I'm not taking it for granite

I spent most of the month of May in New Hampshire, climbing and graduating from college.

Some of the highlights of the trip:

-Introduced my friend Ana to the glory that is Cathedral Ledge. Here is a picture of her toproping A Room with a View (5.12a):



-Made another attempt at aid-soloing the Mordor Wall. On my previous attempt, I dropped my bathooks on the second pitch traverse, and was unable to continue upwards...this time, I reached the top of the third pitch and realized I was cold, hungry, and scared-just plain not having fun. I bailed for the second time...looks like it will have to wait.

-Graduation. Ceremony was fun but a bit hot. The university president chastised us for being too exuberant. I know there's a certain sense of decorum, but why be a killjoy, Sara Jayne Steen?

On the procession on the way down to the field:


-Came annoyingly close to onsighting Leafspring (5.11+) but slipped off the big jug at the top because I was too pumped. Overall really fun movement; similar to stuffing yourself into an overhanging broom closet that is trying to spit you out. Oh, and the closet is lined with 20-grit sandpaper.

-Made a possible first gear-only ascent of White Zombie, a 5.12d chimney. It took me about 6 tries over the last year to get this clean. A combination of strenuous chimneying and over-the-head handstacks and finger jams makes for a full-body thrashing...it's not the kind of route that you can try more than once in a day. Here's a video so you can get an idea of the madness.

I have spent the last three years in NH and I will miss the time shared in these majestic environments with truly wonderful people. Thank you all!

Tough Mudder - May 2010

As I mentioned a couple months ago, I had the opportunity to participate in the Tough Mudder, the "toughest one-day endurance race on the planet." I have limited experience with endurance races, but I still feel I can safely say that this race was pretty dang tough.

The race consisted of approximately 7 miles of running, with 16 obstacles strewn along its length, clustered mostly at the beginning and end. Among the obstacles were a mud pit:



...and a crawl under annoyingly low wire:



There was also the largest, steepest slip-n-slide I have ever seen...easily 100ft long, on a 45 degree slope! I should not forget to mention that we ran through FIRE right at the finish line. It was the most fun I have had in months! Even the monster hill runs were a blast; granted, they were Type II fun.

As for finishing times, I finished in 1:15, my friend Greg Dorsch finished in 1:03, and my friend Bill Kolaski finished in an amazing :57! Good job, all of you Mudders out there.