Life has been pretty busy the last couple of months, and unfortunately I haven't had much time to work on the site. Apologies to everyone checking in hoping to find more goodies. I just finished an short article on Tucson geology that I had been slowly working on for a while, hopefully some of you guys will find it interesting. I've got a few more things I am trying to finish up, so hopefully there will be a lot more new stuff in the coming weeks. 


On a personal note, I am excited to have just finished building a small home wall in my backyard. It is a project I had been considering for a while, but always talked myself out of. It was surprisingly easy, and even with very little carpentry experience, I am pretty pleased with the results. I've been slowly filling it in with holds, thanks to some good deals from Contact Climbing Holds and ebay, as well as some borrowed ones. The main climbing wall is 8'x8', overhanging about 35 degrees. This main wall is sitting on top of a vertical 2'x8' kicker board for starting off with your feet. I have a couple of ideas to expand it just a little, but unfortunately I'm pretty limited in space so I can't go too overboard.


This past weekend it worked out that I could take a short weekend trip, something I don't get to do too often. So I headed to Hueco for the first time since I moved here (I went a couple times about 6 years ago). It turned out that Saturday was the Rock Rodeo. I was a little worried it would be too crowded or chaotic to get much climbing in, but it turned out to be a stellar day. I climbed a ton of classics and met a bunch of cool people. Sunday was a little rainy, but managed a pretty good half day before heading back into Tucson. I hope to have a more detailed trip report written up soon. 


While it has been amazing to see all the rain and the streams flowing really well, it has been a bummer that most of our good low elevation boulders are underwater. I've got a couple of projects I've been wanting to get back to, but have been opting to rope up a bit lately. I've been wanting to get more photos and videos up lately, but haven't bouldering much lately (plus we lost our camera....). Hopefully things will dry soon and it will be crushing time.

In climbing, it is good to avoid getting too focused and concerned with numbers, and not with your own personal learning and growth as a climber. Same with this website. But as with climbing, I can look at the number of views of this website as a way to assess the general quality and usefulness of the site. And for the first time the other day, this site had 200 pageviews. While not a mind blowing number, for this small site and the niche audience, I was pretty psyched to see that. And it has been cool that we've been averaging well over 100 views (on weekdays, at least). So thanks everyone for checking out the site, and continuing to return to it. And while I've been less prolific at adding content lately, having so many people checking out the site helps keep me motivated to put in the time. 

SHAMELESS PROUD PARENT SPRAY BELOW - READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION -

In a more personal exciting development, last week I bought a climbing harness and helmet for my kids. They love scrambling around boulders and climbing on whatever they can, so I figured it was time. I took my 4 and a half year old son to the gym to see how he would handle the height of the wall. Needless to say, he crushed it. It took him a few tries to get comfortable with being up high, but he never really got scared. On his third or fourth try he rang the bell on the easy beginner wall - he was elated, and ended up ringing it probably six more times. He spent most of his time on the same wall, and it was fun to watch him learn the route. He started getting the beta dialed in, climbing the wall more smooth and quickly each time. He also loved being lowered, kicking off the wall and bounding down like the SWAT team. He's been bragging about it to everyone, and can't wait to go back. 

My last blog post was about last year - definitely a great year for me, climbing wise and personally. Now that we are a few weeks in 2010, I am looking forward to this year being just as amazing, and hope to continue improving as a climber. I am not too big on resolutions, but I certainly have some climbing goals for the year. And I think stating them publicly will help keep me motivated and working hard to ensure I fulfill at least a few of these.

General Goals -

• Climb and train smart to avoid injury! I've been pretty successful at this most of my climbing career, but it's even more important now that I am a little older and climbing a little harder.
• Build some sort of training wall in the backyard - either a small campus board or a modest wall. Anyone have any construction experience?
• Keep improving the site. I've been slacking lately, but I'll try to pick it back up and keep adding more areas and topos. Especially as the seasons change, I'll try to add more areas higher up the mountain where people are climbing at the time.
• Do more trad climbing and multi-pitch routes.  
• Get out of town for climbing a couple times (hopefully to Hueco...)

Specific Goals - 

• Boulder problems to send - Barefoot Traverse (Windy Point), Jewel Thief (Matterhorn), Hammer of Hate (Molino), Firepit Problem (Cochise)
• Routes to climb - Coup d'tat (Orifice Wall), Spinal Twist (The Dry), No Climb For Old Men (Helmet), Eclipse and Milanoma (Milagrosa)

Any one else have any climbing goals for the year? 

