AK Bouldering Adventure Part II

So after we checked out the Tatlanika boulder we needed to head back to Fairbanks and pick up new friend Brian Bosac. Perhaps this driving back to Fairbanks was a good thing because for the next couple of days all of AK was raining and we just prepped the car for the adventure to come.

Once we got back on the road we stopped and tracked down the Rock Creek boulders which was far more of a logistical challenge than we were expecting. After a longish approach up a river bed we found the first of the boulders and climbed all of the lines, they were surprisingly quality.

Up the creek we found the main boulder of the area. We all climbed the area classic 'High Water Hippie Pant V5'. Brian earned the Employee of the day award with climbing tis line for his first V5, radical work buddy.

I then spent the rest of the session working on the project that goes of the area on some incredibly marginal pinches and crystal crimps. I believe this arete does go and most likely at a finicky V11 or V12. But with all ultra thin climbing the temps mean everything and perhaps I will try it come the fall and get a better idea of what secrets it holds.

The following day we headed back to Tatlanika boulders so Zack could work on Darth Mal and while were there I tried V9 until I found that it has a manufactured hold. Has chipping really hit the interior of AK?, a funny notion in of itself. We spent the rest of the day looking and trying the rest of the established climbs.

The plan for the next day was to head south and keep our eyes peeled for rock and end up in Byers Lake. During the drive we had several stops and scoured the hill side but nothing yielded hiking the pads up.

I saw some really plentiful and good looking rock just north of Byer Lake but the team decided it was worth it to keep heading to Byers Lake. Long story short we were not blown away with the Byer Lake boulder and decided that against the weather adviseries to make a bid for the mildly established Hatchers Pass.

1st leg of AK Boulder Mission

AH ALASKA
Hear no evil, think no evil, Tom on spaz patrol

A V9 at Tatlanika
The view from the Tatlanika boulder
I have been in Alaska recently in an effort to get healthy in many ways. I am finally having the oppertunity to train again which has been a blast and is a part of climbing that I truly enjoy. It has been 2 months since I have climbed and this has been my longest hiatus ever since I started this sometimes silly obsession. With all of the steep board climbing I have been doing in my garage I have made dramatic gains but there is just no way of actually knowing in reference to true rock climbing other than to get out and use it, so when dear friends and road tripper veterans Tom Donze and Zaych Rubin expressed interest in vacationing in the wilds of AK and helping me find boulders I thought, 'this is it, lets grab rock again!'.

The first stop was to check out the Tatlanika boulders which were largely developed by friend Tom Ellis. I climbed a really good V7 called Darth Mal while warming up. But what was really a the highlight was establishing a new V5 Slab problem I called the The Sneeze for its dramatic and reflexive climbing. This problem was hidden beneath a few fallen trees and took some major rearranging but what is left is radical and would be at home in the great slabs of Yosemite or Fontainebleau. This is only the first day so stay tuned as I keep the photos running.

AR

Organic Crag Pack Review

The Mega Zippers that make life easy when you are traveling less than light
Waist belt, chest belt, and good back padding
Classic Organic Style
---------------------------

Show me a single climber that doesn't have a stack of back-packs in front of them. It seems as though back-packs are to climber what shoes are to fashionistas, we only need one and yet somehow we end up with a collection trying to find the perfect shangri-la set up. So when I heard Organic Climbing was making a crag pack I was curious to see whether they had cracked the code.

The verdict? Well, I will start by saying that once I got my Organic Crag Pack I haven't used any other bag. I brought it to France for its initial test and it travels extremely well. As my nature dictates I packed it full and heavy and it was comfortable over the many hours in the airport and connecting flights. When I got to Font I found that everyday I could pack 3 sets of climbing shoes, 2 Knee pads, 4 liters of water bottles, all my food for the day, Chalk bucket and sweatshirt with no problem. It has one sturdy large compartment with no wasted capacity with needless compartments. Beside the trademark bulletproof construction that has become signature with Organic Climbing my favorite feature to the pack is the monster sized burly zippers that make opening and shutting this bag a breeze even with a maximum load.

In review this bag is simple. It is simple in all the right ways that make it the only thing I have to stuff in my pad for the whole day of climbing. It is sturdy and bulletproof and makes it ideal for traveling because it is the last thing you own that can fail. Highly recommend for boulderers and roadtrippers alike.

AR

Font Files: another photo

Couldn't resist sharing this 7a+ with you

Photo: A. Savage

Font Files: More Photos

Me trying T-Rex(7c+)
Me on just another amazing unnamed 7a+

Font Files: Photos

I will take this opportunity to introduce some members of our crew. The first being Steve Maisch
Les Warnock
Gui our local Frenchman aka 'The Method Man'
Homie Justin Wood

Lastly our dearest Kangoo to which all of our pads fit amazingly

Font Files: In the Beginning

This voyage began in Chattanooga where I was able to get one last day of amazing sandstone bouldering in at LRC. As I was scrambling about to pack for this time in France I remembered a classic human thought, that of ritual as a method of partitioning time. Together as a species we go through graduation ceremonies, birthday celebrations, and new years count downs in order to differentiate between the past and the present thus allowing the future to hold its own charge independent of its predecessor. I find such rituals to be powerful in understanding the futility of dwelling on the past and the liberation in engaging in the new day.

