Winding Down, Sending, Frustration, Determination and some Yaarrr!!!

Kaiya was on last time; Mike McClure had just left after a pretty good couple of days after some frustrating ones not having enough time to send on tours, bad weather etc... Brian Veseth joined us on the 13th, bringing his energy from the snowy wet and cold depths of home in Moscow to crush here in Hueco.

Brian had an amazing first day, sending a lot of problems in the 4-6 range and finding himself a project for the trip in the Martini Roof. Here is a shot of him on Baby Martini, an 18 move V6 that he ended up coming agonizingly close on his last day here in a complete blizzard and rainstorm.



Brian and Kaiya both ended up sending Chris' Arete, a really good problem right near Free Willy that Kaiya actually couldn't do the first move on last year and sent on her 4th go of the second session of the trip. Brian also dispatched the climb quickly on the second day. Here they are shortly before they both sent doing their best Zoolander impressions...



And here is Kaiya sticking the big move early in the problem.



Earlier that same day, we had gone to Short Order Cook, a really good problem that is just above the ranch house where you watch the video. Couple of tension moves lead to a bicycle and then you throw up to a small hueco with a very sharp edge to it, keeping the toe hook engaged to stop your swing. Brian demonstrating how to overshoot the hold with his abnormally long hand...





Darryl here on Diaphanous Sea shortly before he injured his wrist/hand. He is home in LA for a few more days before he returns with Claire to tear up the mountain with her and his 7 functional fingers. Hopefully with time to recuperate and heal (and build some lats) Darryl will be back to crimping slopers in no time at all.



A bunch more photos from random days that we went on tours to East Mountain and Spur from Full Throttle, Better Eat your Wheaties, Hector, Diabolique and others that Kaiya and I managed to shoot in between frantic attempts to send something hard before we leave...











We have 2 days of climbing left here in Hueco, and that also means that we have that many days left living in the Foosa on "the road". We have made tons of new climbing friends, met up with some old ones that we knew from the past and overall have had an amazing time.

I have one thing I want to send before we leave and Kaiya has two. I think she will be more successful than me but time will tell. Diabolique for me, Big Iron on His Hip and King Cobra for her...three days from now and hopefully no chalkbag kicking, shoe throwing or Punter Family McClure/Bockino (ing) from either of us and the best 2 days of the trip will be complete.

Stay tuned.

10 days of climbing left in Hueco

The weather has turned to 60 and sunny in El Paso...finally. The first day we were here it snowed and for the rest of the week it was frigid with one day being incredibly windy (gusts up to 50 mph) McClure flew home a few days ago and Darryl showed up day before yesterday...incredibly psyched I might add. Mike sent Left Martini on his first go of the day which was awesome. I started to work out the moves on Big Iron on His Hip. A pretty hard v7 that is the second half of Right Martini. I managed to send Girls of Texas, a problem I could not do last January. Mike is working out the moves for Tequila Sunrise and is consistently sticking the first move of Loaded Direct (which is the crux.) We are going out to East Mountain on Tuesday so he can try and send Full Throttle. I am going to try Hobbit in a Blender, a classic 5 on East Mountain that I made all the moves on but got distracted by a v7 with some sort of blender in the name as well that was a little more appealing to work on because it was not in the blazing sun. Never thought I would be chasing shade a week ago. Here is a picture of me working on Hobbit in a Blender:



We are taking two rest days, this being the second. Yesterday we spent most of the day at The Percolator, a fantastic coffee shop downtown. After we went to Target and had a little fun there. Here is a picture of the lovely duo on our rest day:



Today Mike and Darryl are hoping to get into the park to take an easy day (no reservations) But it looks like we may be just heading into town soon to see what else El Paso has to offer.

It is crazy we only have ten days of climbing left on this trip. Seems we have been out on the road for a long time even though it has only been 3 1/2 months. Thanks to everyone who has offered a place to stay, shared their bottle of wine, given beta, spotted and encouraged, shared chalk, given us a good laugh, and hung out around the campfire with us during all the cold nights. It is good to know there are so many genuine climbers to meet and I hope I get to climb with you all again soon!!

One more thing...looks like we are moving to Salt Lake City so if anyone has some useful info on where to live etc that would be awesome!

Will post more pics later today possibly. Running low on battery:)

-Kaiya

Hueco, Baby Hueco

Day 5 of climbing in Hueco Tanks have yielded yet another V13 for Mike McClure, and some more sending for me as well. Mike sent Tequila Sunrise, the sit start to Dirty Martini on the Rocks, a hard start to the dyno problem outside the Martini Roof. We both sent El Techo as well, I came away with a flash of Purple Flowers, sent Dirty Martini on the rocks, and came soooo close to Left Martini. Just a lil' update, there should be some vids up on climbidaho very soon, and some photos to come as soon as a rest day is taken somewhere close to the interweb....until then, back out to East to try Full Throttle.

