smith rocks halloween

today bret and I climbed at smith. went well for him. not so much for me. i did do the watts tots first try today though. which was my proj when i was a kid. it took me a few weekends to send that thing back then. i used to sit in school going over the beta in my head. i thought it was so cool to leave my draws on it, then come back the next weekend. it has been close to 20 years since i have been on it. very satisfying.
the usual skulls and pumpkins were in holds all over many of the routes. pretty classic down here.
hopefully tomorrow will go well.

hirundos evolution

i am a huge fan of the hirundos. petzl has been at the forefront of light sport harnesses since i was a kid. i just got my new orange one. at first i stuck with the green cuz i liked the color better. i felt that the orange one looked too much like that black diamond harness. but when i got my orange hirundos in the mail, it was much brighter than the BD one and really doesnt look anything like it. plus, after a year of whippers on my green one, i figured it was time.
i have worn all 4 evolutions of the hirundos. which the black and purple one was actually called the hirundo. i want them to get a bright blue or neon pink one next.
im at smith right now. just drove down and am in the hub with bret. made it in 6 hours in the truck. man its slow with all the hills. but rad for sure. there was snow on the side of the road over hood, but nothing to worry about. we will see how it goes down here.

happy halloween

the funny thing is, this is exactly what i looked like 20 years ago.
black lycra tights, sportiva kendo's, metolius 3 point tie in specialist harness and metolius leather finger dipper chalkbag. notice the original vertical club tank top as well, none of this remake stuff we are selling the gym ;)and i am on the original panels that made up the 45 from the elliot gym.
those were good days. classic.

this is a first

Ron Goldberg......RIP

one of my best friends on this planet, bennett, had his father taken from him on monday. Ron Goldberg was fighting cancer for quite some time. his battle ended monday morning in his sleep. for years Ron's house was a safe haven for myself and many of bennett's friends. he treated us with respect and always good humor when we were blowing it. Ron you were a friend to me and im glad i was able to spend some time with you this summer before you went. you will be missed by many family and many friend. thank you for being so good to us for all those years. you are appreciated.
RIP holmes.

little si today

rain warriors

today bret and I headed out to little si. it was soaked on friday so our doubts were high. we really didnt think we were going to get much climbing. so we brought a bunch of leaver draws and biners to replace a bunch of stuff that got worn out this summer.
but when we got to the parking lot it was warmish and we got psyched. we got to the wall and it was bone dry on most routes. bret was planning on doing the dr. evil and i wanted to climb 10 pitches. fitness check.
both of these things went as planned. bret did the dr. evil and i was able to do 10 pitches, which i cant remember the last time i had the time out there to do that.
i did, rainy day (12a) for warm up, hydrophobia (12c) for the 2nd, chronic(13b) twice, full californication(13a) twice, psychosematic(12d) twice, then techno(12c) twice and back to back.
this was a great fitness day for me. i have been losing confidence cuz of the weather and not getting outside last weekend. plus climbing in the gym is just depressing cuz i dont feel very strong when i do.
hopefully we will get many more days like this this winter. it really is only going to take getting out there to keep this psyche and check the fitness. good day, good send bret. even though bret doesnt meet the oldguy.com criteria, his send today was still newsworthy. love to see who he has become.

brad evans winner

sounders win final regular season game.....at home, and they scored.....at home

seattle has been on a home scoring drought. it has been painful to be at every game and have them not score. especially after a great first 3/4 of the season.
well tonight they pulled it out against dallas, who have been on a tear lately. after going down 1-0 in the 14th with a goal by atiba harris, dallas put a lul into the sounders for the rest of the first half. again, doubts rumbled through the crowd of 33,108. sounders pulled it out in the second half with goals by jaqua in the 61st and brad evans in like the 85th. we, as a city, as a fanbase, needed that, badly. now we head into the playoffs. keep it up boys, we are counting on you. and please dont let your first playoff game be next weekend, cuz i wanna go to smith.

