2017

First off, hello! It's been a little while hasn't it? 

I think my every other year curse is finally broken. It seems like for the past few years I've been on a cycle of good year followed by bad year followed by good year and so on. Dare I say it, 2016 and 2017 were absolutely incredible!

A lot of pretty amazing things happened this year. From seeing what seemed like a thousand music shows, to climbing trips, to traveling domestically and abroad, 2017 was incredible. 

After getting back from Australia (technically that was at the end of 2016), I started working at Planet Granite again and got a semi "real person" job as PG Portland's Marketing and Events Coordinator as well as becoming a supervisor and a few other "upgrades." I absolutely love my new job and it's been going very well. Plus, the earliest I normally go to work is 11am and I set a lot of my own hours. It's pretty hard to beat that.

In March, my buddies Brandon, Logan, and I drove roughly 12.5 hours down to Bishop, California for a week long bouldering trip which ended up being probably my favorite climbing trip I've ever been on. I also got to see/climb with one of my favorite people, Kyle, who had moved to California in January but was able to meet up with us for the week.

Bishop

Bouldering is hard

A few weeks after getting back from California, I had a quite the crazy time. I went to Las Vegas and played around for a few days, including a day trip to the Grand Canyon. After that, I headed to Fort Collins and ate/drank my way through the old college town. I also made it down to Denver for a day to see a bunch of old college friends which was great. I flew back to Portland to work for a few days and then went up to Seattle with my buddy Mitch to see Deadmau5 which was hands down the best show I've ever been to. Cross that one off the bucket list. After being back in Portland, a few days later I drove back up to Seattle then bussed it to Vancouver, BC followed by flying to Los Angeles after that. Phew! Good times.

Deadmau5!

Grand Canyon

Some months later in July, I somehow ended back down in Australia! Yet again, massive thanks to Aunt Cindi for the flight hookup! It was a pretty mellow trip but great to catch up with people I hadn't seen in almost a year. As corny as it sounds, I had a bit of a realization regarding certain people after getting back which, although a bit disheartening, was needed. Hopefully I can make it back in 2018 at some point.

Fast forward to October, I achieved full on adult status by moving out of the parent's place. I'm now living in NE Portland with 2 awesome roommates and a dog and am absolutely loving it.

Also in October, Brandon, Logan, and I did a Smith trip and met up with Kyle again which, although too short, was great as always. 

At the end of October, I went up to Canada for the second time in 2017 with my friend Kara to see Deadmau5 yet again. Twice in one year? I'm perfectly okay with that. 

Come December, Kyle, Brandon, Brandon's friend Tommy, and I went down to Red Rocks just outside of Vegas for a week to climb and have all the fun. And have all the fun we did. We even got to seem some old friends that had moved to Florida earlier in the year. I love those guys so much and appreciate them like none other. Can't wait for our next trip which will hopefully happen sooner rather than later.

Love these guys

So although the world turned into a bit of a pit this past year, on a personal level, I'm doing very very well. I hope everyone learned from and enjoyed 2017 as much as I did. 

Here's to 2018! Already excited for the first few months as some of my favorite Aussies are coming to visit in January and February.

Happy New Year!

Good times with great friends

Good times with great friends

Good times with great friends

Good times with great friends

That's all for now. Bye.

2016

Well happy new year!

I thought about going to Sydney to see the fireworks but a lot of people online said it gets insanely crowded and with the heat, can be miserable.  Plus prices in the already expensive city skyrocket for New Years.  I ended up not really doing anything for New Years.  I could see some fireworks from the hostel balcony which was nice.

So what big things happened in 2015?

• Made a group of completely new friends from work which I can confidently say will remain friends for a long time.  The PG family are some of the best people I've ever met.  Miss you guys!
• March marked a successful one year of weekly postings on this blog.
• Got to climb outside way more than I have in the past.
• Went back to Fort Collins to see some people I hadn't seen in a while and had so much fun!
• Had the incredible opportunity to travel around Australia for a little over a month.
• Took quite a fall and broke my first bone.
• Probably the most significant thing, I actually moved to Australia with the hopes of being here a year.
• Got my first Australian job. 

I was reading over the post I did at this time last year and mentioned having a few goals.  I ended up achieving the main one which was to get to Australia (actually did it twice). Honestly don't really remember what the other ones were so let's just call it an overall success.    

