ABS Midwest Regional Championships

About a week before Regional Championships I spent about 6 hours at Adventure Rock training and working on things that I needed to continue working on. I spent about 2 hours bouldering working on problems that started around V4 up to a V7. I warmed up on a couple V3s then started working more on V5s or higher. I was able to complete a few V6s which I am very happy with. I felt pretty good about bouldering so I decided to take a break from bouldering for the day and go lead climbing. Top rope climbing  I did pretty good but my hands were tired and didn't have a lot of strength left. By the time I wanted to project a route that I have already been projecting my hands were really tired and that made the route harder. Lead climbing I was doing laps on a 5.9- which helped a lot for Regionals because I built up my endurance and was ready for some of the long power routes that might be there. There is one route in the over hang that was giving me some difficultly because there are a few spots that are long power moves. I took about 10 falls on the route and then moved on because I was not progressing any further. I then started working on routes that really made me work on feet placement. Saturday, December 8, was the big event that I had been waiting for. I got up around 6 am to start to wake up and eat and have time to get the the gym before isolation started. This is my first time doing the Bouldering Season and wasn't sure what to expect. During isolation I had about 2.5 hours in there so I started stretching and warming up with an hour left before I had to leave. For my routes I felt pretty good because I onsighted my first route then got about half way doing the next two routes. My second route was pretty cool because you have to go up and over. then convert in to a bat man move than touch the finishing holds with two hands while being in the batman. My third route was kinda hard for me because it was a lot of power moves that were really long and on an over hang. I did pretty good with this route making it to the seventh hold. I was really happy with how I did for it being my first big bouldering comp. I was hoping to make finals, but at the same time it wouldn't upset me if I didn't. I did the best I could and that's all that matter to me. When results came out I saw that I took 10th place and I was excited because I was making finals. I had about two hours to sit around and relax and get ready for finals. I got all my stuff together and headed back to the gym to check in for finals. In isolation I was second in the running order so I had to warm up and be ready to climb in an hour. I was all ready and then my name was called. I packed up my stuff and headed out to my first chair. I had a 4 minute rest period where I had more time to get ready. My first route looked pretty good during my preview. When I did the route I realized I was tired from the routes I did during qualifiers. My second route looked really easy because the holds were jugs and big. My route was also in the over hang part of the cave which made the holds not so great. I made it about half up the route which made me really happy because each time I tried it I would made it to the same spot. My third route was all slopers and I'm not to great with slopers and made it to about the fourth move. I was happy with how I did for the day because bouldering is not my strong suit. Over all I took 10th place and I was fine with that because it was first bouldering competition. I start training for sport season once I get back in to town. I have been doing a little bit of training before regionals but I can really kick sport climbing training in to high gear. I set a goal for my self in November to be at the grades for Open Nationals lead. Right now I am climbing 5.10s lead and 5.11s top rope. I'm pretty happy with that considering I have done a lot of bouldering training. My SCS season start in March but a competition that helps me know where I am before my season is Quick on the Draw. As of right now I will be competing in Advanced but if I keep training and increasing grades like I am I might move to Open.  All the photos and videos of ABS Regionals are loaded to Facebook, Flickr and YouTube

Tournament Climbing

This past week has been a lot of fun. Wednesday we found out that we are starting a climbing tournament at the Y. We have a total of 10 routes that are currently apart of the tournament. We can get points for either top roping the route, top rope while lead clipping and sport climbing. I have completed two routes with full points in all three categories. I have finished 8 of 10 top rope/ lead and just top rope. The two routes I have not finished yet are routes that I about 2 weeks ago to challenge me and help me get better at certain things. I am the only one to complete the black route that is graded to be a low 5.13 both top rope and top rope/lead. I am liking that we started the tournament because it is really helping me keep pushing on routes that I have a hard time completing and doing. There are new routes that get set about every 3 or 4 days so that there is always something new to work on. I do more lead climbing and practice falls so I can continue working in to leading climbing. Saturday, November 10, we were at Adventure Rock and they have a few new routes in the lead climbing wall that are 5.10s, 5.9s. The 5.9 I am working on doing about 3 or 4 laps on it. There is also a 5.11+ that I have been working on for the past couple weeks. I have done the route all the way up to the last 4 moves with just one fall. After that spot I have trouble because you have to transfer your weight to the left when your right. Then match and go up with a hand crossing move that is fairly easy to the finish. I can do that set on about my third of forth attempt. I'm pretty happy with how that route is going because each week I try it I do it in less amount of attempts. Sunday I work on one route to see if I could finish it by the end  of the night or at least get the finishing move because it is long and awkward. By the end of the day I was in the lead by only 100 but I had only finished a total of 3 routes at the time and the other kid had finished all by the one I was working on just top rope and top rope/lead. So all he can do is sport climb the routes. Monday I am in and flashed the Black route (the one I was working on Sunday) so got my points for that route for both top rope and top rope/lead. Now I am leading the tournament by 10,000 points with a lot more to come by the end of the week. I am now doing a new training program for lead climbing. I training on short and long route, crimpy and sloper routes. I am also doing a lot of technique training to help with my forearm strength and endurance. I started by taking a few days off because my body start to reject the training. I just finished my first quarter in school and I completed my three classes all with A's. The score I received on my chemistry final was 112% so that put my final grade to 108% for quarter 1. All photos and videos from the past week has been uploaded to Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. Thanks to all the support from my sponsors FiveTen, KASK Helmets, Powerbar and So ILL Holds.

Madison ABS Competition and Team Training

The past week have been pretty exciting between a climbing comp and team training. Training on Wednesday, we did a few rounds of boulder problems then went to sport climbing. The boulder Problems we were working on were short routes with power moves in them. For sport climbing I was working on route that I have  yet to finish since the competition. I only have to finish one qualifier route and the final. In between each route that I attempted I would do a set of lead falls just to practice them and keep up with it. Thursday I was training but it was a light training. Friday I helped work with the Rockwall and it wasn't very busy so I started helping a buddy figure out the moves to a route and showing them different way to do them.  Saturday was the day of the ABS Competition held at Boulders Climbing Gym in Madison. When I was looking at the routes that we were on our score card. I was thinking that I was going to be able to to the 400 or 500 point routes. During the comp I ended up working on a lot of 300 point routes. I had a really good day of climbing Saturday because I was able to climb really hard route but my forearms never really pumped out. I was very happy with how I climbed for the day. I took 8th place out of 13 competitors for the day. I was really happy with that because the route were harder than they looked. Sunday the team headed up to adventure rock for another day of training. I was very surprised because my forearms were not sore. They were tight but that did not effect my climbing ability for the day. I was working on a bouldering problem that I have not finish yet but am getting closer and closer each time I try it. I tried a new boulder problem Sunday that got my the first time I tried it but then after taking a closer look at it I realized that I was missing a foot chip off to my right. After looking at it a little longer, I tried it again and stuck every move on the route and finished with a nice smooth finish. I was surprised that my forearms were even a little pumped out from the day before. Sunday two friends to their lead belay test at Adventure Rock so know I have both Lead and Top Rope belayers for when I go up there. For the day I was bouldering about V3 to low V5s and lead/top rope climbing I was around 5.10-5.12. There is a 5.11+ that is a ton of fun because there is a move were you have both hands pinching a sloper and then you are moving up to crimp. I really like the move and the route. The next few moves right after the two slopers are long because you run out of foot holds. All in all the day was really good. All the videos and pictures from both Saturday and Sunday are up on Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. Check them out there are a ton of really neat photos of the routes I was doing. Now I'm just training to get ready for Regionals and beyond!

