the dea(d)lio...

so it's been a while, don't hold your breath, who knows when the next one of these posts will show up...

but yeah, i've been up to quite a bit since the days of "al's diner"
(i think that was the last thing i talked about...)

mostly, i've spent my climbing time on projects at the fins.

 bolting

(actually, matt bolting)

the triple combo shared first ascent of "huck you", which has become my favorite 5.11 in the eastern idaho area.

three days went into this climb.

back when matt and i did "al's" we hung out for another day with our friend tyson and checked out this line, which matt had scoped a few years ago, but never finished.

by the end of day 1, the route was brilliant, but had a desperate ending that just... well ruined it.

day 2 involved matt and i climbing it to almost the very end, and getting super psyched about putting the anchors at the low spot.

and day 3, matt moved the anchor down, moved a few bolts to accommodate the new ending, then troy neu, myself, and matt all fired it.

kudos on bolting this route matt, it kicks ass!

belaying 

(well, that's actually kenny belaying, but i'm behind the camera here...)

the "pure rock fury"

matt has been looking ridiculously strong this season. and it comes as no surprise that he is right back at his high point working this route. he can repeatedly one-hang this thing. our thoughts on the grade seem to be settling in around 5.13b, which i think is a bit modest. also, these horrendous mono moves terrify me...

the send is near, stay tuned.

projecting

"turbo 900"

after 5 days last summer, another 3-4 this summer, this route is almost at the point of becoming a legitimate project. i've never seriously attempted something this hard, and the only thing that i have sent that comes close is "karma police" (13c) a dean lords route down at crank cave. 

a shot of me on "karma police" from 2007

i'm saying this as a form of scope:

it took a day or two to do each of the moves on "karma" (albeit the first day involved a full beta shake-down from dean), and within a few days i was linking large sections. it took maybe 10 days to actually send.

so what do i mean about a "legitimate project"?

well, i can almost do all the moves... still, there are a few sections that i have yet to understand fully, and the sections i can link are either relatively easy, or very short.

the crux.

this move is driving me a little bit insane. it's not that long of a route, and around the 25 foot mark, there is a long reach off a terrible gaston on the left hand. the feet are actually not bad here, but they are kinda in the wrong spots for me... a bit crunched up, forcing me to really yard off the left hand. it's not much more than a half pad thumb-catch, it has a little ripple on the top that fits two fingertips, pretty awful...
the hold i'm gunnin' for isn't much better.

stay tuned on this one as well...

i feel like i don't want to over-saturate you with my ramblings, so i will leave parts two and three of this update for future posts. (oh, and all future cacti updates have unofficially moved to my facebook page.)

enjoy!