Pyramid of Power

In order to set attainable goals that will serve as stepping stones to 5.13a, I decided to make a pyramid (maybe I've got some Egyptian ancestry?) to determine the amount of volume I'll need at each climbing grade difficulty in order to develop the skill set and confidence necessary to dispatch a 5.13 when I get to that level. I think it's a pretty good idea.

It was funny while I was making it, I realized 5.13a is so far from my current level that it's no big deal to say, "Yeah! I'll totally make it there." But when I put in the goal to do four 5.12c's? Hm... I know how hard 12c is, and it's pretty hard. This isn't going to be an easy pyramid to fill.

Just as a note, I topped the pyramid at 13b because the Paper Crane is 3-4 hours away from where I live, and I realized that it will not be feasible to go down there three or four times to give it a try. My solution is to raise my level of experience and fitness to the point that 13a's shouldn't necessarily be my limit (still difficult though), in order to lessen the amount of time it takes to project and do the climb. In an ideal world, I would finish it over the course of one long or two short trips.

The good news is that I have parts of it already done! I think most of the 11a's are done and... well, I'll put it on the list below the pyramid. I'll be updating the pyramid and climbs as I go along.

Climbs Completed

11a- Knightmare, Tales from the Gripped, Deep End, Gravitational Attraction

11b- Doom (onsight!), The Bulge, Squawstruck, Redneck Genocide, Suicide Blonde, Necrobeastiality, Simple Simon

11c- Captain Tight Pants

11d- Blood Ruby

12a- Liquid Oxygen, Minnow Maker

Yeah. I've got some work to do.

Bells Canyon Much?

Good week folks! I put in solid hours studying for classes and prepping for the whirlwind of midterms that start next week as well as a good week of training. I had taken last week off of climbing and didn't work out that much, just as kind of a "off" week (and because the gym was closed in for the route setters to get ready for a competition).

I decided to set a real goal for climbing this year. In the past its just kinda been, "climb as hard as I can, as often as I can." But because of time restrictions on how much I can climb outside and some weird desire to really challenge myself (who does that?), I looked up a climb that I thought looked incredibly awesome and would really give me a reason to push myself hard. It's a 5.13a called The Paper Crane in Mill Creek Canyon, Moab, Utah. I've actually been ruminating on doing this climb for a few years now, but I finally feel like I'm in a situation where I can make it happen. Don't worry you'll hear more than you care about my training for it. I think I'll put my climb pyramid up on here soon...

Today Devan and I ignored the doomsday avalanche forecast and went snowshoeing up Bell's Canyon. Our objective: the Upper Bell's Canyon Reservoir. The trail is 4.2 miles and 4,000' of elevation gain to reach it. Unfortunately, after about 2 miles, there isn't really a trail anymore (not that there's ever a trail in 5+ feet of snow... although you'd be surprised at how well someone can track a difficult trail in the snow sometimes. Today was not one of those days for me.) and we got led on a wild goose chase by the tracks of someone we guessed had snowshoed up earlier. We got way too high on the south ridge and finally reached a point where the only way to get to the reservoir was to traverse a super sketchy and steep face that I felt sure would avalanche, or go to the bottom of the canyon only to have to climb back up to our same elevation on the opposite ridge.

Yeah, we turned around.

As for the earlier snowshoer, we saw no tracks going down, so I hope they didn't die in a slide further up the the canyon.

Devan cruising the beginning of the trail.

"Lone Peak Wilderness" Ah riiiiiight!

C'mon, we're cute right? At least it's a pretty canyon, get over the sappy photo.

Sunny Days Ahead

Hey guys, thought I'd pick this back up. Life has been great since my last post. I'm now married to the most wonderful person on earth, I'm working on the last semester of my undergraduate degree, and I'm looking forward to the incredibly scary and overwhelming and exciting fact that my future entirely depends upon me. Who has time for that kind of pressure?

So I'll be updating this blog more often, and with it I'm going to include all of the aspects I had before, plus my climbing training. I decided to include training because I have a big dream to do a climb that really inspires me, will be a major challenge, and I think posting on here about my progress is a good way to be accountable (and maybe accrue some more support!). Plus, maybe some of you will care about what I have to say about training and are curious to see what happens.

I hope life is good for all those this reaches and I hope that one or two people will enjoy what I have to say in the future. Cheers!