First Bouldering Competition

This past Saturday I competed in my first ABS Competition held at Vertical Endeavors in Warrenville. I have been working on bouldering for about a month. When I started bouldering more I was climbing a V3, I am now climbing V5's on a regular basis and working on most V6's. For bouldering I felt pretty good because I have a hard time with power moves and that's what a lot of bouldering is. During the competition I warmed up on the Intermediate problems and then tried the Advanced problems. The intermediate route ranged from V3 to V5 and Advance was V5 to V7. I completed one advance route and five intermediate routes. I felt really good with how I was climbing the routes there. Some of them were pretty stretchy were made it hard to complete the route. Even though it seemed like the day was going by slow it was earlier to figure out where I was standing by the way my body was feeling. There was one route is the corner of the gym wall that I really liked. The finishing move was a technical move because I had to turn my hip over while lunge to the finish. After I finished climbing we did a raffle prize to give time for the judges to add up and put score cards in the correct order. We waited about an hour to get results but in the end it was worth the wait. I took 5th place out of 15 people in my division. I am very happy with that because I am not big on bouldering. I am looking forward to the rest of the ABS Season because I feel I will do very well. This new training program that I am doing is a lot of fun and can be very hard on some days. Some days I will be doing long routes that are V6 or harder. Other days I may have to do short routes with a pyramid of pull ups. School I have three classes a day so I get out at 12:30 pm. I have a lot of time between school and the start of training to finish my homework so I do not have to worry to much about finishing things after training. My sponsorship with So ILL Climbing has helped a lot with my bouldering. So ILL gave me a pro deal on gear that i got myself a nice crashpad. I am also waiting on a helmet that is coming in from KASK Helmets. KASK Helmets is giving a product sponsorship. All pictures and videos for the competition and gear are/will be posted to Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. Check them out a lot of really cool photos from the competition.

Start of the New Season

The past two weeks I have been having a ton of fun competing in fun competitions. My first competition i helped set the routes for the intermediate division at Climb This, this competition took place at the Kenosha Y. For the competition I was in advanced division. The route were a lot of fun and I really liked the moves that were in them. The day of the competition I was feeling good but my forearms didn't agree with me or the rock wall. All of routes we about 5.11-5.13 and all were lead but one. I completed three of my five route that I had to climb and got half way on my final route. Result wise I took second place with a difference of one hold that had points given to it. I was pretty happy with how I did for having a rough day. The day after the competition I came back in and warmed up and went straight in to the routes that I was given for the competition. I flashed all the routes but the final. The final route I got four moves from the top hold. Where I got stuck you can do the move two way, either you can dyno for the next hold or you can grab to edge of the lip on the wall and do a very slow more up to the next hold. The day after the competition I was working on a certain move an a route and I went for the next hold but my hand slipping off and I fell about 12-15 feet. Due to the type of move and where i was located on the doing the move. That helped a lot with my next competition and will do a ton in the long run of things. I spend the next couple days trying to work the last couple move of the final. Thursday I got the last four moves so I went back to the beginning and tried the whole route. I got the the one tricky move and stuck it but got really pumped out right after that.

Friday, the 21st, we headed up to Adventure Rock for the Battles of the Ages competition. I got on some really neat routes there. There was one route that was about a 5.11+ that I had to do a knee bar in order to move my hands up with out falling off the wall. The route was a lot of fun. I really want to do that one again lead, though. For the night I was feeling really good about my climbing. I took second place in the 14-19 year old category. I have gotten a lot more comfortable with take lead falls which has spiked my climbing grades up again. Within the past two weeks I have gotten some new sponsors and have been sending out information for gear to companies that have sponsored me. Recently my coach had surgery on his wrist so he is unable to climb for about 4 months. I have a new climbing partners and he is helping me out a lot as I help him. Along with a new climbing partner, I have a new training program that is a 16 week program for both bouldering and sport climbing. Right now I am doing the bouldering program to help prepare for USA Climbing ABS Season. I have been in the Kenosha News Paper for 3 weeks straight now because of my climbing achievements and how its helping me with everyday challenges. My newest sponsor is KASK Helmets; other sponsors are ClimbTech, So ILL Climbing Holds, Powerbar, and FiveTen Climbing Shoes. Thank you to all the companies who have sponsored me this year and helping me further extend my climbing career. All of the photos are loaded to my Facebook and Flickr and all videos will be loaded to YouTube with in the week.

Interviews and New Sponsors

This past week went pretty great. I had an interview with Kenosha News about my trip to Utah and Nevada. Our interview was Thursday at 3 and it lasted about an hour and a half. Then today we had a photo/video shoot with Kenosha News. The photo shoot lasted about an hour. The photographer got 5 videos of us climbing and explain what we did while we out in Utah. He also got about 50 photos along with the 7 we sent to the writer for the paper. I have three sponsors and two companies giving me pro deal discounts. The three I have are PowerBar, Five Ten Climbing, and ClimbTech. The two I am getting pro deals from are Rock Candy holds and So ILL Climbing. I am almost with Petzl Climbing, I just need to show the number of outdoor routes I have done or attempted. I am pretty excited how I am doing right now with climbing. I am very excited that sponsors are starting to accept me for the their teams. Keep an eye out another posting here in the next week about my week of training.

Red Rock Canyon and St. George Climbing week

Red Rock and Zion National Park Climbing Trip

Before the week of climbing started, I found out that I had been chosen for the Five Ten Youth CORE Award as second place. I was pretty with happy with that and didn’t really know how to react to this. This helped get started a great start to the week of climbing that was going to be a tough road ahead.

Day 1-  Red Rock Canyon- Sandstone Quarry- Monday, we got a little confused with directions that were given to get us to the area of climbing that we originally wanted to go climb at so we headed over to Sandstone Quarry. The Front Corridor is really cool and I am very excited to get a chance to climb on it Tuesday. After we walked around looking and new areas to climbing, we went out to hike around and see the new sights. We went back to the Calico ll (pull off two) to see if there was anything there that we thought would be nice. I found an area that looked like a rainbow that also had an overhang in the middle of the face. The only problem was it was a mixed climbing area and we didn’t bring any cams with us.  The wall looked very cool and I really wish I had a chance to climb on it.  The day really turned in to mostly a hiking day and a sightseeing day. I got a lot of really neat pictures of the rock around us and where we would be climbing.  We set up new climbing routes that we planned to climb.

