100 days in eldo

a little update

2011-09-01T08:33:00.000-06:00

I'm back in school, i know, i am a man child plugging away at a college education in exchange for enormous amounts of debt. Anyhow besides the standard climbing and falling and sending i went to Radium hot springs near Kremmling colorado, there was a huge cliff jump and some easy deep water soloing, I also played photog and shot some artsy photos....

This is me climbing "river wild" 5.12d ish in clear creek canyon, the route was graded 13a and then in the new guide i believe they call it 12 b/c i think it lies in the middle somewhere, great route its exposure is killer.

this is josh cleaning the pitch at the end, pretty steep.

sam from the wilderness exchange crushing on Kayak trundle or something to that effect, either way its fucking hard and now with his new sneaky ninja knee bar beta it is le easy .

The Outlaw and the ethics of route evolution .....

2011-08-15T20:30:00.000-06:00

Ethics, they even haunt climbers....

Recently.... i placed a bolt in Castlewood Canyon. OOOh, i know I'm such an outlaw.

Lets face some facts, hard climbing is nearly absent from castle wood canyon, there are one or two great bolted lines and a few Trad moderates, due to the lack of attention the area receives the standards that are present in other area are not present in CWC. I have found a few wild new age lines just waiting to be climbed.... one of which is Stratego

put up as a tope rope by Tom Hanson in 1990 it appears to never have received a true lead ascent.

Until a couple days ago, i dubbed the climb the "outlaw" being that it was never truly climbed i feel that a new name should be in order and i also cleared so much rock that it might in fact be a slightly different climb anyway.

In the next couple months i intend on focusing in CWC to put up hard, committing lines with and with out bolts.

The upper Crux... very reach

Thanks to Jose, Keith, and Danny for coming with me to all my random projects...

New routes in Castlewood Canyon

2011-08-13T09:32:00.000-06:00

I went out with Keith North and cleanen and climbed a new 5.12ish arete i have dubbed "the outlaw" to keep it in the nature of exciting rock climbs and due to the ban on bolting in castle wood i will be only putting one bolt on the route to protect the crux, so you will have to solo 25 feet of 5.10-5.11 rock to a protected 5.12 crux to a ground fall potential copout. so excited.

look for photos from the climb at HERE

I also soloed some easier routes .....

new route in CCC

2011-08-10T07:42:00.000-06:00

Heart of Darkness 5.12a free solo photos: Keith North

hells cave and days 2 - 3 at the trade show

2011-08-06T19:20:00.000-06:00

Ben Palonko- crushing in American Fork

Jason from NYC reping some fresh Granit Life clothes

me flailing in the Hells Cave AFC - " the burning" 5.13b

The condo the Hippy Tree boys rented us... filled to the brink

Josh Sweeney doing his selling thing, a 16k dollar order was in sue

Curtis and Jason getting hooked, on the TREE and drinking fire

DOg Fish Head 120 min 13% imperial IPA

The Cory Adams band... picking it good and proper

what can i say

Night 1 at Lumpys... if you in SLC... don't go here

The Jansport After party

trade show day 2

2011-08-03T20:24:00.000-06:00

So the show is T- 1 day ... the hippy tree crew of Josh and Mike is here. I went climbing at the Hell cave at AMerican fork this morning and then helped setup the hippy booth....

setting up, this is the hippy rapist van....

and the hippy coin operated vending session

what happens when Utah has strict alcohol laws... you bring two kegs of 11% beer from california... trade show, prepare to be rocked

climb x before and....

the CLIMBX booth ( after setup )

The show

Sweeney showing the dew rag

we went for a brewery tour at Uinta brewery in SLC ... it started like this

and this.....

and this...

and ended like this.

ooh yeah and check this out... booyaaaa ca she

setting up

2011-08-02T16:09:00.000-06:00

here is what the trade show looks like before its all dressed up hussy like....

on the road... to the OR trade show

2011-08-01T15:15:00.000-06:00

I left Denver yesterday for SLC with my homie Jose, he owns Granit life, a new clothing company on the climbing scene. We stopped for the night in provo last night and this morning we woke up to some clouds so before the rain came we shot up to the canyon and got in a few pitches and a new solo for me . attached are some photos from american fork. Im going to be posting up new stuff each day from the trade show.....

a video of my new boulder problem

2011-07-18T20:24:00.002-06:00

Some climbing video's

2011-07-15T20:06:00.002-06:00

today was day one of our photo shoot for Climb X and Jansport. We had a great session and until we get the photos up here is are some quick little video's that my friends and I have been climbing.

Free Solo

Into the light V8

Chalk on rock V8

Climb X poster set

2011-07-13T07:37:00.000-06:00

buildering in Denver with Matus

2011-07-11T10:18:00.002-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS7wz_cq6YM

Getting ready for the trade show....

2011-07-09T08:46:00.000-06:00

Things have been pretty fast paced around here for a bit, I went to South Dakota for a long weekend to crush at Spearfish Canyon which was amazing, came back guided a few days and now my buddy Matus is in town. I have been climbing 6 days on 1 day off for about a steady month or two and its taking its toll, i have sent some things but over all i'm feeling lot's of pain, guess m getting old. So perhaps some rest is in order. In the mean time here are a couple randoms....

Pictures from South Dakota

South Dakota

This is a new Addition to the Lincoln lake area, a v4 arete . This is Keith North getting a second ascent.

this is a picture of a truck on that truck... weird

caffeine and climbing

2011-07-06T07:12:00.000-06:00

this is a essay written for http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/caffeine.html

to be clear i did not write this but find it immensely interesting.

Caffeine and the athlete

Coffee was first discovered over 1000 years ago, and currently approximately 75% of Americans drink coffee on a regular basis. Despite the thousand years that have passed, there is still mystery and controversy surounding the biological effects of coffee and it's principal active ingredient, caffeine. Caffeine is the most widely used stimulant drug in the world, usually ingsted in the form of coffee, tea, soft-drinks, and chocolate. Table 1 shows the relative caffeine content of these food items. Caffeine is also used by triathletes and other athletes as a peformance aid. The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of caffeine as an ergogenic (energy generating) aid in endurance sports and to discuss the health issues related to caffeine use.

What happens when caffeine enters the body

Caffeine is well absorbed from by the stomach and intestine, and peak blood levels occur about 45 - 60 minutes after ingestion. Once in the blood stream, caffeine causes a number of responses in the body. Caffeine is well known for it's stimulant effects on the brain, but there are a number of other physiologic effects that occur. Blood pressure, pulse rate, and stomach acid production are increased, fat stores are broken down, and fatty acids are released into the blood stream. These effects can last from a few hours to as long as 12, but within 4 days of regular use, the body develops tolerance to many of the effects of caffeine. For example, although caffeine increases blood pressure and pulse in a first time user, a regular user will not experience any significant change.

Caffeine and Health

In making a decision whether or not to use caffeine -- or any other drug -- it is important to consider the potential adverse effects on health. These can be separated into short term (ie. related to a single dose) and long term. The short term affects of caffeine are much better understood than the long term effects.
Because caffeine increases the production of stomach acid it may worsen ulcer symptoms or cause acid reflux ("heartburn"). Insomnia, poor sleep, and anxiety are well described psychological side effects of caffeine. Regular evening use of caffeine may, over time, deprive the body of proper sleep, resulting in lack of energy and fatigue.
Many studies have suggested a relationship between chronic caffeine use and a number of diseases. Proving a cause-and-effect, however, has been difficult and most of these suggested links remain inconclusive. Some of the difficulties that arise in studying the long term health effects of caffeine are due to problems in accounting for other lifestyle variables (eg. smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise), differences in genetic inheritance, form of caffeine intake (coffee, tea, sodas), and the presence of other biologically active substances in the beverage. For example, one study looked at the whether caffeine intake increased the risk of heart disease. Over 45,000 people were evaluated and the data indicated a slightly increased risk of death from heart disease in individuals who had an average daily consumption of more than 5 cups of *decaffeinated* coffee. Currently, there is no evidence that caffeine causes cancer, stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, or serious heart arrhythmias.

Caffeine Withdrawal

Abrupt discontinuation of caffeine in a regular user may trigger caffeine withdrawal symptoms. The most common symptoms are headache and fatigue. The headache may begin as soon as 18 hours following the last dose of caffeine and may worsen with exercise. It is not known why some people experience caffeine withdrawal and others do not.

Caffeine and Athletic Performance

Despite considerable research in this area, the role of caffeine as a performance enhancing drug is still controversial. Some of the data are conflicting, which is in part due to how the experimental studies were designed and what methods were used. However, there is general agreement in a few areas:

Caffeine does not appear to benefit short term, high intensity exercise (eg. sprinting)
Caffeine can enhance performance in endurance sports.

Glycogen is the principal fuel for muscles and exhaustion occurs when it is depleted. A secondary fuel, which is much more abundant, is fat. As long as there is still glycogen available, working muscles can utilize fat. Caffeine mobilizes fat stores and encourages working muscles to use fat as a fuel. This delays the depletion of muscle glycogen and allows for a prolongation of exercise. The critical time period in glycogen sparing appears to occur during the first 15 minutes of exercise, where caffeine has been shown to decrease glycogen utilization by as much as 50%. Glycogen saved at the beginning is thus available during the later stages of exercise. Although the exact method by which caffeine does this is still unclear, caffeine caused sparing in all of the human studies where muscle glycogen levels were measured. The effect on performance, which was observed in most experimental studies, was that subjects were able to exercise longer until exhaustion occurred.
In addition to the beneficial effects on muscle, caffeine may alter the perception of how hard you are working. During testing, athletes are asked to judge their effort, which is referred to as the rating of perceived exertion (RPE). Some studies have yielded significantly lower RPE's -- less fatigue -- when the athlete used caffeine. Other studies have not found this effect. Obviously, the RPE is very subjective, and there are many things that may influence it.

What about caffeine in Ironman races?

The exercise studies on caffeine involved endurance testing of approximately 2 hours, so there is no specific information related to ultra-endurance races. Pre-race caffeine may be beneficial though, because the longer the race, the more important fat is as a fuel. During the race, caffeinated soft drinks are one of the choices at the aid stations in an Ironman. Whether this source of caffeine is useful is unknown, but these soft-drinks do supply necessary carbohydrate. Because longer races have a greater baseline risk of dehydration, nausea and abdominal cramps, it is very important to consider the side effects of caffeine (below).

