Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Endless Basement
endless basement from Jesse Bonin on Vimeo.
The raw footage of Endless Basement. Since I''m one broke ass mofo who can't afford a premium machine, I'm only really able to add some music to the raw footage. Not artsy editing but some hard climbing action none the less. Enjoy.
Monday, March 18, 2013
New Hard FA in Tahoe
I've been back home for a couple of weeks now. The weather has been pretty good for bouldering, especially if you like hiking through a little snow. Yesterday I went to the Freaks where I had been working on the mega link training project through the Basement cave. After trying this link for about 3 or 4 seasons, the rig all came together first try yesterday. Funny side story, I had the camera set up to catch the link attempt. Once the camera was recording I crawled the 25 feet down to the start hold. Just as I was about to pull on I heard the camera shut off.Dead battery. I decided " ahhh F---It!" I usually need a few good warm up tries anyway. Well, I ended up sending it that go. It was quite a relief after trying that project for so long. Even though I didn't get it on tape I was very happy. But after thinking about how I came all the way out there again and did it first go, I figured I'd try to link it up again for the camera. I took an hour and a half rest and repeated the entire send for video. The feeling of progression on this line was great. I remember when I could do few if any of the 20 moves out this roof. Going from that feeling to doing a couple of laps on it was great. I love it when a plan comes together.
In past experience I've noticed that the Basement Cave is sometimes the subject of much confusion because of how close together the lines can be. Given this fact I figured I'd do my best to explain what this line does in a nut shell. These directions may only be useful however if you know the classic existing lines well. If you don't, there is much video online. Ian Cotter-Brown's video Deep Blue has all the main lines coming out of the cave. The new link is called Endless Basement. It starts at the Brown Sugar start. This is in the back left of the cave towards' the other side's daylight. The start hold is sort of shaped like a big V. From here the line climbs through decent holds into the start holds of Freak Show. From there it climbs all the hardest moves of FS, but after grabbing the left hand "shark toothed undercling" instead of going out the jugs to the left you keep cranking hard until you are at the start hold of Subterranean. From here it finishes Subterranean. Very specific I know. The line is contrived a bit, but so is a lot of bouldering. It's all good. I'm sure everyone wants to know what I graded it so they know what number they want to downgrade it to. When in doubt, you take what I say and subtract one or two. But what is the base number? I've got a plan to find the perfect number.
Ok, so the new line starts out with 4 moves that are about v5, ok so 4 x5 =20. Then the line goes into the hardest moves of Freak Show v12, ok so 12 x 20 =240. THEN, after that, BOOM!!! This fucker goes right into a hard v8 move BAMMM! Just one move of v8 so we'll say 240 + 8 = 248. THEN, if you can stomach the notion, you're homefree resting in the start holds of a v7. SO, 248 x 7= 1736 points total. Then the hike is 15 minutes so 1736 /15= 115. I owed my buddy $5 that morning so 115 -5 = 110. The night before I sent I had baked salmon and a salad, the total calories added up to 84 ( just guessing actually, I know nothing about nutrition). SOOO 110 - 84 = 26. I'm half the height of the average person ( NOTE: the average person might be 10 feet tall, or at least seems like it to me). So 26 /half === 13. Ok so I think it's a 13. Alright, we got that covered. I think this new grading formula I came up with is really going to start improving Tahoe's accuracy on pinpointing difficulty.
So another big one is off the list. I guess from here I just have to do the usual and move on to the next one. I have another hard project or two that I've been working on. There are also a couple of great established problems that I'd like to repeat while the temps are still decent. Once that summer heat hits, sweaty tips and beating sunshine make hard climbing even more difficult. The time is now, GET SOME!
In past experience I've noticed that the Basement Cave is sometimes the subject of much confusion because of how close together the lines can be. Given this fact I figured I'd do my best to explain what this line does in a nut shell. These directions may only be useful however if you know the classic existing lines well. If you don't, there is much video online. Ian Cotter-Brown's video Deep Blue has all the main lines coming out of the cave. The new link is called Endless Basement. It starts at the Brown Sugar start. This is in the back left of the cave towards' the other side's daylight. The start hold is sort of shaped like a big V. From here the line climbs through decent holds into the start holds of Freak Show. From there it climbs all the hardest moves of FS, but after grabbing the left hand "shark toothed undercling" instead of going out the jugs to the left you keep cranking hard until you are at the start hold of Subterranean. From here it finishes Subterranean. Very specific I know. The line is contrived a bit, but so is a lot of bouldering. It's all good. I'm sure everyone wants to know what I graded it so they know what number they want to downgrade it to. When in doubt, you take what I say and subtract one or two. But what is the base number? I've got a plan to find the perfect number.
