Lunatic Bouldering, at the Loonies!

Ok, time for a "Serious" post....First off, my intentions. I hope to be able to put here words, thoughts, photographs, ramblings, etc, about what I'm up to. Focusing on climbing, but really anything I feel like writing about. If you find enjoyment with that, great... if no one reads it, fantastic... If you dont want to hear about my whining and complaining about hard calculus tests... just skip ahead until you see pretty pictures of big boulders.

So last Saturday (6/1), I had the pleasure of heading out to a bouldering area by Loon Lake with Wick, Kristen, and Dave Nunley. The plan was to meet up somewhere and cram into a car with people, pads, and a dog, and hit the road.We all met up in Loomis, where I was stuffing my face with a Almond Croissant and a coffee. (Are we seeing a trend here with pastries and coffee? oh well.) After pouring over the meat and cheese selection that the best Raley's in Loomis has to offer, we had lunch sorted out and were on our way. The drive out there goes by quick, although its unneccesarily windey, but after less then 2ish hours in the car, we were parked and ready to get moving. It's a quick walk to the boulders, and with the living, breathing, guidebook, Dave, leading us on, we were standing amidst big bold granite boulders in no time.

I must say, the first climb of the day did not inspite much confidence in me. It was the only V0 warmup in the immediate vicinity, called "Good Question". Wick hiked it in his Evolv approach shoes, quickly followed by Dave. I, on the otherhand, shod up in my climbing shoes and proceded to get on the problem. I was all over the place, my hands were sweaty, I was sketched out off of jugs, my feet wouldn't smear on anything... Let's just say it was probably the hardest V0 of my life. Ok, that was a little melodramatic, but I was definitely not in the zone up that thing. Only thing going through my head was... "Jesus, came all the way out here and Im going to sketch out on a V0 warmup and be done for the day..."

After Good Question, we all ran up Stealth, a V3 up a few good moves on nice friendly crimps (the only ones of the day, friendly that is). A good line, and a great must do 'warm up' for the area.

Needless to say, round 3 came along, The Gatekeeper! Pete had described this problem, and from his desciption I was terrified from the getgo. In person however, although you do start with a jump start while standing 4 feet off the ground on one boulder onto the problem, the fall was pretty safe (from experience), and it was an amazing line. Short, sweet, but full value. Here's a video that you can enjoy:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJILrAA_5cM[Still working on the whole embedding you-tube videos, if its even possible, sorry for the inconvenience, but its a good vid, so check it out].

I guess we decided to ramp it up a bit after Gatekeeper and set the pads down at the base of 10 Gauge. Originally a V6, a key foothold broke off, and is now considered an 8. It starts with this heinous right hand crimp pinch razor of death, and a left hand undercling. Youve got a piss right foot you need to jack your foot up way high onto, and then throw for a decent but small left hand crimp. From that, there is a right hand sidepull that is good, and then another big throw left hand for the top out. I spent a bunch of time trying to do it static, and it was feeling impossible. Eventually I got it by going with a more dynamic approach, to the first left hand crimp. Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gd5SdogySYI think this is a fantastic line and another must do. It makes its way up a big vertical face on a very nice sized boulder. Big Bold Beautiful.

The rest of the day was spent running around the small sector and knocking out some other great problems, and getting smacked down on some others.
All in all, it was a fantastic day for climbing, and I was able to get up a lot of great lines.
Drop the Hammer - V9
10 Gauge - V8
Get Shorty - V7 FANTASTICLY FUN!!!! But, also a bit of a reach for us shorties!!!
Colt .45 - V6/7? Hand heel match with a big move to a jug. I did it static-ish, but can also be a big throw.
House of Pain - V6 Not too painful if you dont really use the finger lock beta, but great!
Gatekeeper - V4
Stealth - V3
Good Question - V0

Lots of climbs for one day, and my fingers were definitely on the thin side after it all, but it was a blast. Gorgeous rocks, that were big, well featured, and just fantastic. Not much could take away from my psyche that day, not even the bugs. On a downer note, however, Kristen did end up hurting her ankle on a fall off of Good Question, so I hope she is feeling better.

Im really looking forward to getting up there again, armed with brushes to clean off some more fantastic lines!