Amateur Hour

Does anyone still read this thing? I doubt it. But if you do and you're wondering what I've been up to since November 7th, the answer is this working on this goddamned video. 

I made this entirely on my own with the exception of some filming. It wasn't until arriving back in Vegas that I realized I had to scrub through nearly 80 gigs of semi-unusable nonsense with no story outline, no ideas, and no help. Oh, and it was pretty much all shot on an iPhone.

This is my first attempt at making a feature-length film and the process could not have been more stressful. I had every technical issue imaginable during editing and exporting including my computer dying completely without notice. The film was nearly finished an was not backed up. I was sure that all those months would be for nothing, but somehow the bastard made it out alive.

The lack of vision, foresight, footage, and quality of this film cause me to see red. I can't even watch it anymore. That said I am happy with what I made out of the materials available and I think the heart of it shows through.

With great relief I'm happy to dump this onto the internet forever and be done with it.

I hope you enjoy watching this, wait what am I talking about? I don't care at all if you enjoy it or not.

Amateur Hour - Rocklands 2013 from Max Moore Photography on Vimeo.
 

And please for the love of God don't watch it on your phone or in the thumbnail.

October in Photos

October was a great month. There is a lot of development going on here and the motivation from the community seems geared toward bouldering for once.

On the 21st I sent what I thought would be my season long project Abaddon V12, which I have no problem spraying about because it meant a lot to me. Reaching the top of that boulder was a physical and mental breakthrough for me. I will always be able to look back to the process and the send as a source of courage.

Yes, there will be video out soon. Here are some photos:

Moving to the crux hold of Abaddon V12.

Failure as meditation.

Setting up for the scariest move I've ever done.

I've been posting a lot of media on my Facebook page lately so if you're a fan of this blog, or a fan of climbing photos/videos in general check it out and hit like here. It helps a lot!

On the 29th Lib sent Scare Tactics V10, one of her season goals as well.

Liberty Herring on Scare Tactics V10.

More failure, more meditation.

This past week I participated in the annual Halloween comp at the local gym. It turned out to be a good set and almost 100 new boulders to train on. I won for advanced men and Lib held her title as female champ. Above all I love competing because it is always a great training day. 

Onward to new projects!

Back in the USA

Back home! I went to Rocklands to climb a lot of boulders (check), but I found that the trip also had an unforeseen effect on my outlook and approach to bouldering. Maybe in the future I can better describe this, maybe not. Slogging through endless gigs of photos and footage will be a slow process, but be patient. It's coming. For now here is a smiling elephant I shot on my last day in Africa.

Living the dream.

Rocklands Photos

I posted a few photos from our adventure so far here. More bouldering photos to come.

-BLOCHEAD

Joe's Valley: Chasing an Arbitrary Goal

I don't need to explain arbitrary climbing goals to those of you reading. They are inherent for anyone drawn (addicted) to climbing boulders. Recently I realized that I was very close to a personal goal of climbing 100 double digit problems (V10 or harder). In fact, I was 4 problems away.

Sure, I could have tried to stay in Vegas and knock them out but two issues loomed in my mind. First, the heat creeping in and one by one rendering my potential projects out of season, and second I have been unable to find a regular bouldering partner. This lack of friends is more frustrating than the heat when every single project I have a chance of sending needs a spotter and hauling 4 pads out into the desert alone gets old fast.

Hoping to complete this goal before this summer I looked at heading to Joe's Valley for a last ditch effort to finish some boulders. After a crazy wedding weekend left me feeling ragged I wasn't so sure that I would even make the trip, let alone send anything. However, without another opportunity on the horizon I obediently woke up to my 6:45am alarm and hit the road to Joe's Valley for a three day on shot at reaching a completely arbitrary goal.

Hey snow, it's been a while.

Day 1

Halfway there I realized that my media kit was sitting in my living room along with my crag bag, tape, clippers, and other little items that drove me nuts the rest of the drive. Hence the lack of a video, sorry.

I arrived shortly after 3pm with the time change, feeling stiff and uncertain. All the boulders I chose to try revolved around safe padding for a solo session. As much as I wanted to climb Beyond Life and Trent's Mom I couldn't guarantee that there would be enough pads at the exact time I wanted to attempt them. Tactics!

To begin I warmed up at the Big Joe cave with hopes of sending the extension. It took me a while to warm up from the drive and remember my beta for the beginning but after a few attempts I managed to stick the final big move for a send of Nerve Extension, but not before taking a couple wild falls. Happy to have some Asana foam underneath me!

I gotchu brah!

From the cave I walked over to The Worm Turns. It took me a few minutes to figure out some alternative beta involving a tough foot rip into a left heel hook, and once I was ready for redpoint burns I dabbed twice trying to keep my core tight on this unorthodox foot cut method. Finally I put a very thin Evolv slider in place and sent. I began right hand on the undercling and left on the bottom of the tufa as the guide instructs, however afterward I climbed it again just starting matched on the bottom of the tufa. Felt the same to me but what do I know?

Two down, two to go!

Day 2

If you like cows Joe's is the place for you.

I began the day confident that I was going to just sew up a couple 10 bangers and leave Day 3 for bonus climbing. As it happened I got royally shut down on everything I tried. Fingerhut was in the mood to slice fat guys, Skull was ready to flare up some lingering bicep tendonitis, and Skeleton Key (after a grueling 20 minute snowshoe uphill) was soaking wet up top! It was nearly dark and I hadn't completed a single boulder, yet I had tried all of them leaving me tired and doubtful about the next day. 

In a desperate attempt to salvage the day I shot over to New Joe's, where I ran into a great group of friends from Hueco on their way to the Ghost King boulder. I decided to call it a day and join their session to hangout and forget about my goal for an hour or two. 

