Girl Beta

As promised, here is some video footage of a few of the climbs I did this past Fall and Winter. These are some of my favorite climbs to date!


Girl Beta from Casey Webb on Vimeo.

The Sweet Sweet Smell of Success

        Our move to Salt Lake City has been beneficial for me as a climber in a few different ways. First of all, access to a gym, while not as enjoyable as climbing as outside, has helped me progress in both strength and technique just by the availability of a lot of mileage and through all of the training tools available (campus board, weights, etc.). Second of all, and probably the most significant of the two, is the way it has opened my eyes to possibilities! I get to see so many strong women climbing both at the gym and outside. I realized that I have been holding myself back by placing barriers on what I thought was possible for myself. Moving to a new climbing community has been enlightening just because I have witnessed so many people saying, "Why not?" and going for something beyond what they might see as their limit. No, I haven't made any huge jumps in my progression...but I am seeing progression! Nothing is more satisfying in climbing than experiencing tangible progress.

       Moes has been my stomping ground since I started bouldering and it's really where I learned to climb. It's also a great place for me to be able to perceive how much I have improved. I got my first V1 at Moes and I was stoked! I also got my first V2, V4, V5 and V6 at Moes. I know it's not the most awesome climbing crag in the world, but it has a variety of classic problems and I have truly enjoyed climbing there. It feels like home, and I love the Southern Utah Desert! 

       Ever since I started climbing, I have heard people rave about the problem Israil at Moes Valley. After I got a few V5's I decided to take a look at it. I felt the holds and everything seemed doable, except the big move left to an opposing sidepull jug. I thought my arms were too stretched out and it would be impossible for me to do it without using the slopey crimp at the lip. I told myself it was too hard for shorter people, and I moved on to other things. This year, I decided I'd like to give it another shot. For the MLK holiday weekend Casey and I traveled to Moes for a little climbing trip. I hoped Israil would feel possible, but in the back of my mind I still had doubts. My first session on it I was able to do all of the moves! Without using the horrible crimp! I was so psyched!!! I figured out my beta for all of the moves, and went back on Monday to give it another go. I wasn't able to send but I made some good links. Over the next few weeks I obsessed over the climb. Every night as I was falling asleep, I was mentally climbing Israil, remembering every foot hold, every hand bump. Finally Presidents Day rolled around and we made our way back to Moes. My first try on the climb I made a link from the start to the big move and almost stuck it! It felt like I had climbed it a million times. I worked out the big move a few times by itself and went from the start again. I was so excited I had butterflies! Everything came together and I was able to send the problem!! It was one of my favorite sends to date. I loved it!! That is why I love bouldering. The process of the movement going from impossible, to probable, and finally doing it. So fun!!

(video footage coming soon!)

I was also able to send a few other problems while we were there. 

Dustbowl V5

 Unfortunately there aren't as many double digit problems left for Casey to climb as there are moderates for me, but he was able to keep himself entertained by sending Yoyo Mama, a V10 on the Monkey Boy boulder.

Whenever we go back to Southern Utah we love seeing our friends and family in the area! There are so many great people both in the climbing community and just in general. 

Kara working out her beta on Hermione V3

Bouldering Videos from Southern Utah and Vegas

Three Stars in So. Utah from Casey Webb on Vimeo.
Vegas Sandstone from Casey Webb on Vimeo.
Secrets of Southern Utah from Casey Webb on Vimeo.

Winter in Southern Utah

We love Southern Utah, especially in the winter when the good climbing temperatures roll around! We have been spending time at Moes and a few newer local areas the last few months, keeping up the psych! I like pictures better than words, so here we go:

Seth sent Gription, a classic!

Casey repeating.

A few years ago I hopped on Device Ignitor left to give it a try, but chose to take a break from it until it was more in my league. This year I decided to give it another shot and was able to send after a few sessions. It is a really fun problem and I was super stoked to get my first v6!

Brooke working a V2 near Underwhelmed.

Kara with the onsight!

Tommy working on Casey's problem, Scavenger Soup V9.

Maggie and I working through the crux moves on Into the Oasis V5.

Kara on another V2, Jaguar Shark.

Angel Wings

Kara on Device Ignitor Right.

