Jesse Bonin: A Grand Weekend

This weekend was a grand weekend indeed. Lots and lots of great stuff was happening from every direction in life. Aside from the climbing scene, most of us got to witness a very special occasion with two great people. Noah Kaufman and Siemay Lee got married in Genoa, Nevada on Sunday. The ceremony was awesome and very memorable. The vows were to the heart and yet fun-loving and truthful from each person. I was personally touched. The reception to follow was epic; two great and funny families put forth their feelings of each of the newly wedded. To top off a great meal of surf and turf , the climbers were all at a few different tables where a lot of "grape throwing " was going on. I'm not going to mention any names but the Bay Area table and a certain very strong mom from B.C. was quite aggressive with their ammo. You know who you are. Haha. But it was an awesome night where I got to talk with a lot of people that I have only seen in brief, but memorable instances in my life. Yet another day I'll never forget that oddly had nothing to do with climbing. Awesome. Congratulations to Noah and Siemay. Like Matt said " Either of you are a force to be dealt with but together you are unstoppable".
So, for those of you who checked this blog because you were thinking of climbing, this entry will be nothing short of the raddest weekend South Tahoe climbing has ever seen. It all started Friday when Charlie Barret went on a tear through some of south shore's best areas with an impressive streak to follow. Charlie did the 2nd ascent of Freak Show v12 as well as the 2nd ascent of Lactose Intolerance v10 and sent the classic dyno move Hate Handles v10 on his 3rd try. Holy Shit Charlie, awesome job on the pull downs. On Sunday Erratica saw the most traffic it has ever seen in one session. The Yeti was repeated by Matt Wilder (2nd try), Scott Chandler, Brian Capps (2nd try), Paul Berazza, and possibly others. Courtney Hemphill also did an impressive 3rd ascent of Krull v9 while it was baking in the sun. Fugiyama v5/7 saw a slew of repeats as well. It was nice to see Erratica appreciated by people with unparalleled tastes in good rock.
There was one more strong visitor to South Lake Tahoe this weekend. Bishop's own Ian Cotter-Brown paid three days to tahoe and saw a lot of the new classic areas and left in a short time with a good tick list of hard problems. Ian sent Fat Guy in a Little Coat v9 at Burnside, the 2nd ascent of Lock Down Robotic v8 and the long awaited 2nd ascent of Future Present v11 at the Barb-Wire Area. Ian also got really close on the hard roof Freak Show Original v11. Next trip from Cotter-Brown will no doubt end in destruction. David Outcult also had an awesome send of Fat Guy in a Little Coat v9 by dynoing all out to the sloper at the lip. Nice one David. Another local on a rampage. The upcoming weeks will bring cooler and cooler temps and really soon we will all be in that special climbing season that typically produces our most memorable bouldering moments: Fall. I can't wait to see the sights.