Koan Bouldering

Static Cling

2012-02-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

Spring has already arrived to the Bay Area; the cherry trees are blooming; our winter lasted all of two weeks. I'm not complaining, but I do wish I had had more time to take advantage of the greatest California climbing season in decades. They finally closed Tioga Pass on January 17th, breaking the historical record for latest closure.

One person who did take full advantage of his first season in California is Kyle O'Meara. As per his usual style, he has been going around making tall scary climbs look like casual warmups, and flashing nearly everything in his path. I met up with him yesterday at Castle Rock State Park for a tour of the dog-friendly side of the road, and the weather was once again perfect. Here's a short low-def video of Kyle running a lap on the "super low" start to Static Reach which I think Charlie B called "Reach Around". The boulder is almost laughably small, but packs a lot of great moves into 5 vertical feet of climbing. Ha. We climbed a bunch of tall proud stuff too (well, Kyle did) but I thought people would appreciate the butt-dragging lowball video more. Cheers!

texas drive-by

2012-01-30T20:53:00.000-08:00

frozen lakes

2012-01-07T21:13:00.000-08:00

This is Roo. She's keeping my sleeping bag safe and secure. And that is the BLM pit, lucky site #14, sheltered from the wind by ancient gravel burial mounds and wood pallet reinforcements.

My winter break from school included 4 days in Bishop, although it was unrecognizable without all the ice and snow. Really it was odd to have wished I brought shorts and sandals to the Buttermilks. Every other time I've been there it was "double puffy" weather, water bottles freezing solid, escaping to Keough for survival and keeping your chili cheeze bread thawed in the foot of your sleeping bag. This time around I was comfortable. There were no epics, I climbed all day in great weather, had a nice dinner each night and drank a beer by the fire, before retiring to my -20F Marmot 800 fill-power furnace bag at 9pm sharp to sweat my way through another starry 30F night. I felt like an old guy.

My favorite climb of the trip was Funky Tut V3, which took me more attempts than I'd like to admit. It was like an old guy version of Soul Slinger in a way.

On the way home through Yosemite on 120 I ran over a small boulder that wasn't as small as it looked. It tore through every sensitive part of the undercarriage of my Saab, resulting in a repair bill upwards of $7k. I may be in the market for a new car, if anyone wants to recommend a wagon (Jetta vs. Volvo XC vs. Outback). At least I caught a few pictures of folks playing ice hockey at 9,000 ft:

grit

2011-11-29T11:41:00.000-08:00

I feel like I work too much, and that my job is more stressful than it ‘should’ be. Not the best time to be complaining about a job, and there are many reasons that I feel fortunate to have this job. One of those reasons is that I have spent the last ten days in Sheffield, and I managed to slip out for a couple afternoons to go and check out some peak district bouldering. The weather was typical i think, with heavy winds and some rain, but Stanage plantation provided plenty of dry rock climbs. This peak district bouldering mecca is closer to the city than I would have guessed, and only wish Leavenworth or Gold Bar were as close to Seattle.

The local climbing shop sits in an charming village called Hathersage about 10 minutes from the climbing parking lots. I picked up a guidebook and headed for the rocks. After a quick walkabout and inspection of the texture and quality of the grit stone, I was immediately impressed. I don’t know why my expectations were lower but I was anticipating larger grained, sharp and unpleasant rock. The texture is very fine, and the holds and moves reminiscent of sandstone blocs.

After cruising through the guidebook and looking around the area, I feel like Stanage is to Peak District as Forest Lands is to Leavenworth, only the very tip of the iceberg.

Some shitty photos and a link to a marvelous slab-dyno video by someone else…

Deliverance from Matthew Gaddes on Vimeo.

Paul Nadler

2011-10-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Paul was in Leavenworth for a short stay recently, in between the destinations of his life on the road. Living in his Toyota Camry with his husky, Karma, cooking with a lightweight stove, and pretty much wearing the same clothes everyday, Paul reminds me more of an alpine climber than a full-time boulderer. Last weekend Paul got it done on one of the few remaining obvious projects at a main destination in the Icicle Canyon- the "moon project" at Lower Forestland. Autopilot V11 starts on Cruise Control and veers left up the steep face, it was the last day of his trip... classic!

Yosemite Spam

2011-10-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

Living in California has its perks. In-N-Out Burger, ten lane freeways and a strong nurses union being a few of them. Yosemite National Park is okay too. Since starting med school down here a few months ago, I have climbed outside a total of zero times, so my expectations for a fall climbing trip involved reconnecting with friends in a beautiful place and climbing some pebbles, rather than projecting hard boulders.

Luke, Anya and Jason flew in for a four day dash to the valley of giant walls and highballs, a place where bouldering feels somewhat ridiculous until you realize that it's perfect. Yosemite is also home to the biggest sandbags I've ever tried, which is awesome because it forces you to forget about grades and focus on the rock you're barely holding on to. We had epics on V0 just as much as on V9, saw fewer groups bouldering than you'd see in Leavenworth, drank Maker's by a roaring fire each night, wallowed in the freedom of having zero obligations for a few days.

If it weren't for the dog restrictions, I'd be in the Valley at every opportunity. The setting is unmatched in beauty and highly spiritual despite the hordes of tourists. After all, we were tourists too. But almost nobody strays beyond the paved walkways and popular hikes. I know there is a great deal of bouldering development taking place here, but it seems the potential for even more is overwhelming. The classics though are enough to keep most of us occupied for many years.

Consolation Prize

2011-10-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

Well, once again I didn't send my project, Beautification... but it "feels" like I'm getting closer to holding the swing. I did clean up a few Forestland boulders that I'd been meaning to try for awhile though. I climbed alone (my friend Paul and his husky kept me company part of the day), and only saw a few other climbers at lower Forestland, I'm surprised more weren't out for a fall-conditions weekend. Since I've started school in Ellensburg I haven't done much socially (hence all the blog posts?)- just work, hang out with my girlfriend, and climb- I'm not complaining!

Hard work pays off!

2011-10-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

Natalie slayed her nemesis this morning- so satisfying for both of us!
It might be time for a new camera tho :)
enjoy:

All I want is perfect granite

2011-10-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

The temps are starting to get good in Leavenworth, and we're making progress on our projects!

The Icicle

Beautification

101 Ways to Fling Poo

See ya'll in the canyons!

Swiftwater

2011-09-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

Wild Bill

2011-09-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Today Luke and I climbed an incredible, new problem in Gold Bar that I had spotted and cleaned last week. It's located in the forest up above the World's Greatest Area on a large boulder near The Tusk. Wild Bill is in the V7/8 range (probably tough if you're on the short side) with really
fun moves and gets shade till around noon. Named after the Wild Man who's had a rough few weeks.

mosquito ridge

2011-09-02T13:19:00.001-07:00

after 4 or 5 months of light duty climbing due to some potential nerve damage in a digit and a myriad of other distractions, i think it's time to start climbing some more. last weekend we spent a morning up at skyline ridge, aka heather ridge, to check out the boulders i have driven by and gazed at for years while in pursuit of bavarian treats on the east side. it was a pleasant, steep, warm hike, and the lake provided some welcome relief for us all. i was quite pleased with the quantity and quality of rocks that we found, not really knowing what to expect. unfortunately, we did not anticipate the swarming of mosquitos and after only 30 minutes of climbing, we decided to bail and come back with colder temps or lots of deet. i would be eager to go back and top a few things out. here are some photos of the one problem we climbed on...

Poison Oakland

2011-07-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

Little Yosemite

2011-07-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

Baywatch

2011-07-10T23:20:00.000-07:00

Luke was passing through town for work, and in true character extended his trip to fit in two half days of climbing. On Friday we visited Mickey's Beach, a beautiful northern California sport climbing crag / bouldering spot / nudist beach. There were only six people climbing there, and we were all from Washington -- Kyle and Jens were snapping links and the rest of us were victim to old men in the buff down near the boulders.

Luke loves the Orange Buddha

Kyle victorious

Helicopter rescues nudist

Well rested to say the least

2011-06-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

After two consecutive quarters of business mode, I am finally free to turn my brain off at the end of the work day. Horay!

Gold Bar / Index

2011-06-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

There was a rare weather event in Gold Bar / Index today, where the conditions went from good in the morning to great in the afternoon. Sending breezes were blowing. I started off around lunchtime at the Five Star boulder, soon joined by Jon and Ryu. Despite some midday warmth and humidity, Jon and I both managed to scrap up Ross Bongo... a problem I'd previously written off as "not my style" or some such excuse. Afterwards, you could feel the temperature dropping and the breeze picking up. I remember seeing on NOAA that a cold front was moving into Washington this week. (Bouldering has made me into an armchair meteorologist.)

I then had a "mini breakthrough" on Ebriosity... mini because I didn't send it, but figured out a way to make the previous crux move much easier. Now the crux is going to be keeping my heel on. Curse my baggy heeled 5.10s... I want some Pythons, or Asps, or a shoe named after an even more venomous snake.

After leaving the Five Star I met up with Sam and Joe, and we were later joined by Kelly and Cortney, for a party at Midnite. It's amazing how much moss grows in that part of the forest... just since last year all sides of that boulder had a new 3 mm fur. The fungus grows like crazy too.

