A Little of This...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.