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  • Posted on April 11, 2012

Change of Plans

The last few days I’ve been back in good ole Galt, CA to do some family stuff.  Kinda bummed to have left  a sweet travel setup in Spain and numerous projects early but it’s nice to be back in Galt for a bit as well.

In order of do-ability, from a few more tries to probably never, here are the top few things I would like to return to in Spain:

Not.

The small town of Perles near…

Esclatamasters 9a

A perfect flip of styles from the definition of fun Spanish tufa climbing to moderately heinous crimping on amazing blue rock; this route was my main focus the last week of the trip.  It was bolted by Salva Serrano and done first by Ramon Julian.  Unfortunately, it seeps like crazy and was wet most of the times I went up it.  On a drier day, I did it in two sections and will definitely be back in a less rainy season to finish it off.  After a storm and the day prior to leaving I went back for a final, hopeful shot before cleaning my draws that immediately turned into a mojado aid climbing session since basically every hold was dripping.

Simon Carter killing it with the photos…the best of which are yet to come.

Joe Blau 8c+

A laser straight line bolted by Joe Kinder, of course done first by Chris Sharma (nearly for a warm-up), that’s home to one of the longest continuous lines in Oliana.  Not the greatest rock in the intro but a nice addition to the cliff as a direct start to El Gran Blau (8b+/c) and cool redpoint crux section.

http://www.joekindkid.com/?p=8652

Papichulo 9a+

Sweet, sweet Papichulo.

Photo from Andy Mann of figuring out the lower crux.  I don’t know what to say about this route besides perfection exists, I’ll definitely be back in a cooler season.

First Round First Minute 

Despite a few laughs, the time I spent on FRFM was probably the most inspiring climbing of the trip.  Just seeing where the bar is and doing the moves (minus the mono and knee-bar clip) makes me want to get a bit more power and come back to see if I could link the first section through the “rest.”  Although the wall is mini when you walk up to it FRFM climbs like it never ends though the most unique tufas/sick pinches I’ve ever seen.        

La Perla 8b+

I’m pretty sure the guidebook has a misprint and they meant to call this 9b+.  The features are unreal but this thing is another level of technical climbing to me and would require a bit of work just to figure out what to do.  Only been done by Dani and Chris?

Here are a few departing photos from one of my new favorite areas:

And a couple near the neat little town of St. Llorenç de Montgai

Good work at SCS Nationals everyone!  I wish I would have been there!

Ben

  • Posted on March 21, 2012

Harder than the bread on a bocadillo!

For the last few years, since seeing photos of Humildes pa Casa and a clip of Chris on Pachamama, Oliana has been at the top of my climbing areas to visit.  With long, distinct lines and amazing movement it’d be hard to find a route on the wall that isn’t worth traveling the world to climb.

I devoted essentially all of my time in Oliana to Papichulo because it’s a perfect fit of a very inspiring and challenging line.  Although we’ve since moved on to Margalef it’s definitely left me very motivated to improve and return to…or just move to Spain.  Besides the line itself Oliana was inspiring just due to the ridiculous concentration of strong climbers; the standard here is higher than anywhere I’ve ever been.

Besides working Papichulo, I’ve given two burns on other routes at the stunning cliff: an onsight try on El Gran Blau (8b+/c) and a flash burn on Fisheye (8c).  El Gran Blau climbs a long sustained section on cool sidepulls and edges and ends with a techy headwall that I was very excited to just barely make it through to the chains.  Joe Kinder gave me the flawless move-by-move beta for a flash go on Fisheye at the end of another day that went extremely well but ended 45 m up at the final bolt.  Maybe the fading light played a role but the truth is I SUCK at vertical/ slabby technical climbing and its always been a huge weakness of mine.  A weakness that later reemerged when trying the stunning La Perla (8b+, probably the hardest thing I’ve ever tried and according to Keith, “Harder than the bread on a bocadillo!”) in Margalef.

