home for a game of duck.

That's about all I saw today.

goings on

2011-01-29T23:24:00.004-07:00

wait for it...

SUCCESS! mini doggy booties.

little dog in a big world

they keep each other warm

and...back in the car before she gets eaten by a hawk

Shortly after Christmas, which was a long time ago, Jeff and I headed to Bishop for a few days. It snowed and was quite cold, but we got one good day out at the Buttermilks. We met up with Alex and Fritz and had a fantastic time climbing up and down the the sunshine slab because the back of the boulder was an icy mess.

Alex remained in Bishop and will be there for pretty much the entire season. She has had much success! Mandala, Stained Glass and lots of other stuff...I can't keep up. GO ALEX.

In other not nearly as exciting news, I finally did Soul Slinger! All I had to do was pull my head out of my ass! It was fantastic. Thank you Matt Birch for the photos!!!

Fast forwarding a month later to today which is the first time I have climbed on rock since Bishop. Steph, Jeff and I headed up to Clear Creek to try some boulders in the sun. Jeff warmed up on Mavericks 14 times and Steph and I did it for the first time. What a fantastic climb!! It is soooo good!! The last move is perfectly scary enough to make you thankful for the incut crimp on the top, but not quite scary enough to stop me from climbing it 4 times in a row. Steph climbed to the last move easily, but had a moment of insecurity when she had a flashback of falling off the top and breaking her ankle a few years ago. We talked her into getting back on it and she sent!!! What a good thing to do after having such a terrible fall. I think highballs are in your future Steph. The most important part of all of this is that we both climbed it before Jamie. Yes indeed.
Jeff also did Animal today! He climbed it with the original beta that was used while the rock was still there.

going for it!

yeahheee!!!

Steph thinking...whoa, that was scary

so goooood

In other news I started nursing school 3 weeks ago. A 12 month accelerated BSN here in Denver. Last week we did IV's and this poor guy has two IV's started in the same hand. Sucks for him because I am not very good yet which is obvious by all of the fake blood around his hand that happened to spurt out of his sad rubbery veins. My teacher said the fake hands have a lot more pressure than real hands, and I certainly hope so. I never knew starting an IV could be such a bloody process. I am not thaaat bad really. The first hand I stuck was out of blood and that was a sad sad day. Anyway, I hope I can get out climbing being so busy and all. cripes.

ocean and a rock

2010-12-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

If the moon were made of barbecue spare ribs...

2010-12-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

would ya eat it?

I know I would. Heck! I'd have seconds.

Last night there was a solstice lunar eclipse for the first time since 1638, according to the NASA website, and the next one will be in 2094. Jeff and I stepped outside to watch the first bit of it without the camera and it looked just like this stolen photo that I found on flickr.

The rest of these are taken by Jeff while I laid on the ground in my snow pants lost in a magical world of solstice and lunar eclipse.

there it is zooming across the night sky in all of its red earth shadowy glory

this is a photo i took last spring... i thought maybe it was appropriate because the days are only getting longer now

Kona has taken to sleeping with her face smashed in the pillow (get ready Eric and Abbie!)

Cubs Win! Cubs Win!

ugly sweater party and goings on

2010-12-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Denver and Happy Christmas

Not much going on here except an ugly Christmas sweater party.

This is Steph playing Big Chair, Little Chair in her lovely cat sweater

I haven't been climbing because I have been sick all week with what I like to call "fire in mah lungs."

So I have been exploring the world of tea and have taken a fancy to pomegranate rooibos as well as a raspberry leaf chamomile crazy mix of wonderfulness.

I also ate some bacon and eggs with my extraordinary homemade coffee cake.

Do not fear... I am headed out to Santa Cruz and Bishop for Christmas and I promise there will be climbing photos on this blog once again.

back in action

2010-12-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

this video sounds and looks nice... have a look

well... it has been awhile. Jeff and I went to Kenya. We trekked about 100 miles across Tsavo National Park in about ten days. It was splendid. It was actually the coolest thing I have ever ever done.
Here is a link to the two billion photos that I have already posted on facebook:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kellmcbride/TheGreatWalkOfAfrica2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCMfkj-mq17q8fQ#

I have been climbing a bit here in the front range area but mostly I am lazy. I started training for competitions but found that it is really hard work. Imagine that. After some minor setbacks and physical ailments I will hopefully be psyched again soon.

Switzerland

2010-09-09T14:39:00.003-06:00

A very quick blog before off to Kenya. I have been without internet. Photos Go!

it rained and rained so we didn't get much climbing in, but we saw some sights!

Jeff trying Octopussy

mini person bridge

me on Hageltrauma 7B

Jeff on Stressman 7A

Viamala

Ode to Angie, 8B!

2010-08-18T01:06:00.000-06:00

So apparently texting my blog in an effort to beat Jamie to posting did not work out so well. I would take it down; however, I will leave it up just to show blogger that it was a big fail.

Angie sent the Automator this evening becoming the first woman to climb 8B...ever? Fantastic.

Since she climbed it in the dark I do not have any good photos of her on it, but this does not mean that I do not have any good photos of her.

This is where we begin the Ode to Ange...

mmmm cake... this is the day that Angie beat all of boys by sending the Vice, V10 at Arthur's Rock

mmmmm bigger cake!

sleep.

Good Job Angie!!

2010-08-17T22:51:00.003-06:00

top of the boulder. Footage to come...somewhere... not on my blog.

2010-08-17T22:51:00.001-06:00

Angie Payne crushed the Automator, 8B, this evening in Rocky Mountain National Park. GO ANGIE!! The top out included some whooping and hollering from the

This Just In

2010-08-13T23:18:00.004-06:00

JAMIE EMERSON NOW USES SOAP

In other news Alex has posted some interesting thoughts on her blog:

"The annual bouldering competition was fun as always. It was also unbearably hot, as the desert usually is in August, and the scantily clad girls were out in full force. I understand how dreadful the summer heat can be, but some of the outfits are beginning to cross the line. It’s out of respect for my fellow female competitors, and the respect that I hope they have for themselves, that I wish for the provocative attire to be taken down a notch. Yes, we all know sex sells, and that sadly it seems the less you wear, the more you’re photographed. But I believe trying to gain publicity using your body is pushing our sport in a negative direction and it’s sincerely disappointing. My desire is for women climbers to be notarized for their personalities, ethics, morals, professionalism, etc. Much further down the list lands climbing ability or accomplishments, and never should seeking attention for clothing, or lack thereof, come into play. Women are strong and powerful, and beauty can be portrayed in many ways. Over-sexuality doesn’t always have to be one of them. Come on, girls, leave something for the imagination."

This drawing that I made is not intended to portray anyone in particular it is simply a figment of my imagination...

Since we are focusing on the awesomeness of skin and nudity I have some great shots of hanging out in RMNP. The girls of CORE graced us with their presence and we compared cores. I like to wear gramma pants so I am pretty sure this means that I win. Hands down.

This person's core does not win because there are no gramma pants. fail girl core person.

