Climbing Bum

NEW WEBSITE

2010-08-30T13:17:00.001-06:00

I will not be updating Climbing Bum any longer. carlotraversi.com will be taking it's place. CHECK IT!

The Pogo - Chapter 3

2010-08-06T11:03:00.000-06:00

Here's the last installment:

The Pogo • Chapter 3 from Jon Glassberg on Vimeo.

The Pogo - Chapter 2

2010-08-05T21:10:00.000-06:00

The suspense is building...

The Pogo • Chapter 2 from Jon Glassberg on Vimeo.

The Pogo - Chapter 1

2010-08-05T00:43:00.000-06:00

"The Pogo" is by far the most essential move in my climbing. Some would say that it defines my style. Being a shorter climber means that I am constantly in search of ways to make bigger reaches and moves despite having very low feet. The Pogo Video has been an idea of mine for quite some time, but it only took shape when I decided to bounce the idea off of my good friend Jon Glassberg at Louder Than 11. With his help and creative knowledge we pieced together what I feel like is one of the most innovative climbing videos to hit the industry. It will be released in 3 chapters over the next 3 days. Here is the 1st Installment. Enjoy:

The Pogo • Chapter 1 from Jon Glassberg on Vimeo.

Aslan

2010-07-04T04:10:00.000-06:00

Another solo day in RMNP. Seems to be the way to go for me these days. My two hardest climbs, I've been by myself. Today it was Aslan (V14). I left Boulder a little after 2pm. Drove behind a heard of tourists for two hours until I reached the Bear Lake parking lot. I packed up my crashpad and stomped up the trail bumpin' some Birdman. I listen to the same album every time now, and make it a priority to arrive in Lower Chaos a song earlier every time. I think I've reached my limit. 25 minutes or so. Right in the middle of "Nightclub". Now my legs hurt. I expected there to be some people at the Centaur boulder when I arrived. One pad is hardly enough for the boulder. Sure enough a crew was there, but then they immediately left. Alone again... One pad... No spotters... Fuck it. I used to be somebody that had a difficult time getting motivated when I climbed by myself. Lately, it's been a much different experience. When alone, the pressure is higher to create motivation and psych. It seems I've been rising to the challenge. I have a lot of energy these days, and I'm slowly learning how to harness it. Learning how to execute! Anyways. Enough rambling. Here's the send clip. Super rough. No edit. No Bullshit. Enjoy:

Aslan V14 - Carlo Traversi from Carlo Traversi on Vimeo.

Vail World Cup Final Videos

2010-06-07T23:46:00.001-06:00

Jon Glassberg and I shot video of the World Cup Finals. Nothing crazy but I think we put together some nice highlight reels:

Bouldering World Cup 2010 • Vail, Colorado • Mens Finals from Jon Glassberg on Vimeo.

Bouldering World Cup 2010 • Vail, Colorado • Womens Finals from Jon Glassberg on Vimeo.

Vail World Cup Qualifiers

2010-06-04T23:35:00.000-06:00

So qualifiers are over and despite feeling stronger than ever, I barely made it to the Semifinal round. 18th Place! A bit disappointed, but tomorrow is a new day. My step-dad Joe took a bunch of photos of me throughout the round and I thought I would share some of them:

Waiting behind the wall...

Problem 1

Grabbing the finish jug of Problem 1

Campusing around on the perfectly my style Problem 2

Biggest punt of the day for me...not sticking the finish jug on Problem 2

Feeling very pumped after falling off the last move of Problem 2 many, many times

Getting crazy on Problem 3

Pogo (Moon kick) on Problem 4...very nice.

And we won't talk about Problem 5...

Tomorrow should be a GREAT time. Semifinals. Maybe a shot at Finals? Plus it's my birthday and all the friends are in town...Let's get crunk!

Jade Video

2010-05-29T09:41:00.001-06:00

I finished off the Jade video last night, in quicker than usual form. Glassberg and I filmed some exit interview stuff in the morning and I think it turned out quite good. Actually it turned into sort of a rant, but regardless, I think that with so much talk about grades lately, people will be psyched to hear a somewhat new perspective. The actual climbing footage turned out better than I had hoped. Going into the whole thing I had some angles that I was psyched on capturing, but it turns out that they required a helping hand to achieve. Such hand was non-existent on my solo adventure. My favorite angle is the one from the screen shot floating around:

This shot required me to extend my tripod to the fullest and prop it on top of my climbing bag while leaning it against the wall. Not the most stable setup! Luckily I was able to stick the crux move again to make the setup worthwhile. I think the shot does a decent job of showing the actual size of the holds, which I feel has been missing from prior Jade videos. Let me know what you think! Should be on Deadpointmag.com very soon!

RMNP Update

2010-05-25T20:10:00.000-06:00

Motivation has been very, very high for me lately. And it shows no signs of backing down. Even the 90 hours of route setting in the past two weeks hasn't been able to bring me down. So this past Saturday, following roughly 4 hours of sleep (due to some serious partying in downtown Boulder), I took advantage of the gorgeous weather and made my second attempt (for the year) at climbing in RMNP. Sticcs and I left Boulder a little late, 2 o'clock to be exact, with plans to climb at Emerald Lake with some friends. I think we both had no real intentions to accomplish anything considering the previous nights adventures, and the serious lack of sleep. But a day outside in the sunshine is too hard to pass up. After I nearly fell asleep at the wheel on numerous occasions, we managed to make it to the Bear Lake parking lot and thus began the hike. It was rough. I am out of hiking shape. At the Dream Lake fork, I was faced with a tough decision. Head up the hill to Lower Chaos to check the snow levels, or continue on to the Emerald Lake boulders for a mellow session with some friends. After little debate, I said fuck it, and strapped on the snow shoes. Lower Chaos here I come. Sticcs was without snow shoes and felt like doing some climbing, so we parted ways. I was unfortunate enough not to find the trail between Dream and Lower, and instead headed straight up the very steep hill. Midway up I encountered some very steep terrain with some dead trees and lots of ice:

Very fun maneuvering that steep slope. 3 steps up. Slide 10 feet back down. 10 steps up. Slide 3 feet back down. Climb over rotten trees with snow shoes on. Get a foot trapped in some branches and eat shit on your face. Exciting stuff! Finally, the actual trail came into view (really not sure how I missed it from the start). However, as I attempted to pull myself onto the trail (kinda like manteling choss), two barren hands grasping some poor souls previous boot tracks, I happen to tip over backwards and tumble about 20 feet back down. Awesome... The 2nd attempt up the last slope proved successful and I continued along the sketchy trail:

The rest of the hike to Lower Chaos proved fairly casual and soon I was staring into Chaos Canyon where the boulders should have been. They weren't really there:

Curiosity took hold and I ventured across the snow in search of the boulders. Along the way I nearly tripped over the Warm-Up boulder that holds such classics as Potato Chip V7 and proceeded to stumble upon a 6-foot Centaur boulder:

And just around the back, a short wheel-chair ramp that is the top-out to Nuthin' But Sunshine V13:

Unimpressed by the current conditions of Lower, curiosity once again got the best of me and I found myself hopping over the Gobot V11 and continuing, like some kind of Jesus, directly across Lake Haiyaha and up the hill to the Green 45. What would normally be a maze of talus, was replaced by a thick layer of snow forming a giant sledding hill, formidable enough to make any 5 year old wet himself. Without walking on a single piece of rock, I found myself beneath the great Green Giant:

Dry and perfect. The whole boulder. Very excited at this point, I immediately jumped on the stand start. Climbed that 3 times all the way to the top of the wall. The conditions were surprisingly warm and it would have been smart to wait awhile before attempting Jade from the start. But hey, you can't stop psych! I spent awhile brushing some chalk into the odd conglomeration of texture that forms the crux crimp:

On my first attempt from the start I nearly did the crux move static before my foot picked. 9 more tries from the start, each try getting desperately close, and my ring and pinkie finally split:

It's frustrating considering that each attempt that I give could be the one that leads me to the top of the boulder. But with every mistake (foot cut, fumbling the left hand, not grabbing the crimp right, etc.) you can literally watch your skin disappear. It's such a finicky boulder problem. It is certainly powerful and the holds are small, but the real crux of Jade relies upon executing everything perfectly at the right time. You can't do the move completely static, but you have to be very controlled. The perfect amount of push. You can't fumble the left hand. It's a good hold but you have to stick it perfectly right. I've stuck the crux from the bottom a few times now with only two fingers, but the re-adjust to four continues to leave me on the ground. Is this really what V15 comes down too? This isn't crimp strength. I know that, cause I have very little compared to my abilities on pinches and slopes. Should things be graded harder because they are more condition dependent and harder to execute? All I know is that for me, 4 hours of hiking for 10 tries (essentially 20 total movements on rock), is worth it to find out. What are you willing to do to change your perspective?

The Battle In The Bubble Highlight Video

2010-05-20T00:24:00.000-06:00

Though not the official video, this highlight reel best demonstrates what happened the night of the comp. Proud effort Zack! One man with one camera:

The Battle in the Bubble - Boulder, CO from Zack Sticcs on Vimeo.

Burnout Video

2010-05-19T18:10:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago I pulled off a quick ascent of a local Ro Ro classic called Burnout V12. It could definitely be one of the best boulders of the grade in CO. Here's the video courtesy of Zack "Sticcs" Smith:

Carlo Traversi on Burnout V12 from Zack Sticcs on Vimeo.

Harder, stonger, longer, and more entertaining posts on the way...

This Could Get Interesting.

2010-05-02T23:52:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow I will be heading to Upper Chaos in RMNP to try and finish off Jade. I'm not sure anyone has ventured that far up the canyon this year, so we'll see how it goes. It could be perfect up there, and it could be completely miserable. Trust me, the whole experience will be well documented. Here's a video I posted to Vimeo a few weeks ago of some attempts I had on the boulder in the fall. It felt surprisingly easy and I thought it was in the bag until...well, just watch the video. Following that particular outing, the season abruptly ended. Considering how I've been feeling on real rock recently, and if conditions and skin hold up, I feel confident that it could go down very quickly. Or it could take all summer. Who really knows? The important thing is that, I AM FUCKING PSYCHED!

Attempts On Jade from Carlo Traversi on Vimeo.

Getting Very Psyched!!!

2010-04-30T12:39:00.000-06:00

"Big changes" is the name of the game right now. At least in my life. Looking forward to some of the best months of the year out here in Colorado, and what could prove to be some of the best, and most productive, of my life. I look forward to sharing it all...

Next up...The Battle In The Bubble:

BATTLE IN THE BUBBLE Part Three from Cedar Wright on Vimeo.

With the new 35,000 lb. wall from Walltopia that we unloaded just a few days ago. Looks sick!

New River Gorge Video from Louder Than 11

2010-04-16T00:08:00.001-06:00

And they have done it again! My good friends Jon Glassberg and Jordan Shipman of Louder Than 11 Productions have released New River Gorge Curse to the world! I'm very excited to have played a role in the film and I look forward to all future endeavors with these guys. The trip to the New in December was full of highs and lows, but overall it was a great time and I only have good things to say about the people, quality rock, scenery, potential and overall experience that the New River Gorge provided me with. Can't wait to make a return....

Hope you enjoy the video:

New River Gorge Curse from Louder Than 11 - Jordan Shipman on Vimeo.

Always The Fingers!

2010-04-11T13:34:00.000-06:00

In the midst of probably one of the biggest breakthroughs in my personal climbing ability, tragedy struck:

Well... Maybe not a complete tragedy, but certainly a setback. I have been training A LOT recently. Sometimes climbing nearly 40 problems V7-V11 in less than 2 hours. Let's just say I haven't been this psyched in YEARS! I have also been coupling my climbing training with weight training and calisthenics. While adjusting a piece of the weight equipment a couple days ago at The Spot, my hand lost its grip and when the two pieces of heavy metal collided, my index finger was there to absorb all the force. After two days it's feeling much better. Hopefully it will be healed in time for the Earth Treks competition at the end of the month. And then Jade...

Poudre Canyon

2010-04-05T14:08:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I made my once a year visit to the Poudre Canyon to try and clean up some old projects. It was snowing sideways when Jon, Herm, Ben and I got to the boulders, but we decided to make an attempt at climbing anyways. After a bit of cleaning snow off topouts and such, the weather started to clear up. First up: An attempt at the recently broken Canopener V11/12. After a few warm-up burns, I topped it out with the right exit. Felt really good. For the last two weeks or so, I've been feeling VERY light. I assumed that the feeling would die away after a bit, but fortunately for me, it seems to be sticking around. If I manage to scratch a few more things off my list, I might have to dub this the Breakthrough of 2010!

After Canopener, I rested for a bit while watching Jon finish off the problem, and Ben getting as close as humanly possible to a send without actually sending. Devastating to say the least. But the kid is real strong and he'll finish it off on his next trip.

Finally I managed to snag a few pads and head around the boulder to Circadian Rhythm V13. I've tried this boulder a few times in the past, but I've never really been able to "project" it. I basically get to try it for about an hour or two every year. However, this schedule was been great for showing my steady progression. I re-warmed up by doing the last big move a couple of times. 3rd try from the start and it was in the bag. Wow! It's nice to feel strong again. Here's a screen shot:

So, What's Next?

New Videos On Deadpoint

2010-04-01T22:03:00.000-06:00

I've got two new videos that I'm psyched on at Deadpoint.

Kyle Owen showing off his crazy campus dyno skills:

http://www.deadpointmag.com/videos/watch/world-record-campus-dyno

and myself climbing Black Lung V13 in Joe's Valley, Utah:

http://www.deadpointmag.com/videos/watch/black-lung-joes-valley

Hope you like them!

Battle In The Bubble Videos Part 2

2010-04-01T11:45:00.000-06:00

BATTLE IN THE BUBBLE Part Two with Daniel Woods from Cedar Wright on Vimeo.

Black Lung

2010-03-27T19:10:00.002-06:00

Finished up Black Lung yesterday. My anti-style and a real mark of progression in my personal climbing. I designated 3 weeks this year to work on it, but to my surprise I only needed about 4 tries. However, I've been working on this particular boulder for years. It's been a long time coming. And the video looks AMAZING! Out soon at Deadpoint.

