First days in Vedauwoo, Wyoming...

The Nautilus Crag as viewed from my campsite...

As I sit here in a wonderful coffee shop in Laramie Wyoming I realize that this might be my first update from the road... ever?  Once the temps in Las Vegas reached over a hundred degrees I knew that my chances of climbing in Red Rocks had pretty much melted away.  Luckily I anticipated my departure a few months back and arranged for some seasonal work in Ward Colorado for the summer.  So I took a little road trip out to Colorado for a week of job training, and before you knew it I had two weeks off before my summer job started... Sweet! I made some plans to meet up with Pamela Shanti Pack in her stone playground of Vedauwoo Wyoming to attempt some "soul crushing offwidths".  Many of those who follow my blog will know that offwidths have been a recent climbing pursuit of mine and that I've been willingly searching out the wide and weird.  Luckily for me Pamela is an expert and this sorta thing, and she was excited and willing to meet up with me.

Pamela Shanti Pack on Simiantics V9

Driving into Vedauwoo from I-80 East is pretty awesome, the wild bouldery bluffs just appear smack-dab in front of you!  Right away I was able to start spotting iconic routes while still traveling 75 MPH... "There's Horn's Mother, Lucille, and is that one of the Torpedo Tubes?" I said to myself in amazement while trying not to be blown off the road by the gusting winds.  My climbing destination was right in front of me in the most unexpected of places.  Located high on a blustery hill at about 8,500 feet appears the rounded stacks of boulders and wide cracks that "The Voo" is most famous for.  Once I exited the interstate I was only moments away from parking and getting out to begin climbing.  Although it is close to the interstate the area is still very scenic, inspiring, and surprisingly remote.  I've heard the immediate and surrounding area was still pretty saturated with a "cowboy" mentality, but luckily I have only (so far) encountered jolly outdoorsy folk, including a small group of people running around/hiding with paintball guns (I kept driving).  Besides the occasional distant shotgun blast the granite bluffs are entirely void of humans, and it is more likely one would run into a moose or mountain lion than another wide-obsesed climber.

Just a minor difference in foot size... Who's is who's?

Our first day out Pamela, Patrick Kingsbury, and I set out to do some bouldering.  They wanted to introduce me to the area with some shorter climbs that could test my offwidth skills without totally exhausting me and while still giving me a good experience with the unique Vedauwoo stone.  So we walked over to roof invert problem Simiantics V9 as a warm up... I watched Pat and Pamela pretty much cruise right through it, and I did my best to keep up.  Although I gave it a good several attempts, I kept getting stuck (literally) in the same spot... After eventually removing myself from the inverted/stuck position, I soon compared foot size with Pamela.  The difference in our hand and foot size was quite hilarious and it soon became clear that we might not often share the same beta and route technique.  I wasn't deterred by the difference in size and gave it a few more tries, eventually reaching my high point...

My "high point" on Simiantics V9... haha!

 We explored another few problems nearby that I attempted with limited success before the weather took a  turn for the worse.  What I once thought was excess chalk flying through the air really turned out to be snow! We hid away in the nooks and crannies of the boulders and waited for the snowy mix to halt.  Although short lived, the snow put a little damper on our psyche level, and we stuck around for a few more attempts before heading back to the solitude of a near by Laramie restaurant for some dinner.  We met up with Zach and Rachel who are Ved locals and very knowledgeable folk.  There we exchanged stories over beers while I learned about all the wide-antics the area has had over the years. All and all it was a great first day for me climbing in Vedauwoo, and I was excited for the days, routes, and unwritten stories still to come.

Worm Drive 5.11b+

 The next day we wandered over to the classic wide test-peice Worm Drive, which I had heard rumors of being ridiculously hard and frustration-educing.  It was a unanimous decision to top rope the climb for the first attempts to take some of the stress out of the experience.  I was the first to attempt the beast, and it was truly an exhausting experience!  After struggling on the crux, sliding back downwards multiple times, and resting on the rope more times than I'd like to admit, I finally made it to the top! I never really felt tired until I stopped climbing.... and that's when I felt like I just ran backwards through several miles of lichen covered glass shards while dragging a filing cabinet. It took me at least ten minutes to catch my breath.  Now I understand why some people barf on offwidths... Once I finally was able to breath, think, and speak again I came to the conclusion that I actually might be able to do the route cleanly with no falls.  But before I would try again I wanted to watch Pat give it a go and see what I could learn from him.  Although starting the climb slightly different, we both enter and complete the crux in a very similar fashion.  After the crux, the difference was that Pat cruised the rest while I tried not to barf.  But just watching Pat dial in the moves gave me the addition motivation for my second attempt.  I tied back in and started off the ground once more, this time with a "plan".  Unfortunately my plan got the best of me, and anticipating the moves actually set me back slightly more than my onsight attempt... I guess I am better at making it up as I go along. Although I didn't execute the moves flawlessly I did feel significantly less tired the second time around and I'm hopeful that a third attempt will prove successful.

