We Have Arrived

Nate and I have finally arrived in Boulder, CO after 20+ straight hours in the car. The highlight of the drive was the arch in St. Louis. I took some shots...

After driving through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri in the dark, Kansas and eastern Colorado in the morning, we rolled up to our new apartment at about 2 pm. By the way Kansas is the flattest, most boring land I have ever seen. Here's Nate trying to stay awake.

I don't exactly know how I would describe our home for the next two months, the first word out of Nate's mouth was "ghetto." But the inside is actually pretty nice. Check out our toilet...

...the handle is a little high. And we are upstairs.

The living room.

After moving our things in, we decided to head up to Boulder Canyon and do a little climbing. We got in three warm up climbs before the rain started. It hasn't stopped yet and the forecast isn't looking good for tomorrow. Exciting times...

-Brion

Summer and New Problems?

There are probably hundreds of small creeks and streams feeding the Tennessee River just outside Chattanooga. Many of them are filled with gorgeous, smooth sandstone boulders. Here are a few pictures of John climbing on Whole Grain, a brand new problem I established. The problem traverses left along a small rail and finishes with several moves on slopers with high feet. As for the grade, Whole Grain is probably somewhere in the v7 to 8 range. Pics:

-Brion

A Couple Pics

Got out climbing again today and snapped a couple good shots of Jenkins climbing on a rope. Wish someone would take some of me...

Finally - Climbing!

The past 6 weeks or so have been rough - I have only been outside a couple of times and motivation has been low. As my finger heals though, I've been able to get outside more and I'm psyched to train for a month before making the move to Boulder. On Monday Ronnie, Lee Means, Tommy Morrison and Annilee (spelling?) made it out to T-wall for a few hours and managed to squeeze in a couple of pitches before it got dark. Climbing on a thread of a rope (8.3mm), Tommy and I warmed up on a route called The Message (5.13a), which I managed to flash as Tommy shouted up beta. We also climbed Burn (5.13a) and I nearly onsighted Keel Hauled (5.13a). As we were hiking out Tommy slipped in some mud and pierced his cheek with the limb of a tree. It was nice and bloody, and a little scary. 

On Tuesday John Gass and I got out to climb a few routes before he had to be at work. Mostly it was just fun warm-ups but we finished the day on a 5.12d called Darma. The route was amazing and the setting...... perfection! 

Sorry I've got no pics but you can't belay and take photos at the same time. 

3 weeks and counting until I leave and I'm hoping that climbing a bunch of moderate routes will help heal my finger. On that note, motivation and confidence are returning and climbing is as amazing as ever.

-Brion

I ♥ Ronnie Jenkins

XOXOXOXOXOXO.