The main goal (or at least public goal) for 2016 is to successfully remain in Australia for a year (or close to). Hard to believe but I've already been here for almost 2 months...crazy.

I moved out of the hostel today and into a house for six weeks.  I've only been here about an hour and am very happy with the decision.  We have a cat and he already loves me.

3rd home sweet home

Once again, happy new year!

That's all for now.  Bye.

Never Have I Ever

Well yesterday strayed a little from the norm.  My go to "never have I ever" is no longer true because after 23 years, I have finally busted a bone.

First off, I'm completely fine and in very good spirits.   Here's what happened:

I went to the climbing gym a few hours before I was scheduled to work to get some climbs in.  Everything went as usual and my experienced partner and I were having a great time.  I got on a route I would normally be able to do without too much trouble but got tired ("pumped" in climbing jargon) and fell with maybe 10ish feet until the top. 

Falling happens all the time but normally when you take a fall on lead, you go roughly 10-15 feet and the rope catches you.  This time, due to a belaying error, I kept going.

Whenever I fall, I go into a sort of "zen" state because it is oddly relaxing.  I remember thinking at the point I would normally come to a stop that it was strange I was still going. 

Still relaxed and a bit further towards the ground, "Hmm this is turning into quite the whipper."

Half a second later, "Oh wow I'm on the ground."

My only brief moment of panic after hitting the ground was realizing my lower back was sore.  I wasn't dead so the next worst case scenario popped into my head.  Am I paralyzed?  I was easily able to move all my limbs which was a huge relief.  I was going to simply stand up since I felt fine but was told to lay down because the adrenaline was pumping.  Made sense.  Paramedics were called and arrived shortly after.  They did an initial check to make sure nothing was too dire.  Even though nothing looked horribly bad, they still put me in a neck brace and gurney since I fell 35-40 feet.

The EMTs and I then rode in the ambulance to the nearby hospital.  On the way, one of the paramedics gave me an IV which was the worst part of the whole day.  I hate needles and told him if I passed out, it would be because of the needle and not the fall.  I didn't pass out but feel like I came pretty close.

We got to the hospital and I was quickly given a CAT scan.  Everything seemed to go fast which means there probably weren't a whole lot of patients there.  All of the nurses and doctors were incredibly friendly and we joked around the whole time.  One of them said it was the craziest falling story they had heard which I seriously doubt.  They must see some gnarly things in the emergency room.

The scan came back and showed I had a compression fracture in my L1 vertebrae.  As long as I could walk without too much pain, I could leave that day.  Getting up from the bed was a bit of a struggle but I was able to walk fine.

They were a little vague on the healing time but it sounded like 6-8 weeks for a full repair.  In the meantime, as long as my back doesn't hurt too bad and I don't do anything too strenuous, I can do whatever.  No brace needed.

The aftermath.  Hospital shirt, socks, wristband, and the sad remains of my cut in half shirt.

So yes, this was a preventable climbing accident.  There is an incredibly annoying stigma many non-climbers have that climbing is one of the most dangerous things someone could do.  If things are done the correct way, it is very safe.  I've gone 9+ years without any injury which is way better than most people can say about the sport they do.  I mentioned this in a post last year but there was a study done that said people are much more likely to get injured playing traditional sports like soccer or football than they are rock climbing. 

That being said, when climbing accidents do happen, they can be catastrophic.  What happened to me was pretty much the best case scenario.  The fall happened in a gym which means I landed on thick padding, there were plenty of people around to help, and the hospital was about 10 minutes away.  It would have been a completely different story if this had happened a few days prior when I was climbing at Smith.

Thanks to all my friends/staff and the medical people for helping me out and getting things done very efficiently and those who checked in later to make sure I was doing alright.  Much appreciated!

But yeah so everything is good and I'll hopefully be fixed before long.  I finally have a good story to tell when someone asks for my craziest climbing experience.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Outside

The first outdoor climbing session of 2015 has happened!  After getting up around 7 and catching a train into Portland on Wednesday, I met up with two friends/coworkers and headed to Washington for a bit of cragging.  We headed to the Ozone area in the Columbia River Gorge, a wall I hadn't been to before.  None of us knew the area very well but there was a nice couple that recommended some routes to hop on.  The weather was perfectly overcast and although our hands got cold during climbs, the temperature was pleasant.

