Roche Stories

No Way Jose

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a litte Holiday gift Video I shot last year with my friend James Q Martin. I hope you enjoy:

http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/journal/climb/video/video-bd-tech-rep-and-athlete-jp-peewee-oullete-redpointing-ino-way-josei-513-north-wash-utah

Cheers

Necronomicon

2011-11-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

Awesome news! I just did the first free ascent of Necronomicon today! It’s totally crazy! More details and photos to come soon!

The NEW Proj!

2011-10-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

For the last 10 days or so, I've been working on the craziest route I've been on in a long time... I haven't that psyched on a route in a long time... I first heard of that route from my friend Rob Pizem a while ago. But he wouldn't show it to anybody... After a few years of begging, Rob finally gave up and showed me the beast. Basically the route is 90 feet long and is totally horizontal. I one-hung it 3 times the other day... It's going down soon!

Moab Fall 2011

2011-10-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post...

So, once again I found myself in Moab. The World Mecca for crack climbing. The weather is perfect and I'm feeling like my climbing fitness is coming back (slowing but steady).

I've spent the last couple of days resting and trying to grow skin as fast as possible , so I can get back on my new project... All I can say about the proj so far is that I haven't been that excited about a route in a long time!!! And that after 2 days working on it, my neck, back, legs and core are super sore... And the skin on my forearms is pretty raw... I'm hoping to get back on the proj tomorrow or the day after. I feel the send is just around the corner... Then I'll head down to Indian Creek to check out a couple new routes that went down last Spring...

With a few "forced" rest days I've been surfing the net and following the Wide Boyz blog (http://wideboyz.blogspot.com/)... What they've accomplished over the last couple weeks is amazing. Probably the best stretch of hardcore crack sends ever!!! I mean these guys trained the last two year to get fit to repeat the hardest OW in the world. And so far they pretty much crushed everything they tried... Sending everything over just a few tries... Simply amazing! Keep on crushing guys!

R.I.P.

2011-08-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

My life won't be the same without him...

He lived a long and eventful life. He was old, he had a weird obnoxious look, he was definitely not the prettiest and he was kinda high-maintenance… but I had so much fun with him… When I heard the words “it’s not worth it he’s too old”, my heart stop beating for a split second…

Last week my camper died. A while ago I had noticed the expanding crack on the entire left side, but I didn’t think it was that bad… VERY BAD it was indeed… It turned out that the whole bottom structure was rotten and the floor was slowly separating from the side walls. Unable and un-equipped to try repair it myself, I asked around at a couple RV repair shop if it was worth repairing. And all without exception said it was time to retire the old trout-striped-camper. It turned out that when I unloaded the camper from my truck it collapsed a bit on his left side. The storage place gave a mere 200$ for the parts. The only souvenir I took is the fire extinguisher...

I had a few great trips with that rig and will definitely get a similar one for the next season. My only concern is that these things are soo hard to find. I own a small pick-up truck (4 cylinder Tacoma) and there's not too many used slide-in camper that fits on these trucks. If anybody has suggestions, let me know…

Good Bye My dear Camper!

Vedauwoo

2011-07-23T11:20:00.001-07:00

(Home on the Range)

This past month, In my crack climbing quest, I found myself at Vedauwoo. VW is world renown for its nasty Off-Width climbing. People go there armed with #5 and #6 Camalots and Big Bros, tons of athletic tape, jeans and long sleeve shirts. The rock is good and textured and will leave you bleeding no matter how many layers of tape you wear… I love it.

Hidden in a sea of wide cracks, there is a couple very hard finger (fairy) cracks I wanted to try. The first one I tackled was The Vedajuicer (V10). This is a very flared boulder roof crack. Yes you heard it BOULDERING CRACKS… Vedauwoo is packed with good roof crack bouldering and you can find any size from finger to OW boulder problems. Although Vedajuicer is very close to the ground this crack problem deserves more attention, because it is really good climbing. Justin Edl, the local harcore, put than one up a couple years ago and apparently my ascent was the first repeat… Who knows… The same day I ended up climbing two other classic roof crack problems: Deserata and PsychoShop (V7) both first try.

These problems ended up being a really good warm-up/training for my next projet: Home on the Range (5.14-).