These girls are tough. (Flann.. I took it upon myself to dye your hair pink-ish. You can thank me later)

Even though there are like 2 million ascents of Unshackled, it doesn't matter. The only thing in the world that matters is that Steph is trying to beat me. Yep you heard it here. Girl fight. Steph and I have the same projects and let me tell you how we despise each other. We text each other all the time and say, "Hey are you going to climb on Unshackled today?" The question we are really asking is....can I get up there before she can to beat her to the send? It is really dramatic and pretty much an all out war.

Steph trains and stuff...

I should have pushed her in when I had the chance.....just kidding Steph!!!

Flann trains by jumping in freezing lakes.

Jamie found this shallow whale and Flann became friends with him. Just like old bath time friends except in absolutely freezing cold water.

I asked her what color she wanted her skirt to be and she said "warm"

this is the color of warm...

The other night we hung out and stuff and swam and then played dress up in classic girl style.

Jeff and I went up to Mount Evans last night to watch the meteor shower and Jeff took this fantastic photo of the moon. I think we saw about 200 shooting stars. It was awesome and freezing cold. I ended up passing out in my big down sleeping bag around midnight.

Dog chewing frisbee as the sun was setting ... the colors look edited but they are not. Of course Jeff shot this one.

Random photo of Sandy at Erin's bachelorette party that I co-hosted this past weekend. She really liked the penis ice cubes.

Erin and her sister Lauren

UNSHACKLED!!!!

overstimulation

2010-07-29T00:09:00.015-06:00

The internet is an overabundance of information. Linking and linking and linking to different things, websites, photos, climbing, blogs, clown porn, BBC world news, baby Jesus, vulcan displays, twitter, lance armstrong's sexy body, fashion, the apocalypse, dogs, vomit, unicorns, facebook, pancakes, devil horns, armani, three headed babies AND it never ever ever ends.

On a totally unrelated note, lately I have been wondering (actually Jeff was wondering) if I have attention deficit disorder. I googled ADD and found this nice little quiz of super appropriate questions such as, do you feel like your brain is a tv and all of the channels are on at once? That seems really intense. Is that how it feels Nic? My score was 63. Does this mean I get a D in ADD?

Results of your
Attention Deficit Disorder Quiz
You scored a total of 63

You appear to be suffering from a moderate amount of attention and concentration difficulties according to your responses to this self-report questionnaire. You should not take this as a diagnosis of any sort, or a recommendation for treatment. However, it would be advisable and likely beneficial for you to seek further diagnosis from a trained mental health professional soon to rule out a possible attention disorder.

My response: Laughing out loud hysterically for about 2 minutes with Jeff staring at me........then as the results sunk in.....FUCK! Well this explains a lot.

Jeff scored a 10, which is not an F. Apparently the lower the number the better. He got a little thing that said, "YAY you are ADHD FREE!!!" Like he overcame a crack addiction or something.

Anyway...I had no idea that this could possibly be my fate, I though I was just impetuous and precocious. I do remember my mom telling me that my 3rd grade teacher approached her and said, "Kelly has a hard time sitting still. All of the other kids sit at their desk and pay attention to the math problems, but Kelly is always rocking back and forth or flailing around; however, she understands what is being taught, so I don't think it is a problem." And that is that. Diagnosed in 3rd grade.

I drew a picture

This picture came to mind after I wrote this post because Jeff asked me if I got the idea for the ADD quiz from hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com. I was like 'huh'? She has the best blog in the universe and makes me pee my pants laughing, but I had no idea that she took the exact same ADHD quiz until Jeff showed me. awesome. I am not a copy cat but I couldn't help envisioning two identical cats. SORRY THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ROCK CLIMBING.

Lincoln Logs

2010-07-26T18:26:00.002-06:00

I have an announcement to make. I am going to become an alpine weatherwoman. JJ will purchase for me a satellite phone and I will live at Lincoln Lake with the angry pika vs. marmot wars and pet mountain lions. When people want to know the weather they can call my satellite phone and for 500 bucks I will give them an update. For example....

Today is BAD, there are many clouds. Two thumbs down.

Unfortunately I would freeze my ass off and become extremely hungry and irritable.

On the other hand I could send all of my projects because I wouldn't be so damn tired from the hike.

Oh, here I am suffocating myself with my own bicep :(

smarvez!

I am not sure if everyone has seen enough photos of unshackled...if not here are more.

look at those non existent crimping skillz

Keep your foot on STEPH!!!!!!

Rylan on Brazos Pequeños

Justin has small arms

nick!

Steph doing moves

Jeff on Bebe Wolverine

camp!

"my name is Kona"

"Sometimes I get tired......but very very rarely. This time it was because I ran all the way up the hill almost to the road chasing something...I am not sure what it was.."

ok more climbing

I can't explain this one

oh my gawd it's Rylan!

Justin sending Rebellion V9?

The hike out was amazing, a bit humid as we came out of the clouds, but amazing

what is wrong with me?

2010-07-26T00:23:00.000-06:00

My body does not allow me to fall asleep before 1:30 and if I get up before 10 I have to take a nap or something to get through the day. This might mean I am ridiculously lazy but I blame it on the lack of oxygen in the mountains and maybe there is a shortage in my apartment too.

I may never be a responsible adult and how will I ever get a 9-5 and conform to American society? Also, why am I always hungry at midnight? This is inappropriate.

Sometimes I try to trick my body by getting in bed at midnight. I lay there with my eyes wide open disappointed that my brain won't comply.

I went to Mt. Evans again yesterday and I took like 250 photos. Ridiculous. As soon as I get through those I will post climbing stuff....for now enjoy my lovely drawing.

mystery

2010-07-22T16:27:00.001-06:00

So I feel like I might need to start blogging about the strangest things that I vacuum up at the Denver Bouldering Club. Unfortunately this item that I vacuumed up might just be the coolest one I will ever vacuum up, so they might become less interesting from here on out.

In a deep dark corner that I like to vacuum because it accumulates a heinous amount of chalk dust I found a what looked like something had taken a small poo. It was dry and crusty and it reminded me of living with Alex's Chihuahua (pronounced Chee- Huua - Huuua).

Fortunately for me Flan was hanging out, so I called her over to observe this strange object. She said, "hmmmm... vacuum it up?" So I did. (Sorry Lee) It sucked right up and made the loudest crusty thunk in the bottom of the shop vac. Flan and I looked at each other and and tried for a second to suppress the laughter, but we couldn't. It was awesome.

My theories on what made this turd are a raccoon, a fox, a pika, a marmot, a platypus, a narwhal, an aye aye, a unicorn, or Benson. All are very feasable...except maybe the narwhal and the platypus. This is most likely the cause...

I bet it comes out at night and scampers around the DBC snacking on screws and bolts. I wish it ate chalk dust. Hopefully something this exciting will happen next time I vacuum!