oh boy its that time of year........rain, rain and more........

i guess you could call it the itch, or crazy, or maybe even the psyche. today bret and I ventured out to little si in the piss rain. it has been raining for days. but we thought for sure the usuals (rainyday, techno, chronic) would be dry. nope. everything was wet. chronic was soaked at the top, abo was soaked at the bottom. we sure as hell werent going to walk out there and not try to climb. so we started up chronic with a bunch of wet holds, when i got to the typewriter, it was brutally wet up the rest of chronic, but californicator was dry, kinda. it puts things in a whole new perspective when you have to hold on twice as hard cuz the holds are wet. got to the anchor and realized that techno was dry, mostly. warm up on full californication with about 25% of the holds being wet. made it about 14a. bret decided to give it a go as well. then i did it again. then bret did dr. evil, pretty good burn too. then i tried full californication again, fell at the top and realized how i wanted to go shopping at the outlets instead. it was fun as hell, and trying to keep the psyche was worth it. this is going to be a long winter it seems. hopefully all days wont be like this out there. looks like im going to have to travel.

SNOWBIRD 1988

here is wonderful footage from the snowbird comp in 1988. this was the first international "world cup" that had been held in the US.
this brought back many memories.

youth world champs footage valence france 2009

footage from youth world championships this last summer in valence france

Nov. 14th, redmond vertical world= CRUSH CONTEST!!

ABS bouldering comp at the redmond vertical world. get psyched.

ty landman.....beast

Teaser 1 from unclesomebody on Vimeo.

havent heard a lot from ty landman lately but you know he is still crushing problems. looks like we will be seeing a bit of footage from his recent exploits.
even though he doesnt fit into the oldguy.com category, he is still worthy of some coverage here, as it is young guys like him that keep the oldguy.com faithful inspired to crush.

my Opa's 90th birthday

spent this last weekend in chicago celebrating my Opa's 90th birthday with most of our family.
it was wonderful. he did not know this was happening. so when 34 people, most of which were family came to party with him at his favorite restaurant the dragon inn north, it brought him to tears.
my wife, my brothers, my mom, my new nephew, cousins, aunts, uncles, the wives, husbands, long time family friends, you get the picture.
last winter my Oma passed away. she was the matriarch of the family. the queen of Opa's world. it has been hard for him, hard for us. but times like this last weekend make it easier. he was very thankful, but most importantly, i think we all were realizing how lucky we were to have had him and Oma to start this wonderful family years ago. thank you Opa, and happy birthday.

me and Ljunberg?

so i had a game tonight with my regular wednesday co-ed team, sucker punch to the gonads. weve been having a pretty great season going 5-2 after a win tonight. great game. first they got an easy one through our usually unstoppable keeper johnothan. then i got taken down in the box for a penalty. the guy of course called me a diver and said he didnt touch me. no, i flew 5 feet onto my face on purpose. jackass.
we were able to go ahead later when their right back passed back to the keeper but i sprinted to him for the pressure causing him to kick it straight to sue who then sailed one in from the far side of the 18 as the keeper was out.
they did come back with a free kick outside the box after johnothan made the save but the rebound wasnt covered.
2-2.
then they got another one. 3-2. this was crap, we were better than them. we had no subs and they did. our guys and gals got psyched. i pulled back from the front to let dan go forward. he and jimmy have great combos and can pretty score at will when they are on. well jimmy did just that with a feed from dan. about 1 minute after they went ahead, we tied it up.
then off a corner from jimmy, dan sent another one in. 4-3 us. hell yeah. thats how it stayed.
but in reference to me going down a few times, one or two of their guys were calling me freddie. i will take it. Ljunberg is my guy. love him.
great game, great fun, and came away without an injury. success!

SQUIDBILLIES....love this

Five Reasons to Watch The Venture Bros. Season 4 - Film School Rejects

im totally addicted to this show.


