Horseshoe Canyon Ranch!

So this past Saturday, Andrew and I went to Pere Marquette State Park in search of rocks. PM is in Illinois right along the Mississippi. This was my third trip to the park, all in the hope of finding some quality boulders to climb on. The first time we went we found a couple of good boulders, but that was about it. The next time we just went to those and worked on the same stuff. This time, I was determined to find some new boulders...but alas, we ended up going for the same old stuff. It worked out pretty well though. We only had a few hours because we both had to work that night, and we ended up finding two new climbable lines on the boulders we already new about. The first one was a pretty tough traverse (mostly sideways movement) problem. After cleaning all the holds and giving them a health amount of chalk, we started to project the climb and work out the moves. It took about an hour just to figure out the sequence, but I finally figured out some beta that would work. Unfortunately, the middle of the problem has two REALLY tough moves in it (the problem will probably end up being V5 when it actually gets climbed), so I had to put that on hold and move on to the next boulder. This boulder is a really cool looking face, slightly overhanging and 12-15 feet high. It is right on the trail, so we get a lot of curious passer-by, but they usually just walk by with confused looks and talking about our "portable couches", AKA crashpads. Anyway, there was one problem that I had climbed the last time I was there, but never gave a grade, so I climbed it again and figured it was about a V1 or V2. Next we worked a problem that went up the tallest part of the face. It had some really cool moves on it, and when I finally sent it, I decided to call Just the Face is probably in the V4 range (but maybe less).

Andrew climbing Top Out the Tree (V0) last winter. This is another problem we established at the second boulder I described above.

On a side note: the night before, Ben and I went to Disney's A Christmas Carol in 3-D IMAX (against my will). Unfortunately, my initial feeling that this movie would be bad was spot on. It looked great, but it's definitely not a movie for the kids, nor is it enjoyable for adults. Trust me, don't see it.

The reason I allowed Ben to drag me to the movie is because he decided we were going to start a film podcast based on the Academy Awards (for those that don't know, a podcast is kind of like a radio show, but not live and it can be downloaded on the internet through iTunes). Ben, Nicole and I recorded our first one this past Sunday and I think it went pretty well. Anyway, I'll get you some more info on that when we get it up on the internet. I could use your help though: we asked for people to write in with their favorite disaster movies for a discussion in next week's podcast, so if you have one, leave it as a comment and a quick reason why it is your favorite. Disaster movie can mean: natural disasters, epidemics, aliens/monsters/zombies taking over the world, etc... anything that threatens life on planet earth. Thanks for your help!

Anywho, in a couple of days I am heading down to Arkansas for a weekend of climbing at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch. Andrew and I are leaving Friday morning (maybe Thursday night) and climbing until dusk on Sunday. I have been to HCR for the past two New Years and have had a ton of fun both times. I have friends that live in that area from the summer I spent in Colorado and now we have an annual gathering to bring in the new year with climbing, friends and merriment. This trip is just a bit of a warm-up for the trip at the end of the year. I've been wanting to get back down there to work on some projects and explore the area a bit more and I want Andrew to check out the high quality climbing as well. Following is a list of the boulder problems I am wanting to check out this weekend. Most of them I have either worked on a bit or have seen other people climb them and would like to project them myself. I'm really setting the bar up high, hoping that I can at least work out the beta for my trip at the end of the year, but who knows....maybe I'll end up ticking off a bunch of these. Wouldn't that be nice?Kevin Martin sending High Five (V4) last winter at HCR. You can see me in the blue sitting on the boulder behind him. A couple of days later I also sent, making this my first V4.

The goal I set for myself last year at HCR was to have one V7 climbed by the end of the year, as well as a handful of V6s....time is running out....(Keep in mind, last year at HCR I climbed my first and only V6. Other than that, I haven't even done a V5..only V4 and below, but I have faith!)

Horseshoe Canyon Ranch Tick-List:

V7
Razor's Edge
Miho
Leatherface
Orb Weaver
Undertow Direct

V6
Pier Pressure

V5
Even Dirtier
Momento
Slopadon Milosevic

V4
War Bonnet
Alabama Ahead
Moondye (stand start)

V3
The Crescent
Sloping Joe

I'm sure there will be other stuff we will climb, but these are my main targets. I will definitely let you know about my progress upon my return....wish me luck!

Also, I know I keep promising video and pictures, but you'll have to wait just a bit longer. Andrew has video of me climbing Formaldehyde at the Graveyard from a few weeks ago, but hasn't gotten that to me yet. We are also going to be taking a lot of video at HCR, so hopefully I'll have a pretty cool video put together sometime in the next week or two. Sorry I keep boring you with all this talk that you probably don't understand, but hopefully it will be a bit clearer once I get a few videos up!

I hope everyone is well....I'll talk to you next week!