Trying to Catch Up, The Tooth and My Last Day at Little si

Well hello everyone. I'm sure you've missed me. Or maybe not. Either way, here is a very late blog post. I'll be making a lot of them in the next few days in an attempt to catch everyone up with what I've been doing. I've got more than enough photos, words, a video, and hopefully a lot of inspiration. So sit back and enjoy the show.
The above picture is of my friend Kyle on the middle section of the The Tooth. As Kyle put it, "The Tooth is like training wheels for alpine trad climbing." Indeed.



Here are some pictures of the rocky ridges that enveloped our approach to the Tooth. These were taken on our way out of the valley.



It was absolutely a beautiful day and I went shirtless pretty much all day, which I paid for severely for the next week (and maybe even possibly the rest of my life)



One of the highlights of the trip was discovering the amazing potential for alpine bouldering in this valley. There was everything, from lazer-cut faces, aretes, high balls, low balls, roofs, corners, slabs, etc etc. It was mind boggling!



Here is Kyle doing a great impression of a down hill skier.



Like I said, the weather was amazing. There was at least five other groups on the route that day, but once we got to the summit, we had the 360 panoramic view to ourselves and we sat and drank Rainier and sorted gear and got ready to do it a second time.



Rainier. So bummed I wasn't able to join my friends on a summit of this rig before I left.



Here is the valley you have to walk up in order to get to the base of the climb. It was great to get back on a snow field.



The future realm! This was the most impressive boulder I saw. Overhung face with every kind of feature you can imagine, and some HARD lines as well. Perfect top out, little to no cleaning involved. I want to hear of some FA's my friends!



Here is the beginning of the approach across the snow field. The Tooth is the big blob in the middle fo the photo.



Ahhhh, Litte si. What would my blog be without you? Once I was able to squeeze my foot into a climbing shoe it was on. I wanted to get some endurance back and go for a redpoint of something hard. Unfortunately, I just never got the appropriate momentum going. I did however manage to repeat a bunch of lines I had done before. Psychosomatic became almost like a warm up. I managed to repeat it 5 times, Techno 4 times, and a one time repeat of the ultra classic bouldery test piece PC-7. I did hop on Californicator but it kicked my ass and I decided to just get some mileage in. I had such a good time every time I made it out here and I never ceased to be inspired by this crag. I am so bummed I didn't have more time here, I was really feeling strong on my last day and with a little more time (like a month), feel like I could have put away alot of hard lines.
Below and above are some pictures I took of Sonja and her friend climbing Californicator.

Hair of the Dog

Wow, I've been terrible at updating my blog lately. Mostly due to the fact that my life is in a state of constant flux right now.
In the last three weeks I have managed to quit my job, move out of my apartment, and do a ton of goodbyes, hellos, hiking, a dash of climbing, and a lot of Good Will trips. It’s been one of the most exciting times in my life! I love the thought of a different landscape, different people, and different experiences the former bring with them.

Bob's area!

One of the most exciting developments for me lately has been my ability to rock climb with two feet! Last weekend I managed a back to back rock climbing trip; first day was Bob’s Area at Mt. Washington, and the second day was spent at my favorite area of all Little Si. Needless to say I have a bit of endurance to get back, but I will be a mere 30 minutes from the crag for the next 2.5 weeks and hopefully a project or two will fall? I have so many goals that I want to accomplish, or at least attempt, before I go, I’m just a little nervous in thinking about how obtainable they all are.

The approach to the Tooth.

The Tooth is that little guy smack dab in the middle.

Nick finishing up Aborigine (5.11b).

Nick drop knees into the crux of Technorigine (5.12c).

Nick off of Techno.

While last weekend was great; with the exception of a recon mission to find and hike to the base of the Tooth (a super classic multi-pitch trad climb in Snoqualmie Valley), the week on the other hand was full of stress. There were a couple of fleeting moments where I felt like it was never going to end and I was making the wrong decision. Moving out of a place can have a deleterious effect on ones psyche from time to time. The people at my job were great and threw me a going away party with a cake and everything. I was also bought lunch and dinner and yes, there were several tears shed. Whether they were tears of joy or sadness remains a mystery.
It took two trips to get the rest of my ‘stuff’ vacated from my apartment. In all I had lived there for two and half years! I think the longest place I have lived before this was another apartment complex near Evergreen with my then girlfriend Liz.


