New Video!

Here's a link to a video of Jen, Brian and I sending some of our projects in late spring. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXRNbK1B7OM

Did you know it's actually Antivenin?

I have not posted in a while (as usual) although so much has happened I am actually a little ashamed of myself for not posting it. Anyways, on to the news. About a week after Brian sent the practitioner, Brian and I (and our respective love interests) decided to make the hike up to the Labrynth. We only make it up there about once a year, so we were really excited to get back there and try to finish our longstanding projects. Brian and I were trying The Bone Collector and were getting really close. Brian hit the lip and peeled off, and we instantly ran seperate ways to find which spot on the lip we should hit. Brian rounded the corner of the boulder, and an instant later we heard a shriek. Brian came back around the corner, and his finger was bleeding. It turns out he started to jump up on a boulder and startled a rattlesnake. The rattlesnake reacted and bit him. We were all nervous for him, but told him to sit down while we packed everything. We all desperately hoped it was a dry bite, but soon Brian started complaining about his lips going numb and feeling dizzy. At that point we knew it was serious, and we had to find some way to trek the 15 minute downhill hike back down to the car. Once we got to the car, we rushed him to the Leavenworth hospital, which in turn rushed him to Wenatchee Central Hospital. He ended up needing 11 vials of antivenin, but now he is doing much better. His arm swelled up to the size of Hellboy, but he is doing way better and is almost completely recovered. We got some wicked pictures of his arm, and I will post those soon, along with a video of Brian's send of the Practitioner. We're all so happy he's okay!

A New Hope

Needless to say, it has been a weird spring weatherwise. The normal rule of "60% precipitation for leavenworth on wunderground.com means climbtime" did not apply this year. It was a very wet season, but fortunately, alot was done in the small window of good weather. Now that it is getting quite hot outside, I would say mine and Brian's climbing season is going to slow down, but that's never the case. We're still going to be outside trying to send our projects, being much to stubborn to listen to the scorching sun telling us we should not be invading its summer territory with our screams of how everything is greasy, and it's not our fault that we are falling. The rock is just sweating too damn much. Oh well, enough about the present and future, let's dwell in the past for a while shall we? Thankfully, Brian and I had the opportunity to take advantage of the last few perfect days of spring, and quite a few projects were ticked off, especially by Brian! That guy crushed this spring, and is getting so strong it makes me sick! We went out with Jen and our friends Cassidy and Andy, and it was a very productive day! I am happy to announce that Brian has done The Practitioner! Congratulations Brian! He worked really hard on that problem and he totally deserved to reap the rewards of that send.

Brian getting ready for the send

Jen has also been crushing lately! She had been climbing a few times before this school year but after she got a job at the rock wall, she started climbing a ton and can't stop won't stop sending! She defeated her arch nemesis Sunshine Daydream, and in the same day, ticked off Occum's Razor! That day was definitely a sendfest!

Jen making her way up Sunshine Daydream

Lexi being super cute, as always

The next time we got to go out was a week or two later, and Brian and I really wanted to go up to Mountain Home and get some longstanding personal projects done. We started off with a double team send of Emperor's Lightning, and Jen hopped on Darth Maul for the first time that day. She'll definitely be back to get that one under her belt. Next, Brian and I went down the hill to Darth Vader. Turns out that this problem is as evil as the sith lord himself. I ended up taking a fall and hitting my ankle on a protruding rock, which HURT!!!! Then, Brian slapped the lip and started to mantle, but halfway through his mantle he popped off a micro-crimp which pulled his fingernails back! He was bleeding all over the place, so we surrendered to the dark side and retreated farther down the hill to the cattleguard arete, which is a problem I had wanted to try for quite a while. I pulled on, and very surprisingly, flashed it! I was stoked, and that was a good end to an otherwise painful day. After an evening at Jen's cabin, we trekked back to L-town and wanted to try I Heart Jerry Garcia. This problem is pretty technical and balancey in the beginning, which is not really Brian's or my style. But regardless, we hopped on the send train! It's an amazing feeling standing on top of something that you thought would be impossible. Later in the day, Brian continued being Brian by nabbing The Sail. What a stud! Our last trips were Brian and I taking our friend Colin out for the first time, and he had an awesome time, and pulled off some pretty hard sends! Good job Colin! Also, yesterday Jen and I went and visited tumwater canyon for a bit. I hadn't been to tumwater all season, and it felt good to be back, and get a different taste than the Icicle for a while.

Brian looking very Darth Sidious on Emperor's Lightning

They love getting their pictures taken... really.

