I'm currently in Singapore visiting family and friends for the hols. Crazy to think that it has been 3 years since I left. Spore is still a bustling little garden city and having seen Seoul, KL, and cities around the US, I've got to say Spore is really quite the clean and lush city it has been touted to be. Respect! More on our trip later cos I would like to present to you the new Demon for 2011.
The 2011 model retains its aggressive down-turned profile but apart from that, everything's NEW!!! The recent Mad lineup of shoes were designed in collaboration with Dai Koyamada. The end product sees a new heel, dual density sole and most radical of all....the Power Flex uppers. Basically, the Mad homies are not using fabric for the uppers. They have invented this flexible, sticky, moldable rubber that can be sewn directly to the rest of the shoe. So basically this eliminates the searing pain most of us feel when we downsize our shoes. The Power Flex uppers amazingly flexes and molds over the knuckles providing comfort and sick toe hooking ability. Honestly, I don't think I'm doing a great job describing it, so don't just take my word for it...try it & I guarantee you wouldn't be disappointed.
I'm expecting my first pair of 2011 Demon to arrive in the mail soon. I'll give more scoops and updates once I get some mileage on them. Stay tuned and thanks for reading. Have a great 2011!!!
As reported in the Front SLC Blog, The Front Climbing Team is shaping up and looked super strong at the ABS comp at Momentum last month. Axel Dillman had his best comp ever and took first in Youth C, far ahead of the competition. Austin Hansel and Theresa Nielson also placed well at their first ABS comp. Keep up the good work team! Proud of y'all!!!
Here's wishing everyone a crushing good time at tomorrow's Crux'mas comp and the Regionals!!!
The weather hasn't been on our side lately. To say the least, the outlook has been grim. We got a snow closure notice from the U the other day for a blizzard warning. On the one hand, the storm turned out to be rather lame cos it's bark was worse than it's bite. On the other hand, I thought the U did a great job getting everyone off school/work so that we can return home safely. Nevertheless, temps are way below ideal for any climbing....bbbrrrrrr!
Here's a vid from Joe Kinder that speaks volumes about the situation right now. The snow really is a sight to behold, especially here in Utah (best snow on earth!). At the same time, climbing's out of the question.
So we pretty much have been getting into the gym alot, working on the last few assignments/exams for the end of the semester and looking forward to our trip back to Spore. And as much as we envy those who are still enjoying their climbing in the warmer regions, I've decided not to dwell on things I haven't done, but reflect on things that I have done this past season.
The season has been eventful to say the least. Looking back, I realized we've actually spent all our time on the rope. I guess the bouldering season didn't really happen. Ever since I snagged the 2nd ascent of Lateralus, I've decided to consolidate my climbing at the 14a level rather than hit up a higher grade. Moreover, with all the stuff that's on my plate right now, I find it hard to keep my climbing at a desirable level having to deal with pursuing a doctoral degree. The challenge is in the balance. Anyway, even as I reflect on some of the more notable climbs I've done this season, they are a greater reflection of my personal struggle to stay on top of my game than number chasing.
American Prayer, 5.14a (Rifle, CO) Cryptic bouldery lower section that required me to devise a sequence that felt V9/10. Combined with having to compete at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, I really had to dig deep to pull this one off. I also had to focus on getting the top section dialed in, lest I punted off post crux. Rifle's a beautiful place to climb. Plans are underway for next year.
Deal Souls, 5.14a (American Fork, UT) Super steep, bouldery, power endurance climb. Clips alone are hard, pulling seemed impossible when I first got on it. Initial progress was good when I had to take a break for a trip to So Cal to visit my Mom. At the same time, we also decided to stop by Yosemite to sample some summer bouldering (check: 80+F, gozillion tourists and bugs). First day, 7:30 am attempt on Midnight Lightning gifted me with a fracture calcaneous (heel). EPIC FAIL!!! Result: Visit Mom ahead of schedule, Mom was pissed and gave me an earful for showing up with an extremely swollen and purple foot. Upon returning to SLC, I could only climb with one foot. But over the course of the rest of the summer, I managed to squeeze my foot into a slightly oversized slipper and sent Dead Souls. Moral of the story...as long as you got them arms, you can make it work with less on ya legs.
