The Washington Wrap-Up

My time in Washington is coming to an end. It has been great and not at all what I was planning or expecting. I would like to send the biggest of thank you's to all that have made this a rad little adventure. The hospitality of the Zimmerman's, Bret, and the Miller's made it all possible for sure. Also thank you to the new friends acquired on the road, Mr. Joe(whom climbs and saves the trees!!), Dale & Amy of Leavenworth(CC Grads) and all the rest. Less than 48hours I am bound for AFRICA!! SO Psyched.

My time in Leavenworth ended up being extremely hot and I found it hard to take any rest. I did some more rad problems and work some of the best lines out there. Bret came and picked me up on Sat and of course it was hot(100Degrees), the whopping triple digits. Needless this made it hard too finish off a few double digits problems. I gave 'The Coffee Cup V10' a few more whirls in the heat and made a bunch of progress, I though it might go but the ouzzzzze from my tips prevailed. Bret found the same symptoms on a rad extension of dangle V10ish as well. So we bailed to Index to try 'Hagakure V12ish'. After some great burns on that we bailed once again to the river boulders. We had a blast cooling off in the river and climbing a bunch of V-moderates over the water. Then we scrubbed down a boulder for what would surely be the first ascents of the season. We did this really cool problem 'Whore Hole V8ish' named for one of the vicious holds you must sink your meet hooks on. 

Today Bret and I headed back out to Index. It was even hotter than Sat. We both went to hang with the Five Ten guys and try and climb as much as we could. We climb the river boulders circuit again and again and watched some rafters get flipped in the white-water. Tomorrow it is back to CA and to prep for South Africa.

Leavenworth Con't

Alright here is the deal gang. The summer is super hot in Leavenworth, I am talking 100Degrees-F. Basically I wake up on the crash pads melting and start the day with an all to normal(at this point)amond butter covered blueberry bagel. Then I hit the river which is actually near freezing still. Then it is time to make a pilgramage to where ever the universe desiced to take me via hitch hicking(usually end up in town) and then return for some possible cool night time temps. Today I got picked up by a rad guy nammed Dale and through a bit of conversation we found that him and his wife graduated from Colorado College the year I was born(crazy), so I helped them move for much of the day and it sounds like we will chase some better temps latter tonight.
Despite the heat I have done some rad problems and worked on some mega rad problems as well. I tried the 'Coffee Cup V10' and came super close, I am psyched to try it again. Hopefully there will be some good news for an update tonight. Staying Psyched.

Back to L-Town

I am in Leavenworth for a little rest and escape from the heat. Dont you just love public libraries? It does feel good to be outside and this climbing journey again. Without a car living and travelling and especially climbing is mega mega hard, which is truely a bummer. But whatever it takes right.
Despite the heat I have been climbing pretty well. Mt skin really only holds up for an hour or so a day but I still have a done some great boulder problems. 'The Shield V7', 'Backdoor Ass Attack V7', and 'Drill Sargent V8' all went down and extremely quikely. I will post more as I can but I hope all are getting out there and enjoying some rock-scaling. PSYCHED!!

Index+All the Love=The Life

Basically I have entered stage three of Washington time. Stage one was actually climbing in Leavenworth and absolutely loving it, just super psyched. Stage two was down time in Seattle while Hayden was recovering from the same wisdom teeth procedure that I had and the climbing of this stage was sparse and tough to make happen. Now I am enjoying and learning a bunch in stage three which is about spending time with the people I love and the people that love me, essentially the common denominator being goodness. I have been snatched up in the loving embraces of the Zimmerman's and we have already shared allot of great times.
Now in stage three the climbing will take stage again. I am heading out to Leavenworth again, this time with the great Graham and Joe. They are going to put in some serious pitch time and I am going to pebble wrestle my brains out, psyched!! Then I get left out there to fend for myself with some ad lib camping, hitching , and hopefully tons of great rock-scaling. I will stay until it is time to get a move on for CA and then to the great South Africa. Wish me luck on my hobo-bouldering adventure.
Today Graham and myself got the last minute chance to go and climb in Goldbar. The conditions were horrible but I was mega psyched to try this rad line called the 'Rubik's Cube V9'. I had a little bit of a heart break sliding off the lock-off last move due to mega heat and humidity. A rough break but climbing is still the goodness and I would rather the heat than no climbing at all. After which we rolled over to the next town of Index which is trying to save their local forests from clear cutting. We gave them some support, talked with them really loe how it brought these great people together. Keep up the good work Joe at the Cascade Land Conservation(CLC) and the people of Index, WA. AR_OUT...