Flagstaff!!

Kaiya and I arrived in Flagstaff last night with virtually no idea where we were going to sleep (Priest Draw was my first though...) and walked into a coffee shop to check hotels and directions to the Draw to camp. Just so happened that the coffee shop that Kaiya chose employed a friend that I met through Jeff Hamlin a couple years ago named Tedd! Scored a place to crash while we are here and looking for a place to live in January.

I also managed to remove myself completely from 8a on a complete accident. I was so eager to log on and post my sends that I tried to do it at Subway somewhere between Joe's and Flag, and now that website won't work due to some random infiltration into Kaiya's computer by the "Wildblue Service Activation". If anyone knows how to fix it PLEASE!!!!!!

Looking back on the near two months spent in Joe's Valley we managed to make two very good new friends, Darryl Dodson and Claire Hayati. They are on a 9 month trip and had been in Joe's for a month before we got there. Darryl, while we were there sent the actual sit to Worm Turns, starting on the big foothold as a crimp and doing a huge move out to the tufa and finishing on it...in the V13 range for sure but he refuses to grade it.



Claire sent her very first ever V7 here, a short powerful problem on the Small One boulder called the Runt (ironic, it should be renamed the Ninja Smurf). She also has been sending a lot of hard problems in the V5-7 range. Here is Claire sending Runt at the UMWA area.



Mike and Tammy McClure periodically stopped in on off days at the winery for some sending and beer drinking. Using their patent pending SEARCH AND DESTROY method of climbing, they both ticked off ascents quickly, Tammy sending Runt, Chips and too close on Bring the Heat(whol). Mike almost flashed the Skeleton Key, sending in sub 15 minutes on the second trip of the fall, after a successful trip sending the Masterpiece, a V13 first done by James Litz and Andoni Txertudi.



Through the entire trip Kaiya was the more consistent of us, ticking off V7 and V8 with amazing quickness and finally on the last day finding a project to come back to: Groundation. It was flashed and sent quickly by Ben Spanish and Ryan Silven and the grade they estimated and settled on is V9, so Kaiya was really psyched that she stuck the crux moves on her first session on the problem and then we had to leave.

Here she is on the send of Sunshine Daydream, making the long lockoff to the crux moves.



Mike and I did a little joint FA called the Black Dahlia, one of the best and most amazing looking lines at Joe's, here is a photo of me doing the huge "shoot from the hip" move and the inspiration behind the name...



And the photo of the climb



Arthur Debowski and his friend Tris Tarantino joined us for a week and Arthur tore the place apart...here he is on one of 7 sends on day 1, Big Boy, a sandbagged and hard V7 at Area 51



Hueco starts on the 2nd of December, so we will be heading out from Flag that morning or the night before, we are headed to look at apartments right now, while keeping the minds on climbing...until next time here is a vid of me on Dunkin' Donuts and Claire on the unnamed V6 at Area 51

Back in Joe's Valley...for a few More Days

After an exodus from the skin tearing granite of Bishop, Kaiya and I started to send once again in the Shangri-La of Joe's Valley. I managed to send some more problems in the 10-12 range, including the 3rd ascent of Kill List, the 2nd of Dunkin' Donuts, and I made the FA of an amazing problem called the Black Dahlia, a V10 that would be a contender for the best problem in Joe's Valley...

Kaiya has also been on a tear, since we returned she has ticked a V6, 7, and 2 V8's: Sunshine Daydream and Dark Continent. Darryl Dodson and Claire Hayati, our two friends that we met here and quickly became climbing partners with have also been sending, Claire sent her first V7, Runt on the small one near the UMWA boulder on the right fork. Darryl is currently working on the Vegas Project, a V10/11 that broke and is now nearing the 13/14 range and very, very reachy. I can't span the holds to do the first move...He is headed out tomorrow to do Hydrogenated Oils and the sit to Beyond Life, a V11 and 12 respectively. The first video is of Kaiya on Dark Continent and Arthur Debowski, a friend from Spokane, climbing the Kraken, a 30 foot V5 near Raiden on the left fork. Two days from now, we are headed out to Flagstaff, AZ to find somewhere to live in January, and then to HUECO BABY!!!!!!

Flambe!!!!!

Joes, Bishop, Joes, Bishop???

After spending nearly a month in Joe's Valley, Kaiya and I decided that it was time to head out to Bishop to hit the Buttermilks and hopefully send some long standing projects. Now after almost 2 1/2 months on this road trip, I should have a good idea that something crazy or unexpected would happen, and I am shocked that I didn't see it coming. Four rest days and we were ready to tear skin off on our respective projects...but to no avail. We climbed at the Buttermilks for two days, Kaiya sending some of her projects that she had worked on the last time we were there, The Rising, Lululator, and Birthday Direct, all uber-crimpy and techy. I quickly found out that the Buttermilker was no longer hard for me, moves I had previously struggled on were done nearly static. The only issue that arose was the nagging pain in my left knee got worse and worse, finally preventing me from even high-stepping to engage the bicycle on my project.


