It's pretty crazy… Just this morning I woke up not long after the sun rose over Meadowlark Lake at the top of Ten Sleep Canyon - I ran a lap around the calm alpine lake, yet undisturbed by motorboats or fishermen, just before I jumped in the truck, drove across Wyoming, flew to Denver, and now I'm descending into Vancouver. The pace of my life and traveling has definitely picked up. Seasons are short, often the best crags are far apart and my ambitions are only growing.
This week is particularly nuts, but also super exciting. I'm heading to Squamish to present the incredible film that we made earlier this year at the Verdon and check out the Squamish Mountain Festival. This is Arcteryx' main event, and I'm stoked to be returning for my second year. Arcteryx doesn't slouch on anything, and I've learned that their events are certainly no exception. It looks like I might be blessed with a few sunny days- hell, maybe I'll even get some climbing in! Join homeboy Keith Ladzinski and I on Friday night at the high school for the premier of the film if you're in the area.
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| lookin awfully silly as usual... |
When I return from Squamish, I'm going to turn it right around and bust ass out to lovely Lander, WY-- one of my favorite hangs. I'm teaching an Advanced Redpointing clinic on behalf of La Sportiva on Sunday at the Iris, and I couldn't be more stoked… legendary crag, good people, at the nation's longest running climbing event. If you're signed up, I'm stoked to meet you and get some climbing in!
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| We toured the new Wyoming Whiskey distillery on a rest day... first distiller in Wyoming- look out for the delicious booze' first batch in Dec - only in WY. |
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| climber party last friday... always a good time.. |
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| rest days in Worland |
Alright, on to the last few days in the canyon. It's been rad. I didn't expect much out of this short trip aside from some much needed time camping in the truck and some heinous pocket pulling, but it turned into a really bitchin' stay. After doing 'General Litzenhiemer' 14b/c without injury, I was less intimidated by the other unrepeated James route on the wall, 'Porcelain' 14b- another super bouldery route that packs a lot of difficulty into the first few bolts. A cerebral sequence through mostly edges (only one pocket) takes you up a stunningly blank and beautiful swath of cream colored rock and is followed by mellow 5.12 terrain to the anchors. It was not super easy to figure out, but once I did it went surprisingly quickly- it seems that Ceuse was good training for my fingers. I followed up with an extension to Sky Pilot that I'd yet to check out-- making an already incredible rig that much better. 'Galactic Emperor' 14a was well worth the effort- one of the canyon's best no doubt, even if it is a bit soft. It was cool to see little Cam Hörst put this thing to bed too, he's a soft spoken and kind kid, I'll be stoked to see his career evolve.
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| special thanks to Tara Reynvaan for the iPhone shot-- ninja kick! |
On my last day I hung out on the left side of the wall, cleaning up an old forgotten project just a few lines over. I couldn't find much info on this rig, not sure who bolted it, but it turned out to be a really cool boulder problem on some small edges down low, after which it mellows out (sensing a theme?) to as easy as 5.9 towards the 100 foot anchor. I named it 'Buck-n-Spin' after my enthusiastic first experience riding a mechanical bull on the 4th. I called it 13b.. give it a try! I wrapped up the trip with a repeat burn on Galactic, and a cold Budweiser by the lake…
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| Buck-n-Spin!! |
hope to see some of you guys at these upcoming events!
