The Beard vs Angel Dyno

Nalani and I have been joined by our Swedish friend Robert who escaped the Nordic winter for some bouldering in the sun.  His first day in 'merica we took our jet-lagged friend to the Kraft Boulders where he proceed to attack the stone with reckless abandon.  He managed to avoid bleeding but his tips took a beating on the classic Angel Dyno, which almost went down (several times over).
 

 Robert on the opening moves of the Angel Dyno.  It's hard to see but he is rocking an impressive beard.

Robert so close to holding the big swing.  He did that over and over.

The Angel Dyno.

Vegas Baby Vegas

The freezing temperatures in Colorado and Utah chased us to Las Vegas where we've been hanging for a week.  It seems like this happens every year or two and even though I'm not psyched on the climbing in Vegas you can't beat the weather as we've been working on our tans while the highs in St George (just 1.5 hours away) only recently starting creeping above freezing.  

Fortunately it looks like things are starting to warm up at other areas and in a day or two we'll be motoring ourselves toward the giant granite boulders near Bishop, CA.  

Here are a few pictures from Las Vegas. 

This is what we were escaping from.  This is roughly an hour north of Vegas and illustrates one of the great things about the Western United States, if you don't like the weather just drive an hour.  

I've spent a bit too much time in Vegas and I'm so unmotivated that I even went sport climbing one day just to remind myself why I boulder.  At least Hammie thought it was fun.

The biggest selling point of hanging in Vegas has been the presence of family as my sister Prairie and our dad have circled the vans.  Been awesome camping with them.  Here Hammie takes Fart-Fart (aka grandpa) bouldering at the Kraft Boulders.

There are certainly some good problems in Vegas.  Here Prairie climbs Pork-chop, one of the gems that shouldn't be missed.

Jake of All Trades has some of the coolest hold in Vegas.

Prairie got very close on Jake of All Trades but in the end had to pack it up after nearly throwing a wobbler. 

 The Pearl is one of Vegas' best know problems.  This one tends to get bagged on by lots of climbers after their ego gets blasted falling off this polished gem.  Masumi eventually sends after a bit of a struggle.

Joe gets painfully close on the problem left of the Angel Dyno.

Vomit, Ice and Hotels

Even though I escaped the misery of Swedish winters it isn't always sunny and warm here in the States.  A recent cold spell that has farmers throughout California fretting over crops has also troubled us and sent us into contingency mode.  Our little family was snowed out of Joshua Tree and then Hammie spent a night projectile vomiting.  Our attempt to escape to warmer conditions in Las Vegas was interrupted with hurried stops so I could spew into the desert and while Vegas was indeed "warmer" it could hardly be described as pleasant.  The combination of freezing temperatures and sickness has sent us scrabbling to discount accommodations and in the last 10 days I've filled my hotel quota for the next year.

While the hotel life isn't cheap by dirtbag standards it has allowed our little family to recover from sickness and kept my girls warm and sane.  We've also braved the cold a few days and are hoping to escape the hotel a few more times before the journey to cold Salt Lake City.

I do realize that I have no reason to complain about weather as my Swedish friend are hunkered down in Scandinavia but I'm still going to shake my fist at the thermometer and wish I was bronzing under the warm sun.  Fortunately the weather is getting warmer and we have a couple nice days in St. George to look forward to.

Here are a few pictures

 Praire pre-snow on Stem-Gem in Joshua Tree

One of the cooler new problems I did in J-Tree.  Frenchie is a little dirty but with a little more traffic it should clean up nice

 Two sickies.  The vomiting was over at this point but we where far from good.  I'm glad Lina never got the sickness

 Desert Rain is an awesome problem in Red Rocks outside Las Vegas

Lina on a cool steep problem in Red Rocks

Juniper Canyon and the incredible Stand and Deliver

One of the days I was in Vegas we rallied a small crew to head up Juniper Canyon.  I'd been wanting to check out Juniper since last year but had difficulties finding willing partners as tales of an epic hike deterred most suitors despite the promise of one the "countries best problems".  We'll I kept hearing about how amazing this problem was so our intrepid group decide to make the hike with our primary goal Stand and Deliver.  We discovered that not only was the hike not that bad but the Stand and Deliver would have been well worth walking twice as far.