Enjoying some Indian Creek wine and the sunset from the campsite at the
Buttermilks

Rest day #1 we realized that we weren't really that psyched to climb anything in Bishop...I had worked Spectre and came really close to sending the Mystery, and Kaiya was working Saigon and Soul Slinger.



The Mystery, V12


As Kaiya and I drove to town to sit at the Looney Bean for 9 hours, we looked at each other and both said "Joes is so much more fun huh?"

An hour later we were on the road and headed back to Joe's Valley to problems we were psyched on and the fun climbing of the sandstone. Now that we are back here, some more hard sends, photos and videos will come. Mike and Tammy McClure are headed down this weekend, and Mike is going to try and flash the Skeleton Key, and head up the hill with me to send Kill List...

YouTube for all the Iphone users

So I switched my videos over to YouTube so that Brett and Mike can watch them from their IPhones, this is the video of me on the Skeleton Key at Joes Valley. I should have some more photos up today of Kill List and Kaiya on Wills A Fire and others...

Geeks

Finally, the video of Kaiya sending Geeks of the Industry, a classic V7 at Rocky Mountain national Park in Colorado. We were there in late Sept/early Oct of this year.

Kaiya Ward on Geeks of the Industry, V7 RMNP from Mike Bockino on Vimeo.

Allergic to Happyness Video

Here is the vid of me on the FA of Allergic to Happyness, a super cool V7 that I put up on the right fork up above the UMWA boulder about 1/4 of the way up the hill. Huge boulder with a prominent arete on the right side.

Also, in bigger and much more important and better news...Kaiya sent her first ever V8 yesterday!!!!!!!!!! G2-07, a powerful underclingy crimp problem at the Eden area of the left fork. Props to Kaiya, she is climbing very strong right now and has been stepping up her game considerably lately. Only can hope that her boyfriend can do the same!

More Joe's Photos and finally some vids!

Now in Joe's 2 1/2 weeks, the crushing has finally begun! Sends are flying around left and right and I, in all of my amazing abilities with Adobe Premier am barely able to keep up with making videos and not tearing out all of my hair.

Kaiya on Geeks of the Industry from RMNP is finally done and as soon as Vimeo decides to let me have it, I will post that ASAP. I put together some vid of me on an FA called the Hebrew Method, and a 4 go send via campusing and yelling of the Skeleton Key, a V11 that Mike McClure is going to flash when he arrives.

Yesterday Kaiya had one of her best days of climbing yet. A short trip up to New Joe's with Josh Vale and I to show him around and for Kaiya to work on her project there, Chips. A pretty powerful V7 that starts on sloping underclings, amazing cross move to a good crimp, her nemesis the toe hook and then a double bump with the left hand sets you up for a fight or flight move. Step the left foot up and throw with the right hand to catch a 1 1/2 pad flat jug. Kicking and screaming ensued on the first few goes as she ripped off the jug in the high 30 degree temps.... good sending. Next go, no yelling, looking smooth, Kaiya hung on for the big barn door and topped out her 5th V7 this year!! Icing on the cake was a 15 minute send of Phoney Baloney, a slopey V6 next to Freak at Area 51. Props Kaiya, good sending.

Josh Vale has been with us here for a few days of climbing now, and he has been building up a pretty good tick list already: Playmate of the Year, Bring the Heat, Worst Case Scenario, G2-07, Allergic to Happyness and is working Worm Turns and Eden now.

I have found the most amazing rock climb ever, and Masterpiece is about the only thing I still want to do here for the time being. I am still so illiterate when it comes to computers that I have yet to make a video work with no errors and compress correctly...so alas, no vids yet but I promise they are on the way with the help of Conrad "don't call me Joben" Piper -Ruth. Till then photos are all I can muster...

Bishop is on the horizon in a week or so, and Kaiya's favorite place in all the western US for climbing will recieve its yearly working over from her crimp seeking hands. On the list is Yayio, High Plains Drifter, Jedi Mind Tricks, Strength in Numbers and a ton of other stuff as well as a few goes on Soulslinger...V9 in the future??? I think so!!

Joe's Valley

So we've been in Joe's Valley now for about a week, climbing on and off, my sister and Conrad are now here, so our crew has effectively doubled. 3 days ago we suffered a bit of a mishap and I slid down the slab of a boulder and smashed my camera all to hell and broke the lens off....good thing Conrad has a brand spanking new one. He managed to get a couple photos of Kaiya on Scary Monsters, will get them up asap. Still working on the videos, Conrad brought down the program I needed so they should be done soon. Updates on the next rest day and hopefully have the Kaiya videos done. Til then....

