Great late fall day at GB

Last Saturday we returned to Great Barrington for a beautiful chilly fall day. We began the day at the Probe Boulder for the first time in over a year. The warm-up is a fun V2 that went pretty quickly for all. JP and I then set our eyes on a V5 Kettle Traverse that goes into the warm-up while Ben and Kyle worked on the V9 Probe.
After a handful of tries, I was able to put together the traverse for the send. JP then continued working it and was able to traverse all the way to the final moves but slipped off and couldn't get back to that spot again. Next time for sure.
Kyle and Ben weren't able to connect the first moves but they feel good about future days on it.
Next we walked 10 minutes down to the SPAC boulder. Ben and I worked the V8 Bump, Kyle looked for a repeat on SPAC and JP began prepping for Snooze Button V5. Ben and I are both VERY close on to sending. JP waited patiently for all the pads to be moved up the hill under his project. He then gave it some really good goes but the Kettle Traverse had stolen his finger tips and his best goes at Snooze.
Finally we ventured up the hill some more to check out Two Stroke and Big Hairy White Thing. Both of those were still a bit wet from the rain Thursday night so we put some work in on an unknown but beautiful looking climb. After about a half dozen goes, I was able to pull through the tough opening sequences and cruise the easy top out for my second send of the day. We later found out that this fun line was a V5 called Wasabi.

All in all a great day and we are all very excited to return to these projects again, hopefully before the snow flies. JP put together a video of the day. Check it out at www.weekendbouldering.blogspot.com

We'll take a Thanksgiving break and then go out again on the 5th, either outdoors or to the CT Rockgym comp.

Happy T-Day

Dark Horse Comp. Series

Saturday's rain left us with no guilt at all about traveling to the Mass Coast for an indoor comp at Metro Rock Newburyport. The huge event featured a cash purse that drew some of the strongest climbers living in the Northeast. Some of the pros who showed up included Phil Schall, Ty Landmon and Brian Kim. There were probably close to 200 competitors ranging from 5 yrs old to 45 years old (99% under age 25).

Luke had a good showing, placing 3rd in Advanced. JP and I finished about middle of the pack in Advanced with JP beating me by 5 points. Jess did well also, finishing 2nd in Women's Intermediate. Ben came out but was sick a few days before the comp, so he didn't compete, just encouraged and chatted. Other friends who showed up to compete were Izzy, Michael and Sandra.

Even though it was a 17 hour day, the comp was fun and it was exciting to watch the Pro Finals. They are SO STRONG and left us all aspiring to climb hard as well.

Hopefully one of our many possible climbing destinations will stay dry enough to climb outdoors this Saturday.

Last day at Snowy before it snows?

Veteran's Day was a beautiful day up at Snowy Mtn. Boulders. The crew of Luke, JP, Izzy, Jess, Aaron and Adam rolled up there for some ADK sendage before the snow begins to fall.

The day goes to Luke as on his first visit to Snowy he sent nearly all of the classic problems. His tick list was: (Coit V6, SMAC V8, Insomnia V6, IHOPP V6, Never Been V7).
SMAC got the smackdown that day as Luke, Aaron, JP and I all sent the soft V8. Aaron also sent Never for his first V7.

You just couldn't have asked for a better day. Maybe we'll get another in before winter?

Oh. One last note...A very generous man named Matt from down south GAVE Jess a brand new pair of Solutions in her size. WHAT? Talk about a good day!!!

Beautiful Fall Day at the Gunks

What can I say? The Gunks is just amazing in the spring and fall, but the cool temps of the late fall are the absolute best. On Saturday we headed down there with a crew of 5 (Ben, Aaron, JP, Jess and myself) to dispense with a few long standing projects.
JP texted me in the morning: "Meaning of Life will go today." My simple reply was "Yo"
After a quick warm up at Black Boulder, which Aaron sent for the first time, we trucked it right to Meaning. After just a few burns and sussing out beta a little better, both JP and I put it to bed.
Next was The Following, another project of mine. Ben repeated it quickly and pointed out one key maneuver. I then sent it first go of the day. JP and Aaron gave it some good burns but no sendage.

Next stop was Merrakesh Express, a crimpy, traversing V6. Ben got the quick repeat. Aaron put it down after a bit of work. I worked it a while, got a few moves further than previous days but no send for me.

Moving on down the line, we hit up Boxcar Arete (V8). Ben showed me the beta with a stylish repeat. I made some great progress on it and am really psyched to get back another day when I have fresh skin. That thing gives you bruises on every tip. I've got all the moves, so hopefully it will go soon.

On the return trip down the Road, we stopped at The Buddha. Aaron got Andrews (V4) but none of use had much left for the signature V7.

But wait, one more stop. It's not quite dark yet. Jackson Pollock V8. Many good attempts at this short line. And it should definitely go next time, so long as we hit it up before burning ourselves out on other projects.

Great Gunks day. Can't wait for Winter on the Road.

Gillette V6 attempts

Cool Fall Day at Triple Right

Columbus Day is an incredible day for outdoor climbing. The cool temps are incredible, the leaves are falling, the crowds are low.
Today we hit up Triple Right outside of New Paltz for an unbelievable day. We were all still a bit sore from Saturday's session, but we couldn't pass up this perfect/available day.
We began with warming up around the Neapolitan boulder. Many sent this namesake V3, I was able to stick the V5 dyno to the left and JP did a nice linkup of the two (left to right). We then moved on to Gillette a dyno V6 and Mach 3 the sit start V9. Ben and Michael worked the harder route for a bit while JP, Kyle and I worked the V6.
After many tries, I snagged the blind throw for my second dyno send of the day. If you know anything about my climbing style, dynos are not in that repetroire. I'm a trad climber by trade and I like things static and with both feet on. I was psyched to have stuck two harder dynos in a day.
From there we moved over to Dydactic Tactics. Michael made good progress on Lactic (the lower start) and got to the slopy lip. Ben worked up it quite a ways, but Kyle and I had trouble getting to the midway rest.
Our final jaunt was doing laps on Captain Bring Me Down V5. Some sent the whole thing, others started at various spots to work out moves. Some ran laps eliminating holds and others played on nearby problems. It was a great area to get a final burn in, as the routes are overhanging with decent holds to get a good last pump going.

I can't wait for more fall climbing. Heres to hoping the next few weekends are dry.

Nice day at GB

After a rainy night and some real skepticizm on my part, we headed out to GB Saturday morning. The morning was pretty wet and finding things to work was a bit of a challenge. However, as the day progressed, things dried out nicely and lots of good climbing went down.

We began by working the sit start to our "Shade" problem. Many made great progress, but the send is still elusive. We then went uphill to try Snooze Button, but with the top-out still wet, we just worked out the lower moves for a while. Ben and Michael worked on a V10 by Fatwa and also a very fun looking project to the right of Snooze Button.

As Ben, Michael and Sandra moved over to some harder stuff, JP and I went back to his Bromance V5 to get some video of the sendage. JP quickly resent (video in previous post), but I could not make the big move. JP still has the only ascent we know of.

We then caught up with the others at the Speed Boulder. Ben was working Something From Nothing V11. JP and I did the V4 heel hook problem up the hill and a few variations thereof. We also sent a really cool arete behind that which I flashed and we estimated to be about V2 with some really fun moves.

We finished the day off with some of the best Burritos I've had at Azteca down in town.

Great Day. Good call JP.

Heading to Triple for the Monday holiday. Should be great temps.