Go Hookless

Mid-May Update

We’re almost into June and well enough time to reassess some of my goals for the upcoming summer.  I set my optimal weight for summer climbing to be at 185 lbs.  Currently I tip the scales at 207 lbs, which i’m not too happy about.  Just five short weeks ago my wife gave birth to my beautiful daughter Ryan.  We are certainly ecstatic about this incredible gift, but it hasn’t lent itself well to keeping to my climbing targets.  The erratic sleep patterns and suspect eating habits have contributed largely to the status quo.

my shiny, new climbing partner

The good news is that despite my current weight, my gym climbing hasn’t suffered noticeably.   In fact, it has improved over the past few months.  In keeping with my bouldering pyramids and projecting difficult routes, my confidence in dealing with hard sections of climbing has only been increasing.

Biking to work every day was the lynchpin to my cardio effort.  Realistically, with all sorts of baby obligations, it will be an effort to get 3 days of biking a week.  But I know that my performance on  routes like Liberty Crack or Backbone Ridge on Dragontail Peak will suffer considerably if I don’t get my weight sub-200 lbs.

So the strategizing continues…

On another note, I have had a little more time on my hands to work on some other things.  I’ve  recently annotated a topo of The Smoke Bluffs Connection.  Smoke Bluffs is a collection of crags located near the town of Squamish, B.C.  It’s known  for outstanding one and two- pitch trad routes in a variety of skill levels.

Squamish cracks are mint. Route is Jabberwocky (5.10a)

The Smoke Bluffs Connection, SBC for short, are 4 outstanding routes in close proximity to each other.  It’s possible to connect all 4 routes together to make for a great few hours of trad climbing.  You can lead all the routes from the bottom, or start from the top of Jabberwocky and work your way down.  The latter is recommended for beginners as it gives you the option of toproping all the routes. 

Click on the image to get the high res shot:

Smoke Bluff Connection

Some words on the routes.  Mosquito Crack (5.8) is probably the most popular crack in Smoke Bluffs and the preferred way to start the SBC.  So it’s always got traffic.  Sphinx’ter Quits (5.8) is an excellent alternate start though.  It’s got a mixture of balancy and reachy moves coupled with solid handholds.  It gives you that harder feel without being harder, if that makes any sense.  Both Mosquito and Sphinx’ter top out below Phlegmish Dance (5.8), a great corner crack.  Once you top out, take a short trail climbers left to the base of Jabberwocky.  Jabberwocky (5.10a) is one of the most enjoyable face cracks i’ve climbed in Squamish.  The bouldery crux down below takes a little time to figure out.  From there you are rewarded with a crack that was made for finger/hand jams.  Protects well, and is just enjoyable.  At the top of Jabberwocky you have the Pixie Corner crag to climbers right, with alot of nice, moderate cracks to choose from.  OR you do Wonderland (5.9).  You can’t really see much of the route because of it’s exposed nature.  So you just have to decide to do it and encounter as you go.  It starts out on a diagonally crack for hands, smearing feet off of the face.  Then you hit the crux 5.9 crack.  Place your pro before the crack as there is a bad pendulum if you fall.  After the crux you cram yourself on a ledge and worm your way forward.  It’s quite awkward but works fine.  Then some last moves to the top.  It’s nice and sustained, but great fun.

So that’s the SBC.  Do it!

I had a few moments to annotate a future project i’ll be working on.  You may recognize it.  Got a little Captain in ya?

The Nose of El Capitan

Fulfilling A Dream of Arches

This picture with a red line on it might not mean much to you. For me, it’s the culmination of a summer of training and years of dreaming. I’m going to climb it in October. It’s called the Royal Arches route. It’s in Yosemite Valley. I remember the first time I went to Yosemite , with it’s immense granite walls and domes. I looked for this route because a friend mentioned it to me. The base of it sits right below the Old Inn.

I went back to Yosemite last year. A frend and I hiked to the base of the Royal Arches. I looked up at it, I just wanted to go up it

The Route (5.7 A0)

NOW! I even almost talked my friend into climbing the first few hundred feet of it. But I knew if I did that I wouldn’t want to turn back. I would want to go all the way.

So I guess it’s lucky I didn’t even start it. I’m a firm believer that when you truly make a choice, a decision to commit yourself to something, you go all the way. I tell you, I have made alot of so-called decisions in life and I didn’t go all the way. I guess in some sense they weren’t really decisions because I wasn’t really committed.

I have been climbing alot. Been away from home and my beautiful wife more than I would like to. I’m just glad she understands what something as seemingly meaningless as climbing up a rock wall can mean to somebody. It is meaningless. It’s how the climbing makes me feel. Those beautiful moments which can stretch from seconds to minutes to hours if we are lucky. Those moments of pure, crystalline peace with oneself.

Sometimes it seems as if my life is ruled by short term rewards. There is no satisfaction that is quite the same as building yourself slowly up until you reach a point in life where you feel deep inside that I am worthy of this. It takes alot of work, persistence, and self-insight to get there.

I have a few more months until I get to reach for the opportunity that I have worked diligently to get. I never meant to get all sentimental. I just pulled out this picture, started painting the red line you see right up the granite face, and thought to myself how lucky I really am to have a goal in sight like this.

I believe I can do it. I can’t wait to try.