Five Reasons to Watch The Venture Bros. Season 4 - Film School Rejects

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very insightful article from steve McClure, beast.

Repertoire of Engrams by Steve McClure who was appointed 35+ 8a climber of the year in 2008 and who in the yearbook of 2007 contributed with a a training article. Steve has been a coach and a trainer for 15 years and he has put up numouros of 9a and 9a+'s. he has more than 100 published articles in the UK media. He is known as a humble and down to earth person in the game.



The Postage Stamp Rule.

To quote a famous training guru, “The key to most people’s improvement in climbing, particularly on real rock, can be written on the back of a postage stamp – ‘climb more’!”.

For many people this is probably true. Indoor climbing makes us fitter and stronger but does not develop the problem solving skills that ‘real’ rock demands. Following a line of blue blobs is considerably different to a heavily featured limestone wall where there may be hundreds of options for each move. Most people, quite literally ‘need to get out more’!



Engrams

When we make a movement or series of movements the brain attempts to remember what happened. If the movements are repeated then the specific patterns of nerve impulses become stored in the brain as a ‘motor engram’. When faced with familiar situations the brain instantly recognises what needs to be done and executes the task without conscious interruption. A classic example is how driving a car becomes easy after a few months relative to how impossible it feels at first. The advantage of using engrams is that the brain does not have to think about the problem, it just does it! Each facet of climbing will induce a set of engrams into the brain. Indoor climbing, tufas, roofs, slabs, each style has distinctly different types of move. Obviously there are similarities between styles; a rockover on a blue blob indoors is similar to a rockover on a smear outside. However, the key is in the brain recognising the situation, a smear will feel very different to a blob inducing a whole host of conscious thoughts. There is considerable merit in practicing climbing movement indoors but without climbing outside the volume of engrams will be extremely limited.



Acquiring Engrams

Most people assume that a failed on-sight attempt was due to lack of strength or endurance. However, a limited engram repertoire is often one of the major issues. Difficult sections often confuse the climber, they don’t recognise what to do and as a result a lot of time is wasted trying to work it out. Having fallen off, worked out what to do, tried it a few times and then attempted the route again later, it’s often amazing how easy it has become. One option for improving is to become so fit and strong that you can figure out anything thrown at you, the other is to eliminate having to figure it out! When acquiring engrams there are a number of considerations;



* Don’t try desperate climbs. As things approach our limit we can only rely on the most engrained movements and nothing new will be learned.
* Safe environment. As above, if you are scared you will only rely on what you know works for sure!
* Learn when fresh. As fatigue increases, coordination goes out the window resulting in learning nothing new, or worse, learning to move inefficiently.

Solidifying Engrams - Intermediate



For those relatively new to climbing or mainly experienced indoors, a large part of the ‘training year’ should consist of simply climbing, and climbing at a level that is neither physically or mentally demanding. Summer is the ideal time, its warm and comfortable. A foreign trip early in the year is fantastic for getting the brain in gear, particularly a sunny sport destination, as loads of ground can be covered. However, don’t be tempted to ‘make the most of your trip’ by jumping straight on a red-point project! Even those that have been climbing a long time may have an extremely limited repertoire of engrams because they are always chasing numbers and spend their entire time hanging on the first bolt of a ‘far too hard for them’ route. One route per trip may seem enough with absolutely no mileage whatsoever!

During the winter months travelling to different walls will introduce new styles and prevent boredom setting in, as well as feeling like a ‘new crag’! For your local wall, once all the routes within your comfort zone have been completed, the difficulty should be increased and the emphasis focused on stress proofing, both under fatigue and fear as described below.





Solidifying Engrams - Advanced

For those already possessing a reasonable repertoire of engrams, the problem is often executing them under stressful situations. Examples could be when in danger, when being observed or when fatigued. Practice makes perfect. Sports requiring specific routines such as gymnastics, red-pointing and head-pointing necessitate considerable ‘stress proofing’ to ensure the exercise is completely engrained.



