Tuolumne Weekend #3

Ngoc, Matt and I met up with Adrian in Tuolumne this weekend for a couple days of pure bouldering. Every time we go to Tuolumne, we invariably seem to end up at either (a) the Gunks or (b) the Knobs. Every other area we've tried so far just doesn't compare.

For the past two trips I had been getting punished on Cellulite Eliminator V7 at the Gunks. However, this trip, relatively fresh and well fed, I walked up to the line and sent on my first go of the day. Matt also flashed it...typical...and came heartbreakingly close to sending the other area testpiece, Steelfingers Traverse V8.

On day 2, we headed back out to the Knobs and I bagged a surprise send of the Sit Start to Kauk Problem V6. The sit adds two moves (but no quality) to this very elegant and fingery problem.

Tuong Nguyen & Hanh Au

This Saturday, we spent the entire day celebrating the wedding of my brother in law, Tuong, and his wife, Hanh.  It was a whirlwind day that took us to Tracy, the Oakland Rose Garden, and Peony restaurant.  It was all capped with a fabulous 10 course meal that included ginger lobster, duck 2 ways, and lots and lots of shrimp.  yum!  Here are some photos I took at the ceremony and in Tracy on the morning of.  Enjoy.

Tuolumne #1

wow, I sure haven't posted on here in quite a while. Believe me, we've been keeping VERY busy these days, but I guess I just haven't taken any pictures worth posting...until now!! Ngoc and I are crazy about Tuolumne. We went up there to boulder and even ended up doing a couple pitches of easy trad (Ngoc's first time!). Ngoc and I both quickly sent the Kauk Problem (V5) at the Knobs. I highly recommend that problem for shorter climbers with small fingers and legs...Although a pad stack may be necessary for the start! Enjoy.

Lake Tahoe Squawcreek

Memorial Day weekend was spent at the Squawcreek resort near Lake Tahoe. There were copious amounts of poolside napping, eating, gambling, shopping, trail running, sauna steaming, and granite bouldering. The granite in Tahoe is beautiful and varied, but the bouldering is generally quite, well, puzzling! Here are a few shots of our explorations.

Trueman/Barnum Wedding

This past weekend flew by so quickly. Ngoc and I spent Friday evening with Mom in Sacramento and had a great round of French toast on Saturday morning. Then, it was off to Chico (and uncharacteristically hot temperatures!) for Chris and Lindsey's wedding! Chris and Lindsey are good friends of ours, and it was great to see a lot of our close friends who, for one reason or another, we haven't been able to hang out with lately.

Congratulations to the new bride and groom!

Bishop Redux and Other Happenings

Two weeks later, Matt, Isabelle, Ngoc and myself were back out on the east side for another too-good-to-resist weekend of bouldering. Day 1 started off with some sharp warmups at the Sad Boulders and a send of Molly (v5), a problem that I came nowhere close to sending a year and a half ago, by yours truly. We then all migrated to the Death Star Cave where Matt and I flashed Anti-Hero (v5) and Isabelle and Ngoc put in great work sessions on the same. Unfortunately Izzy suffered a painful pulley strain on her tenth go or so. NOOOOO!!! She'll be back to clean up this problem on her next trip. Also noteworthy, Matt and I put in some work on Beefcake (v10) which is pretty futuristic for at least myself, but we did manage to do pretty much all of the moves.

Day two we busted out to the 'Milks and Matt sent High Plains Drifter (v7) on 5th go or so. Wow that is a full value boulder problem! Movement, height, rock quality, oh my. I got heartbreakingly close to the send, and will DEFINITELY clean it up next time.

As if that wasn't enough, we then jetted back out to the Sads @ 3PM to give Ngoc a few burns on Anti-Hero. She sent on her first go of the day!! We had to force her to take a few laps to get in some video footage and snapshots.

Big thanks for Matt and Isabelle for the funtastic weekend. You two cats are great climbing/eating/driving buddies.

Rewind a week or so: Ngoc and I had a great afternoon with Ashley, who we only get to see rarely these days. We had a little fun up @ Stoneface park before heading to Mark's bday party in our anti-theme green shirts. We're such rebels. Great to see you Ash!

Mickey's Beach

To escape the HEAT WAVE this past Sunday, the Team packed up and headed out to Mickey's and Stinson beach for some bouldering, sun, and plenty of nude-watching. After warming up on some of the Orange Buddha eliminates, Matt made a terrific quick send of the Orange Buddha Arete (v8), the prize of the Orange Buddha boulder. I managed to hit all the moves, but the full send eluded me this time. Isabelle also put in a lot of work on Orange Pleasure (v5), getting close enough to the send to taste it. I think Isabelle and I both have unfinished business at Mickey's.

Ngoc was still (smartly) going easy on her hand and ankle. She did get onto some of the Orange Buddha eliminates, and reports that her finger is healing strongly. Phew!

The shots below were much more of a group effort this time. I like this format a lot, selfishly, because it means there are many more photos of meee! Enjoy