Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Introducing...Kenta Yamada

  So psyched to see this guy frequenting the Adirondack Bouldering areas!  You probably have seen him at some point trying hard on the free-standing boulder at The Edge climbing gym.  His energy levels are super high and his excitement on the bouldering scene is very apparent.  If you happen to see him out there in the woods, please introduce yourself, offer up a friendly spot and an extra pad or give him a hand with navigating the boulderfield to some of the areas best problems.

  I had the pleasure of working my personal bouldering project right next to Kenta as he methodically worked out all of the moves on his current project, Thorazine.  Making quick links on the line, it won't be long until he is successfully standing on top of the boulder.

Kenta, this shout out is for you buddy!!!

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Thursday, April 23, 2015

Nine Corners Lake- Moving Meditation

Last week I was able to capitalize on some prime early spring conditions at Nine Corners Lake with a repeat of a boulder problem that I established back in 2010.  Moving Meditation- V6 is a highball face climb on the backside of the Tower Boulder that boasts some difficult crimp moves on a 25 ft. sheer face.

To my knowledge, only a handful of people have repeated the problem...I am hoping that this video will spark more interest so other climbers will get on it and enjoy the sequence as much as I do.

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Sunday, April 19, 2015

Sickest Adirondack Bouldering Video

The video below was filmed and edited by my buddy Keith Banta.  In my opinion, the compilation speaks for itself.  For those of you who have a desire to send Thorazine this climbing season, this video should keep your psych levels high!

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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

A Quick Repeat Send of The Gatekeeper

Man, Nine Corners is sooooo snowed in still!!!  Navigating the boulders is a nightmare with the 24" of snow still in the woods and a lot of the classic lines are still snow covered and a sopping mess.  There are however some climbable problems and I was able to repeat the burly problem called The Gatekeeper, despite the lingering winter conditions.

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Friday, April 10, 2015

Campus Board Anyone???

So, after climbing for the past decade and never spending more than a few minutes on an actual campus board because I absolutely suck at it...I realized (thanks mostly to the Anderson Brothers and their training book) that great improvement in personal climbing performance can be achieved if weaknesses are worked on instead of constantly trying to improve existing strengths.

I could always crimp on small holds, I could always utilize small/non-existent feet..but man do I struggle on powerful moves and brute contact strength!  Enter the new training apparatus for my home climbing wall, aka the DOJO.  This campus board is 7ft. in overall height (starting at chest-height and going up to my garage ceiling) and has three different sized campus rungs (1", 3/4" and the heinous 1/2") spaced at 6" on center, filling out the entire board.  I am pretty handy with power tools, so I invested in some expensive oak hardwood and mitered and milled my own campus rungs for $45 instead of having to spend over $200 if I were to buy them from a retailer.

I am more than satisfied with the end result and plan on incorporating dedicated campus training sessions in a couple of weeks, probably after the prime spring conditions pass and the bugs and humidity overpower the Adirondacks.  I am anxious to see what the additional contact strength will do for my personal climbing ability.  Looking back on my personal climbing notes, I have done 40+ outdoor V8's, 20+ outdoor V9's and 3 V10's and have never been able to complete one basic campus ladder on the largest Metolius Campus Rungs.  I can only image the holds I will be able to grab if one day I could do a complete campus ladder on my new 1/2" campus rungs!!!  Hell, at this point I would be ecstatic to be able to do one compete campus ladder on the largest of the rungs.

Here's to working personal weaknesses to see what comes on it...

Check it out:














Monday, April 6, 2015

Great Barrington in Early April

Conditions started out wonky on this particular outing...Sullivan and I were on the Erkinen bouldering warming up at 9am and it was 30 degrees and sleeting.  In a matter of four hours, the temperature rose by nearly 30 degrees and we were blessed with an awesome day to be bouldering outdoors.

The video below highlights Sully and Banta making Spak Attack- V4 looks easy.  All in all, it was a great day.  There was a ton of sending and I even got to watch a CT bouldering friend Mike Bowsher http://www.thespraydown.com/ send his spring project, FOTOWA, sit V11!  Good on ya mang!  I know his video will be coming soon....

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