The routes were interesting and fairly high quality.  There were some fun moves on each route and the views from the top were incredible.  As you climbed above the trees, you could look down into the gorge.  Although there were a few chossy sections of rock, overall it was solid.

View from the top.  Very cool in person.

We all had to work that evening so had to head back to Portland earlier than we would have liked but it was a really good time.

That's all for now.  Bye.

These Boots Are Made For [Climbing]

Heads up- this is a strange one.

Whilst showering last night, I wondered what in the world I would write about for today.  I reminisced about what I had done this past week and nothing was even remotely interesting.  The most exciting thing was ordering a new pair of climbing shoes.  Now that may not seem very interesting (and it's not) but it made me think about the past pairs I've owned.  I rounded up all the old shoes I could find and started to think about the significance of each pair.

Shoes

My first official pair was the blue 5.10s.  Technically my first pair was a red version of these my dad and I shared but these were the first to be just for me.  This is the pair where it all began.  I started competing in these shoes.  I was absolutely terrible and the shoes probably added to that but I can always look back at the photos of awkward 15 year old me barely off the ground wearing these at competitions.

I don't really remember this next pair at all.  Some sort of Evolvs.  I think the rubber blew through really fast.  In case you were wondering, duct tape is not a good replacement for climbing rubber.  I believe I climbed my first crack in these shoes.

Ah the Evolv Defys.  I wore this pair the first time I ever climbed outside.  My dad and I went to Smith and hired a guide for two days.  The second day we climbed up Monkey Face which was pretty neat.  This must have also been the pair I used my first sport climbing season for competitions. I wasn't able to find these but was able to snag this picture, once again, awkward 15 year old me barely off the ground.

When I was actually starting to do better in competitions, I upped the shoe game.  La Sportiva Miura VS were my next pair.  I believe when I got these they had just been released.  I remember at a competition in Tacoma a guy who worked at the gym came up to me and said he had been trying to get a pair but they were impossible to find.  Lucky me.  I loved these shoes.  I went to nationals in the first pair.  The second pair were the shoes I took to college/Colorado.

Pair #1

Pair #2

La Sportiva Solutions are my current shoes and the ones in the mail.  These shoes are amazing.  When my second Mirua VS pair broke, I went to the store to get a replacement.  I saw these and after trying them on, I was hooked.  The summer between sophomore and junior year when I was in pretty peak climbing shape, I climbed the hardest I ever have in the first pair of these shoes.  I climbed a certain difficulty on my first try which I had been trying to do for years which was very exciting.  The second pair I took to Dublin (which got used one time) and did some hard outdoor climbing with.

Pair 1

Pair 2

Now you know more about my shoes.  Bet you've always wanted to know more about that huh?  Also, I realized I've had a lot of climbing shoes.

 

That's all for now.  Bye.

Monkey M[e]n

Climbing has been making headlines over the last week.  Two very well known climbers in the climbing world accomplished something that was thought to be impossible.  Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell free climbed the Dawn Wall on El Capitan in Yosemite.  It took them 19 days to reach the summit and is likely the hardest big wall to be free climbed in the world.

While it's great to see climbing get more attention, the way media has been sharing this story has been a bit flawed so I thought I'd clear a few things up.

Firstly, Caldwell and Jorgeson are by no means the first people to ever free climb El Cap.  People have been doing this for years, but they are the first to free climb that section of El Cap.  For example, The Nose route had its first free climbing ascent by Lynn Hill in 1993 but free climbing El Cap goes back even earlier than that.

News outlets also haven't done the best job of saying what the pair actually did.  Free climbing does not mean they weren't using ropes.  Free climbing means each person climbed each pitch (roughly one length of rope) from the start of the pitch to the top without falling.  If they did fall, a rope was there to catch them but they would have to lower back down to the start of the pitch and try again.  Free climbing also means Caldwell and Jorgeson only used the features in/on the rock to make upward progression.  The Dawn Wall has been climbed before but with the use of gear to aide in moving up (called aide climbing).  Relying only on the rock is what makes this ascent unique.  

