The Monkey Bar Circuit - Video

Still working on the Hueco video. In the meantime I got out to the Monkey Bar boulder with the hope to doing Mark Heal's tough eliminate The Redirect V12. After sticking this TOUGH move and finishing the problem I decided to go ham and climb every hard line on the boulder including a couple of my own trainer eliminates. I only had a short amount if time before work, but I had a blast! Maybe I'll try again sometime and add a few more.

I made a little video of that day. Please don't take it seriously.

The Monkey Bar Circuit from BLOCHEAD on Vimeo.
-BLOCHEAD

Alma Blanca - Video

Don't you hate it when someone does a boulder problem and just posts video of the send go? Well, maybe you don't care at all. I started recording my attempts of Alma Blanca in hopes of finding out what I was doing wrong and how I could adjust my body position to correct it.

Before long I had over 50 recorded attempts. I decided to leave most of them in the video to show a very real process of repeated failure. In total I estimate that I tried the move to the lip 100 times. I only stuck the move three times. Once in isolation, and twice on redpoint.

Some climbers claim that this boulder is "easy" or "soft" and it could be for their body types but it didn't feel that way to me. I was fully spanned between the two holds and by the end I was stretching so far to keep the toe hook that I was nearly limping away from an overextended right hip flexor.

I learned a lot from this boulder and I look forward to taking the experience and applying it to hard projects in the future.

Under Pressure - Alma Blanca - Hueco Tanks from BLOCHEAD on Vimeo.

-BLOCHEAD

Hueco Tanks - A Quick Recap

I have a LOT of footage to scrub through here in the next few days but I couldn't wait to share a quick update about the trip. I've been back in Vegas for about an hour now and I already miss Hueco. The past three weeks in the promised land added up to be my most memorable and productive trip to date. I should have a video ready for tomorrow or the next day, but in the meantime here is a list of the new problems I finished if you're interested.

Alma Blanca
Barefoot on Sacred Ground
Loaded Direct
Rogered in the Shower
Dark Age
Free Willy (FLASH! What?!)
Theater of the Absurd
The Governator
Loaded With Power
Paleozoic

Looking back I only did 10 new problems and I never left North Mountain, but the motivation was high and you have to follow the psych. I am already looking forward to next year when I'll meet back up with the same old friends, laugh, eat burritos and forget about the rest of the world for a few weeks.

-BLOCHEAD 

Wet Dream - Video

I'm currently in El Paso, Texas where they haven't seemed to figure out high speed internet. It took an entire rest day just to upload this video of Wet Dream from a couple weeks ago. Projecting this line was one of the most enjoyable experiences in my climbing thusfar. I found  myself becoming very attached to the climb and reaching the top brought on a feeling I'll keep with me for years to come.

Wet Dream Unchained from BLOCHEAD on Vimeo.


Hueco has been awesome so far as to be expected. I always feel at home coming back to the desert. So much so that I'm pretty sure I know my way around El Paso better than Vegas. Lib and I have been getting a lot of sweet iPhone footage so stay tuned!

-BLOCHEAD