The Quest

More New Granite Routes

2011-09-24T18:39:00.000-07:00

The new SDS drill bits for drilling 'harder' material seem to work very well in the Cody granite. Inspired by easy pickens, I decided to re-equip an old route from the early 90's. A strange tale this one, it was there in 1993 when I first started climbing and then it wasn't. Without going into too much detail, the route was stripped by the first ascentionist due to questionable rock quality. I have seen (and climbed on) some pretty good routes put in on some pretty shady choss over the years, so I figured stringing a rope into the existing anchor and having a look for myself wasn't such a bad idea. I took the drill for this little recon, of course, and in about 3 hours had equipped and cleaned the longest line at the Island. The top was really good reddish granite which is always quite solid and featured. The bottom third however, was black basalt which is always blocky and hollow. I pried off the offending hollowness and scrubbed the solid core rock to produce an awesome moderate. Big Ben .10d is 10 clips and 95 feet long.

I was lured back to the Single Malt Wall for another slam dunk quick and easy moderate between the Bowmore and the Angels Share roof. I knew the line was there but just needed to look at it up close. It is essentially a second pitch to Glen Morangie or an alternate finish to The Bowmore and goes at .10/+. I called it The Ardbeg which is one of my all-time favorite Islay Single Malts. I climbed it as one long pitch from the Bowmore beginning without too much rope drag and tried to do the same beginning on Glen Morangie but the rope was quite heavy by the end. It is probably better to do it as two pitches when starting on Glen Morangie.

Getting two long but easy routes in made me long for some suffering. No not really. Though many of the lines I want to do in the Lower Canyon require a ground up approach and that is a LOT more work and a very slow process. I launched up onto a short angular fin on the left wall under the big chockstone and was excited to find great slopers and pinches. The route took two sessions to completely equip and clean and produced a unique compression style climb that finishes in a chimney. Climbing it was more difficult than I expected but boiled down to one stopper move on a terrible slopey pinch. I managed to send it on my third try and realized that although it is good engaging climbing the whole way, it really was only the one hard move. The Art of War .11d is a very cool and different route that may or may not be graded right. Its kinda steep and somewhat slopey with an awkward finish curling into the chimney to clip the anchor. Marc and Jason were with me the day I sent it, but I couldn't convince either of them to try it, I think they were a bit intimidated.

I Do Boulder, Sometimes

2011-09-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

Yes I finally went bouldering on Tuesday evening. We had a pretty good crew too. Members of team FOCM were present and fun was had. The posse warmed up on the Cheese boulder and then moved to the Ripper Boulder to work out the cryptic sequence enabling a clean (dabless) ascent of the Ripper Extension V8. Kerrek Stinson joined us halfway through the process and showed us how it was done. His pants dabbed on the first try and he was called out by the raucous and unforgiving crowd. He rested and casually sent it again which worked for me, allowing me to shoot it twice.

Kerrek Stinson on The Ripper Extension V8 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

We also visited the 80 foot long traverse on the West Face of the Symmetry Boulder. This awesome V1 'route' never disappoints. Lastly we ventured up to the Eternal Gardener Boulder which no one seems to know about as it was developed shortly after the guide came out. The fantastic problems Eternal Gardener V5 and Brilliant V6 were savored by all as the sun set on us briefly illuminating the red sandstone pocked by white chalk trails.

About the time my heart got racing for the brilliance that is Cody Bouldering, I went back to the Octagon in Ten Sleep. I can't believe how much fun those climbs are! I nearly flashed Kevin's new addition on the left side of the Cave called Vanilla Gorilla 12b/c, succeeding on my second try. It is the start of the Mexicutioner 5.13? which travels over 100 feet to the top anchors. I also fell going to the jug to clip the anchors on my second try of Baby Face Assassin 13a. I decided to continue out the horizontal roof to check out Soul Assassin 14b which adds 8 or 9 more clips of insanity to BFA. I belayed Kevin twice on his 5.14 project The Thrashing Machine. At 18 clips going out a nearly horizontal roof, it is one of the craziest routes I've ever seen, though one of many similar creations in this cave.

Can't wait to get back there for more. I climbed at The Octagon in February and March and now September and have always found tolerable if not ideal conditions. Summer is a little warm though the cave gets shade most of the day. Winter is cold but the sun shines in nearly all day long. What more could you ask for?

Tired Now

2011-09-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

My last post alluded to the number 20. I didn't really define it though it has been a goal of mine this year. In 2010 I equipped eleven new sport routes and managed to climb nine of them, all were located at the new crag in Ten Sleep called Downtown. I put in my first sport climb in 1994 in Cody and have managed to bolt at least one line each year since with the most in one season being nine. 2010 was very productive and I hoped to be able to eclipse that number this year. After hitting eleven I set a goal of twenty and though I just finished number twenty there is one route along the way that isn't finished yet.

The trip to Cayman Brac early in the year got things rolling with three routes. Nameology 10c, Hindenbergs Harmonica 12b, and Cayman Nights 12c all turned out great. When I got home I realized that on sunny Winter/Spring days the granite in the lower canyon caught enough sun to afford comfortable development of some warmup routes. I slowly worked my way through three more new lines one of which is two short pitches separated by a ledge. The Single Malt Wall now has LaPhroaig 11a, Glenmorangie 10b, The Angels Share 12d and The Bowmore 10c. With seven pitches under my belt before the snow melted in Ten Sleep I was fired up.

The upper canyon in Tensleep is usually too cold or snowy in the Spring and May and June can even be somewhat in-climate. I picked a long line in the lower part of the canyon to equip at Drywall. It turned out quite well but I only tried it once before it got too hot and I haven't been back to finish it off yet. A line in Cody called out and having just finished going ground up at the Drywall, I set off on another ground up push on the harder and more secure granite (a ripped RB and 15 foot aid fall made me rethink aiding the soft Dolomite). Eight and nine were finished though neither has been redpointed yet.

My attention focused back on Downtown and I decided I needed to finish equipping the shallow cave like feature at the left side of this area we had dubbed the John Henry Grotto. I added Easy Wind, Shagadelic, Shake and Bake and extended Charlies route Shaggy's Marijuana Flag. These routes are all 5.13's, I was able to climb only Shagadelic 13a and the Shaggy extension 12?, the others are beyond my ability right now. Ten through thirteen done.

After a break of a couple weeks I installed Electric Jesus on the far left side of the cave. The only line left to finish there goes up just to the right of EJ and should continue out the second tier roof. I bolted half of it but I'm not sure the lower half goes so I'm leaving it for someone with the proper vision to complete it. Number fourteen, Electric Jesus on the other hand turned out brilliantly, short steep and powerful with the hardest bit at the end. I think I can send it though I will need top fitness and a little luck. I thought it would be 12+, but I realize now after a few attempts, its probably more like 5.13b or c.

The injury sidelined climbing for a while but I continued bolting. Fifteen, Sixteen and Seventeen at Downtown went in between the Coolsville and John Henry walls. These long lines produced excellent 5.12's and as my abs healed I was able to tick off Red Neck Super hero 12c, Robot Steamroller 12b, and Super 8 12a. Line eighteen back in Cody on the granite has been started but isn't finished yet. Its another ground up affair and requires new drill bits before I can finish it. The Chill Arete 11c, was a quickie and used some existing anchors. Its a cryptic little granite beast that I hope to send again with improved style and maybe some better beta.

Number twenty went in last week at the French Cattle Ranch in Ten Sleep. I have been staring at this line since my first visit there in 2000 before there were any bolts. It climbs the left side of the Matrix pillar and though its short (only six clips) its pretty hard. It climbs great stone and is steeper than it looks. It seemed reasonable my first attempt, falling my way up the thing learning its secrets. It felt much harder on my second attempt, gunning for a redpoint. I squeaked the send on the third try and though it is short it packed quite a punch. I called it I Know Kung Fu and slash graded it at 12c/d. I tried to compare it to other climbs nearby that I have done. It felt slightly harder than the sandbagged Hot Dog 12b and Kielbasa 12c yet easier than Esplanada 12d. I made a placard for the base of the climb since a new guidebook may not be around for several years and Aaron Hueys lines are drawn in the wrong place for the other routes on the pillar. I liked this line a lot though I think it will torture future ascentionists because it is tricky, reachy and has a few small holds.

Hammering Toward Twenty

2011-09-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

A month has passed and my midsection is almost healed. I couldn't stay away for too long and of course gingerly prodded my way back in earlier than I should have. Initially I convinced myself that top roping wasn't such a bad idea and 5.11 or under was okay. As long as my core never became suddenly engaged things would be fine, so I stayed on my feet, with nothing dynamic and no campus type moves. Not too long later I convinced myself that bolting would also be fine because I generally go top down and use a wooden bosin chair for cushy comfort. And so it went.

Fortunately, none of this obvious tomfoolery has blown up in my face yet.

The two new routes at Downtown needed a final scrubbing and blowing and of course some attempts. After futzing around on the fixed line with the back pack leaf blower, crowbar and scrub brushes they were ready to be climbed. I liked what I had created but was apprehensive about the lower angle rambly beginning sections leading to the money climbing going out the bulge section at the end. I rallied Marc and we headed up to try 'em out. I was most excited for the left route and after a quick warmup I hopped right on it. The bottom section has great flow and deposits you into a tricky small pocket crux with thin feet at the base of the bulge before the holds get big and the angle steepens. All goes well for a couple clips and the holds start getting smaller as you get more pumped, with tiny crimps guarding the last clip. I knew it was coming but second guessed my ability to step up and just grabbed the draw. Once I had the quickdraws hanging, Redneck Superhero .12c went down on the 2nd go.

The one just to the right also has easy rambling terrain leading to 5 clips on steep rock going out the bulge. It too has the hardest bit right at the end. Having moved the clips over on the way down RSH, I managed to fight through this one for the flash. My nine year old came up with and insisted on the name Robot Steamroller .12b. Marc and I were so enthralled with the quality of the rock and movement on these two routes we started envisioning more routes on the formation. We decided there could be as many as six or seven lines but maybe only one more route out the bulge.

The following week I set to work on what would become Super 8 .12a, just right of the other two. This one takes a direct line up the massive flake following its left side towards the top to reach the bulge. Though it may be the steepest part of the belly it is on it for the shortest time with, you guessed it! A crux at the end. This time its a long reach, with a cryptic series of hand changes to make the finish go smooth. All three of these routes are very fun with incredible movement through out and I would recommend them as warmups for the tough stuff to the left or as can't be missed ticks for the 5.12 leader.

This past holiday weekend Marc and my family met up with JB, Sara and CK for some pocket pullin at Downtown, The Ice Plant, Wall of Denial and Valhalla. I was psyched to climb JB's last new route this year Vulcan Jezzerie .12a at Downtown. It is a long vertical affair with some small positive holds and a few monos along the way. The next day we ticked a few pitches at the Ice Plant and went over to try Charlies' new route Zombie Leprechauns. This brilliant .12a just left of Insane Hound Posse at Denial was the hit of the day and everyone in our Micro-posse tried or ticked it. Monday we trucked on up to Valhalla so Marc could try Killer Karma .11d and I could give Aaron Huey's Succubus On Top a go. Aaron gave it 5.12 in the guide though I'm not sure he climbed it and its not really that much harder than KK. I hung draws on each route while Marc absorbed beta and easily dispatched both of these roof routes first go. This type of climbing is what we have been training indoors for 15 years so its hard to tell what the grades should be. Nevertheless, Succubus is another fine addition to the Oblivion Wall.

Jason has had quite the sport climbing bug this summer. He has steadily worked his way through almost everything at The Island in Cody. Marc and I took him down to the new Single Malt Wall on the old road near the river to climb the new granite sport routes I put in this Spring. He was pretty psyched and easily onsighted or flashed each of the climbs. Marc and I were salivating to try the route 100 yards back up river that climbs through the giant black basalt inclusions at the start of the route. I bolted this thing in May in the rain right before the summer heat settled in. It was at first wet and then almost immediately after, too hot to pull on the small holds near the top. I have been patiently waiting all summer for conditions to improve, since I can't seem to drag myself out of bed at first light for the one or two hours of morning chill. Marc and I both took burns on it and we both executed all but one move, albeit we both skipped or failed on two different moves. We felt the route was probably in the 5.13- range and I would need a little tighter ab muscles and cooler conditions.

On the way out that day, Jason and Marcs' twenty-something knees blasted them up the talus, leaving the old man slowly plodding along behind. Instinctively, my head rocked back and up I stared at an over hanging arete littered with bulbous features. I have looked at this section of cliff too many times to count but now I was seeing 'the line' for the first time. In fact, I knew that there were already anchors up there from a neighboring trad line that may be in the right spot to do double duty for this potential addition. I returned a few days later and in under two hours had it bolted, cleaned and ready for action. That same night, I snared Jason after he flashed the almost 30 year old Last Freedom .11d at the Island and hustled him over the guard rail and down the talus slope to the arete. Two goes later I sent the Chill Arete .11c after offering it up to Jason upon falling twice my first try. It tricked him too but we both felt that it probably wasn't hard climbing just hard to read. It features crimps, pinches, slopers and a mantle and is steeper than it looks.

There is a section of cliff line down there I have been staring at for years now and I finally made my way across the river to look at it up close. This happened on a day when the route I was there to bolt was baking in the sun. Finding a brilliant looking wall of 15 degree overhang for 100 feet with obvious features, I shifted gears and started my way up. Six bolts up and the wall won, chewing up my last drill bit. Granite is only marginally softer than titanium and carbide tipped bits that will make hundreds of holes in dolomite succumb quickly to its will. Apparantly you can buy SDS bits for drilling in extra hard material. Hmmm... I need to place an order.

More Sleep and Some Rest

2011-08-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

Returning from a week back East with my family to visit my folks, I surfed the interweb and found this well done video by John Dickey and Cedar Wright. This irreverent video features a route I bolted last year at the new 'Downtown' Crag, called The Gravy Train .12b.

BD athlete Cedar Wright sport climbing in Ten Sleep, Wyoming from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

The left side of Downtown features The John Henry Grotto. I added one more short and stout line on the far left fold, it is called Electric Jesus and may check in around 12+/13-. I gave two attempts but was unsuccessful in red-pointing it. The last and maybe one of the best routes there, it features a juggy start and holds that decrease in size until you are left with crimps at the end.

Before I left on my trip, I started two more long routes on a formation between the J.H. Grotto and the Coolsville stuff. These routes ascend a lower angle section to reach a bulging feature toward the end. All of the bolts are in but more cleaning needs to be done. I hope to get back to them soon but I will have to wait for a while due to an injury sustained in a wake boarding fall. I ripped my abdomen muscle to shreds and have been advised to take some time to let them heal. Bummer!

Downtown with CK and JB

2011-06-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

Yes indeed more routes of a variety of grades are going in Downtown. Charlie and JB installed and climbed 4 new routes on the front of the Cigar pillar, 2 - 5.10s and 2 - 5.11s. I climbed both 11s and one of the 10s the other day, all are nice additions and great warm ups for some of the harder stuff nearby. JB hooked up two longer routes left of the Coolsville stuff. He thinks one is 5.10 and the other may be 12-, though both still need to be climbed and are currently 'projects'.

My last three visits to downtown have been spent almost entirely bolting new stuff at the John Henry Cave. I have roughly 6 new lines there now depending on how you count them. The left most line is totally independent and could be the hardest at the crag with 5.12+ climbing and a hard (V8?) boulder problem at the end. Charlie has been asking me to extend Shaggy's Marijuana Flag .10d, up to the John Henry anchors. I added three bolts and basically chalked the holds and it is done, it will probably check in at 12-. There is a direct start I added as well coming up through the bulges to join the low anchor, this is called Shagadelic and seems like 13a. Of course the extension from the former route can be added to spice the ending up a bit. I also added a new 7 bolt ending to the left of Shaker which produced a 12+/13-. This ending can be linked into the Shagadelic start as well, which may or may not up the grade of that route.

All of this is finished just in time for a three day visit to the Canyon for the long weekend of the 4th. I have only tried Shagadelic as of now but I hope to finish that and several others this weekend.

Summer in Full Swing

2011-06-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened in the way of climbing since my last post but yet I don't feel like I have accomplished much.

I went down to Lander for a weekend of sport climbing and their annual Beer Fest. I took the Wild Iris Climbing shop my last Cody Bouldering guidebooks and in exchange picked up the recently released Lander Area Sport Climbing Guide written by Steve Bechtel. This book is an improvement on two decades worth of guide books on Landers wealth of climbing. This one is properly descriptive and informative with color photos and not a lot of fluff. It is compact and thin belying its over 1000 climbs covering the Sinks, Wild Iris, Baldwin, Fairfield, Fossil Hill and several other smaller areas. We got in two pretty good days of climbing despite the beer drinking and debauchery sandwiched in between. My goal was to take down a Lander .13a. While I did manage to do a handful of 12's that I had never been on before, I never even got on a 13a.

I did finally try and red point the new long slab route at Drywall. I surprised myself by getting through all of the subtle crimpy trickery only to fall at the last and probably hardest and most runout portion of the climb. Theres not much quite like a 25 foot lead fall on a slab. Yee-ha!! Fortunately it was a clean fall with no injuries or even abrasions and I climbed back up and through to the anchors. Rain began and forced us running back to the car. This climb is all of the technical nightmare I knew it would be but maybe not quite as hard as I thought. I'm guessing at 12a or b, which is pretty high considering its a slab. It is quite long and though I got very pumped I hope to do it next go.

I went out with Jason for an evening of bouldering and he wanted to do the classic The Wretch V7. This is a great boulder problem located a stones throw from the parking area. Its just hard enough that warming up on it can be dangerous and trying it at the end of a day can be futile. We tried to warm up as best we could and then hopped right on it. Having worked out the bottom already Jason needed a little direction on the end. I explained my method and after two tries each we both sent it. We walked over to Caya another V6 or 7 problem and set to work on that as Jason had not sent or even tried it yet. I showed him how the sit start worked and explained the 3 different finishes. We flailed about trying the harder right finishes and eventually settled on the direct crimpy finish which is about V5 or 6. Drew joined us and showed me yet another start which seemed to be quite a bit easier yet still fun. Jason and I stuck with the original start and both finished it that way.

I returned to the Downtown Crag in Tensleep to try and finish last years unfinished business on Shaker. Young Stefan Lavender from Colorado had recently nabbed the FA and told me it was one of the best routes he has done in Tensleep. He commented that it felt hard at 13b, having recently sent The Hellion .13c, Burden of My Member .13b/c and The Incredible Horse Cock .13d. I hung the draws with some serious effort and managed to two hang it on my next go. Though not quite as strong as my efforts last year, it still seems early in the season. I left the draws on the upper headwall since it is so continuous up there.

The left side of Downtown has so much more potential for hard routes, I just had to check it out. I asked Huey if I could finish his route that he and Nick had re-conned last year and he said they had abandoned their effort. Huey thought it was too hard for him and Nick not hard enough. This is a really nice 20 degree overhung wall with smallish pockets and edges, just what I was looking for. I got most of the bolts in and much of the cleaning work done, so it could be ready after another hour or two of work. I also started bolting the upper roof and plan to link down the left bulge to create a mammoth route with two sets of anchors. This king line, if it goes like it looks, will be 110 to 120' of overhanging pockets and edges, finishing 50 feet out from where it begins. The first half will likely be 13- or harder and the second part is much steeper with better holds. The whole thing may be in the 5.14 range.

The heat has finally set in and the local granite crags are just too hot. I'll have to time a visit early or late in the day or wait for a cool day to try the two unfinished lines down there.

