Joe's Valley and Other Destinations

Two weeks ago I went on a trip to Joe's Valley with tow of the kids that I coach.  This was the first time that any of us have ever been to Joe's!  This was mostly a recon trip to see what the grading and climbing was like.  Joe's has some of the most amazing sandstone that I have climbed on in a long time.  I have climbed on sandstone in NUMEROUS places such as Garden of the Gods, Red Rocks, Moe's Valley, Triassic, and RROCS and I can honestly says that Joe's is one of my favorite sandstone areas!  Joe's is nestled in this little canyon just outside of Orangeville, UT.  At night when we arrived we couldn't see anything and slept with excitement for what the morning would bring!  The next day we woke up and sent 20 problems ranging from V1-V6.  We got on some harder problems to test the water so that when we went home we knew what we needed to train for.  We got on Resident Evil V10 and sussed out the moves and the last little while we've been training so in two weeks we can get back down there and send shit!  Anyways here are some pictures from Joe's and a few other trips that I've been on this summer!

Working the ending moves to Resident Evil, Joe's Valley

Sending Sun in My Eyes Traverse, Joe's Valley

Sending Solar Power, Logan Canyon

Standing below a 12 something after my send just before leaving

Going over Lunch Counter, Snake River, Alpine Wyoming

Good to be Back!!!

Well summer got off to a  fast start!  I can't believe that it is already July!  I attended my schools graduation on June 1st and I have to say it was an amazing experience.  I started teaching the special education class at Fast Forward Charter High School back in April.  It is a wonderful place and can't wait to get back next year :) Shortly after school was out i got married!  I got married June 4th and I can't be happier!

After the wedding we went on our honeymoon to Orlando, Florida.  The honeymoon was amazing and best of all we got to go to Harry Potter Land!

The weekend after we got back from Orlando we ran Ragnar.  Ragnar is a team relay race from Logan to Park City.  The team consists of 12 people, you each run 3 legs and the entire race is 200 miles long.  This year we ran it in 33 hours and 53 minutes.  We added sometime from last year, but we have next year to redeem ourselves.  In October we're running the Vegas Ragnar which will be a blast!  Anyways I just thought I would just give an up date and I'll have my climbing pictures up later this week :)

So far the summer has been really fun, but things will get better :)  Sadly I am missing the Climb X photo shoot this weekend because I am poor and can't make it out there.  On the upside though I'm heading to Maple Canyon for some sending!  Anyway I hope everyone is have a great summer!!!

Back from Triassic!

Its been too long since I've been bouldering on real rock!  This was my first trip down to Triassic and it was amazing!  Triassic lies about 30 minutes south of Price, UT.  The sandstone blocks litter the landscape as far as the eye can see.  There are well known areas such as the Golden Ladle and Land of a Thousand Boulders.  A few of the people establish the new areas are local gym employees.  They travel down there through out the year putting up awesome new lines and cleans hundreds of new problems.  This last March they took a company trip down to Triassic to spend a week cleaning and sending new problems.  They cleaned a lot and sent quite a few, but there were some that had to be left for another day.  When they all came back they showed me pictures of the new area and I was psyched!  So we set up this trip with the intent of going down and sending some of the projects at their new area and thats where it all began.

Friday:

We woke up at 6 am and were on the road by 630.  We arrived at camp around 1130 and quickly set up camp.  After set up we bouldered around the "Camp Boulder" for about 20 minutes or so to warm up.  On the camp boulder there is really only one harder problem.  You start in this little dish with your left hand and a sandy sloper with your right at about an arms length away.  After that you smear a high right foot; pull in and go for the top!  Really fun and probably around V5 or so.  After playing on the camp boulder the wind pick up and we decided to go hiking for a while.  We drove over to the overlook, hiked down to the bottom, and looked at all the boulders down there.  That only killed about an hour and the wind was still raging when we got back to camp so we decided to take a power nap for three hours :)  After we all woke up we drove into Price to pick up some better firewood because the wood around camp just wasn't cutting it.  When we got back we at our tin foil dinners and then went bed praying for better weather in the morning.

Saturday:

I wake up to a text message that morning saying that my Calculus final that was scheduled for Thursday of the following week was rescheduled for Monday now.  So right off the bat I think to my self that I have to do the sending today then.  I get up eat a quick breakfast and I'm off to the boulders before anyone else is awake.  I decided that I would start warming up before Team Bloxham showed up.  Team Bloxham are some of the kids that I used to coach Caden and Tysen along with their sister Megan and dad Dean.  They couldn't come up Friday and had to go home later that day on Saturday so they as well had to send things fast!  After I was done warming up Team Bloxham arrived and we started our send fest!  The first thing to go down was an undone slab project from their last trip.  I named it Diagon Alley and man was it thin!

Diagon Alley

After that send we watched Caden get another first ascent on a climb next to it.  After the slab area we decided to go to the Mono Project.  This climb was the main reason that I came to Triassic.  I saw my friend Brad's pictures of him on it and it looked amazing.  This climb was all I could think about for the days leading up to this trip.  The problem was probably the hardest of the trip and took me a good 40 minutes to unlock the beta and put it all together.  In all honesty one of the main reasons that I sent this problem was that I had amazing shoes!  I wore my Climb X Emotions and the made every tiny foot chip feel like a giant ledge!  Anyways here's some pictures.  