Check the stills:

The Battle In The Bubble

2010-03-26T13:51:00.002-06:00

"Battle in the Bubble" Pro Invitational from Cedar Wright on Vimeo.

Northern California

2010-03-23T18:01:00.000-06:00

I've been living in Boulder, CO for about 3 and a half years now. As much as I love being out here, I can't help but have a soft spot for the place I grew up. These days it seems like I barely get to go home more than once or twice a year. But I guess that's what makes those visits all the more special. Most of my time at home is spent with my family, but on occasion, when time permits, I get to make it out to some of the rocks that I've left behind. This past weekend I was able to do just that.

On Sunday, I managed to go out climbing with my brother Giovanni and my good friend Matt Lewis at some of Sonoma County's coastal areas. I must say, every year I come back, I am more and more impressed by the quality of some of the rock we have in the area. Granted, we're not talking Bishop or Hueco here, but there is some really good stuff.

We started off at some secret areas tucked back in the woods. The boulders are pure blue schist and in my honest opinion it's probably some of the best rock in the world:

"G" got close to finishing up Charlie Barrett's "The Low End Theory" V10, before we bounced to another area:

The next area that we went to is called "Fort Ross". It's actually not much of an "area", it's more like one GIANT boulder stacked with classics. V1-V10. The best part is that it sits right on the beach. However, this poses some problems, due to the changes in tides and sand levels. I've seen the boulder sitting at 15 feet tall half buried by sand. I've also seen it at 25 feet tall with no sand under it, just talus! You never know what it's going to be like out there. Luckily on Sunday, it was pretty much perfect. Start holds at head height yielding a beautiful 20 foot boulder. I managed to get some video of "G" running some laps on the ultra-classic Fort Rosstafarian V6. Here's a screen shot of the video to be released on Deadpoint:

This boulder was my first V6. I climbed it when I was 14 years old after only a few months in the sport. I ran a couple laps up the climb as well, and upon further thought, decided that it is BY FAR the best V6 that I have ever climbed. And I've climbed a lot of V6's in a lot of different areas. So if you get the chance, travel on up the Northern California coast and sample some of the best.

Filming...

2010-03-09T23:58:00.002-07:00

After a slight finger wrecking experience at the Hueco Rock Rodeo, a day which will be detailed in a soon to be released Deadpoint Blog, this photo perfectly captures what I've been doing lately. Playing with toys! Get ready for a media extravaganza...60gb of it to be exact. Thanks for the photo Merrick!

ABS Nationals 2010

2010-02-16T10:20:00.001-07:00

I've been a complete failure on the blogging front the past few months. Very, very busy is my only excuse. I should have a full nationals report either on Deadpoint or on here in the next few days. Until then, I managed to snap a nice photo of Michael Bautista in the Qualifying round and thought I would share it:

Ohhhhhh...yes!!!!

2009-11-17T21:00:00.004-07:00

Finally out of the GYM! YES!!! Don't get me wrong. I like Boulder, and I love The Spot. But damn, I am psyched to be out for a bit. ON THE ROAD. It started a few weekends ago. We rolled out with a huge crew to Joe's Valley when the Boulder weather went shit and just killed the place. People sending right and left...forks. Great climbing with great people. Then Alex and I took off to Horse Pens 40 for the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown. We stopped in Dallas and drove the rest of the way with Old Man Dave and the palace on wheels. Camping at it's finest.

Horse Pens 40 is one of my favorite places to climb. Period. I love slopers and Horse Pens has many. My day started off strong with quick sends of No Tranquility V9, God Module V11, and Super Slider V10. I got really, really close to flashing God Module two years ago and haven't managed to finish it up since. This year it felt very easy and even without crimping for the last 6-9 months and still having a fucked up finger, it's nice to know I'm still making gains. The rest of the day included sends of Skywalker V9, Pegmado V9, Cadillac Thrills, V9, Hot n' Tot V10, Ghetto Superstar V9, Suspicion V8, and Megatron V8 to round out my top ten. Very psyched on the day and I managed to place 3rd which was super exciting for me. I also managed to up my score from last year by over 1500 points which is great considering I only get to climb at the area once a year. Congrats to the winners and I can't wait till next year.

From Alabama, we headed back to Texas to pick up my car. It is officially free of "tree damage". Check out the Deadpoint Video on the topic. So psyched. Upon receiving the car, we headed straight to Arkansas. Two days of sandstone bouldering was the plan. I managed to climb Chunk Up The Deuce V12 in fairly quick time. Preceded by Fred's Cave V10, and followed by Glass Bowl V10, Tang V10, and a flash of the very cool Flash Gorden V10 after ripping the left hand start hold off the wall cause it would fallen off anyway. The new hold doesn't change Flash Gorden at all, but Anti-Hero is a bit different. Arkansas has an INSANE amount of potential and everything that I climbed was phenomenal in both quality and movement. Except Tang, that one wasn't really that cool. I am psyched to return soon when the temps are a bit cooler.

Chunk Up The Deuce V12 (Screenshot from Footage to be released on Deadpoint)

Glass Bowl V10

After torrential downpours at HCR to round out Day 2, locking my keys in my car, getting a flat tire, driving 6 hours in the rain to St. Louis, crashing at our friend Doug's house (Thanks Doug!), and another 6 hour drive, we made it to the Red River Gorge. And that's where we now reside. Life is good. Today was our first climbing day and we hit up the Motherload and Bob Marley. I planned on being in shape by the time I got here, but my hectic schedule the past month or two has allowed little climbing of the endurance type. Today was my "test' day. See where I'm at. See how weak I am. I started off the day with a run up Ale-8-1 (5.12b) on the Undertow Wall and felt like shit. No flow. Mild pump. Not good. I sat around for a bit and realized that the only way that I was going to learn my weaknesses was to really push my limits. I walked down into the Madness Cave and looked up at the only route that I hadn't tried. The Madness (5.13c). After falling off post-crux at the last bolt on my On-sight attempts of both Transworld Depravity 5.14a and Omaha Beach 5.14a, I decided that it might be time to settle the score. I tied in and set off. Soon enough I was at the anchors for my hardest On-sight to date. Perfect flow, almost no pump, and a shit-ton of psych. A great way to start the two-week trip. I followed with an On-sight of Snooker 5.13a and a flash of 8-Ball 5.12d. Nice first day. We ventured over to Bob Marley later in the day and I also managed to climb the crux of 50 Words For Pump 5.14c first try. I little more endurance and I should be able to finish it off. Hopefully with the quickness. That's the name of the game out here. Word.

Also, Check out Two Kings, a video that I just released on Deadpoint with some nice Joe's Valley footage. More to come from that trip with some sends from Alex Puccio and the Crew.

RMNP

2009-10-02T22:51:00.001-06:00

Jade...

This Weekend

2009-10-02T02:00:00.000-06:00

I must say after almost 6 straight days of being inside setting up plastic boulder problems, I am very psyched to be heading outside this weekend. Tomorrow we're heading up to RMNP. I don't really have any projects right now, but there are a few things that I'm psyched to mess around on. Alex put in some good effort on Nuthin' But Sunshine a few weekends ago and managed to complete all the moves. The season is closing in fast and it's hard to tell at this point if an ascent will be made. Regardless, Alex is psyched to try it this weekend no matter the outcome. As always, I'll be there with the HD.

On Saturday, Alex and I will be attending the Horsetooth Hang at the Horsetooth Reservoir outside of Fort Collins, CO. This is a classic old area that I've never been to and I'm psyched to check it out. Especially to try Meathook. Maybe I'll have some luck on another Holloway problem. Who knows? There are a few other classics that I'm psyched on and I'll be reporting back here with a full update after the event.

Colorado Glow

2009-10-01T14:25:00.001-06:00

Louder Than 11 presents a Colorado bouldering epic with help from Dead Point Magazine, Friksn Clothing, Project Holds, and Revolution Climbing. Jon Glassberg and Nate Draughn are climbing in the high country when they stumble upon a mysterious meteorite crash site. They approach the impact zone to collect the debris and discover that the alien meteorite has unique powers. The residue on their hands glows and tracks their movements through space and time. Quickly Jon and Nate grab as much as they can and stuff it into their chalk bags and head to the boulders with the alien substance.
They decide to share the glowing chalk with friends, Carlo Traversi and Ryan Olson. The climbers then proceed to have otherworldly climbing experiences followed up with some scary consequences. With every blessing there is a curse…

Colorado Glow features Nate Draughn on Eternia (V11), Dead Raccoon (V11) and Bierstadt (V10). Jon Glassberg on Blood Money (V12), Last Dance (V8) and Gorillas in the Mist (V10). Ryan Olson on Burnout (V12) and Carlo Traversi on Cage Free (V11), Riddles in the Park (V12) and the 3rd ascent of Ty Landman’s Top Notch (V13).
Premiering October 15th on louderthan11.com
It will melt your face off!

Coming Soon...

2009-09-19T15:48:00.004-06:00

Along with a concise report on what the fuck I've been up to for the last two months.

Dolphin Tour 2008

2009-08-09T21:13:00.003-06:00

In the fall of 2008, Alex and I traveled to California to climb in Yosemite and Bishop. We met up with friends Garrett Gregor and Kyle Owen on our first day in Yosemite. They were driving around in a 1988 Toyota Dolphin (peep the picture below), and offered to let us crash in it for the extent of our trip. Everything was in place for the perfect road trip, and the resulting experience proved to be one of the best of my life. Garrett recently finished off the video from the trip. Check it out.

The Dolphin from Garrett Gregor on Vimeo.

Ummm...

2009-07-15T00:53:00.002-06:00

I will have a larger post going up soon, but this needs to be posted immediately.

Men of Route Setting 2010 (Official Teaser) from Jon Glassberg on Vimeo.

Courtesy of Jon Glassberg.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Update

2009-06-24T23:48:00.003-06:00

A lot has happened in the last few days and I hardly know where to start. I have been obsessed with the rail project and I was finally able to succeed on it this past Sunday. Very psyched. Sunseeker 8B. Props to Nalle. It is hands down the best boulder that I have ever climbed. It starts on a perfect obvious jug and climbs 21 moves straight to the top of a large boulder along a perfect and pure line. This is the first piece of rock that I've put any sort of long term work into this year, and my success once again confirms that significant accomplishments are the product of passion and motivation. The trick is constantly finding things that you are passionate and motivated about. So what's next?

I've also been working hard trying to get the Sunseeker video produced. I spent almost 3 post-send hours reclimbing portions of the climb to get the shots that I wanted. I even managed to climb the stand start 6 times in a row, including a few tries sans spotter. Scary! Should hit the DeadPoint site very soon. Check it out and tell me what you think.

In other news, I was hired yesterday as the new Head Routesetter for the The Spot Bouldering Gym. Very excited. I will be giving up a significant portion of my fall climbing season due to this promotion which was a hard thing to give up, but it should also allow me the ability to potentially travel overseas in 2010 which I have yet to do. World Cups, Switzerland, Mallorca, Ceuse, Realization? As for the routesetting, I'm psyched to hear any feedback, good or bad. We have a great routesetting crew right now that I'm always psyched to work with and hopefully we can find ways to make The Spot even better than it already is.

I won't be climbing much over the next two weeks or so as I try to heal this pulley strain that has been plaguing me for well over a month. Then it will be back to the plastic till the tradeshow where I will be competing in the Mammut Bouldering Championships yet again. The schedule is a bit wierd this year (competition is on Monday and Tuesday), none the less I encourage anyone who can make it to come on out and enjoy the most exciting climbing competition of the year.

More Projects...

2009-06-15T01:14:00.007-06:00

The weather in Colorado has been quite strange recently. April snowstorms and now lots of rain and flurries in the Alpine during a normally drier/warmer time. Today it was Mt. Evans for me. Since I can't crimp, the park is out. And so I've been searching. In between 3 separate "snow storms" that left the crew burrowing under boulders, I spent quite a bit of time running around in the talus. I found this boulder without much effort:

I'm fairly sure it hasn't been climbed before, especially from the sit which could certainly be a very high quality 8B or harder. I was left trying the stand start today in my broken condition from an obvious good hold just within arms reach. The stand proved to be more than worthy as I was unable to get my ass up the thing after countless effort. One move, oddly difficult, and a bit scary. None-the-less, the climbing was phenomenal and left all of us scratching our heads as to why no one had either climbed or mentioned this boulder before. The rock is unlike most of the climbs at Mt. Evans as it features almost no crimps. Yes! And lots of cool pinches:

I ended the day with a quick send of the Hume Problem V9, which is a very nice climb at the far side of Area B that saw a nice send train today. Props to Hayden and Connor. I also had the pleasure of trying the Rail Project for the first time. We gave it a nice little session with the fading light and managed to scare the shit out of ourselves a bit. That boulder is BIG. Two more moves and I'll be ready to start giving legit efforts from the start after some heavy duty pad haulage. Psyched!

Projects...

2009-06-14T01:03:00.003-06:00

Big Changes

2009-06-10T16:06:00.005-06:00

My first blog post is up on Deadpointmag and I encourage everyone to check it out. It includes a write-up of the World Cup from a competitor's point of view, some photos from the event, and a nicely put together Women's Qualifier video that was filmed and edited by Garrett Gregor with some help from me. I will continue to randomly post on this blog, but the majority of my content will be posted on the Deadpoint site for hopefully a larger audience. In time I will be getting rid of climbingbum in favor of carlotraversi.com which is currently in the works. My goal is to create a site that allows people to get to know me better, communicate with me easier, and hopefully be inspired to pursue the things they are truly passionate about. This game is my life, and I'm in this game for life.

On another note, I'll be in Colorado for the summer and the fall is up in the air. Dolphin Tour 2009/2010 is looking promising, I'll keep you updated.