Justin also did the first free ascent of this little gem in 2009. Although, HTR is only 50 feet long, this little bastard is very hard. It is slightly overhanging and it aggressively leans right at a 45 degrees angle. And it is as flared as the Vedauwoo cracks gets… For this kind of crack I use a weird slopper-hand-finger jam combo… It works really well until your foot slips or you grease out of the crack… It’s an interesting crack skill to develop but it can be frustrating, as it doesn’t take much to just slip out of the crack…

(Trying not to slip out of the jams)

This thing is really weather dependant (for me anyway). You need a good breeze to make the flary/sloppy/fingery jams hold. On some humid days the crux was simply impossible for me and I would get really frustrated, but on windy days I would do really well on the route and make good progress fast. Since it leans a lot it is almost impossible to jam both feet. I ended up using the good old combo for that kind of cracks: Super-Mocc on the left foot for jamming and Anasazi Verde on the right for edging. After a week hiatus to go work at a trade show, I ended up sending the route. It took me about 20 tries over 2 weeks.

Home on the Range is really hard to rate because it is so short. The crux is comparable to a V9 crack but it’s pretty easy before and after the crux (as usual I fell/punted a couple times in the easy finish…). When I compare HTR to other hard cracks I’ve been on, the grade that comes to mind is 5.13+. It’s harder than Fiddler on the Roof, Learning to Fly, From Switzerland, Deadline, Sphinx Crack, No Way Jose and Master Blaster, BUT easier than Stingray, La Zebree, Cobra Crack, Conception, Bushido and Orangutan Overhang.

No matter how hard it is, it's a pretty cool line! Good job finding this little gem Justin!

Long time no see...

2011-05-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

(Icing my knee... one of the only activity I could do this winter...)

It’s been a while since my last post. The truth is I injured both of my knees while training/bouldering this winter. Arrg... I hate those fucking heelhooks… I’ve pretty much been away from climbing for 3 months. All I could do during this time was campus boarding and really low intensity biking… About a month and a half ago I resume climbing…The feeling was sooo good. I had never been away from climbing for that long in 17 years… At first it felt weird to climb and I was super scared of re-injuring myself. But with the help of my friends Isabelle and Guillaume, I was able to readapt very quickly. I’m still limited with some types of moves (like heel hooks and drop knees) but I’ve been feeling pretty good on the rock lately.

(climbing at Weir)

I spent most of April climbing at Weir, climbing long pitches preparing for my Spring trip in Yosemite. I'm gonna use this trip to climb some long free routes hoping to get fitter for the upcoming Summer and Fall seasons.

Also in the news this Spring, is my new partnership with Rab (http://www.rab.uk.com/). I’m really excited to be a member of Rab’s climbing team. These guys have been making incredible outerwear for 30 years. The gear is designed by and for climbers and it shows. It’s really functional and well thought.

Pushing my luck

2010-12-13T23:35:00.000-08:00

My Fall trip is pretty much over. I'm flying back home to my girlfriend tomorrow. PSYCHE! The whole trip has been pretty epic... but the last week has been full-on EPIC! I had plan to finish my trip by climbing No Way Jose. This route is located in the North Wash of Lake Powell in Utah. It's a perfect line, really one of the most aesthetic line I've seen. It's a 30 meters #.5 Camalot overhanging finger crack and some people say it's the hardest finger crack of the desert.

On my first day on the climb, I came painfully closeto send. But since I had a couple days left I didn't feel nervous at all because I was pretty confident to send it the next day... The next morning I woke-up with a really sore throat and fever... and had to rush the the bathroom a couple times too... I was in pretty bad shape... so bad I couldn't even drive to Salt Lake City to catch my plane... I stayed 4 days in bed at my friends Thomas and Roger's place in Moab (thanks guys!!!). I rebooked my flight with a couple extra days so I could get back on the route for a last minute send... and maybe push my luck a little bit...

Yesterday, I was still feeling a little bit sick I still went for it and again came really close to send but couldn't make it happen... I was simply out of breath and was getting too pumped to manage the route... I started to get nervous...

This morning I was not feeling much better than yesterday, but I told myself I had nothing to lose anyway. So after a quick warm-up I jumped on the route... The whole way I was feeling nervous and feverish... I almost asked my friend Thomas to take and lower, but I kept going... and little did I know I was screaming at the crux and sticking it... and then carefully made the it to the anchor for the SEND. SOOOO PSYCHE!

I'm really happy with this route, because I had wanted to climb it for a while. I couldn't ask for a better end of my trip.

Thomas, James, Roger thanks a lot for your help and support! I really appreciate guys!