Start both hands in the rail and move left hand into a full pad side pull crimp

Then it gets tricky you move your feet a lot until you have your left foot on a crappy smear and your right foot in a decent backstep and then reach into the mono.

After that you do a little more foot work and then stand up into a crappier side pull and get a really high foot on the starting hold.  After that there is only two more crimp to the top out horn.

This problem was by far my most favorite to climb and was stoked to get the first ascent!  I named it Deatheater because it chewed the shit out of my middle finger! Anyways we went and did another climb and got first ascents on this low ball problem that was awesome but I'll have to post the video in a little while cause I can't find it!  Anyways the trip was awesome and I hope you enjoy the pictures!

TRIASSIC!!!!!!

The weather is finally coming around and beginning to look amazing!  Many of the climbs up Logan Canyon should be done seeping by the end of next week WooT WooT!  So in the mean time some of the guys from the gym and I are going to go down to Triassic and establish this weekend!  I'll keep you up dated!

Let the Spring Sending Begin!

Last Friday was the first sunny day Cache Valley has seen in a long while!  I took advantage of it by going to a crag that many find shitty and chossy, but for some reason I love it up there!  We got on Haylee's Day Off (5.9) for our warm up and in my opinion its the scariest nine in the canyon :) What a great way to get your head back into climbing outside right?!?!  Our goal for the day was to get on Dobby (5.13a).  It was project up there for a while I'm not quite sure when it was bolted, but when I went up there to give it a burn it still had a yellow rope tied on the first bolt.  When I saw that I almost didn't try it for fear of making someone mad, but after realizing it was very sun worn and not hearing anyone say that they had been trying it I decided to give a burn.  It went down last year, but didn't get any pictures or anything to document the send so we went back.  The line is short and bouldery; you could possibly boulder it, but the landing would be iffy.  The crux move and send revolves around whether or not you can stick the dead point to a two finger pocket.  Your feet are solid but your hands are sketchy.  Anyways here are some pictures for ya!

Getting ready for ago.

Standing up and hitting the pocket.

From the pocket crank into a left gaston and get your foot up.

After that hit a right finger jug and clip 2nd bolt.

Then its just a few slopers to the finish.

I was stoked to get back on something that felt hard last year and do it relatively easy.  Anyways that's what I've been up to and hopefully will be able to get out soon again!

PEACE!

I'm A Believer!

I have always been skeptical about whether rubber over the toes really helps when toe hooking.  So I decided that I'd set a boulder problem at the gym that would utilize the power of a toe hook.  Now the problem I set can be done with a heel hook, but in my opinion it feels more secure with a double toe.  I am now a believer!  Recently I have been using my Climb X Rock Stars for everything and I mean everything.  This problem made me realize that the toe rands really work and really well for that matter.  Now just as a cross reference I have tried using my Climb X Drifters on the same problem and even though I can stick the move while toe hooking with them I can also feel them sliding around on the hold.  Compare that with sticky toe rand that covers the Rock Star which never slipped.  Needless to say I am now a believer in toe rubber!

ABS Youth Nationals 2011

Well I spent the last four days in Boulder, Colorado for youth nationals and man was it sick!!!  We went because the girl I coach Zowe Gardener got a first round invite.  We left around noon on Thursday and arrived round 730 that night in Boulder.  We got her all checked in and headed back to the hotel.  Zowe didn't have to climb until 912 the following night so needless to say we had a little time to kill.  Bobby, who is Zowe's dad, and I decided that the next morning we would run a Flat Iron while Zowe relaxed at the hotel.  We decided to do Fandango which is the classic 5.5 because we thought we could run up there do it real fast and get back faster that way we didn't leave Zowe for too long.  But needless to say things hardly ever go as planned.  We found the trailhead easy enough and started hiking completely stoked about the climb.  When we arrived at the first Flat Iron and thought we were on route but we ended up on the wrong one.  Anyways everything turned out fine and we had a blast!  I have to mention that I wore my Climb X Zions and they were awesome!  Even though they are a soft shoe it was nice to be able to feel everything that my toes were on.  Anyways a little while later we were back at the car and on our way to pick Zowe up and get some food!

That night was qualifiers and they would take the top 18 out of the 34 competitors to the next round.  Zowe was in the middle of the group and as we watched our nerves started to quicken.  She came out flashed the first problem, that gave me a big sigh of relief not because I didn't believe in her but because you never know what's going to happen.  She make good work of problem 2 and 3.  Problem 4 which was a delicate slab problem with a vital hold on the opposite wall that was easy to miss gave her a bit of a problem, but when the results came out we were in 15th place and going to semifinals!  Zowe had to be into iso at 645 and was scheduled to climb around 720 the following night.  We all slept in that morning and just relaxed together.  That night we watched Zowe on her problems and she climbed really well.  Now she didn't end up making it to finals, but we ended up in 13th and we'll take that :) now it's time to start training for SCS!!!  I should have pictures up from this adventure soon!!!

