Honey Comb!

This problems has been on my "must do" list for a while now

I've tried it probably for 4 or 5 days

With long periods in-between those days

Went out last week and after a little nap in the sun

It went! I was so psyched!

Here are some pictures thanks to Paul

Oreo running around...

Pictures from the Dark Horse Event!

Awards

Waiting for the next problem...

Problem #2

Problem #3

Problem #1

Dark Horse Competition

I flew to Boston for the Dark Horse Competition!

I stayed with Shane along with Alex D Johnson

There was a qualifying round from which they took the top 6 finishers

I luckily placed 6th, and made it into finals.

There were 8 guys and girls in the finals round because the winners of the two previous competition got a buy into the final competition.

There were four problems in the finals round

Problem #1: Was one of the closest problems i had ever done in a competition. The fact that you had to drop down onto a feature and be hands free and continue the problem was AMAZING!

Problem #2: It was awesome due to the two mini mantles in it. The finishing hold was very bad, and made it very improbable to just jump to the hold.

Problem #3: It was the most straight forward problem i think. It had awesome movement and flowed really well. The last moves were very big reaches for myself, but i liked it because it tested my ability.

Problem #4: It had about 14 moves on it. And after trying it 3 or 4 times, i was pumped. It was hard to get over the pump.

This competition was 2 weeks before ABS Nationals, and I think it was a great experience to prep for the event. All i know is that i need to work on my endurance a little more, there is not much more i can improve in 2 weeks... haha

So i will be running everyday... doing endurance training at the gym and healing up my finger so that it doesn't hurt as much during Nationals...

Below is a video of the event!

2012 Dark Horse Series Championship Highlights from Louder Than 11 on Vimeo.

White Face

I have been trying several climbs out at LRC recently!

I've been trying Interplanatary Escape, where i have come up with short person beta!

I have also been trying Donkey Doobie. I think it is almost time to qualify this climb as an epic. I have been able to get through the crux but yet somehow mess up my beta and fall... Soon though... it will go!

Photo thanks to Lydia - Donkey Doobie

My other project was White Face. It was one of those climbs that when you see for the first time you don't think you will ever climb it. It is my complete anti style so i was always scared to try it. I tried it about 3 days. The last day it finally went and i have to give thanks to the people that let me borrow their pads. I think there were 8 pads being used, making the landing PERFECT!! Here are some pictures that Mike took of me on the send go!

So psyched to have completed this one! Looking forward to some more cold days and great temps!

Winter Break

I've had a pretty awesome winter break so far

To start off winter break I headed up to Michigan with the climbing team

They had regionals up there

Overall it was a great competition

4 of them (Andres, Chris, Anna and Evan) are going to divisionals in north carolina

Following that i went to Hueco Tanks for a 10 day trip

I was super psyched but did not have any expectations

And because of that i had the best trip ever

I climbed my first V11 and finished off several old projects

At the same time I left behind several more projects to come back to

We came back to Chattanooga for the holidays

My dad came up to visit

It was a fun time

I've been climbing almost everyday since the holidays

Trying different things at different place around town

Here is a little clip of jimmy and i sending

Rocktown and LRC

this past weekend was awesome!

one of the best climbing weekends in a while!!

my friends Rachel and Eddie came into town and we went to Rocktown on saturday!

the weather was amazing

it was their first time there so we ended up sticking to the front area (the orb to big bad boulder)

we started off at the orb and it was just a little too hot to complete that one

we then continued to the vagina which has been a long time project for me

i have been trying that thing for probably about six years now!

Eddie almost flashed it and quickly sent it two tries later

i didn't want to try it yet so i attempted digital scales instead

after figuring out that it is a very HARD problem

i decided to give the vagina a try

i ended up sending within a few tries

i felt a weight lifted off my shoulders!! i was so psyched!

we continued over to burst of joy

which both eddie and i dispatched within a few tries

from there we headed over to the big bad boulders

eddie managed to flash big bad and big bad right

he had a little bit of trouble on little bad though, haha

i figured out short person beta for big bad and was able to climb the boulder!!

oh man it was an awesome day!!

the weekend was not over yet

we headed to cumberland on sunday but the parking lot was full so we ended up at LRC

being the 90 - 95 people there for the day so far

we headed to the back by the shield and warmed up on the jug wall

after warming up we decided to get on kneed it

jimmy sent it

and i attempted it and flashed it!

i can't remember if i've ever truly attempted the boulder or not

either way i did it first try that day

so psyched

rami and eddie did it as well

jimmy, rami and eddie headed to heroin, junkie and white trash

while i attempted dunky doobie with a few cats from atlanta

i figured out all the moves and started to try it from the start

i was not able to send it, but i am psyched to get back on it soon

but probably not until after hueco

i got finals this week and i will be going to michigan this weekend with the TBA climbing team

because they have regionals up there! should be a blast!

Last few months...

The bouldering season usually starts with the first Triple Crown Bouldering Competition in the south at least

It's not that people don't boulder in the summer, it's just the weather starts cooling down usually around the time of the first Triple Crown Comp

They changed it up this year by having the 1st comp at hound ears like always the first weekend in october, but the 2nd comp was at LRC and it was the second weekend in october and the last one was held at horse pens on the 1st weekend of november

It was a good competition series

The highlight of all three triple crown events was that i climb at least ONE new rock climb at each one...

hound ears: 2 new climbs

LRC: 1 new climb

HP40: 3 new climbs

SO PSYCHED ON THAT!

besides climbing i've been really psyched on school because i finally found a major that fits what i want to learn about and when i graduate with the major i will have many different options on what i want to do for a job

i've register for next semester and i have three more left

so that means that my graduation should be May of 2013

I'm so psyched to finally be coming to an end of my college experience!

back to climbing; i've been getting more and more psyched on climbing and pushing myself and my limits...

one thing that i need to concentrate on though is preventing injuries which i have not taken very seriously in the last few weeks

either way i'm psyched and it's getting cold and HUECO in december!