Earlier this month I made my second trip of the year to Leavenworth. The weather was a lot warmer, a perfect getaway from the rains of Squamish. For me the highlights of the trip were Pimpsqueak, a beautiful V9 and The Practitioner, which was formerly Leavenworth’s hardest problem at V11. Both lines are 5 stars! Of course I brought my Nikon D90 with me to document the trip. I recorded some footage and last night I learned the basics of iMovie to put together a short vid. Enjoy!

If you want to view this in HD, go here.

I’m currently sitting at gate E79 waiting for my flight to Dallas then to El Paso. Simon Parton is with me… barely. He got caught up in US customs cause they thought there was no mountain climbing in Hueco. Climbing starts tomorrow with a reservation to North Mountain. I’m planning to try Diaphanous Sea right away. It will be a good test to see if I’ve gotten any stronger since my last trip to Hueco last February.

I’m armed with camera equipment too. My most recent aquisition is a Sigma 10-20mm ultra wide-angle lens. It’s going to be a lot of fun testing it out this trip. Expect to see photo posts often.

Unrelated to climbing is a video I watched the other day. I’ve seen videos like it before but this one was definitely eye-opening. It’s called Zeitgeist. The movie is rather long and the first five minutes are just filler but make sure you watch it. I’d love to hear your opinions in the comment section.

I’m back on the 22nd. I hope all of you have a great December!

And here’s that video.

What do Christianity, 9/11 and the Federal Reserve all have in common?

A few days ago was the 13th annual Seattle Bouldering Challenge. I competed among a strong representation of Canadian climbers. We made up 9 of the 20 spots in finals and both male and female categories finished with 3 Canadian athletes in the top 5. Let’s just say Canada dominated.

The qualifers were fun as always. I climbed with Sean McColl the whole time. After a quick warm up we jumped on the hardest problems right away. Sean returned from Europe a few weeks ago after a 7 month trip. He finished it off with an 18 day cruise. He wasn’t in shape (all you can eat and drink) and I managed to outclimb him in the gym for the first few days. I laughed when he told me he was worried that I was gonna beat him at this comp. Of course I knew that wasn’t true and during the qualifying round it was obvious I was right. Although both our scorecards contained 4 flashes and 1 problem in two tries, Sean climbed all of them easily whereas I struggled on a few. One of his problems was harder than mine so Sean qualified first and I qualified second.

There was a long break between qualifiers and finals. A group of us went out for lunch then walked down to the water.

Stone Gardens has a new upstairs bouldering area that was perfect for isolation. One by one the top 10 athletes from each male and female category entered the finals arena. For me the first problem was initially confusing to sequence but after a few “figure it outs” from the crowd I found a hold hiding around the corner. I flashed qualifier one, which boosted my confidence and got me psyched for problem two. This next problem I dwell on the most. My first attempt was my interpretation of what I thought I heard the commentator say was the “Batman move.” I had no doubt that I was supposed to hang off my toes and control the flip. No go. During my second attempt I managed to figure out the right sequence, but I had spent a lot of effort working it out so I couldn’t control the down campus move. I didn’t think I had the time or energy to go again, but now I kind of regret that decision. Problem three dumbfounded me. I couldn’t figure out the upper sequence at all. The first move was tricky too. The last problem had another crowd-pleasing move. I was exhausted by the time I got there and failed to give any pleasing performance.

Here is finals problem two the wrong way:

And here is Sean climbing it the right way:

Sarah Austin flashed her first two finals problems.

Thanks Moreebz for posting these videos.

All in all it was a fantastic competition. The day was long but well worth it. I’m pretty sure this is the tenth Seattle Bouldering Challenge I’ve attended. These guys know how to run a comp.

Way back in the good ol’ days, I used to be strong. I didn’t have a full time job so I was out in the forest 3 days a week every week for the whole season. I always say that 2002 was my best year of bouldering. The most memorable achievement of that year was redpointing The Proposal. Some say it’s V13, others say it’s V12. I’d probably say a really hard fucking 12! It took me close to 2 months to redpoint this thing! I made quick progress early on, but got royally shut down on the 2nd to last move -- bumping the right hand up 3 inches off a shitty heel hook that kept popping off.

I remember giving it over 30 redpoint burns in one day then climbing the Black Dyke after. I was sooo close to sending it for such a long time. Then finally one day the heel stuck and I sent. The truth is that it was all to do with my shoes. I was climbing in Anasazi Velcros, but the the rubber or the heel shape wasn’t good enough for me. At some point during my quest Jim Sandford, the Canadian La Sportiva rep, offered me a pair of Sportiva Katanas. The idea was that I’d try them out and if I liked them he’d hook me up with a sponsorship! I sent The Proposal shortly after. From then on, it’s been a loving relationship between La Sportiva and I.

So all these memories were sparked by a recent You Tube posting that Sonnie Trotter put up. Shortly after my redpoint he filmed me on the problem. I never did get a clean send for him to record, but he pieced together a pretty sweet video. I’ll leave you with that.

Last March I spent two weeks in Hueco. It was a great roadtrip and just thinking about it makes me want to go back. In fact, I’ll likely spend the first three weeks of December there this year! During that trip I redpointed a problem called Rumble in the Jungle, a V12 on the softer side, in my opinion. Nevertheless, it was a huge confidence booster for me. It felt good to be climbing strong again. Lev Pinter was there with a camera and he got it rolling just in time to capture my redpoint send. Check it out:

You hear my good friend, Rich Kupskay, encouraging me in the background. If you want to send a problem, have this guy nearby. He’s been with me for all 5 of my most recent hard sends! Isn’t that a great stat? Rich’s extra energy helped me send Dark Age, Rumble in the Jungle, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Black Magic, and Vince Pinch. Thanks, Rich!