ADK season (despite the bugs)

Since returning from the South, we have made a few trips up to the Dacks. We have been developing at Brant Lake just about every weekend and have established nearly a dozen quality lines. There is so much to be done up there, we are just getting started really.
Wardrobe Boulder so far - V2, V3, V6 and two projects cleaned.
Treeboob Boulder so far - V3, V4, V5 and two projects cleaned
White Chocolate Chip so far - V0, V1, V2, V3 and two projects cleaned
Gnarwhal - V4/5, V8/9 and three projects (only one cleaned thus far)

And there are still 6-8 other large boulders to get to work on.

We also made a trip to 9 Corners where Evan sent Thorazine and Bearded Arnie. I sent Bearded Arnie also and Power of Belief. Ben sussed out all the moves on Rip Curl and repeated a few lines.

The bugs have taken hold, but we're not going to let them stop this send train.

Choo Choo Baby. It's On!

HP Slopers - WHAT???

Yesterday we ventured down to Alabama to slap the crazy slopy holds of HP 40. For us northerns, it was a truly humbling experience. We entered the incredibly condensed boulderfield, getting turned around in every direction to try to find our intended routes. However, because of the uniqueness of the wall, we recognized the Millipede wall right away.
All of the guys threw themselves at the classic V3 called BumBoy and got thrown off continuously. Evan and Luke were able to send in a few goes because of their long reaches, but the rest of us needed some extra time. I actually walked away for a half hour or so and tried something else and then came back to send with the next go.
A local helped unlock the beta for the remainder of the sends there and we moved on.
Everyone spread out in small groups trying lines that interested them.
Several of the classic moderates were sent but nothing very difficult. Some of the sends were: Uniball, Sideline, Bumboy, several V2s, and an epic hour+ session of Mortal Combat at the end of the day that ended with Aaron's last-go send.
We all decided that you would need to spend quite a bit of time down there to really get used to the style and climb some hard stuff.

This morning we woke up to a thunderstorm and took the day off. But tomorrow we'll do one more session (our third) at Little Rock City before heading home.

Been a great week down here...despite the 80+ temps.

The Rocktown Oasis

Yesterday we tried to get an early start and beat some of the heat up at Rocktown. Things always take a little longer than expected, but we were hiking in by 9:30 and went straight to the Orb area.
Everyone did some nice warmups and a few of us began working the Orb, others tried Soap on a Rope, Double Trouble and a number of the other super fun problems right there. With shaded boulders and a nice breezy, the day seemed very pleasant. Aaron made incredible progress on the Orb, but with fried tips, Luke and I quickly decided that it wasn't the day for us on that problem.
After we had lunch, we made our way down the hill to Croc Block. As we walked down the hill, it quickly became evident that we were in for a scorcher. The face of Croc Block is over hanging and shaded, however, there was little place to retreat to while you rested or observed. Many of us got up to a cruxy slot move, however, it was Luke's big move beta that unlocked it for him and gave him the only send on it. He was able to latch a wide left hand pinch and launch for a right hand incut sidepull that many use as a left hand gaston.

As we were working the problem, Jess had been exploring a bit and found an incredible pool of COLD CLEAN WATER tucked into a cave. She began shuttling people down to the Oasis and eventually we were all taking turns splashing our faces and dunking our heads and feet. It really refreshed everyone and gave us new life to continue on for another hour of climbing.

We split the group, one to Pythag and the other to Blue. Kyle was able to send his Pythag project that he began on Saturday, but not much progress was made on Blue. On our way out, we returned to the Orb area for Aaron's last few goes and Carly's chance to finish a project from the morning. With absolute style and grace, Carly floated up her project first try and then came down and repeated it. After which she stood atop the boulder and proclaimed, "I own this problem!"

Twas a great day.

It's HOT AND SUNNY down here

Some might enjoy the blazing sun and 85 degrees, but climbers are not quite so fond of it. Yesterday we chased the shade and today we'll do the same back up at Rocktown.
Some great sends went down at Little Rock City and some super progress was made (Evan and Luke on The Chattanooga V12)

We've been enjoying every drift of wind and every whisper of a cloud. Pray for more.

