Looking at Jerry Garcia through a Prism

Nic wins the No Skin Left award of the month. Nice job!

Aaaaahhhhhhhh...graduation. Well, it's finally over. Four short years of my life spent at the Evergeen State College and for what? Two degrees and a hell of a lot of stories to tell. Oh yeah, and I managed to pick up this pesky climbing habbit, sheesh. But let me back up here a bit. My friend Nic and I decided to get a little pre graduation climbing trip in to Little si but as we arrived to the crag we discovered the late spring showers we had been experiencing had left our precious crag seeping uncontrolably. This was probably the worst I had seen it all year, even Rainy Day was seeping and wet in places at the top. But fuck it, we drove all the way out here, hiked all the way back here and we weren't leaving without getting a few pitches of climbing done. I bravely tried to make a warm up ascent of Abo but got to the toilet bowl and was denied access to the upper crux by a downpour of H20. After that we both did some laps on Rainy Day taking some awesome falls at the very top due to a super wet crimp. All in all we worked out the remaining kinks in our sequence and headed home. Because of our frustration with the wet weather we decided to do a farewell two day trip to our favorite bouldering spot Leavenworth.

Nic on Fridge Left(V.8)

I picked up Nic on Monday and we made good time arriving at the Fridge boulder around 10:30 in the morning. We warmed up on some of the best V.4's around and then Nic, who was seeking revenge on the Fridge Left, gave it a few goes. The heat started to get to us and after being unsuccessful on a few attempts we called it quits and headed to a sweet problem called the Millenium Traverse. I had tried this before sending it from the black depression on my second go but I had not linked it from the start yet. The millenium boulder is an awesome white/grey/black granite boulder that has some nice little lines up and across it. We threw our pads down and got to work. Polishing off the first move every time with a crafty heel hook Nic almost sent but got shut down at the last move. The problem is pretty sustained right off the bat. A huge slap to a sloping/crimpy lip jump starts you into a series of matches along a depression and into a good crimp rail. From there you grab a sharp, but huge side pull, paste your foot onto a small rampy foot hold and rock over to a jug four feet away. Classic! I know. I made great progress as well getting to the side pull via several hard campus moves but got shut down literally inches away from grabbing the victory jug. Aaarrgh! We had two days we told ourselves so we packed up and headed across the street to the Lonely Fish.

The Lonely Fish(V.9)

Such a sweet boulder, huge and overhanging makes it a little intimidating at first until you try the initial moves and then it still feels hard. We focused on the boulders name sake problem The Lonely Fish, wich starts on a crimpy rail nine feet or so on the boulders overhanging side. Pulling on and sticking your foot in a shallow hueco you lunge out right to a good side pull, then you have to swing your feet over to good footholds, bring your left hand closer to a sloper on the lip and then rock over to more slopers in a dihedral, this is the crux. We both managed to stare down the slopers in the dihedral but neither of us committed and we both left feeling a little bit in awe of the problem. I can't wait to get back on it.

Meditation

So far, we were goose egg for sends but we had tried some hard problems and made good progress in a short amount of time so there was nothing to be upset about. Plus we still had the rest fo the day and tomorrow. Seeking out some shade we headed straight to the Sword boulders. Next on the menu was a classic problem that I had not yet had the chance to really sink my teeth into, The Prism. I knew it would suit Nic and his amazing wing span as well so I was eager to get him on it. We arrived and went straight into working the problem. At first I was trying the 'normal' beta wich was a bit reachy and scary for me, seeing as how there is a fin shaped rock right at your back as you make some tenuous moves on slopers. After that I went into my own sequence trying a one handed dyno to the good part of the lip. I latched it several times but my momentum ripped me off sending me sprialing towards the mats. After taking a bad fall I decided to give up that crazy dyno beta and stick to the normal way. Nic was making great progress as well and almost hit the victory jug several times. It was only a matter of time and animal grunts before he found himself pulling over the top of his second ever V.9. Good job Nic, that was impressive.

Nic shows off his impressie wing span on the Prism(V.9)

Nic tops out the Prism in style!