Lincoln Lake needs a lightning rod

2010-07-21T20:59:00.000-06:00

Maybe it is just me, but I generally think I am going to die....frequently. These situations arise in instances such as yesterday. When we reached the parking for Lincoln Lake the clouds in front of us were coming at us, the clouds behind us were coming at us and the clouds on the side of us were coming at us. There was mass confusion in the clouds. But straight above was blue sky so I said, yeah sure and hiked in. It was mildly worth it because I fell off of unshackled with my heel on the lip going for the darn jug. big progress. Then the clouds starting rolling in, and by in I mean up the canyon from the lake and down the canyon from the ridge and from EVERYWHERE. visibility went to about 20 feet..ok more like 200 feet.

impending cloud of doom

It was then that we saw another human. Ivo. He hiked down into the cloud mess, and missed the invisible cloud covered boulders and ended up at the lake. That is how confusing it was up there.

looking off toward small arms from unshackled

beautiful view of lincoln lake from unshackled

About two minutes later...murder death kill lightning. it actually could have been a lot worse, but it was enough to cause concern, and uncontrollable shaking all over my body. It is like this reaction my body has to lightning in talus. I really don't want my body to do this to me and it certainly doesn't consult me before acting this way. It's like, oh thunder in the distance?...must shake uncontrollably and look like an idiot. When the lightning is really close then it is just over...even my jaw gets the jitters and my brain thinks, I am going to die. I blame all of this on Jamie Emerson.

So we hunkered down under unshackled to wait it out. I stood on two crashpads just to be extra safe. I didn't feel very safe. There was one really great one where we all saw the flash then went "wah"...which is the beginning of one one thousand, before I freaking jumped because KABLAM!!!!! It died down a little and we moved up the talus, smartest idea ever. Another storm came rolling through and we were stuck again. Finally this one started to quiet and we were discussing hiking out when SHABANG!!!! It hit the ridge we were contemplating hiking up and arched over hitting the ridge on the other side creating the most dramatic drawn out rumble. Ok then..... I guess we will sit here longer....

Finally things really did calm down and we hiked up. As we were hiking up and I was thinking in my head about never ever ever never going back to lincoln lake and wondering why I do this for fun when the most beautiful double rainbow came out brilliantly directly over the lake. More leprechauns!!!!!

Or wait a minute..what we have here is a classic case of bear vs. unicorn. Who is going to get the pot o' gold? Bear is obviously closer and super vicious, but unicorn has super magical powers..

Hiking out

Since most of our day was spent sitting under dripping boulders we decided to summit Mt. Evans to make the most of our day. It was horribly hard work, for the car. We had to climb the last 200 feet to the very top. It was strenuous. I have never been higher than 12,500 until today. The summit of Mt. Evans is 14,240 feet. I actually felt great and with all of the clouds from surrounding storms it was a beautiful evening.

this is my domain...any leprechauns, unicorns, bloody bears, squirrels!, wolverine, or chirping pika will die mercilessly by my pouncing repeatedly on your face.

oh hey! a climbing photo!

Lincoln Log and Leprechauns

2010-07-16T00:19:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was a Lincoln Lake day. Jeff, Drew and I tucked and rolled down the hill and ended up warming up near and on Chalk on Rock. It is a great line but the rock is reminiscent of Vedauwoo. Not so good for warming up. I don't know why there is a photo me on this. I spent two seconds on it but Steph sent it quickly!

Nick playing around on a boulder I don't know the name of

Ben on the end of Chalk on Rock, V8?

After this I tried Unshackled and after some reverse progress, frustration, and complaining I figured out some beta to make things easier only to run out of skin and complain about that a lot too. Then Angie showed up and I forced my beta on her and she flashed that shit so fast! So awesome.

Then it rained a little and I only had a small panic attack because the thunder seemed to be down canyon. I like to blame these things on Jamie Emerson. All of my most terrible weather experiences occur when Jamie is present and he says, "Ahhh it's fine"... then two minutes later he is packing up his shit and bailing, leaving Angie and I stranded with heart attacks in the talus with lightning striking down like the fury of God.

Then something amazing happened. Through the hail, after Jamie bailed to another boulder, a double rainbow formed and the leprechauns came out.

Sarah and I didn't see the leprechaun at this point because he was waaay up on the hill and he is only like 10 inches tall. Kona was sniffing him out all day trying to find his stash o' gold, but she was a huge failure and just drank the fresh rain water out of puddles on the rock. useless.

This may seem like I am taking in the beauty but I am just catching my breath because I can't hike and breathe at the same time up there.

all photos taken by Jeff Sillcox... edited and drawn on by me without his permission

Angie Payne Flashes Unshackled V10

2010-07-14T22:25:00.004-06:00

Today I excitedly watched Angie flash Unshackled, after something that you can't even call a warm-up. I guess is still being debated as V9 or V10. If I were Angie I would say V10 but I think she might think it is a 9. But you know Ange, she doesn't really say....she is just badass. Needless to say Flann, Steph, Sarah and I have to get our asses in gear and do this thing before f'ing Puccio comes and flashes it in our faces once again. GOOD WORK ANGE.

p.s. HA Jamie...I win

kona says...

2010-07-14T01:00:00.004-06:00

sahry Flann,... skroo hard werk.

the Schwinn Jenny

2010-07-06T21:00:00.000-06:00

Oh man. today was the ultimate craigslist score. I have had my eye on the 2010 Schwinn Jenny for awhile now, yet it is impossible to find one. Apparently they are sold out throughout the country. Today was my lucky day. Someone on capitol hill decided to sell their 2009 Jenny and YAY I have a new bikecycle. I want to ride my bicycle i want to ride my bike...BICYCLE.

It is a great mix between a cruiser and a commuter, although it is mostly a cruiser. It has 7 speeds and smaller tires than the classic cruiser....and most importantly a bell.

I had a lot of fun photographing my new bike

mmmm delicious yellow bike

lincoln lake

2010-07-06T16:06:00.001-06:00

You start at 12,500 ft. and end at 11,700 ft. in less than half a mile which equals StEEp.

Shadow people trying Jamie's new problem Red Herring, V6ish

Nate warming up on Unshackled Sit

Jeff using Nate's double toe hook method which creates a fun and dynamic swing once your left hand is on the lip and you take your right hand off to match.

The toe hook lock off

The awesome top out

Above: Kona resting after a few burns on Unshackled and some spelunking through the talus

Below: I did all of the moves on Unshackled and I am very excited to go back and piece it together

The Idiot....which is me because I can't do this problem

Talus heaven...or hell depending on whether or not you like hiking in it

Dave trying the static version of Brion's Purple is Not a Color

Brian Capps coming soo close. Unfortunately everyone kept swinging into the rock and dirt on the right side ending up in a sitting position.

The send

Jamie topping out Sparrowhawk, V9

sploding thunderous days

2010-07-04T20:18:00.000-06:00

This is why I am afraid to go climbing...perhaps I am overly sensitive but I am not ready to have my face exploded.

The past two nights there have been great fireworks at Coors Field. With those good ol' silver bullets in our hands we watched the fireworks splode over Denver.