Bolted Cracks!?!?

2011-06-03T13:15:00.000-07:00

We just returned from the first weekend family camping trip of the season. A familiar place to kick things off, Ten Sleep Canyon for some bolt-clippin' therapy was the ticket. The weather turned out to be perfect with 70's and 80's both days. I was psyched to get up to Dry Wall with my recently acquired 2011 Ten Sleep guide to check out an area that has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. Aaron Huey's color photos and route descriptions were spot on, despite the fact that little is known about the names of half the routes, grades and bolt counts are what I'm looking for.

I guess I have always enjoy the bolted cracks located at most areas throughout the canyon, and after a weekend of sampling these gems I'd have to say, Dry Wall has the lions share of quality bolted crack routes. Most climbers groan or even worse at the mention of such atrocities, but soft limestone and crack gear is typically a bad combination so I applaud the climbers brash enough to spit in the face of convention and equip these lines. Thank you, I had a blast climbing eleven pitches most of which were some or all crack style climbs.

I had been eyeing this 5.12 called Cheesy Livin which is a Matt Wendling route. He has quite the eye for a good line but tends to sandbag the grades, so I'm always a little wary. I finally realized toward the end of the day that what I was staring at was a crack climb of sorts, a hanging dihedral, the same kind of lines I had been stemming all day long. I went from being intimidated to feeling invited and got instantly psyched. I tried to study it and underestimated the sporty beginning missing a key pocket only to slump onto the first bolt. I pulled back on, executed the move and ended up climbing to the anchors like I was still onsighting. The climb was so good and engaging that I just gave it what I had and enjoyed the heck out of it. I got the intro sequence right the next go and sent it. I loved this route and would highly recommend it and most of the other crack lines at Dry Wall.

Speaking of the Dry Wall, I finished bolting and cleaning a route there this past week. It took three evenings over the past month. The route is located at the far left end of Drywall and it went in ground up. I wasn't sure how to get to the top to rap down, plus carrying an extra rope and all that bolting stuff when you're not sure where you're going is a little taxing for me. This will be another techy nightmare ascending 14 clips of generally vertical terrain with very few jugs and an ample amount of crimps. I wasn't really amped about it until I began cleaning and ticking it on the way down. That was when I realized just what I had created. As we like to say, "Its sooo very Tensleep". I don't think I am quite ready to tackle this beast yet, but soon enough I will be attempting to drag anyone who is willing to sample the cracks and viscous crimps this crag has to offer, out for a belay.

Media-wise no camera means not much in the way of Ten Sleep eye candy. However my little HD cam goes bouldering with me so here is something from Cody to chew on in the mean time. I had some old footage from a day last November at the Sphinx with Marc, Clint, Jason and myself. Marc had a good day this past week, snagging a couple FA's, one of which I managed to capture. I mixed the recent FA in with the footage from last Fall.

8000 Beats & Sushi from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Good lord, another one.

2011-05-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

The granite walls of the lower canyon in Cody have had a strange pull on me this year. Like a junkie having found a new drug, I am pulled back again and again. Though this is a much healthier habit and has produced some pretty good additions to the canyon. I finished installing another route, this one went ground up. The recent rains had left it quite wet as I picked my way up the wall leapfrogging RB's and bolts. This was a pretty clean stretch with several different varieties of stone. Of course there was a section of the pink exfoliated potato-chippy shit and also the dark brown lichen covered stuff. The usual suspects notwithstanding, I was pleased to find a section of coarse grained grey rock with macro features and also a clean greyish-pink intro with good crimp edges punctuated by several giant inclusions of black basalt. Though I was able to clean it pretty well on the way down, I'll have to wait for it to completely dry out to go after a cruxy section that was soaking wet. I am very pleased with this new addition and I think it will be a great challenge for me to redpoint.

This is a route I have been looking at for nearly 20 years that until recently had a ancient power line strapped to the wall blocking any thought of development or ascent as a rock climb. The Bureau of Reclamation removed the old rusting cable and cut all the steel struts off with a torch a few years ago returning the wall to a more natural state. Fortunately the Bureau has always been friendly to climbers and the myriad of other user groups that visit the canyon on a daily basis. As it is, I am the only local resident interested in developing sport routes down there, so you might say I have there entire canyon to myself. I hate to say what I have planned next, not because I'm afraid someone will steal it, but more because I'm afraid I won't get around to it or it won't actually go. Suffice to say, if this next line works out I will need several sets of anchors.

I went bouldering with Dan and Clint a couple weeks ago and shot them working out Ancient Sea of Fire, a cool V5 that ascends a beautiful orange face with subtle ripples.

Ancient Sea of Fire V5 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Maya and Eden's climbing video

2011-05-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

The girls had an end of the year talent show at their elementary school. They asked me if I would make a video of them climbing on a favorite route at The Island. We spent an afternoon shooting some different angles and practicing the route. I thought we would get to go back again to shoot some more footage but the weather has just been too cold and wet. As it turns out I had enough film footage to assemble an entry for them. So here it is; Maya and Eden climbing Witch on A Broomstick 5.8 at The Island in Cody with a favorite song of theirs, Jalan Crossland (sorry I butchered your last name on the video Jalan) doing Cumberland Gap.

Maya and Eden climbing at the Island from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

A Little of This...

2011-05-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

Things finally came together on the wall in the lower canyon. The Single Malt Wall now has four lines with five pitches. The left most line is Laphroaig .11a. The central line first pitch is Glenmorangie .10b, it finishes on the ledge with the second roof pitch being The Ardbeg Roof .12d. Since they are only 50 feet or so each, they can be strung together with a 60 or better yet a 70 meter rope and a little rope drag. The right line up the slab is The Bowmore .10c and is 13 clips and 100' total length. The only one I haven't finished yet is the original line just to the right and up the streaked scoop. This one is called McClelland Strong and I think it is about .13b. I slid off right at the anchors last fall and hope to finish it up as soon as it dries out this year and before the heat sets in.

I met some friends today up at the Carcass Crag and got some bouldering in. We have had so much rain recently, this was the only place we could think of that might be dry enough for climbing on sandstone. Jason and I had a session at the Antelope Boulder a week ago and decided it would be cool to check out some of the sport routes in this area, specifically the two on the Visionary Boulder. So today I packed a sport rack in with my bouldering stuff and brought a short piece of rope. The route on the left is 12- and the one straight up the steep part is .13?. We set up a TR on the left one to check out the route and the integrity of the sandstone, since it had rained a lot over the past four days. Surprisingly everything seemed sturdy and solid, so after a TR burn I went for it on the sharp end. It went much easier than when I practiced it earlier on TR and seemed about 12a due to the bouldery crux right off the ground. We didn't have time or strength left to check out the harder one, but we'll be back.

Also I managed to race up to the Mondo Beyondo in Tensleep Wednesday after work and install a proper sport anchor on Momma's Mental Medication at the Slavery Wall. This little bouldery beast has gotten some serious play over the last two seasons since it went in. Since the new Guide will be arriving in stores any day now I think it will see even more traffic. My original anchor was too far left and the hook portion moved, so I abandoned it and installed a better located one a few feet to the right. The rope runs better over the lip now as well. I left the chain from the old anchor so if the route ever gets extended up and left I can use it as a perma-draw. Hope that helps improve things.

Local Projects and Octano-no

2011-04-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

A quick update on the Octagon: the BLM has identified a potential archaeological issue presenting an access problem. Hopefully this is a temporary moratorium and will be sorted out soon. Until the situation can be resolved climbers have been asked to refrain from visiting this area.

Due to this obvious redirect, my attentions have shifted back into bolt mode on the home front. The Granite in the lower canyon has been nagging at me to establish more lines, so drill I must. I am not seeking out the fractured protectable weaknesses but the steeper face lines requiring bolt protection. I have one two pitch line which is now fully bolted and a single pitch line as well. Both climbs seem to be of good quality but are still a little dirty as this billion year old basement rock tends to be. Hopefully a final cleaning mission on each line to remove some dust and dirt and clean the exfoliated 'potato' chip sections and they'll be ready to go. Properly cleaned Cody granite routes tend to be popular as evidenced by the traffic at the Island, so I'm hoping this new crag and its lines will be well received too.

A Visit to the Octagon

2011-04-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

With my good friends Kevin and Alli leaving for the Red River Gorge soon, I wanted to get one more visit to the Octagon in while I still had tour guides. Its amazing the amount of work Kevin puts into each one of the routes he has established there, and there are quite a few now. The cave has 7 routes now, all with fixed chain link draws. Many of these lines have multiple anchors due to length and varying difficulty. One of the newer unfinished routes is nearly 45 meters long. It has an anchor after 10 clips of 45 degree tugging, and a higher finish 10 more clips and several roofs later. These king lines will check in deep in the 5.14 range.

Fortunately for me the grades start at 12c in the cave proper and slowly work their way up granting me some possible future sends. I ticked off another Prelim Wall route, one which I had tried before on a cold day. American Psycho 12a/b, starts with a dyno and climbs gently overhung shelves to gain another dyno right at the end. It seems to be easier for taller climbers as the grips are generally widespread. I had tried two climbs in the cave on a previous visit, the Dean of Mean 12d and Mini Shark 12c, and had my sights set on the Dean for this day. Alli had sent her project Rush 13b and was checking out Mini Shark. As I sat and watched, I got so jacked to give it a whirl, I changed my plans and hopped on it. It reminded me so much of the lip traverse boulder problems we have in Cody and things went relatively smoothly. The 35 foot long Mini Shark is just a precursor to Muscle Shark 13+ and The Thrashing Machine 5.14, which look amazing!

The Dean of Mean being the real goal for the day was a struggle even though every single hold is enormous. I was spent by the time I reached the only testy move which is near the top of the climb. A half-assed jump for a slopey jug left me swinging from the end of the rope. I figured I was done and was going to call it a day when Kevin urged one more go. This time I was much more confident and felt relaxed at the top. This time I hit the big sloper all the way up to my wrist and began an agonizingly slow slide which unfortunately never stuck and after what felt like ten seconds of slipping, I was in the air again. I'll definitely try to exact some revenge next time and then move on to Fight of the Night 13a. Here is a video of Kevin running a lap on this crazy jug haul.

Fight of the Night 5.13a from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Churning Forward

2011-03-29T16:57:00.000-07:00

A recap of sorts is in order, for myself as a way to recall things and for any of you who take the time to read my bloggity.

First of all, a farewell to one of my long time friends Dylan Etscorn who accepted a great job in New Mexico and promptly split town. Our local climbing crew helped him disassemble one of what must have been the oldest private climbing gyms in the country. Dylan moved to Cody in 1992 and immediately started constructing his home gym in his two-car garage. It was cannibalized in order to open the Cody Rock Gym in 1995 and revitalized several years later when CRG closed. I helped with various phases of construction and felt it was only right that I participate in the tearing down as well. I had so many great years climbing outdoors with Dylan and training in his gym, I will surely miss both.

I finished a long traverse boulder problem that Clint and I cleaned on a sunny day in January on the South side of Cedar Mountain. The sport climber in me has always had an eye for the traverses and this funky dirty line called out to me. Being that it is right next to the trail that leads up the mountain, I could only walk by it so many times before I had to check it out. The line cleaned up well and yielded a long pumpy V6 that Dan dubbed Drastically Fantastically. I'll shoot some video one of these days.

I also visited Kevin Wilkinson's new area over in Tensleep, The Octagon. This cirque of Madison limestone is both bullet hard like quartzite and chossy because of fracturing. Kevin, having pioneered areas like Maple Canyons Pipe Dream and the cave in Riggins, Idaho, had the perfect mixture of experience and drive to tackle the development of an area most bolters would turn their noses up to. After climbing on the four warm up routes on the Prelim Wall and sampling some of the upside down routes in the cave proper, I have to say he has created some real gems and some of Wyoming's steepest thuggy hard man routes.

On the subject of bolting, I finally installed another route on the Granite plug in the lower canyon in Cody. This one is a warm up for some of the harder bolted projects nearby. Though I still need to finish cleaning it, the process helped illuminate the possibilities to the right and left of the route. My goal is to add several more sport routes here and create a proper crag with routes at a variety of grades.

Meg and I just returned from our Cayman Brac climbing adventure. We stayed with part time island resident John Byrnes at his place, the Bluff View House. John has spent a great amount of time over the years replacing old rotted stainless steel bolts and hangers with titanium glue-in 'Tortugas', to many of the islands' 130 or so established sport routes. Many of these lines went in in the mid to late 90's and the equippers used hardware they thought would hold up against the briny seaside environment. Amazingly, ten-plus years later, you can break some of these placements by hand, and rust streaked stains are clearly visible at each bolt. Conversly, the oldest Tortugas show zero signs of wear or breakdown.

I was immediately enamored with the rock as it is pocketed limestone, one of my favorite mediums. I was also psyched that John wanted me to establish some new stuff more than re-equip old routes. I set to work but soon realized that it would take twice as long because we were using glue-ins. We had to put in expansion bolts for our working anchors and on the steeper sections to clip into and drill the holes for the Tortugas. I had to go back and remove the hangers and pound in the expansion bolts the next day when the glue-ins had cured. In the end I really loved the process but wish I could have spent more time on the island as I left many possible good lines behind. I did get three new FA's, a 5.10 right on the ocean, and two super 5.12's. Almost every route on the island ventures up steep terrain and mine were no different. The 10 goes up through a small cave with giant holds, one of the 12's finishes with 25 feet of steep tufas and the other grapples with every imaginable size of pocket and an enormous bone white sharks tooth.

I did not get any pictures or videos myself but Meg did put together a photo album of the trip in Facebook which you can view here.

Homey on the Road

2011-01-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

Once again a lengthy bit of time since the last post has elapsed. Training on plastic and only a handful of outside days since November has kept me loose and just barely in shape. Snow skiing has been excellent this year with our little non-profit ski area, Sleeping Giant, getting pounded with well over six feet already this year. The terrain on the upper mountain has been super fun. Tree-skiing in deep powder is something I haven't done a lot of in 35 years or so of skiing but I am learning quickly to point 'em downhill and go for it. The kids have all made great strides as well which has allowed them access to yet another great life sport.

As far as climbing goes, Meg uses our gym several times weekly with whoever she can get to train with her and she is getting strong quick. I am psyched to see her apply it to the rock in the upcoming season. We have booked tickets to the Cayman Brac to help with the rebolting effort there, and maybe nab a new route or two also. Climbing in the Carribean just sounded to good to pass up. Clint and I got out in early January and cleaned up a new boulder on the South side of Cedar. I, of course was drawn to the 40 foot traverse circling over half of this steep-on-all-sides boulder. I managed it in two sections but was too pooped to link it all, I assume it will be somewhere in the 5 to 7 range. Several up-problems will emerge as well, as the lichen is removed.

Marc and I went to the recent climbing comp in Lander to test his pre-road trip strength against local WY. legendary powerhouses BJ Tilden and Colby Frontero. I secretly believed that he could beat them but he would need to be spot on to take it all. In the end BJ and Colby tied for first each taking two goes on each of the five hardest problems, Marc needed three goes. He was only a few points behind them completing all of the hardest problems and taking second or third (depending on how you view the first place tie). I took seventh overall, which I was psyched about, considering the strong field I was hoping just to be in the top ten.

Marc is hitting the road for five months and will be traveling west and south to hit Joes and Moes, Bishop and Hueco, before moving east to sample the southern sandstone. Good luck on the road!!! Here is a video I borrowed from Drew Hamans site of Marc flashing a new Cody problem called Gone With the Wind.

Gonewithwind from Drew Haman on Vimeo.

Fall to Winter

2010-11-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

Between the first snow of the year and DST, I am feeling the yearly gut punch, that is the onset of winter. I do ski, but winter just lasts so damn long that it always seems to get me down a little. Fortunately the sun shines quite a bit here in 'ol Wyoming and in a few weeks I'll begin visiting the sunnier destinations and all will be fine.

The Fall has yielded some great new lines and people have been checking boxes on the old stuff too. I went up to Cornflakes and then to the OG Boulder with the local crew to try and send one of the hard undones on this boulder. I cleaned this boulder up in the spring of '09 to try and open up the central line, but no one has put much time in on it until recently. Marc and Kerrek were both fired up on the stand start, which may be the ending for at least two different sit starts. After some concerted group effort Kerrek came away with the FA. Linking the beginning of Pistol Whipper or climbing from the true direct low start will be sick. Here is some footage from our day at the OG Boulder.

The OG Boulder from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Bolt Clippin - Done for the Season

2010-11-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

I have avoided this post for some unknown reason, all summer and fall. I think it is because although I had a very productive bolting season, I fell short in the sending department. I had too many cans of worms opened at once and couldn't seem to get anything completed. I like nothing better than to plop down beneath something, figure out what I need to send it and then do it - that day. Of course, it just didn't really work out that way this year.

I did manage to clean and equip 11 routes in Tensleep and build a trail to open a new crag. Between Charlie, JB, Aaron and myself the 'Downtown' Crag now has 21 routes total, 19 from 5.9 to 13a, and two harder projects. My routes were a 5.11 crack thing called Carbon Footprint and a spur called Oh Two... 12b. Four routes on the back side of the Cigar, the amazing and undeniably phallic freestanding pillar. They are Floyd Direct .12a, Have a Sneegar .12c, The Name of The Game .13a, and The Gravy Train .12b. All of which are super high quality in my opinion. I did two more on a steep shorter formation called the Nugget, Toothless Grin .12b and Goin' Feral .12a. A steep short arete with powerful bouldery moves called Sleep Reaction .13a, went in just left of Charlies' Coolsville route. Then of course there were two projects I couldn't get done, Shaker .13b or c and Big Bend AKA The Shit Storm project, which is similar to Shaker, but has 3 hard cruxes.

I have almost no media from the summer, but early on I drug Aaron Mulkey along on my first FA day of the Summer and he produced these two photos of the send on Gravy Train .12b.

Then there are the the Summer heartbreakers:

1. Heart Balls and Swagger, 19 clips at mid 5.13b/c. A .13a bouldery pocket thingy with tough exit moves to a giant rest, followed by like 45 more feet of .12+ crimpin'. One hung it.

2. Kyberspace .13a/b. Almost sent third go, tore a hole in my finger on the crux hold but managed to hold on only to break a hold way up high and come flying off. Hole in side of finger never healed up in time and tape kept rolling off. Shit and double shit. One hung too many times.

3. Shaker .13b/c? New route I bolted, consistently hard all the way up. Distilled the only crux down into a dyno preceded by a knee bar rest, making it not really very cruxy. The upper 45 foot headwall has one great pocket affording a rest if you can get to it. Ultra-sustained before and after. One hung that shit too.

4. The unnamed Granite Scoop from last year, 5.13b? Good god, I have this thing wired now. Why can't I finish it?!?! Finally got through the whole roof, turned the lip and in my overzealousness, I bolted for the anchor. Success was fleeting as I clipped the last bolt, not only could I see the anchor I was so close I could smell it. I screwed up the kneebar I so desperately needed and melted off. Triple shit! I have one hung that one so many times, I'm embarrassed.

I did mange to finish off the Whiney Baby Wall Sending Team Whiney Baby .12c/d and Tangerine Fat Explosion .13a. Both of which I climbed with my good friend Victor Blanco in a day, on two separate occasions. Should of flashed both but got 'em on second goes. I should note both climbs are quite good but a little soft on the grade. I also managed to fill in some unclimbed easier ones from years past like Saigon Sheridan .12a/b (easy) and Hot Dog .12b (not easy).

