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#