Time for getting back into shape!

(my 1st v8 in gym since return from rehab for hamstring tear)

After such a long hiatus from training... it feels good to get back into the swing of things. I've now headed to ET for three lengthy training sessions, focusing my efforts on just lot's of bouldering at all grades.

My upcoming trips are sport climbing- so why boulder? My rationale with all this to start off training is something Jerry Moffat once said, "if the hard moves at the bottom of a route start to feel easy, you're going to be less pumped once you reach the top." Wise stuff. If I want harder routes to become a reality for me (i.e. more 5.13s & 5.14) , I need to be able to execute harder moves, and more of them with a degree of efficiency previously unknown to me. Thus I boulder : ) ... plus its fun (fyi: I am capable of taking bouldering seriously though too lol).

Here are my notes from the last workout on Monday, December 6th:

10 minute traverse warmup

stretched

repeated v8 from last time

finished v8 w/ tough start

"Dots" v8 in 10 goes

sent one new v7, two v6s, two v5s, four v4s, & two v3s

Projected tricky v6, cool v9, and a very doable v10

... psyched for wednesday

I'm baaaaaaaaack : )

After confirming that I had a unilateral bicep femoralis muscle tear in my right leg earlier this fall (I had been having leg pain @ varying intensities since April after a pickup basketball game) I made the difficult yet necessary decision to stop ALL physical activity to let it heal properly. The injury was nagging and painful enough, but moreso was having to sacrifice a precious outdoor fall climbing season (thanks everyone who've kept great blogs for me to read : ) and having to freeze my gym membership (I appreciate Earthtrek's staff looking out for me with that).

Well, I am happy to report that, after 1.5 months, I am back! I've been slowly stretching, jogging, bike-riding, and now climbing (first time on Wednesday) pain free! This is all without my 800 mg Ibueprofen too lol.

First time back in gym was mainly just light traverse work and some bouldering (up to v7), with some yoga and jump rope thrown in too. I have confirmed plans to spend my spring break (march 12-20) at Smith Rocks (everyone's invited) so that's what I'm gonna start training for.

More soon.

God bless everyone.

NM

A Good Day at the Gym

With my newly acquired annual membership, I'm off to a promising start. My goals for this fall are to recover my bouldering prowess, while continuing with my progress on the ropes from this summer. I want to peak my fitness for fall outdoor trips coming up soon (stay tuned : )

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v8 project that I got completed yesterday

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soft v8 I've got dialed now

I also roped up and onsighted a 5.11d, redpointed another 5.11d (3rd go), and started projecting a 5.12"a" that will be short-term work I presume... soon to begin system board training, more v8-v9 projects, and lots of roped-up laps too.

NM

Good News from Index, WA

The Washington Climber's Coalition (WCC) has succeeded in its fundraising campaign and bought the land that Index's Lower Town Wall sits on- a premier granite rock climbing area near Index, Snohomish County in Washington state.

Index's Upper Town Wall is already owned by the WCC. Upper Town Wall is home to one of my dream routes- the single pitch trad testpiece Clay 5.11d (shown below)

Photo by Larry Kemp

More information about the WCC's land purchase for all us climbers and the upcoming celebration on September 19th can be found @ http://washingtonclimbers.org/.

Much Respect WCC.

NM

Back to the gym...

After some serious consideration (not really) I've decided to buy an annual membership to the Earthtreks Climbing Gym in Rockville, MD !!

Cons:

• pricey ($65 bucks/mo taken out of my bank account + $5 roundtrip metro/sesh)
• crowded
• not same family feel as Warehouse Rock Gym : (
• I'm not allowed to set routes or boulder problems... yet.

Pros:

• well... yeah, there are pros who climb here (and set), which for me is inspiring and makes me climb harder more often
• excellent training faculties
• challenging routes and boulder problems (i.e. VB-V12 boulder problems & 5.4-5.13c lead climbs currently)
• opportunity to maintain a lifestyle balance with academic life @ HU
• coming off a breakthrough summer, now I can take it to the next level with a regular training routine again : )

here are some pics taken @ gym tonight (note: clusters of people EVERYWHERE-_-smh & uptstairs the EXCELLENT system board, campus board, hang boards, and sloper ladder- yes!)

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Addendum: tonight was a chill day returning to gym after a doctor-prescribed 1-week hiatus (no exercise + 400mg Ibuprofen q8hrs) due to hamstring strain. I flashed three steep lead climbs: 5.11b, 5.10d, 5.10a, bouldered: v2, v3, vb, v7, v6, v5, v4, v4, v7, & got close on a v8 (next time)

...time to get new gym projects and get strong before fall outdoor season!

