spicy noodle

oh my god, i wish there were tufas like this around here...

Made In China, Part 3 from Mike Call on Vimeo.

chris sharma, on the first ascent of "spicy noodle", 14b, in yangshou, china 

(summer 2009. also, check out parts 1, 2, and 4)

cacti update 5/and other things

more in the unfortunate events column...

... there are only ten. (check the bottom left)

one little cactus passed away. i guess there really wasn't that much sun over the two week period where they were left in a windowsill without their artificial sun. in fact, none of them really look all that good(except maybe two of them), and many of the pots have algae growing in them as well, which i've since scraped out. it's a sad day; actually it bums me out more than i thought it would.

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hardcore crutching. (and andrew checking out flyboy, v8)

during that week in bishop i crutched up and down dirt hills, on uneven paths, over rocks both big and small, and even forded a creek via a few fallen trees. all while carrying my pack, water, and sometimes a crash pad for my buds. pavement and cement were cake after all that.

so i may not have made it all that clear in the bishop post that i was hobbling around on crutches for the past week and a half, but i was (i later added that info in the last post... kinda slipped my mind during the first go around....). so i went to the doc on wednesday, and she told me to start trying to walk normally! yay!

the doctor in bishop told me i had a grade two sprain and that they were surprised i didn't crack my fibula, and the lady here in montana said it could very well have been grade three, based on the amount of swelling, but yet that it would be better to start walking then stay on the crutches; which i found pretty surprising. she gave me a new brace thingy, a bunch of exercises and such to do, and that was that really. she said i'd be good to go once i could start doing one footed hops on my right foot, and that will likely be a few weeks. it's been just a few days, and the swelling has gone down like crazy, and i can pretty much walk like normal with my new fancy brace on.

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and none of you may care about this, but HC Zapdos lost a super close match against the number one seed FIRE N ICE in the round of four of my fantasy hockey league playoffs, sending me to the third place match for next week. sucks that i was fourth seed and had to face the number one seed, i looked at the match between the number two and three seeded teams and i would have beaten both of them pretty soundly. in the semi finals last week i also had a close match against the sixth seed, but won. i wasn't even there to manage my team... teehee.

(edit: 4/5/10 HC Zapdos won the third place match 5-4!)

bishop round 5

finally! an end to this drought of climbing stuff to talk about!

in keeping with tradition, i headed south this past week to climb at the boulders near the small town of bishop, california. this adventure had all the makings of being a brilliant trip...

andrew crushing "the hulk"(v6), at the happy boulders

i was climbing at the happy boulders on our third day in bishop. my buddy andrew and i had just worked out an amazing v6 called "the hulk", and andrew sent! well anyway, i told him about my favorite problem in the happies, a v3 called "rio's secret arete".

i first found the problem last year when i got split up from carson by accident. it's up on one of the canyon rims, a huge block cracked off and left a 3 foot wide corridor behind it. at the corner, there is a clean, 15-20 foot tall arete, with just enough holds to make a fun little climb. when i found it last year, i was all alone, no spotters, and i climbed it over and over for fun.

this year was no different. andrew and i were rehashing the moves; the most challenging bit is actually committing to the arete. no stepping back onto the side walls. i had a good go, but ended up getting scared and stepped off. on my next attempt, i decided to go for it, to get the high foot and bear down on the crimps. unfortunately...

my foot didn't quite make it to the hold, and i came off. even though andrew did his job as a spotter (to make sure i hit the pads), the pads were slightly uneven, my right ankle rolled off the edge and my 175 pound frame landed right on the side of my foot.

"rio's secret arete" (v3), happy boulders

just moments before a rather unfortunate end to our day...

may i also add, i still hold that rio's arete is my favorite problem at the happies.

we were pretty far back into the happy boulders, a long way from the trailhead. my buddy kingsley (who was up on the rim behind the camera) rushed down, and luckily, he's a wilderness emt. he taped it up, and i started hopping. i made it a ways until i couldn't hop anymore (maybe half a mile?) and kingsley scooped me up and carried me the rest of the way to the car. (by the way, he's a bad ass.)

the next few hours were spent at the north inyo hospital, located in bishop. suprisingly, there was no wait whatsoever, even with an ambulance coming in. the staff was really chill, i'm sure they get this all the time, with all the bouldering around bishop and one of the largest ski resorts in the country (mammoth mountain) only an hour away. plus, i got a nice pair of crutches too!

