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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  

Bye Siebe...Fun with the bus window

Siebe is leaving us...finally...tomorrow morning.  Mike and I are certainly bummed out to have to say goodbye.  Sore tips (finger) and a somber attitude about Siebe leaving made climbing awful today.  Mike is out for a few days with some sort of an injury in his back, and I think I may have strained a pulley in a finger.  It looks like the next few days will have to be rest days, and Mike and I are considering moving on to a new place.  Our friend TJ is in Flagstaff, AZ and we are considering going there to climb with him before heading to Joes Valley, UT.  We are men without a plan...and I like that.  It seems like that is what makes this trip most exciting.  Seeing new places that we were not expecting to see.  It is refreshing leaving one place and having a fresh start somewhere else.  Bishop is an AMAZING place to climb however injuries and poor weather have made it hard for Mike and I to truly enjoy all it has to offer.  I feel like I have not climbed nearly as much as I would have liked, and it is a tough decision to stay a few more weeks, or move on.  We are taking the day tomorrow to decide.

Siebe, Mike and I went to a natural hot springs near Mammoth Lakes the other day.  It was filthy but very relaxing and needed.  Juno ever tried getting in, but decided it was too hot for her immediately.  Last night we went and saw the Banff mountain film festival in Bishop.  They played 6 short films from different categories including climbing, mountain sports (not climbing) and a few others.  If anyone is looking for some entertaining movies to watch check out "Eastern Rises," a really well made film about fly fishing in Russia.  I know...fishing is boring, but this film will make you think otherwise.  If anything enjoy the wild landscape of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia.  Its insane how isolated it is.

Anyways, till next time...

Cheers,

Thomas

Ik ben aan het rukken in mijn slaapzak!

I will leave it up to you to translate the above Dutch sentence which my kind friend Siebe taught me.  He told me it means "Hello, good day" in dutch, but I am a little skeptical.  That child has a dirty mind...Mike and I are still in Bishop.  The weather has been great for the past week and we have been going to the Buttermilks almost every day!  Our entire crew from the last campground decided to make the most of the weather and relocate our camp to the buttermilks.  We found an amazing campground within a 5 minute walk to the boulders and no crowd.

The Buttermilks are amazing (I apologize for repeating this so much, but it is true).  The boulders themselves reach up into the sky over 50 feet in some places!  Unfortunately I injured my finger climbing last week and have had to take it easy this week.  We spent part of the last week at "Seven Spanish Angels," one of the only sloper problems in Bishop.

Yesterday was the first day I was able to climb moderates again, and what a day it was!!!!  We went into the Pollin Grains, an outlying area of the Buttermilks where we climbed two great problems, "Jedi Mind Tricks" V4 and "Suspended in Silence" V5.  These two problems together make up my favorite climbs of Bishop thus far.  "Suspended in Silence" is rated the top problem to do in Bishop area, and I would agree.  It starts off with a perfect dyno into some slim moves to the top of an enormous boulder.  Stunning!!!  "Jedi Mind Tricks" is a perfect crimp problem with a committing move to the lip of a dead vertical rectangular faced boulder.

2011 doesn't mean you cant rock a moustache and bandana!!

It was the last day for the majority of our crew and I am happy that we ended it on such a high note!  These people made our stay in Bishop thus far a ton of fun and I am sad to see them move on...Congrats Kev on sending "Stained Glass".  I am sure we will run into them soon though, as it is a recurring theme in the climbing community, and one of my favorite aspects of climbing overall.  We had a farewell feast this morning at Jacks (local breakfast place).  

Mike Suleiman was skiing 12 feet of pow in Tahoe and Mammoth for spring break, and I was psyched to hear he was coming to Bishop for a few days.  We went climbing, shot pool and hung out just like the old days!  It was a lot of fun!

Siebe is STILL with us, and I am wondering if we will ever be able to get rid of him (kidding Siebe).  I am really happy he has decided to stay a few more days before he makes his way to Indian Creek where he can finally fulfill his odd crack obsession!  He just got a new pair of unreleased 5.10 shoes designed for crack climbing and a guide to Indian Creek, which I am watching him drool over across the table in Starbucks.  I dont think he will actually leave Bishop until he climbs his crazy hard project "Evilution" which calls for a pair of crutches and all of the crash pads in bishop.  We have spent several afternoons at "Evilution," which is right next to Kevin Jorgensen's project.  It was neat watching someone climb at such a high level.  Two nights ago he made the second ascent of a highball problem that has not been repeated since the 90's.  Andy Mann was taking photos so we all had to make sure we were out of the frame, and it was dead silent as we all watched him climb a technical slab 50 feet off the ground.  Today we are resting and going to a natural hotspring near Mammoth Lakes that Siebe went to last week.  Last night we went to a white-trash theme climber party in Bishop...It was fun, but as expected a bit awkward.  Nonetheless it was great to meet new people and put some greasy bar food in our stomachs...

Kayla just got accepted into the Daniels program at the University of Toronto this week and I am beyond excited for her!  Congrats babe!!!!!!  What an exciting change for us both eh???

Mike talked to our friend TJ today who said he will be in Bishop in 2 weeks so we have decided to stay here and climb for a few days after he gets here.  There is a ton of stuff I would like to do in the next 2 weeks, and I know it will seem like we barely scratched the surface of what Bishop has to offer by the time we leave.  Aside from the rather dull nightlife here, it is an amazing place with great views of the Sierras for 360 degrees.  From here we will make our way to Joes Valley, Utah.  Until then Mike and I will keep climbing the Buttermilks, make new friends to replace our old-new ones (although you all are irreplaceable), and I will read my new book "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts which came as a suggestion from Siebe.

The rock here is SHARP and we are thankful to have ClimbOn! supporting us!  Thanks Mama Amy and the rest of the ClimbOn! crew...

Cheers!

Thomas