Wednesday, September 9

 More on recovery soon, but I wanted to put a couple things up here to help you kill some time and maybe even take away some motivation! I did The Run Out Podcast hosted by my friends Andrew Bisherat and Chris Kalous recently - it's a cool new format and we got into some topics that I have been thinking about a lot recently so have a quick listen here. 


Also, I really can't say enough about how much I loved this BD film from Mike Call, 'The Artist'. I found it really powerful and the old footage and iconic photographs from Boone brought back a ton of stoke for me. This is just so well done and speaks to my generation like crazy. I really, really enjoyed it - hopefully you do too. 

Saturday, August 29

Injured Reserve Prt 3

So the healing continues... It has been five weeks now since my crash and the last week in particular has been very encouraging. Last weekend I went climbing outside for the first time in four weeks which felt amazing. We went to Staunton State Park - the Dungeon - a very en vogue area these past years especially because it's completely doable in the summer months. After a slow warm up I flashed 'Intolerance Test' 13a, 'Branching Out' 12d, 'If and Only If' 13a and 'No Excuse' 13b. All were awesome, very fun routes! This crag was perfect because I felt like for the most part I could climb very statically and cautiously. Most routes are quite juggy and full of resting positions, with smaller holds defining short cruxes. Perfect for me because my fingers actually feel quite strong it is just hard, dynamic movement that was scary / weak.




Throughout the week since then I started allowing myself to use the Moonboard again - starting with only V4 or V5 on the first day, and gradually working up to V8/9 more recently. Because I am trying hard to keep my shoulder engaged I don't quite have the full reach on my left side yet and the whole shoulder area gets pretty damn tired after an hour session. I have been mixing this with also slowly re-introducing one arm hangs on the left side. About 10 days ago it felt too aggressive to hang one arm with my injured shoulder but slowly with the use of stretchy bands as aid I got back to body weight on rings, and then body weight on a 30mm hold and eventually 2 days ago a 20mm hold! This is quite good as my 'hard' hangs are usually on a 17mm, so, pretty close to where I was before.

In between the gym sessions I have been staying the course with my PT, foam rolling like crazy and starting to re-introduce some overhead range of motion stuff. I am also using a heat pad, still taping, sleeping 9 hr a night and avoiding all alcohol. Like I said in a previous post, I am taking the injury as seriously as I would a hard project, and I am so grateful to say that it is working! At this point I feel as though my shoulder is around 85 ish % strength. And the other thing that rules is that the shoulder feels quite normal in every day stuff now too. Usually it is quite tired on rest days but where it was always feeling a little weird some weeks ago, now it is feeling close to normal all day.

I assume that the final 15% to full recovery will take some time yet, but my primary aim was to have a good shot at a big fall season and that is seeming totally possible, so I am stoked. Wish me luck!!

Friday, August 14

Injured Reserve Prt 2

I am happy to say that week two, and the first half of week three, are both ripe with progress for my shoulder situation. In week two I was primarily plagued by consistent tightness / pain in my back which could have been due to a rib injury or could have simply been pissed off muscles in my shoulder girdle adjusting to their new normal. Either way, week two, in many ways, was the worst so far for pain and discomfort. The good news is that my range of motion, stability and confidence made steady improvements, culminating in me climbing some simple, steeper boulder problems at the end of the week. It felt very clunky and not at all close to 'normal' but it was a nice sensation to pull my body off the ground and up the wall! 

That first day of climbing up to ~V4 broke the ice for me to try some autobelays and some longer routes a few days later at the Boulder Rock Club. On Tuesday (15 days after the accident) I climbed up to 5.12- on auto belay and it felt outstanding! I could definitely sense a lot of hesitation and cautious movement but I was almost totally pain free. The one movement that seemed weak and too scary was rocking over a right foot by pushing my left hand out to the left, like opening an elevator door with the left hand. Pulling straight down, even from a pretty extended position with my left hand however, felt mostly fine. 

The next day I did some leading up to mid 5.12 on seven or eight routes before my shoulder was getting tired and I quit for the day. This felt like mini progress in itself, but I was still having some issues with that movement I mentioned - so yesterday at my PT appointment with Ross Bodine we worked through some exercises and range of motion to hopefully help strengthen that. We also went through a myriad of other exercises that I had been too cautious to try such as overhead press, push ups and levers - all of which were shockingly fine, but just will need some time to strengthen up to normal. 

