Natural Disaster

Another blissful rest day that has so far consisted of a short round of desert golf, lounging in the sun, and Internet time at Primos coffee shop, oh and Turtle went on a vision quest for 2 and 1/2 hours this morning meaning she's happy to be fully recovered from her Fall health crisis.

As promised, here are a few photos courtesy of young Keenan one of three Davis, CA youths to be hanging out here in west Texas. The other two, Charlie and Alex were once on a junior climbing team that I coached. Its really cool to see them out on real rock now being psyched little goofballs. They are here for 11 days or so and by the end will have only rested twice. Classic. I took a little video yesterday, but was again plagued by shitty batteries. I'll be compiling what footage I get into a single video, so that will have to wait until latter.

For now, here are some sequence shots from my ascent of a great problem called 'Natural Disaster'. This problem has it all, a tricky roof section, a challenging lip encounter, technical face moves, and a dyno finish! Sick!!!

Motivation is (a) High

Apologies for the lack of media. I've either been engaged in climbing, menaced with battery issues, or my camera was eaten by a Chupacabra. One or more of these reasons has kept me from taking pictures or video I swear.

An unfortunate update: Peter's wrist was not happy with him climbing yesterday and so he made the decision to head home early. Leaving under the cover of darkness in the early morning hours saved him from an uncomfortably tight hug goodbye, but will probably allow him to make it back home late tonight.

Personally I'm really excited about climbing right now. Admittedly, I was in a bit of a lull climbing-wise after my near misses in South Africa. Maybe its all the new climbs I get to try here, perhaps its the day to day routine I enjoy, or maybe I'm getting high on the fumes emanating from one of the many meth labs nearby? Regardless, I'm psyched. I haven't really been projecting per se, just getting on a bunch of cool shit and seeing what happens. Yesterday, however, I did try a problem I'm feeling inclined to project (though maybe it won't take that long). 'A Single Word' was established last year by either Jason Kehl or GP Salvo and is basically a sloper climb on a roof. Its totally tubular. Hopefully soon we'll get some more cold (but not too cold) days like yesterday so we can try again.

A Different Kind of Cold

Today is another rest day and another very cold day. Apparently the local meteorologists have been talking about this day for weeks. I find that kind of funny for some reason, one monumental day of cold being predicted for weeks...and the locals here have a hard time accepting years worth of predictions for global warming, but I digress.

Yesterday we had our first day out at North Mountain. We got on with little to no fuss but we paid for it with frigid toes and fingers. Kevin and I got up a classic neither of us had done before called 'Roughage'. We also tried our luck against 'El Techo de los Tres B'. I nearly did it, but couldn't hang on long enough for the final match. Hopefully I'll try it sometime soon in temperatures more accommodating to strenuous physical activity.

Peter attempted to get revenge against a dyno problem he tried two years ago called 'Smooth Move'. Its a big jump, I can't get anywhere close to the top (big surprise I know). Anyway, Peter had given himself a giant flapper the last time he tried it so this time he taped up before he began jumping. Alas, when we folded up the pads he was the proud owner of two new flappers on the SAME finger, and his wrist had started to bother him. CRAP! He came ridiculously close though, a couple of times I thought for sure he had it. He was pretty bummed, which I can completely understand.

Tomorrow is another day though and its all good as long as we're rock grappling.

Sick and Sore

Just about to head to the airport where I'll be dropping Becky off for her flight back to Oakland. She leaves without being able to climb the last few days due to coming down with a cold. Now I have it and I feel like poo. I was able to have a couple of nice climbing days though, before succumbing to the illness. Hopefully it won't last long and I won't pass it on to anyone else.

Hopefully I'll be able to climb tomorrow.

New Year's Eve, Hueco

Becky and I are here in west Texas enjoying some free Internet and catching up on Facebook (barf in mouth). We've had two nice days of climbing sandwiching a day of snow in between. The white stuff was pretty to look at but I'll be happier in the long run if the sunny but cold weather continues. Today, our second rest day, Kevin and I built the dog run on Adam and Melissa's property so now home base is all set for a long stay. I'll take pictures a post them soon so everyone can see the results of our hard work (I know the wait will be painful).

Climbing has gone well so far. Yesterday Becky looked great sending the three classics 'Hobbit in a Blender', 'Dragonfly', and 'Warm-up Roof'. I managed to tick two cool problems as well, 'Le Chninkel,' an excellent Fred Nicole problem, and 'Ultramega'. A good start to the trip, and we're off to North Mtn. tomorrow!

I hope everyone has a great New Year's!

Something Different

What's different about this video? Anyone can play except Becky. Leave comments.

Compton Crips/ Bloc X from Anja Hodann on Vimeo.

Been Out Bouldering

I have finally been released from the bonds of nursing my dog! Turtle's wound is completely closed now and for that I'm immensely relieved.

With all the freedom I now enjoy I've been able to get out to the boulders once again. I spent Thanksgiving week and much of the following week in Yosemite enjoying the company of friends, great fall weather, and throwing myself at the boulders. I haven't done much to capture any media, but fortunately Becky has been better about bringing the camera out. I'm told we'll have to wait to see any of it until after her finals are over though, so I guess we'll have to be patient.

I did manage to convince Becky to allow me to share just a teaser of what's to come, so that my devoted readers can better understand my continuing battle with the boulder problem "Dogwood". Yes that's right, I'm back at it once again. I Finally got around to trying this fall, not once, but twice actually. The first was a brief dusk session. I got one attempt in before headlamps were needed and after that I just wasn't committed. I've tried this one before in the dark and honestly its no fun. The falls from the top are hard on my back on the best of days, but at night when it becomes more difficult to time my landing it leaves me feeling wrecked. The second time I tried it was much better. I gave it eight solid burns and six of them ended with me falling from the top. Below is perhaps my best attempt yet.

Dogwood Attempt from Princess on Vimeo.

Unfortunately the weather has crapped out again, and I'm not sure if I'll get another shot until spring. Something about this situation feels familiar...