REGRESSION

Another production from our director extraordinaire Yoli. Enjoy! It is comical!

Regression from Yolanda Chen on Vimeo.

The Red - Sept 11-12, 2010 - UPDATE

D on the Burrito

Climbers - Marc, Kevin, Danielle, Calvin, Yoli, Christian, John, Jaime and Conor
Weather - soggy, then nice


Some Pics.


While Soph puts together her entry for the Labor Day trip, I'll put in a quick entry for another interlude taken this past weekend.

Major props to Danielle on her first trip to the Red for sending Breakfast Burrito .10d (uprated in the new guidebook since the flexijug broke) second try and flashing Whipstocking .11a! D took a day of getting her bearings on Corbin sandstone to start looking like a rock goddess. You could see the "click" on Burrito. A few hesitant clips, assessing the climb, then "click" and she started rocketing up the stone. Way to go!


Day 1 - Saturday
John/Jaime/Conor and Yoli & Christian got down for some Friday climbing, and apparently enjoyed the stone at the Gallery. I'll let them fill in the spots since that was before the rest of us got there.

Saturday was a drizzly overcast and misty day. We decided on Roadside to get some drier climbing in, and also to give Marc a chance to Ro Shampo, his project there. Marc had a great first attempt, falling at the last bolt on the crimps! Unfortunately, humidity really set in after and his first attempt proved his best for the day. It'll come soon. Kevin, Yoli, Danielle and Jaime all worked Ro and made good progress.

It was crowded on the .10 wall, so we traded draws on all of the routes, from AWOL over to Pulling Pockets. I put the draws up on Stay the Hand, .12a and got shut down on the opening moves. Hard! I think the extreme humidity didn't help, but Stay requires a pocket and fingery boulder problem to start and it kicked my arse. The rest of the climb went okay, but that's a reminder that I have to return to the hangboard to restrengthen my fingers. Several sessions last season really went a long way, but I've held off this year due to finger injuries.

Yoli had an epic time with Marc and Kevin on Return of Chris Synder, .11d. by timing her climb with a torrential downpour, complete with lightning and thunder. I wasn't there to see it, but I hear she had a great time. :P

Christian and I spent a little time on Tic-Tac-Toe, .12b, but it was slippery and humid. I've fallen at the crux multiple times now, and need to up my game.

Day 2 - Sunday

We were thankful to wakeup to a beautifully clear and sunny Sunday. We partially packed and headed to Drive-By!

Marc in the crux of Check your Grip

I've already given props to D for her sends above. I think she was a little frustrated to not climb well at Roadside, but it takes a little time to get used to a new area and the humidity really made it hard. I think she had a great showing and set the bar high for a first trip.

Kevin took a breather as his finger acted up, and John/Jaime/Conor headed back early to St. Louis as Conor had picked up a cold. I enjoyed 2 new climbs, Fire and Brimstone, .10d and Big Sinkin' Breakdown, .11c. Both were pretty pumpy, but felt good. Marc climbed the Burrito and warmed up on a .10b while Yoli & Christian warmed up on the .10b and Slick and the 9mm, .10b. Slick is an underrated climb; I highly recommend it.

That left Check Your Grip, something I'd always tried on the last day, last attempts of a trip, and hadn't sent. CYG now has perma draws, probably because of the level of traffic it sees, and that was really nice. Marc had a proud first attempt, getting to bolt five (traversing from crimps into the side-pull slopers) before taking a massive whipper. I apparently wanted to imitate Marc as I took the same whipper immediately after. Christian has video that I hope we can link to soon. Marc and I rested and tried again, and I was able to get it second go. CYG is definitely more of an endurance climb, not so much a cruxy one, so that played to my current (non)strength and allowed me to send.

It was only a two day trip for the four of us, but we had a great time. Thanks to Yoli & Christian for inspiring us for another trip to the Red!! I love that place.

End of the month will see us at the 24HHH. Stay tuned!

RRG - Labor Day 2010

Before I have more time to write up on a glorious WE with so many good friends, here are some random photos of Team Saucisson in action! I am 180% sure we'll be back before soon (;) inside joke...)