SUPER-MOCC

2010-12-11T16:36:00.000-08:00

In the past weeks, I have been climbing with the new FiveTen Super-Mocc. At first I thought it would be the same as the Moccasym, but after just a few climbs I was really surprised by the performance of the new shoe especially for crack climbing.

The Super-Mocc is basically an updated version of the ultra classic Mocassym which has been THE overall favorite crack climbing shoe for the past 15 years. FiveTen made a good job by keeping all that was good about the Moccasym and added a few things that made the new Super-Mocc a real crack climbing formula 1.

The Super-Mocc is built on the same last, but has a better / more secure heel-cup than its predecessor. This improvement enables better heel hooking, because the shoe doesn't tend to slip-out of your foot. Another update on the Super-Mocc is the toe rand that raps around the whole toe-box. This will protect your toes while jamming and will add some friction for the ultra thin offset cracks. This will also make the shoe more durable as it will not wear out in cracks (compared to leather). This will also prevent the shoe to "deform" too much as the regular slippers will usually do.

The Super-Moc uses the new Mystique rubber. This rubber gives the same performance as the C4 in term of friction, but is more durable. This enabled FiveTen to use a thinner rubber for the sole (3.5mm instead of 5mm). Having a thinner rubber gives more precision for ringlocks and smaller finger cracks (.75 green Camalot and smaller). I am really pleased with these new shoes and they are now part of my climbing shoes arsenal.

Check these out in the Spring!

CONCEPTION!

2010-12-04T18:06:00.000-08:00

I've been road tripping for about 4-5 weeks. Hoping to climb as many cracks as possible. The main goal of the trip was to climb Conception. I had tried the route for the first time about 4 years ago, but an injury to my right index finger ended my hope to climb the route. Last spring I came painfully close to send the route, but had to catch a flight before I could finish it... The Epic road to Conception had just started...

So, last November, on way to Moab (from Montreal) I stopped in Boulder for a couple days. I had to wait for friend over there, so I climbed Deadline in Boulder Canyon. I had been on the route a couple years ago but had never returned to do it. The route is really a V8 boulder problem. The moves are cool but it's really short for a route.

Then I drove to Moab and got on Conception right away. I felt pretty good on the route but on the 2nd day I made a huge flapper and had to take a brake from the route. The start of the climb is so thin I can't climb it tape on this part of my finger. Then bad weather came and, frustrated, I bailed to Zion to get on Master Blaster. I had heard the route was very goo and I was not disappointed. This route consist of a 5.11+/12- finger crack to a cool 7-8 feet bulge roof.The size of the crack in the bulge is .75 Camalot. I climbed the route pretty fast (3 tries over two days). My hand size definitely helped for this one, because I could get a really-really-thight-thin-hand jam. but I still had to ringlock and throw to the jug at the lip. While the weather improved in Moab, I still had to wait to get on Conception because the police/FBI had to close the Potash Road to to catch a convict who was on the go after shooting a cop.

I almost gave up my hopes to do Conception, but after a couple days in Indian Creek, where I did Pink Flamingo, the cops reopened Potash Road and I could finish Conception. This is definitely one of best route / coolest line in the desert.

I still have a week to kill and I'm hoping to do No Way Jose at the North Wash. Wish me Luck!

Tape Gloves

2010-11-21T10:14:00.000-08:00

Forced rainy rest days sucks... Is there anything else to do than sipping an Espresso while surfing the web at Starbucks? This PM I was browsing thru my photos on my lap-top and found old pictures my friend Eric Odenthal took. The plan with these photos was to make a how-to-tape-gloves article. We never got around to make the article... so here's a quick method to make a good tape glove for crack climbing.

I use athletic tape of 1.5 inch width.

Step 1: cut 2 or 3 pieces of tape that are the width of your hand and place them on the top of your hand (perpendicular to your fingers). Makesure the first piece you put is over the knuckles. This way they will be well protected.

Step 2: cut a piece of tape that is twice the finger-tip-to-wrist length. and wrap it around the thumb. Make sure both ends reach the wrist. This way when you secure the glove at the wrist it'll stay there.

Step 3: This step is similar to the previous step, but to make it easier, there's a little trick. So after you've cut a piece of tape that is twice the finger-tip-to-wrist length, make a little "bow" with it by squeezing the middle of the piece together. Then place the squeezed section between the pinky and ring finger and wrap the piece around the pinky. Alway start with the pinky and then the index-finger. Finish with the 2 middle fingers. This way it'll be more secure and the glove will hold on better. Again make sure both ends reach the wrist.

