Super Bueno times in Flagstaff, AZ

Last move of "Checkerboard"

Since our last update, Mike and I have been in Flagstaff, AZ.  Although the climbing was truly spectacular, we felt we needed to leave Bishop and are happy we did so.  On our last day in Bishop I wanted to work on "Checkerboard," a v8 that I had heard may be one of Bishops best.  I only spent a couple hours working it, but in the end couldn't top it out.  It is very crimpy and long, a tendons worst nightmare.  I am sad to say that I made it to the top 2 times and fell off the last jug.  Oh well...that is what climbing is all about.

Cleaning the holds

 Finding new problems that you are unable to get one year, and going back another time to do them.  I know I will return to Bishop one day.  Our buddy TJ from Hueco arrived in Flagstaff the day before we did with his friend Jesus.  Jesus is from Mexico and is going to be traveling the US (with us the majority of the time) for the next few months.  The first thing I noticed about Jesus was the stellar single braid he has in his hair.  It is awesome and Tj, myself and Mike all want one now.

Flagstaff is really similar to Boulder with a smaller town vibe.  It is home of Northern Arizona University which is a smaller school than CU, but in a similar town (mountains and city mix).  There are tons of mountaineering shops, coffee shops, bars and restaurants.  Unfortunately the last few days have been full of bad weather and we have only been able to climb one day.  Aside from climbing we have been eating, shooting pool, touring Wal-mart, and sitting at coffee shops.  Wal-mart has one of those machines that measures blood pressure and the four of us have an ongoing competition to see who is in the best shape.  Our poor friend TJ might want to consider some meds, but thats besides the point.  TJ, if you are reading this...I am there for you man.

Its ok man...we are here for you.

The winner.  I think his arm is too skinny to get an accurate reading.

TJ

Flagstaff is famous for its overhanging limestone roofs.  There is no guidebook worthy of purchasing, so we climbed whatever we thought looked fun.  It was a relief to not worry about grades for once.

Jesus (notice the awesomeness of his hat)

The first day we got into town we found an awesome pool hall in downtown Flagstaff.  For those of you that dont know, I am pretty obsessed with pool, and I have convinced everyone else to play pool almost every day.  Unfortunately nobody else enjoys it to the same extent that I do.  We had a friendly climbing competition in Priest Draw two days ago to decide what our next rest day would be made up of; pool or basketball at the YMCA.  It was 3 (basketball) vs. 1 (pool).  The rules of the competition were simple; the first person to climb a problem with no shoes and no chalk wins.  I won the first problem, but these guys decided to change the rules to best 2 out of 3.  I thought I had it in the bag after Mike and TJ fell off my problem and all the pressure was placed on Jesus's shoulders.  With his fingers squirting blood all over the rock and to everyones amusement he was able to climb the problem first go by using nonexistent monopockets and crimps.  I think he used magic.  So now the score was 1-1, and TJ picked the mens final problem.  A few easy moves on greasy slopers, to a big dyno (jump to the lip).  After about 20 goes each, the holds were beginning to look like they had been soaked in oil.  Despite these harsh conditions young Mike hook shot catapulted his beast like 6 foor 1 inch, 130 lb body to the lip.  All I had to do was match him, but my measly 5 foot 8 inch, 144.6 lb body would not perform.  I lost. 

Soooooo, yesterday we went to the YMCA and played a few hours of basketball.  We started off by me giving the boys a lesson on how to shoot.  I destroyed them in a game of HORSE.

Me showing the perfect shot

After that Jesus and TJ schooled Mike and I in a few games of 2-2.  I do not mind letting the world know that I suck at basketball and that Mike and I lost.  I just looked at TJ's blog and it seems that he forgot to mention to the world that I beat him in a game of HORSE.  Oh well.  Jesus is surprisingly good at every thing he tries.  In Mexico he was a professional skateboarder.  He is also very good at basketball and I don't think I was able to block a single shot he made.  Lucky for TJ.  He is also a mountain biker, pingpong player (with a goofy two-handed backhand), and a tennis player.  There is probably more that I have not heard about yet.

After basketball I watched Jesus land about every trick in the book on a skateboard even though he  hasn't skated in years.  Cam, hopefully you can meet Jesus this summer and he can teach us some stuff...

Last night we bought a bunch of cheap sugary food and watched MacGruber.  I fell asleep but everyone seemed to enjoy it.

This morning I found out that this is the first time Jesus has ever seen snow.  I can only imagine how strange it must have been for him to open up the back doors to the completely windowless cab of his awesome Volkswagon "Van," and have snow fall on him.  Needless to say he made the most of it by making a snow-angel and a snowman on the hood of his car.

Today we sat in IHop and enjoyed the endless pancake meal they offer.  I feel sick.  Tonight we will go back and play some more pool.  Jesus and I somehow lost in a best of 5 game of pool against Mike and TJ, and we are hungry for revenge.  Like I said, Jesus is awesome at everything he does...Hopefully that includes pool.  I will post the results next time!

Tomorrow will most likely be another forced rest day.  It will be TJ's birthday eve, and he wants to go see the Talib Kweli concert...He has very expensive taste and I am having an extremely difficult time saving money with his influence.

Cheers,
Thomas