Videos

2009-05-02T21:04:00.003-06:00

I'm excited to say that I've humbly entered the world of climbing video production. Big learning process for me. So far I have two videos up on Deadpointmag.com, one of Paul Robinson on Psychedelic down in the St. George area. The other is Daniel Woods on two mega-classics in Red Rocks, NV. More psyched on the Psychedelic footage. Great problems in Red Rocks though. Let me know what you think.

Speaking of videos, check out this piece a friend showed me today:

Nyle "Let The Beat Build" from Nyle on Vimeo.

Incredible. One shot.

It's Been A Whirlwind...

2009-03-26T21:16:00.007-06:00

I don't quite know where to start. A LOT has happened since my last blog. I will start blogging more. I swear. I haven't been back to Kryptonite. No time. Very busy. Always on my mind though. Right now I'm sitting in a hotel room in St. George, Utah with Alex, P-Rob, and his dad Chip. I'm treading the fine line between mental breakthrough and mental breakdown. My body is very worn out. I'm still pushing though. Let me bring you up to date as fast as possible.

After Kryptonite-->Hueco Tanks for 10 days. Very hot. Brutally hot at times. I fell off the last move on my flash attempt on Slashface V13. Ironically, Dave was spotting on that attempt. The only one who knows how it feels. That was the last time I remember trying hard and really caring about the outcome. Anyways, by the end of the trip I started to feel really good. Snapped out of the 3 month plastic coma. The rock started to bite back. Grippin' the hands so that I had to do less grippin. Then we left. Back 2 Boulder. I set the final SBS comp for the season. Had some big guns at the show, which made it fun to set for. Then last week we rolled on down to Vegas with DW to chill with my Dad and family and climb on some rock. Wet Dream V12 is a phenomenal boulder problem located out in Black Velvet Canyon. Lots of potential in the Red Rocks region. Check it out. Some very nice rock. After spending a few too many days in the Urban Chaos we rolled back up to St. George to meet up with P-Rob as he attempted Psychedelic 5.14d. I ended up belaying him on his send go where he pretty much destroyed the crux. Then managed to almost fall a few times on the significantly easier outro with frozen hands and a slight pump. Welcome to the route world Paul! Not sure that he'll be in it for long. I tried the route once. Full extension moves, crimps, and vertical terrain are most certainly not my forte. Maybe someday though. Then the motivational sinkhole arrived. Complete shutdown. We went to Moe's Valley for 2 successive days. Amazing rock and amazing climbs. I was surprised that I hadn't heard about this place more. Lots of potential on Grit-like sandstone boulders. Alex is close on Cloverland V12, or whatever name you prefer. I have been filming A LOT. Two hours of quality footage off the camera so far. Dealing with some technical difficulties with my computer though. Hope to have them solved soon. Then quality footage for all at DeadPointMag. I went to the Cathedral today. Re-psyched. Route called Golden. Very close already. Then Golden Direct. Then I'll be in shape for Kryptonite. The ultimate goal. Then new routes. Wherever I find space. Gotta leave your mark while you're in your prime.

Jon Cardwell and Wet Dream, both in their prime.

Paul and Kool-Aid, both in their prime.

Kryptonite

2009-02-24T16:19:00.015-07:00

This past Friday I had the pleasure of viewing the world premiere of Chuck Fryberger's new film Pure. I must say I was very impressed with the film as a whole. Very pretty looking. I was especially psyched to see some of my home (Sonoma County) rocks in the film looking particularly brilliant.

Following the film I was faced with the predicament of leaving that night for the Fortress or the next morning. At one point I was considering bailing entirely. But something was pulling me to that place beyond normal rationale. Seems to always be the case these days. So here's how my weekend played out.

Saturday morning, 1 am, I finally get my ass out of Boulder and on my way to the Western Slope. I had my good friend, and photographer, Greg Mionske in tow and he claimed he was psyched as ever. Hard to believe after it took 4 calls to wake him up for our ridiculous "alpine" departure time. Our plan was to at least make it past Vail so we could miss all the morning ski traffic. After a 30 minute detour through Denver due to an accident on 93 and another 3 hours of driving we arrived in the Walmart parking lot in Eagle with Dr. Dre bumping from my sub-par sound system. That shit is pretty much the only music that can keep me awake on late-night drives. We found a dark corner of the lot and prepared our beds. I can just manage to sleep in my car, but Greg, at 6' 5'' brought along a tent that he pitched next to the car. Urban camping at it's finest.

After a decent night of sleep we awoke at 9:30 am and hopped back on I-70. Following a bit of breakfast and some more driving we found ourselves in the muddy parking lot below the cliff. The hike definitely has a reputation and I was interested to see how I would fare after a winter of barely any physical activity outside the climbing gym. It ended up taking us about an hour to get to the cliff. We got a bit lost near the end and I ate shit in the talus/shale that covers the hillside below the cliff quite a few times. However, psych was high. The Fortress is gorgeous. Blue and white streaked walls for days. Intimidating to say the least. At the cliff, we met up with some folks from Rifle, Andy and Mark, who were kind enough to show us around and tell us where to warm up. I ended up hopping on The Daily Planet 5.13d right off the bat and dispatched it on my second burn. Busted out the "rose" move and a mono for the send. I've never really been forced to do any of those moves on outdoor rock. After I belayed Greg on the 5.12 opening section of the climb, I decided to hop right on Kyptonite 5.14d. Climbing a route such as this is on my lifetime goals list. 140 feet long, overhung, proud, with a complex and amazing crux. Definitely something that will challenge me properly. I went bolt to bolt through the first 40 feet of choss, and continued through the next 5.13 section dispaching most of the moves on my first attempt. I'm thankful that I'm not any shorter because some of the lower moves would be downright impossible. Simply amazing moves none-the-less. After a stout left hand drive-by to a tufa pinch and a few pocket jugs I found myself at the base of the crux. It was easy to distinguish this section because I couldn't see any holds ahead that would be good enough to clip from for as far as I could see. But it looked perfectly my style. Compression on slopers and pinches. After pondering the sequence or a bit I decided to just gun for it, hoping to reach some sort of decent hold relatively quickly. About 10 significantly difficult moves later, after skipping two draw-less bolts, I pitched off for a nice 40 foot ride. Not really pumped, just not really sure where to go. I did the same thing about 2-3 more times not quite able to find where the end of the crux was. I lowered off and we hiked back down the trail, tired and hungry. I was psyched on the route, but perturbed that I didn't take it to the top. I would need to figure out the upper section better before proper redpoint burns could commence.

Probably can't see me. I'm a small red dot a bit higher than dead center. You can see Greg belaying just above the tree in the foreground. The route ends near the top of the frame. I'm on one of the first moves of the crux.

Day 2. Slept poorly in the Target parking lot in Glenwood Springs. We must have looked like bums when we stumbled in the coffee shop nearby. We arrived at the cliff earlier than the day before. Nobody else in sight. Truly in Solitude. I warmed up on Kryptonite. Mid-crux I was somehow able to basically dyno a draw into the bolt and clip it up so I could work out the easiest sequence. I accomplished every move of the 15-move resistance crux with ease (thanks to the now clipped bolts) and made it to the resting jug and then through the last few bolts of 5.13 to the anchors. I figured out that if I could get to the crux without being pumped in the slightest, I could definitely finish the route. I lowered off and chilled for a few hours (it was quite warm mid-day). In the late afternoon the sun tucked itself behind some clouds and it cooled down significantly. I was ready to give it a burn. Four bolts in and my hands were numb. Not warmed up anymore. I managed to climb into the crux from the bottom without being pumped, but I dry fired due to lack of feeling in the skin. As the temps continued to get colder, I belayed Greg a few times on Phonebooth 5.13a, and then we headed back to the car.

3 realizations:

1. The route will go.

2. I should get in better shape.

3. Damn, The Fortress is amazing and I'm psyched to spend more time up there and Kryptonite is by far the BEST route climb I've ever tried regardless of grade. Superb quality stone, amazing moves.

In regards to the pictures. They were taken by Greg. He set up the camera on a tripod and had it automatically take a photo every few seconds the whole time I was on the wall. These are the low-res versions. I've decided to blow up a high res. version and put it on my wall for motivation. You gotta do whatever you can to make sure that you get shit done. Word.

On Thursday this week I leave for Hueco with a motley crew to do some tanning in the Texas sun. And this amazing event:

So get down to Hueco for some climbing in the sun!

The Fortress Of Solitude

2009-02-20T00:05:00.003-07:00

I am excited to say that after an intense search for an equally psyched individual (Greg Mionske) I have succeeded in planning my first "adventure" up to The Fortress of Solitude this weekend. My main goal is Kryptonite, but I would also like to check out Flex Luthor and scope the potential for some new lines. I cannot express how motivated I am to find and bolt new lines. And the Fortress seems like a perfect place to start. 200+ feet of overhanging limestone. Now I just need a drill...

Also, If anybody has any info on the place and is psyched to share, please do. Beta on where to warm-up and any other helpful info is much appreciated. I will be taking lots of photos and there will definitely be updates to come.

ABS Nationals 2009

2009-02-14T15:13:00.006-07:00

Qualifiers went better than expected for me and I'm tied for 5th Place going into finals tonight. I felt like the problems were significantly easier this year than any other comp I've competed in, hopefully finals will step it up a notch. If you are in Boulder right now, I urge everyone to come watch the show tonight. Even if you can't find a ticket, find a way in!!! It's going to be off the hook!

The Future...Revisited

2009-02-11T17:24:00.008-07:00

I have gotten A LOT more responses to my previous blog entry than I expected. Mostly good responses though. One thing that I wanted to formally revisit was Point #6. I feel like I was a bit harsh with this point and it definitely generated a response that I wasn't too psyched on. So i will clarify. Climbing companies make very good products and manage to stay afloat purely because they make very good products. With the little money that comes into the industry, this only makes sense. Very little room for bad products. So I feel I was wrong in this regard. Also, I wanted to make it known that I know very little about marketing. I hope to learn more in the future. I do know that in a lot of ways that the a lot of the marketing currently being done by climbing companies hasn't yet lived up to its potential. If it had we would all be doing better financially. I know that I have a lot of ideas that I think could really work in the way of marketing climbing, but I haven't had the time recently to sit down and put them into a structured concept. All I can say is that they would be much different than what we are seeing now. Maybe they would work, maybe they wouldn't. Such is the game.

I would also like to thank my current sponsors Five Ten and Verve. They have been amazing to me and my posts are not meant to reflect badly on them in any way. I represent them because we have similar goals and I feel that they both make excellent products.

The Future

2009-02-11T01:11:00.001-07:00

It has been quite a while since I have updated with significant information about what's been going on in my life. It is safe to say that I have reached some what of a turning point. Upon returning from a successful extended U.S. roadtrip this past fall, I have been forced to start looking at things in some what of a new light. Following a successful, yet disappointing, winter tradeshow I have managed to put together a rough list of some of my recent "realizations".

1. I am not a professional climber. Meaning that currently I am nowhere near being able to support myself by just rock climbing.

2. I want to be a professional rock climber. And with that I need to find out how to properly become one and also what kind of "pro" climber I want to be.

3. Being a professional rock climber currently has very little to do with how hard you rock climb.

4. In fact, most pro climbers don't climb as hard as you might think.

5. Some of the strongest climbers in the world are complete unknowns. No 8a, no press, no nothing. Completely unknown.

6. At this point in time, VERY few climbing companies have any clue what they are doing beyond making a decent product that sells enough to keep them afloat. I believe that much of this is due to BAD marketing techniques and BLATANT misuse of key athletes on their climbing teams. Hint to climbing companies-stop doing the marketing by yourself and hire someone that knows whats up.

7. The growth of climbing is vital for progression.

8. More climbers=more people buying climbing shit=climbing companies making more $$$=more climbers climbing full time=progression.

9. Their are 3 types of professional climbers.

I. Bad Climbers-Great Representatives

II. Great Climbers-Bad Representatives

III. Great Climbers-Great Representatives

10. Climber I typically misrepresents their abilities, but generally makes up for it by working hard for their sponsors.

11. Climber II typically thinks he's just too damn good to work hard for their sponsors. "I get money and free shit because I climb harder than you".

12. Climber III is a rare breed these days. Climbs hard (Not just grades, but standard setting accomplishments) and works hard. These type of people need to be rewarded more in the industry. Many are not. These people also need to be better utilized by their sponsors.

13. I aspire to be Climber III and will not settle for being either Climber I or II because these people devalue what it means to be Climber III.

14. Hopefully, in the future, ALL sponsored climbers will fall into category III because that is the best for the future of the industry.

15. Climbing competitions in the US are poorly executed and poorly advertised.

16. Climbing is a selfish pursuit.

17. Their are ways to make it less selfish by giving back to the community.

18. I need to find more ways to give back.

19. Most people do nothing to give back and it only hurts progression.

20. We need to start working together better, as members of the WORLDWIDE climbing community, to progress the sport. This means better recongnition as a sport by the general public. Climbing in the Olympics. We need athletes that are recognized by the general non-climbing public.

I know that a lot of these points isolate the things that are wrong with the climbing industry and I have stated very few ways to fix the problems. Personally, I don't know how to fix a lot of them. Maybe some of them aren't even problems. But hopefully by pointing some of these things out more people will start to think. If you have anything to add to the topic please comment. I am not professing these beliefs as absolute truth. All I know is that things aren't great for pro climbers these days and I would like to improve that. And maybe you just don't give a shit about any of this and so be it. But climbing is currently my life and I will do whatever I can to improve it.

Aside from that stuff here's what I've been up too. In January I competed in the SCS Nationals in SLC during the tradeshow and managed to take 1st Place! I trained a bit for the comp, but not nearly as hard as I could have trained. I was very suprised that I basically made it through the comp without getting pumped. Rope climbing is beginning to look like a facet of climbing that I could get very good at, and I am excited to pursue this side of the sport for the remainder of 2009. My personal goal is to establish myself as a solid 9a climber and then start searching out new lines. Following ABS Nationals and a possible short trip to Hueco, I will be spending a lot of time at The Fortress of Solitude (for Kryptonite), and the Southern Utah crags. As well as Rifle in the spring and maybe the RRG. Petzl has been so kind to hook me up with some great gear for my endeavors and I look forward to representing them PROPERLY in the coming months.

