New Web Project in the Works

Yeah, it's true, I've only posted like one time this month. Weak sauce, right? Well, at least I've got a decent excuse. Me and a couple of climbing pals are working on a new website project we're really excited about, and it's been taking what little free time I have after my days and nights of grad school misadventures. What's the new project? I can't say quite yet cuz it's still in the developing stages (but that's a fuzzy logo teaser to the left) and no one wants to see a project that's half done--it's like seeing yer grandma half naked before she puts on her makeup and girdle and puts in her teeth in the morning. But I'll be dropping info here soon, hopefully by next month.



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What Happened to the Bouldering Circuit?

Yeah, what happened to the bouldering circuit? Nowadays, the mighty 'project' reigns supreme. Projects, projects, projects. It's one of the most common words you'll hear out in the boulder field or at the crag. "Did you do your project man?" Singular feats of peak performance have trumped the ensemble experience.

I've tried to think of an analogy from another outdoor sport. The emphasis in climbing on projects and difficulty reminds me a bit of the emphasis--and marketability--on single, super-difficult tricks in skateboarding or snowboarding. That stuff does seem to sell, that's for sure.

In the French birthplace of bouldering, a circuit of boulder problems is such a common tradition that they're physically coded and marked on the boulders themselves. Visit Fontainbleau and you can't miss them: they're painted in vivid color with arrows pointing up. Depending on the color, you'll find an appropriate circuit for kids, hard men and women, and all levels between. Just pick a color and follow the arrows. If you're lucky, follow a local too.

I was in Font once, bouldering in a spot which roughly translates to 'Valley of the Dog.' It's a flat, sandy expanse littered with perfect boulders and home to the famous roof problem, Le Toit du Cul de Chien, a French version of Blowing Rock's Roof of Death. I had the chance to follow an unassuming Frenchman on a red arrow circuit. Over a few hours, we went from boulder to boulder, linking red arrow problems in a continuous flow. True to form, he kindly pointed out flaws in my beta, which I must admit now was really a great help. I didn't send the hardest thing I'd ever done, but that wasn't the point. Climbing uninterrupted wore me out, and left me with a great feeling: the simple satisfaction of moving over stone for an extended period of time.

Now, I know circuits aren't totally dead, and that a few climbers still nurture and practice their favorite local link-ups. Tom Moulin's recent guidebook for Red Rocks bouldering actually goes as far as describing a whole handful of bouldering circuits for different areas. It would be neat to see more guides in the states do this, but cool and unique as it is, collectively shared circuits are the exception. No one really talks about circuits anymore, and for a more recent generation of climbers, it seems like the idea is either forgotten or meaningless.

Ironically, while running a good circuit is easily more fun that flailing and falling on a pad all day, the truth is doing circuits builds a fantastic training base for taking it to the next level on that one, single hard-for-you climb, i.e., your precious project. For those who remain fixated on performance, and uninterested in this pitch for a flowing hippy trip through the boulders, keep that in mind.

Maybe I'm way off though and there's pent-up love for the circuit out there. Care to tell your favorite circuit spot? Mine's the Long Wall at Grandmother.

Zachary Lesch-Huie

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New Year's Eve at Rumbling Bald

Seeing as how there's almost a foot of snow on the ground here in Boone today, I'm feeling pretty lucky that we got out last week on New Year's Eve for a trip to RB. There was a big crew of folks in the parking lot and it was good to catch up with some folks from Asheville i haven't seen in months. We started the day warming up on the West Side at the Gateway boulders, moved on to Shady Grove, and then headed west to the "new" Hanging Chain boulders with Matt B, Brad C and George from SC, and a fella whose name I already forgot (Adam, maybe?) because I have early onset Alzheimers (sorry, dude!).

I had never been here before so I was curious to check 'em out. We hit just one area that had a few moderates and one great looking V6 called "The Butch Seamstress." One of the best lines there was a V3 up a crimp rail that pimped out to a jug, and then the top of the boulder. It was fun climbing someplace without a lot of chalk--it definitely required sussing the problems out. It was also a nice way to get far from the crowds that were there that day. If you've never been, these boulders are worth at least 1 visit, especially on a crowded day.

We then went back to the West side and finished the day hitting a bunch of stuff from the Bart Simpson Boulder to Classic Overhang (V3) to The Crescent (V1 highball). I love ending the day by getting in a lot of mileage like that. Here are some pics from the day:




And here's a video of that fun V3 at the Hanging Chain Boulders:






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The Rest of the Trip

I've learned that you have to be somewhat philosophical about climbing roadtrips in the SE in the wintertime. Really, if you get in a few good days, yous should be content, even if you were planning on a solid week of climbing. The weather can change so damn fast and there's a small margin between just-right temps and it being too damn cold. You can probably see what I'm leading up to. We had planned on a weeklong trip to hit up Chattanooga and HP40. I had dreams of climbing at LRC/Stone Fort, the T Wall, then heading south to HP40. By the end of the week we had gotten two days of climbing in at LRC thanks to rain, and then finally, snow.

