The sendage continues!

So I just had another amazing weekend of sending. I had taken Friday off to recuperate my neck, which is still a bit tight and sore, and then headed to the happys with Jared on Saturday. He was planning on meeting some friends there later in the day but we didn't want to wait to climb. So we headed out and went to the slow dance area to warm up and check out some projects.

I messed around on some warm ups and easier climbs while Jared hoped on his project kill on sight. Then I came over to try out rave stand start(v5). It took a good amout of tries to figure out the sequence I needed but when down in like 20 minutes or so. 

I wasn't feeling up to try rave yet so another climber that was there with his significant other(wife/girlfriend/idk) told me to check out Last Dance(v9). At first I thought ha that'll be fun to screw around on but I wasn't really expecting to send. But low and behold it went down in about an hour!! I got my first v9 with only an hour or so of working it!(http://youtu.be/qMtMaBD6Hgo) The psych was really high so I figured I'd also try Acid Wash jug start. I made it much further than my previous attempts but alas still couldn't send. Jared on the other hand was able to get the jug start and the sit to acid wash right!

Since he had already gotten the normal line he just decided to join in and finish the rest. haha

After that we met Jared's friends, Bobby, Alex, Lee and Megan over at headbangers cave just as it was getting dark. After they finished most of the climbs there we took them to the solarium and hulk boulders. No one was able to do solarium so we moved on to try the Vulcan traverse(v5)

on the hulk boulder. Jared and I were both able to get it, took two tries ;-), and the others were getting very close to sending. Then it was cold so we left and went to Los Paulos(I think that's what it was called) on line street to eat some huge burritos.

 

The next day, Sunday, we headed over to the milks to give them a taste of bishop granite. There were a ton of people there so we went to some of the less trafficked boulders like the boy and girl boulders.

Then headed to hero roof boulder and then to iron man.

Unfortunately there were no sends by our group of iron man but Bobby was definitely getting close.

Just as we were packing up and moving to boulders further from the parking at birthday boulders it started snowing. =)

We headed to the hunk as it snowed so we could have everyone put on their highball pants and see how they faired.

Part if the group also went to popes prow at that point too and I managed to bang the crap out of my shin. Consequentially I gave up on sending it that day. 

While working popes prow we headed over to a birthing experience and Alex and Bobby crushed it!

Since I was over popes prow I grabbed all the pads and headed over to high plains drifter(v7). I had tried high plans a couple other times, I believe this was my fourth session on it and I was able to send it second go!!

I was extatic to finally have a v7 on my bishop ticklist especially since I had skipped strait to v8s and v9s without thinking about it. But now I finally have at least one if each grade up to v9! I can't wait to keep on filling them in even more!! 

After that we went back to the cars because it was nearly dark. We all needed to eat but went our separate ways and planned to meet up at Vons later and go to the green church hot springs near mammoth. We ended up staying there till about 1245 and played a ton of games like I've never, odds are, and truth if dare. It's a lot of fun to dare people to do things when it's 25 degrees outside and your lacking clothes to protect you from the elements. haha Hot springs are definitely the best way to end the weekend and prepare you for another week of crushing.

Until my next adventure,

The Irish King

So much is going down recently!

So the last couple weeks have been simply amazing in bishop! The few days before I left for jtree were full of win and then the last week or two have been even better! First off the last few days I was in bishop before I went to jtree I went to the sad boulders and was able to knock out Molly(v5), and Flash Strength in Numbers(v5). After that my psych was really high for my thanksgiving trip!

Coming back from jtree I decided to take three days off so I could recuperate my muscles and joints and get some skin back. since then I've had friends coming into bishop every weekend. Two weekends ago Nic Sabo and his posse from Humbolt came and with the help of Nic's psych I was able to get a bunch of sick stuff up at the Druid Stones includeing Arch Druid(v5), Flash Arch Druid Left(v5), Flawed Genious(v5), and Hook, Line, and Sinker(v5).

Nic had given himself a birthday challenge of climbing 23 climbs as well as having his top three climbs add up to 23. Unfortunately the second part of the goal was off by a measly 1 point! but I think he was able to send 24 climbs so that should make up for it! =) Nic was up there crushing hard, flashing 5's left and right and even this v6 gem called Sky Dance over looking the city of bishop. The two v8's he was able to nab that day were Through the Window, and Old Ei.