That being said it was off to France and I deemed a separation of stages to be needed and wanted. So I stopped by a bargain bin store and bought a hair buzzer. After finishing my packing I shaved my head and allowed myself to shake the past and bring a brightness for the future.

Without sleeping much that night it was off to the airport and subsequently France. Lots of airport time full of delays and such and I was landing in Paris where I was to make connection with trip compatriots Justin Wood and Steve Maisch. That day we were able to sneak in a mini session on the famous circuits of Bas Cuvier in an effort to free of bodies from the kinesthetic restriction of airline travel. We climbed up to Font scale 7a did some stretching and it was off to the grocery store to start our new petite lives in France. I always love the interaction with day to day lives of other societies and a food distributor allows a perfect venue.

For our first week we were allowed marginal weather to which we utilized with great enthusiasm but the snow and rain did come in a big way. I will accompany some photos and this will just be the first of several posts. Enjoy.

AR

Inclement Weather, The South & some Travel

Bonjour seems the appropriate greeting as I am headed out to Fontainebleau the birthplace of Bouldering as we know it. Font is known for is super technical climbing and style and I am excited to see what I can learn and add to my own. It will be an excellent time and surrounded with good friends from Salt Lake City.

As for the south, it has been a little rough as far as the weather is concerned. SO the days in which we can get out has been minimized that being said I have made some missions to LRC to climb on whatever was dry which can be a fun and refreshing way/motivation to climb.

There was a ten day stint where I headed out to SLC in an effort to work and to make/maintain connections with friends of the outdoor world.

So hopefully there will be some climbing conducive weather before I head out to France on the 17th.

Hope everybody is braving the weather in a fashion that suits them. Best to all!

AR

Little Rock City & Dayton

Now that I am staying at a house the rest has been great especially considering that it has been frigid outside and climbing seems more like a survival sport. Matt and I went to LRC our first day and I was extremely impressed with the rock quality and the variety of holds was much greater than in Rocktown. Lrc actually was quite a crimpy area, at least in comparison to the rest of the south. It was very cold and I was psyched to keep moving after we had an amazing warmup with problems like the Wave and Genghis Khan both V5 and then moved on to the Cinderella boulder where Matt wanted to try the traverse which he did after a couple of goes. While we were at the boulder and Matt was resting I decided to try the 'Cinderlla V8?9?' and managed to flash it. This felt good as I usually dont try to do flash that much but when I topped out I almost vomited because how cold and painful the whole experience was. I was very psyched about this and then climbed another classic called 'The Pinch V7/8' in a couple tries. Afterwords Matt toured me around and lets just say I very psyched to return. At the end of our session I wanted to see the classic 'Super Mario V4' so we walked over and I flashed that and climbed the 'Red House V7' and that was a day, a great day.

The next day we went to Laurel Snow, which is a state park outside of Dayton, TN. It is much more spread out and of a different texture then what I have seen of the south thus far. It is home to the famed Dayton Roof(aka the roof as people seem to know it). This roof holds some of the most amazing and sculpted holds that are similar to the Warpath cave of Idaho's Castle Rock. I was very impressed with most of the climbs and I just tried to get comfortable with upside-down climbing. I flashed a V6 and then started to work on some other climbs in an extremely ADD fashion. After this brief session we checked out the excellent 'River Dance V9'. I came very close to doing this climb very fast but the park closed at sunset and we were not about to be locked in!! More to come.

Rocktown, GA and the exodus of The Red

In December I was still in the Red and I found that sport-climbing and the winter time are not the best matches. Sport-climbing ends up just being to time consuming and when you only get to warm up and the try the route your psyched once and maybe a second time if your lucky then it just isn't enough climbing. I think sport climbing is better left for the longer days of summer when its too hot to grab the itsie bittsies on boulders. I held out until the very end with friends Matt, Lauren, and Keith until they all bounced back to the mountains of Colorado's Front Range. Then I hit the road despite the apocalyptic weather conditions and made my way south Chattanooga only to decide that Rocktown, GA was to be my first major stop. I met up with friends Brent Perkins and Jim Patton, both of which are RED fixtures. I was immediately impressed by the quality of the stone. The first hour I was telling everybody stranger and friend alike that this climbing is full of beautiful movement on exquisite stone.

I found that climbing short days at the end of the RED season had left my power at a low and I had some work to do...so I set out on a mission; climb, climb, climb.

