MN Crimp

First trip out to Oak Flats today! Got in some good climbing and hung out with some nice people while I was out there. I climbed alot of the same stuff I climbed last time plus added a few more. This place is so huge, I have alot more to learn. I tried searching for an area called ‘The Maze’ but had no luck so finally went back to an area I was more familiar with – ‘Davy Jones’ Locker’ — I’m lucky I didn’t get lost out there and still be wandering around. The problem I’m doing in this picture is my first project out here. No idea what it’s rated as it’s not in my guide but it is a really cool, overhanging problem. I got on it toward the end of my day out there and my tips were too shredded to give it a really good go. I look forward to trying it again with fresher fingers.

Here’s a V2/V3 I did in the same area.

The latest I’ve heard about this place is that it will eventually be shut down. This is too bad as it’s a great place–I do hope a fair land exchange does happen so more climbing areas will open up in exchange for this one. (http://www.climbtamo.com has info on one possible area). I do feel lucky that I am getting the chance to climb here before it is shut down.

In other news, I got invited to a $10 buy in poker game friday with some guys from work. I ended up winning and taking home about $40 . I think that really annoyed most of the people there since only one person there even knew me. Oh well.

First full day here today. I decided to take the day off and just relax before hitting work tomorrow. After dropping Graham off at the airport I drove over to check out the Phoenix Rock Gym. It’s only a few minutes from where I’m staying and not as expensive as AZ on the Rocks. I wasn’t impressed with the bouldering there at all. It’s a huge gym and they have just one pretty much square room for boulderers. Most of it is just vertical walls too. They use the “D” scale for grades. I saw D1-D7 problems and according to the conversion chart, you have to get to D4 before you get up to V1 and by the time you’re at D6, you’re climbing V5. Since it was mostly vertical, pretty much all the routes were balancey, crimpy things to get up. Oh well, I complain, but it is still climbing and I got a good workout. Hung out with some cool people as well and even ran into a couple of guys I had met out at Oak Flats last time I was here last month. I’ll probably still go there sometimes when I don’t feel like driving all the way up to Scottsdale to AZ on the Rocks. I also bought a guide for another area out by Oak Flats that I’ll check out on Saturday.

Here’s home for the next two months: