Monday, April 30, 2012

More Leavenworth Photos

Here are some photos from the past few weeks in Leavenworth... this is such a wonderful time of year out there!  I hope everyone has been enjoying the spring!

Drew on The Layman


Cortney on Feel the Pinch



Cortney and Drew Warming Up


Joey T Doing a Spring Lap on The Sword

Karlyn Sending the Lonely Fish

Geoff and Cole on a Dyno Project at Clamshell Cave





Hehe

Me Climbing The Lion's Den



John Stordahl on Unearthed

Dimitry

Drew Warming Up on the Sunny and Steep Boulder





Honcho

Drew on Coprophobia

Eastern Washington...




Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The Lion's Den

Here's an unedited video of Cole Allen climbing The Lion's Den at the Unearthed Boulders in Leavenworth.  The Unearthed Boulders are located in the 2011 washout just up the Icicle Canyon from Eightmile Campground, roughly 125 yards above the road.  The winter precipitation worked wonders on these boulders, and they are now much, much cleaner than when they first emerged from the earth.  Both the tall slab, named Dirty Dancing, and The Lion's Den are fabulous new additions on unique, semi-polished rock.  Check them out!

 

Note: In this video, Cole does a slightly higher start to the problem; when he originally climbed the line, Cole started with his right hand on the low sloper and his left hand on the lowest sidepull (where his right hand starts in the video).

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Two New LW Problems

Here is a short video showing Drew Schick and I putting up two new problems at the Domestic Boulders in Icicle Canyon. Yes, we both decided to continue the nomenclature started with Kyle O'Meara's "Bootin' Dookie," Drew naming his problem Coprophobia, and me naming mine La Poocoupe. I named my problem as I did in metonymic reference to a legendary Swiss problem, because it's just, well, a crappier version, and there was a ton of mouse poop on the (yes, detached) start holds...

It has been awesome to start the season by climbing on mostly brand-new problems, and to see that Leavenworth still has so much more to offer. Happy climbing everyone!*


One note on the screaming: La Poocoupe is not a "Hard Problem," and is of questionable quality, but its mantle is really probably one of the hardest I have ever done. The only others I can think of are Loose Change in Squamish, Boulder X in Pawtuckaway (which I'm not even positive I ever sent...), and the obscure Behemoth near Hanover, NH - and La Poocoupe's is much harder. Note this photo:

The mantle involves creating enough torque between the left-hand sloper I have and the two-finger quarter-pad seam undercling circled in red to rock your entire body over the lip... the holds are about 8 inches apart, both are terrible, and the roof is completely undercut, so I found myself literally stuck, doing everything I could think of, and envisioning no other means of rocking over than simply screaming as loud as I could and willing it to happen. It felt really good to try hard. The mantle will probably get a lot easier as it sees rain and traffic though... As Bobby Hardage would say, "V3+."

________

*Yes, a "feel-good bromide," as our logorrheic community college professor would say, but an authentic one...

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Leavenworth Pics

Leavenworth is back in season!!! After a long and drawn-out winter, Leavenworth has finally thawed out... Here are some pictures of adventures from the past few weeks.


Johnny on Bury the Hatchet, a Hard Drew Schick Line Way, Way Above the Fridge
Between-Season Conditions
Johnny and Cole on The Locksmith
Cole on an Unnamed Dyno Way Above Forestland
Johnny on a Hard Project

Udders!