Nobody sent this perennially tough line today, but at the very least it got a good scrub and the company of some happy climbers. Towards the end of the day, Sam and Joe and I visited the Boxcar boulder at Index Town Walls. It's namesake, the Boxcar Arete, was a very fun problem and the landing not nearly as bad as I used to think. We eyed up some projects on that boulder, and I wondered why there isn't more activity in that area... oh, maybe it's the world-class trad climbing 20 feet away! Bouldering and trad climbing can only coexist in weird places like Joshua Tree, I guess.

Having a Riot in Squamish

2011-06-17T13:55:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday afternoon I made a spontaneous decision to head up to Squamish for a day or two, not realizing the last game of the Stanley Cup was happening in Vancouver. My timing was pretty bad, as I ended up passing through downtown in the midst of a drunken riot. But aside from seeing a plethora of police in full gear and a few staggering mobs, I emerged unscathed on the other side.

Kali and I spent a very long day running around the Grand Wall forest, trying many problems that were new to me. I'm continually impressed by two things in Squamish: the multitude of top-notch problems and the friendliness of the people. The standout problem that I tried was The Method, a hard slab / vert problem in the Apron boulders. Although the very top was wet, and seemingly devoid of holds, I was psyched to make it up pretty high in a few goes. Every other hard problem I tried spit me off without sympathy, so I focused on climbing a quantity of new moderates.

Here is a problem that gave me trouble a few years ago when I last tried it, Lounge Act:

Microclimates

2011-05-29T18:23:00.001-07:00

The road through Icicle was cleared this week and reopened yesterday, and it felt good to drive up through the canyon again past Twister, Egg Rock and the Carnival Boulders. Like creatures of habit, we got stuck at Mad Meadows for a while. Well I got stuck, in a familiar cave... but Lindsay saved the day from mediocrity by proudly sending Drugstore Cowboy. Acknowledging that it might be her last trip to Leavenworth in a while, it was a meaningful victory.

We are moving in almost exactly 1 month to Berkeley / Oakland, and the emotions are running high. Along with all the friends and family we have to say goodbye to, it's equally difficult to say goodbye to weekends in the beautiful canyons of Leavenworth, with no responsibilities but deciding which boulder to climb on next.

In the past few months, knowing I would be leaving this summer, my approach to bouldering went through the washing machine. Torn between projecting hard climbs, versus trying to sample as many "new" problems as possible, versus just chilling amongst the granite and yellow flowers with my friends... I ended up doing a lot of all of the above. My job ends on June 10th, and I hope to do more of the same, hopefully including a nice long trip to Squamish at the end of the month. After that, it's gonna be Tahoe, Way Lake and Mickey's Beach for the month of July.

Looking back on the years I spent climbing in Washington, the two things that stand out are the incredibly beautiful locations (North Cascades, Index / Skykomish River, Icicle / Tumwater Canyons) and the incredibly friendly people. Never before have I been surrounded by such a psyched, positive, intelligent and supportive community of climbers. I'm sure it has made me a better climber, if not a better person. I certainly look at the sport differently, and will take that perspective with me wherever I end up. Hopefully I end up back here.

Leavenworth

2011-05-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

Hot Climates

2011-04-24T01:46:00.000-07:00

I woke up really hungry today:

A long day trip to Leavenworth yesterday had a bit of everything: projecting, progress, new boulders, new problems and late-day success for at least one member of the team. We spent the hotter part of the day exploring the two new large boulders deposited by the slide. There are a few good problems, and at least one real classic that makes the hike very worthwhile. But it was pretty crowded:

A big thanks to the folks who spent so much time cleaning those boulders off! They are caked in smelly mud, but underneath is solid granite that is unusually smooth for Leavenworth. We hiked way up the slide, to find "the source" but it just keeps going, up to the heavens, and would have been quite an amazing disaster to witness.

Towards the end of the day, when the rest of us were feeling all worn out and whiny, Bryan Smith put the cob to the Lonely Fish boulder:

can we climb now?

2011-04-10T00:47:00.001-07:00

wow, leavenworth sure has texture. last weekend sam climbed this spectacular line

cobra kahn from Luke on Vimeo.

Forestlands

2011-04-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

font video dump

2011-04-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

here is some miscellaneous uncut footage from font

rocks in font from Luke on Vimeo.

circuiting

2011-03-26T06:06:00.001-07:00

yesterday i climbed 62 rock climbs. more than 90% of them were new and were done on the first try, but all required some effort and a lot of mantling. the red circuit at franchard isatis was pretty top notch, and while there were a few turds, the variety of problems made for a great day. now i've got blister tips and sore triceps

that was the first proper circuit that we did in 20+ days of climbing... not sure why that is but i think we would have enjoyed doing more. i am sure we bastardized it a bit by using some holds that were not 'on' or something but we were hardly concerned with the rules.

overall the skin and body tends to hold up really well here and it is easy to climb day after day except for a severe throbbing that tends to develop in the elbows. nothing like the tendonitis i have experienced before and i think it is in part due to being able to comfortably climb for so many consecutive days. it will be fun to go back to leavenworth and be in skin agony after a couple of days...

other random shots:

un baguette svp

2011-03-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

i have toothaches in my elbows...

to the pain

2011-03-12T10:29:00.002-08:00

i have never been so happy about a rainy day on a climbing trip. after 9 days on and severe throbbing from elbow to elbow, i need some outside force to inject some thorough rest into this routine. the constant grappling, squeezing, slapping and pressing leaves one generally with decent skin and no good traditionally american excuse (flappers or lack of quality problems in an 'accessible' range) to stop climbing for a day or two. but at last, we are expecting rain tomorrow and with the depth of the throbbing i experienced today, it is most welcome. this is the highest consecutive number of days i have ever climbed, and i could not be happier about a day off. our host jokingly explained that he would ask us to leave if we did not climb everyday while the weather is good, and with the quantity of quality problems at every level, we have taken it to heart.

my expectations were relatively high for this trip, although i am not one to generally get excited, and they have basically been smashed at this point. still, we have many more major areas to see and an endless supply of obscure gems laying about these woods. it's just overwhelming...

JY Boulders

2011-03-09T21:03:00.000-08:00

Just found some footage from a few weeks ago that I thought I'd lost. Two classic boulders in frigid temps, and some Homer Simpson-style screams. I'm a little embarrassed about being scared of such a short fall, but it's only fair that I didn't edit the sound out. I climbed in Leavenworth every weekend in February and I hope the bad weather ends soon!

JY boulders 2011 from Sam Johnson on Vimeo.

oh no, i just franced in my pants!

2011-03-07T12:48:00.000-08:00

the quantity and quality of the rock climbing is just too much. i don't even know where to start but after 4 days on, decent skin, and beginning to get a feel for this rock, i could not imagine a better place to be hanging out. sure, there's a bit of trash and a wealth of used condoms around the roadside areas, but walk 10 minutes into the woods and you will find problems in a quiet, clean forest setting.

i once heard someone on a dying message board mutter that you needed to be 'strong' to enjoy font and i have found that nothing could be further from the truth. it would be the easiest thing to climb 20+ new high quality bps every day that are considered 'warm ups' to many. the variety of holds, height and movement on these problems just tickles me. chris has been a good influence by creating a 3 try rule, basically it goes like this:

'there's so much good shit, if i don't do this within three tries, i am going to go find the next unbelievable line and try that'

it is an adjustment for me, but a fruitful one. eventually i am sure we will be throwing ourselves at many things, but for now we are just plucking all the low lying fruit we can get our grubby hands on.

there are plenty of americans about, including some old friends that i haven't seen in years. in short, right now this place is paradise.

Gold Bar

2011-03-06T20:34:00.000-08:00

Sobriosity from Koan on Vimeo.

Leavenworth

2011-02-21T18:08:00.000-08:00

Leavenworth again this weekend, making it three in a row. Pretty convenient to have such a dry winter when I couldn't go on any trips. Climbed with my homie Bryan Smith and my lovely girlfriend Natalie, in perfect weather- it doesn't get much better than that! We all climbed well, sent some projects and made progress on others.

The previous weekend I put some time into a deep cleaning of Angelina Jolie, a real vertical test-piece of nothingness, and it still feels pretty much impossbile to me. Bryan sent and I settled for Scrambled Eggs. Here is a crappy video I made with my iphone, enjoy:

Angelina Jolie from Sam Johnson on Vimeo.

Saturday in the canyon

2011-02-12T22:25:00.000-08:00

Natalie is getting very close to sending Twister, a problem that kicked my ass for a long time. It will be great to see her slay it:

I did some fun moves today to the left of Twister... I don't think this is the same line as 101 Ways to Fling Poo, maybe it is... I thought that went to the right. Starting from the sit and going straight up would be a real hard problem, and real sharp:

Twister var. from Koan on Vimeo.

Blue Velvet

2011-02-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

It was all blue skies and dry rocks in Leavenworth this weekend. From what I can remember, Luke and I pointed the minivan east through a grey, soupy cloud and emerged in Shangri La, at the doorstep of O'Grady's Pantry. Nothing had changed in Leavenworth, it was eternal Christmas in suspended animation.

Dry boulders: Twister, 420 Boulder, JY, Carnivals, Scrambled Eggs (minus Angelina Jolie), probably much of upper Mad Meadows and upper Forestland, Barney's Rubble, etc.