Here's to a Great Fall Season (trip to the Falls Aug 28, 2010)

Climbers: Calvin, Angie & Tony
Weather: Warm, but not too bad

It's been a long summer. Yesterday, I reflected on what has seemed like a summer of record temps, extreme humidity and general unpleasantness in the Midwest. Team Saucisson has been quiet as a result, with some trips to other locales, but mostly gym climbing and injury healing the rule of the season.

With the temperatures the way they were, I leapt at the chance when I got a call from Tony asking about a trip to the Falls on Saturday:

T: "Hey buddy. You see the temps for Sat?"
Me: "Yeah. High of 90, looks pretty good."

Funny how 90 degrees previously would have made me scoff at any mention of going outdoors to climb, especially at Jackson. Well, a summer of no outdoor climbing, no trips out west, and suddenly, I think 90 degrees equal sending temps. Welcome to desperation.

We got up early and were on the road before 5:30. Angie had never been to the Promised Land, and was excited to go see a new area, so we headed there. We didn't do much climbing; just old main-stays like XOXO .10b for the warm-up; Angie worked on Fashionably Late .11a, Tony re-visited Balance of Power which he sent a while ago, .12b/c(d?) and I worked Hubba Hubba, .12a/b(c?). Sending didn't happen, but we ran laps, relearning beta, coping with the heat and just loved the outdoors. Props to Angie for attacking FL on lead and getting more comfortable. Props to Tony for completing his one-year intensive graduate program in nursing and for looking like he hasn't missed a step. Tony 1-hung BoP his second and third go. By contrast, I thrashed up HH two times and dogged BoP so badly my rope-mates were looking for moral victories when trying to avoid embarrassment about compliment my climbing.

Around 4:30pm, we ran low on water and headed out with roughed up fingertips, throbbing digits and smiles on our faces.

The Fall is coming. We've got a Labor Day trip to the Red, the HCR 24HHH comp, a November trip to Hueco and other exciting trips this fall. Here's to a Great Fall Season!

Team Saucisson on the Woody

Here is how Team Saucisson can spend a few hours "speed climbing". The only time you might see Yusuf climb really fast!!!!
The video is, of course, courtesy of Yoli our photographer extraordinaire.

Speedy Woody Sesh 2010 from Yolanda Chen on Vimeo.

Linville Gorge

Climbers: Tim, Carine, Eric H

Location: Linville Gorge, NC

Climbing: Moderate yet epic

As June neared its close, I felt the need to get out of St. Louis for some exposure to the outdoors, so I did what any normal person does these days – I posted a message on Facebook. Eric responded mentioning freedom over the 4^th of July weekend, and Carine was in for our third. We debated a little on locations, but in the end the desire to do moderate multi-pitch climbing won out, and we were set on the quartzite wonderland of Linville Gorge. Eric would lead, Carine would second, and I would clean.

After our 12-hour overnight drive to our secluded camp off the side of the road to Table Rock and a brief nap, we set out for Table Rock with our goal being to climb My Route. The first two pitches of “My Route” were shared by Cave Route. The first pitch, a 5.4 slab, was a meandering pitch with 3 bolts (1 of which spun quite freely) and plenty of places for Eric to place gear. The lower grade was a nice introduction the the quartzite of Linville Gorge, though it seemed like no more than two pitches of the weekend shared the same features.

The second pitch was a slightly longer slab that went at 5.5 that had some great slab climbing to a crack, and finally to a giant ledge where Eric belayed from trees. At this point we went off route a little as we neglected to bring any paper with beta on the route. Instead of going right to the 2 (or 3) pitches that would consist of My Route, we went left to what we thought was the obvious line. The first pitch was as we expected, though a little shorter than we remembered. 5.5/5.6 slab climbing lead us to a ledge under an arcing roof. The next pitch didn’t look like a 5.7, but Eric sussed it out, looking for a way around the roof. After a little work, Eric found his way to a suitable belay above, and Carine and I took our turns on what would be the last pitch of the day. The last challenging moves of the route ended up climbing through a manky dihedral with your last protection below you, the rope trailing away left, and climbing up left again through more dirty handholds (where Eric placed a clutch lien) to finally reach safe harbor. The 5.7 became a 5.9+. We scrambled through yards of lovely underbrush, made our way to the top of the mountain, and walked the trail back to our packs.

