I Got Alot to Say

I want to talk a bit about my true passion at the moment, and no it's not flooding the already saturated internet with more LRC and Rocktown videos... I'm talking about the bouldering scene that is exploding up here in South Western Pennsylvania. For basically my entire climbing career, my crew and I have had our hands full with developing some of the best boulder fields SWPA has to offer, specifically Coll's Cove. Since there hasn't been many good climbers to come out of Pittsburgh (no offense), and the ones that are good tend to migrate to more popular destinations, we've had this region all to ourselves. In fact, I now consider myself an authority on bouldering in this area and I doubt anyone would argue with that.

Coll's Cove was first climbed in the 70's by local ECP (Explorers Club of Pittsburgh) member Ed Coll (among others), who apparently named the area after himself. Their efforts were spent at the cliffline, which is quite mediocre.  At heights around 40 feet and rock of varying quality, i'm sure they top roped or trad lead everything worth doing. Since then the cliffline has seen a steady stream of old schoolers, and by steady stream I mean 2 or 3 climbers every few months.. Bob Rentka and Carl Samples seemed to be the first to explore the boulders below the cliffline. They were bad asses for their time, and they did alot of the obvious lines up to about V5. Then Coll's laid quiet for a few decades. Local legend Tim Anderson passed through a few times, though he reported not many trips were made and few climbs were done.

In 2008 Mike Steighner and I stumbled upon Colls by chance. You can actually vaguely see the cliffline from the road, and as far as we knew we found it first! Of course, we were ignorant newbs with very little knowledge of the area, much less anything climbing related. After top roping at the cliffline at a frequency of a few times per week over a few months without seeing another living soul, we decided it was time to bolt some routes. Still at this time we probably weren't qualified to be doing such things, BUT the lines we bolted were absolutely not trad climbs, there was little to top rope from at the top, and the bolts were placed correctly. As expected, this is when the old farts came out of the woodwork - "This place has a 30 year history of no bolting! You should know people have been climbing here for years from the extensive trails! I'm old and I don't know how bolts even work!".. Needless to say the bolts were removed, even though it was technically legal to bolt in this area. Whatever, I wasn't going to argue. For all I knew, they knew better than me.

I can't believe the old schoolers weren't scared off by the massive amount of rattle snakes at the top of the cliff... Personally, I ain't 'fraid a no snakes!

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise  After we were shunned from the cliffline, we turned our attention to the boulders below. Now, looking at them from the cliffline doesn't inspire much awe - they are covered in dense mountain laurel and they don't look all that impressive. However once you hack your way down there they reveal themselves as perfect sandstone monoliths, with pure hard lines around every corner, and are in fact much larger then they appear. We had a field day putting up new lines (or what we thought were new lines), making trails, and clearing thick brush.. Actually - scratch that - we didn't cut down any live plants because that is strictly illegal on PA State Game Lands and we would never even dream about breaking the law! Honestly it doesn't even matter, that shit grows back over the trail and boulders every year, and it is a constant maintenance job to keep it clean.

Some of the very first "epic" sends were the "first ascents" of lines like White Lightning V2, Thumb Wrestling V4, and Reallreally good arete V4. Later it was found out that these lines have probably been done, but since no name was given back then, we kept the new names. Developing an area from scratch can be one of the best things you can do for your climbing. Within just 2 years, Mike and I were climbing V7 and our "vision" for lines was ever improving. Some of the lines done in 2010 were actually legit first ascents, and include the likes of Slopey Seconds V7, Like the Dickens V7, and Croc Hunter V6. The true classics of Colls Cove lie at this grade range, and you can not fully appreciate the area until you are strong enough to do them. Since then the conception of Coll's has grown, with new boulders still being found hidden in plain sight right in the main area. Not to mention the 4-5 satellite sectors that host another 2 dozen classics in each.

Me on probably the day of the First Ascent of Thumb Wrestling. It's worth noting we originally graded it V3, and it was a hardest thing I've ever done at the time. Look at them skinny little arms!

It has been our duty and honor to spread the word about this area. Some may say it's showing off, but I promise you our motivation is more pure then you can comprehend. All we've ever wanted is for local Pittsburgh climbers to appreciate the areas that are so close to home, instead of making unnecessary trips to Coopers Rock or The New. Finally - 5 years later - It is starting to catch on, mostly because of the massive amount of pictures and video we've been pumping into the internet. Just last spring we had our first bad ass show up - Nathaniel Walker. He was an instant member of the group, and he was an integral part in developing the harder problems and enhancing our vision. Here he is doing everything I got him on during just his first week.

