Pine Mountain Pulldown 2009

Pine Mountain's sandstone boulders are nestled in the city of Ojai, California and provides a breath-taking scene for bouldering in the Spring and Fall. The Pine Mountain Pulldown (PMPD) has been going on since 2008, courtesy of a dedicated few lead by Yishai Horowitz and his company All Out Events. Me and Tanleng had a great time last year with our sponsor Madrock and I was pretty sure I wasn't gonna miss it this year with the Mad-hommies! Anyway, just wanted to blog it down here before I forget the good times I had with the crew.

I was pretty psyched in the days prior to the event cos I felt I was in pretty good bouldering shape but it's really strange how life can throw you a curve ball when you least expect it. Here I was in Long Beach living by myself (away from my wife who's in Utah). So what happens when you don't have your wifey around to prepare your meals....leftover pasta...and I mean waaayyyy leftover. Result => diarrhea the day before the comp....nothing better to make you buckle at your knees and letting your love with toilet paper be rekindled. Stomach felt fine the day of the comp but I wasn't so sure I could crush. Anyway, I packed tons of toilet paper along with my crashpad just in case MR.WET FART decided to show up when I do crush.

The day turned out pretty fine and here's some great footage from R. Tyler Gross at www.rtylergross.com from his coverage of the event. These are some of the sending shots he took.

My send of Involuntary Lunge V10. Pretty decent one-day ascent, beta thanks to Garret Gregor.


Here's the blow-by-blow account of the whole sequence.




The OOOHHHHH-YEEAHHH fist pumps from the crew!!!!


My attempts on some V8 that felt harder than V10....NEGATIVE!!!



Here's a example of the great scene you'll find at any boulder. Great company, tons of spraydown and a friendly spot. There's Anthony Tarascio in the background together with Mr. Bishop Bouldering...Wills Young.

And then it was PARTY TIME!

Me and Kaz...CHILL'N@the Mad-booth!

And don't even try keeping up with these grrrrls!


BIG thanks to Madrock for making it all happen. I'm really missing those times now that I'm in Salt Lake City. Then again....there's the Mammut Sendfest in Summer! See y'all hommies then!

Spring 2010

Looks like my doctoral program has taken it's toll on my blogging. Not a good thing. In fact, my Spring semester has been kinda crazy. Nevertheless, here we are at the end of winter and looking forward to some good climbing days to come. It does snow occasionally. Kinda like winter's way of letting us know that it ain't going without a fight but on the whole, it's been pretty good T-shirt and shorts weather for the last couple of days...when I say "T-shirt and shorts" days, I mean temps in the 50s. Do not make the mistake that I'm referring to the Singaporean "average of 92F T-shirt and shorts" day. I'm so gonna melt when I return to Long Beach, let along Spore.

Anyway, here are a couple of pics taken during on my winter walkabout on campus at the U of U.







Who would've thought that the Merril approach shoes I got from Team Spore will actually work on snow. Good traction but the sole eventually delaminated after several months of stomping.



The snow kept us in most of the time and when you can't get climbing done outside, you're left with quite alot of time at your disposal. Tried my hands at baking cos when you want ya own cinnamon rolls, you just gotta bake it yaself.


The aftermath...pretty darn good cinnamon rolls!!


And one of the greatest perks of living here in SLC, besides being at a Research 1 University and 30-mins from world class climbing, is my very own mountain view from the bedroom every morning. And if you are reading this post, I do encourage you to click on the image for a better look.