teaser

yeah thats blood, ice climbing is a bitch.... look for more photos soon

Thrillseekers

All the climbing gyms around Denver are good gyms, they all have great staff and sweet routes. I Have climbed at most of the major climbing gyms in the country as well as having set routes at a few of them. A choice between any of them is pure style and attitude. I thought i would list the reasons why i climb at Thrillseekers.


1. No bullshit. Walls , Holds, Weights .

2. Stiff ego crushing grades. If you climb V5 at ThrillSeekers you can climb V5 in Hueco. The walls are not very tall so every move here counts. step 1. get ass off ground.

3. No scene. You will find a total lack of pretentious attitudes, instead you find climbers who are psyched to climb.

4. Circuits. If you don't have a partner and wish to train route endurance without the now defunct auto belay units, ThrillSeekers has around a dozen 30+ move circuit trainer problems. V0- to V hard.

5. Volume. Thrills has more than double the taped problems on the wall than any other gym in Denver.  The variety of the problems is amazing, what's that you say? you want a dead vert crimpy v10, a v5 dihedral stem fest, a 25 move traversing slope problem of doom. DONE.

6. Price. 10 bucks to boulder.... no special hours or used-car-salesman-deals just a reasonable price any time they are open.

7. The campus board. Thrills has the best campus board in town. It is tall, stacked with runs and just the right angle.

8. Close to the City. you can ride your bike there in 20 min from cap hill. Save gas and back up all that environmental attitude with action son.

9. Longevity. They have been around for a long time and have seen all the trends come and go. They are just climbers who are psyched on climbing. Simple.

10. Music. Metal, rap, classic rock, techno, polka.... they play it. seriously it never seises to amaze me.

sweaters and slippers... news from the front

This is my new sweater, it's pretty sweet. I think i goes well with my new slippers.

I arrived back in Denver a few days ago. I am going to be here for a few days to hang out with my mom and then i have a hectic schedule ahead of me. First to LA for a Hippy Tree new years party in Joshua Tree and then to Southern Utah for some crack climbing in Capital Reef National Park and then to Fontenbleu for some French lessons on technical rock climbing. It will be quite a month.

Capital Reef National Park

While i am here im trying to eat right,  after my recent trip i realized that while i sat down to eat a frozen pizza for dinner, most of the other climbers ate the things called vegetables.  These things have been known to give you powers.

check those forearms

so i guess i'll give the little green bastards a try.

Anyway while im home i got a hold of some FiveTen Stealth Rubber Paint. So i gave it a try on my MadRock Maniac climbing shoes. Here is how it went...

                                Before

                                   After

Im pretty stoked on the way it came out, now i just have to use them and see how it works.

guns and caves....

Keith preparing to make fire...
the gun rack above the door... yes those are deer feet.

Today it rained so we did what any good kentuck-ian should do. We grabbed "the judge" a .45 cal hand gun and jumped in the "van" (pictured below ) .With Joe Haynes as our guide we headed for adventure in the back woods of KY.

The "whip"

Ander on his sub-whip.... He totes this

this is joe doing what he does best.....

last days in the red....

a dispatch from the red

here are some pictures of me falling, because thats what i do. I have been here in Kentucky for about a week, climbing, sleeping , generally fucking off. Im here with my good friend Keith who has the unique ability to take pictures of unusual beauty. Even of goofy freaks like myself. i will have more to say when im not drunk. Im going to Cincinnati tomorrow to rest ( i know your jealous ) and maybe listen to some jazz. Maybe then i will have something of substance to say.

some photos courtesy of Keith Ladzinski

http://picasaweb.google.com/relentlessclimbing/MattLoyd#

pie wont make you fly... but im gunna eat the whole damn thing and try

here are some pictures from a friend of mine Daniel Madson. You can scope some more of his photos at http://pebblewrestlersinc.blogspot.com/

Matt goes to N.Table mountain ?

