Author Archives: Steve Schultz

So, normally when we go out bouldering we’re the weirdest ones out there. Among all of the campers, hikers, horse riders and families, walking around with giant pieces of foam attached to our backs generally singles the climbers out amongst the crowd.

Not this Saturday.

These guys were.

You may remember me talking about the battlers in the costumes with the fake swords and armor a couple of weeks ago. Well, they were out in force this past Saturday. As we drove into the park we kept on seeing little pockets of these guys. Then we turned the corner to go to Group Camp B and they were everywhere. Both Katie and I were stunned. Hobbits, Elves, Nerds, Warriors, whatever you want to call them.

I think the most confusing part of all of this were the 4 people dressed up as Power Rangers. Their costumes did not leave a whole lot to the imagination. Just try to squeeze an adult body into one of the Power Rangers costumes designed for a kid. Not pretty.

That’s all I’ll say about that for now, the website does it more justice. As for the climbing, it was fantastic. Katie made great progress on both of her projects and I’ve unlocked the last key piece of beta for mine, much thanks to Remo for that one. Here’s a shot of Katie on Split Personality. I’m beginning to learn how to use the flash correctly now. It’s been fun to start taking pictures again.

So Katie and I went out to Governor Dodge again on Saturday. It was one of those days that was just perfect, start to finish. It was so nice and I think we both needed it. We had breakfast at Tex Tubbs and then made our way out to the boulders. I had bought a new flash for my camera earlier that week and it was really fun to play around with it and experiment a little. After a little bit of toying around I got the wireless flash to work correctly, most of the time at least, and the result was pretty cool. I’m excited to try it out some more this fall. There was one car in the parking lot when we arrived and when we left we were the only ones there. Perfect. The temps weren’t the best but there was a nice breeze and we made due.

It was great. I love fall. Can’t wait for next weekend.

Here’s a shot of the throw on Highly Executed. Out of all the pictures Katie took of me on the throw, this one stuck out. I love how you can see the whole problem and how the wall opens up as it goes away from the camera.

I decided to pull out the monkey face on this one. Classy.

After a few minor meltdowns and some entertaining falls, Katie got her left foot to stick again and made some progress on Hangman.

Split Personality has some of the most painful holds at Dodge with about 5 really painful moves up a short, dark wall. The holds suit the problems location and general feel. It’s often really dark and has a gloomy, almost damp feel. It makes taking pictures there tough and kind of interesting. The wireless flash was a huge help here. I’m really looking forward to shooting this problem again.

Katie was so close to this. It’s always tough to decide whether to go to this boulder first in the day or last. You’re pretty well guaranteed to lose all of your skin, so your day might end sooner than you want. I’m expecting a send in the near future.

Best part about bouldering.

Like I said, I’m really excited to go back and take some more pictures at this boulder. It’s got a really cool feel to it and the positions it puts the climber in are pretty photogenic.

Temps are supposed to be cooler next week so hopefully we’ll have some completed projects to talk about. I can’t wait. Oh, and apparently the people who dressed up last weekend in Medieval armor and such were playing “Ring Toss”. Lord of the Rings reenactments. Yeah. Awesome. I hope we didn’t get a spell cast on us….

So, Katie and I made another trip to Governor Dodge this weekend. The weather was much cooler and conditions were so much better. It kinda reminded me why I like Sandstone. Every fall I’m reminded of why it’s so good. The leaves were starting to change and the rock felt nice and grippy.

We spent most of our time on the “Execution Bloc” and only stayed for a few hours as we’d been at the gym the night before. There are a bunch of problems in a pretty condensed area with eliminates seemingly everywhere. We both made progress on our respective projects and Katie sent one of the problems she was working on. Always fun. I spent all afternoon working out the moves on Highly Executed and felt really good on it. It’s a fun, rising traverse on a series of big slopers. All of the holds are skin and user friendly so it was a perfect place to hang out for an afternoon.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. And of all the days to forget it, this one was a doozy. Driving into the park we saw 8-9 people fully decked out in Medieval armor. Yep, that’s right……Armor. Trash can shields, molded metal chest and leg protection, realistic looking swords and chain mail body armor. Not to mention some pretty sweet helmets. If that wasn’t enough, a minute or so after we passed the warriors, we passed another group of battlers at the bathroom. They were sporting some super stylish neon accents on their clothes and were shooting a day-glow Nerf crossbow into a box. Needless to say we drove past both of these groups at about 2.7 miles per hour with our jaws open. I was crushed I forgot my camera. Crushed.