The ultra technical La Perla

Outside of climbing, we’ve had some great times including an interesting rest day in the country of Andorra, a fun BBQ at Chris Sharma’s house, and a new type of cuisine.  Andorra is a country surrounded by France and Spain where we found an amazing old stone bridge.  Chris has an awesome place in Sant Llorenc that has an old tennis court that’s perfect for a fire and outdoor gathering. I’d never tried snails before so I gave “Caragoles” a shot to feel a little like eating crawfish back in Louisiana where you have to work a lot for just a little bit of food.

After Oliana, 3SM and BigUP decided to team up to capture some unreal video of Sasha in Margalef.  She put in some solid effort on Era Bella so I hopped in line with a very fun local crew for its neighbor Como Sant Pere (8c+) which I pulled off third try alongside Edu Marin and Daniel Fuertes.  Jose Peinado AKA Primo, another climber from southern Spain, is ridiculously close to clipping the chains as well.  Venga Primo!

Working the beta on Como Sant Pere (8c+)

Edu’s dog, Mack!

After Como Sant Pere, I checked out the next route over, Politicamente Corruptos (8c+/9a), but ready for a new wall ended up getting interested in First Round First Minute to see what it’s all about and build a bit of power.

Sasha is off to Sweden for a bouldering comp and Keith is heading home tomorrow but Andy and I both extended our tickets to stay in Europe a bit longer…

More about FRFM soon.  Thanks to 3SM for the photos!

Ben

  • Posted on March 05, 2012

La Rambla

A Mann down at the airport, we headed straight to La Rambla after landing in Barcelona; the street not the route.  Meandering down Barcelona’s main pedestrian street we stopped at the market for lunch and some groceries after watching the energetic, tiny fur-ball roborovskis for sale.  Just narrowly missing purchase from Keith and Sasha the tiny hamster has been taken up at the team name and butt of countless jokes.

Siurana is the first stop on our few week trip.  Although the rock quality is sub-par the walls are beautifully streaked with orange and blue and its main El Pati sector is home to some of Spain’s most famous classic and new school routes.

Right off the bat, I wanted to try out the moves on La Rambla to see what the historical route is like.  I’ve watched the videos of Chris, Adam, Ramon, and Enzo a few too many times to help learn the moves on the 35m widely varying style route.  Starting with a hardly easy intro crack the route abruptly juts left through a cool short traverse ending in two long hop/ jump moves.  After a decent rest and treading back right there’s a long runout through easier climbing to a good rest.  From this shake the route really turns on moving through a heinous crux of powerful, square moves on slopey pinches followed by a relatively easy finish.

After two days mainly focused on La Rambla we went back to Barcelona to pick up Andy Mann and do a bit more touring around the city.  Besides checking out a cool cathedral and showing Andy around a bit we went to an interesting tunnel with hundreds of holds bolted inside to create routes and traverses throughout the tunnel.

Our next climbing day Sasha took down Kalea Barroka (8b+) quickly and I gave a onsight/ flash burn and fell off near the top after a difficult match.  Next I went up Estado Critico to learn the moves on a very bouldery 9a revolving around standing up into then launching off a poor undercling pinch.  With wrecked skin my focus has shifted back to La Rambla which is starting to seem more feasible after finding a more consistent way to do the crux move.  That being said, I definitely feel like I could fall off the top a hundred times before making it to the chains right now.

Besides my boring climbing breakdowns Spain has been perfect so far.  We met up with Sam Elias and Lucas Marques, some friends from Colorado and Brasil, and numerous ridiculously strong Euros to hang out and watch some solid efforts on very hard routes.  One of my days working on La Rambla Dani Andrada pre-clipped a couple draws in his crocs while I was floundering on the top crux then nearly did the route, falling high in the crux, and immediately pulled back on yelling, “tack, tack, tack” as he easily did the hard compressiony moves and jumped off the top.  He’s spending some time in Siurana so I’m sure we’ll see it go down soon.

Overall, Siurana has been an amazing start to the trip.  The area is stunning and the climbing requires a unique combination of technique and power that will take some time to adjust to.

