Around Town

Casey started a job with an archeological surveying company, and I'm busy teaching again, so we've been spending most of our spare time bouldering at local areas. We are very content and having a blast at some new areas around the Wash and at Bunker Creek. 

Here are a few pictures from a day at the Springfield Area, Bunker Creek with Jens and Vonae.

 And here are a few from a new area we're checking out, the Sarsen Blocks, just past the wash.

This weekend we went back to the Springfield Area with Casey's family. Love this place!

 Fall is in the air!! Favorite time of the year!!

The best news of the week is that we finally have 4 wheel drive and high clearance! Our new Jeep Liberty!

Some Recent Stuff, and Ibex...of Course

Let's start with Tommy.  In September I gave him the goal of climbing a V8 or better each week until the first week of December.  This means 12 V8s or harder in 12 weeks. Tommy modestly accepted the challenge responding with something like, "There's no way! But I guess I'll try."  Well today is October 30th and Tommy has already completed his goal with 8 V8s, 4 V9s, and a V10! Basically the kid hasn't even touched his potential and will surely be pulling down CRAZY hard stuff really soon.

Zach has also come up with some impressive FA's as of late.  All of them being really nice additions to the Cedar City area.  In Bunker Creek he climbed this neat roof hidden amongst the titanic boulders.  He called this line "50 Degrees of Perfection" (V9) and I believe he considers it to be the best in the area.  Another amazing FA is the the Wash project.  It's a boulder that we found about two years ago and cleaned just this spring. It is really different from the other problems in the wash in the fact that it is gritty and climbs more features than face holds.  I think it's pretty neato! He named it "The Bounty Hunter" (V10).

Zach put this video together:

Southern Utah Episode 4: Fall First Ascents from Zach Bradford on Vimeo.

Last weekend we took another trip to Ibex for a few days.  It was especially nice because Sheralee's family came and brought their luxurious trailer for us to relax and poop in. Tommy and I tried Bruce Lee and the Atomic Bomb.  I feel pretty close on both, but they just keep managing to evade me. Maybe next time.  Then we climbed the White Arete sit, a beautiful boulder climb. Next we tried Bigger is Better, and it shut us down. Fortunately I was staying an extra day so the next day I managed to crawl up it.  I absolutely love that climb. Sheralee has also been climbing really well lately.  She climbed Captain Choss in two tries and nearly climbed this super fun V5 called the Blob, falling on the last move.

Bruce Lee: It won this round

White Arete Sit: Tommy murdered it

The Blob: Next time for sure Sheralee!

Ya I got guns!!

Cameron on this fun boulder rock

Bigger is Better: Love it!!

Nice view eh?

The Cone

Probably my favorite thing about climbing, besides actually climbing, is the people we climb with! Nothing beats a good session with good people. We had a fun evening at The Cone bouldering with all our group of newly married friends. There are some seriously fun problems there! We also discovered that s'mores are really quite delicious when graham crackers are substituted with chocolate chip cookies. Bonus!! Thank you to Hope again for supplying us with delicious edibles. It's a good thing she's so prepared.

New Stuff at the Wash

The Wash has always held a soft spot in my heart. Seriously, I can remember the first time climbing there like it was yesterday. I was with Tommy, and I was desperately trying to send everything before him with the main goal of impressing everybody we were with! I was so young and...stupid. My second time there I climbed the classic problem "Mega Marvels".  The moves flowed amazingly, especially with the start jug intact (thanks a lot Corbin). Well here we are three years and many sessions later. I've climbed a lot of the established problems, but lately my eyes have been a bit more attracted to the unchalked pieces of rock. If somebody is looking to develop some quality boulders, then the wash may be your place. Don't be decieved the rock isn't exactly Bishopesque, but there are definately some hidden gems lying about. So if you have a high tolerance for ticks, especially this time of year, come check it out. Here's a couple pics.

The Scarecrow

Bree's Down

A really amazing yet hard project V10 maybe? V11? V23.5? I dunno?

the Wash

As promised, here are some somewhat recent pictures of the crew at the Wash. It's hard to keep up with all of these fun adventures! Next up we will have highlights of our trip to Vegas for the Reel Rock tour and bouldering at the Kraft boulders. Awesome times! Stoked for Joe's this coming weekend!

360, behind the back, under the leg, double-handed SLAM DUNK!!!!!

Yesterday Casey and I made our way to the Wash for a break from end-of-the-semester-project stress. He was excited to get on Globetrotters V10 again, this time without the grease! Conditions were just about perfect when we arrived. It had been overcast all day and there was a nice, cool wind keeping the temps down.
I worked on some V2's and a 4 on the Front Door boulder with no luck on the 4. They are fun mantle problems over a little cave on a huge boulder, so I will definitely make my way back!
We were taking our time waiting for the sun to go behind the hills for Casey's problem until we noticed some black clouds making their way over us in the sky. It started sprinkling really lightly so we hurried up to the Bowling Ball, joking about how it would be funny if it started to downpour when we got there. Sure enough, about 30 seconds after we arrived the rain started coming! Apparantly it only served as good motivation to hurry and get the send before conditions worsened!

Way to go Casey! It was a sweet send. Only his second go of the day!
I wish the picture quality of the video was better so you could see the tiny crimps he was pulling on.

He also put up a new line on the south face of the boulder starting on low crimps and finishing on Crash (v3). He thinks it's about a V6 grade and calls it Spirit Guide in honor of the Red Tail Hawks that have been accompanying our big sends as of late. And I just liked this leaf because it held on all winter! Pretty tough little guy! I'm wierd I know...