ydnar

Monochrome Japanese Perspective Puzzles

nobody@vox.com(ydnar) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:14:27 -0800

I have a thing for purposeful monochromatic constructions, devices that simultaneously tickle my parietal and occipital lobes, Venn diagrams of precious little intersection of the trickster, beauty and math. Childhood ingredients included parts Escher, Pinball Construction Set and the Basel School. This week I was ecstatic to be exposed to not one, but two examples of this meter—one physical, the other virtual, both Japanese, rendered in white, challenges to be experimented with.

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A Post About Climbing

nobody@vox.com(ydnar) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:21:53 -0700

My blog has been a morass of moblog messages lately and it’s time for some real [brief] content, yo! I’ll take this break from [attempting] to sleep to rectify.

Acquired most of a trad rack on Saturday. REI had 20% off all BD cams. Woot!
After not climbing for > 2 weeks, I climbed my hardest dihedral yet (10d), grunting all the way, no resting on rope!

This movie needs more exclamation points!

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Rock Star

nobody@vox.com(ydnar) — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 01:23:50 -0700

photo.jpg

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James and Logan Epic on Half Dome

nobody@vox.com(ydnar) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:31:27 -0700

James and Logan Epic on Half Dome

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thr...

Trying to move fast, James was linking p. 10 and 11, backcleaning all pieces when a cam that he was yarding on blew, sending him for a good ride, maybe 40+ ft. He ended up missing me at the belay by a few feet. Air Time! At that point, I took the lead up to big sandy, just in time for the Darkness to surround us. The happy little clouds had started to turn angry, and this is where we felt the first snowflakes. Time to climb faster, we thought. Having shaken off his fall, James lead the Zig Zags, and by the time I got to the belay @ pitch 20, the storm was really starting to show it's teeth.

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Aha.

nobody@vox.com(ydnar) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 08:33:23 -0700

Climbed an 11a yesterday, with overhang. Janet was on belay, and she didn’t pull me up the wall.

Bouldering V2/3 pretty consistently too.

Love it. Love it.

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Climbing Meta

nobody@vox.com(ydnar) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:58:15 -0700

Yesterday was a milestone for me in rock climbing. I didn’t ascend a new long route, or best my previous hardest grade. What happened was the ease of which I was able to ascend bouldering problems I’d previously struggled with. On problems I’d previously only barely gotten to the top of, straining the entire way—I could climb laps on. Where I was flailing a week ago, I was able to make every move with confidence and grace. Lunges became static moves.

Bouldering problems (at least at my gym) generally fall into one of the categories: Overhangs, stemming problems, and balancing acts. The latter are usually on sheer, vertical walls with minimal hand and footholds. They tax your ability to get close to the wall, trusting your feet (and to a lesser extent, your fingertips).

Overhanging problems stress grip strength and power/endurance. You need to keep your arms straight and focus on footwork. Otherwise you fall off because your arms are pumped and you simply can’t grasp anything.

Stemming problems have few, giant holds involving flexibility and strength (pushing and pulling). A glance at a stemming/mantling problem is most likely to enlist a “how the f*ck do you climb that?” response.

My arms and grip strength are weak. My core strength is fairly decent, and my legs are most developed. I’ve found I’m climbing these grades:

Overhangs: V1+
Balancing: V2
Stemming/mantling: V3

Need to work on that first one.

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Amazing Free Soloing in Siberia

nobody@vox.com(ydnar) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:02:52 -0700

Free soloing madness in Siberia

http://www.patago...

One slip, one flubbed foothold, and it’s dirt-nap time. This is as dangerous and serious as rock climbing can get. Yet all around us, there are hundreds of people – an eclectic potpourri of men, women, kids, the elderly, toddlers and partying teens you’d expect to find at a shopping mall – free s...

Somehow, “In Soviet Russia” jokes aren’t going to cut it. In a part of Siberia never before climbed by an outsider, entire families free-solo up sheer cliffs. Kids, moms, dads, grandparents. Watch the video:

Stolby Style: Siberian Free Soloing

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Steep

nobody@vox.com(ydnar) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:38:54 -0700

Sent from my iPhone

Vertical Face @ Genocide Rock

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Boulder!

nobody@vox.com(ydnar) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:39:14 -0700

Sent from my iPhone

Pista and the Boulder

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Ring Mountain

nobody@vox.com(ydnar) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:35:12 -0700

Sent from my iPhone

photo.jpg

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