Variable results and side effects

Despite the known benefits of caffeine in endurance exercise, individual results may vary greatly. Differences in metabolism, diet, and frequency of caffeine use are some of the factors that can determine how an individual will react to caffeine. Additionally, some athletes may actually experience a decrease in performance, usually due to side effects of caffeine.
Although caffeine does not appear to significantly alter water balance or body temperature during exercise, dehydration is a potential concern because caffeine is a mild diuretic. Some athletes may also experience abdominal cramps and diarrhea related to the large intestine contractions caused by caffeine. The combination of dehydration and cramping can have particularly detrimental effects on performance.

What about drug testing

The International Olympic Committee currently lists caffeine as a restricted drug. Urinary levels up to a concentration of12 mg/liter are acceptable, representing casual use. Levels above this are viewed as achieved through a deliberate attempt at doping by the athlete. Approximately 1000mg of caffeine (about 8 cups of coffee) would be required to exceed the current IOC limit, but it is very important to note that people can metabolize caffeine at very different rates. Differences in metabolism, medications, and certain diseases may significantly alter the rate in which caffeine is cleared from the body. Some athletes have come close to flunking the drug test after ingesting only 350mg. It is wise to consider this before using caffeine as an ergogenic aid.

Recommendations for athletes

If you choose to use caffeine, then here are a few tips that may help you maximize the benefits.

Ingest caffeine about 3 - 4 hours before the competition. Although blood levels of caffeine peak much sooner, the maximum caffeine effect on fat stores appears to occur several hours after peak blood levels.
Consider decreasing or abstaining from caffeine for 3 - 4 days prior to competition. This allows for tolerance to caffeine to decrease and helps ensure a maximum effect of caffeine. Be careful though, because some may experience caffeine withdrawal.
Make sure that you have used caffeine extensively under a variety of training conditions and are thoroughly familiar with how your body reacts to this drug. Never try anything new on race day.
Be prepared to accept the consequences if your urine test is above the current cutoff.

Conclusion

In writing this article I am not suggesting that athletes use caffeine nor am I supporting the use of performance enhancing drugs. I am simply reviewing the use of caffeine as an ergogenic aid as well as the known health consequences. Athletes must individually decide whether or not it is appropriate to use this drug -- both in competition and day-to-day. All of the information for this article came from the current medical literature. Those of you who take prescription medications or who are under a physician's care should check with your doctor about the relevance of caffeine to your health.

Climbing in Thailand

2011-06-29T08:08:00.001-06:00

I daydream. I wouldn't say I'm a dreamer, but my mind wonders. While ice climbing and freezing in Colorado this winter I decided that enough is enough. While suffering is fun in a puritanical sort of way, I needed to be warm for a change. Deepwater soloing—climbing rock cliffs directly over warm ocean water without ropes— sounded like it would make the frost in my goggles disappear.

The journey began: Denver to San Fransisco to Taiwan to Bangkok. From there I caught a small plane to Phuket, then took a boat to Ko Phi Phi. And then, finally, after my sixth layover, a final boat to Railay Beach— my destination.

I arrived tired and hot; very, very hot; 90 degree's with 90 percent humidity hot; trying to get stuff done in a hot yoga room hot. Did I mention it was hot?

I suck down some Thai whisky for a nightcap and pass out, thanking God for AC, my priceless American comfort. I’m up again at 4:30am, jet lagged and wired, and realize that the moderate coolness of early morning, is perfect for climbing. Tonsai beach, Diamond Cave, the Oyster blade, and the ever impressive 200 meter tall Thaiwand all await. I'm the kind of guy that is so psyched it irritates people, and patience is a virtue that I don't have. So after cutting my morning teeth on some chill beach side climbing I head to rent a boat. Haggling with the boatman I note the boat’s large car motor precariously mounted at one end and assume the long propeller protruding from its backside is the boat’s namesake, the Longtail.

Nervous.

Deep water soloing is, oddly enough, terrifying. It had sounded like a good ol’ time— cliff jumping mixed with climbing. But I’d failed to consider the ocean. A medium i am not very familiar with, not to mention falling into it ,intentionally, or even worse, by mistake, from sixty feet into dark, tumultuous water. My boatman stopped about fifty feet from a sheer cliff of a tiny, entirely rock island. If a comic super-villain needed a place to build his fortress I assume this would be it. The water is choppy as its now afternoon and the sun has abandoned me in this ever hot land. Normally the water looks inviting, sparkling turquoise and reminding me of a playground where children are comforted and safe. In the sun’s absence and rocking in my rickety boat over murky waters the world feels much less secure. And I’m already afraid of water. When I ask for a life jacket and for the boatman to take me closer, he just stares blankly at me. He doesn’t understand. I balk at the edge of the boat and he begins to make the sign language gesture for diving. If this is a game of charades it sucks. The waves are still big, and for a moment I wonder about just going back to the harsh mountains with the cold but familiar snow.

Somehow I put on my climbing shoes and jump in without a life vest. I tell myself I don’t have a life vest because I have a shred of my ego left. I swim to the base of the cliff, moving my long pale legs quickly at the thought of sea creatures swimming below. I am a child of the jaws generation, the sound track still plays in my head every time i get in the water. Just below the surface of the ocean the rock turns to razor sharp coral and the waves rise and fall five or six feet from peak to trough, crashing against the rock’s edge. I have to grab the rock above the water line just as the wave swells so as to get a good enough grip that I can hang on when the water rushes away leaving me with no option but to climb. That was the hard part.

Climbing is the easy part. I dry my hands and start moving up a few feet, then ten, before I know it forty. I can now see what appears to be the whole dark ocean below me. I head up to fifty, then sixty feet and I'm done. This is it. Sixty feet is the highest height I'm willing to fall, at least for today.

I jump.

When I hit the water I actually feel relieved, the ocean's menace is gone and I suddenly want to climb some more. My apprehension is gone. This is what I came five thousand miles to do.

new routes in the south platte

2011-05-09T20:10:00.000-06:00

My friend and accomplice Josh ganged up for a quick mission into Cowboy Creek the home of our 2 year effort to establish some of the south platte's finer climbing. We got shot down on our main objective a tall free standing tower accessed by a 200 3-4-5 camalot splitter, so who just put up two perfect cracks near by... what a shame.. check out the photos...

this was pre climbing routine which ended up going way way to far... that bottle of whisky josh is clutching was emptied, to the last drop.

the tools of the trade, you know the route is going to be a bitch if you need at least 5 number 4 camalots

this is looking up at the second pitch of our intended tower route, it look short in the photo but that is a single 175 foot splitter. BOOM.

our newest addition, a perfect 5.10a finger crack, the seam closes at the top leading to a adventurous runout to the top. so sweet. As for a name... how about "the green beam" 5.10a

the route below is a perfect but short fist crack to offwidth to pain and suffering death crack... we were pansy's and just TR'ed this one till next time.

Front Range Highballs... the definitive list *edit

2011-04-27T09:07:00.004-06:00

I need help with this list.....

updated: may 14 2011

Rules:

- must be over 17 feet tall ( the height of the spot bouldering wall)
- a highball is named such due to its height from the ground not necessarily danger factor, i.e if the boulder is only 10 feet tall but over a pit of jagged rocks it might be more dangerous than a 20 foot problem but it is still not a highball
-must top out ( this applies to any boulder problem in my opinion )
-within 1 hour of Denver
-harder than V1, otherwise it's scrambling ( The mellon Patch in Hueco might be a lone exception)
- not be a route... let me explain. If i included solos in this list i would need to include the bastille crack and other obviously not boulder problem
-****** must be a classic, choss not included, i don't have that kind of free time .

this is just a starting list, please give me 4 star suggestions to add.

Castle Wood Canyon:
Scary Monsters boulder- incredible, there are options here people....

splatt- v4 v7 or v8 with a fun topout, engageing but safeish.

Boulder Canyon:

are there any?

Clear Creek Canyon:
Mavericks v5 - an excellent boulder with a flat landing and a exciting top out.

This photo is not of mavericks but the north shore a v9 that shares the same finish, not as classic as mavericks but more of a challenge, also these problems are probably the safest highballs on the list. Climbing is Sky Weekes.

Flag Staff:

Loman’s Highball V5 -
Capstan- Sarabande V2 X -

http://www.vimeo.com/14390510
here is the beta on the capstan
Double Clutch v8-9-10- fucking sweet but very scary.

"Double Clutch"

I know there are a ton of highballs in flag, i want to put together a list of the best.... Help

Morrison:
The lobby problems: v4 and v7/8 not sure on either of the names.

Eldorado:
Eastern Priest v5- Superb but season dependent, hard start with easy climbing up high.
Germ Free v5-8- Maybe the most famous and classic of the bunch,
The egg boulder ( multi var.) v1-8: http://vimeo.com/11078101

Flatirons:
The Cube v5- not the tallest but thin and crimpy with near perfect rock.

"The Cube" V5

Evans:
The Nothing v8- crux down low , so relatively safe considering how tall it is. The hike is a sole crusher.
Peasants into leaders v8- Not amazing but good, thin crux up high, with a dangerous fall.

"peasants into leader" will break your knees if you fall, just say'n

Masterpiece v3 - easy slab, easy with good foot work.

Carter Lake:
Do boy v7- very tall very good, this arete is an ultra classic.

this photo does not do it justice

Three Sisters:
The Wisdom v4- juggy and tall with a flat landing, what more can you ask for.

really all the climbs on this wall qualify or almost do,

Poudre Canyon:
rasta drop-
Nutsack hoedown-
flow futuristic-

RMNP:
Sky scraper v5- very tall, safer early season with more snow.
Whispers of wisdom -
golden Ice-
Suicide season-

same goes here, i never climbed in the park that much..... need help.