i spent the rest of the week hobbling around the boulders as best as i could, trying to send positive vibes to my buddies, and taking a few photos too. andrew had one hell of a trip, climbing what are likely bishop's best problems at each grade from v1-v8, including an epic last day, sending both the checkerboard(v8) and soul slinger(v8/9).

here's a few photos (and captions) for your enjoyment: (all these photos are from the buttermilks area)
please click on them to see them full size!

two looks at "the iron fly" (v9)

there are two ways of going about this problem, either dyno (above, one move) or pull a ridiculously high heel hook/mantle move (below, two moves). i came very close on the dyno, but was having much better luck with the heel hook, and i came fairly close on that last move... 

gonna have to go back for this one.

andrew and i working out the "pope's prow" (v6), a problem of entirely core strength and balance. so very ridiculously hard. neither of us sent. 

kingsley, the viking/my hero, sending "hero roof" (v0). very cool, he spent a lot of time working this problem, and unfortunately i didn't get to see the send.

revisiting "soul slinger" (v8/9)

i didn't have much luck on it this time around, but it's such a good problem i had to give her a go.

"soul slinger" (v8/9)

andrew crushing/sending on the last day of the trip!

our female companions on the trip, kayla (above) on "west corner" (v3/4), charlotte (below), the definition of muscles, on "go granny go" (v5). i can't lie, they didn't mesh well with us, and unfortunately we didn't get along very well. the two are comp climbers, and that attitude was hard to adjust to. 

that said, charlotte has a lot of potential, and it was really cool climbing with her, she just needs to climb outside! she told us that she's been climbing for seven years, and this was only her third time climbing on real rock!

andrew sending "the checkerboard" (v8)

likely the most brilliant boulder problem in bishop. and part one of his epic last day of sends.

andrew, trying "saigon" (v6). 

such a brilliant looking problem, and a good reason to come back to bishop, as if we need another. 

"high plains drifter" (v7)

andrew crushed, and it is probably the best v7 i've ever tried (i came super close two years ago). unfortunately, i didn't get my chance at revenge this trip, stupid ankle...

my buddy nate, "the iron man traverse" (v4)

it's amazing who you run into at climbing hot spots. it just so happened that one of my best friends, who i've played soccer with since i was ten years old, was camped right down the road from us at the buttermilks. neither of us knew the other would be there, and it was really cool to see him again and to share a campfire with his crew of friends.

always psyched. even with crutches...

(all photos by kingsley and myself, he's posting the whole 1,200 or so pics from the trip on flickr.com. i'll update with the link once they are up)

the lameness...

i'm not sure anyone knows about this, or cares for that matter, but the dealio's fantasy hockey team clinched a playoff spot!
woohoo! go HC Zapdos! (that's the team name)
i'm currently sitting fourth out of twelve, with a record of 91-69-20. unfortunately my goalies are going through a slump and i keep losing close games because of them. poor martin broduer, he even got benched during the olympics by team canada.

my team logo

basically, how it works:
at the beginning of the nhl season back in october, i signed up for a fantasy league to keep myself occupied while i had my broken finger. i picked 18 or so actual nhl players in a mock draft , and whatever stats they have in their real games throughout a week go towards my match with one of the other teams in my league. each different stat counts as a game. yeah it's pretty nerdy, but whatever, it's been interesting. i haven't payed any attention to the nhl since i quit playing hockey when i was 15, kinda fun to pick that up again in some capacity. go avs!

(update 3/22/10: haha! i'm through to the semi finals! guaranteed fourth place!)

the finger maester

over the past few years i've had one constant occurrence.

it seems that every time i start feeling strong (usually around fall) i end up wreaking havoc upon my beloved digits. this has led to countless hours of study of the finger and its functions, as well as me becoming an advocate of finger safety.

i would like you to draw your attention to a badass scottish climbing dude.



i guess it works as a poor man's e-stim machine. I have been using this treatment off and on for the past few years, and have found it to be very beneficial with swelling/tendon issues. In further discussion, he finds that this treatment works quite well with elbow injuries as well.

so my friends, our fingers are our best friends, and we must be nice to them!
i hope this video works, and i apologize if this treatment causes anyone to wet their pants...

(for more info, as well as other topics check out http://onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com/)