Here are some photos from the Teva Mountain Games that I just put on my computer today. I have been avoiding it because I took so many I didn't even know where to start and it just made me anxious. These are my favorite portraits from the comp and soon very soon I will put up actual climbing photos.

frustrated Pal

Chris guarding the mystery cookies

The girls plotting

super serious win face

it's too hot

2010-07-04T15:36:00.000-06:00

I haven't blogged because I haven't done anything. After getting thunderstormed out of Evans the other day I am a little hesitant to go back up. Sprinting up the switchbacks in hail was not my idea of a great time. Hopefully the weather will be a little less volatile next time.

traveling aboot

2010-03-22T17:38:00.003-06:00

One of my best friends, Emmy, got married last weekend at Epic, a night club in downtown Minneapolis. I was a bridesmaid and it was loads of fun. I miss Minneapolis...sometimes. It rained the entire week and I even saw lightning followed by a loud boom of thunder...in March! Nic's girlfriend Molly let us crash on her floor (THANK YOU!!!) and we got to climb in the gym a bit, the place where it all started for me. It was great to see friends and catch up.

Then we spent an exhausted day in Soho in New York, lopping on the furniture and repacking for London.

London! It rained in London the entire three days we were there. We took a double decker bus tour, a river cruise up the Thames, and navigated the underground in search of fish and chips and good beer.

Fontainebleau!!!!! (Brian, get on an airplane and come climbing)

absolutely amazing rock

Talia and I chatted with the boulder shop guy about the difference between pof and chalk and I won't really get into it; however, it was educational. I also got to practice my french!! Excusez-moi, Je ne parle pas Francais. NEcessary in all situations!

Our home for the next 4 weeks

i can't say i mind you dancing...it's quite impressive in those shoes

2010-02-12T23:43:00.002-07:00

digging in the archives...i found this photo and I thought that everyone should hear the story about how Blake dove into Lake Haiyaha to cool down and found a rock inches below the surface to stand on.

brrrrrrrrrrrrr

i miss the park, i can't wait for park season

soon soon soon

i caught olson at a great moment

camp

I felt like a 1950's housewife today when I vacuumed my house in heels. They felt lonely in my closet because it is too cold to wear them outside, so I took them for a test drive around the house.

i really wanted to use some of the valentine's day editing options on picnik...hence the hearts

I will leave you with some lyrics from Lucero's 1372

Overton Park...

Drinking women, chasing whiskey
Like there's nothing left to lose
Now if she'd only kiss me
I'd be a little less confused

Merry Christmas

2009-12-10T22:08:00.001-07:00

Photos from Italy and Switzerland

2009-10-25T14:35:00.009-06:00

Here are some photos from my travels in September.

After Arco we went to Venice for a day. We boated around and saw the sights.

We wondered how stuff doesn't sink...

We sat on marble lions..Alex played with pigeonsIt seems really pretty and fun, but this is how I really felt about Venice

In Switzerland we went on top of a mountain to ride the coaster bobs/alpine slides

this is how we got to the top of the mountain

I sat on an elephant

universal language for evil child to not throw rocks

We posed by a castle in Bellinzona..

we slept at the castle...

and we saw castle stuff.

We panted up a curvy tower to see the view of Bellinzona

and turned our heads and saw more Bellinzona.

Back in Italy, just south of Arco we lounged around by Lake Garda for a day

and enjoyed the scenery

and made streetlights look like stars after a wine and gnocchi dinner

and took some silly photos...

and jumped off things

and went swimming..we watched fantastically entertaining speed climbing

on our sad drive out we stopped and looked above Arco

and pointed at things.. such as..

the castle above the climbing wall where the rockmaster was held that we always talked about hiking up to but never actually did.

next up... squamish photos when I get around to it

the aRCo roCkmasteR

2009-09-29T22:57:00.005-06:00

Hectic traveling has been my life for the last 5 weeks. Alex and I bought impromptu tickets to Italy, so she could compete in the Arco Rockmaster in northern Italy. We flew into Milan, and stayed one night after getting lost downtown for far too long. The next day we drove to Arco and spent 4 days enjoying the scenery, food, and climbing competition. Alex came in 4th place after climbing strong on problems set by Fontainebleau's climbing legend Jacky Godoffe. The format of the bouldering was awesome to watch. Each person practiced the original set version of the problems the morning of the competition. There was 1 girl each from Russia, Japan, Austria, Belgium, Ukraine, France, Italy and America. They came out one at a time to try the problems. They got three tries total, but only one try per attempt. So if you came out and your foot slipped immediately, you had to go back and sit with the other girls, who were all allowed to watch each other, and try again on your turn. After the first problem 1 girl was eliminated, the second problem, 2 girls, and the third problem 2 more; which left 3 for the 4th problem. It sounds confusing; however, the format was awesome to watch. The elimination process included the girls coming out and waving goodbye to the crowd while we all cheered them on for their good effort. Also, they had a DJ. So awesome. I don't even know where to start with the food. Fat sandwiches and amazing pizza right at the event. I couldn't really ask for more.

The lead climbing and speed climbing were also awesome to watch. During the onsight route the first day for lead, Johanna Ernst killed it by being the only girl to flash the route. It was extremely impressive. The overall winners of the Rockmaster Competition were Angela Eiter and Ramòn Julien Puigblanque.

The Duel. Oh goodness the Duel. I have never been so psyched to watch climbing in my life. An incredible looking 7c+ was set that both they guys and girls dueled to the end. Cedric Lachat raced Adam Ondra up the wall and beat him by 8 milliseconds. It was insane. Ja-In Kim climbed steady up the long lead wall and beat Angela Eiter to the end. The crowd went absolutely crazy. It was so fun to watch.

This is just the first half of our trip in photos. More to come later.

I am too lazy to fix the photos so just click on them to see the entire thing!

Al reading during our layover in Copenhagen.

The Galleria in downtown Milan

Taken from our hotel window in Arco

Johanna and Alex in front of the lead wall at the Arco Rockmaster

Outside the Hotel Marchi in Arco

Fuzzy

Alex on problem II

The crowd

Problem III

Not falling, but letting go after topping

Alizée Dufraisse of France topping problem III

A little nervous before the flight

Central Arco

Copenhagen to Milan

Milan

Piazza del Duomo

Pigeon

Trying to find our hotel

Gabri - Men's Bouldering

Speed Climbing

Pal on Problem III

Preston Bought an Airplane

2009-08-27T17:11:00.006-06:00

My good friend Preston who owns a few airplanes took Ben and I up for a little spin. Sitting in the back for the first half hour I felt a little ill; however, we landed and switched places putting me in the front,and I felt much better. It became especially fun when Preston flew us up in the air and then straight down putting us at 0 gravity. I screamed, but didn't puke!

Ben Quam

YEAH!

Little boxes

Downtown Minneapolis

Preston our Pilot

Ben Flying the plane!

Minnesota/Wisconsin

St. Croix

Preston's Favorite Bridge

Just like Old Times

Me flying the plane! I really sucked and made myself more sick.

Ben is bigger than our airplane, turns out if he could spin his arms fast enough he could fly!

nice weather for ducks

2009-05-06T19:26:00.007-06:00

well... the weather has been nice on the week days and terrible on the weekends, so I haven't had time to climb outside. I have had time to take jobs to the park and play frisbee though.

