Fellow humans, don't fear! That fiery sphere that slowly traverses our sky is our friend.. The Sun. It's been a long time coming (especially in the Front Range), but I do believe we've entered our first taste of the Spring, complete with clock-changing, curious flip-flop wearing and lower thigh exposure. Remember to ease into your vitamin D consumption for the most satisfying bronze, and despite how tempting it may be, don't stare directly at the Sun itself!
Eldo: the sun-chasers dreamland
Oh, and one more thing, don't resist an outside afternoon bouldering session or a weekend at the crags.. we all love the plastic, but it's time to loosen our grasp on training and do some rock climbing for a change. I'm happy to admit I've been getting out a bunch, with an exciting trip beginning in a couple days as well.
trips=psych!
Right after setting for the final BCS and SCS comps at the Boulder Rock Club last Friday, Paige and I hit the road North to one of our favorite hang outs, Lander, Wyoming. Since last spring when I first visited Lander, I've taken at least 6-8 trips back (some significantly shortened due to weather) and (mostly) loved every one. In much the same spirit as last March, we awoke this past Sunday to a considerably snowy camp site, and dooms-day clouds throughout. Luckily the friendly locals at Elemental Training Center hooked us up with some refuge, showers and a short, tired bouldering session.
famous last words, 'oh, we can for SURE make it through that'
After some complications (read: my stupidity) getting my Subaru stuck in two feet of snow we found ourselves blessed with a blue-bird day on Monday, and so began our first spring 2010 tanning / sending session. After many trips to Sinks Canyon I found myself mostly on the repeat-train, on routes in the Killer Cave like 'Samsara' 13b, 'The Throne' 13a/b, 'Successor' 13b, 'Mr Majestic' 13b and of course 'Killer' 12c. I did also fire a brand new extension called 'Exodus' 13c, that is worthy of a ride despite a little filth at the top. Paige had a killer weekend (no pun intended), firing The Throne, Successor and pulling off an epic running-waterfall top out flash of Mr Majestic- WICKED effort.
After a pebble grabbing good time at Flagstaff this morning with my Dad (in prime shape after taking 1st overall at BCS for his age category!!), I think I'm officially hooked on sunshine. I've got a pretty darn enjoyable couple of circuits that I'm really stoked on up at Flag, I've been doing them for years. Despite what you may have heard, Flagstaff actually is super radical and there is a core group of us who still really love bouldering up there. It's basically where I learned to climb, and to this day I feel gratitude and respect for the classic area- it never fails to provide a little ass kicking and V3 ego crushing-good time. Hurts soo good.
I'm hyper-psyched to be off to South-West Utah Friday morning for a proper 10 day climbing trip mostly focused around the limestone monster test-pieces at the Virgin River Gorge. Neither Paige, nor I have ever been, and along with The Red and Smith Rocks, the V.R.G. has been a top priority visit for me for quite some time. I love the kind of challenge that low-angled stone produces and after another session or two at Flag I'm hoping my fingertips will stop screaming and start biting down proper. Stoked. Very stoked.
flag boulder sessions: underrated.
We've got a number of great friends who will be in the area, and the weather forecast, after some depressing periods of wet, looks splitter. Hopefully you've got some spring break / last week in March plans cooking as well- resist the plastic! Enjoy.
-props to ANDY MANN, for all but (guess which one) photos-