If I had to put a percentage on my shoulder I would probably say 50% which might seem low given all of these strides but to me it seems incredibly high considering just 2.5 weeks ago it felt as though my arm was detached from my body altogether.. Moving forward I am going to focus entirely on strengthening, and building back up to my previous loads in all of those exercises I've mentioned - as well as mixing in some not too challenging climbing, as with most injuries the time in the weight room is always more fruitful.

So what have I been doing that seems to work?? Most importantly I have been seeing my PT, Ross Bodine at Alta in Boulder once a week, and seeing my massage therapist, Dan Micheal in Boulder once or more a week. Since day one I have been taping my shoulder using Luekotape (hugely important). I've made time, several times a day, to do PT exercises and been doing a daily hour long hike in the foothills. Every 2nd or 3rd day I have been doing BFR to try and maintain my fingers, roughly following the protocol laid out here by the maestro Tyler Nelson. Lastly I have given up completely on alcohol, been sleeping 8-9 hours a night (which has gotten easier as my back has relaxed) and not taken any pain meds or NSAIDS since the first day. I've used some THC / CBD for sleep aid which was great and tried to get tons of micronutrients in my food along with daily protein smoothies. Overall I've really tried to approach this injury like an important project, placing a ton of importance and significance on my PT, exercises, ROM and nutrition. 

I am aiming to be cranking hard in September but we will see how the end of this process goes! Wish me luck and send me your questions if you are going through AC separation also!! 


Tuesday, August 4

Injured Reserve prt 1

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, I slammed on my mountain bike pretty damn hard last week and came out with a gnarly concussion, bruised / slipped rib and worst of all, a separated AC joint. Let me first say that MIPS is real, and always wear a damn helmet. 

I wanted to write a little about my experience here because of how common this injury is, albeit a little unusual for climbing, with the hopes that a few people out there suffering the same thing would find this helpful one day. Dave McLeod has an awesome video about his recovery and I found it incredibly helpful and super motivating. A little motivation goes a long way in times like this, so hopefully these entries will do the same for you! 


Immediately after the crash I had a lot of trouble breathing, felt obvious concussion symptoms and could tell my shoulder was totally smashed. I lifted my arm above my head but I felt cracking and popping and grinding in my shoulder like crazy. I immediately started holding my left shoulder with my right arm - it was completely unstable, almost felt unattached. My buddy took me to the ER for X-rays and I got a sling. Thank god because my right arm was SO tired from holding my left arm at this point that it was beginning to hurt worse. I was convinced that I broke something because of how awful my shoulder felt but the X-ray showed clearly I had damaged the AC joint, but no breaks.

The first night was quite horrible, well, honestly the first few nights were pretty bad. I had a really hard time sleeping as expected, and the pain in my back made just shifting around in bed exhausting. The day after the crash I got an appointment with an Ortho where I expected to get an MRI but he did some tests on my rotator cuff and some feeling around and suggested I would not need images. He diagnosed me with a Grade 2/3 AC joint Separation and sent me on my way. Much to my surprise the doctors at the hospital and the Ortho barely really even mentioned Physical Therapy. Even after I told both of them that full recovery and aggressive use of my shoulder was imperative for my career. If you have suffered an AC joint sep I can not emphasis enough that you should see a good PT right away and strongly consider massage therapy once a week as well. You will need to practice movement patterns and encourage muscle use etc if you want this thing to go over well! 

I made some really clear and exciting progress during my first week. After about a day, I was able to stop using the sling - but only when I had my shoulder taped, specifically with Leuko tape (it will not stretch and thus will actually support your shoulder). My massage therapist who I really really trust in Las Vegas, Pat Teves, was adamant about this.. Tape it tight, and only use Leuko tape. I credit the taping with a lot of my comfort and healing progress thus far. 

In the first few days it felt more or less out of the question to raise my arm above my head, and holding any loads with the arm was too difficult. I was able to use a grip master, and I could flex my whole arm without pain. Holding a plank or a push up position felt too aggressive still. After a few days I went to the climbing gym to see if I could do some weights with my right arm but it was just too hard not to engage the left side of my body (even a tiny bit) which created pain, so I bailed. I did a few hour long hikes, the first of which was downright painful, and borderline terribly unpleasant. However the movement was just so nice so I kept it up. 