Portland Oregon

2011-04-26T11:54:00.000-06:00

I went to Portland to say hi to the climb x crew last weekend, these are a few photos from the trip.

this is Joe Garland, he has been a major player in the outdoor industry for more than 20 years, he also rides motorized skate board that go really really fast.

sinince it was raining in portland, weird, i had to climb in the gym. Fellow Climb X athlete Matt owns

the gym with his father check it out here

this is some pool action at Joes Birthday....

some new boulders

2011-04-23T09:40:00.000-06:00

here is a link to a video my buddy adam made of a new problem we put up in CCC.

Enjoy.

http://www.vimeo.com/22760583

some photos from Dark Waters

2011-04-15T07:53:00.000-06:00

stow away kitchen table

2011-04-11T10:47:00.000-06:00

my little project for the weekend was to build a stow away kitchen table, i live in a small house and i am sick of eating on the couch with my demon cat trying to steal my food and knock over my beer....

This is how the table looks while in the vertical position. I painted a white pattern on the back of the table to simulate a piece of art hanging on the wall, so it doesn't look like a table hanging on the wall... which it is....not too sure if i achieved that goal.

this is a side view, you can see the metal conduit legs that stow away in the table, you can also see magnets that keep the table locked to the wall while stowed.

The legs... with a wooden platform to protect my already shitty hardwood floor.

zoom, of the magnets...

the opening in action.

in the down position.

Dark waters

2011-04-10T10:45:00.000-06:00

KIMBALLISTIC- verb-

to unleash energy on one climb or area, completing every possible variation and making all necessary changes in a small, daily, intense period of time.

He went kimbalistic on that boulder.

Kimball teaching Danny how to hand jam.....

I find myself, Adam Mckenzie, Brian Kimball and Danny Madison sitting below Dark Waters. It looks much different than the last time i saw it, about a year ago. The landing area is free of sharp rocks and is about 18 inches deeper than it was before. Some people have expressed that they dont like this kind of manufactured landing zone. My thoughts?

a: its done, so don't cry about things that won't be undone.

b: if you really care about keeping it " natural " then don't drive on the road , or use chalk or shoes or a crash pad , don't film it, shoot photos about it, or post on your blog afterward. Or... just go somewhere else.

c: there is a mess of new hard boulder problems to enjoy, so enjoy them.

anyway im done with that.

here are some pictures and video from the day.

Kimball sending a new v10 traverse - click here

A excellent v3 top out

photos by Danny Madison

random video crap

2011-04-06T08:16:00.000-06:00

Adam and i went to Carter to try dough boys a highball v7, a classic highball created when a boulder slid of the opposing hillside and laded vertically to create an amazing boulder.... but we couldn't send... at least not today, so i will go back to finish it up.

this is frank trying dough boys

so anyway we shot some random video just for fun....

The Infinite in East Draw....

2011-03-23T10:13:00.000-06:00

I went and checked out the "infinite" a v11 put up by Paul Robinson. The boulder is very cool and im sure it was hard the way paul climbed it , for me it felt quite a bit easier than the original grade due to my large reach, i still loved it though. Keith North came out and took some amazing shots of the climb , i hope you enjoy.

back from the Creek for 24 hours....

2011-03-23T08:39:00.000-06:00

here are a few photos from the Creek, it was a surprisingly great trip. I expected big crowds and bad weather instead i found some crowds and some bad weather. I went out there with my buddy Dave Meyer and went just to unwind. I leave for Bishop California tomorrow so .... theres more to come.

bouldering in the East Draw in Eldorado Springs

2011-03-15T07:29:00.001-06:00

I went up and checked out the east draw, i was looking for the infinite v10/11 ( which i found, and will back to send ) but i also found this little traverse, i liked it due to its training potential. Powerfull and long it was a good trainer for me. I looked in colorado bouldering 2, colorado bouldering, mountain project and so on and wasn't able to find this exact line, i figure its in the v8 area, perhaps a bit easier. While climbing the boulder i broke a hold that makes it a bit harder for shorter people. Adam came out and filmed me climbing it, no music just beta. Enjoy.

watch it in you tube, not though this player, for some reason this player only shows up very small .

thoughts on alpine climbing with Matt p.s they are " like so" profound

2011-03-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

Lets start here:

This is Matus drinking home made "shine" at 6:30 in the morning, to be fair i made him do it , by letting him see the bottle. Its not his fault really, I was asking for it by having the bottle hidden in the back of a closet behind a box of granola.

Anyway, Matus lives in LA and used to work for Mad Rock, thats how we met. Today he is in denver, he got bumped of a previous flight with his girlfriend to Austin and so the airline game him as they say in the hood, "coupons" and so he now travels cheap and so has ended up in Denver with me.

Our goal was to adventure and climb and possible dry tool up a route on Halletts ( a place i have been spending a lot of time recently) . This is how it went.

Lesson #1 Being ignorantly confident is a perk, despite minor obvious draw backs, it allows you to try things you have no business doing. How else are you going to learn? Building up a solid base of knowledge and starting off slow in normal alpine spring conditions, i think not.

Happy and eager, describes us. Prior to any climbing really, as the story goes.

To be honest i am a poor alpine climber, my technical knowledge is low and i have little experience in snow. With that said, i try. Really i throw myself into things i probably shouldn't. This is how i got good at everything else i can do well, and so it applies here. I want to be solid like Doug Shepherd or Kelly Cordes or Dan Gambino but i'm just not yet.

Moving on....

Basically we walking to the base of Halletts and didn't know where any of the routes started and so i just started climbing, that lasted for about an hour until i slipped while dry tooling around a smooth arete and took a 20 foot whipper into a rock dihedral. Then i hit the ground, good thing it was covered with snow.

I took this photo from the lake just below Halletts.

Lesson #2 dont let your belayer look for stuff in his back pack with loops of slack while your flailing away on scary new terrain.

Lesson #3 don't be weak and fall

My whole body hurts today, frankly i can't believe i didn't brake anything, but i do have some sweet "swellbow" . I know it was a bad fall because Matus showed a minute of sympathy , which never happens. When i snapped my finger in half in the sierras ( i broke it and dislocated it ) he calmly told me no one cares about my finger and we should keep hiking, without hearing moans from me.

In any case since i was already at the ground, so we decided we should try and climb another route.

Round 2.

We decide to walk up a shoot of snow that appears as thought it will definitely avalanche and get to the base of a giant chimney . We think that swimming through vertical snow is not as much fun as we wanted it to be so we adventure out of the chimney and onto unknown rock and terrain, climbing ledge to ledge, soloing and roping up from time to time. Terrified sums up the feeling i had most. Matus appeared to be indifferent except that he had run out of cigarettes which aggravates him.

Lesson #3 when something looks dangerous, feels dangerous, it most likely is dangerous. Taking into account my absolutely insufficient knowledge of avalanche mumbo jumbo it was fair to say Darwin was on my side. In case your wondering, my genes are still readily available in our collective pool. Your welcome.

We make it about 200 feet from the top and its Matus's turn to lead, he climbs something so dumb and dangerous that i bowed out. He soloed a super sketch dihedral of snow and rock with no gear except a rope tied to me , so if he fell at least i was going for a ride too. In any case he got stuck and i had to lower him off a icy horn of rock because leaving a cam was not something we thought of and then we rapped all the way down.

so the over all thoughts on this experience. FUCKING AWESOME. I'm tired of writing so i am going to go climbing.... at the warm, easy to navigate, music playing, no wind gym.

Possible new route and moments of trepidation

2011-02-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

Climbing is fickle, further facts are fickle. This presents a problem for people interested in climbing "new" routes or boulder problems. My thought process is either complicated or delusional so try and follow along if you want.

Over the last year i have enjoyed finding routes that have long been forgotten about, hiding under our noses in popular bouldering area's. Old top ropes put in to explore the tall faces of boulder problems or cliff bands, ones that were too high to climb without a rope. These top ropes were never "led" for lack of bolts or gear and after being explored they were left alone. I think. How do i know no one has ever climbed a piece of rock before? In climbing there is a ethic that a top rope ascent does not constitute a first ascent, one must climb the route with the rope below you or not at all. These is were it gets rough.

In journalism one has to fact check, how do i do that in a world of dirt bags and recluses? Today its much easier to verify an ascent with videos and the internet abounding. But 20 years ago, the time that these anchors on the route I just climbed got put in, the information is harder to find. To me this rock was new, I have been climbing at Morrison for 10 years with regularity and have never seen anyone even look at this chunk of rock. The old school crew like Rufus are probably responsible for the anchors and have more than likely tope roped this route, this is were i start making bold assumption like , what is the likelihood of anyone soloing/ bouldering a 30 v7? at that time, low.... very very low. But i have been wrong before.

I once did a route, and i thought it was new so i called it v8 and named it only to find out it was a well established but recently forgotten v4. Embarrassing. Try explaining that to your buddy's who have casually done the route.... uh well used different beta......

Which leads me to my next thought. My girlfriend who does not climb, and doesn't care about climbing casual mentioned yesterday while i was ranting about grades that " those must be very arbitrary?" .....

is it that obvious?

Yes.

I am 6 foot 5 and weight 188 pounds today, i feel fit but not sport climber strong, i got a good night sleep but had a shitty breakfast and the gravity on earth felt medium-ish on this day, the route i climbed that may be a possible first ascent, felt v7/ or 13a. Thats how im going to grade things from now on. If you don't have those same specifics the route will feel easier or harder.

in any case here is a video and some pictures.

Another old video....

2011-02-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

This video is also from Nelson Cariyannis, it is of a great boulder problem called hoagies gone too heaven or something like that, i think it gets 9 or 10 v points.

school and working and climbing and hustleing

2011-02-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

I know your busy.... everyone is busy.

Well im busy , making chick-sharks in photoshop. They remind me of women, soft and cute but cunning hunters.

i was thinking about how people will say they the same things. Such as

1. Driving, everyone is a good driver, and you never do the things that you yell at other people for, like driving to slow or stopping at an intersection with no stop sign. YOU have never done these things because your a good driver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn0e6xA5G_8

2. Shooting. ( men only ) All men can handle a gun, and for that matter all men are tough, unless your gay then its omits you from this role. Fire starting and conflict resolution also fall in hear. What? you have a problem... come to me, I'm a man, and i will fix it for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr3zlll0prA

3. Busy. Every person says this when confronted with not training enough " I've been so busy" yeah you and the rest of the human race. the truth, your busy when it comes to doing this you don't want to do. I know what you will say, i have to work so i cant train. Fine , but that is a choice. I have been locked in a prison cell that was the only time in my life i had no choice, it feels different from being at work. Trust me.