But the 2 days we got at LRC were pretty sweet--that place is just so much fun, especially if you've only been once before as I have. There's just a ton of classics to explore. Which is what I focused on during our second day. Since my shoulder was a bit sore from bouldering a couple of days before, I decided to climb as many V3 and under classics as possible. I probably climbed about 20 or more lines. Some of the best were Mouse Trap (V2), a fun little finger crack, and Oracle (from the stand start (V3). So even though we didn't get in nearly as much climbing as I had hoped, it wasn't a total wash. There are a few pics in the slideshow below, but we didn't shoot too much on either day. We were so focused on exploring and climbing we pretty much forgot about the camera. Hope everyone else was able to get out over the holidays.

PS: I'm trying a new slideshow creator out for the first time on this post; we'll see if it's any good.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

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One day at Little Rock City

This is gonna be a short post cuz I'm writing from my phone. And my hand gets numb from writing on this tiny keypad after about 20 seconds.

But we got one great day in at lrc on Monday. The weather was perfect and the shoulder is really on the mend I think: I climbed 2 v4s and a few v3s. This is a big improvement over the summer when I was doing v0s. The best climb I did was called mystery groove I think. It was a wild v4 up a pinch/sloper spine of rock.

The bad news is the weather has turned to shite. We couldn't climb at all yesterday and today everything is soaked. But we're keeping our fingers for tomorrow. More updates to come soon, weather permittin'.

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South Bound

Finally, the semester is over, as is the requisite week break to chill out and come down from all of the stress. But after a week of sitting around in the snow in Boone, it's time to hit the road. Me and Melissa are going to Chattanooga and maybe HP40 for the next few days before Christmas. Finally, we're getting some climbing in. I'll be posting from the road at various times. The weather is looking sweet! I haven't been to either place in 2 years now, so this should be a great time.

In other news, I just turned on a mobile version of this site, so it should be easier to read on phones and whatnot.

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Best of Andrew Kornylak's Beta Series?

The Triple Crown Bouldering Series has come and gone and along with it, Andrew Kornylak's excellent promotional Beta Series. That series' final installment seems to have flown under the radar, but in some ways, it's the best one. Kornylak even said as much at the last Triple Crown event in Chattanooga. Filmed at Stone Fort/Little Rock City, it's called "Long Ways Down." Take a look, and see if this kid doesn't inspire you.

The Beta - Long Ways Down from Andrew Kornylak on Vimeo.

ZLH

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Your Comments are Needed on the Draft Plan for Chimney Rock State Park!

Climbers did a fantastic job of making themselves heard in the first round of the Chimney Rock State Park planning process. Now, the draft master plan for Chimney Rock State Park is out and open for comments.

Would you like to see additional climbing areas open throughout the park, besides Rumbling Bald? If you like climbing at Rumbling Bald, and would like to see climbing in other additional areas throughout the park, make yourself heard.

It is absolutely essential that climbers speak up right now on this issue. It's easy. Just go to one of the following spots:

http://www.accessfund.org/c.tmL5KhNWLrH/b.5208267/k.8C84/Action_Center/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=tmL5KhNWLrH&b=5208267&aid=15027

http://carolinaclimbers.org/rumbling-bald/calltoaction.html

The deadline for comments is December 13th. Don't procrastinate. Just do it.

ZLH

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Hanging On

Thanks to any and all who still may be coming to Frixtion looking for new posts--just hang in there with me! The semester is over next week and I'm cooking up some road trip plans for the holiday break, including Chattanooga and Horse Pens, so I should have some fun stuff to share soon. Right now the only thing I could share with you is info on my Neuroanatomy final. If that's your bag, let me know; I'll try to work it into some future posts. It's also supposed to snow here in Boone tomorrow, so I guess it's officially Rumbling Bald season. Might have to work in a trip there in the next few weeks, too.



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Live Rock Climbing Competition on TV! World Cup Finals

Wouldn't that be the day? Like American football, we'd sit on our couch eating potato chips, cheering on the International Sport Climbing World Cup competitors. Everyone would know the climbers' stats, their top sends, their strengths and weaknesses.

Sound crazy? It's not a total pipe dream sports fans. Once again, the mighty internet brings the future to us faster than we can ask for it. Most of this World Cup rock climbing season was streamed live on the internet and, for this climbing nerd anyway, it was surprisingly fun to watch (I know, should have told you before the season was over, but better late then never, right? Plus you can still re-play the videos--more information and links are below).