Over the course of the first week I really felt as though I was making ~5% progress every day which was super encouraging. I went to a PT, Ross Bodine at Alta in Boulder, who I would highly recommend. He ran me through some difficult movement exercises that I have been doing everyday, including cable pull downs with a focus on pulling the shoulder blade down and back not dissimilar to my hangboard position. I also spoke with Tyler Nelson who asked me a handful of questions and determined that he thought I could hang (!) which sounded altogether insane to me over the phone but I tried (arms bend and locked at 90 degrees) and miraculously I could without pain! This was a massively encouraging moment - immediately following the crash I was certain I would not climb again in 2020, now, hanging until exhaustion on a small edge I was starting to have some serious hope!

Now, 8 days after my crash I can pretty easily lift my arm overhead. I can hold a plank or push up position (can not do a push up yet however), and I can do some simple exercises with my left arm like low weight curls (using the BFR this is actually pretty good) and finger curls with a training block. Mobility is coming back slowly, but overhead pulling or pushing is pretty scary. Normal life stuff, other than turning over in bed, is pretty mellow now. I still have some pain in my back which comes and goes but generally is on the decline. 

I've been seeing a very good friend and Rolfer here in Boulder as well, Dan Micheal, who I largely credit with originally healing my funky left shoulder years ago due to subluxation. I really feel like massage therapy is critical to all injuries, but especially one like this where so much of the body is scrambling to re-align. 

Okay I will check back after another week of healing and let you guys know how it's going! Wish me luck. 


Sunday, August 2

Rifle

I often estimate that at the core of rock climbing in the United States there are perhaps about a thousand people give or take. A thousand people who fully live for climbing, who re-arrange their entire lives to climb, who have made climbing their priority regardless of wether or not they are 'professionals' (few actually are which is another conversation and a sad one if you ask me). They live in Vans, trucks and cars. They work remote or part time or code or barely work at all mysteriously but one thing is for sure - they found a way to be at the cliff more often than they are not at the cliff.

If you journey across the country to the key spots you will notice an obvious migration of these stoked individuals and one of the primary meeting grounds is no doubt Rifle Canyon. It's not even as though Rifle is necessarily 'good' in the summer months it's just that everywhere else is awful, so why not? Those core, committed climbers slowly trickle in around June and populate the canyon's camp sites, picnic spots and caves. This is a gathering of climbers unlike any other in the heat of the summer. It is Rifle Summer Camp.

Shaina climbs 'Hawaiian Two Foot' 13a
Dru boinks to infinity and beyond
I climbed 'Diarrhea Mouth' 14d in the Skull Cave

Well it had been quite a few years since I bathed in East Rifle Creek, but man it felt good to return. It's easy to have a good old fashion love / hate with Rifle but man, it's hard to beat in the dead of the Summer. In our first few days the heat was so overwhelming that we weren't sure we could actually stick it. Slowly we adjusted, learned the ways of the siesta and the unique pacing of a crag where there are no approaches, virtually no driving, and on a weekday hardly ever a line up.

Genevive on 'Conception' 13a

Me climbing 'PHAT Camp' 14d 
Nate climbs 'Genesis' 12a
Dru climbs the hard hard 'Music for the Dead' 13b 

We had a great time after all. Two glorious weeks of relaxed mid-days, creek dips, quiet nights and friends. We sent a few things which was awesome because I hadn't climbed on hard routes other than my own for a long time. So important to check back in with the outside world every now and then. We also had a pretty easy time feeling COVID safe which I was unsure about, but it was fine.

We will be chilling hard in the Front Range for a month now, but I hope to link back into the migration of core senders before too long. Unfortunately I slammed very hard on my mountain bike last week so I will not be climbing for a while - more on that in my next blog...


Friday, July 24

God's Crag

The real summer in Vegas typically starts late June or early July. May and most of June are quite good for the higher elevation crags but at some point near the Solstice, the night time lows begin creeping up too damn high for my taste. As the desert went through this transition we packed the truck and made the pilgrimage to Colorado. First stop was something of an obscurity that I had wondered about for years… God’s Crag. Every once and a while I try to dig deep through Mountain Project, exploiting all of the most advanced search functions in pursuit of hidden gems. A shocking number exist, but few are as enticing as God’s Crag; with it’s towering streaked walls, variety of grades and prime summer temps. I first stumbled on God’s Crag nearly 10 years ago during one of these searches, but the timing and stoke never lined up until this summer. 