4. Touchy feely business. Men and women ,everyone is good in bed. When was the last time you met some one and they were like " awe man i am terrible in bed" . Doesn't happened because people must be soooo busy practicing while driving and shooting their damn guns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU

Anyway I'm done ranting , its tiring being right all the time.

When i wasn't busy witnessing the human condition on Tuesday i was climbing with Skyler Weekes.

Here are some photos from the day.

Does anyone know anything about this boulder problem, or even if its been done.

well i didn't do it either. But i tried it and i want to go back , its tall and hard.

On a side note, i am writing blog posts for Jansport. If you want to check them out read here:

http://jansport.com/blog/beoutdoors/tag/climbing/

history lesson 1.

2011-02-13T22:26:00.001-07:00

It's time it gets covered completely. This is the sequence of events.

disclaimer- i cant spell or write very well. If thats a problem up front don't read on. I couldn't be bothered to have someone read this and fix it. It communicates the point I'm trying to deliver. I also realize that some events are out of order and i have omitted large events and chunks of time, but i have had 3 cups of coffee and written this in one fast stream of consciousness. I care lots.

When i was a kid i was not good at sports and as such i tried obscure sports that didn't involve teams. I eventually tried rock climbing and.... it was ok....i went to the climbing gym a hand full of times, starting at pseudo rock in Austin Texas. But i wasn't hooked, i was just the kid who climbed on the wall on a cruise ship once (not that i have ever done that). Anyway, i moved a lot so soon i was living in Atlanta, Georgia attending school at Riverside Military academy, a boarding prep school in Gainesville ( the home of the KKK) not a lovely place..... Anyway, i then climbed at Atlanta Rocks, a gym near our home in atlanta. At this point i still didn't know how to belay or follow a route or in any sort of manner look like i knew anything, really. But it didn't stop me from buying a used rope (sketchy) and talking my mom into buying me shoes (which she insisted on buying way to big because i was going to grow). And so it began.

Matt in the early years, doing something that probably resulted in poor decisions. In africa. I did land up in prison. In africa. Sorry, Mom.

Next thing you know my folks moved to Denver and i went to boarding school at CRMS, a small expensive hippy-ish school in Carbondale, Colorado. There i met other white kids that liked recreating and spending money and time on futile endeavors like climbing and i officially caught the bug. By my senior year it was all i did, with the guidance of my history/climbing teacher Dave Myers i found ways to climb more and more and go to comps.

It was about this time i met Gabe Craviero, the Brazilian kid who climbed in socks at the competitions i was attending. He was weird, and so was i, so we naturally became friends.

this is old gabe

old gabe loved this ....

this is new gabe, he looks like a terrorist with a beard.

When i came home from boarding school Gabe took me to Rock'n and Jam'n. I watched him campus (climb without feet) the steepest and longest wall in there and i decided that i would start climbing with him in the "kids School," which was started by Aaron Prouty. Aaron looked like Bevis, from MTV. Well, he had the same hair. He also had gargantuan forearms and could climb extremely well.

this is aaron and i on the nose, he looks happy. i look like i'm going to sneeze.

When i joined up i climbed 5.11- and when i stopped i climbed 5.13- and in the process met my life long friend and accomplice in all thing illegal and dangerous, Josh Lieninger.

Josh bouldering in Hueco (he now claims to have never bouldered as its only for weak sissys, but here is proof)

We all climbed all the time, at least 4 days a week, solely in the gym. And we sucked, well except for Gabe, who was good with his years of pre-Kids School experience climbing away from monkeys in Brazil. Gabe was friends with this ultra weird kid Adam Mckenzie, he climbed hard for a kid that wore a chalk bag around his shoulder like a string of bullets and an upside down hat, not backwards, but upside down. Adam was pretty rad despite being weird, he still crushes today. Gabe on the other had is rich and has a pretty wife, see what happens when you stop climbing.

Adam Mckenzie

Adam on free willie v10 (he couldn't do the dyno, so he static the crux on the single worst hold i have ever seen anyone climb on)

Anyway we can call this time "the gym years." We climbed and trained all the time. It paid off when we went to nationals a couple of times and competed all over Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. But we were soft. I never climbed outside for a period of two years.

at RJ1 before there was an RJ2

Matt in the early days of rock climbing. Notice the five ten mocs and the short prana pants, both staples of early rock'n and jam'n.

this is me climbing in africa, i was like 19 or 20, but i looked 12 on a good day

The next period of my life can be labeled "rifle" but it could also be labeled "a fucking disaster." When i discovered sport climbing outside i took to it like a stripper takes to cocaine. I drove to Rifle at least twice a week to climb its steep limestone. I even managed to climb some hard routes, but i also destroyed my grades at college (which i soon dropped out of ) and my car. Rifle was 400 miles round trip and I once made the trip seventeen times in one month.

The Bride Of Frankenstein 5.13d

the crew, Ry Warshom, Josh and myself

my car after hitting a deer.

About this time i met Nelson, he was crazy and a skateboarder and into books and climbing and discussing life, we also made videos.... about climbing and dancing, but not together, that would be weird.

here is one such video

Anyway, after a year or two of this i was tired of the same old place so i hit the road. I lived out of my car and climbed in Hueco, Bishop, the Creek, and anywhere in between. I was still into sport climbing and bouldering but it was harder to find "it,"you know, happiness. So i would drive around by myself. I once drove from denver to San Francisco, then to Vegas, then back to SF, then back to Denver in a week. The environment and my car hate me.

these pictures are from bouldering on the beach in SF.

but this is from hueco....

this is the Melon patch in hueco one of the best V0 in the world.

This period lasted a long time, but after a few years i landed up working at The Wilderness Exchange.

There people were into trad climbing..... weird. So i gave up my wicked sport climbing ways and began climbing in Eldorado canyon in my typical OCD style. This kind of climbing was like sport climbing, but with the extra added fear that goes along with possible death. I loved it. My buddy Josh loved it too. We became partners in crime, bolting and searching for first ascents. We climb big stuff and small stuff, but mainly we got in over our heads. We almost died many many times, then we laughed.

Josh and I on the Scenic Cruise in the Black Canyon

Trad climbing turned into Soloing somewhere along the line, not sure where but it happened quicker that i would have imagined.

this is an onsight solo of "blind faith" in eldo

I would leave the house with rock shoes and a chalk bag and climb 20 routes with out a partner or a rope, onsight soloing a couple times a week. Needless to say just about everyone i know began complaining , saying i was stupid, which i always thought was a bit rough. Stupid implied i didn't understand what i was doing, but the truth is i lived.

smart may have the brains but stupid has the balls.

Soloing 5.11 in Eldo called Kloof

Then i started getting old, not like old people old but like i have climbed 200 days in this calander year and my finger is swollen like its about to give birth to another finger old. I was like fuck it, i'll just ice climb. This opened my eyes to what else could be climbed, that and going to Cochamo in Chile with Dan Gambino, Chris Kalous and Katie Brown.

I wanted to climb big badass routes, not 30 foot sport climbs. This sounded great to me until i went climbing on those long icy routes. They are cold.... very, very cold.

But i guess for me i always wanted adventure and this final stage in climbing is just that for me. My friend Matus is eastern European and loves cigarettes, climbing and pain.

He and i like to climb the same stuff, we don't care how hard it is just as long as it has adventure and gets us scared.

Anyway, so thats how i went from gym climbing to adventure climbing.

in case your wondering adventure climbing is a style of climbing i have invented. its definition is as follows.

adventure climbing, (n):

any climbing that induces fear resulting from stepping into the unknown in search of satisfaction, often residing in type 3 fun*.

*type 3 fun is fun thats not fun until long after the event is over with, ice climbing almost always fall into this category, as do short stints in jail

The following pictures were adventure climbing.

super fly 5.12 d r/x

a down town denver buidling climb with cams that didn't fit in the crack. after climbing the route i rappeled off a bbq that was in someones penthouse rooftop patio.

a 5.13 b FA i put up with Josh L., Cardiac Arrest.

This photo is from Danny Madson, he is the man

The palisades....

down town SLC at the summer trade show. Style.

a new free solo i just did.

training then nyquil on the rocks

2011-02-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

above: the weather on my drive back home from climbing.

thats my weekend, the subject line of my life really. Train then suffer. This weekend was no different. I climbed at north table mountain when no normal human would venture to shovel his driveway. I have started writing contributing copy for Jansports new Outdoor Blog which can be read at

http://jansport.com/blog/beoutdoors/

until next time....

a video blast from the past

2011-02-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

a few years back Josh Lieninger and i bolted a new route, that turned out being cool and hard. This video is about the highway man 5.13d, in Deer Creek Canyon, CO. The video was shot by Nelson Carayannis who now works at chuckfryberger.com

enjoy!

revisiting El Cap

2011-02-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

Last summer i climbed El Capitan via the Nose with Aaron Prouty, i have been thinking about the route and i hope to go back in the spring and nail down the NIAD ( nose- in-a-day) as the cool kids are calling it. It was really fun to climb it slow and spend some nights on the wall with Aaron and im glad that was my first time to the top of the wall, but now i want to do it without suffering. Here are some pictures from last year.

Random ledge sleeping

The great roof, a wild and long pitch.

Looking down from camp 6 ( 2500' feet to the valley floor)

Aaron leading up off texas flake heading to the boot flake

Me sitting on Texas Flake. To get there you have to chimney ( without and protection ) in the space between the flake and the wall.

rant of the day.....

2011-01-31T07:44:00.000-07:00

How many times have you heard a teenager talk about how bad this or that is and you look at them and think “ Whats wrong? Let me tell you whats wrong, nothing.” People say “I hate my life , it sucks blah blah blah” then your ass is about one nano second from falling into a deep dark abyss of doom and guess what? Sad Susan is begging for her life with all of its imperfections. I know this because i've done it. Have a bad day? Your taxes are late, no rent, your girlfriend is pissed, rough huh? Not really. The idea of falling hundreds of feet into jagged rocks seems so distant from you couch that it could be impossible , it's not, and if you've never looked down that barrel then you are going to have to trust me on this, it ranks up there with circling sharks in blood filled water. You will beg for a school bus full of kids, stuck in L.A traffic, drinking red bull and playing with cans of pepper spray. It can Always be worse.