After such a great weekend I couldn't wait till the next weekend when my buddy Dustin was going to be coming up with a group of his friends from the Santa Barbara area. When they got here to bishop we met up in the happys for a nice midday sesh. I wanted to try and finish everything in the heavenly path area so after they warmed up and headed to Mister Witty I stayed for another 30minutes finishing all of the climbs,but the v5 traverse more water less power, on the More water less power and heavenly path boulders. I then met them up the hill on Mister Witty(v6) where both Jeremy and Dustin managed to finish it!! I still couldn't manage to get the second move up to the sidepull so I decided to try out Every Color You Are(v6) instead. I got a small flapper on the top of my pointer finger of my right hand from the finger lock and since I fell from the crux I decided to tape my finger. I sent it the very next go!! I was beyond psyched because I had given it a good 5-6 burns the first time I worked on it and wasn't even close to sending.

The next day, Saturday, we were in the milks and Jeremy's friend Jenn had driven in the night before so we headed up to the tut boulder to get some warm ups in before we headed out to Saigon. After we repeated the tut's I told the guys I wanted to try Howard Carter Sit start(v6) just to the right of the two tut problems. Dustin joined me and we both managed a send on it! still feeling strong and having a good psych going we headed to Saigon and Jeremy and Dustin were just an inch or so away from nabbing the jug to Saigon(v6). I gave Saigon a few goes but since I wasn't getting anywhere near the jug I gave Saigon Direct(v9) a few tries. I couldn't stick the pinch that day so I moved on to the smooth shrimp boulder to try Smooth Shrimp(v6) I managed to get it on about my third try that day making it two v6 projects that day!!

For Sunday we headed back to the Happys to finish off strong and met up with Niko and Kevin, basically my neighbors whom I met in the buttermilks. After some warming up on the heavenly path boulder again we headed back towards the entrance of the happys and hopped on The Gleaner(v6). A bunch of people, mainly our group with a few extras, were trying it and failing abysmally. Then Niko comes over and shows a really cool way of basically blindly dynoing for the jug pocket around the lip and flashes it that way. Once I saw his beta I was ready to give it a try myself, I had previously spend a good hour sesh on it the year before. I was able to get it second go after Niko showed me that sick dyno beta!!

Everybody else gave up after mine and Niko's sends wanting to try other climbs. So we headed to hulk for a few tries. After another sesh of me not being able to make any headway on it we moved on to Serengeti towards the back of the happys. Both Dustin and Jeremy were able to get Serengeti(v5) and I was able to send the right variation of it for the repeat. After that I tried this really awkward and sharp line on the right of Serengeti called War Drum(v4) I was able to get it in a couple tries once I figured out the weird beta, it finishes on the bug flake of Serengeti. After sending those projects I was off to Sucker Punch(v5) to work it with this group of girls that had the whole thing padded up nicely. Even with the new beta I got from a couple people involving a heelhook above your head it took three or four goes to sent it. Once it went though it was magical. I was able to match the sloping crimp rail and bump to the top while at the same time my heelhook popped and, heres where the magic happens, my left foot slotted exactly on the jug left foot hold in this flaring crack below and to the left of the finish hold. It was so exciting to have everything work so perfectly on that climb like that, I could tell it had scarred the girls who were spotting me. haha =P I then went back to see what my group was up to and they were just packing up to leave. We all headed out and wished each other well as I told them to come back soon.

Pretty psyched on 4 v6 projects going down I stayed in town for a day or two recovering from the long weekend. I got a call for an interview a couple days ago for the casino in town and Nailed the interview and got hired or at least sent away with the paper work to complete! This was very good news since the night before I had gotten another flat tire because of a broken drill bit that was logged in the left rear tire. Consequentially I had already replaced that tire with the spare because of another puncture a month or two previous. So having no spare tire I was forced to spend the night before my interview in my car without a sleeping bag! Uggh Luckily the interview the next day went great and i was able to get my tire repaired across the street at a mechanic shop behind a chevron.

