I have been in Moab, Utah for the past few days working on some video and photos for La Sportiva as well as soaking in the desert sun and climbing at one of the most beautiful destinations on earth, Mill Creek.  I have had a lot of time to think and I decided to put my thoughts down on internet paper for all to scrutinize, so here goes.

I often find myself talking with climber friends about the obsessive nature of our sport and how climbing has shaped our lives.  Whether it is valuable for someone to pursue climbing full time as an athlete or as a career move.  Why bother?  “There’s no money in this industry” people tell me, but what do they know, right?

Newsflash!  There is plenty of money to be had by all but the there needs to be a paradigm shift in climber mentality to get there.

For the better part of a decade, I was the typical self-absorbed climber seeking out the hardest climbs I could get on top of.  I was putting off the inevitable career path that was looming ominously over me with the added pressure and expectations from my parents who insisted that I stick to tradition.  I got to the point where I was either going to be a broke climber mooch or I was going to have to man up and make something of myself.  My grandfather used to always tell me that I was “representing the family” everywhere I went.  The thought of being a grandson that sleeps on couches and has $30.00 in his bank account just didn’t add up and there was a distinct likelihood that I would never consistently get laid.

So, do you commit to climbing as a career path or do you make climbing secondary in your life?  I have always wavered on the subject until 2010 when I decided to consciously jump in with both feet and commit to a life of rock climbing.  I had spent nearly 15 years of my life as an indecisive climber, waffling over the traditional career choices and finally decided to break the family mold and “go for it”.

There is a dark side to climbing, touched on by Dave Wetmore in “Park Life” and recently reflected on by Alex Biale on his blog.  This darkness that creeps in and grabs hold of most climbers at some point in their lives is often the catalyst that initiates their pursuit of climbing either as a hobby or as a career.  The darkness is worst when you are at the brink of making the decision to commit to climbing as a career or to take the traditional route and get a working class job.  Climbing becomes everything you think about, everything that you talk about, everything that matters.  That’s dark, but very real and I am not the only person that has thought this way.  When you put climbing above personal comforts and relationships, you might have a problem, and I often find friends making those decisions.

Having been through the darkness first hand and watching friends struggle with the same problems brought me to an interesting realization.  Climbers sort themselves into two specific types when they emerge from the darkness, lets call them “Lifers” and “Backseat” Climbers.

I have developed a network of 20-something-year-old friends that have adapted climbing to their specific lifestyles.  Some friends climb recreationally after work and on the weekends, others spend 7 days a week fully engrossed in rock climbing. The self motivated “lifer” that is going for it and the “Backseat Climber” that puts climbing second to a career and often, a family.

A career in climbing is not defined as “Professional Climber”, although it is included, but rather as a life path that is financially supported from a climbing career.  Guiding, owning a gym, shooting photos, competing, coaching, running a climbing website, whatever, as long as you are profiting from it.  That, in my eyes, defines you as a “lifer” and shows that you are committed enough to the cause and have consciously made climbing a priority.

I often place the “Backseat” climbers into a category defined by the individuals desire to have something else in their lives besides climbing and as a result, climbing takes a backseat to real life.  In the case of the “backseat” climber, the darkness associated with giving it all up for climbing never took hold and the traditional reality sunk in.

There is nothing wrong with prioritizing real life over climbing, in fact, I often find myself wondering what would have changed in my life had I done that, but the darkness took over and paired with an unrelenting desire to succeed at something meaningful, I choose a climbing path paired with an artistic outlet.  Making creative media for the climbing industry.  Not a huge contribution but arguably a valuable one.

With two distinct paths to choose from, neither being right or wrong, I want to encourage all the people that are on the fence about committing to a life of climbing to own the feelings that you have and help grow the sport we love.  The growth will come from the new minds at work, bringing the community fresh ideas and new found inspiration.  It takes a rare breed of self-motivated and hard working personalities to make it but with a little bit of effort, it can be done.

Climbing has consumed two thirds of my life and at the young age of 28, I still have many years of upper level rock climbing ahead of me.  I fully intend to spend the rest of my life climbing in some form or another, whether its bouldering at my limit or climbing mountains, the pursuit is still the same.  Get to the top, achieve your goals, and push yourself to be better.  I intend to spend the rest of my life making a living from rock climbing but also to shed some light on a difficult subject to verbalize.