After completing the climb, the climbers were even interviewed by Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show.  Although it was funny, it is slightly frustrating to hear climbing called "extremely dangerous."  Yes, if someone messes up, climbing is obviously going to have more severe consequences.  However, if things are done the proper way, climbing is safer than the more traditional sports.  An article from Sports Medicine said "overall, climbing sports had a lower injury incidence and severity score than many popular sports, including basketball, sailing or soccer..." 

Just wanted to shed some light on a few things.  Once again, this really was an amazing achievement for climbing and has brought more attention to the sport which is always a good thing.  Hopefully this is another step in getting climbing into the Olympics.

That's all for now.  Bye.  

Auld Lang Syne

New Years is kind of an odd holiday if you really think about it.  Nothing magical happens between December 31st and January 1st but it somehow always feels like the end of an era and the beginning of another.

For celebrations, a group of us gathered at a friend's house to bring in the new year.  There was food, drinks, games, and good times.

2015!

2014 was one of, if not the most, craziest years of my life.  There were some extreme highs and some extreme lows.  It marked a major shift in the life that I knew and forced me to start almost completely over.  I try to keep these postings light but have a feeling this one might be a bit heavier.

So what big things happened in 2014?

• Despite going borderline insane due to being enrolled in 21 credits, I had my most fun semester at CSU of the time I was there
• Was able to have a fantastic time traveling across the country from New York City to LA (where I finally got to experience Disneyland!)
• Got to see some of Canada for the first time and made some (hopefully soon) travel goals
• Graduated from university.  That still hasn't really hit me yet
• Mentored and made a noticeable impact on a 10 year old's life
• At least for me, made what I hope to be a lifelong best friend from the other side of the world who has been through an eerily similar amount of identical life experiences/situations as me
• Lost one of my oldest friends but still think about him often
• Had to say goodbye to my two best friends and all the other people I got really close with after 3.5 years living in Colorado.  I think about them everyday and miss them terribly
• Moved back to the Northwest
• Even though the process was long, I got a job that was number one on my list
• Started writing this weekly blog which is both fantastic and frustrating.  It's great to look back at something for every week and see when I had nothing to write about or when the ideas were flowing

What will 2015 bring?  I don't really do the whole resolution thing but I do like to set some goals.  What might those be?  I don't want to give away too much so those are just for me.  

Hope everyone had a memorable year and that 2015 will be just as eventful.  I've got a feeling this is going to be a good year.

Happy New Year!  

That's all for now.  Bye.

Goodbye England

Very short one this week.

On Thursday I got to meet up with an old friend from high school, Summer, who is visiting town.  Summer is going to school in Liverpool, England but is back for the holidays.  The last time I saw Summer was in Europe.  I got to fly over to Liverpool from Dublin and she showed me around the town for a day.

Summer wanted to see the climbing gym where I work so we had a little climbing session and then headed on down to Bridgeport Brewery for some food and festive beverages.  

Getting on the ramp

Crushing it

Cheers

After wandering around REI, we made our way up to 23rd to browse the shops and Summer had her first ever Salt and Straw.  It was a fun day.

Salt and Straw

That's all for now.  Bye.

Fancy

I'll start this off by admitting yes, this is a little biased.  I'll do my best not to make it sound like an advertisement because that is not my intention at all.  I've climbed at gyms all over the country and can honestly say that Planet Granite Portland is the best climbing gym I've ever been to.

The gym has 18 cracks, 4 of which can be hydraulically adjusted.  There is over 30,000 square feet of climbing space.  Many of the routes allow for both top roping and leading which is great.  The 55 foot walls are only set to about 60% capacity right now but eventually there will be more than 150 roped routes.  That's a lot.  All of the routes are incredibly fun and varied!  I haven't gotten on one I didn't like yet and I'm fairly picky about routes so that's an achievement.

Pictures taken from the PG PDX Facebook page

Upstairs, the entire second floor is devoted to bouldering.  With over 200 boulder problems, this would make me happy as a standalone gym itself.  I'm used to climbing on walls with sharp angles so it's taking a bit of adjustment to learn the curved walls but it's nice to have something new.  There's a systems wall upstairs that is able to hydraulically adjust its angle.  I haven't used it yet but when I try to get back in peak climbing shape, I'll put in some time.

The other prominent feature of the second floor is the 40 foot long ramp.  It's essentially climbing a roped route but with a very small fall and no rope.  After three laps on this thing, I'm done.  The problems are long but still so much fun and a great workout.