SCS Nationals

ABS Nationals is this weekend. I have been training boulders in the gym. Almost feeling strong. Almost. We'll see how it goes. Routes to boulders. Hard to transition. I've been climbing with P-Rob a lot and I must say I'm extremely impressed with how hard he is climbing following his ankle break in the fall. He is definitely one of the top contenders for the title this year. I guess more of us need to lock ourselves in the garage with a campus "bored" for a few months.

I have been entertaining the purchase of an HD video camera for the past few weeks. MomentumVM has been for the most part a complete let-down lately and it would be nice to see more large format, HD quality, high-production value climbing shorts on the web these days. It looks like I might get the opportunity to try my hand at it pretty soon.

Also, BIG props to my little brother Giovanni or "G" for his somewhat recent ascents of Haroun and the Sea of Stories V12 and the 2nd Ground-Up Ascent of Evilution V12. The latter achievement is very inspiring considering G used to be afraid to climb a 25 foot slab on a top rope. You can view his ascent of Haroun here.

The Shield

2009-01-13T00:57:00.005-07:00

I just found this photo of me on The Shield V12 in Little Rock City, TN on climbing.com. The Shield most definitely ranks in the Top 5 best boulder problems in the U.S. Aesthetic, Unique Movement, Amazing Holds, and a great Location team up to make this a highly sought after tick. My 1 hour shot at the send this year ended in failure, but I will return soon, hopefully. This pic shows me on the crux move. I chose a bit different beta than the norm that had me palming my left hand up the wall.

Sam Slivey Photo

Sorry for the lack of updates, though I haven't had much to update on. If you happen to pick up the new issues of Deadpoint Magazine and Climbing, check out some of the photos of Alex that I had published. It's definitely exciting to see your own photos in print. Also, my little brother "G" topped out Evilution V12 a few days ago for the 2nd Ground-Up ascent. Props Bro! I have worked the last 5 or 6 days straight, sometimes until 3 in the morning, at The Spot fixing The Dojo. Epic. We were forced to Tap almost 4,000 or so T-Nuts. Needless to say, I'm still recovering from a serious lack of sleep.

I should be getting outside soon, now that I am back on a normal work schedule. This should yield some more interesting updates.

Evilution

2008-12-18T23:07:00.005-07:00

Just thought I'd post this photo I recently got my hands on. It was taken from Buttermilk road and shows me topping out Evilution on the Grandpa Peabody boulder. This particular photo seems to expose just how gigantic this particular boulder is. Thanks a bunch to Tilly Parkins for taking and sending me the photo.

I'm the little black dot halfway up the boulder if you couldn't tell. The crux is about a body length below me.

Off The Road...Finally!

2008-12-10T16:53:00.014-07:00

On Oct. 30, Alex and I left boulder and we just got back home today. We drove from CO to Texas. Texas to Alabama. Alabama to Texas. Texas to Santa Rosa, CA. Santa Rosa to Yosemite. Yosemite to Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa to Bishop. Bishop to Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa to Bishop. Bishop to Salt Lake City. Salt Lake to Boulder (for one night). Boulder to Chattanooga, TN. Chattanooga back to Boulder. Alex is afraid of flying if anyone needs an answer to the obvious question. She also doesn't have a driver's license which leaves 100% of the driving responsibilities up to me. I am sick and tired of driving.

I have updated decently well over the past few weeks, but thought I would catch everyone up on the last leg of the tour. Chattanooga for the last leg of the Triple Crown. I only have one thing to say. Little Rock City has the best rock and lines of any climbing area in the United States. Hands down. After four straight days of driving to the comp, I didn't perform nearly as well as I wanted to, but I'm inspired to return to LRC as soon as possible. We also had the opportunity to climb in Laurel Snow outside Dayton for the two days after the comp. Lots of potential and lots of good lines. I walked away with ascents of Vapor Lock V11 and the 3rd ascent of Western Gold. Western Gold is perhaps my favorite climb for the grade I've ever done. Slopers and pinches all the way. Props to Jimmy Webb on the 1st. True Stunner.

Here are some pics:

Vapor Lock V11

Jimmy Webb on the 2nd Ascent of Stankins V11 (established by James Litz just a week prior)

Western Gold V11

Nic about to crush Vapor Lock...

Alex Puccio Climbs A Maze of Death V12

2008-12-04T00:20:00.006-07:00

On Sunday, Dec. 30, Alex finished off her fourth V12 with an ascent of A Maze of Death. It took her 4 days of effort and she has stated that it is most definitely her hardest boulder send to date. I was very impressed with her ascent of this line particularly with the sequence she used. She skipped a very key left hand by putting her foot above her head to lock-off to the sidepull and then proceeded to pull both holds to her stomach while she hand-foot matched her left hand. Many of us tried to attempt this sequence but couldn't even start to do it. A very impressive display of raw power that you'll have to witness when the video hits the web.

Here are some pics:

I managed to finish off my trip with sends of The Buttermilker V12 and Haroun and the Sea of Stories V11/12. I attempted to finish Evilution Direct V11 before Thanksgiving, but couldn't quite get myself to commit to the Dyno (for me) on the slab. This is certainly a much scarier line to the top of the boulder than Jason's original, but the holds are MUCH better. Until now. When I returned to Bishop after Thanksgving I learned that a key hold above the lip had broken and there wasn't much left to grab. I tried it a few times before we left for Boulder (ground-up of course) and can definitely say that the exit is harder but there is definitely a decent hold to grab. It now awaits a re-first ascent.

Here's a photo of me grabbing the left hand that is now broken:

Bishop

2008-11-21T22:52:00.014-07:00

So we bailed on Yosemite a couple of days ago in favor a finding less humid conditions in Bishop. We arrived here two days ago and have found mostly heat during the day, but phenomenal conditions when the sun goes down. This gives a small window of climbing, but allows us to rest and save skin for most the time. However when the sun goes down, it means business. Yesterday, we messed around on the Buttermilker for a bit to warm up. I got really close, but couldn't quite pull it off. As the sun went down we rounded up some pads and headed down to the Grandpa Peabody. I climbed Evilution to the lip two years ago and felt very unaccomplished just letting go of the jug at the lip. I've been trying to get back to Bishop these last few years to polish some things off and it seems as though this trip is going to be a success. After only a few goes on the full Evilution I was falling rounding the lip. After figuring out some new foot beta, I pulled onto the slab (then almost fell when my feet picked going for the jug) and diced my way to the top. I then spent 20 minutes figuring out the 50 foot slab downclimb. Scary! I was psyched to up the ante on this testpiece with the 1st(?) groundup ascent although I must say it wouldn't have been possible without a full beta rundown from friend Charlie Barrett. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the send cause everybody was spotting and it was damn near dark outside. Maybe someday...

Here's some photos of The Buttermilker:

Garrett Gregor

Today was also a great day. We woke up late and at around 1 o'clock made our way up to the Bardini Boulders to climb on A Maze of Death V12. This is an amazing boulder problem first put up Dave Graham. It climbs from a perfect jug sit start through some of the best rock in Bishop and finishes on another jug. A great LINE to say the least. I almost finished this problem a few years ago, but was thwarted by a lack of strength. Today, it went down pretty fast, but not without a fair bit of screaming. My brother Giovanni and Garrett Gregor also polished off the line shortly after. I think it's also safe to guarantee a First Female Ascent of this boulder by the end of this week.

Here are some photos:

"G"

Garrett

Alex

5 days of climbing left before we head to Tennessee. Lots of problems to climb and more updates to come.

Yosemite Day 2 and 3

2008-11-14T20:44:00.013-07:00

Day 2 was cold, humid and quite uneventful for me. Kyle Owen managed to send 6 Degrees V10 and flash Midnight Lightning V8. Garrett Gregor also managed sends of 6 Degrees and Midnight Lightning. Proud!

Today was Day 3 and turned out quite good. We warmed up in Camp 4 after a slow morning, then waltzed on over to Thriller V10 for a session. I managed to dig deep on my third effort of the day and latch the finish jug. Unfortunately I suffered a minor battle wound in the form of a split tip. Kyle managed to send a few tries later. Thriller is most definitely SOLID for the grade in my opinion and it is a must do for anyone visiting the valley.

We rested for a bit and then headed on over to Dogwood which I hadn't tried yet. I was super psyched on this boulder after watching the footage in Dosage 5. I have also heard that it could be one of the best climbs in the valley. Dogwood consists of a few moves of amazing moderate climbing followed by a long move off a left hand sidepull to a "dog bone" that you grab with your right hand. The "dog bone" is not much of a hold, but rather a sidepull sloper with a good thumbcatch. So you grab it, then grab a sloper sidepull directly across from it, get your feet up, and dyno to a "V" slot at the lip. In 3 tries I was falling at the dyno and shortly following Kyle's send, I managed to stick the lip. And the rumors are true, Dogwood just might be the best boulder problem I've ever climbed. In comment to the grade, it felt easier for me than Thriller. However it is my style and it is definitely more committing. Kyle and I settled on 8A rather than the 8A+ grade proposed by the first few ascentionists. After some more ascents hopefully we can reach a good consensus.

Here are some photos from the last few days:

Thrilla'

6 Degrees

Dogwood

Garrett crushing the Bone.

Kyle sticking the dyno on Dogwood

And... the Project...

Yosemite Day 1

2008-11-12T21:28:00.004-07:00

Alex and I arrived in Yosemite today for an extended stay. We arrived a bit later than anticipated, but I still managed to finish off an ultra-classic V9 called Heart Of Darkness. We also met up with good friends Garrett Gregor and Kyle Owen. They both dispatched as well.

Here are some pics:

It's About Time For A Road Trip...

2008-10-29T01:13:00.003-06:00

I've basically spent the last 5 or 6 days setting boulder problems at The Spot. Psychedelia was off the hook and now we're focused on getting up as many boulder problems as possible to keep the members psyched. Needless to say, LOTS of setting. So, I've been climbing very little and have fallen into a bit of a slump. I figured some outdoor time was needed so we headed up to Boulder Canyon today to get on Hard Boiled V11. It's kind of a pissed off little boulder problem consisting of a small roof and a slightly technical slab. I've tried it a few times over the last few years to no avail (possibly due to lack of motivation) and I was happy to finish it off quickly today.

On Thursday, Alex and I will leave Boulder and we won't be returning until December. We will also be taking along my little brother Giovanni for the ride. First up on our list of areas is Horse Pens 40 for the second leg of the Triple Crown. I'm extremely excited to visit this amazing area again. Unfortunately we will only be able to climb there on the day of the comp as we will be heading to YOSEMITE for the rest of November.

I grew up in Northern California and have made many trips to Yosemite both before I was a climber and after. Due to my High School schedule I was only really able to make it to the Valley during the summer and this severely limited the difficulty of the problems I was able to accomplish. Last summer I showed up in the Valley to scope out all of the new hard classics and was turned away by 105 degree heat and an army of mosquitos. I've been meaning to climb in this amazing area during the winter for quite some time now, and this November is our big chance to lay seige. I have a very large list of problems that I want to do and I have a good-sized list of extremely inspiring projects that I have my eye on.

More updates and some photos to come.

Alex Climbs Trice V12

2008-10-18T19:27:00.005-06:00

Alex seems to be on a bit of a mission these days. We went up to Flagstaff tonight and she dispensed with Trice V12 in the dark. Conditions were certainly not optimal as I couldn't even manage a repeat. Very impressive to watch. She absolutely walked the thing. She is very psyched and is now putting together a list of hard Front Range boulders that she wants to take down. I have complete confidence in her ability to send anything she puts her mind too.

As for me, I made considerable progress on Midnight Express V14 in Boulder Canyon yesterday and once my arm heals from that heinous undercling I'll be ready to take it down. More updates and hopefully some media to come.

Alex Puccio Climbs Clear Blue Skies V12

2008-10-17T12:10:00.009-06:00

A couple of days ago we returned to Boulder after a 12-day trip out east to Boone, NC and the Red River Gorge. I should have a posting up about our trip soon, but in the meantime here is another little bit of news.

Yesterday, we made a trip out to Mt. Evans so Alex could finish up one of her projects. The parking lot was basically covered in snow, but we decided to trudge in anyways to check on the status of the Dali wall. The hike ended up being not so bad. The snow was well packed and despite some small patches of mud it was quite uneventful. Everything at Area A was dry. Some of the topouts had snow on them. Silverback and All Dogs Go To Evans are most definitely OUT THE GAME. The Dali wall was very dry. Topouts as well. The temps were unbelievably good. Extremely dry and pretty damn cold. Clear Blue Skies took Alex about 4 tries to complete and she absolutely hiked it. One of those sends where every move is executed perfectly. She definitely took it down in style. I will say that this is definitely not the hardest she can climb at this point, and I look forward to watching her progress on the real rocks in Horse Pens 40, Yosemite, Bishop, Little Rock City, and Horseshoe Canyon Ranch.

I'll post some pics of the day, but first here is a little something from Alex in regards to the send:

"The day started off with Carlo saying " we can turn back and go to Clear Creek and I won't be mad" as we started hiking in. It was very cold and windy, and as most of you know I am from Texas, where we Texans like it to be about 80 degrees when we are climbing. =)

But despite the REALLY cold, windy weather, I decided I wanted to go finish Clear Blue Skies. Since I hiked in with the given conditions I made sure I was going to do the problem. So we warmed up on the Ladder a few times and then decided to head right to the Dali boulder and just get it over with so we could leave sooner. As we walked to the Dali I noticed that most of the boulders were iced and snowed over on the tops, I started to get nervous that the Dali boulder was going to be the same. But as we approuched it I was so releaved to see that it was clear!! So we got right on it, and my first two tries I dry fired of the second hold, I got nervous for a minute that it might not go. I went to a rock and sat for a few minutes calmed myself down. Then a huge gust of wind came and I decided to get back on it and just climb the damb thing, and two goes later it just flowed.... I was DONE!!!

The boulder problem took me two days of work. The first day I worked it for about thirty min. and I felt like it was for sure going to go down, but what I thought was my send go I tore my whole pad off of my index finger.