After the crux roof on Worm Drive

After Worm Drive we explored some of the other areas Ved has to offer... we dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and dodged our way around the "mountain lion torpedo tubes" and discovered a wonderfully wide, scary, and sharp route of mysterious nature.  After deciding against bouldering the route we set up a top-rope and gave 'er hell.  The crack ranged from about 6"- 9" inches wide and had a obvious overhanging crux bulge at the top before turning the lip.  We sent Pamela on the route first in hopes she could unlock the beta (and some loose crystals) before the two wider-dudes got on it.  Pamela wanted to tunnel through the center of the crack, but beside being thin and agile wasn't able to fit entirely inside the crack.  She did however manage to half-invert and chicken wing her way up the crack with little hang up.  Although she was quite smooth, controlled, and dressed like a mango colored ninja, she didn't escape unharmed and still managed to hit her face on the crack and bloody her thumb mid-route.

Pamela "Ninja Mango" Pack after hitting her face on the mysterious
"More Crystal Than Meth"

The last inch of progress before I get stuck... again. 

My attempt was quite mysterious to say the least... if Pamela looked like a "mango-ninja", then I looked like an "offwidth-grunge-kid" who was ready for a mosh pit.  I gave my best effort to flash the route in a similar fashion to Pamela, but because of the difference in size I had to resort to many different techniques in attempt to make upward progress.  My first try got me tantalizingly close to pulling the crux by using fist-stacks and foot smears... but I eventually fell with gravity's relentless grip.  My second attempt I tried to get more inside the large crack, but couldn't fit my hips or chest in.  I attempt to pull off a "sidewinder" technique which eventually turned into a full inversion.  Hanging from my feet high above my head allowed me to move a couple more inches...before I inevitably became entirely stuck upside-down requiring a rescue via Pat's belay.  In the end I combined the two methods, entering the crux in fist-stacks and exciting the crux in sidewinder... A very mysterious and exciting combo!

Pat Kingsbury crushing "More Crystal Than Meth"

After waiting patiently, Pat tied in to the rope and prepared himself to ascend the monster crystal-coated crack.  I was excited to watch Pat's beta... I was pretty sure he was NOT gonna attempt my "expressionist dance school dropout" inversion maneuver, but rather something much more stylish and practical.  Pat fist-stacked his way into the crux, and utilized a partial invert foot maneuver and stacks to pull the lip. Like Pamela, he made the route look pretty chill and it was a great learning experience for me just watching him pull the moves first attempt. Nice work Pat!  So today I rest and recover from my first two days of Vedauwoo madness and I wait in anticipation of the wide-days to come... still ridiculously psyched!

One harness and one shirt partially destroyed after two days...

Cloud Tower, Straight Shot, and Wide Shenanigans

Looking up at Cloud Tower in beautiful Red Rock Canyon.

Man its been a while!  Where can I begin?  For starters my station wagon broke down and we all got to push it back home from Red Rocks.  I haven't done anything that silly in a while... Just imagine the rusty old '89 Buick being pushed down hills and through major intersections by a bunch of climbing rascals in busy Las Vegas. Haha!  There's video somewhere out there.  So that left me carless and happily riding my bicycle everywhere just like back home in Milwaukee.  The terrain here is a little more challenging than the city streets back home, and from my house to Red Rock Canyon is an elevation gain of around 2,500', not to mention the traffic and ridiculously stupid drivers.  I once got cut off by two cars at the same time! Needless to say biking and climbing all the time was starting to make me feel extra fit (and exhausted!).  In the weeks to follow I purchased a GMC Safari van to be my new whip and I can now go back to being a lazy driver person again.  Shortly I'll be taking the van on a road trip to go to Vedauvoo, Wyoming to climb before I'll be heading to work as the climbing director at an adventure camp in Ward, Colorado.  I'm super excited for both of these opportunities and I'm looking forward to avoiding the blistering desert summer heat in Vegas.  I'm sure there will be plenty of great experiences to share and I'll be writing more about these traveling' plans in upcoming posts.  Now onto the recent climbing!

Ryan and Andy in a funky little belay spot.  Note the old 1/4" bolts...

A little while back our friend Ryan "Jungle Dog" Strong came out to crush routes all over the West and stopped in with the good-ole-boys for a few days of climbing.  Together we all went and the Challenger, Straight Shot, Cloud Tower, Critical Cams, and Gin Ricky... all excellent climbs.  Cloud Tower 5.12- was definitely the most serious and committing of all the routes and was very memorable throughout.  We went up as a team of 3 people, and I rope soloed the first 3 pitches so we could keep a leader always climbing and save time.  Eventually we switched to a more conventional style for the last 4 pitches and this is when the exposure and difficulty started to go up a notch. At most all the belay there were some cool photo opportunities, and it was worth bring the big SLR all the way up there even for a few good shots.  I got to lead the long fist/wide crack pitch 5 and the squeeze pitch 6.  Cloud Tower is an outstanding climb with a variety of excellent crack pitches of all sizes.  This was was defiantly an area classic!

Taking it all in before the roof pull on pitch 5. Excellent!

Ryan in the pitch 6 squeeze/tunnel.

Looking up at the pitch 7 perfect splitter corner crack. 