Millennium, 5.14a (Maple Canyon, UT) What can I say about Millennium, except that it's totally my anti-style. I'm better suited to climbs that are short & bouldery, given that I spent so much time in the gym. Considering that the crux is in the low V-grade (perhaps V4?), I got my arse handed to me big time when I first got on it. The pump was sick and I didn't enjoy it. Then again, Tanleng was having a blast at Maple cos that's where her A game's at. I didn't wanna sulk, so suffering on Millennium's better than sitting around like a turd. I totally surprised myself for sending it the first time I blasted through the crux. I've never felt like I had to fight so hard since my send of Asia Shadow Play, Krabi.
I guess it's been a pretty good season thus far except for Big G. Progress came too little too late with winter closing in. I was throwing myself at it 3 days in a row with 5 burns each time, cumulating to me punting off post Cop Killer crux. My fingers were basically frozen. Next season hopefully. And speaking of next season...I'm hoping for bigger things to come...so here's the tentative list:
Big G, 5.14a Cannibals Direct, 5.14a Super Tweak, 5.14b.
And in the near future....being able to climb in Spore's infamous weather, 90+F in over 90% humidity...come to think of it, I probably should look forward to the food instead and hanging out with the family...missing my Mom, Dad and bros big time!
I guess everyone have their moments of epiphany. Individually, me and Tanleng had ours on our projects today. Difference is, I still didn't quite manage to send but she DID!!! El Diablo 12d/13a was pretty much her nemesis since day one of coming to AF. Just when she could do all the moves and cumulated all her efforts to one hang, she was still stumped by the huge (cos she's 5 ft) deadpoint to the pocket at the 3rd clip.
Anyway, I was punting on Big G when I randomly spotted a tiny chip for my left foot that worked wonders for sticking the undercling move on the Cop Killer crux, STATIC!!! EPIPHANY!! Problem was, it was my 2nd burn and I was also feeling the effects of Wed's gym sesh. Went on to making the move successfully on my next go but faded out higher.
I guess this really motivated Tanleng to seriously refine her beta and with the discovery of a foothold way out left, her moment of epiphany enable her to make the move to the pocket static! Unfortunately, she was also starting to fatigue cos it was late in the day, probably around 6 pm and light was fading. I managed to convince to her give it one more go with the rationale that she's got nothing to lose anyway. I mean, we've both fallen so many gozillion times at the cruxes of our projects, how's one more fall gonna matter? This turned out to be the send of the day so BIG PROPS to my little pocket rocket!
Looks like I've gotta start bringing my A game the next time. Wish I had this in my arsenal though...the new 2011 Demon, availabe Dec 2010.
Yes, that's right...in climbing, it all comes down to beer. At least for me it is. I mean alot of us cannot deny downing a cold one epitomizes sweet vibes of hanging out at the end of a climbing day. For me, it was. At least that was when I wasn't broke. Now that I am, beer has become something I've put at the end of a stick in replacement for a carrot. Sounds kinda shallow but for those of you who savor the aroma of good hop, you'll know what I'm talking about. So here I have a common can of Pabst Blue Ribbon given to me at LCC's parking lot a couple of months ago....thanks Shingo!
I had it in my fridge for all this while cos I told myself I'll only get to savor it if I get Dead Souls done. And since I was getting pretty close, I figured it'll be pretty soon before I pop the lid and chug that golden ale down....WRONG!!! Why? Cos it was all put to a stop due to THIS....that's right...Midnight Lightning!!!