Just outside of Lake City, Colorado, God’s Crag is nestled into a steep hillside in the shadow of Uncompahgre Peak. Some primitive camp sites line the road right next to the river and not far from where you start the 20 minute uphill approach. The crag itself is a horseshoe shaped amphitheater, with routes peppered all over, left to right. The Creamy Salmon Wall is the highest quality rock overall and has some outstanding 5.12 climbing of which ‘Black Velvet’ was my absolute favorite. The massive Mileski Wall has mixed rock quality but the good rock is very good and the lines are crazy aesthetic and 40 meters long. I revived and partially bolted 2 forgotten projects here that I called ‘Fools Gold’ and ‘Rainmaker’ - a waterfall splits the Mileski wall and depending on your luck (and the wind) you might find this route soaking or bone dry. We figured the chances are roughly 50/50 from day to day, but it’s worth the gamble for what I would consider the king line of God’s Crag. The most sought after route must be ‘Full Facial’, a resistant 8a up a consistently overhanging panel bookmarking the left side of the Mileski Wall. 


Up above there is a second tier, with a stunningly beautiful black and white streaked, overhanging wall (Zebra Wall). Will Anglin and Ben Spannuth put in some work here reviving old projects and bolting a couple new ones back in ’13. ‘Fruit Stripe’ 13d is super good and likely the best on the upper level. Some of the rock up here can feel friable and some is downright razor sharp, but the beauty and difficulty of the lines up top were motivating enough for me. Plus you just can’t ignore the fact that the position and setting of this crag both on the top tier and below is completely mind blowing. Summer climbing damn near its finest if you ask me. 


We spent the week hanging and climbing with Nate Liles and Bekka Mongeau. No cell service. Long days of bolting, cleaning and climbing. Laughs and Catan in their RV at night. Searching for rare gems by cracking open mine tailings in-between burns. It felt refreshing to be in the cool, thin air, and also just to be out there exploring this new part of the world I had been wondering about for so long. 


Nate killed it; climbing his project ‘Zooty Head’ 12d on the Creamy Salmon, bolting a rad new one on the Mileski (‘Beautiful and Savage Country’ also 12+) and shooting a video for Epic TV. I will post more about the video as it is released… Some drool worthy shots in there for sure. 

Monday, May 25

Silver L?

Usually I base my entire year around climbing trips, performance goals and traveling. For obvious reasons this year has been different, but there is without a doubt some positivity somewhere in this mess..

Speaking of planning trips, as it seems like climbing trips might be once again on the horizon I have been scouring the internet for motivation. I've spent the lockdown giving everything to bolting, exploring and developing (more on that in a moment) - but sadly I've done very very little actual climbing, so my thirst for new climbs and new areas is peaking. My usual resources for undiscovered gems are 8a.nu and the indispensable Mountain Project, but there is one forgotten platform that without a doubt serves the armchair curiosity of those determined to unearth obscurities... The almighty Blog.

Sourcing some old school, page scrolling, die hard blog material myself, I was reminded of my old website (not to be confused with my jstarinorbit URL that was hijacked and yes I am still pissed about it). Something about this year, and this time, made me feel like the environment was perhaps finally ripe for me to start jotting in the old blog again.

Welcome to my first attempt at re-stoking the blog fire. Expect run-on sentences, iPhone photos, obscurities, unsolicited opinions and the occasional nugget of priceless beta for your psyche - or so I hope. 

As I mentioned before, my COVID time was at first a much anticipated climbing trip to Italy cut dramatically short but then it turned into weeks and weeks of exploration, hard work and toil back here at home in Vegas. Climbing has taken a back seat but I'm finally at a stage where I am ready to start pulling on stone and put the drill down. Truth be told this has been a strange time as I know it has for everyone, but overall I've felt a clear purpose and a ton of motivation so I am without a doubt grateful. I will share more details of the new routes when the pieces start to really come together! Enjoy some iPhone pictures in the meantime... 








Monday, January 6

Still buzzing on this recent trip to Mashan, China. I'm quite sure the universe rewarded me with impeccable weather after Shaina and I got stomped on with the rain and heat last year. The food was on point. This was one of those trips where everything lined up so nicely. The crew was just great:

Myself
Paul McSorley (adventurer lead and snack street enthusiast)
Emilie Pellerin (contortionist and total BA climber)
Katie Mah (Harness Designer and sleeper bone crusher)
Marcos Costa (Mandarin expert and tireless good vibes provider)
Jan Novak (Photog boss and non-stop trouble maker)
Conner James (Down-for-whatever climber / surfer homie)

We met some incredible friends there who showed us such a good time, night after night... Acheng, JunBao, LuJa and Sherry...  Jan shared his enthusiasm for dance and they shared their incredible culinary skills!