I've heard this alot over the last 16 months. I had four pieces.

Laura doing all the work.

Dom watching.

Mel watching.

I enjoyed the Hacienda (this is the name of the apartment complex). The small garden and walled in patio out front were pluses and the pool was very nice. Not to mention being in such close proximity to the Chehalis-Western trail was amazing, I absolutely loved running on it in the Fall when the Big Leaf Maples started to shed their decaying leaves. Of course living in Lacey, as well as in an apartment complex that some would describe as having a close resemblance to a south Los Angeles ghetto has its drawbacks. But it was a great little place for me and served its purpose well. Driving back to Seattle last night with my car filled to the brim for a second time I didn’t feel very nostalgic. Just tired and ready to be done sorting, moving, giving, throwing away, and being totally and utterly overwhelmed.
I’m here in Seattle now and last night I had the first realizations of a feeling that could only be described as “Holy Shit dude! You don’t have a job or a place to stay!” I stood in my mom’s kitchen swilling a warm beer and thinking about how my life had almost come full circle. Eight years ago I picked up what little belongings I had and moved to Olympia, and here I was doing the same dance in reverse. Now, it’s not entirely true, I do have places to stay and a small short term job landscaping, but the feeling of having the carpet pulled from beneath my feet and angrily getting up rubbing my backside only to find that the culprit was someone who closely resembled yours truly is a little stunning.

Seatown.

Don't worry, he's just sleeping.

I’m trying not to think about all of the hugely important and absolutely crucial things I need to do before I make my final voyage north to Alaska (like get a ferry reservation, trim my belongings down to what will fit in my car, say good bye to very dear friends, pay bills, save enough money to live on for two months, and find a job!). For now, I just want to think about the incredibly awesome time I’m going to have tomorrow at my BBQ as 15-20 of my friends from Oly and Seattle will combine to form some out of control love fest hungrily making its way down Greenwood taking no prisoners.
Not to mention the pre-BBQ crush fest at Little si. Hope to see you all there!

Movie Time Part 2! Double Hooray!!

YES: this is the greatest climbing movie you will EVER see.
NO: this is not a professionally made anything...
PLEASE: crack a beer (or Kombucha), sit back and hopefully you won't fall asleep a few minutes into this (fingers crossed).

Time for Some Action!

Jimmy crushing Psychosomatic(5.12d) before redpointing Flatliner(5.13c)
Unfortunately my camera decided to go on the fritz as Jimmy soared up the wall and through the bouldery crux of Flatliner and all my pics of him on this stunning line are trashed!! Jimmy has been on the power endurance ride of his life this last month sending another 5.13b Lizard Prince and crushing his first 5.13c Flatliner. Great work Jimmy!!!!

July has just flown(!!) by. My good friend and climbing partner Nick came back from D.C. to visit and certainly left his mark. It took a couple trips for Nick to get re-acquainted with his once local crag Little si, but once he did it was game time! Making short work of Graven Image(5.12c) he then turned his attention to his long term project and gem of the crag Chronic(5.13b). On his fourth go of the day, on his 3rd work session this year he pulled a send out of the bag in typical Nick fashion screaming from the top of his lungs and depth of his soul to stay on through the crux for his first .13b send!!!


Nick enters the final crux section on Chronic(5.13b)


Latching the last move!!! Nice job Nick! Super proud!


Can you find the climber on Techno?



A wet morning in Seattle.





Keenan TR's Aborigine(5.11b)

Lisa has also put down her first send of the summer with an amazing redpoint of one of the hardest 5.12d's at Little si, Californicator. She had been working this with me for a month now and finally pulled out the send with style! Nice job Lisa, I hope I can join the club soon...

Lisa sticks a move on Californicator(5.12d)


Check out the WRG tank top, REPRESENT!!


Lisa crushes the crux on Cali.

Well, I just returned from another day out at the World Wall. The temps were the worst I have ever climbed in. Warm with a mixture of high humidity. GROSS!! Everything felt nasty and impossibly slick. I did, however, manage almost all the moves on Chronic and am so psyched on this line it's not even funny! I have a pretty good feeling that if my fitness keeps increasing this line will go down this year.
In other news of the day no huge sends went down, but Lisa did manage another one hang attempt of Psychosomatic and is very, very, VERY close to sending yet another giant at the wall. As soon as that and Prop go down it's time for Chronic!!