TumTum Guide

I have finally finished the long awaited guide to TumTum Bouldering...just still don't really know how to publish it to the web on the blog so if you want a copy let me know and I can email it to anyone who wants one. Its all in pdf format so it works with area computers. Might be able to get Mike McClure to post it on climbidaho.com for a downloadable version too, working on that. anyways, its done for whoever wants one...

Moab Photos

Above are the promised photos from Big Bend in Moab, Utah. We escaped the shite weather of RMNP for a couple of days and jetted down to Moab to get bouted on problems well below our consistent flash level....quite humbling. Anyways, here they are, hopefully get some video of some sends at Rocky soon and cross your fingers the TumTum guide will be done by weeks end!!!

Update from RMNP

Been at Rocky Mountain National Park now for 2 climbing days...today was a rest day. The first day we went up to Emerald Lake and checked it out, I did the Kind, and some other stuff that with no guide was unnamed and unrated. Worked on Whispers of Wisdom, a V10/11 that is awesome squeezy heel hooky fun with a 35' tall slab topout. Kaiya adjusted to the altitude and prepared to climb the next day. LOWER CHAOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The most amazing place for a boulderer, hard problems galore. Kaiya is working Geeks of the Industry and Potato Chip, two V7's that are almost perfect boulder problems...she should have a sendfest tomorrow. I almost did Bush Pilot on my first go post "using all the wrong holds to start and making it V13" near mantrum session. Moab photos will come soon, we were finishing up a guide to TumTum Bouldering all day so no time for photo uploading. Got Mike McClure's video camera now so little vids of some sending should follow. Catch you on the next rest day!!

Mike McClure recently added this blog to his website, www.climbidaho.com, as a feature for the duration of our trip. Be sure to check out his site it is awesome.

Moab

It's Kaiya typing for a little bit of a change...We left Jackson Monday morning and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park with high hopes of good weather and hard sends. Garnet Canyon did not happen because the weather turned bad in the afternoon. We spent the afternoon hiking around Jenny Lake instead with Mike's sister Nancy.

Woke up Tuesday morning and it was freezing at Rocky. Some snow on the ground and it looked like there was going to be more on its way. We waited until Wednesday for the weather to get better and it kept getting worse. Boulder Canyon was a possibility but there was a fine mist in the air and of course started to rain as well later on. It was time to head for warm, dry weather.

Spent an evening in Rifle. Awesome place but neither of us are in much route shape right now. Mike onsighted a 12a (family affair?...don't have the guidebook handy) and I almost got my butt up a 10b. A bit pathetic on my part. We plan on coming back sometime when we can spend a week there and are in a bit better shape for routes.

Continued on the road to Moab, UT. We spent the morning climbing at the Big Bend boulders. Mike did Circus Trick (v4) and I attempted it as well. Might have to put another session in tonight, awesome moves! Don't expect to climb anything super hard here, area is a bit sandbagged. Putting in a night session tonight and hope to get some sweet pics to post soon!

Boulder City Photos

Boulder City photos for all the working people to drool over...that means you Mr. McWinemaker. Headed up Garnet Canyon tomorrow morning to check out the boulders...with a brush and pads!! Photos and vid soon.

Castle Rock Idaho and into the Great Beyond

Spent a few days at Castle Rock, mostly getting beat down, but thanks to Kaiya the two of us did not have to leave the place empty-handed. I had gone down there with the idea that I was going to send either the Smell of Africa V11/12 or the Bagpiper....and that I wouldn't even come close enough to Jared's Roof to spit on the start holds. Little did I know.

Kaiya on the only thing she didn't crush besides the Taco Arete, Pissy Pants V6/7

Didn't have enough power to do Smell of Africa, and kinda ended up getting unpsyched on Bagpiper after another 2 hours worth of straining to get out of a knee bar far enough to reach up above my head. About that time McClure asked if I wanted to try Jareds's Roof again. He ended up being almost more psyched than me when I finally after a good session got his ridiculous above the head pre-placed heel toe cam of death and destruction to work...and then I fell off trying to move my other foot. Here I am on my best go, falling at the crux of the V8 stand to Jared's Roof.

Coming in from the sit to Jared's Roof V11

But somebody finally after all these years used his beta, so his trip was made. I never sent, ran out of muscles and skin by the last day, but Kaiya turned out a pretty impressive performance over 4 climbing days.

Moss Toss V5 flash
Waxies Darble V6
Unnamed thing in the City V4

Waxies Darble Left Variation V7, Jeff Smith-pre puncture wound I think

Over the 6 days that we spent, managed to get to climb with some good friends from the Boise area, Steff Carter, Mike and Tammy McClure, and Jeff S(ucks) came out for a day and came really close to sending Waxies Darble Left. Mike put up 5 new problems, 3 on right hand side of the trail on the way to the Green Wall...super sick lines. Check em out!!

