Projects Completed

First of all...sorry for the lack of pictures...I've been taking the video camera out with me instead of the photo camera.  Stay tuned for some video...I'm working on a little bit longer video at the moment that I'm hoping to have done soon.  Nothing special...just a collaboration of some climbs in the south.

Anyways...after waiting out the rain early this weekend I headed back to Rocktown on Sunday to try and finish up Fire in the Mountians...or to at least do the crux move.  Before heading to the back area to work on Fire we stopped at a boulder that I've never really spent much time on called Digital Scales V9.  Digital Scales is a shoulder wrecker of a problem...a.k.a. hard for me...so I was really psyched when I did the low crux section on my second go.  After figuring out some beta for the top section I was able to piece it together for the send.  I was happy to start the day off right and I soon made my way to Fire in the Mountains for my third round of attempts.

I tried Fire from the start a few times with no success and figured it would be good to try and just do the crux move...especially since I hadn't done it before.  I pulled on, everything felt just right, and I did the move!  It was time to try it from the start.  After one failed attempt I brushed the holds and tried again.  This time everything felt right.  I stuck the crux move and somehow scraped my way to the top of the boulder.  I don't really remember anything after doing the crux.  It was one of those autopilot situations. Looking back on it it was probably a good thing I didn't start thinking, otherwise I probably would have sketched myself out and fallen!  HA.

Afterwards Nate Drolet, Senya, and I went to a boulder that I'd never tried before called Iron Claw Sit V10.  We were all psyched to try it and Nathan dispatched the stand V7 for the flash.  After some work and a couple of 'one more tries' I barely managed to top the boulder out.  All in all it was a really fun day and I am happy to have done my project as well as a couple other amazing boulders.  Next on my list of destinations is Dayton!  Hopefully it dries up so I can make it up there later this week...

Projects, Projects

Not much has happened over the last week or so.  I've spent the majority of my time at Rocktown and have been busy with school and such.  I've managed to spend quite a bit of time at Rocktown over the last few years and I still love hanging out on top of the mountain in the quiet, chill atmosphere.  My focus has been set on a problem called Fire in the Mountains V12 that was put up by Jimmy about a month ago.  The line climbs really well and follows a series of powerful pinch and edge moves to the top.  I feel like this problem is REALLY hard!  I have spent two days on the problem exclusively and have yet to do the crux move.  Usually I would have gotten bored and moved on to something else but for some reason I keep wanting to go back.  I can tell you that the attraction of this boulder isn't the comfy holds...the thing is kinda painful! BUT...it is worth it!  Still psyched!

video still...bad quality

And now I am resting...again...because the weather looks like this...again...

It looks like conditions might be alright on Sunday.  Hopefully things work out so I can make my way back to Rocktown for round 3 of attempts...

Biggie Shorty Extension

Here is a quick video I threw together of Senya Iaryguine doing the Biggie Shorty Extension V12 at Little Rock City.  Enjoy!


Biggie Shorty Extension V12 from Brad Weaver on Vimeo.

Southern Slang...

Over the last week I have been working with Jimmy Webb, Brion Voges and Brant Hawkins from Projekt Media on a little video about bouldering in the southeast.  Not only was I fortunate enough to spend the majority of my week climbing outside, I was able to visit a new area and do a couple of new problems. First up was a brilliant problem called Lord of the Dance V11 on the Riverdance boulder.  Lord of the Dance is a low start to the well known Riverdance V8/9 and climbs out a roof on amazing pinches and edges into Riverdance.  I was able to do this quickly and Brant was there to get some footage.  Jimmy also put on quite the show by quickly dispatching Power Patch Low V11 and repeating Western Gold V11 first go! Ridiculous really...

The next day we went to an area I hadn't been to yet just outside of Chattanooga.  The setting was amazing and the boulders were sick!  I managed to do Babe V8,  Voges and I did the classic Damn Yankees V9, and I was able to do the f.a. of Southern Slang V11 with Jimmy and Brion doing it right afterwards for the 2nd and 3rd.

Damn Yankees V9

Photo: Brion Voges

Kevin Todd on Southern Slang last year

Right now I'm hanging out in GA waiting for the weather to turn good again.  Who knows how long this snow and rain is going to last for...

Jonny Copp & Micah Dash Inspire Award

Jonny Copp & Micah Dash Inspire Award

Jonny Copp & Micah Dash were two of America’s leading alpine climbers, adventuring to the farthest corners of the world in search of first ascents in the purest of style. Jonny & Micah believed the summit meant something, but style was everything.

Sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment, La Sportiva, Mountain Hardware & Patagonia, the Copp-Dash Inspire Award has been formed, to support climbers who choose to follow a similar path, both in life and in the mountains.
The fund’s goal is to assist climbers before, during & after expeditions with financial grants & multimedia instruction to help empower them to share their current & future adventures with a wider audience.

https://www.americanalpineclub.org/grant/coppdashinspireaward

Alabama Bouldering

Rain. Rain. Rain.  I'm contemplating building an arc because I'm pretty sure the southeast is about to flood.  From So Ill to Chatty, wet boulders have been the theme lately.  I drove up to Chatty Friday morning to meet up with some folks and to see if anything in the area would be dry.  A bunch of us met up at Dayton only to find the river raging and the roof (our best bet for dry rock) to be dripping.  We sat underneath the roof for a good 15 minutes wishing that our blank stares would dry out the rock.  Unfortunately we aren't magicians so we bailed, drove back to Chatt, and had a nice gym sesh.  Due to a minor cold, I hadn't climbed since our So Ill trip on the previous weekend, so it was good to just be out of the house moving around.

The plan for the next day was to head to Alabama in search of some dry boulders.  Nathan Drolet and I met up with Nate Draughn, Jimmy Webb, and Brian Clevenger in the A.M. We loaded pads, piled in the car, and were on the way.  Conditions were getting clearer and things looked more and more promising the further away from Chatty we got.  We still weren't quite sure how great it was going to be when we parked the car but as we started hiking to the boulders the attitude shifted and Jimmy (who's basically a walking guidebook) chimed in "Oh man...its dry.  Its gonna be dry.  Its totally gonna be dry."  And he was right!  I think we were all really relieved as soon as we saw that things were good to go and we quickly got to warming up.

The day went well for everybody.  Jimmy put up an amazing compression start to an existing V5 and called it 50 Words for Crazy V8.  Really cool moves on some rad holds.  Nate Draughn, Nate Drolet

(who flashed!), and myself repeated the problem for its first handful of ascents.  Brian Clevenger, whom I hadn't climbed with before yesterday, did a couple V9's and made them look EASY....basically just levitated.  I felt good yesterday as well and managed to do three fantastic problems;  Underworld V10, Dog Laudnam V10, and Hustle and Flow V10.  Jimmy threw together a little video from yesterday's trip.  Check it out below and don't forget to check out his blog... http://jimmywebb.blogspot.com/ .

Jimmy just recently joined La Sportiva's climbing team and I think he is a great addition to an amazing company.  La Sportiva is making the best shoes out there and I am a true believer in their products.  I know that I wouldn't be nearly as confident in my foot placements without them and I can guarantee that I wouldn't have done half the boulder problems and routes I've done if I hadn't been wearing Sportivas.  That's the TRUTH!  Their shoes are on a different level and if you haven't checked them out I think you owe it to yourself to do so.  You'll be happy you did!  Go to Sportiva.com and don't forget to check out the La Sportiva Live section of their website to see what's up!

La Sportiva athlete Brad Weaver from Jimmy Webb on Vimeo.

Back from So Ill

So our So Ill trip wasn't all that grand.  On Saturday morning we woke up to a heavy fog looming over Jackson Falls.  Hayley and I quickly made breakfast and hopped in the car to meet up with the rest of the crew at the Holy Boulders.  Things weren't looking that great as we pulled into the parking lot...the ground was wet and it was quite humid.  We figured we'd make the best of it though and went to see just how bad things were going to be.  Our fears had come true.  We had driven 6+ hours to climb on wet rocks.  NEGATIVE!  After a soggy warmup session on the classic Mollusc we headed up to the rest of the boulders to find everything else in the same condition.  We figured wet rock is better than no rock and we proceeded to throw ourselves at the slippery boulders, much to no avail.  Jimmy was able to do Trillium V9 after some effort though so our efforts weren't a complete waste.

The next day was much better, though still a bit damp.  The crew couldn't complain though because conditions were incredible compared to the previous day.  Brion was able to hook up Trillium V9 in a couple of goes, I failed, Jimmy killed Michael Jordan V11, Brion got agonizingly close and fell off the top out, and that's pretty much how the weekend went.

I made some progress on a couple of boulder problems and I am really excited to make my way back when the conditions aren't so damp.

On a side note I am looking forward to spending some time at Jackson Falls this spring.  The Falls is like home to me...I basically learned how to climb there.  While walking around The Falls on Sunday morning I forgot how awesome the routes are and how much potential still exists.  There are a few unbolted lines that I've had my eye on for a couple of years now and I am excited to get back with a drill in hand.  Yeaaahhh.