Thursday, June 20, 2013

In the Deep End

With a nagging pulley injury over the past few months, climbing progress has slowed down a bit.. I've been getting out only like once a week, and mostly just hanging out. It's given me plenty of time (as if I don't already have enough of that..) to direct my interests elsewhere, and I'll get into that later.

Lets see; so early this spring I didn't send Bhante... Sometimes for me it seems like trying something really hard is a gamble between success and injury. I didn't win this time. Every try was just raping my left ring finger pulleys, and during that last try sometime in march or april, I had a blow off that resulted in a definite tweak. Since then I've done quite alot, but nothing very note worthy. We've been developing some new areas, all in the local SWPA area, and they are pretty good. It's just a matter of time before the climbing in this area becomes as popular as places like Chattanooga or Boone, and while we are helping to speed up this transition, we are also enjoying the process of development. Most of these "new areas" have seen climbers for years, but very few climbs over the V5 level have been established in the past so to us it can seem almost like an untapped area. There is so much potential for really really hard and classic lines all over this region, it just needs to be noticed by some really really hard climbers.

This is a gem at an area we call Lower Casparis currently dubbed "The Candlestick" project.


Vid from the last few months. Much much more was sent but not filmed.


SWPA Sampler from Crazy Ape Productions on Vimeo.

Then last month we spent a few days at the New.. And when I say that, I mean we didn't actually climb at the "New" at all, which seems to be as per usual. The first day we got in late and spent the late afternoon at Cotton Top, that's the only New action we got. I did Psycho Wrangler .12a - to my surprise- first go (been on it last year once). I guess you really can overcompensate for endurance with strength! Then Aubree, Mike, Nikki, and myself stayed at the new AAC campground, which was awesome. It is still completely free and unregulated with tent platforms, picnic tables, porta-potties, and best of all free wood. We may have got a little rowdy, but hey it's in our nature.. And that nature is in our Yukon Jack bottles.. Some other people we were with got too freaked out by us, and decided to do their own thing the next day as we sluggishly proceeded with our plans to check out the South Side Meadow crags for the first time. No one told us we weren't supposed to drive across the first bridge, until we had already done it more than once.. So I guess no harm no foul. We checked it out on foot after we got the news and lets just say thank god. For those of you who are not familiar with said bridge - it's an old bridge made of wood that is going to fall down, so take the road to the right and go across the waterfall - that is all you need to know. AnywaYsS, south side meadow is pretty awesome. My only goal really was to build some endurance, but I came pretty close to sending the main attraction there which is Made In The Shade .12d. Just didn't have enough for the final billboard crux, but there was only a few v3 moves from there so it should definitely go down on a return trip with a bit more endurance. On the trail up to that climb, there was a boulder arete off to the right that looked just too good to resist. Upon talking to some other climbers at the cliff, they told us it was a, "v7 but it would probably be a v9 today because it was so hot HahaAhaa (elitist laugh)"; and in that statement my desire to send the problem was born. It didn't take us very long, Mike did it second try I think. Don't tell me it's too hot to boulder when it's only like 60 degrees outside, get a grip. Temperature snobs.. It's people like that who complain that their season was too short, but as soon as it's below 40 degrees they say it's too cold. Don't get me wrong, i'm as miserable as the next guy when it's above 85 everyday, but 60 still has enough friction to get most anything done. 

Me just below the beautiful crux of Made in the Shade


After two days at the Meadow and camping for free at the amazing site down there by the river, we decided to ball out and get a hotel with a hot tub. We went up to summersville, but the only hotel that had a hot tub, had a broken hot tub.. So they gave us a room with a Jacuzzi tub and we again got rowdy. Good thing the hotel was going out of business and there was no one there. Next day we went to Summersville, which is the region here where I have spent most my time. I was able to tick off All The Way Baby .12b and Psycho Babble .12a, both second go. It was nice to get a little psyched back on route climbing, and I can see that I could do much much harder things with a little endurance. Next weekend we will be returning to Summersville with a boat, so that's when the fun will really start. People think deep water soloing is illegal there, but I've done it for the last 4 years and all they do is smile and wave.

Okay, now for the "deep end". During the last maybe 6 months, I've been doing a lot of research into some topics that may seem crazy to most people.. All i'm going to say is - Aliens are real. Spirits are real. Every thing is made from an infinite spectrum of light and sound, and that light comes from (for lack of a better word) god. There I said it. The newest science is heading this way and it all makes sense, so better get on board. Between the coming technology singularity and the idea of absolute free clean energy, shit is going to get real crazy in the next couple decades, no matter what your beliefs. I only say these things to encourage people to do their own research through channels that aren't controlled by some government interest.. And when I say channels, I mean check this out:


This is just the tip of the iceberg from this guy. Real or fake, it's pretty crazy! Keep note that he does not stumble even one time over any word or concept, and what he's saying is going right along with the newest science and oldest stories.