Step 4: Repeat for all fingers

Step 4: Cut a piece of tape that would be twice the length around your wrist. Wrap it around your wrist to secure the other glove parts. Don't make it too tight or you'll get pumped in an instant when you start climbing.

Your gloves should look like this:

If you didn't trash your glove too much while climbing, you can re-use them by cutting the wrist part and peeling it off (it is smart to shave your hands if you have a lot of hair like me...). Next time you need them just put them on and put another piece of tape around the wrist.

ENJOY TAPE GLOVES WITH YOUR FAVORITE SPLITTER CRACK!

Master Blaster

2010-11-21T09:17:00.000-08:00

The last couple days have been crazy. Betweendriving my friend to the airport, picking up another friend, walking the strip in Vegas and the rain, I was able to squeeze-in a couple burns on Master Blaster in Zion. I had wanted to check out this route for a while. Actually, even before the route was freed by Ben Gilkinson a couple years ago, Didier Berthod (who tried to do the FFA) had told me about the route and since then I had always kept it in the back of my mind. My friend Sonnie made short work of the route last year and told me it would suit me well... Well it definitely did, because I sent it on my 3rd go. The route is pretty cool. It starts with a 15 meters 5.11+ finger crack to a decent rest to the 2 meters roof crux. The roof part is pretty hard and bouldery. You need to use a weird combination of ringlocks and super-super-thin-hands. For folks with big hands it would be ringlocks only (i.e. harder and more painful)... Right at the lip you do a short deadpoint to a really sandy jug, then heel hook and then it's pretty much in the bag... unless you break a hold...

You can watch Sonnie sending here: http://vimeo.com/5654799

Timing is Everything

2010-11-14T09:49:00.000-08:00

(Sandstone Heaven)

Everything in climbing is a question of timing... You need to be climbing at the right speed (not too fast or you'll mess your sequence up and not too slow or you'll get pumped). You have to hit the holds just perfectly or you'll slip off. You need to jam with just the right pressure. If you jam too hard you'll get pumped again and if you don't jam hard enough you'll probably slip out of it and in both cases you'll end up with gobies anyway... believe me I'm now officially a gobies expert.

(my hands are looking good... if only every gobies was a send)

You have to bring the perfect rack (if you bring too much gear, the weight is gonna pull you down and if you don't bring enough you'll get scared or you'll put yourself in bad situations). You also have to place the gear at the right place and at the right moment (you need to place the gear at the waist or it'll be hard to clip and the rope will be in your way as go past it. And we all know that placing the protections in the middle of the crux isn't the smartest idea). Since we can't really rock climb when it's raining, we also have to time the climbing days and the rest days at the right time. Resting when the temps are perfect and being ready to climb when it's raining or snowing is so frustrating... If you don't take enough rest and you'll be out of juice pretty fast and too much rest and your psyche will fade out and you'll turn into an "wanna-be-climber-internet-surfing-blogger-coffee-drinker-couch-potato" like me.

(really good beta for freeWIFI: Moab laudromat...)

I've been trying to "time" my climbing for the last couple weeks... and so far it's not been perfectly right... Well to be honest my "timing" has been really bad. I've been working on and off on Conception in Moab for the past 2 weeks and so far, most of tries (3 or 4) can be describe as follow: I've brought too much gear, tried to place it while in the crux, took too much time in the rests (so my leg got pumped), climbed too slow so I got pumped, then tried to go fast and screwed the sequence up, then over gripped, then got more pumped, then tried to run it out to saved energy and got scared, then more pumped and then finally FELL... Again... With my fingers all gobied I had to take some time off of the route, so I when to climb other stuff, but the psyche isn't there because I'm always thinking about Conception... I don't want my gobies to get worse, I don't want to be too tired and I'm just not that psyche on other routes right now.

(taping up for another try)

(in the middle of Conception, fully pumped)

So instead of messing around on other routes, I decided to take a few rest days and concentrate on growing some skin... I did really well... My skin was almost perfect after 4 days... So after 4 days off I thought I'd be ready to go send, but it started to rain... Bummer. Another day of rest and coffee drinking/facebook surfing... This morning I warm-up on a nearby climb and felt pretty good. I was a bit windy so thought it would be good conditions. I like it when it's windy. What I didn't think of is that the rain would have left a little bit of sand in the crack... I got on it anyway, slipped in the thin-pin-scarred section section and MEGA-GOBIED my finger. This one is gonna take at least a week to heal... maybe more...

