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!

Cast Away

Here's a video of Cast Away

So psyched!

Had an epic rest day!

We had an epic rest day the other day!

Went to the rec center to swim and play some basketball

unfortunately Hugh's stuff got stolen

But there's an app on his phone that allowed us to find it

here's a video of what happened!

We made the Denver News!!

Heading out to Rifle

I've spent the last 3 weeks in colorado

I've only been able to climb for the last week due to my foot injury

But it's been an awesome week of climbing

We only made it out to the park which was fine by me

I was able to get on several things that i've worked in the past

Unfortunately i was unable to send any of them

I was able to sent a few new things though which was a plus

Super psyched to get out to rifle though and not have to hike for the next week!

Here are a few photos

Warm up in the meadow

An organic pyramid

Rami on aristocrat

AJ about to fall

View of the park

A few pictures

Car ride out!

Crazy storm cloud!

Shopping at Target!

Last meal in Chatty before the ride out!

AJ passed out!

Colorado

So it's been 4 days in Colorado

The weather has not been so great

morning to early evenings have been clear skies but then the death storms start rolling in

The boys went to Wolvoland on monday and then met up with me, courtney and daniel at cats for a second round of climbing

At cats i climbed around with one foot not going to far off the ground to make sure if i fell i wasn't falling from too high up and potentially hurting my other foot

The injury definitely sucks because I can't really do anything but at the same time it's giving me time to just be lazy and relax and catch a breath from work and school - hopefully with this rest i will regain energy and heal all my injuries

And now i'll continue my day of rest with doing Sudoku, reading a book, watching videos, playing random computer games and napping

Hope everyone else if having a great summer!

Colorado Drive

everybody met at our place friday night

neal, rami, aj, jimmy and myself

we hung out a little bit but were all psyched on our trip to colorado that we called it an earlier night so that we were all ready for the drive the next day

i woke up around 8ish and headed to get an oil change and stop by the bank, when i got back everyone was starting to get up

that's when we started to carry everything out to the truck and it was time for me to play tetris

We had a lot of stuff but we got everything in

We headed to the Terminal for lunch and then hit the road!

Jimmy, Rami and Neal traded off driving - we stopped at Qdoba's for dinner and kept on driving!

We got to our new home for a month at 6am - took our sleeping stuff and all passed out

woke up at noon ish and went to get lunch!

The boys are headed to Wolvoland tomorrow, and i'll be hanging out with Courtney and Flannery and maybe some other folks... climbing at the gym... waiting for my foot to heal to that i can hit the alpine spots as well!!

so psyched for climbing this summer!!!

Days leading up the Colorado

I got back from the red feeling really fit and ready to train and get stronger
work on my crimps some more and overall power and strength

after an unfortunate order of events i hurt my foot
still don't know what it is since i haven't been to the doctor yet
but i'm going tomorrow and i'll know then!

order of events:
saturday: AJ and I had a debate about picking up pennies and if they are lucky or not...
Aj only picks up pennies that are heads up and they bring you good luck
The way i saw it was - it's all money, pick it up
Aj said i'll have bad luck

sunday: we headed to Deep creek to do some climbing; i warmed up and then got on my project... Aj was belaying me and when i got to the rest before the crux and felt uncomfortable doing the dyno runout crux with Aj belaying, so i asked Lu to maybe switch belays with him...
After they switched and went ahead and tried the move, fell and slammed into the wall after taking a 25 to 30 foot whipper... When swinging into the wall i wasn't prepared and my right foot hit it side ways...

Bad luck i guess

The epic part was the hike out of deep creek; jimmy carried me out in the rain... it was hard and really tiring for him!

I called the doctor monday to get an appointment; one place told me that could see me in 2 weeks!! what is that going to do for me? Called another and have an appoint for thursday... that was better!

I've been iceing it and elevating it and having ibuprofen... hopefully it's making it better and getting it to heal faster!

Count down to colorado: 10 days! 10 days to heal and be ready to crush!!

Climbing Team Trip to the Red

I took 6 of the kids from the climbing team to the red for a week trip

Aj, Anna, Caroline, Andres, Lydia and Chris

It was a great trip

Day 1 (Monday): Chocolate Factory

Day 2 (Tuesday): Military Wall

Day 3 (Wednesday): Drive By / Rest Day

Day 4 (Thursday): Rest Day / Drive By

Day 5 (Friday): Chocolate Factory / Motherlode

Day 6 (Saturday): The Zoo

Day 7 (Sunday): Solar Collector and Gold Coast

Day 8 (Monday): Drove to the Obed and climbed at Tierrany

For more details about the trip check out the TBA Climbing Team Blog!