It's a little cheesy and cliche, but as the year comes to an end it is hard not to look back and reflect on the previous 12 months. Did we live up to our expectations? Did we meet any goals, check any items off our Bucket List? For climbers, this inevitably means thinking back to our favorite climbs, those elusive projects, and the great times laughing at the crag. With that in mind, I thought I would share some of the highlights from my year in climbing, and hope that some of you guys will share a few of yours in the Comments section. 

The year started off with a couple of high notes from the midwest. First, a group of friends from St. Louis came to visit and do some climbing. I got to play tour guide, and take them to some of our local classics, including Steve's Arete, Hitchcock Pinnacle, Arizona Flyways, Blood Book and of course, Milagrosa Canyon and Gates Pass. Shortly after that I flew to St. Louis myself, and between spending time with family and friends, got to squeeze in a trip to the Holy Boulders of Southern Illinois. With near perfect temps and high motivation, I was able to finally send a long term project that had eluded me for many reasons. But I managed to pull out a send of Jungle Book, an ultra-classic sloper arete, and one of the most striking lines I've ever had the pleasure to climb.

This summer I fell in love with the Orifice Wall, and had a blast climbing up there. I felt like I finally developed some of the skills necessary to be a decent sport climber, and toiled away at a few projects up there. I feel pretty confident that Hard Day at the Orifice and Orifice Politics will always be among the best sport routes I will ever climb.

After Orifice season, I was pretty psyched to switch gears and start bouldering some more. When Chris Prewitt sent me satellite images of Panther Peak, I was salivating at the chance to head up there. It was exhilarating exploring the area, and finding cool new lines around every corner. And after cleaning epic amounts of choss, I feel we found some pretty good problems up there, and begun development of what could be a real good area. Snagging the first ascent of Righteous Beast was definitely a highlight. And even now, after the initial excitement of sending the problem has worn off a bit, I am convinced it is one of the best problems in Southern Arizona. Hopefully development will continue up there, as there are plenty of stellar lines still waiting to be done.

Recently it has been a lot of fun to work on this website. It has been a lot of work, but well worth to help people find some new areas to check out. Thanks especially to every one who has contributed to the site or offered feedback or suggestions! I hope to keep improving the site and keep adding more and more information and media.

Of course, the most memorable thing about any year of climbing is all the amazing people I have been fortunate enough to climb with. From the OG's of Team Tuesday, to the peanut gallery at the Orifice Wall, and all the folks I have been bouldering with lately - THANKS FOR A GREAT YEAR! There are so many reasons I love and continue climbing, and the people I get to climb with are right on top of the list. So thanks for the laughter and stories, the motivation and support, and for sharing this passion and making every day that more interesting and meaningful.

What about you???

Having lived and climbed in Texas, Missouri and Connecticut, I have to say that it is relieving to finally live in an area where access to climbing areas is not too much of an issue. Not once in my time in Tucson have I had to hop a fence, or pretend I didn't see the obvious "NO TRESPASSING" sign. The one area I can think of that has been closed is Campbell Cliffs, and we have to avoid certain areas during falcon nesting season. But for the most part, we can head out to climb without having to also act like secret agents.


Phoenix climbers have suffered more losses, as urban development started to encroach on the rocky areas around Camelback Mountain and Scottsdale. A pending decision to begin mining in the Queen Creek region could be the biggest loss of all, and will certainly hurt climbers through Arizona and the southwest. With the economy still sputtering, it seems like it will be increasingly difficult for climbers and conservationists to stop the proposed land swap. For those that are concerned about the loss of Queen Creek climbing and recreational opportunities, the Queen Creek Coalition deserves an enormous amount of gratitude for staying vigilant and continuing to represent our interests.


While I have only climbed at Queen Creek once, and haven't followed all the details and developments of the land swap deal, I would hate to lose this great climbing area. The only bright side to losing Queen Creek might be the areas we could potentially gain from the land swap, including the much talked about Tam O'Shanter. Dustin recently passed along this interesting document from the QCC, showing what the QCC has asked for, and how RMC (Resolution Copper Mining) has responded. 


There are some interesting and potentially beneficial items RMC has agreed to. 

• Transfer of Tamo and Apache Leap. 
• Roads and infrastructure to The Homestead and a few other areas. 
• $50K hardware fund for route development. 
• Potential relocation of boulders.