Herm sure has packed on the pounds in the past few days, but he can still do a handstand!

Here is the star of this blog... the frisbee catching Kona

My impersonation of Konayeah kones

putting the breaks onchomp

dog in motion

a little pep talk

climbing photos soon i promise!!

jobs

2009-04-10T13:56:00.005-06:00

kona has been dubbed jobs due to text messaging between alex and i. jobs comes up first so we leave it. she is basically a full time job so it is quite applicable.

al pal and i went photo shooting yesterday. i learn something new every time i take photos and throw them on my computer. either, hmmm... that is not at all what i expected, or hmmm, that is interesting. it is a learning process that i enjoy very much.

alex for some reason became inspired to do a back flip. ah ha. i wasn't allowed to post the photo of her face in the sand but this one turned out nice.

lumpy

2009-04-08T14:03:00.006-06:00

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741
awesomeness comes from this link above

Lumpy RidgeAlex and I headed up to Lumpy Ride a few weekends ago and attempted Right Angry Man. Melissa Strong is ridiculously close to sending it.

Al Pal is 20...soon

2009-04-01T23:25:00.005-06:00

I baked a cake today for the first time in years. It was a great success!! Alex turns 20 on Friday April 3rd. Such a big girl now. I met her with a face full of braces at age 14. She had just returned from a Continentals in Mexico City with a stubbed bloody toe. I said, "How'd ya do?" She said, "ohhh, I don't know... 1st, 1st, 2nd." Then she warmed up on my projects and I was like who is this girl?!

Anyway...the cake is delicious and after that she ate cheesecake at dinner. Afterwards she modeled for me in her new yellow see through rain jacket. Enjoy the sequence cake shots!

Lisa, Alex, and Jeff Climbing Hard in Bishop

2009-03-19T22:01:00.006-06:00

Although I am not in Bishop, secret sources tell me there has been a lot of eating, sun tanning, rattle snake sightings and hard sending occurring. Lisa Rands sent Haroun and the Sea of Stories, V11, yesterday snagging the first female ascent. Today, Alex Johnson almost flashed A Maze of Death, V12, falling off the the last hard move when her foot slipped, then completed it on her 5th try. Jeff Sillcox had an amazing week claiming ffa's of A Maze of Death, Xavier's Roof, and Stained Glass Right. Pictured below is the pre-sending ritual of Dorito and girl scout cookie eating.

This is by far the best photo that has been sent my way. Here is Lisa on THE send of Haroun and Alex is just doing her thing.
photo by Jeff Sillcox

Nice Al Pal!
photo by Jeff Sillcox

:)
photo by Jeff Sillcox

Lisa using the Al Pal foot stool
photo by Jeff Sillcox

Moon photo by Jeff Sillcox

Stars by Jeff and Alex

What are you doing up there Jeff?
Photo by Alex Johnson

Jeff sending A Maze of Death
photos by Alex Johnson

Selfy!

Lisa on the Womb
Photo by Jeff SillcoxApparently it was really hot outAhh haaa
photo by Jeff Sillcox

I am not there but I just wanted to say HI!

the photo shoot

2009-03-09T19:58:00.004-06:00

Since all of us were so psyched on climbing last Sunday, our session turned into a little photo shoot for a moment. Alex didn't even put her shoes on and I climbed for a total of 5 minutes. No reason really - pure laziness.

Although Flan doesn't comply with my camera in her face, Alex on the other hand is not shy. She thoroughly enjoys reflecting herself and making sexy faces.

Kona is not shy either...especially if there is a frisbee in my hand!Jemerson - look at you stud!

Sorry Mary your son is still smoking and yes, he still looks like he just rolled out of bed - always. We are trying though.. we took him shopping and got him a hair cut!

I let the Poudre River try a hand in my photo shoot. It did ok, it could have looked sexier and strutted a little more.

ABS Nationals

2009-02-15T19:24:00.016-07:00

This weekend ABS Nationals went down at the Spot Gym in Boulder, CO. I had the opportunity to take photos at the qualifiers and finals events. I took so many blurry photos and learned a lot. The results of the finals are as follows:

Women

1. Alex Johnson

2. Chauncy Cox

3. Alex Puccio

Men

1. Daniel Woods

2. Paul Robinson

3. Sean McColl

The following photos are a chronicling of the weekend from my point of view. Enjoy!

Puccio on women's qualifier 3

Flannery Shay-Nemirow staring down women's qualifier 2

Flan on women's qualifier 2
Alex Puccio on women's qualifier 4

Flannery crushing women's qualifier 4
Daniel and Jon
Giovanni Traversi on a men's qualifier

My 7th grade boyfriend Matt Kennedy

Magnus

Christian looking ripped

Judo sick of my camera in her face

What you lookin' at Al Pal?

Matt and I decided this hold looks like a wet sand dribble

Alex cruising women's quali 2

I am pretty sure she was being made fun of for not tying her shoes

Emily Harrington reaching on women's final 1

Kasia on women's final 3

I found Wade on top of the Hueco bouler

back in isolation

Alex likes to ruin all of my shots

Paul gets all the ladies

Yeah that's right

warming up in iso... alex this one could have been good

blurry group shot

Brushing Crushing FlanFlan on women's final 4

Audrey waiting her turn for women's final 1

Lisa crushing number 1

holding on for dear life

Lisa on women's final 3

Alex Johnson on the top of women's final 3

The crowd's reaction to Daniel's flash of men's final 3

Alex Puccio on women's final 3

Jemerson! So photogenic.

women's final 4

Jemerson and Feinberg

Chauncy at the Youth Finals

Good job to everyone who climbed and worked hard!

man panties

2009-02-09T16:20:00.004-07:00

alex and i climbed in man panties. yes man panties. we slept in them first. so airy! then decided to climb in them. again very airy! they are only fun alone and not actually under clothes because they ride up and get bunchy and really impede climbing. but alone...freeing. in fact you can see every little flex of our butt muscles in them which isn't necessarily a fantastic thing, but it made us giggle. we dyno'd around for a bit then made attempts at center route in 70 degrees. bad bad idea. alex threw silent fits and i just injured myself. flan cheered. it was great fun success but not climbing success.

i thought i took good photos then found out i accidentally had my ISO set at 1600 hence the graininess of my pictures. ah well.

center route

2009-02-01T20:13:00.007-07:00

After doing some serious encouraging to get Alex dressed this morning, we loaded up the Subaru and headed down to Morrison for a day in the sun. It was really nice out with a light, cool breeze. We warmed up and had an awesome girl session on Center Route - the Morrison test piece.

Flan did a quick re-send since I missed the first one. Flanimal has so much sick strength she just sends V10's for fun.

Steph is super close to sticking the big move to the flat thing. Perhaps if she didn't smile in the middle of trying hard she could give it some serious grrrrrr.

This is Kona saying, "Steph - will you please please please please throw my frisbee?!?"

