Monthly Archives: April 2008

Different Styles

Posted on April 7, 2008 by | 1 Comment

I spent this past Saturday climbing up at Necedah with a few friends.  Aside from some gale force winds everything was pretty perfect.  After a chilly warm up Chris and I hopped on Whiskey a Go Go, one of many projects that I’ve acquired recently.  


Chris ran up it just trying the moves once and then promptly sent it looking absolutely perfect.  Everyone agreed that he made it look like a 5.10.  It was fun to watch someone have a project of theirs so dialed in and so perfected.  I’m not sure how many days he’s worked it but either way, well done Chris.  

It also made me laugh about how different our climbing styles are.  Chris is a definitive sport climber.  Thin, tall, fit and graceful.  We watched him as all of the moves were on lockdown.  Every one of them were seemingly too easy.  After he lowered off he talked about how pumped he was at the top and we all looked at him like he was crazy.  No one could even tell he was tired in the slightest.  It was an impressive showing.

I on the other hand, climb a bit more like a boulderer.  I get the moves a little more dynamically.  It seems that I have a few more deadpoints and way more grunting and screaming.  My feet are going to have to cut a few times on Whiskey.  My butt is just too big for me to stay close enough to the wall to climb it static and smooth.

I actually enjoy my style.  I kind of like that powerful, dynamic, explosive climbing.  It’s fun and exciting.  Part of the beauty of Whiskey a Go Go is that it can be climbed both ways and feel about the same difficulty wise.  I’m really looking forward to going back and trying it again and hopefully redpointing it soon.  

Now I’ve just got to convince myself that I won’t deck on that block…..

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Posted in Steve

Brava

Posted on April 3, 2008 by | Comments Off

Our friend Anne gets more press than anybody we know, deservedly so.  If you get a chance, check out the recent profile/interview of her in Brava magazine.  Anne’s story is pretty inspiring:  A self-described couch-potato until the age of 40, she began rock-climbing at 42.  Now – at 53 – she cranks on both ice and rock.  


Anne is living proof of the health and life benefits associated with an active outdoor lifestyle.  She’s travelled all over the world to climb, and goes to far-away locations many times a year.  She’s also a climbing instructor (specializing in teaching classes to women who are over 40.)  For our industry, she’s both an A-level consumer and advocate for the sport.  She wins, we win, everybody wins.

The outdoor industry is doing a fairly good job of connecting with women in general, and in particular with women who are over 40.  Thanks to Chicks With Picks, Women That Rock, SheClimbs, Surf Divas, Outdoor Divas, Water Divas and similar organizations and movements, there are a lot of options for women.  Gateway activities such as indoor rock climbing and Nordic Walking make outdoor recreation more accessible than ever before.  And all of this is great.  

My question:  Where are the kids?  Let’s keep talking about this one.  In order for the outdoor industry to be vibrant and to succeed in the long-term, we need to do a better job of getting our youth active with outdoor activities, and with the outdoors in general.

To be continued…

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Posted in Brad

Classic

Posted on April 3, 2008 by | 4 Comments

So what’s the definition of a “classic” climb?  Everybody has different ideas and thoughts about the topic.  Who really knows?  


I’m hopefully heading up to Necedah on Saturday (if my knee decides to cooperate) specifically to try Whiskey a Go Go.  We’ll see what happens but everything I’ve heard about this route is spectacular.  If you look at the route description, out of nine people who have given it a quality rating all of them gave it a full 4-stars.

I’ve only been up to Necedah a couple of times and one time I was lucky enough to see this rig get sent.  My friend’s smile while he lowered was enough to make me want to do this climb but at the time I was light years away from being able to even think about doing the crux moves. So I never got on it.

It seems a little more doable now so I’ve got my friend Chris coming along to spew beta at me and hopefully I’ll be able to make some progress on it.  Maybe I’ll have a new definition of “classic” on Monday.

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Posted in Steve

"If only my Honda Odyssey handled the blizzard this weekend like my BOB Revolution…"

Posted on April 1, 2008 by | Comments Off

BOB, maker of some of the most respected bike trailers and fitness strollers on the market (including the official stroller of IRONMAN), has launched a web campaign to build a virtual community of BOB moms and dads where they can “gather and share in our commitment to enjoy the outdoors with our most precious cargo” (BOB Neighborhood). Seems like a good way for soccer dads and parkour moms (see video) to get outdoors, car-free.

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Posted in Pete