Embrace the darkness.

Climbing has been a whole lot of fun lately, more so then it has ever been in my life.  I have been climbing with great people and enjoying what Colorado has to offer, which is a lot!  Being able to go out for an afternoon at the end of a busy day is exactly the kind of therapy my back needs after sitting in front of a computer editing day in and day out.

There has been a significant amount of excitement in the community over the new boulders along the Bear Lake road so we had to go have a look for ourselves and see what all the fuss was about.  The White Boulder, despite the hype, didn’t yield the 5 star lines we were hoping for but I was able to get on top of a fun face climb called “Child of God” (v10) in a few tries.  The rock quality is not quite on par with the Chaos Canyon boulders but it is new and right on the side of the road in an Aspen grove. BONUS!

Last week, Connor, Anna and I were able to make a trip up to a new (very old) area located above the Large Boulder at Emerald Lake.  I had heard myths and legends of a Dean Potter arete climb that had been established in that area back before the industrial revolution so on a busy day at Emerald Lake, to escape the masses, I headed up the hill and found a nice zone that had a handful of great looking lines.  Connor and I developed four new boulders in the area and there are probably at least six to ten more lines that would go that look really fun!  It’s really not that hard to get to and an additional 15 minutes of hiking straight up from the Large Boulder will put you right smack in the middle of first ascent land.

Herm Feissner said that he and Tommy Caldwel had been up in that area in the late 1990′s and seen some cool stuff but did not get around to developing anything.  Has anyone ever been up there?  Know anything about established lines in the area?  Either way, Connor and I put up a nice V7 on a big wall we called Faux Face (V7) and I got the “Faaah” of a fun two mover I called “Fanny Pack” (V5) that shares the start to Connor’s proud arete he called “Fault Line” (V6).  Anna, a girl, put up her very first outdoor climb “Faux-Cus” (V0), eat your heart out Jamie Emerson, and around the corner I established a really fun line called “Fart Arete” (V5).

It is great to escape the crowds sometimes and with the first full season in the Park starting and a new guide book driving traffic to the popular areas, it is relieving to find sanctuary in a new zone.  Go get some FA’s and leave your mark!

It seems that lately, I have been getting out climbing less then usual.  As work gets more consistant at LT11, I spend WAY to much time in front of the computer and less time dedicated to playing in the woods.  The priorities may have changed a bit but the drive is still there and I get out as often as I can even though it might not be to the best boulders in the world.  The past five months of winter in Boulder have been fun despite Boulder Canyon and Clear Creek sessions that often turn into flail fests on problems I will likely never do.

This video was born from those random trips and some of the footage is TOTAL GARBAGE and I am completely aware of it.  This edit is something that I would like to start doing with all LT11 footage from everyone that we climb with on our travels.  Our company is made up of nearly a dosen family members that go out climbing all the time so we capture a lot of our bouldering efforts on film.  I would like to produce a seasonal edit of our climbing experiences and put out a short LT11 video in the spring, summer, fall and winter.

Here is an example of an edit I have done in the past that follows the same trend.

I hope you enjoy this random collection of clips!

Starring
Danny Ciavarro
Rob D’Anastasio
Sarah Fullerton
Jon Glassberg
Connor Griffith
Josh Larson
Greg Mionske
Eli Nogueira
Jordan Shipman
Ryan Silven
Dave Wetmore

Video
Danny Ciavarro
Sarah Fullerton
Jon Glassberg
Alton Richardson
Ryan Silven

Edit
Jon Glassberg

Music
Diplo – “Express Yourself Feat. Nicky B.”
Wale – “Nike Boots”
Cage – “The Void”
Midi Matilda – “Day Dreams (MyKill Remix)”

Boulders
MS13 Training Arete (V8)
David Bowie (V10)
Off the Books (V11)
Animal (V8)
Smoke on the Water (V7)
Closet Climber Low (V9)
Koyaanisqatsi (V11)
The Owl’s Lair Project (V11)