Yesterday we explored the amazing old town of Siurana after climbing and watched the sunset as Keith and Andy nailed some incredible time lapses of clouds racing along the fading landscape.  Today we watched Alizee Dufraisse do another variation on the El Pati wall called El Rastro (8c+).  Tomorrow we’re off to Oliana for a bit but I’m sure we’ll be back soon…

Special thanks to Keith for hanging on a rope 4-6 hours a day to get all the photos above,

Ben

  • Posted on February 27, 2012

Boulder

Being back in Boulder has been great.  No matter how long I leave for I feel like a haven’t missed a beat on Tues and Thurs nights at CATS and bouldering with the strong guys here is always motivating to become more powerful.  Matty Hong and Jon Cardwell in particular are killing it right now and doing boulders I could barely, if even, do the moves on.  In addition to probably too many gym sessions, I’ve made it outside a few times to see my first few real days of winter and down to Colorado Springs to watch ABS Nationals.

Day 1 was spent filming Ryan Silven on a couple new river boulders Mark Avery put up along the South St. Vrain River.

On Day 2 I got on a rope in Eldorado Canyon for the second time ever.  The LT11 crew put together a cool video featuring a classic short route from Chris Hill and Christian Griffith in 1986 called The Web (13b).  It also includes some brief footage from working Era Bella and The Golden Ticket.

Day 3 The winds gusted down Clear Creek as I watched Jon Glassberg try the sickest dyno project I’ve seen.  Silven and I practiced our ice wind sprints and high knees to stay warm and not fall over as Jon hucked himself at the 8′ dyno dubbed Space Jam.

ABS Nationals were the best yet in my option from the coordinatoring, spectating, route setting, and climbing angles so I’m excited to see how Jon and the crew captured it all.  It was also a blast to see everyone I used to climb and compete with back in the Lousiana/ Texas days.  Here’s Kynan packing the truck to make it all happen.

Before I start my rigorous dyno-coordination training and racking to snipe the FA of the Space Jam Proj, I’m extremely excited to go on a trip slightly “closer to home.”  On Monday, I’m heading to Spain with Sasha DiGiulian, Keith Ladzinski, and Andy Mann with some support from Adidas, Fiveten, and Edelrid!  Right now I have dozens of routes in mind I want to sample to see what I find the most inspiring but regardless of what we get on I’m psyched and feel very fortunate to get to go on a trip I wasn’t expecting to happen.  As preparation, I’ve tirelessly been working on my rodeo and stick clipping skills in order to do my part in holding it down for the American belayers.  Here’s a little video from Margalef.

Congrats to everyone that did Nationals this weekend, I definitely left inspired to get stronger and smarter, and congrats to Jonathon on the new rig in arrow!

Ben

 

 

  • Posted on February 11, 2012

St. George and Vegas Areas

The last couple weeks I’ve been bouncing around some St. George and Vegas areas with numerous climbing partners.  I’ve never gone on a climbing trip alone before and usually have much more specific goals but I basically haven’t had any idea where or with who I’d be climbing recently until the day before.  It’s turned out amazing since there are tons of people psyched on getting out and everyday my skin could handle it I’ve been at the VRG, Cathedral, Moe’s, Krafts, Mt. Potosi, or Black Velvet.

Part of the trip will be in a short Fiveten video by 3 Strings Media soon so I won’t write about those events but a few other recent days that won’t be in the video are several volume days at the Kraft’s, a really fun day in Black Velvet with Paul Nadler, watching Alex Johnson hike Lethal Design (V12), and a surprise send of Golden Direct (14c).

Lethal Design

The majority of my climbing days recently have been spent in the Kraft wash.  With a fun crew, I’ve mostly been focused on doing as many moderates and classics as possible.  I’ll save the spray but these days have been going very well in terms of trying to flash boulders and build some confidence on harder moves…and getting made fun of when I try to do them like a route climber and flail.

