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

Bishop

Ngoc, Isabelle, Matt and myself made a mid spring pilgrimage to Bishop this weekend for an action packed few days of sending.  We spent a days each at the Happy Boulders, the Pollen Grains, and the 'Milks proper.  Lots of action was had, but unfortunately Ngoc strained a muscle in her hand on day one and had to suffer through watching the rest of us work our projects for the weekend.  Poor Ngoc!  Nonetheless, she handled it like a pro, managing to stay positive and bounce our collective energy back at us.  What a trooper!

We also met up with Danica and Jesse & co. on day 2 at the Pollen grains and had a great day exploring new territory.  As I write this they are probably still in the east side gnawing their fingers on pockets and granite crystals!

Noteworthy sends: The Hulk, Gleaner, Hand to Hand Combat Traverse, Jedi Mind Tricks, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Iron Man Traverse, and the Rib Direct Sit Start.

Peep the slideshow for some of our trip's visual candy.

Yesterday was my 27th birthday proper, and the final day in a birthday weekend to out shine all birthday weekends. Ngoc planned a mini-vacation for us that involved some oceanfront bouldering at Goat Rock State Park, a grand dinner experience at Cyrus (more details on that over at The Disagreeable Recipe), and a day of wine tasting in the Russian River Valley.

Next weekend is Bishop! We're giddy in anticipation. Look out for MANY more photos in the coming weeks.

The 2009 bouldering season has started off in earnest.  Ngoc, Danica, Jesse and I took a little day trip out to Yosemite valley this Saturday to revel in the warm spring temperatures.  It was a gorgeous day, and the falls were gushing with runoff.  Heading over to the Village, we started to notice the beginnings of the Yosemite tourist rush.  oh my!

Danica took home the bacon with an easy send of the Sentinel Traverse V6.  Ngoc and I both put in earnest efforts, but came home without sends.  I'm finally honing up to the fact that my shoulder is pretty busted at the moment.  I have a history of ignoring injury, but yesterday convinced me I need to take at least a week off from hard bouldering.  It's one of the worst feelings, being on a project and feeling like you should be able to send, but held back by pain your body's rebellion.  

We're already planning our return in a month or so.  Its amazing how fast spring in Yosemite goes by.  One week, the snow's melted, and only a couple months later, its already too hot to climb anywhere except Tuolumne.

I'm also upping my photography game this year.  Yesterday was a test run with the new LumoPro LP120, and plenty of bugs were worked out.  Look for more, better pictures this year.

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This past weekend Ngoc Ted and I flew to Red Rock to partake in the excellent winter climbing (as well as the year-round entertainment). The climbing turned out to be mostly good...excellent for yours truly in fact.

The first day started up with a quick post warm-up send of a not so classic v5 on the Warm-Up boulder, then off to the Pearl where I nearly flashed the classic V4. There are many who would call this problem hard for the grade. I would agree, although the margin of just how much "harder" this problem was shrank significantly with the discovery of some wide-stance foot beta, thanks Ted. After the starting 2 moves, the problem is v2+ish. Shorter climbers have a heatbreaking disadvantage on this one...

After that, we hit the Monkey Hang Boulder and I made a near-flash of the Classic Monkey V6, which was completely unexpected. 4 tries later I sent with authority, after learning how to properly rest between burns! Ngoc also worked all the moves of the Monkey Traverse V7 and is lined up for the send next trip.

On day 2 I made a couple feel-good V4 flashes and hopped on some more classics, but otherwise turned the volume down a notch. Ted made his first real inroads into outdoor climbing with a few V0 sends and a close call on the V2 at the Monkey Hang Boulder. Ngoc also projected a little more, but spent just as much time napping off the cold weather!