I saved Rosey Pussytoes for many years, averting my eyes when anyone was climbing it, hoping to onsight it someday. I popped off the final cruxy crimp, only to easily climb through it on my second go. This route has changed so much over the years, starting life as a celebrated .13a with a viscious bouldery crux. A seemingly invisible flake broke off leaving a crisp edge to null and void the boulder problem down to .12+. It then received an extension pushing it back up to .13b, until people started climbing to the right on 5.10 ground, to avoid the tiny pockets. The extensions bolts were moved to the right to accommodate the dumbed down ending and the climb has settled at .12d. Like waiting to see a blockbuster until it comes out on video and then not enjoying or understanding what all the fuss was about, I'd give it one star.

I guess I was reluctant to post cause I expected to send one of those harder routes, but it just never materialized. So there it is, much bolting and trying but not so much sending. I have finally, begrudgingly let go of the bolt bug until next year. Focus has now shifted to boulders and eventually training (yawn). Many cool new problems already with lots more to come... stay tuned.

Progression

2010-10-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

The progression we all make in climbing, may be one of the most alluring thing that draws us to this pastime in the first place. Case in point, my good friend Clint. I've known Clint for a number of years and he has always approached climbing with a massive amount of power. How many times have I heard, "Liftin' weights, will make you bigger" when complaining about my lack of raw power. Until recently Clint's power has propelled him past his climbing objectives with brute force. Thats not to say anything has changed, but he now has developed a quick sense for problem solving and experience has shown through. This has catapulted him up some viciously hard problems this year and I believe he can conquer even harder things as well, we shall see.

In the meantime, here are some highlights from the past couple of months:

Clint Cook sends the Rattler V8 (FA) from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Clint Cook on the Dimples Dyno V6 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Clint Cook sends Cherry Tree V8/9 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Clint Cook sends Ahona Verdugo V8 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Clint Cook doing The Wretched Harley V10 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

New Stuff

2010-10-11T23:38:00.000-07:00

I guess you could say that 2010 has been very productive as far as new stuff, new boulder problems that is, are concerned.

There has been a guy named Joe in town that has put up a couple of new problems one of which we climbed a month or so ago. It is on the Tads Prow Boulder and climbs the beginning of the V0, and busts left along the faint lip on cool slopers to an awkward ending. A V5 or 6 on its own, we added a lower start and a handful of hard moves on slopers to create Full Retard V7.

A week or so later we came across another steep lip traverse on the other side of the Tiger Style Boulder (or Solo Roof). Unable to determine whether this line was climbed in full, we re landscaped the beginning to allow a proper non-dab start, and came up with two endings. The left is called The Marshmallow Door V6 and the straight up is called Coke Twitch V7.

This weekend we wandered out to the Tuned Boulder to warm up and put up several new eliminates using a variety of holds that hadn't been climbed on before which was cool. I maneuvered the troops out to look at a boulder I've been calling the Caboose for years but still hadn't the vision to establish anything on. Lo and behold the lip traverse fairy had struck again leaving another V7ish gem for us to try. This one had the name and grade written in chalk "The Mongolian V5+". The grade had me chuckling. The 5+ was the calling card for sandbag back in the day. A way of saying "its harder than the established V5's in town but how much harder was yet to be determined." Of course this was before anything really hard had been completed in Cody. Here is a video of Marc riding the Caboose (pun intended) of the send train, Clint and I had started.

The Mongolian V5+ from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Speaking of hard things and new things in Cody, Kerrek Stinson has been on a tear in 2010. He has established multiple V10's and V11's, and Codys first V12 and V13. The list is too long to list them all but here are a few highlights. The Dragon Force project which is now called Living in Infamy V10 and its sister to the left Fossilized Dragon Poo V10. On the Spear Point Boulder, The Pookster V11 which is the SDS and direct start to Spear Point Crack V9, a repeat of the enormous linkup Spear Chuckin Baby Throwin Hoedown V12 established by Canadian Terry Pahallick, and BJ Tildens epic Tribal Vibrations V11. He also managed to put Down The Grim Ripper Project in the summer heat, calling it Dope As Chrome V13. Also in there, a quick repeat of Pistol Whipper V9. On the burgeoning backside, several V9's, an unnamed V10 on the Mothership that Marc repeated and downrated to V8, and a V12 which I don't know the name of on the back of the Roof Boulder. All of this sandwiched around about five weekends where he travelled to Tensleep or Lander and climbed his first 5.13, a 13b/c, flash. He also ticked 13d and 14a before retiring back to bouldering. Not bad for his 16th year... of life, not climbing.

To reinforce this posts topic, I would be remiss to leave out Drews commitment to the South side of Cedar. Despite sensitive access issues, Drew has established possibly over 100 problems to add to the 20 or so that Clint and I had put up back there. The surface just barely scratched, we are psyched!!

Visitors

2010-10-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

Drew was in town last weekend, and with him five Bozeman climbers, all hungry for some sandstone. Clint, Jason and myself offered up some direction in the form of a tour. I just love spending a day on the Mountain wandering from boulder to boulder trying to sew together the best combination of problems.

The folks from Bozeman varied widely in ability and direction from only motivated to try super hard stuff or projects to up-for-anything. So the day went, from the stacked with easy problems Fort Boulder, to the strange but brilliant Ra Boulder, down to Tiger Style, Ahona and Preclean and finishing off with some well deserved sends on the Pugilist Boulder. The highlight of the day for probably all of us was watching Clint somehow fire off the rarely repeated Prizefighter V10 at the end of the session. Normally I know when he is about to do something cool and I'll turn the camera on, but not this time, it just happened.

I managed a send of the new V6, Marshmallow Door on the back side of the boulder Tiger Style is on. We have been trying to find out who found and chalked up this steep little beast but no one seems to know. We lowered the start by relandscaping the base and envisioned two different endings a few weeks ago, Marc then sent the left line and Clint did the straight up one. Unsure as to the origin of or previous success with, we decided to name and claim FAs until we discover otherwise. Both are very good steep problems with the straight up having some dangerously sharp crimps at the end. It has yet to earn a name and goes at around V7.

The Bozeman toughies Kevin and Fletcher were enamored with my stout project on the Ahona Boulder. They worked out the moves to Ahona Verdugo V8 and Kevin sent with the quickness. They set to work on the arete project and made great progress and almost sent but not quite. This problem is super cool, a king line you might even say, that will go at around V8 or 9. There is a lower link over into the start of Ahona that should go as well at V10 or harder.

Great sessions at the Fort, Pre Clean and The Pugilist was enough to torch the entire group by the end of the day. We limped off the Mountain each of us wild eyed and crazy for food, beer or whatever else might slake our depleted bodies. Fantastic!!! Love it.

Shot some stuff, made a vid, check it.

The Bozeman Visit from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Back side!!

2010-09-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

We have been going up to the South side of Cedar now for several years to boulder. Trips prior to that were exploratory in nature and generally involved wandering around and being lost in the vastness. A few years back, Clint and I started driving to the top of the Mountain (across private property - with permission) and building a trail system down to the biggest boulders, which passed by several other piles of smaller boulders. Drew started going in from the bottom last Fall (which also includes crossing private property - again with permission, of course). He has put in many cairns and a trail through the talus, and spent many overnights camping and developing.

South Side of Cedar from the parking at the bottom

Four of us ventured up there on Sunday and I realized just how much has been done already, there are now well over a hundred problems. While the cluster of large free standing boulders has been picked over, there are still so many other sectors waiting for discovery and development.

The Red Streaky Boulder

We started at the Red Streaky Boulder as it is a good warm up with nearly perfect red sandstone. We climbed most of the main problems and Clint tried the Bird of Prey proj at the far left side of the picture above, which seems really hard. He manged to get through the crimpy powerful bottom part several times but kept failing on the short jump to the sloper. We originally placed this project at V7, but that seems a bit naive. No one else was even close.

The HP40 Boulder

The Mothership Boulder

The Mothership Boulder is probably the gem of this area. A free standing giant flattened egg, it curls under at the bottom and rounds out at the top. There are numerous18 to 25 foot straight up problems on it ranging from V0 on up. I shot some footage of Clint flashing the V5, which I think is called In Peace We Come. It has a cool lower crux, then an easier but high top out. Our group managed sends of the sandbagged V6 to the right, and also the incorrectly graded V10 and V8 right of that (they were more like V8/9 and V4).

A quick stop at a lower boulder with a crimpy V9ish thing and we were toast. The sun (nearly 90 in late September) had fried us, the rock had sapped us and the walk back down the hillside would require all the energy we had left.

All in all a great day, inspiring us to make plans to return and develop stuff closer to the car.

Clint Cook on In Peace We Come V4/5 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

She Wanted A Wall

2010-09-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

My wife has been very nice about bugging me to build a wall, and I have been putting it off. Then she got the girls on board, and I knew I could put it off no longer. So after two days of cutting, drilling and screwing... we now have our very own wall. Now I have to round up my old holds from the wall I had back in the 90's and order some new ones as well. We have 16' up and 9' wide with many t-nut holes to fill. Here are is a quick video, real quick.

Our Home Gym from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

The Sleep

2010-07-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

Another weekend, another blast over to Tensleep and back. Jason went with us this weekend and it was nice to have another adult around for kid wranglin'. We all climbed strong on Saturday with Jason flashing his first ever 12a. I ran a lap on EKV to remember what long steep and pumpy feels like, and also because someone had left draws hanging on it. I one hung it and got a great deep pump for my sixth pitch of the day.

Today a crew of us went up to the new bouldering area to check out boulders we had seen in pictures Aaron had taken a few days before. I was impressed but ultimately these are just shorter versions of what we are already finding and bolting in the canyon. In a very dense cluster of steep streaked blocs, many of which looked climbable, Charlie chose a steep bulge and began cleaning. I hopped in and cleaned a line to the right on a blue streak. Both problems came out great, climbing pockets out the steep roof with fun top outs. My buddy Drew was along and cleaned up a few lines along with Dave and Lenore who also scrubbed and climbed several lines also. It will be cool to have good bouldering in the canyon and this crew seemed psyched to ferret out the good and hard stuff.

I hustled Jason out of there but couldn't wrestle Drew away, for this was a two crag day and I had work to do. We shifted gears and marched up to Downtown for some bolt clippin'. I have now bolted and cleaned 7 routes up there, and until today had only been able to climb one. After two previous tries I did Have a Sneegar 12c first try today and flashed Floyd Direct 12a. Now I have the middle and hardest one to do and the back of the Cigar is done. I think they are all 12's and super quality pockety routes. I am eager to finish up here so I can work on the 13's I bolted on the other wall.

Ah... Tensleep

PS. The new photo I used for my title background is me on The Gravy Train .12b. This was my first route on the back of The Cigar. Thanks to Aaron Huey for the photo. BTW - this route is amazing (pat, pat), I highly recommend it and all the other routes back there.

A List

2010-06-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and things are chugging along at full speed. Work and family keeps me busy, though I have been juggling climbing and bolting in the mix whenever I can. Motivation has been high but focus has been blurry lately, probably due to a late spring sinus bug brought on by raininess and temp fluctuations. The recent heat seems to have dried everything up and my head is nearly clear now.

Many people over the years have talked about lists they have prepared to help them zero in on and complete climbing goals. I have always been interested but alas too lazy to actually compile a list. I always feel like there IS a list for me, its just not written down. Yeah right! Last summer it worked pretty well because each time I completed something, I knew right where I wanted to go next, and things moved along. This year I was having trouble knowing where to begin. So... I compiled a list. It is only for Tensleep right now, and only for the upper canyon stuff. It includes routes from Metropolis all the way up to the Whiny Baby wall. The routes are only ones I have not done and range from 5.11b to 5.13b. My list has 35 routes. I do not expect to do them all this season, but now I have something to shoot for. It feels different to have actually written down what I want to accomplish.

My fitness level is still lacking and my endurance is coming back, however slowly. I am a bit scattered in that I have been on HB&S a long 5.13 at the slavery wall twice now and my new granite route in Cody which is 5.13-. These routes both feel doable but I have also failed narrowly on two 5.12b's in Tensleep, but done everything else I have tried in one go. My power level is about as good as it is gonna get, I just need to wrap my head around fighting through the pump. Hopefully things will start to fall into place soon.

My new bolted routes in Tensleep are fantastic. I have bolted, cleaned and prepped four lines but am still trying the first and easiest(?) one. I thought it would be 11+, but 5.12b or c seems closer. I fell on the flash attempt at the last bolt and then again going for the hold to clip the anchor. Next go for sure. The one to the left, in the center of the pillar got cleaned and prepped last night and is even better than the arete line. It seems harder and more sustained. I installed two more anchors, one for CK and one for me, both just left of the other two routes. This should almost fill the backside of this formation, and there is still plenty of room on the side and front.

Charlie and JB are in full swing at the new area as well. CK has bolted and sent two lines, a 10+ and 11-. JB has bolted four lines on a different formation, one of which could turn into two pitches. I am psyched that there are over ten routes there already. I may be able to do ten myself this season. New routes are cool and fun to find and establish but they take a toll on me, cutting into climb time and wearing me down physically. It's definitely worth it though!

I have some more media and info on the local bouldering but I'll save it for a later post. Ciao!

Summer is finally here

2010-06-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

I spent a day a few weeks back climbing with my friend BJ, we tried the undone lines bolted on the granite in the lower canyon. He had his sights set on an old project called The Labor of Hate. A cool 12+ line of crimps up a steep wall to a stopper move to reach the anchors. He worked out and chalked up the line and found a plausible sequence for the final burly move. He practiced it but never actually stuck it, damn close though. I worked on the line around the corner from last fall as well hanging the draws and reworking some sequences. Unfortunately there was a key jug that had a puddle of water in it, and though it may not have mattered I didn't have the strength to power through it and just wipe my hand afterwards. Oh well, draws are hanging.

My new job has me over on the other side of the Big Horn Basin in Worland a couple days a week, developing new referral sources. This puts me frighteningly close to Tensleep Canyon which holds many lines I have yet to climb and a massive amount of virgin pocketed rock to bolt. My good friend Alli gave me permission to plant my pop up trailer in her side yard to use as a home away from home. It has become my office for work and a staging area for bolting missions. I finished equipping two routes on a steep bulging formation at a new area. One is a managable but sustained rig that will go at 12+ or 13-. The other is similar with several brutal cruxes, so probably harder. I began aiding my way up a free-standing pillar, my intent to leave a sport route in my wake and reach the top to access the other gems waiting to be bolted. These routes will be superb with unbeatable position - very psyched!!

Now that Alli is back at home, the climbing and training has begun with much vigor. She has folks staying with her already and more showing up in the coming weeks. She has draws hanging on Heart Balls and Swagger, a 19 clip long 5.13 that her beau Kevin bolted and sent toward the end of last season with James. They graded it 13c due to its length and one bouldery move. I took one run on it and climbed to the crux move only to sag and fall before even trying it. I rested and did the move. I also found an unchalked pocket that provided a workable sequence after that leads to the only jug on the upper section. It is sustained 5.12 climbing to the chains from there. I have no endurance whatsoever, so I was psyched to do all the moves, but daunted by the idea of sewing it together.

Bouldering continues to excite and amaze all who venture onto Cedar Mountain. I always try to shrug it off as the heat rises in the summer and concentrate on rope climbing, since the season is short. I am inevitably drawn back though, because the momentum doesn't fade with the locals but rather accelerates due to the longer days and cool evenings. Speaking of locals, they are all stronger than ever pushing individual limits and completing long standing personal goals and projects. I wish I had some footage of Clint mowing down all the V8's on the mountain or Kerrek completing new lines like the V11 direct start to Spear Point Crack or the left sit start to the Wilfords Wretch, but alas none was shot. Instead here is a video of Dan demonstrating that you really can climb on sandy choss, Dylan in mid circuit doing More is Better V4 and Clint sewing multiple old problems together to create something a little different.

Any Given Thursday evening on Cedar Mountain from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

My camera is busted so now I have an excuse to not post pics. I'll keep shooting with the little HD though so I'll try to post up some more media.

Charged The Drill!!

2010-05-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

Nearly two months have past since a post, Damn!! Sorry, but things have gotten hectic in several ways. First of all I started a new job and energy and focus have been siphoned away to concentrate on getting things right. A good job that pays decent is a rare thing these days, so I have been racing to get up to speed and make an impact so I can keep the position. So far things are going well. The other thing is my crappy old PC, which is creeping slowly toward oblivion. An upgrade is in the works and that should help with sound and movie concerns.

I have been climbing, quite a bit actually. Bouldering days have been fairly regular for the past two months, though the occasional splotchy weather drives me into the gym on climbing nights. I have been to the Bridge Bands on several occasions and strung up the long easy tens on the right end of the Cliff. I feel mentally solid but my power level isn't quite where I'd like as evidenced by my two days of failure on the 25' long 12c, Fossil Crack. This climb is steep with a distinctive powerful crux and reachy jug haulin before a thin crimpy sequence to pull the lip. It climbs like a V6 boulder problem. I chose this climb because I have done it several times in the past decade since it went in, and I felt it would be a good transition from bouldering to bolt clippin'. My last visit was great and I linked through the crux twice and fell higher sorting out the powerful reach moves above. I'd like to polish it off and try to finally redpoint its neighbor Bobbys Big Bulge 12d (yes that is a Bobby Model reference).

The Tensleep season is nearly upon us and I am ready to start making pilgrimages. Routes to bolt and routes to send! Syked!! I have unfinished business on the granite here in Cody as well, and promised myself to install and open at least one other route on the plug formation below the Island. Also there are FA climbs bolted and waiting that may be out of range now, but if I can get to where I was last year I may have a shot at sending.

So I dumped my bolting bag out to see what shape I had left things last fall. I use an electricians bucket which is a great durable catch-all and it does just that. The usual suspects rolled out, various bits, a blow tube, wedgies, a hanger or two, a link of chain, some spare biners, and a cloud of dirt and rock dust along with a few rock pieces. For some reason that always gets me fired up, so I began assembling the rest of the kit and making a list of stuff to buy. A few days later and all the necessary stuff had been rounded up and the drill charged. I bolted 3 last year and 5 the year before, which is good for me considering I have been juggling a family, my small business and general ennui. Wait, I'm still doing that, its just with a different job and I'm actually fired up right now. If all goes well, I should get that many or more done this year, with several routes planned in Cody and a new wall or two with Charlie in Tensleep this year.

Its not that I don't have any new or old media to share. I have shot a lot film clips just nothing I have been psyched to sew together. Last night I was at the Homestead V5, a fairly high overhung arete and at Studs V8 right next door. Between the double send train on both problems, a nearly 20 foot fall I took off the prow and the massive relandscape job done to the Studs landing Zone, I was kicking myself for leaving the camera at home.

I have been climbing with Drew a lot lately. This is probably due to the fact that he is on the mountain nearly everyday either climbing or landscaping or both, so he is almost always available. He is climbing better that ever but his perma-psych and energizer-bunny motivation isn't allowing any rest or more importantly recovery. I think I climbed 8 days a week when I was in my twenties too, so I can relate, though I understand how vital rest is. Granted I am twenty years older now and climb marginally better than in my twenties, it seems like I need 3 times the rest to really recover.

Satan's Soul V12

2010-03-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

The Hate Satan Project has succumbed to the determination of Kerrek Stinson. While I was not there to capture it on video, I'm sure he made it look easy. This problem however did not go lightly in that many attempts over multiple days went into it. This was even after the moves had all been sussed, completed, the sequences sewn together and with enough tries to pretty much wire it. It still demanded something more, like the exquisite meal that is so much more than the ingredients that went into it. Awkward yet unique in its execution, this is a fine problem that is also very hard. I did spend a morning filming attempts and sewed together a collage of moves identical to what he used for the send.

