SoCo Alpine Baby!

Last Friday I jetted out of work early and hauled ass to Canon City to meet up with fellow Henchmen Chris Gatzke with the primary objective of searching and scrubbing new blocks. We arrived at our pristine camp site around 1:30ish which was situated in a sick meadow at around 11,000 ft. This is by far one of the best camping spots I have seen in the CO, serious! We then made the short hike across the meadow and started fanning out along the heavily forested hill sides that make seeing any blocks from a distance nearly impossible. We eventually made it to a small cliff band Chris had scoped previously and set to work and I was able to do one of the shorter lines on the cliff that I dubbed Praying Mantis for the the one I saw in the credit card slot on the gas pump before I left town, no joke. The cliff band was upwards of 25 ft. in spots and being that we only had one pad and Chris forgot his shoes at camp we decided to head out and explore more of the forest. After a few hours of hiking around we made it back to camp only to find a strange tube hanging form under Chris' jeep and after about 45 minutes of trying to figure out what it connected to we were able to reconnect it. Funny thing is we later found out it was a overflow tube that was not supposed to be connected to anything, that's what we get for trying to be logical about the f&()#$in' thing. The following morning we pounded the coffee for a few hours trying to get the alcohol head to go away and eventually made our way back into the dense forest to a nice cluster of blocks we checked out the previous day. We went to work and put two nice easy problems, Mud Hole and Mud Harvest named due to the fact that once you removed the moss you found a nice layer of mud that needed to be cleaned as well. I was fortunate enough to get the FA of Pink & Silver which is a killa 16/17 ft slightly overhanging bad ass line on the nicest, tightest grainpink garnite I have ever seen. I am hard pressed to think of a better line I have done in the past 12 motnhs, on the realz! I think the best part of my ascent was it reminded me of what bouldering was like back in the day since we only had one pad with us and could have easily used another 2 or 3 to make it really safe. I can remember countless sessions were there was only one pad between the entire crew or routinely going to blocks with no pad at all. Ah, fuzzy memories! Well needless to say it felt good to get out and climb a little bit, it's was enough to hold me over until my injuries are fully healed I can start climbing again. Big ups goes out to Gatzke for showing the stash to me, I am sure I will be venturing up there next summer when the temps once again ski rocket out of control.
Till next time.
B$ GONE!!!!!!!!

Sectum Sempra, FA

Sectum Sempra from Sococlimber1 on Vimeo.

11mile

Yesterday afternoon Ben and I went to 11mile so he could show me some of the sport climbs he has been working on and more impotently some blocks he had discovered in his quest for new or unsent climbs. We cleaned this nice boulder that starts on some underclings and big ups left hand to a finger lock/sidepull and then a tensiony move to a sharp right hand crimp before busting out agian right hand to a good crimp and then some ruff campus moves followed by some serious precision stabs back into the seam before easier moves to the top. Here is a pick Ben snapped of B Rhodes on the second half of the problem. Send footage to come soon.

From the depths of the archives..........

I am pleased to bring you "Dickfist & Beatnuts", a Lee (Motha F&%@in') Hand short.
Big thanks to Hayden for reformatting it to get samll enough to upload. Enjoy!

Dickfist and Beatnuts from Sococlimber1 on Vimeo.

Wyoming

Last Tuesday afternoon, errrrr late Tuesday afternoon Dave Marquess and I hit the road to Lander, WY to celebrate his recent graduation from CU Boulder. We arrived in Lander around 10pm and mini epiced to find some place to call home for the night. We eventually ended up in what is probably the worst single camp sight in Sinks Canyon and started consuming beers almost immediately after getting out of the car.



Diz gettin down with some blues somewhere in Sinks!

We woke up the next morning, packed up the ride and started the short drive to Wild Iris. Dave and I had a good day climbing at the OK Corral, albeit not climbing hard (.12a maximum) and we where both able to walk away with a route under our belts. The climbing that I saw at the Iris is very reminiscent of our local limestone crag Shelf Road with pockets and footwork being the name of the game however the routes did feel a little more powerful then your typical Shelf route. After a few routes we decided to throw in the towel and set up camp. I will tell you I have never see that many flies in my life, think I will go back in the fall when they are all DEAD!
On day two Diz and I made the short trek to the main cliff where we climbed a few warm ups and each gave one burn on a short .12c called Rode Hard & Put Up Wet which was the first route put up at the Iris. I was able to get all the moves figured out but both of us were feeling haggard and decided to put an end to our climbing efforts. Can't wait to get back once I get healthy again so I can try and send some shit, I love the style of climbing the Iris offers!



Rode Hard has the draws hanging. I be back for this rig and his neighbor to the left.

We stayed another night in the camp ground below the OK Corral and the next morning hit the road again, this time the primary objective was to party and go to Frontier Days in Cheyenne. We ended up meeting some of the Diz's old room mates at the Vedauwoo campgrounds ands ended up party into the early morning. We awoke later that same day and went to Frontier days but unfortunately missed the rodeo and resorted to alcohol consumption. Just as we where really starting to have some fun the rains came and put a serious damper on the mood. Needless to say we bailed and headed home. Is was really a good little trip with a little bit of climbing a a hell of a lot of partying, can't wait to get back to the Iris and check what the rest of the areas have to offer.