Our goal for day 2 was to climb the Mummy, a 350 foot 3 pitch 5.5. After more bushwhacking (including some harrowing scrambling through precariously-perched shrubbery) we found our way to the Mummy. While the rock and climbing style on Table Rock was mostly uniform, the Mummy showed a glimpse of many different features. Gone was the slightly slippery quartzite of the east side of the ridge, replaced by a rockier, rougher stone. The first pitch started at a low angle, but moved more vertical into a fun, slightly overhanging crack system with good holds. As we moved up the route, holds became a bit more fractured, but not chossy. Pitch 2 eased up things a bit, with slabby climbing around more interesting cracks. Pitch 3 offered more of the same, but moved out right to the arête for the most exposed, and fun, climbing of the day. After cooling down at the car with beers and water, we packed up our campsite, ran into town for some grub, and headed to a campsite at the base of the trail to Shortoff Mountain.

A hour or so hike in the blazing sun took us to the gully we would descent to our final route of the weekend, Paradise Left (5.8), a slightly easier variation on Paradise Alley (5.8+). This climb had some amazing features, and each pitch was completely different from the previous. The first pitch of Paradise Left was just over a hundred feet long, with the first part of the route going up a 20 foot ramp into a fairly long dihedral with lots of features on either side that served as really good holds. After moving out left a little and whaling up on a ledge, you follow good holds to the first large belay ledge. The second pitch was most notable for its start, moving vertically through a system of detached blocks before wading through a couple shrubberies en route to another good face climb and a huge belay ledge. The third pitch was the highlight of the trip for me. The first 30 or 40 feet of this 5.6 (or was it 5.7?) pitch is a slightly overhanging wall with giant incut jugs. There’s a nice seam that runs alongside the jugs, making for easy gear placement. As I climbed the overhang, I looked down a couple times in order to take in the incredible exposure below. Once you pull the overhang, the remainder of the climb is a scramble to the final pitch.

In order to reach pitch four, you step up on a block, and reach over to an overhung wall of 5.8 climbing. What you don’t realize until you step up on the block, however, is that up until this point you have been climbing on a detached block. Stepping onto pitch 4 puts you back on the mountain proper, but also leaves you with a 350 foot drop below. Talk about a head game! Once you’ve worked the head issues out, you still have to step across, jug up on crimps, and move through some blocky, nasty-looking holds. Thankfully, the holds were all better than they looked and after we all did a few false starts, we got through the crux, scrambled to the top, and the climbing for the weekend was finished.

Long routes at moderate grades with beautiful exposure…I could get used to this stuff…

Miles to go before I sleep...

My summer of climbing has come to an abrupt end. Unfortunately, on our first day out on the rock, my partner took a bad trad fall. We were climbing a right facing 3 pitch 5.7 dihedral. On pitch two, he attempted the 5.9- offwidth variation, and fell out of the top of the crack, with just a 0.5 and 0.4 BD camalot below him. A 35' crash into the corner left him with large bruises, abrasions and a sprained ankle. After a few days rest and perspective, we decided to cancel the climbing trip, since we wouldn't be able to climb much, if at all.

I spent some time reflecting and thinking - the goal for the summer was to challenge myself, to find new boundaries. A big wall seemed like the perfect opportunity. I thought about heading to the valley to meet up with other climbers, and pursue a few lines, but the accident really helped me realize that we need climbing partners not when things are good, but when they are bad. I have no doubt that there are some talented climbers in the valley, waiting to find a good partner. My head, and heart, just weren't into this situation.

I've decided instead to hike the Colorado Trail, 483 miles from Denver to Durango. I will be traveling light (my pack, without food and water, is just 15.5 pounds), so I hope to move fast and far. This is a much different opportunity to spend time in the mountains, but I think the wilderness connection will be stronger, the challenges a bit more diverse.

We'll catch up again in three weeks time! Until then - Cheers!