Flan looking strong

I also tried my hand a Center Route and had really good time. The moves are fun, the rock enjoyable and it fit me well. I did all of the moves then began to struggle with this damn toe cam crap to get the last hold. Finally I found a different toe hook and stuck the move. I had some really good redpoint burns.

dude

2009-01-12T14:43:00.005-07:00

Al pal checking out the moves

Al pal split her tip

G on Evilution

Alex and Charlie...soulmates

Trish do not read this part.... In preparation for topping out Evilution Alex decided to test her mental highball skillz by climbing a super chossy 5.6 sport climb. Scotty and I cringed every time the little pebbles she stepped on crumbled and fell to the ground. The best part was the top when she attempted to pull over a large bulge. It was the dodgiest move of the climb. Her feet slipped and her left hand hold crumbled beneath her super strong grip. She said, "wo pony" and stepped back safely onto a ledge to prepare for the down climb. Scotty then shared his broken back story with me while Alex was downclimbing.Tiredness wins sometimes

YEah!!! no just kidding.. i climbed down from the top to see if I could span the move. SO hard.

I have boat loads of more photos but there are so many I have yet to look through them.
Patience JJ.

bishop

2009-01-05T15:39:00.012-07:00

Alex Johnson sending Evilution (to the lip)

A few days ago I loaded up Alex's Subaru and hit the road towards Salt Lake. She was en route from Puerto Vallerta to SLC where I swooped her up at the airport, crashed at tall Paul's then across the salt flats into the depths of Nevada we drove. With no antifreeze to be found in her radiator we over-heated a little, but managed a refill and made it to Reno. Deb, Alex's GPS directed us to a restaurant where we ate a delirious dinner pre-driving through the icy mountains. I drove, Alex slept:) It was slow going but we made it by midnight!

exercising the dingo in the salt flats

Our first day we "took it easy" and Alex flashed High Plains Drifter, Change of Heart, and got scared on the V2 next to Center Green Wall, which we both did, and I am very psyched about.

After a night full of back spooning with Alex and Kitty, as well as an accidental turning off of the heater in our room, we went out for our second day at the Buttermilks. Alex did Seven Spanish Angels and Get Carter. It was cooold. Our friends from Minnesota Eric, Kris, and Lynn climbed with us and Kris sent his first nine Michael Cane stand.

Lynn on Get Carter

Kris sending

Alex on Get Carter

Her awesome foot workPetey

Seven Spanish Angels

We made our way back to the main area to find another boulder to tickle our fancy. We started under the Grandpa Peabody boulder then meandered over to Evilution to watch the crazies almost top it out. Alex looked at me and smiled and I could tell she was psyched so we relocated our crashpads. The first move is the hardest, or so everyone says because I never managed to do the second. However, I was psyched to stick it a few times and also have Alex push my ass to it a few times so I could try the second. That is probably the only reason she is sore today. It is such an intimidating wall! After a few tries Al stuck the first move and then all of a sudden she was sticking the big move to the right hand jug thing. Next go was the send! Nice climbing Alex!

Tiffany on Evilution

An attempted sequence.

Emma caught mid snout lick with her owner caught enjoying a beer below

The temps are supposed to go up so our hands can stop doing the screamy barfy thing that Lisa informed us of. This is where you try really hard on cold rock and your hands go completely numb. When the blood starts to come back it is super painful and you get the screamy barfies. It hasn't happened to me yet because I haven't tried hard, but poor Alex has been sitting on the tops of the boulders she sends with the screamy barfies rocking back and forth in pain. ah haa. Hopefully is won't get too warm. We shall see.

Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together. -Verna M. Kelly

2008-11-29T22:04:00.011-07:00

I have been spending a lot of time in the Poudre Canyon these past few weekends. The temps have been oh so chilly and the water even chillier. The river crossings have been so cold and epic that I wonder with water so cold, how can it possibly be flowing freely down the canyon?! Will it just freeze already?
This is my ode to crossing the river section, and it goes out to all who have simply gotten a little chilly to the full blown hypothermia from falling in the river on all fours (Flan).

First we have Tisza crossing in her barefeet. Oh man. She did not fall in but I am sure it royally sucked. She is one tough cookie!

Next we have Flanimal who truly is an animal. We spent the day climbing on As Hard As They Come at the Gandolf area. Everyone who came up bailed due to the wisping snowflakes and threatening clouds. It ended up being just Amy, Flan, and I. Blake and Seth made it across to try a project, but Old Man Ken totally bailed and went to Red Feather. At least the girls made it out to climb!

On our way back after climbing hard all day, I crossed first with Herman's irrigation boots on. I made my best attempt at throwing them back across the river. My best attempt landed the first boot on a layer of very thin ice just out of stick grabbing length. The second boot landed in the water, but Flan was able to grab it, dump the water out and put it back on. With one boot on and a long stick in hand, she inched out onto the ice and immediately fell though the ice into knee deep water. It had to be miserable and her leg had to go throught the ice all naked and alone without any rubber boot protection. Eventually she grabbed the second boot and carried my wet napkin of a dog across the river. She went back and gave the boots to Amy who had a very successful river crossing. Again I made my very best attempt at throwing the boots across the river. This time they landed closer. It was getting dark and poor Flannery had been standing barefoot with her pants rolled up to her thighs for at least 15 minutes now. I could see her little legs turning pink from across the river. As she went to fetch my poorly thrown boots she slipped and fell in landing on all fours. We yelled what words of encouragment we could, and she got up dumped the water out of the boots, donned her crash pad and headed across miserable, freezing and soaking wet. I forced my down booties onto her feet and hugged her little shaking body. We got her in the car where Amy had the heat blasting and after all of this epic river crossing she says, "that was kind of fun." Oh Flanimal.

Here is Al sending As Hard As They Come on her second try. Nice job Al! Ahh look at the missing skin!
Kona won the wet napkin award for the day

Then she thought it fun to climb a tree

I spent Friday at the 420's with Brian. The day started off great then turned to shit with wet soppy snow.

Trying Incognito Speedo

Camper trying Circadian

This is Mr. Heater Jr. I love Mr. Heater Jr. because he made our hands all toasty warm in the thirty degree weather.Herman on Canopener

Day of the Deadpoint

2008-10-24T12:44:00.002-06:00

Miramont Lifestyle Fitness in Fort Collins is hosting an ABS Bouldering Competition on Friday October 31st! Registration begins at 5pm and climbing is from 6-9. Wear a costume, climb, spectate, drink beer, eat pizza, and cheer on your friends!

beautiful day at the poudre

2008-10-22T13:21:00.005-06:00

Herman and I drove up the Poudre Canyon on Sunday afternoon for a little bouldering in the warm, fall colored forest.

Herman took a seat under canopener on a curious notion from Brian that the start is WAY harder than it used to be. It ends up that Brian is right. It must be V12 now...or after I tried, I thought V20. I couldn't even pull my butt off the ground. The nice part is the rock is now solid and is done breaking. Below you can see the new start holds. The tab is super solid which was where your heal ended up sliding too with the former start. You can still get your heal on it but it is a few inches further away than I would like to ride it through the whole problem. Herman tried a few variations of starting and came up with some good ideas. He never did end up sticking the first move, but came really close a few times.

