So over driving...

I've driven roughly 5000 miles in the last four weeks. Sorry earth. But it did get me to some cool places. Two weekends of sportclimbing at Red Rocks. No pictures in this post, but maybe Eric will post up a few from his camera. Then Eric and I decided we needed to go bouldering before we became sportclimbers, so we hit the road again for Utah. We stopped short of Joe's because of some bad weather and checked out Isaac's new spot near St. George. Amazing looking rock, but unfortunately, we got snowed on there too and ended up at a little limestone roof for the day.

We made quick work of a very nice V8/9ish problem with some big pulls and then I started working Isaac's Six Shooter (V11).


photos - Eric Lang

With some perfect beta from Isaac, I worked out the moves quickly and sent on maybe my sixth try from the start.

After some more epic weather, we made it to Joe's to find perfectly dry boulders and great conditions.

Eric trying Worm Turns (V10 or 11 depending on where you start and how hard you want it to be).

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Eric groping Playmate of the Year (V9). We did not send. I wasn't even close and Eric fell off after the crux about 500 times.


photos - Jeff Sillcox

Fortunately, Nate sent Resident Evil (V10) which made his crazy drive in the snow worthwhile.


photos - Jeff Sillcox

A bunch of other junk got sent too but we were too lazy to take photos.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Joe's: Biscuit

There are no photos of Jamie climbing in Joe's. That is because I am her designated spotter since I broke her ankles a year and a half ago.

Here she is after eating all of our lemon cookies. Notice the cool reflection of Jim and Eric talking about lemon cookies.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Jamie and Jim in a piece of a car.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Jamie sitting on top of the Angler (V2). This was her first hard highball since the incident. She also crushed Bad Genes (V3) the previous day and would have won the BM award and the Purple Heart both days had we not been so lazy about handing out awards.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

And just to prove that I was actually in Joe's, here's a little still-frame video of me driving the 4runner around on a rest day.

photos - Eric Lang

Joe's: 2015

In hindsight, having five posts for the Joe's Valley trip was a mistake. It was two months ago and I'm still not done. So I'm going to bang out these last two and get back to slightly more current stuff.

Anyway, here's Jim working on his tan.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Trying Knocking Room (V9).

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Chucking laps on the Angler (V2).

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Jim, Andy, and I took a trip to Joe's back in 2001. Jim got a couple of the biggest flappers I've ever seen... one of these happened on the first move of Big Boy (V7).

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Somehow we managed to get Jim on Big Boy this trip when he was either tired or had ridiculous amounts of tape on his fingers. Big Boy won again, but just barely. He fell off the last moves several times.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Look for his return to Joe's in 2015 with many rolls of tape.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Joe's: Hot Hands

Eric sending Smokin' Joe (V9)


photos - Jeff Sillcox

Dark Continent (V8)

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Grumpy Eric standing in the snow in the left fork.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Eric has a circulation problem... too much circulation. It can be 25 degrees and his hands are still hot. Sometimes I'm jealous because my hands go numb pretty easily. Anyway, here's a little slideshow of one of my favorite problems in Joe's, Knocking Room (V9). This is my first try with an embedded slideshow, so feel free to comment if you like/dislike it. You can pause it, turn on/off captions, and click the photos to go to the Picasa album to see larger shots.

photos - Jeff Sillcox

Joe's: The Accountant

No frills in this post. Ben is an accountant... that's boring. Here are a few pictures of him crushing Joe's Valley.

Running a lap on The Wind Below (V8).

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Almost sending Nerve Extension (V10). He will finish it next Thanksgiving.


photos - Jeff Sillcox

Flashing Dark Continent (V8).

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Ben also did Eden (V10) and the super scary Lumberjack (V7). Sorry no pictures because we all had to spot him so he wouldn't die.

Joe's: Return of the Peach

Okay, I give up. I can't condense the photos from Joe's Valley down to a reasonable number. So the new plan is to do one post per climber. I have to apologize to much of the Colorado crew since I didn't get any pictures of them and to Cory, who I got one crappy picture of. However, you can watch a video of him crushing Beyond Life (V10) on Jamie Emerson's blog. Also a big thanks to Isaac for showing me a bunch of boulder problems and to his dog Sage for bringing me a bunch of sticks.

The lineup: (maybe in this order, maybe not)
Nate (yes, he's first)
Ben
Eric
The 4runner
Jamie
Jim

Nate

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Driving to Joe's one year ago (or more accurately, one year before this Joe's Valley trip), Nate flipped his car 35 times avoiding a monster truck (driven by a drunk bear) and some ice dancers. Read last year's version of the story just in case I forgot anything important. Long story short: broken neck, surgery, a neck brace for a really long time, and no climbing for six months. On Nate's first day climbing after the accident, he sent The Marble (V10) in tennis shoes. (Nate, you should have written this one up yourself so the details were slightly more accurate.) Obviously he is back to full strength and crushing again. It would be a pretty inspirational story if we didn't make fun of it so much.

Nate is not afraid of the ground below Michelangelo (V3/4). It can't drive down the wrong side of the highway.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

The Wind Below (V8)

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Flashing the classic Wills a Fire (V6)

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Nate trying Dark Continent (V8). (Insert joke about his lack of endurance).

