I just got back from Spire, my first time climbing since I hurt my knee. I felt pretty good. I didn’t really try anything too hard, but I felt good on the easier stuff I tried. I decided to start climbing a few days early because this weekend’s weather is looking really good and we’ve got a new area to develop (should be a lot more on this in the future…).
Anyways, here’s the last of my vids from Cody. It includes the Tuk & Meat Hook on the super classic Antelope Boulder, Meet My Bruncle, and the Pulaski. The Pulaski was a memorable problem for me because it was my first V6 and it was the problem that I tore my meniscus on (I tore it trying the sit start with a heel hook). I’ve done a few problems “rated” V6 (Pocket Rocket at Joe’s for example), but this was the first one that actually felt harder than anything else I’ve done. I think it’s low end V6, but I’ll take it.
I finally finished up the video from my first day of bouldering in Cody a couple weeks ago. I started off the day by finally trying the Cheese Traverse. I never tried it mostly because I’m scared of any problems that are longer than 3 moves. Well, I warmed up then figured out the moves and sent it. Even though it’s a traverse, it’s easily one of the best problems on Cedar Mtn. Perfect rock and really fun moves. Next up was Medusa, one of my 3 main goals for the trip. For me the problem came down to sticking the first move, then it’s 4 or 5 more painful crimp moves until the juggy finish. I only stuck the first move twice, falling off the last move the first time. I just about gave up because the problem was so hard on my fingers. I gave it another go and sent. I’m glad I did it, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it to others. I finished up with Kissing Cozzens, a hard dynamic problem that was really good. Here’s the vid:
Also congrats to the rediculous amount of 5.13 sends recently for Bozemanites. There’s been at least 8 different Boze-men who have sent a 13 in the last few weeks. Some of the more notable ascents include: Kyle Vassilopoulis got the FA of the Cube arete project in the Gallatin Canyon naming it “Occam’s Razor” (5.13d), Joe Meiners sent the Ho-Master’s Gallatin Tower testpiece “Ten Pin” (5.13c) for it’s third (?) ascent, and Kevin Macartney FLASHED “Neutral Spirit” a long 5.13a in Ten Sleep. Daaaammmmnnnnn! I’m just hoping to send a couple 5.11s this year… Congrats guys, keep up the good work!
Well, I’ve been holding off on posting since I got from Cody because I wanted to wait until after my doctor’s appointment this morning. Yep, injury time. Long story short: Cody bouldering – sit start heel hook – POP! – knee hurts. I was completely sure that I tore my ACL because of the pop, but luckily I didn’t… I tore my meniscus. I’m going to give it a few weeks to a month and see how it feels once it has settled down. If it feels good after a month, I shouldn’t have to worry about it. But if it’s still bad, I may need to have it repaired. Either way, it’s a lot better than tearing my ACL, like I thought in the first place. It could be a blessing in disguise. I’ve been meaning to take five or six weeks off of climbing for a long time to give my fingers a break, so now I can. Hopefully I’ll be back just in time for the summer heat…
Onto the fun stuff. As I mentioned before, I made a little bouldering trip down to Cody. The plan was to head out Friday night and climb in Yankee Jim then climb in Cody Sat, Sun, Tues, and Wed. I hurt my knee on Tuesday so I cut it short by a day to get back to Bozeman before my knee started swelling up. It ended up being one of my best climbing trips ever. I managed to finish off all of my projects in Cody within the first couple days and did a bunch of other classics as well. I took a ton of video on the trip so I’ll start off with some of the problems I did in Yankee Jim.
I’m starting to get really psyched on Yankee Jim again. Lot’s of good, steep problems with really good movement. I’ve even found my sick proj for the summer/fall, the Way Out Variation. It’s a little contrived, but it’s right at my limit (if I can do it) and it’s really good movement. It’s pretty much a 3 or 4 move V6 crouch start that links into a V3 dyno (see vid below). I’ve gotten really close to sticking the first couple slap compression moves, but I think getting into the dyno position is going to be the crux. Unfortunately, the first few moves are off of a right heel-hook, which is where my injury is, so it may have to wait until the fall.
Anyway, the hightlight of the first day of the trip, Friday evening, was Jars of Clay, a sandbagged V3 on the far end of the Locomotives. I remember trying this one of the first times I went to Yankee Jim, years ago. I couldn’t even pull off the starting holds. Well, I still couldn’t pull off the starting holds until I found a sneaky toe-hook that made it do-able and really, really fun. It’s a short problem, but it’s some of the coolest movement I’ve done in Montana, the toe-hook makes it feel more like Hueco than Montana.
Stay tuned for a bunch of video and some more climbing ramblings about my time in Cody. For now, heres a vid of me at Yankee Jim doing Stronghold, Way Out Stand, and Jars of Clay, all excellent problems. Enjoy!
Bouldering Montana 