Wet boulders: Bond boulders (see picture below), everything in Tumwater, Mountain Home

Luke planning ahead

Shaniqua Low (aka Going Down on Shaniqua)

Tree

On a Roll

2011-01-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

Got out for my second day of dry bouldering in a week yesterday- I met with Kyle, Drew, and their friend Jeff. These guys seem to have a deeper knowledge of the lay of land at the river, and before the day was over I had climbed nine boulder problems. They weren't necessarily hard, but half of them were new to me, and I've always thought of the river boulders as a place where it is hard to get a good warm up- totally wrong! I also started work on Chutzpah, which I was able to do the stand start of- a pretty classic line in and of itself (starting both hands on underclings). I was able to do most of the other moves, except the first one which is pretty stopper and will take me some work. The main event was Kyle getting psyched for Johnny's most recent addition- All of the Above. Kyle had done a rap-inspection the day before, but could only manage to pull on and do the first move. The second move on this "king linus" involves leading with a toe-hook to get established on the left arete, followed by several back and forth heel-hook-bump moves. But I'm sure you've all seen the video on DPM!

Cantaloupe and Jelly Sandwiches

2011-01-23T17:01:00.000-08:00

It's funny how the least pristine climbing area in Washington is also it's best for winter climbing- the fact that a large portion of Gold Bar's bouldering area is in a clear-cut zone allows remarkably fast dry-times. However, the re-growth provides a splendor of its own, the climbing is mostly excellent, and the view is spectacular! On a damp Saturday morning, Andrew, Bryan, Natalie and myself pow-wowed in my basement, low motivation and a poor outlook on the weather dragging out the departure process.

We made it up to the clear-cut boulders by early afternoon, and I suppose it shouldn't surprise me anymore, but most everything was dry. For the time being, as most of the harder problems there continue to evade me, this place is a project-playground. I'm very fortunate to have this area during a winter that does not include road-trips, and although the hike still whips me every time it's a small entrance fee to pay. The highlight of the day, besides the company of Mr. Raymond Allen, was Bryan coming up with "short-guy" beta for a problem otherwise characterized by multiple span-moves; Twisted. I'm not exactly short myself, and although I couldn't link the moves for Bryan's sequence, they are individually quite reasonable and this problem now seems very possible for me.

Architectural Digest

2011-01-14T18:35:00.000-08:00

My dad is an architect, and I grew up surrounded by copies of Architectural Digest and books on composting toilets and "Modern Treehouses" etc. Anya and Kozo are also architects, but I'm not sure how they feel about composting toilets.

About 2 years ago (I think) Luke uncovered a line that looked sort of like Atari, but blunter and more overhanging. He cleaned it on rappel, and I remember looking at it and thinking it had no holds and a death landing. A bit of architecture took care of the landing, and over time a nice sequence was uncovered from an obvious start to a big move up to a shallow undercling -- the "crystal vagina" -- a geode with an inverted edge. But even from the CV, you're still a few feet short of the lip with bad feet and full extension.

Kyle decided to abstain from the CV altogether and dyno to the lip, got the FA and named the problem after Kozo, who had just had a baby. The Architect got plenty of traffic before and after Kyle's ascent. We tried it in everything from muggy, mosquito-infested weather to frozen snotcicle weather. Luke finally prevailed last week, on a chilly 24F morning:

the burden of spoof, part one

2011-01-02T20:04:00.000-08:00

burden of spoof from Luke on Vimeo.

MFGD

2010-12-06T22:45:00.000-08:00

Gold Bar in December from Adam on Vimeo.

long dong bouldering from Luke on Vimeo.

bishop blitz

2010-11-28T21:35:00.000-08:00

37 hours of driving for 23 hours of daylight in bishop. that place is amazing, and might have been worth the drive. a little less snow than xmas time in the satellite areas did lead to some fun new climbing around the dale's camp area.

texas sunshine

2010-11-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

a two day sprint to hueco tanks was a welcome change from seattle in november 2010. the best chossy climbing this side of the mississippi...

Choss!

2010-10-31T20:18:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

Untitled from Jake shannon on Vimeo.

choose your own adventure

2010-10-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

oktoberfest 2010 from Luke on Vimeo.

aries boulder from Luke on Vimeo.

Sending spree

2010-10-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

Finally some cool, dry weather in washington!

Amanita muscaria

Leavenworth from Icicle Ridge

Jake / Kobe Tai

Autumn peace offering

Adam / Busted

Mali

2010-10-10T16:53:00.000-07:00

So far the climbing season in WA has been letting me down, going from really hot to really wet without the two months of crisp 60 degree days we usually have. Looking for answers, I found the following video. We would all climb harder if we had a witch doctor playing jazz trumpet for us.

Catherine Destivelle climbing solo in Mali from ItalianTREK.com on Vimeo.

one day in paradise

2010-10-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

well, not exactly. the rock was excellent, but the heat was intense. if you're ever in taiwan looking for some rock climbing, long dong is the place to go. certainly a sport/trad climbing destination, there are some bouldering options as well. the first pic is from a 30 m auditorium feature with some excellent rock...

gentlemen's code

2010-09-26T21:12:00.001-07:00

Jake toppling metroid prime

Kali powered down

Fungus

Flora and fauna

Dave's problem

superman

2010-09-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

the dog/human ratio was high on saturday, and so was the chance of showers. we still managed plenty of dry rock gripping, with papa kozo getting back to it and adam continuing his rampage.

superman from Luke on Vimeo.

labor day leavenworth

2010-09-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

i hope it doesn't rain this weekend...

two-headed turtle from Luke on Vimeo.

Labyrinth

2010-09-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

the view alone is worth the tough hike

on the crux of Beckey's Problem

Luke on Beckey's Problem

did Fred actually climb this?

relaxing under Gracious Mama Africa

feels like fall (ing?)

2010-08-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

index bar aug 2010 from Luke on Vimeo.

Slabbatical

2010-08-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

Exciting things are afoot. Kozo had a baby, Jake went to Mexico, and Natalie is studying viticulture. Anya just arrived in France for a full season sabbatical, which can and should be followed on her sweet new website Mindful Creative. I am inspired.

Took a few pictures from a great weekend of cool weather bouldering in Gold Bar and Index. Couldn't have asked for better weather or company. We succeeded on some projects, got shut down on others, but everyone climbed at least one new BP. That's how we like it.

Moderate Grit

2010-08-19T22:26:00.000-07:00

Work sucked today, and all I could think about was getting up to Index or Gold Bar for a few hours in the evening. It can be hard to justify driving out there in rush hour, only to have 2 hours of daylight to climb. So the usual strategy is to pick one problem; today I was deliberating between Chutzpah and Ebriosity, but somewhere between Sultan and Gold Bar I got the idea to go try Chemical Imbalance instead.

On my second try I got up to the jug, with my mangy 2" Asana pad 10 feet below and Kali dog spotting. Here is a little clip of what we call "titty babies" when faced with a tough decision:

Chemical Imbalance from Koan on Vimeo.

Thankfully I managed to send the line next go. Somebody on 8a said this problem climbs like a gritstone route; I've never climbed over the pond, but it seems like an apt description.

In more interesting news, Luke recently nabbed a rare ascent of Built to Last, a big beautiful problem along the Skykomish put up by the indomitable Kyle O'meara:

Luke and Kyle both put this problem in their top 5 BPs of all time, which given the plethora of climbs they have each put down says a lot!

Even more recently, Kyle has climbed the FA of a project known variously as the Crystal Arete, Crystal Vagina, Jungle Fever, etc. He has dubbed the problem "the Architect" after the impressive landing that Kozo (the architect) and Luke and Jake constructed to turn what was a death climb / top rope into something beautiful. Here are a few pictures that illustrate the landing and some of the moves:

Jake teaches a lesson

Kozo the Architect

This is turning into a really long post, and if you've made it this far congratulations! I have another vignette to relate about the very hot weekend and our crafty plans to use Mother Nature to our advantage. Dave T suggested a day climbing on the boulder by the Big Four Ice Caves up near Granite Falls. I had seen this boulder on a hike back in May, covered in snow and getting dumped on by avalanches, and wondered if it held any potential. It turns out that a few years ago Dave climbed all the lines on it but one and never came back, saving it like an ace up his sleeve for a hot day like this past Sunday.

With 8 lines of high quality featured conglomerate stone, and NATURAL AIR CONDITIONING courtesy of the glacier 20 ft away, this is probably the most fun boulder to climb on in WA on a hot day. We got an unnecessary alpine start, and spent about 10 hours climbing on just this boulder, totally captivated. Some pictures from the day:

Down by the river

2010-08-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

Index river boulders...

Chutzpah (V11) on the left, V3+ slab center, V7/8 right arete...

Having no texture = priceless

tick marks

2010-08-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

i don't have much to say myself, but i would like to ask that people use tick marks with some discretion. the second photo is from the second hold on equinox about a month ago (one of many similar ticks in the area that weekend). if you must use this amount of chalk, please try to remember to brush them off when you are done. not that i am the shepherd of any boulders, but it would be sad if we downward spiraled into euro style, gym-esque ticking of our lovely granite blocs. the first photo is mr adam using giant calf beta to pull his way up the fin.

Whirlpools

2010-07-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

Jake / whirlpool

Adam / Whirlpool left

Luke / Whirlpool left

Tumwater / moon

Exchange Rate

2010-07-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

Ouch. My fingers are so raw that typing this is uncomfortable. No skin blowouts, no flappers, not even any real visible indication of the sensory experience. This is what every Monday morning should feel like: sore, tired, happy.

Ouch again. The exchange rate is really bad. The justification I used while purchasing $8 sandwiches and $4 smoothies is gone out the window. I just checked my bank statement out of curiosity and it is basically 1 CAD : 1 USD. And what is a 0.22 exchange rate adjustment?