Nathaniel Walker at Coll's Cove from Crazy Ape Productions on Vimeo.

In the last six months, Coll's Cove has been visited by the likes of Rob D'anastasio and Joel Brady. Rob put up a new V10 called McJagger and commented that the area is similar to LRC, and Joel is about to do a V11 FA dubbed Bhante Pema (the Little Black project). I've been hyping it up to everyone I meet and it's only a matter of time before there are no open projects left! Better come get some while the gettin is good. Here's a little vid of them, along with my girlfriend Aubree doing one of the most classic V5s in the forest.

Pros 'n Hoes from Crazy Ape Productions on Vimeo.

If this little write up has inspired you to come check out Colls, here is a link to the Mountain Project page where you will find a quaint little PDF guide of the area. (http://mountainproject.com/v/colls-cove-bouldering/107680491) There is much much more to do and be done than what you see in this guide, so keep that in mind. I am always willing to give psyched climbers a complete tour, so just hit me up!

Give a shit about Coll's Cove.

-pete

The One and Only

So I must admit this isn't my first attempt at writing a blog.. I used to think it was lame, then I thought it was cool, then I went back to thinking it was lame. I dunno, maybe I just didn't have anything exciting to say. Now I still think its lame, but a necessary evil on the road to being a respected climber in the community and I think I have a little more to say these days!

I'm not even going to start talking about my climbing history, I mean who really cares.. All you need to know is I didn't start when I was 2 days old like every other prodigy out there, and I probably definitely didn't sell my soul to the devil.. yet. (I think some climbers have, but that's for another day..) So what are we gonna talk about? And when I  say we I mean me rambling and ranting and you just listening quietly - laughing is allowed but SHH no comments! You actually agree with everything I say, and I'm going to operate under that assumption because I think it's funny. If there is one thing I can't stand its anonymous hate on the internet, which is why I am writing a blog, right?... I know you've already seen 100 videos of these climbs, that all my topouts are sloppy, and I drink too much.. So you can fuck off if you don't like it! Just kidding, you can comment - but be prepared to stand behind your words if I ever see you out and about.. If you stand behind your words, I wont even be able to punch you in the face because your words will be all in the way! Makes sense to me anyway.

Climbing. Rock climbing. Bouldering. Thats all we think about! Or is it? Let me keep going: Development. Traveling. Photography. Video editing. Writing? Wait I thought the only thing we thought about was climbing? It seems the deeper you go into the climbing addiction the more things become attached to it, and believe me it is a full blow addiction. I've seen functional alcoholics live more productive and "successful" lives then us climbing bums.. Be honest, before you started climbing you never wanted to be that guy with an expensive camera, or thought you'd be writing some faggy blog about you're "adventures". But it is what it is. For me, I simply can't help myself. It's a full time job being addicted to climbing, and when i'm not climbing I want to do something that at least has to do with climbing. Thats where this faggy blog comes in, just another way to express my passion and generate internet hate.

Disclaimer - If you are at all offended by anything in the first three paragraphs - TURN BACK NOW! It's probably going to get alot worse from here.

Lets get serious for a second. For anyone who cares (and i'm sure no one does), I recently did my first V10! I always told myself when I do my first V10 I'll start a blog again, so here we are. It's called Power of Amida and its at LRC in Chattanooga Tennessee. But to be honest there is alot of grey area... One - I may have used "unapproved beta". That means there isn't necessarily any holds off on a boulder problem, but you can only use them in certain ways.. Which for me takes alot away from the purity of a problem. Two - It kinda felt like V9 to me, BUT I think it's really my style. For those who do not know the story of Power of Amida, let me break it down. James Litz did the first ascent, which probably stayed as straight up as you could possibly go. ( and I am just assuming this ) He gave it a V10, but we all know it was probably more like a 12. Then Jimmy Webb or whoever repeated it and went maybe one more hold to the right but still thought it was V10. Then a bunch of people lately (i've heard) have been doing the first couple moves and then practically traversing right and continuing on jugs instead of the intended crimps. What I did was kind of a variation of what I saw in the Brion Voges video (https://vimeo.com/7281473), but I most definitely topped it out in the correct place. To the best of my knowledge I don't think any holds are off, it certainly doesn't say it in the guidebook. If anyone out there knows what's legit, please let me know.. I'm already planning on repeating it exactly like Brion's vid for my own self satisfaction. When I think back, it's always a grey area when you break a new grade. Did I dab or something?, Was that the right place to start?, Is that hold off?, It's like we can't just accept success. Then you do more and more of that grade and realize you've been legit all along. I mean, what does it really matter, we're climbing a fucking rock..

