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.