Kaiya flashing Moss Toss, her hardest flash yet at V5

Castle was great, have to get back there and send some of that stuff on the way back through in January....hopefully I can walk it like PAUL (OMG Tammy I love him). Right now we are chillin in Jackson, Wyoming, going out tomorrow and Sunday. Checked out new boulders up Garnet Canyon today and DAMN!!!!! A closer RMNP for the Idaho crew to hit in the summer methinks. Post some photos of that Sunday night and hopefully some video of some of the problems from the day. Headed to Rocky on Monday morning too, so psyched for that so til next time!!

Steff Carter killing the opening section of Waxies Darble, a send that she will definitely earn with blood and bruises

And everyone who reads this needs to send good feelers out to Dahlia Dawg, so she can beat the sickness like a BAWWSE!!

Plans, Future Sends and and Update

Since Kaiya and I left Moscow on the 28th of August, there have been some pretty interesting things going down.

We left on the premise that we would meet some friends John, Rob and Kate in Leavenworth for a weekend of bouldering, and then we would stay there for the rest of the week until the imminent arrival of Dave Matthews to the Gorge....little did we know. Two days after we got to Leavenworth, the best temps we had were in the 60's (at night), and Kaiya's health was deteriorating further, as she was losing her voice and feeling generally worse. I was starting to get sick, but still climbed for 3 days in a row. After the 4th day there, we both were so sick that we had to go to the doctor in town, I did, but Kaiya had to go to the ER cause of her crappy health insurance. After that, we kinda laid low for a couple of days (read: no climbing) and that was ok for me cause my skin could use a rest for a bit. By Thursday Kaiya was up and moving again, and climbing with me for the last couple days of our trip. In total, I managed to send some stuff that was really cool, a bunch of V7 and V8's, a problem called Is, right next to Was on the Straightaway Boulders, awesome problem where you end up with a left hand on a slopey crimp and left foot up really high, you take your right hand off the wall and get a little swing going before lunging to the right out of the flag position you were in to a jug and top out. Scariest part of all the climbs there is the lack of traffic leading to there not being any chalk on anything so the topouts are sometimes a lil' sketch.

We arrived in Seattle to replace the seals in the rear axle of the house, and on Thursday morning we are headed to Boise to go to Castle Rock to boulder and check out some new stuff there....maybe snag an FA or two if we can. More pics will come, but probably not too much video since we no longer have a camera to shoot vids with. Oh well, until we get to Castle there won't be too much to say, so until then...also gotta thank Josh Helke of Organic Climbing for hooking us up with the coolest pad EVER!!!! Peace and Happy Climbing

Leavenworth Video

Here is some vid of me on the Sleeping Lady, my buddy came down from Vancouver BC with his wife Meghan, and Riley shot some video of me, enjoy!

The Sleeping Lady from Mike Bockino on Vimeo.

Spent the last week in Leavenworth, Wa getting bronchitis, taking Kaiya to the ER cause her health insurance sucked, and then finally after all of that getting to climb for a few good days of temps. Rob, Kate and John Lipke joined us for the first weekend, and then we took a couple of days to get over the sickness, and a couple more days of climbing before we headed to Dave Matthews at the Gorge with our friends from Canada. The first two photos are Kaiya checking out and sending the Ferret, a super cool line at the Carnival Boulders in Icicle Canyon, and the other is me on the Sleeping Lady. Riley shot some vid of the Sleeping Lady and should have that up really soon, for now enjoy the new photos!

Kaiya gettin her beta all figured out for the send...

Thats our new pad in the background, Helke hooked it up badass, camo and hot pink!!

The last time we were here the Sleeping Lady was guarded by a pretty violent moat of whitewater, this time I braved the risk and pulled it out

For now we are in Seattle, going to a family reunion for Kaiya on Wed, and then off to Boise and Castle Rocks to kill the Bagpiper and the Green Wall!!

Finally!!!

first an apology to all of you in internetdom, this blog post marks the 4th time i have used the internet since May 17th...I know that McClure and Jessen are dying, I don't constantly update my inhale/exhale patterns online. Anyways, been working 50-80 hours a week all summer, many sidejobs are done, money is made and there are now 13, yes only 13 days til Kaiyaka and I leave for the road trip...an Italian and a Jew touring the climbing of the American west. In climbing related news, I sent a hyper sick V5 in Reynolds Creek, ID and am in top shape so the trip should be great.