Bouldering ramp from the top

On top of climbing, there's also the equivalent of a traditional gym on the first and third floor as well as a huge yoga and fitness studio.  The locker rooms are amazing and even have saunas.

If you haven't made it in yet, come try the place out!  I promise this will be the last thing about work but I needed to share and I had no other ideas.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Prime Time

Last week I wrote I don't have much desire to be on TV.  Although this is true, I have appeared on the small screen a few times now.  My debut was in second grade when I gave a very moving and eloquent interview to the local news station about how we should save the bunnies living in a future demolition zone.  I believe the speech went something like, "We should save the bunnies because they were there first."  Very moving, I know.  

My second time was in fifth grade (possible forth-they mix together in my head) when our class went on public access television to give speeches for our Toastmasters class.  My monologue was on what my three wishes would be.  

There were a few other times, mainly for jump rope team and band (yes, I'm aware of how cool I was), where I appeared on the news during parades.

Back in 2011, I worked off and on for a nonprofit called Adventures Without Limits (AWL).  The company specializes in taking people of all abilities and backgrounds outdoors.  Two of my coworkers at my other job were also employees there and asked me if I wanted to help out in filming an episode of a TV show.  I was initially fairly confused but found out that, in short, this guy Zach Anner got his own reality show by winning another show on Oprah Winfrey's TV network, OWN.  Zach had cerebral palsy and was wheelchair bound, having no use of his legs and limited use of this arms.  The show was him traveling around the US and proving that even though we was in a wheelchair, he could still partake in things everyone else could do.  It sounded like a fun experience so I was all for it.

For the episode we would be involved in, Zach was coming to Portland.  The theme for Portland was putting him outside his comfort zone.  For him, in one of the segments, he wanted to rock climb.  For us, that meant figuring out how to get someone with very limited mobility up a cliff.  Coworker Nolan did almost all of the logistical planning so props to him.

View from French's

On the morning of the shoot, the AWL crew headed over to French's Dome, a fairly small crag near Mt. Hood.  After a team brief, we started to set up a complex system of ropes and pulleys before the film crew got there.  My job for the day was to hang at the top of the route, managing ropes, giving Zach a backup belay, and making sure one of the cameraman who was on a ledge halfway up the wall didn't die.  This would involve a lot of time in my harness.  If you haven't spent much time in a harness, they are not the most comfortable things in the world to be in for hours on end.  I can't remember the total time I was putting weight on mine but my legs were not very happy by the end of the day. 

When the crew arrived and finished their setup, filming began.

I headed back up the face and waited for Zach to get down to the rock.  It took a lot longer than I was expecting but once everyone made their way down and Zach was hooked up, he started to climb.  There was a point where Zach was feeling lots of pain, most likely from the positioning of his harness, so we let him down.  At this point I was thinking to myself "oh great we just spent all this time setting up and he may not be able to do it."  After a pep talk and some readjustments, he was able to finish the climb.  It was one of the most inspiring things I have ever seen.  Almost all of the AWL crew and production got a little teary eyed. 

After 14 hours from the start of the day until finish, we headed home.  It was an exhausting day but fascinating to watch the production side of filming a show.    

The biggest questions people ask are:
1) Did you meet Oprah?
2) Was it scripted?
3) How did the show compare to what actually happened?

My answers:
1) No
2) It was not scripted at all.  However, production would tell people to say something again, possibly in a different way.  They would also have people move to certain places for certain shots.  This was the most annoying part for me.  Being at the top of the wall anchored into the rock does not make moving around easy.  With climbing, when you try and take a picture or video of someone up the wall from below, the point of focus may not be the most appealing thing for an audience.  Understandably, the producers wanted to see my face.  I was able to adjust a bit but you can see in the final cut that it wasn't always possible.  Production wasn't as important as safety. 
3) What was seen in the episode was pretty much exactly what happened.  The only thing that was fibbed a bit was at the end when the audience sees the shot of Mt. Hood.  You can't actually see the mountain from the climb we were on so production had one of the AWL staff put on a GoPro and climb another route to get the shot.  The other crazy thing was of a 14 hour day, it got condensed to only a 5 minute segment.  That's a lot of cutting.

