A Red Rocks Update and Some Joe's Photos

Last weekend I attended the Red Rock Rendezvous; which was an awesome place to learn some trad climbing skills and meet a ton of climbers.  Trad (short for traditional) climbing means you place your own gear (typically little pieces of metal called nuts that you jam into cracks, or cams which are spring loaded devices that expand when pulled down in the event of a fall) as you climb higher, securing yourself with a rope running through all your gear placements.  It's a completely different game from bouldering or even sport climbing; requiring knowledge of all your gear, anchor making, and a good head.  In places like Yosemite National Park (which I will be very close to at Berkeley next year) most of the climbs are trad, so if I don't start to pick up some knowledge I'll be cutting myself short climbing wise!

Two English climbers I met at the Rendezvous took me up a multi-pitch yesterday.  A multi-pitch is a climb that is too long to climb in one stretch; the rope wouldn't reach from the bottom to the top.  So the leader climbs up to a good spot to build an anchor (ideally some sort of ledge), then the other climber in the party climb up to where the leader is while the leader belays them.  Then someone else takes the lead and climbs up to another anchor, and you just repeat this cycle until you get you to the top.  It takes a lot longer (it took the three of us three hours to climb about 350ft), but the vertical distance you cover and the views from the top make it worth it.  It's pretty awesome to be able to see a crack or corner feature on a 350ft peak, then work your way up to the top by exploiting that weakness in the rock.

Today I'll be repaying the Brits for taking me up a multi-pitch by taking them bouldering.  I don't have any trad gear, and they don't have any crash pads, so it works out perfectly.  It's been nice to do some roped climbing while I've been here, but now I'm psyched to do some bouldering again.  Thus, tomorrow I'm driving to Bishop in Central California, one of the world's best bouldering spots.

The two photos I'v posted are from my friends Niko and Katie over at themorningfresh.com.  They were both taken my last couple of days in Joe's Valley.  The first climb is a V10 called Beyond Life that after 4 sessions on I almost finished but ended up leaving Joe's without doing it.  That's the longest I've spent on a single climb and because of that I think it would have been the hardest climb I'd've ever done.  I'll have to go back to Joe's one day when I'm a little better to finish it!  The picture below is from Playmate of the Year V9.  It's a classic, mostly because of the holds which are awesome slopey bulges (hence the name).  It was the end of the day and I was fatigued from a morning trying Beyond Life so the final and very hard compression moves felt so desperate!  I was yelling on the move in the photo, something some climbers do when they're climbing at their limit.  It's probably mostly psychological, but I swear yelling tightens up your core that little extra bit you need to send.  Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them.  Thanks for reading!

Joe's Valley Video

I'll be leaving Joe's tomorrow to drive to Red Rocks and attend the Red Rock Rendezvous but before I leave here is the finished Joe's Valley bouldering video I've been working on:

It's not much, eight climbs and four climbers.  Unfortunately I realized too late I wanted more footage of other climbers, so this past week has been a scramble to film the people I've been climbing with.  It's hard to get footage of us boulderers though, because we spend the vast majority of our time falling instead of sending!  I still think it came out pretty decent though.

Last Week in Joe's

Here is my beautiful abode.  Newly cleaned this past week and already sandy and dirty!  The dust here seems to get everywhere, especially because my crash pads go over my bed after being in the dirt and mud.  But having the shelf and the bed is a huge improvement on how I started the trip, just sleeping on my pads with everything stacked next to me.

It's warmed up here now.  It's been in the 60s or low 70s everyday which is actually a little too hot too be ideal.  The holds don't feel as sticky as they did in the cold but the climbing is still going well.  I've been getting closer and closer on Beyond Life, possibly the best V10 I've ever seen.  I'm also close on Feels Like Grit V8, which is an awesome and very hard slab.  I've probably pulled on it more than 50 times but it's so technical and the feet are so small that tiny movements or losses of balance cause you to fall.  Hopefully next time I go to both those climbs I'll do them; well at least I should.

I'll be leaving Joe's sometime this week to head to Red Rocks in Nevada for the Red Rocks Rendezvous; an annual climbing festival.  Before I leave here though I'll upload the video of all the climbing I've done here.  Till then, bye!

Joe's Update

It is absolutely frigid here at the moment.  The high today was less than 40°F, and at night it's been going below 20°F!  I woke up this morning to semi-frozen milk and water, and when I looked out my windows from my sleeping bag I noticed ice crystals on the inside of my car.  While getting up in the morning has been a little miserable we've still been climbing, because while it's not comfortable the friction is great.  When it's this cold there's no moisture on your hands and shoes, and with the sandstone here having the course texture it does you just seem to stick to the rock.  Once we warm up by our morning fire, get some hot food and coffee, and wait for noon so its gets a little less freezing we go out and climb.

With the help of these great climbing conditions yesterday I managed to send a V10 in one session.  Called Finger Hut it climbs through four very small holds after which it's big holds to the top.  I'm going to try and get some photos/video of it tomorrow so my next post will contain those.  I'm also going to include a photo of my car setup (as per the suggestion of my Dad), as that's where I've been sleeping in my makeshift plywood bed with my plywood and 2x4 shelf next to it.  While it's still cold it's much better than a tent!