Satan's Soul V12 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

DST!!!

2010-03-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

My favorite holiday of the year. Not really a holiday but significant nonetheless because the extra hour in the evening allows for after work outdoor sessions during the week. To me, it has always signaled the beginning of the season.

A few years back (like nine) Dylan put in an order to Frank Endo Chalk for a box of seconds. What he recieved he figured would last him for ever. A giant box lined with a plastic bag of busted up chalk blocks! A treausre indeed, and it did last for quite some time. With the bouldering activity ramped up last year, he began going through his stash and passing it out to friends with great speed and kindness. Lo and behold the well ran dry and now he is out.

Enter Clint Cook, always in search of the greatest deals on the planet. After a little research on the net he placed an order for a new case of busted up seconds. I picked him up this morning for an afternoon of bouldering on the mountain and he came bearing gifts. My very own gallon zip lock bag full of chunks of chalk. Yess!! A fine gift on this most excellent of climber holidays.

Now if you climb more than once in a while you know how quickly chalk can disappear from your chalk bag. Throw in a rookie mistake here and there like kicking over the bucket or sitting on your chalk bag and spilling the whole mess (come on we've all done it), and finding a good cheap source of the magic dust becomes a must. So next time you need a fix, get some buddies to pony up for a 24lb. box of seconds and it will cost just under $100 delivered straight to your door. You will never have to be THAT guy again, you know the one who always has a chalk bag but there is nothing in it except little pebbles and pine needles.

Winter Sun

2010-03-10T19:18:00.000-08:00

Though it has been too cold and inclement for outdoor climbing for most of the winter, February wasn't that bad around here, for bouldering anyway. Most trips are usually to the sunny wind blocked Carcass Crag. Due to the flurry of recent activity several new climbs have been envisioned and a gem or two completed. I have been lazy in shooting anything down there but rest assured a treasure of an FA awaits. I hope to capture it.

Kerrek has been training with us due to the permanent demise of our local rock gym, CORE. He basically lived there training nearly every day after school for several years now and was wondering what he would do with out it. The kid is strong, he showed up and cruised our warm ups, cruised our cool tough problems, cruised our projects then went on to create a project of his own.

Kerrek has been making trips to an old project on the Hate Satan Boulder that we envisioned back when Finger Paint and the other roof problems were being established. Dubbed the Hate Satan Project, I convinced BJ Tilden to have a go at it. He made several trips and came very close but lacked a foot transition that apparently stopped the whole process. Kerrick has replicated the sequence and decided to simply campus the tricky foot work. He has done and linked all the moves and now has to sew it all together. I gave the lad a ride the other day hoping to catch some good light and a send to make some video. I did get some good video but no send yet. As part of my ongoing effort to document and publish as many Cody Boulder problems as I can stand to film and edit (if you could call it that), here is Kerrek Stinson warming up on Shiza Shiza V7.

Shiza Shiza V7 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Doin' it in the Box

2010-02-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

That's right, Box Canyon just outside of Socorro, NM. Not a destination you say? Perhaps, but I have found myself there two other times in the past two decades, always on the recommendation of a good friend who is from there. On this particular trip not only was he there with me but the catalyst for the entire trip, more like I was there with him and two other homies from Cody. We had four days to see what the Box had to offer. Our quiver included three giant crashpads and associated bouldering hooha, such as chalkpots, a variety of brushes, speakers and Ipods, green chile beef jerky, etc. In addition, I insisted we bring sport climbing stuff, cause at the box, you can do either and they're both very good.
The trip down was a breeze. We drove through the night, taking 4 four-hour shifts and were there in time to get a full day in. We hit up the warmup blocs in the riverbed right near the parking area. We then marched up the hillside to the THC wall and another wall up and around the corner. Nearly everything I climbed on was cool and needless to say I overdid it and felt trashed by the end of the day.

Dan Miller Pioneering at the THC Wall from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Another THC Wall problem from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Day two we clipped bolts at the Alcohol Wall. Dan and I struggled, er.. warmed up on the two climbs on the far left of the wall. We thought they were 10+ or 11- and it turns out the guide says 10a and 5.9. Meanwhile, Dylan and Clint warmed up on a cool climb he claimed was 10c. Dylan lead it and commented that he didn't remember it being that spicy. We all struggled through believing it was only 10c, only to find out later that it was actually 11c. Dylan kept talking about this old project through the bulge to the right. He bolted it and did all the moves but could never send it, he claimed it was probably 12+. Since the rope through the 11c anchors hung straight down the old project I figured I would give it a top rope. The moves up to the bulge are on the biggest jugs which is easy right into four super hard bouldery moves. I tried this sequence but could only do two of the four moves and couldn't link any of them. We talked to some one later on and found that this proj was sent by Timmy Fairfield and called Pimp Daddy and given 5.13d. No wonder I was getting nowhere.
We rounded the corner to the Pocket Change Wall to try the route of the same name. Dylan put the draws on in good style and 3 out of 4 of us flashed this quality route. After sampling one more easier 10 as a warm down we packed up and headed down to check out the Unbeatable boulder and several others down the drainage. No one had any skin or energy to muster much of anything but we all picked gems to work on the following day.

Pocket Change 5.11c from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Day three brought more fantastic weather, sunny but cool. Bouldering was the agenda for the day and we headed to the unbeatable to warm up. This superb stone has a steep wave on one side and a perfectly vert side on another offering a variety of easier climbing and a few test pieces. We did the phenomenal arete Pressure Drop V1, and it took us all multiple goes to fire off Lion of Judea V3, a viciously sandbagged steep juggy roof. Dylans friend Jake was along with his wife and kids. Jake is somewhat of a legend in Socorro having pulled off a mile of non-stop traversing of the streambed boulder some fifteen years or more ago. He easily hiked Jah Lives given V7 but regarded as V10 nowadays. An impressively strong dude to say the least.

After the blood was flowing we ventured further down the drainage. I had my sights set on Rubber Walrus Protector and Tyler Durden Meets Tyler Durden. My friend Eric from Alberquerque was down with his son and wanted to try another random V4 on the left on the way down to RWP. We both whacked away at it and made slow progress to no avail and ultimately decided there were better fish to fry. We made our way to RWP where people were already starting to congregate. I watched a few goes which seemed like an eternity because I desperately wanted to try this climb but secretly hoped to flash it. This one of my favorite types of climbs, an upside down compression squeezy thing, including heel hooks, toe scums and lots of slapping. I sidled down under the beast to the starting holds, knowing the crux was in the first two moves and the rest would be easier. These moves revolve around a heel hook that keeps you from swinging around, and everything else is just straight on power. We had heard rumblings of V4 all the way to V8 but no one seemed to know for sure. I almost wish I had failed because watching the crew work out the details led me to believe this was surely a classic. It fully engaged everyone that tried it and there turned out to be multiple approaches to solving this striking boulder problem.

Rubber Walrus Protector V4-8? from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

We had watched a crew the day before working this steep bulge on the downhill side of the Fight Club Boulder. The difficulties revolve around a single two finger pocket and sloping edge you get after launching out under its belly. It looked fun and powerful and from the looks of the group climbing on it, not too hard. Turns out those first couple moves were so difficult that every one in our group except Dylan and I resorted to an alternate sequence going up the side on crimps avoiding the pocket altogether. This just wouldn't do for me, being that the perfect two finger pocket is what drew me in to begin with, I had to do it that way. Perhaps the duality of solutions lent to the bipolar name of this cool problem: Tyler Durden Meets Tyler Durden V7.
After trying a few of the other Fight Club Boulder problems and getting bouted, I wandered up to Sofa King V4 to find Tom and Paul two other old friends of Dylans working the line. They were more than happy to give me some beta and I was psyched to flash it. Several other folks showed up and the pads were shifted to Dark Knight V6 and a line formed. This turned out to be another brilliant and engaging problem that seemed to take everyone a number of tries to solve, except for Jake who didn't fall or fail on anything all day long.
Day Four my friend Eric came back by himself to sport climb with me at Dirt Wall, and the rest of my crew wanted to see the streambed boulder, so we split up. Eric and I marched up to Fillet a Papillon aka: Dirt Wall, and I was happy to find routes very similar to the limestone I'm used to tugging on back home. We warmed up on New Kids 10+, then Eric moved the draws over to a short 12b called Little Caterpillar for me to try after another 5.11 to get fully warm. It went very well with two cruxy moves and the rest being straight forward enough to onsight. Pleased with that, I tried a longer 12b called Red Tag Sale, with a 5.11 mid-point anchor and was too pooped to continue past the first anchor. I finished with Dreadlock Holiday another good and long, although sharp 5.12a that baffled me two moves from the anchor.
All in all this was a great trip with good weather and the opportunity to climb everyday. We all climbed well considering climbing on real stone has been had at a premium lately. The laid back attitude of the locals combined with the killer NM style cuisine and availability of bouldering and sport climbing make this place a favorite for me. My only possible complaint was not visiting the Enchanted Tower though it was potentially snowed in and I wouldn't have traded any of the days I had in the Box.

FOCM Rides Again

2010-02-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

FOCM pronounced fok' em is an Acronym for Friends of Cedar Mountain. This benevolent and hardworking coalition was formed to clean and maintain the bouldering areas on Cedar Mountain in Cody, WY. Meetings are held Tuesday and Thursday evenings on the mountain during the Daylight Savings Time portion of the year ranging from March through November. During these meetings boulders are climbed (and sometimes moved), trash is identified and erraticated, spray, chicanery, heckling and other forms of banter are exchanged, six packs consumed and general revelry for the outdoors and the act of climbing are celebrated.

Occasionally this circus, er show, is taken on the road. Last year we headed to HP40 in a single 30 hour push to climb for a week on what could only be described as some of the finest boulders in one of the chillest areas found anywhere in the world. A great trip that predated any of this bloggety stuff for me. My friend Dylan put together a great 20 minute slide show but we didn't shoot any video.

This year we will be headed to New Mexico to partake in some bouldering around Soccoro and sport climbing at the Enchanted Tower near Datil. I have visited both before and was impressed.

My fitness is about as bad as it could possibly be right now. I have skiied a half dozen times and spent two days landscaping new boulders so my cardio and legs have seen some activity but overall I feel really weak after the two month climbing break. Since February 1st, I have had several hangboard/pull up bar sessions, one gym session, a day of bouldering and one freeze yer ass off 5.9 sport climb which combined has left me sore as hell. I will train in the gym Tuesday night and then we leave for NM Wednesday evening. I hope to feel stronger by Thursday afternoon. I'm no spring chicken any more so we shall see.

The FOCM crew has been busy bouldering in the gym and outside, weather permitting. They decided that the quality rock and caves at the base of the Carcass Crag are ripe for new development. So here is a video of one of the best and easiest new climbs churned out as of now. I managed to thrutch my way through this for a flash.

What's The Problem? V4 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

A New Decade

2010-01-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

Posting has not been a priority lately because I have decided to take a two month rest/break from climbing. I tried this last year around this time and found that 2009 was more productive than any season I can remember in the last decade. I have never really ever stopped climbing for longer than a week in the last 16 years, save for a few injuries that sidelined me. My theory is that while the muscles tend to rebuild and recover quickly, the tendons need more time. I feel all sorts of strange creaks and tweaks during the rest, but I can generally get back up to speed in a few weeks after I resume training and climbing. Also the short days, crap weather and Holiday stuff make climbing outside this time of year a struggle anyway.

I did do something different that was climbing related about a month ago. I managed to snag a job climbing an 80 foot tower and installing radio antennas to enable a local church to broadcast live programs. The existing tower a top McCullough Peaks was already packed full of antennas, wires and dishes, though I did spy a path up the west side that was easily protectable and relatively free of existing equipment. I treated it like any rock climb I've ever done mixed with some rap bolting technique as well. The task involved hauling equipment up, bolting it on the tower, wiring every thing together and strapping it all firmly to the tower. The engineer I worked with told me it would take two days of work and because I generally underestimate the time needed to do anything I set out to do, I wanted to do it in one day. The job was a lot of work though pretty fun at the same time with a killer view to boot. I worked fast but safe and managed to finish in five hours and everything now works as it is supposed to.

The two arrow-shaped antennas at the top right of the tower are my handy work.

I got Meg a hang board for Christmas. The folks over at So Ill hooked me up with a Blurr board which seems to have great texture and a variety of crimps, jugs, slopers and a pocket or two. I pulled down the old slicker-than-snot Pusher board that we have been greasing around on for years. I built a wooden mount for the new board and screwed on the old Metolius Rock Rings and a couple of Hera Climb for Life crimps to give us some more options. February 1st I'll start training and using it, Meg started immediately.

I was looking at a some old footage I shot years ago on VHS-C and decided to sew together a video of the homies and I working out Finger Paint back in the day. Its not great quality to begin with but I saved it as an AVI file and it looks like hell on Vimeo. Oh well, I 've got nothing new so maybe I'll bore you with more old stuff as I pick through it.

Finger Paint V7 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Home for the Holiday

2009-11-25T18:16:00.000-08:00

Ben and his friend were down from Billings this morning to do some Bouldering at the Sphinx. They showed up just before 10:00 am and I was a bit skeptical as to there relative comfort level as it was cold at 7:00 am when I went to work. They chose a good day though and it was soon in the 50's and sunny with very little wind. They were set on some shralpers, namely The Plague V10 and Fuck Germain V7. I wished them well and told them if they could salvage some skin I would meet them later in the afternoon at the Antelope Boulder for a session in the sun.

Unfortunately the climbs exacted a toll in skin and perhaps some blood, and the promise of Family arriving for the coming Holiday sent them packing early. Too bad, cause I rousted Clint and Jason and eventually a swarm of other locals home for the Holiday came to join in on a fine session. Clint, Jason and I hit it just about perfect, arriving at about 1:30 to revel in the sun window that lasts until 3:00. The Provart brothers caught the last half an hour of sun in time to warm up. Drew arrived with Matt and Dave Klug after shade had engulfed the boulder but this didn't dampen their spirits at all.

Clint fired off Pocahook V7 very quickly and finally sewed together the intricacies of the Run Like An Antelope Traverse V8. It seems like every one climbed or learned several new problems and even though it got pretty damn cold toward the end, we all had fun. This vid has a few highlights from the day.

Another Afternoon at The AB from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

A Few Afternoons in the Sun

2009-11-18T17:31:00.000-08:00

Minimal Climbing lately has yielded, well, not much. I have been getting out once a week though and managed to make it over to Drew's new area North of town called Dry Creek. As usual the man has been busy cleaning new boulders and landscaping landings. I got a tour of six or so new blocs all of which were pretty good. My favorite was the Ecoterrorist, a cool albeit sandy V4.

Mike Snyder on The Ecoterrorist V4 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

I went back a week later with my wife and son and added a sit start to the right of this problem that has some great movement but is marred by being a bit contrived. I think it goes at about V6, I called it the Preservationist. Yeah I know, real inventive name... not my strong suit.

Drew, Logan Shane and I got out on Tuesday this week in search of some sun. The boys had designs on projects at the Antelope Boulder and I was able to talk them into warming up at the neighboring Sunshine Boulders. After a half an hour of V-zeroing, we turned to the arete in the entry corridor and ran through these great but kind of awkward problems as well. The Antelope beckoned, so we satched up what skin was left and headed down to this beaut. Surprisingly the warm up was just about right and we all felt strong.

We all punched out Sir Hugeness and the Tuk, two of the coolest V3's you'll find anywhere. Logan was psyched to do SH for his first time and we cheered him on to top it out. As a side note, no one ever tops these problems out unless succeeding for the first time because the down climb is a pain. Drew begged some beta for the best and most sandbagged V5 in town, Meathook. I gladly sprayed him down and soon after he sent. This seemed to be one of his most satisfying triumphs yet and he humbly sat in the nook above the problem breathing in his victory. I decided it was time for a go at Pocahook, a relentless link up of Pocahontas V6 across the high V5 link and into Meathook. I had become more and more interested in doing this since it was one of the few AB problems I hadn't done, and it forces the menacing Meathook move after considerable effort to get over to it.

I climbed through Pocahontas on my first attempt and was staring up at the Meathook move quickly thereafter. I reared back and hit it and as I topped out my mind raced with what to try next. Electric Nachos, a fussy one move V9 dyno piqued my interest, and so it began. I damn near stuck it in a handful of tries, but ultimately I had to walk away. Damn that boulder is good! Even if I finish it by completing every hard problem and goofball link up I can think of, I will still return because it really is that good.

This video showcases more the setting and angle of the AB than the problem being climbed. I would like to have done the beginning again to reveal whats going on at the start during the Pocahontas part but I had lost the light, so joining different angles may have been, well... disjointed. Hope you enjoy anyway.

Mike Snyder on Pocahook V7 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

News Story

2009-11-03T11:50:00.000-08:00

Check this out. Angela Douglas from Q2 News in Billings, MT came down to Cody a few weeks ago and shot a story which aired on Sunday Night. Here is the Clip.

Some Inane Games

2009-10-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

Fall is here and mixed with totally crappy days, have been some sunny, albeit windy days. Unfortunately, I have very few windows through which I can sneak away anymore so I have to take what I can get. This has lead to some pleasant and unpleasant outdoor sessions. The Antelope Boulder is always waiting to extract skin and power, it gets roasted from 1:00 to about 3:30 with sun so it can be great on a sunny but cold wintery day. The wind tends to blow at times and due to being very exposed sitting on a ridge it gets blasted when its blowing. Clint and I were determined to get in a session so we persevered.

Cold and Windy Day at the AB from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

The Billings crew came again last weekend with Joel and headed to the Sphinx area. They had warmed up at the Toadstool before I showed up and were moving to The Spinxter and Coffee Skills when the kids, dog, Dave and I arrived. It was downright cold when the sun went behind the clouds so warming up was difficult. The rock was super sticky and I manged to do Fuck Germain V7 on my first attempt but couldn't manage Mini Cave Center V6 at all. When we joined the crew they were working on Coffee Skills and making a mess of things. This is a shitty problem that is an ass dragging lowball on shitty rock with all the good holds being off. There are rules about how it goes and what you can grab. All in all its kind of a joke, the only redeeming qualities are that its a lot of fun to climb and pretty hard too. Clint held the camera as the batterries were running out.

Coffee Skills V6 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

We went up to the Holy Horizontals Boulder and played on the brilliant V3 tummy turner of the same name. Plenty of pads made the going for the last throw pretty casual though Clint and I were the only ones who sent. The camera died as I perched on top leaving me with nothing from here on. We then turned to the V5 on the left arete, Joel was psyched to flash this problem as I think it suited him to a tee. The Hueco Wall was next and we found the Wannabe V6, V5 getting a sliver of sun - perfect. This problem is very good and though a bit tweaky, people seem to enjoy it. Art and Joel were very close but ultimately had to walk away before sending. The rest of the Billings boys took down the climbs to the right, Smiley V0 and Terrible Twos V3, then they all headed out. It was so nice at this point and my kids were having fun, Clint and I decided to do some of the roof problems on the Red Garden Boulder. A pretty damn good day.

A bit a Bouldering

2009-10-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since checking in and honestly not much has been happening in the way of climbing with me lately. A new climbing unfriendly schedule, three snowstorms with weather like February, and a cold have contributed to the decline. I have not been back to my sporty project on the granite and now fear the Bureau of Rec. may have helped themselves to my draws - bastards! It is their land and I had no intentions of leaving them there for this long so we shall see what is there when I can return. I have slowly lost my power and psych for climbing and am trying to chart a course of training activity for what could be a long cold winter.