Ok, so the new line starts out with 4 moves that are about v5, ok so 4 x5 =20. Then the line goes into the hardest moves of Freak Show v12, ok so 12 x 20 =240. THEN, after that, BOOM!!! This fucker goes right into a hard v8 move BAMMM! Just one move of v8 so we'll say 240 + 8 = 248. THEN, if you can stomach the notion, you're homefree resting in the start holds of a v7. SO, 248 x 7= 1736 points total. Then the hike is 15 minutes so 1736 /15= 115. I owed my buddy $5 that morning so 115 -5 = 110. The night before I sent I had baked salmon and a salad, the total calories added up to 84 ( just guessing actually, I know nothing about nutrition). SOOO 110 - 84 = 26. I'm half the height of the average person ( NOTE: the average person might be 10 feet tall, or at least seems like it to me). So 26 /half === 13. Ok so I think it's a 13. Alright, we got that covered. I think this new grading formula I came up with is really going to start improving Tahoe's accuracy on pinpointing difficulty.
So another big one is off the list. I guess from here I just have to do the usual and move on to the next one. I have another hard project or two that I've been working on. There are also a couple of great established problems that I'd like to repeat while the temps are still decent. Once that summer heat hits, sweaty tips and beating sunshine make hard climbing even more difficult. The time is now, GET SOME!
Friday, March 1, 2013
Another Moe's Trip
I'm back home again after a short 12 day trip to Southern Utah. While there I hung out with great friends in one of my favorite places to visit for bouldering, Moe's Valley. It was a good trip. Unlike my Hueco Tanks trip I did not just project march to one thing everyday. This trip I decided to bounce around to many problems trying to get a little change up going.In the process I did a bunch of problems I hadn't done before, including some ones that I had previously tried a lot. One of my big sends was La Bocca Della Verita. This obscure little problem sits trailside in Moe's and typically does not receive a lot of attention. I almost did this line last season but left without success. This time I got it done in the dark by headlamp. I was psyched to finish this one off. Of all the problems I sent the hardest one wasn't really the biggest. I finally did the long awaited second ascent of Up. Up was put up by my friend Isaac Caldiero a few years back. It is a one move wonder on a short overhang at the back of the canyon. This seemingly easy looking move grabs two pinches, bunches up on bad feet sucked under the wall before expoding violently to vicious sloper at the lip. Over the past 3 seasons I have clocked close to 15 days trying this move, which Caldiero called one of the single hardest moves in Moe's. That sure was a lot of time to do one hard move one time, but the feeling of finally sticking it was priceless. I was happy to repeat this climb after so much effort. There were other cool climbs I did but this one had me yelling "woo hoo" the most.
I got to have another good treat while there. It turns out we happened to be there during the annual Moe's Valley Clean Up day. It was a pleasure to help out the locals. I must say the scene in Moe's comes with a very good vibe. The locals that live in St. George are really proactive about keeping their boulders clean and the trails well maintained. It's nice to see a community that gets in there and shows the land owners how much they care about keeping their boulders nice. After visiting this place for 3 years in a row, I was psyched to do a little something to help preserve the area. We got to do trailwork, clean up hobo camps, pick up trash, and meet some really cool people that live there. My hat goes off to Tyler Webb, Scott, and Von for organizing a fun event. The place looks even better than it already did.
Last but not least, props to my good buddy Jarrad Wyckoff for doing his 2nd v10 boulder. Jarrad sent the classic Bazooka Tooth after only a half hour of effort. After doing this climb a couple of years ago, I knew this line would fit him like a glove. It seems to be better if you're really tall. Yup, a great trip indeed. Now I'm back home again in Tahoe. As usual I'm probably going to take a few days to recover from shredded tips, sore muscles, and scrubbing all the Utah dust out of my hair. After that, who knows. I may be taking a few more trips close to home to see some new stuff, or maybe hiking through tons of snow to find the next backyard destination. What a life! The adventure never stops.
Tyler Webb hucks a lap on Israil v6
Jarrad Wyckoff sends Huntsman Graffiti v5 with ample padding
Big move, little dude, YoYo Boy v9
Locals getting it done on Trail Day
I got to have another good treat while there. It turns out we happened to be there during the annual Moe's Valley Clean Up day. It was a pleasure to help out the locals. I must say the scene in Moe's comes with a very good vibe. The locals that live in St. George are really proactive about keeping their boulders clean and the trails well maintained. It's nice to see a community that gets in there and shows the land owners how much they care about keeping their boulders nice. After visiting this place for 3 years in a row, I was psyched to do a little something to help preserve the area. We got to do trailwork, clean up hobo camps, pick up trash, and meet some really cool people that live there. My hat goes off to Tyler Webb, Scott, and Von for organizing a fun event. The place looks even better than it already did.
Last but not least, props to my good buddy Jarrad Wyckoff for doing his 2nd v10 boulder. Jarrad sent the classic Bazooka Tooth after only a half hour of effort. After doing this climb a couple of years ago, I knew this line would fit him like a glove. It seems to be better if you're really tall. Yup, a great trip indeed. Now I'm back home again in Tahoe. As usual I'm probably going to take a few days to recover from shredded tips, sore muscles, and scrubbing all the Utah dust out of my hair. After that, who knows. I may be taking a few more trips close to home to see some new stuff, or maybe hiking through tons of snow to find the next backyard destination. What a life! The adventure never stops.
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