Returned to Squamish for round 2 this weekend, and I feel like I'm warming up to the style and the rock a bit better than before. My intent was to force myself to try harder things this weekend, as I was solo, and not just one or two tries before calling it too hard and moving on. I wanted to work out the moves on the Egg and Encore Une Fois, before letting myself indulge on more 'achievable' problems. This is an issue for me in bouldering: that my short attention span precludes extended projecting, and I tend to lapse into a familiar pattern of climbing what really strong people call moderates. It is, after all, less rewarding to repeatedly fail at a hard move than to make steady progress on a problem and eventually send. I find myself in desperate need of at least one top out per day, so forget about devoting myself to something entirely at my limit.

Every problem I climbed the past 2 weekends has been classic and enjoyable, and it has been a thrill to return and finish climbs that stymied my efforts last year or before. One of these that became a minor epic for me was Golden Boy which the guidebooks (old and new) made perfectly clear was very soft for the grade. I did climb it on my first try this season, but it was not easy! Bouldering is never easy, but I love having so many incredible challenges waiting to be fought with. Perfect koans with no simple answer, no single method to unlocking their movement.

New guidebook for Squamish boulders

2010-07-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend Lindsay and I went up to Squamish for her first visit, and my first in over a year. We picked up a copy of Mark Bourdon's new Squamish Bouldering, a beautiful glossy color masterpiece. Valhalla Pure in town sells them. I was impressed by the many great color photos, the addition of a ton of new problems and some new areas and by the reminder of how much bouldering there is in BC! I'm suddenly psyched to check out some of the other areas like North Walls and Paradise Valley.

On the climbing front, Lindsay is getting stronger and more confident and proudly sent her two hardest problems yet -- Squamish Days Traverse and Backtrack -- it was awesome to see her trying hard!!

La Hondananda

2010-07-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

Chicken Man. Just off the trail to the schist cave, a hidden boulder abuts the river in a cool shaded cove. A blank bulge with fine grit Fontainebleau slopers that require a hop and karate kick toe placement, then hip scoot weight reorientation to bump a nice little crimp, slight mantle and big lip holds. It is one of my favorite boulders in Leavenworth, and the strangely addictive Goat Boy next door makes this area well worth a visit on a hot summer afternoon.

6am shadows over Mountain Home

Sam topping out 14 Years (V6) at Swiftwater

Sam at full extension on Goat Boy (V7)

Luke levitating on Sorrow Bird (V9)

With all the poopy weather lately on the west side, I have spent nearly every weekend in Leavenworth, deciphering a summer bouldering strategy that relies on shade / siestas / river breezes / new shorts / root beer floats / Tumwater. In particular the boulders around Swiftwater allow for climbing in heat or rain showers. Footless Traverse is one of the finest pieces of rock in Washington. Last week I was able to finish a long-term project Big Booty Bitch Slap that starts below Footless and finishes the same. Just getting both feet off the ground probably took me three sessions and 50 tries, and another 50 tries to stick the slap. I'm starting to understand what projecting means!

This weekend Sam and I spent some time down by the river at Swiftwater, both climbing the wonderful problem Chicken Man in the middle of a "hot" summer day. We then spent much of the remaining daylight getting shut down entirely at Mad Meadows and Twister areas, but to be able to continue bouldering in July was a gift. The Icicle was expectedly full of campers but hardly any climbers... sport camping? We found a quiet abode for the night and woke at 6am to perfect temperature / breeze / cloud cover and hurried down to the Star Wars area. We figured out how to climb an area classic, Darth Maul which had eluded me in the past and then put some attempts into Darth Vader before the sun came out. I finally stuck the slap to the lip and topped out this excellent problem, just as things were getting a bit too warm up there.

After meeting Luke and Jess at my favorite pantry there was yet more shady bouldering to be had at the Lonely Fish area. Although nothing new was sent, Luke repeated the campus variation and had some awesome burns on everything. Sam and I both had the screaming skin.

A short video of Shamwow climbing on the Fridge, our last stop of the trip:

Fridge Center from Koan on Vimeo.

Washington's hardest boulder problems

2010-06-23T12:30:00.001-07:00

All of the Above (V13) - River Boulders, Index. FA Johnny Goicoechea

The Teacup (V13) - Upper Forestland, Leavenworth. FA Dave Thompson

Hagakure Low (V13) - River Boulders, Index. FA Johnny G

The Elitist (V13) - 2nd Valley, Tum Tum. FA Johnny G

Funhouse Stairway (V13) - Carnival Boulders, Leavenworth. FA Johnny G

Turbulence (V12) - Straightaways, Leavenworth. FA Johnny G

Cotton Pony Sit (V12) - Straitaways, Leavenworth. FA Johnny G

God is in the Details (V12) - Mad Meadows, Leavenworth. FA Dave T

Hagakure (V12) - River Boulders, Index. FA Johnny G

Volition (V12) - Doja area, Gold Bar. FA Joel Campbell

Stinger Low (V12) - Forest, Gold Bar. FA Johnny G

Wildfire (V12) - La Hacienda boulder, Leavenworth. FA Johnny G

Angelina Jolie (V12) - Twister area, Leavenworth. FA Joel C

Chuckanut Roof (V12) - Chuckanut Drive, Bellingham. FA Art Lim

The Ram (V11) - Mad Meadows, Leavenworth. FA Cole Allen

The Practitioner (V11) - Upper Forestland, Leavenworth. FA Herman Feissner

Beautification (V11) - Hook Creek, Leavenworth. FA Dave T

101 Ways to Fling Poo (V11) - Twister, Leavenworth. FA Dave T

Washington Apples (V11) - Millenium boulder, Leavenworth. FA Johnny G

Cloaca (V11) - Mad Meadows, Leavenworth. FA Johnny G

Chutzpah (V11) - River Boulders, Index. FA Johnny G

Green Goblin (V11) - Forest, Gold Bar. FA Johnny G

Cougar Milker (V11) - Leavenworth. FA Johnny G

Doja Direct (V11) - Forest, Gold Bar. FA Johnny G

Odd Job (V11) - Bond Boulders, Leavenworth. FA Johnny G

Wheel of Dharma (V11) - Forest, Gold Bar. FA Joel C

Thunderdome Low (V11) - JY Boulders, Leavenworth. FA Johnny G

Chunky Vanilla (V11) - Upper Forestland, Leavenworth. FA Johnny G

Pitless Avocado Low (V11) - Tumwater, Leavenworth. FA Johnny G

Artificial Lim (V11) - Larrabee State Park, Bellingham. FA Art Lim

Autopilot (V11) - Lower Forestland, Leavenworth. FA Paul Nadler

Untitled

2010-06-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

Brian Adams on Scrambled Eggs at dusk

Barely escaped from the jealous clutches of the city this past Saturday, loaded dog and self and supplies into the caravan and headed East toward drier pastures. I discovered a few tolerable radio stations out of Wenatchee and Monroe, classic rock and oldies. Kali had an agenda to collect more animal bones, and I had my list which doesn't seem to be getting any smaller.

On Saturday I spent some time first at Swiftwater which never gets old, chucking laps on the super classic campus problem Slap and Dangle and finally understanding the savagery needed to complete Bangalore Torpedo. Big Booty Bitch Slap is different, it's thuggy and requires muscle; however I made progress in getting both feet on and slapping hard just below the sloper. Onward.

Kali and I headed to upper Forestland, got lost looking for Monarch and stumbled into a friendly group from SF before finding, or being found by, my strong friend Brian Adams. He convinced me to try Dangle which I had sworn off of and banished to the bottom of my list but we figured out a 'screamish' tactic that involved micro crips and a wild swing and we both sent. Next we threw down on the Coffee Cup which easily earns its 'Leavenworth classic' status and always seemed so hard to me. I always found it difficult just kicking my foot up to get off the ground. This time after one foot misfire, I kicked it on and hit each crimp in the right spot, surprised to find myself throwing for the lip and sticking. Psyched!

Sunday morning we awoke to rain and lots of wetness, not unexpected, although I have begun disregarding meteorological speculation about Leavenworth altogether. Anything less than 50% chance of precip and it will be dry somewhere. The prognosis was poor this morning, but I decided to have breakfast at O'Grady's and mull over my options. Within an hour, the sun came out and I met up with Blue and Leah at the Snow Creek lot for another great day of climbing. We went up to Tin Man which was good fun, and then to the Egg Boulders, after which I took a solo mission to Pretty Boy and sent using tape mitts on the tips! I'm no good at jumps but I realized that a little tape goes a long way when you're jumping to a crimp and repeatedly ripping off.

Given my 104 pieces of unfinished business, and the machinations of the weather gods, I will probably end up in Leavenworth again this weekend for more fingertip abuse and revelry.

the prism, revisited

2010-06-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

ljs video philosophy: failure, dog, success

birthday sending for jake!

mocho rising from Luke on Vimeo.

iphone video test

2010-06-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

This video is a little subpar, but I wanted to test the camcorder capabilities of my phone.
It did about as well as I did on my math test today...

I love that song!

Whipper snappers

2010-06-07T22:41:00.000-07:00

All the Koans went out to Leavenworth this weekend for a Jake birthday extravaganza. He showed us all that he is not yet over the hill, by climbing the new (broken) version of Prism. Nice job! Kozo also climbed that, and everything he touched, almost putting together another new climb called Cool Whip that is pictured above. First go, next try for sure... At the Egg boulders, Kozo and I scrubbed and climbed a dirty face left of Weather Report which yielded a decent problem in the V6-V8 range. It was a great sunny day (little did we know what rains were coming!) and a nice cap to a great Spring season in Ltown.

shop smart, shop S mart

2010-05-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

memorial day 2010 from Luke on Vimeo.

Mountain homes

2010-05-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

A few more pictures from the weekend...

Luke / Darth Vader

Luke / Berserker

Jake / Berserker... hoss toss style

Kyle climbing another new line to the left of Berserker, to which he later added a tough looking low start:

Untitled from Adam Claessens on Vimeo.

Beyond Thunderdome

2010-05-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

Back to Spring! All the Koans were quite relieved to climb in some very cool temps after such unseasonally hot weather the last week or so. On Saturday, Jake punted off the top of Thunderdome, while Luke finally sent. Adam and I battled the Sail (and the crowds), and in the face of adversity Adam sent (again, I did not). We spent way too much money on eating out, but the company couldn't be better. And some buster-a$$-haters tried to poach our campsite, which we had reserved and paid for! On Sunday, new boulders were rock-climbed at Mountain Home, including the full value Berserker. Overall, prime sending temps led to some prime sends indeed, and luckily I was in the filming mood- enjoy!

Koan Bouldering in Leavenworth, WA from Sam Johnson on Vimeo.

the LIST

2010-05-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

Got out to Leavenworth again this weekend with Lindsay for another excellent couple of days in sunshine and fresh air. Saturday we headed up to Mountain Home in search of cooler temperatures, but the plan backfired since there are no trees up there. I did manage to squeak in a desperate ascent of Yoda before we retreated to the canyon. Later that evening, during a vision quest to the Hook Creek boulder, I was thinking about all the great problems I have experienced since I started bouldering at the age of 16. As my friends know, I love a list, and one such list I've compiled was all the problems in central WA that I haven't done yet.

A wiser man (Kyle) proposed making a list of our favorite problems on Earth, being particularly stoked about another new first ascent. Says Kyle:

What qualifications are considered to be on 'the list'? I think the setting, the rock quality (colors, hold radness/uniqueness, texture, solidity etc), the movement, the process to send, the company you were with and just the feeling the climb gives you when you look at it or complete it aid in its placement on the list. It also helps if it is the only line on the boulder and could easily be considered a PURE line.

That list, in no particular order, for me:

The Wind Below (joes valley)
Built to Last (index)
Turbulence (l-town)
Forever Young
Can't decide the 5th right now...it's between Midnite, Beautification, Cobra Khan, The Juvenile Eagle, Chutzpah, Cloaca, J-
Boogie, The Pain Below, Nine Iron, WAS, The Sleeping Lady and Ground Zero...If I could send any of them, contenders would be The Teacup, Hagakure, The Black Dahlia

After posing this question to a few of us, the mulling and musing elicited a very interesting set of responses from the Koans, et al. Anya had to go with a Top 7 and add honorable mentions, a feeling I can empathize with as there are too many good problems to choose just five:

jedi mind tricks, bishop
midnight train, tahoe
the big face, donner summit
high plains drifter, bishop (the rock is kind of mungy at the start, but i just liked the moves so much)
the ruminator, leavenworth
trojan horse, tahoe
melon patch, hueco (any and all problems in hueco could be on here. this one just has such big holds and i love it)

Honorable mentions:
(it is hard for the South to make the 'for real list' due to heat and dampness)
centipede (aka millipede), HP40
tri star crack, little rock city

It seems like the most captivating climbs are the ones i haven't done yet, always looking forward... though this little retrospective has really made me appreciate so many climbs and made me want to go back to these places and others... others whose routes didn't make my list yet (hp40, little rock city, rock town) and those places where i luckily got to go when i first started climbing and really couldn't do too much (grampians, castle hill).

Sam had some inspirational words about a particularly fragile problem on the Five Star boulder in Gold Bar:

ross bongo, five star boulder, gold bar

high plains drifter, bishop

pimpsqueak, leavenworth

yayoi right, bishop

pope's prow, bishop

r.b. is my top climb, even though it's constantly breaking and for such a long problem is sort of a butt dragger. at the time I first started trying it I could not do a single move, not one, and when I sent it, it was 3 grades harder than anything I had ever done before, took me at least ten days of effort, more than any other boulder problem. plus the movement is great and its tall.

high plains was great too, awesome moves, pure line, high top-out (not hard though), and the "drifter" move is so dramatic- i screamed as hard as I could to stick that several times!

pimpsqueak was great more for the environment and energy in which I did it- koan "vibes", plus the fact that I had absolutely no interest in doing it, and actually thought that it was too hard/scary for me to ever do (thanks Anya!)

yayoi (some variation therof), even though only took one day is a great example of hard, technical, and exciting climbing- felt impossible for Michelle and I at first, but slowly worked out move by move and eventually found myself at the final moves yelling at some slopers right before the lip, also pretty tall and aesthetic, lots of support from the random bishop crowd

pope's prow. you know the story with this one. two of the coolest partners ever. drunk. full moon. new year. new decade. pump-frog-leg-beach-whale-rebel-yell to get on top

as far as what i want to do, and might actually be possible

stained glass grudge match is building with this one

midnite

ebriosity -for the sake of rounding out the main lines on the 5 star

beautification -way over my head right now, but so cool in terms of setting and aesthetics

Jake had some really interesting thoughts about problems that you think are "too hard" or "impossible" for you eventually going down:

WAS was great because I remember trying it last year and thinking, "this is tall and this is scary". And when I climbed around back to check out the lip I thought, "thats not even a hold. WTF, if I do get there I want a jug. this will never happen" But then this spring, with Kozo's tale of Kyle doing the 'fat boy' beta fueling me, and a bunch of pads, it went down. It makes my list because for me it was a milestone in my progression at this game. Something that seemed scary, and tall, and slopey, turned into a fun, Hoss Toss, normal climb.

Also, The Coffee Cup has a special place in my heart. Not because its an awesome climb, but because it seemed so hard at first, and at the time it came down to me needing to hit every hold just right, and required full effort. It was the hardest I'd worked at something, and it really made me feel like all it takes it putting in the time and full cobb.

...I guess what I'm leading to is I have a pretty solid list of half-climbed boulders that are all Grade A material:

Midnite
Cobra Khan
Hagakure
Whirlpool (coolest moves I've ever done)

And Luke, who is the kind of guy who after a super long plane trip from Scandanavia arriving at SeaTac at noon on a Sunday, hops in his car to immediately go bouldering in the great pacific NW, seconded a few:

high plains drifter (not mungy)

mushroom roof, hueco

cobra khan, leavenworth

green slab (whatever it is called in the gb clearcut)

leggo my ego, index

the first two were good learning experiences on excellent boulders. the last two change every time i think about it. the third is just plain sweet.

Kozo was the first to add some classics from abroad, in addition to local gems:

Here's what quickly came to mind...that I've actually sent, although I agree with Jakey, my eyes are on the future, totally inspired by more than a few climbs I haven't topped out yet. So I've added a second list.

Here goes:
Stand and Deliver (P-way)
Midnight Lightning (Valley)
The Wind Below (Joe's)
Le Toit du Cul de Chien (Font)
Ride the Lightning (P-Way)

Reasoning:
Ultra aesthetic granite block, just enough holds. A real breakthrough for me in the bouldering realm. One that felt un-climbable the first time I touched it, this was the first boulder I literally dreamed about sending and it all came together on a butt-ass cold day with one of my best friends and long-time climbing partner, the culprit that convinced me to put the rope down and try out the wonderful world of "practice" climbing...essentially full-time.
MAJOR Historic Value and all around great rock climb despite the polish. Combines everything I look for in a top-notch boulder problem. Techy, powerful, dynamic, tall, overhanging/slabular. Don't listen to the haters regarding this one, they probably have not topped it out....
Not too many times has my jaw dropped upon seing a BP, but it did with this one. Not much else needs to be said about it other than Tall, Proud, Beautiful. And sent with one of my "new" most-inspiring climbing buddies cheering me on. It's also worth mentioning that this climb put me into what could be referred to as the climbing "zone" where the sole focus was topping out, the climbing too good to consider anything else. Not the tallest problem I've done, but one of the few to take me to that "place"
I could very easily have filled this list with Font problems, but what fun would that have been. Hands down my most memorable climbing trip experience(s), and this was just one of the many Historic Classics I had to do there. I'll never forget that first trip to the forest, I've never been so inspired and at ease in a bouldering area, despite being in a totally foreign country. High on my list before arriving, this was the first "real" bloc topped out on that trip...onsight. Oh, and it has a mono in the roof...Yeeehawww!!!
This has to do with incredible movement, a REAL mantle (a bit off the deck), no f-ing low start BS, and located one of the prettiest enchanted forest settings stateside. Oh and it was in my old stomping grounds, did it every trip, at least once...
Not Done Yet...but deserving of list status. won't bore you with explinations as most of you already concur.
Midnight
The Black Dahlia
Chutzpah
Karma
Duel
Partage
Hagakure

My list probably changes a lot over time, but for the moment:

Twister, leavenworth
Midnight Lightning, yosemite
Thriller, yosemite
The Fin, leavenworth
Chutzpah, index
Gill Egg, gunks
Babyface, hueco
Soul Slinger, bishop

A big aspect of what I would call my favorite problems is their aesthetic value. For me it can almost override the quality of movement (e.g. the Fin at barney's rubble)... the setting is equally important, for instance on Saturday evening I took a solo jaunt to Atomic Energy while the pup and Lindsay took a nap. Now I do think this is an ass dragger, crap of a problem in some ways... and I can say that even more so now that I've climbed it, but the surrounding meadow was filled with wildflowers and it was that magic hour of twilight when you feel really alive and the air was cooling down and there was nobody around... it was a cool moment. And then like you said, the people you're with make a huge impact on the associations you have with a problem / area. Anything I climb with good friends, be it a 5 star line or a chossily choss pile, is good times had. Two of my top 5 (thriller and ML) are in yosemite and they are really memorable (even though I couldn't climb them) because it was my first big climbing trip (1996!) and all I had was a thermarest as my "crashpad" and my dad "spotting" me.