This past weekend, I headed up to Poudre Canyon again to try and finish up some projects from the past month and to climb on a rarely dry roof climb at the back of the 420′s.  Connor Griffin, Eli Nogueira and I woke up early, made the 2.5 hour drive from boulder, and went to work.  All the way at the back of the 420′s is an amazing roof climb near “Tilt” and “Divergence” called “Cloudwalker”.  Not sure the full history on this boulder but it sounds like Dave Graham put it up a while back and gave it V11, later it was climbed as a crack straight out with finger locks and then finally Blake Rutherford put the whole line together from the back of the cave at the solid grade of V12.  The roof is almost never dry, seeps from the snow and rain down the crack, so I took advantage of the rare dry spell and jumped at the chance to try it.  After some effort, I worked out all the moves, and fired it off!  14 moves of roof climbing and a tough top out make this line one for the history books.  On 8a, most people give it V10, not sure about that grade, felt hard to me but either way, excited to get it off the list and move on to other projects.

Cloudwalker (V10)

Later in the day we made our way over to the Gandalf area to try some projects that I had scoped out last week.  One in particular, over by Sluice Box, cleaned up real well but was a lot harder then we expected and after considerable effort, we walked away without a send.

A project for next season…

The zone over by Sea of Simulation holds a few other projects we were interested in climbing and we cleaned off on big wall and were able to establish 3 new boulders!  Beau Kahler put up a fun V3 on the left side of the wall and called it “Beau Dirt”, Connor banged out a new one on the right side of the wall called “Longmont Rimjob” (V6) and I cleaned up a tough line in the middle of the wall and was able to send for the first ascent of “Maybe Baby” (V10).  Overall it has been a great few weeks of climbing in Poudre Canyon.  Looking forward to next season and putting up some new rigs!

Maybe Baby (V10) FA

On a side note, we got to shoot Beau’s AK47.  It was fun, beyond fun actually, seeing Eli, in a vintage Hawaiian shirt, blasting rounds into a hillside put a big old smile on our faces…  Really love the alpine life and could not be more excited for the true season to start so we can get up to old projects in the park and go to work.  PSYCHED!

Paul Robinson and Alex Kahn put together a movie called “Welcome to the Hood” and it drops on Monday, April 2nd, 2012.  This 40 minute feature is Paul and Alex’s 2nd movie and is a nice upgrade from the Shengen Files.  This feature is twice the length, action packed, and well shot.

Paul and Alex are getting better and better at shooting well composed, well lit shots that capture the beauty of their surroundings.  The movie made me want to be back in Switzerland climbing in the forrest and living the dream with Paul, so job well done.  To put it bluntly. this movie is straight PORN.  Climbing PORN, sending PORN, non stop PORN.  There is very little lifestyle, storyline, character development, or plot, just plain, good old fashioned, BOULDERING PORN.  Paul, Gu and Daniel just crush through the hardest climbs in Ticino, Murgtal, Silvretta, and Fontainebleau and the feature culminates in Daniel’s epic flash destruction of Entlinge (8B+/C).  I mean, he takes a poo on this line and it’s some of the cooler footage out there…

Welcome to the Hood will be available on the 2nd of April as an HD Download on 27crags.com/films for $10.99 and the DVD just $19.95 with FREE shipping anywhere in the world at Bouldering.com!!!

Hopefully next film Paul and Alex work on will feature some LT11 graphics!

I have spent the past few weeks making the 2.5 hour drive up to Poudre Canyon in search of first ascents and to finish up some old projects.  Last year I put a couple days into Whats Left of the Bottom of My Heart (V12) but was not able to come away with a send.  The first move on the mini compression boulder is very hard to figure out and took me a couple hours this year to dial in and stick.  It was great to stand on top of a hard boulder and dissect a complex move and WIN!

My good friend Danny Ciavarro and I headed up to the canyon last week and spent a night up at the “Trading Post“, a small collection of cabins located between the 420′s and Gandalf area.  It was nice to stay in a cabin right at the boulders and at $50.00 a night, the price was well worth it. Danny and I wanted to find some new boulders in the talus above Gandalf and on a previous trip, I had found a few possible lines that I wanted to climb on.

