BOOYAH!!!!!! Dawgs take apple cup. Cougs look horrible.

the Truest of OLDGUYDOTCOM status, Brett Favre

today i witnessed the dismantlement of the chicago bears by brett favre and the minnesota vikings. i truly believe that brett favre is the definition of what it means to be oldguydotcom. he has only gotten older, and only gotten better, and is only having more and more fun. you can see that he really is doing this for no other reason than to have fun playing the game. i would love to be able to channel some Favre and get that feeling every time i go out to the crag or to the gym. bravo favre, you are an inspiration to all of us who sometimes feel we are past our prime, but are realizing we are only getting better. now if only i could stop eating so much.

little si thanksgiving weekend

we were originally going to go to bozeman to see my dad and the rest of the family, but when we realized that wasnt going to happen, i planned to go to smith over the weekend. that didnt happen either. so bret and I and his new little dachshund zoe, headed up to little si today to check the fitness. it was pretty wet and pretty cold but a few things were dry.
it felt pretty good to get out and check fitness. i have been feeling that i was not going to be able to maintain any kind of shape through the winter because i eat a lot and get really unpsyched on training in the gym. but today i was able to run 2 laps on chronic (13b) with some wet holds and much numbing of the hands. it felt good. we did a couple on aborigine (11b), bret did a really wet ascent of techno (12c), he did a couple on chronic as well as a really good, through the crux burn, on dr. evil (14a). it was nice to see that we both had a good base to come into the winter and it was nice to see that it is staying with us. we also did a lap on rainy day women (11c/12a).
pretty psyched to get outside in the pouring rain in the end of november. staying psyched.

Alpental Opening day 2009

today Alpental opened. i have grown up riding up there and still make a point to always have a pass so i can revisit what it has always meant to me.
pretty bad coverage but there were for sure some really fun lines on chair 1. chair 2 was open but i only took one run up there. it was pretty pitted out all was closed except edelweiss bowl. i'll bet with one more big dump and it is going to be going off.
regardless, it was a blast and even when im by myself i always have a great time. something special about the drive up, the shred, and the drive down. old times never get old.

Thanksgiving 2009

just spent last night and today in port townsend with my wifes dad and his family. he is the capt of a 68ft racing schooner built in 1909. the schooner martha is a pretty big deal.
we stayed the night on the ship and made a great dinner. it was wonderful. pretty amazing boat.

sounders army

coach kyle and baby koen

my long time rival and friend, coach kyle of the world famous team texas climbing group, has just had a baby. here he is with baby koen. for many years coach kyle and i have fought for the team championship. team texas has won the team championship for ropes for the past like 8 years, except for 2006 where they didnt compete. their success is all because of kyle. he will not admit this, but he has built the best competitive climbing program in the world. he is one of the most dedicated people i know and i have always tried to catch up to what he is doing. i have modeled much of what we do after him and his program. i would not have been where i have been without him and what he has done with his team.
congratulations to coach kyle and his wife. welcome to the world little one, just stay away from the gym for a while and hope you dont look like your dad.

drews size 2 V10s

now that kids are starting to crush routes i would like for shoe companies to start making shoes that are small enough and good enough.
rudy found a few pairs of size 2 V10s for drew. they are awesome.

RSL beats LA for the MLS cup

pretty good game. its nice to not really care who wins. i was about 2 feet from beckham on numerous occasions. that was a highlight for sure. nick rimando (RSL keeper) is a total beast. really liked his style.
i would like to point out that we beat both LA and RSL this season. SOUNDERS next season.

walls

after posting the other day about the crumbly wall in redmond it got me to thinking about wall design and what it was and what it will become.
the first artificial walls i climbed on where at the UW rock which is concrete with rocks molded into it. and then the cinder block walls at he original vertical club. then our panels and other variations of artificial walls have come around.
there are some pretty big gyms getting built in the US right now with some pretty spectacular walls, but they hold nothing to what europe has had for years. i have seen some pretty amazing walls in asia too. when will the US market wake up and make the realization that we need these things too. im hopin we will build something like this soon here in seattle. this the world cup wall at puurs.

MLS cup today

as part of our Sounders season ticket package we also got a ticket to the MLS cup being held at qwest field today. even though the sounders are not in the final, we are going to support the game. we will cheer beckham, boo donavan and the rest of the galaxy and for sure boo Real Salt Lake.
GO SOUNDERS!!!!!!!!

SBC today

good event. our kids had a great time and a great show between johnny and sean for the final. by reading the results you would think it was an ABS final.
mike foley, lizzie asher, ryan olsen, johnny, sean and of course our locals.

lack of climbing makes tyson go crazy......my fat boy enzo

tape it and they will come

when we first built this wall in 2002 it was going to be the best thing around. it really never turned out that great. in all seriousness, it has always been horrible.
i spent a few hours the other day taping routes on it and bringing back some classics.
needless to say there were lineups for the routes. tape it and they will come.

oh man i love this

pocket training

dreaming of somewhere else right now

SBC this weekend

SCS schedule for 2010

"02/27/10 Stone Gardens - Seattle, WA [Redpoint] - Confirmed

02/27/10 Alaska Rock Gym - Anchorage, AK [On-sight] - Confirmed

03/13/10 MAC (Multnomah Athletic Club) - Portland, OR [On-sight]- Confirmed
03/27/10 Vertical World - Bremerton, WA [On-sight] - Confirmed

04/10/10 Rogue Rock Gym - Medford, OR [Redpoint] - Confirmed
04/24/10 Edgeworks - Tacoma, WA [On-sight] - Confirmed
05/01/10 Stoneworks - Beaverton, OR [Redpoint] - Confirmed

05/15/10 PNW Regional Championship @ Vertical World - Bremerton, WA [On-sight] - Confirmed
06/12/10 Division-1 Championship @ ClubSport - Tigard, OR [Q-Flash/F-On-sight] - Confirmed"

Lib Techno Zine vol.5.......its about that time. shred ready.