(probably my proudest flapper)

(Conception... probably the best line in Moab Area)

Moab part 2

2010-11-10T18:04:00.001-08:00

(the calm before the storm)

OK Now I'm officially pissed off... a couple days ago I fell off at the end Conception again... in the easy section... WTF??? And I gobied my finger pretty well too... Stupid stupid stupid...

(pretty good gobies)

So since I couldn't get on Conception again, we decided to head down to Indian Creek. Yesterday, my buddy Ghis got on the ultra classic Coyne Crack and also on Finger in a Light Socket at the Super Crack Buttress. He definitely got schooled on Coyne Crack (exactly like I did when I tried it on my my first trip to Indian Creek), but he did really well on FSL. I tought he had in the bag, but a foot slipped and he went for the ride.

(Ghis getting ready to attack Coyne Crack)

Today, Ghis wanted to get back on FLS so I decided to check out Pink Flamingo. This route is on the far right side of Super Crack Buttress. I had tried it maybe 5 years ago with my friend Sly and had my ass kicked really hard...This route is mostly 0.5 Camalot... my worst crack size... my nemesis... I can't get a finger lock and I can't quite get a ringlock... so all I do is slide off the crack... It's especially hard to stop and place the gear. But I thought I'd go and check it out and finally learn how to climb this size. My first try when really bad... I mean... I had to aid past the 0.5 section... Then on my second try I climbed it with 2 quick hangs... and definitely found the "trick"... I can definitely do the route. I'm psyche because I thought I'd never be able to do this one...

So after that second try, my psyche was shut down by the big clouds that showed up and brought some snow... We had to bail... The forecast looks grim for another day or so and after that we'll be back at it...

MOAB

2010-11-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

Moab! And here we are again! I've be here so many times, it's starting to feel like home. This time I'm travelling with my buddy Ghislain.

(Ghislain after is first send of the trip)

(Ghis the nice 5.10 flake across the canyon from Conception)

Two days ago we went to Day Canyon to get on my old project: Conception. I tried the route this last Spring and came painfully close to send the route but then again I ran out of time and had to fly to Yosemite... So now after a day of remembering the sequence, I think I'm ready to SEND. Please send your good vibes so I can get on something else after... Yesterday I belayed Ghis on a couple classic climbs in Kane Creek Canyon. Most people come to this region to climb in Indian Creek. Of course there's more routes over there and you won't be disappointed. ROck is like gold over there... But there's so much good climbing in the canyons around Moab too... and the cool thing is that there's nobody!!! It's so quiet.

(Fitz making sure my jacket stays warm)

The Crack mobile

2010-11-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

Nadine and I finally made the move... We got ourself a camper! It's really really cool! I really like the trout stripes and the assorted roof box too... OK I have to admit... it drives a little bit like a sailboat (especially with when the wind comes from the side) and the gas mileage isn't the best... BUT it's super comfortable... It's heated, as a fridge and a ton of space. I'm on my Fall crack trip, so it'll be the perfect set up for me. Especially around Moab. The nights are pretty cold there and it's pretty cool to have a 4X4 pick-up truck for some of the more hard core dirt roads over there.

So after 2 days of driving, I made it to Boulder and already climbed there for a couple days. The first day I got on a"secret crack" and felt pretty good on it... but on the 2nd day, I broke some key crimpers and now I can't do the crux section... damn it... So I took a day off of it and went to Boulder Canyon and I surprised myself by quickly doing Deadline (I was probably still frustrated by the other route... so I had a ton of energy to spare)... I had tried the route a couple years ago, but had to leave before I sent... It's a really short 35 foot route. Essentially it's a 10 moves V8 roof/crack boulder problem. You still have to stop in the middle of the crux and place the gear... The climbing is super powerful (I guess my bouldering regime paid off!!!). This route has originally been bolted and rated 5.14... It's NOT... It has now been done a couple (5-6) times on gear now and the new grade has settled for 13d (I think maybe 13c... or maybe it's just my style never mind... I'll take the 13d points...). On my personal star-scale, it's probably not a 5 stars route (probably only 1 or 2) But it was still on the "List" and I'm happy to have done it in a day. Stay tuned for more crack climbing...

Val-David

2010-10-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

(my new hero, Bernard Poisson -note the chest harness that he used for the FA Le Toit de Ben-)

I spent a lot of time in Val-David over the years and met a lot of great people at the crags there. 2 days a go I met one of Canadian Climbing Pionneers, Bernard Poisson, at Mont King. He is my new hero! At 79 years old, Bernard still comes to Mt King to get his rock climbing fix... Imagine he has been climbing for more than 50 years...