Fortunately all is not lost, and with a call from Clint to tell me the Billings crew was coming for a Saturday session, I checked the weather and promptly secured a sitter for the afternoon (thanx Kerry!). Joel, Nate, Ben, Mike, Miles and Angela showed up shortly after 10 Saturday morning and finding 60 degree temps they were psyched. We all met at the Cornflakes boulder to warm up and though I felt my role may be more of a guide and videographer for the day, once I got warmed up, I felt pretty good and was having to much fun climbing to shoot anything. After running through the standard problems on Cornflakes we moved over to the Fishhead Boulder and did Tuna Town and The Bludgeoning, both of which are V5, one really hard and the other a gimmie.

Joel mentioned he would like to try Studs, a V8 a little higher up the mountain and with everyone warmed up, we hopped in the vehicles and headed up the switchbacks to begin our quest. Now Studs is a great problem but it sits right next to the Spear Point Boulder which is difficult to walk past with out your jaw dropping. The boys were psyched and with a quick problem spraydown and warning of small hold sharpness, they set to work. Spearchucker a great but painful V4 was first and after several successes we moved to Babies For Breakfast V7. This sandbagged sideways crimpfest repelled all but the mighty Clintone who fired it for his first time with the quickness, too bad I didn't have my camera running. We then moved to my longtime project, the Spearpoint Crack, a striking diagonal line begining in the center of the face and trending up and right. I surprised myself by doing the first move 5 out of 6 tries, which is usually very difficult for me, and of course falling a few moves higher due to my typical lack of core strength. At V9 this climb ranks in the middle of the 7 climbs on this face. Tribal Vibrations V11, the undone sit to the Crack and the right to left link up of Spear Chucker into Babies into Hoedown Throwdown (also undone) are significantly harder.

With the painfest over we headed to Studs and nestled the pads into the snow under the problem. I absolutlely love this problem, it is nearly horizontal and involves compression, big moves and slopers - dig it! I manged to do it my first try and fire the crew up, but being cold and in the shade it was gonna take a while for some more sends. Everyone had started to feel the chill and after trying a bit we decided to head down the hillside to find some sun.

We chose the Maze area and with a lot of great moderates to pick from we managed to send a number of good problems including The Gym V5, Sugar Pie V6, Medusa V5, Perseus V4, Crucified Serpent V1 and most everything on the Hueco Simulator Boulder. Also I did manage to finally shoot some vids for your viewing pleasure. Hope you enjoy.

The Billings Crew visits Cedar Mountain from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Shut Down

2009-09-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Bouldering, Sport Climbing and most other out door activities have been halted today for what may turn into a week or more of early winter. Rain and cold are supposed to give way to snow tomorrow. I am not ready for this, but alas the changing of the seasons are upon us.

I have put six tries into my granite sport route in the Lower Canyon to no avail. I have good sequences figured out and have one hung the route 4 times now pushing my high point higher each time I try it. I need to be good and rested to do this route and with regular bouldering sessions every other day I can't seem to recover enough to fire this route off. My friend Aaron took some pics the first day and made some video clips with my flipshare camera, none of which were what I was hoping for. I then tried to make a video using a tripod set up 100 feet away, this was marginally better than watching paint dry. I have excerpted some photos from the vids to spare you the agony of watching it.
The last 4 clips seem slabby, compared to the bottom, though this is not the case.Some pinches and stemming down low. Cruxy turning the lip, though not super hard, you are pretty pumped.

Again, wrestling with the lip.

I planned on climbing the Scoop route on Saturday morning, and with Clint in tow we showed up to 40 degree windy and shady conditions at the base of the route. No go for this geezer, I wouldn't even pretend to be that tough. So Clint and I raced up Cedar to join Dylan, Clint had his sights set on Two Face one of the best V7's on the mountain or any mountain for that matter. One of the warmups here is called Batman, a long V4 traverse that magically switches boulders to top out. A very unorthodox thing to do in bouldering, Cody boulderers did not invent this idea, but we definitely advocate it. People seem to hate traverses and the concept of switching boulders during a climb, too bad because this is a gem. I captured the reclusive Dylan Etscorn for his 100th or more lap on this problem.

Dylan Etscorn climbs Batman V4 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

We have been hitting up Drews new area around Dining at the 'Y'. The High Boulder, the Pioneer boulder, the Cougars Den and the Dime Lady Boulder all make worthy additions to our Boulder Garden. Also Danscaping saw multiple repeats and may settle in to the V5 range. I finally climbed on the black streak on the Dragon Force Boulder and could do it from the stand but adding a proper sit start will be damn hard. The stand has V3ish moves to get on and then a handful of big moves up runnels to the top. The Dragon Force problem itself had some action too, with Clint solving the exit which itself is a V3 sit start. You can start lower in the cave for something in the V11 range, a fine FA waiting for some big guns. Also, I shot some footage of Drew caressing the Megarete, another fine new addition.

Drew Haman climbs Megarete V2 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Drew is Industrious

2009-09-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

A week or more has passed and I have had several bouldering sessions resulting in many new problems. Drew Haman has been hard at work climbing problems he has not done, building trails and scrubbing new boulders and putting up new problems. Between Drew and Dan, it would seem we are having another surge of development which always gets me psyched!

Jason and I roped Drew into a tour of his new area the Driving Range, above and to the right of the Fort Boulder. This area was the result of trying to find a high trail to access the Fort Area from the Spirit Mountain Cave Road. Earlier this year Drew, Clint and myself chopped a new trail down through the forested hillside and into a new cluster adjacent to the Fort Boulder. As it turned out I was already familiar with the Driving Range boulders, having spied them during the trail building recon. Most are now landscaped and have established problems such as the unnamed warm up boulder, The Sandstone Pleasure Palace and the boulder now called the Country Club. This boulder had a golf ball and a driver near it when we found it hence the name. Drew had cleaned some holds and began to envision the climbs but hadn't had any success yet. We put in another day of cleaning and the sending began. Four short but good lines resulted with some variants as well. Here is a video we made.

The Country Club Boulder from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Another session above the Pre-Cleaned/Pit area with the Tuesday/Thursday crew resulted in the Megarete V2 getting a more thorough scrubbing and more sends. We also wandered up to Dragon Force and cleaned the steep arete to the left which resulted in Danscaping a short but cool V6-ish problem with a viscious slopey top out with dab potential. I went back with Jason and Dave for Jason to try it and made another video.

Danscaping V6 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Meanwhile Drew has spent the last two days hacking a new series of trails around Lewistown Pharmacy and has unearthed a bunch of new stuff to climb as well. There is a corridor in particular that I had been meaning to get back to that apparently now has several new problems. Psyched!! Fall bouldering season is gaining momentum.

On a last note I am reluctant to let the sport thing go just yet, so I finished bolting a steep route on the granite in the lower canyon. This is a line I began a couple years ago but just never got to finish it. As it turns out its quite steep with side pulls, underclings and pinches. I TR'd it today and with a little help from Meg, figured out a sequence that is funky but works pretty well through the steep scoop section. I slammed in 8 bolts and cleaned many exfoliated potato chippy flake thingies. One more day of cleaning prep and I may have a new rockstar of a climb. I sure hope I can climb this little beastie. More on that as it unfolds.

Goodbye to a friend

2009-09-17T12:55:00.001-07:00

Bobby Model passed away yesterday evening from complications due to an illness. Bobby lived an amazing life and fought back adversity from a near death accident several years ago. I was glad to have had time to get to know him over the years and am now sad I didn't visit him more often during his rehabilitation in Cody over the last 8 months. My family and I will miss his spirit and kindness. He was an inspiration in so many ways for many people. Rest in Peace

A little More

2009-09-14T17:01:00.000-07:00

I have made some peace with the demon that is my urge to climb. I feel like I have spent more time this summer chasing around trying to get things done and have found a bit of success. This in no way quenches the hunger the demon possesses, but seems to distract it for a while, hopefully enough to regroup and shift gears. This is good because as sport climbing season comes to a close, the fall chill brings bouldering season.

The boulders typically see very little change as far as our local boulderfield goes. Occasionally someone authors a new problem or cleans up a new boulder or some jackass partyers make a fire ring and a huge trashy mess (that the climbers clean up). This summer has been different and momentum for improvement has increased in the recent years. This summer has seen landings flattened, large intrusive stones are literally gone, and many new problems on old well established boulders have been opened. I am psyched for circuiting this fall and trying some new games. The 100 point V4 circuit list has been made and now we have to go put it to the test. A similar traverse circuit has been bantered about and those with a bit of endurance are eager.

After warming up the other day at the Ethiopian we wandered next door to the Starvin Marvin Boulder to run through the fun problems it offers. We had a good crew so we shot some video and though it is not in the footage I managed to snag the FA of the link up Starvin Ape which we figured at V7. I had tried this on and off over the years but could never manage the Ape Index throw after crawling down into it, I just had to dig a little deeper. Here is the clip.

Starvin Marvin Boulder from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

I took the girls to Tensleep on Saturday because Meg said she was too busy to join us. Maya wanted some proof that she had crossed a raging river on a log because a kid at school called her a liar. We made a video of her and Eden crossing and excerpted some snapshots for her to take to school. Of course I had my own agenda and knew Alli and Kev along with their friends from Canada would be there. Kevin and I both had our sights set on Bro Job a 5.13a link up of Slim Jim into Esplanada. I had watched Kevin last weekend as he worked Slim Jim and hoped the bottom would be pretty easy, and with a recent ascent of Esplanada, I was secretly hoping I could flash it. No luck, the bottom turned out to be pretty stinkin' hard and dammit if I didn't poop out a bolt from the end and got the beat down by the crimpy finish. The weather conspired against me and keeping my fingers warm was tough. I ended up taking a short run along the cliff to get my body temp up and then tied in to send it on my third try.

Linea Alba

2009-09-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Someone has given the climbing community a great gift. This someones name is Bill Davies from Molt MT, and he has created an awesome 3 pitch sport climb in a beatiful alpine setting up Rock Creek Drainage west of Red Lodge, Montana. I mentioned the remote climb to my friend Drew Haman, who has recently moved back to town, and his eyes got wide. I knew I had found a capable partner, being that I have drug him up local multi-pitch stuff before and I know he is comfortable in the backwoods, due to his backcountry skiing/suffering resume.

We blasted out of town after I finished work and were on the road by 1:00. I figured about 7 hours round trip if all went well. The drive took an hour and forty five minutes and the hike another thirty minutes. We racked up and I set off up the bolt line not knowing how long the pitch was. The beginning was a little unnerving climbing over giant slabs of hollow rock to reach the first bolt which was up 40 feet or so. Once I got onto the more solid stone the climbing got better and I found a groove and just kept moving. The pitch was about 150 feet and seemed hardest going through the small roof at maybe 5.11-. It took me a long time to lead it, more than a half hour and Drew followed taking about the same amount of time. The second pitch is more sustained though slabby with a mid 5.11 crux section and is a little more than 100 feet total length. I led this pitch as well and it took only 15 minutes, drew followed pulling on quick draws to save time since it was getting late and cooling down. The final pitch is around 100 feet and goes through a larger roof on square cut jugs, it felt like 5.11-. Drew followed and we rapped with two 70 meter ropes down to the first anchor then to the ground.

Drew following the first pitch

The techy 2nd pitch

Looking up at the 3rd pitch with a big flake and then roof

Typical bomber anchor

This route is very well concieved, well protected and has modern bomber chain anchors. I would highly recommend trying it if you are confident leading 5.11. Two ropes are required since the first pitch is so long and 18 or more quickdraws worked well for us. Though overall a bit slabby there are several roof sections to get you good and pumped. The climbing is mostly on edges of varying sizes but occassionally you find great pockets. I believe the rock is granite though it tends to appear like limestone at times. Summer is the best time of year for this route and it gets morning sun. We were on it at 3 o'clock in early September on a perfect bluebird day and it was a bit chilly.

What's Different?

2009-09-07T21:29:00.000-07:00

Another weekend in the Motherland, Tensleep. We had hoped to get out of town on Saturday morning and stay through Monday evening, but as luck would have it that didn't quite work out. I got a call from Aaron Mulky owner and operator of Core Mountain Sports to guide/teach a rock climbing class. I used to do this for Jackson Hole Mountain Guides but they downsized their Cody office to only guide mountain trips which I do NOT do. Rope gunning, hand holding and climbing lessons however, I like to do and it is pretty good money so I took the offer. This pushed our departure back to Saturday night which was no biggie since two days of pocket pulling and more recently tiny edge crimping is about all this old man can handle.

We desided to forgoe the comforts of campground camping and try wild camping. No water pump, no picnic table, parking area, no bathroom and no fees. Everyone did great but lamented the fact that I had not chosen a spot near the river, since river play is part of our morning routine. Nevertheless this was one of our better camping weekends, we had our hammock set up, an awesome fire ring and some fine food.

The French Cattle Ranch was our destination and I was psyched on trying some harder routes but nervous about the river crossing with the whole fam. As it turns out though the river is wide where we cross with both rock hoping and log shimmying, everyone did fantastic and were psyched that the hike up to the crag was so short. We warmed up on a route that was named after my eldest Maya back when she was just crawling right before she learned to walk. The route Racing Babies a fun 10b has a new start and a new finish since I last climbed it, and Meg had never done it before. We ran into several crews at this popular area including Jason McNabb from So Dak. I had met Jason on a trip to Spearfish Canyon a few years back and he was our gracious and most helpful guide for the day. He expressed an interest in bouldering in Cody, so we offered up our digs and a guided tour when he is free for a weekend this fall.

After the warmup I gave Jason a recommendation for some brilliant 5.11's over on the Back Forty Wall and we headed for the Grasshopper Wall. I had it in my mind that it was finally time to try Blue Light Special 13b. This is a route I bolted back in 2001 before any routes had gone in at the FCR, I remember being quite proud of it but knew it was going to take something I didn't possess at the time. Being that I flailed and failed on its easier brother to the right, I passed it on to Alli who claimed the FA. But something had changed this summer and after success on the route to the left I hoped I would now succeed.

I stick clipped bolt #2 since that seems to be standard protocol between gumbies and pros alike, and started up. The route is not very steep and the holds are typically single pad crimps and pockets with the occasional jug. I broke an unchalked crimp before I clipped the third bolt and took a giant whipper thus ending my flash attempt. I went into exploratory mode which is not as fun as onsight/flash mode but way more cautious and controlled. The route is demanding and has a very difficult crux 1/3 of the way up which I managed to make it through, though it doesn't really ever let up, offering one shitty rest at about 2/3 height. I worked out a plan and went for it about an hour later and fell right before the poor rest. After a little more refinement and another hour to rest I climbed through to the anchor surprisingly not pumped which was strange considering the size of the holds.

With a little encouragement from Meg I hung the draws on Kielbasa .12c and damn near flashed it. The crux is at mid heighth and has another 5.12 section above that. I managed to squeak by the hard stuff and lost my balance after commting to a high step two moves from the anchor and pitched off into space. No chalk and a hasty misjudgement contributed to that error, oh well, no one ever said onsighting was easy. Enough for one day.

The next day brought Alli and Kevin, Gilly and his wife Joyce and a guy named Dan all of which are genuinely kind and cool people. I was psyched for more and not sure whether to try Dances With Cows .13b or Slim Jim .13b which is Kevins current project. After some discussion I decided to go with Cows as it is yet another old creation of mine that I left behind for other climbers to conquer. Kevin had red pointed it recently and left a chalky trail for me to follow. He brought his drill with him as he usually does and asked me if I thought it would be okay to move some of the lower bolts around as there seemed to be ground fall potential due to poor placement on my part. I agreed with his assessment, so he set to work, fixing my prior short sightedness and I have to agree it seems much safer now. We talked about the unneccessary run out at the top of Keilbasa and after red pointing the route I hauled the drill up and added a bolt and changed out the frozen biner on the anchor.

Dances With Cows is also a really good route with a lot more big holds than I remembered. The intro stuff up the first 20 feet is really hard, not 5.11+ like the guidebook says but more like solid 5.12. I manged that bit and enjoyed the easier section above but the beast reared its bovine head back and thumped me soon thereafter. There is some very fingery hard shit to deal with before easing again to the typical Grasshopper Wall crimp and pocket ladder. I worked out a sequence or two and lowered to the ground, worried that I hadn't studied the crux well enough, but confident that I could finish it if I could somehow link past the hard shit. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting I lauched up and found a better solution for the bottom and hung on through the crazy small stuff in the middle. The end has great intermitant pockets to relax on and one test just shy of the anchors. I am very happy to have completed two of my hardest routes ever in one weekend with only 5 tries total.

The question I keep getting from people is "What is Different?" Why are you able to do this now when you could not in the past. I've climbed my hardest routes by far this season and the my hardest boulder problem in 15+ years of climbing. Well I'm not really sure what the answer to that question is. I did switch to La Sportiva Solutions and dammit if I didn't start climbing harder and more confidently the moment I put them on. I have had more time to climb this season and have been able to push myself harder so that has something to do with it as well. My kids are old enough now to drag to the crag and they and my wife have truely enjoyed our trips this summer. Having my family involved I am sure has also helped. I stopped the gym training for the first time in over a decade and though I bouldered a bit this summer I have avoided injury which has allowed me to climb at my limit. So maybe those things are the answer - all I know is I am, and don't mind being, addicted to this pastime. So I will conitue to rock climb. I have found a partner for the Rock Creek 3 pitch 5.11 sport climb and hope to do it tomorrow or Wednesday. Adios and thanks for reading.

Everyone Loves Bouldering on Granite

2009-09-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

So I planned a trip to the granite playground outside of Red Lodge up in Rock Creek Canyon because this is the best time of year to be there. Clint had asked about it several times in the last year so I knew he would be down, and I hoped some of the rest of the crew would come too. As it turned out everyone else bagged but Clint - suckers just don't know what they're missin'. Aaron Mulkey was interested in getting some pictures and the young powerhouse Kerrick Stinson tagged along with him. Our mutual friend from Billings, Joel Anderson joined us as well, so we had a fun crew despite the local Cody baggers.

Clint and I rolled up Friday night and drug the pop-top camper up the bumpy dirt road and parked it in a very unlikely spot right in the middle of all the boulders - perfect! Clint has been into stargazing this summer and has learned enough to entertain someone for hours with his laser pointer and star chart software on his ipod touch. The sky was clear and with no ambient light for miles in any direction it was pretty damn cool!

Saturday brought ideal temps and Mr. Anderson right about the time we were getting ready to begin our assault on the Landon Stones. We started with the venerable Sherman Boulder, named after the Verm himself due to the teaser pic he leaked out to one of the national climbing rags a decade and a half ago with the caption " perfect granite somewhere in Montana - I'll never tell". Actually Jon, the boulder is in Wyoming, a quick check of Google Earth confirms this. We did the classic West face V2, the Sherman Problem V5, with the sit V6, and LG's Desperate Ho's V6. All very good problems!
Clint Cook on the Sherman Problem V5.

Some rain later in the day yielded some brilliant staged photos.
Joel Anderson on the Sherman Boulder.

We made our way over to the Love Shack boulder passing by the Military Boulder cause it was baking in the sun. There are some cool slabby problems on this boulder including Hotel Lovin' V3, One Night Stand V2, Mutiny On The Booty V4 and Jump for My Love V5. We ran through all of these problems and needed a lunch break. Once finished with lunch, we decided to go for a walk through the trees to check out the rest of the less obvious boulders. This was about the same time that Mulky and Kerrick showed up, alas no break, they were fired up to get started. So it was off to the Tool Boulder to try out the Rod of Lordly Might V7 and several others. I managed to capture a strong effort on Clints part.

