Japan! (and two climbing gyms there.)

Well I've been back from Japan for over a week, and I still have not blogged about it. Honestly, to write a comprehensive report of the trip would be incredibly time consuming, and might very well trivialize just how amazing the experience was. My brother, David, and his girlfriend, Yuko, both had a week off from work for the "Golden Week" holiday, and my visit spanned the weekends before and after this week. We started in their small(ish) city of Matsuyama on the small(ish) island of Shukoku, and over the course of nine days, by way of ferry and bullet trains, eventually made our way to Tokyo, where we departed for our respective homes. Instead of giving you a play by play, I'm simply going to caption my photos and you can use your imagination to fill in the gaps.

Waiting for my flight from Tokyo to Matsuyama on my first day

A Park in Matsuyama

Slackline party in the park

Daichi, the slackline samurai, teaching me the finer points.

from L to R: me, David, Yuko

The famous and very ancient Dougo Onsen, Matsuyama

The delicious Dougo Brewery

Shrine at the base of Matsuyama Castle

Matsuyama Castle, famous as it is one of the few castles that was not damaged during WWII. Some parts of the castle are over 800 years old.

Storming the castle in my Evolv Cruzers

Matsuyama Castle

Gate at Matsuyama Castle

Old school

View from inside the castle

Dressed up in replica samurai armor in Matsuyama Castle.

One of the two gyms I climbed at while in Japan was Ascent Ray, a very efficient training wall in Matsuyama. They have some strong climbers and a few really hard problems.

Bouldering session at Ascent Ray

The Crew at Ascent Ray

Taking the ferry to Hiroshima

 

That's right, STOP! I loved the signage everywhere I looked in Japan.

Approaching Hiroshima on the ferry from Matsuyama

Hiroshima, rebuilt and modern.

We took another ferry from Hiroshima to Miyajima, a sacred island covered in temples and shrines, and populated by cute, domesticated deer in every which way.

Miyajima

Monk writing caligraphy on Miyajima.

Hiking to the top of Mt. Misen, the summit of Miyajima island.

On top of Mt. Misen, Miyajima. As I looked out I saw entire mountain ridges covered in vast granite boulder fields.

View from Mt. Misen, Miyajima.

Mt. Misen, Miyajima.

View from Mt. Misen, Miyajima.

Atop Mt. Misen, Miyajima.

Miyajima at night

Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima

The A-Bomb dome. This building is left as a memorial to the victims of the atomic bomb and sits just at the entrance to the Hiroshima Peace Park, adjacent to the T-bridge, which was the bomb's target.

In the Peace Park. Each colorful piece of paper is an origami crane.

Scale model of central Hiroshima before 8:15 AM, August 6th, 1945.

Scale model of central Hiroshima after 8:15 AM, August 6th, 1945.

before and after photos.

View through the Hiroshima Peace Park towards the A-Bomb Dome, from the Museum.

Approaching Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto, after our Shinkansen (bullet train) from Hiroshima.

 

View of Kyoto from Kiyomizu-dera

Dave and I drinking from the sacred fountain at Kiyomizu-dera.

Nijo Castle, Kyoto, the site where the Shogun announced that he was returning power to the Emperor, a key component of the Meiji Restoration

The Golden Pavilion Temple, Kyoto

The world's largest wooden building? Nope, just the gate to it.

Yes, the world's largest wooden building, Todai-ji, Nara (near Kyoto)

The giant Buddha in Todai-ji

Buddha guardians mean business.

Lanterns at Kasuga Grand Shrine, Nara

Kasuga Grand Shrine

Six stories of escalators in The Cube, Kyoto

View from The Cube, Kyoto.

Kyoto Tower from The Cube

Shinkansen (bullet train) from Kyoto to Tokyo.

Throngs of people on their way to Senso-ji temple, Asakusa, Tokyo

Senso-ji, Tokyo

 

Auguste Rodin's The Gates of Hell, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo.

Tokyo National Museum of Art

Tokyo National Museum of Art

Tokyo National Museum of Art

Looking up at Tokyo Tower, just before we went up.

Carp banners

View from Tokyo Tower

View from Tokyo Tower

View from Tokyo Tower

View from Tokyo Tower, the famous Rainbow Bridge in the distance.