I still hope a deal can be reached and climbing access to all Queen Creek areas can be preserved. But if the land swap happens, and mining begins, I hope RMC lives up to this agreement, and fulfills these obligations. We could gain some interesting and unique areas, and with new roads and infrastructure open up whole new parts of central Arizona open for exploration. 

I hope to expand on these two topics later (especially with regard to Tucson bouldering history), but I thought I would throw a couple thoughts out that I think are important to mention.


Grades- I have mixed feelings about bouldering grades, and even toyed with the idea of this being a 'grade-free' site. However, one of the goals of this site is to improve access to information about Tucson bouldering and to assist in communication about our boulders. Omitting grades would serve neither of those causes. Grades for problems have traditionally been a little on the stiff side, and I think it is good to try and maintain that ideal. Grade inflation is a problem at many areas around the country, and 'hero ratings' are only good for the ego, nothing else really. As we find new areas and problems, or try to assign grades to older ones, it is good to keep this in mind. Being one of the main developers (so far) of the Panther Boulders, and responsible for the grades attached to many of the problems there, I will also offer a weak apology. Gradings are inherently subjective, and the grades I have given are undoubtedly off, for many reasons - 1) I am tall and lanky 2) I am weak 3) I have terrible footwork 4) it was too hot/cold that day. We also tried to be conservative in our grading, but look forward to people giving their input and arriving at a consensus. One of the most useful tools on mountainproject.com is the ability for anyone to give input on ratings, and for the community to arrive at a consensus. Down the line we may even have something like that on this site, but in the meantime feel free to share any ideas or opinions on the grades of particular problems with me (especially at any new area), especially if something seems way off.


 
History - As we re-discover areas that have undoubtedly been climbed at before, a problem that frequently arises is lack of information about an area, especially in regards to names of problems. Many older problems around Tucson either were not named when they were climbed, or names have frequently been forgotten. While naming problems can certainly seem superfluous or unnecessary, it certainly helps to have one when you are trying to share your enthusiasm for a problem with other people. A handful of us have decided that it will be helpful to start to give some of these unnamed problems names, a sort of retro-naming. This could potentially cause a few problems down the line, but hopefully not. These 'community' names do not reflect any claim at a first ascent, or any disrespect towards those who chose not to name their problems. And if any problems I list on this site have been given names that we were unaware of, I will gladly change the name to properly reflect the history of the problem. One of my hopes in doing this is that by labeling some of these problems, those who know a little of the history might shed some light on the history of these areas and climbs. 


Hope everyone got a little climbing in this weekend......Joe

Came across this funny Monty Python sketch satirizing expedition climbing, but I think the essence of the joke could be applied to bouldering equally as well....

We've had a pretty productive week out at Panther Peak. Development is moving right along, with over 25 problems now. With more people coming out and more climbing taking place, many of the lines are cleaning up really well. We have tried cleaning a few lines that seem like they won't clean up, but for the most part, after the initial choss is gone, the lines are pretty clean.


Three outstanding lines went down this week, with Dustin climbing Fat Hunk of Burning Love, and myself finishing Righteous Beast and Ninja Parade. A host of other good climbs at HUB, Meatwad and Pyramid have also been sent. A few good projects have been cleaned pretty well, and are waiting to be opened. Three hard, quality lines on the Pyramid (one on the short backside, and two in the hole left of the tall face) and a 15 foot extension into Cig Machine. Chris has also cleaned a few highballs on rappel that have yet to be topped out, with the tall problems on the Pyramid being pretty plum lines.


HEY PEOPLE, COME CLIMB HERE! 

Did the javelina not see his shadow? It has been summertime here until today. And fortunately I got to spend this lovely autumnish day out at Panther Peak. Chris and Brent joined in on the action, and we all left beaten and bloody. This place really manages to do this to me every time. We established two good new problems on Meatwad, made progress on the Righteous Beast project (soooo close!), and cleaned up two lines on the Pyramid that will be real nice when they go. Pictures and videos to come.


Thanks to everyone that has checked out the site, offered suggestions or offered to help out. I haven't had much time the last few days to add more to the site, but hopefully I'll get a lot of goodies added this weekend - assuming I have any skin left on my fingers after heading back to Panther tomorrow. 

Just gnawed off a grisly flapper.  


Stay classy, Tucson.