Lisa sticks the finger jug on Psychosomatic(5.12d)


Grabbing the victory jug!

Tomorrow we are all headed to a new crag, Newhalem. I'm so stoked but have a bad feeling my onsighting skills have severely diminished due to all the projecting I've been doing this last month. But, we'll have to wait and see how the routes play out. I've heard a lot of good things about this crag and I hope something in the mid to high 5.12 range will go down. Jimmy has his eye on a 5.13a called OSX so I'm sure I'll get on that as well. I just hope my camera stops spazzing out on me. Hope everyone is well and having a great summer so far.

New Beta

Lisa staring down the barrel of the last move on Hanging Out to Dry (5.12b) at the old World Wall.

Just finished watching Germany stomp Argentina into the ground, 4 to nil (zip, nada, nothing, zero!). Relaxing in front of the glow of my lap top before heading out to Tieton for a couple days. A lot has happened in the last few weeks so here is the short and dirty version.


Mika Peterson, great friend, strong member of the Oly' climbing community, had to say goodbye to all of the people he has had a profound impact on here to go back to his home country Tanzania, Africa. Mika was an intensely positive person with a great outlook on life and I'm really proud to have known him and be able to nurture his climbing ability while he was here. On the various trips to World Wall One Mika went from redpointing .10c to bagging his first .12a! Have a great year Mika and I'm psyched to reunite someday in Africa, maybe a Rocklands trip??





Had a good weekend in Seattle where I said goodbye to more good friends Jenny and Jason who are off to live in Europe for two years. Good luck guys! I think I remember hearing about some good craigs in Europe somewhere??


Most recently, Jimmy has sent a long time nemesis at WW1 Californicator!! Great job Jimmy! And even more recently, as of yesterday Jimmy, Lisa, Kevin and I returned to World Wall where Jimmy had a great day repeating some hard classics, Techno, Psychosomatic, Hanging Out to Dry, polishing the crux on Chronic off, and winding down with Rainy Day. Lisa and I have both made good progress on Californicator. I feel really psyched on this project right now and yesterday I made leaps and bounds in refining my beta and I'm confident it will go this summer. Here are some shots of Lisa on Hanging Out to Dry.

Evergreen Massive/Kyle's Going Away Party

Mika on Belay


Eva figuring out the whole Girls in the Gym thing.


Kyle say CHEESE! Eva in the background on Reptiles


Kyle tackling the first crux on Abo

Whew! Sitting in my mother dearests' study typing away. Took a break from 'Atlas Shrugged' to write about my day. Little si was brilliant, a lot of people were there. Arrived at the crag by 11, and sent the first route with great care.
Too tired to rhyme anymore.
Showed up to the crag and was greeted by a whole crew from Evergreen including Mika, Kyle T., Ausch(spelling?), Eva, and Carrie. The forecast called for sun and we got it, but instead of 63 degree temps it was more like 50 degrees with the wind blowing the warmth from your very soul. No matter. I had a lot of energy and it was great to be at the World Wall. I kept promising myself I would give Californicator a few good burns but never got around to it, and by the time I did get around to it people were running a train on it. Oh well, I got in a good 6 pitches between 11 and 4:15. Managed Psychosomatic, Abo, Psychowussy, GITG, GITG extension(fell at very top), and of course my lady in waiting Rainy Day Woman. Overall a top notch yet cold day of wonderful climbing and to boot a send off sesh with good friend Kyle who will no longer be with us as of next week. Good luck in Colorado Kyle!! I'm super psyched on WW1, fitness felt extremely high today and I climbed all day in my Dragons which are now my go to shoe. Routes I'm psyched on: Extendorigine, Californicator, and Propaganda. Plus a few others which I will have to wait and see if I have the time or the effort to send. After talking to Audrey today I feel like I need to step it up and start getting on some .13's! That woman is extremely psyched on climbing, in great shape, and very inspiring to watch climbing.
Bad news is that it looks like the first week of April is going to be a wet one indeed and the wall was already seeping in some places(but for the most part all dry, with the exception of the far left wall). Looks like I'll have to get my kicks at the WRG.