One day while wandering through the Kraft’s I walked up to the Americana area to see Alex Johnson starting to climb out of a hole at the base of a huge boulder.  It looked like she was warming up but I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple photos as she walked a long crimpy line.  After a scary top out, I asked what she had just climbed and made look like V4…Lethal Design (V12).

Here’s a short video of a flash attempt I gave after Alex gave me the rundown.

Golden Direct

Further North, after doing Golden (14b) I stuck around the Cathedral for an extra day to belay the local strong man Todd Perkins on a sick new route in the Cathedral that he’s been getting ridiculously close on.  I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to get back on because I had sampled a new project (14c ish), the Incredible Huck (14a/b), Golden Direct (14d?), and Slaughter House 5 (14c).  After warming up, I went up the undone project again to try to figure out a way to go straight up near the end instead of exiting left but ended up taking the easier escape route at the last bolt…not so psyched.  The Incredible Huck has an amazing compression start but very manufactured finish and Slaughter House seemed like a one mover so next up was Golden Direct.

I got on the “direct” bottom section for the second time to make sure I knew the moves and my hands started to freeze so I just took in the bottom crux and locked in my sequence.  The direct adds a long horizontal move to a jug, after a 5.11 intro, that is followed by a few lock offs on crimps into where it enters Golden at a decent rest.  In short they have the same top half, which is the meat of the route, but the direct avoids a no hands rest and more sustained bottom section in exchange for a delayed but bouldery start.

After a long rest and good burn by Todd on his project I ran down the hill, did a bunch of jumping jacks, and tried to warm my hands on some jugs at the base of the wall.  I like climbing in the cold but it’s freezing inside the North facing cave and my hands are almost certainly going to go numb on the sustained sections of the climb.  Deciding to give it a shot anyway, I stop throughout the intro to warm both hands on my neck.  After getting through the bottom crux I chill at the a decent rest that’s part of the original Golden and hang out for a very long time trying to feel my hands.  Once they warm up I take off into the sustained (with some manufactured help) sidepull/ drop knee section of the route and feeling pretty confident skip every other bolt to save some energy.  Soon I’m at the large undercling rest before a fantastic section of rock that’s the redpoint crux.

From this rest, I do something increasingly common in my successful redpoint attempts; completely put out of my mind that I’m coming from the ground and act like I just need to do the next small section of the route.  In this case starting at the rest and punching through the next five moves to a good ledge.  A sick upside down drop knee and a couple mini tufas later I’m resting on the final break and confidently move through the last couple long moves to the chains.

Stay tuned for some Golden footage.

After heading back to Vegas from St. George I went out to Mt. Potosi and climbed on Francois Legrand’s unrepeated Bachelor’s Party (9a) to find it’s about 95% manufactured, or more…yay

Here’s Alex Honnold pondering why the pockets weren’t drilled just a touch bigger to fit his fingers.

I’m very excited for some big climbing and video plans the next 2-3 months so I’m heading back to Boulder to train for a couple weeks before taking off on two very sick trips.

Ben

  • Posted on January 27, 2012

The Flash Pump

My favorite “course” when I was at CU was the physiology colloquium.  It wasn’t a typical class in that it only occurred once a week and wasn’t just for the students but also to keep the faculty up to date on the latest and greatest research going on.  Every week a different CU faculty member brought in a presenter from around the world that does similar work to give a short talk on their research.  The topics varied greatly across the semester spanning topics like biomechanics, exercise physiology, sleep, immunology, and stress physiology.

Despite the focus of each week the most interesting part of each colloquium was often the questions following the talk because of their integrative nature when you combine the various fields of everyone in the room with that of the speaker.  “How do immune responses to commensal bacteria influence mental health?”  “How does maternal stress during gestation influence offsprings’ sexual orientation?”  More silently, “How does ____ relate to climbing?”