Our preparation for Cloud Tower was a few other hard corners and micro-gear scare-fests like Challenger and Straight Shot.  Straight Shot 5.11d is an impressive and intimidating finger-tips corner on the left side of the Alcohol Wall.  I had seen the line before, and belayed Andy Hansen on his first attempt several months before we finally went back to revisit it.  Andy had his eye on sending the climb on our return, but the stars were not aligned for him that day... personally I think he was under a little too much personal pressure to try and send it home that day.   Luckily for me I had the pleasure of watching him work it from a near by fixed line, where I gladly photographed his painstaking efforts working the route. Way to go get it buddy!  After a few falls in the thin-crux, Andy retired and The Jungle Dog racked up for his attempt.  The route seemed to be relentless and even the JD was getting spit out like chewed up steak.  Ryan's persistent and unwavering approach got him through the crux, but more difficulties were to follow.  (See video).  Although he made it to the anchors, it was clear that a Straight Shot would not go down without a few hiccups.  After watching my two friends attempt the route in a few different ways, I had an "idea" for the crux move that neither of them had tried.  So I racked, clipped a few pre-placed pieces low tot he ground and there I was starring at the crux moves with nothing to loose. 

My "plan" was to avoid grabbing the terrible crux crimp, and instead walk my foot up to stand on the terrible crimp and go from there.  This beta would defiantly go under the "high feet" and "flexibility dependent" category, but was just crazy enough to work!  After walking my feet up level with my hands, I was able to rock my weight over, and in one desperate motion stab at a tiny finger-tip sized slot.  To my surprise I stuck the move first try, and delicately moved upwards trying not to blow it above the disappearing C3 below me. After some more balancey moves, I stuck a sloper/jug and was able to position myself below a roof and relax before finishing the remaining 40' of the route, which was a thin hand and fingers crack to the anchors. My first 5.11d trad flash!  Couldn't have done it without Andy and Ryan's hard work first... 

Andy stares down the next hold while
working the terrible crimp. 

Sticking the sloper two moves after the crux crimp/foot. 

So that about brings up to current times. Andy left a few days ago to continue his climbing journey in Boulder.  To celebrate Andy's departure we set out on a day of crack climbing on Ginger Buttress as the "last hurrah" before drinking a bunch of beers. Andy had his sights on doing All You Can Eat 5.10b/5.11b which was a corner crack that went from tips to wide fists.  It also had two variation first pitches, one being a .11d tips corner, and the other a 5.11b/c offwidth to tips corner.  I was super excited to try the offwidth, and when I got there I was little scared surprised to see that the crux of the offwidth looked to be a pretty desperate thin corner.  How am I supposed to jam my knee into a penny slot? Sheesh Andy... Either way the pitch was excellent, and I felt super comfortable on the wide section, and surprised myself on the tips section, although I still took a fall. After the whole team was at the "party ledge" I went lead up the second pitch so I could hang a line an photograph Andy going "sans-bolts" on the second pitch.  He cruised the corner section and avoided clipping the bolts by placing a few nuts and small cams.  Well done Sir!  With four people total, a nice ledge, and two cameras, we only managed to climb the first two pitches of this route and it was still worth the long(ish) hike.

Andy Hansen says "No" to bolts on All You Can Eat.

Andy sneaking in a hand stack on the second pitch of All You Can Eat.

While Ryan was still in town, we were also got a few chances to get on some other wide cracks. It wa s a was a nice change of pace from some of technical micro corners we'd been doing and I wanted to show Strong some of the wide cracks that Red Rocks has to offer, so on our way to the Alcohol Wall we stopped up at the Lucky Nuts Wall to warm up on Critical Cams.  When we got up to the crag it was totally void of people as we expected, but following shortly behind us were two climbers from Scotland who were hoping to get on the classic "Mudterm" as a warm up.   They were excited to watch me climb the offwidth and said that they'd never seen anyone climb an offwidth that "knew what they were doing". Haha! So I quickly made it clear that I "didn't really know what I was doing" but I was pretty sure I could climb the route anyway.  They seemed to get a kick out of the experience, and luckily for me they shot a little video of me on the climb. Thanks to John Trythall for the video.

This route was established by my friend and local hardman "Scary" Larry DeAngelo and has a pretty entertaining story that accompanies the first ascent.  Honestly, I don't think many people climb this route and I think they are missing out!  I found the line to be a lot of fun, and slightly different than most of the offwidths I've climbed so far in Red Rocks.  It was fun to start in a human sized crack that eventually squeezed you out to hand jams and even a finger lock or two. Unfortunately the climbing was made easier at times by occasional hidden crimp features and I thought the climb was more in the low 5.10 range (rather than its proposed grade of 5.10d). Regardless of grade I would not hesitate to get back on this climb, as I found it enjoyably and fairly do-able for the non-wide zombies out there. 

Happiness is a wide crack.

The Jungle Dog gets his wide style on sending Critical Cams. 

And now last but not least.....  Return To Forever!

Return To Forever is the center monster offwidth.
Very impressive, intimidating and radical!

