Winter is cold. Winter is good.

Woot! Cold was the word of the day in the Valley. I don't think the puddles in the Camp 4 parking lot ever thawed out today. Anyway, another fine day to boulder. Spent most of my energy on the project (Thriller). Tried a couple different betas for the upper crux with the tall man's deadpoint seeming the most promising. I managed six goes before the skin and muscle began to yield. A weird day with good and bad goes and everything in between (see the video for the good and the bad). That's one thing that's so great about climbing; so many factors go into climbing at one's limit that it's hard or impossible to predict, at least for me.

Prime bouldering season in Yosemite Valley

Ah, December 1st. Saturday was the coldest day yet in the Valley with temps in the upper 30's all day, maybe 40 at the most in the afternoon. I drove out Friday night so I was there early, warmed-up and projecting before anyone else had even shown up which was really nice. I posted a video of me trying to work out the upper crux on Thriller. Next week I just need to try the straightforward deadpoint method as opposed to the high-foot beta i was messing with on Saturday. Hooked up with Kris and we projected our respective projects for a while, then a brief stop at the End of the Day problem, which I couldn't do at the beginning of the day. Next it was off to Sentinel to polish off Slapshot, but just barely, as you can see in the video posted by Kris. Finally, LeConte, where I managed to sketch through the bottom of Flatline but chicken out on the top. Pity too, as there were tons of pads and good spotters. And finally, the really fun Choclate Bunny which was great to climb so close to the ground after getting spanked on the scary tall Flatline. How long can the good weather hold out?

Ring Toss at the JoaquinWoodie

Last night did a new prob, Ring Toss V5. More like dwarf toss if you're under 5' 9". Kinda fun with bat finish. Check the video for the sports action.

Thanksgiving Weekend in Yosemite Valley

Well, another fantastic weekend in the Valley. Michele and I came out sans Lander so we had two full days of climbing. Friday was the usual warm-up at Camp 4, a few goes on Thriller, a nice send of King Cobra by Kris, then off to the Sentinel Boulders. Kris posted a couple videos from Slapshot and some unnamed V5 and I added a vid of Kris on the cool unnamed V5 cave problem.

Saturday was another Camp 4 warm up followed by Cathedral boulders. I posted a video of Michele getting closer on Hexcentric (next time dear!) then off to LeConte for Purple Barrel (another vid from Kris). At this point everyone was exhausted so it was off to Camp 4 to try some easy stuff but we were even too tired for the End of the Day Problem (which seems pretty hard). Until next week...

Another perfect November weekend in Yosemite Valley

Oh yeah, it was so nice out in the Valley this weekend. Michele was actually pretty sick so she didn't get to enjoy the weekend to the fullest, but otherwise it was a fantastic weekend. We had a big crew from the East Bay and our friends Mike and Steve from Utah were out for a week so we hooked up with them as well.

The highlight of the weekend was Lyn's ascent of Thriller [V10]. You can scroll back in the show browser of the Kyte player, or here's a direct link. It was great to be there to see Lyn climb this classic. Though the lighting in the video isn't great, the audio captures the excitement and the positive energy during the ascent. Way to go Lyn!

On Sunday a large posse swarmed on the Sentinel boulders, which was our first trip there. We had a great time climbing some of the classics on the B1 boulder. Can't wait to go back there again.

The lowlight of the weekend was Steve's finger injury while climbing The King. Apparently Steve was casually hanging open handed on a decent edge when there was a loud "POP" and that was it. Seems like a pulley ligament, but hopefully Steve will get a real diagnosis and heal up quickly. Bummer!

Anyway I posted a bunch of various random (mostly live) content throughout the weekend when I found good connectivity. Check my flickrstream for some other photos that i didn't post to Kyte. Enjoy.

Tech notes for the geeks: seems like around Camp 4 the signal strength varies dramatically with the terrain/tree cover. El Cap meadow had great coverage though i'm not sure this is always the case. I found little/no coverage at the Cathedral boulders area, and a spotty-at-best signal at the parking for Cathedral boulders. Four mile trail head parking had good coverage. The Cafeteria has consistent full coverage and this is the only place i've been able to upload full size videos. Uploading the 18 mb video of Lyn took about 1 hour! Even at best, the EDGE network in the Valley is slow as hell, the same video in SF on 3G network would take about 10 minutes to upload.

Munchkin Lunge

Posted a video of Michele doing the Munchkin Lunge [V6]. This is probably the greatest problem ever conceived in the history of bouldering. The awe inspiring boulder is just over 6 feet tall and consists of a single move to the top.

Just kidding of course, I guess I'm just bitter that I haven't done the move yet :-)

Another beautiful day in Yosemite

Saturday was beautiful in the Valley. I tried to post up some live bouldering action but I had a weak signal and only managed to use up my entire phone battery in about 2 hours of attempted uploads! Oh well, I was able to capture a video of Paul sending Thriller. So if you're around 6' tall and need some beta, here you go.

Heading to the Valley tonight!

I'll try to post up some live bouldering from Yosemite tomorrow. Of course, that depends on getting a decent signal. If I can't get a good signal I'll end up posting some photos/video later on Saturday night. So if you're stuck in front of a computer tomorrow, check out the action. Don't forget you can chat live (although i may not always answer as the coverage in the Valley is spotty).

tabou ez

Posted a new problem on joaquinwoodie last nite. Just an easy V4 pocket problem. The name is a play on "Tabou Zizi" 8a+ at Buoux.

Tech note: i've started using my Nokia N95 to make the videos. The video editing features right on the phone are pretty good, and overall it's easier to edit on the phone and send up the finished product via Web Upload feature directly to kyte. It's actually quicker than using my regular video camera, downloading to the computer, then editing, then upload...plus i can work on the videos while I'm on BART. The N95 rocks!

kylmb on

Let's try a little revamp here...i'll put the players on the right side and add text updates here.