Red Rocks Trip

                 Oreo in the bush

My trip in Vegas has come to an end and I'm sad to leave, but it was a great experience and great trip! 

I was able to hang out with old friends and meet new ones.  We were fortunate enough to have a place to stay. Our friends Kenny and Julie live in Vegas about five minutes from the boulders! It was a pre location and they were really awesome for letting us stay for two weeks! Our friends Courtney and Daniel stay with us as well.  Cameron, Nalle and Lisa were part of our crew as well but they stayed elsewhere.  

The first few days we all climbed together, but once the boys found projects in other canyons they would go do their own thing.  So in a way it was a boy trip and a girl trip.  That's how Courtney and I decided to make a video of the trip.  We will have two parts of it so be on the look out for that here in the next month or so.  We spent a lot of time at the Kraft boulders, but were able to make it out to a few other canyons as well.  Next time we might be spending more time developing then repeating boulders. 

              Courtney on Scare Tactics

We were able to tick off many classics out here. Scare tactics, bubble butt, Americana exotica, jabberwocky, bitch slap 5, Timmy's problem, orange top blue sky, mr. Moran, Quercus (FA), vino rojo, monkey bar direct, alexisizer, blood trails, all nightmare long and pork chop.  It was a great trip and I learned a lot about myself and my climbing.  

                 Cam on Pork Chop

I really enoyed the group of people that we were with.  We had a bunch of fun climbing together all day and then hanging out at night and making dinner together or just going out.  It was truly a great trip that created many memories! 

            Nalle on Clogging the Feed

It was awesome to watch the boys establish new boulders.  All of them walked away with FAs.  Daniel with 'the nest' and 'half magic.' Nalle with 'clubbing and tubbing' and 'clogging the feed.' And Jimmy did 'one flew over the cuckoos nest' and 'fear and loathing.'  I also got to watch all of them send a scary high ball 'the shinning path.' They had a great dynamic between each other.  It was really motivating to see them push each other and laugh and have fun doing it! 

         Jimmy on The Shinning Path

We spent a little time on the strip.  One evening Lisa, Courtney and I went to Fremont St. We were there right in time for a pep rally and walked around gift shops. Also went down a slide that was a lot of fun.  Haha.  Had some frozen yogurt and I gambled away $2.  Overall it was a great time experiencing a little bit of Vegas.  

                    Fremont street 

My birthday was yesterday and we all went to the Rio Buffet.  We had to wait in line for an hour but it was worth it! So much food!! We spend over two hours in there! They had Asian food, southern food, Italian food, sushi, desserts, and much more!  It was fun to hang out with a great group of people for my birthday!! It was a great day of climbing as well!  

                 Entrance to the Rio 

Now Jimmy, Oreo and I are on our way to Hueco Tanks. We have about a 12 hour drive ahead of us, but it will be worth it in the end.  My climbing team from Chatty will be joining us on the 26th and staying till the 4th!  I'm so psyched to show the kids the beauty of hueco and all the classic climbs!! 

                  Daniel on The Nest

                Lisa on Mr. Moran

                 Me on Blood Trails

ABS Regionals - Boulder, CO @ ABC Climbing Gym

I had the privilege of being a part of the setting crew for ABS Regionals in Boulder, CO.  

It has been something that I've wanted to do over the last few years.  In the past I have helped out at Regional and Divisional level events but never to the extent that I did with this event at ABC Climbing Gym.  

The setting crew consisted of John Gass, Paul Dusatko, Kegan Minock, Garrett Gregor and myself.  It was a really great crew of people and we had a lot of fun setting together.  Garrett laid out a schedule for the week and we stuck mostly to it.  Friday night we spent a couple more hours at the gym, but that's bound to happen.  

Garrett allowed us to pick a set of holds that we really wanted to set with.  I ended up choosing the Talus Set from Voodoo Climbing.  I was really psyched to set a boulder with them, but I didn't know what I was going to be setting until I got to the gym Wednesday afternoon.

Garrett had chosen for me to set:

Male Youth D/Female Youth D - Boulder #1

Male Youth D/Female Youth D - Boulder #2

Female Youth B/Youth A/Junior - Boulder #6

Male Youth B/Youth A/Junior - Boulder #1

Male Youth B/Youth A/Junior - Boulder #4

Paul and I also set:

Male Youth B/Youth A/Junior - Boulder #2

  Male Youth D/Female Youth D - Boulder #1

When i was done setting this boulder everyone said that it was way too hard.  I had given the youngest kids slopers to climb on.  I ended up making a few adjustments to make it easier.  In the end, after the tweaks I think it was perfect for the Female D category but a little too easy for the Male D category.

Red holds with yellow tape

Male Youth D/Female Youth D - Boulder #2

For this boulder I concentrated on pinches along with a few slopers towards the top.  I used the two big beehive holds from E-grips.  The problem consisted of some tension at the beginning with a few compression moves at the top.  Overall the climb itself turned out well but for the competition it had the same effect as the first boulder for this category; perfect for the girls and a little easy for the boys.  

Yellow holds with yellow tape

Female Youth B/Youth A/Junior - Boulder #6

I had a fun time setting this boulder.  It had a dyno for the first move, yet it wasn't too big.  It continued up the overhanging arete with some compression moves to get up to slopey jug.  It then crossed to some small flat edges from which you did a move to a smaller slopey pinch that you had to match and go to the top from.  For the Youth B category there was an extra holds on the problem that made one of the moves a little easier, but I think that the boulder was slightly harder than it should of been for this category.  For the youth a and junior category it was about perfect separating some of the top athletes in each category.

Orange holds with pink tape

Male Youth B/Youth A/Junior - Boulder #1  
I really enjoyed setting this boulder.  It had a dyno as the first move followed by some interesting moves through the roof.  There was a double toe hook around the lip.  It finished with three pinch moves and a dynamic yet technical move to a slick volume.  There was a good amount of positive feed back on this boulder.  I was proud.

Purple holds with white tape

Male Youth B/Youth A/Junior - Boulder #4
This was the ultimate test of technique.  I used the voodoo holds that I had picked out.  They were flipped outside down as feet making the first few moves very technical and slick.  There was a really awesome move at the top that was dynamic and technical at the same time.  I really loved this boulder problem.

Pink holds with white tape

Male Youth B/Youth A/Junior - Boulder #2

I set this boulder with Paul's help.  I really like how this boulder turned out because it was powerful yet technical.  It was set on a some what overhanging wall, with some awesome compression moves at the top.  

Red holds with white tape

Overall I think the boulders turned out well.  I think the biggest mistake of the event was the youth B category.  We should of made the beginnings of the boulders easier and progressively harder.  A lot of the climbers got shut down on the first few moves, but luckily there were no ties.  

It was a great experience and I hope to get an opportunity like this again in the future with regionals, divisionals or nationals! Hopefully i'll be able to get into the Level 2 Route Setting Clinic.  

One day Vegas Trip

I helped Jimmy drive out to Vegas and I was able to climb the evening we got there
I was able to do two really fun boulders!
Here is a video of the short trip!!

Day Trip to Vegas from Kasia Pietras on Vimeo.

I flew back to Colorado to set for regionals at ABC!
I'm really excited for the opportunity and experience!
I think it will be A LOT of fun!