Teva Mountain Games

This past weekend i went to the Teva Mountain Games
It was a lot of fun
The climbing was really hard and challenging
After qualifiers i made 20th
Which meant that i was going to be climbing in the semi finals

In qualifiers there were 5 problems in a 5 min on 5 min off rotation
They were all challenging, but I feel that i could of made it to the top of two others but due to my inability to read the sequence right away, i was unable to complete them

In semi-finals, I had the same problem with reading sequences... I guess that's what happens when you have not competed in a while
I ended up in 19th after semi-finals

Overall the weekend was a lot of fun. Jimmy came up and watched me compete which was really awesome!

Sunday we went to Daniel and Courtney's wedding reception that was held at Daniel's house
Courtney looked gorgeous, it was a great celebration with great southern food and music to dance to

Now that i'm back in Chatty, i'm psyched to train hard...
which i did

The day i got back i headed up to Foster's with Aj and Chris
We got on a warm up and then i had the boys try Eclipse
After that i went bolt to bolt on Big empty and i'm really psyched to get back to it and try to send it

After our day of climbing at foster's we headed back to the gym to have a crazy hard workout day
I was intense - pretty much we were unable to finish the workout because we just couldn't do anything any more - we had reached failure
More workouts to come!! Get psyched!

The Red with the climbing team

I headed up to the red this past weekend with three of the climbing kids; AJ, Andres and Lydia. It was an awesome trip. We climbed at Drive By, The Motherlode and the Chocolate Factory. I didn’t really get on anything too hard throughout the trip, mostly due to an injured finger that I’m trying to heal up some before this weekend’s competition. I figured that a lot of climbing and getting pumped would be good for it due to all the blood flow into the hands and arms. The two things that I did get on that were harder were Easy Rider (13a) at Drive By and Malice (12c) at the Chocolate Factory. Both of them were really fun and challenging. Unfortunately, I didn’t send either. I only tried each of them one time. I’m hoping to get back on them when we go back for our climbing team week trip! Now I’m headed to Boulder and then on Thursday to Vail for the Teva Mountain Games events and Climbing World Cup. Can’t wait!

In Chicago...

I'm chilling in Chicago for a few days

But i'm still keeping active

Last night i ran on my dad's elliptical machine for 20mins

It was a pretty good work out

Today i biked with my mom, on this bike trail to the Botanical Gardens

We bikes a total of 41 miles at an average speed of 13.4 mph

Pretty psyched on it

I'm down to 144 on average, so i'm psyched with that too

More running tomorrow!

Still Bouldering

We had a cold spell here in Chattanooga

So jimmy, aj and I went out to Dayton to try a few things

I got extremely close to Honey Comb, but didn't try hard enough to keep my feet on, so i fell

I tried it over and over again and kept getting to the same spot

Either a foot would pop or i would forget some beta

To finish off the workout for the day, I ended up doing the top part, the V5 finish

about 5 times

This made my biscep burn because of the constant pulling

It was good though, i'm pretty sure i got it all figured out now

Just waiting for that one cold morning to give it another try

We didn't make it down to Hippie Culture but i'll get on that next time as well

We headed home and finish watching the soccer game. From there we headed to Nine Lives which is on Lookout Mtn. It was fun crimpy problem with the crux at the end.

I've been trying for three days now, yesterday being the fourth

Day 1 - figuring out the beta

Day 2 - it rained the day before and it was still a little wet

Day 3 - it was a bit too hot and my skin was too good

all of these days i was getting to the same hold, the crux move... but just wasn't able to stay on, or would dab on the boulder behind me

Yesterday, I tried it again and twice made it to that move

I got frustrated and told myself, o well... i'll just train on it till Aj is done trying it and we'll come back another day

That try i felt really strong and when i got to the crux i ended up sticking the hold, for a second i freaked out and didn't know what to do, luckily jimmy was there to remind me where to go...

I did the last few moves and topped it out! I was so excited!

Run again tonight

Tonight i ran 1.1 miles

Keeping up the running...

psyched but legs will hurt tomorrow!