Random scenery shots.



View of the main cliff at the Iris.



Cool forest near the cliff.



Nice colors on the hike back to camp.



Lots of these little guys around, flowers and flies in abundince.

Today IS........

my 22nd day off after tearing something on my good shoulder......DAMN IT!!!!!!!!
It is starting to mend however it could be some time before I can try and pull hard again as I am not trying to make the same mistake I made with the left shoulder. Hopefully history will not repeat itself in this case. Next Tuesday Dave M. and I are heading to Lander to check out some spurt climbs which I am looking forward to. I am a little bummed I won't be in good enough condition to try the Todd Skinner pocket nightmare Throwin' the Houlihan which is a route I have always wanted to try due to my love of hard pocket pulling and big dynamic moves. Guess I will have to settle out of court for a bunch of easy pitches and just moving over stone. Fair!!!!!!

Evolv XY (Xpress Yourself) Project

Just got in my Evolv XY's and they are rad, the baddest sending shoes on the block as far as I'm concerned. Th whole idea behind the the XY Project is to let the consumer/climbers choose different shoe features and colors to make the shoe there own, a brilliant idea! There are some serious advantages to this concept such as a someone that climbs in Evolvs' can pick different parts of there favorite kicks(only three base models available right now), toss them together to make a hybrid Frankenstein shoe that will feast on there projects. I hope the project is successful so Evolv can add more of there shoes to the line up and then we can really have some fun. On top of that you can choose a variety of different colors for all parts of the shoe with the exception of the pull on loops thus pimpin your rides out and really making the unique. I encourage you to go check out Evolv's website and click on the the Evolv XY box at the bottom of the screen and play around with all the options you can choose from. I ended up playing around with the software for hours changing this or that until I ended up with something I really liked and had a blast doing it.

Check 'em out Rasta!!!!!!





Here is a list of the stuff you can change or choose:
*Shoe=Pontas, Defy or Elektra
*Upper Color
*Tounge Color
*Velcro Strap Color
*Embroided Logo Color
*Toe Logo Color
*Heel Logo Color
*Rand
*Heel
*Mid-Sole

A very sick idea and worth checking out even if you have never climbed in Evolv's.

Weekend @ The Park

Nick Murray and I headed up to The Park Saturday morning to meet up with Than and Codi to get some climbing in. Everyone was juiced and I haven't been up there to climb in so long that I could hardly contain myself. I think the last time I climbed up there was around '06. We decided to head up to Emerald to give Whispers some goes and I thnk it went pretty well, can't wait for my next session on it. Nick and I both made it to the crimp after the flip move and Than was able to suss the beta for the opening move before his bicep started acting up.



Nickastickin'



Thanasticking'



Can somebody spot the makings of a waterfall?????

After getting our fill at Emerald we halled balls to lower to scope Deep Puddle Dynamics. The start of this problem is fucking awesome but I am a little put off by that left hand gaston shit at the top, BOOOOOOOO says I!!!!!! After we had our fill of DPD we made our way to the Gobot just as it stared to sprinkle. Hopeing that it was going to be one of those in and out storms we took shelter in hopes of waiting it out. That didn't last very long before we all decided to high tail it back to the safety of the parking lot. Got f^%&*in' drenched and did not have the foresight to bring a change of clothes.

Nick and I got up in the morning to see some rays of sun and most of our stuff was at least dry enough to provide warmth not hypothermia. Nick wanted to show me Skipper D but when we got up there the fucker was still deep under the snow pack. I wasn't feeling to good when we arrived at Upper and ended up chillin' out for a bit and then Nick and I jumped on Golden Rows of Flows. I think this is a bad ass problem and I will be back as both Nick and I had some really good burns.



Nick on Golden Rows of Flows. All in all it was good short weekend trip filled with all sorts of try hard and I am sure I will be back soon.

Bloody Arete Sit...Day 2 P.S

I decided to ditch out of work yesterday at 10 am and head up to the Pass with Nick Murray with the intention of sending Bloody Sit. Conditions weren't to bad although I would have preferred the temps to be a little cooler and the humidity to be a third of what it was. I had some really good burns falling off on the second and third moves of the stand. I did however have a little problem with my right hand greasing off the death prong(right hand start hold for da stand) with lead to this..........





I don't think I will be getting back on this rig until the good conditions arrive in the fall unless we get a real cold spell. Nick mean while started giving the stand his first goes and looked way strong, he will crush fo sho his next time on.
WORD!

Durango

Last weekend my Dad and I took a little trip to Durnago. My Dad needed to the go to the title company that had all the records pertaining to the land he just purchased that he plans to retire on.