Jen working the moves on Darth Maul

Brian sticking the first move of Darth Vader

Colin sending one of his first Leavenworth problems. One of many to come.

I apologize for the terribly long post. Maybe this'll teach me to not procrastinate on this stuff. A video should be up soon, and I'll post a link to that when it's done.

Stay psyched!

Mike

Another glorious weekend in L-town

School is almost out! We are finally nearly free from the confines of the prison that is higher education. As for me, today does actually mark me being done with college! If I choose, I don't ever have to take another class again! This feeling is, of course, ruined by the fact that I am going to grad school next year. Bummer. Well, even more time gets to be spent climbing while I'm out of school so I am going to soak it up! This monday, Brian, Alicia, Jen and I got to get outside for "dead day", which is a day the school gives students off to study for finals. Hmmm... study or climb. Not really a fair choice. Brian was really psyched to go back to the practitioner, and he has been making really good progress on it, so our first stop was the forestlands. We stopped in lower forestlands to warm up, and the girls made really good headway on the real thing, which is an awesome technical problem, and one of my favorites in the forestlands! After a good warm up, we headed up to the practitioner. Brian had a couple B.S. burns, then hit the lip his next two goes! It was awesome to see Brian come so close to his project, and he is going to send that problem soon! We met up with Jeff at Kobra Kahn, and worked that for a while. That line is so classic and has great movement! None of us got it but I'm psyched to go back to it!

Alicia on The Real Thing

Brian nearing the lip of The Practitioner

Me not nearing the lip

After we had finished up in the forestlands, we went to egg rock, where Jen had some unfinished business with Sunshine Daydream. She made a lot of good progress, and she had amazing pogo beta which worked awesome! Unfortunately, the girls had to leave so they left Brian and I to massacre our skin and fall a lot!

Shhhh... don't tell Jen!

Jen on Sunshine Daydream

After the girls left, I decided I would try Musashi since I was at egg rock. I strapped my shoes on... and sent! I was really surprised and so happy! Definitely one of the coolest features in Leavenworth! Finally, Brian and I capped off our trip by going to check out Droppin the Kirschbaum. We made some decent progress on our first day, and we can' t wait to go back and try to link all the moves! SO MANY MOVES! However, the most exciting thing to happen to me was the arrival of my new Asana crash pad. So sick! I love it so so much! Asana is a great company, and these guys will do anything for you!

Me lovin' my new pad!!!!!

Well, it's another day of climb time tomorrow so expect another post soon!

Mike

It's been a lifetime!

Oh my goodness! So, Brian and I are finally getting back on our game and restarting to post this blog. It's been quite a while, and a lot has happened! The fall season was really rough! I took a break from climbing over the summer because of a finger injury, and I ended up not climbing until February! After this break that lasted waaaaaayyy too long, I felt so so weak! But everything is improving and I'm feeling much better. My finger isn't bugging me, and the spring season went really well! I've been out climbing in Leavenworth a ton with Jen, and we have an awesome time! Jen has gotten super strong in such a short amount of time! It's been really impressive and it's inspired Brian and I to work even harder because she is kicking our butts!

Crushing The Sword

Working Fridge Right

Unfortunately, I don't have any new pictures of Brian. We've been taking pictures with like, 5 different cameras, so it's been hard getting them all together. But here's some pictures of me in Leavenworth.

Me on Scrambled Eggs

Hanta Man

Working The Practitioner

Finally sending Off the Couch

Also, Brian is so so so so close to getting the practitioner, and I'm sure he'll get it really soon!

Jen and I also got a chance to go to Smith Rocks for memorial day weekend, and it was an awesome time! We realized that our endurance is miserable, but we had a lot of fun anyways!

Jen cleaning Blue Light Special

Me finally nabbing Heinous Cling Start

Well, that's it for now. We promise we'll keep better tabs from now on!

Stay psyched,

Mike

The New Season is Upon Us!

Mike Dove has finaly graduated from school!... Well almost. He still has one more test. However, he has so much free time that all he gets to do is practice and climb. Mr Mike has been out in leavenworth crushing all kinds of problems such as Hanta Man, Ressurection, Scrambled Eggs, and quite a few others that I can't remember the names.... There will be some cool pitctures of some of these problems as soon as Mike puts them up. Today I'm taking 3 people out who have never been bouldering outside and there all gonna have a blast climbing on the AMAZING granite that we have here in Leavenworth. Well thats the short version of how the begining of this season is going, and I need to go pick everyone up!

Brian