Setting, Meetings, Running

I've been setting routes for nearly 7 years. It's something that interested me from early on in my climbing. Something about the symphony of mechanical knowledge necessary, physical demands, creativity and logistical considerations makes it a strangely satisfying work. Over the years I've set for a plethora of comps, set for big recreational gyms, for elite climbers and just for fun. I've always felt that it made me a better climber, and helped me to envision sequences and be imaginative with my climbing. 

My favorite form of setting is certainly comps. You slave for days, making the best routes you can and also (more accurately) making the routes as specific as possible to challenge the competitors and create separation in the field. There's so much mystery when the morning of the comp arrives... you've forerun everything countless times, tried to think outside the box, tweak this, tweak that... but you'll never know who exactly will show up, how they will feel and ultimately, what the outcome will be. It's always something of a nerve-racking event to watch, but also super satisfying. 

Last week I set for Youth Regionals over the course of 3 long days. We built some really rad routes, and the turn out was awesome. Seth Lytton is a great friend of mine and he was the head setter for the event. He's done tons of setting for the last decade, and is super skilled at what he does. However, he's also strong well beyond his own beliefs, and I've been called a sandbagger a fair number of times as well -- I think our routes ended up perhaps a touch too hard..(?).. but there were no ties so that's what matters. It was awesome to see the Team BRC take the Regional Champion as well. This is a very burly region, and the kids fought hard to secure this huge victory. Very impressive work kiddos !!!

I am super stoked to be part of the event. Thanks for the invite to set! 

Shortly after finishing up the comp I was off for Vancouver, BC to attend the Arc'Teryx Global Sales Meeting. Over a action packed and rapid two and a half days I watched presentations, hung out with the crew, explored Vancouver and peered into the numbers, into the money, into the business. Athletes rarely see this side of the operation and I think it is important. The backbone of any functioning business is the bottom line, no matter how rad the products are or how cool the vision is - businesses need money to survive - and it was eye opening to see how the sales side of things function. Hats off to the hard working Reps out there... and big thanks to Arc for bringing me out to be part of the program!

I did a couple awesome runs through downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park during my stay -- it really made me reconsider Van.. it's a pretty damn cool place. Overflowing with life.. beauty of the maritime business and harbor.. skyline in reflections on the water.. snow-capped mountains in the background.. maybe I could live here? not while I care this much about climbing though, the weather (although it was briefly acceptable) usually sucks. I'm aware. 

RT Beak Peak Mission.... 

For a few years, running was mostly painful, but I was addicted to cardio activity after racing bikes for so long. I've grown to love trail running now. Behind climbing and music it's becoming one of my favorite things in life. My runs are usual short and brutal, but this last week I took it up a notch and developed a running goal. I've hiked Bear Peak from the convenience of my parents home many times. Mostly at a brisk pace, but also just for fun. I always thought a quick time would be fun to go after. Originally I was stoked to go for a summit time of sub 45 minutes, but after my first attempt last week went quite well, I decided to up the ante considerably. On my first attempt last week I made the summit from my parents house in about 46 minutes, and I hauled ass back-down to make a RT time of under 1:15 from my folks house which is maybe ~.6 miles from the trailhead. On this attempt I stopped on top for a few minutes to drink water and chill. I also stopped lower for a minute or so, and my pace was definitely burly but not max by any means. Whoa! maybe I could make the car-to-car happen in under an hour? 

I started searching on-line and discovered that this time is kinda coveted. For a non-runner I was going to need to push pretty damn hard I thought, but it was a cool challenge and for whatever reason I was really stoked on it. I did a few runs last week, but mostly recovering and saved my legs for my next attempt. I assumed that it would take 2 or 3 more tries. Yesterday, after a solid 3 hour route climbing session in the BRC, I chilled for a few hours and convinced myself to go on a run. My plan was to pace to the Nebel Horn Ridge and see what my time was against ultrarunning bad ass Dave Mackey. I pushed at a reasonable pace to Fern Canyon and kept with the fire as the trail got steep. I told myself that if I made the ridge in under 26 minutes I must try for the summit. There I was, at the ridge around 25:30... shit. This is where the run gets heinous. Burning vertical, no respite from stairs and uphill til the summit. I pushed hard and arrived on top, touching the summit marker at around 38:20 or so. No time for water like last go, I was ripping down. I actually felt okay. As I passed 'The Mentor' 12b just off the trail, suddenly my legs were not happy. Uh oh. 