Unfortunately, the episode is fairly hard to find online.  I know it's out there if you know where to look.  I have a copy but I don't want Oprah to sue me by posting it on here.  I can show it to you sometime if you want to see it.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Heigh Ho Heigh Ho It's Off To Work [I] Go!

I'M EMPLOYED!!!

I'm going to be working for Planet Granite Portland and I couldn't be more excited!  This is the job I interviewed for in May and got the offer on Wednesday!  When it opens, I believe the gym is going to be the eighth largest climbing gym in the US.

There was a preview event on Thursday for those who work/live in the Pearl District.  It was my first time going into the gym and I was overwhelmed.  This place is amazing!  I've been to a lot of climbing gyms around the country and I honestly think this is the coolest one I've seen. 

Being in the gym before the walls are climbable is kind of like putting a kid in a room full of candy and telling them not to eat anything.  It was torturous.

Although the walls are finished, there's still a fair amount of construction that has to get done before opening day.  For anyone interested, here's a virtual tour of the gym:
    

Planet Granite Portland Virtual Tour from Planet Granite on Vimeo.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Some Kind Of Wonderful

First off, whoever invented air conditioning is my favorite person.  It is too hot.

I actually had another post ready to go for today but after climbing at a new gym that opened yesterday, I felt the urge to do a little review for what is likely going to be my new bouldering hangout.

The Circuit is a bouldering gym that had two locations, one in SW and the other in NE Portland (if you don't know what bouldering is, I did a post on some climbing stuff you may want to give a read).  Yesterday, they opened their third location in Tigard. 

This place is massive!  According to their website, the Tigard location is over 19,000 square feet.  As you walk through the front doors, your forearms are greeted with massive boulders filled with colorful plastic and walls of varying angles as far as the eye can see.  Okay, maybe not as far as the eye can see but it is pretty amazing how much terrain there is.  

The kids area was huge which is nice.  It's really annoying when little kids walk right under you when you know you're about to fall, so having a place for them to climb is always a plus.  Most kid areas in gyms are just flat, vertical walls but this area had a pretty steep overhang which, in my experience running climbing camps for years, is what kids like trying.

Part of the kids area with 2 slides.

There are two top out boulders, meaning you climb onto the top of the boulder and walk down a flight of stairs, which is always fun.  They even put a bar running around the top out boulders so you have something to grab when hoisting yourself up at the end of a problem.  Sometimes getting onto the top is pretty sketchy so the bar is nice to have.

If one of those overhead fans fell, it would be something out of the next Final Destination movie.

As with the other locations, the routes here are incredibly well set and always feel like each one was planned out, no matter the difficulty.  All of the holds are new.  If you've never climbed on new climbing holds before, they hurt.  New holds shred your skin because of how textured they are but as more people use them, they don't hurt nearly as bad.  The plus side is that I can climb a lot harder since my hands pretty much stick to everything.

All done.

The lack of seating for spectators and at the storage spaces was a little odd.  A few benches here and there would be a nice addition.  That and the water from all three taps in the bathroom was scorching hot are my only real complaints.  Well done Circuit.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Come Together

Last week on Saturday, I once again got to go up to Horsetooth.  Although I did climb a little, I was in guide mode most of the time to help out the three other people I went with who hadn't been before.  The weather was perfectly warm and overcast!

This isn't from Saturday but here's the reservoir.

On Sunday I went on the New Belgium tour again with roommate Heather and her parents.  That's always a good time.

 

 I stayed up Monday night to watch the lunar eclipse do its thing.  It was big...and red.

This weekend I played in a one day, 5v5, soccer tournament.  It was not organized very well and we ended up having to play three games in a row but it was a lot of fun!

In other news, social media exploded this week around Fort Collins over the announcement that the Westboro Baptist Church is going to be protesting CSU's graduation day in May.  In case you're unfamiliar with this lovely group, I'll let you look it up on your own seeing as I in no way want to help spread their "message" of complete ignorance and stupidity (but don't go on their websites since those generate ad money for them).  My graduation time is at 8 AM and they're scheduled to be here around 5 so unfortunately I don't get to be protested against.  Why are they protesting a college graduation? Great question!  Apparently they don't like that a lot of my college educated peers are accepting of a wide range of people and so aggressively telling us we're going to hell will change that. 

