one monkey typing ...
houda point bouldering · 30 June 2009
we took a day trip to houda point and moonstone beach, in northern california (humboldt county), yesterday to try out a little bouldering. houda point is a great beach, with bouldering accessible at low tide. moonstone beach is ... totally skippable (crowded, dirty, ugly with a capital ugh). stick with houda point, even though bouldering is only available at low tide.
because we arrived a bit late for low tide, we didn't have a lot of time at houda point. we played for a bit on a problem of our own invention, before deciding to move on to check out moonstone beach. our mistake, as moonstoon turned out to be unappealing, but live and learn. the route we were stringing together at houda was probably about a v0 or maybe a v0+ and by the time we'd worked it a bit, we were really starting to have fun with it. dusty took pictures of us on it, and also of me goofing around on a couple of other routes (which i did not finish).
[clicky]
next trip out we're going to hit lost rocks, which is reputed to be some kinda epic.
toys on roids · 23 June 2009
Toys on Roids, by Sean Tubridy is one of the coolest photo sets i've seen in a long time:
there's even a book! the full-sized slideshow can be viewed here.
lead climbing · 23 June 2009
after many years of bouldering and top roping, i finally decided it was high time i learned how to lead climb. i took a class, took the test, did a bit of practicing indoors and then picked a nice, easy outdoor route for my first sport lead. "beavis" is a short, very easy 5.7 located on the "poison oak wall" at emigrant lake. its five bolts are spaced comfortingly close together and the top-out to the anchors is easy enough that even i didn't get too nervous attempting it (and i hate top-outs). the bolt spacing and presence of actual, positive holds makes the route feel almost like a gym route, so i figured it'd be the perfect place to start.
my first time up i was so nervous my hands were shaking and i was a bit sick to my stomach. my climbing suffered as a result, and i was fumbling around for holds like a n00b. the second time up i was already mostly desensitized to the experience, so it went a lot more smoothly. i took the video camera along to film myself so i could review my "performance" later for mistakes, and i did find one pretty glaring error (i let the rope get behind my leg at one point), but otherwise things looked fine. i figured that as long as i had the footage, i'd edit together the two climbs for a first-run/second-run comparison. i think things look a bit smoother the second time up, but i've still got a long way to go to be good at this. once i get my sport leading skills built up i'm going to give trad a try. anyhoodle, here's a very, very dull video of a very easy climb:
[26.6MB*M4V]
Right-click and "Save As" to download, left-click to (possibly) view in browser.
the weekend after that (or thereabouts) we took a friend out for her first lead and she totally nailed it, too. after she got done sending a couple of leads of "beavis", we decided to give "cornholio" a try on top rope with an eye toward scoping it out for potential leadability. "cornholio" is listed as a 5.10a, but it really feels more like a 5.9. after sending it on top rope with no trouble, i'm fairly certain we can lead it. i think that this coming weekend i'm going to give that a try. i'm getting excited in anticipation of being able to say i lead a 5.10a, even if it really is more a 5.9.
gaff tape · 6 June 2009
it's the best. i'm not really a wallet-carrying person (pockets do the trick, thank you very much), but i couldn't resist making a wallet out of gaffer's tape. it's the clearly-superior alternative to duct tape. oh, and i lined the wallet with tinfoil, so it's rfid blocking. maybe i'll make a gaff tape/tin foil cap, next.
[clicky]
spring storm · 3 June 2009
we had a fabulous thunder storm monday evening. it ended just before sunset, providing a nice photo opportunity.
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