Pic of Property
Initially we thought the title company was in Durnago and I thought great, I will get a hold of Dan Steves and try and make climbing plans while my pops does his thing. Well it turned out the the title company was in Pagosa Springs (were the property actually is) and Durango was a solid hour out of the way. A big thanks goes out to my Dad who drove an extra 4 hours out of his way just so I could go bouldering for an afternoon.
I eventually meet up with Dan early Sunday afternoon and he gave me a great tour of a cool sandstone area. The blocks were pretty rad with all kinds of sicky features such as pinches, pockets, slopers, crimps all with there own unique flavor. I had a good day climbing onsighting a 5, flashing a 6 and doing a super rad 5 star 7 second go. Dan and I also tried some harder problems including a sick arete with super sharp crimpers to committing dynamic moves for the exit with a nasty rock right below. I managed to make it up to the big throw to start the exit but didn't have the juice to fully commit with out more pads. Again props go out to Dan for driving and showing my ass around, thanks homie! It was a good quick trip and I can't wait to head back to that part of the state.

A-YO!!!!!!!!!!!

Been a minute since the last time I posted to this piece and a lot has been going down. Last weekend I went camping in 11mile with Dave Marquess and B Rhodes. Dave and I each had a good weekend and we each tried Rapture once (it was all sorts of wet on day two). It was probably my first time sport climbing in almost three years and who knows how long before that and honestly it was kinda of fun and the route was super dope. I hope to return to give a good effort on that rig as it definitely feels doable. I have also spent five or so days recently giving goes on Anger Management and have been getting shut down big time. A few weeks ago I watched Matt piss all over the thing (nearly flashed the f%$**$&) and that gave me a renewed hope. Well turns out it's still really fu\*%^ hard, at least for me. Maybe with some more training I will be able to work my feet around to release that all to good heal, maybe.
I am heading to Durango this weekend with my pops to work on a land acquisition and hopefully well meet up with my old friend Dan Steves to check out some of the local bouldering spots. Kinda juiced on it actually!
I wish I had some media to share, ah well, maybe next time!

Pass Yesterday!

After much deliberation I was finally able to convince Hayden to head up to the Pass instead of 11mile and we where to be joined a little later by Than and one B Rhodes. On our way up I was playing with the idea of warming up and then maybe trying Bloody Stand while we waited for the rest of the crew to show up. I tried F*&%in' around on the slab Right around the corner from Bloody and didn't get much further then standing up on my left foot, at that point I said screw it and decided that I might as well have a go. Before I new it I was on the jug wrap asking Hayden to stop filming and move pads and spot, juiced to have climbed this thing finally.It had been well over two years since my last attempt and I was totally surprised that it went first go and I was able to remember the beta after so long off the problem.
After getting back down Hayden convinced me to give the sit one burn which was horrible but the second burn felt good, real good and I feel that it could go soon.
Well the crew showed up not to long after my last burn and we started heading over to the Gusher. All I have to say about our efforts is everybody is making progress and I think that's a good thing. Than, Rhodes and I started trying the upper moves because they have a reputation of spitting you off when you think you have the send in the bag. Than's burn started off looking normal, he fired, hit the hold but spun off kinda of weird, then he reveled the flapper of the day. Than had taken a good chunk off one of his tips and was looking done for the day. After getting burnt out on the Gusher we all started trying the stand start to Hayden's line Beyond the Clouds with everyone making it up to the first hard moves and then out of no where Than put the hammer down and killed it for it's 3rd or so ascent (the sit has yet to see a 2nd) with a jacked up finger. Good show old chap.......good show!
I will be back for that rig!! Another great day climbing in the SOCO!!!!!!!

What............................Yeah........................

OK.................
It's been a good while since I have blogged this piece and a lot has been going on.
I went to my first trade show and got a chance to meet some of the people form Evolve and was super impressed on how nice and down to earth everyone was. I came down with the flu apon or return from Utah and was pretty much the walking dead for two weeks or so. More recently I have been climbing a shit ton on awesome blocks with good people. So amped on rock climbing right know it's not even funny. As a matter of fact I am going climbing in T-Minus 60 Minutes, WORD!
B$ GONE>>>>>>>>>>>

Dave Marquess Show!!!! Go See IT!

Red Apple Highway is opening for Immortal Technique on Tuesday the 20th at Cervantes in D-Town. Rock on Dizzle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tojo Briefing!

The last few weeks have been full of crazy good climbing with good friends and there seems to be no end in sight. Psych levels in the SoCo are high right now and there are a number of people willing to put in the work to find and climb new rock! I think this summer is going to be one for the books! Besides searching for new blocks I have been putting in some work on Dave Marquess' "Dadday Fat Sacks" at the pass and I am happy to report that I am making considerable progress.
Dave "Lord Sci" Jones and I headed up last week and after a good warm up we both got side tracked trying to run up the down climb at the ships prow. I was going for the ultra run ascent (trying not to use my hands) when I slipped and had to put my right arm down. Stupid YO!



Before I even got to pull on Fat Sacks I jacked myself up.........classic!
Despite blood pooring out of my wrist I was able to get in a decent go, so juiced up for this rock climb right now.........so good!
T-Minus an hour and a half.........