NM

My first 8a ! ! !

Chronic and I (click to enLARGE)

On Thursday, July 29th, 2010 I completed my hardest rock climb yet-the 25 meter testpiece Chronic .13b at Little Si's World Wall 1 in North Bend, WA. To y'all who know me you know how much this ascent means to me. This climb holds clout among many climbers that I admire, and has been a labor of love of mine for quite some time now (i.e. 2 summer's worth of effort). I am proud to join the list of climbers blessed to have scaled this thing. Anyone who's considering this joint (ahem! Dom, Micah, Lisa)... DO it!! Make the investment. I did and in so doing I surprised myself by skipping the letter grade of 5.13a in the process...a grade I've yet to achieve.

Me navigating the final moves of Chronic 5.13b (click to enLARGE)

SPOILER ALERT! The following is not for would-be onsight attempt readers. Chronic is an excellent first 8a* for someone such as myself looking to break thru to that level. The climb is rare for the grade in that there is no sequence of moves harder than v4. For me, there are three distinct cruxes of "v4-ish" ; right after the 3rd clip, again near the middle of the route reaching and exiting the "type writer", and the final bulge guarding the chains. The key to success on this route is climbing it as lazy as possible. If you relax on holds with as little exertion as possible, milk the rests til breathing is back to normal (thanks Drew ; ), and punch it hard through areas of resistance there is a rhythm that can be established on this climb that can help you build momentum all 80' to the top.

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*note: 5.13b is 8a translated on the French rating system

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hahaah !!!!" I was surprised to redpoint Chronic on my FOURTH go of the day! Never before have I redpointed a project that late in a day. The final moves felt automatic, even though my forearms/hands were so pumped it felt like I was wearing two baseball mitts! This proves to me three things about Chronic: a. the soundness of my beta on it b. the abundant spots to recover on it c. it is not at my limit any longer. This climb will always be known as my first 8a- a milestone and a gateway to advanced climbing. It is extremely gratifying proving now that I am capable of this level of climbing. This and Chain Reaction I consider to be my proudest sends.

(note: two photos of myself on Chronic are courtesy of Micah Humphrey... thanks bro)

P.S. Here are two video clips I've made showcasing both climbs:

(Chain Reaction) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3424729979370549087#

(Chronic) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CewOxWmtOG0

Interesting article on quickdraw gate orientation

I never thought it mattered which way the caribiner gates faced in relation to one another on a quickdraw. This article is making me reconsider:

http://www.spadout.com/a/face-those-gates/

Training Continues...

my best attempt on "The Brain" v8.

I'm getting close on my gym project "Furry Killah" 5.12c: a VERY difficult route for me (sandbagged IMO)- my anti-style- slopey pinches, very steep, and tricky shake outs! PSYC'D!

... stay tuned.

6.30.10 UPDATE: I sent FURRY KILLAH 5.12c ...hardest lead climb thus far this year

New River Rendezvous Ocho Loco !

WARNING: this will be a blog post in progress for a lil while

(Addendum--- I added some pictures below + here's my ticklist from the trip: Lambda 5.12b (2nd attempt), Yowsah 5.12b (2nd attempt), Narcissus 5.12a (2nd attempt), Pockets of Resistence 5.12a (3rd attempt), Control 5.12a (2nd attempt), Bourban Sauce 5.11d (flash), Scenic Adult 5.11c (flash), Cross-Eyed & Blind 5.11a (flash), and some 10's, 9's, and 8's (all flash or onsight); I met Chris Sharma (got autographed poster), Lynn Hill, Kurt Smith, Joe Kinder, Chris Lindner, Nick Duttle, Brittany Griffith, Peter Kamitses, and the list goes on... SO many strong climbers, which is really important for me to see. More significant for me than my ticklist or the superstar climbers, were the people I got to hang with...shoutouts to Van, Hunter, Suradetch, Lilly, Jacquelyn, Laura, Megan, Shane, Andrew, Rachel, Mark, Christa, Nick, Greg, Jeff, and, of course! Roger! Oh, I got to projecting a really cool .13a called Trapped in Paradise; this route is seldom done and I really enjoyed the process of cleaning it, leaving draws on it, and sussing out the moves- there was one sequence which proved stopper for me, but I clipped the chains twice and definitely can climb at this level, it's just a matter of time and having the proper conditions. I will be purchasing a 3 month summer pass to Earthtreks Climbing Gym and can hopefully be in top condition to send Chronic, Crawling from the Wreckage, Californication, or Propaganda later in the summer, when I plan to hang out in Olywa for awhile...miss all the crew out there!)