* Fear. For many climbers fear is not a result of ‘danger’ but often occurs the second a bolt is passed. Legs start shaking and technique disappears. On a top rope it would have probably felt easy. We require an altered engram that includes the element of stress. A good method is to indulge in a little sport redpointing. Practice a route on top rope until you are confident you can do it, and then lead it. Concentration will be on the climbing as opposed to fear, though you will be aware of difficult movement above protection. Engrams will become stress proofed. Ensure that it’s a safe route (no ledges, bad swings, you have a good belayer etc) and remember this fact when climbing.
* Fatigue. Difficult climbing requires our technique to remain solid under conditions of extreme fatigue. For training purposes attempt 3 – 4 laps on a route you know well and can usually get up. It should be pumpy but not with very complex or bouldery sections. As you tire the moves become more familiar and are executed more efficiently. Stop if suddenly your climbing turns rubbish – you are over fatigued!
* Danger. Many of the dangerous routes on British Gritstone were practiced extensively on a toprope prior to the eventual lead. Though being on the sharp end may feel very different, the moves are so wired that they have become relatively easy.

sounders make the playoffs in first season

for the first time since the '98 season, and expansion team in the MLS has made the playoffs.
SOUNDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

damn i loved these.....brand new kendos

when i was a kid, climbing in the late 80s early 90s, the sportiva kendo was the top of the line sport shoes. all the rad sport guys and gals wore these. they were so rad that they were made for like 8 years or more. slip lasted and lined. the construction on these boots was unreal. so good. each pair was hand made, and you could tell.
i won the 1990 indoor sport climbing championships in san diego, youth category, in a pair of these.
my friend rudy (a fellow shoe junky) spotted these on ebay. brand new, out the box, never worn. i had to have them. $12 and $10 shipping. and they are now mine, and they fit my feet. i will not climb in these, as i was reminded how far technology has come. man they hurt, but wow what a blast from the past. memories came running back of pictures of kendos on the worlds hardest routes.
get psyched.

youngster

obsessed

Obsession from Chris Doyle on Vimeo.

BLACK ICE

jake and i headed out to little si today. it was freezing, so of course the rock was good. we were the only ones there besides a couple guys who bailed cuz it was cold. then tom and chris came up to try techno again.
ive been feeling good lately, but i hadnt been out since last weekend, and really start to get paranoid about my fitness when i dont climb often. the gym is not cutting it motivation wise, but i guess it is doing its job.
i wanted to try black ice (13B). a few years ago i went up on it with dr evil (kubiak) belaying me. he gave me consistent 30 foot whippers while i was working the moves. to say the least, it sucked,his beta sucked, and it really unnerved me and made me never want to get on it again.screw you erik.
for some reason i wanted to get on it again today. jake had killer beta and belayed me for the first go. it went pretty quick i guess, but i for sure sat and dialed from bolt to bolt.
then i did it next go.
great route, great moves. for sure it makes me happy.

TJ, we will see you again

our dear friend TJ has passed away this week from a climbing accident.
TJ and I spent much time discussing silly things in the gym. especially how much my routes kicked his butt. TJ, thank you for the times, the buckets and always your good humor.

my new '89 hi-lux 4x4

im super psyched to have gotten a truck. my wife and I have been talking about getting one for years, but since volkwagen hasnt made one worthwhile (or in our price range), we have held off. until now. i found this beauty on craigslist. bought it from the 2nd owner. its an '89 toyota hi-lux 4x4. 4cyl, 5spd, the most basic, kick ass truck. i now can crush small people and make it to the mountain whenever i want. plus i can sleep in the back, not like i will, but i have the option. ive been driving it around this weekend going over as many speed bumps as i can. if you know what i have been driving for years, you know why this is fun to me. i am also selling my '78 bus if anyone is interested. $3k obo. fully rebuilt 2L with hydraulic lifters. fully rewired and new clutch. its a daily driver.

