It's been a long time...really long!

Wow!!!!It has been over 7 months since I last posted something and so much has happened. I finally had my wrist surgery, it sucked. It was suppose to be a simple surgery to take about 6mm off my ulna and add a temporary plate. It was suppose to be an hour surgery and the recovery should only be about 4-6 weeks. When I woke up from the surgery they laid on the bad news...While they were checking my carpals, they found that I had completely ripped a tendon in my wrist and they were pretty much floating around. They cut some tendon from my forearm to rebuild the one missing in my wrist, and then they added a pin to keep me from moving my wrist. I would have to be in a cast for 10 to 12 weeks...ugh! I tried to stay positive and take advantage of the time off, doing a lot of one arm climbing, but then things got worst again. I found it very difficult to straighten my arm and open my hand, I almost lost my mind and I was worried that I may never be able to get things working right again. The doctor said that it was probably happened because the tourniquet was on too long...somewhere around 12omins. They gave me about 18 months to gain everything back, so I started physical therapy right away. It took about two months to straighten my arm, and three to open my hand. After about 11 weeks, I finally got the cast off and the pin remove. I ended up doing 4 more months of physical therapy to get my thumb working and to get my range-of-motion back. In the end I still have very little range of motion and my thumb is pretty weak. I still have time to get things back and I will be getting my plate removed in December.

May came around and we were off to Yosemite California to attend our good friends, Cody and Beth's wedding. On the way, we stop in El Dorado to see Hannah's dad, then back on the windy and pretty back roads of California. We weaved through cool little towns and wine vineyards. We finally pulled into the Valley and we were speechless. The place is so majestic and intimidating, it was hard to take in. We met up with Beth, Cody, and other friends and got a little tour of Camp 4. We ended up staying at a camp site that was reserved for us that night. We would be screwed for a spot the next night, so Hannah, Steph, and Jesse got in line for a spot in Camp 4 at 6:30am. We luckily got a spot at $10 a night and it would be our home away from home for the next 4 days.
Camp 4 was a pretty crazy place, lots of weird characters there. IT was like being in a different country, there were people from all around the world there. Yosemite itself was a happening place, there was probably 1500 people in the valley. It was nice to be staying in Camp 4 because we were 10 seconds form the best greasy bouldering in the world. We bouldered almost everyday and got a lot done. Hannah discovered what is was like to use horrible polished nubbins for feet, but it gave her more confidence. She climbed everything she could up to v3 and I got what I could with my bum wrist (here come the excuses). We felt a little out of place coming all the way out to Yosemite do climb on little boulders. We did however get some easy routes done on the Swan slabs, great fun. Love to get back and do some longer routes.
One day we hike up to El Cap to check out the Alcove Swing. This thing is sick, you are about 100 or so feet up, attached to this 80m rope with a GriGri. Then you just run down this slab and swing out over the trees, one of the funnest rest day things I have ever done. Hannah had a blast and she probably could have done it all day. Love to set up something like that around Wyo somewhere.
Wedding finally came around and was held at the beautiful Ahwahnee Hotel. The ceremony was great and Beth and Cody were awesome. They are a great couple and I wish them the best! For more on the wedding check out bethandcodylivethedream.blogspot.com. Hannah and I hung out a bit at the reception and headed back up through Placerville to say hi to her dad again, then a long drive back to Wyoming.

Project Sent!!!

I finally finished my Green project back at the end of November. After about 6 good days of effort over the course of about 6 months...it went down. I am calling it Physics Unknown ~v10 from the stand. This thing was a huge challenge for me, very techy and sustained, not my style at all. It is about 13 moves long and a every move is pretty hard, lots of tension! The problem has been tried by two other strong climbers so far, so I am very confident about the grade. I need to go back sometime and work on the sit start, it will be easily add a grade or two.

Return from France!