 One of the most exciting and inspiring routes I've climbed recently has to be Return To Forever 5.10d.  This route climbs the impressive 180' offwidth crack next to Ixtlan and it quite a spicy meatball!  The crack is wide throughout and takes no gear smaller than a #2 Camalot and multiples of the big sizes in everything. On my first attempt on this climb I found myself below the crux roof with no gear that would fit the crack and I was already 20' runout over a Big Bro and a slung block... yaaaa!  After some trickery I was able to downclimb (have you ever tried to reverse knee jams? it's not easy) and bail off the route while still remaining super psyched, although it defiantly felt good to be back on the ground!  This route was my first experience with monster tall offwidths and running out of gear with no bolts to bail from was certainly a learning experience... and no laughing matter... lets just say it's not for the faint of heart.  So with a little more planning and some gear gathering I set back out to finish Return To Forever.  This time I was armed with a plentiful wide rack consisting of three #3's, two #'4s, four #5's, two #6's, a #3 Big Bro, and Tricams #6 & #7.  It was a hefty load but I knew with this much gear I'd be able to more comfortably finish the entire pitch.  I set out and climbed the whole pitch smiling ear to ear the entire time, pulling the crux roof and never looking back.  The route demanded an array of offwidth techniques and was unbelievably engaging the entire time.  The moves are great and the knee jams, chicken wings and open arm bars abundant.  Although not pumpy on the forearms, negotiating the whole crack is a full body workout and many difficulties can be expected.  In hindsight I'd say the true crux of this climb was simply the intimidating and exposed nature of the crack.  A most inspiring line that pulls on my heart strings and keeps me loving the wide!  But now I've found myself asking... what next?

The wide rack for Return to Forever. 

Flagstaff Adventure

Zak takes the whip off a newly established 5.12b/c at the Peaks area.

Last weekend I hooked a ride with Andy Reger to go visit our friend Zak Romuald in Flagstaff Arizona. It was my first time there and when the sun came up in the morning I was really impressed by the great looking stone and beautiful environment.  The rock we ended up climbing on was a volcanic rock called Dacite.  This type of stone had a corse texture, some wild caves and cracks, and great potential to explore endlessly. The climbing we encountered was a lot of creative slab crimping, some technical vertical terrain, and even continuous wandering crack systems.  The areas we went offered a great variety of terrain to climb on, and I found most of it to be pretty engaging.  My only regret is not bringing a rack to get on some of the beautiful mixed crack climbs! Oh well... So the first day we went to a new(ish?) crag up in the Peaks that offend plenty of aesthetic and challenging sport and mixed climbs.  Hear we got a solid day of sport climbing in and we all left feeling very pumped.

Zak on an Unnamed 5.12b/c.  Evidently it is stiff!

A fun .12a corner called Be The Burn. 

The routes that we climbed were all 50-80 feet long and each one seemed to have a split personality.  Our warm route started on easy slabs and gradually became steeper until it was overhanging and pumpy.  A 5.12a I did started in a clean cut water streaked corner and transition into bulgy wandering/sequencey climbing at the top, were the real pump set in!  The climb Zak was working started in a wide chimney and transition abruptly to technical face climbing, which I could only imagine was a difficult transition to make.  Even with their dual personalities, the routes were all quite good and easily provided us with a day worth of fun.  The next day Andy and I woke up late and went thrifting in the afternoon. I was looking for overalls and any sort of cool stuff. I found an orange karate belt I plan to make into a gear sling and an old elbow pad I can use for climbing.  Andy found a whole slew of things and left the store looking like he was about to set up a Rube Goldberg Machine.  After our Flagstaff wandering we headed to an area called Gloria's to do some bouldering.  After walking through the woods for a short while we arrived at the base of a small mountain formation where we spent the rest of the day exploring the boulders and climbing.

Looking out after a few minutes of scrambling at Gloria's.

Zak's favorite warm up, the aesthetic V4 traverse.

Most of the time I wasn't quiet sure the difficulty of many of the climbs I was attempting. Zak was the brains behind the operation and he didn't get off work till later when he planned to meet us.  Luckily he drew us a map of the area, which explained (roughly) were some of the popular boulders were.  We used this as a mini guide and went off exploring.  We started on the slabby routes, which seemed harmless until you reached about halfway up and realized you still had to do some delicate moves higher on the slab to finish.   We transitioned into some of the harder crimpy problems and did our best to unlock some of the moves on these mysterious problems.  In between climbs we would scramble around the boulders and look for the next problem to solve.  Surprised by the abundance of features and many large cracks, I found myself looking for the perfect untouched offwidth problem for me to goof around on... I knew it was out there somewhere! 

Andy's favorite crimp fest V5.

My favorite problem, Unknown (AKA Glutton For Pain) V?

Needless to say I was pretty psyched when I found the wide crack that was formed between two big boulders.  It looked gnarly!  It was way too skinny to acomidate your upper body, too large for doing handstacks, and also coated with a nice layer of spider webs and bugs... perfectly off-sized and off-the-map!  I first looked at the formation and didn't know where to begin.  I sat under the large traversing wide crack and wondered how to even get off the ground to begin climbing the big beast.  Finding no success with arm bars or chicken wings, I new my lower half would be the only effective jamming device.  So I laid down on my back and stuffed my feet into the crack and did a sit up to reach some marginal face holds.  From here (after several attempts) I was able to work my lower body upwards into the crack as I gradually traversed upside-down and to the right working up the crack.   If I was determined enough I could wiggle my body upwards were I could eventually reach a few better face holds and begin the pivot back upright, which I found to be the most difficult part.  If I explored Gloria's for a month I'm sure I'd find a dozen more of these excellent offwidth challenges, only next time I'd wear thick pants with some neoprene knee pads underneath.