I have a few favorite talks but the most applicable to the majority of people reading this (unless only my mom reads it) was a talk done by Alan Light from the University of Utah.  Dr. Light is a fatigue researcher of multiple decades and climber of probably more that presented on Sensory Muscle Fatigue and Pain.  He started with an intro about the psychological and physical components of fatigue then showed how the physical is relayed by two types of sensory neurons.  One responding to low concentrations, another to high concentrations, of the three metabolites in the extracellular matrix of skeletal muscle tissue: ATP, lactate, and protons.  No one metabolite seems to elicit the neuronal responses but rather all three work in conjunction through specific receptors (check here if you care which or want to read more) to forward the fatigue message on to the brain.

These two types of sensory neurons seem to be responsible for a rapid, primary response for “awareness” that metabolites are building up aka your heading up the steep section of a route and start feeling a little burn.  Then a secondary, delayed group of neurons firing once the three metabolites have built up to a higher, “painful” level aka cue the Adam Ondra banshee screams and Chris Sharma yells.

My question to Dr. Light is easy for any climber to relate to, “What’s the flash pump?”

Why are you shot for the day if you quickly go to a high level of activity?  Is it a cardiovascular/ lymphatic mechanism?  Why does it last so long!?  I feel so weak now…am I going to die?

50 Words for Pump. Photo: Khristian Lukianov

His answer is speculative but full of interesting thoughts and ties to research related to chronic fatigue syndrome.  These are only partially my ideas and mostly paraphrases.  “The molecular detectors for fatigue are quite plastic,” he starts.  It’s likely that many receptors and signals are capable of modifying them.  One player could be a G-protein coupled adrenergic or serotonergic receptor that normally is not inserted into the membrane (there is another receptor that is normal unactive).  However, if activated, potentially by high levels of metabolites that could have been cleared with increased blood and lymph flow with a warm up, these receptors could quickly become functional by being inserted into the membrane (getting too pumped before warming up activates this receptor).  Once this happens it’s possible you’re sensitized to become fatigued rapidly until the receptors are removed from the membrane, accounting for the long period of time until you aren’t rapidly fatigable.  Relating to the real world, chronic fatigue syndrome patients may have a higher expression of these sensitizing receptors residing on the membrane, instead of normally in vesicles inside the cell, predisposing them to premature fatigue all the time.

These are just interesting ideas and paraphrases I thought I’d share and are likely only a small piece of what’s going on so feel free to share any thoughts.

Ben

  • Posted on January 26, 2012

“5 Minutes Out West”

Time is flying!  After the holidays I went down to Bishop to regain some power.  My last trip to Bishop was about ten years ago so the area had an unlimited supply of classic problems to be done and I ending up bouncing around between various Buttermilk areas, Happy’s, and Druids.  Some of the climbing highlights were the Hulk (V6, first try this trip after getting shut down 10 years ago!) Xavier’s roof (V10/11), flashing the Checkerboard (V8), and flashing Acid Wash (V10, with the spray down from Ander).  However, the best two days were spent in Yosemite and at the Druids.

Laura on the Checker Board (V8)

Massive fireplace at the Ahwahnee with Mom and Aunt Kay

In Yosemite, I met up with part of the family for a couple short hikes and just to hang out before taking off on the road again.  We went out to Mirror Lake and walked along the Valley floor up to El Cap.  I’ve been to the Valley a couple times but this was the first that I found myself interested in the big walls and definitely want to give them a shot one day.  One day.  Once the family left I met up with some SF boulderers in Camp 4 to check out some slick history.  By far my favorite boulder from the day was King Cobra (V8), a unique dihedral.  I also found a sick project overlooking halfdome to go back to…

Looking out the roof

Tension roof!

Although the rock quality at the Druids isn’t the greatest the view from the hill you hike up is amazing.  Overlooking the town of Bishop and its surrounding mountains we climbed a bunch of moderates of which I don’t remember the names.  I ended up getting really psyched on adding an obvious sit to a cool V9 with three slopey huecos.  It involved getting some sweet drop knees in a massive hueco to hold a terrible pinch and get into the start of the 9.  I’d definitely need a few days to pull it off so hopefully I’ll get back to Bishop soon because that night I had to leave for SLC and the OR.

