Just a Week Away

Between my last post and now not much has happened. I've festered, I've moaned, I've worked and I've climbed a little in the gym. Outdoor rock climbing has been extremely infrequent. One brief trip to Mammoth/Bishop for Becky's family reunion with a little climbing mixed in and a day at Castle Rock, that's it.

The light at the end of this dark tunnel is that a week from now I'll be on a plane to Paris where I'll spend a month in the mythical forest of Fontainebleau. Eat. Sleep. Climb. That's it for a month, I couldn't be more excited.

My finger, and my grip strength, are not yet 100% but both have significantly improved over the last 3 months. I've been able to train a bit, albeit not to the extent that I'd like, but I'm optimistic that I'll be able to grapple my way to the top of a few boulders.

Honestly though I'm really excited to just forget about life for a while, and just do what I love. I'm going to try and blog regularly while I'm there for those of you that care. I know that when I'm unable to get out I really appreciate reading about other like-minded individuals that are. So I'll do my best to contribute to the psyche-building world of climbing blogs and try to steer away from the self-indulgent sprayfests that many blogs devolve into.

Man Date

Early in December my friend, and coworker, Ryan Moon decided it was time we climbed together so he scheduled us a "Man Date" going so far as to write it into the staff calendar at Ironworks. Here is the video from our "date" at the boulders of Colombia College in Sonora, CA.

Man Date from Princess on Vimeo.

Castle Rock State Park

Color that will soon be missing from the Valley

Yesterday I made an unusual decision. I passed on an opportunity to go to Yosemite and opted for nearby Castle Rock instead!? Crazy, I know. There was some reasoning behind this madness though, first of all I'm going to Fontainebleau in the middle of February and Castle is just about the best simulation of Font sandstone around (so I'm told) so this was first of many acclimation trips I plan on making to the area. Second, I'm still nursing my finger injury though it is finally improving. Castle has a bunch of nice friendly slopers and I figured it would be good therapy for my weak link. Thirdly, there was(is) an ass-ton of weather on the horizon that would have made the chances of climbing two days in the Valley less than optimal to warrant the drive.

Turns out I feel like I made a fine choice. My good buddy Skippy and I had a great day with prime conditions at Castle yesterday. I managed to do three new-to-me problems that were all high quality, the "Nature Nazi Arete", "Groundation", and "Egghead Arete".

Here a video of Skippy on "Groundation". I think I'm going to teach a clinic on iphone videos soon because I'm basically a pro.

Groundation from Princess on Vimeo.

There has been some notable activity going on in the Valley worth mentioning. Currently Tommy and Kevin are on their first push effort to climb the Dawn Wall project. Unfortunately this weather pattern doesn't bode well for them. I hope they succeed but their safety is more important to me.

Elsewhere in the Valley, my friend Thomasina Pidgeon made the first female ascent of "Drive On" yesterday. This is proud tick indeed and one I'd like to climb as well, if I can ever crimp again...

About a week ago Randy and I climbed a couple of new problems. The first was the old project on the King Boulder at the Cathedrals. This problem is just right of "The Stamp" and just left of "So Good". The problem is tall, beautiful, climbs up perfect rock, and has some really unique moves. The name of this soon to be classic is "Old Dog, New Tricks". The second problem we did is a line I scoped out and cleaned last spring but was unable to unlock. Randy figured out the beta for the distinct crux on this one and I followed up shortly thereafter. Here's a picture of the line that makes it look a lot shorter than it is.

We dubbed this line "Iwo Jima"

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.