Return to Craig's Cave

No, I didn't stop climbing outside, though I'm setting 3 to 4 days a week at various gyms.
I've been out climbing at Malibu Creek a few times (check the twins' post here), and I intend to keep going back until I send a few things, but this weekend I went back to Vegas for a change of scenery. On Saturday I met up with Max Moore, Craig Berman, and Miranda (Craig's fiancé, congrats guys!) for a lovely day of pulling powerful moves on the horizontal roof that they've been developing over the past few years. You may recall it from posts such as this one and this one. I was pretty psyched to send "Rain Delay," a new problem put up by Max earlier this season, on my first try and Craig went home with a send as well.

Myself snagging the second ascent of Max Moore's "Rain Delay" (v10) on my first try. Psyched for the personal first. Photo: Max Moore

The big move to the boob hold. Photo: Max Moore

Photo: Max Moore

Craig Berman, original developer of the cave, sending his longest ever project with the second ascent of Max's "Unibrow" (v11).

Craig looking serious as he heel-toe cams against his own shin to grab the good hold.

Craig sending "Unibrow."

Miranda working "Flat Spin" (v8).

There are some damn hard moves in the cave, like this sdk on Max's "Bargy" (v12) Photo: Max Moore

Doing the heel-toe against the shin while working the moves on "Bargy"/"Unibrow"/other link-ups. Photo: Max Moore

Same move, different perspective. Photo: Max Moore

Max is psyched!

By the end of the session, Max was climbing in the dark, and ended up falling on the last move of his epic link-up project. A "next day for sure" thing.

I'm totally psyched to get back up to Mt. Charleston very soon for some bolt clipping, but I might also have to swing back by the cave a couple of times too to clean up some stuff. Stay psyched, and see you out there!

Mt. Charleston Homecoming / Tour Guiding Weekend

Last weekend was great. On Friday, I departed LA with Charlie Andrews, his sister Emily, and Itai Axelrad for a weekend of sport clippin' up at Mt. Charleston, just northwest of Las Vegas. Itai's done a nice write-up here. I'll keep this post brief, but suffice it to say that we did a lot of climbing, and I'm very psyched to be climbing on a rope again (as well as frequently bouldering)! 

We started at the pre-eminent Charleston crag, The Hood, to give everyone a proper introduction to the flawless and foot-hold-less limestone, with the intention of heading to The Robbers' Roost on Sunday.

The Imagination Wall, as seen from the trailhead for The Hood.

Untouched rock. That massive cave on the right side sports a continuous 45 degree overhang on its left side for well over  100 feet before easing back to that rad looking headwall.

Emily on "Heatin' up the Hood" (5.11c).

falling!

Charlie Andrews pulling just one of the killer moves on "Infectious Groove" (5.13b). Photo: Itai Axelrad

Charlie pulling the second crux of "Infectious Groove."

Redpoint crux.

After the redpoint crux.

From Infectious, we zipped over to the Compton Cave, where Charlie and I would jump on Closing Down. I hadn't been on the route (famous for seeing ascents by kids like Chris Sharma, Eric Scully, and Shawn Diamond in the late 90's) since before my accident 5 years ago, so I was pretty psyched that my beta burn didn't feel too bad! I know I'll have to work hard to get into good enough shape to climb such a difficult pitch, but the fact that I was able to execute every move fairly quickly got me psyched to keep trying it. 

Myslf on "Closing Down" (5.14a) Photo: Itai Axelrad

Aaaand, after Closing Down, Charlie had enough psych to jump on Wailing Souls, a bouldery route that comes right out the middle of the Souls Cave. 

Charlie, clipping on "Wailing Souls" (5.13d) before casting off into the crux.

The last move of the crux of "Wailing Souls." It's "only" 5.12+ from there to the top. 

 On Sunday, we went right back to the Infectious Cave so that Charlie could send Infectious Groove (which he did, first try of the day), and I took a burn on Infectious as well, falling off of the upper redpoint crux to pull off the dreaded un-send. Watching Audrey work Ghetto Boyz, got me really psyched to try that one this season as well.

Audrey Sniezek on "Ghetto Boyz" (5.13c) 

Audrey Sniezek on "Ghetto Boyz" (5.13c) 

Audrey Sniezek on "Ghetto Boyz" (5.13c)

Itai working out "Infectious Groove." Photo: Charlie Andrews

Last, but certainly not least, Charlie and I gave burns on Corrosion, although it was dripping wet. Charlie had to be at LAX at 6 am on Monday morning to catch his flight to pre-Nationals training camp in Atlanta, so time was a little bit more limited than it had been the previous day, but we were all too tired to keep climbing anyway!

Charlie bustin through the crux on "Corrosion" (5.13a).