Clint Cook sends The Rod of Lordly Might V7 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

We bypassed some cool problems on the back of this boulder and went looking for the Cave Boulder which is a little farther into the trees. I really wanted to do this route my friend Matt Wendling had done back in '03 but I was just too wasted from everything leading up to this, plus I'm not sure I could do the crux move even if I was fresh. Oh well, Kerrick was psyched so I sprayed him down with all the beta I could remember and he made short work of it.

Kerrick Stinson sends the Cave V10? from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

We landscaped the left side of this boulder and rediscovered an old problem and a new one that we insisted Mulkey do the first ascent of. He put down his camera and obliged us, creating Mulkeys Meat V2 or 3, a funky one move crux into a juggy finish. We finished up with the Cave Route, a cool V5 that comes straight out where the V10 starts. Everyone tried it and it slowly became clear that we were all done for the day.

I brought along some Delmonico steaks for Clint and I, we made some mashed potatoes and corn and chowed down. It seemed to cool down quickly and before long everyone was tired and headed for bed. One of the nice things about camping in this wide canyon is that it stays shady in the morning until almost 9:00 a.m., and I like sleeping in when I'm camping.

As soon as breakfast was done and the sun hit the boulders Kerrick was ready to work on the Assassin a cool and involved V9 that seems to keep getting harder as you go. Its about 10 moves long and has both open hand slopers and small sharp crimps. This was another one on my to do list, but I just wasn't feeling it so I went for a hike to check out a few boulders up on the hillside and an impressive crag at the top of the talus field. Here are a few pics from the hike.

The 300 foot tall granite crag, notice the boulder in the lower right corner of this shot, it is the one below that Clint is standing under in the next picture.
Impressively large and featured - maybe the next generation will solve this one.

Here is a shot of our camp right in the middle of the boulders

When I got back down to the valley floor young Kerrick was very close to solving the Assassin. I snapped a series of pictures and he fired it off shortly after.

We hiked up the road a bit and played on a roadside boulder and ended up doing 5 good problems on it. I am sure I've climbed on this boulder before but I have no idea what the name is. The problems are V1 thru V6. We drove up to Leif's House, another absurd name for an area, to find the Buddha Room Boulder. Near the end of the road, this large Bulbous Boulder has a rad V6 called the Bodhisattva on the front side. We dispatched this cool fright fest and set to work on an extension to Siddhartha a V2 that just ends to early. Unfortunately an alpine storm blew in and chased us back down the canyon to tear down the pop-top camper before it was soaking wet. We made it just in time, hooked the trailer up and eased her back down the bumpy road whence we came. The end of another rad weekend.

Incidently the Red Box Car, an old converted rail car, along side of the highway in Red Lodge has some tasty and cheap victuals if you ever you find yourself with a powerful hunger as you motor through town.

Although I didn't accomplish either of my ultimate goals for the weekend, the high end V climbs I hadn't yet done, I felt satisfied with my climbing and racked up 66 points on Saturday and about half that on Sunday for over 100 points for the weekend. Also Joel clued me in on the location of a 3 pitch sport climb that I was able to locate with my binoculars. Now I just have to find some psyched partner to drag back there and bag this gem. Heres a photo of the Line.

One more before the Road

2009-08-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

Now it may come as no surprise to any of you that know her, so I'll just say it " Alli Rainey is one tough Mofo!" Don't believe me, check this out.

Alli Rainey on Galactic Emperor 5.14a from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

No, she is not sending but this whole effort was done with two falls. She cruised the first boulder problem which is like V9 and fell at a reachy section that plagued her back when this route was only Sky Pilot .13+. Now it has three more clips and another heinous boulder problem near the end, which she nailed as well. She is very close and it will most likely go down this season.

Chuggin Away

2009-08-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile since I've posted anything, climbing or otherwise. In fact there have been two moderate days at the Island, two trips to Tensleep and two bouldering evenings on Cedar Mountain, one finished kitchen, one torn apart and one appeal to the City Council since the last post.

Two weekends ago was the last family outing to Tensleep. We harranged some friends into joining us and had a mess of kids in tow. Wouldn't you know it we picked the rainiest weekend in the history of rainy weekends to try and pull off camping and climbing with that many kids. Stir crazy would be a word that could be used to describe this experience, soggy, flooded, condensation, waterlogged are others that come to mind. Fortunately the sun came out Sunday by late morning and afforded us a little salvation. We headed up to the Wall of Denial and climbed two chunky and funky 10's ala Mr. Kardalef. I hopped on an old Stan Price .12a called Speak of the Devil and realized by the 3rd bolt that I never wanted to touch this route again so I had better not fall. Old skool rawl 5-piece bolts siliconed to the rock and spaced way too far apart at the bottom and way too close together up high were the theme here. I've climbed some excellent SP routes and this was not one of them, in fact it scared me away from the 130' long 12+ namesake route to the right. Enough for one weekend.

The following week saw a trip to the Island with Mikey and Jason. We strung up a cool 5.9 called Feeling Alright and then turned our sights on the classic V4 boulder problem, Kirts Corner right next door. Jason would love to climb the route Horn of Plenty .12a that extends up and out of this problem. After a half an hour or so of work, he had it wired. During this process I asked him to shoot a vid.

Mike Snyder on Kurts Corner V4 at The Island from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

We then headed to the back of the Island for Mikey to lead Illegal Dihedral one of the best 5.10's that I have done anywhere. I figured if he could pull it off, it would be great for his confidence. I hung the draws for him so he could steal some beta, and he nailed it in great style.

The following weekend Meg and I planned to go to the Crazy Woman crag up on top of the Big Horns. I had finally located it the previous weekend in the rain with the boys during an exploration drive up Hazelton Road. Unfortunately that didn't materialize and I ended up flying solo over to Tensleep instead on Sunday to meet up with Alli and Kevin. Since all of their house guests were gone, I had them all to myself, which was nice cause I haven't climbed with them much this summer. They showed me the new trail into the French Cattle Ranch which gets you there in about 1/3 the time as from the main parking area. One caveat, you have to cross the river on a fallen log, pretty casual this time of year, not so in the spring though.

The ten minute hike in had me staring up at Esplanada a route I bolted years ago, in fact the first route bolted in the FCR. The grade has bounced around a bit over the years since the original Wutang sandbag .12b was hung on it, it seems to have settled in at .12d. We warmed up on the diminutive Little Smokey a three bolt .11a with a hard move off the ground. Apparantly the proper warmup is to lead it and then run two more laps back to back with no rest in between. It was fun and effective as I now felt ready for Esplanada. Someones draws were hanging which was nice, Kevin said they had been there all summer and the route had seen a lot of traffic. He asked if I needed any beta, I said I remembered it pretty well though as we discussed some key points I learned that people were now using the rose move sequence between the 3rd and 4th bolts because it made the clip easier and it was cooler that way. I smiled because that was the way I intended the route to go and the first ascentionist found a direct sequence with a shitty churt piece that screwed up the clip. With Kevin on belay I started up and the route just flowed pocket after pocket and before long I was at the top struggling to remember the crimpy exit sequence. Kev yelled something about standing on my feet and I realized he was right and adjusted my foot placements and it all fell into place. What a great route!

Alli and Kev whacked away at Galactic Emperor .14a which is the extension to Sky Pilot .13c. SP is another sandbag route that finished in the middle of the wall, it starts with a V8 or 9 boulder problem and is .13a after that to the low anchor. Three more bolts now take it to the top of the wall and through another hard boulder problem at the end. Apparantly the hook making up the other side of the low anchor had to be removed as it was catching climbers knots and harnesses, so only a single chain remains as the 9th clip. It can still be done as Sky Pilot but will probably always be taken to the top from here on out. I belayed Kevin on his second go of the day, and after working out some key beta on the previous try, he fired it off with some very loud and determined breathing. Very impressive to say the least, I'm sure Alli will send soon as well.

Kevin has been using Sugar Mama a sharp climb with tiny holds that is graded .13b as his second warmup. The first half is very easy and the second is very balancey and reachy. He falls every time and still hasn't red-pointed it yet, though he isn't trying very hard. I was thinking of trying it since it was drawed up though I changed my mind after looking at his mangled finger tips. I decided instead on the climb to the right the brilliant and deservedly popular Super Mama .13a. Kevin sprayed me down with some key beta as he had done the climb this season and belayed several people on it also. I went for the flash and fell about half way up, half way through the business section. The rest is no picnic either though it was easier and felt manageable. I decided on my second go to try and sprint it since the bottom 5.11 felt easy and if I could get through the hard stuff I thought I'd be home free. Not the case, I did make it through the tough stuff only to come flying out of a big pocket on a long move above that. Alli shot a video with her camera.

Mike Snyder on Super Mama 13a from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

A little more study and a new plan was the formula and I fired it on my third try. There are two good rests, one below the .13a section and an even better one below the last .12 part at the top. I took them both and it was the ticket - my first bonafide Wyoming 13a. Quite pleased with our individual performances we hiked out and went back to the house for a delicious meal.

The bouldering crew presses on each Tuesday and Thursday evening and I'm beginning to become interested again. I joined them for a Thursday evening session though abbreviated by a prior obligation by my child's school. I only had a thirty minute window before dark. I wanted to help Jason out with Billings Shopping Trip a cool and kind of long V6 on the Good Foot Boulder. Of course I had my own agenda as well, a project that I still haven't decided on a good name for or if it is an eliminate. I was able to convince Dan and Clint to come along for the fun and we all set to work. I have tried this project on several occasions in the past and was still unsure how the upper moves were going to go, but I new it was all there. With Dans urging and ample pads I managed to hang on to the tiny side pulls and get the send. I think it checks in at V7 or 8, harder than BST but easier than Arizona Heat V8, all of which are on the same boulder.

This past Tuesday night was a mob seen with ten dudes and one girlfriend. It turned out to be a great session with lots of problem tried and sent. We started at the Bat Cave, moved to the Good Foot and then on to the Cozzens Boulder. At the end of the session I added up my V-points earned by completing each unique problem I did and came up with 26 for the 5 problems I completed. This little game seems to be gaining popularity as I troll the web, so I thought I'd give it a try. It got me thinking that this may be a good way to stay motivated and in shape for the upcoming season. I have set a goal of 50 points per session initially. This means I'll have to do somewhere between 8 and 25 problems per visit to the mountain to maintain my set goal. Considering we choose different sectors each time we head out this may be more difficult some nights than others but we shall see. Just something to help me stay on task.

This weekend we are heading to Red Lodge for some granite bouldering. I am excited for some cooler temps and a few projects that have shut me down in the past. Good friends and two days of pullin down should prove fun. Adios

Week Day Fun

2009-08-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

How bout that, I finally had a climbing week in Cody! Tuesday night bouldering with the boys brought us up to the Fort area. There are new boulders and newish problems plus a bunch more development that needs to be done there. I was excited that the prevailing winds had blown the crew up there and that no one had even shoed up by the time I caught up with them. We rolled a large boulder out from the base of the Fort, one of the last that needed to go as it is pretty much flat all the way around now. We all warmed up and pretty soon Dan had directed the crowd toward the V4 dyno Trebuche. I videoed everyone trying from a couple different angles then thought I caught Dan succeeding, but couldn't locate it when I got home. Bummer, that would have been fun to sew together.

We wandered next door to the Ra Boulder and Get Your Spoon On V4 was first up. This is a very involved problem with several tricks that need to be discovered for a send. Clint and Dan and Jason whacked away at whilst I videoed and I caught a pretty good angle of Clint sending. Dan pointed out the obvious sit start to Ra Nights right next door. Strange how Jrow and I never noticed it before. I was immediately psyched, dropped the camera and started brushing. I nearly flashed it for the FA but fell half way up Ra Nights. I was able to pull it out second go and it seems to bump the grade up to maybe V6.

Get Your Spoon On V4 from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

It was close to sunset and I needed to manuever the troops around to the other side of the boulder, to my main objective Flash Of The Blade V7. Fortunately a cool somewhat scarey V2 called Purple Cobra is right next to it. I figured with all the pads and a little prodding we could lauch the send train and sure enough everyone but Jason flashed it. Finally to the Blade, this is an approximately 4 year old Victor Blanco addition I have always wanted to try but never have due to different lame excuses. It is a jump start problem with side pulls, its tenuous and kind of low percentage. It took many tries but I was able to send as we lost the light. Sweet!

Thursday came with a text from Dave Klug about bolt clippin at The Island our local granite sport crag. All summer I have declined due to being busy tiling and remodeling a kitchen. I finished the other day so I was free and Meg had secured a babysitter because she was kayaking with a friend and knew I wanted to climb. We warmed up on a cool 5.9 and went into the back to do some of the cool long 5.11-'s. Clint had showed up to round out our party of 3, which was cool because David had his sights set on Certain Damage a very difficult 5.12b and I wanted to go have a look at Redhead 5.12d. This climb is the only one at the Island I hadn't done and not for lack of trying, it had always shut me down. I hadn't tried it in many years so there was not much beta left floating around in my head. Once again with the light fading on me, I went for it knowing I would only have one chance. Holy shit! What a fight, I made it through the steep tiny crimps at the bottom and rested in the middle for the mind fuck 5.11 at the top. I climbed slow and methodically and after about 20 minutes arrived at the chains. Now I need to bolt some more.

Off to Tensleep today for two weekend days.

Nowoodstock Festage

2009-08-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

No climbing whatsoever this week. Much rain and busy-ness conspired to keep me occupied and off the rock this past week and I felt really well rested heading back to Tensleep for yet another weekend of blissful pocket pullin'.

We had many friends from Cody joining us for camping, music festivities and climbing this weekend and we headed over early on Friday to try and secure some campsites. Fortunately a site over in Tensleep Campground that stays cool in the morning was open so we snatched it up. This site is desirable because it has its own private creek for the kids to play in and several tent sites as well as a long driveway for the camper and extra vehicles. The walk in sites in Leigh Creek Campground were open and I directed Pat L. from Cody there. He decided to take both knowing that more folks would be showing up and it made a good home base for his crew.

Mikey and his kids were there Friday night and due to overcast skies Saturday morning we were able to head up to the crag early. The Cook family arrived in the morning and after a quick tent set up Clint was fired up to climb. We headed to the Mondo, as I had my eyes on Screaming Night Hog .12c and Aunt Jemimahs Bisquick Thunderdome .12d for today. I warmed up on Mommas Meds .12a because its short and has a quick powerful crux with good holds. Clint was psyched to try and flash it but failed at the last hard move. David and Ben walked up and were interested in trying the climb as well. David studied it and after a few questions went for the onsight - I made a video. I am not really concerned with polishing up my vids with music or anything fancy right now so here is the raw footage.

David Klug onsighting Momma's Mental Medication .12a at the Slavery Wall in Tensleep Canyon from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

While Clint put the wraps on the 12a I went over and got on Night Hog. I usually try this route from the Schools Out/Jackabite intro as it is a lot more fun, though the route was intended to go up the slab to the left. I felt like I had a good shot at sending quick so I did the proper start hoping to only have to climb it once. The bulge is really quite easy with deep pockets leading to one stopper move. I almost pitched but managed to stick the awkward move and actually clip the last bolt. As I clipped the chains I was already studying the cruxy move on Thunderdome as it finishes on Night Hog also. I remember struggling with that move years ago, though today it looked manageable. After an hour of rest Clint belayed me and I sent it 1st try.

Reveling in my successes my wife reminded me that Gold Member 14a was the next route for me to do at the crag. Great! Only 5 grades harder than what I have been concentrating on consolidating this summer. What the hell? Alli asked me to remove her draws if I decided to get on it, so I went for it with her assurance that I could pull on quickdraws through what I couldn't climb. What a stunning route marred only by the shitty 40' of slab you have to start out with. Steep awesome pockets lead to a very difficult move using a 1/3 pad intermediate to set up for a big throw. Not happening, I pulled through on the draw right into another crimpy sequence leading to a weird side pull. This is the set up for another move I almost did but not quite. Another 4 or 5 bolts of really fun thought provoking 13a that is easy to mess up leads to a kind-of-topout and the anchor. An eye opener for sure, I felt like I could possibly do the two hard moves and definetly wire the upper section. I will marinate on that experience until a later date.

We ran down the trail and raced back to camp to change, cleanup and grab chairs for Jalans performance at Nowoodstock. The man is truly a professional and dazzled the crowd with a too short set due to a short time slot. The music afterward was not anything I was interested in and the kids were tired so we drove back up canyon to our little villa in the woods. We built a fire and settled in for the evening, quite satisfied.

Sunday morning brought coffee, delicious bacon and eggs, plans for an FCR day and keys locked in the car. WTF? This unfortunately would uncontrollably alter our plans for the day. A friend from Cody drove a set of keys over late in the afternoon and saved our asses. Meg and Julia took most of the kiddos to the park to see Sundays music lineup and the boys and I marched up the Leigh Creek Trail. We ran into a group of 7 or 8 that had tackled a cool steep charlie .12a at the lower Psychoactive Wall. They had the draws hanging but no one was climbing or even waiting to climb it, so we asked if we could run on it, they were very accomodating. I asked to borrow a harness and Mikeys size 11 slippers for my size 9 feet, because all my gear was locked in the car. My feet flopped around but managed to stick well enough to get the onsight. I belayed Clint as he easily soared up the route too. Feeling satisfied clint and I ran off down the trail with little Sarah on my shoulders to find the Haunted Wall.

After checking out this diminutive but intriguing wall we marched back to the Godfather Boulder to find Mikey finishing up one of the best steep 5.10s in the canyon. Hell yes! we want you to leave the draws. I did it in my tennies and Clint ran a lap as well. Good enough for a f'ed up day we headed for town to find the women folk and tribe of kids. We caught the end of Jalans set, more (now very cheap) concession food and a couple very light beers. The road home is quick after a good weekend and before I knew it I was backing the trailer into the driveway.

We saw so many people we knew this weekend, non-climbers and climbers alike and it was great to catch up however briefly with each of them. I brought the kids gear with me this weekend and my daughter Eden was excited to climb. We set up some easy top ropes and let all the kids play, though not nearly as amazing as the 60' rope swing we set up last weekend, but fun nonetheless. Also James Litz has struck again sending one of Kev's new projects at the Superratic. F'ed in the A, right of Pick Pocket is apparantly 14b, the first of the grade in the Canyon. Good onya!

Pushing It

2009-08-02T21:55:00.000-07:00

The week flies by with endless perfect lattes and kitchen remodel stuff and I barely realize I'm working. Maybe I'm only resting, yes that's it, I'm resting in preparation for the weekend. The Tuesday and Thursday evening bouldering sessions come and go and I could care less, for my focus has narrowed to achieving some long sought after sport climbing goals.

The Thursday get together included plans for a rad dyno problem called Fuc%ing Death V5 which is quite a stunner, I had to tag along. DMiller has been trying this problem, and with a little tinkering with the already benign landing has made it even safer. I shot video hoping for a send but to no avail. I encouraged Clint away from this highly improbable for a shorter guy dyno, toward its crimpy and powerful brethren Life Wish V8. I knew this climb was his cup of tea and unfortunately put the camera down right before he sent it. Bravo Clinton!! Good on ya. We marched over to the Contact Boulder where more landing tinkering had revealed a better intro on slopers to 3-2-1 Bombtrack V4. With a bit of grunting I pulled through to connect and send the new problem at V5 or 6. Dan immediately dissected it adding different holds and two alternate endings. C'est La Vie. This is just one more boulder that for years had only a handful of problems and now has so many cleaned holds and options we can't count all the variants.

