New Shoes, No Skin, No Problems
I'll Take Black 5.12c
Best mini-rig in AF Canyon
(See the send of this route in Episode 4 of Every 5.12 in the link below)
Well it has been probably way too long since I have updated this blog to be able to fill in all the gaps. I will do my best here though!
So to start off, I have been climbing a lot and have managed to put away some really classic lines, including a handful of brilliant hard 12's. I am also really excited to announce that I have been welcomed onto the GEIGERRIG Athlete Team.
GEIGERRIG is a pretty rad company, and are definitely worth checking out!
I recently went on climbing trip to Joe's Valley, just for 2 days. I was looking for a change of scenery from AF, and I was really curious how all this route climbing was effecting my bouldering. I have been bouldering here and there in the gym, when it is to wet to climb outside, or when I can't find a climbing partner, but I certainly have not been focusing on it. In fact this trip was my first bouldering trip in over 3 years! I was really pleasantly surprised by how things went. I definitely didn't feel the raw power you get when you are a focused boulderer, but I felt a ton of endurance. I managed to flash a handful of V5's and V6's and did a couple V7's second go.
(Pimpers Paradise V5)
It was an interesting experience because even though I was able to climb V5-7 pretty quickly, and in some cases pretty effortlessly, V8 felt almost impossible, and of the ones I attempted, I didn't really even feel close on any of them. On the other hand I felt like I could climb V5-7 all day without really getting tired. For me this was really cool to see what climbing so many 5.12's has been doing for my endurance! I am excited to do a bit more bouldering throughout the winter, and see what that does for my onsighting in the spring. I have gotten on some pretty bouldery routes recently including I'll take Black, and Knuckle Up, which are both really great routes in their own way. Both have very power oriented cruxes, which I really enjoyed. Another really great recent send was El Diablo. The book calls it 12d/13a. I call it amazing! After doing I'll Take Black, I thought of my friend Tyler Sobotka who I thought would do really well on it. I brought him up to try it, and decided to hop on El Diablo while I was up there. The top half was soaked, and after my first burn I wasn't super optimistic. I took another burn and had my friend hand me the stick clip with a sweater on it. I used the sweater stick clip to soak up as much of the water on critical holds as I could and then lowered off.
(Drying a crucial hold on El Diablo)
I caught Tyler on a good go on I'll Take Black, then went to try El Diablo again. It was about that time when one of my best friends ever George Bruce Wilson, (the guy making the Every 5.12 series for Epic TV), came up the trail. With his and Tyler's encouragement I gave El Diablo a fierce effort. Even though I soaked up some water with the sweater stick clip combo, the holds had become soaked again. I tried to just pretend they were dry, and kept moving. After some intense over gripping, and some slippery foot placements, I found my self at the anchors!
(The Post Diablo Pump)
After lowering off I realized how hard I had tried and I felt the pump set in. It was one of those special, "There is no way I am gonna be able to untie my knot after this," kind of pumps. I must say that it had been awhile since I had been that pumped from a single pitch! I love that feeling! It fed the fire, and I have been chasing that pump since!
Since then I have sent a handful of 12's but haven't quite felt the same feeling I got at the top of El Diablo. I am hoping to feel that again soon!
My current hard line I am working on is looking promising for that. It is not my specialty by any means. I have been trying Something Wild 5.12d at Cannabis wall. Just like everything else at Cannabis wall, this route seems really really hard, and maybe just a bit sandbagged. It is not my style exactly. It is a technical slab, and it is awesome. 12d slab means really small to imaginary holds, and super tenuous foot and hand placements. I have never had to be focused on a sport climb as I have had to be on this one and I love it. I have also never had to pull on 1/8 of a pad mono crimp on a sport route either, but I definitely do on this one!!
(Right after the crux on Something Wild 5.12d)
This route will be one of the featured routes in Episode 5 of Every 5.12, which will be coming soon! I am heading back up to this route Saturday as soon as things dry out a little bit, and will hopefully have a good Sunday blog for y'all! Until then stay psyched everybody, and climb on!
In closing I just wanted to give a huge shout out to my sponsors and to everyone that has been supporting me on this Journey! Special thanks to Darren Knezek and Mountainworks for being such an amazing supporter and mentor, and for helping me to stay psyched on this goal! Between Darren and my friend Bruce I think I have all the support I could ever need to get this done! I am very blessed though to have even more amazing supporters than that, so I also want to thank Five Ten Shoes for the new Dragons! I have been putting them to work for sure! As always big thanks to Haven Climbing for the sick custom gear, and the support and encouragement! And of course huge thanks to my newest sponsor GEIGERRIG for the sick packs, and rad support! I feel very fortunate to have met so many awesome people while working on this goal! So thanks everybody!
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