Lib Techno Zine vol.5

routesetting crew for redmond ABS

every year we hold an ABS comp at our redmond gym. i have been a part of this event for the past 8 years. we have it down like clockwork. thanks to Mike Helt of USAC and routesetter.com fame, bret johnston, adam brossard and myself for getting it done.
4 people, 2 days, 73 boulder problems. dialed.
i picked mike up at the train wednesday night and we headed straight to my soccer game, ugh we tied, but that is for another post.
me, bret, mike and adam got to redmond gym thursday morning at about 10:30. adam had stripped the gym and got it ready the day before. after 10 problems each, set and tweaked, we thought it was time for arayas. vegan thai is good. this was about 7pm.
friday got there earlier, about 9am, and left by 7pm.
i really appreciate how fast, efficient and professional my crew was the past couple days. i love not having to worry about other peoples problems and having to spend an excessive amount of time on any one thing. less setters, higher quality,= better comps.
comp went off without a hitch today with great praise from all the parents and kids and climbers. hate it when its happening but love it when its over. cant wait to do it again.

redmond comp today

in typical Vertical World climbing team fashion..........the best support group around. go fritz. redmond comp today.

drew ruana churning in the wake 13a

drew ruana, 10 years old, 5.13 climber

vertical world team member, 10 year old drew ruana, just redpointed churning in the wake (5.13a) at smith rocks today. he did it in about 6 tries. old school vertical world team member and many time US team member BHOPS (bryan hopkins)was the belayer and said drew "fricking hiked it".
drew has been climbing since he was little and leading for a couple years now. rudy, his dad is a friend of mine from when i was a kid. i first met rudy when he was living in his van at smith rocks about 20 years ago. his kids are all crushers and i am psyched to have convinced him and his wife to let them join team and really focus on their climbing.
you can check his blog at http://shortycranx.blogspot.com/

although drew doesnt even come close to fitting into the oldguy.com criteria, this for sure is worthy news and for sure makes a coach very proud.

THANK YOU SOUNDERS

i am so very thankful for what the sounders have brought to our city this year. i could not be happier. obviously i would have loved for them to take the league, but i am a realist, i am from seattle, we dont win it all, ever. but we can be good and keep our fans psyched. Sounders, thank you, you have given me and my wife many wonderful days and nights, we love you and we will see you next season.

1 year anniversary in vegas...no climbing and weight gain for sure

HERE WE COME!!!!!

redmond ABS comp november 14th

come one come all to the crush contest.

ian caldwell on lucky pidgeon

i met ian caldwell this weekend, fiveten and black diamond climber. he is a smith local, and a super nice guy who has pretty much done every route there except a few. he definitely fits into the oldguydotcom criteria.
ian and his wife had all the beta to all the routes and both were very nice. he was also super inspiring to watch.
here he is doing lucky pidgeon, 13c, in the aggro gully.
rad.

ian caldwell on lucky pidgeon from david tyson on Vimeo.

oldguy does the rockclimbing

today summed up what i hate and love about the climbing.
this weekend i set out to smith to do a couple things. one was to do aggro monkey, the other was to do something else too, not sure what.
i got on the aggro yesterday and it didnt feel that bad. i worked it out and felt like it would go first thing this morning. well after a couple warm ups, i went to do it and went through the start. i felt really good and strong and the moves were feeling easy. right hand crimp, deadpoint to the left hand crimp, no problem, but just as i started to move my feet up the right foot i was using broke off. dammit. so next go it felt good too, and the new foot i tried to use broke. ok, try 3. made it through the beginning crux and no feet broke, awesome. the rest of the moves were feeling easy and as i was doing the next hard move, my foot blew off, smith rock style. dammit. i dont really get mad when i fall off stuff, just as long as it is because i am pumped, or the move is hard, or a hold breaks. but when i fall off because i was dumb, or didnt climb smart, or just plain made a mistake, then i get mad, and upset with myself. this is something i preach to the kids all the time while they are competing. get pumped sure, fall off cuz the moves are hard, sure, but dont make mistakes and make sure you climb smart.
then the sun started in on the route. too bad, save it for next time down there. unfortunately, that may not be for a while. the frustrating part of smith is that it is farther than a one day session.
so we walked out of the gully and down to oxygen. i have tried this route 2wice before. each time it takes a go to refigure the beta, but i havent made it back to give it a redpoint go. today i hung 50 times through the route the first go. then surprised myself with the send next go. that felt good. the love and hate, i guess that is why we do this. so frustrating, and so satisfying.