Happy New Year!

2012 was a pretty awesome year! I redpointed a couple 5.13's, climbed some long-standing projects, worked as head route setter and youth climbing coach at Warehouse Rock Gym, and realized a dream climbing Half Dome (Regular Northwest Face, Grade IV, 23 pitches, 2200', 5.9, C1 team ascent, 2 days) with my friend Andrew Hou.

I'm looking forward to trad climbing, onsight climbing, projecting boulder problems and sport routes, new training routines, multipitch climbing, one-arm pull-ups, and more road trips in 2013!

                   

GERBIL KILLER 5.13a/7c+

Rough approximation of Gerbil Killer 5.13a 

(note: two variations for the start- I intend to accomplish both)

Wednesday, August 29th I found success on one of my hardest graded sport climbs to date: Gerbil Killer. This is my 3rd 5.13- redpoint; one each the last 3 consecutive years.

I'd felt close on this route and Crawling from the Wreckage at Bob's Area but was unsure if success would come on either prior to leaving for California. I'm very happy to have this send under my belt before leaving for Yosemite next week! 

The first go of the day I felt strong... I confidently floated through the first cruxes and soon found myself staring down the  "Psycho" crux sequence guarding the chains.  I executed sloppily, was overthinking and overgripping as the pump kicked in and finally fell two moves from the victory rail. I dangled limp in the air for a moment, then grasped the rock and sped through the sequence to the chains in frustration. Although I one-hung it, I felt the sting of disappointment from unmet potential ... I knew my fitness and beta for this route were complete, all that was missing was for me to give a complete effort.

The second time, I climbed "to get my gear back" - no expectations. I really thought that my first go was my best I could manage for the day so I resigned myself from the hope of a redpoint... I just climbed. Struggling and breathing hard I made it to the final rest... Tim reminded me to rest longer than I think I needed. I heard people yelling up to me encouragements, I counted my breathing (inhale for 2, exhale for 4), my eyes raced alternating foothold stances while my mind raced with thoughts and then finally it all stopped...complete silence; my heartrate slowed, my breathing relaxed, I was fully recovered, I was ready... setting off, mind  calm, body responsive, and senses attentive, I grabbed the last holds of the final crux, and roared for all I was worth as I reached... falling....my fingers securely into the victory hold, just as gravity pulled at me once again, this time too late. 

note: my beta for "Psycho crux" involves: 1. hitting the sidepull with my right hand 2. gastoning left 3. tacking right foot on small foothold 4. placing left on rail near last draw 5. standing up to left small handhold 6. bumping right hand to second higher sidepull 7. getting left foot onto higher foothold & finally 8. bumping left hand to catch the corner of the finger jug/pod that marks the beginning of the victory rail 

P.S. Shout out to my brother Oni who came along with us ... rock climbing outside for the very first time!

Blessings †

NM

YOSEMITE TRIP CONFIRMED !

Andrew and I are headed to Yosemite on Monday, September 3rd .

PPPSSSYYYCCCHHH'''DDD!

Mt Washington - Bob's Area with Scott Ruby

PART 1 

Today, Ruby and I headed to Mt. Washington to climb at Bob's Area. I've been there several times but Scott hadn't been there yet.

We got lost on the hike in (at the fork we went right for about a mile towards Valley View West before realizing we weren't headed the right direction) but eventually made our way up to one of the very highest areas - Slumbersome Ridge. After warming up on a couple moderate slab climbs Slumbersome Ridge, 5.6 and Autumnal Equinox, 5.7, Scott and I made our way down to the Lost Resort area for our main objectives of the day: Firing Up Bob- a four star 5.10c and Crawling from the Wreckage- a three star 5.13a I've been on a couple times before.

Scott, impressively flashed Firing Up Bob on TR and I got Crawling from the Wreckage beta figured out that will work for me; I thought I was going to send on my last go of the day, but will look forward to returning...

