Autumn is a good place to be ANYWHERE.

Ya, that's right. Autumn is the new Nirvana. Think about it. You can chase the shade or chase the light while rock climbing, sit in the sun beams that warm during the day, and in the hot tub at night while the cool fingers of winter start to run through the valleys as the days grow shorter. Is there anything more infusing than the vivid change of colors in the deciduous organisms in the forest or in the arroyos of the deserts ? Of course, there's always that smell of fresh cut wood for the fireplace, and in New Mexico, the smell of roasting green chili that burn into the gnostic sensory, good memories. These are the harbingers of a winter pending.

 Aspen Leaf by Nancy Attaway

I can't help but think about all the training I do for ice climbing/competition season. Day after day of living in NM without much in the way of my favorite style of climbing available, has shaped the remainder of my life. Getting ready for World Competition is no small feat. Diet, physical training, mental training, honing techniques both old and new, and putting a large part of my life on hold while I pursue my endeavor, are all part of the picture.

 Gord climbing my route, "Pull the Trigger, Crigger. M12". Photo Tim Banifield.

Working in the winter time is usually some of the best money for a mountain guide, but I prefer to spend the wintery days enveloped in the dream. Sometimes I feel like a resurrection plant that comes to life once a year. Autumn is that time when I finally get that long awaited drink of water. The cones in my retina aren't so bothered by the harsh light of a high sun, and my eyelids can open wide. Taking that deep breath of cold air somehow feels more clean than the air of summer just a month ago.  

I have been lucky enough to join forces with Jason Nelson to formulate this crag, the Hall of Justice. To me, it's the BEST mixed climbing area in the lower 48 and I was also fortunate enough to enjoy climbing there this past weekend with Jason Nelson, Gordon McArthur, and Aron Montgomery. Although it's pre-season mischief, it's a good place to sharpen the skills that will be needed in the coming months.

The Hall of Justice undergoes ephemeral changes, but climbing continues to be hard. "Pull the Trigger, Crigger" just got a little more exciting. Now there's a 4 axe length move for one of the opening moves since one of the natural holds pulled off. It's all fun and games though. The risk is low and the learning curve is high. We have a good time giving out advice and taking the wisdom and insight of others home, improving each other.

It's all in the spirit of the game.

Game On.

Winter Losing its Grip?

Last week, I skied in the Sandias where the unforecasted storm dumped a mere 36" of snow in a single storm. I was using a shop-vac to get the standing water off my roof. Having construction on the house doesn't help in times like this and there was a load of leaks until the water could be taken off the flat territorial New Mexican 1980's style roof They didn't build a pitch in the roof for drainage back then for some stupid reason.

Photo by Jason Nelson. The new caved coined the "Hall of Justice" because of the Superhero theme that Nelson started when putting up the first mixed routes.


Driving into Ouray, Colorado this week, I was shocked to find no snow in town and a dwindling Ice Park from RAIN !? The temps in Ouray have been balmy and it hasn't been freezing for nights on end. The Ice Park that was open to ice climbing is now closed to the public until conditions improve since the ice has dwindled to look like a late Spring melt-down. The avalanche danger is high to extreme so I'm glad I'm climbing rock with ice tools once again.

Meanwhile, I came to climb with Jason Nelson. He has put up a climb, "Holy Girl Pile, Batman" WI4 M12, in a remote cave that I have been wanting to get on for nearly two years. I figured it would be a good time since I am getting ready to return to the International World Ice Climbing Competition as there is really only 2 or 3 routes of this difficulty in the USA. The difference is that climbing outside is really nothing like climbing in a IWC. On real rock one can spend a lot of energy looking for the next hold. It would be rare that someone would be able to walk up to a climb rated M12 and be successful on the first attempt.

The climbing is awesome and highly exposed. The climbing is overhanging from the time one gets on the route. After the 6th bolt the climbing gets intense and technical. I had a good time working through the route and figuring out where the holds were and how the moves go.

We're also putting more bolts/extensions in the routes he already has established. This cave is going to be a spectacular place to train for IWC. I was in Vail last week and decided that it would be o.k. for training too, but the harsh reality, is that I'm still not really sure of how to train the best, most optimally, for the IWC. On-sighting climbs is a great skill, but there's more to it than just being able to read where the route goes, and more to it than brute strength. Technique and confidence may trump everything.

having my confidence shattered in several venues over the years, its hard to pick oneself up out of the mental mud pit and persevere. But this isn't an option I'm talking about, it's a mandatory shift in daily perception. Gotta' get up every day punch that clock and figure out how to be the best with what ya got.

There's no coach to tell me how or when to train, watch what I eat so I don't develop a worse blood dyscrasia, how to work around a fused cervical spine, or an aging body. The love of the mixed climbing movement keeps my spirit high. Really, it's this sport that saved me from a bitter otherwise. Thanks to all those whose shoulders I stand on, those who continue to develop this sport of mixed rock and ice climbing, and those who hold the key to be my inspiration.

What keeps us going is the personal challenges that we set for ourselves. New Year's Eve is coming and so is the time to consider what challenges will make us rise to the occasion and better ourselves.

New Routes in Ouray - No Longer Your Father's Poser's Lounge

After getting back from Europe, I went to see Jason and Lisa Nelson up in Ouray, Colorado. Jason and I headed out to get more mixed climbing in before the season draws to a close. As fate would have it, Jason and I got in one day of climbing together before we decided that there needed to be some more new mixed lines in the Poser's Lounge on the way to Camp Bird.