Over all I thought it was soft, and can't believe it used to be v13. And all I have to compair the grade too is the Marble Sit and I definitely thought that Clear Blue Skies was eaiser for me. Which I thought was weird cause I don't ever really climb on crimpy problems, I have never been that great on crimps, but I guess things can change. But I really enjoyed the short victory of Clear Blue Skies......great fun!!! =)

Mt. Evans

2008-09-14T22:17:00.010-06:00

I camped out at Mt. Evans this weekend and had the opportunity to climb some new things and explore a LOT. Yesterday I climbed this problem Peasants Into Leaders V7/8 that I've had my eye on for a while. Committing and fun, and not nearly as scary as it looks. I also finished Silverback Stand V8 in a few goes and I'm psyched to try the Sit.

Today I woke up early and rolled on up to Area C, an area that I've been meaning to check out for quite some time now. All I can say is...Lots of Projects. There is a scary highball that looks unclimbed that follows a 20 foot right-facing mini-dihedral to a spectacular dyno to a jug. Amazing.

UPDATE: Apparently this crimp line I climbed today was put up by Harry Robertson a few years ago and called Broken Wing at the grade of V11/12. So I guess I have the second ascent? Nevertheless, It is a very cool line that should be climbed more often.

Here are the pics (Photos Courtesy of Connor Griffith):

Rifle

2008-09-01T22:58:00.009-06:00

Alex, G, and I spent the last few days in Rifle Mountain Park climbing sport routes. It was the first time I've seriously attempted climbing on a rope in about 3 years. None the less, I had a amazing time and got seriously re-psyched on routes. It was also a great time climbing with Daniel Woods, Dave Graham, Joe Kinder, Emily Harrington, and Colette McInerney. Awesome crew to be climbing with, psych level to the max. Alex ended up climbing her first 12d, in two tries. Super proud. G got really close on a few 13's, and finished off 5 times as many spliffs as the whole crew combined. I fell off the last move of Simply Read 5.13d (hard as all hell 13d), which is probably the coolest thing I tried on the trip. Bummed I got so close and fell, but amped that I've actually got some endurance now. Anyways, I'm psyched to return in the next few weeks to finish off some things as the temps get better. Very psyched on Dave's new climb Girl Talk 5.14c at the Bauhaus. I got the opportunity to try it a bit when it was still a project and it holds some amazing climbing. I also suprised myself by linking the whole bottom half on my second attempt. Someone mentioned that this half could be a 5.14- route on its own. Psyched!

So here's some not-so-quality images from the trip:

Dave taking down The Gayness 5.13d

Daniel in the A.M.

G on the P.M. Wakeup Schedule

And without a days rest, Alex and I headed to Mt. Evans today for some Alpine Bouldering. Alex had her eyes on a few problems and as the day progressed she narrowed her sights on Clear Blue Skies V12. A couple goes in the heat were not looking good, then the cool breeze came by for a visit. In short order, she was falling off the last move from the start on every go until she ripped a nice flapper in her finger. We'll probably end up returning this weekend so she can finish her second V12. Updates will be coming along more regularly.

Peace.

Oh, and stop by The Spot this Friday for the Grand Opening of the New Wall built by Vertical Solutions. We will be setting all this week, so come by and climb on some fresh problems on a fresh new piece of terrain.

Alex Puccio and The Last Month

2008-08-26T23:21:00.019-06:00

Today, Alex Puccio finished off the First Female Ascent of The Marble Sit V12 in RMNP. It was her third day climbing on the problem and she most definitely hiked it. Instead of me rambling on about the send, I'll let her describe the day in her own words:

" I worked on the marble for 2 days, the first days I got it in 2 parts and the second day I fell off matching the lip 5 times in a row...... so frustrating! And then finally on the third day, today, I sent the Marble Sit. Soooooo EXCITED!!! The day I sent the Marble Sit it was about 75 degrees out, and I climbed the day before in the gym so I didn't think it was going to go. After giving it a warm up burn I tried it once more and it felt greasy, I actually just popped off the wall from my hands greasing a few times, but then all the sudden a cool breeze came through and it cooled down for a few minutes. I put on my shoes, chalked my hands and sent the problem!

This is by far the hardest boulder problem I have done yet, and I hope that girls pushing the standards in climbing will motivate and show other girls that it can be done! We are creeping up on the boys and V13 isn't far out of sight!!! =)"

So there you have it. Now we have another girl to add to the Women of V12 club. Not entirely sure how many girls are on the list, but I'm assuming it's under 10. Hopefully we'll see Angie on the list soon with another FFA in the park.

On a side note, I've kinda been taking it easy recently trying to find new psych and a new direction. This time has allowed me to realize the rapid progression in climbing recently. Now we have two V12's by girls completed in the same week, in the same state. We also have V13's being sent weekly by multiple people. I can't even keep up with the number of retardly strong climbers I meet out here in Colorado on a daily basis. I see the bar slowly rising and the only way not to fall off, is to hold on a bit harder.

That being said, the new wall being built at The Spot is absolutely AMAZING. Quite possibly the most well built, well designed cave in the country. I look forward to setting and training on it starting next week.

Also, Alex and I will be heading to Rifle tomorrow to climb some routes with DW and DG through the weekend. I have never climbed a 5.14 and I'd be psyched to add one to my tick list. I know Alex feels the same way. More updates to come...

Now here's some photos from the last month:

Alex Puccio

Alex Eyeing the Holds

Alex and The Marble Sit

Alex sending Public Execution V10 at Mt. Evans

Psyched On The Send

Andre climbing Freaks Of The Industry V13

Umm...

Mayhem at the Centaur Boulder

G with Straight Hair...HAHAHA!!!

I Think I Might Shit Myself

2008-08-03T01:35:00.005-06:00

Just found this photo on Facebook courtesy of Pete Ward and thought I'd share it with anyone who hasn't seen it.

The Tradeshow wall... or at least 1/3 of it.

Mt. Evans

2008-07-20T13:06:00.004-06:00

Alex on Gorillas In The Mist V10

The Sickest Boulders In The World

2008-07-18T00:17:00.010-06:00

In the past 24 hours I have managed to do more hiking for climbing with no climbing than ever before. It pretty much rained all day. But I'll start from the beginning. Since I moved to Colorado and was guided around the the Park and Evans, I've always wondered about the potential for bouldering in Colorado. After two years out here I've managed to climb most of the established problems that I am psyched on and recently I've been leaning more towards the entirely separate realm of opening some of my own. Based on experience and knowledge of the areas I immediately set my sights on exploring Mt. Evans and the surrounding canyons/valleys. Before today I had explored both Area A and Area B but nothing more. So I set my sights on a place called Aerials, which I heard hosts the most amount boulders at Mt. Evans and the most unexplored bouldering terrain. A quick look on Google Earth confirmed these rumours. So today I set out on an adventure with friends Connor Griffith and Greg Mionske.

On the drive up to the summit we passed by another potential area. The talus field on the west end of Lincoln Lake. From afar the talus looks very small, but I wasn't convinced so I decided to investigate. According to Google Earth, the hike descends almost 1000 ft. of terrain in about a quarter of a mile. This wasn't enough to deter me and the downhill approach only took us 15-20 minutes if that. What we found at the bottom of the hill was simply stunning. At least 50 boulders the size of a house and many more smaller walls. It is twice as much rock as Lower and Upper Chaos combined. It is easiest to describe it as a maze of walls and roofs everywhere you turn. We hiked around for about and hour admiring the size and and amount of boulders, then headed back up the 1000 ft. hill. Exhausted at the topped we were still more than ready to see what lay ahead at the Aerials.

The parking for Aerials is just before the first switchback towards the summit of Mt. Evans. The hike down follows a moderately declining ridgeline and then descends abruptly through a notch at the end of the ridge into a long steep talus field. It is a descent of almost 2000 ft. into the boulders. When we first spotted the massive amount of boulders from the edge of the ridgeline it was difficult to contain my excitement. Massive looking blocks both in talus fields and in meadows filled pretty much our entire line of sight. When we finally reached the boulders I was even more amazed. Their are more boulders in this particular area than I have ever seen in my entire life. House-sized boulders, normal sized boulders, roofs, slabs, everything you could ever imagine in a bouldering area. Sounds pretty perfect, right? Well here's the catch...

80% of the boulders are completely devoid of holds, features, or anything, both at the Lincoln Lake boulders and at Aerials. I can honestly say that I've never seen more blank rock in my entire life. It was absolutely heart-breaking. Every turn yielded the most beautiful walls I've ever laid eyes on. However, upon closer inspection there was absolutely nothing available to get any form of purchase. I checked everything. We searched Aerials for about 2-3 hours and didn't find anything inspiring to come back for. Sure I could have missed some things, but for the most part, it just wasn't worth the hike, the time, or the effort. And here's the worst part. By the time we were done searching we realized that we were in a 2,000 ft. deep hole. Literally. The hike out was one of the most exhausting hiking experiences of my life (I'm a terrible hiker). We basically spent 2 hours crawling out of hole filled with gorgeous feature-less boulders.

And so for the time being I have lost hope in the future of Colorado bouldering. I will continue to train in the gym and climb on established lines. And I hear the South has got some projects.

But here are some pics from the day if you're interested. I'll have some more detailed ones up in the next day or so...

Lincoln Lake on the left and the boulders (taken from the road)

A Close-Up of the Boulders at Lincoln Lake (The bigger blocks are around 40 ft. tall)

Lincoln Lake from a different angle

Looking out from the pullout for Aerials. The trail follows the ridgeline left of center.

Mt. Evans With The Crew

2008-07-12T22:52:00.007-06:00

Today I headed out to Mt. Evans with my girlfriend Alex, my brother Giovanni, and Jena Lupia, a friend from New Mexico. The temps turned out to be perfect. Cool with a slight breeze all day. Unfortunately I didn't really get to climb on anything new, but I did get to guide people around, spot, and take some alright photos. G ended the day with sends of Bierstadt V10, The Dali Sit V9, and Seurat V8. Alex also managed to climb Seurat V8, even though it was "not at all her style", and in about three tries was consistently falling off the last move of Clear Blue Skies V12 from the start. An impressive day for all to say the least. Also, Jena almost finished off her fifth V8 with two close last move misses on Seurat. One fall off the last move had her bouncing off the pads and into a small cave beneath the boulder. Crazy business! Overall it was a wonderful day at the boulders and we'll probably be returning on Monday with the same crew and maybe I'll actually climb something new. Tomorrow, however, I might be hiking in to Area D and heading all the way down the canyon searching for new boulder problems. We will see...

And here are some photos from the day:

G on Bierstadt V10

G on Timeline V1

Alex on Seurat V8

Mt. Evans

2008-07-12T01:21:00.012-06:00

Yesterday I made a solo trip to Mt. Evans to do some rock climbing. It was a bit warm for any good burns on Ode, but I did manage to link The Mirrormask SDS Project into the stand. Not sure when I'll be able to send because I fall mainly due to complete fatigue. Could be because of lack of breathing when compressing so hard and lack of oxygen in the air at 12,000 ft. However, I'm very psyched on this boulder and will continue to give it my utmost attention until I send.

Here is a photo of me climbing on it 2 years ago (Courtesy of Steve Woods):

I also got the opportunity to hike around a bit on the cliffs above the boulders and take some nice photos.

Looking Up Canyon Past Area B

Looking Down Canyon

Tomorrow I will head out again to Mt. Evans this time with Alex, Giovanni, and Jena Lupia, a friend of ours from New Mexico. I should have a nice post up in the next day or two complete with media from the day.

Peace.

The Past Month And Everything To Come

2008-07-05T22:55:00.012-06:00

It's been almost a month since I have written a blog entry, almost purely because the past month has been quite hectic for me. So, I'll start where I left off in the last entry. I ended up placing 16th in the World Cup in Vail. I bit dissapointing for me after qualifying 13th, but oh well. My goal was just to make it to Semi-finals with such a stacked field. I think it's safe to say that I'm starting to figure out this whole comp thing and it definitely doesn't help to be 5' 6''.

Shortly after Vail, I made my first treks of the season to Chaos Canyon and managed to climb The Automator V13 and Wildcat V11 with suprising ease. I don't have too many more boulders I'm psyched to climb on in the park anymore now that I've finished off those two. However, I am psyched to finish up Jade if I can get some good temps and I'm psyched on re-climbing Nothin' But Sunshine V13 just because I had a lot of fun climbing it the first time around.

The Lake

The Rock

The Hork on Freshly Squeezed V12

By the time mid-June rolled around it was time for a two week trip to Dallas, Texas to visit Alex's family. I must say I really wasn't too psyched to be in Texas for so long (it's hard enough to get me to Hueco, purely because it's in Texas), but I made the trip worthwhile by doing a lot of setting work at various gyms. I also did a lot of "active resting". However, it was nice to visit with Alex's family for an extended period of time.

The Drive Back to Boulder...

But now I'm back in Boulder. And I forgot to mention that my brother Giovanni moved in with us and is now residing on the couch. He is very psyched to begin climbing "full-time" and I'm sure we'll see some impressive sends from him this summer.

I shot some photos of G and Chris Meacham out in Boulder Canyon a few days ago and in a few days I will be headed to Mt. Evans to hop on one of my three summer projects and to look for new boulders. My summer projects are Ode To The Modern Man, The Mirrormask SDS Project, and the City Walls Of Dying Dreams SDS. I am very, very close to the first two and have yet to try City Walls. Needless to say I am very excited and the blog entries will be much more frequent now that I am participating in interesting activities. And also thanks to my new digital SLR, I will be posting some really cool pictures. Peace.