I was inspired by Nic's send and tried the problem a few more times but wussed out, so we moved on. Next was Egg Rock. We could either throw ourselves at an area classic Musashi, or try a cool looking problem that was, until recently, a project. We picked the former project, Jerry Garcia, wich was finally dispatched by the Leavenworth master Kelly Sheridan 7 or 8 months ago. In the guidebook, which Kelly also wrote, he says about Jerry Garcia: "Technical and hard, but probably 'only' around V.10." I was psyched and I started to plan a sequence up the tall granite face that had 'I heart Jerry Garcia' painted across it in yellow, red, blue, and green letters. The two starting holds were glowing white with chalk but after that not much else could be seen on any other hold, especially near the top of this monster wich stands at about 18 feet at the lip. I had seen the youtube video of Kelly sending the beast and I thought it looked like such a stellar line at the time. Coming face to face with it now I had no incling of really trying to send it, I just wanted to play around and see how far I could get. The starting holds are two tiny little crimpers that you have to pull hard on in order to get to a good foot hold, then a catch yourself move to a slopey bad gaston. Bring the foot up high and use a small intermediate crimper to pull and lunge your way to a slanted crimp rail, which feels like a jug in comparison to the starting holds. Position your feet and catch yourself again, avoiding a barn door, on a high slopey crimp, then jump to the flat lip and press over. Fucking sweet!! As I worked it I felt like it would go quickly if I could just get to the slanting crimp rail, wich I finally did. After that it was just a few more goes before I leaped to the lip and mantled over. I was speechless at the top but really psyched to have this in the bag. Here are a few photos.

The send! Me on Jerry Garcia(V.10)

Me attempting to repeat Jerry Garcia.

I haven't gotten in touch with Kelly about the grade yet but hopefully the V.10 grade is valid because this would be my first one. Either way it was such a pleasure to climb this problem, it was super classic. We headed on back down the canyon stopping at the Straightaways to play around on IS, WAS, and Answer Man, plus we stared in awe at the unclimbed(?) Ladder Project. We finally gave up around 9:00 p.m. before heading into town for a meal. We were both exhausted but excited for the next day.

The view from the Sleeping Lady

We woke up early and got out to the boulders around 10:00. I had come down with some sort of crazy chest cold, plus my allergies were kicking my ass, not to mention Nic's tips looked like swiss cheese, no joke! We were both kind of falling apart but we said fuck it and headed over to Mad Meadows. Today would be a good day to clean up on some moderates. We warmed up no a bunch of V.2's,3's,4's, and 5's before heading back to Pimpsqueek.

Nic warms up on Square Pusher(V.3)

There was a V.7 that I had really wanted to do ever since I first came to Leavenworth and got close on it, so I thought today would be the day. Well, maybe not, I got soooo close yet again latching the victory side pull for crying out loud but just not able to find the inner strength to pull over and top out. Oh well, next time. We had fun cruising the moderates and checking out The Peephole, The Ram, Hanta Man, and Superman.

We were trying to avoid the sun while this guy was trying to avoid the shade

We left mad meadows and went and took some photos on the two problems we sent yesterday, I came close to repeating Jerry while Nic actually did repeat the Prism, even with his hands in the state they were in. It was probably the coolest repeat I've ever seen. After that we decided to hone what energy we had left into one last hard problem, The Millenium Traverse.

The Millenium Traverse(V.8)

So close yet so far...

We had the beta, and we felt ready to give it everything. Nic, with bandaged mummy hands and all almost sent it first try slapping the finishing jug. I got the same result next as I campused my way to the end only to fall off inches from victory. FUCK! We felt defeated but gave it a few more tries. I walked around back to take a break and ended up sending a cool V.4 called 2001. Here is a video.

This turned out to be the last problem of the trip, and we licked our wounds over a double cheeseburger from the Heidleburger. This is probably going to be the last time Nic and I come out here, Nic is leaving for two years to attend nursing school at Howard University in Washington D.C. this August. I had an awesome time as usual and maybe when Nic returns from the east coast we will be ready to take on the uber hard problems. Our next climbing endeavor will either be focused towards cleaning up some things at Little si, or getting out to Goldbar or Squamish.

The update from our friends Dom and Laura on their Euro climbing adventure goes like this: Dom finished up in Kalymnos with a flash of a .12c, an onsight of a .12d, and he finally sent his project Neska Polita wich is his first .13a! Laura cleaned house with several .11a flashes, prior to this trip she had only sent one .11a, way to step up Laura! The climbing couple now find themselves in Antalya, Turkey where, just the other day Dom onsighted yet another hard .12, Paradise Lost .12c! They are stepping up their games in every way as they continue their rampage across Europe. Can't wait to see what they get done next.