Site Updates

As you can see when you opened this blog, I'm in the process of making some updates / changes to the site. For awhile now, I've been wanting to go with a cleaner look that appeared more like a website, since there were some additional features I wanted to add. By using the links at the top of the page, you can go to the Current Conditions page, which I posted about last week. This is a user-generated forum for sharing beta about the rock conditions. I think I have figured out the issue with why the page was getting spammed. So it should be working fine now. Note to all of you who might have plugged the email address for page the into your phone--the address has changed! Again, I had to do this because of the spammers. Dirty, dirty internet...but check out the page for details on the email change.

Also new is the Climbing Area page. I started a google map of some of the best and well known areas in WNC. I'll be adding some basic beta and images for each of the areas as I have time. Anyone can update the map, so feel free to jump in and share anything on there. It's just another resource for people to check out and use as they see fit. All of the pages--the blog, the Climbing Conditions page, and the map-- are in kind of a Beta stage for now as I tinker around with the new look and feel.

Please let me know what you think! It's still got some rough edges to work out (sadly, you can't build a shadow site in blogger while your working out the kinks), but I'm happy to hear any feedback.

What does $80,000 buy these days?

Well, if you love big rocks, it buys a hell of a lot. If you've ever bouldered at Rumbling Bald even once, chances are pretty much guaranteed that you climbed on one of the boulders in the recent CCC land purchase. Take a look at the map below to see how much area this purchase covers. And now those boulders are protected from development and accessible to climbers forever...to me, that's pretty much priceless. And in reality, you couldn't buy a house in Asheville with 3 walls for that money, even in a recession. So the guys at the CCC got a lot of land and a lot boulders for a great price.

Click to Enlarge

Still, the loan does have to get paid off! If you value the Bald and can make a donation towards this great cause--awesome. (You can do that here.) If you can't work that angle, perhaps you can ante up some good schwag for a raffle instead. There will be a few of them happening to support the cause at local climbing gyms (to be announced). Maybe the company you work for makes something cool and can spare a few? I'm trying to wrangle up some copies of the Adventure Photography book I just edited to give away. Get creative! Like Brad Caldwell in SC, who is selling topos to a local bouldering area to raise funds. Every bit helps! So if it's been awhile since you had a lemonade stand, break out that Country Time and the big pitcher and set up in the parking lot at a local bouldering spot. Contact Zachary Lesch-Huie at the CCC with any ideas for ways to help.

Also, it's tax time people...think tax write off!

One Year Old (+ a month or two)

I just realized that I started this blog just a little over a year ago. Thanks to everyone who keeps checking in--I just looked at the data for the site and it had over 2,000 visits last year. That's not huge by any website standard, but it's cool to know that the stuff posted here isn't just going into the ether. Regardless, 2,000 visits seems like a big number to me. When I first started the blog last year I had a small injury in my right shoulder that got better quickly; I was bouldering V8 again by March of 09 and working on sending my first 5.13 (which i never did cuz I broke a key hold on the route, Purgatory, at Ghost Town, which is now closed sadly). Then I got injured in June in my left shoulder and neck and it's been pretty rocky (pardon the pun) since then. I haven't been as involved in climbing, and hence this blog, as much as I would have liked in the last 7 months. But I keep working out and doing PT, and I like to think I'll be up and climbing stronger again soon. But I had a very cliche realization while I was climbing in the gym this Sunday (to wet out for the Bald). I was stuck climbing problems that wouldn't have been a challenge a year ago, but I wasn't too bummed. In fact, I was still having a great time and I wanted to slap myself for thinking that the best climber is the one having the most fun. But I guess it's true in a lot of ways, cliche as it sounds. So whether I'm climbing V2 or V8 in the next year, I just hope to keep climbing and seeing you all out there (and here).