Day 2- Red Rock-Sandstone Quarry- Tuesday, we left the hotel around 530am in order to get to the rock by 6am. We had a pretty good idea on where we were going but didn’t know exactly where the routes were. Once we found the route that we planned on climbing. We had to determine which route was the warm up route. The warm up route and the harder route start the same until the second bolt. I got a little bit confused on which route I was climbing. I continued to climb up the route I was on and I was making a move towards the third bolt and my foot hold broke away. I ended up falling about 12 feet. While I was falling the corner that broke away hit the middle of my shin to my knee. It looks like road rash down my leg. I was a little upset that I was unable to finish the route but was very pleased that I took my sport climbing fall, along with just my second lead climbing fall since May. After the rope was set up for top rope, I was reading our handy little Red Rock book. I found out that the route I was climbing was a 5.11d. I tried the warm up after it was set up and made it no problems. During all of the climbs we had the GoPro Camera recording. We got a clear shot of my fall that I took. Which looked pretty beast!!!!

Day 3- St. George- Woodbury- Wednesday, we headed out to Woodbury Desert to climb the Black and Tan Wall. The route we took to get there was pretty entertaining because the road was hilly and very windy. Once we got there we hiked up the hill to find out that there was an Upper and lower portion of the wall. Again after figuring out that the routes are in a different order than the website said we found the route we wanted to do. The Route I started on was a 5.12a and made it just to the first bolt. The rock we were climbing was limestone so it was sharp. Since I took the fall yesterday my cut was still hurting a little and the limestone was not helping my case because it kept breaking out the scabs. The route we were climbing on at Black and Tan was a 5.9 that was 100 feet long. This route I made it to the fourth bolt and was unable to continue. I took a little break and let everyone else go try the route. I went after everyone else and completed the route. Over all the week has been going pretty well and I am happy with how I am doing.

Day 4- Thursday was a hiking day and trying to find some route that were in Kolob Canyon in the South Fork area. The day started out by driving to Zion National Park in the South Entrance. We drove through the scenic drive and I took a lot of really neat photos of the wall. The arch ways that we saw were very cool and wish that we were able to climb on them.  Going through the tunnel that was there we got a lot of neat photos going through the windows. Just outside the tunnel we saw three mountain goats on the side of the road eating. Farther up the road we saw a cave going in to the side of the rock. It looked like the tunnel went pretty far back. After Zion National Park we headed out to Bryce Canyon to hike and check out the soldiers there. Our first stop was the natural bridge that is there. It looks like the bridge extended farther than what it is now.  We went to Sunrise Point and hiked down about one mile. The sights of the rocks were really cool and being able to see the rocks that close up was awesome. After we finished hiking at Bryce Canyon, we headed to Kolob Canyon to find the routes we wanted to do. When we got there we just did the scenic drive to see all the rock then we went to find the routes. The trail to the routes was not a set trail so it was just something that few people walked frequently. The canyon narrowed the farther you went back but there was a creek that got in the way of the trail. We got to a point where we could not get across to the trail on the other side of the creek. We decided that it wasn’t going to be very easy to get where we did with climbing packs on because we had a hard time just by ourselves.

Day 5- Black and Tan- Friday we decided to go back to Black and Tan in St. George. We went to the same area of climbing but did a different route. I started off by leading the route to the top. I made it to the fifth bolt. After everyone else climbed the route I went back up the route to finish it. The day was very nice out on the rock. The valley was about 100 degrees and the little cave we were in was about 80 degrees with a nice breeze. The day of climbing was fun and hard at the same time. Everyone was pretty tired from the week of hard climbing. So we did two climbs then headed back to Las Vegas. Back in Las Vegas we went to the pool then got to the ready to go down the strip. We walked from the north end down to the south end of the strip. Our main stop was at M&M World. It was pretty cool to see all the different colors of M&Ms they had. The trip was a lot of fun and I would really like to do something like this again. The pictures of the both our hiking trips and when we were climbing are very cool and really show the shape of the rock. All the videos and pictures from this past week will be uploaded to Facebook, Youtube and Flickr.  

St. Louis Climbing Trip - June 14

Thursday we headed for St. Louis for a fun trip and to see family. Thursday when we got to the hotel we found out that our room would be on the 24th floor on the baseball field side over looking Busch Stadium. We had tickets for the Green Seats but was unable to get 4 seats together. We got 4 seats together right behind the Green Seats. We headed over to the ball park around 5:45 for a 7:10 game start time. The game match up was the Cardinals vs. the White Sox. The Sox ended up losing by 2. It was pretty fun though because my brother called me and said he thinks he saw me on tv. Friday we were looking for a place to get food before we went climbing. After we ate breakfast, we headed back to the hotel and packed up the rest of our clothing. At So Ill Climbing gym we got a locker, shoes, and headed off to the bouldering cave. I was able to climb a V3 for my warm up and then worked on V5s or higher (mostly V5s). When I headed to rope climbing I did one top rope route then went in the lead climbing. For my warm up on lead, I did a 5.10c that was 60 feet long and in an overhang and was pretty much like roof climbing. There was a move I did in order to clip my quickdraw that was really cool. I had my hands above my draw and my right foot even with my hands with my left foot flagging out behind my right high above my right foot. So it looked like I was climbing upside-down. Coolest move I have done so far this year. I felt pretty good and my next route was an 5.11c. I made another really cool move while climbing this route too. I was about 4 or 5 draws up and I was trying to clip the draw ahead of me. Flagging my right foot was not allowing for the stability that I was needing to make the draw. I had to do a heel hook and pull in pretty tight just to make the draw and not tip over to one side. I made it about 3/4s the way on the route and was really happy with it because I found a spot that was giving me tons of trouble. I did both of the 5.10c and 5.11c a few more times. Dinner we went to Olive Garden because that was what I wanted. Saturday, we head to the new Upper Limits in West County. My body was still pretty tired and beat up from the day before. We started off by warming up on a 5.9 then two 5.8s. Once I got warmed up I went on a 5.10 lead and got on another 5.10 that was fun but gave me a little trouble. I was a little off on lead climbing but still pushed till my body gave out. I stopped lead climbing and went to top rope climbing. I got on a 5.11 and it gave me challenge. There was a 5.10 that I got on that really didn't make to much sense. My brother gave it a shot and he got to the same spot I got to. After climbing we packed up and head to my grandma's house. It took about 45 min to get there. They were getting ready to go to church so we head to town for dinner where we meet my aunt and uncle there. South Side Bar-B-Que is really good and every time we go to her house we stop there for dinner. After dinner we went to the hotel and took a break from everything for a while before we went to the pool. Sunday was a travel day but before we hit the road we stop for breakfast with everyone. After breakfast we left and were on our way home. All of the photos and videos will be loaded sometime with in the next week to Flickr, YouTube and Facebook.