This past Friday and Saturday, the Rock Climbing World Cup Finals were streamed live from Kranj, Slovenia (highlights here). Our 5' 2" man Ramon Julian Puigblanque killed it, becoming the Men's World Cup Champion. Kim Jain, a crushing climber from Korea took the women's category, becoming the Women's World Cup Champion. Korea's climbers are a growing force on both the bouldering and sport climbing IFSC World Cup circuits.

From http://ramonjulian.blogspot.com/

The Joost blog stays on top of this World Cup live streaming stuff. Or you can just keep up with things on the IFSC's YouTube channel.

It's a recurring question, but as a side topic, where are the U.S. climbers in IFSC's sport climbing circuit? Less surprisingly, IFSC's bouldering competitions receive some U.S. attention, but in general the absence of U.S. climbers is kind of disappointing.

Zachary Lesch-Huie

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Crazy Internet=Design Change, Plus a Rant of Sorts

When I woke up and checked the blog this morning, there were ads running through the rotating images I usually have at the top of the page. Somehow a virus hacked the code running the javascript and started mucking it up with ads. So, for now, I'm having to just default to a simple logo for a while until I figure out what caused it and how I can fix it. Bummer. This is the last thing I need right now! This semester has slowly worn me down to the point where all I can think about is schoolwork. I used to climb, blog about climbing, go for runs, hang out with friends on the weekends. But the last couple of weeks especially have been some of the busiest / most stressful in my life, and it'll probably stay that way until Xmas break. I haven't climbed outside in weeks!

But I can't wait for the time off at Christmas. I'm trying to get a little SE road trip going so me and Melissa can hit up the Obed, Chattanooga, and hopefully HP40 too. Now I just gotta make it a few more weeks.

I'm finding that the key to not going crazy during all of this is to keep reminding myself of why I started grad school: Eventually, I want more flexibility from my career and more time for climbing. While my last job was great in a lot of ways (an Editor at a publishing company in Asheville), I only got 2 weeks off a year, was chained to a desk, and my "job transportability" as I like to call it, meaning that if I wanted to up and move to Wyoming next year, was nil. There aren't a lot of publishing jobs in the places I want to be. But Speech Therapy is a lot like nursing--there are a lot of jobs all over the country, and there are a lot of options for schedule flexibilty and having time off. For example, one of the therapists I shadowed in a local school system worked three days a week, had summers off, and still made a salary in the mid-30s. It's not an amazing amount of money, but for working part time with summers off, it's pretty sweet, especially if you're a climber. I think I could make that salary stretch just fine by keeping living expenses low while still getting to be outside 3-4 days a week. Also, you can do travel therapy, which is what I plan to do after I graduate. You can do as little as six months at each assignment, so you can basically follow the seasons around the country for awhile until you want to settle someplace.

These are the things I keep telling myself while I'm stuck inside on nice days, or studying feverishly over my breakfast, or watching the calluses peel off my tips. Hell, I moved to Boone to be closer to climbing! The irony is terrible that I live in one of the best bouldering spots in the country, and I even have boulders I can walk to in my backyard, and I still climb maybe twice or three times a month now. But one semester's almost done already...just 3 more to go! Then, I hope, I'll see all of this has been worth it.

-Matt P.




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Two Down, One to Go: Triple Crown at HP40 Complete

Well, I wish I was there. I had to work on Saturday and couldn't make it down to Horse Pens for the second leg of the Triple Crown Bouldering Series. I heard it was a blast as usual, with some naughty behavior on the award ceremony stage (as usual?). A welcome change this year must have been the cooler temperatures.

Results from the comp are up on the Triple Crown site, along with a link to an article I wrote for Rock & Ice's website about the Hound Ear's comp. Dead Point Magazine's site also has a nice series of images from Horse Pens.

A little sports commentary: Kasia Pietras continues to do well in the Open Women's category, though out-of-towner Angie Payne swooped in to take first at HP40. Still, Pietra's looking good as an overall Triple Crown winner, and my guess is she'll have the local's advantage at Stone Fort. Nearly boring in it's consistency, the Open Men's category continues to be dominated by three young Southern crushers: Brion Voges, Brad Weaver and Jimmy Webb. At least the former two made it somewhat interesting by trading second and third places from Hound Ears. That said, Jimmy Webb continues to hold on to first like a huge, juggy Gerry rail. It seems doubtful that he won't take the series.

The Triple Crown train keeps on chugging. Next stop? Stone Fort. Get ready for some immaculate and inspiring sandstone blocks.

Zachary Lesch-Huie

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