The zone above Gandalf has a nice collection of boulders with RMNP granite features and is only 5 minutes from the car!  Danny and I got right to work and we immediately established a very fun low roof we called “Sluice Box”.  It looked like the boulder had been cleaned a bit but after climbing on if for a few minutes we broke the left hand edge and it got a bit easier.  The crux revolves around a fun throw to a big fat sloper jug and the new line is in the V10 range.

Another fun addition to the talus is a low roof up the hill from an old problem that Carlo and I established last year called “Shapes and Sizes” (V12).  The problem starts at the back of a cave on a seam and makes a big move to a fun undercling and a massive move to a lip hold with a strange top out.  I named the boulder Mouse Rat and it is roughly V10 as well.  Both Mouse Rat and Sluice Box are super attainable and fun little overhangs that were just sitting right there!

I started searching more in the talus around Mouse Rat and found a clean back wall in a deep pit that had clearly never been climbed on.  The wall was complimented with a thick pinch rail that split the face and some really clean edges to start on.  One big pull gets you to the pinch rail and sets you up or one of the most unique moves I have ever done on a boulder problem.  The crux forces a huge move off a low left foot to the lip of the boulder, a terrible sloper, and as you make the sweeping move up and right you have to almost mantle the left hand and press against the foot as you swing out and away from the wall.  The move took me any hours to figure out but after I learned the move I was getting to the top every time.  Once on the lip you back toe hook the start hold to match and then toss crazily for a jug over the lip.  The move is terrifying and it would have been nice to have a few extra pads.  After a couple days of effort I was somehow able to get to the top for the first ascent of Sea of Simulation (V12).  As icing on the cake, I headed around the corner and put up a short V9 on some nice clean edges we called Olaf’s Bulge.

Four new boulders at the Gandalf area!  Check out the video from the past few weeks of climbing and if you get up to the Poudre let me know how the new lines treat you!  You will definitely see me up there working on new boulders!

My trip to Yosemite as a filmmaker and climber was a true test of character.  With a ton of help, we were able to pull off an amazing adventure and make a half way decent movie about it!  I can’t even express how fulfilling it is to climb, film, manage, and organize a big trip to a far off place.  Yosemite was the perfect testing ground for larger, more remote projects, that would require similar effort and offer even greater reward.

Long story short, I LOVE MY LIFE and i wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.  Check out the article on Sportiva LIVE and if you haven’t already seen Park Life, do me a favor and have a look and spread the LT11 word!

A few weeks ago, I headed to Texas to shoot the Hueco Rock Rodeo with Jordan for LT11.  We were only there for a long weekend but we were able to meet up with Ryan Silven an Danny Ciavarro for a few days of bouldering.  Ryan and Danny had already been in Hueco for a week and had been crushing some pretty obscure classics and getting some film as well.

The majority of Hueco climbers hit the classic circuit of boulders and get stuck trying the same problems trip after trip.  For Danny and Ryan it was very different and they intentionally distanced themsleves from the routine tours and climbed on some of the awesome obscure lines that the average tour never gets to see.  In this video, keep an eye out for a really cool line called “Problematix” (v9) and the rarely seen “Bloodline” (V8).  I wasn’t able to make it to these boulders but they look outstanding and definitely worth a trip!

The Hueco trip for me was simple, climb on as many new problems as possible.  Sunshine (V11) and Shake and Bake (v11) were two problems that I needed to finish up from last trip and I was able to make quick work of them this round and move on to the new stuff.  I was also able to make a ten year retro flash of Ultra Mega (V8) and we climbed on a beautiful face called Tall Cool Red One (V6) that had the whole crew highballing!

Hueco may be in a dusty military zone but the roof climbing is second to none and the atmosphere is hard to beat. Everyone is psyched to be climbing there because what else are you gonna do in the Texas desert?  Gotta make some plans for next year and get onto North Mountain to try some classics!  So much to climb on in Hueco, so little time….