What problems are on your list?

"Just Climb Like a Dream"

2010-05-11T19:41:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I enjoyed a friday-saturday trip to Leavenworth. As Luke is in Norway on for work/vacation, the hounds came too. Certainly used to climbing with theses guys, but still a little nervous about road crossings, etc. On Friday my mom and step-dad came out to experience what I spend most of my freetime doing; climbing rocks. Spent the afternoon at Mad Meadows and after warming up and scaring my folks a little, I went to work on The Sail. Close but no send.

On Saturday I met up with Kyle O for my first trip to the Labryinth boulders. I had no idea there was so much rock up there, a pretty impressive talus-like collection of boulders, with many classic lines! Kyle had an impressive, but not necessarily surprising, day, doing three hard new problems! Nine Iron, Gracious Mama Africa, and the FA of Relentless, the low start to a squamish-esque lip traverse to the right of Girl Funk.

And as a side note I'll mention that I ran into a Canadian friend, Georg, who grilled me for info on hard new boulders to try. He and his fellow Canadian strong-men, Tim Clifford and Tim Doyle, were in L-town for a long weekend and have done most of the area test-pieces. I wouldn't be surprised if some new development went down with these guys climbing in the canyons!

75 degrees

2010-05-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

Got out yesterday for a solo mission, just me and the pup. I started at Hagakure, a pure and beautiful line that I hope to climb some day. Small bits of progress were made, plus I climbed a couple of newly-cleaned aretes on the Leggo My Ego boulder that were fun. Next we hiked down to Chutzpah, but since the pup is still wide-eyed about the world we spent a lot of time playing games with river bugs and sitting in the sun watching rafters float by. I got on Chutzpah for a minute, it felt miserably hard, and I went back to playing games with Kali.

not really quite hitting the gaston...

Before heading home we stopped off at the Five Star boulder. It seems like somebody with a pair of garden shears and a lot of boredom went overboard cutting down the surrounding young trees. A number of them were piled into a sort of platform landing under the V2 warmup route, which I thought already had a flat landing. Whatever. At least there weren't any ORVs rumbling around. I tried to do a move or two on Ebriosity but it felt weird, or I felt weak, or both. And then I got bored and it was a good thing I didn't have any garden clippers with me.

oslo, tokerud

2010-05-08T03:13:00.001-07:00

i had not climbed in 12 days, the longest period in over a year. i was rather anxious to get back to a bouldering area on the outskirts of oslo that i had visited several years ago. this gneiss-like cliff-band offers a good concentration of steep, tall and generally good boulder problems. i just looked at my pictures and they were all shite, so instead i leave you with this. hope you're all having fun on some sweet, sweet nw granite.

Sorry Jake, These Are For You...

2010-05-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

Jake on Pimpsqueak

Jake on THE Hueco Crimper

The Missing Rain Shadow Pics...

2010-05-05T13:56:00.001-07:00

Some eye candy...sort of. Ok, so there's not much new in the way if problem (images) here, but believe me, it was still a (typical) magical day in the canyons of L-Town, chasing the rain shadow...

Anya oh so close on the much groped of late, Joe's Crimper.

Kozo going the "harder" way (don't know why) on Joe's Crimper.

Anya on Pimpsqueak.

Uh....don't ask, Jake and Kyle having a moment on the Pimp-Start Variation.

Rain shadows = dry rocks

2010-05-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

Driving home from work on Friday, listening to NPR, I heard a meteorologist give a mini-lecture on rain shadows. He explained that not only do large mountain ranges like the Olympics and Cascades produce rain shadows, but individual peaks as small as Tiger mountain create their own. This weekend, leaving a pissing rain behind on the west side and traveling through a small blizzard at Stevens Pass on the 1st of May, I entered the glorious rain shadow of Leavenworth. As I banked down the sweeping curves of Tumwater canyon, swamp donkey unicorns were prancing on the water with rainbows shooting out of their asses.

Lindsay and I got to spend a whole weekend in brilliant 60F mixed sunshine with occasional sprinkles, exfoliating our palms on classic after classic. Although we saw a few über-large bouldering groups, for the most part it was much less crowded than I expected even at Mad Meadows. Some highlights of the weekend include Kozo's casual ascent of the Sail, which I just missed, and good progress on the Ram... Anya getting super close to sending Pimpsqueak... Kyle sent the new Filibuster and the new Prism (both recently broken)... I finally defeated my great frustration at the Sword area: Resurrection... and pulled off a solo twilight send of the Strainer, which is a fantastic, if diminutive problem. On the latter, on my second go I fell from the very top, and had to execute a Matrix-esque maneuver to avoid hitting the rock behind me, which is the only detraction from the problem's quality.

Sunday was more mellow, all the Koans left for their jobs and families and to sign papers on new flats in the Wallingford neighborhood. Lindsay and I strung up some topropes at the Roto wall and then headed up Tumwater to try the stuff around Royal Flush and the Footless Traverse. Lindsay flashed two new BPs and was super psyched! And she left a frustrating heel hook problem for next time. After a lot of wanking around I finished off Raging Bull for another new BP. Exceedingly happy, our two protagonists and their puppy retired to Heidelburger for fatty eats and root beer floats. The end.

Sorry, didn't take a single picture all weekend. Next time, all pictures, no words!!

Better late than never...

2010-04-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I headed down to Joe's for a little sandstone action a couple weeks ago. Being my first trip to the black and tan blocks, I was beyond psyched...and the area delivered. Amazing!!!!
We tried a bunch of new problems of the highest quality, some were sent, others left till next time. One things for sure, we'll definitely be back!! Since Kyle had already drafted an amazing trip report for the rest of the Koans, I figured I'd just steal it (edited slightly, hopefully he doesn't mind), and add some photos. I want to apologize upfront for the lack of photos, rolling only two deep, and occasionally wanting a spot, lessened our chances for media. A short vid is in the works.

Kyle's Words:
"The trip was fantastic! It was way warmer than our last excursion; with temps hitting the low 70's every mid-day, we were smart enough to conserve energy and skin by siesta-ing in the shade by the riverside area from the hours of 1ish - 4ish. Shade was chased, boulders were tried, new BPs and moves were experienced to the fullest by both of us, and by the end of the trip we were both so worked that the thought of climbing more sounded awful! Although the campground was almost maxed out, there weren't nearly as many climbers in the canyons during the days and we avoided crossing paths with too many "db's" or being crowded away from anything we wanted to try."

Day 1:
7 am - Wake up at Mansize (however the campsite we so enjoyed with our massive fire pit was occupied by none other than Adam Healy and company...Thomasina and Cedar Pigeon were his neighbors on one side while Stephen Jefferies held down the fort on his opposite side in his luxurious 'Dolphin' camper (on that note, we probably saw 'The Dolphin' at least five times a day just cruising steadily around the canyons...no matter where we were, 'The Dolphin' followed)

Resident Evil.

We were off to New Joe's after oats and coffee where fabulous warm-ups in 'The Closet' were had and Kozo quickly dispatched Resident Evil. I then got close, but spent the remaining shade-light failing on The Ghost King.

We cruised down the Left Fork where we layed out on pads in the shade for a while and ate some doof (food spelled backwards of course)

After proper siesta-ing was experienced and we checked out the Right Sign wall (Wills a Fire) we hoofed it uphill to 'The Wind Below' where Kozo again quickly dispatched with the impressive mono beta (contender for best problem in the country?) It was AWESOME to watch this one go down and I was just psyched to witness some world class sports action...I then flailed around on 'Man From the Past' kinda like I did last time we were there. We took another break and waited for more shade and then both failed miserably on 'Trent's Mom'...that's a hard one!

They Call Him Jordan.

We finished day one by following Adam Healy around for a tour of the hillside that held 'The Black Dahlia' (more about this one to follow), 'The Obelisk' and 'Groundation'...too much hiking for tired bodies...

Day 2:
7 am - Wake up at Mansize...feeling the fatigue

Off to the Left Fork we went for some sick-ass warming up at the Riverside.

We then headed right to the Right Sign where Kozo on-sighted 'Wills a Fire' and we were joined by some good ol' southern boys from Tennesee. These were probably the nicest guys we met on the trip and had a great session with them on 'They Call Him Jordan' which Kozo also dispatched! I managed a send of 'The Lumberjack' and was psyched to have climbed a rad new BP, and to have finished off all the problems on that wall.

They Call Him Jordan....again

Feeling the fatigue some more.

We took another lunch siesta in the same shady spot by Riverside and also walked up and gawked at the shitty-ness of the glued up, polished, non-topping out silliness of 'Big Joe' (contender for worst problem at Joes? but wait, then I remember there's 'Scrawny and Brawny'...which one takes the crown?)

We toured the Right Fork and looked at many classics including Jitterbug which we did not have the chetspa or skin to try this time around...needed to be less fat, or younger or something.