Running!

i've decided that to lose some weight and tone up my muscles i need to RUN

so i started yesterday

I ran during the day for 10 minutes

And last night Jimmy and I (and Oreo) went on a jog for 1.8 miles of which we walked and the beginning and at the end for the warm up and cool down

This morning i went out with Oreo for about a 0.8 miles of which i walked for the warm up and cool down as well...

I'm getting started

Not going long distances yet, because i get so tired just after one mile!

So i'm going to start running twice a day, morning and evening/night

Oreo will get the exercise and so will I

and Jimmy when ever he goes with us!

I'm excited!

If you see me ask me about my running, that'll keep me motivated!!

The Red in April

went to the red this weekend

the forecast was predicted to be between 50 and 100 percent chance of rain

it didn't stop us from going

we were psyched to go to the red to get that deep pump going

got there thursday night

set up camp, went to sleep and it rained all night long

woke up in the morning and it had stopped but obviously everything was wet

we went to Bob Marley

warmed up on Toker 11a and Crosley 11c

both really awesome routes

we then got on No Redemption 13b

jimmy sent the route on his second try, really awesome rock climb

i came down after trying one of the big moves, just couldn't seem to stick it

next time though

then aj and i got on dogleg 12a

it has two really big moves on it

i figured out how to do them and was psyched to try it again soon

from there we went to 50 words for pump 14c

jimmy tried it and got up to the 4th bolt where he said there was a v10 boulder problem crux

it was really bad conditions to get on it, so he came down after that

we got aj on Tacit 12a, he got really close to flashing it, he fell on the last hard move on the route

we went back to Miguel's after that and got some pizza

that night it stormed even worse and the tent started to leak

it sucked

my sleeping bag got wet

friday we ended up going back to bob marley

warmed up on the same two routes

this time we were join by luke and lee that had driven in the night before

i got back on dogleg along with aj to try and send it

almost did it

from there jimmy got on ultra perm 13c and figured out the beta

he tried it a second time and fell on the last hard move

and on the third attempt he looked really strong on it and sent it

i got on it after him and it was a bad epic

i have some mental problem when it comes to falling into open air

i'm fine when it comes to falling on other things that are more vertical

need to get over it though, i was never this scared of it, don't know what happened

luke, aj and lee all got on Tacit again as well

Luke was the only one to be able to defeat the route

Aj and lee both got really close

I went back and got on dogleg one last time hoping for the best

I stuck the first move and got a small but deep flapper on my left ring finger

and continued to stick the second big move

I was soo psyched, but i had to keep it together for the rest of the route

I am so psyched to have completed that climb!

we headed back to miguel's

packed up camp, ate some food and left to go to the obed

we decided to bail on the red due to the weather!

we'll be back soon enough!

and psyched for it!

Red River Gorge

I took the climbing team to the red this past weekend
It was a really good time
It was the first time 3 of them have rope climbed!
Unfortunately we did not climb the last day due to the frigid temperature and snow
here is a link to the TBA Climbing Team Blog for more information!

Lilly Boulders and OBED

I headed up to the Obed this weekend to meet up with a bunch of "old schoolers"

I drove out there with Aj Friday morning

We got to Lilly boulders where we warmed up on Buddha Belly (still can't do it, haha)

From there we went to Mojo

something I wanted to finish up

I tried the crux move and it felt easy

So i gave it a try from the bottom and fell on the crux move

After a few more tries I sent it!

I was soo psyched

Aj kept trying it, sticking the crux move once...

After he got really tired, we did this fun V4 (Hooker) that started on the same start as Mojo, but went out the edge...

From there we ran into Kelly Brown (the guy that is making the Obed guide book)

He let me know that it will be out for sale in about a month

so psyched to get a copy of it

Aj did Slam Dunk

Everything else was wet, so we went back to camp where we waiting for the others to get here

The next two days were spend rope climbing

I don't have any endurance

Trying to built it up, but still psyched on bouldering...

we'll see what happens

I ended up doing this really fun climb that went through a roof called Mad Cow

Really fun and big moves

Got it second go, really psyched!

Overall it was a great weekend with great friends!

Bedwetters!

Headed out to LRC today...

It was a really nice day out

Cloudy, windy... perfect temps!

We warmed up in the front,

Tried the mechanic a bit

from there we headed to Cleopatra

where Kevin dispatched his long two year project

He had the bottom wired but just couldn't do the top

after a few attempts on the top out

He did it from the bottom

Here's a little clip of him sending...

Cleopatra from Kasia Pietras on Vimeo.