Once I was under the boulder I realized that there were two problems on the boulder I had not already finished (Ghost of War and Porn King). With a good group and a lot of pads I felt energized to try Porn King. I felt very tired at first, but after some help figuring out the beta and watching my buddy Andrew Rothner send I was inspired. Within the next couple attempts, and to my complete surprise, I managed to stick the crux move off a tweaky two finger pocket, hold the swing and send the boulder!

Easy Money huckin' meat on Ghost King.

One more to go, what a relief!

Day 3

So sore. Not good. I slept in until around 10 and didn't leave for the boulders until 2pm with one goal: Resident Evil. I had this feeling that the 100th boulder had to be a classic. I welcomed the sheet of clouds in the sky and found the boulder feeling cool and shaded. Perfect. I tried once from the beginning, fell, climbed the stand start, rested and sent. It was so satisfying to stick the final throw for the starfish feature and roll over the boulder. Though sore and tired it was quite a feeling to reach this goal. I thought about my first V10 along with a few others as I watched the smoke trickle out from the three iconic pillars across the way. 

And by the time my feet were back on the ground I was already drafting up something new to chase.

A view from New Joe's.

So long Joe's. Until next time.

-BLOCHEAD

Long Exposure Part II - Bishop

A few more images from a quick trip to Bishop. The moon was a bit too bright for anything longer than 20 minutes, but I'm pleased with the turnout. I'm looking forward to another session out at Red Rock soon.

25 minute single exposure. The North Star can be seen at the center of the swirl, showing the Earth's rotation during the shot.

Night sky over the Buttermilks. Eerily quiet.

~18 minute exposure of the Peabody boulders.

15 minute exposure.

In rock climbing news It has been unseasonably warm here in Vegas leaving me in a state of agitation when out trying friction dependent problems. I've decided to bide my time in the gym with the goal of developing Iron Fists like The RZA.

When things cool down and I actually finish some boulders I hope to have some videos to post.

-BLOCHEAD

Kraft Photo Shoot

A few shots from the other afternoon. Testing out some new gear.

More to come from our couple days in Bishop! Stay tuned and stay psyched.

-BLOCHEAD

Long Exposure

While not climbing related I thought I would share a recent photo adventure Lib and I took to experiment with some long exposure shots of the night sky and the mountains.

We drove out to the turn for Calico Basin and stopped off at the side of the road just as the stars became visible. To our backs the light from the city, in front of us a pitch black horizon line merged with the sky.

I set up my camera and took a few minutes of test shots before clicking off a 10 minutes exposure. As dark as it was I found it hard to set my focus and harder still to find the framing I was looking for.

An earlier test shot. Taken facing the city, the beam of light from the Luxor can be seen plainly even in a 1 minute exposure.

Before packing up I decided to try one more long exposure shot facing Red Rocks. For those interested in the technical aspects I used a 50mm lens, ISO 100,  f/4 and a shutter speed of ~20 minutes, or as my camera measured it 1149 seconds. I manually set my focus ring just before infinity. Here is the result.

I was surprised to see how much the stars (world) moves in just 20 minutes. I'm looking forward to getting out and experimenting with some other techniques and exposures soon.

I also have a 16x7 crop of the above image that I'll likely make a few prints of in the future. If anyone reading is interested or knows someone that might be shoot me a message below or here.

16x7 crop of the above image. Prints available upon request!

Hope everyone out there is enjoying the season so far. See ya out there!

-BLOCHEAD

Stand and Deliver

It's November 1st and that means climbers around Vegas are getting pretty excited about the coming months. Like everyone else I have projects and problems I have been waiting all summer to try. One such line was the very classic and very isolated gem, Stand and Deliver.

This alluring boulder sits like a motionless eye deep in the canyon, it's light tones strange and intriguing among the dark green brush. Most of the slog from the parking lot is done on pure faith that something incredible awaits at the end. It isn't until the final minutes of the full hour march that the boulder reveals itself as the greenery parts and reveals a smooth face carved with the slightest edges, just enough.

Approaching the mouth of Juniper Canyon.

Lichen on a trailside boulder.

Suddenly, you're under the boulder and it's hard to imagine that the hike is over. It isn't right that something like this should be so mundanely attainable, the way it wouldn't be right to reach the horizon line on an open stretch of highway.

It's just sitting there! Nothing remotely decent to warm up on in either direction, and behind you through the visible heat waves is the parking lot, a million miles away. I guess there's nothing to do but talk about the conditions and swing my arms around absentmindedly.

Looking up from the Stand and Deliver boulder.

Adam Seely readies himself under the looming wall of sandstone.

I had been out here twice before, once to scout and admire, and once to climb. I had maybe five attempts or so on my first warm day back in April. Looking back I'm glad I didn't sent that day.

This time out I nearly climbed the boulder first try. I'm very happy that I didn't send on that attempt. I knew that I would likely only climb this boulder once and I wanted to spend more time experiencing the movement and put more of my skin, energy, and heart into it.

As it turned out I tried five or so times before taking a long break. I had the cliche last burn doubts, walking the line between packing up and booting up before stepping on for one last try. I felt an incredible amount of satisfaction and pride upon reaching the lip physically tired and mentally fatigued, much more than I would have felt had I sent on the warm up burn.

All this might seem overly poetic for a chunk of rock. A scarred up marble compared to the giant walls surrounding and creating the canyon. It could be, but I rarely take time to think about the overall experience of a problem, about the process of climbing it. As with a lot of climbers I like to send, log, and get on to the next one.

With this boulder I felt the need to just linger in the rearview for a while.

-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