2010 SCS Division 1 Championships - Qualifiers

So I took my off day on the nicest weekend in weeks and went inside to watch my kids compete at the SCS Division 1 Championships. I was only able to be there for the first day qualifying round as I had no place to stay in portland and had no intension of making a 3 hour drive for the third time in 24 hours. I'll post links to sundays finals coverage from other people as they become available. Now that that's out of the way, here's qualifiers.

Memorial Weekend Madness!

After we did a quick stop at The Undercling (V5) for the sole reason that I had never onsighted a V5. This only bothered me because I've onsighted every other grade up to V7, but 5's always seem to get under my skin somehow. So here is how it went...

Next we headed over to Pretty Hate Machine (V8) because we heard it was wicked sick problem that just had to be climbed. It doesn't look like much when you first approach it, but the climb itself does not disappoint. Despite being quite powerful, it took us several tries to sort out the beta. Here's one of the later (read better) early attempts...

After a lot of tries like this we started to get pretty tired, so I declared that unless I at least touched the lip on this next try, the day would be done...

So we stuck around and two tries latter...


Before I sign out for the day, I'd like to give a shout out to that rock by Pretty Hate Machine for being in the perfect place to rest my Droid so we could get those videos and still spot.

See you on the rocks!

-Josh

Behind the Scenes of the Vertical Girl Photo Shoot!

So I got to tag along for the photo shoot in Leavenworth for the new Vertical Girl clothing line. The ladies seemed really psyched on the way the cloths looked and, more importantly for a climber, how they performed. Here are a few vids from the shoot. A lot more went on, but you'll get to see that in print!

SCS PNW Regionals 2010

I was lazy and didn't get any vids or pics from the event, but I'll hook you up with a link to Tyson's stuff over on oldguy.com for those of you that don't read it already. Time to start kicking things into gear for Divisionals.

-Josh

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Really enjoyed this new short from Big Up. Seeing some old friendly faces made me a bit home sick, but outside of that it got me really psyched to train. Been needing that to supplement my outdoor time. May have to make a small stop at the Central Rock Gym on my trip home now since the place looks sick.

See you on the rocks... or the plastic.

-Josh

Leavenworth 5/8/10 - Part 2

Thanks to Devo for shooting the vid, and for cutting out my excessive chalking in the middle.

Leavenworth 5/8/10

More video and pics coming once Devo posts them up. Felt good to plug gear and climb slab for the first time in about 10 months. Should help a lot with the head game and of course, the footwork.

-Josh

May Day comp at Stoneworks

While waiting for scores some people had fun drawing on the parking lot with chalk.

One problem solved...

End of an Era

The Sentra is dead. Blogging will have to be put on hold until I can get a new vehicle. I will get the comp stuff up from this last weekend when I have some time.

-Josh

Rain, rain, go away...

A long week... with a good end

So my week started out with an ok day at work, can't complain, but the night ended with me eating something that I apparently shouldn't have. Of course I didn't know this until 4am when I woke up sweating and with stomach pains. I new what it was right away, food poisoning. I'd had it before, so I figured I just go chill in the bathroom until my body took care of the problem then I'd get back to sleep. But no, it took until 6 for the nastiness to get started and the first wave didn't stop for half an hour. Yes, I said first wave. I managed to pass back out after this, but when I woke up a few hours later my body decided it hadn't quite got it all. It also decided that the other direction was the best way to go this time. So after all this, I can barely get any water down, no food whatsoever, and I'm starting to get really light headed. So I phoned in some help and got myself to a hospital.

After they initially check me out the get me hooked up to an IV to get me re-hydrated. They proceed to pump 3 bags of fluid (each about 2 liters) into me over about 2 hours! The older nurse told me that was only the second time she's ever seen someone need that much fluid. I started feeling better right away, but it was another 8 hours until I could start to eat any food again. And by any food I mean a single bagel, barely. The next day food started to go down a little better, but I didn't start eating normally again until friday. My stomach is still giving me some trouble today. Hopefully this doesn't last much longer.

So in an attempt to help my stomach, and my sanity, I headed out to Little Si with Fritz and B-Hops today.

It felt good to be pulling down on some rock and I felt good considering what I had been through this week. I felt super solid after a warm-up run on Aborigine and decided the next step was to go straight after my mini-project, Hang Out to Dry. I say mini-project, because this was going to be my third day on it, but was also only going to be my third try. The lower, technical half went much smoother than the previous week. After chilling at the midway rest for a good bit, I headed into the upper, power section. Today I had some pull left over and made the crux move just fine to almost sketch off two moves later on a biggish move to a jug, but I managed to just latch it with two and a half fingers. Thank you +4! Glad to put this one down, super fun route, will definitely get on it again.

Feeling good about the send, I chilled out for a while and watched/belayed for B-Hops and Alex on some climbs. I also started to think about what was next. I was thinking longer. So after a good while I got on Technorigine. This was a climb I tried once back in august, but was unable to do at the time because of my shoulder. With my shoulder back in shape, I was at least able to hang through the upper moves to get the beta sorted out. Psyched to get back on it and I've got the plan to train for the distance... but I have not forgotten about the boulder project in Gold Bar! So much climbing to get done!

See you on the rocks.

-Josh

Oops!

So I've reverted to my lazy ways and haven't been posting. On the other hand I've been doing a fair bit of climbing. Two days bouldering at Leavenworth, one at Gold Bar, and another at Little Si doing the first real rope climbing I've done in about 6 months. Long story short, I've gotten most of my power back, but my endurance/power endurance still has a long way to go to get back to where I was. Fortunately I know how to fix this, and it just involves climbing more and for longer. Also, I haven't forgotten about that shoe review. I got them to be mainly an indoor pair and haven't be climbing in the gym much, but that is about to change, so it should be coming up soon.

See you on the rocks!

-Josh

This makes 9 pairs on rotation, I think...

New shoes showed up today! Look for a review sometime next week after I get a chance to really break them in.

-Josh

Making cool cooler

Filling in the gaps

So I went on a binge, and I'm watching a nice retro-pair on eBay too. Shoes are the one part of my wardrobe that I've more or less ignored over the last several years. However with the people I hang around with now, I need to step my game up a little.

-Josh

Four years later...

And they're still showing me love! It may be a hole in the wall, but this is the gym that gave me my start, so it will always feel like home. Plus you can see some of the first routes I ever set in this shot.

-Josh

Facelift

Thanks to Izzy for my new banner. It's the dopeness!

-Josh

Sunday Session

In case you didn't hear...

Finally got the banner at the gym. So psyched on how well the kids did and how much effort they put in to bring this thing home. Almost feels like there's no time to celebrate; We're head down into rope season now. Fortunately the kids are ready and willing to carry over their hard work and success to the next challenge. Look out, VW is looking for a two-for!

-Josh