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!!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Lenville and 2 days at Castle
I have been saying that I would post some photos from Lenville, namely the Porcupine Boulder, and here they are finally. Conrad and I went out a bit ago, I had sent everything but this project with a teensie little Fredric Nicole crimper, and Conrad wanted to send Moose Muscles. We warmed up at the gym and then headed out, since all of the easy stuff was wet, for Conrad to send and me to get some of these photos. Here is Conrad Piper-Ruth wearing all his great photo colors on the crux move of Moose Muscles (V11)
After sending Moose Muscles, Conrad set his sights on the traverse into MM, Porcupine Muscles, another super quality V11 on the same boulder that links the Porcupine Traverse V9/10 into Moose Muscles. Here he is on the crux of the traverse, a huge lockoff to a pinch that is about 5 inches wide. He makes this move so easily that the hardest part of the boulder problem becomes the last move, a huge surf out to a jug. This move to the pinch hold is in the middle of the problem and takes an immense amount of core tension. 
Wet conditions in Moscow haven't allowed me or Conrad to get back out lately, but before it started raining, Jon Eastman managed to link together a series of moves at the Altar Boy Boulders called Grand Theft. I went out and gave it a few goes one day, and it is probably right on at V10. Really crimpy moves in the beginning lead to the slopey finish of Theft, V7/8. In other news, Conrad finally ticked the 5th ascent of Brass Monkey, a classic V11 in Riggins, Idaho. Congrats to him on that send, it has been a long time coming. Nice job Conrad!!
I also went down to Castle Rock to trudge through the snow to send Hearts n' Cocknballs, a super cool V10 on the Bagpiper Boulder. I think in the video that you can see how much snow is on the ground. It was almost up to my knees, and yet McClure adamantly told me on the phone that "I didn't need boots"....guess I'll bring them next time. Check out the video of me sending and then falling off of my project, The Smell of Africa, that I have yet to send in two trips now. heartbreaker of a last move that is soooo fucking hard at the end of the problem. Check http://climbidaho.com/wordpress/ for the vid. Also, if you want to see what was being done by people that aren't heavily sponsored, check out www.fredrouhling.com. He does some pretty amazing things. If you want to see something really funny, check out an interview with Andy Raether on Misty Murphy's blog, this shit is hilarious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiLKbSKKNeg&feature=channel_page
Thats all for now, I am headed to Riggins to try and send some shit this weekend, other good news, Kaiya is climbing a little bit again after 4 weeks off for a hurt finger. Bishop in 3 weeks and then spring is here and bouldering is going to explode.
After sending Moose Muscles, Conrad set his sights on the traverse into MM, Porcupine Muscles, another super quality V11 on the same boulder that links the Porcupine Traverse V9/10 into Moose Muscles. Here he is on the crux of the traverse, a huge lockoff to a pinch that is about 5 inches wide. He makes this move so easily that the hardest part of the boulder problem becomes the last move, a huge surf out to a jug. This move to the pinch hold is in the middle of the problem and takes an immense amount of core tension. 
Wet conditions in Moscow haven't allowed me or Conrad to get back out lately, but before it started raining, Jon Eastman managed to link together a series of moves at the Altar Boy Boulders called Grand Theft. I went out and gave it a few goes one day, and it is probably right on at V10. Really crimpy moves in the beginning lead to the slopey finish of Theft, V7/8. In other news, Conrad finally ticked the 5th ascent of Brass Monkey, a classic V11 in Riggins, Idaho. Congrats to him on that send, it has been a long time coming. Nice job Conrad!!
I also went down to Castle Rock to trudge through the snow to send Hearts n' Cocknballs, a super cool V10 on the Bagpiper Boulder. I think in the video that you can see how much snow is on the ground. It was almost up to my knees, and yet McClure adamantly told me on the phone that "I didn't need boots"....guess I'll bring them next time. Check out the video of me sending and then falling off of my project, The Smell of Africa, that I have yet to send in two trips now. heartbreaker of a last move that is soooo fucking hard at the end of the problem. Check http://climbidaho.com/wordpress/ for the vid. Also, if you want to see what was being done by people that aren't heavily sponsored, check out www.fredrouhling.com. He does some pretty amazing things. If you want to see something really funny, check out an interview with Andy Raether on Misty Murphy's blog, this shit is hilarious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiLKbSKKNeg&feature=channel_page
Thats all for now, I am headed to Riggins to try and send some shit this weekend, other good news, Kaiya is climbing a little bit again after 4 weeks off for a hurt finger. Bishop in 3 weeks and then spring is here and bouldering is going to explode.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
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
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=3170790Peace out, happy climbing
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)