I have just returned from my 10 day trip to West Virginia's New River Gorge for the eighth annual (my first) New River Rendezvous festival. I had looked forward to this for sometime now and I am happy to say it surpassed my imagination in terms of awesomeness! Great company (e.g. hanging out with TONS of my climbing heroes face to face), partying, good beer, and sampling some of the choice sandstone rock climbing was so much fun! It was definitely an experience to remember... I've never been around so many climbers at once lol!!

As I get more settled both physically and in my recollection of the past week and a half I'll post more, but for now check out my photos below and Joe Kinder's good blog post (http://www.joekindkid.com/?p=3899)

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photo: Suradetch J
Over 1000 people showed up!

photo: Suradetch J
Just one more walk...


The legendary Lynn Hill


Lynn making it look easy on a .12a


Watch out for snakes!


Brad... local badass.


Group photo... great day out all together.

photo: Suradetch J
The deepwater soloing is as good as it looks guys!


Me on toprope (I led some great stuff too lol!)

Photo: Joe Kinder' Blog
Can you spot me!?

photo: Suradetch J
One of our rental cars got broken into : ( ...praise God for insurance!


One of the New's many impressive bridges

photo: Lilly & Hunter
Me cruxing on the first bouldery section of Lambda .12b



Me and one of my heroes Lynn


Photo: Andrew

Cruxing during my flash ascent of Scenic Adult .11c (best one I've ever been on)

Photo: Andrew
Cleaning draws off Scenic Adult .11c

P.S. Huge congratulations to my friend Laura for her milestone redpoint at Little Si !!!!!! : )

Training 3

Hit the gym again Saturday. Dispatched:

• three v6s
• one v7
• five lead routes ---- 5.10a, 5.10a, 5.11b w/ 1 fall : (, 5.10d, 5.10c.
• Interval training (up to 3min count) with Suradetch

I must say interval training is TOUGH! I am working up to a 4 min count pyramid (i.e. climb with partner resting 1min on steep wall, switch, then same pattern for 2 min, 3min, 4 min, and then back down to 1 min again). In total the workout will take 32 minutes.

SO siKed for the New. I'll post tons of whatever happens!

NM

PS--- couple more motion pictures

Crimpy v7 I finally got worked out

COol v6 "route" traverse

Training 4

v7

Training 5

Tough (but really good: ) cave v6

"Back on the Saddle"

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Yesterday marked my second consecutive Saturday of climbing- a first for the year 2010. I finally feel like my body is working for me again... I do believe there is a balance possible between mental fitness (i.e. academics/studying) and physical fitness. Here's what I've been up to in my journey back to climbing form for my upcoming 3 month summer break from school:

Saturday 4.10.10

• 20 minutes on the wall (fell 3 times)
• bouldered for 1.5 hours (couldn't manage anything harder than v4)
• 4 minutes jump rope
• 25 curls @ 15lbs/arm
• stretching

Saturday 4.17.10

• 15 minutes on the wall (no falls)
• bouldered for 2 hours (sent a v5, v6, and v7... almost another v6 & v7 ; "cooled off" on 8 v3's)
• two 5.8 onsight leads & a set of whippers on a 5.10a
• 4 minutes jump rope
• 25 curls @ 15lbs/arm
• 5 minute jog

In the last two weeks (14 days) I've done everyday:

• 5-10minutes run
• 25 pushups
• 25 crunches
• 25 bicycles
• 25 count "V's"

Wheew... well it's a start. Stay tuned for more updates of my progress. Feeling good.

4.17.10 flash attempt on a cool crimpy v7

Lord bless everybody,

NM

p.s. two links to check out real quick; first one is a rock climbing festival I'm going to in May (yes I am psyK'd:) and the second is my favorite climbing training article @ the moment.

http://www.newriverrendezvous.com/

http://www.rockclimbing.com/Articles/Training_and_Technique/The_Making_of_a_Rockprodigy__258.html

Moon Board Training System

Looks like I'm going to be staying on the east coast this summer, with a couple possible trips thrown in.

Yesterday I was at Earthtreks climbing Gym in Rockville, MD- where I plan on purchasing a summer pass to train at- and low and behold (!) the two recent winners of the Adult National Sport Climbing Championship were there training- Magnus Midtbo & Sasha Digulian; it was super inspiring to watch these two climb and to hear about there upcoming summer plans.

As I contemplate my own upcoming summer, and my future with climbing period, I've realized more the specificity in my preparation that I'm going to need. Some day in the future, I'd like to install a home training board- the Moon Board Training system is an excellent one that I am interested in . Check it out: http://usa.moonclimbing.com/images/website/SchoolRoom/pdf/MoonBoard.pdf

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Train hard. Climb easy. God Bless. See y'all out this summer!

NM