Zak sticks the finishing sloper jug as Andy lights the scene. V6/7

As the sun was going down Zak came and met with us after he was off work for the day. We continued to climb into the night with the aid of headlamps and a little beef jerky.  We etched tried a few problems and eventually worked out the moves of a pretty fun V6/7.  Eventually our bodies were worn and tired and that meant is was time for a beer and some grillin'.   Back at Zak's we relaxed, made food, and looked through photos. I reminisced about my first Arizona climbing experience and determined that Flagstaff definitely has a great feel, and is somewhere I could see spending a good amount of time.  The climbing was great and the environment and people can't be beat.  I know there is still a ton of climbing to be done there and I'm looking forward to my next opportunity to head in that direction.  Thanks to Zak and Jeff for the hospitality and Flagstaff for all the cool thrift stores and climbing! Until next time...

Life Inverted

Matt Kuehl enjoying a peaceful rest before pulling the lip.
Leaning Wide Crack V2

There are few climbing techniques as entertaining, mysterious and misunderstood as the full body inversion.  Most climbers have seen at least one photo of the infamous maneuver, but few have actually attempted it or even wrapped their mind around how to use it.  For readers who may be new to the idea, an inversion is a technique used by offwidth climbers to gain vertical progress by using their feet above their heads. The feet can be securely jammed into wide cracks which are usually too wide to accommodate the hands.  Inversions are used primarily on steep terrain where the foot holds are non-existent and your feet can more "easily" be swung upwards above the head and jammed into the crack, which is a relatively secure position to be in.  From this position the climber is able to use their hands (creatively) while they progress their feet higher and higher.... eventually reverting to the upright position.  Like most crack climbing techniques an inversion is quite difficult to describe in text, but once it's understood it can change your perspective on wide cracks. Remember when you realized climbing was easier if you stood on your feet instead of using your arms all the time? Well doing an inversion is this same idea as this, but instead of standing on your feet you're hanging from them upside-down, psychically exhausted, and having a totally rad expeirence. Psyched yet!?

Offwidth guru Pamela Pack on Spacial Relations, Vedauwoo, WY.
Photo: Tom Kingsbury

If you're at all serious about trying an inversion it means you've probably already stepped (or squeezed) into the world of offwidth climbing.  If that is the case you're probably already aware that if you want to be successful on any offwidth climb, you'll most likely have to tolerate a high amount of pain, thrash all your skin into a bloody mess, and wreck pretty much every pair of pants you own.  So if you've ever found yourself trying to bat-hang at the climbing gym, have done a handstand in the shower, or are looking for the next new adventure with some potential of landing on your head, then inversions are for you!  And if none of this sounds appealing but you're still curious to see some inversions, I hope this post inspires and entertains you long enough that you might consider a life of inversions.

My inverted foot jams on Born To Bleed V2

It's hard to say exactly how I got into inversions.  I think it must have been an accidental and gradual process lead by my curiosity to see what was possible while climbing.   I knew a little about the concept of an inversion, but always viewed them as a sort of "party trick" rather than a useful technique.  So over the years I would occasionally do inversions for entertainment's sake, and I've found myself hanging from my feet on everything from juggy sport climbs, multi-pitch trad routes, and vertical hand cracks.  Why? For fun! Although I never viewed any of these shenanigans as a productive exercise at the time, looking back I now believe it begun my process of understanding the legitimate offwidth inversion.  After moving to Red Rocks, my eyes were opened to amazing world of offwidth climbing at large, and before I knew it I found myself in pursuit of anything wide enough to squeeze inside.  The more I did it the more I started to enjoy the experience.  I now find wide cracks to be quite peaceful and meditative despite the fact that they're extremely physically demanding and generally painful.  Offwidth climbing became my excuse to climb a route however I wanted, no matter how goofy, ungraceful, or strange it looked to others.  On all the offwidths I've climbed there has never been a single soul standing at the bottom of the climbing telling me that I'm "doing it wrong" or yelling unwanted advice as I attempt to figure out the climb... hell, there hasn't even been another person wanting to climb the same route as me! I found by letting go of the need to climb a route with "the right beta" I was able to tap into something much greater; freedom of movement.   This freedom of movement also allows me to be creative and expressive with my movements, which challenges my mind and soothes the soul. So if offwidth climbing is my ticket to freedom then I think the offwidth inversion must be my final destination. 

Leaning Wide Crack V2

Pamela on Belly Full of Bad Berries 5.13a Indian Creek, UT.
Photo: Nathan Smith

My pursuit of offwidths is now in full force, and the training has begun in hopes of successfully climbing some classics such as Belly Full of Bad Berries, Lucile, Gabriel, Trench Warfare, and a handful of soul crushing mega-burl-fests that might make me start crying as I puke my pants while still jammed into a human eating crack.  At the moment these climbs still seem crazy hard, but hopefully with a spring/summer training period they will become much more do-able for me and perhaps I'll even get a successful ascent.  They are also a good handful or unpopular offwidths of moderate difficulty here in Red Rocks which I'd like to do.  Pretty much if it's wide and gnarly looking, I'd like to at attempt it! I am certainly not afraid to get dirty, rip my jeans, or occasionally become nauseas upside-down in the pursuit of one of the coolest forms of rock climbing I have ever encountered.   Besides doing countless amounts of inversion sit ups, my training consists of many different boulders spread around Calico Basin.  It all started with the regular "crack circuit" in Kraft, but once this became too monotonous I started trying to make them more difficult by eliminating features, using handstacks, or sending the whole problem feet first.  Although knowingly ridiculous, I've found that this has become a very practical means of building strength, technique, and confidence while also building my endurance for longer climbs.  I've also done a few fun problems near the Moderate Mecca area, my favorite being Born to Bleed which is a great but untraveled offwidth traverse and roof pull.