We both look forward to returning! We ended the day with some good food, drinks, and company at the Mt. Si Tavern : )

NEW TRAINING MODE

Yay... I am finally not sore after Tuesday's workout lol. Jimmy and Kevin kindly invited me to partake in their tuesday night workouts (madness): gymnastic rings , weighted hang board, absuicides, static bouldering, cave boulder projects, pinches, Kevin's frenchies, etc. ...these guys are either trying to kill me or make me a better rock climber, I'm not sure yet! One thing I am convinced of is that I can try A LOT harder to get  A LOT better at climbing. More ahead to incorporate and to commit to. It's a little intimidating and completely exciting at the same time.

I am also really looking forward to working with the Warehouse Rock Gym team this upcoming fall.



All for now.

God's Blessings,

NM

S m i f f

This past weekend (6/9-6/11) Andrew, Jimmy, and I decided to pay a visit to Smith Rocks, OR. Initially the plan was to head north for granite climbing in Squamish but the forecast was a bit too soggy for our liking so we made the most of crimping and pinching on the volcanic stuff down south. 

Andrew picked me up Saturday, shortly after 6am and we were off to pick up Jimmy and make our way down to the park. We made good time and were greeted by idyllic weather. 

Rock climbing here is great (duh!). Here's a list of the routes we climbed/attempted:

Double Trouble, 5.10b

Nine Gallon Buckets Extension, 5.10c (warm-up Saturday and Monday)

Magic Light, 5.11a

Monkey Space, 5.11b (Monkey Face route I flashed)

Magic Light Extension, 5.12a (I one-hanged this one)

Latin Lover, 5.12a (only Andrew and Jimmy climbed on this one)

Vision, 5.12b (I redpointed this on Sunday~ stOked = one off my bucket list for this sector*) 

Crossfire, 5.12b (I surprised myself how far I got on flash attempt of headwall... will return)

Chain Reaction, 5.12c (I nearly repeated this one... fell on last move!)

Churning in the Wake, 5.13a (this is gonna take more work -_-)

*

The Dihedrals

Latest Rage 5.12b, bolts

Watt’s Tots 5.12b, bolts

Latin Lover 5.12a, bolts

Crossfire 5.12b, mixed

Sunshine Dihedral 5.11d, bolts

Take a Powder 5.12a, bolts

Peepshow 5.12a/b, bolts

Chain Reaction 5.12c, bolts

French Connection 5.13b, bolts

Last Waltz 5.12c, bolts

Heinous Cling 5.12c R, bolts

Darkness at Noon 5.13a, bolts

Vision 5.12b, bolts 

Go Dog Go 5.12c, bolts

To Bolt or Not to Be 5.14a, bolts

On Sunday, we went to the Bend Brewing Company to meet up with Ryan, fresh off his recent historic send of Just Do It, 5.14c (awesome)!   Later on, we met up with Lisa and her coworker Ramiro at the campsite. 

The whole trip was a nice opportunity to kick back, eat good, laugh hard, climb with little pressure/expectations, and just enjoy good company. 

we didn't go here.

Sisters - Central Oregon

(Andrew + Jimmy + Nick) x 1st day of trip = psych'd !

spot the climbers?

Campsite : )

Asterisk pass in the morning

Me climbing Karate Crack, 5.10a

photo courtesy of Jimmy Chulich

headed towards the headwall of Crossfire, 5.12b

photo courtesy of Jimmy Chulich 

Jimmy, Lisa, and Churning in the Wake, 5.13a

Vision, 5.12b 

Sunset

Sunrise

  

The world-class Saturday Night Raffle at the Bivy Campground! 

Fun had by all... I won a tricked out chalk bag.

Monkey Face

Following up the 5.5 first pitch of the Pioneer Route to the ledge on the west face 

Me starting off on the 5.11a traverse of Monkey Space - the most popular way to free climb Monkey Face (http://www.mountainproject.com/v/monkey-space/105791523)

Flashed the crux - nauseating exposure!

Chillin in the cave feet dangling over the North Face, 5.12a 

nearing the completion of a great climb and trip

Blessings.

NM

"It's all about climbing hard and having fun"

Drew Ruana is a seriously rad climber. Very inspiring.