Enter Contrast.

So is there a point to this, well maybe.

Climbing and Climbers

2011-01-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

BAIL- Verb. Meaning to quit, Something one climber says to another, pack it up, head to the comfort of your mother.

High in the sierra's in early winter...

“This is heinous” We were climbing vertical snow, not that nice solid stuff that inspires confidence but the snow thats more bitch than bull. Oh yeah and it was bloody nose cold, windy and we didn’t want to cowboy up anymore. Our previously bold talk had be silenced by tail-between-our-legs conditions. And so, sitting on the saddle between pillars of steep rock the conversation went like this.

“I'm cold, I mean I might be....”

“yeah”

“im not sure about this, it looks like a storm is coming, this could be a good point to....”

“yeah”

“you want too?”

“fuck”

“sooo?”

“bail, yeah, but i'm glad you said it first”

Bail, its the bell at the end of recess. The word can be heard before it's said, eye's scream it like a siren before the mouth has the courage to mutters those syllables and offer totally inadequate excuse for the action about to be executed.

I've done it, more times than I want to admit. There are lots of reasons to pack it in; cold, heat, difficulty, exhaustion, general cowardice. After some of my particular “bails” I look back and say, that was a great decision or man i'm such a sissy.

Failure is not spoken of as much as its practiced. Think about it, over beers people like to talk about being badass not weak sauce. And so it gets a bad rap. As any good climber knows, we push ourselves, hard. More often than not we over estimate our abilities and end up retreating. This is how progress is made. Being aggressive is the name of our game, hanging it out there and seeing what we can do. Standing in contrast to sports where failure does not include death the ability to make assessments about ones capacity to get out of this or that particular mess keeps you alive. We call it commitment and you don't have to be on a mountain to feel it, run out a sport climb that you cant down climb or get high on a tall boulder and wait for it... yeah there it is.... and the sphincter tightens .

check this out

2010-10-23T11:24:00.001-06:00

check this out....

oh pioneers!!!

IBEX utah

2010-10-02T09:30:00.000-06:00

its been a while.

2010-07-26T16:57:00.001-06:00

but im back. Here is a link to a new video i was just involved in. I also have been up to lots else, mainly studying which is hard for me . Not to worry though, i have been climbing too. I have pics and video to put up soon.

http://www.deadpointmag.com/videos/watch/matt-loyd-darkside-boulders

El Cap Trip report…. to come

2010-07-05T18:45:00.001-06:00

for now here are some pictures… enjoy

http://picasaweb.google.com/relentlessclimbing/ElCap?authkey=Gv1sRgCMDpxIy6rIi6KA#

most inspiring videos

2010-06-12T10:59:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPTtdPn-VSY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7R_buZPSo

a free solo in freemont..... more to come

2010-06-10T17:27:00.000-06:00

Cardiac Arrest 5.13a/b FA

2010-06-01T08:58:00.001-06:00

Josh and I went up to our new little wall and put in day 6 of bolting and climbing. I was fortunately able to climb my extenuation to Rufus's 5.13a route called Kodiak arrest. It adds about 30 feet of hard 5.11 climbing to the bottom of the existing route. Also josh is amost done bolting the 150 5.10 we have been working on, only 3 bolts to go.

this is josh lowering of the 5.12, i think it gives great scale of the routes and the exposure. This is not the primo wall.

on the redpoint burn....

Josh bolting with our slightly girlie Bausch 24 hammer drill ( we need a upgrade)

more on the new route….s

2010-05-21T11:10:00.001-06:00

The anchors are in and the climbing has commenced. People who have never established a new route ( and boulder problems don’t count) have no idea how much work it is. hand drilling bolts ground up in granite is work ,like cowboy work not desk work.

we started the day by setting up a Tyrolean across the river to speed up the process of hiking back and forth from the car to recharge batters and get supplies. This proved to be a lot of work but it was fun.

once across the river we ascended our fixed lines that i put up yesterday. I climbed the two pitch route with 3 bad cam placements to get to the top. It was wicked scary but worth it. The first two pitches weigh in at around 5.10- . Both josh and i are excited about the quality of the climbing and the chance to contribute something a little more moderate to the climbing community. To date my first acsents include a 5.12c, 5.12d, 5.13d, 5.13b, and a slew of hard run out r/x 5.11s…. not for the faint of heart.

hand drilling bolts suck, especially in bullet hard granite. It takes about 30-40 mins per bolt. We have a 24v hammerdrill but it doesn't do that great in rock this hard so the battery will only last for about one and a half holes per charge.

This is the business, the purpose, the goal… a perfect overhanging wall about 50 feet tall and ripe for the taking. upon arriving at the steep wall we discovered some bolts here already. i climbed the route and discovered absolutely fantastic rock quality and a opportunity for a new very hard and very beautiful route. I have a full summer folks… action time is here.

new routes

2010-05-19T07:14:00.000-06:00

My friend Josh and i are in the mists of putting up some new routes, the whole process is everything I love about climbing. Adventure, its the name of the game. Today you just get some pics, Tomorrow you get the goods.

check out this wall, super steep and clean.

art… or matt plays with paint… aka a mess is made

2010-05-12T19:18:00.001-06:00

Millennium boulder

2010-05-11T16:25:00.002-06:00

i went out with sky to take some photos for his sponsor Bazi and do some climbing myself. This is the result.

the roadside project... aka super doom project... aka my back and legs hurt from the 25 footers project

2010-05-03T07:31:00.000-06:00

here are a couple pictures from my new project courtesy of Danny Madson.

The line is just right of the west-side connection, due to it's height and flat landing i am choosing to boulder this climb instead of adding bolts or leading it. i don't care how anyone else climbs it, its not a judgment just a choice of style. ( just a note> the crux of this route is parallel to the anchors of the west side connection)

This is how many pads we had, we could have used more. Also i look like im doing a sweet little dance.

This is the beginning of the crux, which starts at about 18 feet. look at Adams little arms down below... he was spotting like he wasn't going to run away if i fell... but i guess i cant blame him. i would run too.

I busted out the top rope to dial in the top moves. The climb feels pretty hard to me, but i dont have any real idea how hard it is. it could be 5.12 or 5.13 not really sure.

After Climbing i wanted to take out some rage, so i ran around and pummeled Adam with a large crash pad... look at his advanced defense techniques.

Double Clutch Dyno

2010-04-30T09:35:00.004-06:00

Two days ago Skyler Weekes was stoked to get me on this famous dyno on Flagstaff Mountain. I had heard of this Dyno as many other people have from the old movie “front Range Freaks. The history of this problem is actually quite interesting.

Above: Matt Lloyd
It was first done a static boulder problem ( the hold that this used has since broken) by Bob Williams in 1972. Then Paul Glover ( in front range freaks ) does the dyno Rope less ( with a top rope pre rehearsal). I believe Brian Capps and Sean Drolet have both done this dyno and possibly Mike auldridge using “ some ridiculous number of crashpads, like 12 or 18 or something like that.” Skyler Weekes has done the dyno as well with no roped pre rehearsal.

Above: sky doing his thing

Anyway… The fall from this dyno is really quite terrifying. To put it in perspective i believe this dyno is easier that the Goat Dyno on the Millennium boulder and about the same as “white Men can’t Jump“ in Morrison. So really the difficulty of this dyno is not the crux rather the possibility of a bad 17 food fall to a uneven landing. Even thought i thinking grading a dyno is a bit ridicules M-project gives this thing a V8-9 which seams to be fair in comparison. Below is some Media i have found of the climb. Either way i went up to this thing thinking it was going to be pretty easy and upon grabbing the start holds promptly gave up and drove back to boulder. The whole way back i was justifying my bail by saying “ it’s not worth a broken leg” and “ it’s just a stupid dyno” however after thinking about it for a while we decided to drive back up and give it a go. (sky is working a new larger dyno just to the right of double clutch ) so he was keen to bring the pads out and give it a go. Well i decided to give it a try, first i inttentionally jumped of the climb and took the fall just to try and convinced myself that i was not going to break my legs. Then i gave it a real go and stuck it second try ( the first fall reminded me that you can in fact break your legs ) .

Above: Front range freaks trailer ( small glimps of Paul Glover dynoing )

Sky dynos.

2010-04-28T09:07:00.000-06:00

This is a new Dyno Project that skyler is working on, it promises to be the hardest yet. Im not sure it even goes... Sky is optimistic.

Metal…

2010-04-27T19:22:00.001-06:00

this is my chair… im done with the welding, now its time for wood. My MIG welding skills are getting considerable better, only problem is my “burning the shit out of myself” also seams to be improving.

I am back

2010-04-24T10:47:00.001-06:00

i am finally back in the land of big... big meals, big glasses of water and big cars. Here are some photos for you to scope.

France

2010-04-20T02:54:00.000-06:00

Today is France +3, that means i have been forced to stay here for 3 more days than my original plan called for. It has been both good and bad, i must admit that it is a struggle to loose control of your situation. I do not speak french, my money situation is tragic, and i can be an intense person for my fellow travelers to deal with. However, i am still in France. I eat great food, walk for miles and climb great blocks. Often when i tell people what i am privileged enough to do they say imagine a fairy tale, and it is sometimes. Everything has a cost, i trade financial stability and a high stress level for weeks in foreign climbing destinations. anyway, i dont have too much time, i am leaving in a few minutes to take the metro to Gare de Lyon and then the RER to bois-le-roi to climb in roche canyon, it takes about an hour and from there i will walk for about 3 km to the climbing area. It is the middle of the most beautiful forest, it feels like a dream. wish me luck. here are a couple pictures i have to share.....

a porche and weekend

2010-04-06T07:23:00.001-06:00

some pictures from the weekend.

( above : soloing ottos route )

Above: mike climbing the last pitch of ottos route in Colorado national monument.