Jason Molina making progress in the LWC inversion.
Photo: Jake Bourdow

One of the more difficult offwidth problems in Kraft is Leaning Wide Crack behind the classic chimney boulder problem Plumber's Crack.  Jason Molina originally showed me this one a while ago, and on my first attempts I couldn't even finish it!  But since then we've both figured out the moves and successfully climbed it in a dozen different ways, the most difficult way starts in a hand stack and then you climb totally inverted until reaching the top and revert to upright (crux).  Although you would "never" consider climbing the crack this way without some sort of alternative inspiration, doing it upside-down with a crash pad and a friend or two will make your bouldering day a whole new experience.  To make the process more enjoyable I'd recommend you bring lots of tape, pants, long sleeves, and if you don't have high-top climbing shoes, I would recommend tapping your shoes onto your feet.  (It is very unpleasant when your shoe falls off while you're hanging from it!) 

Pamela Pack managing a wide inversion.
The Inquisition 5.12+ Joshua Tree, CA.

If you've already mastered LWC upside-down then you're probably ready for the next big adventure... inverting squeeze chimneys!  You might be asking yourself, "Why didn't I think of that?" Well I'm just not sure... some ideas are just too good to ignore. Although a rare practice, inverting squeeze chimneys is a great way to align your spine, hang solely from a foot stack, and loose a couple climbing partners.   If the chimney starts tight and gradually expands it is also a great way to work on improving your willingness to commit on lead, which will come in handy when you lead Sport Chimney feet first. Besides all the great benefits mentioned above, you will also learn how to best deal with the overwhelming fear when contemplating falling and sliding headfirst back down the base of the crack and being permanently stuck there for the rest of your inverted life.  Alright well, maybe it's not that bad... but I certainly would not recommend going all the way to the top inverted unless you're somehow really good at it, or planning on doing Epinephrine inverted next.

Inversion squeeze chimney? Why not?
Photo: Jake Bourdow

Andy Hansen nearly inverts while using the super high heel hook.
Fisting the Pony, V2.

And last but not least, drag your tattered and sore body just slightly South-West of Plumbers Crack and you will find a little known boulder with a splitter hand crack in it.  Although the boulder is only shoulder height (at best) this little unnamed problem is super fun when done with double fist jams into a foot cutter move to super high heel hook and then go "Au Chevel" and mount the pony.  Just another wonderful Kraft boulder field anti-classic!  

Unfortunately I can't invert everything all the time, and I've been staying busy muttipitching too. So if you're interested in hearing about my climbing outside of offwidth, check out Andy Hansen's Blog for a write up he did about our recent ascent of Challenger. 

Weekend in Zion!

David Piribauer on the first pitch of Cherry Crack.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of taking a weekend road trip from Las Vegas to Zion National Park in South-Western Utah.  The idea of a day trip to either Indian Creek, Zion, Bishop, Joshua Tree or Cochise Stronghold has come up several times while talking with my main climbing friends, but it seemed difficult to get everyone's schedule alined for the journey.  Luckily for me Andy and Jason had pulled together some last minute plans to head to Zion for the weekend and invited me to join, but only told me the night before they were setting off to leave.  Although a little last minute even by my standards, I weighed out my options and decided I had nothing to lose and packed my bags quick.  When we left the house early the next morning I was left with an odd feeling of change and that traveling anticipation.  I realized this trip was my first major(ish) trip since moving out West in the first place, and packing up a car load of climbing crap and hitting the road again made me realize how important climbing really is in my life, and that it has entirely become my driving force.  I got slightly emotional on the inside but gradually switched to day-dreaming about perfect splitter cracks and the wonderful hand and foot pain that was soon to come.  Our arrival in Zion was quiet liberating, and for the next three days I knew all my worries would be gone as I did my best to climb even just a tiny portion of the massive walls. 