Feeling better now that I had a working car and could get a good night sleep once again i headed back to the Milks to take one final night there before the big winter storm set in on friday. So today I got up late and headed to the birthday boulders to try a project that I had started earlier in the summer that I call Birthday Hug(v6) because I don't like Unnamed #4. With Jared giving me a spot and holding down the pads I was able to get it in about 20minutes!! It was crazy windy btw so some of the time the pads would go flying. haha After sending one project I wanted to try to get another so Jared and I headed up the hill to the fly boy boulder. I gave it a few unsuccessful burns and then took a rest by looking at Fall Guy(v9) on the other side of the boulder with Jared. After a good probably ten minutes I went back and hopped back on two goes later I sent Fly Boy Sit Start(v8) only my second at the grade!!!!!! The wind on the top of the boulder was so strong I could literally lean into it without falling! haha

So that basically sums up the last couple weeks here in bishop. One V8, five V6's, and a ton of V5's and V4's! Now I just need my neck to loosen up, I kinda jacked it up somehow on flyboy. I hope it will only take a day or two of rest to heal then I'll be able to climb on the table lands!! I have a few good projects there I cant wait to hop on.

Until the next update,

The Irish King

Thanksgiving in jtree

So thanksgiving was an adventure this year! I ended up going to Jtree with a small group if friends and having a blast on boulders and even some trad! I got to try a bunch of projects but unfortunately didn't send any of them. But I did finally get  a v5 in jtree! So the first day of the trip we started it off by trying Caveman high(v6) but neither I nor my friends TJ and Jeremy could figure out how to do the last/crux part where you have to drop down and come out the other side of the cave. After an unsuccessful day on that I decided that I would try to finish as many problems as possible regardless of the grade while still trying to surpass my v4 grade cap that I got stuck on in January.

This trip was definitely a very different experience for me in jtree because the group I was with were all trad climbers rather than the normal bouldering crew I tend to climb with. This is one of the reasons I was unable to go back to all of my projects and give them a try. But on a brighter note I got to get on the sharp end of a 5.9 called Chocolate is better than Sex on the thin wall in the real hidden valley area of Jtree! I also got on a bunch of topropes and did some following up the other trad climbs my buddies doing. Getting to spend time with a great group of people durring thanksgiving was great! I wish I would have tried doing it earlier.

Its very different seeing the strength vs stamina change from boulderers to trad climbers. Especially my friend TJ who was able to do climbs as hard as caveman high and just sit and shake out while trying to figure out the crux. I got to the same point but could only last a few seconds while trying to fidgit and get past the crux. Boulderers may win for sheer power but when you can sit there and try to figure a very hard crux stamina definitely has its advantages.

One highlight of the trip for me was being able to send Gunsmoke(v3), a 75 foot traverse that has great movement as well as quality rock. This problem is a great training piece for me because of its length. If I could climb at the v6 range for that long of a sequence I could probably rock out much harder climbs but alas I am in love with bouldering so I don't often hop on really long climbs to train my endurance. I think once it gets to hot to boulder I might start doing more sport climbing to train my power endurance. I guess what I really need to start doing is getting to the point where I can rope climb as hard as I can boulder. Having that level of power and endurance together would be ideal then I wouldn't gas out when trying a longer boulder problem. Right now my max number of moves on a moderate(v5-v7) boulder problem is maxed at about 15 moves after that I better be on slab or at least able to use my feet a ton because my arms are most likely donzo. That is one thing that should be a fun way of training but that's for after this season. =)

Another highlight as I mentioned earlier on this post was I was finally able to pass the v4 threshold that I had reached earlier this year in January. The last day as I was on my way out of the park I decided to hit up the chocolate boulders on the way out the north entrance of jtree. I was feeling rather week since this was my 5th day of climbing. My skin was wrecked I was tired and hungry and it was crazy windy. But I figured what the heck , I won't be back to jtree in a while so why not try to get a v5 on this cool looking roof as well as everything else in the area. I started out on the 'easy' stuff 5.7 slab and the sort, which can actually feel harder than some v3's just getting of the ground. I then proceeded to climb each climb one all but one of the boulders in the area. I was struggling on a three start v4 for a while then kept falling off of what I thought was a v1 which turned out to be a v3 but couldn't do it so I moved on and flashed a v4 right next to it and onsighted a v3 just to the left of the other v3 I couldnt even pull off of the ground for. After this boost of confidence I headed up the hill where the cool looking roof was. I then proceeded to onsight both the v4 and v5 on the roof called Chocolate roof left and Chocolate roof center. Finally being able to send a v5 I was psyched and ready to leave and get a shower that I was much looking forward to.