The promise of Stand and Deliver had me so transfixed that I actually took a rare rest-day before going up Juniper Canyon just to give me a better chance of sending.  I was not disappointed as it is truly an amazing problem.  And Juniper Canyon had plenty more to offer as the Cubical was another amazing problem and we discovered a couple super projects.  Guess I'll have to make that hike again.

 Lisa on Stand and Deliver

 One of the projects I'd like to go back for.  I didn't get a picture of the other project

 Jason on the Cubical

Tom on the Cubical

Make a Wish

For the next week Prairie will be joining me in the Motherload and we'll be heading first to Joshua Tree and then to Black Mountain.  Good times will be had.

Here are some pictures of Make a Wish in Red Rocks.  Make a Wish starts on one of the coolest slopers ever.  The problem is kind of a one move wonder but the sloper alone makes it worth it.  

 Jason milking the sloper

 Big D on the start of Make a Wish

Make a Wish

Vegas Baby Vegas

Las Vegas has been pretty sweet.  Between playing the slots and cruising the Strip I've managed to get out and climb a few boulder problems.  It's been bronzing weather in the sun and perfect temps in the shade and we generally plan our climbing days accordingly.  I've managed to make it out to some of the more remote areas and have been cherry-picking the gems. Viva Las Vegas

 Lisa on a cool highball warmup

 Tom on the bicep intensive Americana Exotica 

 Richard (aka Big D) on Wishbone

 Lisa on Frailty

Tom working Tailpipe 

Monkey Bar Boulder

The Monkey Bar Boulder is one of the more popular boulders in Red Rocks. Steep and featured there are probably a good dozen problems on the boulder with countless variations and contrivances.

Prairie warms up on the Monkey Bar Boulder

Monkey Bar Direct, the test piece of the boulder, climbs straight out the steepest section.

Mr Smiley

One of the cool problems I did while in Las Vegas was Mr Smiley. The problem gets little traffic due to it's isolated location and the lack of adjacent climbing but it is well worth the hike, if you can unlock the sequence and stand on top. I think Prairie would like a return trip to finish it off.

Doing the limbo to reach the "smiley" sloper.

Trying the knee-scum method for the crux

The setup for the dyno method

The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead was one of the better problems I did in Vegas. A beautiful line with slopers and compression, it's located up Black Velvet and is worth going there just to do it. Maybe next year I'll make it back and do the sit start.

Ian eyeballing the next sloper

Jon a couple moves from the dicey top-out

More Vegas

Here's a few pictures of Lina climbing at the Kraft boulders

Jones'n

Warming up

Sorange

Features

Scattered amongst Vegas' boulders are some pretty special features. The sandstone type and quality varies by area so a good variety of shapes and styles can be found. Here are some pictures of a few of the grips I fondled.

The very cool "brick pinch" formed by the two runnels on Jack of All Trade

Though a bit sandy, the slopers of The Carapace are reminiscent of Font

The very beautiful Blood Trails is worth the 30 minute approach

The cool smiley face sloper of Mr. Smiley

The balancey and beautiful Pork-chop

Vegas Keeps Calling Me Back

During my time in Vegas I did a lot of great problems but it is the ones I didn't do that have me wanting to head back. The good problems in Vegas are topnotch and for the most part they will be waiting for me (though with the sandstone you never know if they will be the same problem).

Among the problems that I'd love to grapple is A Clockwork Orange in the Kraft boulders. It might be a pipe-dream as I need to be a little stronger and have good temps but it's a rad line that certainly has me psyched.

The first move

Heading to the 2-finger pocket before the dyno crux

Jon wishing it wasn't so warm

Vegas: A Good Start

We had the pleasure of crossing paths with our friend Alex and his lady Ashley during our first days in Vegas. This serendipitous meeting was the perfect way to begin our trip to Vegas as we did some catching up, played some "Settlers" and climbed on boulders. Wish we could have spent more time together but our respective paths parted after only a few days. So it goes.

Here are a couple pics

Ashley puts on her "try-face" on Jones'n

La Chevel

Ashley finds short person beta for La Chevel

Sandstone slopers

Hammie visits Alex's crib