Yaki Niku (grilled meat, which you actually grill on your table) for dinner.

s-loads of onigiri (delicious rice and meat/fish snacks)

Yes, a Gundam Cafe, with a line past the next store, but check out the line for the AKB48 Cafe. Don't know who AKB48 are? Neither did I.

Flee market in Akihabara. Got Godzilla?

Akihabara, Tokyo

Akihabara, Tokyo

B-Pump Bouldering. A GREAT gym in Akihabara, Tokyo

The bookshelf at B-Pump. Lots of American destinations here!

grades.

Working some harder problems at B-Pump.

My new friend, Keisuke Kitamura (Kitamu), at B-Pump.

Great setting! B-Pump has awesome terrain and obviously some good setters.

The B-Pump scene. Very friendly collective vibe.

Kitamu and myself going through the beta on one B-Pump's hardest problems.

Mario and Pacman! Akihabara, Tokyo.

There's nothing like Yakitori to recover from a hard bouldering session.

"Maman" by Louise Bourgeois, at Roppongi Hills.

Inside Roppongi Hills.

Tokyo Tower and the full moon.

At "Geronimo Shot Bar" the proprietor, AJ, told us to go around the block to get amazing all-you-can-eat Shabu Shabu. Amazing.

Yuko working the shabu shabu magic in Roppongi, Tokyo.

Again, I loved the signage.

"Bear Claw," "Because I'm a Bear," and sad animal families missing their dads. T-shirts in Harojuku, Tokyo.

Donated sake barrels at the Meiji Shrine, Tokyo.

Two gates and the Meiji Shrine in the distance.

half tree at the Meiji Shrine.

Meiji Shrine

Street art in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo

People doing their thing, Yoyogi Park, Tokyo.

Yoyogi Park

This guy was seriously impressive! That box he's wearing is pumping electronic beats, which he can slow down and scratch and mix digitally right on the box. Simultaneously, he dances (non-stop!) and creates these lovely spray paint, stencil, paint, and oil stick pieces on paper.

As soon as he finished one, he would start another.

Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo.

!!!!!!

 

Delicious tempura, soba, udon, and sake for my last dinner in Japan.

Duck and leak udon.

Tsukiji tuna auction. 5:00 am.

Tsukiji tuna auction. These things are HUGE and go for several thousand dollars each.

 

From the auction, to a 6:30 am sushi breakfast! Freshest fish I've ever had.

We bought a little dragon head sweet and the woman proprietor of the stall insisted that we enjoy it with some green tea. Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo.

This guy has a stall where he sells hand-made knives. Here he is sharpening one that I took back to the states as a gift. Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo.

This temple is different in that it is made of stone and not wood.

On the grounds of the Imperial Palace, Tokyo.

Moat, Imperial Palace, Tokyo.

And lastly, the famous view of the two bridges and the Imperial Palace, Tokyo.

I hope you enjoyed my visual tour of Japan. I would love to go back for another visit and hopefully get to climb outside next time! (Record rain flooded the bouldering area of Mitake, which we had hoped to visit when in Tokyo.) As always, stay tuned for more sports action climbing posts soon!

Back to Boney Bluff!

Sunday, a crew of us assembled and made the long hike back to Boney Bluff. Maya, Steve Gaspar, Monica Arone and I met up with Christina Pilo and Brett Gottdener to round out the group. After the 3+ mile approach and a quick rest, we got to enjoying the pocketed intricacies of Santa Monica Mountains breccia.

Steve Gaspar on one of the 5.10 warm-ups

Brett Gottdener on the cliff's other 5.10.

We then popped around the corner for some of the crags steeper goods.

Christina Pilo warming up on "Joyride" (5.11b)

A thick marine layer, which we had to drive through on the way up and down from the mountains, kept rolling in and out of the hills all day.

Christina went for a run up the highly recommended Piledriver (12b) and Brett managed to flash the line!

Christina Pilo gunning for it on "Piledriver" (5.12b) instargram photo: Maya Bartur

 After a sufficient warm-up, I decided to move one line of bolts to the left of the climb I sent last week, Skinny White Boy, to try the bouldery and beta-intensive Filth Pig (13b).

