Barf and More Sends for Tommy

So last week was my spring break from school.  This means non-stop climbing for a week right? Well unfortunately I'm still nursing a finger injury so I felt like I at least needed to take it somewhat easy.  The plan was to go to Black and Tan on Monday then Joe's Thursday through Saturday. On Monday I did make it out to Black and Tan with Jens for some roped climbing.  It was fun, but I definitely have a long way to go to be able to climb anything significant on a rope.  I am loving the new challenge though.  On Thursday I was feeling completely psyched to be at Joe's.  My finger was feeling better than it had in a while and I was excited to try out some new problems.  I sent the Angler (V2) second try! Yay! Then we hiked around looking for various problems.  I was excited to check out the Accordion and Moment of Truth only to find a ten foot sheet of ice covering them!  As we made our way up to Trent's Mom I started to feel a little bit exhausted and sick to my stomach.  It was hot and I figured I just needed a better warm up.  So I climbed around a little bit until we gave up and started onward to the real goal of the trip, Godsend.  Godsend is a beautiful submarine prow jutting out of a cliff band about 500 vertical feet above the road.  I thought the deathly steep 30 minute hike would wake me up and fix my rumbling tummy.  I was wrong.  After getting there my stomach hurt so bad I could hardly stand.  I still gave Godsend a few solid goes to no avail.  It felt doable which was nice, maybe on a non terminal illness (maybe a bit dramatic) day I could send.  Tommy did it in a few tries of course.  At this point I was worried about my ability to hike down and was trying to think of a way to use my crash pad as a sled to avoid being on my feet.  Well anyway I started down and walked slowly about 100 feet before it all started to come up.  I quickly dropped my crash pad, bent over off the trail, and sprayed the hillside with a cascade of my belly's contents. It was the 2nd time I had thrown up in last 15 years of my life.  Fortunately, I felt a little bit better and made the hike down.  Unfortunately, I had to bail on Tommy later that evening (it was the longest 3 hour drive of my life). But also fortunately, he still had a good trip sending Godsend (V9) and The Incredible Hulk (V9). Here's his video:
 

Moe's Valley Comp and a taste of Joe's

A few weekends ago we were happy to attend the annual Moe's Valley clean up and comp. Casey's finger was still in recovery, so I represented the Webb's. It turned out to be an AWESOME day for me!!! I was a little worried when we first showed up because I wasn't feeling too great, but I went with the attitude of just having a good time and hopefully sending my project. Jens and Vonae joined us for the fun, and they were the perfect climbing companions. We started off with some short, easy warm ups and then Jens quickly sent No Mind V5 and Huntsman Graffiti also V5. We then hiked up to the upper valley, did a few more V3's to warm up and I hopped on my project Backhoe V5. I did the ending a couple times because that has been my downfall (literally!) on my last few attempts. It felt great and I figured out the best beta, then I tried it from the start. I'm happy to say that I sent it! Wahoo!!!!! What a great feeling! I love sending projects! I was still feeling pretty good so I decided to try Device Ignitor Middle. I sent it over a year ago and I have to admit I haven't tried repeating it because I was afraid it would shut me down and I'd get discouraged. Not the case. I guess the psych of a competition was on my side because I sent it I think on my 4th try! It felt so invigorating!! Two V5's in a day for me is kind of a big deal. And then I sent Underwhere right V4! By this point my climbing was getting less than graceful, but I was having so much fun and felt so motivated. I was totally worn out by the end of the day, but it was worth it. I had a blast!! And, as a bonus, I won the women's division of the comp!! Jens also did fantastic and won the men's intermediate division! It was the funnest day of bouldering I've had in a while. Mostly because I have the coolest, most supportive, awesome husband in the world! Seriously, I owe it all to him. Well...almost all. I did work pretty hard. :) And now that I've spent too much time bragging about myself, here are some pictures!

And a video Casey made of my project.


And as an even greater bonus, here's a little video Tommy put together of some of his Joe's Valley footage. Looking awesome!

Joe's Valley Winter 2012 from Tommy Rigby on Vimeo.