The Last Post

I'm not sure what to write. I've never officially put a blog to sleep. Quick and painless is probably best, right? 

BLOCHEAD is done. I won't be updating this site anymore, but that doesn't mean that I'll stop making videos and taking photos. If you want to see all of that and stay updated be sure to follow @maxmoorephoto on Instagram and like the Facebook page as well.  

It's been fun, let's do it again sometime. Just not here...

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.

Abaddon - Video

Pretty proud of this one. I hope you enjoy the video.

Max Moore - Abaddon V12 from Max Moore Photography on Vimeo.

Liberty Herring on Scare Tactics - Video

I wanted to post this video in a separate entry. Hope it gets you psyched. Please don't watch this little thumbnail though, full screen that shiz.
Liberty Herring - Scare Tactics V10 from Max Moore Photography on Vimeo.

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!

Not Abaddon - Video

Tomorrow I turn 26 and my health insurance runs out. Clearly a celebration is in order so yesterday I hiked out to Black Velvet Canyon to rope rehearse and eventually solo the 5.9+ top out of Abaddon V12.

As I swung my oversized pad over my soon to be uninsured back and shoulders I couldn't help but feel the annual surge of an existential crisis. My pack felt doubly weighted and each step seemed to rattle my head like a trashcan full of 8 balls. Angst aside, there was a cool and steady breeze sighing between those big gate-like walls, and there is nothing like a cool and steady breeze to push aside an existential crisis.

If I do one boulder this year it has to be this one, I thought. I would be happy with just this one. But for today I'll be happy to overcome the fear of hurling into that pit.

After a lot of time and more than a few broken holds I summoned the courage to get off the rope and just climb the damn thing. I felt surprised when the fear didn't come knocking. So surprised that it almost threw me. I ended up doing the top again easily, as if it were Potato Chips.

I thought a lot about the complete change in attitude toward the boulder after rehearsing it. It could be that I am just rehearsing aspects of my life right now, and when the time is right I won't even need a cool and steady breeze.

Pardon the bullshit, here's a video.
Not Abaddon from BLOCHEAD on Vimeo.

As the weakest person to climb on this boulder I promise that this top out beta is the best around.

-BLOCHEAD

The Subway - Video

I know that everyone is waiting for a Rocklands video, but here are some nice (chossy) limestone drop-offs instead. Since returning to Vegas I've repeated a couple hard things at The Subway, Mt. Charleston's summer bouldering hang. Hold the Doors was put up this past June by my buddy Craig. I got lucky and opened a standing project involving a very difficult undercling move into another undercling...in a roof. Sounds fun, right?

THE SUBWAY from BLOCHEAD on Vimeo.