This was an amazing trip to Jtree and I would recommend everyone to take there family there and enjoy a nice holiday in the outdoors.

Till the next adventure post,

-The Irish King

Halloween weekend

The weekend of Halloween, 10/31-11/2 a group of friends came from the Bay Area and we rented a cabin up I'm Mammoth Lakes, which is about 45 minutes outside of bishop. The first night I was the only one there for a few hours so I played a little guitar, sang a few songs and then messed around with some video edits. Glory and Chris were the next to arrive and then there were finally people to talk to and start planning out where we wanted to climb the next couple days.

The plan for what we would do was basically up to me and Ryan, who decided to show up at like 130am and be hella loud(well the group he brought was at least). Haha 

Because a few of our group had never been to bishop before we did what seemed like the best option and started them out at the Happy boulders in the tablelands. We all had a really good time climbing the only problem we really had is the wind was blowing at like 30MPH!  The last two areas/climbs we hit that first day were the hulk which Chris is trying here

 and mr. Witty. Neither of them went but there's always next time. As we drove back we decided to go to the hot springs by the green church near mammoth. I can't remember the name of the spring but it was amazing! The water was rediculously hot and felt incredible after a long day of climbing. 

That night it started to snow in mammoth and kept snowing until about noon the next day!

I can't recall ever really being snowed on like that before, it was quite the experience. 

The next day when we woke up to find snow everywhere it was decided that we would have a snow day and we ended up screwing around the entire day inside the cabin. Doing everything from playing games

to exercising using the rafters to watching movies.

Heres Chris in his Halloween costume wrestling for control of the hammock. Lol

It was a good day and to top it off we had hot pot which Glory had planed and brought so we might feast!!

We were going to climb somewhere in mammoth the last day but because it had snowed like 5+ inches the boulders were still covered and we went to the Sad Boulders on the tablelands.

We stayed right around the ice caves all day and it ended up laying off I was able to get Shizzam(v5), You Gotta be kidding me!(v5), a bunch if lower stuff in the area and I got an onsight of Fulled By Hate(v5) all in all a pretty darn good day. Ryan also got Shizzam, he actually showed me how to do it! I can't wait to finish all the vids from Halloween weekend!

-the Irish King

ROAD TRIP!!

So I am currently on a road trip to visit my best friends in Colorado, Texas, and Arizona and I am having the time of my life!

I started this trip on September 30th and have traveled roughly 2000 miles since it started 8 days ago talk about a long trip, haha and it's only about half way over!! 

The first big stop for me was in Las Vegas Nevada where I spent some time climbing at Kraft Boulders in Red Rocks.
I had a great time and met a few people including Catrina Sisco a cute girl sponsored by Mad Rock. It was a bit warm so I didn't really finish any hard climbs but I did try some fun ones on the warm up boulder. 

From there I headed out to Arizona and stayed at some random free campground where I slept in the back of my car for the first time on my pads staked on the back seat.(add pic) This was definitely a change since my pads are maybe a foot from the roof of my car but it was comfortable enough, plus sleeping laying down beats sleeping in the driver seat anytime! haha From there I drove to the four corners monument and took a couple pictures there as well as read all of the cool little tidbits about how and when the state lines for AZ, UT, NM, and CO were drawn as well as by who.

 

 

From there It was just a short hour or two drive to my friend Nicks house in Durango, CO. I stayed at Nicks house and met a bunch of people at his weekly cultural night on Wednesday. The next day Nick and I went to do a bit of bouldering at Turtle Lake in Durango. Got on some fun stuff and I'll post the vids and links to them when I get the chance. 