The OR went pretty well and it was fun to meet up with a bunch of friends I hadn’t seen in a while.  Around the show, I climbed with some of the LT11 crew at the Front and Steven Jeffrey’s sick home wall.

Right now I’m in the St. George area with a pretty sick crew of videographers/ photographers, and small girls that climb harder than I do.  We’ve spend two days trying to hear each other at the VRG, today is a rest day canyoning, and are going to check out the Cathedral soon!

Ben

  • Posted on January 12, 2012

Route Rhythm

After exclusively getting on a rope last Summer and Fall I settled into a sport climbing rhythm I’d never experienced before; an efficient flow and confident momentum through every section of a route.  Sliding mindsets along a continuum: sinking into rests-relaxing up easy sections-punching through challenging moves-pouncing to just get one more hold.  I learned precisely where and when I had to “flip the switch” back and forth to give myself the best chance of redpointing by saving energy for when it’s needed the most but still trying hard when the time came.  Eventually, coming to a new level of personal efficiency since giving 100% at the top of routes was often much less due to wasted energy down low.

It’s easy to blame the move you fell off for being the reason you fell…but on a route it’s often actually what you did prior to it that leads to you coming off.  Instead of thinking about gaining more strength and endurance to get to the top of the project try thinking about which moves and sections aren’t being climbed with a maximal efficiency.  Find places to shift gears mentally or climb more technically to save that little bit of energy to get through the final moves of the last highpoint.

I break every route I try to into sections, especially things at the redpoint level.  I’m not aiming for the top of the route and if the anchors enter my mind I almost always fall shortly after the thought (third section).  Despite the common saying from your belayer before you leave the ground that this is the go. “Take it to the top.”  I almost never say I’m going to finish a route but that I just want to get through the crux, to a rest, a hold further, or some specific goal that fits the current progress on the route.  Obviously, I plan on going further when I reach this goal but it’s the first step.  Something to keep my mind on the present and immediately upcoming moves in order to maintain my focus on getting through the current section and avoid mistakes.

After falling off the top of Era Bella this mindset was  key to break back through the redpoint crux.  Since I’m not Adam Ondra and couldn’t do the route in two tries I needed to take my mind off the top, just a couple moves from where I’d fallen previously, and focus on the steps I had to take to get back there.  For two days after a burn that fully convinced me I could do the route I fell numerous times at roughly the half-way mark, right before getting to the best stopping point on the route.  So I just told myself to get to that rest.

Climbing the bottom section I get to the same move I’ve been falling on and feel the exact same little pump that’s been spitting me off a long move.  However, this time I tell myself to give everything to do this move, instead of saving anything for the second half of the route, since a decent rest is so close.  This go is also different in that there’s a booming voice described very well in the Getu Valley section of the latest Rock and Ice by Andrew Bisharat (Dani Andrada), a group of Colombians yelling you know what, and my friend Will saying a collective, “Get VENGAAA!! to the A rest! MUERTE!”  OK OK!  I pounce at the hold and quickly move into the rest.  Time to shift from ‘one more move’ to ‘sinking into the rest’ and see what happens.

Hitting the rest slot on the send go of Era Bella. Photo Mateo Cardenas

Right now I’m back to bouldering to regain some power before another cycle of routes and rarely,if ever, feel like there’s cycling of mindsets within a problem.  Just trying hard, shredding skin, and (next post)…more from Bishop soon.

Ben

  • Posted on January 09, 2012

CA Holidays

After the Red I visited the family in Galt, CA.  Here are a bunch of photos from the holidays and various things revolving around them.

My uncle Tony showing off the "Bar CC" branding iron we dug out of a forgotten dairy corner. "Bar CC" was my Grandpa's brand several years ago.

Christmas Eve is almost always spent at my Grandma’s house.  The entire family comes over for dinner, presents, then various games.

"JAG," the youngest member of the family, tearing into a gift on Christmas Eve.

Santa?

Momma Maria watching a Christmas Pyramid that rotates when the candles are lit.

Shortly after Christmas, part of the family went up to Tahoe to check up on a cabin my aunt inherited that was built in the 40s.

