Doin' it in the Box

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.