Sunday April 11
Jacob Gerber and I went up to Sawmill Creek Dome to make a day trip out of it. Climbing up around the North Shore area is great and after my trip to Bishop, I was enjoying the sharpness of the rock. Bishop turned me into a masochist? Anyway, my tendons were feeling better than expected so I quickly finished up my old project Jaws after climbing Lukewarm Persistence. Jacob had tried Payback earlier in the week and some newb on Mountainproject was whining about an exorbitant amount of chalk on the start hold for the foot.... haha what a lame boy. Channeling his anger, Jacob slapped his way through the crux, held position while moving his foot with his paint-chipping muscles, and sent! Made props and pshhhkooor! Video of the trip:
Saturday April 17
I headed up to Sandstone with my friend Tyler Olsen and met up with Jim, Nic, and Kris. After removing tick after tick (I hate ticks), we started warming up on the river boulder and I climbed "The Best Problem in Minnesota" for a repeat and still needed two tries. Paul Robinson can be seen campusing the first few moves in the video below.
Later in the day we decided it was time to pay Tengo De La Muerte V10 a visit. I had the opportunity to try it for the first time and see if it felt possible. With my fingers quite injured the bottom roof part felt super hard. If my fingers were in top form it would still probably not go for me. This is not just the next level for me, it is slightly beyond that. Maybe with a handful of real sessions and optimal conditions I may have a small chance. Good thing I was there with the one and only Jim Merli because he snatched the third ascent. Tengo De La Muerte is a hard problem to film and I was super lazy on Saturday and didn't take any video.
Dan Kolar thowing for the top on Tengo De La Muerte
Local strongman Jim Merli nearing the crux
Jim Merli is Dancing La "Tengo De La Muerte" V10Photos taken by Mike Simon
Tuesday April 20
I got a job offer from Rudolph Technologies. Their HQ is located in New Jersey and that is where I will spend about 3 months for training. I will probably have some time in June to come back to Minnesota for a brief visit and then early August I will be working at the branch in Bloomington which will thereafter be my home base indefinitely. New Jersey should give my tendons adequate time to heal. I am really psyched for fall climbing already!