Memorial Day Climbing Weekend

These past two weeks have been super crazy with climbing and improvements all around. Saturday, the 26th, we went to the YMCA to climb there for about 3 hours. I warmed up by climbing a 5.9 lead and then worked my way up in to the higher grades. I pushed my self pretty hard but at the same time wanted to save myself alittle for Sunday. Sunday, we headed up to Governor Dodge State Park to climb at the Qual Wall. Sunday was about 92 degrees and humid. The only place that was alittle cooler was up against the rock under the overhang.We messed a little on determining which route was what but we figured it out. The Qual Wall was sandstone and I found it really hard to climb. I started off on a top rope route that was a 5.10 and it wasn't to bad. It was more under clingy than anything else. Nearing the top of the route there was a ledge that u had to walk up but it was just like a hill. The second route I did was a 5.10 sport route. The beginning of the route till the third draw was pretty easy then the moves between the 3rd and 5th bolts/ quick draws was pretty hard and it took a while to get to the 5th bolt. I came down after I clipped the the rope in because my arms were pumped. Kaz went after me on the same route and it took him 3 falls to get past the 5th quick draw then the top I guess was very easy. Kaz tried to set up another route that was a 5.12 but you were unable to get to it from the top section. This meant you have to sport climb the route in order to creat a toprope climb. The first 20 feet of the route were unprotected so he brought up a couple cams and nuts with him till he made his first bolt. He made it up to the 3rd bolt on the route which had 6 bolts on it. The day was really nice but it was hot and everyone there was tired and we decided to start packing up.  We got home about 9pm Sunday. Monday, we headed up to Jakes Rock in Halescorners. Jakes Rock is a bouldering rock that has some pretty hard problems on it along with some easier ones. I spent mojority of the time working on a problem that gave everyone a hard time. The problem was rated a V4-V5 about 20 minutes of working on the route I finally got it. Once I got it the route seemed to be a cakewalk after that. After That i found another problem that gave me a challenge so I worked on that was a while till about 2pm. My hands were torn up by that time so I decided that I was done climbing for the weekend. All of the photos from Governor Dodge State Park and Jakes Rock are posted to both my Flickr and Facebook account. Along with all videos from both climbing places.

Midwest Regionals 2012

The Saturday before regionals I wasn't feeling to great so we took the day off from climbing. I ended up helping my dad and brother work on the truck. I disconnected the battery, took off the serpentine belt, and removed the alternator. When we got the new alternator I had to put it back in. I had to fight with it a little because either I would be too high or too low. Putting the belt back on was a trick but got it after I figured out what I should have been doing. After that was done I went over to my buddies house and changed the brake pads and rotors. The hardest part was getting the tire off. Sunday we headed to adventure rock and got in a bunch of really hard lead route in before regionals. The route that I have been projecting I got on two more times. I did both times in 6 falls. I was really happy with that because the route always challenged me right at the beginning and then got easier. Monday we had climbing classes so I helped out with that. Wednesday we went to estreet for league and had a lot of fun because it was really nice and was quiet. Thursday I had school and after that we started to pack up for our trip to Road America for super mileage vehicle challenge. Friday we had open climb at the Y and Roan and Spencer came in to climb. They did really good. Saturday the 11th, was Midwest Regionals at Adventure Rock. I got there around 830 to check in then he's to wait till about 11 o'clock before I started climbing. All of the routes I had to do we're done lead climbing. My first route I had was about a 5.11. That route I got to the 3rd quick draw and about two holds passed the draw. It was a fun route just wasn't completely ready for a 5.11 as my first route. My second route was a 5.12+. This route was really sloppy and the start on the route kind of gave the rest of the route away on how it would be. I got to about the 5th hold and made my clip then the next hold was about 2 feet away. I was leaning back to the left with no feet below me. I ended up jumping at the next hold and missed. My arm was over the rope and when I fell I got rope burn on the back of my arm. After I was done I sat down and watched the rest of the climbers climb the routes and watched my brother climb his routes. I didn't make finals but i felt pretty good about the routes that I had to climb. The final for the Youth-A Female was about a 5.13. Both of the Junior and Youth-A Females didnt make it past the 5th draw. Finals was alot of fun because the routes looked really cool. My brother made it to divisionals in both sport and speed in Youth-C. On Sunday I went with my mom, my older brothers fiancee, her mom and sister to go find a dress for their wedding in August. After we did that we went to build-a-bear workshop and got a bear for my older brother and put it in a military uniform. When I got home I had to pack for my trip up to Road America. Monday we went up to Elkhart Lake, WI and ran about 3 runs for our car (6 laps). Our average milage for 6 runs (12laps) was 146.9 mpg. Our highest was 160.25mpg.  We took 4th place for the  two days. All photos and videos for Regionals will be posted within the next couple days to Facebook, Flickr, and Youtube. check them out there are alot of really neat pictures.

SCS Boulders Comp-2012

The week before this competition I went  to Adventure Rock on Saturday. Saturday was a short day of climbing but it was hard climbing and I'm happy with how I did there. While we were there I tried the Purple Route that I am projecting. The week before I did it in 6 falls or takes. Saturday I did it in four on my first try. The hardest part I have is right have the first quick draw. I think that's the hardest part because it is the steepest part of the over hang and you have your second quick draw right there. I am unable to move up to the next hold because then I would be to high to clip to the second draw. Once I got past the next few moves it seemed to be a lot easier and I just cruised right there the top section. The  route is a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back in two weeks and try it. Sunday I had weight training then set three new routes that are about 5.10s. They are a lot of fun and really like some of the moves that were put in to them. Monday we were teaching class which was the last class of the session. Tuesday I had Tae-kwon-do and we did focus drills to help us forget about the surroundings and focus only on our forms that we were supposed to be working on. Wednesday I set another route that was a 5.10+ thats a lot of fun also. Its more technical than anything, you cant really move to fast through the moves other wise you might miss the hold or grab it  wrong. Thursday, I had school which went by pretty slow until about 3pm. When it was 3pm I got to learn how to TIG weld. It felt really hard to do but I guess I was doing it right. Im excited to learn but I know it will be hard to get used to. Friday I helped work open climb till 8pm, it wasnt to busy but always had a person climbing from the very start. Saturday I had a competition in Madison, Wisconsin at Boulders Climbing Gym. I took 5th place at Boulders Climbing Gym. I felt pretty good about all the routes that I did. I was able to lead climb two 5.10s and finish them. the lead route that I did were fun. The first one I did was a 5.10 and the second one I did was about a high 5.9. The first one was alot of power movements towards the top and then was a bigger power move to the finish. The second lead route that I did was a high 5.9 only because the moves that were in it were longer and I really had to push to get some of the holds. There was one route that I really liked doing but it was giving me a hard time. There was a part that you had to go under an overhang and then work your way over it up to two really not so great holds. The first time I did it, I got stuck at the hold right above the overhang. The second time I got on the route I realized the hold was good enough to pull my legs up over my head and heel hook the hold that I needed to get to. I got my heel on the hold and matched my hand with my foot. I was able to do the move and move off of the move but the next hold was a pinch. I got home about 5pm then took a 5 hour nap  before I had to get up again and get ready to go to work to help with the Post Prom Party at the Kenosha Y. The rockwall was open from 12am 2:30am, we ran about 35 people through the rockwall in those two hours. Sunday I came in at 1030am to get ready for Roan and Spencers birthday party. They were alot of fun and really excited to have there party at the rockwall and to have me there helping them out. They invited us to the party room for food and cakes after the party which was really nice of them to do that. From 1pm to 3pm I sent a new route that my coach thinks in about a 5.13. I spent the next 1.5hours working on this route trying to finish it. Finally about 4:30 I was able to complete the route completely. I had to work through each section so I would know what moves I need to do to get through it. Once I was able to get all the moves then I was hoping that I had the muscle endurance would hold through until I finished the route. I took about a 10 minute break then jumped on the route and finished it in one shot with no slips or crossed hands/arms. I was pretty happy that I was able to complete the route. My next goal for the route is to be able to complete the route with a lead rope. All the pictures and vidoes are loaded to Facebook, Youtube and Flickr. Check them out because there are alot of really cool pictures taken this weekend because I did a lot of really cool moves and a couple routes.