Chris Meacham and G-Money

Chris on Cage Free V10

World Cup Update

2008-06-07T11:07:00.003-06:00

I must say that I'm excited by the fact that I've managed to make it into the semi-final round in 13th Place. The current U.S. males that will be entering the next round (in order of placement) are Paul Robinson (1st Place), Chris Sharma, Daniel Woods, Carlo Traversi, Mark Hobson, and Kyle Owen. Not sure on the placement of the females so far (cause Alex can't seem to remember), but Alex Johnson is currently in 1st Place and Alex Puccio is currently in 5th as the top U.S. females. It looks as if the U.S. is dominating quite well. The problems in my opinion were extremely HARD for both categories. However, they were well set and covered a variety of styles. It was interesting to watch how the majority of the Europeans performed on problem number 4 which was a steep, powerful, body-tension dependent problem on incut edges. Most Euros simply fell apart on this boulder showing that they didn't exactly possess the necessary strengths that Americans find to be an essential part of the bouldering experience. I hope to see more of these types of boulders today. Anyways, send your best wishes to the U.S. team and I sure hope that we can fill as many podium spots as possible.

Peace.

World Cup In Vail Colorado

2008-06-05T23:52:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow is the qualifying round for the first bouldering World Cup on U.S. soil. I must say I'm very psyched to be competing and Alex is very psyched as well. I would like to thank my primary sponsor, Five Ten, for all of there support, especially in the days leading up to the competition. I'm up against a very stacked men's field and my goal is to make it to semi-finals which would be the top 20.

Wish me luck, and lots of updates to come.

Paths Of Glory Photos

2008-05-12T23:48:00.005-06:00

I went out and got some photos taken on the new roof problem in Clear Creek Canyon called Paths Of Glory V12. Again I want to emphasize the quality of the climbing and I would be psyched to see more people getting on it.

Photos Courtesy of Greg Mionske:

Clear Creek Canyon

2008-05-12T11:50:00.004-06:00

I awoke yesterday with plans to head back up to Mt. Evans, but quickly realized it just wasn't in the cards for me. I was still recovering from a serious campus session at The Spot the previous afternoon. However, at around 4:00 p.m. my good friend Chris Meacham arrived in Boulder and convinced me to head out to Clear Creek to check out this roof project next to Stanley Kubrick. I remember looking at the problem last year, but for some reason it looked completely impossible. Not so this year. I even discovered a direct (straight out) finish to it so that you can remain completely in the roof for almost the complete extent of the problem. Lots of quality roof climbing. Something you generally don't see out here in Colorado. I put together the end of the problem pretty quickly. I consists of some pretty amazing moves to quality edges. However, the beginning of the problem was alluding us due to the very warm temps and lack of wind. So we decided to sit around and wait. Wade David showed up as the sun was starting to set with a crane and HD quality video. Inspired by the amazing footage we were able to put together, I managed to link the full roof and topout the boulder. Best roof climbing I've done in Colorado. I've decided to call it Paths Of Glory after Stanley Kubricks classic anti-war film. I posted the grade of V12 because I thought it was quite hard. Similar to Dark Waters for me. Maybe a bit easier. However, it was very hot and greasy out and I look forward to hearing more opinions.

I would post photos but my camera fell out of the back of the car on the drive out and it got run over. Shitty! Wade will be posting the footage somewhere soon. More updates on that.

Peace.

New Video In The MomentumVM Premium Section

2008-05-05T22:35:00.003-06:00

Wade has put together a nice video of our Spring Break trip to Joe's Valley featuring Alex on Smokin' Joe V9, and my brother Giovanni Traversi on the first ascent of Weed, Whiskey, and Women With Wieners V12. It is available in the Premium section of Momentum Video Magazine. It also features G's own musical creation to back the climbing footage. Quality!

Mt. Evans

2008-05-04T22:13:00.007-06:00

I decided to open up (for myself) the alpine bouldering season by heading up to Mt. Evans today. I have heard that the snow levels in the mountains were high this year and I was a bit concerned about whether or not I would get to climb on anything. But I headed out anyways this morning with die-hards Greg Mionske and Connor Griffith. We got a hold of some snow shoes and made the drive into the mountains. Due to the gate being permanently shut, we were forced to hike in from Echo Lake. Surprisingly the upper part of the switchbacks are almost completely free of snow and the rest of the hike to Area A is on hard-packed ice and snow. We finally put our snow shoes on just as we entered the trees just short of the Bierstadt boulder. We made it to the Dali boulder a few minutes later to find it completely free of snow both on the ground and on the boulder. Perfectly dry.

I intended to try No More Greener Grasses V12 and Super Gui V11. I have tried both on previous occasions with no success despite getting extremely close. Especially Super Gui. I have fallen on the last hard move at least 30 times. I began the day by nabbing a 3rd try ascent of No More Greener Grasses V12. It is definitely one of the most inspiring and pure boulder problems I have ever seen and I was very psyched to complete it without epic. It felt extremely easy for me today, but after factoring in my previous experiences on it, I have decided that it is probably the hardest V12 I have ever done. With my skin still fresh I decided to give some attempts on Super Gui V11. It is basically a linkup of The Dali Sit V9 and the top section of Ode To The Modern Man V14 via an amazing slopey rail. It consists of a very hard-for-me crux move that relies on a right-foot heel hook and a left hand stab to an incut crimp. I managed to finish the problem on my 3rd effort from the bottom. Definitely a quality boulder problem.

The hike out was epic due to lack of prior conditioning. Altitude 1, Boulderers O. Now I will sleep for the next 2 days just trying to recover.

Here are some pics from the day courtesy of Greg Mionske:

Peace.

Hollow's Way

2008-05-01T22:12:00.008-06:00

I spent about 15 minutes in the BRC tonight before I decided that I am completely over gym climbing. I'm going to try and spend as much time as I can outside starting now, even if that means climbing on Flagstaff because it's late and the weather is shit. So that is where I went today. I brought along my friend Greg so he could nab some photos of me on Hollow's Way V8. I tried this problem for about 20 minutes last year around this time, but got rained off before I could complete it. I believe it might be the best boulder problem within a 5 minute radius of town (which pretty much only includes Flagstaff, but whatever). Anyways, I was anxious to finish it off. When we arrived, I was surprised to find the boulder completely dry (the weather has been shit lately in Boulder). I got to the last move on my first attempt, but took about 15 more to finish it up. The last hold is not very good. However, once you accept this and decide to stop fighting that small fact, moving off of it to the "finish jug" is not too bad. I also got the chance to try out Five Ten's newest take on the Anasazi Lace-Up and I must say they performed impeccably well on the slightly overhung terrain. They will be my new trustworthy friends on any vert highballs I might attempt over the summer. As well as on the Diamond.

So...We escaped Flagstaff without epic and now I sit at home dreaming about my weekend plans to snowshoe into Mt. Evans. Psyched!

Here are a few pics from the day courtesy of Greg Mionske:

Peace.

Cage Free

2008-04-25T12:32:00.003-06:00

Photos Courtesy of Greg Mionske

The Last Few Days...

2008-04-24T22:16:00.006-06:00

Saturday, I headed up to the Poudre Canyon with a carload of friends and the intention of climbing on lots of amazing granite boulders. I managed to send Against Humanity V7 in soaking wet conditions. It was fun nonetheless. Very quality rock climbing. We then headed over to check out this new roof boulder caled Critical Mass V?. I'm not sure what the grade is, but it felt to be around the V10 or V11 mark. I came close to flashing, falling off on the last hard move as usual, until the sweat fairy decided to make a visit to my fingertips and all hell broke loose. Very cool boulder problem though, definitely worth checking out. Props to Andre on the FA. Our last stop was the 420 boulders where I was interested in climbing on Circadian Rhythm V13. To keep the epic in more simple terms, I didn't manage to climb the boulder. Last move-itis. I hope it clears up before summer.

So...

Today, I climbed out in Boulder Canyon with my good friend Greg Mionske, so that he could shoot some photos of me on Free Range V13, or I guess Cage Free since I didn't really climb on any of the sit moves. I managed to climb Cage Free V11 at least 15 times in less than 1 hour. I think it might be a personal record.

However, the real news of today is that I managed to pull off Cage Free V11 in my new pair of Five Ten Daescents. The new Mystique rubber held on to the small feet extremely well. I am very impressed with the quality of these shoes. They are extremely comfortable, lightweight, and not to mention good-looking (for now, I haven't had the chance to completely beat the shit out of them).

Here is a photo:

After shooting some photos, we headed up to the boulder that holds Midnight Express v14 and Trainspotting v12. I claimed the second ascent of the latter about a month or so ago, but learned that I had not started with the appropriate left hand start hold. To clear things up, Trainspotting starts awfully low with a right hand on the Midnight Express left hand start hold and your left hand starting on some textured crystals about a foot below a perfectly good edge. I completed the "move" into the left hand that I started with and determined that it is no harder than starting on the perfectly good holds that I originally completed the boulder with. It is also a move that I am completely unmotivated on accomplishing again. And so is the story of how I will never climb Trainspotting from the "real" start.

Photos from the day to come sooner rather than later.

Peace.

Boulder Canyon

2008-04-17T23:59:00.006-06:00

Today I woke up with a nice cup of coffee and the need for a rest day. My back and arms have been very sore and I haven't rested in a couple of weeks. However, the temps were wonderful in Boulder and I was extremely psyched to climb on real rock. So around 5 o'clock I headed to The Spot to meet up with some friends for a nice session out in Boulder Canyon. I arrived at the Cage Free Boulder a bit later with Chris Meacham and Ander Rockstad who is visiting from Colorado Springs. I completed the dyno move with a suprising amount of ease due to my realization that remaining square to the wall allows for an easier deadpoint to the lip. And then with an even more suprising amount of ease I managed to finish Free Range V13 (AKA Cage Free SDS) 1st try of the day. It was an experience that will change how I climb forever. It was robotic climbing. Thoughtless. My future goals now reside in reliving that same experience over and over. It is now the best way I know how to climb. I feel like if I could reach that same mental state when onsighting or climbing difficult highballs, there would be no limits.

And so today I was a successful rock climber and person. Not because I completed a series of moves up a small granite wall that so happens to be named, and so happens to have only been completed by 5 other people. I was successful because I gained a new realization in my life. That the ability to climb rocks is inate in all people, and the difficult part lies in clearing away all the distractions in the mind so that the body can move effortlessly. Climbing Free Range today felt easier than some V0's that I've climbed when I am completely distracted. There's no reason why Free Range shouldn't feel as easy on my first attempt as on my last. All I've learned in between is how to let my body climb instead of my mind.

You may think that I'm thinking to deeply about this, and criticize me for it. But one day you'll share the same experience, and if you don't, I feel sorry for you.

So without further ado, here is the send video:

The Blue And Yellow Boulder

2008-04-15T23:00:00.012-06:00

I promised myself that I would never blog about an indoor boulder problem, especially one that I set, but I decided that I had to blog about this one. We just set the Right Side of the Hueco Boulder today at The Spot and I must say that I have fashioned a masterpiece. At least in my mind. Come to the gym and see if you agree. Anyways, I was tired of setting problems that I thought were hard, only to have them trounced upon by half the population of Boulder. So today, I set something that I truly believe will get thoroughly worked on, but will remain unfinished for a while. I would be very impressed if someone managed to climb it within the next week. It consists of 14 moves of intricate sequencing, amazing(ly bad) holds, and ultra-classic moves. Including what is now my favorite indoor move EVER! A dyno to the famous Pusher Boss hold. Classic!

Enough about indoor climbing. Due to the warm temps in Boulder, my motivation for the high country bouldering season is overwhelming, while my motivation for the boulders around Boulder is at an all time low. Hopefully I get enough cold days this season to make an attempt at bouldering Iron Monkey. (I'm only half serious, but I have definitely been entertaining the idea.)
And hopefully someday I will have something interesting to blog about. Instead of just ideas, random ponderings, and indoor boulder problems.

An Epic

2008-04-14T14:03:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I fell off sticking the lip on Free Range V13, no less than 7 times in a row. Sad. By the time I left the problem, I had two new holes in my hand that wouldn't stop squirting blood all over my fingers. Sad. The day before, while Alex was working on Trice, I fell off the last move of Epoch-alipse V13 at least 3 times. Sad. Sad that I was even working on the problem and sad that I can't complete anything these days. Speaking of Alex on Trice, she fell off post-crux and ripped open her flapper again. We might both be dealing with the same mental blocks. As far as I know, the only way to get through them is to push forward. Good news better come soon.

K-Jorg is on a Rampage!

2008-04-11T23:33:00.002-06:00

While perusing the mass amount of climbing blogs yesterday I saw the news that Kevin Jorgeson managed the 2nd ropeless and 6th ascent of The Fly (5.14d) in Rumney, NH. Word Up! I've known Kevin since I started climbing almost 6 years ago. He was and still is one of the core members of the very small, tight-knit climbing community in Santa Rosa, CA. Watching Kevin's progression over the years has been amazing to watch. While we all were slaves to the plastic for 7 days a week, Kevin seemed to never climb and always seemed stronger whenever he joined a session. Anyways, props to him for balancing a heavy school schedule, assistant managing the local gym, and hard climbing.

Today Alex and I head up to Flagstaff so that she can finish Trice V12. I'll probably mess around on the wall as well. Updates to come.

13...

2008-04-07T13:01:00.000-06:00

So, two days ago, out of nowhere, Alex decides that she is psyched to work on Trice V12 up on Flagstaff Mtn. I had no idea what to say to this because her outdoor psych recently has been significantly lagging. However, within the hour we found ourselves at the Cloudshadow Wall. The first thing that came out of her mouth when we got there (because she'd never seen the problem before) was "I can't climb this, those holds suck." 20 minutes later it was a whole different story. She had almost made the crux move static until the right hand pocket fashioned her a nice flapper on her middle finger.

Check it:

Alex plans on finishing up the climb this week. In my opinion this climb could solidify her as one of the strongest boulderers in the world, male or female. I think all it takes is for her to get a little bit psyched and we'll see the first female ascent of a solid V13 boulder.

Now to address my last post and the title of this blog entry. Yesterday Justen Sjong and I headed out to Eldo for our big day. The final number of pitches after about 7 hours of climbing was 13! Let's just say I got my ass handed to me. Sure, the majority of the pitches were in the 5.11 and 5.12 range. But, damn. I don't have that kind of endurance. Overall, it was a great training day for me. I'm sure Justen could have climbed for much longer and I only hope that he got at least a little bit of training out of it, before I fell apart. However, in my favor, the wind and end of the day sleet took a bit out of me.

This week's focus:

Tues./Wed. - Set some ultra-classics at The Spot.

Thurs./Fri. - Back to Eldo to work on Iron Monkey and Back to Flagstaff to get Alex on Trice.

Should be an interesting week.

Peace.

Eldorado Canyon

2008-04-05T16:36:00.001-06:00

I spent the day out in Eldorado Canyon yesterday putting some work into Iron Monkey 5.14?. It is basically a boulder problem on a rope and it suits my style perfectly. The crux is a large left hand huck off a very good pinch. I spent the day figuring out the gear (thanks to Matt Wilder) and sussing the beta as well as working on the stopper crux move. I got very close to sticking it in just a couple goes as I was latching the edge but ripping off it when my feet came off the wall. If I was only an inch taller I could almost keep both feet on for the move. My guess is that it is about a V10 move. The rest of the route is fairly easy. The only thing that I'm concerned about at this point is my ability to set the nut that protects the crux move while I'm on lead. Due to my small stature it is quite difficult for me to reach the pod where the nut sits, so I'm developing a way to extend my reach with a coat-hanger or something of the sort. We'll see. I'll be out in Eldo again tomorrow with Justen Sjong as we try to finish off 100 pitches of climbing in a day. At least that's the goal. I have no idea how it's going to work out. It'll be good training no matter what, but I've never attempted something so grand in nature. Should be a good time. More to come.

For the meantime, here is a poorly edited video I put together of my little brother Giovanni or "G" demolishing some Joe's Valley classics. Enjoy!

Peace.

New Projects And A New Direction

2008-04-02T23:37:00.000-06:00

With the exception of possibly finishing off Free Range V13 in Boulder Canyon, I have changed my current focus within climbing. Rope. Specifically rope climbs in Eldorado Canyon. It only took one trip out there a couple of days ago to discover two things that I am excited to work on. Any guesses? I went to the BRC tonight and trained a bit. Brought back some old memories of training for Youth World Championships in my days as a USAC participant.

Got back from Joe's Valley and the Red Rock Rendezvous a couple days ago. Following at least 8 hours of heavy blizzard throughout Utah and Colorado. Red Rocks is surprisingly better than I expected in all aspects. I taught some clinics for Five Ten and had a good time hanging out with friends. It's nice to be back in Boulder though. I was hoping to update with lots of photos and videos of my trip, but I'm having trouble connecting my computer (with all the media) to the Internet (I'm using Alex's computer). Hopefully I'll get them on here soon as well as some news of some sends.

In other news, congratulations to Alex Honnold for his free-solo of Moonlight Buttress in Zion yesterday. I'm sure well hear more about this incredible climbing feat later.

Peace.

Joe's Valley - Part 1

2008-03-26T18:45:00.000-06:00

Sitting here at the Food Ranch just outside of Joe's Valley, Utah, I decided to give a little update of our current roadtrip. The biggest news so far has been the spree of sends from my little brother Giovanni. Here's the current tally before today:

-Weed, Whiskey, And Women With Wieners - V12 FA (Smokin Joe then hard right into a 30 foot traverse through a cave and with a final V9 sloperfest topout to a 20 foot slab)
-Freak - V10 Flash
-Resident Evil - V10 Second Go
-Fingerhut - V10 Flash
-Nerve Extension - V10
-Smokin Joe - V9
-Two-Finger Variation - V9
-The Wind Below - V8
-Big Boy - V7 Flash

And today he nutted up and in about an hour finished off:

-They Call Him Jordan - V8
-We Call Him Michael - V10
-Beyond Life - V11

Tomorrow we head to Las Vegas for the Red Rock Rendevous and their will be many more videos, pictures and updates to come very soon.

Failure

2008-03-13T03:29:00.000-06:00

Nonperformance of something due, required, or expected. My life has been full of this as of late. I guess it's just the cycle of things. About a week or so before Nationals I felt a serious lack of motivation and desire towards climbing. It certainly showed when I fell seriously short of my expectations in a comp that I was definitely ready for. Gravity won. I lost. This theme has continued for the last 3 weeks. Throughout an entire roadtrip to Southern California, including a day of bouldering in Joshua Tree and countless energetic gym sessions, I have felt as though their were a lead weight attached to every part of my body. I couldn't shake them.

I am finally inspired to write a blog today because a few days ago I broke through to the other side. I traveled out to Boulder Canyon with my good friend Chris and managed to fall off sticking the lip of Free Range V13. This is big news for me because I have been extremely close to finishing this boulder for quite some time. However, it always manages to allude me in the most devilish of ways. If I get the first half of the boulder on lock down, the second half will feel impossible. Once I figure out the second half, the first half turns into an epic slip-fest. No joke, this has been going on through 4 months of continuous effort. Suprising since I did all the moves in 30 minutes my first time trying the problem. So this is it. I think this problem might be my escape from the vast hole I've been living in the last month. I just need to stick that lip and mantle out.

In other news. I'm leaving for Joe's Valley in a week and a half or so with the intention of finishing up some long-term projects and establishing some stuff of my own. Connor we're crossing the river this year! Maybe I'll find something tall and proud. Updates on that to come.

In the meantime, here's some eye candy from the last month:

Iron Resolution - Photo Courtesy of Susanica Tam

So, finally today, or I guess yesterday since it's past midnight now, I traveled back up to Boulder Canyon with P-Rob and polished off the second ascent (?) of Ty Landman's Trainspotting V12. It's a crack problem just to the left of Midnight Express V14. It consists of a couple setup moves off the start and then a hard stab into a flared opening in the crack. A couple of balancy footholdless moves later and you're standing on top of the boulder. Paul got extremely close to finishing Midnight Express and I'm sure you'll hear about his ascent of the boulder within the next week or so.

Just before leaving the area at the end of the day I decided to give an attempt on Free Range V13. First try I slipped off on the last move dyno. Third try I did the same and ripped a nice flapper on my right hand. As if this boulder hasn't taken enough blood. I think it's safe to say that I have this boulder on complete LOCKDOWN. Today it felt like V0, that is except for the last move which only feels V0 as an individual move. I hope to finish off this boulder by the end of next week. I need a clean slate for Joe's.

An Attempt On Free Range V13

Otherwise my next week will be filled with lots of routesetting as I will be setting for the SBS Finals this weekend. Come on down to The Spot and climb on some amazing plastic boulders.

ABS Nationals 2008 - Qualifiers

2008-02-16T01:27:00.000-07:00

The results are in for the Qualifying round of the Open category of the ABS Nationals Championships. The Spot was fairly packed for the first round of the comp. With 78 men and 59 women competing and at least a couple hundred spectators, it looks like finals is going to be a packed house. Lots of strong climbers showed up this year, including some international folk that are definitely at the top of their game. As a first time competitor at the Nationals, I was interested to see how things would play out. When I finished climbing on the four qualifiers, I only had two thoughts in my head. Damn those problems were hard. And fuck, I definitely didn't make finals. However, I was pleasantly suprised to find my initial standing in 4th Place. I knew that this would be short lived because there were lots of very strong climbers to go. At the end of the day, I sit in a very suprising 7th Place with possibly the worst day of competition climbing (for me) under my belt. I can only promise that I will be much stronger for Finals. I have a lot left to leave on those fake boulders littered with plastic holds.

Alex climbed extremely well despite feeling dizzy, ill, and weak. She certainly didn't show it as she was the only climber to finish the 3rd and 4th women's qualifiers and flash every boulder problem. She is extremely psyched and can't wait to climb on some more challenging boulder problems in finals.

You can find the full qualifying results here.

Enjoy.

And definitely drop by the Spot gym for finals which start at 7 o'clock on Sat. night. Their should be lots of amazing climbing going down. Shit's gonna hit the fan!

Breaking News

2008-02-15T10:49:00.001-07:00

Connor Griffith has apparently scored a 110 second Expert minesweeper win blowing Alex Puccio's 115 second victory straight out of the water. It seems the showdown has begun for these two youngsters with no lives to speak of. I mean seriously, get a life you two. Hopefully this will be the last time I post about this ridiculous topic.

The Next Generation

2008-02-13T21:46:00.000-07:00

The qualifying round for the 2008 ABS National Championships commences this Friday with an extremely strong field. Lisa Rands and Chris Sharma will be competing and it will be interesting to see if the next generation of climbers can steal the top spot from the seasoned veterans that know it so well. Not to say that Alex Puccio and Paul Robinson (the top young climbers in the recent Mammut/EMS Series) are not accostomed to winning, but this year we'll get to see the ultimate showdown between young and not-so-old. I'm psyched. And hopefully I'll make finals and get to take part in the youth takeover.

Random Musings And A Serious Lack Of Psych

2008-02-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day in a long time that I really feel like I accomplished something. Unfortunately that accomplishment was four hours of moving snow off the top of Suspension Of Disbelief in Eldorado Canyon. When Paul and I arrived at the boulder in unusually warm temps, I knew we were in for an epic. The climb was dry, but the top of the boulder had about a foot of snow hiding another inch of ice. So we went to work. Brushing snow, chipping ice, and expediting the slow melting process provided by the cold Colorado winter. When we hiked out a couple hours later I was suprised at how psyched I was to return and try to climb on a boulder that I've now put so much work into. Especially considering the overwhelming lack of psych I have been feeling lately.

For example, I can remember and count on one hand the days that I have been psyched in the last 2 months.

Here was one of the days:

Same day, New Psych:

Am I the only one that finds it funny that I have a highlight video on youtube.

Another day of psych was the last time I was bouldering in Eldo:

And then I did this four times and considering the fifty other times I have messed up this problem on previous days, the psych was lost again. Back to its Winter Hibernation I guess.

Switching to another subject (yes, they will continue to change sporadically), I talked to my little brother Giovanni the other day and he told me about his current exploits in NorCal. We discovered an area a few minutes from our house over the summer and it holds a suprising amount of potential.

Here are some pics:

Apparently G just found a 25' highball in the area and it could be pretty hard. More on that to come.

Another random bit. Alex just finished off her longtime project of beating Connor's (120 seconds on Expert) minesweeper score (somebody needs to convince her to get a job). 115 seconds on Expert is her new record. The world record is 37 seconds by some Australian dude. Crazy youtube video that one.

So the last month has been crazy. At the end of December I was fired from my job at the Italian Restaurant because I got sick and I guess they couldn't handle that. So for Christmas we drove to California to visit my family. We ended up staying for a month. It was a nice visit and it was fun to experience the local sandbagging that occurs at my home gym, Vertex Climbing Center. The head routesetter, Kevin Jorgeson, still manages to set V7's that take me three full days to complete. Nonetheless, it was a good time to train for the upcoming Rope and Bouldering National Championships.

We left California in mid-January and drove back to Boulder then back to Salt Lake City four days later. I hate Wyoming in the winter. We were scheduled to attend both the Outdoor Retailer Show and the SCS Adult National Championships. The Show provided a remarkable amount of drama and its fair share of suprising outcomes. After talking about the business aspects of the climbing industry for days on end I came to a startling number of realizations: 1. The athletes are getting screwed. 2. Companies need to improve their marketing strategies in order to better utilize the athletes within the sport. 3. The industry makes me sick to my stomach. The rope Nationals didn't go any better for me either. After tying for first in the Qualifiers, I completely screwed up the sequence on the finals route to land myself in a dissapointing 9th Place. Oh well, I'm not a rope climber at this point in my life. Despite the negative vibes I was getting in SLC, I had a great time staying at home of the very hospitable Steven Jeffery. I was also very impressed with the quality of the new Momentum Climbing Gym. Especially the boulder problems. They were definitely some of the best indoor problems I've climbed on in quite a while.

I guess this brings me up to date. ABS Nationals is in a couple of days. My brother and my mom are flying out for the comp. I can only hope for the psych to return for the comp. But if it doesn't, I still have a Sunday session on a dry Suspension to look forward to.

Updates to come. Soon. Not next month. I swear.

Winter Psych

2007-12-16T14:34:00.001-07:00

Haven't updated in almost a month. Mainly because their hasn't been many updates in my climbing life. Spent the day out bouldering in Eldo with some friends a few weeks ago and renewed my psych for Suspension Of Disbelief. Also finished up Lost V11, which if you saw my attempts on it last year, you'd think I would never send it. Always nice when that happens. I definitely feel like I am getting stronger. I went back up to Flagstaff recently to show some friends around and managed Undercling Traverse into Trice. Just needed to get linked I guess. I am getting a bit tired of returning to Cloudshadow. I promised myself that for the rest of the winter I would focus on other parts of Flag. Hollow's Way looks amazing.

Changing focus towards future goals. I am very psyched on Ty's new boulder, Midnight Express V14, in Boulder Canyon. I was lucky enough to witness his flawless ascent of the beautiful line and I am ready to get to work on adding my name to the ascents list. Suspension of Disbelief V14 has been on my mind since I first tried it last spring. I could definitely see myself climbing the boulder and hopefully it happens sooner rather than later. Also, I have an unfortunate amount of psych in the direction of Echale V14 after falling on the last move about a year ago. I'll probably be heading down to CCC in the next few days. I could always use a Dark Waters training session.

Updates soon, Hopefully!

Thanksgiving In Joe's Valley

2007-11-25T01:04:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, I took off in the later morning for a Thanksgiving trip to Joe's Valley. I was traveling with my girlfriend Alex and my good friend Connor Griffith. Joe's Valley ranks as one of my favorite places to climb that I've been to so far. Needless to say, I was psyched to return again to polish off some old projects and hop on some new lines. My goal for the trip was make progress on Black Lung V13 and to climb the amazing Wind Below V8 which I checked out on a previous trip. Here is a rundown of the trip and some videos of a couple sends:

Sunday Night:

We arrived just after sundown to our camping area in the Right Fork. We met up with friends Andre Di Felice, Cameron Maier, Dallas, and their friends Mark, and Beau, whom I hadn't met before. The Fort Collins crew is extremely fun to climb and hang with. Their particularly advanced form of humor is not to be missed and it certainly added to my overall enjoyment of the trip. We hung around the campfire talking for awhile until our psych got the best of us and we found ourselves chalking up at the Man Size Area in the middle of the night. I repeated Fingerhut V10 once and decided to call it a night to save my skin for the following day. Alex got close, but after watching Andre epic through an inebriated ascent, she decided to wait for the daylight hours.