I have just returned from an amazing trip to France. I went with my girlfriend Hannah, and my friends, Stephanie and Kelsey. We spent about 8 days there, four of which were spent climbing. We did the whole site seeing thing in Paris, like the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Seine, Notre Dame, the Catacombs, and even stopped by the cemetery where Jim Morrison was buried. Paris is a beautiful, clean city, that never really sleeps. Everyone is really dressy and always seem to be in a hurry, but they were some of the nicest people I ever met. Everyone is so friendly in France, everyone is either greeted with a handshake or kisses to the cheeks. France actually made me feel a little sorry for Americans, where everyone is so loud and ignorant. We were very happy that we got to be exposed to another country/culture. The people and the food were amazing, and the climbing was unbelievable!
After a few days sight seeing in Paris, we took a 30 min train ride to south of Paris to the little town of Fontainebleau/Avon.
We didn't have a clue of what we were doing. We got off the train and walked to the first little hotel we saw. It was a nice little place ran by an older couple. The rooms were cozy, but I am pretty sure that mine and Hannah's room was haunted. The place was only about 17 euros per person, and they served breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hannah and I got du chocolate chaud about every morning and night before we went to bed. Fontainebleau itself, is a really laid back town built around the Royal Chateau de Fontainebleau. It's a beautiful palace that the kings used to stay at while they went hunting in the forest.

The bouldering in Fontainebleau is unreal, there is so much for everyone to do. We had to take taxis to the bouldering areas--which was quite an adventure in itself. The first and main area that we climbed at was the Bas Cuvier. There were so many boulders, we just ran around like crazy-foreign idiots. The girls had tons of options and I climbed just about every problem I could. Hannah flashed a v3...it was her goal to just complete one. I fired off Cortomaletse on my thrid go, and I finished a v7/8. I worked on the crazy jump/campus problem L'Aerodymaite v9. I was about two moves away from finishing it in about an hours time. I wasn't able to finish because of my wrist injury and time. I'm sure we will be back there within the next year to give it another go. We were planning on only staying in Font for a few days then heading over to Switzerland, but Font was so great we just stayed put. There was sooo much climbing there, we could have easily spent a month there and would have been plenty busy.

Our time was short and it was soon time to leave. We headed back to Paris for one last night of chilling and site seeing. We hiked up to the second platform of the Eiffel at night. We spoiled ourselves and splurged on a nice dinner. Hannah and Steph got their first taste of escargots.

France was a great eye-opener and this will open the doors to much more traveling.

Hannah Sends...Car Dies!

On September 28th, Hannah finished Lay down Sally v4, on her third try on her third day of work. The conditions were not even that good. It was hot, Hannah wasn't feeling that great and no motivation...may have been suffering from a slight hangover/dehydration. She cruised it even with some slight sequence mistakes. She was in such disbelief when she got to the top she came down and sent it again. This is obviously not at her limit. I was super psyched for her because she has only been climbing for a little more than two months. After then send, we both worked some other projects in the area. Hannah gave the burly Shinzo v3/5 a few tries, making some quick progress. I worked on the sit start to a v9 that adds about 10 more ridiculous moves...no progress there. Things were going great, projects were being sent, trips were being planned, but then it all went away. I made wasn't paying attention while driving through some construction and rear ended a guy who was quickly stopping for a red light. No one was seriously hurt. Hannah broke my windshield with her head and felt fine. What we thought would have been about $2000 worth of damage actually came out to almost $14,000. Looks like it we'll be car shopping.

It's been a while...