After three days of climbing I was starting to feel back into it(read: my fingers were tuned up and felt springy again) and I climbed 'Brown Hole V8' & 'Paparrazi V8' both in a little session and after some work I was able to climb the mega classics 'The Orb V8' and 'The Vagina V8' & 'Sherman Photo Roof V7'. These climbs were my favorites but I also managed to climb many many quality problems and the only regret is that I would have loved to show up in the south in some kind of bouldering shape so I could see whether the 'Stout' or 'Sandbagged' grades of the south were accurate or what, but since I used the area to get back into some bouldering fitness I have no real idea. Either way the climbing is phenomenal.

It has gotten very cold in this neighborhood and I am now staying with a dear friend from my time in Rocklands, Matt Ballard. Life is good and it off to check out new boulders tomorrow at LRC. Got 'Em.

AR

Flashback: Photos from Maple Canyon

While I was getting to wrestle with some cobbles in Maple Canyon's Pipe Dream cave I was able to hangout with some very cool Austrians. One of them is a great photographer and great climber named Jakob Schrödel. Jakob took a couple shots of me sending the routes 'Squeal Like a Pig 5.13c' & 'Sprout 5.13a'. Enjoy and I will post more news from the Red River Success learning how to rest and better yet stick to the wall on 'Squeal like a Pig'
The steepnessGorge soon. Entering the cave angle on 'Sprout'

In the RED but seeing blue

The beautiful Drive-By amphitheater and a crazy project going through the roof in the right is reportedly the equivalent of 4 Esperanza's in a row. 4xV14=WOWA
Inequity 5.12b
Lord SHIVA

I am still in the Red River Gorge, KY trying to work with the weather and get as much climbing in as possible. I am starting to get more comfortable on the rock here and find the sports climbing to be quite addictive. I was able to climb a really cool and powerful route called 'Shiva 5.13b' on my third try. The Shiva route is the motivation for this post title because Shiva is the deity of destruction and thus new beginnings in classic Hindu scripture and it is said that when people are under the influence of this spiritual figure their world is perceived through the color blue.

As long as the weather is somewhat cooperative than my dear friend Jason Grubbs and I will keep up our work here and when season eventually ends the migration to the boulders around Chattanooga will ensue.

Psssssssyched, JeaYeah Red River Gorge and the end of Joes

Ander giving 'Kaleidoscope 5.13c' a first try
Kaleidoscope 5.13c
Ander Flashing 5.12
More 5.12 flashing
Yet more 5.12 flashing

I now know why people(ie Sports Climbers) use terms of extreme excitement such as the ones used in the title. It's because sport climbing is so much FUN and paces like the RED make it even better. When you set off to climb you get to climb so so so so much and what's the only thing better than climbing? More CLIMBING!!!!

The RED offers great stone at a ridiculous quantity on every angle. I have been enjoying the battle to try and get 'fitness', as no single moves seems to stop me. It is also interesting to climb here because my personal climbing style revolves around my love of movement and I usually opt for deliberate and static climbing but this place requires the exact opposite. 'Run & Gun' seems to be the term that embodies the experience here, I feel always in a state of 'grab & go' which is a blast to try and adopt new climbing styles and just keeps adding to the rolodex of climbing experiences.

I have just been on the mission of onsighting or flashing as many 5.12's as possible and hopefully I can embrace a phase two soon, in which I can try some more involved harder lines. But either way it is just so much fun.

My five days in Joes Valley prior to my long drive to Kentucky was also a blast. It was a very introspective climbing experience but also spent with great friends. I was able to climb great boulder such as 'God Send V10' in a quick session, 'Playmate of the Year V9', 'Raiden V8', 'Taking the Stairs V8' 'Water Painting V7'.

More to come as I am just liking this sandstone more and more...

AR

Contemplation, Joes Valley & the release of stress

The contemplative life seems to be the constant in my life and delivers me to interact with both reality and the absurd alike. As such taking an active agency in the world that I feel and experience is an important practice.

The last week(+) has had a great deal of stress and interesting situations. My dear friend Rocco and his great and now wife Mary had there wedding. This event came with many sides to it. It was my first wedding in a traditional sense and I was glad to have this first with a couple that actually meant something to me and thus avoided the 'going through the motions' vibe that an experience like this can conjure up.

By spending time in the city of SLC and away from the gypsy lifestyle different and intriguing experiences came about, which incited an interesting dimension to my own understanding of society and my interaction with the other beings that inhabit it. As such a few constants were understood. That being said I believe that the only constant is motion. This being said all we are in charge of is the interaction that we all personally have with our world and the 'other' is of concern but not control.

This is all to say that I have found myself in the sandy throws of central Utah and experience both boulders and myself in constant motion again and this appears to be where I am supposed to be, for now that is.

(+)the day after the wedding my friend and great photographer Craig Copelin and I got a tip on some new quartzite in central UT and we pursued and both established some nice new problems. Here are a few of Craig's iPhone pictures.

Photo Dump: Cont'd

The pups and subsequent van ride to Joe's Valley for Rocco's bachelor party
Workin' a project

Photo Dump: Last Frontier and the Lower 48

The following are pictures of the Alaska Range which houses some of the mos beautiful mountains including the giant, Denali.