"I Believe I Can Fly" from Snowblindfilm on Vimeo.

An Unexpected Trip to the New

photo mosaic courtesy of Seth Cauman

Heading into Spring Break (my last as an undergrad : ), I was invited on a trip to the New River Gorge for the weekend. I am so glad I took the offer! Despite not having climbed at all for over a month, I climbed fairly well "off the couch":

bunch of moderates

almost flashed a .12a

.10b trad flash

.11b second go (bouldery)

.11d arete onsight (one of the best I've ever done)

got to the top of the Colosseum hang-dogging up Apollo Reed 5.13a ... see below for footage of my flash attempt

video footage courtesy of Suradetch J.

Hope to finish that route before I move from the east coast.

many blessings...

NM

Cool blast from the past...

http://nwrockclimber.blogspot.com/

Next 3 months = no climbing

2012 Goals

I've given some thought to goals for the new year.

1. Graduate/find job/pass NCLEX exam/relocate with girlfriend --- May/June (ish)
2. Climb (duh)

a. Learn how to crack climb (i.e. trad) Trad, for me, is where I see my biggest evolution as a climber. I dream a lot of bigger faces, more air beneath me, and cleaner, more

sustained lines. It's amazing how climbers are blending the power/dynamism of bouldering and the face climbing prowess of sport climbing to re-imagine trad climbing.

b. Do a one-arm pull up This is a "left-over" from 2011. I choose to see this as a reason for excitement- I suck at the upper body stuff!! I've been training for this one by doing off-set pull-ups; using an elastic band for one arm. In theory, as my strength builds I should be pulling with the hand on the elastic band lower and lower and less and less until all my weight is managed by exclusively the other arm. The other training method I'm experimenting with are these things called negative isometrics (I think)- basically starting from the "top" of a pull up, letting go with one arm and holding with one arm the engaged pull up, slowly lowering as strength wanes. I've recently learned that push muscles (i.e. push ups/bench press) actually help to improve pull muscles... hmmm. Anyways, if anyone has advice for the one-arm pull up thing I'm all ears lol.

c. Motor Engrams In the climbing book I'm currently reading- Performance Rock Climbing (highly recommended), the authors are discussing engrams- the brain's complete record of the movements that we've made; the mind-body's "vocabulary," based on sensory feedback from our muscles, tendons, joints, and skin. Basically, I want to heighten the "IQ"of my climbing movement. For me, this equates to:

i. more dynamism

ii. greater precision/economy of movement

iii. focusing in on my style (note: look at this interesting article for more on what I mean by my"style": http://www.theboulderingbook.com/2012/01/interviewwithcarlotraversi.html)

iv. footwork... I already have good footwork, but I want to push, pull, and hook even smarter. (any suggestions for exercises?)

v. better onsight climbing

d. Climb harder... the inevitable topic: grades. I do have number goals for 2012. v11/8a bouldering, 5.13+ sport (solidification of 5.13- is a priority), and 5.12a/7a+ trad. We shall see...

Well, that's all for now. I leave you with a short clip from the (crazy) grand opening celebration of the expansion of EarthTreks-Rockville I attended this past weekend! Closest thing to a comp I've climbed at in years!

Next post will probably be on what training will be looking like leading up to my spring break - seven (7) weeks away. Thanks for reading!

Bless God al(l)ways.

NM

Martin Luther King Jr Day

Rad session at the gym yesterday...

dispatched .12c I'd worked on 10 times or so

onsighted a ".12a" (soft)

got to work on the new steep section of the expansion with Brian (I've got some projects there now)

sent two hard (for me) new v7s

Time to begin a new training cycle (st0ked)... stay tuned for training and climbing goals 2012.

Stay blessed and bless'n, be thankful for your civil liberties, and pass on the vision of a brighter tommorrow.

NM

Old Sharma Article...

http://espn.go.com/magazine/vol6no01sharma.html

Tour of the [Expanded] EarthTreks Rockville Gym

This is now the largest gym in the United States !

v7 that I hurt my right hand on (I bet you'll be able to hear where I mess it up...still hurts)