Jason Molina on the first pitch of Cherry Crack 5.9

We left early on Friday morning in hopes of getting to Zion with enough time to get a few single pitch crack climbs in.   We had our sights on climbing at the Cerberus Gendarme area for the day, which is home to a handful of excellent looking splitter cracks ranging from 5.9 - 5.12.  When we got there we were very impressed with the access to the climbing areas.  With the trams (buses) still being out of service for the season, we were able to drive our car straight to the Big Bend parking area, which left us with only a five minute approach to the base of our climbs!  This short of an approach in Red Rocks in entirely uncommon, and we're used to an approach from 45 minutes to 2+ hours to get to most of the climbs we're interested in doing.  We enjoyed the short hike with out heavy packs and joked that the same time required to drive to Zion from our house is the same approach time to the base of the Buffalo Wall in Red Rocks.  So after our lovely little hike we started racking up to get on the first pitch of Cherry Crack for a warm up, which goes at around 5.9.  After that we checked out Scarlet Begonias, which was quiet an exciting climb and gave us all a run for our money, but could not hold us down.  The mostly lay-backing moves were pumpy, but occasional straight in jams and a few good foot holds provided us with a rest here and there.  The most memorable moment of the day was when Andy pulled through a hard section and in a seemingly secure position he proclaimed "Man, that was burl-dog!" but, only a half second after the confident words came from his mouth, both his feet slipped and he came plummeting back down being caught by the rope not far from where he started.  We all busted out laughing with the timing of the fall, and the term "Burl-dog" was born, although we're not quite sure what it even means. Needless to say the climb was a blast and it helped us get into a good Zion groove, which meant our pysch was at an all time high! I'm pretty sure if we didn't have to figure the logistics of our free camping pursuit that night we probably would have stayed out there well into the dark to climb with headlamps until we couldn't climb any longer.  Luckily we had two more days to crank down, so we called it a day and headed out of the park for the night. 

Our wonderful parking spot at the Big Bend pull off.
Touchstone Wall can be seen on the right side of the buttress.

Andy Hansen on Scarlet Begonias 5.11a

Andy finishing the roof traverse.

That night we parked Jason's V-Dub van by a wandering river off the beaten track on some BLM land and relaxed with a couple cold PBR's.  We cooked some delicious burritos and reminisced about the day of climbing. The sounds of a tricking river mingled nicely with the chords we strummed on the mini acoustic guitar I bought from a thrift store not too long before the trip.  Andy strummed songs about crack climbing, I took some photos and recorded the scene, and Jason applied Climb On Salve to his perma-thrashed hands. Life was good for these three burl-dog's, and we made the most of the evening telling stories and building excitement for more splitter cracks the next day.  Between songs we paged through Fred Becky's 100 Favorite North American Rock Climbs, an excellent publication that features some of the most impressive climbs around.  The Touchstone Wall in Zion, which is a classic big wall climb at the Cerberus Gendarme and only about 100' from where we were climbing all weekend is also featured in the book.   Fred Becky filled our heads with a plethora of climbs to dream about, and we soon decided it was time to get some rest. That night I had the luxury of sleeping in a hammock slung between two trees outside while Andy slept on a mat nearby and Jason got the van.  Although we slept alright, Andy and I frequently woke up freezing our asses off while we secretly cursed Jason who was probably sleeping soundly in the warm VW.  But, unluckily for Jason we all slept in the van the next day, packed in like sardines. Ironically we took the sardines (and cooler) out of the van to make room for the three of us. 

An evening of psych-building, beers, and Jason's V-Dub.

Above is a short video I compiled from the little bits of video I recorded.

My morning warm up is actually easier than it looks. 

In the morning we were all very psyched to get out and do some climbing.  It took us an hour or two just to thaw out in Jason's van while we made and ate breakfast.  But soon after we were back out in T-shirts and eager to climb anything we could find.  I took a short walk down the river and found a tunnel/bridge to do a quick lap on which made for a good photo opportunity. We all felt we had some unfinished business at the Cerberus Gendarme, so our mission was to go back and get on a few more excellent looking slitter cracks.  We all warmed up on a climb called Squeeze Play, a varied and surprisingly challenging climb for the grade.  It started in a 25' splitter hand crack, and then transitioned from fingers to offwidth and even had a little stemming. The varied nature of the climb made for a good warm up, but the spiciest part of the climb was protected by a little #00 Purple C3 Camalot, something that could make or break your headspace for the day.  We all pulled the crux no problem and nobody took the zinger, so we shortly moved on to the next climb. 

Jason Molina jams the splitter start on Squeeze Play 5.10

Cruising the lower corner on Fails Of Power 5.11+

Feeling pretty confident in my crack climbing skills that day, I decided to take things up a notch and attempt Fails of Power 5.11c.  This climb can be divided into two pitches, one being about 5.10 and the other 5.11c. The climb can also be done in one long super pitch for full value, and that was my personal goal.  So I started up and wasn't initially worried about the lower 5.10 section, as it seemed to mostly perfect hand jams and a little lay-backing most of the way.  Although the section wasn't extremely technically challenging for me, it certainly was pumpy, and I could feel my muscles fatiguing as I progressed.  I reached the first pitch anchors but completely ignored them and kept going without even clipping a single bolt.  I wanted my headspace to be dialed in with only traditional gear placements and jams on my mind, a felt clipping any part of the anchor would give me a sense of an easy way out, which was something I wasn't interested in. So I climbed past the anchor where the crack started to get more narrow and tighter, slowly my hands could no longer fit inside.  Continuing to move upwards I began the more difficult process of climbing the wide finger crack and started using a technique called a "ring lock".  A ring lock is essentially stacking fingers of one hand together to match the width of the crack so that you can jam them in and pull on them for upwards progress. At this size the thumb plays a crucial role, because it's jammed like a keystone between the pointer and middle finger which are in contact with the inside of the crack. If done correctly this technique is quite awesome, if done incorrectly it will feel impossible. This was my first serious encounter with ring locks, and it was a pretty full-value experience. They are really hard to describe and a little tricky to figure out initially, but if the stars are aligned in your favor, you will find yourself magically succeeding. 