More to come...

We have arrived in the South

After an uneventful 17 hours of driving, we have arrived and the sending has begun.

This morning we woke up to a beautiful VA sunrise, hoped in the vans and rolled straight on down to Rocktown. We completed the twisting, turning hill climb at 1pm, grabbed a quick lunch and then made our way in for some amazing sendage.

Some of the routes that went down for folks were: Nose Candy, Sherman Photo Roof, The Scoop, The Anti-scoop, Pythag, The Hobbit, and Golden Child,

The day was warm and sunny with a few nice cloudy breaks here and there.

Tomorrow we'll head up to LRC

Happy Easter, y'all.

DACKs are BACK

On Saturday, JP, Kyle and I rolled back out to 9 Corners for the first time since the snow fell and spit me off. Well, this time, I had three months of training under my belt and was ready for this plum of an Adirondack line. On the most beautiful face in the entire area, lies the most natural line, Thorazine - V8.
When we arrived, a few of the holds were damp from some seeping. We chalked and dried them and then went to warm up. Kyle had had his eyes on this hanging death flake called Sudden Death - V3, for quite some time. With a little inspiration from the guys already trying it, he jumped on and showed them how its done. He inspired me to do the same. HOLLOW!

Then onto slay the dragon.

It took a few goes to prime the holds for sending, but after about 3-4 tries, I polished it off. JP gave his goes as well, putting together a few more moves, but still unable to stick the bump move mid route. Next time, I'm sure.

We then moved up the hill to Kyle's project from last fall, Ice Cold - V7. He proved that he's got the moves locked down, all the way to the strong shouldery move to get to a resting jug. I gave it some goes as well, moving through the jug once when starting two moves in and then also getting to the shouldery move from the sit start. It should go for the both of us next time.
We also worked on Absolute Zero - V8, which starts three moves left of Ice Cold and traverses in and finishes the same. The opening moves were worked out pretty quickly, but it will be an endurance finish, even more-so than Ice Cold. We also did some fun variations on Nippin' Out - V3 to train on a slopy finish, and then we called it a day.

We are SUPER PSYCHED for returning to the ADKS after a long winter spell.

Spring Day at Lincoln Woods

Before I had ever even been to 'the Woods' I had heard of its gym-like qualities. "It gets mobbed there" and "There are so many variations, you should probably use tape" are the kinds of comments I'd received. And on this beautiful spring Saturday, I began to see the reality of these descriptions.
On our two previous visits, we had nearly the whole place to ourselves. One was a frigid winter day and the next was just a bit warmer.
This past Saturday began calmly enough. We started at the Tombstone Boulder and had it to ourselves for about 90 minutes, before Paul Robinson rolled in with two others to warm up. We had completed our routes, so we moved over to the hilltop boulders with Iron Cross V4 (which everyone sent quickly) and the Cave. That is when the mob scene began. The Cave Boulder is one with about 15 routes in a 30 foot section of wall. We took our turns on things like Rump to Jump, The Clutch, Neil's Lunge and New Dimension. We all got Neil's Lunge but despite good work, didn't finish any of the others.
We then scouted out a few other boulders but ended up down at the Try Again wall, which is another 15 problem wall in 30 feet of space. The crew there was working a cool V8 called Diesel. I took one go at Try Again but the ledge was just too painful for that late in the day. Kyle tried again, and again and again. The most fun route on the wall looked to be Loadies Zen V6, so after cruising to the jump move and flying right past the hold, I decided to try it statically. Although the prescribed method is a cool jump, I much prefer slow and in control, so I pinched, perched and moved slowly to the top, completing the classic route in three tries.

Lincoln Woods is a very nice and compact boulder field, which I believe is best kept for the dead of winter. I'm pretty sure that we won't return there until the crowds have dispersed and Thanksgiving has passed us by. Have a great summer RI.