A Few more from Flag

Here's another vid from my few day's in Flag. It consists of the Puzzle Box roof and some of the 5 Star problems on Mt Elden. The Puzzle Box is just another sweet roof in Priest's Draw that I did my own circuit on (not nearly as impressive as Sam) and the 5 Stars are obscure dacite problems on Mt Elden. It's worth noting that there are actually five 5 Stars and the only thing that kept Mike and I from completing them all was an early afternoon downpour. So it goes. I guess I have something to go back to.

Many thanks to Jason Jackson (aka #1) for giving me the tour of the 5 Stars. It was nice seeing something new in Flagtown and actually made me think about moving back there.

A Few More From Flag from Walker Kearney on Vimeo.

Sam Davis vs Mars Roof

I'm back in Sweden after my short trip to the States. It was far from the typical vacation for me as climbing wasn't at the forefront. I spent most days visiting friends and family or looking for a new van. Speaking of which, if anyone has a line on sweet rig that a family of three can spend 5 months living out of let me know. I'm thinking a raised roof conversion van or something with a pop-top.

Anyway, amongst all the visiting and van searching I still managed to get on some rock. I spent a few days in Flagstaff, AZ and met up with my friends Sam and Anna for a short session at Priest's Draw. While my roof climbing ability has suffered considerably from living in Sweden (the land of granite and gneiss) Sam's seemed to be in top form. He decided to do every problem on Mars Roof twice as the usual once through didn't even make him break a sweat. All the problems on Mars are pretty difficult and when you factor in the the endurance required it seemed like a worthy challenge for a climber of Sam's caliber. Well, Sam didn't seemed the least bit phased after topping out the roof for the eighth time. Maybe he'll have to start eliminating holds to up the anti.
Here is what a strong man doing laps at his local area looks like. Don't worry, I only included one lap on each problem (his second trip on each for the day) so hopefully this video isn't too boring.

Sam Davis vs Mars Roof from Walker Kearney on Vimeo.

Pie Fest Vid

Here's a brief vid from Pie Fest. Just a taste of the good times.

Pie Fest 2009 from Walker Kearney on Vimeo.

USA Update: Pie Fest

I've passed the halfway point of my two week trip to the States. It's hard to justify flying here for such a short time but with a wife and baby at home it was a hard decision to come at all. This trip was basically just for the annual Pie Festival in my home town of Pie Town as it is an opportunity to see friends and family.
This years Pie Fest was the biggest ever as an estimated 1000 people turned out to feast on pie and race horny-toads. The climbing contingent was also stronger than ever as over about 50 climbers made it out. Good times for all.
Here are a few pics from the festivities.

Welcome to Pie Fest 2K9

"Tell you what"

Getting a toad ready for the race

Gathering for the horny-toad race

Release the toads

A Big Day at Hogen

Hogen saw a flurry of activity on Sunday as there must have been 2o people there and several of the best undone lines went down. I managed the 2nd ascent of an incredible slopey problem after Adam surged his way up it (got a name for the problem Adam?) and my only other victory was the fa of a tricky toe-hook problem I'm calling "Dance Quintet". There where some other notable fa's as Fredrik utilized his height to stretch up a cool face (name?) and Lars danced his way up a heinous problem that left everyone else beat-up and confused (name?). There are still some undone gems for those with fa fever and many of those that are done are top class. In fact the area holds what I think is one of the best moderates in Sweden and it alone is worth a trip. I'm sure I'll be back at Hogen as I'd like another go at the Lars problem among others.

Fredrik tries his luck on the slopey problem

Adam on Fredrik's face climb

Adam on the heinous Lars problem

Martin on the first move of the Lars problem

Dance Quintet

Hyppeln

A couple months ago a downpour had me lamenting my inability to go bouldering. Bad weather on a free day is often the key ingredient for scouting new potential but for some reason, be it laziness or my natural aversion to water, I didn't feel like braving the weather. Instead of actually going out I opted for a little virtual scouting online. I spent some time checking out aerial photos of the islands outside Göteborg. The exposed rock of the islands make for good virtual scouting but even if you find something there might not be a way to get there if you don't have a boat or a mean breaststroke. You can image my excitement when what appeared to be large boulders sat along the beach of an island reachable by a ferry. Yesterday Dr Lars, Johan, Per-Ola and myself headed to that island with pads and brushes.
Hyppeln is still a bit of a hassle to get to (you have to take two ferries) but it proved well worth the effort for a day of fa's. The rock is standard island quality (bullet) but the climbing tended to be steep on good hold. We put up 7 problems with the beautiful Davey Jone's Locker being the gem of the area. There is still some potential and one line in particular that has me wanting to go back with a few extra pads. Here are a few pics.

Warming up on Bättre än Boulercupen between ferries

Lars tries Tonfisk Xpress

Per-Ola on Farmors Kaka

Johan on Farmors Kaka

Lars emerges from Davey Jone's Locker