belle jour

Had a great time climbing with Dan and Elodie. Did a few easy sport routes, led 10a Brain Teaser, and worked Narcisus and Pockets of Resistance (both 12a). Did really well on PoR and should have flashed it, but it was damp and I'll do it next time. Narcissus is harder than I thought, but I'll get it sometime this year.

Bad landing...

Had a fun few days at Cooper's working Shadow Boxer (V6). Sent my trad project Upchoucha 12a R. It was pretty exciting but a little scary as the crux protection is pretty sparse - a purple TCU - but we definitely padded out the ankle breaker fall. The route was a big step for me, the hardest trad route I've done previously was a 5.10d so I'm really happy about it. Dan and I have asked around to see if it was a FA, but I don't really care, I'm just psyched to start pushing myself on gear.

New personal bests

I had a nice couple of days bouldering and now I'm going to rest in preparation for our 3 day trip to the New River Gorge. Here's the hit list:
5/6
Ship's Traverse - V5
Short Roof - V5 -->crux jug broke after railing on it, must have been from all the rain and erosion this year, did the FA with the hold gone. This is a gem now without the super sharp pocket, though I will miss that bloody hold.

5/7
Raiders of the Last Tomb - V5+ Got to onsite this guy with a soaking wet crux!
Raider of the Mossed Doom variation - V6, a fun problem restricted to the holds on the right arete next to Last Tomb. My hardest yet.
Pentagon - V7, did all the moves, but too pumped to put it together. I bled all over the crux sloper! This is going to be really hard for me, but I think I could pull it off before I move south.

All and all, a really nice couple of days. I've managed to do well in my second year of medical school while training to get stronger and get out of the plateau I was in for a while without getting to climb much.

fin

Today I did the last problem I wanted to do at Pioneer Rocks before I moved away. It is a pretty steep cave problem (V5/V5+?) with some solid moves on a small, but positive sidepull. It puts a lot of stress on the right arm, but fortunately I had the beta down already and pulled it off 3rd attempt. I was certainly pressed for time since I had about a 20 minute window until it started raining and I'm glad it came together. Pioneer is a nice spot when one doesn't have time to make it to Cooper's, but I'm glad to wrap things up there. I think the Rhino and Fitness are two of my favorite problems anywhere and I'll definitely come back someday when I'm in the area.



Pic: me on said problem.