When I learned to love ring locks.
Fails Of Power 5.11+

I found myself doing ring lock after ring lock, each one mysteriously being good enough to progress me a little further.  My fatigue was starting to become impossible to ignore. The tired grunts and burl-dog sounding screams seemed to be the only sounds I could make.  I was too tired to place any gear, so I just focused and kept climbing in hopes of a rest.  The crack cut left for a short distance, creating a small horizontal crack that I hoped would be good enough for me to hold while I got my feet up.  Once holding the small horizontal I carefully transferred my left hip in towards the wall, and started trying to work my feet up into a layback position.  As I worked my feet upwards I could feel myself hanging on my tired arms more and more.  Before I could yell "burl-dog" I was spit out of the crack sideways and sent plummeting back towards the earth.  The rope caught me after a fall of only about 20' or so, and for the first time in about ten minutes I was able to relax my arms... but at this point it didn't matter, I wanted the ascent!  After a short hanging rest I pulled back up on the rope and finished the crack, which only got harder and eventually got so tight that I couldn't even fit my fatty hot dog fingers into it near the top.  This climb was an excellent challenge for me and it was an great learning and life experience all around.  With a little more experience I believe I'll be able to climb, if not onsight, this difficult of a crack.  But in the time being I'm going to go ahead and say this climb felt a little sandbagged to me. I feel an honest rating for an attempt from the ground up would be 5.11+.

Andy Hansen entering the crux section on his attempt of
Dire Wolf 5.12-

After out attempts on Fails of Power, Andy expressed interested in getting on the finger tips crack/corner called Dire Wolf.  I was psyched for him to get on it, and I didn't want to miss an opportunity to photograph him on it.  So we decided I would attempt it first so I could eventually hang a line to shoot photos of him from.  For this reason it is always usually harder to photograph tradition climbs, especially if they are of significant difficulty because somebody (usually me) has to get to the top first to hang a rope.  Unlike what it usually looks like, the photographer isn't just magically floating there, and usually it is a long process to get into position and to be ready to shoot such a climb.  So I started up the climb and attempted my second 5.12- trad route with a "ground up" ethic. (Not rehearsing the moves before attempting the climb on lead.)  To make a long story short, I finished the climb... but not without falling.  In the crux I fell onto a #00 C3 Camalot, which after holding me briefly ripped suddenly from the crack and sent me down another ten feet, where my next piece, a .75 Camalot, succeeded in catching me still safely above the ground.  A little spoked by not deterred, I finished the climb.  Unfortunately after watching the crux piece rip out, Andy wasn't super psyched to give it a ground up attempt.  So I lowered, cleaned the gear, and moved on...

Burl-dog Andy working out the moves. See many holds?
Dire Wolf 5.12-

The next day, after dreaming of bomber C3 placements all night long, Andy wanted to give Dire Wolf a ground up attempt. I was stoked for him to give it a shot, and was excited to watch him work his magic on the finger tips crack.  I still went up the climb first to hang a line, but this time I Aided the pitch.  It worked out nice because I was too tired to free it, and I wanted to practice my aid climbing in Zion.  So after about 40 minutes I was at the top, and ready to photograph Andy on his attempt.   He cruised the beginning, but soon found himself in the crux.  He made sure to look for a slightly more bomber piece than the #00 I ripped yesterday, and he found a much better #0 C3 just below where I placed the smaller size the day before.   He worked out the moves like a champ, but ended up falling getting the high hand-foot match in the same spot I did.  When Andy fell the C3 held, and he easily got back into place to figure out the crux.  He figured it out and successfully pulled all the moves on the route.  A strong effort by a true burl-dog.  One of these days we'll both go back for the send. 

Jason and his sweet orange peel.

Although it wasn't out original plan, we spent all three days climbing at the Cerberus Gendarme.  Our need to climb splitters was only slightly satisfied, and if we had the time I'm sure we could have climbed another day or two without ever leaving that area.  But the more time we spent in Zion, the more our eyes gleaned at the huge walls around us.  We spotted lines such as The Big Lebowski, Prodigal Son, Moonlight Buttress, The Touchstone Wall and a handful of other Zion test pieces.  At this point our minds were sufficiently blown, and the only thing we could thing of (besides splitters) was serious wall climbing.  This weekend only helped climbing's grip on our lives, and now The Touchstone Wall is offically on our list of to-do climbs.  

Andy ponders what it takes to be a wall climber. 

I have truly been inspired by my three days in Zion, and I don't think I will ever look at my life in the climbing world quite the same.  I finally feel that I am at a level where I can complete climbs I've dreamed about my whole life, and that feeling is quite powerful and almost impossible to ignore.  I now feel I wake up with a new mindset and a new energy that is focused on a goal that is larger than life, but yet somehow within my reach.  The difficulty comes in describing the goal, as it never ends after a climb is complete, but rather the goal is something searched for within ones self... within ones own spirit. Perhaps climbing has become the very powerful lens in which I view, understand, and experience myself in a world that I can't yet entirely wrap my mind around.  Climbing is the most potent dose of life I have ever experienced, and at times everything else feels like a falsified non-reality.  In the end I'm still left confused at how to interpret the overwhelming feelings to push my abilities and inner self in the climbing world, so I can only think of two words that might simply describe my current pursuits... VISON QUEST!