Opium Den proj goes DOWN!!!

Well.....The long awaited ascent of the Opium Den proj went down the other day by the hands of Kyle "Nasty" Neely. Not sure what he named or graded it. We were talking somewhere in the V9/10 range. Another hard problem in Lolo. I'm really glad this finally went down, even though I'd had quite a bit of time on it and was pretty close, its awesome Kyle nabbed it. Super stoked that it went down by a MT local, woot woot, Missoula represent, and not some outa-state floner. Props to you Kyle. Good work and perseverance!!! With this ascent I'm willing to bet that Lolo now has the highest concentration of good/hard bouldering in the state. Not that I'm pissing on the Batholith or anything, there are just more unique features to be had in Lolo. Word!

Yesterday- Went out with an afternoon sesh with Chris Gibish and Dave Kratovchvile out to climb some ropes in lolo. Dave has had a pretty long hiatus from climbing and I've been trying to help motivate him to get back out. We went to Reef Rock climbed some pitches, did a little bolt replacement and took some photos. Then went over to Elk and did some more climbing. The weather looked a bit dodgy in the morn but it proved to be a beautiful day, almost too hot in the sun. We stayed to near sunset and enjoyed the fleeting sunshine. 

-Fuck, There's those days when it feels so good to be out there in the woods, quiet, comfortable, beautiful, a slight breeze, good company and Libations! Days when you long to stay out there forever. I appreciated it even more knowing that I might be my last day out there for a while, but alas, NY is looking up but pushed back till next week. But looking solid. It gives me another couple of days in lolo. I'm taking Ken Turley on a Tour on Sunday, of all my new hard routes. And maybe a sesh with Dylan and Vicky on Sat. 

Also, Just want to give a big thanks to all my friends who make life more enjoyable by their presence and attitude. High five. Peace, and once again, Kyle good job!

Motown Mofo

Well....I'm still in Missoula, blast! No climbing updates here. Just some plastic session with Floner-sds on the woody.. It sounds bad I know, but its climbing. Just trying to work and make money while hanging out with my thumb up my ass, going crazy, waiting to see if the whole NY digs is going to work out or not. To make matters worse, Not being in school pretty much makes my schedule opposite in some fucked up way than most of my friends. That being said I don't actually have that many mainstay climbing partners. My two main ones, Dean and Kelsey are totally MIA. Dean is Lost in the woods in hunting land and Kelsey fell into a vat of clay on his mission get his BFA. He's alive, but restricted to the schedule of, Work, School, Family, Clay, 6 hrs sleep repeat. Keep it together bro. See the light!

Fucked up thing too is, If its not raining its hot n muggy. Kind of poor climbing conditions unless its overcast. Anyway... peace

Winds of Change!

Soon I'll be embarking on an unknown adventure into unknown territory, NY. The winds of the universe have picked up and inflated my sails in a new direction, temporarily! I'm off to Souther NY to build a post-modern/contemporary/nonconventional house with my friend Adam Fruh.  Denning, NY, is BF nowhere, however, it is super close to the Gunks. I hope we'll get some time off. Rumney might be in the cards as well. Not looking forward to paying to drive more than usual in addition only being able to drive 65 mph max, WTF, right?

    My real hopes and motivation for this trip are financially motivated, no doubt. If all goes well, I'll not have to stress about being broke for the winter. This will be a nice change of pace and peace of mind........

I'll be back, don't worry now. Montana's winter climbing scene will be prime when I get back. P-lot, perhaps Kootenai, conner and wandering in the woods, through the snow cleaning frozen moss and stumbling with the saw and or drill!

This weekend, I'm heading up the west fork to meet up with some old pioneer climbers, Ivan Pyatt, Jim Durkin, Gray and Eloisse Thompson, Craig Kenyon, Rick Torre, Micheal Scott, Tobin Kelly, This is the potential roster. 

Anyhow, so there are some sick Lolo like domes, in fact it is the same rock as lolo exactly just 70 miles away. Funny how that works. It is really cutting things close going down there but I'm trying to get as much Guidebook info and lost info on Missoula area climbing as possible in one swoop. The guide will encompass lolo routes and bouldering and other misc crags and forgotten info, ie, reststop, p-lot, and updates to popular crags. 

