Sunday, July 27, 2008

Triathlon


Eric and Abbie did the June Lake Tri a couple weekends ago. Abbie blogged about it here. I did my variation yesterday. So which is better? Swim, bike, run or climb, climb, climb?

Leg 1: Scary slab climbing
The race started at 6:30am when I had to get out of bed. Tom Gibbings and I went to check out Hair Raiser Buttress (5.9 R (V0-)). It's about 400' of perfect slab climbing with the occasional 30ft runout. It's three pitches up the left side of the formation.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

So, swimming vs. slab climbing?
Jeff's tri variation - 1
Conventional tri - 0

Leg 2: Deep Water Soloing
Jeff Honeywell and I stole a canoe and paddled our way across South Lake in search of the next Mallorca. We're headed to the cove just right of Jeff's shoulder where he swears there is a sick 35ft cliff with 15ft of water under it.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Apparently the water level is really high right now so we pioneered a new sport: Deep Water Traversing.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Since that it possibly the most boring type of climbing, we quickly switched to cliff jumping and trundling for the rest of the afternoon.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Anyone else know how to tie a taut line hitch? I didn't think so...

photo - Jeff Honeywell

Biking vs. canoeing, deep water traversing, cliff jumping, and trundling? DWT is retarded, but still cooler than biking.
Jeff's tri variation - 2
Conventional tri - 0

Leg 3: Rattlesnake wrestling
Jeff H. had to go cook some corn dogs, so I went up to the Buttermilks for the last leg by myself. I had to stop and tell this rattlesnake that the road is a bad place to take a nap. (Yes Eric, the white balance is all wrong; bite me.)

photo - Jeff Sillcox

It was hot. I did some moves on The Buttermilker and ran up a few classics: The Hunk, Green Wall, Go Granny Go. I didn't take any pictures of myself so here's one from the spring of me about to eat shit off Zen Flute (V10) with the Buttermilks in the background.

photo - Wills Young
(disclaimer: Wills is a badass photographer. Don't blame this piece of crap image on him. It's the sun's fault.)


Running vs. climbing at the Buttermilks when it's way too hot? Running sucks.
Final score:
Jeff's tri variation - 3
Conventional tri - 0

It's a shutout!!! Surprised? I didn't think so. To be fair, the conventional triathlon was pretty cool. Eric almost had me convinced to try one until I realized I would need to buy a wetsuit, a bike, and some running shoes. Plus, Eric and Abbie finished their tri in an hour or so. Mine took 16 hours. Bunch of sissies...

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Golf

and Jeff

No flowers this time Andrew...

photo - Jeff Sillcox


photo - Eric Lang

Our newest sponsor

photo - Eric Lang

This one was shot later in the studio with a backdrop

photo - Jeff Sillcox


photo - Eric Lang

Yeah, that's right, golf.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

More Highballin'


Kevin Daniels, Jeff H. and I went up to Way Lake yesterday afternoon to do battle with the mosquitoes. They're still winning, but we took out another couple hundred. Only 10 million to go...

After a quick warmup, Kevin got psyched on my new problem Who's Retarded Now? (V4). He quickly flashed it while I scrambled to get a couple pictures.



photos - Jeff Sillcox

Just around the corner, we all flashed this V2/3ish highball that probably has a name, but I don't know it. Jeff posed a very unconvincing swing on the last move and then gracefully topped it out.

photos - Jeff Sillcox

Then we headed up the hill and did Morpheus (V5), another tall problem with a less-than-perfect landing. Here's a shot of Eric on it last summer.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

We finished our session on Secret Pinches (V5) and I added a fun V3 next to it.

And from last Friday...
Abbie sending an unknown V3 on more perfect rock.

photo - Eric Lang

Me working on a project with some really bad lighting.

photo - Eric Lang