Bishop

My Bishop trip over the holidays was a sucess. I hung out with my good friends there, ate good food, drank beer and climbed a lot of great stuff. I managed to finally do the Rorschach Test v11 on Christmas Day. Felt more like a 12 to me but ?? I also made a quick send of Bubba Butt Buster v11, Acid Wash v10, Bubba Gets Committed v10 and the Iron Fly v9. The Iron Fly was an interesting send. I've tried this thing before with the dyno method and had no luck. One cold day I tried the other way hitting the sloper and hit it in a few goes. I was pleasantly surprised. Ian and I made a short video on youtube.com of Rorschach Test and the Aquarium. The other good memory of the trip was bouldering campfire-side at this secret location in Bishop and doing a bunch of easy highballs in the dark. It was a great time indeed. I'm looking forward to a possible short trip to Utah coming up soon which will hopefully pan out. Now I'm back in Tahoe for more training and, possibly, digging some great local projects out of the snow for sending.

Zack West on Hit the High Hard One v9

Fallen Sodas

This weekend Brenna and I went up to Twin Peaks and the Quality Boulder for some great winter conditions. I made it a personal mission to repeat Steve Francis' highball testpiece PJ Tight v10. This problems climbs a tall arete with an odd landing. It has a shouldery crux in the middle followed by commiting climbing up high. After much mental preparation and practice on a top rope I was able to push past the fear and make the second ascent of this 5 star line. It was truely a crystalizing experience, as well as a personal breakthrough for me in highballing. Just afterwards I decided to go for the FA of the link of Pimpjuice Low into PJ Tight. Since I had all the moves of both parts wired , I managed to do the link first go dubbing the new start Pepsi Clear. The problems on this boulder are all named after energy drinks that never really went the distance. One year ago I talked with Steve about this and we agreed that the next line/link up on the boulder should be Pepsi Clear in honor of this fallen soda. So the new link up is named after this and feels about v11 to me. Jason Hogan was out once again and caught these two awesome sends on film. It was an awesome weekend; white scenery, cold temps and high winds made this weekend a full value experience. It feels so good to be climbing again. Next week I go on my second trip to Bishop for this season to hopefully put to rest some of my epic projects.

Videos from Rocklands

Ian Cotter-Brown posted some videos of our Rocklands trip. Here is one of me sending my first 8B Fragile Steps. The other is Ian, Walker, and I having some good times.

Pictures from Bishop Thanksgiving

Rorsarach Test v11, sad boulders

Ian on the Mystery v12, buttermilks

Ian on Fall Guy v9, buttermilks

The first trip to Bishop this season was sick. I mostly just ate good food and partied with lots of good friends that I hadn't seen in a while. I managed to climb for two days. I did Twin Cracks v9 which was cool because it was very hard for me. I almost sent Rorsach Test a bunch of times but ended up just chucking laps on 95 % of the line. Pretty good work out. Most likely I'll be going back to Bishop around Christmas time to start trying some harder things that I've had on my mind. Until then work and bumming around tahoe will be taking up my time. There are still some projects here that I can work on.

Party Animal Video

The Party Animal video is back. I had to take the link off for a while because the video was kind of in limbo for a bit. They are considering putting it on Dead Point Magazine but we won't know for a little while. Jason Hogan made this video of me sending Master Blaster v8, the FA of the Party Animal stand v11, and the FA of the Party Animal sit start v13. Click on this link to watch it : www.vimeo.com/7526072 . Good job to Jason on making another excellent Tahoe bouldering video. Don't forget to check out his other snowskate videos. Props dude.

Rest and Recovery

David flashing Taco Time v8 at Erratica

I've been resting to heal from some minor injuries that I've had lately. In the meantime I've been working, hiking , and taking pictures. On a recent hike in Erratica I've discovered some more possibilities for the future of the area. If you follow the creek at the "rad campsite", boulders follow it all the way down to a deep canyon. At the bottom of that canyon lies many more boulders. The walk, however, is a bit intense. The temps in the Kirkwood area were perfect. Unfortunately, the snow storm on Friday might put an end to another great season in south lake tahoe. It may be time to start taking trips to Bishop and some of the Nevada areas that are lower in elevation. Winter is just about here, and I'm feeling better so it might be time to start climbing again soon. I'm really excited to start the new winter season.

Halloween In Yosemite

Classic Cotter-Brown

Ian Cotter-Brown sending Heart Attack v6

Mike Wickwire drops the hammer on Flatline v8

Noah Kaufman ridin' dirty

David Outcalt on King Cobra v8

Yosemite was a great trip. A bunch of us stayed with Noah Kaufman in the valley and had great times climbing and hanging out. It was Halloween so lots of climbers were out bouldering in clever costumes. At night we played poker, drank beer, and talked beta. It was a sweet scene. I am currently injured at the moment so I spent most of my time taking pictures and relaxing.
Enjoy the pictures I took of some cool people on cool problems.