Thoughts on Training

For the last two months I've been trying to overcome this nagging neck/shoulder injury using a two-fold approach: climbing less (and less hard), and training in the gym more (as in the YMCA, not the bouldering cave). The training has really been helping me out; my back and shoulders have really opened up and feel more flexible than they have in years. There really is no substitute for working out and keeping your muscles balanced with an intelligent routine.

In fact, I had a realization tonight while working out that I wish I had come to years ago. If you rely on climbing as your only training for climbing and your sole source of muscle building, it is akin to going to the YMCA a few times per week and only doing ONE exercise the whole time you are there. No one in their right minds would do this! It would be painfully obvious that this was going to lead to a massive imbalance and problems. Yet, us climbers never think about climbing this way. And unfortunately, I've had to learn the hard way that it pays off to do the maintenance.

With the help of the book Climbing: Training for Peak Performance, I've been able to put together a really good workout plan along with a few things from my PT. I can't recommend the book enough; it covers everything from nutrition and stretching to specific workouts and schedules for peaking during the height of the climbing season. You can get it online for like $10 from Amazon and it's well worth it. The author, Clyde Soles, talks in really plain language about stuff that works and he smacks around all of the gimmicky trends in nutrition and fitness out there. It's clear the guy really knows this stuff.



The best part of working out? I'm actually enjoying it. I'm able to get the intense physical workout that I can't get from climbing anymore. And it feels really good to see improvement in mobility and strength in my shoulder where I've been injured. I'm a firm believer in blessings in disguise, and maybe this injury had to happen to get me to finally start being more aware of finding a healthy balance.

Oh, and a last note. Of all the research on injuries I do, the #1 top advice is to really, really warm up before any climbing. Something we can probably all do more of. The day I got this injury i warmed up on a 5.11+. Hmmmm....

The biggest mistake I've made over the last 15 years is not stretching, and I'm paying for that now in injuries.

Jerry Moffat

Check here for some more quotes about being a busted climber. And then get thee to a gym.

CCC Purchases Rumbling Bald West Side Boulders

For anyone who hasn't heard the news, the fine folks at the CCC who were responsible for the purchase of Laurel Knob a few years back just made a major acquisition of important boulders at Rumbling Bald. The purchased land had been privately held by a developer for years and includes super classic boulders like the Washing Machine and great problems like the French Maid. Now, it's up to us to help keep this great resource available. Check out this video for more info, or check out the website here.

Carolina Climbers' Coalition - Rumbling Bald Project from Thomas C. Webb on Vimeo.

Nalgene rant

I'm officially done with buying Nalgene bottles (and other fancy, expensive water containers). in the last 6 months I've bought 3 new bottles and I now have 1 left. The last one I had for less than 2 weeks. It got left somewhere at Rumbling Bald, lost somewhere on the East side amidst all the shuffle of packing up the crash pad (it's blue and the narrow mouth type if you've seen it...). I've long figured Nalgene bottles are like pens: you lose 'em, but hey, they come back around again when you find some other poor sucker's bottle at the base of the crag. Problem is, i just lose them.

While I'm glad it wasn't a shoe I lost, and while I'm aware this problem is really my fault for being spacey, I can't get over feeling lame for plunking down $10 for a water bottle again and again. I mean, they give bottles away for FREE when you buy Gatorade or any other beverage. Sure, they aren't as solid as a Nalgene or one of them fancy aluminum bottles (don't drop those on a rock, BTW, they get more dented than your grandaddy's Buick), but, heck, I'll lose the durn thing before it can break. So next time you're out climbing and see some dude with a steady drip coming out of his pad from a leaky Gatorade bottle, that's me--proud to no longer be sporting fancy bottles for a pack of boy scouts to find lying on the ground on their next outing.

I feel a little better now, thanks...