 The next day Nick had to go on a class trip for the weekend so since I no longer had a place to stay or people to chill with I headed to Denver. I didn't make it all the way there in one shot though, due to tiredness I ended up staying at Antero Reservoir. 

Some bugs decided to mate on my car the morning I woke up. haha

That morning I drove into Denver to explore the city. One of the first things I noticed about Denver was the horrible smell it gave off as I entered it. I hadn't really thought about big cities smelling bad until I entered Denver. I think a lot of that has to do with me living out in the wilderness of bishop for a month prior to my road trip. Haha It's funny how things like living out doors can change you even if you don't realise it.
















As I was driving through Denver I tried to get a hold of my friend TJ who lives there. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to meet up so I ended up going to a brewery he recommended in Golden, CO called Mountain Toad Brewing. Due to my lack of food that day the two pints of beer put me over my limit and I had to sleep in my car for a few hours. lol

After my nap I drove towards Boulder, CO to meet up with my friend Mike. Since it was so late I decided to sleep at this free camping I found way out in the middle of nowhere called Gross Reservoir. I even had trouble finding the place because I was using my gps on my phone to locate it and there was no service. So it was a bit hard to find out where I was going and had to pull over at one point to find out if I was going in the right direction. But it was beautiful when I woke up to see I was on the top of this hill looking down into endless forests.

I found this cool looking log that was burned by some previous occupants that looked just like a horse leg!!

It was a bit windy that morning so I took a little video showing the surrounding area plus capturing the wind noise.

When I got to Boulder the next morning I found out that Mike was sick. Since he was sick and couldn't come out to climb with me I ended up going up to boulder canyon to climb by myself.

I wandered around for at least an hour trying to figure out where I could climb and how I could make it across the river to boulder on the other side, which is where most of the bouldering was. lol
I was only able to really climb on one boulder, The Graham Boulder. Sent a quick few problems on it and checked out The Game(v15) that Daniel Woods did the FA of a couple years ago.

That Climb is ridiculous I checked out the holds and angle of the climb and am baffled on how he climbed it! Plus the landing gets like every caution in the book! lol

Driving the miles

Yesterday I had my longest drive yet of my trip. I was in my car for a total of 18 hours! Luckily I was not that tired during the drive even though I had only gotten about 4 1/2 hours of sleep the night before.

The trip was from Fort Worth Texas to Glendale Arizona and was probably only about 16 hours of driving maybe even 15 1/2 the rest was eating or I took a nap about 2 hours outside of phoenix for 45 min. I was good to go after that, I did grab a monster just in case and was listening to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and then started Star Ship Troopers.

Some of the other Audiobooks I've gone through on this trip are: the maze runner series(), the divergent series(Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant), and the casual vacancy. I can't remember if I am missing any at the moment but that's the majority of them. 

In Arizona I got to chill with my long time friend Antonio for a couple days that was a ton of fun getting to see him and his brother Sam again. They showed me around the city and all their favourite bars and such. 

After my short stint with Antonio I headed once more off to bishop the drive was around 11 hours and boy was I tired when I finally got back. Plus this weekend I'm off to Yosemite to climb for the weekend. I'm sure I'll have more to say after that. 

Till then peace out!

The Irish King

Durango Livin

So since I've been in Durango, Colorado for a few days I've gotten the chance to edit and upload a few vids of some of the trips I've been on since my days of being a dirtbag have started. One of the days I went to check out the loaf boulder in the buttermilks in bishop and sent some fun problems on it. One was called The Rising and another was called Nan Bread I also did a few warmup problems on the boulder that can also be found on my youtube page as well as all the other vids I've been able to post so far.

I'm probably about 100 vids or so behind in my posting but I'm doing my best with my limited internet access. =) So keep looking and I'm sure you'll see plenty more videos in the future.

Also if you know I have video of you sending some of your projects make sure to contact me if you want the video out sooner than later. That way I can make sure to prioritize your climbs because the way I'm doing it right now is completely random with me editing what ever I feel like at the time.  If you don't already have my number then message me on facebook or keep looking on youtube for your vids to come out.

Peace from Durango!

The Irish King