Aunt's cabin in Tahoe

Aunt and uncle in the cabin.

To break the eat, plan what’s next to eat, eat, repeat pattern we escaped for a walk near the Stanislaus River on a Rails to Trails hike.

Walking along the Stanilaus River.

Thinking of Spain.

New Year’s Eve I made a quick run to San Francisco to meet up with Anson Whitmer, Ellen Goodall, and Matt Johnson.   We went to a boulder in the middle of Berkeley called Mortar Rock to climb and just get outside.  I hadn’t bouldered in several months (pretty sure the last time was trying Burnout at Walker Ranch in Feb) so it was pretty humbling.  At the end of the day I was able to just barely scrape away with a send of the middle stand start to Chinese Connection which Anson crushed from the sit!  There’s a  video of the send on Anson’s blog.

Anson sending Chinese Connection (V12/13?)

Sun setting on SF from the nearby Indian Rock.

Booking it back to Galt I arrived at my Mom’s house to find the whole family over to celebrate the New Year.

Aunt Kay and "JAG"

My brother Tom playing ping pong

Cousins playing scattergories

 

Cousin's Dairy

  • Posted on December 29, 2011

Goodbye 2011

2011 was a big year for me.  Between the highs and lows on the personal, academic, and climbing fronts the metaphorical rollercoaster hardly gets the point across.  Here are a few select photos demonstrating 11 of the most significant events/ periods of my life in 2011 in chronological order.  Skip to the fifth if you’re here for rock climbing only.

Paper published in Neuroscience 

Jamie Fox, Myself, Matt Hale, and Nina Donner. Lab mentors I worked with.

In 2010, I wrote a paper (with a lot of help) about stress-induced activation of serotonergic systems in the midbrain that was accepted by the journal Neuroscience in mid January.  The 2011 Spring semester I was suppose to work on a follow up project consisting of some really cool stereotaxic rat brain surgeries but during a nerdy Sunday morning at work I got a call from home I’d been dreading for a few months.

The best "boss" I've had and real brains behind the work I did, Chris Lowry.

Kim Allen Spannuth

Cloud's Rest, Yosemite

After a brief but arduously long battle with melanoma, my dad passed away on Jan 24th, 2011.  His story and my interaction with it really deserves a book so I won’t abbreviate it here but will say he’s giving me all you could ask for in a foundation on which to explore life.  I couldn’t possibly express how much I wish I could keep learning from him, share even the most simple interaction, or see his smile but am very proud to see and feel his impact in nearly everything I do.

Graduation

Visiting family by Folsom Field

After three months of autopilot, I graduated with a BA/MS in Integrative Physiology from CU Boulder.  I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to study at CU and the various experiences it led to but was more than ready for a break from school.

Verrettes, Haiti 

Verrettes, Haiti

In 2010, I took a Wilderness EMT course that was partially instructed by a world expert on the subject, Buck Tilton.  Early this year, he told me he was traveling to Verrettes, Haiti to teach a 10 day Advanced Wilderness First Aid course for a group of medical students participating in Medical Student Missions and a modified version for the “field staff” or ambulance-like service from a local hospital, Hospital Albert Schweitzer.  Intrigued by the extraordinarily unique opportunity I offered to assist and was fortunate enough to travel to Verrettes shortly after graduation with Buck to learn far more in the 10 days I was there than the small amount I was able to offer.

The local "keep away" superstar during a game of visiters vs. locals.

Playing chess with Buck during some down time.

John, one of the translators, in his room.

Training for climbing 

Absolved of all responsibility early in the summer and having saved a fair bit from working in the lab, I had complete freedom to do whatever I wanted.  In no rush for real life, I booked a dream trip to Europe and starting “training” for climbing for the first time ever.  Up until this point I actively avoided saying the word “training” any time I’d ever gone climbing.  Previously, I hadn’t cared about improving but simply enjoyed the technical movement and required focus climbing offered.  However, since I was going to compete in the World Championships in Arco, Italy then go to the motherland of sport climbing it was time to get serious.  I trained and rested like it was my job; doing everything in my knowledge to get as much endurance and power endurance as possible.

James O'Connor perfecting the hold placement at CATS.

Right before leaving for Europe I also took a short trip to Rifle with Dave Tieri to do Zulu in Rifle.  On the way back we stopped in Vail to meet a few friends for July 4th.

Sitting on the roof of the condo (mansion) that's on top of the Red Lion in Vail.

Arco, Italy 

Northern Italy is easily in the top 5 most incredible places I’ve ever been.  The gelato alone is worth a trip.  Near a beautiful lake, Arco is settled deep in the mountains with a castle overlooking a valley of vineyards.  Beneath the castle is a historical two-sided competition wall where the 2011 World Championships took place.

Opening ceremony at the wall in Arco.

After climbing reasonably well in the comp and checking out some local crags, I traveled with my mom and brother throughout Italy and met Angie Payne and Chris Danielson in Cinque Terre.

At the top of Monterosso, stalking Angie and Chris in the small orange boat. Vernazza and Corniglia are in the background.

Spain 

I spent a little under two months in the sport climbing motherland with a series of friends lined up so I could drop off the first at the airport and the next would be waiting for a ride to the climbing area.  I could easily write several posts about this period of time so I’ll just sum it up with a few photos and maybe write more later.  Here’s a Mallorca LT11 video with the Colombian crew.

La Fabelita, Santa Linya, Spain. Photo: Sebastian Prieto

Our camp dog, Rupert.

Rest days.

 Era Bella 

La Visera de la Coma. Photo: Mateo Cardenas.

Initially, I was just interested in exploring different areas in Spain and doing as many tufa lines as possible but was eventually sucked in by an inspiring project.  Much to the dismay of Will, my partner at the time, I couldn’t leave Spain without doing this route.  We left Margalef a couple times so he could have a break from the heinous pockets but after getting on Era Bella I would basically just rest at the other areas to be ready to return. This route is without a doubt the biggest breakthrough I’ve had on the mental and power endurance fronts and deserves it’s own post.

Dani Andrada working on a new route to the left of Era Bella. Photo: Mateo Cardenas.

Sending Era Bella with Dani booming "VENGA!!!" at me. Photo: Mateo Cardenas.

Grand Ol’ Opry, Monastery

Dave Tieri on Grand Ol' Opry

Before leaving for Europe I had gone up to the Monastery with numerous friends to work on the 5 star, technical testpiece Grand Ol’ Opry.  In the Spring, we were spoiled by a couple good days but then ran into frigid temps and wind that left me unable to untie my knot after “warming up” on more than one occasion.  In early summer, I started to get close but was spending most of my time in the gym training (yes, I’m a loser) and couldn’t pull it off before leaving for Europe.  After returning from Spain and floundering in the Boulder World Cup I vowed to return and take it down.

Grand Ol' Opry. Photo: Gustavo Moser

Red River Gorge 

Check out my Five Ten post for a few stories from my trip to the Red.

Southern Smoke. Photo: Khristian Lukianov

50 Words for Pump. Photo: Khristian Lukianov

Adam Taylor working Southern Smoke Direct.

The Golden Ticket

Quality movement that’s at your limit can be hard to find.  All climbers want to be get on high quality, 5 star climbs but when something is also at your redline it brings out the intense focus component that lacks when climbing a route you can do easily.  For me, no route has fit what I’m looking for in a climb more than the Golden Ticket.  Its amazing setting, varied style, unique movement, challenging nature, and the present crew at the time drew the climbing portion of 2011 together perfectly.  Congrats to Kenny Barker for seeing its potential first.

Dave Graham working The Golden Ticket. Photo: Khristian Lukianov

Redpoint crux of the Golden Ticket. Photo: Brendan Leader

I wrapped up 2011 with a 2300 mi drive to Galt, CA to see the family for Christmas.

Gmas house for Christmas

Happy New Year!  Stay tuned for the next step.  Glad to be a part of LT11,

Ben