Xmas @ the Obed, TN

I've been meaning to get these pics up for awhile. Melissa and I went to the Obed for 3 days right after Christmas. This is really the last major SE climbing destination I haven't been to in 15 years of climbing here, so it was cool to finally make it. And when I say cool, it was actually pretty cold. The highs never got out of the low 40s, which I guess is chilly for this area. But given the cold and my lingering shoulder injury, we still had a good time. We got there late on our first day so we decided to check out the Lilly boulders. Cool place! A nice local showed us around and we spent most of the afternoon trying to stay warm on a prety great warm up boulder:





The next two days we went to the South Clear Creek and tried to keep the sun on us all the time. In total we only did about 6 routes over the 2 last days; we were moving pretty slow because of the cold and the drive back and forth from Maryville TN where we were staying, but it was still a good introduction to the area. Looking forward to going back sometime soon. The climbing image below is on the great 5.9 Best Seat in the House." Really fun arete and just less-than-vertical face climbing. I was able to onsight a 5.11 just around the corner, and that felt like an accomplishment given my abilities lately.

If You Build It...

I just found this picture on my phone and had to share it. I snapped it over Thanksgiving last year while visiting my dad, who lives near Richmond, VA. There's an island park in the middle of the James River that has some low, quarried walls that are mildly suitable for cragging. And where the wall doesn't have holds? Just drill on your own! And why not? It's so Euro. I'm not passing judgment cuz I used to boulder under a bridge in Chapel Hill that had broken cinder blocks epoxied to the wall for holds--you get your fixes how you can. But just thought ya'll might get get a kick outta this! (And appreciate how good we have it here in WNC.)

Rumbling Bald 1.9.2010

It was my first day climbing in the New Year, and it was great to see the usual crew all together. Because it was a cold day (though not as cold as was forecasted), we stayed over on the West side of the field to keep in the sun. The highlight of the day was when Ben Newton, seen in the images below, got the first ascent of the Bobby Brown Arete (V8). It just goes to show that this field is far from tapped out--this new line is just to the left of the classic Liza Minnelli Corner (V4). Lots of people had been trying this line this winter, and as far as we know, Ben was the first to send. The best thing about the bulge? it made people have some wack looking expressions while they climbed it. Check it out in the pics below. I'll post a few more from later that day soon.

Clockwork Orange Physical Therapy

For anyone who's been following this blog, you know I've been dealing with a jacked up left shoulder and neck for the last six months. That's part of the reason why this blog has been way less active--I've simply been climbing a lot less, sadly, in the hopes of improving. While it's gotten better, the problem continues to linger at about 80% of my normal capacity, without signs of getting better. Hitching me up to the "Traction" machine seen here is my PTs latest attempt at a solution. It's supposed to stretch out the muscles in my neck. I kept waiting for the metal inserts that would keep my eyes open while forcing me to look at porn, a la clockwork orange. Sadly, no porn...just 15 minutes of neck elongation with more to come next week.

Late Summer Throwback

I was just cleaning up my desktop and found a few photos from a day Melissa and I spent at Hawksbill this past September. It was a beautiful Saturday and we were the only people there all day--it was pretty amazing.

Injury On the Wane

About 2 weeks ago I got some new exercises from my PT for my shoulder and they surprisingly helped almost over nite. I've been hitting the climbing gym once a week since then and got out to Rumbling Bald this weekend with my girlfriend, Melissa, and friends Ben, Alex, and Katie. I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy enjoying myself and climbing worry-free for the first time in almost 6 months. I surprised myself by pulling Dime Crack (V4) first go, Rotator Cuff (stiff V5) second try, and Full Contact (V6) after a few goes. I also fell just short of the top of the Happy Ending for Kung Fu Grip (V6). In short, I'm feeling pretty good about things right now. Sure, I've got to log lots of PT time, stretch a lot, ice my shoulder and neck after climbing, and dose up on Ibuprofen, but it's all worth it to be climbing somewhat strong again. We ended the day on Patio Roof (V8), which Ben almost sent, and I floundered on. So I'm not that strong quite yet. :) But it's still early in the season...

Melissa whipped out the camera for a few quick shots of Patio Roof: