Sunday, August 21, 2011

Gold Diggin

So, the weather is finally beginning to cooperate and the temps are becoming more pleasant.  A step in the right direction anyway.  I've finally started climbing outside again and so far this seems like it will be a pretty killer season.  I've been out to Grandmother a couple times with Zack "Slow Motion" Silberman and Leanna Lockhart to get on Sunday Service.  I have tried this problem in years past with very little success.  I was pretty stoked to find that the moves no longer feel like such a struggle.  And I can finally crimp with my left hand again!!  Either way, I've gone out there 3 or 4 times now with no success.  Zack was able to put it together pretty quickly and did it without sticking the dyno in isolation!  Pretty sick.  We were filming, but Zack's camera loves to run out of memory right before the send.  So, he did the problem second go next time we were out there for the vid.  That kid is sick strong and always fun to climb with.  Leanna and I also seem to be very close to doing this climb, and I'm syked to get back out there soon!!

Zack on The Dyno of Sunday Service (V11)
As much as I want to do Sunday, I think it's good to give it a break for a bit.  Today, I went out into the Backyard with Josh Shepherd and got on some sick climbs!  It has been a while since I've been back there, but I'm officially hooked again.  There is a killer project dubbed the Massive, and it is quite large.  The finish looks like it will be absolutely terrifying, as it is really high, and the landing drops off another 8 feet.  Either way, Josh and I worked this thing for a while and found some sick beta (2 different methods) and we made good progress for the day.  Some of the holds still have some flaking to do before they can be deemed solid, but that just adds to the experience.  Here is a pic of one of Josh's early attempts:

The pic doesn't do it justice.  It's pretty tall.

The feature is reminiscent of Roof of Death, but this is much bigger and more difficult.  It is tough to say at this point, but it could run at about V8/9.  Can't wait to get back out there and give it some more work!!