Maggie on Huntsman Graffiti.

And a beautiful view...

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.

President's Day Weekend

After too many weekends without climbing, we had a GREAT long weekend for President's day! Mashery (a.k.a. Matt, Ashley, Parker, and Tommy) came down and we stayed at Matt's sisters house in St. George.  It was so wonderful just getting out and forgetting about school, work, etc. On Saturday we went to Black and Tan and climbed at Kelly's Wall for a few hours. It was there that we had an epiphany! Sport climbing is perfect for us right now!! Well mostly for Casey coming off a finger injury. I might still need some convincing to get super psyched about it. It will be fun to change focus for a while and build our endurance! We have some big plans. 

Here are some pics. Awesome gray limestone with horizontals and runnels!

 Parker was pretty excited about doing some bouldering! I think he especially loves chalk.

 Nice resting spot!

 I discovered that Joshua trees are entertaining photography subjects.

 Sunday we had a nice rest day in St. George. Casey and I went to Pioneer Park and hiked through the crack. Boy was that place crowded! Who wouldn't love to spend their weekend in sunny St. George?

Monday morning we met Greg, Chelsea, Jens and Vonae at Moe's for a little bit of bouldering.

 We hopped over to Chuckawalla in the afternoon to get in a few laps on a rope.

 I'm not sure why this picture popped up clear down here. Oh well! It's still pretty cool. The sky was perfect!!

 And this is obviously back at Moes.

Home Sweet Moes

Casey and I became regulars at Moe's Valley about 3 years ago when we first started dating. It was my first experience with climbing, my first taste of the failure, trying over and over, and my first taste of success. Of course this led to my love of bouldering! I have great memories with B-ridge and Ali of first projecting V1's, then V2's and finally V3's and beyond! Casey and I have been discussing lately how awesome that time was, especially because we had the best core of climbing friends anyone could ask for. I seriously felt so legit when I was sending my first V1s because there were so many people cheering all the time. It was so exhilarating and great!

A few years have passed since that time and a lot of our buddies from that climbing crew have moved away to new fun adventures, but we are still enjoying our little trips to good ol' Moes Valley. Especially when Tommy and Bridget get to come down with us! How awesome is it that despite living 3 hours apart, they are still our best friends and climbing partners?! We love them a lot. 

The last few weekends in December we have been heading down to the warmer/dryer temps of St. George and enjoying some of the old and some new boulder problems there. Casey's projects are very temperature dependent, so we've worked out a good system of me climbing while it's warm and then he climbs when the sun is starting to set and the temps improve. You'd think it might get old climbing at the same place year after year, but we are still having a blast! I have been climbing some great new problems that I love because they are inspiring to me and motivating through these cold winter months. I've found a new challenge with climbing since I've started teaching is maintaining psych and working out during the week when I don't get as many chances to get outside. (Kind of off the subject, but we are so excited for Derek's new garage renovations!!!!!) I love it when I have a specific project to work towards that pushes my limits.

Here are a few pics of some things we have been doing at Moes.

Really fun V3 called Sidewinder Eyes kind of near the Device Ignitor boulder. Semi-powerful start moves to a nice easy top out. Totally my style. :)

 The Goose, a really fun and unique v4 around the corner from the Swan. Turns out it's actually much easier when you climb it at the start of the day instead of the end!

Casey is getting super close to sending Settlers of Catan V11!

Tommy impressed us once again as he flashed Petri Dish V6.

And then he sent Spectro V6/8!

 I almost sent my cave project. Fell on one of the last moves! So exciting! I'm pretty sure I love it as much as Device Ignitor middle. It's great because it's working my endurance and my core big time, which I need. Very very fun movement. Lame name though. V5. How much more boring of a name could you get? Maybe Bryce can think of something mind blowing.

Tommy pushed through sore fingertips to work on Casey's new line, Scavenger Soup. V8ish? Great line! Highly recommended. Just look at it! Awesome!!

And a fun V3 warm up on the No Mind boulder.

Schedule for this week:
Tomorrow: Derek's garage and Moe's Valley
Tuesday: Derek's totally rad garage!!!
Thursday-Saturday: RED ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!