Clipping the first bolt of "Filth Pig" photo: Monica Arone

Although I wasn't able to send, or even really give it a good redpoint burn because it took me a while and a couple goes to figure out the sequences, I'm psyched on the line and look forward to getting back to it in the near future.

Clipping the second bolt of "Filth Pig." photo: Maya Bartur

Working out the beta on "Filth Pig." photo: Monica Arone

I was eventually able to convince Brett and Christina to try Skinny White Boy. When Christina ran into a crux, she decided to swing instead.

Hangdogging/swinging party photo: Maya Bartur

Pulling on small pockets on "Filth Pig." photo: Monica Arone

Another shot of me not sending, but working beta on "Filth Pig." instagram photo: Maya Bartur

As the sun sunk low in the sky, we gathered our belongings and hurried to get back to the cars before dark, but not before the obligatory group photo.

Brett, Christina, Steve, Monica, Maya, and me. What a crew!

Check out how that marine layer has filled that high valley.

We weren't quite able to make it all the way to the trailhead before dark, but headlamps sufficed to navigate our way along the last quarter of the hike out.

I can't wait to get back to Boney, not to mention Black Mountain, now that the snow is melting; however, I won't be able to visit either for at least two weeks, because I leave Thursday night for Japan to visit my brother! If I'm lucky, maybe I can fit some climbing in while I'm there. Stay psyched folks, and see you out there!

Boney Bluff and Some New Sport Psych!

Pardon the lack of posts lately, but I've been mostly climbing plastic the last few weeks. We got a new set up on the less steep side of the bouldering area at Rockreation LA, and I've been setting some fun harder sport climbs in there as well. Check them out if that's your gym!

Saturday was another USA Climbing SCS (sport climbing series) comp, held this time at Hangar 18 in Riverside. The setting was great, the comp was run smoothly, and all the kids had a good time. Natalie climbed better than I had seen her yet, and onsighted 3 of her 4 routes! Watching all the kids clip bolts got me kind of psyched for my own sport climbing adventure, which I had planned for Sunday.

Mike Hass and I decided that taking a trip to J-Tree, Black Mt, or the Tramway this weekend (or next) seemed like a bad idea due to the traffic ramifications of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. We hesitantly decided that Echo Cliffs could be a decent alternative for a day's climbing, as Malibu Creek was out because Mike had his dog, Clyde, to watch for the day. Not super psyched for anything in particular at Echo, and hungry for new stone, I tossed out the idea of Boney Bluff as we readied for the approach hike, and to my surprise, Mike agreed. 

A view during our hike in.

I had never been to Boney, but I had heard mixed reviews.  Some have described it as a steep and fingery training ground for hard, powerful sport climbing, with the best view of any crag in SoCal. In fact, Louie Anderson goes so far in his Sport Climbing in the Santa Monicas guide as to call it "one of the most impressive pieces of rock in Southern California (from a sport climbing perspective)."
Others have described it as a grid-bolted, overgrown chosspile, not worth its approach.
We figured we'd never know if we didn't check it out ourselves, and luckily for us, we found it to be the former.

Mike psyched as we spy the formation in the distance.

Two lines are bolted on the sunny vertical face, but the meat of the routes lie on the steepening overhang.

More rock outcroppings in the distance as seen from Boney Bluff

Look at that ocean view!

The main wall of Boney Bluff, steepening on its left like a crashing wave, hosts a plethora of routes and linkups in the 5.12 to 5.13+ range, with a few projects and potential for further development if a strong climber were motivated enough. (the rock surely requires extensive cleaning.)

Mike and I warmed up by onsighting the "standard warm-up," according to Louie's book, "Joyride," (5.11b) and then jumped on its 12a linkup, "Joy Rush." We then figured we'd had enough playing around and moved over to the steep section of the wall to try the classic "Skinny White Boy," (12d) first climbed by Tom Wight in 1996.

Mike, looking up at the steep section of rock that is home to "Bionic" (13b), "Biosphere" (13c/d), "Atmosphere" (13d), "Lithium" (13c), "Sureshot" (13a), "Filth Pig" (13b), "Skinny White Boy," and several others

Mike Nash sticking the dyno on "Skinny White Boy." Photo by Perri Nguyen

I was psyched to send the line on my third try, having fallen after clipping the last bolt on my second. Mike made great progress and will certainly send the line if we continue to visit Boney as we now intend to.