Nope. Not only did I not do it, I shattered my left heel on the granite slab beneath it falling off the lightning bolt hold. First day, first try, and I completely missed the pads. So that pretty much ended my Yosemite trip right off the bat. Good thing is, I get to see my Mom alot earlier than intended so we ended up heading down to So Cal for the visit. Guess I don't have to narrate the aftermath of showing up at Mom's with a shattered heel that's now all purple and porky. Since I did mention that I was broke, that meant I didn't get the chance to get my injury checked out. So after 2 weeks of ice and elevation, we returned back to SLC with the climbing season in full swing...except for the fact that now I only had the use of one foot and how excruciating it was to put on just a regular shoe (let alone a climbing shoe). Tanleng was psyched and I was gonna let my injury get in her way of heading out to AF so I figured I can still perform my duty as her faithful belayer. So we headed out to AF with a walking stick in hand...well technically it's just a tree branch I picked up from the brush. So here we have a glorious climbing season going on, with me dragging a bad foot when I was reminded of the beer that's still in the fridge. I guess that was all it took for me to suck up the pain, slip on me climbing shoes and give Dead Souls a go.
Though I didn't send it right away, I felt pretty good on it. So I made the decision to rest a couple days, which I needed to do anyway with the OR Tradeshow in town and having to set at the Front for the comp in conjunction with the OR. Guess it came down to the rest cos it did go down on the first go coming back. That feeling was sweet cos I was so in control pulling every single move and basically cruised it with the sweet knowledge that I was gonna finally savor that little can of watered down beer. So did I drink it...NOPE...I kinda stared at it for a while and figured that I can save it for the next send...one that would feel hard...one that will take relentless effort. And it turned out I didn't have to wait too long for that to come. Cos we were headed to Maple and I was gonna get on something my anti-style....Millennium 14a.
Maple's pretty much Tanleng's playground. She's awesome with power endurance climbs and she pretty much walked Rucksack Wanderer 12d/13a and Deliverance 12c/d in one weekend. Me, I was getting my ass handed to me. See, I'm pretty accustomed to NOT getting too pumped at AF. I can deal with super bouldery moves but MAN...when it comes to long endurancy stuff...I'm a wuzz! So Millennium's basically a jug haul to a V4 crux and a dyno end. And it was starting to get pretty depressing having to put in so much legwork with the thought of never being able to send this rig this season.
But then again, when it's up against beer...I figured I better suck it up and put in 110%. I guess that mentality worked cos I unexpectedly pulled the crux, fought my way to the last rest and gave the dyno all I had. DONE FREAKING DEAL!!! And did I drink my little can of Pabst when I got home....YES!!!!
But does it mean that I'm just gonna kick back now that the beer's gone? I guess not...not when I'm up against BIG G!!!! YYEEEAAYYUHHH!!!
Here's a vid of Joey Kinder walking Big G. Dude's strong and made it look easy. Enjoy!!!
So I was cracking my brains over how I can incorporate a voice over for my Prezi slideshow (previous post). Prezi was suggesting that I record an audio file and convert it into FLV format before inserting it into the slide to be run concurrently with the slides. I had alot of trouble converting my audio file into FLV format but chanced upon Jing. This software's pretty similar to a screen capture but allows the user to perform a vid capture with voice over. Pretty neat!
Here's the final vid using a combination of Jing and Prezi.
Preparing to teach my Biomech class this Fall led to a foray into a fancy new freeware online called Prezi. Here's a draft version of my self-intro to the class. Voice over coming soon.
To view the presentation, just click on the play button followed by Auto Play when you mouse over the bottom right corner of the screen.
With the temps rising to scorching levels, Pro-Series will have to wait. Fortunately, the AF season is in full swing. We've been getting out mostly only on Saturdays and Tanleng managed to send Merciless Onslaught (hardest 12b ever!!! Eliciting major punting from me) and me sending Teardrop 13a. These aren't huge numbers but I'm relieved to know that with my limited endurance, I can make it work with efficient movement and the power I have stored up all winter.
So I figured maybe now's the time for a bigger number...Dead Souls 13d/14a at the El Diablo wall. This climb was first ascended by Scott Franklin during the AF pioneering era and given 14a. The grade was consolidated at 13d after several ascends. However, a hold at the 3rd clip broke some years ago and locals began calling it 14a again.