All that said, I’ll have it for the next session for sure. I’m also getting a new flash for my camera this week so I’m excited to start using it. Hopefully I’ll have some pictures next Monday or Tuesday for you to check out.

So, earlier in the year I posted a list of climbs I wanted to do before the end of the year. After a summer of relaxing and eating lots of cookies instead of climbing rocks, I’ve adjusted the list a touch. So here it is. My fall tick list. Assuming I can get back into shape this should be somewhat doable. I’ve taken out all of the routes for now as my psych seems to be landing on the short rocks. So here it is, my Fall 08 wish list….

Alpine Club – V9 – Devils lake – Possibly the two hardest moves at Devils Lake….in succession.

Beautiful Soup – V8 – Devils lake – Hard, but doable. More of a warm up for the next one…

The Keymaker – V10/11?? – Devils lake – Un-repeated and proud. Very very high on the priority list.

Sex and Chocolate – V7 – Devils lake – Classic slopers on Quartzite. Need to wait for the cool temps though. Another warm up for something better to come…

Sex and Chocolate Direct – Project – Devils Lake – A direct finish to the previous problem. There are holds on the upper wall but I’ve spent a good part of the last year and a half trying to ignore just how thin they are.

Sandstone Violence – V8 – Governor Dodge – I’ve got a very definite personal vendetta against this problem. I worked out the beta. Got within two inches of pulling the FA. Then got hit by a 7 pound block of sandstone and lost all interest in it. My prediction, it’ll be sent by the end of October.

Illusions of Paradise – V7 – Governor Dodge – Looks like a pretty cool problem. I haven’t seen it yet but people have been saying good things. We’ll see.

So there it is. Considering I’m in about V4 shape right now, I had better get on it and start ticking these things off. I’ll be sure to keep all of our loyal fans up to date on my flailing. Preferably with lots of pictures.

So, the bunny we got this past April is close to being full grown now. We checked and she’s a she. Her name is Dash, thanks to “The Incredibles”. Thought I’d take some pictures and give all of our loyal readers an update.

She’s bigger, but not really any smarter….

Katie keeps on insisting that the misbehaving is all my fault. I normally deny it but I’ll take credit here. I put an animal cracker up on the table, next to the paper. She got close at least.

It’s amazing how much control parents can have over their children sometimes. Obviously not always, but a good portion of the time a kid grows up to be much like either one of his parents. In my case, it’s my dad. No doubt in my mind.

Growing up I idolized him, as a good kid should. He was, and still is, the epitomy of who I want to be as a person. So many of the lessons I’ve learned throughout my life I’ve learned from him. I’ll be forever grateful for that.

Even our chosen professions, he’s a pharmaceutical sales rep, are eerily similar. I still have very vague memories of a “take your son to work day”. Dressing up in black slacks and a button up shirt. Having my parents put on a tie for me, clip on of course. I even think it may have been a bow tie to make it even better. It was fun seeing what he did for a living. Seeing what he did while I was away at school.

Now I’m sitting here 15 or so years later traveling through Michigan, and while it’s not pharmaceuticals, I get to talk about and play with products I use every day. I get to work for really cool companies that sell some of the best gear on the planet. It’s fun and I couldn’t be happier doing it.

What brought all this on? I was tooling through some of my old pictures from Mammoth and found some of him. My roommate and I took him climbing one day while he was visiting. I can’t explain how much fun it was to finally teach him something! To show him something new and to do exactly what he had been doing to me my entire life.

Here is a picture of him on one of the climbs. Since then, he found out he had adult onset diabetes he’s lost about 40-50 pounds. I couldn’t be happier for him.

If my memory serves me right, about 10 days after this picture was taken it snowed a foot and a half. Mind you, this picture was taken in early May. More on that in a few days though…..