Kids, Food, Trailer, Wife, water - off to Tensleep. A dreary Friday reminiscent of any day in February had me wondering what the other side of the basin looked like. A quick call to Kev allayed my fears, as the weather was fine in the Canyon. I packed the drill bag the night before and planned another Friday Bolting Blitzkrieg with my sights set on a short steep roof left of Papa Knows Best .12d. We got a primo campsite near the river and tucked in the trees, set the trailer up, got everyone situated and I was off.

I didn't even get to the crag until after 6, but was excited to bump into Micah and Colby from Casper along with Doc Tom R from Lander who were packing up as I hurriedly unpacked my junk show. I stick clipped up and swung over, and was happy to find bomber juggy pockets so I slammed in an anchor and began cleaning and exploring the tiny roof. Ambitously but naively thinking I could start and finish in two hours, I began to realize daylight was fading and the secrets hadn't all been unlocked. Blast!! It would have to wait until tomorrow. Oh how obsession is a naughty mistress and the nights I've spent agonizing over an unfinished route are truly cruel. Marky D. caught up with us raving about another 5 star steak meal from the Tensleep Salon and we drank and told stories around the campfire.

Saturday brought perfect weather and an opportunity to get up to the crag early with Mark as he can't sit still long enough in the morning to wait for the cliff to go into the shade. Brilliant! I could finish the route before my kids and other climbers showed up. Things went as planned and the hordes of people that showed up that day was impressive. The new route which was to potentially be for my wife turned out to be a bit on the bouldery side with a cruxy but short V4 after interesting 5.9 flake climbing. More than she wanted to deal with, I flashed the 4 bolt route and we called it Mommas Mental Medication 5.12a. I watched Mark, Mikey and Meg flounder with the tough section and though I intially thought 5.11 something, I think .12a is about right. People love short 12a climbs so we shall see what happens.

My real goal for the day was Aaron/Alli/Gilly's new route Crown Prince Abdullah .12d. I wanted to check it out and hoped it would suit me. Lucky for me Micah was there and also hot to trot for this new addition to the crag, he hung his draws on it. I watched like a hawk gleaning as much minutia as I could knowing I might have a chance to flash it. I had already watched a handful of people try, redpoint or flash this route and knew about as much as I felt I needed though still apprehensive about the bouldery crux at the end. As luck would have it, I pooped out up high at the last crux wrestling with the tricky footwork and gave up unable to recover. It was a pretty good fight and after hanging for a minute and discussing options with Micah, I worked out the sequence and felt confident I could do it if I could get back up there again. After about two hours I warmed up again on Mommas Meds to get my draws off and went for it. I climbed the lower boulder problem quickly and only took one short rest then launched into the upper crux. Before I knew it I was clipping the chains and already planning which other routes of this grade range I might try next.

Here is a video of Micah on his best burn of the day on Crown Prince. Its not a redpoint but I sewed together the pieces eliminating rests and a fall from the upper crux.

Micah on Crown Prince Abdullah .13a from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

After a fine feast, some beers around the fire and a kid puking incident you don't want to hear about, we all headed off to bed. I awoke the next morning to the sound of someone or something banging on the camper right under my head. I ran out half naked to find Mikeys kid Danny with a stick and a rock in hand and a big grin on his face. I shooed him away back to his campsite only to realize I promised to make coffee for the troops in the morning and they were already up. Damn! I forgot to fill the water jug the night before.

Meg wanted more time on the ultra-goodness that is Circus in the Wind .11b and I realized maybe Circus in my Pants .12d, its neighbor might submit with some effort, so off to the Circus Wall we headed. This particular 12+ had damaged my fragile feelings on both prior seasons and I wanted revenge. Same as previous sessions I put the draws on CITW and swung over to draw up CIMP and have a quick refresher. Now the Circus Wall has a different sun aspect being on the back side of the main cliff, so its sun/shade schedule is different. It goes into the sun at around 3 o'clock, so morning is the best time to be there. We warmed up then prepped the climbs we wanted to do and I waited for my turn. It was close with the sun only a few feet away from the wall I knew I would only have one shot. Fortunately things went well and I fought through to clip the chains. I now only have one hard climb over there left to do and a handful of easier ones and I'm done with that corridor. Woohoo!! Progress!!

Our expeditiousness today put us at the TS Saloon salivating over the pizza menu only to find out we were too early. They hadn't even fired up the pizza oven yet. Shit! That place is expensive when I have to order individual meals for each of us, a pizza is much more cost effective and filling.

Next weekend is the Nowoodstock fest and hopefully we will have many Cody friends joining us for climbing and live bluegrass and dancing. Hope to see you there.

Demons Driven Back

2009-07-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

Last week was a blur with my friend Marc in town for his B-day gala week long its my birthday bitches fiesta celebration. Of course this takes place mostly at my house. The Monday night BBQ was definitely ramped up a notch or two from the previous week and included wrestling, slack lining, and a late night showing of Grandmas Boy. I do have a video of the wrastling but promised not to show it. Sorry.

Thursday seemed much more subdued, the actual Birthday day, with just Marc, Clint and I and a bottle of Jamieson. Oh lord, frickin wrestling again. This time I was suckered into getting involved in the fun. A bruised eyebrow, broken pinky toe and many scrapes and bruises later we had had enough. Actually a pretty fun evening, stupid injuries aside. We waved goodbye to uncle Little Marc and went back to our 'normal' lives as he returned to whence he came.

Ten Sleep here we come; climbing gear-check, camper-check, kids and wife-check and we're off. First up a better camp site that is closer to the river and is shady until late morning, perfect for sleeping in. Next up, check out new Charlie routes in Antarctica. Then on to the Proj and finally a leisurely day at the Circus Wall.

The new Charlie routes were woefully underestimated by mine self. They looked short and even though I couldn't even count all the bolts, I grabbed every draw I had brought. CK's bolts are usually close and plentiful which is nice. These things were long and involved, very tricky down low and rather continuous which belied the 10 and 10- written in chalk at the base. 13 clips later I was clipping the chains. Damn! Quite the warm-ups. Meg TR'd both and after some initial griping bucked up and finished each.

On to the project. On the way over to the climb I asked the girls to think of a name for the new climb should I finish it today. Much hooha was bantered about but nothing struck me exactly what I was looking for. Meg laughed and said you should call it Papa Knows Best. That was it, and as I pondered the name while shoeing up I relaxed a bit. I pulled on climbing strong through the bottom boulder problem and executed the new move beta I worked out last week on the next section. I took a well needed break to slow my breathing, then punched it through the next crimpy part and was too psyched to stop at the big undercling, so I blitzed through the tiny pockets crux nearly pitching off the small pinchy hold and before I knew it I was clipping the anchor. Wow! Glad to do it quick today and be done with it. Grade wise I'm not so sure. 12+ seems like the right ball park, though I would like some input from Alli, Kevin and Jeff.

Day two brings more sleeping in. How frickin cool to be camping and not have the sun roast you out of your nest. Also more river play with the kiddos and a scorching hot hike up to Circus Wall. Meg was hot for Circus in the Wind 11b and I had no firm plans other than to rope gun for her and entertain kids. We ran into Marky D. who was with Mikey from Thermop and his two young kids. I wandered up to the new Hitchhikers Guide Wall and was able to convince the crew to stomp up to try these short and cool looking routes. Kitty Improbability Drive 10+ was a super climb which felt more on par with White Buffalo 11b another short fantastic CK route. After everyone ran on that one the boys had to go so Meg and our crew strolled back down to the Ice Plant/Ravens Wall areas. Meg lead the steepest route there and though complaining about her head climbed strong between the bolts, conquering fear demons is no easy task. I realized Fun Stripe .11d was right behind us and with Megs urging I decided to give it a whack. For the 7th pitch of the day I still felt pretty strong and was able to onsight it, barely clinging to the multitude of tiny pockets on the steep section down low.

Once again a lack of media this time due to forgetting my cameras. Apologies.

A Whirlwind

2009-07-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

With Summer in full swing, we are busy! The shop is raging along and Meg and I are busy with side work projects as well, but when has that ever meant there wasn't time for climbing.
The success of our first family weekend camping in Ten Sleep prompted an even longer weekend, Friday through Sunday. I charged the drill packed an extra rope and all the required steel. So many routes have gone in this year, everyone is psyched and some real good 'fill-ins' have been put up. The vibe was apparently infectious enough to spur me into taking on another long route requiring lots of cleaning. The new rig took an evening and most of the next day to prep and its a doozy. It seemed easy enough to maybe send quickly, being that there aren't really any stopper moves. I tried it right away and was shut down. It gets bouldery up high and the clips are farther apart due to the lack of clipping stances. Oh yes and it overhangs nearly 20 feet in 85', with no vertical sections. Perhaps I underestimated a bit and have had six runs on it with no success yet. It is mentally and physically taxing yet still a lot of fun and I am still psyched on it, so hopefully everything will fall into place this weekend.

The local posse is still bouldering religiously every Tuesday and Thursday evening despite the smarmy summer heat. I am so not psyched about bouldering right now, yet hanging with the homies is always a kick, plus there is a movement towards landscaping right now. It is interesting how this has slowly gained momentum over the years and is now gradually reshaping the landings of many of the frequently visted boulders. Controversial perhaps yet almost unanimously appreciated.

My picture taking has reduced to nothing and I can't seem to shoot a video of anything worthwhile, so I have nothing to post on that.

On the local news front the boys are polishing up boulder problems they have been working for a while. Oh, and with the dangerous rock removed from the landing of the Orange Ripple Boulder, the Problem Ancient Sea of Fire now goes straight up as a dyno without much anxiety. We ran the train on it the other night, it seems like V5 or 6 and is way more fun than the original shoulder wrenching method first used. Props to J-Tow for snagging what I think was the FA of the direct line a few years back before the landing was fixed. Also Kerrick Stinson got the second ascent of Prize Fighter the supposed V10 sit start to the Spugilist. LG got the FA years ago due to his brute strength and enormous wing-span. Kerrick worked something different out, so I am psyched to have a look. Also he has finally found the brilliant and clandestine Clam Shell boulder which should keep him busy for a short while.

Gravity Must Be Turned Down

2009-07-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

Another super 4th of July Ten Sleep weekend!! This year Meg and I scrambled through the insanity of the shop on the 4th, loaded up the kiddos into both vehicles and towed the new (to us) pop-up camper to Ten Sleep to catch the end of the not so climbers Festival. We decided to camp at Allis house to give us a trial run at camping before parking it in the woods for a weekend. All went well and we were basically in town for the festivities the night of the 4th and for the Jalan Crosslan show on the 5th.

We took the whole family up to the crag both days and they all did great. Meg got on Schools Out .10d, and would now like to lead it, which is good cause her training assignment for next weekend is to fall on lead. This is a great route to practice falling on, being very steep towards the end.

I was excited to try Calm Like a Bomb .12d and after warming up on a new route of Hueys to the right, I went for it. The Bomb is route I bolted maybe 8 years ago and couldn't do quickly, so I walked away from it distracted by other objectives. Dan Miller was psyched about the line so I offered it up to him, and he fired off in a few sessions. I hadn't even tried it since. I had a sneaking suspicion that now was the time and sure enough it went on my first red point burn. I had forgotten how cool this line was, with giant, deep jugs for the first 7 clips and then 2 boulder problems seperated by some decent pockets and a great cryptic reachy finish. I was pleased to put the wraps on that old dog to say the least.

The girls caught a snake with a friend of mine and Ripley covered himself with dirt.

Dirt Boy from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

The girls insisted late in the day that we go and find Charlie. Now mister Charlie Kardalef has rightfully garnered some fame at the old Sleep bolting many high quality lines over the years, but my girls love him because he is so good with kids. They are just drawn to him. Meg thinks its his bushy eyebrows. Nevertheless we hunted CK down, and after hugs we headed down the trail and back into town.

After dinner, Maya and I walked downtown to see Jalan Croslan play at the Big Horn Mountain Stage. Truly a treat Jalan is, and the place was packed with mostly climber trash. Which means about 40 of us had him all to ourselves, we danced and whooped it up. What a great show!

My Home is on the Big Horn Mountains by Jalan Croslan from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

Afterwards I walked back to Alli's house to visit with Alli and Kev and their house guests Jeff and Gilly and to find out how their day went. Come to find out that James Litz, the powerhouse Southern boulderer was in town and having his way at the Superratic. Apparently he mowed down everything there in two days and set his sights on the old He Big 'em project. Kev tells me it took him five goes and believes it to be 5.14a which would make it the first bonafide 14 at the Sleep. Nice work James! Now if they can just drag him up to the Temple to send the really hard stuff. Yes, its bolted and waiting.

The next day we made breakfast and got away a little earlier so we could go play in the river before hiking up to the crag. The river was still raging and cold, hopefully it will settle down a bit in the coming weeks, because you can't really play in it when its that agitated. We skipped rocks and dipped our heads and it was off to the Superratic.

We ran into our new friends Matt and his son Stefan on the trail as we were applying bug spray to keep the flying oil rigs away. We sprayed them down too, and gave them directions as they were headed where we were going as well. Young Stefan is 12 and super strong sending Happiness in Slavery 12b in two tries and would flash the Behemoth .12b, a little later in the day. The Superratic has really come into its own over the last year or so with Kevin cleaning up and rebolting all Matt W's old destroyed lines and adding several new ones too. There is now a high concentration of 13's (5) and 12's (5), and with all the letters being represented there is also a wide variety, pretty cool.

My sights were set on The Hellion .13c and Kyberspace .13b. The former is a long term proj that should have gone down long ago but alas... and the other is newer and could be well suited to my strengths. After warming up on Leggo My Guano .10b with Meg, we both took a lap on the uber pocket fest The Great White Behemoth .12b. Meg commented that she felt she fought equally hard with both, hmmm... Jeff and his partner Nick had the Hellion strung up, so after watching Jeff send it smoothly I felt inspired and a bit saucy. I launched up and climbing too fast, blew it on a key new piece of Beta, which incidently works better and will save several very tenuous moves. I immediately pulled back on and did the move and nearly climbed to the rest several bolts up without incident. My forearms were tired and went into flash pump mode which forced a rest. The rest of it is easier, and all in all it felt pretty good. I will continue trying it for sure, it is easily one of the best routes I've ever bolted and someday I will send it. Kyberspace was next and as I waited for my turn, belaying and kid wrangling, a storm moved in. It started with a wind blown green pollen cloud carried by a frieght train-like noise whipping it down the canyon, very odd indeed. Then the rain clouds moved in, we packed up and ran down the trail to the car with kids in tow and narrowly beating the rain.

After a quick bite to eat, we waved goodbye to new and old friends, collected the trailer and jetted back to Cody. This may be the format for the next month, we are all psyched.

Ten Sleep is where its at

2009-07-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

Wow! How easily a month slips by. I took on several handyman projects including a kitchen remodel, building a bar for the shop and a few other things which have eaten up a lot of free time. Since the month of June was forecast to be wet I figured I'd capitalize and get some things done, though as it normally goes I took on more than I could finish quickly and now the sunny weather is back and sport climbing season beckons me away from mundane responsibilities. The month was not without climbing sessions however, there were a few Tuesday/Thursday outdoor evening bouldering sessions, the 10 PM to 2 AM night bouldering session, several trips to The Island and a couple of Ten Sleep day trips.
Yesterday was a Ten Sleep day which usually consists of me working from 7 to noon and then jetting across the basin and into the canyon. The 2 hour commute puts me there in time for the cliff to go into the shade and yield perfect summer shade temps until dark. Clint and my friend Pat Mees were along for the journey eager to sample the finest pocketed stone in all the land. Pat is perhaps in some way responsible for my appreciation and love of the Big Horn Dolomite/Limestone having been one of my more experienced and opinionated partners early on in the mid nineties when I was figuring the climbing thing out. He lives in Iowa now with his wife and kids and tells me of a secret pocketed limestone crag that lies on private land but has been developed with the owners permission by him and a small group of dedicated bolters/climbers. A closed access situation for the rest of us but 80+ routes for those with permission - pocketed limestone in IOWA who'd a thought?!
Pat has long been a Lander afficianado, with crags like Sinks, Wild Iris and Baldwin the place is a mecca. I have been traveling for the last decade to Ten Sleep as the canyon fills with routes and I was eager to show off a long list of favorites that I know rival Landers stone. Pat and I did a day trip last Thursday and managed 6 pitches 0f 5.10+ through 5.11 all of which are 3 star routes. These served as a great intro and warm up for yesterday where we concentrated on harder and longer routes.
My friends in Ten Sleep Alli and Kevin have been climbing and bolting adding new routes at the Mondo under the Great Roof. Most significantly may be the king line gold streak left of The Burden of Immortality 5.13a, which we have eyed for years but deemed as too hard, not climable or some other excuse. Now there are bolts and tick marks and Petzl sponsor draws a hangin' and it looks amazing. This little harlet will probably check in around 13d or 14a, good luck Kev. The working name is Gold Member - perfect!
I asked Alli to recommend a 13 to me that suits my style of climbing. Yesterday she was up at the Superratic trying a 13b that starts on Pick Pocket 12b and drifts left onto the face via powerful bouldery moves and then motors up typical Ten Sleep 11+/12- terrain. This route sounds like what i am looking for, bouldery power versus crimpy sickness, which I can climb but not at that level. She says it suits my strengths so we shall see.
We had a particularly good day yesterday climbing the newly straightened and lengthened Schools Out 10+/11- and Jackabite 12a. Below are a couple shots of Clint toward the top of Jackabite 12a.

Alli asked me to try the Kablamo, the Wagon Wheel of Death 11d off shoot route just left of Gold Member and give her an opinion on grade. There were 15 draws hanging on this 30 meter route so I figured what the hell I'll give it an onsight burn having climbed WWOD several times in the past couple of years, which comprises the first 2/3 of the route. The new section is bouldery puncuated by jugs and I managed to persevere and clip the chains. I figured 12b/c which is what they had come up with and were hoping I'd sway it one way or the other. It seemed harder than Hapiness 12b and easier than EKV 12c, so I don't know.
I was pretty psyched to get that one done quickly and with that we headed down to World Domination to try and explode our forearms. We stopped at Great White Buffalo 11b on the way by because it is so cool looking and only 4 clips long, a classic indeed.

Clint Cook climbs Great White Buffalo 5.11b from Mike Snyder on Vimeo.

With that out of the way Pat launched up Bobbys Got A Dirty Mouth 11c/d an old route of mine that tackles a devious slab to reach a steeper slanting crack surrounded by pockets. I don't think it had been climbed this year and had been washed clean by the rain, this produced an eye opening tech fest that Mr. Mees was not expecting. He manged the chains with a few hangs and chalked it up for Clint and I. Clint had trouble with a height dependent reach separating the slab and the upper section but climbed well otherwise. I ran a quick lap and talked Pat into one more go before removing the draws, he was psyched and fired it off in good style. He had been talking about Captain Insano 11d and with the daylight fading and a quick impromptu visit from the ever intriguing Aaron Huey, I strung it up and manged the feat without incident. Pat ran a TR lap on this steep mind numbing line and raved about it. We walked down in the dark to find a note from AAron and Charlie on the windshield directing us to their campsite in the lower Canyon. We stopped in for a quick visit then hit the road making it back after 1:00 AM. What a whirlwind.
Here is a shot of cliff line that holds The Temple and Scrot Bloc, the uppermost developed areas from the World Domination Wall.

Ten Sleep at Last

2009-06-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

My new home at the mouth of Ten Sleep Canyon.