Anyway back from the tangent, So... looking forward to meeting some old dudes, chilling by the fire, rallying some dirt roads in the Menace (my trucks new name) and putting up some routes/freeing some projects and generally checking out a new place.

To all those folks who are going to Loho, sorry i'm not coming, I prefer the woodwork to the crowds and crisp, sharp holds to greasy ones.  And I like it when I'm the redneck with guns not some sketch dumb fuck b-root retards who are completely ignorant and have NO mind for respect of the rock or land. For Example: The super Rad boulder is FUCKED!!!! Forever!!! 

Back again from another Tangent... So if you want to get away and check out some new shit at Losthorse. Continue another 11 miles up canyon, start your odo at the bridge but don't take that left, The Stallion area is on the left across the creek and you can't miss it remember 11 miles. There is some good shit there. Haven't done a lot of it but a change of pace. Bring several pads/spotter and some balls cause that shit is high.

And remember, all you floners have fun and be safe. Don't get too drunk and spot people and watch your tongue and actions around those kids. Be a good role model for now anyway.

  

-

Made to order

Kelsey Duncan and I headed up 

to the pass this early weekend to take care of some business. Kelsey is about to getballs deep in his art/work/homelife and I might be taking off to NY to build a house until mid Nov. We bolted a route on this undeveloped dome in the lower crystal theater a little over a year ago and hadn't been back. We drove up a nice logging road and found a new sweet place to camp, made a fire pit and set in on beers and making some burritos. Temps were perfect and we passed out late after meandering around some boulders in the dark. The morning greeted us with some semi rainy looking clouds, amazing breeze. coffee, burritos, cig, climb. I even found a crystal when I was poopin! cool-

Crystal castles 512c follows a barely there looking set of features for 80' and then climbs another 40' of run out slab to the top. It climbs a lot like limestone, very technical and footwork dependent.  We went to the top to rap over and clean/chalk and re-sus the line for redpoint goes. As we rapped off there was a huge swarm of honey bees living in a pocket adjacent to the route.  Sketch. There is also a really sweet Fir tree and a nice rock to chill at below the route. Especially since its south facing. The clouds started in and Kelsey tied in, fell, worked it out and lowered. By now the clouds had passed so I cracked a beer and rolled a cig up to wait for some shade. Well, it didn't come for me and I tied up any way and sent. A cross body clip off a half pad mono was a little worry some but it all worked out and I climbed to the top. The upper slab was a bit dicer, feeling like i was hauling a boat anchor. Sweet, I untied and dropped the rope back down and scrambled off. 

-another beer-n-cig, and the clouds came back, but dark very dark. So K-bone tied in and started up. Through the first crux, it started raining a little, shit dude send it, fuck off rain. And indeed the rain fuked off enough so K-bone could send by the skin of his teeth. And we were happy. But Then it did start raining hard so I rushed up amidst the thunder and lightening and rain, on top of the dome, reveling in my stupidity and the danger. Rapped super quick and then the storm had passed and we rejoiced with beers in hand and packed up and enjoyed the sun.

ThEn----We headed down the way just a bit and climbed the eagles Brood a nice 512 boulder crack boulder problem that is thin hands/overhanging and right slanting and sick. We tapped up and got worked until we sent. Totally the bachar cracker of lolo. A Justin Peterson testpiece!

And on we went, pack up the truck and down the road and onto the highway and back to fishcreek to granite creek- To Roll Rock for some more business. 

Brometheus 12c is a 4 bolt line next to Roller girl that I talked about last week. We didn't have the gumption for it last week but today was prime. Stick clip the first bolt, boulder problem to rest to boulder problem to rest.....boulder to rest, chains. I crushed it first go. Kelsey worked out his beta and sent as well. Work.

Then we headed to Tor rock to look for kelsey's lost glasses which became un-lost.

Today's redpoints bring the total to 5-5.12 FAs this season, two 12bs and 3 12cs.

This little trip was perhaps the best of the season. The culmination of all our hard work. All we had to do was climb. No bolting, no cleaning, no bullshit. It was totally the peak of Kelsey and My partnership for the season. It was a really good run of things. One would hope that days like this are attainable at a higher frequency, but days such as these come about with undue rarity.   I've had many a satisfying day out in the woods with peeps but today was one of the best. An aim for future experiences!!.