2011 Zion Review

If Climb X makes an all around shoe this would defiantly be my nominee for it.  You can go from 5.11 slab to 5.13 overhang without changing shoes.  Although I sized these to be comfortable I was not disappointed with their ability to still perform well.  Not gonna lie I was rather scared at first about my choice, but I am very satisfied.  These shoes are rather soft, but because of that they are great to use right out of the box.  I personally like the fact of how sensitive these are, now it does cause a little foot fatigue on longer routes.  Now I sized these the same as my Emotions which is an 8.  Now the Emotions were tight almost to the point of being unbearable.  However, the Zions are comfy with a slight curl in my toes.  For a good performance shoe I would recommend going down 1.5 sizes.  Personally I think I would go down to a 7 for these shoes to be a high performer.  But in all for a well rounded and comfortable shoe I would go with a .5 or 1 downsize.  In all this shoe is defiantly been upgraded from the 2010 model.  So if you're looking for a new all rounder you should check this shoe out!

2011 Emotion Review

My first impression upon pulling these bad boys out at the Winter OR was damn these shoes are sick!  At first I thought I might have sized them too small, but they have conformed to my feet and are almost bearable.  Now they are slightly stiff for a downturned shoe but my hope is that after a few more session they will become more sensitive.  My Rock Stars started out the exact same way as these have but have finally gotten sensitive enough that I feel comfortable bouldering in them.  Yet oddly enough the Emotions feel stiffer, but perform really bouldering with them right out of the box.  Now when compared with the rest of Climb X's shoes line the Emotions are incredibly downturned.  Now I have worn them on routes on both vertical, steep and all the terrain in between.  On steeper ground I found that they may preform slightly better, but thats really what they were made for anyways.  Now sizing wise I found that these shoes run surprising small for the size.  In the old Rock Star model for instance I wore a 7.5 and it I think I could have gone down to a 7 and still been comfortable.  But in the the 011 Emotion I'm wearing an 8 and it is painful!  I think if I would have gone with an 8.5 it would have been perfect, but what can you do!  So my recommendation would be to go down a .5 size from your street shoe.  I wear a 9 in my hiking shoes and I think that an 8.5 would be perfect.  All in all these shoes have been preforming great and are a must for my climbing pack.

I'm Back!!!

WOW!!!  This last month has been crazy!  Not sure how I made through that last week of finals but I did thank goodness.  Now it's time to start a new semester and pick up the training for spring sending!  First off I just got two more kids on my team and I am super stoked!!!  That brings the total up to five and the girls now out weigh the guys.  So really we haven't been up to much here in Cache Valley mostly because of the massive amounts of snow that have been pounding the Wasatch Range.  Also on the 15th the team and I will be traveling to Boise, ID for ABS Regionals!!!  Woot Woot we're getting stoked!

Climb X Rad Moc Review

Climb X Rad Moc

This is one of the most sensitive shoes that I have ever worn.  Now for me that is what makes this shoe great.  Wearing right out of the box is not a problem; after one time of use it fits like a slipper.  Personally I find this shoe excels at bouldering indoor and outdoor.  The new Climb X rubber formula is extremely sticky and has amazing endurance.  After nearly three month of use the shoes still have that newly broken in rubber feel to them.  When I say I mainly use these shoes for bouldering that’s not to say that I don’t use them for Sport Climbing as well.  When roped up I like to use them for overhanging routes were I need the sensitivity of really forcing my toe into the holds.  So if you are looking for a shoe that will do it all, that’s incredibly sensitive, and will endure abuse I would highly recommend the Rad Moc!

Climb X Drifter Review

Climb X Drifter

This shoe I initially got for a training shoe, but once I put it on I knew it had more potential than I gave it credit for.  Although it is given a stiffer rubber rating, I found that I broken in really fast and is surprisingly sensitive.  Within my first few sessions of wearing I soon realized that I was able to wear in between climbs and on my hard projects as well.  Really the only thing different in my opinion between this shoe and the Redpoint is the different heels and few other appearance differences.  All in all this shoes is full of surprises!  You can were it for climbing 5.10’s and the next day wear for finals at your local comp.  I highly recommend this shoe for anyone looking for a Jack of All Trades!

Climb X Rock Star Review

Climb X Rock Star

Climb X Rock Star

The Rock Star is one of those shoes that I never leave at home.  Whether I’m off to do easy multi-pitch or pull at the local crag it is always in my bag.  I recently went on a trip to St. George, UT and climbed all day at Prophecy Wall and the Rock Star was the shoe of choice.  The lacing system allows you to apply the pressure were it needs to be for the harder pitches and loosen them for the easier ones and at belays.  Now this shoe is quite a bit stiffer than the Rad Moc and Drifters which is why I mainly use it for routes, not so much bouldering.  Just my personal preference you may decide differently.  Two other features of note are the toothed heel which makes for an incredibly secure heel hook and the little bit of down turned toe.  This last aspect helps with feet whether on the vertical or overhung.