Video by Jason Hogan

My friend Jason Hogan posted this rad video of me climbing in Tahoe. The footage is from last winter and has some problems from Erratica and Pie Shop Area. It is a really great edit with good problems. Enjoy.

Bishop: Great Times

Bishop!!!! Despite the fact that the conditions here are all over the board, I've been extremely focused on having a blast. This trip the partying seems to be just as enjoyable as the climbing. I've been going to a lot of different areas. Zack and I even went alpine style on the hottest day. We climbed and shoveled out the Hartley Springs area. I was really impressed with the climbing here. It was fully quality over quantity. The problems were really fun and not very sharp. I'm looking forward to going here a few more times. I am really excited to try Charlie Barrett's line called The End of the Road. This climb is exactly the perfect problems I look for. I have yet to try it but it has already sucked me in. I can't wait. Other than that, I've been doing lots of moderates and trying lots of things that don't fit me very well. I did do a cool 2nd ascent of another brilliant Matt Arnold problem in the Tablelands. A hard roof called Glass Slipper v10. I had to fight for this one. My beta is kind of wacked because of my lack of reach but it was fun anyways. Great rock and steep. Other than climbing, I've been really excited about filming and taking pictures. I got footage of Thomasina Pidgeon doing the FFA of Beautiful Gecko v12 which was awesome to witness. When I return to the civilized world I'll probably do an edit of this. One interesting rest day, we awoke to find that it was cold, raining hard, and very windy. We were hudled under a small overhang trying to stay warm and dry. Then Matt found this crazy cave above our site that had a dwelling like set up for a fire. We then turned misery into bliss. The cave was a warm, dry sanctuary on one of the worst days for camping I've seen. We spent seven hours warm, listening to music, and getting completely blitzed. It was perhaps the coolest rest day I've ever had in Bishop. The experience of being out here and constantly hanging out with cool people is unforgettable. I'm really going to enjoy these last two weeks here on the road. Then I'll return home for some work. It will be nice to spend a full season in Tahoe once again. The rock climbing never stops there. And, I'm sure this year will be no different. Thomasina on Beautiful Gecko v12

Shadow on the FA of THX 1138 v7

Nick and Matt staying warm in our "dwelling"

Buttermilks 10:30 pm
Eduardo and Charlie on Ironman Traverse


I've been here in Bishop climbing for about a week now. I've done some really good new things here in the Tableland. In some of the lesser known areas mega developement is being done. I've been climbing a lot of these new things and they are awesome. I did the 2nd ascents of James Thick Pie v11 and Subzero v11. James Thick Pie came easier because of my height but the other one was quite a feat. Relentless upside down climbing from one crux to another. I feels good to start getting back in shape a little. It is so fun to be here again for a while to climb in these cool areas with all of my friends. There are a lot of problems that I still want to try here. My trip here continues for 3 weeks. I plan on trying a lot of problems. It would be nice to do them all. But we'll see.

I just got back from my trip to Moe's Valley, Utah. Once again, it was nice to travel somewhere and meet new people. The area is really cool. The rock can be a bit sandy but the climbing style is ultimately fun. In the past 40 days I've had a lot of great times with my friends. There were definately lots of laughs. Despite having decent conditions and ample rest days, I did not send anything really hard. It's all good though. I feel my experience kick in on shut-downs like this. Sometimes that's the way it goes. Failure can often times give me the extra motivation I need to train harder. After trying a project for multiple days I developed a slight tweak in my finger. Definately not a bad injury but just enough to warrant a week or so of rest and cross training. I am back in Tahoe for some snowboarding, some working, and recovery. After that I plan to take some more time to go back to Bishop and possibly a return to Utah to give my project another go. Here's my ticklist from my trip:
Bishop
March of the Pigs v11 (2nd ascent)
Nine Inch Nails v9 (FA)
Snakebite v6
Solaris v8
Space Queen v6

Moe's Valley
The Fin v7
Unnamed v8 ( really good line around from linder's roof)
Unknown v8/9 (faces device ignitor)
The Beast v8
Gription v9
Bazooka Tooth v10
Show of Hands v11
Linder's Roof v9 (repeat)