(2010... Bernard climbing at Mont King in Val-David, at 79 he still climb regularly )

In 1958 he did the first ascent of the infamous Le Toit de Ben with wood pegs, pins, hemp rope and cordelettes. Oh and they didn't have harnesses at the time, so he was tying in with an homemade chest-harness..

(Bernard in the making of Le Toit the Ben, circa 1958 -with some original wood pegs-)

(Bernard at the lip of Le Toit de Ben)

(me posing down for the camera in Le Toit de Ben, 52 years after the FA)

The FALL

2010-10-05T17:38:00.000-07:00

(Moss Cliff, Ill Fire is in the middle of the steep wall)

It's been a while since my last post... I've been pretty busy with work and also climbing of course... I spent most of my time in the Adirondacks, at Moss Cliff working on various projects. Conditions were excellent for most of September and I made quick progress on Ill Fire (5.14- R)... But the last 2 weeks have been really wet and the crux section started to seep... It seems that it's the story of my life... Damn it! why do I have to choose projects that seeps.... Oh well, I guess it'll be dry at some point... maybe... I'd really like to do this before the end of the season... so I guess I might have to postpone my Fall desert trip later in November.

2010-07-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well, the Cobra mission will have to wait until next Summer. Although I was making really good progress I didn't sent... and with the the last week heat wave, I didn't event bother go up there to try again... The last time I went up there it was 30 celsius and I was slipping out of my tape gloves...

A couple weeks ago I went to check out My Little Pony with a bunch of friends. This thing is an 20 foot horizontal fist crack roof in Cheakamus Canyon. I had heard of that thing a year or two ago, but had never made it up there. It turned out to be a real good route that reminded me of Le Toit de Ben in Val-David. After watching Alex flashing the route and Mason sending on is second go, I sent it on my 3rd go... Tony it's your turn to send! The next day I was so sore in my abs and legs, I had to take a couple rest days...

After My little Pony, I spent most of the last 2 weeks bouldering in the forest: I became the man I've never wanted to be... There's still cracks to climb and I've been bouldering instead... No seriously, I think that this little bouldering regime will be a great tool, since some of the projects I have for this Fall have sections that are quite powerful.

Crack Tour: Learning how to charm a snake

2010-07-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

We've been in Squamish for 4 weeks now. Our original Summer plans didn't include Squamish, but after spending some time with Sonnie in Joshua Tree this Spring, he convinced me to go give a try at Cobra Crack...

The plan has been pretty simple... Climb as much as possible on Cobra when the weather is good and boulder the rest of the time. This way I keep some fitness in the boulders and don't get my hands/fingers too trashed, so when I get on Cobra my skin is perfect... Believe me, you want your skin to be in good conditions to climb Cobra, because she's a painful son-of-a-bitch... Since the route is in the sun in the morning, I usually warm-up in the boulders and go up to the cirque of the uncrackable in the afternoon for some ass-kicking sessions...

So far I've been up to try Cobra 6 times... I can average no more than 2 tries per day on this thing... After 2 tries I can't take the pain anymore and my lock-off strength is reduced to barely being able to pick up my back pack to go back down the trail. And some days the second try is more flailing and pulling on the rope than actual climbing... I'm basically getting my ass kicked big time... BUT.... everyday I get on it, my ass is getting less and less kicked... I guess I can call this progress??? Or maybe I'm being too positive... At least I'm having fun... On my best try I was able to link from the ground all the way to the crux... but was shut-down by the "mono" move. So far I've done all the moves and on my last day I found a different sequence that avoids the mono move. I can do the mono move but I found it way too "low-percentage"... I could do it maybe 20% of the time. My version is more painful but easier (for me anyway)) and not quite as reachy . The last week has been really hot and my fingers tendons started to hurt more than usual, so I decided to take a little break from it... The forecast is looking good for the next week and my fingers are feeling better so I should get back on it soon and hopefully get my ass kicked a little less than last time.

BD

2010-06-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, a couple months ago, I left my old job to become a member of the Black Diamond Family. I will be playing some sort of an Hybrid role there as my new job will consist of being part-time Sales Rep and part-time Climber. This is the Dream come true!

Last week I spent a couple days at the Black Diamond HQ in Salt Lake City. It was my first visit out there as a part of the BD Team. I was surprised how quickly I was integrated to the team. I was comfortable right away and felt like I had been a member of the family for a long time.

