Current Projects
--I'm writing a bouldering guide to Black Mountain alone with Ian McIntosh. To be published with Wolverine Publishing. Look for it near the end of 2010.
--I'll be climbing in Columbia in June/July, checking out the rocks and putting up new routes.
Sport Climbing
--I've redpointed over two hundred routes 13a or harder here and there around the world. Granite, limestone, basalt, and choss. I climb it all.
--I've also redpointed over fifteen 5.14's, including some hard second ascents in Joshua Tree. I'll avoid the gory details, but consider Rastafarian (14b) and New Deal (14a), both second ascents, both years and years after they were first put up.
--I have many first ascents around Yangshuo, China, including Sea of Tranquility (14a), China’s first 5.14.
--Sometimes I have good days, like a send train of Zulu (14a) and The Gayness (13d) in Rifle.
--Sometimes I do routes on my first try, and I've onsighted or flashed forty 5.13s up to 13c.
Trad Climbing
--Redpointed Father’s Day (5.14a) at Donner Summit using only natural protection, skipping the bolts on the upper section in favor of TCUs. This ascent has received good publicity in the climbing magazines.
--Onsighted Ruby’s Cafe (5.13a), a thin finger crack at Indian Creek.
--Redpointed Crack of the 80s (5.13a) and Puma (5.13a) at Donner Summit in a single day. Although Puma is now bolted, I climbed it as it was originally done by Hidetaka Suzuki, using only nuts and cams.
Bouldering
--Bouldering is somewhat new to me, but I've made it up seventy double digit boulder problems in the last few years.
--In the pursuit of the Black Mountain guidebook, I've become one of the most prolific first ascentionists in the SoCal bouldering scene. We often put up three or four hard problems a week.
--I've done a few v12s (or is it 8a+? or 8A+?).
Competitions
--When I was a kid I was into the comps, and had five strong finishes in the JCCA Junior Nationals between 1996 and 2000. I even managed fifth place in the 16-17 age group in 1999.
--At the pleasure of convenience I'll do national comps, and got fifth place at the 2004 ABS Nationals in Sacramento. There have been more, including a 2004 ABS nationals and a 2005 roped climbing championship, but I've forgotten it by now.
--I still do local comps to see friends and hang out. Sometimes strong kids beat me. I hate that.
Press Appearances
--My name was mentioned in the green issue of Climbing Magazine. Apparently my ascent of Father's Day was "almost green," whatever that means.
--Urban Climber had a cover story on my trip of first ascents to Yangshuo, China (April, 2008).
--There was a two page gallery photo of my first ascent of the highway 60 mastodon in Urban Climber (December, 2007).
--Someone else repeated Father's Day with gear, two years after I did it, and he got a full page in Climbing Hot Flashes. My name was mentioned at least, because, you know, I did it before him (December, 2006).
--Featured in an article on promising young climbers in Rock and Ice (January, 2005). I'm not sure if I've lived up to my potential. Maybe I have.
--There was a photo and quote in an article on headpointing in Rock and Ice (December, 2004).
--My ascent of Father’s Day (14a) at Donner Summit was cutting edge at the time. Find it in Rock and Ice (August, 2004).
Photos
I FA's this! Emily Harrington on Lesser Deity (13d) in China. Tim Kemple took the photo:
Lowering down to put in the bolts.
Father's Day.
I put ninjas on the clock tower. Or, really, we put ninjas on the clocktower. Justin and Peter and Jake and I.
The FA of the Silver Fox at Black.
My Dad started me climbing. Now he bikes. We still climb together occasionally. We toasted with beer on the top of Matthes Crest.