Below : Mike looked tough in his ghetto ride

above: sport climbing in the poux, this place is a lot better than you might imagine, good steep routes with no approach and 2 hours from denver.

four days with Josh

2010-03-26T18:15:00.001-06:00

four days with Josh can change your life… and it has many times, we get into the best trouble two like minded arrogant bastards can get into. we love the same things.

climbing scary , big routes. ( its a love hate thing)

Guns.

Whiskey.

Beautiful women.

nuff said.

below are some pictures from our trip, i will write a trip report for our attempt on The Titan when i get the sand out of my ass, until then checks these out.

Before driving out to Utah, Josh , Kylah, and I threw down in Flagstaff.

Kylah , showed us how it was done, seriously this girl is going to make us all look bad, She is 2 and half and can dead hang longer that most people my age.

We arrived at the fisher towers in Josh’s ghetto whip, we heated up some beans cowboy style and hiked our gear out there for what we thought was going to be a relatively easy climb.

This is the Titan, the tallest desert tower in north America.

racked up… the goal of free climbing the crux the first day was put to rest by the for coming snow and rain that repeatedly crushed my dreams. i thought i was in Utah not Patagonia.

the following pictures are the 5.11+ 200 ft death march i had to do in the snow. Somehow it is lame and amazing at the same time.

my camera died after the first day, so josh has all the photos from the rest of the climb… so wait a god damn minute… there coming

Bitchen new Mad Rocks

2010-03-22T10:52:00.001-06:00

Flagstaff Mountain.

2010-03-18T21:31:00.001-06:00

if you know the names of any of these routes i would love too know. Today i went to Flag on a mission to taste some highball bouldering. I found what i was looking for.

FA of Babylon dyno by skyler weekes

2010-03-17T17:23:00.003-06:00

Today Sky hooked up a massive new dyno at the Freight Train boulder near Gross Reservoir. It covers about 8 feet and looks truly impossible. Sky declined to grade it ( a wise decision) but said it felt harder than the Goat dyno at Millennium and White man can’t jump ( v10) at Morrison. I saw this dyno last week when Adam Mckenzie and i went to check out the climbs there. I took Sky there today to try the climb it and he sent in about 6 real try’s. I can’t wait to see what other people think of the dyno, especially those that repeated zion. Nice job Sky, way to keep doing your thing.

here is the video.

art in progress

2010-03-15T22:47:00.001-06:00

This is where it all starts… as nothing much, sometimes it stays that way. Sometimes it becomes great.

the past and the future and a hangover

2010-03-14T15:55:00.001-06:00

I have a eclectic mess of things to spread out on the interweb today. I will say that i went to bed at 5am this morning and might still be drunk while i am writing this . Which, by the way, is one of my cardinal rules that you should never be brake… So at least i acknowledge my mistakes now and continue with impunity.

First things first. I have been wanting to review different things on this site for a while, but had never really got around to it. I also have been wanting to go on a bender with by friend Josh for a long time but … you know life is… busy.

So here you go. Two birds , one stone, something like that.

(whiskey + energy drinks ) (matt + josh) = Review / bender

This is where the review begins. At vine street bar. a very marginal bar stacked with hippies. I hate there for i am.

But really this is about a bender right? Well, last night was about Bourbon. Every guy i know has his pants tied up real tight over scotch , I happen to be a fucking patriot and who likes good ole American made things like being bad ass and cowboys and Bourbon. For those of you that don’t know a little about a lot click here and catch up.

Bulleit is sweet and not charred, think sugarless soco, it is also very well priced for what you get at 25 bucks a bottle. I don’t have the patience for Margaritas like someone i know… so i just drink this stuff like it comes. sometimes with ice… but only sometimes.

Anyway all this leads to the part B of this night…i warn you watching this video will be a total waste of your time. you will want you 1 min back. You have been warned.

you really can put whatever you want on the internet. case in point.

below is a video of a new boulder problem i set at thrill seekers. Scope my Magic route setting skills.

My newest adventure

2010-03-09T21:27:00.002-07:00

This Video is from today, i hiked up by myself to north Table and did one of my solo circuits. I really enjoyed this route, i don't think its very hard maybe easy 5.10 ish. I also have some photos from the last couple of days. On a side note i have a idea, i am going to try and solo 100 routes in a day ( @ north Table) my plan is to get out to the cliff around 7 am and pull the 12 hour day hopefully before it gets way to hot. The way i calculate it i will need to solo 8-10 routes an hour every hour all day. If anyone wants to come and hang out and relax in the sun, maybe yell some insults at me let me know. I am definitely bringing a bottle of whiskey up there and after route 100.... you get the idea.

This is Sam. He works at the Wilderness Exchange dealing with shipping and inventory and what not. This job affords him the luxury of climbing during the day which makes him a great accomplice to me. This picture above is of him soloing killians dead a stellar 5.7 crack.

This is me and the sky…. i have no earthly clue what route this is on, i just go and climb. i dont pay much attention to the details.

A free solo at the primo wall. I have a new project there so watch out son, big stuff is coming your way.
(below: this is me looking tough and adam is well… i think he is praying. and i guess he should be. sometimes when i havent seen a mirror i forget reality and i walk around thinking " damn i hansome" then i see a picture like this and it ruins the dream and i realize i am a tall goofy white guy. oooh the woes of life.

Eldorado…just a sample

2010-03-07T11:00:00.006-07:00

Photo: Daniel Madson Climbing: Matt Lloyd Climb: Eastern Priest ELdorado Canyon state park.

click here for a link to more photos

DPM blurb

2010-03-02T23:28:00.001-07:00

I wrote a little blub about climbing in Denver for Dead point Magazine. Below is the link. Enjoy.

Thanks to Mike Sakas and Danny Madson for hooking me up with some amazing photos to use. Let me know what you think of my first writing endeavor.

http://www.deadpointmag.com/articles/view/d-town-buildering

police, burritos and a wizard

2010-02-28T20:38:00.001-07:00

yeah … the name says it all. Things happened. I suppose they always do just sometimes with more intention than others.

1. I got pulled over, lost my cool and yelled at a cop for no reason. He was going to give me a 1 point ticket and instead after i swore at him i got a court date. If you ever need a bad situation to get worse, call uncle matt over i can fix you up a nice glass of disaster with your dinner.

2. After years of talking up a big game i did it. I consumed 2 chipotle burritos in under 20 minutes . Chicken, fajatas, black beans, rice, cheese, extra sour cream. booh yaa i am all that is man .

before

this was the last bite… i look less than happy but i was thrilled.

3. i climbed a rock and made a video.

Update

2010-02-23T20:41:00.003-07:00

so i have a couple thoughts….
1. The sun is badass. Just say’n. Today i went out to Morrison and was able to rock climb in the warm sun. I couldn't ask for more. I was able to send cyto-center which i think gets v10. I have only climbed a handful of climbs in the double digit grade range so i was pretty psyched. Being tall obviously helped a bunch. Anyway it was fun. I also tried the old finish to helicopter ( pictured below) it adds some hard scary moves to the end of a already great classic boulder problem.

2. My second thought plays off the first. This weekend i ate a pizza. Great you say… well this pizza was not like any other pizza. Do not be alarmed , nay… do not be afraid. This pizza , the pizza living in my belly was amazing. Squash, sage, garlic….. what else… Baggett doe… more more … yes… goat cheese… mozzarella …. rest your eyes on this my friend.. and prepare to weep

3. I'll stop now before the madness continues…

some art…like things

2010-02-20T16:04:00.002-07:00

despite what you might think i sometime don't climb….
what most people don't know is i try and make things from time to time. i wanted to share some of those things. i made these two pieces this week.

i found this door in a dumpster this morning…. i felt so sketchy dumpster diving.

but im pretty happy with the result.

a closet door at stage 1. of the shanagans.

add some paint… good old fashion house paint.

The Virus 5.12a solo

2010-02-17T15:23:00.001-07:00

Today i got bored and hiked up to N. Table mountain and did a quick head point of “the virus” i tried to on sight solo it but after looking at the move ( while on the route) and looking at a potentially crippling fall i decided to get a rope and scope it. i climbed it roped once or twice and then pulled the rope and fired it.

I'm psyched , even though this route is less than classic. Anytime i can solo 5.12 i feel pretty tough or dumb or a combination of both… As a side note i have decided to start soloing with a helmet, as you can see in the video. I feel that it will

help out in the 30 ft and under routes significantly. i also used a crash pad on this route. yeah i know I'm a sissy.

a video from Morrison

2010-02-16T07:27:00.001-07:00

i have more to share…. but it will have to wait.

Running… a concept of training.

2010-02-07T14:04:00.001-07:00

Due to not seeing the results that i want from my current training program i am going to do something reckless, perhaps even crazy. I am going to change things up ( what a concept) . The changes are as follows.

1. Make an attempt to drop my climbing days from 6 per week to as little as 4. 5 is most likely. I’m thinking a European style of 3 on 2 0ff will work well. ( a rest day is any day that i do not use my “pulling muscles”, a rest day can and will include a weight or cardio workout) . I have in the past played with many days on ( up to 10 or 15 days in a row0 as well as day on day off training. I feel that the first increases your chance of injury to unacceptable levels and and the latter doesn't seem to offer enough in overall fitness that I'm looking for.

2. Focus on varying my work outs. Difficult day, easy day, so on. I already do this but with no clear pattern or thought. Also i already supplement my climbing with 3 days of weights and 1 day of yoga per week. I will continue with this but try and track my progress closer.

3. As of now i only do minor cardio work, i run to and from the gym 3 days a week which only works out to 3/4 of a mile each way9 4.5 miles per week…sad) . i would like to increase this and incorporate sprinting into my program. I feel one of the things missing in most runners program is all out sprinting. John Dunn, old time rifle master, used to say that if you were having trouble sealing the deal on your project ( i.e you were falling at the chains or almost sticking the crux) you should take a few days off from climbing and do high intensity running. I have no science to back that up but it seams to make sense in my head.

I went to the track and had Gabe time me for a starting point of my running . I will track my progress and test this new idea out.

Baseline. 02/07/2010

100 yard dash- a pretty bad 00:13:5 sec

400 meter- 00:58:00

the mile- 06:32:12

4. Try and incorporate 2 massages per month. Dave Wahl from Athletic Specific told me once that when using your body as a tool and for work like i do, you need to think of it like you would a car or any other tool. Maintenance will keep you car/ body running in top form for much longer. 100 bucks a month is a small price to pay for that i suppose.

