something beautiful (image intensive)
First I will introduce to two very questionable individuals: me and my brother Rob.
Classy, aren't we?
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Here is Rob again doing the heel-hook starter move on a ridiculous problem. I think it's somewhere around the V4 or V5 range, unnamed.
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Here is me bouldering. Note how there are no photos of ME doing a heel-hook, not because I don't do them but because I rarely bouldered in the same location of Rob. :P This problem is another one whose name and rating I don't know, beyond that it was too hard for me -- I only attempted it at the insistence of friendly nearby boulderers who saw me waiting for Rob. I got close to the top, but there were at least 2 good moves that kicked my ass.
This problem is largely responsible for removing my fingertips: one of the only holds is an eroded hole with knifelife edges you have to lean your weight against. There are also apparently no footholds. :P
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Mike, me, and Jamie huddle close to the fire on a very cold night. Mike may or may not be holding Ray's "climb high whiskey."
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Who did I camp with, you ask?
Here is a picture of Ray, Mike, Pat, and I standing near the outlook. Ray and Pat were my bouldering companions of choice. :)
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Here is Ray bouldering the Sandbox, an under-rated V2. This is the problem Rob hurt himself *after* he finished it.
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This is me on the unnamed boulder I STILL have a date with. There are a million ways to climb it, but topping out is nearly impossible for me. Why is that, you ask? Well, in addition to having never done so before, there is NOTHING to hold onto on top of this rock. If you look carefully at my hands, it LOOKS like my right hand is in a groove, but it is not. I am somehow pushing my palm against slick, sloping sandstonet to make it stick. The next move involves arching my stomach around overhung rock and reaching up with my left hand... only to find absolutely NOTHING but slick concave stone. And hold it with the friction of palms alone... before I tumble off. :P
PS: Ignore what my legs are doing. I think I was matching to switch feet when somebody took this picture. :P
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This is Jamie (the other guy we camped with and who drove down with us) doing the infamous Bum Boy. I wonder why it's called "Bum Boy"...
Jamie is frickin' awesome.
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You can't tell me this isn't cool. :D
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This picture amuses me immensely. I think I was monkeying around on the boulders when I thought that non-boulders might like to see what climbers do when they choose to congregate around a certain problem. Basically, they set up what appears to be a small homeless village. :D
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And now, despite having many more photos, I will go back to having a life and letting you do the same. A final farewell from Rob and I (gods, are we not dorks?)
I appear concerned. Or perhaps I am freezing. Or could it be foreshadowing...?