From there we headed over to Bedwetters

This has been a project for a while now

It all came down to the last move

I never had that last right hand in the right spot

A few days ago when i went out there, i tried and did the last move

realizing i NEED to bump my right hand up one

Tried it a couple times from the bottom, feel in weird spots

But then, it all came together!

And i sent the climb!

It has amazing movement! I'm so psyched that i have finally completed the rock climb!

After we were done at Bedwetters, we headed over to white face

I have never tried it before, so i was psyched

I was grabbing the first hold you go to just not staying on

I tried the other moves and got to the tiny crimp with my right hand

I'm psyched to come back and give that one a try!

Dayton today...

it was a good session out at Dayton

Jordan and I went out there with our dogs

We started off at the roof

Where we warmed up and started giving Honey Comb some tries

I had never REALLY tried this climb

maybe a few moves here and there

Today i tried all of it and did all the moves

now i need to link it

On the other hand, Jordan had tried it before just a few days ago

having done all the moves he was trying it from the bottom every time

On one attempt, I was filming, he got through the whole problem, to the start of Reconciliation at which point he didn't have any pads under him, so i stopped filming to move the pads... and then, tragedy struck... he fell on the VERY LAST MOVE!

next time... it'll go

We headed to Riverdance from there. Jordan hadn't done it yet and i was going to try the right sit to it. It ends up I wasn't able to repeat Riverdance, so i just kept trying to repeat it instead. Jordan came pretty close, did all the moves just having to link it now.

Rocktown with the team

I took the climbing team out to rocktown today

It was amazing weather and a great opportunity for all the kids

We will hopefully be going on day trips every weekend, maybe a few weekend trips depending on their school schedules...

aj did his first V8 (Big Bad Right)

also did Big bad left

caroline did the V2 version of the scoop

lydia got really close

savage got close to Big Bad Right

chris and andres tried everything

i ended up doing Big Bad Right as well, and Choctile Sundial

Besides the climbing, it was an awesome day. The kids all had a blast and we ended up leaving rocktown an hour later then what I had told the parents due to the hour change that happened the night before.

Here's a little video from the day

Hope you like it!

Team trip to Rocktown! from Kasia Pietras on Vimeo.

Good day of climbing...

We started the day off at suck creek

where the temps were prime, but the lack of pads made it hard to climb

so after doing a few warm ups we headed to LRC

Andrew filmed me on the wave and the mechanic

From there we got word that there were pads under Bedwetters

I've been trying this problem ever since I moved to Chattanooga 4 years ago

I've had a mental block about that problem, the last move

It is really scary to me, it seems as if you are going to fall on the rock to the left

which you never do... but the mental block prevented me from doing it

I tried it today, and first try got to the last move and set up and went for it

unfortunately my right foot popped right when i went for the finish

I tried it again and same thing happened but this time i just dropped because it didn't feel right

I couldn't generate to get to the finish hold

The body position wasn't right

I tried it one more time from the bottom, and it didn't feel right again

It was getting frustrating

So i decided to try just that last move

Tried it a couple times and couldn't make it feel right

Finally after a couple more tries of the last move, I decided to grab the seam higher than I always do

Got my left foot up on the smear

And DONE!

I stuck the move!

There we have it, I unlocked the 4 year mystery

I had done the last move one time before, but it was 3 years ago or so

So I didn't really remember how I did it

It was really good for me to do the last move

And I feel that i'll be able to dispatch this climb next time i get on it

SO PSYCHED!!

From there we went over to cast away

Never got close to it

But decided to give it a whirl

I tried it a couple times and each time got a little closer

When finally, I latched the hold but slipped out of it

I was so psyched

Tried it many more times, but just couldn't get back to that hold

I was pretty tired and let it go

I'm hoping to get back to both of these problems

I just need to rest up some, and get it done

I'm also going to set Cast Away at the gym... haha...

The weather is looking really good for this next week!

Get to climbing!

Late in the season...

I know it's getting warm and bouldering isn't on the top of people's "TO DO LIST'S"
but i just got psyched to boulder, and after today i'm psyched to climb or at least try a bunch of stuff...
here is my tick list of things i want to try and hopefully complete:

The Vagina
Big Bad right - 3/13/11
Orb Direct
Bedwetters - 3/16/11
Blacksmith
Reflections
Instinct
Damn Yankee
Paul Bunion Trav
Honey Comb
Capoeria
Slider
Law Dog
Five O
The Flow
Short Long
Mojo
Whirl pool
O.P.P Low

It's a long list, and it's only getting hotter, but O WELL!
I just want to try these out and we'll see what happens from there!!
SO PSYCHED!

unfortunately the weather isn't looking so great for this weekend, but hopefully it will clear up and one of the days will be nice!!