Here's a video by Ian Cotter-Brown which has some of our Moe's Valley trip

sunset in Hadan area of Busan
training at Hadan wall

Got back from Korea on Tuesday. Can't seem to get my sleep schedule back on track. I'm all over the place. My trip turned out to be really fun and productive. I met a lot of great new friends which is my favorite part of traveling abroad. The crew in Korea is very psyched and truly a pleasure to climb with. The video First Ascents in Korea got a good reaction when played at the Reel Rock Tour event in Seoul. Local Koreans were excited by the development being done in the Busan area.
Before I left I got to help develop some brand new boulders in the Hadan Area. Thanks to Aaron Hefty and Robin Kimmerling for opening the door for me. This area was a short walk from Brenna and Christoph's houses. The rock quality was amazing and it seemed like that mountain could hold more potential. I managed to put up a few good first ascents there which include The Hadan Shuffle v2, Thorn Killer v5, Thorn Killer Traverse v7?, Fruit of the Vine v3, and Vine and Dine v3. These problems were all awesome additions to Busan. I left behind a few open projects for the locals to send. One around the corner from Thorn Killer is on the highball boulder and goes up a tall face via hard moves on sharp crimps; wouldn't be surprised if it's about v7. The other is my obvious dyno project on the Vine boulder uphill near the crag. Last I saw Matt Palmer was getting very close to sending.
I feel like all in all, I did not really touch the surface of the amount of bouldering that could be in Korea. I have a feeling that Seoul may have more developed areas that are bigger. Busan, however, is the new place with lots of potential to be discovered. The area I was most impressed with was Yangsan. Yangsan has perfect rock in an amazing asianesque setting. With Hangul characters etched into the boulders, temples on the approach, this was definitely my favorite. My favorite line there was Listo el Pollo v9. I got the second ascent after Christoph Lindenberger. The line was very unique movement, uncontrived, and on perfect river stone.
Truthfully most of my time in Korea was spent training on plastic. Something I've fallen behind in the past few years. It was nice to make an effort to get better and to feel the ability to pull through holds using pure power. The gyms I went to were just what I needed for good training. I found it hard to keep up with local talent, but they are kind of machine like in their abilities to just crush plastic climbing rather quickly. I was inspired by their raw power. Thanks a lot to Young Wha Kim of Family center for helping me train on a bunch of climbs I could never do. And thanks to the other Mr. Kim of Hadan Industrial Wall for letting me train at his facility.
Now I am back in the Sierras trying to get my bearings for the next 6 months. I am leaving for Bishop tomorrow for New Years and plan on hanging down there for a bit before going on to Moe's Valley, UT and going to check out all the awesome bouldering around Las Vegas. If things work out I may go a bit further than that. So many problems that I want to do this winter. I am very excited to see if all of my hard work training will pay off. In the least I am going to have a great time. I hope everyone has a great New Year's.

South Korea First Ascents

First Ascents in South Korea from Jesse Bonin on Vimeo.

Here's the first video of South Korea bouldering. The other day I went with the group to the Nabi Bawi area of Busan and saw the famous Kim Lee Project. Supposedly Kim Lee only tried this one day but several others have put in quite a bit of effort from what I hear. I have to say that this thing looked impossible upon first glance. But after figuring out all the tricks it was surprisingly doable. I did the first ascent and named it, after Matt's suggestion, Sandpaper Handjob. I do not know what the grade of this would be. It, like every problem in the world, will feel different for everyone. My best guess is v9 or maybe 10. But who gives a shit. It's a great line with high friction on bad ass slopers, finishing with a tough mantle. Taller people may find this mantle a bit bunchy but there is another method to topping it out after working through the power crux. Props to Kim Lee for envisioning this thing. And thanks so much to the Busan crew for showing it to me. I hope everyone enjoys the video and that it gives a good visual on what the bouldering in Korea is like.

South Korea

working the FA of War of the Worlds v11, photo: Andy McKilliam

I've been here in Busan, South Korea for a little over a week now. It has been a real change from the lifestyle that I'm use to. I've been staying with Brenna in the red light district of this city. I have to say that personally this is the biggest city I've ever seen. Although supposedly it is not really that big with only 3.8 million people. It's been really nice hanging out with Brenna again and meeting all of her friends here. They are really cool people and fun to hang out with. I love seeing new cultures and trying new foods. Here the food is very interesting to say the least. They love their kim chi here. They put it on the table with every meal, they put it on pizza and even burgers. Generally I'd say that I'm enjoying the Korean food.
What's more interesting is the fact that 4 days after I got here this country became on the brink of rekindling a war that never officially ended with its neighbor, North Korea. It feels a bit on edge here now as the shit could hit the fan any moment. I'm not worried yet but I hope I don't start seeing explosions in the near future. Hopefully these two can work it out and keep the peace.
I've spent most of my time here training. There are a lot of indoor gyms around here that are really fun training spots. I've been to a few of the better ones and plan on regularly training indoors as much as I can. The Koreans are strong indoors and it will surely be a challenge for me to try and keep up with them. As for the climbing outdoors I have only been to two areas. The Cable Car area is right in town close to the university. This area is ok but does have a real Busan classic called A Language Older Than Words v5 which is an excellent sloper problem on granite with a ton of friction. This area however pales in comparison to the new hotspot the locals have been kind enough to share with me. Yangsan, about an hours drive away, is a park with many temples with a beautiful setting. The rock has no friction and is almost bullet proof. The bouldering is set in a riverbed with pools of moving water surrounded by awesome stone. It is a new area with a lot of potential. I've repeated some area testpieces such as Solid Snake v4, Starkissed v5, and the One Legged Frog v9. This weekend I was lucky to get the first ascent of what might be Busan's hardest line to date. I did a roof link up that climbs a v9, does two hard transition moves, and finishes on a fuckerish v8 with a really sharp crimp at the end. In honor of the turmoil in the country I named the new line War of the Worlds and think it's about v11. The line took me three days to do and I had to dig really deep for the send. There are many more lines that can go in this area, all with excellent quality rock. I am very thankful to the locals for showing me around. Next they are taking me to Nabi Bawi to see Busan's most famous undone line dubbed The Kim Lee Project. This line is supposedly a serverly overhanging compression problem with a tough top out. I can't wait to check it out and see how it goes. Until then I intend to keep training as hard as I can in preparation for a possible winter road trip that will start in Bishop. I have been taking video of Yangsan but need more footage before I have a full movie post. Here are some pictures for a visual.
Hadan Area, city of Busan

The "Amazing Burger" at Breeze Burns
Local powerhouse Christoph on the Spider Project, Yangsan