Click here for more “science” on the running nonsense.

If anyone has any advice for me i would be psyched to hear it.

a moving picture…

2010-02-06T14:18:00.001-07:00

Adam made this little video from our previous Castlewood adventure. Enjoy.

on a side note i got some new climbing holds from SOILL and they are creepy. Well they will be up soon at Thrillseekers so come out and grab some baby heads… yeah thats right i said baby heads.

Castles in the sand.. at day at CWC

2010-01-31T16:41:00.001-07:00

( a short Solo in the c-wood C: M.Lloyd )

Saturday was going to be a solo mission to Castlewood Canyon but at the last minute i wrangled up two amigos and we headed south. Castlewood is gem nestled between the hell that is Parker and Highlands Ranch and the beautiful Franktown. Besides rattle snakes and families from suburbia Castlewood hosts some pretty sick climbing if you know where to look. Justin Jaeger is the man down there and he seams to keep a large part of his brain devoted to knowing the beta and locations of all the bouldering there is to be had there.

First mission for me was to do some solo rock climbing,CWC is well suited to it because it is short, moderate, and has a walk of from the top. The first route i tried resulted in a minor epic. I tried to onsight solo a 5.11 ( unknown name and grade) anyway at half height my hands went numb due to the cold and i had a little panic and decided that i was in a tiny bit more that i wanted to be. So i, with great difficulty, down climbed the route…. a bit sketchier than I'm used too. Next i climbed the route pictured above, it had a crack which to me is like having a rope. hand jam= on belay . Adam shot some photos and then in order to make the sequence shot above i soloed it again for good measure. I really love the place that adventure rock climbing ( my new phrase for the climbing that i enjoy ) puts me. Excited , committed and alert describe it best.

Sky worked on Marcello’s “The Mangler“ which i think weighs in at upwards of v10. I shot a very cool sequence of the first reachy move.

Adam was able to fire a cool looking moderate boulder problem on the other side of “the mangler”

I notes from the world i saw a new movie last night called Crazy Heart. It was really well done, i have always enjoyed some good ole’ country music. If you do too check it out. Here is a trailer for it.

I got more to say but that's all for now…

An ode to Morrison

2010-01-28T11:11:00.002-07:00

I have so much energy. I climb 6 days a week even though it probably makes me a worse climber. I do this because I'm addicted. I understand something of addiction, i have seen it in my life. I will climb in a gym or outside it makes no difference to me. It’s not really about sending or conquering a climb. So i will climb choss and love it still.

Yesterday i went to Morrison by myself as i do on many days and played around. I have been climbing there off and on for a long time as have many other Denver climbers. People seem to hate that place but i always see climbers there. Cutting there teeth and there tips on the potato peeler and flying off Helicopter. This place deserves some credit.
( Emily and Alexa crushing in the Black hole)
If you can climb v whatever there you can do it most anywhere. I realize that rhymes and it wasn't meant to so i will now write some that is.

oh Morrison you really are a pile
yet you lay just a few miles
down the road , over the bend, just there at the end
you routes are so contrived
but you have still survived , oil coatings, erosion and slander
it’s nothing but banter
more like a monkey and less like a leach have so much to teach
crimpers and slopers not jokers and hopers
this place will make you a man
you may be cheesy and sleazy but not one bit easy
you have broken a hope or two
so in time, with out costing a dime
i will become your apprentice
or at least something momentous
traversing and under clinging around
so skip that hand hold and don't use that foot
it off alright even if you could

(above) This is me on going to the air port or Jordan or so variation of the two. The Photo was taken by my good friend Dan Gambino. You can go to his site by climbing on the link to the right.
(Below) a picture from the dark side. I have no idea the name of this boulder or of the problem.

( above) this photo is of Alexa Himestieb as she sends the squirming coil v6 at the Dark Side.
(below) is Adam Mckenzie climbing Government issue one of his first V10’s.

(above) Climbing is Danny, this photo was taken on Danny camera by Me . Yeah i got skillz.

(above) This photo was taken By Daniel Madson of me free soloing a easy route at Morrison. There is a lot more to climb there than just at the black hole.

What a wonderful night for a day dream

2010-01-25T09:56:00.004-07:00

There are simply those days, the one’s that tend to continue in verbal form for many years. Sometimes, while there are happening one feels that they hold no certain significance (which is probably true ), however, the events that came together to create this experience have long lasting comical value. This is one of those nights, last night in particular.

Names we changed to protect the guilty from certain public ridicule.

We drive, possibly as fast as we can walk. The snow is heavy and visibility is reminiscent of a star wars warp drive sequence. 7 hours turns into 10. I am unhappy, which means I am a complete prick to anyone who dares disturb my crazed focus on the road. John, well, John isn’t too concerned. He is drifting through an inebriated haze and seems to be making connections of little or no relevance. He see’s that the GPS reads 151 miles to SLC our final destination and is happy to point out that Bacardi is also 151 proof and he would have some if it was available. You could file that statement in the obvious foreshadowing file. Adam is in the back seat playing video games, because that’s what he does, play video games. I guess he climbs too, but far less seriously. Adam could be at home kneeling in front of the television eating gram crackers and watching cartoons for all he cares. He has no idea how close to death we are. That’s probably just fine with him.

This whole outing has one main purpose. We are heading to the outdoor industries trade show in Salt Lake city. We all in one way or another have business to attend to, all of us except John. We arrive at 10am and head right into the chaos that is the trade show. If you have never been to a trade show let me give you a visual.
1.They are all fit and healthy, they will only eat healthy yet will forget this fact when part taking in alcoholic consumption.
2. They are social awkward, people in the outdoor industry are here because they didn’t like team sports.
3. Once the façade of work is completed drinking is done with a youthful ignorance to the very real social effects of alcohol.

After hours of attempting to smooze my way into making a living we give up and go climbing. We climb at the Front climbing gym. All three of us were at the opening of this gym in 2001 almost 9 years ago. This makes us feel old. We decide to quit this futile endeavor and go drink. Upon arriving back at the trade show we visit our good friends at Mad Rock and discover they have a keg. We consume. I make at least 10 new best friends. I cannot remember one name for more than a second. That’s ok. What’s in a name? I discover that alcohol makes me very good at self promoting and shamelessly asking for things ( side note: this is a skill I should have applied to women years ago, turns out if you ask enough someone will in fact say yes). We run into Jake, he has a job at the trade show and is a contributing member to society but is always down for a little fun so we join him and his dad for dinner. All the events that occur from here on out happen a little fast with less and less sold “facts”. He is the summery…

7-9pm we forget the idea was to eat at dinner and decide to just drink. Adam in particular starts the nights of right going straight for the grey goose. It feels early to be this drunk but hey this is Mormonville and we need to show the righteous how the heathens do it.

9:00pm Our good friend KK joins us and we want to head out to the industry after party at club “ elevate” we arrive and find that a donation to the Haiti victims is required for entrance, I look left and run right, power fake, slide, dip and run. Success. A special place in Dantes inner rings of hell has been excavated out for people who bail on donations for disaster relief. We run into Don and Curtis from our friendly neighborhood wilderness exchange and buy each other drink. I should say now that im not much of a drinker and am approaching socially unacceptable drunkenness which feels right because so is John. KK remains the soft spoken voice of reason.

( this is club Elevate the next morning )
11:00 we continue drinking with reckless abandon, scotch and coke, vodka and tonic ( skip the grey goose and hand me the pov pov bottle ) I loose John and adam and make new best friends. They buy me a drink. Thanks.
12:00 In the corner of my eye I see John being carried by two large men in black, they are not happy. I wave and say that I know the guy being thrown out like he is a celebrity or something. I turn back to my friends and they order another drink. I am scolded by kk and Jake, they tell me to forget the drink and go after John. I say he’s fine but oblige.

12:05 I walk out to a total nightmare. Let me set the scene. There are hundreds of people outside and they all seem to be looking at John. The bouncers have thrown him on the curb. John is completely out of his mind, screaming and shouting while sitting prone on the floor. I deny know this person and watch from a distance.
12:10 The police are called. The crowd grows.

(This is from the next morning…)
12:11 Two security guards, after the pleading request of Jake and I drag John around the side of the club and let us try and take him away before the police arrive. Carrying a lifeless body is much harder than you would think. People stare, i still try to deny knowing the person i am carrying.

(KK try to talk sense into an immovable object. )
12:15-2:00 am we push, carry and drag John the 6 bocks back to the hotel. Stopping periodically to avoid police cars. We have a routine that when head lights approach we lean John against a wall and pretend to talk with him. John becomes defiant and decides that main street will be his bed . Adam says he is done and begins to walk home. I slap John. Hard. I use the “ fireman’s carry” and get John into the lobby of the hotel. I start to wonder what people think of me carrying a dead person over my shoulders and through the foyer but decide that the best thing to do is walk fast and pretend everything is ok. A girl in the elevator asks what’s wrong with my friend, I ask what’s wrong with her face. We exit the elevator.

2:00-3:00 we try and decide if the hospital is the best place for John… we decide that we should think about it over food at Denny’s.
3:00 we head to Denny’s, without John.

4:00 we see one of the best chick on chick fights I have ever seen while eating our delicious meal, I announce that drunk people are dumb and they should be ashamed of themselves acting like that. Adam passes out at the table.
4:30 we find John alive and crawl into bed, we try and sleep hoping to find no dead bodies in the morning.
10:00 am John is fine, actually he is more than fine he’s great, no puke, hang over, nothing. This makes Adam and I mad, we on the other hand feel like death, I am physically sore from dragging Johns lifeless corpse through the city and he wakes up looking like a spit shined silver dollar.

Thoughts on training

2010-01-19T13:38:00.002-07:00

I went and checked out the Denver Bouldering Club the other day and i must say it was very nice. Great holds and a large unencumbered walls make for a very good indoor climbing gym. Only the cost would keep me away. Either way , Skyler and i had a good work out and managed to even take some pictures. While I'm talking about working out i have a few words to share on the subject. Recently i have seen a lot written about training and working out in general. Paul Robinson says to do this or Sharma does that…. I don't believe that any of this is wrong but i believe the point is missed by most. People are different, they way you go about getting strong will be different from other climbers. i assure you i know a dozen v2 climbers who would rip climbers like Paul Robinson ( no offence to him ) limb from limb. Crimp strength is a poor gauge of athleticism. So to avoid controversy i believe that general rules have to apply to training. These are my rules.