BD is a hard core company. Not only do they have the best climbing team out there, but, also the people that work there are the real deal... I mean, within the designers, engineers, customer service reps, sales rep, you'll find that everybody is either a REAL climber, a REAL skier or a REAL outdoor athlete (ultra runners, cyclist, surfers). Over the time I spent there I got the chance to chat with hard core rock climbers and alpinists legends like Jack Tackle, Bill Belcourt and Russ Clune). I feel like the luckiest guy in the world right now. I mean this is not your typical outdoor company... This is THE company!

Fallen Arches: Crack Tour begins!

2010-06-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

Well, that California trip was awesome! I had a blast with my old friend Jeff in the Valley even if the conditions were not the best...

Jeff the lean-green machine!

And Joshua Tree was killer too. Especially those bacon strips cooked on the fire... In a last minute effort, Sonnie ended up sending Stingray. Proud! It was way cool to watch! Way to go Sonnie! (see his blog for a little report: www.sonnietrotter.com). I was feeling strong on Stingray, but I think I would have needed 1 more week to heel the gobies and to get a little more rest to have enough energy to send. . I'll be back

for that one for sure. It was a great painful finger crack... just the way I like them.

Sonnie getting psyche for the Send!

A couple days ago, I flew back from California to SLC to meet with my girlfriend. We had a couple days to kill before heading to Squamish for the rest of the Summer... we went to Maple Canyon for 2 days so Nad could send her project in the Pipe Dream cave. She sent Deliverance 5.12c on her second try that day. It's her best send ever!!! I'm real proud of you babe!

The next 2 days were to my choice (since Nad had chosen the 2 first days in Maple...) so we went to Little Cottonwood Canyon. I wanted to check out Fallen Arches. It is a .3-.4 Camalot finger crack with some hand jams here and there for rests. The crux is a long reach from a pinky-pinchy jam to a decent slopy-hand-jam... and is right at the end of the pitch. This route was freed by Steve Hong ~25 years ago and, in the 90's, was also the first 5.13 to be flashed by an American: Todd Skinner. Good God! These guys were super heros... Anyway, I was really pleased with the route... It is a really pretty line and I was actually really surprised at the rock quality. Although I didn't repeat Todd Skinner's feat, I did send the route really quick... On the first day I greased out of the crack on my first go at it... It was soooo hot! The temps were in the 90's!!! I checked out the bouldery crux sequence on top-rope and called it a day. The next morning we woke up with with event hotter temps... I warmed up on the route and didn't feel too good in the heat... I was sweating a lot and had to chalk at pretty much every moves and I was slipping from the jams... I took a hour rest and when a little breeze showed up, I went for it... I'm quite not sure what happened but I just crushed it! PSYCHE! This is a real All-American-Classic-Hard-Crack!

Resting before the send!

The Send!

Now let's go to Squamish for some more Finger Crack Climbing! And maybe some bouldering...

Sterling, the Ropes that will not die

2010-05-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

I've climb with different ropes over the years. I had some that would get all fuzzy and funky looking after just a couple days of climbing... and I owned others that would last forever... And that's just the case with my new Sterling. I've been on the road for about 2 months now and have been climbing with the 9.8 Sterling Evolution Velocity almost everyday... (OK not exactly everyday, because I do take rest days...) and it amazes me how good it looks after that much climbing on it... I've done it all so far, Sport Climbing in Jailhouse, Craging in Indian Creek and JTree (JT is especially rough on rope), Wall Climbing in the Valley... falling, top-roping and jugging on it... It just will not die.... It still perfectly climbs and clips. It handles pretty well in my ATC Guide too. I really like the fact that it's just stiff enough so it's easy to clip but at the same time it is not super-stiff so it doesn't feel like you have a steel cable in your hands.

I Love my blue rope!

Super Glue

2010-05-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

OK I have to say it... Whenever I work on a hard finger crack I use Super Glue... It's my little fairy trick... I just glue the tape on my hands and fingers... I thinks it's a great trick and it works... I've used on pretty much all of the hardest finger cracks I've climbed... It prevents the tape from slipping off your finger when you torque them in those little painful jams. It WORKS!... BUT, you have to be really careful when you use the Super Glue... Before yesterday I had never had bad experience with the glue. I had heard stories of people glueing their fingers together or even their lips!!! Well yesterday what happened, I guess had to happen someday... So, I was glueing-taping my fingers while chatting with Sonnie when, without thinking about it, I put the glue tube lid in my mouth (to prevent it from rolling in the dirt)... What I didn't know was that their was some glue that had leaked in the lid... It took a couple seconds to feel the glue in my mouth, on my tongue and teeth... FUCK!!! The glue didn't really stuck on the tongue but it tasted awful... It did stuck on my teeth... And as I'm writing this post (I day later) I still have glue on them... PLEASE Kids don't play with Super Glue at home... It's meant to be used by professionals only...