Today out of lack of anything more important to do i went climbing at North Table Mountain… i know what your thinking, “that place is lame” and indeed for those of us who climb harder than 13.a it does not present a traditional challenge, however, when you take away the  rope it changes everything. With easy walk offs and short pitches that top out it makes a free soloists dream area.

Morrison bouldering…

Gina on Helicopter v6

today i bouldered some rocks in Morrison Colorado… so did Gina…

 

5.10 onsight free solo …. since v10 apparently was out of the question.

snow day

 

its a snow day so here are some cool old shots from nice days in eldo

Rincon 5.11a (dan gambino photo)

 

Rosie's Crucifixion 5.9 (Matus Sabolic)

Your Mother 5.12D (matt lloyd)

 

 

Yellow spur 5.10d (Natalie Marsh)

 

 

“The Web” 5.13b/c  (Gabe Craviero)

 

“The monument” 5.13a (Matt Lloyd)

 

The dihedral crux on “Vertigo” 5.11a (Lisa A. )

The 1 hour solo circuit of wind tower

This is our friend "the wind tower"... not the steepest nor the tallest, this rock offers very little to a climber who has passed out of gumby hood.... with that said , if you are willing to un-rope and for go the limitations of gear you can have a blast making mega link ups on this piece of Eldo magic... here is my link up.

This is a picture to get your bearings.

The 5.6 10 pitch linkup

(each pitch is worth a point)

start by climbing "the bomb" 5.4 and take it all the way to the true summit of the wind tower ( 3 points)

descend via down climbing where the rap anchors are located on the north west side of the feature

on your way down the trail stop at "wind ridge" 5.6 or 5.8 depending on how you go. Climb this route all the way to the top making sure to take delight in climbing the weird roof at the top of the second pitch. ( 3 points)

Down climb from the top as you would go up the bomb but after reaching the rap anchors at the top of the second pitch for the bomb descend "recon" 5.6 (2 points)

once at the bottom walk slightly up hill and climb "calypso" 5.6 (2 points)

down climb "boulder direct" 5.5 ( 1 point)

bouldering in Eldo

This is Adam, he likes crimps... this boulder problem is called "the grinch" and it is really hard v8/9 and dead vert on mega small crimpers. Get some...
This is Midnight Frightning im not sure how hard it is but i think it's V11...a pretty sick line...

Silver Raven and night endeavors on the Bastille

On Thursday I went up with Eldorado regular Scott Bennett and the newly transplanted Floridian Johanna Twiford. We walk our ass's all the way up to the top of the West Ridge and warmed up on "Darkness 'Til Dawn" 5.10a just above the green spur. If you have never climbed this route it a total master piece of Eldo rock climbing for 3 reasons:

1. it's long 2. it's sustained 3. it has amazing movement

After that i followed Scott to "Silver Raven" 5.11D and in no less than ten minutes, i found myself on the brink of tears and yelling like a stabbing victim, wondering why i had yet again listened to Scott. After my hour long epic up the route ( which i was only barely able to redpoint) i found out why he liked the route so much. It's scary enough to have your total concentration and it's hard, both technically and physically.

On our way down we decided, half jokingly, that we should take our new friend Jo up the Bastille... at night... with out proper headlamps... nearly solo..... and in tennis shoes..... lets just say we have made better decisions and Jo was slightly less than pleased sitting in the dark 200 feet up her "on sight" of the Eldo Mega classic. Upon reaching the top we decided that the appropriate action was to start drinking immediately.

back to eldo

Its been a pretty hefty brake this summer but Eldo just isn't the place to climbing during the hot summer months. My partner in crime Scott has returned from a very successful summer in the Valley and so we headed out to eldo on Saturday for good day of climbing. I found myself feeling quite out of the game though, climbing slowly and fumbling with gear like a gumby. Still we were able to climb some very cool pitches. We climbed Interceptor to XM to Outer space to Saturnalia and then Neon lights for the complete Bastille Day. I forgot my camera so no pic's today but i will go back and get some shots soon.

