Cheyenne Mountain and More of The Slapper...Unfortunately

Hello everyone!  It is a beautiful day in Colorado and my morning was spent bouldering on a new stone I found up on Cheyenne Mountain.  Apparently it is called the Graduation boulder.  Well as mentioned I went and climbed on it this morning.  It is sick.  Tons of good problems from V1 to v5 and top out between 14 and 18 feet.  Beautiful.  The first video is another work session on The Slapper from yesterday, which I  still have not finished.  The second is from this morning.  The first one is kind of boring unless you enjoy watching me fall the exact same way over and over again (since June).  The second is pretty solid.  I apologize for the lyrics.  My bad.

Also I am officially done with classes until next summer.  I am full time teaching again. The first two chapter of my masters research paper has been graded and ok-ed, and it is the weekend!

For anyone new you have to go to my actual website to see the videos.

Work On The Slapper

This video is not very technically exciting.  It is really just me working on my project.  It has been 5 months in the making...hopefully tomorrow I will send.  

I realized today that rock climbing is kind of like dating.  There are a lot of similarities.  Here are a few of the ones that I thought of today.  Some are funny, some are just realistic.

I was on my way to try to send the project today and realized it was kind of like the feeling before a first date.  You can't really know what to expect, you're nervous about what is expected and how well you will do.  You think about the last time and how it went. You really want to succeed however you can't help but wonder if you'll be on your game or not.

When something goes well, it is the best feeling in the entire world.  You feel like nothing can bring you down from your high.  The next day you try the same thing and it is a disaster.  You wonder what the shit was different between the two days?  You climbed well yesterday on the route, and today went horribly...Nothing has changed except the end result.  The next day is back to normal.  No explanations.

It can consume your thoughts to the point where many things that should be on the forefront of your thinking are not (work, school, paying bills, sleeping).

Some days you try everything you have in your arsenal, and have no positive results.  

It can effect your mood if things aren't going well, or are.  

No matter what happens it always seems to keep you coming back for more.  Apparently the positive things outweigh the negative things.

Hope things are good in everyone's life.

I am going back to try to send it tomorrow...fingers crossed.  

The New House

As promised here are some pictures of the current living place.

Front of the house.

Side of the house, yard, and Pikes Peak.

Closer view of the peak.

Stairs to get in.

From the top of the stairs looking into the living and dining rooms.

Looking at the top of the entrance stairway.

Living room from the fireplace.

The living room from the dining room.

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Kitchen

Kitchen and dining room...and Sharma.

Bathroom

Closet

Looking from bedroom to dining and living rooms.

Bedroom.

Balcony

Fireplace area.

So much To Catch Up On...

First off, if anyone that receives emails when I write would prefer to not just let me know. I will not be offended in the least. Just let me know to remove you from the list.

So without going into much detail, I am living in Colorado Springs now. I am in the middle of my mathematics instruction class, which is where I am right now, oops. There is starting to be snow in the mountains, which means boarding season is near, and I am two weeks away from being done with classes until next summer.

My new house is a townhouse in a complex filled with people far older than myself. This is fine and I haven't had any complaints yet. I am almost expecting it due to the percentage of my time spent with loud music on. I will post pictures as soon as I take some. It is a one bedroom place on the second floor with the first floor being my garage and storage. This is nice since I have so much gear.

I have been out climbing quite a bit but nothing really of note. I fell off my project at the garden last week on the last move. That is as close as I have gotten so hopefully it will go this fall. I have been working on it for four months. I went climbing in a place called Newlin Creek. It is a really cool spot and not crowded. The guy that has been establishing the area doesn't really tell many people about it because he doesn't want it to get crowded. It is kind of a have to know someone area. We sport climbed while we were there. We did four routes which were all really good. One was a two pitch 11b or c that we did in one pitch which was really sweet.

I think this fall/winter my buddy Kevin Branford and I are gonna build a climbing wall in my garage. We were gonna try to get it done by tomorrow, prior to him leaving for a month for work but it just didn't work out. He'll be back right before thanksgiving so hopefully then well get to work.

My friend Rosco will be visiting for thanksgiving which should be a good time. Since I don't know how to make a turkey and I don't want to eat a turkey he made I think we are gonna be headed to the Branford's for dinner that night. It will be fun to see him and I am quite sure his trip here will be an utter disaster.

Two weekends ago I went up to boulder for Sharma Unveiled. This was an event for Chris to fill people in on what he had been up to and get people together for pizza and beers and stuff. Nick and I went up for the day which was very fun. We got to meet Chris that morning at the Prana store just wandering around. He was wicked nice and really humble. I talked with him for a few minutes about what he had been doing in the states, when he was heading back to Spain, and about his projects for the fall.

The middle of the day nick and I went to Neptune Mountaineering, a sick gear shop with tons of old school mountaineering, climbing and skiing stuff. This stuff dated way back early 1900s. Really cool stuff. Afterward we went to the Boulder Cafe for happy hour food drinks until we headed to Movement Climbing Gym for the actual event. Once at the gym it was kind of hang out time for the first hour. We met Kevin (Branford) there and just relaxed until Chris climbed a route they had set for him. It was 14a and he onsighted it. An onsight means he climbed in first try, without touching any of the holds or looking at it prior. Also 14a is hard, really hard. Really, really hard.

Alsop a couple weeks ago my mom and dad came here to visit which was really nice. We were able to spend some time together and I was able to take my mom up Mt. Russel which was really good. Here are some pics of that as well as some other randoms.

So that pretty much sums up the last few weeks.

Hope things are good in everyone's lives and enjoy the fall.

Last weekend living in Denver was spent studying on the roof.

Huge dork apparently.

My fridge...yikes.

Mom went climbing and was awesome.

The damn slapper...still unfinished.

Mom and I at sushi.

Mom, Sharma and I on the Mt. Russell summit.

Alpine meadow.

Sharma is spoiled. When he is tired he won't jump into the car.

Chris and I at the Prana store.

Chris at Movement.