This is the first time I’ve had a chance to write since Sarah, JJ, Sean and I departed on our two week roadtrip on March 11th. For those of you that don’t know, the plan is as follows: Go to the Tour de Bloc comp in Nanaimo on Saturday (The comp in Nanaimo was a success. Sean placed 1st, I came second and Sarah placed 1st!), fly to Vegas on Sunday, climb in Vegas for one day, drive to Joe’s Valley and climb until we’re bored, then drive to Bishop. From Bishop we drive to Vegas again and fly to Calgary where the three of us will compete in Boulder Regionals.
So now we’re in Bishop. It’s super hot here. Something like 26 degrees in the Happy Boulders. We drove 8 hours yesterday from Joe’s. It was along drive, I got one $67 speeding ticket, which is pretty good considering I did most of the drive at 90mph. Joe’s Valley was pretty cool, but I was a little disapointed. I kind of expected more. The part that took away from it’s appeal was the fact that the boulders are so spread out. You had to drive between clusters of boulders and there weren’t that many classics in any given area. We sent some cool problems though. Check out our summary below:
In Red Rocks (the Craft Boulders) Jamie, Sean and JJ sent Monkey Bar, V9 (Jamie flashed).
Jamie, Sean and JJ sent Worm Turns, V11.
Jamie, Sean and JJ sent some unamed V9 (Jamie flashed, Sarah came close!).
JJ sent The Scrawny and the Brawny, V10 (Sean and I couldn’t do it, so crimpy!)
Jamie and Sean flashed Finger Hut, V10 (JJ sent 3rd try).
Sarah sent SPAM – the V5 version.
Today was our first session in Bishop. We checked out the Happy Boulders first and basically just climbed around. It was so hot out there. We’re all feeling a little sun burnt. We then grabbed some lunch and drove up to the Buttermilks. We tooled around on a few problems. Sarah got on the Cave Problem, a steep V6 and she flashed! She’s climbing super well. She has her eye on a few other 6s and 7s in the Buttermilks. We just wanted to chill so we decided to drive up to the Pollen Grains to check out the problems up there. We got on Jedi Mind Tricks, a high ball V4. We have some sweet videos of it that I hope to post soon. Sean got on first and missed a crucial hold, making his variation something like V6 – very sketchy. JJ and I climbed it normally. We drove back down to the main area and waited for the sun to leave us alone. Sean wanted to try the Mandala, V12. The last time he was on it he was 13. Since then a hold broke making it pretty solid V12. After his 4th or 5th try, he sent! Good work Sean.
We grabbed some burittos at the local mexican restaurant and now we’re chilling in the coffee shop. I hope to get some photos posted soon. I have to upgrade my photo viewing section first though, I might not get it working until I get home.
Entries (RSS)