Here's a little vid of a few climbs we did at LRC. And in this case, we means myself and Mike Steighner. You'll probably be seein alot of him on here so get used to it. You probably know him well from this video: https://vimeo.com/7858740 (don't judge us, that was a long time ago..) I did the exact same beta as Mike on PoA.

4 Problems You've Probably Never Seen @ LRC from Crazy Ape Productions on Vimeo.

Well, Goldfish Slab isn't at LRC obviously.. I'll give someone ten points if they can tell me where it really is!

Lets get into the controversy right away, and talk a little bit about the Rocktown guidebook.. Written by Dan Brayak, Zach Roper, and some old guy - It looks pretty good! It's got a hundred color pictures, mostly of climbers seemingly lit up by a nearby stadium. The descriptions are pretty spot on, over head drawings are accurate, and overall I honestly don't have much to complain about. But what is up with some of the grades? The Vagina is a V7 now? Burst of Joy an 8?? Campus Punks a 5!?! Not to mention some of the "v2's" that I couldn't even envision myself doing. I'm not the only one who feels this way, I've heard it from several locals who also think the grades were stiff enough in that old Dr. Topo. I've also heard that not all the authors have the ability to climb some of the problems that got downgraded - which is fine and doesn't make me think less of them - but you shouldn't get a vote on something you've never climbed. Take a look at the ascents of The Vagina on 8a when you get a chance, not a single V7 out of ~50 ascents. How can you argue with that kind of consensus? I'm not sure where people get off on sandbagging, but I am firmly against it - Especially at an area that has been popular and solid for years.

So I made this video to try to raise some awareness and piss some people off about downgrading! And of course it worked, because no one can take a fucking joke on the internet. Its a JOKE people! Look at me struggle, you think I really think the orb is a V7?? Comon, that thing is V9!!

The Rocktown Limbo from Crazy Ape Productions on Vimeo.


Speaking of The Orb, I wouldn't be a dorky blogger if I didn't describe my epic with this climb. So almost 5 years ago in the spring of 2008 I took my first ever climbing trip to Rocktown. Not only my first climbing trip, but my first climbing experience in general. I got invited by my friend who was also new to climbing. "Comon man come with rock climbing in Georgia! Its like climbing on little rocks, and we don't have any ropes just pads."
I was like, "uuhhh that doesn't sound like fun."
But after only one day at a local area lovingly called Breakneck, I was in. A few days later we had arrived at Rocktown at 7 in the morning after driving (and drinking) all through the night in my friend's kush van (which is now my van, but that's another story..). First things first, we all dropped some acid. Then led by our fearless leader Mike Steighner, who himself was only a few months deep into climbing, we entered into the heaven that was rocktown. And I mean literally heaven, the entire place was swallowed up by a cloud and we were the only people there. So we walk up to the first set of boulders and of course there is The Orb staring us right in the face, but what the fuck do we know. My first boulder problem was that little V1 or whatever that faces the orb. I was beyond psyched. I remember looking closer at the holds and line of The Orb.
I said to Mike, "Are people putting chalk on these as like a joke? No way can people really be climbing this!"

The journey from that day to where I am today is incredibl.....ly boring! No, I've had my fair share of ups and downs, but that's for another day... Anyway, yea, I finally did The Orb this year. I tried it every year since that first trip, and made a little more progress each time. Just when I thought I had it down, I would realize that I wasn't even close. Each trip my "blank zone" of beta moved further and further up the climb until I could visualize me doing the climb as a whole. Overcoming the mental barrier that climb had on me was hard - it got seared into my head (probably literally because of the LSD) that is was impossible. I had to do 30+ other V8s to come at The Orb with the skill and confidence I needed to send. Now that it's done I feel like I can really move on, especially at Rocktown. There is so much stuff I haven't even been on there, and thanks to the new guidebook now I know what everything is! Truly, I thank the authors of the guide. It's hard to put yourself out there like that, but somebody has to do it. Being a developer and guidebook author myself (again, another story), I know what it's like to have the pressure and take the heat. All I have to say is, they are lucky The Orb is still an 8!

But who really gives a shit..

-pete