Monday, February 2, 2009

Poll results and a little payback


A few weeks ago when Alex and Kelly decided to straighten my hair, I thought, "Sure, sounds like fun. I'll look like an idiot for a day, no big deal." Eric, however, was thinking, "Sweet, I'll take pictures and put them on the blog and make people vote for which celebrity Jeff looks like."

Anyway, the results are in: 32 votes total, 22 for Jon Bon Jovi, 10 for Johnny Rzeznik, and apparently I don't look anything like Johnny Depp. Exciting stuff.

Now for the payback...

This summer when I got a my flash and radio remotes, Eric and I were bored to death watching Wes try Happy Hands Club at Way Lake. It was getting dark and we decided to play around with the flash. Here's what happened...





photos - Jeff Sillcox

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Haroun and the Sea of Stories


As promised, here's the footage of Jeremy sending Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Video - Jeff Sillcox (shot with Andrew's fancy new camera)

Aren't you impressed that I kept him in the frame while I ran up the slab pointing the camera at him blindly?

Also, check out Wills's's blog for a badass photo of Jeremy running laps on This Side of Paradise at the Bardini's.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

What's the point?


This is going to be a long one...

I've started questioning the purpose of this blog. Eric and I started it almost 18 months ago to share pictures and mini trip reports with our friends so we didn't have to email everyone we know to tell them what we were up to. Almost 17,000 unique hits later, we are definitely speaking to a larger audience.

I'm excited that so many people seem to be interested in what we have to write, but I think it's made me feel like I have to change how I write. It has lost some of it's personal touch. This is partly because I have a lot more climbing friends now than when the blog was started and not everyone knows who I'm talking about when I refer to someone by just their first name. I've decided that is okay though.

For example, most of you probably don't know that Jim is my brother who lives in Hoboken, NJ (see Jim, I told you I'd sneak Hoboken into a post), but it doesn't matter. The post is for him and anyone who knows him. If anyone else is psyched to read it, that's great. Just don't expect all of it to make sense. Another example: Jamie is a good friend who lives in SLC now. Why does the post about her in Joe's say "Biscuit"? Not telling... inside joke that only a few people out there will understand.

Anyway, you get the point. I'm going to continue to write about my friends and put up (hopefully good) photos of the action. So, what's the point? I guess there wasn't one, I just wanted to babble for a while.

One last thing... having a larger audience has made me hesitant to write about my own climbing achievements because it starts to feel like bragging. This is obviously stupid if my intention is to tell my friends what I am up to. So here goes...

I just had the best climbing week of my life. First up was Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Best boulder problem I've ever done. Nic and I sent early in the morning and Lisa did the stand start called Fall Guy. A few days later, after falling off the last move and once after the last move (don't ask), I finally finished the Buttermilker. Definitely the hardest thing I've ever climbed and it felt like I'd broken through a plateau. Then came Zen Flute. Although this one is a little easier than the other two, I had spent several days getting my ass kicked by it last spring and it was a great feeling to finish it off.

That's it for now. Sorry, no pictures in this post. But there will be video of my friend Jeremy sending Haroun, photos and possibly video of the Buttermilker, and there's a few shots of Zen Flute a few posts ago. Lots of other photos to post from the last couple weeks too.

Almost forgot... I'd like to thank some people for sticking it out on the Buttermilker with me. I won't list everyone, but you know who you are. It was great having people to hang out with, try moves with me, and force me to rest between tries.

Monday, January 26, 2009

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