Chains clipped, on "Skinny White Boy." Great climbing on positive pockets to a big move!

Mike, hanging out.

We scoped the harder lines, and have definitely decided to return to the bluff! I've been kind of psyched on seeing what I can do on a rope again, having not really pushed it since my accident in 2007, so I'm excited to see what lines I can send at this local power crag!

What does Clyde think of the bluff?

I think he at least enjoys the view!

Check out those huge dishes in the distance.

Looks like we'll be headed back to Boney Bluff next weekend, so tune in again for some actual sports action photos next week.
Stay psyched folks, and see you out there!

Free and Open

I wanted to share with you all a project that my buddy Drew Mylrea has been working on for a while. Free and Open is a proposed webseries, which takes place in a post-internet censorship U.S. I'll let Drew and his Kickstarter campaign do the talking, but I highly recommend that folks take a look. If you're reading this blog, you probably believe in an uncensored internet, so take a moment to check out this project.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/226149635/free-and-open

Another Horse Flats Day

I spent Saturday up at Horse Flats with a great crew: Itai Axelrad, Charlie Andrews, Christina Pilo, Brett Gottdener, "Ninja" Kris Linstrom, and Richie Wong. Unfortunately, Brett is nursing an injured finger, so he didn't really get to climb, but everyone else went home with some new sends.

After a long warmup, during which Charlie, Itai and I did the Peanut Problem (v7) and the classic Bow Sprits (v2/v4 sds), we tried the nicely patina'd, steep face of Arbor Day. The three of us traded attempts from the sit start, climbing powerful, tensiony moves on incut holds, only to fall at least once each off of the top. After the rest of the crew arrived at the boulder and Kris quickly sent the stand start (v5), Charlie and I were re-motivated for the sit, but we were thrown a curveball when Charlie broke a crimp off the lower section. We figured out some slightly different beta and after a few tries we both sent the full line. Arbor Day SDS, is even better in its newly broken state, and Charlie and I both felt that it would be fair to call this one v8. The bottom climbs really well, but we didn't manage to get any good photos or footage of the full line.

Kris sending "Arbor Day Stand"

While the rest of the crew held back for a little while at Bow Sprits, I took Charlie and Itai over to Blank Generation, a short, powerful problem that I was able to send recently. Itai managed to FLASH the full line, and Charlie managed the send after a handful of close calls. Way to go guys! There is video of Itai's flash, so watch the Axelrad twins' blog for that.

Charlie Anrews sending "Blank Generation SDS" (v10)

Charlie sticking the crux of "Blank Generation"

Charlie holding that swing like it's nothing.

 

 

After Blank Generation, we met up with the rest of the crew at Orange Flambé, another area classic that I've tried here and there over the years. The delicate face saw ascents by Charlie, Itai, and Kris, but neither Christina or I could seal the deal. Looks like we'll have to return for it another day.

Myself starting out on "Orange Flambé" (photo: Richie Wong)

Ninja Kris starting "Orange Flambé"

 

Pulling the first crux (photo by Richie)

Itai past the crux and heading for the topout.

Kris

Charlie gunning for the top of "Orange Flambé"

From Orange Flambé, Itai, Charlie, and I explored the Titanium Man cluster of boulders for a bit, finding one amazing, tall wall of crimps that we figured would best be left for another climber on another day. As the afternoon stretched on, we decided to head out, but stopped at one of the earlier boulders in the main area to try a harder looking line to the left of an obvious jughaul, just off the trail. We all sent the unknown problem in short order and felt that it made a perfect ending to a nice long day of bouldering.

Itai on our last problem of the day.

  We made the long hike back to the car, parked way out by the gate to the Christian Camp, since the road to the campgrounds is still "closed for the season" and reflected on an awesome day on excellent California granite. 

What a view. Ridges of the San Gabriel Mountains, seen from Horse Flats.

Stay psyched you weekend-warriors and full-time rock grapplers alike. Hope to see you out on the rocks!