Interceptor 5.11b R - this route is amazing and quite hard with a difficult slab crux on some smaller gear. I'm not sure it deserves the "R" as your feet are at some gear while you pull the crux but it's still enough to get the heart beat up. If you yank that piece your taking a 30 footer, which in some sick way i hoped would happen.

XM 5.10c R - ok so this one deserves the "R" if you fall at the crux your only gear is two terrible looking pins. I have climbed the right variation before but stayed clear of this due to it's relatively daunting fall potential. This climb is short and scary but a full value eldo classic. If your feeling tough at the grade i totally recommend this route... just remember this beta.... smear, crimp , huck....aaahhhh we finished XM to Outer space which i have climbed about a million times and always gets me thinking.

Saturnalia 5.11b (pg13) - how did i miss this route? i always thought that Outer space was exposed...hah this thing is sweet and exciting and everything i want out of a 5.11 on the Bastille. cruxy, exciting but not dangerous, and ooh so exposed.

Neon lights 5.11a R - just to the right of "your mother 5.12d" sits this roof crack. it's hard for the grade but actually very safe.... does not deserve the "R" short and sweet. After climbing this i realised that it was probably my first time on the true top of the Bastille.

Wishbone 5.11 b/c (pg13) - first off no bolted route can be "pg 13" yeah it's run out and scary but every fall is totally safe. This route was cryptic and technical and hard. felt like a 5.12a onsight to me. and i didn't onsight. this route is hard to find sitting at the base of the west ridge.

back in the USA and back in Eldo

I just got back... here is a picture from my recent solo of Sunset strip 5.11 in eldorado. I have climbed the route a handful of times this summer and thought it would be a fun solo due to it's length and angle. I have written about this route before and as i said then, it is great route.

it's been a few days...

today routes were...

#12 The bulge 5.7R

Not really cutting edge but it makes a great solo. It's long and has no major ledges on it like the bastille. Below is a picture of my friend Matus soloing the route, i soloed up calypso to get the pictures. This is a great cruiser route to do when you feel like climbing something easy that is still engaging.

The next route i thought of reviewing is #13 Terminal Velocity 5.11R its a so so route but i have some cool photos from a few years ago i wanted to share.

rain rain rain

So when did we wake up in the Pacific northwest? i managed to hike out to the Maiden with plans of soloing it but it started raining, rather than slipping and dying i decided to hike down. Here is a weird panorama shot.

the man

Derek Hersey

100 degrees from eldo

Look closely in the middle.... the route is Physical Graffiti in Calico Basin 

I haven't climbed in Eldo for a couple of days since ive been in vegas. Before i left i found a new line that im psyched about in eldo that i think will fall into the 13a/b r/x category ... look back for more on that in the future. Until then here are some shots from Vegas this week. 

                                                       ( above) In and Out burger... nothing says satisfaction like a double double animal style with whole grilled onions and a strawberry shake....

                                                       (below)  climbing on the monkey bars boulder the Kraft boulder's

 

someone did it better

i was going to write a bit about climbing yesterday but my buddy Scott beat me to it and probably did it with better grammar. So check it out here....

#11 Real men eat eggs 5.11+ R/X

sunset boulevard and poly gap

So after a little setting at the gym my friend and tormentor of  souls , Brendan Aiken and i went for a little Kloof session .  After a little first try jitters Brendan sent the classic "Sequential" 12.a . Then i sent (#9)Poly Gap 12.a which was not classic but still worth the moments of shear terror involved in the upper 11 section.  After a speed session at Kloof we bailed out of the oven to the west face of the Bastille which was windier than  something that is really windy. Anyway we climbed (#10)"Sunset boulevard" 11.c  which is consensus 11.b . this route is absolutely classic, it's only drawback is that it is a sport climb.  ( the route is pictured on the left with brendan hooking it up)