After debating whether or not we should even climb any more this day we finally decided to trek up the hill to 'The Black Dahlia' to give it a whirl. We didn't have to be quite as skinny to try this one...in fact I think it favors the fat folks and definitely falls under the classification of a 'fat boy climb'. On a more serious note this is THE MOST beautiful climb I have seen in Joe's Valley! Extremely good rock, super cool and big holds with gigantic moves between them. We flailed around on this one but I will most definitely return to Orangeville on a mission (not the Mormon kind) to do this climb...INSPIRED!

The Black Dahlia.

We finished the day by hiking up a wash on the opposite side of the river to a climb called 'Moment of Truth' to find it cool but wet from the melting waterfall beside it...maybe a late fall-time climb.

Day 3:
Wake up at Mansize...feeling psyched and full of confidence! Today we could leave it all on the playing field!

We headed to the UMWA boulder for a quick warm up where my elbows were slightly achey and skin was rather sensitive...bad ass warm ups were had and they were all new BPs for the both of us!

Had to return to 'The Ghost King' for revenge. I wasn't doing nearly as well on my first 8 tries or so compared to the first day on it but for some reason the confidence kept burning. Adam Healy showed up and pumped even more psyche in me. After he gave me a few beta recommendations, and his dog bit me in the face right as I hit the ground from a violent fall from the last move, I failed on a whole bunch more attempts but finally managed to stick the last big campus move and sketched my way to the top of a very satisfying new BP. The pressure was off...a project was completed, the rest of the day could be good clean fun no matter what we did or where we went!

The Ghost King.

We headed back the the Left Fork with Adam to the 8 mile area. We headed up and looked around at some boulders before all sending 'Dark Continent'...another new BP. Adam sketched all of us out but finally sent 'The Ghurka Knife' and we enjoyed some fabulous 3.2% Busch sending soda's in the sunshine!

Siesta time consisted of river soaking and hanging out amongst many folks by the riverside...we even watched Thomasina send 'Big Joe' (probably worst problem in Joe's) while resting and hanging out in the heart of the scene...not our style but I guess you have to branch out sometimes.

We hiked up and checked out 'The Gentleman's Project' which is also amazing and number 2 on my list for when I return...even more impressed that a girl sent that one after seeing how burley it looks in real life!

Battletoads.

We rested more and then headed up a hill in the Right Fork to the 'Playmate of the Year' and 'Battletoads'. We had both seen videos of this one and I had heard from numerous people that Playmate was one of the best problems in Joe's even though it is a bit low to the ground. On this trip we heard from pretty much every person we talked to that it was a must do problem and definitely the best of it's grade. Kozo and I were skeptical...neither of us were too psyched to seek out a low ball when we were surrounded by so many big and beautiful blocks but by the last day were thinking "if everyone says it's so great, maybe it will be worth it". Adam was kind enough to tour us up there which is a good thing cause it's a bit hard to find. It is a low ball, in fact the ground was dug out about 3 feet to expose the start holds and make the thing climbable. The lip of the boulder is a touch over head height but amazingly climbs 7 really fun moves to get there. The rock was fabulous and the holds were awesome (especially the side by side boobie slopers); the movement was surely classic! We both polished off a satisfying send of another new BP. Not quite the best in Joe's but worth climbing and we were happy to be able to add that one to our mental scorecard. We headed over to 'Battletoads' which is another kinda low climb on PERFECT rock! I sussed out some moves and as the light faded, the mitten was strapped onto the index finger, the headlamp came on, and I managed to slap and jump my way to the top of another fantastic new BP...

Foster enjoying the sunset.

rocks

2010-04-26T22:41:00.003-07:00

april.24.2010.leavenworth from Luke on Vimeo.

waking up in the rain

2010-04-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

a slew of folks got out on saturday to enjoy some prime leavenworth sending action. new bps were had by most, but i only managed to capture a small bit of the action. on sunday we woke up to rain in the icicle but by 11 the sun was out and prime conditions were restored. on the way out i stopped to look at the whirlpool. i had looked at this a while back and it did not spark any interest, this time however i put it on my short list for things to come back to. anyway, here is a tidbit:

leavenworth was lightning from Luke on Vimeo.

happy easter

2010-04-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

after doing some research and finding the only guarantee for three days of dry climbing was 1000 miles away in bishop, i decided to hunker down in the city for three days of rain, wind and beer. after a thrilling night of karaoke and other debauchery on friday, jake and i slowly rolled out to leavenworth on saturday afternoon hoping for some dry grips. despite the earlier forecast and what was described as blizzard like conditions on friday, there were lots and lots of dry problems in the icicle and only a few bouldering folk... perfect. the rain chased us out shortly before dark but once again, leavenworth delivered.

today jake and i headed to index to consider some roped action but we were thwarted by a route-cleaning, chainsaw-bearing lumberjack rappelling over our objective and dropping 10 foot logs down to the base of the climb. it made me reconsider my cleaning ethics in bouldering, perhaps it is time to invest in some new tools. we did climb some new problems (for us) at the LTW.

You Should be Dancing...

2010-04-02T07:52:00.001-07:00

Here is a video of my friend Joel Zerr getting down and dirty on the The Ashtray in Tahoe (remember Rampage?), all while rocking some fresh threads and swangin them hips! It isn't WA bouldering and there aren't any of the regular Koans, but I think you'll like it...

Chaz Bronson from :nip9: on Vimeo.

A Couple More From L-Town

2010-03-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

Luke left side-face around the corner from Goicoechea. Anyone know the names of these climbs?

Adam, Resurrection...Let's call it good.

Leavenworth, WA

2010-03-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

Kozo and Luke and I opted for the long day of rock scaling and found ourselves in two relatively quiet canyons with perfect Spring temps and areas all to ourselves. We started things off at the Beach, warming up on the Fin: a cool, blocky overhanging V2. Then we all climbed the Terrible, which was a new bp for me and still felt tough but certainly more doable than before.

Kozo / the Terrible

Kozo / Goicoechea

Luke found a clean crimpy face around the corner from Goicoechea and we plucked our way up two lines on that before attempting the testpiece itself. Kozo came damn close to sending Goicoechea, and I am somewhat hopeful, so we'll have to come back to that one. Next it was on to Batman, where we unintentionally spent half of our day. It is a hard overhanging lip traverse to an even harder mantle, and we were all getting stumped on the last bit until Luke discovered "top toe smear beta" which is like lasertoe, but upside down:

Batman on Vimeo.

Our final stop was the Sword, where we checked out the broken undercling on Prism. It looks much harder now if you were to try to use the beta I'm familiar with, which is pretty cool because it's a new problem in some ways. We didn't try that but got burned on Zorro and Resurrection, although I came really close on the latter. The first move just took so much out of me each time that I couldn't mantle up on to the slab. Frustration!

Luke and Kozo climbed the Hourglass and a crazy grit V2/E11 highball next to it. Zeus ate a tree. It was a good day.

Luke / the Hourglass

Kozo / the Hourglass

Luke on hard grit

Washington tree monkey

Shielded

2010-03-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

Lindsay and I got out to Leavenworth for a nice long day of climbing this weekend. We toproped a bunch of lines on Bruce's Boulder, climbed a nice cracky thing on Barney's Rubble, and did a bit o' the boulderin. I thought I might sneak away with Rubb Dyno static since my crimp muscles appear to be top notch at the moment, but I split a tip on its razor blades. Ouch.

We finally tried to chase the waning sunlight at Forestlands and I gave what I thought would be my token effort on the Shield. This time though, bloody tip and all, it clicked and I surprisingly found myself on top.

High Friction

2010-03-16T07:03:00.001-07:00

Got out for some prime bouldering action in Leavenworth on Sunday with a large crew and an alpine start. It all started at Ducks and Drakes on Saturday night where Blue and I hatched a plan to climb Hanta Man before breakfast. Usually these alcohol-fueled aspirations come to naught, but the stars were aligned this time, and after a quick session in the dusty cave, each of us pulled through the crumbly finish.

We then met up with the Koans and others at the Sleeping Lady for eggs and bacon before heading to the Millenium boulder. I had looked at this isolated rock before, but had never climbed on it. All the lines were really fun, and the only one we didn't try was Washington Apples since we weren't really sure which blank wall it went up.

We then headed to Lonely Fish, conveniently right across the street, where Luke and Truc dispatched the beautiful line right quick. Next it was on to Twister where Jake made a masterful send:

Twister on Vimeo.

A few pictures from the day, click on any to start a slideshow:

Alpine start

Sam / Millenium Traverse

Truc / Lonely Fish

Jon / Lonely Fish

Lisa / Lonely Fish

Lisa / Angelina Jolie

Jake / Twister

Luke / The Strainer

Blue / Batman

Lisa / Batman

Snowy Saturday Slapping Slopers

2010-03-01T18:36:00.000-08:00

A full weekend in Leavenworth, with 4 out of 5 Koans! It was spectacular weather in Icicle valley, and if it hadn't snowed 6 inches Friday night it would have been dry too. But we made the most of it. Luke and I found the sole dry problem on Saturday -- Cobra Kon -- and projected. He almost sent!

