Sideburn Video

Liberty Herring - Sideburn V9 - Mt. Charleston, NV from BLOCHEAD on Vimeo.

-BLOCHEAD

Pitch Black

I thought it would be some time from now before I could write this entry. To my surprise and excitement I recently sent the project mentioned in the previous post. I named it Pitch Black because this section of the cave never sees sunlight and it became really hard to see the holds.

The line revolves around holding some of the toughest body tension in the cave. Here's a photo of a body position early in the climb.

Note the ridiculous drop knee and clear lack of breathing. Photo: Craig Berman

After unwinding out of these self inflicted hand cuffs you have to flip your hand, then pull off a bicycle-heel-toe-against-your-foot-cam and proceed to flip around on a mono pocket with some helpers and a sharp two finger hole in the cave. This is not meant as a spray down, but I had to write it out to believe it.

Hopefully I'll be able to get back up and get some video soon. The send was so unexpected that I wasn't ready. On September 1st I'm planning on buying a gym membership to train for the fall, but if anyone is interested in trying this, or other lines in the cave please feel free to get in touch. I would be happy to give you the tour.

-BLOCHEAD 

Flagstaff Getaway

For the first time since March I was able to escape Las Vegas, if only for a couple days. Four hours through triple digit temperatures brought us to Flagstaff, AZ. It was great to be back on the road even briefly, and the change of scenery was much needed. I wouldn't call it a climbing trip as much as it was a welcome breath from work and the ever looming adult responsibilities slowly creeping in to my life.

Back on the open road. Taken with my phone.

Priest Draw has one of my favorite settings for bouldering.

The classic Draw shot, taken from the parking lot.

 Though the climbing was hot and we got thoroughly worked, I came back to Vegas with renewed motivation to finish off one last hard line in the Mt. Charleston cave. This summer has been all about power endurance training thus far, and all of the lines I have completed link multiple hard boulder problems on top of each other. This final project is completely different. It climbs an independent series of holds straight out the cave forcing some of the most powerful movement I've tried to date. I have no idea how hard this line will be, though I can tell that it is a step above anything else in the cave and that is so exciting that it's hard for me not to run up there right now after writing this. Stay tuned!

-BLOCHEAD