One of my favorite things about CSU is the sense of community.  The second people found out about this, almost everyone was posting positive messages and coming up with ways to support peoples' hard work in finishing school.  My favorite comment I saw on Facebook was "It's my personal belief that if the WBC is protesting you, you're doing something right."  Within hours of the announcement, a counter protest had been organized and over 1300 people have already said they're coming to support the graduates.  Students are also organizing donations for charities that the WBC protests so them coming is actually kind of a good thing.  There's a lot more I would love to say about the WBC but restraint is a virtue.

Lastly, seriously though you should go on that website I helped make for class.  Part of our grade is on how many people go on the site so...click away

That's all for now.  Bye.

The Climb

Happy April!  As much as I would like this whole blog to be about traveling, unfortunately school creates a bit of a barrier.  Until I can do more travel posts, each week I'm going to write about anything noteworthy, a topic of interest, or random other.  

This week you get a topic of interest.  Unless we haven't had any interaction in the past 8ish years, you probably know that I kind of like rock climbing.  The first time I climbed was at a birthday party.  I don't remember the party very well but I do remember I had a blast!  Some time later my family joined an athletic club that had a climbing wall and I was hooked.  I got "recruited" to join the club's newly formed climbing team and competed with them for 3 years.  But how does a climbing competition work?  I get asked this a lot and in honor of the SCS Nationals competition today, here it is:

Let's break it down.  There are two main types of climbing competitions, bouldering and sport climbing.  Bouldering is climbing without ropes, staying fairly low to the ground whereas sport climbing is using ropes and going up much higher.  Generally, bouldering tends to be more strength and power based (not me) whereas sport climbing is more about endurance and balance (more me).

For USA Climbing competitions, climbers compete in a number of local competitions followed by regionals, divisionals, and nationals.  Most of these local competitions are three hours long.  Climbers walk around the climbing gym, pick a route to do, and try to get from the floor to the top without falling.  If a climber can do that, you earn the points for the route.  The harder the route, the more points it's worth.  If you're unfamiliar with routes but you've been to a climbing gym, all those colorful tape marks on the wall show you the route path.  A climber can only use the rocks that have the route's tape color.  Use anything else and it's considered "cheating" and counts as if they fell.  At the end of the 3 hours, a climber's top 5 completed routes make up their score for the competition.  The local competitions are typically pretty laid back.

For regionals, divisionals, and nationals, the competitions are a bit more intense.  Climbers are assigned a certain set of routes they must try.  Instead of having to get to the top without falling, for every rock (aka hold) a climber grabs, they get points.  The higher they get, the more points they earn.  These routes are designed to be incredibly hard and it's not uncommon for only one or two people to actually reach the top. In general, when climbers get to the gym, they are taken into an area called isolation (or "iso" if you want to use the lingo).  In iso, climbers cannot see anything else in the gym.  One at a time per age/gender group, a climber goes out to the main climbing area and sits in a chair facing the audience with their back to the climbing wall (this way the climber can't get any tips about how to climb the route from watching someone else).  This can be pretty stressful since you can hear the audience reacting to how the climber before you is doing but you're not allowed to watch.  When the timer begins, the climber turns around and attempts the route.  For sport climbing, the climber gets one go per route.  Bouldering tends to allow as many attempts as wanted within the time limit.

That's the basic outline of how climbing competitions work.  For sport climbing, there are speed competitions as well.  These are pretty self-explanatory.  Whoever makes it up the wall the fastest is the winner. 

I caught a ride up to Horsetooth last week and got do some bouldering at the reservoir.  I have been seriously slacking on my training and am definitely out of climbing shape but it's fun to mess around on the easier climbs and relax.  It's a bit hard to take pictures of yourself climbing so I've thrown in some of my favorites from the past.

Horsetooth Reservoir, Colorado 2012

Horsetooth Reservoir, Colorado 2012

Divisionals at ClubSport, Oregon 2010

Smith Rock, Oregon 2012

Three side notes:
1) Vlad put up his video of us talking about our spring break trip.  It's pretty entertaining if I do say so myself so go ahead and give it a watch.
2) I helped create the "travel" part of a website for my digital marketing class.  We'll be updating it with new things each week so you should take a gander.
3) If anyone has anything they want me to write about, let me know and I'll more than likely do it.  Suggestions are welcome!

That's all for now.  Bye.