For anyone who may want to meet in an certian area or climb for a few days with us our relative plans are thus: Leavenworth WA for a week at the end of Aug/beginning of Sept, then off to Jackson Wyoming for some alpine bouldering and a look from afar at the Grand Teton (I've gone on hikes before...)then through to RMNP and Mt Evans and Estes Park areas, Rifle and that is pretty much rounding out the month of Sept. October will be spent in Utah, going south as the month progresses, so LCC, Logan Canyon, American Fork, Ibex, Joes and Saint George area. A stop in Salt Lake to visit world renown climbing photog Nathan Smith www.pullphotography.com and hopefully a tour of Uintas in Utah as well.

On to November and the real objective of the trip, a big wall in Yosemite. I think Astroman will suffice, so haha had ya going. Bouldering in the Valley and Bishop, and then reservations in Hueco start on December 4th, and a 2 on 1 off 2 on 2 off pattern for a month. I have 3-5 reservations per day so if you are in the area and want in on that get ahold of me. Other than that no real news, but stay tuned for some shots from Lenville from tomorrow morning and then in 2 weeks Leavenworth and some photos of Kaiya sending The Sheild, a v7 that she came really close on last time. Look for the new Organic pad, its pretty sick, and a shout to Superior Floors in Moscow, they hooked us up with some carpet to cover the new bed with!!!

Peace out and happy climbing.

Finals Week at Tumtum

Got out on Monday of finals week with Brian Veseth and Kaiya. It was our two year anniversary on Monday so we decided to spend it climbing, of course. With a torrential downpour all the way there, we were a bit skeptical of the conditions for the rest of the day, but were pleasantly suprised when after about 1030 all was well and scattered clouds gave way to sunshine and good temps. Brian scored a quick ascent of Dyno Guys Demise, a V5/6 traverse into the Tap Dance Arete, Kaiya managed to repeat Thrutchy Madness for the camera, and I did a first go repeat of The Thin Line, a V9/10 that I put up last time I was there. Kaiya put down her longest project, the Polish Pimp Slap, a V5 that is very height/lockoff dependent, after 4 days of effort. I came so close to sending Ode to Modern Bland, the sit start to Soul to Squeeze that clocks in around V13 or harder, but then I broke off the crux hold, a crimper that is the right hand start hold for the V10. It is about 1/8 of an inch thick, and is now half as big. Oh well. We headed up to the "Other Spot" as I have dubbed it, to shoot some video, and for me to send Point Your Finger (V11/12). I had tried it 3 days before and could not stick the crux moves at all, but a quick beta change and I was able to stick the huge (read: full span with a left heel hook) lock off and bump once, and managed to hang on for the send. Wasn't able to get vid of that since Brian and Kaiya both had to spot pretty actively. If you fall to the left, landing is a large steep rock and to the right is a downhill slope full of all sorts of fun things to land on, so nobody to run the camera...next time. Everyone had a good day, Brian sent 4 problems, Kaiya sent her project, and I was able to get some video and photos (soon to come, kinda busy with finals and all that). Off to Leavenworth this weekend and next week to send the Practicioner and hopefully a slew of other stuff that I couldn't do last time. For now, here is the vid from Monday!!! Happy climbing

Finals Fest from Mike Bockino on Vimeo.

More, OMFG More!!

More excerpts from Tumtum, Conrad on a super sick roof crack, me on Soul to Squeeze and a really cool dyno I called Jamaican Jerk, and Kaiya doing Gigantor's Problem...you don't name things and they are named after you.

Worked on a project that adds about 6 moves to Soul to Squeeze, all of them harder than the V10 itself, could be the hardest thing I have ever done...if I can do it. I'm going up to set routes for the Wild Walls Comp on Saturday and hopefully have some time to go out and get some goes in on the project.



More from Tumtum from Mike Bockino on Vimeo.

Hmm, I didn't know there was great bouldering 20 minutes from Spokane

Jake Dolence with perfect execution of an all points off downward dyno...note the peace sign that says "peace out bitches I'm jumpin"

Some of the better photos from the Saturday session. A big group went up and put up a bunch of new stuff, and lots of the other problems saw repeats. You can click on the photo for a full screen version, most people probably know that, I just figured it out yesterday....

Conrad Piper-Ruth on The Corridor V9

Found some new stuff too, over past Collective Mind, this big fin of rock that starts nearly horizontal and slaps out a bulge on a bunch of non-holds to a pumpy finish. You get to do this move, a super tensiony heel hook madness stab to a backwards upside-down gaston pinch. Dopeness has been achieved.

Soul to Squeeze V10


Jake Dolence hung a rope and cleaned this 60 degree overhanging roof crack, and Conrad, he and I all sent it within an hour. Jake topping out uber-pumped at about 22' on Ponyology, V6

Projection: SendingKaiya doing her best to find a viable intermediate on Polish Pimp Slap V5


John Lipke cleaned up this little arete in the main area and it turned out to be pretty good. Pull on, cross, match and then Yaaarrr!!!
John does his best to burst a blood vessel on a unnamed V4


Some other shots of Conrad on a really cool shouldery problem right behind Collective Mind

I'll find out what the problem is and what it is named and put that up too..