Perhaps this is the new start beta?

Or this? This method seemed to work the best for Herm. He put his heel way out right and used it to pull him up and into the the hand hold. He was so close. I am a bit shorter and this method seemed crazy to me, but perhaps with long legs you can get the leverage you need to pull your ass off the ground.

Hmmm.. I hiked back to Jousting at Windmills to find Amy and Flan. The trees were gorgeous.
This photo is like Where's Waldo...except it is Where's Kona? She seems to sneak her little body into all of my photos somehow.
This is Flan modeling for the camera. She just loves having her photo taken.

Then Amy was like, "Oh Flan I love you so much, you are so beautiful! You are so strong because you train with engine blocks!" Then I took a picture of Amy's ass accidentally. Sorry Amy.
Flan crushing
Amy working out the bruising knee bar move on Against Humanity... the best V7 in Colorado.

Counting down 9 days until Yosemite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clear Creek

2008-10-16T14:07:00.003-06:00

This past Sunday I ventured down to Clear Creek Canyon with the boys for a session in the never ending mist and fog. It was coooold. The Dark Waters cave was dry and completely climbable. Herman fell in the river up to his knees and somehow managed to fit his feet into my down booties to warm back up. Kona became hypothermic after a few hours of sloshing in and out of the river after sticks. She came over to me shivering and I wrapped her up in Herm's down jacket where she shook for an hour and finally fell asleep. Brian fell off of the very last move of the Dark Waters Traverse quite a few times, and Herm made progress on Dark Waters. I attemped the Swamp Traverse but it was bit too cold for my motivation level. Overall it was nice to get outside instead of being cooped up in the gym.

Howdy Doody

2008-09-29T22:51:00.014-06:00

This past Saturday the Horsetooth Hang went down at Horsetooth Resevoir here in Fort Collins. It was a beautiful day with smoke wafting down from controlled burns in Estes, and slightly warm temps. I can honestly say I only made it down to the boulders once, where I watched people attempt and send Pinch Overhang. It is a unique and classic line that forces you to step your foot up by your face, grab a slopey sidepull and press with all of your might until you are standing on top of the boulder smiling, thinking what a great rock that was to climb.

Vanessa Compton crushed the jump off of the huge pinch

Chris Danielson matches the slopers and sends

The Beta

Most of the day was spent in the parking lot roaming between the tents. I am absolutely certain people were climbing all day long, but it seems to me that amidst the shoe demos we really just beat eachother up all day. For example...

For some random reason someone yelled "Pile on Nic!!!!" and as Nic attempted to run from his van we responded to the command with a quickness. Nic is on the bottom attempting to breath, and Jamie doesn't look too comfortable either. I left the pile to capture the moment:)
Now take the time to notice the nalgene of water to the right of Nic's head and know that moments later the entire thing ended up on his face. Unfortunately he was screaming at the moment the water was poured, which resulted in his near death dry drowning experience. After the gagging and snotting ceased, he yelled, "You dry drowned me!!" Poor Nic. We love you man.
Not long after the dry drowning, I spent some time learning how to lasso a metal/plastic bull. It quickly turned into lasso Kona, but she became traumatized after two attempts and was briefly scared of flying ropes.

Barb is a pro!

Angie had to comfort her. She has made a full recovery.

Steph and Andi rocked the western theme

Something was very funny behind me.

Pinto and Kona kickin' it

Yeehaw Simon!

The Booths: Evolv

REI

Sportiva

5.10

Overall the Hang was a great success! The after party at Hodi's Half Note was fun with a slideshow by Jamie and Angie. I would have to say the best part of the raffle was when a little kid won a huge crash pad. He was SO psyched and he could barely lift the thing to bring it back to where he was sitting. Way to go little kid.

rEmiNisciNG

2008-09-09T12:34:00.007-06:00

I have to thank Picasa web albums for the recovery of the finer points of my life in photograph form. Here are the ones that made me go ahhh... the memories.

Dallas and Cam

Danielle and I in Hueco

Nic

Rolson

Alex and Nic training

Nick and I showing off the big guns

Slacklining in Yosemite

I don't even know

Pellet gun and beer, a great combo!

Ivo doing maintenance

Photo by Ryan Olson, Jousting at Windmills

Vedauwoo

Baby passed out on dog

Chris Craft with swirly dirty hair

Chris at Vedauwoo

Cleaning gutters...my favorite

Dommer on the Merced

El Cap

Andre

Andre swimming in Dream Lake

Jason on Bacher Cracker

Bellies at the Poudre

Vedauwoo

Trade Show happenings...

2008-08-11T10:45:00.008-06:00

The trade show was a blurr of activity full of schmoozing with old friends and new acquaintances. Most people conduct business and make new contacts, while the rest of us just hang out, kind of feel in the way, and become lost in the endless rows of booths. I fall under the latter. I met people with different goals. One person said she was going to bring home as much free stuff as possible, while the other was trying to take home nothing. Both are very doable. All I can say is thank god for Toasters. They filled my belly with delicious food multiple times.

The competition on Saturday was great fun and action packed with distant flashes of lightning and rain to add some excitement. Here are photos of the comp.
Mammut Bouldering Championships

Men
1. Chris Sharma
2. Ethan Pringle
3. Guillaume Glairon Mondet
4. Daniel Woods
5. Tyler Landman

Women
1. Alex Puccio
2. Alex Johnson
3. Sydney McNair
4. Lisa Rands
5. Sierra Blair-Coyle

Lisa Rands on women's final 4
Alex Johnson holding on to the top of women's final 2

Alex on number 3 climbing along side Lizzy Asher on women's final 4

Lizzy Asher and Alex Puccio give it their all

Lisa Rands on number 3 climbs along side Tiffany Hensley on number 4

Angie Payne climbing with a rainbow in the background
Angie casually campuses women's final 3

Lisa on women's final 1 dynos for the So Ill hands

Mike Call doing his thing

Jackie Hueftle drill in hand, worked her friggen ass off setting for the comp. Jackie and Joel Zerr are responsible for the badass setting of women's final 1. Thank you for all of your hard work and non-sleeping.
Kate, Shannon, and I spent Friday night forerunning the women's final problems until about 2am. It was so much fun. I am pretty sure all of us hurt the next day after trying these powerful problems over and over until they were tweeked to perfection.
Here, Shannon and Kyle discuss a move on women's final 2.
Kate forerunning

This hold is jug! Just kidding I have no idea what she said, but she was super helpful with technical input, and full of great ideas.

I took this photo on the drive home with my camera hanging out the car window.

