State of Affairs

The short version of the story goes like this:

Working more climbing less
Injured finger equals regress

Often wanting to get out of this place
At least I have the Giants World Series chase

Ta-da! I'm a poet. That took me all of a minute to think up and I bet you couldn't tell. The longer version of the story includes my computer being in the shop with a potentially deadly (to the computer) and expensive problem. There is also the mysterious emergence of a finger injury whose origins and exact ramifications remain unknown. All in all I've been a bit down in the dumps lately, and for that I'm sorry to those of you I may have inadvertently brought down with me (especially Becky, she has enough on her plate). I'm trying to look at the long term picture not just the next two months, but that has been and continues to be a major adjustment for me.

On the Brighter side...The Giants are in the World Series and have already taken a 1-0 series lead. I'm incredibly stoked and grateful for the opportunity to be at the game tonight with my family. The last time I was at a World Series game with my Dad and my sister it was 1989 and it didn't go so well for the City or the Giants.

On the climbing front, though I've basically scrapped any attempt at training, I've been able to find and clean an amazing project in Yosemite that doesn't seem to require much out of my middle finger. The crux is actually a one-legged squat off of a dicey heel hook. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I'll be able to finish it off soon.

So that is the state of affairs in my world.

Oh, this looks cool too.

Smitten Teaser from Smitten the movie on Vimeo.

30

"The Shampoo Squeeze"

If you know me well at all, you know that I hate my birthday. I'm not so fond of the whole aging thing. I'm particularly concerned with how aging will negatively affect my climbing.

Bearing this in mind I thought maybe if I went bouldering with a bunch of old dudes I'd feel better about myself. It sort of worked until Noah pointed out the inverse relationship between the respective ages of the climbers present and their climbing abilities. Bugger, this only reaffirmed my fears.

Despite the looming cloud of misery I dragged around all day I managed to have a good time and climb a few problems. I even snagged a first ascent! The legendary Dave Hatchett was kind enough to show me around Sugar Pine 3, where he has put in a ton of work cleaning and climbing new lines. At the end of the day he took us over to one he'd tried the previous year but never finished, and after a few attempts I got to the top. Dave and Noah both followed suit soon after. I called the problem the "The Shampoo Squeeze" (there a story behind it) and it was the last thing I climbed in my twenties.

Two other climbing highlights included Charlie Barrett's "Space Balls" and Joel Zerr's "Freeloader".

Freeloader from Princess on Vimeo.

Serpentine

Here's another iphone video, this time from Becky. We spent a week in Mammoth early last month. I only climbed two days though, the bugs sucked the motivation right out of me.

Way Lake 2010 from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

Dog Days

It is officially summer and I'm not so psyched on the weather, the driving, or pretty much anything other than chilling out. Actually, I'm pretty happy with my new iphone! Check out the video I shot with it. Pretty damn good quality for fucking phone!

Mosquito Season from Princess on Vimeo.

Victory!!!

INIESTA!!

Not In Colorado Anymore

On the way up to the Hallett Boulder, Melissa Strong's photo.

Work and Climb

The theme for the past few weeks has been 'no rest for the wicked'. This is a good thing. I've been occupied with climbing, hiking, Adam's version of cross-fit (tree work) and not much else. The only downside is how tired I've been in the evenings (and mornings) as a result. I've even fallen asleep while talking to Becky on video chat.

Just about every climber I talked to about tree work warned me of the debilitating fatigue I'd suffer from. They all said every climber that does construction or some other type of manual labor for a living is always too tired to climb. In response I've tried to keep a positive outlook by thinking of all the burly climbers that manage to make the combination work, guys like Jesse Bonin, Adam Strong, and Ramon Julian Puigblanque.

Though the fatigue is definitely there, I feel like my body has adapted pretty well and I've managed to get up a couple of really cool boulder problems. This Wednesday was a perfect example of a very exhausting, but satisfying day. Woke up at 7am, at work by 8am. Work ended a little early around 3pm so I headed back to the house to run Turtle. Bolted from there to the grocery store for food and then drove up to the Rocky Mountain National Park to meet up with my friend Herm. Finally, we headed up the trail to Chaos Canyon around 5:45pm (approximately 1,500' elevation gain). Arrived to the 'Green 45' boulder in Chaos to find some cold dry conditions. Barely managed to warm-up and snuck in an ascent of an outstanding boulder problem called "Wildcat" before heading back down to the cars after 8pm. Got back to the house around 9:20pm, which left me just enough time to eat and video chat with Becky briefly before going to bed.

Its a good feeling being tired for the reasons that I'm tired.

I think I could get used to this lifestyle.