An Accident!!! Sorry for the gory photos.
Posted by admin on May 10th, 2008 filed in Climbing1 Comment »
We finally met up with our friends John and Spencer from Vegas….these guys are good peeps and really psyched to be here….2ndday climbing (yesterday) there was an accident. MY GOD!!! HOW upsetting…Here’s the low-down.
We got to the cliff where Colette had a nice 7b+ to finish off…The route is located on the left side of the Ventanas, a nice route too…except for this lame-dead-tree at the base. A true nuisance for lowering and something you steering clear of. John Star took his burn on the route all “a muerte”!!! He got his hands situated with feet way under the roof. There was no question he was going to have to hold a swing with the position he was in.
Being at the second bolt the belayer had to give a little slack for the swing…
The holds were a little to poor for the swing. As he swung out, he flung off the rock causing the rope to catch him and swing him inward RIGHT into the dead tree!!!! Immediately he started screaming and wailing….it was a bad sound. Its crazy how you know instinctually if something really bad has happened to your body.
He hit the dead tree with his legs HARD…and when he pulled up his pant leg….all three of us almost threw up! GORE!!!!
There was no time to waste…he had to get to a hospital STAT…John was super cool and calm…almost too cool and calm. We wrapped it up with a shirt and duct-tape…untied, and he took off to the car, which was like a 15 minute hike up hill…he seemed to walk fine and just wanted to get to a doctor. Colette and I stayed and tried to feel normal and get psyched to climb. The only thing that made me feel any better was to destroy that tree…I took it down and made a seat out of it….ESTA!!
One of the best parts about Europe is the health care…..I HATE USA’s HEALTH CARE…let it be known….buncha-money-grobblin-bastards are what USA health insurance companies are. John, went to the doctor, got his leg stitched, and walked out with out opening his wallet. Done deal…
He is ok…he is a little sore and probably a little up set with the circumstance, but MAN…he has a great attitude and is really taking it well.
So BE SAFE everyone….even sport climbing can screw you up….always check the knots & Gri-Gri, and always look at the fall potential…Take care!!!
Rodellar!!
Posted by admin on May 8th, 2008 filed in Climbing1 Comment »
DANG!!! Sorry for no posting for a minute. Anyone that reads this little bloggy-blog knows I update and it’s important to me. But, This is what I got so far. 
Click HERE for the full size. We got to Rodellar 2 days ago, where it looked, at first, like it did last year…WET and getting ready to RAIN again. Luckily…I mean LUCKILY it held off…even with all the blaring thunder and lightning. It remained dry. The next day Colette and I were SO psyched to get at it. We woke up fairly early, 10 am, and bombed down tot he cliffs. My plan was to try Peta Negra 8c. I figured it would be a good one to hook up first, given that I have that kind of strength now, which is good endurance and kinda “Comp” style resistance. I love that style right now!!! But…I had to try some that I had been thinking about and HAD to at least taste….The Hulk 8c and Welcome to Tijuana. Both went pretty well…its always hard trying many hard things in one day and dogging and figuring beta out….Needless to say I was WORKED. To be continued on those…Other than that…Yesterday and today I just went onsight attempting…7c+, 8a, 8a+…all I FAILED on…but did second try. Onsighting is my challenge now…There are LOTS here that lend themselves to this style and LOTS to keep you busy on.
Colette and I have a crib here at the Refugio. Its nice, ALL alone in a room…not camping really, comfy, inside living. I much prefer this. We wake up to the cliffs all around us, and walk right to the warm-ups…SO dope!!! I gotta say…I am in heaven here….There are lots of amazing climbs to get at and really delve into…I love limestone and I love the fact that we have time here….PLEASE DON’T RAIN!!!!! When it rains…TUFAs LOVE it…..we can’t have that.
Margalef TWO
Posted by admin on May 5th, 2008 filed in ClimbingComment now »
Day two, Colette sent her 7c with a serious fatigue-stricken-ascent. Jet-lag, new style, just pure excitement of being in a new place…all that stuff kinda messes you up when you first get to Europe…Always! I did some 7c routes and tried some HEINOUS 5.14s…LOTS of pockets and really tweaky stuff. I got LOTS of love for limestone, but YO….monos and shallow two fingers….for MILES??!!!! GOD DANG!!! I had fun, until fatigue set in on me too, so we studied some Spainish for a little while, its a good way to pass time in between burns…We are off to check out Rodellar tomorrow…we’ll see whuddup…
1st day climbing
Posted by admin on May 4th, 2008 filed in Uncategorized2 Comments »
Chris and Daila took us to Margalef today…SO DOPE!!! I didn’t get that many photos because I was simply BUGGIN’ out over the climbing… But, Daila shot some of me…THANKS DAILA! I had a great starter-off-er-day. I did some 7c and 8a routes all onsight…good for the head and SO much fun. They were totally Maple Canyon style with cobbles and pockets. Colette fell off the top of a 7c twice today! UGH! No worries though…we left our draws and she will complete with style and execution. The RAD wall is where Chris did his latest 9a route (photo)…it is really bad-ass! Long and sustained pockets and bouldery. Daila just hooked up her hardest route yet the other day…8b+/8c…. We have plans to film this route next week. Stay tuned to Momentum for the cut.
