What's in a Secret?

Yesterday, I went to this "new" climbing area a few of my friends were telling me about in Entiat. I had heard rave reviews about this place, so I was psyched! Visions of unlimited potential danced in my head. So Max, Nathan, Eric, Rick, and I all packed up in Rick's Ford Exploder and made the two-hour drive to this area. The first boulder Max brought us to was absolutely astonishing! It was this massive tooth, with climbs on all sides. It had slab, overhang, and even a ginormous dyno! "This is perfect! This is all I had dreamed of," I said to myself. After playing on that boulder for a bit, we went to an area a bit further up-canyon. We stopped, and as I stepped out of the Exploder, I saw so much rock I had no idea where to start. I started off with some of the established problems, but couldn't wait to trek uphill to see what I could find. What did I find? Not much. Out of all this expanse of rock I saw before me, there were very few rocks that were big enough to classify as boulders (lots of babys), and even then, there wasn't a ton to climb. The visions I had earlier were slowly fading. After a quick trek down to the river for a break, we went to check out some supposed boulders even farther up-canyon. We combed the forest and found... not much. After another hour of hiking (it was 90+ degrees outside) we left. Now, don't get me wrong, I had a ton of fun exploring this generally undeveloped area, and the few boulders I climbed were pretty incredible. Definitely a worthwhile place to be. The scenery was incredible and most of the rock I saw was impeccable. It was also very nice to take a break from the Leavenworth climbs I have been falling off, and go fall somewhere else. But what struck me is that one of my friends told me to keep this area "on the DL" in hopes that these secluded gems wouldn't turn into the next Leavenworth's Icicle Canyon. It won't. Granted, I didn't do a ton of exploring, and if someone was really motivated and wanted to work their way down from the cliffline, they could probably find some rad problems. There definitely is some potential, but Icicle it is not, and Icicle it most likely never will be.
Stay Psyched!
-Mike

Poor Tree

Ah, so the tree... it was quite an adventure actually. Josh, Jesse, and AJ got a little bored of climbing and found a 40 foot overhang. Josh decided to throw a little branch off the top, and the three of them thouroghly enjoyed the results. So, for the next half hour, they struggled to get a 25 foot fallen tree to that cliff. Seriously, they worked their butts off and had some very epic moments (i.e. almost being crushed by the tree) but after a long struggle, they finally got the tree to the edge of the cliff...

Enjoy!

Leavenworth Weekend

We spent the weekend in leavenworth with Britt, Jesse, A.J., and Josh. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! There was a ton of climbing and quite a bit of molé lovin'.

Here's Jesse on the Fridge RightBritt on Concavity

Josh Climbing the Fridge Slab AJ climbing Splash Attack
Mike on the FA of Splash Attack
Brian working Kobe Tai
The impending doom of a fallen tree
Altogether it was a great weekend, and we all found new inspiring projects to work on. If you want to see what happens to the tree, go to http://www.vimeo.com/user1770065.

New Video

Here's a link to our first video on vimeo.com. It's of us climbing some problems in Leavenworth, WA and Bishop, CA.
http://www.vimeo.com/4694206

Enjoy!

Welcome!

Welcome to Brian and Mike's new blog page. We're just two guys who love climbing! Enjoy your stay!