Spring Break Training

.I headed to St. Louis for a 2 day training climbing camp. April 10th we went to the new Upper Limits in West County. We were one of the first people there so we had the whole gym to ourselves. We started off by doing three warm up routes that were about 5.9+. After that we did a couple harder routes about 5.11 the were a lot of fun and crimpy, my favorite type of holds. For lead climbing it went really well today! I'm super happy with how I did today. I on sighted multiple 5.10s and 5.11s. My favorite route that I did was a 5.10c. I wasn't to hard but it was a lot of fun and really tested my endurance. This was what started off a great day of lead climbing for me, by on sighting this route. The trickiest part of the whole route was being able to reach over the volumes. Doing a bunch of 5.10+ really boost my confidence and knowing that I was about to do multiple 5.10 in row. April 11th we headed to the brand new So Ill Climbing Gym. This place was amazing and really represented their plans. I didn't know what to say for a good hour about the place. We started off the day by taking out lead test. The lead test took place on an easy 5.9 and I took a fall about 8 draws up. I had a really good day climbing and was able to again multiple 5.10+. One of the coolest route I did was on the roof section of the lead wall and it was a 5.10c and it was really fun and straight forward. There was nothing tricky about the route. I did this route multiple times because this route also tested my muscular endurance. Once I felt I was completely warmed up I jumped in the 5.11s. It was a really good day for climbing and I felt really good about how I did. I did a lot of routes that were very crimpy and pumped my forearms. One of the crimpier routes was a pink 5.10d. I had a really good time at Climb So Ill and was really impressed with how everything turned out. Thursday, April 11, we didn't do a whole lot of anything. We stopped by my grandmas house and visited for a little while after that we headed back in town for pick up fishing bait, meal worms, and then headed to my uncles place. There we went to the pond and set up a couple of chairs and sat down to fish for the next 5 hours. The whole time we were out there is was about 55 degrees and only one little baby bass was caught. When we decided that we were done fishing we headed back to the hotel to go to the hot tub and to swim. The pool was about 95-100 degrees. Overall this week was very helpful on boosting my lead climbing confidence. It was a lot of fun and really wish it didn't go by as fast as it did. We got back Friday morning around noon and then I spent the next 4 hours relaxing from days before. I headed to work around 430 to work open climb at the rock wall at the Y. It wasn't to busy until 7 then I had every harness filled and people lined up out the door. It calmed down about 730 and that's about the same time Roan and Spencer came in to climb. They both did very well and i was happy to see them doing so well. Saturday comes and im heading back up to my home gym. I was really excited to go back so that I could tell one of the coaches of Adventure Rocks climbing team how cool of a place Climb So Ill was. I walked in the door at Adventure rock and it was packed full of boy scouts everywhere. They were mostly in the repelling area so it was it big of a deal, that and I dont think to many of them know how to lead climb. I warmed up on a 5.9 top rope then warmed up lead climbing on a 5.9 also. After the warm up I did went and tryed 5.12a lead. I got to the second quick draw but wasnt able to clip it. I came down and realized I was up for a real challenge and told myself I could do it and I was going to make it to the finish. I did another warm up route because I felt I should have done another one before I jumped into something that hard. After another two more warm up routes I went and tryed the 5.12 again. This time it went alot better; I did it in 6 falls. I was really happy with that and then did another few routes and then took a lunch break. After lunch I did another warm up route then jumped on that route again. I did it in 5 falls and then completed the last two draws and the finish draws with no falls. I was really happy with how my last try on that route went. I still did a bunch of really hard routes after that. Sunday I had to be at work by 930 to set up for a merit badge. There was only one kid so it was realy easy for him to learn and pick up on everything that we were teaching him. After that we had open climb and it was really busy we ran through over 40 kids in 2 hours. After open climb we had league where I worked on harder routes that we have set here. All of the photos and videos will be loaded to both Facebook and Flickr by thursday night. Check them out there are alot of really neat pictures that were taken. If you ever get a chance and your in St. Louis stop by Climb So Ill and Upper Limits in West County. They are alot of fun and the people that work in both places are friendly and will help any person at any ability level.

Homewood, IL SCS Competition

This past weekend I competed in my first SCS local event for the year. Saturday, April 7; the team headed to Homewood, IL to compete in the USA climbing event. Climbing started at 10am and we got there around 9am. When we got there we checked in and made sure all of our information was correct then went into the gym and started looking at the routes that were up. I figured out what routes I wanted to do for my warm up and then routes I would do to get all my points. I went back outside to the truck and check over my gear and make sure I was set one last time before the comp. I started stretching in the back of the truck because it was really nice out and really crowded in the gym. We started climbing at 10 and I headed straight to my warm up route which was really easy(*warm up*). After my warm up I found a route that would be somewhat hard to complete my warm up. There was a route that I wanted to do look pretty straight forward but it was stretchy for me and it was a little hard to reach a hold that you still have another 6 inches till and you are fully stretched to your toes. I jumped and missed but I saw I was one of three people that tried it and only on finished it. I moved up a division this year from youth-B to youth-A. I'm excited I moved up but realized that it would be a harder year of climbing and I would have to push much much harder. Overall my day of climbing was pretty good completed most of the routes that I tried. 3rd-7th place were all less then 500 points of each other. That means it's all about one route that made a difference that was 75 more points than the person below them. I took 7th place I was pretty happy with that and happy knowing I didn't get beat by too many points. Knowing that it was just one route that made the difference is a little upsetting because I would have found a route that was worth a lot of points and try to get the max points on it I'm still very happy with how I did this weekend. Tuesday I am leaving before the sun rises for St. Louis for a 4 day climbing camp to help me train and boost my climbing grades back up to the 5.12+ I was at before my accident. I'm really excited about this trip because we are going to both Upper Limits and the brand new So Ill Climbing Gym. I'm really excited because I have been wanting to go there and now I get to and it will really help me out so much with my climbing All climbing pictures and videos are loaded to both Facebook and Flickr. Check them out! There are a lot of neat photos of what happened this weekend.

