Swan Falls/Indian Creek Weekend

So yeah, the weather in the inland northwest has been less than optimal I guess one could say. Pretty hard to go bouldering when all the boulders are wet. And your girlfriend/climbing partner is injured=doesn't want to stand in the 35 degree wind for no reason (I can't figure out why). Kaiya did some sort of damage to her left ring finger two weeks ago, and she has been sidelined ever since. Frustrating as many of us know, but props to her for still going to the gym and trying to stay in shape as best as you can when not climbing. Regretfully, she now can't compete in the Palouse Climbing Fest '09, climbing for the first time in 4 weeks in a comp is not the best idea. I guess waiting another week to climb in Bishop isn't that much of a sacrifice....back to the subject at hand.

Swan Falls. Pending on who you talk to, Swan is either a great place or a shithole. I leave it up to the climber to make the decision for themselves. I personally like it mostly because I know what it is like to not have any bouldering right near Moscow, so if I had some less than stellar quality lines I would needless to say, be pretty psyched. The sheer amount of rock at Swan Falls is incredible, the only issue is sifting through the thousands of blocks to find the good ones. Mike McClure has been doing that for years now, and I reap the benefits every time I visit. As you can see from the photo, there is a ton of rock there, it is just that some of the boulders are pretty small. But for every 10 problems that are lowball, you get one Death Proof, and that shit is worth it completely. Over the two days that we went out, Craig and I both did all of the same problems, him first on Saturday, and me first on Sunday.

First we went up to Boys to Men SDS, a V10 that Craig had worked on the day before and within a couple hours had all the beta figured out and sent. Here is Craig Hurst, just after sticking the crux of Boys to Men SDS at Swan. The line starts all the way at the bottom right of the boulder and links to the top left, rad movement to a really cool pinch. Here is Mike McClure sticking the move to the pinch...So over the weekend, Craig and I both sent Boys to Men SDS and Death Proof (both V10), Ghost Hospital (V11), Rex Kwan Do (V9) and the Inbred Traverse (V7/8). McClure sent the Boys to Men SDS as well, and he had previously done all of the other problems, getting the FA of Death Proof, a rad sloper problem up on the hill in the talus field. A great weekend filled with good friends and climbing. Although she has to work the tasting room on the weekends, Tammy McClure managed to make it out to Swan for a while both days as well. Tammy is working the Inbred Traverse as well, and by the looks of it she will send soon. Here she is making the beginning look like a walk in the park.I am going to try and get out this weekend, maybe go to Riggins or up to Tum Tum, a small grantie bouldering area northwest of Spokane WA. Still waiting for another dry day to go out and shoot some photos of the Porcupine boulder, finally get some shots of that up for ya'll. In the meantime, check out the vid of the weekend at climbidaho, http://vimeo.com/3170790?pg=embed&sec=3170790

Peace out, happy climbing