I kept pushing. I had no idea how demanding the downhill would be. It really took a lot out of me - and I consider myself a very fast downhill runner, but nearly 3k downhill as fast as you can is super burly. Rounding the bottom of the slab I ate SHIT! Getting pretty tired and couldn't quite pick my feet up very well... Not even a flinch... all covered in dirt.. ha!... I knew I needed to keep crushing if I wanted to make it down. With Arty blasting in my headphones I hammered to the car and stopped my watch at 58:20! I was definitely surprised to make it happen, and also pretty stoked. I think I could maybe shave a minute or 2 but anything more than that would take considerable training. Stoked! Thanks to Sportiva for the incredible Vertical K's -- they were perfect for this run, and thanks to Suunto for my new Ambit watch! 

now......   Countdown til I leave for Wyoming.... STOKED STOKED STOKED!

Leaving Las Vegas

Left Las Vegas. On to the next step. Echoing the spirit of my homeboy Joey Kinder -- I'm always on the move. Packing up, looking ahead, unpacking, moving on, hitting the road, etc. It's like the change of seasons to me now-- right when I've had about enough snow, spring seems to emerge. In this same way, typically by about the time a trip wraps up I'm ready for what's next. I think this is one of the greatest motivating factors in my climbing life. When it's time to move on, I can move on. No matter how crappy the conditions, there's always a crag that's in season, there's always something out there waiting, there's always somewhere or someway to move forward. Having the flexibility and support to move freely like this is really incredible -- and I'm thankful for it nearly everyday.





Despite my affinity for change, over the last few years I've developed a special attachment to Las Vegas. If I look back and total up my time spent there, I realize that in a sense Sin City has become my home; I've lived in Vegas substantially more than I've lived anywhere else since 2010. I've made some amazing friends, enjoyed the surplus of wintertime desert sun, climbed on and developed some stunning routes and of course, at times, immersed myself in one of the best nightlife's this planet has to offer. I peered sorrowfully into my rear view as the sight of the Stratosphere escaped my vision... It was an amazing season in Vegas -- one complete with personal growth, good climbing, great people and the seeding grounds for much ambition as I carry on with my climbing life. Onward.

Before I left Vegas I tried to pack it all in, as I usually do. Sometimes the prompt of time running out is all it takes to finally get some things done. Many of the things on my list were social, but climbing was certainly of importance too. I checked out Mt Charleston again - a super classic zone that I had spent very little time at. Usually the season is just starting up there by the time I'm leaving the area. I really like the hang up there, and it really is the Vegas area's saving grace from an otherwise horrendous summer. At over 8,000 feet, the climbing, hiking, running up at Charleston is radically cool even when the Valley below is sweltering.



Charleston is super old school and burly. I would venture to say that the grades and style here feels harder than Smith or even the VRG. Obviously it's very different but, regardless, it's not a vacation grade zone and as I remembered from last year - you've got to battle for any grade. Heading up there with this in mind I was planning to play around and climb on some 14a's or 13d's in an effort to hopefully have some last minute success before leaving town, but I couldn't keep myself from trying 'Hasta La Vista' - an old school test-piece that, despite it's fame, had still only seen a handful of ascents over the 16 years of it's existence. During the 90's this pitch, which was prepared by Tony Yaniro and freed by non other than Chris Sharma himself, was one of the hardest pitches in the country. Along with 'Necessary Evil', 'Just Do It' and 'Super Tweak' this pitch was one of the baddest at the time. It has been on the life list for some time.

Very much to my surprise, it came together really well, and by my 2nd day on the route I was giving it redpoint attempts. The route opens with some strange 5.13 climbing on (you guessed it) pockets - the same beginning as the classic and super hard 14a, 'Closing Down' - from here you do a straight rightwards traverse through awful feet and interesting movement to a few decent holds but downright horrible foot options. Apparently this is the 'rest' but I was never able to fit in here well enough to chill. I stopped briefly, chalked up and exhaled before entering the crux - a long move out of an awkward undercling to a mono stack, then a jump pounce move to another mono stack, before tossing your feet on and powering up to the first anchor - 'Hasta Manana' - which is certainly super hard 8c in and of itself. From here, with only a piss rest, you finish on the extension, culminating with a hard dynamic move off of a crimp to a flat finishing hold. I imagined falling from here repeatedly on link (as I'd heard many have) but thankfully on my fifth try I nailed the crux, and carried on to the top. This was a special send for me, both because I had been seemingly striking out over and over this year but also because this route is historically very significant and that kinda thing is really inspiring to me. I imagined a scrawny, 17 year old Sharma clipping the chains on this beast, and then 3 years later when the incredible Liv Sansoz snagged the (still) only lady ascent of Hasta - which was certainly one of the hardest female ascents ever at the time. As burlmaster Ethan Pringle suggested last year with his repeat, it's hard for me to imagine calling this rig 14b, and while it may not be the hardest 14c in my opinion, I certainly think it warrants the grade. But then again, given how incredibly hard some of the 12b's and c's are at Charleston... maybe this thing is 14a? ha!


I tried the neighboring 'Facile' 14b before taking off but didn't manage to get it done before my departure. Next year..

little stop over in Utah on the way home... 