Index, yes Washington has more and more GOODZ

'Leggo My Ego V7'
'Box Car Arete V8'
Here is the deal, Washington just keeps delivering with good granite and totally unpredictable weather. Brian Boyko, Hayden and myself bunced out of the Seattle metro thrutch to get our selves to some known and lesser known bouldering in Index. Index is rad trad climbing wall area that is very similar to Squamish. As is the case with most granite crags that I know of there are great boulders at the base, just think Squamish with better granite and few people around. I was mega psyched to climb on these boulders that seemed to create amazing moves as well as holds. I climbed something called 'Leggo-My-Ego' which was probably V6 and V8. After which we took a look at the boulder on/in the river that resembled Swizzy river blocks and was shown around around by this rad dude named Joel. Then it started to rain and it looked as though the day was over but we hungout with some super friendly guys Mike and Cole and the rain stopped. We climbed the 'Box Car Arete V8'  while it was very wet still. We all did it, but at the point in which you are standing and must make a beached whale like top out Boyko and I decided that our climbing futures were worth just to much and bizzzounced. Another rad day and now I am staying with Mr. Graham Zimmerman and his loving family and hopefully will be climbing outside again very soon.

Pictures from Goldbar

An amazing V-Fun to warmup at Goldbar
Me sending 'Water V7'
Me Sending 'WaterV7'

Gold Bar Cont'd

It was kind of a bummer day yesterday hoping that Hayden's car would get fixed in time for some kind of rock-scaling session. But it eventually appeared that it would not come to fruition. But as fate would have a dear friend of mine and monster in the alpine environment, Graham Zimmerman came to the rescue. Graham was psyched on pulling some granite and the fact that we had not kicked it since the days of dirt-bagging in Australia, so that made it a win win, fo sho. We got up there pretty late but climbed some cool aesthetic warm ups and then I climbed this rad techy crimp problem 'Water V7'. Then went and tried this super amazing problem called 'The Rubik's Cube V9', I did all the moves really quickly despite the heat and then fell near the end from the start. I am super psyched on trying it again. It was a rad day that was salvaged from the glooms of a auto bummer and any day spent with Mr. Zimmerman is a good one. Hopefully more climbing in the future.

Goldbar=Thumbs Up----Car Trouble=Thumbs Down

Here is the dealio, Goldbar, WA is just about the coolest granit that I have grabbed and or seen. It is really amazing how featured and varied the spots are. The forest area was super similar to Squamish and the Clearcut area was amazing and very talus field in nature. Super cools holds that made super cool moves between them. Team Burgle, which usually is compiled of Hayden and myself gained a member today which means I gots to climb with friend Brian Boyko who was a, "Sack-o-potatoes"(his own words) but still climbed the mega cool 'Lighten Up V9'. We all did this rad number called 'Doja V7', and Hayden finished off 'Dave's Problem V10'. Good work to all, for sure a great day. Now the bummer, it looks like the oil pan got knocked up and the car had to get towed. Bummer. But we had some really funny characters as tow-truck drivers. We are working to get back out there and gets back to what we love, Rock-climbing.

Graduation!! & other beautiful things (aka Granite)

Hayden Miller on Answer Man (V6)

Me on The Terrible (V7) Photo: Hayden Miller

I just graduated from college and I am psyched about it. A wild ride, definitely a great session and one more stage along this trip. After words I really wanted to spend some time in my favorite places in Colorado before leaving and resuming a vagabond existence. So I took my mom and friends up to Mt. Evans, despite the post-holing we made it in for several days of FA's and repeating some of those classic problems in that amazing glacial cirque.
I am now kickin' it with my homie Hayden(H-Mill) in Washington and getting to experience even more amazing granite(i.e. Leavenworth). I have been climbing really well and feeling good and connected with the rock despite the giant wounds in my mouth from a complicated Wisdom Teeth removal. Seriously Leavenworth is amazing and certain boulders have blown my mind and I am super psyched to climb these things. PSYCHED!!