We opened three new brilliant multipitch routes - a 12-, 12+ and a 13+, and a handful of single pitch rigs, including this incredible 14c that I called 'Lajiao'. Mashan overall was so impressive. Have a look at this mountain project page we made and get stoked for a visit!




















Tuesday, October 15

Someone hijacked my old URL so welcome to JonathanSiegrist.com!

As I would hope you could already tell, anything posted to my old URL jstarinorbit is garbage and I would never write content like that.

I am working to shut down the other site but for now you can find all of the archives here and hopefully some new content in the months to come.

Thank you everyone!


Friday, May 25

May 2018

Mid December of last year was more or less when 2018 kind of started for me. Each year I try to force a week to ten days of rest from climbing to let my body relax and also to reset my mental energy for the coming season. I ate delicious food at my parents house. I went on long hikes in Boulder's beautiful backyard with Zeke. I sat in the sauna. I read. I started an 8a.nu account. I was kinda bored.



By all means 2017 was massive for me. I essentially did no training at all, but spent months and months of time on the road and on the rock which was exactly what I needed. Any residual sense of burnout from '16 was long behind me once I committed to traveling and exploring. I put faith in the work I'd done years before and tried for an intimidating goal of climbing ten routes 14d or harder, which, proudly, I succeeded at.

I had laid some kind of foundation but for 2018 I really wanted to improve. Ideally that improvement would result in climbing 9b, but honestly more than anything I just wanted to feel like I was making progress. When you've spent years fine tuning your training and inching towards your personal best, massive breakthroughs become less and less realistic. You start to aim for the smallest increments to motivate you.

During my downtime in December I started building a plan. I sat down with the incredibly knowledgable Will Anglin of Tension Climbing and kicked ideas back and forth. I met with my friend and the one who really showed me the light originally; Mark Anderson, co-author of the Rock Prodigy Method. We met in Golden and joked about training and progress. I had several lengthy phone calls with Steve Bechtel from Climb Strong and his training ethos really spoke to me. I built a training program and schedule together with Steve that, aside from a few tweaks and some changes on the fly, I would stick to for the following several months.



I would have about a month for the first 'trimester' of the program. I absolutely love training. I love how much I can escape the world when I'm plugged into music and focused on the next hang or the next boulder problem. I think I might put an even greater level of mental intensity into hitting my training goals than I do climbing outside. But, all of this motivation would never exist for me if there was not a clear objective. I need something on the horizon to help me push through a particularly gnarly session and to give purpose to the monotony and torture of training.

In late January I went to Austin, Texas to see a new place, meet new people and climb at a fresh crag. I thoroughly enjoyed the two week trip, and importantly, it provided a reprieve from the weeks spent in the gym. I felt a bit run down throughout the trip, but I was happy to climb a handful of incredible, hard routes in the Austin area. The climbing there is physical and demanding - more like long boulder problems than sport routes. During the early months my training was focused specifically on power, so this area was a perfect compliment. I obsessed over their tacos and met a group of very supportive and stoked climbers in this Texas mecca.






When I returned I buried myself again in the climbing gym. Throughout these cycles I largely decreased my usual focus on finger strength, and used that extra shoulder energy for dynamic movement and heavy strength exercises. 'Jumbo Love' was my ultimate goal, and I knew that finger strength would definitely not be an issue after trying the route in 2016. For me, the difficulties on Jumbo Love are primarily defined my movement, not hold size. The route is very reachy throughout. I can't add length to my body but I can try to make larger moves feel easier - and that was my aim.

After the second 'trimester' was completed I made Joe Kinder's amazing 'Bone Tomahawk' my stepping stone. This route is bouldery, very steep and physical. The holds are generally good. The clips are hard and the movement is hard. Aside from its length (it's really around 40-50 feet of climbing), it would be a perfect test for my training. I did the second ascent of the route but the send was quite a bit harder than I had imagined. For sure some of my time invested was reacquainting myself with climbing outside, but still it felt hard. I also climbed 'Re-Up' some days afterward, which was super motivating because I had tried that link up some years ago and it felt kinda rugged.