Here is a vid of 4 of the problems that we did over the weekend. I will get some vid of the others soon.

Tum Tum Part 1 from Mike Bockino on Vimeo.

Tum Tum Part Uno

Conrad sticks the second move of The Corridor and needs a brighter colored shirt...

Squamish-esque setting on a south facing hillside just past Deep Creek right outside of Spokane...yes there are super high quality boulders there, and that's were Kaiya and I, along with Jeff Crawford (local area developer and world class math teacher) all weekend. Scrubbing boulders and doing new stuff. There is a ton of potential there, and my mission is to get people up there and to do a lot of climbing. Kaiya and I put up 7 new problems this weekend, al of which are great climbs, with good landings on solid rock. There are about 10 or so established lines there, mostly done by Johnny Goicoechea and Dmitry Kalishnikov. I did most of those the first day, and then started looking at other new stuff. The amount of rock there is amazing, and with little cleaning most of is pretty solid.

Kaiya on an unnamed slopey V5

Got my eye on some super sick projects, a 20 foot or so tall roof crack, and a full-on horizontal roof flake that bellies out and tops out at about 35 feet or so...next weekend. For the time being, here are some photos and a video (now go easy on me, its my first time and i know its probably shit...)

Crawford on The Corridor V9

What to do in the event of an Epic

After 4 climbing days in Bishop, Tammy, Kaiya and Steff have all sent some shit, Tammy fired a send of Gleaming the Cube, a tenuous, powerful V8 in the Milks, Kaiya and Steff both sent Perfectly Chicken (V5), and I have now fallen off the last move of the Buttermilker 9 times. I have the bottom section wired, but I keep hitting that last hold a little off, and by that time don't have the pull to core up and pull in and kick that right foot on. Taking a rest day today, and getting out early tomorrow morning, so hopefully the temps will be good, and I will have enough strength to send that rig. For now, here is a vid of one go where I am oh so close to sticking...after tomorrow I should have some vid of the send...

Bishop Update

So we (Tammy McClure, Kaiya and myself landed in Bishop after a wonderful bracelet making filled, casino food eating 9 hour drive on Friday. We hung with Mike and Tammy before leaving Boise, and I vowed to avenge Mike's tendon pulley by trying to find a kneebar on every climb, and send the Buttermilker at last.

Day 1 started out really well for all, went up to the Happies and were basking in the sun in minutes. Tammy sent Safesurfer, a big move problem that had given her trouble the last time, Kaiya sent a problem right next to Redrum, both V3, and then went to work on some harder stuff. Tammy came painfully close on Son of Cladius Rufus, a V5 traverse on the Safesurfer boulder, and Kaiya stuck all the moves on what she called the "anti-Kaiya", Ketron Classic. Its a V4 that involves big thuggy moves to pretty good holds, but all slopey with a lot of tension required, and nothing to crimp!! Disco Diva V8

I sent some stuff that I never had before, and had felt really hard before, like Disco Diva, and Redrum (from the stand, the sit is a chossy shitpile), as well as helping figure out beta for Kaiya and Tammy all day. Steff Carter from Hailey, Idaho pulled in on Saturday night, driving from Twin Falls to meet us.Kaiya sending Perfectly Chicken, V5

Sunday morning, the sending really started to heat up, Steff, Tammy and Kaiya and I all warmed up for a long time, I sent Rib Direct, a V8 that I had tried before and this year it felt piss easy, PROGRESSION!! So psyched, when I walked up to the Buttermilker, pulled on and did all of the moves and fell off the sloper FIRST GO. Sick. Worked on sticking all the moves for a while, then went to the Smooth Shrimp boulder to try Perfectly Chicken. Kaiya and Tammy had tried this before, Steff's first time to Bishop so she was psyched just to start grabbing holds. After a few goes, Tammy sent the V5, and the WAAYYY harder downclimb, and Kaiya and Steff were coming really close.
Tammy McClure on Perfectly Chicken

Off to the Hunk, a left rising 30 foot slab. Kaiya and Steff both sent the techy slab, and then were a little freaked that they had to down climb the slightly easier 35 foot slab to get down. Steff Carter shortly after topping out the Hunk, V2, 35 slab

Back over to the Buttermilker, stuck all the way to the sloper right before the last move, and greased off. So psyched that I could get that far in really shitty conditions though. We ended up back over by the Smooth Shrimp boulder, where Tammy decided to "mess around" on Smooth Shrimp, a V6 traverse that starts the same place as Perfectly Chicken and heads up and left. After 2 goes, she fell off the last hard move and decided to take a little break. About that time, Kaiya decided to shoe up and fired the V5, Perfectly Chicken, first go. She was really happy, since she is coming off and injury in early Feb, and was worried that she was really weak and wouldn't send anything harder than V2 the whole trip.

