back at it!

well, it's been a little over a month since the last post and 6 weeks since surgery, and i must say i'm extremely happy with the outcome of going under the knife. I started climbing again about 2 weeks ago which was a week earlier than my surgeon had recommended but i was feeling really good and i couldn't control the urge to be active any longer. i was a little worried i may have been jumping the gun but i was loosing my mind so i decided to go for it(taking things EXTREMELY slow at first). my first session back i was lucky enough to have my friend lauryn reel me in a bit, she wouldn't belay me on anything over 5.10a. (side note: i don't have the mechanism that says "stop, too much, too much!") needless to say those 6 routes 5.10a and under KICKED my ass, i was pumped out of my mind at the end of the night and needed 2 days to recover. for the first week back i took it slow, i think i climbed 3 days outta 8, all on ropes and all casual sessions. by the end of the first week i felt i could boulder a bit and decided to give it a go at work, i was super hesitant, but to my surprise it felt really good and i was able to climb much harder than i had expected. for the rest of last week i pushed myself a half notch harder each session (which have been fairly short ones) followed by ice and lots of stretching and i feel like this shit is close to being in the past! now, time to keep on the recovery game , get strong again and send some shit in the fall! SO FUCKING PSYCHED!

the road to recovery...or some bullshit like that

well... another 3 months have gone by since the last post and nothing significant has really happened outside of day to day life, which i don't feel compelled to share because, well, it's boring. but! something big happened recently. i had surgery on my elbow last tuesday! yay! ok, not really, but at least it's getting fixed. so, since my last post i had been getting in great shape, climbing stronger than i ever have before, climbing outside of work and seeing my year goals/projects come SO close to being completed, then...POP! my fucking elbow exploded the day after christmas! now, there are a number of cool things i can think of that i could have been doing when this incredibly painful and shocking pop happened, but, the truth is, i was parallel parking my god damn car. how fucking lame is that! i knew driving could be dangerous but, FUCK, c'mon! now, i know this was just a case of the 'straw that broke the camels back' since i had FOOLISHLY climbed 16 days on prior to this devastating day, that coupled with excessive holiday partying and lack of water intake lead to a dry, brittle, highly injury prone me. fast-forward 5 weeks and i haven't climbed at all and i'm waiting for insurance bullshit to get cleared up so i can have an MRI done and determine if i need surgery, 5 weeks! fast-forward another 3 weeks and here i am typing with one hand on my couch where i have spent a majority of the last 7 days bored outta my mind. initially my surgeon told me i'll be back "climbing" (5.4's) in 6 weeks, tomorrow i have my post-op follow up with my surgeon which will give me a better idea of what my recovery and rehab will be like, fingers crossed it's 6 weeks! oh, and a HUGE thank you to my good friend julia who came down from Humbolt to take care of me and keep me company.

Fall is FINALLY here!

After a seemingly endless summer it feels as though fall is finally upon us (thank god). I feel like i was so lazy this summer in regards to training for the changing of the seasons, but on a recent trip to Bishop i was proven wrong. Apparently i have gotten a bit stronger since the last time i was on the eastside (Maybe this is a result of setting), although i didn't send very many new problems, i did manage to make repeat sends (1st go) of some classics like Seven Spanish Angels and High Plains Drifter (both AMAZING). As far as new problems and projects go, i was able to do all the moves (including the massive span) on Acid Wash with some revised beta and Beef Cake in 2 parts. Both problems should go pretty fast this coming weekend when i head back down thanksgiving evening with Dex. I didn't even touch Haroun and the Sea of Stories due to conditions (or maybe that's just an excuse).


The always beautiful Buttermilks





What was just another trip to Bishop for most of the crew (Dexter, Mike, Andrew and Myself), this trip was extra special for Lauryn, it was her first time! Needless to say she loved it. Mike had a stellar trip sending a handful of V5's and his first V6 despite a pulled upper butt.



Our usual spot.

Hello again

Well, it's been a little over 2 months since I've posted anything so here's an update.

I started route setting for Touchstone in early August and it's been awesome. A lot of hard work and massive amounts of manual labor are involved in the job, which i really enjoy. I've been extremely exhausted pretty regularly since starting but it's starting to get a lot better. The first couple weeks were BRUTAL, i was falling asleep on the couch at 730 or 8 every night, one night i even fell asleep with a slice of pizza in my lap! On a positive note, i feel as tho all the hard labor and extra climbing is getting me a lot stronger, hopefully that will help this fall season!