Jingus Weather in the Valley, let's go to JTree

2010-05-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

The weather in the Valley has been super weird (and wet) the last little while... We actually climbed more in Jailhouse than in the Valley... so after dropping Jeff at the airport I wasn't sure I wanted to go back to this wetness... I waited a day in Sacramento to get some rest and go watch Ironman 2. The next day I decided to join my friend Sonnie to go try Stingray in Joshua Tree... The weather there is a little hot but at least it's DRY... It's a pretty cool route!!! And of course it's a finger crack... A little fairy crack... Red C3 and .3/blue C4... It's a old Hidetaka Suzuki route (ah those damn Japs...) and it has not seen a repeat yet... We'll see if we're up the the task... The route was originally rated 13+ but was not confirmed yet... Sonnie broke a KEY foothold in the crux section... I guess it's definitely harder now but we're not sure about the grade... Stay tuned...

Yosemite

2010-05-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

The weather here, in Yosemite, has been a little weird and a little too wet for the month of May. Usually things are a bit dryer and the weather a bit more stable... Oh well... we can't really complain... we're in Yosemite! The last few days were rainy/snowy so we left the Valley for a few days to go sport climbing at the Jailhouse... Pretty cool climbing and really similar to Rifle. We're resting today and tomorrow we're back to some more wall free climbing in the Valley... Probably something on the Sentinel...

In the meantime here's a couple photos of my modified "Custom trad climbing Verdes"... I call them the Tradasazi...

Modified this way, these shoes are amazing for granite trad climbing (Yosemite). Straight from the box these shoes are great for face and slab climbing and with some Stealth Paint on the toe-box they crack climb really well too. Note that I masked the first 2 laces holes at the tip of the shoe. This way the laces don't get in the way when you try to jam your foot, so it's less painful and the laces will last longer.

2010-05-09T21:55:00.000-07:00

These 3 wonders are my secret weapons for crack climbing... I've been wearing the Copperheads on everything from Rattly finger (.5/purple Camalot) to anything bigger. Once they break in they are perfect for ring-locks size splitters (.75/green Camalot). I use the Moccassyms with wool socks on the easier/warm-up cracks. And I usually save the Anasazi VSC (note the Stealth Paint Job on the toe box) for the thin finger cracks. I love the precision of the VCS because I edge the side of the cracks when the crack is too small for my toes to fit in... On Conception, since the crack leans to the left, I was wearing a VCS on my left foot and a Copperhead on the right... That way I could edge on the left side and jam with the other... On my next post, I'll show you my "TRAD-MODIFIED" Anasazi Verde, that I've been wearing in Yosemite Valley... They are just amazing!

Indian Creek

2010-05-03T06:03:00.000-07:00

I'm on my way to Yosemite Valley! I'm writing this post form SLC airport. PSYCHE! I've been training all winter with my friends Alex and Tarik to be in good shape for this trip. I think I'm in shape alright... We'll see...

I just spent the last couple weeks in Moab region to finalize my training... It was a blast. I love desert crack climbing so much... It's just amazing! I've climbed a lot in Indian Creek, but every time I go back I'm just blown away by the beauty of the place.

This time, I was lucky to be climbing with my favorite climbing partner... Nadine, my girlfriend. This was pretty much her first trip down there and after a couple days of crack climbing technique experimentation ( and a couple tears) she started to enjoy the place.

On my side, I had my eyes on Conception... I briefly tried the route a couple years ago and had promise myself to come back for it. It is such a perfect route. It's a full length pitch that goes from pinky finger locks all the way to perfect hands jams! The line is so amazing... I call it the Queen of Desert Cracks! It sits by itself on this gently overhanging wall in the middle of Day Canyon. First climbed by Dean Potter in 1999, it has seen only a handful free ascents since. I came really closed to send it, but no cigar... And since I have to be in Sacramento today to pick-up Jeff for our Yosemite trip, I couldn't try it more... But I will be back for sure! Here's a couple shots:

2010-05-03T06:01:00.000-07:00

I guess, I'm on the blog train from now on...