Yeah right. We all think that as we are driving toward the motherland and see this quaint lodge at the base of beautiful sculpted red sandstone. Its probably all choss, right?

The Canyon comes into view just outside the town of Ten Sleep.
The Leigh Creek buttress always grabs my attention for a moment. No routes?

Yes I have quite the reverence for this crag and this time of year is so perfect. The days are longer and its comfortable in the sun or shade. You can get tons of pitches in if you last that long.

Sunday was a runaway to Ten Sleep day, Clint and I blasted across the basin to the brilliant limestone pocketed heaven of Ten Sleep Canyon. We caught up with our good friend and autotransplanted local Alli, up at the newly established Hound Dog Crag.

There were several of our friends climbing and working a shoot for Allis photog friend Jeremiah. We stayed out of the way for the most part and manged to get in 7 pitches of brand new routes put in last season on the right end of the wall.

Some real stunners, the longest easiest and quite possibly the best is the 100+' Big Bear Memorial 5.10. It forces laybacks and stemming up a leaning corner that changes directions half way up, it is for sure on par with some of the other super 10's in the canyon like Beer Bong 10b, Leggo My Guano 5.10b, Char Char Boinks 5.10 and Architects on Acid 5.10+. To the left were 3 climbs one of which was a project the others were 11+ and 12-, climbing out the steepest part of the wave. Left further and around the corner were a short 11- and a long pumpy 11 that followed a crack. These climbs all turned out to be fantastic, though we did not climb the 8 and 10 farther left in the corner.

Left side of Hound Dog Wall, Alli preps for her attempt on her current project.

Alli crimpin down hard at the crux

We ventured back over to the left side of the wall where I took on a 13 clip long 12- that had me worn out by the end. I managed to keep it together but that was it for the day. Clint TR'd a neighboring 11 off the same anchors that looked really good. We both some what haphazardly decided to do a cool down route and roped up for one labeled '10'. Well this shorter slabby looking thing put the hurt on me, it was epic. Clint wasn't sure what to think about my unenlightening performance and launched into his own version of hell. It was painful to watch probably less so than my lead, but we both persevered nonetheless and bagged it. A great day topped off by finding some killer pizza at the Tensleep Saloon after wards. Cheers to more of the same this summer!

Kiddie Crag Day

2009-05-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday and time to climb but the whole tribe is mine to tend so.... Kids at the crag day!! Meg had some things to do so she couldn't come, so after the girls tested for their swimming class levels we hightailed it to the Island. There were a dozen people there when the girls, Ripley and I showed up so finding a belay for Bitch with a Broomstick 5.8 was pretty easy. This is the route my oldest Maya, has her eyes on. She will be 7 this summer and is always asking me to take her along on my trips into the woods and crag days. The weather is nicer now so it is easier to say yes, though that means Eden who will be 5 this summer wants to go too. Its so hard to say 'no' to one, and take the other. Regardless of the age advantage Maya has over her sister, Eden will be bummed if she isn't allowed to come as well. Today however I had all three, so we packed a lunch, various toys and stuffed things, a blanket, some diapers and all the required climbing hooha and off we went.
The girls took several turns on the route, but being that it is early in the season and their first trip this year, they were both a little timid and did more bouncing around on the rope than climbing. The bouncing is highly entertaining and a lot of fun for them so I encouraged it, plus it builds confidence in the whole system, which will help them if they decide to continue this silly game of climbing rocks. Ripley or Master Silly Piece as Eden has nicknamed him, was a hoot, running willy nilly all over the place. He managed to make everyone laugh, skin his knee and eat his fair share of dirt. The afternoon wore the little man out and he was fast asleep before we even got home.
Fortunately, in between kid wranglin sessions I was able to squeeze in 4 pitches which I am hoping will prepare me for tomorrow in Tensleep. Clint and I are day tripping to the pocketed Mecca of the sleep to see our good bud Alli and clip some bolts. Should be fun considering she has a house full of visiting climbers this weekend including the notorious CK.
On a different note local strong lad Kerrick Stinson dispatched The Wretched Harley V10 after putting in some sesions for his second of the grade. He questioned me as to the location of Pistol Whipper V9, rested a day then went and fired it with the quickness. This may only be the second ascent of the problem and he seems to feel the grade fits. He tried the center line that day as well but didn't get too far, seems he has a new project now. This is the line Dave and I landscaped and I posted about a few weeks back. Good Luck, shes gonna be tough.

Circuits Here, Circuits There, Circuits Everywhere

2009-05-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, great weather, a good bunch of buddies and a few hours to kill. The posse gathers once again for the Tuesday evening bouldering session. I had to close the shop and was training some one but through a kind twist of fate I was able to leave early anyway. Still lagging behind the rest of the gang I caught up to them after their warmup at the Ethiopian Boulder, thank god I missed that, I'd rather jab sharp objects at my eyeballs than climb on the Ethiopian Boulder. I am only partially kidding, this boulder has become the default warmup due to its central location and vertical nature. Its not an awful chunk of rock, I'm just bored to death with it. Anyway I missed it, boohoo, on to the next one. We went to the Contact boulder, Dylan has these problems wired, so the two of us ran the gamut, while the others worked on the dyno or the traverses. This boulder has changed recently in that several hollow flakes got pried off creating and eliminating holds. I then drug the pads over to the Get It Up boulder to do Bobe Dole V4 and try Black Days V7. I managed BD via a couple different variants and got through Black Days in a couple trys. What a great problem! I wish I was strong enough to eliminate the jump start, its so powerful and I just wasn't feeling it. Time for one more, we ran over to The Pugilist for the troops to try, Dave, Pat, Garrett and Justin all made good progress on Spugilist V4 but no one sent. Clint and I hucked a few laps and then he headed out with Dylan. Garrett and Dave followed shortly after. I took Pat and Justin over to the Dirt Boss to show them the newly relandscaped landing, and feeling inspired ran a tennis shoe lap on the old classic traverse. I followed them down to the cheese boulder and watched Pat easily dispatch the V4 traverse whilst I sipped a well earned beer. Damn I love circuits in these boulders! Its no wonder I can never drag these guys away to clip bolts.

An Evening With My Honey

2009-05-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

A perfect Saturday evening found Meg and I kidless for once and anxious to clip some bolts. We cruised up to the Island to get in a few pitches. I was to be the rope gun, so we started on some easier things for warm ups, then moved to the back of the Tunnel Wall to finish. I got in seven pitches and felt exhausted at the end. Meg TR'd three and may have found a route she would like to project. Routes were Feeling All Right 5.9, Communtiy Service 5.10b, Spider Pig 5.11a/b, Silent Spaz 5.9, Digital Jedi 5.11c, Light Tension 5.11b and Aah.. Me Wrikey 5.11b. No pics tonight, as we were by ourselves the whole evening. I kept thinking some one else would show up because the temperature was so perfect, though it was nice to have the entire crag to ourselves.

Into The Swing

2009-05-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

Tuesday evenings are climbing days for me, though unfortunately we have no staff at the shop right now and with Meg working that leaves me with most of the duties for management and daily operations, argg!! Anything cutting into the precious climb time must be rectified. We are currently looking at applicants and within a few weeks should have some new staff and thus free up time for play and other work pursuits. Meanwhile my Tuesday night session with the boys was somewhat abreviated, but no matter I feel fat and weak from being on vacation for the last 2 weeks, so a couple hours was sufficient.
I met up with Dylan, Clint, Matt and Bryant at the Cheese boulder as they were all finishing up except for Dylan who was crushing one of the harder variants when I got there (and whining incidentally about feeling weak - ha). We all moved over to the Ripper Point V5/6 for Matt to give some burns on. No one else was interested, as Clint and I had climbed the problem the other day at the end of our session. D and I spotted and Clint hacked a new trail around the dreaded tree/boulder squeeze leading from Cheese to The Ripper. After a few goes we headed up to the Tuned Boulder so I could warm up. This boulder has 5 or 6 individual easy problems and a link or two. Apparently Dan Miller had cleaned a new hold and established a cool eliminate last week, so after dispatching with all the established stuff and the new variant, we felt inspired to clean a few more tiny crimps and poor slopers. We ended up making a handful of new eliminates and now we have another good boulder to warm up on with a dozen different climbs to choose from.
Clint starting up Physically Tuned V1

The Tuned Boulder session ate up the most of the remaining light and our psych, so we headed out. As I waved bye to D and Clint at the parking area, I noticed there was a climber on the Wretch Boulder. Turns out it was none other than Kerrick Stinson, a local young (15 yrs.) powerhouse who is currently tearing through the hardest Cody has to offer. Having done the Wretch V7 and Dead Mans Harley V8 he was working on the link up, Wretched Harley which goes at V10. I snapped a few pics then grabbed my shoes and joined in. Too late for me, I climbed pretty well but was too sapped from earlier to have any sort of chance. Kerrick on the other hand motored through the beginning over to the starting hold for the Harley like 8 times, but was unable to stick the big move. Bummer, I know the feeling. I can do the Harley on command but it always feels so much harder after climbing over there from the start of the Wretch. Hence I've never been able to manage the link. I studied Kerricks beta which is fluid and smooth having done it so many times and plan to visit this bloc more in the coming weeks.
Kerrick is very close and will soon power it into submission or will refine the moves to the Harley until they are automatic and go easy after the taxing beginning.
Kerrick and I both did our first V10 this spring sending The Plague at the Sphinx Boulders. He is 15 and getting stronger every day and should polish off the other climbs in town in that range this summer. For me at age 40, V10 is the pinnacle of my efforts, though the Wretched Harley is definitely doable.
Here is Kerrick blasting the intro moves of the Wretched Harley V10

Home Again, Home Again

2009-05-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

Well the imaginary wonderland of the Family Vacation has come to an end. The girls, the little man and I are all back home. Unpacked and... needing some outside time. My old friend Marc is in town for a few days and after catching up we ran out to the Cornflakes Boulder to run the circuit. He is quite out of shape from being in school in Michigan, but as usual was able to do all the problems and in true form, humped a very humpable feature on the boulder. It was a pretty good evening session to get stretched out and back into shape.
Marc givin a little slap

Marc and Anna and the Cornflakes Boulder

On Saturday afternoon Clint and I went up on Cedar to meet some friends and climb some other classics. We met up with Matt and Bryant at the Cheese boulder and walked up to the Dirt Boss. This Boulder has gained in popularity since another generation of landscaping saw nearly every boulder clogging the underside pulled out and rolled away. There is now ample room for the old DB Traverse V3 and the No Cheating Traverse V7 actually works much better with room to swing around and no jagged boulders waiting to bite you should you lose tension. Also the ground is now low enough to start on the giant cheater stone underneath which gave rise to the Bloc Party Problems, a half dozen V2 to V4 roof problems all beginning on the same start holds and shooting off in all directions. We ran through many of these new problems and each of us projected something undone. A fun session for sure.
The Hall Bros. took off and Clint and I went down to the Vestal Boulder so I could once again do the Vestal problem which I always think I haven't done. Not that its forgettable, its actually pretty good. We did the easier problems on the West side as well then played around eliminating holds. Here is Clint getting down on some very small crimps.
Today I managed to sneak away in the morning with my friend Drew who has been in town for a week or so looking for new boulders. He has a break between Spring and Summer term classes. Drew is very intent on finding new stuff, building trails, cleaning and sending anything that looks good. He has focused the last week or so on establishing a quicker way into the Fort Boulder and in the process, found some more boulders leading down to this boulder from above. Pretty cool stuff but kinda dirty. We spent a few hours punching a nice trail through the woods to the new stuff which is adjacent to the Fort Boulder. We'll see what happens with this stuff as there are many newish lines elsewhere on Cedar that have been found and cleaned or not cleaned and are rattling around in my brain right now. Much to do.

I was happy to get home in time to make it to the nursery to buy some tomatoes for the garden. I used compost I bought and some nice organic stuff we've been making in a trash can since last fall. I'll buy some peppers this week and once I get it all planted, the salsa factory should begin producing by mid July. Can't wait!

Tomatoes!!

The Stone Fort

2009-05-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

I just can't be expected to come all the way East to visit my parents and not visit one of the killer bouldering areas the South has to offer. Little Rock City is one of my favorites and is only an hour and twenty minutes from my folks' house. We had three days to choose from and today looked as though it would be the driest and perhaps coolest, so the wife and I jumped in the car and went to try our luck. I say luck because this really isn't the best time of year to be trying to stick to slopey sandstone and last year we got hosed quite literally in May when we tried a visit to the ole Stone Fort. Rain and 100% humidity had us trying Diesel Power V6 and several others to no avail.
This year was different and though we drove through a bit of rain on the way over the boulders were dry and surprisingly sticky. I was excited to get Meg to try some classic moderates I had ticked off on previous visits. We warmed up on Mystery Groove V4 and some slabby stuff nearby. Spyro Gyro V7/8 was just around the corner and having tried and failed in the past, I hoped today would go better. The dyno method wasn't working and after a little beta trickery I found a way to heel hook and static the move to the jug. Seemed easier then Business Time to me but apparantly the dyno method is a bit harder.

With that out of the way, on to more classic easier stuff. Meg wanted to try the Wave V5, one of my favorite V5's anywhere so we played on that for a while. This problem is strikingly a lot like Man With the Slow Hand V4 in Horse Pens 40, which I did a few months ago, except it has a better start and isn't crammed down in a hole with serious dab potential.

We then went over to Dragon Lady V4 and Tri-Star both of which I had done before but was more than happy to play on. I also tried the recently completed Dragon something or other to the right of Dragon Lady. I had tried this in the past with no luck but had found a video of some strong bastard sending it so I thought maybe it would help me somehow. It did not make me any stronger or more likely to fire it, alas this is a very difficult climb. One more stop, a moderate I had always wanted to try, Super Mario Bros V4. It was nice to find a couple guys working on it when we got there, a little extra foam never hurts. A quick preview and I thrutched my way through for flash. Yee haw! Another fantastic line. We had run out of time and needed to hit the road. As usual, I pushed for one more of something. One of the guys there wanted to try the straight up exit which is called Nathan or something like that. I was game because I could see it had two giant moves down low and we had several crashpads. I managed the two big moves and was nearing the 20 foot mark but had no idea for what to do next, so I bailed.

All in all a great day, I even managed to get my $25 back from the gas station attendant that ripped me off earlier in the day.

More snow and Lewistown

2009-04-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

Thursday is typically a climbing day for me. I usually have the evening to myself to train or climb outside if the weather permits. Today the weather has decided to be unsuitable and has snowed enough since early afternoon that its actually starting to accumulate. That, and the simple fact that my eldest daughter has a school play and you just don't miss that sort of thing, has conspired against any sort of climbing this evening.
The local climbing gym has a comp this weekend and the owner asked me to come down and help pre-run the routes and set a few hard ones. This is something the whole fam can participate in, so we will spend some time there Friday evening. I hope I can create something cool and hard and still have enough energy to help sort the routes. These pre-comp days usually leave me so gased I'm useless for days afterward as far as climbing goes. I seem to be more psyched to set routes in the fall when I'm looking at a long inevitable winter than the spring when I am dreaming of outdoor routes. Nevertheless, I will try to help out as best as I can.
Here is a video I shot a few years back of my friend Tad and his quest to complete Lewistown Pharmacy V7 which at the time was a recent addition to Cedar Mountain. This isn't his actual send but some stitched together stuff. He fired it later in the year. The climb is somewhat unique because it is at the mouth of an actual cave which exhales air that is roughly 57 degrees. This serves as a source of warmer air in the winter and a built in air conditioner in the summer months. Pretty cool, indeed.

LC

2009-04-29T01:00:00.001-07:00

Much to the chagrin of the fam, I snuck away for a quick sess Monday evening, more unfinished business to attend to. Fortunately my oft climbing partner and good friend Clint was already on the mountain up at the Antelope Boulder. He was more than willing to meet me for something new.
I had my sights set on a lip traverse higher up in the roadcut close to the highway. This had a quick and dirty landscape job done a few weeks back on a dreary 'work' day. Looking at it again I now realize a little more TLC would make an even nicer landing surface. I had been trying to climb the spine to the right of the traverse before Clint showed up, but kept getting freaked out by the rate at wich the elevation was gained and hillside sloped downward below me. Yikes! Maybe another time, a solid kejones day. So around the corner to the traverse.
The line is strange, as most traverses tend to be, but with challenging and enjoyable moves. We worked out each section and sewed them together and before I knew it I was attempting the top out which is cruxy enough on its own. Twice I made it there and twice punted off mere inches from the end. My shoulder was beginning to bug me so we left it for another day.

On the way back to the truck we passed Business Time, a short climb which I established a few days ago. Clint saw it and was immediately psyched. I gave him my usual spray down of beta and yadda yadda, the game was on. Now, my buddy Clint is a shorter climber, 5'3" to be exact and I am a hair under 6 foot, so our climbing styles and beta typically vary. Little Clint or LC is one nickname so dubbed by my brother and his flagstaff crew of my 'strong-like-bull' buddy Clint. To make this long story shorter, LC threw down Business Time in 3 goes claimed it was fantastic and concurred with V6 as a grade. He used the same climbing holds I did, but did a standing start on holds 10 inches higher and found different footholds. All in all a strong effort and great send but different somehow than mine yet still valid at the same time. My quasi sit start forced me to do a full extension move that Clint just couldn't reach without uncontrollably flying around on a sloper. Great send and a good evening session.

Everything Old is New Again

2009-04-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon found me done with household stuff and a bit antsy since the weatherman was wrong again. I grabbed my bouldering stuff and a few other things including a short static rope, harness, brushes and rappel/ascending tools and set out to finish cleaning something a friend and I started a couple weeks ago. This is a proud and hard line up the Other Gully Boulder, stupid name eh? Perhaps when someone gets up this rig they will offer a proper name. The start is the same as an established V9 called Pistol Whipper, yet another inappropriate or disgusting name that seems to so often be the case in Cody. There once was a large block at the base of this boulder, my buddy Dave and I Reengineered the base to allow the first few moves and viola, ready to go. These pics show what was there, what was done and what now awaits.

Scrappy Little Devil

2009-04-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

It seemed like the Snow came down all day Friday. Its April, and I expect snow from time to time but this was all day. I knew this weekend would be my last opportunity to get out for a while, what with a family vacation beginning next week and summer months rolling around when we get back. Outdoor bouldering in Cody has been at a premium this spring. Fortunately a crap forecast for Sunday was punctuated by a decent day on Saturday. Laziness in the morning gave way to a sudden motivation in the afternoon, when shuffling of children around for play dates and sleep overs left us left us with only the boy. He is only 17 months and easier to handle when its just him. Meg and I got psyched and decided to head into the canyon to try our respective projects. She is working the V3 East Face Traverse on the Space Oddity Boulder and I, a short two move problem around the corner on the Roadcut Boulder. We went to hers first because she needs me for beta and spotting and I needed to warm up. She worked out the last puzzling cruxy section and was able to link all the parts together. This is phase one, a 30' long problem that is the first quarter of a 120' long traverse called Fired Youth V5. She will sew the East face together this week I'm sure.

We then went around the corner to my little project. Seems silly to obsess about such a goofy little problem, but the moves are hard and had rejected my attempts thus far. The right hand starting crimp, a toothy half pad deal, had torn the top layer of skin on my index finger last week. The temperature seemed right and my finger had healed so maybe today it would submit and allow me passage. Everything went well and after a few goes it was done and Business Time V6 was created. Most of the climbs on this boulder recieved Flight of the Conchord themed names and this one seemed to be the hardest so that is that. I put toether a quick video of the send, hope you get a chuckle.