Awesome Days of Climbing

These last two weeks went by pretty fast. Friday I helped out at the Y till 8pm. It was pretty cool because roan and spencer we're both doing really good. Spencer is making it to the top of easy like its nothing and Roan is making its a little past half way. Saturday comes and I'm super psyched but I get to go to Adventure Rock. We got there and jumped straight in the lead climbing. I warned up on two 5.8s then worked in to the harder routes. I tried a new route that was just set and fell one time on it then about 15 minutes later I went back and flashed it. After flashing it I realized what I did wrong the first going at it. All in all it was a really good day leading climbing because I flashed everything that I tried. After a lunch/dinner break we went into the bouldering part of my program. For bouldering I started out on a V3. Bouldering actually went really well because I tried a V6 and got 4 moves in on it. I kept trying the route and started to figure out you had to have your body a certain way otherwise the next move doesn't work to well. I gave it one more shot before my body was toast. I gave it shot and got half a move farther which I was really happy with. Sunday I went to my buddies bike race. Since there were only 4 people in the category 1+2s race, the officials combined them with the category 3 riders. Now in stead of 4 people there's 30. He took 3rd place in his category. Overall the weekend was really fun including all the sun we had here in Wisconsin. I got a tan which is good so I'm set for the summer now. Monday we had climbing classes which was pretty fun because everyone was in a good mood and making jokes. Monday night I found out that I was going to get to meet Alex David Johnson. I was super excited because I look up to him both as a climber and a person. Tuesday comes and I get to spend the next 3.5 hours with him. Around 3:30pm we all headed to the Y to climb. Alex is an amazing climber and really showed me a lot of new things that I could work on. I'm still super psyched about being able to meet him.  On the 24th we headed up to Adventure Rock where we spent the next 8 hours climbing. My rope climbing was good but wasn't really where I would have liked it to be. On the Advance Women Final route from Quick on the Draw I got 4 moves farther on it and was able to make my next quickdraw. I was really happy I was able to get farther on it. At the same time a little upset that I couldn't get any farther than where I got. I guess I have a new challenge spot on this route. After climbing I headed in to the bouldering caves where I wouldn't sit still even during my breaks. During my breaks I would go to the campus board and work on that. Bouldering I warmed up on a V3 then jumped straight into the V6's and higher. I found a new project bouldering problem I got about to the same spot that I did the week before. I was really happy with that because of how off of a day I was having. I tried this route a bunch of times until I figured I would be able to hold on to the holds any longer. After I get done with the bouldering problem, I went to the front desk to get the stuff needed for the Treadwall to work. Once I got everything set up I set up a program for me to do. I set the program on the 5.11 after doing a quick warm up on it at different speeds and degrees. After I completed both the warm up and the 5.11 program, I set up my next program with was a 5.13 with a minimum degree of 20. The program was 3 minutes long and I made it to 1.25 minutes.  Sunday was my day off so I get to go to my buddies bike race. I was pretty nice out but as it got later in the day the windier it got. For the series he took 3rd place in the Cat. 1 / 2s. Monday I had school  which was pretty fun we did a lot of study for finals in my geometery class. Tuesday I got to miss school because I had a doctors appointment in Marshfield for a hearing test. Wednesday we took team practice outside to Estreet bridge. The routes we tried were really cool but hard at the same time. The rock was also really cold so if you stayed on it too long ur hand would be really cold. My season starts in a week officially at the competition in Homewood, IL. I can't wait for this years season to start because I am feeling really good about how I am climbing lately.

Amazing Climbing Weekend

This weekend was an amazing weekend for rock climbing. Friday I helped work open climb where Roan and Spencer came in. Spencer made it to the top of easy and Roan is making it to the 3rd quick draw on easy. They have gotten really good lately and I am proud of them. Saturday was the day of my competition at No Holds Barred. The day started off with me checking in and wondering around the gym to look at my routes. Once I saw all my routes; I went back to figure out which on I was going to do as a warm up. I made my decision and went back to my bag and started to get ready. The gym had a competitors meeting which shortly after the clock would start for climbing. The clock started and i got my name in like about 5 people down. I watched the people before me climb this route and it seemed that there was two crux's in the route. One early in the route and the other right before the finish. My turn on the route and I got a little tripped up at the first crux but I figured it out and cruised through the rest of the route, including the second crux. I came down from the route and headed straight to the second route. This route wasn't to bad but gave me a challenge. I went to the harder routes to give them a try to earn more points. I only finished one more route after that but made it two or three holds from the top on all the rest of them. Once I had tried all of the top rope routes I head to the bouldering section. I was really happy with how my bouldering went because the routes I was given were about V6 or V7. The first route i tried was a really nice problem but i was unable to stick a hold when powering up to it. Now I was attempted every route and boulder problem and the 4 hours to climb is almost up. I turned in my score card and went to my locker where my climbing bag was and put back any extra stuff I wouldn't need in case I made it to finals. They came back with results and they called the 4th place person. I was really nervous because I kinda didn't think i was going to make it to finals, considering I only completed 3 total route." In third place, Kolbi Lackey!" I stood up and gave my brother a high five thinking "oh my god I made it to finals wow!" I headed back to isolation kinda surprised to see every one there giving each other pointers on how to do something if you think you are unable to do it. The females advanced went first; I was going second in the running ordering. I get my climbing shoes on, put my chalk bag on and check my harness over one last time before my climb. I hear my name called saying that the crowd was ready for me to come out. I came out and everyone was really impressed with my chalk bag that I was wearing. I got to my route talked over everything with my belayer as I was tying in to my rope. I started climbing and the crowd started to roar. From the start of the route I knew I was gonna be able to complete the route. Making my third quickdraw I took a break to shake my arms out and to kind of rest my body. I started at the other half of the route; I made my 4 quickdraw and moved up to the crimpy rock that was a little hard to hold on it. I moved my feet up and started to stand up for the next hold. I realized my hand was not set on the hold so I slowly moved back down to adjust my hand. Now, I started to move back up to the next rock and all of a sudden i realized I was falling due to my foot slipping off of my foot hold. I was a little upset with that but there wasn't a whole lot i could do about it. I was still happy all consider that this was my first real final set up. I sat down to watched the rest of the finals and I was really impressed with the other climbers. At the end, my placement was 4th due to not making it as far as the other girls did on the route. I texted my mom and my dad because they were unable to make this competition due to work interference.  We got home and I sat down to relax and not do a whole lot more. Sunday I didnt do my lifting program because i had to the competition yesterday. I helped work open climb at the Y then climbed at team practice. For team practice I work on a bunch of routes that I am unable to do lead climbing. Most of the routes I am unable to do at the Y are the route I set or my brother sets to give me a challenge. Monday I had school which went by really fast then helped teach climbing classes at the Y. After classes were over I went to the weight room with my brother to do a couple set of the bench press. I started off with a warm up bench of putting 15 pounds on each side. I pumped 10 reps through like noting was there. After I did that set I put 25 pounds on each side of the bar and did 7 reps before it started to give me a challenge. I would have to say that this weekend was a great weekend of climbing and hope that every weekend I have a competition would go like it did this weekend. All photos and videos are loaded to Facebook, Flickr, and you tube. Check them out and see all the cool things that went on this weekend.