Wednesday

I haven't gone climbing in the south (outside)

for who knows how long!

but on wednesday, i'll be headed out to climb OUTSIDE!

either Little Rock City, Little River Canyon or Rocktown

Haven't decided yet, but i'll be pebble wrestling or roping up somewhere

OUTSIDE!!

Jimmy sending hard in CO

Here are two videos of jimmy's trip to colorado

i'm really proud of him and all that he has done so far

so much more to expect!

getting so strong!

JWebb climbing Fantasia v14 from John Gass on Vimeo.

2 from Boulder Canyon, CO from Jimmy Webb on Vimeo.

Youth Nationals 2011

This past weekend I flew to Boulder, CO once again

This time I was traveling with the Fox Family so that Anna could compete at Youth Nationals

AJ was going out to Colorado as well to compete but he traveled with his grandparents

We met with him on Thursday Night at the competitor check in

middle wall at the competition

There are three days

Qualifiers - 4 problems 4 minutes

Semi finals - 3 problems 5 minutes

Finals - 3 problems 4 minutes

Anna competed Friday morning around 9am

problem 1

problem 2 - flash

problem 3

problem 4 - slab?!?

After qualifiers Anna got 28th

She climbed really well

But you could tell she was nervous

It was her first Nationals so that is to be expected

We have a lot of training to do for next year

Watch out Nationals 2012 - we are going to bring it!

problem 1

problem 1 - flash

I only got these few photos because I got nervous and couldn't take anymore pictures

I had so many pictures of Anna because Evan was taking the pictures while I was watching her

AJ flashed his first problem

Then he got REALLY nervous!

He could not read a sequence or climb well

His nerves took over him

If those problems were at the gym, he would of been able to flash all of them

We need to work with AJ about his nerves!

AJ got 38th

AJ didn't climb till 9pm

So we had a full day to do something

We decided to play putt putt

Winners in order - Jimmy, John, Kasia, AJ, Anna, Evan and Barbara

It was a fun two games of putt putt

We then went to get pizza at this place called Abo's Pizza on the Hill

Huge pizza

Jimmy, Anna, AJ and I split the pizza

Evan got his own slice of pizza

Jimmy eating one of his slices of pizza

ABS Nationals Video

Finals!

The ABS 12 National Championships: Stop #1 of the 2011 UBC Pro Tour. Boulder, CO. from NE2C on Vimeo.

ABS Nationals Wrap Up

Format

Qualifiers - 6 problems - 4 minutes each

Semi Finals - 3 problems - 4 minutes each

Finals - 3 problems - 5 minutes each - long rest between each problem

Placement

After qualifiers - 7th place

After semi finals - 7th place

After finals - 7th place

Full results

semi - finals #1 (photo: Dane Cronin)

I got psyched on monday for nationals

Training monday and wednesday

was it enough?

enough for me to make it to finals, but finals got hard!

finals #3 (photo: Dane Cronin)

i have not been motivated lately,

don't really know the reason for it

maybe because i've been climbing for 14 years

maybe because i just didn't have time

either way, it's done

getting psyched!

the venue (photo: Dane Cronin)

nationals was a great event

awesome problems

good setting

awesome holds

AMAZING walls

one of the best competitions that i've been to!

can't wait to get back home and get to some training

looking forward to working on a lot of different things

a) stretching

b) core

c) power

d) crimps

e) bunched body/ feet high up

f) dynamic movement

g) endurance

Also wanted to thank my sponsors for everything that they have provided me with!

Organic Climbing, La Sportiva, Verve and New England Ropes!

THANK YOU!

ABS Nationals!

next weekend

can't believe it

it was so far away and now its just a few days away!

oh boy, it's going to be exciting!

I did it!

After about 4 months of not sending anything

4 months ago meaning sending a new v6 at hound ears

before that i don't even remember when i had done something new

but today

i did it

i completed a new rock climb

a really fun climb at Lilly Boulders

i think the name is "Now and Later"

that's what jimmy told me, i'll double check sometime in the future

but i was so psyched

tomorrow, Jimmy, Rami and I are going back out there

for all of us to try something new and finished off somethings tried today

getting the long lost psych back!

