Tuolumne Bound

Last night was our final session at The Saddle boulders. After spending the past two days preparing and packing our lives down small enough to fit in the Subaru it felt nice returning to the intimate setting, climbing on familiar warm-ups, and preparing for one last effort on Wick's Problem.

The first couple burns felt decent, however the sloping left hand edge still felt a little slimy in the late summer humidity. Trying from one move in yielded more success, however with every try the sloping edge seemed to become less positive and drift even further away.

It's easy to speculate about cooler temperatures or trying just a little harder, but even though I came short of sending (After 5 days I never even stuck the first move!) I left The Saddles with complete satisfaction.

One of the highlights was field testing Lib's new 7D! We are beyond psyched to shoot the rest of our 5,000 Miles project with this new body, but in the mean time here are a few stills:

Setting up for the big move.

Holding the tension for less than a second...

Once the foot pops, it's over.

The final swing before some welcome jugs, from one move into the problem.

Tomorrow we're headed to Tuolumne Meadows. Though the guidebook is only 72 pages, it looks like there is a wealth of quality lines in a beautiful and historic setting. Repeating a few problems put up by the old masters is definitely a high priority.

John Bachar on his classic Mean Green V8.

We'll have more photos to come soon, and hopefully a finished part two by the end of the month!

-BLOCHEAD