Needless to say, the weekend got me super duper psyched to climb more on a rope and to take more trips back to Vegas. This weekend, however, I'll be headed to Black Mt. for the 7th annual Black Mt. Boulder Bash. It's this Saturday, the 23rd, at Black Mt. Group Camp sites 4/5 (yellow post sites, bring an Adventure Pass.) I hope to see some of you there!

Stay psyched and climb safe.

Blochead's 5k Miles part 3

Max and Lib finished the Priest Draw segment of their 5,000 Miles video series, and it is really impressive. Check it out HERE to see tons of footage of my favorite type of climbing, horizontal roofs, on problems ranging from v0 to v11.

http://blocheadclimbing.blogspot.com/2011/10/5000-miles-part-3-priest-draw.html

Challenging Charleston Choss

Friday afternoon I left work and hit the road for Vegas. I had a few errands to attend to, such as smogging and renewing the registration on my brother's car that he so graciously lets me borrow while he is living in Japan (thanks Dave), so I made plans also to hook up with my friend Max Moore (Blochead) and check out the bouldering cave that Craig Berman and he were developing up on Mt. Charleston last year. 

Max and Craig at the Charleston cave.

The cave has been described by some as choss, and as conglomerate limestone that is true by definition, but Craig and Max's efforts last year paid off and the roof has really cleaned up. With three obvious starts and 3 or 4 potential finishes, the cave provides a high concentration of hard bouldering at close to 9000 feet elevation. How can anyone complain about that?
Max, Liberty, and I went up Saturday afternoon and ended up meeting up with Craig for a few hour session.

Max Moore warming up by climbing the finishing sequence of Goin' Postal (v10)

While I sussed beta for the three v9s that all start in the same place, Side Burn, Landing Strip, and Happy Trail, which finish going left, straight up, and right respectively, Craig and and Max worked out beta for a new hard line starting left in the cave and finishing on the right pocket exit, Happy Trail, which will probably land in the 10 to 11 point range. The complex sequence involves a heel-toe cam against your own shin, followed by a wild foot cut.

Craig trying his new project

Max on the same

Because I came so close to sending the trifecta of Side Burn, Landing Strip, and Happy Trail on Saturday, I felt compelled to return Sunday to send all three. Luckily for me, my awesome mom (who turned 60 this year and is still on Ski Patrol! Go mom!) wanted to go for a hike up on the mountain on Sunday anyway, so it took no convincing to get her to follow me to the Craigslist Cave and watch me try to put a couple of problems to rest. (note, the cave doesn't have a proper name yet. many  have been suggested, but I think that Craig's List or the Craigslist Cave are only fair, since Craig Berman did do the majority of the developing himself.)

Luckily, the 9000 ft altitude proved to effect me less the second day, and I was able to pull out sends of Landing Strip and Side Burn first try each, and I fell literally matching the lip to top out Happy Trail. I suspect (hope) I'll send it next time I'm there, between attempts on any of the other difficult lines in the cave. At the end of the day I also managed to pull a flash of Flat Spin (v8) out of my ass. Needless to say, with such a high concentration of hard boulders and a 30 to 40 minute hike up to roughly 9000 feet, the cave is a GRRREAT place to get in shape and enjoy the mountains.

Crossing under to then unwind on the 4th move of the v9 triple threat start (the middle start in the cave)

A quick shake out before the redpoint crux(es)

Sending Landing Strip, the middle exit and most direct line in the cave

The crossover left to send Side Burn

Aaand the setup for the crux lunge on Happy Trail, the one that got away.

Hiking further still up the trail from the bouldering cave, you get a great view of the Mt. Charleston peak. and the limestone walls of Mummy Mountain. Having practically grown up skiing and climbing on this mountain, it was a great place to spend the weekend climbing new (to me) boulder problems. If you're in the Vegas area and you're not afraid of the choss factor (foot holds that haven't been used can still break), I wholeheartedly recommend checking out the Craigslist Cave and its abundance of hard problems. 

Inspiration Post: Action Directe

Maybe I missed the boat by a year, but I just found this awesome, inspirational video of Rich Simpson on the world's most famous sport climb, Action Directe, in the Frankenjura, Germany. It's kind of long at 26 minutes, but worth the watch, and does a great job communicating the level of obsession we climbers tend go through with our personal projects.

Watch it at Chris Doyle's vimeo page here: http://www.vimeo.com/6848413

UPDATE: Apparently, many of Simpson's accomplishments have come under scrutiny lately.
http://climbingnarc.com/2010/12/rich-simpson-the-burden-of-proof/
He certainly looks strong enough to send in the Vid. I for one hope he sent. The video is super inspiring. We may never know the truth.

Some iconic images of the famous line:

Wolfgang Gullich

Rich Simpson

Gabriele Moroni

Adam Ondra

Killian Fishhuber