I first sussed out Dead Souls in Aug 09 when I was in SLC for a month. I remembered having a pretty hard time just clipping the draws, let alone climbing the darn thing. I was apprehensive about getting back on it at first cos I was thinking I'll probably get my arse handed to me like I did almost a year ago. Strangely, the moves felt very much more doable this time, and the holds even seemed to have grown!?!?!?!! Make no mistake, the climb is still bouldery hard and the hard clips just further compound the problem. So that was last Sat Jul 3rd. Tanleng was getting spanked on El Diablo 12d/13a (wat's up with all the slash grades in AF?)
We returned on Jul 5 (Mon) for another sesh. This time, Tanleng managed to do all the moves on El Diablo. Excellent progress honestly cos she wasn't even remotely close previously. And I actually came pretty close too with one hang on Deal Souls. Though these aren't big steps forward for both of us, whatever progress we get, we'll take it. As for the send, only time will tell, won't it?
As for my weapon of choice this time in hope of slaying the beast of the steep El Diablo wall.... ....the Demon.
My Mom's arriving in Huntington Beach tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to seeing her again. Miss my Mom and Dad loads cos I haven't had the chance to return home for a visit eversince my move to the US.
Plans are in the works to visit her in the 3rd week of July and also detours to Yosemite and Bishop from our drive from SLC. I've set my sights on Midnight Lightning in Camp 4 and also polish off some old projects in Bishop. Here's an old vid Thomas took of me on Morning Dove White V7 at the Happies. Though it's a great classic, I was clearly pissed about it spitting me off on my flash attempt.
Meantime, the season at LCC is coming to a close...just when I'm falling off hitting the ending hold on Pro-Series V11. Good news, I'm making it to the last move in 70F plus temps...bad news, I've been getting white knuckles greasing off the crimps. There's a price to pay getting out on warm, greasy evenings in my desperate attempts to bag it. The prospects of sending it in summer is looking grim. NEGATIVE!!!!
The sound of the wind blasting through my window had been going through my brains for hours now driving down the 6. It's ironic that I didn't have the A/C on cos it really is the only thing working on my car right now. Considering all that's broken or held together with duct tape and zip-ties, it's dumb not to enjoy the cool of the A/C in 90F weather. Oh well, all this to save gas cos we're Rifle bound. We were also pretty psyched about checking out the Vail WC happening in conjunction with the Teva Mountain Games.
Our psyche have been pretty high in anticipation of this Rifle trip but personally, I was kinda worried about my route fitness having been holed up all winter bouldering. I'm expecting tons of flailing but seemed pretty assured of doing well having signed up for the Citizen's comp at the Vail WC. Besides, I've kinda set my sights on trying American Prayer. It's apparently a 6 bolt 5.14a with a opening crux section of V9-11 depending on how you climb. It's the post crux section of actual route climbing that I'm worried about. But heck...let's worry about things one at a time. Meanwhile, Tanleng was psyched on sending some 12s.
We finally got to some wild campground called the Corral on our first evening outside Rifle Mountain Park. According to random sources, it's a much warmer place to camp and it honestly didn't look too bad compared to Cedar Pocket at VRG. But I have to admit it looked kinda dodgey with shot out beer cans and tons of dried animal bones around the campground. I was certain the cougar's stalking us.
Rifle turned out to be a really gorgeous place with a little creek running by the crag...and zero hiking.
Day one of climbing was pretty much exploratory. Tanleng sussed out the moves on Cardinal Sin 5.12a and I went and jumped on Amercian Prayer. I had Chad's V7 beta written down but making sense of it was cryptic. I soon resorted to formulating any sensible way of getting up the crux section and by the time I was done, I was completely wasted. I guess I only have myself to blame cos I had only one rest day before Rifle after 3 days on in SLC. Nevertheless, I spent the rest of the session sussing out the moves post crux...just in case I pull the rabbit out the hat for this one. So it was basically a one day sesh on American Prayer on Thu, rest Fri & Sat for the comp on Sun. Tanleng had better luck on Cardinal Sin, falling off post crux from an insane pump on Fri morning. So with nothing much left in our arms, we left for Vail.