Speaking of the fall season, the Vallley season followed by the Bishop season are just around the corner and i couldn't be more excited! Keep your fingers crossed for a cold dry fall! Lately it's been all about Tahoe, Dexter, Lauryn, Andrew, Mike, Daniel, John and i headed up there this past weekend and a few of us the couple weekends before. The conditions have been much less then ideal with temps falling between 74 and 85 degrees but the good times have been up there with the best. There's something about going away to climb for the weekend with absolutely no expectations, it kinda frees you from feeling the need to wake up at 7 to get to the blocks early, or waiting till the end of the day to have a beer, or giving a shit when you don't stick that super reachy dead point move over and over and over. When the weather is warm, the setting is beautiful and you're surrounded by good friends all that stress just disappears and you're left enjoying yourself.

the crew getting ready to get tradical (dex, andrew and i free soloed)




Mike's first Trad experience.

Route setting

It's official, I will be joining the touchstone route setting crew as early as the end of august. No more front desk for me. Psyched!

Failing

In the past month i haven't gone running once, i only climbed routes once, but i have lost a few lbs i managed to gain this spring. Basically i've been failing at the sumer of fitness program but i am feeling a bit stronger so i guess it's ok. i think it's time to try to get back on the program, lose a few more lbs, get some endurance back and be a little more structured about training. On a positive note Trinity Aretes was freaking rad! Although our trip was cut a day short Natasha and i had a good time figuring out some routes and coming close to finishing up some hard lines. Natasha worked all the moves of Spliff 13c and i did all the moves on Smoke Signals also 13c but very different. Spliff is a 80 foot endurance test where Smoke Signals is a 40 foot boulder problem. both very cool routes that fit our very different styles of climbing, Tash can hold on for the long haul and i do much better on short bouldery routes. i was very surprised i enjoyed Smoke Signals so much since it's pretty much solid 12c/d for the first 3 clips then it turns on at a VERY crimpy v8ish crux. Overall this is an amazing crag and i'm psyched to go back there and finish that route.

Summer Time

Summer is here and it's pretty much to hot to climb outside for me, so that leaves me with training in the gym and my new found hobby of trail running. I started out the summer drinking a shit ton of beer and eating a a shit ton of BBQ, that has all changed now, it's time to get fit. in the next 8 weeks i need to shed the 8 pounds of body fat i gained drinking all that beer and eating all that food. my plan; run a bunch, climb a ton of routes and watch my diet very closely (all of this applies to monday - saturday, sunday is the "eat anything you want day") i'm cutting out nearly all beer, dairy and processed foods. 3 by 4's here i come, gotta get that endurance back. Regular 7 to 10 mile trail runs are also in the line up. Summer of Fitness 2010 has begun. On another note i'm going up to Trinity Aretes soon for some fun sport climbing, really psyched on that.

Found the Psych!

After a pretty discouraging spring session in The Valley and the distraction of sport climbing to heal a nearly busted shoulder i've found the psych again. In the past 10 days i've bouldered on plastic 4 times which just about doubles the total number of boulder sessions since my shoulder started feeling fucked 4 months ago and i have to say i'm pretty surprised at how quickly it's coming back. As long as my shoulder doesn't explode i'm ready to get back at it and train fucking hard this summer. It's gonna take A LOT of hard work and dedication to obtain my goal of climbing V10 by the fall but i'm down to make the effort. PSYCHED!

Surf Safari

Dan and i decided to head out to Surf Safari 5.13d/14a this morning thinking that it would be perfect since the weather is so good but we were wrong. The holds were all wet which made clipping a bit nerve wrecking especially in the first couple bolts. We basically ended up doing a couple aid pitches instead of actually sport climbing. Being that it was my first time out there i didn't care that it was wet all that much, i really just wanted to figure out beta and make a few moves which i did so i don't feel like it was a total waste. I'm psyched to get back out there and try it again with drier conditions.

routes vs bouldering

apparently i've become a route climber and my bouldering has gone to complete shit. 6 months ago i could not have imagined myself climbing pretty well on routes but for some strange reason i'm fucking psyched on climbing the longer ones right now. i really wish i could get back into bouldering shape but being that the spring season is looking to be a bit of a wash i might just keep roping up and see if i can attain my goal of climbing 5.14 by the fall. who knows, i'm hella indecisive about shit right now. either way i need to start training hard and STOP eating candy.