Alex Johnson Sends Sunspot

2008-08-06T11:20:00.009-06:00

Alex Johnson, of Fort Collins, Colorado (as of Sunday) sent Sunspot on Monday afternoon. This being her first trip to the RMNP in a year, and fresh in from Wisconsin (represent!), the elevation didn't seem to have an effect on this extremely talented athlete. She tried all of the moves once, then I forced her to try it once from the beginning to see if she could get a two peice. She started, and just kept climbing. As she gracefully jumped to the jug, she hung there and stared at me and said, "now what?!" I screamed, "FINISH IT!! TOP IT OUT!!!" Gym climbers! She almost dropped off like it was the finish hold at the world cup. We will straighten her out. She also sent it with only two small Organic pads and just me spotting (brave). This is her first V11, and the last rock that she climbed was a highball V8 on her trip to Colorado last summer. She has also done Body Karate, V9, in Southern Illinois in 2006. She was kind of mad she sent it so fast because she was so psyched to project it. Guess you will have to find something a little harder for you Al. Way to Go!!

bierstadt session

2008-08-01T16:34:00.005-06:00

Last week Friday, Al sat up on a rock and snapped off some great photos of all of us climbing on Bierstadt. Enjoy. Flan is such a great spotter I will have you notice.

Steph looking casual.

Sequence

I kind of felt like throwing up

whoa!

2008-07-22T00:01:00.008-06:00

HI! It's been awhile. I do not have any good excuses except the one that involves me dropping my external hard drive and losing photos from the last 5 years of my life forever. As I start anew, I begin with photos from a wonderful day at Mt. Evans this past Saturday.

Flannery made a stylish ascent of Bierstadt, V10 at Mt. Evans. This is Flan's second V10 after Center Route at Morrison. It took three girls, Steph, Flan and I, to come up with crazy beta that worked for us...it involves a judo kick to a matching toe hook that turns into a ridiculously high heel hook. Way to go Flan!

Flan's Happy Sending Face

Rylan getting close on Tactical Error

Flan and I played with the camera while the boys climbed in the dark
On Friday Herm and I made an attempt to hike into Evans at 5pm despite the obvious raining on us with lightning and thunder. About two minutes into our hike, mid-sentence, Herm goes, "whoa, whoa, whoa! Is my hair standing up?!" I instantly started running towards the car, my heart skipped 5 beats and the adrenaline surged. I thought I was seconds away from getting struck by lightning. Herm just stood there feeling his head. After a minute he determined he had walked through a spider web. I was too freaked out to continue hiking, and the wall of grey cloud filled with rain was quickly approaching, along with retreating climbers and hikers. We turned around and headed to Laying in Wait, a difficult slab down the road. It turned out to be a beautiful evening of falling off of a slab for a few hours. I got really good at jumping.

priceless dogface expression

tidbits

2008-05-21T19:09:00.017-06:00

I fell off the face of the blogging planet due to the frenetic lifestyle I have been living...which unfortunately has not involved climbing, but studying, which resulted in graduating. Congrats to Sarah and Jackie for graduating as well!!!

I have been hanging out with Kona, taking romantic walks on the beach.

Andre was nice enough to let me test out my new lens on his exhausted-from-sending-so-much-at-Mt. Evans face. Good work young dre.

I had a little get together after my graduation with the fam and friends. It mostly included avoiding inhalation of the little cotton wood floaty things that dominated the air, running away from squirt guns that my 2 year old niece thought were the coolest thing in the world, and walking a slackline after beer and margarita consumption.
I guess I thought they were pretty cool too.
above three photos courtesy of the Jackie Hueftle collection

I have been working a little and hangin' with old man Ken. He took me sport climbing at the crystal wall in the Poudre...well I actually top roped and his badass lead everything. Scary stuff that rope climbing is.

Little Brit is our up and coming strong girl.

Good Luck in Jail Cam! We will miss you for those ten days!

poudre and park action

2008-04-21T11:40:00.006-06:00

Angie on Veritas

I have been climbing but not blogging. I have been spending time in the Poudre trying boulder problems that are way too hard for me. The past two days I went up to Veritas. Yesterday Rolson climbed the sit quick, then Brian, then Angie and I for the stacked pad version, and Jamie also sent the sit. Lots of sending in a short time. What a great problem. I am becoming a big fan of getting off the ground on rock climbs. The taller, the more fun, I think.

Brian sending

Jamie sending
Blake on the project

Herm on Castaway
Blake going into the crux on Critical Mass

The Tempest!

2008-04-03T23:40:00.006-06:00

Woo Hoo! I finally did the Tempest. After random attempts for two years, I finally put it together. It was cold temps, typical Vedauwoo windy and it actually snowed on us for a better part of the day. Misha and Kevin joined me on my Vedauwoo adventure. Misha made a lot of progress falling off of the end more than once, and Kevin sent in his normal style, quickly. Enjoy the photos.

from a few weekends ago

2008-04-02T00:06:00.006-06:00

I met Herman and Blake at the 420's in the Poudre in the cold Colorado weather a few weekends ago. Coming from the balmy temps of Yosemite, 45 was really cold to me. I tried a little bit of everything including greasing off of Rasta Font Trainer and using my jaw bone to slow my back slap. The mark has recently removed itself from my face. I quickly gave up on climbing for the day and took photos of Herm and Blake on a project.

This is Herm making a plan of attack

Blake trying hard

Herm SO close to sticking the move

Blake

Tucker dogface

Herm trying Public Property the "real way"

Blake resting between burns on another project

2nd Installment: Yosemite!

2008-03-25T21:34:00.011-06:00

Ahhh Yosemite. I climbed on small boulders all week, and spent some time staring at the big walls that tower over the small boulders that I love so much. It was a perfect week with good company, good temps, and good climbing. My friend Brian toted me around on his motorcycle all week and joined me in my climbing adventures. I think he heard, "one more try" over a thousand times. We grilled tri-tip (a yosemite tradition), drank expensive whiskey and played National Park Monopoly (i kicked ass). I miss it already.

Brian on Battle of the Bulge

Jacob on Atlantis

Anthony on Atlantis

The boys pissed at the small crimp/pinch on Battle of the Bulge

The Force

Tak trying Thriller

Scotty battling the bulge
I was talking to this tree..I really liked it

Brian on the King

Me on the King...I love this rock climb!

half dome

Hexcentric

Kendall!

Cocaine Corner...so good!
Now I am back in school...booo. I can't complain it has been 70 degrees the past two days in Colorado and I have projects to climb.

1st Installment: San Francisco

2008-03-25T20:57:00.008-06:00

I flew into San Francisco for my spring break and did as many tourist things that I possibly could in 2 days.

The aquarium got dubbed as the puke tube by Brian and I because you are surrounded by a giant tube of water with fish swimming in all directions and the floor moves you forward dizzying you into extreme nausea.

Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatrez

Palace of Fine Arts

Curvy Road! Yes we waited in line to drive down the curvy road.

chocolate bark

2008-03-09T21:44:00.009-06:00

Another sunny day in the poudre with perfect temps. We started at the 420's, then Sarah and I went up canyon to climb on Against Humanity and Crime. Against Humanity was not melty and seepy like last weekend, instead the snow had melted out perfectly away from the topout hold. Getting down was harder than climbing up due to the snow. Herman came back from Switzerland and graced us with his presence, although he is still jet lagged and waking up at 4a.m. The boys worked on Circadian Rhythm and made some progress.

Above: Sarah on Against Humanity
Below: Tisza on Perch

Below: Herm warming up on Stickman Walking on the Brooklyn Bridge