We arrived just in time to catch the Men's Qualifiers. Here's Magnus Midtobe on a qualifier problem. Vail Village turned out to be a beautiful ski town. Tons of touristy shops with Euro architecture.
Chill'n.
And there's the Mud Run of course...GO MUD WARRIORS!!!! Super GRRRLLLS!!! ...Batman! ....and them Sumo wrestlers.
Kayak Freestyle World Championship. The torrential swirls are insane, lesser men would've drowned!!! These dudes are suicidal...I'll stick to fighting gravity.
D Woods put up an amazing climbing spectacle winning it for the home team!!! Hori, who came in 2nd, is a beast too. Props to Killian for coming in 3rd with a broken toe.
Citizen's comp on Sun. My turn to pull down. I've got to admit that I did feel like I'm hustling, signing up for the Masters' Cat but can't blame me for feeling my age lately. At the end of the day, my score would have placed me 4th in the Open Cat, against kids half my age. It's been a while since I last stood on podiums. Better a has-been, than a wannabee.
So it was back to Rifle after all the fanfare. This time, we decided to give the Corral campground a miss and headed up to the National Forest free camping area 4 miles past the climbing area. The view is stunning!
I was feeling the aches from Sun's comp, plus an anvil of doubt about being able to pull the moves on American Prayer now that I have to resort to a much harder sequence. So we decided that Tanleng will get back on Cardinal Sin on Mon morning and I'll attempt American Prayer in the afternoon to give me more rest. The weekend rest in Vail did the trick cos she cruised Cardinal Sin on her first try back on it.
I got back on American Prayer to re-work Chad's beta and still couldn't figure it out. Looks like this 14 isn't going down without a fight. I gave it 2 serious attempts before deciding that I only have juice for one last go and calling it a day. Fatigue from Sun's comp was setting in and I was getting a whole lot of regret for signing up for the comp. Plus if I was to get back on to try the climb the next day, it would be 3 days on for me and my body would usually break down by then. So one last try it was...and one was try was all it took to SEND!!! Now I'm thankful for all the time holed up in the Front all winter bouldering!
Day 3 was spent checking out other classics. I called it the TRY HARD day cos we had to dig so deep to climb. Still, I managed to flash Cardinal Sin and Fossil Family. Tanleng also managed to fight her way up Fossil Family on her 2nd try for the send. EPIC!!!
And to reward ourselves for sending....we stopped by Draper on the way back to SLC for a massive double-double....ANIMAL STYLE!!!! YYEEEEYYUUUUHHH!!!
I'm sure we all had a favorite pair of climbing shoes that worked for us in all situations, especially when it comes to sending. My sending shoes are the Madrock Super Locos. So what happens when the rubber's burnt through as our favorite sending shoes approach the end of their life span? That's when we begin the hateful process of breaking in a new pair and hoping that they conform quick enough for us to send the next project....or at least spare us the agony of excruciatingly painful squished toes.
Well, turns out Madrock found the solution to the problem by offering a professional resole for all brands of climbing shoes with their propriety Science Friction 2.2 rubber at their Santa Fe Springs, CA HQ office. So when the Mad hommies told me that they can give me sending shoes a new lease of life, I was on it! I had my apprehensions at first from all the negative reviews of commercial resoles done at other joints. Common complaints were the delamination of the rubber, having to wait gozillion weeks for the shoes to return, and worse of all, the misfit of the shoes due to the resoling process of fitting it over a last that's not similar. But when I got me Super Locos back...lo and behold...here are the result:
Left: Brand new Super Loco with FX5 rubber. Center: Beat up Super Loco with FX5 rubber. Right: Newly resoled Super Loco with Science Friction 2.2 rubber. Custom made cos I didn't want to have the dual density sole.
Workmanship of the uppers was immaculate. Tears on the uppers are notoriously difficult to fix but not a problem for the Mad cobblers.
Custom resoling of the uppers so that they extend higher over the top for more rubber coverage.
So now, me sending shoes have a new lease of life. They climb solid right out of the box and I need not worry about breaking in cos they are my old shoes to begin with. Considering the quality of the resole, the reasonable price, and professionalism of the Mad hommies, this is a serious proposition for anyone looking to get a decent resole done...especially for those of you living in So Cal.
