Feeling the Fall

The Hoop

Where to begin, where to begin.  SO much has happened since the last post about Bishop!  Aside from the nasty wet spring we had, we got a lot of climbing in, but the majority of our summer has been taken up with our new home.  We bought a house just south of Liberty Park here in SLC and we're loving it aside from all those hundreds of chores and projects that come along with owning a home.  When we're not climbing, eating, and working, we're repairing gutters, fixing fences, patching paint jobs and deciding which rope rug looks best where.  It's been awesome but within the last week, the temperatures have dropped below the 90 degree mark and have swung into the low 80's.... we're feeling the first days of what we're sure will be an amazing fall.  Aside from a few trips to Hoop Lake we've been suffering through the heat in American Fork.  Lindsay is dangerously close to ticking off her first .13d called Body Count while I've been biding my time for some potential new routes by finishing off some of the classic, easier 13's like Burning.  With the temps now cooperating, sending in the near future is imminent and we're excited to spend the fall checking out some new walls and climbing on amazing variety of rock the Wahsatch Front has to offer.

Bishop Video

So I finally managed to "edit" all the video we shot from our recent trip to Bishop.  It definitely isn't the most amazing footage but we all had a lot of fun climbing and playing with the camera.  You can watch it HERE.

East Side

Just a few photos of the trip thus far, more to come in the next installment of the Bishop recap.

Gearing Up

Well as you can see I haven't updated the old bloggity blog in a while, what can I say, we've got better things to do than sit in front of the computer screen (I say this while SITTING in front of the laptop just as you're SITTING in front of yours reading this), okay scratch that, I've just been lazy and haven't felt like I've had much to say.  Since the last post Lindsay and I have been on a serious training regiment involving too much time at the gym and not enough time with our feet up with drinks in our hands.  We leave for Bishop California in approximately 35.75 hours... not that we're counting down the hours...  ah, make that 35.73.  Tonight I came home to find a plain, square, brown box on the front porch, certainly not the most exciting of events but I knew there were fun climbing goodies inside!

Optimus Primes & Talon G2's

The crew at Evolv hooked me up with some new kicks for our little jaunt out to the land of granite, hot springs, and dirtbags!  The Optimus Primes and Talon G2's are some of the best shoes I've ever worn hands down.  The OP's are brilliant on overhanging edging and provide a stiffer platform in a "steep" shoe, a unique characteristic of most downturned shoes.  The Talon's are my "okay, it's go time and I don't even want to think about my feet on this burn, I just need them to work!" shoe.  Right out of the box they fit like a glove and with the snug lacing system I know I'll always dial in that perfect fit each time I slip them on.

SO, with a new arsenal of high performance shoes, a sweet new 12-G pad from my boys at Revolution, and knowing that I get to hang out with my amazing wife for two weeks at a super rad bouldering area with some of our best friends... yeah, you could say I'm excited.  We're going to try and have the camera rolling each and every minute anyone is climbing because if I've learned anything since trying to better my skills as an amateur photographer it's this: when you put the camera down, THAT'S when someone sends.  We'll try and blog during the trip, more than likely though it'll be a big recap at the end... I said I was lazy.  Until then, check out Evolv and Revolution in your free time and take a look at two companies who are paving the way for the future of climbing gear.  See you in Bishop!

How We Spend Our Winter Days

Well it's almost the end of January and neither Lindsay or I have climbed outside once in 2011.  A few years ago I would have absolutely lost my mind at the mere thought of this scenario; however, at this point in our lives there are responsibilities and activities that fill the gaps between the good weather and feral psych.  Both of us have been working a lot, like... a lot a lot.  I can't stress enough how much we've been working.  Lindsay has been short staffed and consequently has had to pick up a lot of slack until they can resolve some staffing issues.  All of us at Revolution and Pusher have been busily trying to finish a massive order we're shipping to Japan, hundreds and hundreds of climbing holds and hundreds of crash pads.

We've taken some nice long weekends to visit our families in Cody WY and Colgate WI.  Luckily we've also had the Front Climbing Club and a nice new little woodie like wall called the Crimp Shrine.  The goal is to accrue maximum power for our upcoming March trip to Bishop California.  A tedious process (building a sturdy power base) but one that in the past has proven worthwhile.  We're mostly psyched to spend the majority of our Bishop trip with a solid crew comprised of friends from Wyoming, California, and the open road!  Lindsay hooked us up with a super sweet Canon T2i which thus far has taken amazing photos and is promised to shoot killer HD video (as long as I don't screw up holding the camera).  Hopefully we'll have some good footage to share.  Until then, here's the footage from 2011..