ABS Regionals

Woke up at 8am

left the house at 8:45am

got to the gym a little after 9am

didn't leave the gym till 10pm!

LONG DAY!

BUT...

had 7 kids competing at regionals...

AJ Hanson, Luke Holmes, Lydia Fogo, Max Glascock, Anna Fox, Evan Fox and Savage Glascock

out of the seven, five of them made it to finals!!

In finals they all climbed really well, especially since it was all of their first times doing a regional competition (except for Anna)... they were all nervous, but now after the fact I think they will all be fine and not nervous at the next big competition... HOPEFULLY!

I wasn't able to watch the girls climb because I stayed in iso with the boys. I was able to watch Max, Evan and AJ... could definitely tell they were nervous, but they still climbed really well... Evan cut his thumb open on the second climb. In a way set him back, but he tried the third problem and did great on it. AJ was tied going to the third problem, but due to his fingers hurting he didn't trust them in the two finger pockets, so he came up with some crazy beta that got him nowhere. Max sent his first problem second try, and then his nervous kicked in. He got his beta confused on the second and third problems. But after the comp, after showing him the beta, he knew that it was just his nerves. Next time he'll dominate.

Overall the results were as follows:

Anna got 1st - got an invitation to nationals

Lydia got 7th

Evan got 3rd

Max got 4th

Luke got 4th

Savage got 6th

AJ got 3rd

pictures will be posted soon

Video from Warsaw

here is a little video from when i was in poland

Warsaw from Kasia Pietras on Vimeo.

Ana on Dragonfly Low

Went climbing with Ana on East yesterday

It was a good day!

climbing and just having fun!

here's a clip of Ana sending Dragonfly Low

Ana on Dragonfly Low from Kasia Pietras on Vimeo.

Isabelle on Julio and Me

I got this point and shot camera

it also takes video

here's a clip of Isabelle trying Julio and Me

she went back today to send it!!

Julio and me from Kasia Pietras on Vimeo.

Hueco Tanks

When i got to Hueco on the 30th of December, i was told it had snowed!

I didn't believe it!

But it was true and the first two days there was snow on the ground and some top outs were harder due to the ice on them.

Hueco in the snow

31st - I went to East Spur on the first day. Warming up was quite the challenge but once warm, and if you kept moving, you stayed warm. After warming up, I went over to Glass Roof to try it for a bit. I figured out the bottom part pretty fast, and then tried the last few moves. The last one is a pain in the butt because you put your left foot on a glassy foot. It pops off every time you try to make the move to the last hold. I tried that move several times, and I wasn't able to stick it. I called it good, and i hope to get back to it. We then moved on to the tip of the spur where Daniel tried a project. I brought my sleeping bag out, so it wasn't too cold just sitting around.

Hueco Tanks

1st - Went out to East. I didn't get out there till 2pm, so it wasn't too full of a day. But i tried Crimpin Crist - so sharp. Did a few moves on it, and it's pretty fun actually. Then we went over to Full Service. I tried a few moves on that, but couldn't make to many moves. Maybe another trip.

Sunset

2nd - Went to East again. This time with my old climbing team. Lots of fun. I tried 10-10. Did all the moves and linked it into two sections. I was too tired to try it again. Later on in the day we headed over to Julio and Me, where I refigured out some of the beta and Faus figured out some other beta. We put it together and it made the problem work. We both tried it and worked it. It should go down next time.

3rd - I took a rest day. I hadn't climbed in two weeks prior to coming to Hueco, so my body and skin are taking a beating. For my rest day activity I decided to walk to the Park from the Ranch. It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes. Once there, I watched the video to get my north mountain pass. And got onto North and hiked around a bit. It was a good rest day.

From my rest day walk

4th - Isabelle and I got onto a volunteer tour. And we headed on over to East. We first stopped at Dragonfly. Where I gave the Low to Dragonfly a few tried. I felt really close. We then went to Julio and Me, where both Faus and I got to the big throw move and both would hit the arete. So close. On my last try, I punctured a hole in my finger. A mini split. It's the first one ever in my climbing career. I was so psyched, but also kinda bummed. We then went over to 10-10. On my first try I got pretty far on it. And every try after that just got worse and worse, till I couldn't even figure out the first move again. So tired. Maybe on another day.

My finger

Today - taking another rest day. My skin hurts. Body is sore. I got two more days left in Hueco after this. I plan to head back to Glass Roof and 10-10. Hopefully they go down. Psyched!