This morning, I warmed up, as the girls (the harem, as I fondly call them) were all taking a restie for the day, and went straight to the Buttermilker. After a few warm up goes, I stuck the sloper, which was the hardest move for me at Thanksgiving, and was making the last move when my left hand popped off the sloper out of nowhere. FUCKER!!!!!!!!!! So psyched now, resting for the rest of today and going to send tomorrow morning, I just ran out of big muscle power for the day and after Hueco, I learned a lot about sending hard in a week from Mike M., so I am trying to adhere to his methods here in Bishop. Hopefully tomorrows post will have a little vid of me sending, and Steff doing Go Granny Go, till then....

Climbers from all over the country converged on Moscow, Idaho at the UofI Climbing Gym on March 7th to strut their stuff on the routes set by Randy Hill and Mike McClure. People as far away as New York and Alaska participated in the weekend of crimping, slapping slopers, pinching and hopefully sending...here are the results.

Palouse Climbing Festival 2009
Open Men's Qualifiers				Masters
Conrad Piper-Ruth	4075	1		Jeff Crawford	3250	2
Mark Polinski	3850	2		Vaiden Bloch	1075	1
Mike Bockino	3825	3
Beau Stuart	3300	4		Intermediate Men's
Ricky Lovejoy	2300			Zach Spielman	2525	1
Mike Spaulding	2225			Earl McAlister	2375	2
				Jacob Johns	2300	3
				Sean Conner	2300	4
				Jonathan Lipke	2025	5
Open Men's Finals				Seth Allen	1900	6
Mike Bockino	1			Joey Machala	1675	7
Mark Polinski	2			Chris Raver	1650	8
Conrad Piper-Ruth	3			Javier Sparks	1625	9
Beau Stuart	4			Sam Horack	1600	10
				Derek Vance	1500	11
Open Women's Qualifiers				Mark Kinney	1300	12
Tammy McClure	2550	1		Ryan Mann	1200	13
Leanne Leedy	2025	2		Andrew Caraballo	1125	14
Stephanie Carter	1975	3		Cameron Long	1050	15
Sarah Moeser	1725	4		Elijah Forbes	1025	16
				Tom Saylor	600	17
Open Women's Finals				Jesse Kappmeyer	550	18
Tammy McClure		1		Hunter Bloch	0	injured
Leanne Leedy		2
Stephanie Carter		3		Recreational Men's
Sarah Moeser		4		Ryan Zimmer	1250	1
				Mark Nickodemus	1200	2
Intermediate Women's				Leighton Bloch	975	3
Allison Neterer	1350	1		Tim Caldwell	800	4
Elise Clausen	1350	2
Molly Marineau	1075	3		Recreational Women's
Kristen Pilcher	375	4		Brandy Davis	1000	1
Janette Rounds	325	5		Kate Nicely	925	2
Ashley Galand	0	6		Elle Piere	775	3
				Chau Tran	725	4
Men's Advanced
Alex Rice	3575	1
Arthur Debowski	3475	2		Women's Advanced
Derek Foote	3400	3		Heidi Hugunin	2100	1
Steve Dodd	3400	3		Katie Lovelace	1025	2
Andy Gonzalez	3325	4
Mitch Odom	3225	5
Zach Markiss	3225	6
Mark Irving	3125	7
Ryan Guerra	3100	8
Jacob Dolence	2975	9
Robert Rebich	2975	10
Dan Foreman	2900	11
Andrew Connelly	2850	12
Mike Lafferty	2825	13
Brock Axthelm	2525	14
Alex Oberlindacher	1000	15

Palouse Climbing Fest!!!

This weekend, March 6 and 7 was the Palouse Climbing Festival, a weekend filled with yelling a screaming, dynoing for $20 bills, 5.13/12b routes, a lot of psyche, hours of work and one damn good slide show from world renowned photographer Nathan Smith. Check out Nathan's website www.pullphotography.com

Mike McClure and Randy Hill visited from Boise, Idaho to set all of the fabulous routes and problems from the weekend, many thanks to them for their work and effort. Everyone send Mike a get well card, he tore a tendon pulley and will now return to climbing once I have a hard project that he can steal....watch out Riggins.

I will get the results of the comp up today or tomorrow, as I am frantically studying and trying to prepare for a trip to Bishop at the end of the week. Sifting through photos too, and I will get some of them up, as well as a link to the vid of the comp as soon as that is done. For now, you can check out the last one, sans tunes due to some copyright incident, at the UI Outdoor program site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS33-w6Dv1I

Cheers, happy climbing!!