Little Wild Horse Canyon, UT --- so, so cool. 

Now, for the meantime, it's all Colorado again. I love it here. I'll do some training, some bitchin runs, see all these rad people around here and then soon enough I'll be off -- onto Wyoming living for much of the summer. So many things coming up, so much to do! so damn busy! life is good.

CHECK IT! I'll be at the Idaho Mountain Festival this summer -- you can see some of the other events in my plans on my Events Page... 

All Around

Feel like I've been all over the place the last week or so. Back to the same crags, off to some new ones, projects, repeats.... I'm somewhat directionless because nothing is really luring me in. Which is at least partially informed by the narrowing timeline of my stay in Nevada. I've got about a week left, and in a very familiar fashion -- I'm ready to move on. The next stop, the next adventure... definitely looking ahead at this point.




Since writing last I spent a couple days climbing and hanging with my buddy Cody Roth of New Mexico. He's been keeping the scene alive down there and showing off some ridiculously cool crags! I'm stoked to check it out at some point. After the Rendezvous we got out to the VRG where I onsighted a rad little rig 'Mars' 13b and took down it's big brother 'Mars' 13 b/c first try. I chucked a lap on one of my favorite link ups on the Blasphemy too - I call it F-boy - basically you do the first 2 cruxes of 'F-Dude' 14a and finish on 'Dark Boy' 13b instead of 'Fall of Man' 13b. Locals only link up stuff here people.... ha!

Cody makes a cake. For real.

Speaking of link ups I did return to the Cathedral by popular demand... only to realize that I'm officially over it. Very sick crag, but no matter how sick an area is, sometimes you've had enough. I did 'Super Loaded' 13c, and checked out a new Perkins rig. A few things (what I've got left) remain wet there unfortunately. It's just too easy to find partners for this awesome crag!

On the new crag side of things, I made the 4 hour drive up north to Ely to examine first hand some of the hype. There really is tons of rock in the area, and I imagine that over the next decade or so people will get increasingly stoked on the zone. The Rose Cave area, including the Mondo Cave, is where I hung out. To be downright honest I was underwhelmed - but I also went there with pretty big expectations. There is some potential there, and the Mondo Cave is absolutely enormous, but for now I feel like my time and energy can be better spent elsewhere. The cave has great rock, but it also has a lot of poor rock - logistically it's a little strange. I try to remain somewhat selective with my new-routing,  mostly in the sense that I want to bolt routes that I feel pretty confident will be enjoyed for years to come. I want people to repeat and enjoy my hard work, and the quality of this specific area did not wow me enough to convince that many people will be driving out here anytime soon. Regardless, it's not to say that there isn't good climbing to be had there. And I did bolt a really rad .12c ish rig there to the right of the established .12d and .12b on the sector next to the actual Rose Cave. If you ever find yourself out there definitely do it! It's radical!

SO BIG

The last couple days I checked out a project that I'd been thinking about since last year's stay in Vegas. It's at a really cool little limestone area above Red Rocks called 'The Promised Land'. The project is basically some fun 5.12 climbing to a beautiful and savage headwall for 30 feet of very bouldery, very hard climbing. Originally I got stoked because I did the majority of the moves and felt like it was possible, but after checking out the route again I'm afraid it's quite a bit harder than I first imagined - which of course is a good thing - but with the little time I have left here (and the encroaching heat), I feel it would be tough to envision finishing this rig, and equally tough to drag belayers up the 45 min slog approach day after day. Anyways, it's a brilliant project and I certainly have it on my short list for next year. I did get to flash the crag classic up there, 'Confrontation' 13b, which is worthy of the hike alone. There are a slew of other 5.13s and 5.12s that are rad too. Don't be afraid of the hike! (really not that bad)

sick

Well, that's it for now. I definitely feel like this has been a rough 2013 for me so far. Been striking out quite frequently -- be it poor conditions, lack of partners, and just falling short of my own expectations in one way or another. I'm aware that things don't always go perfectly, but this has been a longer series of disappointments than perhaps I'm used to. Maybe it's a sign that my life is typically very good, or simply that there will always be ups and downs -- short and long ones. Regardless, I feel so fortunate that I have the mobility and opportunity to just... move on. There's much adventure ahead for me and I'm really looking forward to a long summer on the road. The year is hardly over and I remain very ambitious with the 8 months remaining. Wyoming is covered in snow but it's also calling my name!

Now for the truly interesting stuff: 
Viva La Vie is live - it's a shortened version - but it's still rad and it's free. See below!

Also I did an Enormocast (basically a rad podcast type series by Chris Kalous) and if you have an hour to kill and care to learn more about me, or just be entertained by Chris' humor -- check it out here. 

Viva La Vie from ARC'TERYX on Vimeo.