Check out Jason's new write-up


We established a couple of new lines. The first is a major extension to Troglodyte. It now goes all the way to the top where the Goldline anchors are. The next is a traversing linkup that starts on Troglodyte, then crosses through the crux of Goldline and then past Fist Full of Steel, then finishes on Cinnamon and Cider. Although I'm not sure how hard these lines are since ratings to me are now in a contrived state, then climbing is fun.

Thanks to Clint Cook for letting us borrow his drill (I left mine at home) and to Bill Leo from Ouray Mountain Sports (OMS) for letting us spend some cash to get bolts and hangers on-demand!

I hope everyone gets a chance to get on these routes.

SKIING is the paradoxical universe that I live in. I"ll post something here as soon as I can get the photos up and modified.

Competition day in Valle di Daone

1/16/2010-1/17/2010
Competition day in Valle di Daone
I went through the usual labors of getting up, but added clearing my respiratory tract from my recently acquired illness, a production to be sure. Breakfast was good and the skies were clear. My pack was light since I didn’t have to take much more than the essentials, harness, helmet, fruit boots (crampons), iPod, and a thermos.
77 men squeezed into the isolation room where there was two warm-up structures. The one inside was well fitted to doing regular climbing, but was also set up to do upside down stein pulls and long side pulls. It was spray painted with “WELCOME” in English! It was nice to know that we were putting the US flag firmly on all the UIAA competition venues this year, and we have been quite welcomed here in Valle di Daone in general.
There is a lot of talk about this sport going Olympic. In fact, the opening ceremonies even had an Olympic-style fire, symbol and all. With the amount of international participation, it’s hard to believe that it would not be a good fit for the winter games. In fact, it would be one of the few excellent spectator sports. Perhaps someday it will make its way to the big time, but for now it’s big enough for me.
It’s interesting to inside of a room full of enough nervous energy that one might be able to run a small town’s electrical needs from it. I was one of the last people to climb since that’s how the draw came down this time. It was the first time I had to wait until the end to climb and I was, in a way, happy to have the time to warm up properly and get focused.
From previewing the route I could tell that the moves on my given line were long and powerful. So went through some of these moves on the isolation work board and felt pretty good about them. The passing hours and eventual decline in athletes in isolation left a bored few of us playing hacky sack with an empty Red Bull can. So although none of the six of us could speak a common language, we could all play the game together.
Finally, I was called and I walked to the transition isolation shack behind the climbing structure. I went inside the small wooden storage shed and was locked in with two other athletes. I could not stand up inside but was able to sit down on a bench seat next to a small ceramic heater.
Once I was called for the last time I was led through a tunnel and out to the climb. I took one last look at the climb. I was hesitant to even start. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to break some rule that I wasn’t used to, like a false start. It would be easy to be disqualified if you had one foot on the ground, both axes on the starting hold, and then moved and axe from the hold. I also was pretty damn nervous, but felt in control. I was also a bit worried since the belay was asking me how much I weighed. “90 kg” I told him. He was a bit unnerved as I guess I am the heaviest competitor in history. There’s not a lot of 200 pound competition ice climbers running around, most are below 80kg and usually closer to 70kg. “Ya, I have to haul it all up there” I told him, and I tied into the rope.
I climbed very slowly and very tentatively, so much so as to a fault. I also realize now that I should be more aggressive kicking into the wood. This is something that I have never done before Kirov, and that experience was futile in -30°C. I reverted to tracking, a style of climbing using only the holds for my feet that I used for my hands, a very common American style of climbing. I got up past the third clip and my foot slipped off a hold while I was in a full bicep lock off upside down stein pull, leaving me lowering myself with a one arm decline. I immediately grabbed harder as the anxiety sky rocketed, a wicked cycle that makes for a brutal pump in the forearms. I was 1/3 the way through the route and I just want to get higher and didn’t really care about my time. I was able to shake out my arms for a brief moment but had trouble with my gloves stacking up and essentially entrapping my hands on each other while trying to grab the tools.
I could hear friends cheering for me and I pulled hard to the next hold. I placed the tool on the right side and could not see a hole to put the pick into, so I fished around for a second and then popped off as I lost power and hooked my tools together.
There’s nothing like a good ass beating to realize how different the climbing style is here in Europe. The techniques and demanding mix of dynamic and static climbing are far beyond anything that we train for in the states. My only regret in not making it further in the competition is that I will not be able to climb more on these climbs to gain more experience. I know that it is up to me to come up with a better training regimen if I am going to come back and be a serious competitor in this venue.
The speed climbing competition was held on a large snow mound that they had trickled water down on to try to make an ice surface for climbing. It seemed like a good idea, but many of the ice hold pulled out during competition, breaking off large faces of the frozen façade. One of the guys from the Netherlands ripped through the ice with a tool and lacerated the medial aspect of his forearm. Some thought that he might have actually broken his arm at first, but it was just a small laceration that the local medical authorities decided that he needed to go by ambulance to a hospital far away to get stitched up. I offered to stitch him up back at the hotel room, but he was already involved in the drama, so they took him away.
Justin Spain and I both had a great time and made it to the Semi-finals in the speed climbing competition. We beat some Russians, some of which are the fastest speed climbers on the planet, but we didn’t make it to the finals. Speed climbing is quite fun, but perhaps one of the most dangerous things we’ve done, besides taking a car up and down the Valle di Daone road.
I am inclined to come back to Valle di Daone to compete again. I would be great to see more of the area climbing and skiing. Many UIAGM mountain guides run this event and are helpful with information. The competition routes are well set and a lot of work goes into them. I told the route setters “thank you.”
I’m hoping to actually feel good for the next competition is Saas-Fee, Switzerland. In Kirov, I was sleep deprived, and in Daone I was sick with a respiratory infection. We’ll see. I’m still enjoying the journey and am learning a ton!