Valorous Achievement

Introducing the Five Ten Valor.

When I got back from Hueco this afternoon, these were waiting for me.  They are super comfortable and super sticky.  Great for approach and I can wear them in uniform!

Slain

Once upon a time...

I woke up at 7:00 this morning and headed out to Hueco.  It was almost 80° by the time I checked into the park around 8:15.  I brought a guy I work with named Shawn out and he had never been there, so by the time we watched the video it was so hot.

In true fashion, I forgot to dump the photos off of my memory card so I took video of about 3 attempts before I ran out of memory.  I told Shawn to just take some photos at his leisure.

I figured that after 5 or so attempts it wasn't going to go anyway.

I was shredding my pointer finger on my right hand every attempt.  I knew I would have to get it soon or give up, and El Techo was the only reason I came out today.

I had fallen on the move out of the cave twice, and I was getting pretty frustrated.  After all, that was the "easy" part.  I wasn't even having difficulty there when I was working it.

After about the 14th go at it, I pulled a flapper on the side of my finger.  I had literally one more wrap of tape left and wound it around the torn up skin, prepared for a final go.

I pulled the start and cruised through the beginning section.  Shawn had the camera in hand and was snapping away.  On what had to be the last go of the day, I sent El Techo De Los Tres B.

I am super psyched.  However, my hand was not as happy.

It's Here!

So, my rope and draws finally came in! I am pretty excited. This marks the first step in becoming a more rounded climber again. I haven't regularly climbed on rope in almost three years. I have been strictly focusing on bouldering and think it would drastically improve to get back some of the stamina that I used to have. We'll see. I am super psyched!

Don't forget it.

For those of you in my area, or anywhere near Las Cruces, the Reel Rock 7 is showing next Thursday at 7:00 PM at the Rio Grande Theatre.  It should be great.  It has some really great stuff in it, but don't take my word for it, here's the trailer below!

Success!

Being in the Army and training for climbing at the same time is very difficult.  For those of you that haven't been in the military, it is very hard to explain the role Physical Training (PT) has in the system, but it is seemingly crutial.  The standard is that every Soldier (in theory) shows up at 0630 and conducts PT is some form or another.  They may run or flip tires or occasionally play a sport.  Few of these activities help whatsoever with climbing. 
Since I have been back, however, I have formed the Fort Bliss Competitive Climbing Team.  This is a group of climbers from Fort Bliss that will hopefully start competing by October of this year.  That is only a month away! In itself, that is pretty exciting.  The more exciting part, though, is that I am able to conduct PT with the team.  Again, for those of you not affiliated with the military, this doesn't seem like a huge deal, but in reality its fairly monumental.  I got lucky enough to have a very understanding First Sergeant and Sergeant Major.  They emphasize morale and representing your unit through competition.  Worked out pretty well.

What is a Climber?

I read a forum question on Mountain Project today that piqued my interest.  It is something that I have caught myself scoffing at some and completely overlooking it with others, yet I had never really questioned why.  The question is, what is a climber?  Who is allowed to use this title? Is that even what it is?  I have, in the past, had people come up to me after finding out that I climb, telling me they know some friend of a friend that is a "climber."  Sometimes I even happen upon the selfproclaimed Climber.  While I was in Afghanistan, I came across another El Pasoan that claimed to be a climber.  He told me that he loved to climb but had only been out to Hueco Tanks once because it was "pretty lame."  I know that every hobby has this imaginary line they draw between the purist and the occasionals.  For me, it is more of a mindset.  It all comes down to why you participate.  Lance Armstrong is a cyclist, but is the paper boy on your block?  I would be interested in what people think about this topic.

So close.

Went out to Hueco yesterday and got on El Techo de los Tres B.  I am from the start to sticking the throw but having been back from Afghanistan, I am still low on stamina.  It's also not as good to stay out until 3:00 AM the night before either.  I did run into a friend of Ben Edwards (my favorite climbing partner) named Colby Clear.  It's good to see people from the Austin area.  Sometimes I feel like everyone stopped climbing when I left, since I hardly see anyone.  I guess that is one of the perks of living in the mecca of bouldering.  People come to see me occasionally.

Also, I found the video of the "Speedclimbing Competition" I did a few weeks back with Dan Goodwin.  It's pretty entertaining.  I feel silly competing in speed climbing, being that I have competed in so many technical comps.  I still had that feeling that I always have at the beginning of a comp.

Spain Buildering

Here is a clip I finally found and downloaded of some buildering in Spain.  I had already done this little V4 problem but they wanted to get it on video.

Back from the NC

Well, despite being in a beautiful state full of trees and grass, there was not very much climbing. Even the hypothetical buildering I scoped out was greeted with a not so southern welcome. Therefore, I went to Hueco on monday immediately after coming back. Day 2 on El Techo was pretty good and after throwing around the corner about 20 times i discovered a different foot that allowed me to get the move first try. The bad news is that I didn't have the strength to finish it. The good news is that Alex got some great photos.

Everybody's here. It's CRAZY!!! Just a little clip I stumbled on today that I have never actually seen. It's clearly from the 2009 CCS Nationals. Exciting stuff.