Arkansas Part 2

So where was I? Oh yes, Day 2. I won't go through all the details, but Thursday was a nice day. It was still a little wet, but climbable. I started off the day working on Fraziac (V6) again. It still didn't go though. After that we headed over to watch Wayne and some other people try an awesome highball problem called Grand Dragon (V7). Unfortunately Wayne didn't quite finish it, so we moved around the corner to Numerical Methods (V8). I actually made most of the moves, which was pretty encouraging, but I never really gave it a solid effort because I was trying to save my strength for Razor's Edge (V5). I'm really looking forward to getting back and really putting some time into Numerical Methods...I really think I can climb it if I get just a bit stronger. That would be a big jump in grade, which would be crazy...but it's all subjective anyway. I then went and got some new beta on Razor's Edge, so I put some work into that, but still didn't get it. So the day was still pretty fruitless when it came to sending problems, but I got a lot of good work in anyway. That night we went back to the barn to slackline and start the New Years celebration. We definitely had a good time and eventually went back to the cabins for our traditional New Years dance party and midnight celebration. Friday was the best day the whole weekend. It was a decent temperature and all of the rocks were dry! I went out with a goal of doing 3 V5s in a day: Even Dirtier, Razor's Edge, and Momento. I went to Even Dirtier first and got it after about 4 attempts. This was my 2nd V5 ever, so I was pretty happy. We then went over to Razor's Edge and I gave it about 6 solid tries, but just couldn't quite get it. It involves getting a REALLY high right foot and I just wasn't flexible enough that day to get it, but it will go next time. After that I went over to Momento and gave that a few goes, but I'm still not really ready for that one. It is only one foothold that is keeping me from doing it, but it is TOUGH! After that I got a problem called Alabama Ahead (V4) after a couple of tries and called it a day. Once again we pasted the evening hours in the barn slacklining. By this time, I had gotten pretty much all of my slackline ability back, so I was trying some new tricks. My friend Evan is an incredible slackliner, so he was teaching me a few moves. Sometime this spring when it gets warmer I'll put up a video of me doing some slacklining (there is also a little bit in the video posted below).

On Saturday, we woke up to some frigid temps, but bundled up and hit the rocks anyway. Most of the group had left either the day before or in the morning, so there was just a few of us going out today. We headed to a boulder called Slopin' Joe to warm up and try a couple of classic problems. I think this is me on a problem called Slopadon Milosevic (V5). It is the classic problem of the Slopin' Joe boulder, but it was a bit out of my league. After this, we headed over to the Undertow boulder to try Hang Ten (V7). It was an awesome problem and I ended up getting all the moves but one. I'm definitely looking forward to going back to that problem when I'm a bit stronger...I think it will go! That night we ended up staying in Evan's group's cabin after yet another night of slacklining. Unfortunately, we woke up to this:
Needless to say, climbing that day was out of the question, so we got an early start home. The roads ended up being terrible, but we only came close to dying once and wrecking about 3 times... But yeah, the first 2 hours of the drive, the roads were pretty bad, but after Springfield, MO, the weather cleared up. So in the end, the trip was AWESOME! It wasn't the most successful, climbing-wise, but otherwise, I met a lot of great people, caught up with old friends, and had a ton of fun!

So I guess this did sort of end up being a play-by-play...but oh well.
Andrew and I have tried going climbing outside the past two weekends, but the weather in the area has been wet, wet, wet. Hopefully we can get outside this Sunday, but we'll have to wait and see.

Anyway, sorry for the length, but here's a video wrapping up the week in Arkansas....enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7aqVdJKQ54