Day 1 - Monday:

We headed up Right Fork after a quick breakfast of eggs and bread (Yeah! Breakfast Of Champions.) We stopped at Maxipad for a quick repeat for me, and a new send for Connor.

After some warming up we walked across the street to the No Substance Area. I threw myself at No Additives V11 for awhile before I deemed it impossible. No, not really. I got close to the move, and it will probably be possible for me in the near future, but it is definitely one of the hardest V11's I've ever tried. Joe's Valley V12? After flailing for what seemed like forever, we decided to head to New Joe's for some Area 51 action. I continued with my daylong warm-up by repeating Big Boy v7, Two- Finger Variation V9, Freak V10, and Stand Up V8. Not that they were really warm-ups, more like it was cold and I was bored. I tried Black Lung V13 twice, but it felt like shit and I gave up real fast. Alex finished off Resident Evil V10 in quick fashion and Connor ripped his fingers apart on it in one of the most impressive displays of determination I've seen in awhile. It was nice to return to the beautiful sandstone of the high Utah desert and I was psyched for what the rest of the week held in store.

Day 2 - Tuesday:

Alex, Andre, and pretty much everyone else convinced me that a rest day was in order. I agreed for a bit, then realized my stupidity and found myself shortly after at the base of Prince Of Thieves V12(?) with Connor and a few pads. At about 20 feet tall, with a 30 foot top out slab, the line was impressive to say the least. On about the second burn I found myself attempting to pull the lip onto the slab, but the problem wasn't about to go that easy. I dropped off and proceeded to do the same for three or four goes. Unfortunately, I had to rappel in to the lip to figure out the moves. It went down smoothly on the next go from the ground. I encourage everybody to try this boulder problem as it is one of the best in Joe's Valley. However, it certainly isn't V12 (as earlier proposed) in difficulty in my opinion and it is definitely on the soft end of V11. It surprises me that with the caliber of climbers that have topped out this boulder, the grade would be confirmed at v12.

Here's a quick video of the send:

Later on that day, I managed to gather the whole crew together for a session on the Wind Below V8. When we got to the boulder with all four of my pads it became apparent that I was to be the only one climbing on it. For anyone who hasn't seen the problem, it's about 25 feet of gently overhung perfection. And for anyone strong enough to climb it, it's a must do boulder problem in the United States if not the World. I polished it off in around 3 goes, after deciphering the slightly odd stab to a pinch at the top. It now sits in my top 5 best boulder problems I have ever climbed.

I climbed it a second time for the camera:

Day 3 - Wednesday:

We woke up semi early at around 10 a.m. We headed immediately to Area 51 so Alex could finish up Freak V10. I was also psyched to give a last ditch effort on Black Lung V13. It was a very cold day which was great for friction, but we were all pretty tired after dealing with an intense snow/dust storm in the middle of the night. Alex fussed around on Freak for awhile dealing with some slickness of feet issues, then turned on the power for an impressive send burn. I walked around the boulder to Black Lung, not knowing what to expect. Despite flailing miserably on this boulder for the last couple of trips, as I pulled into the start holds today, something felt different. I snagged the first hold unexpectedly and quickly realized that I had no idea what to do. I backstepped my right foot below my left and easily fell into the pinch. Then, I campused my feet up and jumped for the last hold. I snagged it and then quickly ripped out of it as my greasy fingers couldn't take any more. Shit! I fell off the last move from the ground about 5 or 6 times over the course of the afternoon and finally called it a day. I had other problems to try and Black Lung would have to wait for another trip. Andre also got super close to finishing the boulder, but succumbed to the warm afternoon temps as well. Andre and I had both expressed interest in attempting Gentleman Jack and Blackout in the Left Fork. Some folks had said the Left Fork was extremely cold and probably in the teens, so we decided to leave Area 51 and head there. Andre and I gave Blackout a few goes, until we both deemed it the hardest v12 ever. Props to P-Rob for the FA on that beast. How could Blackout and Prince Of Thieves both receive the same grade? Grades amaze me sometimes. Gentleman Jack fell in a few goes after I figured out how to properly torque on my heel. Andre got extremely close. His best go was a fall after the crux. I'm sure he'll finish it up in due time.

Day 4 - Turkeyday:

Alex finished off Fingerhut V10 on her first try in the morning. An impressive effort considering the Screaming Barfees that ensued at the top of the boulder. Good thing there was no barfing though, only crying. I ended up flashing Kinda Brawny V8 and an unknown V9 to the right of it in my tennis shoes. We then headed to left fork where I grabbed another V9 flash with an ascent of the high quality Worst-Case Scenario. That was pretty much it for my day. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at a BJ's in Price and called it a night after a particularly heated game of Hearts.

Day 5 - Friday (the drive home):

Don't ever get pulled over in a state that you don't live in. I learned this the hard way by getting a speeding ticket almost 2 hours from Joe's Valley and at the request of the cop having to drive all the way back to Orangeville (the town right outside Joe's) to pay the fine. Other than that the trip went great and I look forward to returning at some point in the upcoming weeks.

Finally...

2007-11-15T00:22:00.000-07:00

Finally...the long awaited send of Jim Holloway's problem Trice on Flagstaff is complete. However, I will still be spending some time up there throughout the winter testing my core strength on the move that still hasn't been repeated in the way Holloway did it. I gave it the grade of V12. On the send go, it felt in the v10 range. This of course was following 7 days of work and familiarization with the problem.

In regards to the starting holds. Here's my take: (1) The different holds that can be used for the start do not add or subtract difficulty from the problem in any way. (2) Sure, due to the contrivance of Trice, the goal was to climb it in a historically accurate manner. However, the use of the high left foot already seems to take away from the purity of that goal. (3) I've seen many start holds of classic problems change over the years due to the fact that the differences between the starts don't affect or detract from the difficulty and nature of the problem. (4) Whether my ascent of Trice was a 2nd Ascent, a First Ascent, or not an ascent at all, I achieved my goal of climbing that buldge from the ground up using the holds that Holloway used.

Back In Boulder

2007-11-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Boulder a couple of days ago after my trip to the Northeast. The finals of the Mammut/EMS Bouldering Championships was very exciting. The problems were extremely well set and the competition ran very smoothly. Congratulations to Alex Puccio and Paul Robinson for finishing at the top of their fields once again. Despite my flailing in the qualifiers, I stepped it up a bit in finals to finish in 4th Place. Suprising since I still feel like my abilities on plastic are lacking. I look forward to competing in this series if it returns again next year. Speaking of competitions, I learned a few days ago that a bouldering World Cup will be held on US soil in 2008 at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, CO. I was very psyched to hear this news and I am definitely interested in possibly competing. Maybe it's time to start training for ABS Nationals?

This Saturday I leave for a quick trip to Joe's Valley. I have a lot of problems that I'm interested in working on: Black Lung, Mask Of God, The Wind Below, Gentleman Jack, and possibly A Wrinkle In Time if I can find a wet suit.

There's also a project to the left of Wrinkle that peaks my interest. It culminates with a massive dyno to a sloping rail just below the lip of the boulder over at least ten feet of water.

Check it (Photos Courtesy of Greg Mionske):

I'm also excited to introduce Alex to a new area as she has never been to Joe's Valley before. Maybe we'll get to see some new female firsts.

In the meantime, I'll either be working, chillin', climbing on Trice, or training in the gym. Peace!

Bouldering Championships - Qualifiers

2007-11-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

Just finished off the first day of competition for the Mammut/EMS Bouldering Championships. Paul Robinson and Alex Puccio are both in the lead after qualifiers. I climbed fairly well. I'm currently sitting in a three-way tie for seventh. The top ten in the men's category are suprisingly close. Lack of difficulty in the problems? Who Knows.

Here are some photos from the day courtesy of Tim Kemple(?):

Alex on Qualifier #3

Me sucking it up on Qualifier #5

Psyched To Compete

2007-11-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

Not sure how things are going to play out, but tonight is the qualifiers of the Mammut/EMS Bouldering Championships. Hopefully I'll make it to finals since I flew all the way to Boston for this. Updates to come.

Texas And The South

2007-11-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday my girlfriend Alex and I headed down to Texas to visit her family. We left Boulder after I got off of work at 3 p.m. and arrived in McKinney, Texas just before the sun rose on Wednesday. The drive was chill except for our accidental detour into Oklahoma.

We stayed in Texas for a few days and climbed at Alex's home climbing gym of Exposure. I always find it interesting to experience new gyms around the country. They each have their own style of routes and each possess different qualities that make them special. This gym was no different.

After a few days of plastic I started itching for some real rock again. All in good timing, we were set to leave for Horse Pens 40 early on Friday morning for the second leg of the Triple Crown Bouldering Series. I was psyched for the drive, because we would be crossing into three states I had never experienced before. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The latter of which was to be our destination. The crew leaving Texas comprised of Alex, her sister Casey, Dave Flores, and me. I was ready for some famous southern sandstone.

After a 12-hour drive, we arrived at Horse Pens 40 just before the sun set. It was a bit warm out for my tastes and I was definitely worried about the conditions for the comp. Nonetheless, I was just psyched to climb on some amazing problems. Alex and I took a walk around the boulder field to scope out the problems for a while, and watched some people night sessioning. We couldn't contain ourselves and had to join in on at least one problem before checking in for the night.

Alex enjoying Hammerhead in Uggs at night.

We awoke at 7 a.m. to crisp conditions and the rustling of people outside our tent. We grabbed some breakfast burritos at the food cart on our way to the pavilion and gathered our things for an exciting day of bouldering. They let us loose into the boulders at 9 a.m. and I quickly found myself at the bottom of the wall hosting some famous climbs such a Ghetto Superstar V9 and The Thief V7/8. Alex and I quickly flashed The Thief and set our sights on Ghetto. I was an idiot and fell on the last move of my flash attempt, but quickly settled the score on my second burn. Alex fessed for a while, but soon found her way to the top. It was a great start to the day. I quickly flashed two excellent climbs to the left of Ghetto and made my way over to God Module V11 at the other end of the field of boulders. The day was warming up fast and I was hoping that I would get a proper flash attempt. I put my shoes on, chalked up, and nestled my fingers into the odd rounded crimpers that comprise the start hold. I was told that if you could stick the start move properly, you were over half way towards a successful burn. I pulled on and stuck the first move nearly static. I pasted my right foot in the crack and gunned for the gaston. I stuck it as my feet cut from the wall. I whipped them back in and prepared myself for the next move. I reached for the crimp/pinch and just as I stuck it my hands blasted off the wall and I landed in an angry heap on the ground. Bummer. Soo Close! I came within a move of finishing the problem on almost every go for about 10 tries, but the rising temps were making my fingertips very greasy and I came to the realization that it just wasn't in the cards for me that day. I walked around the corner and flashed Slider v9 and did the left exit Beta Boy also first try. My day culminated with a fairly good list of two V9's, a bunch of V8's, and a couple V7's to round out the ten problems needed to fill my scorecard. I climbed most of the day with Ryan Sewell who proved to be a strong and motivating climber partner. I definitely look forward to climbing with him more in the future. Alex also finished out the day strong with a V9, three V8's, and numerous V6's. She took home a second place finish, while I disappointingly didn't end up in the top five after getting owned by some locals.

Overall, the day was amazing. I climbed lots of quality rock with lots of amazing people. The problems were fun, and the competition was very well run.

So here's my review of Horse Pens 40:

Pros:

-Best rock I have ever climbed on.

-Best problems I have ever climbed on.

-Best setting for a climbing area (in the trees at the top of a hill).

-Nice people/locals.

-Extremely concentrated.

Cons:

-Lacking in variety and number of double-digit boulder problems.

-Grades are soft in my opinion (could be a pro or con depending on who you ask).

-Probably enough problems to keep me busy for only a couple of weeks.

I look forward to heading back next year to settle my score with God Module and climb some more amazing southern sandstone. This weekend Alex and I head to Boston for the final leg of the Mammut/EMS Bouldering Championships. Psyched!

Trice...

2007-11-01T09:18:00.000-06:00

So, I started a climbing blog. Not to start controversies. Not to talk shit. I started a blog so that I could share pictures, videos, or ideas with anyone that is interested. I'm not really sure how these things work or whether anybody will read my shit, but whatever. Why not, right?

I recently procured a bussing job at an Italian restaurant in Boulder. This hasn't allowed me much time to get out on real rock. Tired of the gym, I've spent quite a bit of time up at Flagstaff. Why not get in touch with the old school? Lately I've been working on this problem called Trice. It is also known as Another Holloway Route. Named after it's first ascentionist Jim Holloway. It is currently unrepeated in the manner that Holloway supposedly repeated it. I say this because many people doubt that he actually completed the line. After spending at least six days on the problem, I've decided that it is definitely very possible that he climbed the exact line of Trice. I have almost completed the crux second move static, unfortunately it seems that my core strength is definitely lacking. And I don't have the height to allow myself any leeway as my body sags out from the wall when I attempt the move. From what I've heard, Holloway is fairly tall and had exceptionally strong core muscles. This move fit him perfectly.

To be completely honest, it is my intention to not only complete the line of Trice, but to complete it in the exact manner that I believe Holloway did it. No trick toe hooks. No swing. Jim was on a different level in climbing than most people during his generation and ours. He might not have completed the difficulty of problems that people are accomplishing today, but some of his specialized strengths are very rare in today's climbing world.

Here are some pics of my last session on Trice (courtesy of Nick Weinstock):

The temps have been a bit hot lately for proper attempts on Trice. I'll Be in HP40 this weekend for the Triple Crown, hopefully the temps will be better when I get back. In the meantime, I'm psyched for some of the southern sandstone that I've heard so much about. It should be a good time.