Working my hand at some top roping and sport climbing lately. I'm still psyched on boulders, I just can't get past the fun you can have on longer routes. I've got a long way to go before I'm super conf on taller walls. I recently found 30ft 5.10d. To be completely honest, I'm not sure of the grades. The crux move is probably a good V4 move. Everything before that is probably v2 and a little v3. All in all I had a blast figuring it out.

 Working to from the pinch to some sweet undercling action

The crux starts by getting set up on the two underclings and then throwing out left and jamming two fingers into a crack! One of my favorites for sure.

Its been a rainy past couple of weeks. Last week it rained multiple times everyday. Its making me really look forward to this fall. So because I haven't been able to get out on real rock, and since there is no public climbing gym for about 2 hours I have decided to put together a list of goals for this year and some futuristic goals for later... or maybe soon...but probably later. Most of them are going to be particular to the Boone, Nc area.

This years goals:
GRANDMOTHER
-Commando Crack V3
-Pulling Teeth V4
-Mighty Mouse V5 (its going to happen soon)
-Pancake Toss V5? (gorgeous)
-Throttle V5
-Joey's Arete V5
-Ebonics V6
-French Crack V7
-Have Guns V7
-Nintendo Thumb V8
-Zen Master V8
-Third Rail V9 (futuristic)


Personals:
-Send a V9 this year
-Send 5.12a sport
-Score above 6000 at Hound Ears
-The Shield V12....I can dream

Hopefully all or most all of these will be crossed out. I've got many other goals, like every other climber, but for now this will do.

Local Rock

The past year I've been exploring the mountains around my house here in Appalachia. Today we went up to a boulder we call Nervous Curve. I spent months figuring out the moves for what became Hard Headed Woman (v5). It became the my favorite send so with friends in town we went back to check it out as well as some others. Conditions were nasty and it had been a while since I'd looked at it so, eyes were fresh. We soon found a sit start which went quickly. The sit ads three moves making it a 13 move problem. Its a four star that is 100x more fun when its 50 degrees out but never the less, it was a fun send. 

   The new sit has you trapped behind that green rock.

                                The crux is trying to get out and around the corner

                               FA of Hard Headed Women Sit (V7)

                                                              Curtis stickin Rail Days Dyno V1

I'd seen this boulder in the fall but didn't have any desire to mess with it since it needed cleaning and there was so much to do at Grandmother. So we decided to get our hands dirty, though I forgot all the necessary brushes. Needless to say it was a super fun problem that required power and good movement. It didn't go because of the inch thick mud on top but it'll happen soon. 

               Walker working the first moves of new project. Spankin hot day.

So I've thought about doing a blog for a long time but held back because its hard for me to be consistent with blogs. I'm not much of a writer nor am I sick on rock. So why start? I'm passionate about the Gospel and about rock climbing (all inclusive), so I figure that would give me enough psych to start and follow through. To be honest I'm excited to try. So be on the look out for Gospel centered encouragement, commentary on all things climbing, climbing pics and videos, and the occasional local FA that get my psych high as a kite. Coming Soon!