smith in the day

british beasts....ben and jerry

the next level, years ago

robyn was one of the all time greatest competitors. she is now building beasts that will win national championships.

scarface beta, get psyched

CLASSIC

if you know who this is and what he was to climbing, you have been around as long as i have.

this seems like forever ago

WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO

motivation

we woke up yesterday morning to 35degrees and snow rain in redmond oregon. it was very disappointing as we both had things we wanted to do at the park. but of course i had my computer and was able to check the weather back home. sunny and in the 60s. so bhops and I hoped in richs cobalt (which i was driving so that we didnt have to charge mileage to the company, how anyone gets talked into buying a rental car, i have no idea. this car had the slickest tires and the worst wipers ever. but it did the job) and we drove north. it was snowing over mt hood but was not bad. it took us 5.5 hours and we were in the parking lot at little si. we basically ran up the trail. i was psyched to get a session in. we didnt think we would. it is nice to be this motivated. the cliff was packed but stuff was open. i felt strong and stuff felt easy. i went up hardliner (13a), which is a link of the crux of propaganda, then a few moves that i didnt know, into the crux of psychosomatic. i was pumped and started screaming, but was able to hold on for the flash. that felt good. bhops fessed on pornstar again. it is mental for him now. i think he needs to try something else for a bit.
i enjoy being this motivated. to drive that far to climb at our local crag, psyches me. maybe driving back down to smith next weekend. that place is fun again.

inclimb comp october 3rd

here is some footage from the inclimb comp today. really fun comp with fun gym and great people.

tacoma progress pics

oh man this place is looking good.

it all comes full circle

the hub motel in redmond oregon. this place rules. it always has. if you tell her your a climber she only charges you $48 for the double room, two rooms, two beds. they got microwaves, fridge, free wifi, cable. i love it. it is so much nicer for me to come back from craggin and have all the amenities of home. man im gettin old, but im just not into camping that much anymore.
i also stopped by the newer redpoint shop today. they had some good stuff. i saw some mountain hardwear crag bags that we awesome. i also saw a picture of the old red shack that was redoint back in the day. i remember eating pop tarts in there for breakfast while kubiak and craig, and will caitlin and mike smith would get coffee. those were fun times for me.
i was able to do churning today. it felt good. took a couple tries. it really brought back good memories. that was the climb i wanted to do as a kid. it was the route everyone wanted to do, if they hadnt done it already. funny how it goes now. it really felt short. but i guess im used to long extensions at little si. i wanna head up into agro gully sunday. the routes seem good and more my speed, meaning holds to pull on and less balancy tech, ie oxygen type routes.
we got a comp at inclimb tomorrow, so i will be working with the kids, should be fun. then we will be back at the smith.

where were you when............?????????

man i remember these like they were yesterday. im heading to smith tonight with bhops for a couple days of mud slab routes while the team attends the ABS season opener at the new inclimb gym in bend.
these images have been stuck in my head for decades. jim karn and dale goddard were those guys in the US who were taking it to the level. the level, I as a young climber, only dreamed of taking it to. and smith was that place where they were taking it. i used to get down there with the older guys and sleep on the ground, freezing my ass off, waiting for the sun to come up so we could get down to the crag. my dad used to pack me and my brothers up and take us down there too. i remember watts tots was my proj, for like 3 weekends. i used to leave my draws on it, on 12b, ha, i wouldnt think of it now. i used to wear lycra pants, with boxers underneath, cuz i was self conscious. good memories for sure.
this was really as sport routes were becoming more popular and the smith rocks was the place to get them. im psyched to see what i can do down there. i havent been in this kind of shape before when ive been down there. but im sure, it will be nothing like i remember. its pretty hard to pull on holds that are not there and hard to stand on feet that are not there. i have no expectations, but for sure i know a few lines i want to get on. we will see.