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.

Progression

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

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

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.