1. Have a ultimate goal. It must be held above all other parts of who you are. Partying and friends, success in any sport requires a selfish athlete. Your goal can only be accomplished by you.
Pictured: Skyler Weekes
2. Execute. Work and work hard. A month of training is nothing, nor a year. it takes 10,000 hours to master something. stop talking about it and go to the gym. ( side note… i have been climbing for 11 years without any major breaks and at my best guess I'm in the neighborhood of 3-4000 hours of climbing). Remeber that when you think you know everything about a sport. “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee

3. Want it. I know people who have climbed v11 in less than a year of climbing and friends who have climbed 5.14 hung over and malnourished, this does not mean you will do either. Rather you need to discover that you can try harder than you think and this is the only piece of training that really applies directly to your success at a sport. Remember that endurance is the ability to endure. Suffer well and often.

“I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. I cannot blindly follow the crowd and accept their approach. I will not allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.”-Bruce Lee

Pictured: Skyler Weekes

recon...

2010-01-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

i think this building needs to be climbed.. who knows. maybe someone crazy will do it.

panorama

2010-01-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

Mike Sakas gets a new toy

2010-01-11T19:10:00.002-07:00

check out Mike Sakas's new site ....

some words

2010-01-11T12:15:00.010-07:00

He was a young man

I was allergic to the fall

I thought I was fine

It’s not addicting, not one bit, not even at all

I met time and pressure

That the night of the crime, the night that im in here for

I got there just in time

the newspaper read it

constant tension was at its core

deeper deeper deeper

im not so young any more

North Table Mountasin fun

2010-01-09T17:27:00.002-07:00

Today i went up and did one of my solo circuits in Golden, 10 routes in under an hour. My buddy Will snapped a few pics ( below) this route is a 5.10-who name i have no idea… i thought the photos came out as pretty as the day was.

a quick clip from J-Tree

2010-01-07T21:37:00.001-07:00

so i decided to onsight solo “Pinch Rib” in Hidden Valley, Matuska filmed it while i almost fell off . Here is a quick video for your viewing enjoyment. sorry Aaron, i’ll be more careful next time.

thanks to Matus ( correctly pronounced Matush ) for the video and the delightful commentary

teaser

2009-12-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

yeah thats blood, ice climbing is a bitch.... look for more photos soon

Thrillseekers

2009-12-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

All the climbing gyms around Denver are good gyms, they all have great staff and sweet routes. I Have climbed at most of the major climbing gyms in the country as well as having set routes at a few of them. A choice between any of them is pure style and attitude. I thought i would list the reasons why i climb at Thrillseekers.

1. No bullshit. Walls , Holds, Weights .

2. Stiff ego crushing grades. If you climb V5 at ThrillSeekers you can climb V5 in Hueco. The walls are not very tall so every move here counts. step 1. get ass off ground.

3. No scene. You will find a total lack of pretentious attitudes, instead you find climbers who are psyched to climb.

4. Circuits. If you don't have a partner and wish to train route endurance without the now defunct auto belay units, ThrillSeekers has around a dozen 30+ move circuit trainer problems. V0- to V hard.

5. Volume. Thrills has more than double the taped problems on the wall than any other gym in Denver. The variety of the problems is amazing, what's that you say? you want a dead vert crimpy v10, a v5 dihedral stem fest, a 25 move traversing slope problem of doom. DONE.

6. Price. 10 bucks to boulder.... no special hours or used-car-salesman-deals just a reasonable price any time they are open.

7. The campus board. Thrills has the best campus board in town. It is tall, stacked with runs and just the right angle.

8. Close to the City. you can ride your bike there in 20 min from cap hill. Save gas and back up all that environmental attitude with action son.

9. Longevity. They have been around for a long time and have seen all the trends come and go. They are just climbers who are psyched on climbing. Simple.

10. Music. Metal, rap, classic rock, techno, polka.... they play it. seriously it never seises to amaze me.

sweaters and slippers... news from the front

2009-12-23T09:09:00.000-07:00

This is my new sweater, it's pretty sweet. I think i goes well with my new slippers.

I arrived back in Denver a few days ago. I am going to be here for a few days to hang out with my mom and then i have a hectic schedule ahead of me. First to LA for a Hippy Tree new years party in Joshua Tree and then to Southern Utah for some crack climbing in Capital Reef National Park and then to Fontenbleu for some French lessons on technical rock climbing. It will be quite a month.

Capital Reef National Park

While i am here im trying to eat right, after my recent trip i realized that while i sat down to eat a frozen pizza for dinner, most of the other climbers ate the things called vegetables. These things have been known to give you powers.

check those forearms

so i guess i'll give the little green bastards a try.

Anyway while im home i got a hold of some FiveTen Stealth Rubber Paint. So i gave it a try on my MadRock Maniac climbing shoes. Here is how it went...

Before

After

Im pretty stoked on the way it came out, now i just have to use them and see how it works.

guns and caves....

2009-12-18T19:08:00.009-07:00

Keith preparing to make fire...
the gun rack above the door... yes those are deer feet.

Today it rained so we did what any good kentuck-ian should do. We grabbed "the judge" a .45 cal hand gun and jumped in the "van" (pictured below ) .With Joe Haynes as our guide we headed for adventure in the back woods of KY.

The "whip"

Ander on his sub-whip.... He totes this

this is joe doing what he does best.....

last days in the red....

2009-12-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

a dispatch from the red

2009-12-15T22:35:00.006-07:00

here are some pictures of me falling, because thats what i do. I have been here in Kentucky for about a week, climbing, sleeping , generally fucking off. Im here with my good friend Keith who has the unique ability to take pictures of unusual beauty. Even of goofy freaks like myself. i will have more to say when im not drunk. Im going to Cincinnati tomorrow to rest ( i know your jealous ) and maybe listen to some jazz. Maybe then i will have something of substance to say.

some photos courtesy of Keith Ladzinski

http://picasaweb.google.com/relentlessclimbing/MattLoyd#

pie wont make you fly... but im gunna eat the whole damn thing and try

2009-11-26T11:05:00.005-07:00

here are some pictures from a friend of mine Daniel Madson. You can scope some more of his photos at http://pebblewrestlersinc.blogspot.com/

Matt goes to N.Table mountain ?

2009-11-18T14:12:00.001-07:00

Today out of lack of anything more important to do i went climbing at North Table Mountain… i know what your thinking, “that place is lame” and indeed for those of us who climb harder than 13.a it does not present a traditional challenge, however, when you take away the rope it changes everything. With easy walk offs and short pitches that top out it makes a free soloists dream area.

Morrison bouldering…

2009-11-11T19:16:00.001-07:00

Gina on Helicopter v6

today i bouldered some rocks in Morrison Colorado… so did Gina…

5.10 onsight free solo …. since v10 apparently was out of the question.

snow day

2009-10-29T09:20:00.001-06:00

its a snow day so here are some cool old shots from nice days in eldo

Rincon 5.11a (dan gambino photo)

Rosie's Crucifixion 5.9 (Matus Sabolic)

Your Mother 5.12D (matt lloyd)

Yellow spur 5.10d (Natalie Marsh)

“The Web” 5.13b/c (Gabe Craviero)

“The monument” 5.13a (Matt Lloyd)

The dihedral crux on “Vertigo” 5.11a (Lisa A. )

The 1 hour solo circuit of wind tower

2009-10-24T11:46:00.003-06:00

This is our friend "the wind tower"... not the steepest nor the tallest, this rock offers very little to a climber who has passed out of gumby hood.... with that said , if you are willing to un-rope and for go the limitations of gear you can have a blast making mega link ups on this piece of Eldo magic... here is my link up.

This is a picture to get your bearings.

The 5.6 10 pitch linkup

(each pitch is worth a point)

start by climbing "the bomb" 5.4 and take it all the way to the true summit of the wind tower ( 3 points)

descend via down climbing where the rap anchors are located on the north west side of the feature

on your way down the trail stop at "wind ridge" 5.6 or 5.8 depending on how you go. Climb this route all the way to the top making sure to take delight in climbing the weird roof at the top of the second pitch. ( 3 points)

Down climb from the top as you would go up the bomb but after reaching the rap anchors at the top of the second pitch for the bomb descend "recon" 5.6 (2 points)

once at the bottom walk slightly up hill and climb "calypso" 5.6 (2 points)

down climb "boulder direct" 5.5 ( 1 point)

bouldering in Eldo

2009-10-22T19:34:00.000-06:00

This is Adam, he likes crimps... this boulder problem is called "the grinch" and it is really hard v8/9 and dead vert on mega small crimpers. Get some...
This is Midnight Frightning im not sure how hard it is but i think it's V11...a pretty sick line...

Silver Raven and night endeavors on the Bastille

2009-10-16T18:08:00.006-06:00

On Thursday I went up with Eldorado regular Scott Bennett and the newly transplanted Floridian Johanna Twiford. We walk our ass's all the way up to the top of the West Ridge and warmed up on "Darkness 'Til Dawn" 5.10a just above the green spur. If you have never climbed this route it a total master piece of Eldo rock climbing for 3 reasons:

1. it's long 2. it's sustained 3. it has amazing movement

After that i followed Scott to "Silver Raven" 5.11D and in no less than ten minutes, i found myself on the brink of tears and yelling like a stabbing victim, wondering why i had yet again listened to Scott. After my hour long epic up the route ( which i was only barely able to redpoint) i found out why he liked the route so much. It's scary enough to have your total concentration and it's hard, both technically and physically.

On our way down we decided, half jokingly, that we should take our new friend Jo up the Bastille... at night... with out proper headlamps... nearly solo..... and in tennis shoes..... lets just say we have made better decisions and Jo was slightly less than pleased sitting in the dark 200 feet up her "on sight" of the Eldo Mega classic. Upon reaching the top we decided that the appropriate action was to start drinking immediately.