We retreated to the safety of Gustavs / Ducks and Drakes for numerous pints / burgers / nachos with Dylan, Micah, Blue and Leah. Vittles! Sunday we were joined by Jake and Sam and a bunch of other Stone Gardeners for a merry time at the Forestlands. Luke and I attempted Abstraction, a cool and very difficult suspended boulder problem above the Practitioner / Coffee Cup area. Then on back to the party in Lower which included about 20 people and 10 dogs. It was fun climbing among so many people happy to be rock scrambling in good weather, and didn't feel like the Hulk area in the Happies at all. Well, maybe a little. I finished up the low start to One Summer and Luke did the tough lowball / mantel Drill Sergeant. Nice job Luke!

Finally made it to the Bond boulders at the end of the day for all of our first experiences actually climbing on that stuff, which is always exciting. Pierce Brosnan felt really tough, and so did the arete to its left. We flailed, put the cob to it, and flailed again. I love rock climbing.

Luke working Abstraction

Sam getting close on the Shield

Micah having a crimptastic time

Me getting spanked on Pierce Brosnan

Jake on a sick arete problem

Dakota questioning our motives

Tshirt weather

2010-02-21T21:39:00.000-08:00

Tshirt weather from Adam Claessens on Vimeo.

Local Psyche

2010-02-12T12:02:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I came across a new internet video-series, "The Season" filmed and produced by local climber and Stone Gardens patron, Fitz Cahall. The series follows several athletes, not all climbers, including a new friend of ours, Anya Miller, who has recently moved to Seattle from Tahoe. "The Season" portrays Anya as "a boulderer returning to climbing after a series of knee surgeries", which is interesting because the first video shows footage of Anya falling from the top of the high-ball dihedral problem at the Camp Serene boulder. Anyway, looks like some high quality footage of Washington bouldering, plus other good footage, including Matt Madaloni engineering a new "pinch-cam" for the purpose of climbing a hanging flake in Squamish. Lots of respect for Fitz doing such good work and to Anya for being a bad-ass!

The Season Trailer small from Fitz Cahall and Bryan Smith on Vimeo.

Never Ending Source of Psyche

2010-02-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

No pictures to go with this. But if a picture is worth 1000 word and I only write a sentence or two, it'll be like 1/30th of a picture, and I bet you can imagine that on your own pretty easily.

Yesterday at Equinox I bore witness to Kyle Omeara FA'ing a new line straight up the center of the cave. It looks hard, but not that hard for him. That guy is strong, motivated, and psyched! If we could all get as psyched as Kyle, levels would be up'ed.

Great job Kyle! You are unstoppable!

more bishop

2010-01-20T22:01:00.000-08:00

here is another video from our trip to bishop, with another perspective on adam's pope's prow ascent. most notable was my inability to capture any good footage, and chris' dreamy style.

bishop pope's prow from Luke on Vimeo.

Bishop Video

2010-01-15T18:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a little movie I put together of footage from our winter trip to Bishop. The ethic is strictly grade-free here on Koan, but I would speculate that the pallet-jump that Chris on-sights in the video is at least V5. Enjoy...

Bishop Bouldering from Sam Johnson on Vimeo.

JTNP pics

2010-01-13T12:57:00.000-08:00

Joshua tree

Suspended boulder

Nice to look at, choss at close range

Lindsay in a sea of granite

Buttermilks washboard and Sierras

Luke on the Mandala

Jason on the Mandala

Lindsay in the Happies

Camp

bouldering

2010-01-10T21:36:00.000-08:00

nancy, sally and joann decided to do some lycra-clad, bolt clipping and twinkie dropping at exit 32 today. meanwhile, kozo and i took a nice walk up to the clearcut for some dry-ass january bouldering. gravity was high and the boulders smote me at every opportunity, but kozo was able to send a few bps. a quick and dirty vid:

gold bar jan 2010 from Luke on Vimeo.

happy new year

2010-01-02T19:58:00.001-08:00

the last photo is from our 3 AM 'blue moon' session in the buttermilks on new year's day where Sam daringly sent the pope's prow for the first send of 2010. that was probably the best climbing experience i have ever had in bishop. thanks to Mike for taking us out there. cheers

battle in bishop

2009-12-28T11:15:00.000-08:00

the tide is beginning to turn in the battle between man and rock

Bishop

2009-12-28T10:50:00.000-08:00

Luke, Chris, and I are over a week into our trip here in Bishop. The weather has been prime, except for a few inches of snow here and there. Unfortunately, some of the bouldering at the outlying areas of the buttermilks, such as the checkerboard, are out for now- we've mainly been sticking to the classics of the buttermilks main and the tablelands. Luke has had some big successes already with sends of acid wash in the happys and soulslinger. I was very happy to send the one line that eluded me on my previous trip- pow pow at the Sads.

Some friends from Seattle are down here too; Bret Johnston and Bryan Boyko- very inspiring to see how psyched these two are, camping in the cold at the milks, spending time cleaning their projects and not getting shut down by the snow. Bret sent heroun and yesterday Bryan did the higher start to the buttermilker, with attempts on the sit looking very solid. Bryan also looked close on the mandala sit and Bret looked good on the stand-hopefully some videos of the young guns and us "old guys" will be coming soon.

Enough spraying, the real action has been behind the von's where a stash of pallets has somehow been left untouched and unguarded- the current count at our pit campsite is around 25, getting ready for new year's! We've had some fun on rest days with trips to the movies and hot springs. Christmas was mellow, didn't really feel festive- just another sunny day of climbing. Luke or I will hopefully update soon with pics and video.

sloppy joe's

2009-12-06T21:22:00.001-08:00

audio is critical

Joe's Valley Thanksgiving 2009 from Luke on Vimeo.

Gold bar bliss

2009-12-05T23:20:00.000-08:00

Got out for a hike to the clearcut boulders today with Luke and Greg, sunshine for miles with views of the Olympics and a fine frost on everything. Monroe was a river of fog in the distance. After a quick warmup in the sun, we headed to the Rubik's Cube which last year had felt impossible. For whatever reason, the rock felt like velcro and the moves seemed obvious, and after a few goes and a frosty / mossy topout we finished it.

Next we headed up to Equinox / Twisted, and after a few goes Luke sent the latter. Nice job Luke! Greg stuck the first move and was super psyched. The straightforward way is just two gigantic throws for me and I may have to use alternate beta. Luke was getting after Equinox as well, and came very close... for me this problem finally felt reasonable, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Finally I spent an hour throwing sticks for the turkeys and watching Greg and Luke throw themselves at Lighten Up. If I hadn't left my camera in the car, there would be actual pictures of this stellar day... next time.

Mo Joe's

2009-12-01T12:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some more photos from Joe's (I couldn't edit your post adam). Traveled with the usual Koans, minus Kozo, plus Kyle. Joe's is probably the coolest bouldering area I've been to-and I had an awesome time even though I injured myself while topping out the Team Effort boulder; plans to return this spring started as soon as we left! Maybe we were just psyched that sandstone doesn't eat your skin quite like the granite at home...

Jake Save Yourself

Jake Resident Evil

Luke Resident Evil

Luke Eden

Kyle Beyond Life

Kyle Jitterbug Perfume

Luke loves crack climbing

and a short, dirty video of the boys on Water Painting, plus Jake antics

water painting from Sam Johnson on Vimeo.

Joe's

2009-11-30T15:04:00.000-08:00

Five of us piled into the minivan and punched it to Joe's Valley on Thanksgiving eve for a sleep-deprived blitz of Utah sandstone. Subsisting on cold beans and French press coffee, we blasted our way through classic after classic, got some needed vitamin special D, dried out our sopping Northwest skin and pulled hard on perfect edges / pockets / crimps and even one tufa. Here are some pictures from my doomed iPhone... I hope to get a real camera one of these days.

the Riverside area

Jake on the Angler

Kyle going Beyond Life

Jake on the Wind Below

Luke on the Wind Below

Kyle on the Wind Below

Luke on Worst Case Scenario

Old coal mining equipment

fall back / spring forward

2009-11-01T21:32:00.000-08:00

Jake / Luke on Cobra Kon

Kozo on Domestic Violence

Luke on the Practitioner

Kozo on Bootin Dookie

Jake on the Ruminator

Koan Bouldering

Static Cling

texas drive-by

frozen lakes

grit

Paul Nadler

Yosemite Spam

Consolation Prize

Hard work pays off!

All I want is perfect granite

Swiftwater

Wild Bill

mosquito ridge

Poison Oakland

Little Yosemite

Baywatch

Well rested to say the least

Gold Bar / Index

Having a Riot in Squamish

Microclimates

Leavenworth

Hot Climates

can we climb now?

Forestlands

font video dump

circuiting

un baguette svp

to the pain

JY Boulders

oh no, i just franced in my pants!

Gold Bar

Leavenworth

Saturday in the canyon

Blue Velvet

On a Roll

Cantaloupe and Jelly Sandwiches

Architectural Digest

the burden of spoof, part one

MFGD

bishop blitz

texas sunshine

Choss!

Happy Halloween!

choose your own adventure

Sending spree

Mali

one day in paradise

gentlemen's code

superman

labor day leavenworth

Labyrinth

feels like fall (ing?)

Slabbatical

Moderate Grit

Down by the river

tick marks

Whirlpools

Exchange Rate

New guidebook for Squamish boulders

La Hondananda

Washington's hardest boulder problems

Untitled

the prism, revisited

iphone video test

Whipper snappers

shop smart, shop S mart

more questions than answers

Mountain homes

Beyond Thunderdome

the LIST

"Just Climb Like a Dream"

75 degrees

oslo, tokerud

Sorry Jake, These Are For You...

The Missing Rain Shadow Pics...

Rain shadows = dry rocks

Better late than never...

rocks

waking up in the rain

happy easter