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Nate putting up a new classic on more perfect sandstone in the Rocklands, South Africa.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Cabin fever from a week of rain in South Africa...

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Utah

After squeezing in the FA of Paralyzed (V9) at Way Lake in the morning a few weeks ago (check out the video here), I hit the road for Utah. First up: Joe's Valley. Jamie sent her first V3, the beautiful Buoux Problem and came pretty close to doing another, Bad Genes pictured here:

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Chris sticking a really fun eliminate dyno in The Closet area.


photos - Jeff Sillcox

Next up was the HERA Climb4Life in Salt Lake City. This was a pretty cool event that raised over $100,000 this year to help fight ovarian cancer; thanks to everyone who donated! I accidentally spent both climbing days in American Fork, but got rained out the second day...

Clouds building over the Wasatch range and the HERA tent in the morning.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

American Fork

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Toproping in the rain

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Also got to check out Little Cottonwood Canyon for the first time. After a quick warmup on the first day, Isaac sprayed me down with the beta for Copperhead (V9 or 10) and I almost pulled off the flash. I got on for a second try and quickly realized that I didn't have enough skin to pull on the nasty crimp again in those temps so it will have to wait until next time. That's okay though since there are lots of amazing looking problems to go back for.

Jamie trying The Ramp (V2) in LCC.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Stay tuned for the Red River Gorge report soon.

Tribute to Double D's (not those)

I think it seems fitting that Tenacious D would sing these lyrics about our friend:

"This is not The Greatest climber in the World, no.
This is just a tribute.
Couldn't remember The Greatest climber in the World, no, no.
This is a tribute, oh, to The Greatest climber in the World,
All right! It was The Greatest climber in the World,
All right! It was the best muthafuckin' climber the greatest climber in the world"

Well maybe I interpreted the lyrics a little differently, but I am sure they meant to talk about Drew Davis... I mean really, who wouldn't... (real song here)

As our readers may or may not know, today (or yesterday depending on the time of this post) is/was Drew's birthday. To show my appreciation for Drew's futile yet unwaivering pursuit of climbing stardom, I offer this humiliation...errrrr... blog as a tribute to his many abilities!

Drew can be pensive and thought invoking as he stares at Resident Evil at Joe's Valley

Drew can be strong or fuerte (did you know that Drew is multi-lingual???) as he looks calm yet determined on Big Joe V7 at Joe's Valley

Drew can get himself (and your overnight shipments) out of most uncomfortable situations (and by uncomfortable, i mean uncomfortable for me and everyone around) so that makes him practical and thoughtful. Here he is in his UPS outfit on Michaelangelo V4 Joe's Valley.

If you get out of line Drew can demonstrate his ninja-blur-foot skills to remind you "Who's the Boss?" Drew on Worst Case Scenario V9 Joe's Valley

And if that doesn't work, he can show you his muscly arm, that is if he's not using it on Highbrow V7, Happy Boulders - Bishop

Drew is probably the most caring person I know. Here he demonstrates by spotting me as if his life depended on it. (You really thought i could blog without a picture of me... pssh!) Big Joe V7, Joe's Valley.

Drew also has the power to make even the camera drunk... oh and that's a taser, not a cell phone. Even when he is smiling, he never lets his guard down.

Well it seems Drew has many beneficial powers at his disposal but I did leave one out... Drew also has the power to be...

Retarded...

Happy birthday Drew!

The Fragile Peach

Nate on The Fall Guy (V9) at the Buttermilks (top picture, I'm not sure what's going on in the bottom one) - photos - Jeff Sillcox

Nate "Salt 'n' Pepper" Peach and his friend Nik were in a bad car accident on the way to Joe's Valley a couple weeks ago. Nate broke his neck and collar bone and will be in a neck brace for six weeks playing a lot of video games. Nik walked away and was climbing the next morning in Joe's (this was his sixth car accident this year so he's had a lot of practice).

If you're going to flip a car end over end five times, try it in a Forester... might keep you alive even if the airbags don't go off.


Nate training for the next time an old man comes at him on the wrong side of the highway...


And finally, before we move on to the climbing portion of the blog, here's some footage of a very similar accident...

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One of the better problems we did in Joe's was The Wind Below (V8), a very tall steep face with big moves between big holds. I managed to flash up to the last hard move and jumped off because I got scared and pumped trying every move three different ways before committing. After botching a move on my second go, I looked at the top of the boulder and decided I wanted to be up there and sent. Ben and Jeff H. did it quickly also and Nik tried dynoing for the lip at 20+ feet a few times before realizing that his nine lives were running short.

Nik on The Wind Below (V8)
photo - Jeff Sillcox

Here's a little gallery with a few other shots from the trip (click the photo for the gallery):

photos - Jeff Sillcox

Eric showed up right when it got really cold and sent his nemesis from the spring, Resident Evil (V10) in an anticlimactic two tries.

Eric sticking the first move of Resident Evil (V10)
photo - Jeff Sillcox

Then it was a whirlwind trip back to the east coast for Thanksgiving and route setting for a comp at Vertical Extreme with Drew "DUI" Davis. I set a V8 version of Black Lung and got black lung from breathing shredded tire dust all week. I won't go into details of the comp, but I will say that Drew and I should probably retire from route setting after putting on such a perfect comp.