Video Credits

Boulders
Notorious D.I.G. (V9)
Coffee Achiever (V4)
Glass Roof (V9)
Tall Cool Red One (V6)
Ultra Mega (V8)
Bloodline (V8)
Better Eat Your Wheaties (V8/9)
The Hand (V10)
Full Monty (V12)
Michael Kenyon (V4)
Problematix (V9)
Julio and Me (V9)
Screensaver (V8)
Brittany in a Blender (V9)
Shake and Bake (V11)
Anal Oven (V3) FA

Starring
Natasha Barnes
Danny Ciavarro
Sarah Fullerton
Jon Glassberg
Rob Guinn
Ryan Silven

Video
Danny Ciavarro
Jon Glassberg
Jordan Shipman
Ryan Silven

Edit
Jon Glassberg

Motion
Jordan Shipman

Music
Black Strobe – “Italian Fireflies (Hey Today Remix)”
A$AP Rocky – “Purple Swag”
Electrypnose – “Back to Something”

© Louder Than 11 2012
Free Whether You Like It Or Not

Last week I got a some samples of a cool new product from the UK called “Tip Juice“.  The guys at Tip Juice, Oli and Tom, hooked LT11 up with a few bottles of the good stuff that heals up our skin quick so we an get back out to the boulders and crush.  Just a little bit helps re-generate skin and lets us climb every day.

Ingredients: Hemp Oil, Kokum Butter, Hemp Wax, Everlasting Flower, Calendula, Burdock, Marshmallow Leaf, Vitamin E, The Essential Oils

Give this stuff a try if you are interested in some high quality skin healing treatment and LT11 gives it a big thumbs up!  We have used it on our destroyed skin and have had outstanding results!

The past couple weeks have been spent working hard in the office getting ready for some bigger projects in March.  Coming out in the next week or so we have videos premiering through Prana, Brooklyn Boulders, and USA Climbing!  Keep checking back here and at LT11.com for new videos!

I recently returned from my semi-anual trip to New England for the Dark Horse Championships held in Boston.  Every time I go to Boston I am reminded of how great the climbing, the culture, and the friends are.  I feel like the luckiest person alive to consistantly visit New England and get perfect bouldering conditions on some of the best rock in the country.  Farley, Great Barrington, Bradley, and Pawtukaway have never let me down and remind me of climbing in good old Boone, North Carolina.

Fall conditions extended late into the winter season this year across the country and this was one of the first times I had been to Boston without snow piled up on all sides of the road and blistering wind stinging my face!  Dave Wetmore and Josh Larson were able to take Jordan and I out bouldering for a few days of rock climbing bliss between competition and setting work so we took full advantage.  We got to check out a cool area rarely visited called Milford and is located right smack dab in the middle of a Lowes, Best Buy, and Target parking lot.  Despite the horrible surroundings, the rock was outstanding.  There are 2 established climbs on the boulder that go at v6 and v9 with a project sit start to the v9 that involves a massive move to gain the start of the v9 called Highway Robbery.  After we warmed up and sent the established lines I started working on the project sit.  After a bit of work and some 6’5″ arm span I stuck the first move and took it to the top!  I called it “The Best Buy” and I think it might be around v12 but who knows.  I would be very impressed if anyone shorter than me could make the reach.

Later on in the week we made a trip out to Great Barrington for my annual attempts on Roses and BLue Jays (V13).  On the way we stopped at a boulder called Andromeda (V11) and worked out the moves and snagged a surprise send!  I think a hold has crumbled since the last time anyone climbed on this boulder but it is an outstanding line and rarely gets done.  Go check it out!  Roses and Blue Jays kicked my ass for the 3rd straight year.  I think I need a week or so to work on it with good weather… one day…

Finally on our last day in Boston, we headed out to Ragged Mountain for a quick session on The Owl’s Lair Project (V10/11). the “Go Bot” of the east coast. The boulder climbs out of a hole with a stepped landing and a crux finish.  I was able to snag a flash and Dave Wetmore and Alex Enright were able to come away with a send as well!  Video of Dave on this line will be out soon in a new video we are making for Stonelick!  Check back!

After working for 80+ hours a week in the LT11 office, I start to loose track of how important it is to get out and make long bouldering trips happen.  Despite our trip being short, the reward from just getting out and bouldering was worth the sleepless nights, long hours in front of the computer and having to listen to Dave’s Boston accent 24/7.  We are looking forward to next year’s Dark Horse Series already and have some fun stuff planned!  Until then, enjoy this years highlights!