Man, so much has gone on in the last few months. In June, I moved in with mon chou/middle school sweetheart, Hannah. Things have been great. My fingers were pretty much healed. I was climbing a lot more, and sending projects here and there. Hannah and I travel about every weekend between Colorado, UT, the Flaming Gorge, and Lander. We had several good DWS sessions at the Flaming Gorge this summer. There are a handful of new lines there. One that we all did was a really fun 12b with lots of tension and a big, blind dyno to a side pull. We had a huge crew there on the 4th of July. With friends traveling to meet us from Laramie and SLC, UT. Can't wait until next summer, see what projects go down
July 5-8 Hannah and I head to Colorado to meet my parents and the extended family from Australia. It was great to see Kell and my new nephew, Henry. He was great, he was full of energy and character. I hope I can make it down to Australia with in the next few years to visit them all.
July 9-13 We all headed up to Lander, WY for the International Climber's Festival. I started of the trip by tearing off a huge flapper on my ring finger within the first 4 hrs there. The trip kinda started out slow for me, but it was on once the rest of the crew got there. Collin made a clean sweep of all the classic 12's and worked on Boy 13a with me. Our friend Justin E. took a break from the relentless art of crack climbing to get a taste of limestone sport climbing. Hannah also got her first taste of sport climbing at the legendary Wild Iris. Tim, Chris and I took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the dyno comp. Then thanks to a slightly impaired Chris...Cody, Chris, and I took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the pull up comp. The trip seemed like it quickly ended, like it always does, and we went our separate ways...until next time.
In August, Hannah and I traveled to SLC, UT for the Outdoor Retailer Show to check out some of the new up and coming products. We got to watch qualifying and the finals of the NE2C , the energy was sick. We also squeezed in some time for some sessions at LCC and American Fork. Hannah and I got more into sport climbing and made frequent trips back to AF and Wild Iris.
Things then started slowing down for me because of an injured wrist, its always something! But Hannah and I made a trip back down to the Flaming Gorge to work on and finish some projects. I got the 4th ascent of Vegan Cafe, V8. Hannah started working on Laydown Sally V4. Which is really cool because her goal was V3 and she has only been climbing for about two months. Sick!
Last week, Hannah and I traveled to Idaho for the Pocatello Pump, to represent FiveTen. The comp was a blast and we manged to get a few hours of bouldering in. I quickly finished some projects that I had last worked on 7 years prior.
I hope to get a lot more climbing in before we leave for France in less than a month. I need my wrist to get better, now. They gave me a steroid shot in my joint and I will know within a week if it is working. I'm pretty psyched to get over there and see some new things and experience a different culture. I think that the US is lagging in many areas and it will be a good change for a while. We are planning on going to Switzerland next year to check out some bouldering areas.

Back in Session

Finally, climbing at the Gorge is back in session. The trips down there have been full of psych and first ascents, even though it is slightly out of session. It is so great to back out the rock. Tim, Jesse, and "Pound it" Rob and I met up a couple of times. Tim got the FA of my route, grading it around 12b/c, and calling it Shiver me Timmers. I am waiting for a partner and a cool morning or evening to get back out there and send that thing. Tim, Jesse, and Rob made it back to on old area, the Beer Cans, to put up a slew of new problems. There is so much to be done there. Jesse and I took a day to hike a new ridge, with some good potential. The Flaming Gorge certainly has a lifetime amount of bouldering. Chris Jones and I also had a nice productive session on my Green River Project. Together we unlocked the end and the stand will probably be around hard v9 and the sit will be around v11. So psyched to get back on that thing, as soon as my fingers and temps are good.
It will probably be mostly sport climbing for me since my fingers are jacked. We will be traveling to place like; Wild Iris, American Fork, Causey, and Hoop Lake almost every weekend. Need to send a lot of routes this summer...need to get back in shape.

Slow Days

Things are going pretty slow and shitty these last few days. All thanks to a couple of finger injuries. I am blaming my injury on plastic. If I didn't climb/work at a climbing gym and had some self control, I wouldn't be in this mess. I am not going to climb on plastic unless I am training or competing. I will probably not climb for the rest of April. I have been trying to keep myself busy, but it is rough. I did manage to finish bolting my route at the Flaming Gorge Overlook. It's only about 50ft long, but its is very sustained crimping and the crux is that last few moves. I am really psyched to get out there and work on it. I am also psyched to work on my Green River project. Last week I was able to link 8 out of the 15 moves. Shit will go down soon...soon as my fingers are better.