Look up Madrock Resole and you may find that orders are backed up till May 1, 2010. Testimony to the demand, so don't miss out on being part of the next batch.
With winter giving out its last breath, we were psyched to check out Little Cottonwood Canyon (LCC) given that it's just 15 mins from our apartment. Prior to having a personal experience of that place, we've been getting different stories from people about how some loved that place, while the major pretty much just bitched about the lack of footholds and odd features of the granite there. Nevertheless, when you have a place for outdoor bouldering 15 mins from your doorstep, you gotta at least CHECK IT AUS!!!
Sat's our typical climbing day but with the weather dumping 10 inches of snow 2 days before, we weren't sure if we were going to get anything out of LCC. But we went anyway. Place turned out to be pretty decent. Boulders were right off the pullouts. I had set my sights on Shingles V9, Copperhead V10, and possible Bully V11 at the Secret Gardens. I was pretty psyched to try Shingles first of all but the day turned out to be pretty damp with the snowfall, which made the Shingle move feel pretty impossible. I was kinda depressed cos it didn't looked like I could do Copperhead having seen how small the crimps were. But with nothing of interest around, I decided to try it anyway. Turned out I could pull the first move to the right hand crimp within a couple of tries but with the moisture, I was shutdown pretty quickly. Plus my cuticles were starting to tear from all the crimping. This was when a local came over to tell me not to beat myself up and return on a colder, dryer day. Spent the rest of the day checking out the Cabbage Patch and getting on "easier" climbs like the hardest V5 on earth...Fungus. My day pretty much ended when I couldn't get off the ground on a V1. NEGATIVE!!! I was really starting to believe in the curse of LCC.
We got news during the following week that Kim Boon was enroute from Yosemite to pay us a rare visit. And with him wanting to sample the best snow on earth, we headed out the following Sat to Snowbird Ski Resort to checkout the conditions and stopped by LCC again for another sesh.
Setting up the landing zone at the warmup boulder.
It's pretty amazing that with his extensive climbing experience, this was actually Kim Boon's first shot at REAL bouldering.
I take it that he likes it!
Tanleng on some V3 warmup.
I wasn't gonna waste any time getting back on Shingles, so I headed straight back to Copperhead and hoped that the temps were on my side this time. Pulling the first move on Copperhead.
Copperhead has essentially 2 hard moves, which involves the first move into the right hand crimp off the ground, followed by cranking and getting the left hand on a semi-gaston lefthand crimp before busting the right hand to a decent incut flake. The second move to the semi-gaston wasn't exactly working out for me so I decided to switch my sequence out. I remembered vaguely when sussing out beta on youtube of Aaron Shamy busting right off the right hand crimp all the way up and hitting the decent flake with his left hand. I gave that sequence one go by stopping on the left hand semi-gaston first before moving off for the jump. And when I almost stuck the jump to the flake, the plan was to rest up and SEND!
Busting to the good flake.
SENDING!!!! YEEAAYYUUHHH!!!
Here's a vid of Aaron Shamy getting on a buncha climbs in LCC. There's one of him cruising Copperhead among other hard blocs. He didn't have to stop on the left hand semi-gaston. The bloke pretty much cranked down on the right hand crimp and bust straight out to the flake.
Managed to flash Barfly V9 (which I felt was V8) and Crystal Pinch V6 at the Gate boulders, which made for a pretty sweet day! Flailed on Superfly V8 cos I was so done by then but it made me pretty psyched to get on Pro-Series V11 the next time I'm there.
Here's Tanleng sending a pretty tricky V2 mantle. Rather decent effort considering the fact that she's still recovering from her back injury and didn't want to risk falling.
So the verdict is....LCC really isn't so bad afterall. The features weren't too different from the Tramway up in Palm Springs and Black Mountain, CA. Plus it's literally in my backyard and I don't have to pay for any tramride. Heck, I'm even considering getting a lamp and getting some night sessions in!
