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!
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
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