New Program is Tough

I'm on this new training program is its really tough. I can tell that it helping me out a lot I cant want until I start a new program. Well the program I am on now is really cool because it does a lot of need exercises that I love. Friday the 17th, I helped worked open climb at the Kenosha Y. We weren't all that busy so I got a lot of work done. Around 7pm Roan and Spencer came in to climb. Spencer made it to the top his first climb of the day and he dad was really proud of him; he even got Spencer Bubble Gum. I was really proud of him because it took him only 5 weeks to make it to the top and he did it by him self. Saturday the 18th  was a lot of because I went with my mom to Naperville, IL. I went with her because she as setting up for a meeting at the Westen hotel in Lombard. Our room was on the 18th floor and you could see downtown Chicago from her room. It was really cool to see that. I helped her sent up the Xbox Kinect and made sure it worked. Saturday was a lot of fun all around!! On the 19th, we headed back to Kenosha to set up for a climbing party. After the party I worked on my Eschool so I could catch up. During league I did a bunch of lead climbing to get ready for the competition on the 3rd of march. I worked on lead laps to help boost my mental game. Monday went by really fast, as did Tuesday. But Wednesday was crawling on. Finally it was 6pm and I could climb! We did a really hard climbing work out which included weighted pull ups, weighted climb, one handed bouldering, and lead climbing laps. Thursday at club we were designing our new car that we are going to build for next year. We worked on that and bounced ideas off each other for about 4 hours. Friday was fun because school went by really fast and then climbing was really cool because it was not that busy so I could get some homework done. Around 7pm Spencer and Roan came in and Spencer again made it to the top of the wall on his first try. I am really happy with how is doing and he keeps getting better. Roan made it about 18 ft up the wall and that is the farthest he has made it. Saturday I couldn't wait till 230 because then we got to go to Adventure Rock! While at Adventure Rock we did our warm up and then jumped right into the harder routes. We did a lot of 5.10+ lead climbs. I was really happy with how I did Saturday. After 4 hours of rope climbing we headed into the bouldering cave. In the bouldering cave we did one warm up then started going the V5-V6 routes. A route that I am projecting I got 3 moves farther on. This project route is a V6 or V7 I am really happy with how I am doing because the highest grade I have finished is a V4. I worked on this route for about 3 hours! It was a lot of fun and I am really happy with how I am doing bouldering wise. My grade goes up little by little each week.  Sunday was the start of trying to get Trango Climbing as a sponsor. If you go to there Facebook page and post something about why I should be on their team. This is going on till Thursday, March 1, 2012. I'm competing at VE in Warrenville on March 3 in the advanced category. I cant wait for the season to start and for the regional event!

Training Days Kicking it Hard

Since I had my competition on the 28th of January I took almost a week of recovery due to my back locking up. After a good long day of stretching it slowing started to loosen back up. On the 3rd, I went to the Y and climbed for about 2 hours. Once I completed my climbs, I helped up a good friend learn a bunch of new anchoring system so that he is all ready to go by the time outdoor climbing season comes around in this lovely state of Wisconsin. The 4th was a good day for climbing and a great day for bouldering! Before we left to go to Adventure Rock I worked on my eschool class for about 3 hours. Around 12:30 I headed to the Y to help with a climbing party. Finally 2:00pm comes, we can go to Adventure Rock and we jumped right into the top rope when we got there then into the harder routes that I was unable to completed during the competition. I did a lot of top route and lead climbing. For the day, all the routes were over 5.10+ I was really happy with how I did because I completed the female advanced final route. That really made me happy that I was able to do that route. After a really long day of rope climbing, we headed to the bouldering caves. Aah, the bouldering caves, they gave us a big challenge. We attempted V4 and up due to the fact that the V3s just became to easy. We found this one V6 that is really a ton of fun; we have decided that was going to become our project route for sometime. On the 5th I had league where I took more time to work on my lead climbing. I also helped completed a new 5.9 that we set, its a lot of fun. On the 6th we had rock climbing classes which was fun. On the 8th, I had weight training and a really hard but well worth it. For training I did my warm up and went right in my weighted climbing. For that I did 4 laps with three sets. After weighted climbing, I did weighted pull ups. After everything else was done I did lead climbing laps. Thursday I had Supermilage Club which was really cool because I got to drive the car. On Saturday, we headed to Adventure Rock. While we were there I did 2 hours of roped climbing which we mostly did 5.11s lead and I got alittle more than half way up on them. After my 2 hours of climbing, I headed to the bouldering caves to do alittle more than 3 hours of bouldering. We did mostly V5 and V6 problems. I was getting more than half way up on those to. I was really happy with how everything went this weekend. Sunday I had weight training and climbing league. During climbing league I worked on a bunch of harder routes!! In the next month I will be in Warrenville climbing. One day for training and on March 3rd for their competition. This past week I got news that I was apart of the Powerbars Advisory Board. I am really pyched about being on this board because they make really good products plus this will be my first sponsor.

First Comp of the Season!!

What a way to start off the season! The 21st I spent five hours at Adventure Rock getting in one last really hard day before Quick on the Draw!! The day went really well. I was really happy with how I did because I completed multiple routes that I have been having a hard time with. Some of them I did lead too, so I'm really happy with how things are going a week before the comp! I was able to complete a 5.10+ lead climbing it. That route was one that I have been working on for about three weeks. The 22nd I was able to work on a bunch of little things that still needed to be improved before the competition Saturday. I helped teach classes on the 23rd which was fun because I got to help teach a kid how to belay. For team practice/ meeting, on the 25th, we did a ton of little thing that make a big difference at the competitions. During practice I was able to work on a bunch of hand technique and a bunch of practice lead falls. On the 26th I had finals at school which went really well then I got a massage which afterwards I felt amazing!! The day before that comp I was able to sit and do nothing all day because of school being out, so I got the whole day to relax. Around 4:30 I headed to the y to go swim for about an hour so that I could help my muscles be ready for the comp. After I was done in the pool I had to opportunity to help Roan and Spencer out for a little over an hour. They boys are so much fun and I really enjoy working with them because they help me become a calmer person both on the wall and off the wall. They also gave me a Valentine card which I will keep forever because it will help me remember what they have showed me over time.Saturday morning we left my house at 7 for head up to Adventure Rock, we got there at 7:45. Once the team got checked in we were listening to music and getting ready for climbing. Rules were complete at 830 and we started climbing at 9. I was competing is the advanced disivion. All of my routes were anywhere from a 5.9+ to a 5.11+ both top rope and lead climbing. I was giving 12 different routes mixed with top rope lead climbing and bouldering out of the 12 i completed 5, was about 10 from the top on 4, and was not to far along and the harder routes/problems. I am guessing that some of my routes were higher than 5.11+s. I am happy with how I did considering that 7-13 places were within 500 points of each other. For the day I took 12th place overall. Sunday after the comp, I headed to the Y to do a recovery day to help the body get all back and ready.