I began the third cycle in my training with a few days of pumpy climbing in the Cathedral intermixed. I had planned on a number of training sessions through April but at this point I could feel that things were starting to come together. I felt snappy from the training but my stamina was beginning to extend beyond 10 or 20 moves. I combined boulder problems to make 35 move giants in the climbing gym.

When the weather looked warm enough for me to start trying I cut the cycle off early and started the mission to Clark Mountain. If I've learned anything over the last four years of training it's that everything must be done by feel. Learn what your body needs and when - never be afraid to substitute or lengthen a session. Learn the difference between training stress and pain from injury. It's stated so often that it seems cliche but, listen to your body.

I campaigned at Clark for roughly a month. I think I had around 11 days in total on the route this season but the process to sending really felt like it started with my obsessive planning back in December. Hopefully there is a lesson hiding somewhere in this summation of my process that speaks to you, and maybe it's just what you needed to start planning (...or not!) for your next big mission.


Wednesday, November 22

Ten Routes

Back to the States a few days ago.. 

Many of the same places but always a new experience... The past month we were settled into an awesome little apartment in Cornudella de Montsant. For those that don't know, this is a rad little town just a ten minute drive from Siurana, ten minutes from Montsant and forty minutes from Margalef. With a legit gear shop, several cool cafes and restaurants, countless traveling climbers, this is unquestionably one of the major hubs for sport climbing in Catalunya. You won't necessarily be greeted in English here but the shop owners and bartenders are known for being accommodating and stoked on the climbing community. 


For me this past trip was not as singularly focused as some of my trips in the past. I mostly prepared by climbing outside and supplemented with a little strength training just about a week before departure. My aim was to have a crack at a few Siurana classics I had skipped over before, and if time allowed to jump around to a few other cliffs. Furthermore my aim was to support my girlfriend Shaina on her mission to climb 5.13. She had been preparing for this trip for months, born from a lofty goal to climb 5.13 this year after having just done her first 5.12 in February (!!!). 

The first week we arrived was quite hot and crowds were something of an issue, but as the days passed the temps gradually lowered until we exchanged tank tops for down jackets and even found ourselves suffering from cold in the shade. Altogether the weather cooperated damn near as well as one could ask for. I skipped one day of climbing because of crippling arctic wind, but otherwise our 2 days on, one day off schedule persisted throughout. 

In addition to delicious olives, countless Estrellas, brilliant sunsets and even a beach day, we both finished the trip contempt with our climbing. Shaina proudly climbed her first 5.13, 'L'escarmala' - a Siurana classic requiring huge dynamic movement, finger power and technical footwork alike. She did a second 13a just a week after. 


I completed a major objective for 2017, to climb 10 routes 14d or harder, with sends of the resistance test piece 'La Reina Mora' and the ultra bouldery '20 Anos Despues'. I remember a few years ago reading an interview with the incredible Japanese climber Sachi Amma, when he mentioned that it was a goal of his to climb 10 grade 9 (14d or harder) routes in a year and distinctly remembering that seeming so beyond possible (for me - I believe Sachi eventually succeeded). Early this year I did the first repeat of 'Bachelor Party' 9a and shortly after had the best climbing of my life, finishing 'Pachamama' 9a+/b, 'Joe Mama' 9a+ and 'Chaxi' 9a+ in a couple weeks. From here I reflected on that interview with Sachi and planned to just go to the death climbing outside and pursuing 9a for the rest of 2017. I was never quite sure it would come together (both logistically and also physically) but it did a few weeks ago. After climbing '20 anos' I was pretty blown out. A long year of grinding, projecting, traveling, living in my truck and flying across the globe. In between the 9a's I also climbed 50 5.14s. I was pretty smoked. I took the level down in Spain after that, doing some utterly amazing pitches like 'Pal Este' 14b, 'Toni Kaneloni' 13c and 'Los Ultimos Vampiros Hippies' 14b among others - like some not nearly as amazing, but hard non-the-less routes like 'Directa Jabali' 14b, 'Leche Caliente' 14a and 'Afrodita' 14b/c. 


At this point I've got one more nemesis route in the Boulder area to hopefully finish off and then I will be taking some time to rest, chill and prepare for 2018's goals during December. I'm so proud of my climbing this year - especially because I took a giant step back from training and focused on being outside and with my friends and dog - and it worked (to my surprise to be honest). Now I want to try and get a fresh start, diving back into systematic training as I pursue the next objective. But first, some Pumpkin Pie.