Back in the Grove!!

Last couple weeks went great!! On the 5^th I had Supermilage club after school. It was a lot of fun because we finished up the engine and was able to take it out and drive it. I will also be one of the people driving our car because it is so small. Afterwards I went to the Y and set a new route that I am working on. I set a couple routes before that, that I am unable to complete. I am really happy I can set something that gives me a challenge because then it will help me getting better at this sport. On the 6^th I worked on a bunch of homework and then helped out Roan and Spencer when they came. They are really a lot of fun because they really like climbing and each week they get better at it. On the 7^th I worked open climb and then headed up to Adventure rock where I had a really good top rope. I was able to complete a 5.11+ that I have been working on for two weeks now. I completed multiple routes that I have been working on for quite some time. Once I was done top roping for the day I went to the bouldering caves and did about 2 hours of bouldering. I was able to complete a bunch of routes that higher than I normally can climb. I am really happy that I am climbing a lot harder grades and lead climbing harder grades.  On the 8^th I got to learn a bunch of new climbing things. I got to learn how to trad climb and practiced for about an hour with just cams. After I got more comfortable with those, I moved to hexes and stoppers (or nuts). I got pretty comfortable with those too pretty fast because I have an awesome coach that helped me get them right. A couple times he was climbing next to me to show me how to do it right and help me see what was not correct and what was. After all that I spent about 10-15mins taking lead falls to still keep up with that and get back into that grove. On the 9^th we had climbing classes which was a lot of fun because there were learning how to tie their knots. After they did that, they got to learn bouldering and the commands for that. After classes I had a core workout which was hard but it was only my second week into doing my core workouts again. On the 11^th I had a test at school which I got an A on it. After school I went to the Y to do my lifting program which I had gone up in weight for almost everything. My bench press was bumped up 10 pounds to 80 pounds (total which is also 75% of my body weight). On the 12^th I had club which we are so close to being done with our car and then we will be starting a new car. All we have left to put on that car is the body panels and to paint it. I got to go climbing after we finished up club for the day. While I was climbing I was able to complete the routes that I have been working on for a week and half. On the 13^th I worked open climb and helped Roan and Spencer when they came in. They did so good; they both got higher on all of the walls they tried. Saturday I went to Adventure Rock where I was able to get on a bunch of new routes that were set for the High School Competition. I was able to complete seven out the nine I tried and three of them I was able to complete lead climbing them. On Sunday I was did another lifting program which went really well!! For climbing I worked on placing cams and nuts again. Monday I watched a movie on reptiles for a half day which was really cool. Then I went home and relaxed for about 3 hours before I had to go to work and teach climbing classes. Today I a lifting program which I went up 10 pounds again. So I have now benching 90 pounds and can bench 85% of my body weight. I went in to the training mode for rock climbing and did a whole bunch of practice lead falls to get back in to that. Those actually went really well and I was able to complete a bunch of routes lead climbing them. I am really happy with how today went. I also got a new climbing chalk bag that is a grey wolf chalk pot. It is pretty beast looking and I am really happy about it and like it a lot! All photos from the past couple weeks and today have been loaded to facebook and will shortly be uploaded to flickr. This summer should be a great summer because we have planning a trip to Utah to go to Mt. Zion for a week of climbing!! Its going to be blast and I just cannot wait until this trip commes around.

Winter Break

 Christmas break so far has been a lot of fun!! On the 23rd we headed up to adventure rock for about 5 hours. There I was climbing a lot of 5.10s or higher to work on moves and routes that I need to work on that I have been having trouble with. At work I got to help on a 5 year old that has autism for about two hours. He is a lot of fun and I really like to work with him. Working with Roan has really helped me both as a person and a climber. Christmas Eve I helped work the rock wall till 1pm after that I went home and helped my mom bake a bunch of cookies and played games. For Christmas I got a bunch of new jeans, t-shirts, hoodies, a climbing hoodie and three new games for the PS3. On the 26th my mom, older brother, little brother, and I all went to the Harley Davidson Museum. We were there for about 3 hours and then we headed to Fridays Front Row at Miller Park for lunch. We got home about 4pm and then sat down and relaxed after a long day of walking. On the 28th we went to Adventure Rock for about 6 hours. While we were there, I did 3 hours of top rope and lead climbing. While I was top rope climbing I flashed a 5.11- and completed about 85% of a 5.11+. After that I started working on a bunch of climbs that were 5.10+ or higher because I was having a good day. Lead climbing, I completed 90% of a route that I have been projecting for a month before my accident, which is a 5.10+. After a fun and tiring day on the ropes I went to the bouldering caves. In the bouldering caves I spent the next 3 hours working on my bouldering to make sure that it matches my rope climbing (they do). While I was bouldering I completed four routes that I have been working on for a week and half. I am really happy with how I have been climbing lately. All considering its only my third week back climbing after everything went down. My climbing is back to where it was if not higher than it was before my accident. On the 29th, I helped with the installment of a volume at my local rock wall. It looks really cool and looks like it has been there for years. I took a break, some time to relax and figure out what I wanted to do for climbing for the night. The 30th I helped work open climb and help some buddies with learning how to lead climb. New years eve we had open climb and then a new year eve party till 10. They did a simulated countdown to midnight for the kids. At the rock wall we had over 75 people come through in 2.5 hours. On the 1st we headed up to adventure rock where we spent 6 hours climbing. During that time I completed multiple 5.10+ and 5.11s. I just missed flashing a 5.11 lead when my foot slipped off a rock at the top of the route. I was really bummed out about the fall but I am still happy with how I did. I also attempted two other 5.11s that I got half way up on. On the 2nd I didn't do to much but it help my body recover from all of the climbing lately.  Around 430 I headed to the Y to help teach climbing classes then after classes I did a core work out. Today, the 4th, was my first day back at school after school I headed to the Y to do a new work out. I got an hour to sit back and relax before I got to do a harder work out. Nearing the end of my work out I did a bunch of practice lead falls. I am still working on the lead falls to get back in the swing of lead climbing for competitions. All of the photos for the past two weeks have been uploaded and the vidoes will be up by the thrusday night.