Super Stoked for the Bozeman Ice Fest!!!

This weekend I head to Bozeman Montana to meet up with friends for a few days of climbing in Hyalite Canyon before the start of the Bozeman Ice Fest.

Ever since I started ice climbing I've wanted to attend this ice fest but it has never worked out before.  This year I'm super stoked to be teaching clinics!  I'm also super stoked to make a lot of new friends and climb new mixed and ice routes!

Anyone else headed to the fest!?!?!?!

SEE YOU THERE!! and stay tuned for pictures and stories from the climbing and festivities  :D

Minnesota Training

I went home to visit my family in Minnesota and while there I had two venues in which to climb; the underside of my parents' deck, and the Minnesota Climbing Coop.

A month ago my brother was at my parents' house and, inspired by my basement set-up, he created a small training circuit on the underside of their deck.  He hung chains and drilled 4x4s in a line under the deck.  When I was there I pulled out his small crash pad and a sleeping pad and got in some training.  It took a lot of laps back and forth under the deck but I was consistently getting 22 moves of figure 4s and figures 9s before my hands gave out.

The Minnesota Climbing Coop was started this year and they have a great bouldering facility with top outs, a horizontal roof, and awesome features and setting.. Thanks to Dave Pierce they also have drytooling!!  Dave and his wife Leah met me at the Coop one night for a drytooling session that was awesome.  You have to be delicate on some of the holds that are up so it was a good training session for staying quiet on my tools and really focusing on body tension and placement.

If you live in MN or happen to be there, check out the Minnesota Climbing Coop.  Great people, great climbing, and they have skateboards to ride down the hall to the bathroom!!

The Playground - Canmore Drytooling

All summer I've been sneaking out on rain days (and nice days!) to drytool at The Playground.  :D  When most people we're still in bed or sitting at The Summit Cafe because it was raining, I was headed out climbing with my tools and fruit boots.

The Playground is a bolted drytooling area on Grotto Mtn.  It's less than a 10 minute drive from Canmore and about a 45 minute hike up to the cave.  There's certainly more development to be done too!

At first I was warming-up on the M5(Rat's Nest Route) & M6s (Baptism & Prowler) and then getting on the M7+ (Mutt) and M8 (Jeff).  Then it became warming-up on the M7+ and working the M8 and M9- (Single Malt) and staring wistfully at the M10, Swiss Cheese.  Then I was warming-up by up and down climbing the M7+ (endurance increasing!) and then working Swiss Cheese.  I'm still working Swiss Cheese. I have it down to 1 hang in the upper roof, and it's going to be sent soon!

This fall the traffic at the playground picked up, and I was stoked!  I love to see other people being introduced to drytooling and loving it.  The last day I was up there we had 16 people throughout the day.  If you want info about The Playground or a partner to climb let me know!

James climbing an M8                                                                               Guys climbing Single Malt M9-

Heather
on
Mutt
M7+

Swiss Cheese
M10

[Figure 4, Figure 9, Figure 4, Figure 9]n

Gord McArthur has been competing in Ice Climbing World Cup competitions for a couple years and I am lucky to have him near by in Cranbrook BC so that I can train and climb with him.  I am also lucky that he has been psyched to have a training partner and that he has been very open and helpful.  Gord is also the creator of new bolted drytooling and mixed routes at The Bull River near Cranbrook.  He has and is putting up some awesome hard, steep, and long routes.  Check out Gord's blog MacHavok On The Fly

Gord Bolting New Routes in The Bull River this Fall

I went to Cranbrook to train and climb with Gord.  The first day Gord and Ryan took me out sport climbing at one of their local crags and then Gord and I hit his backyard training.  He has built, as you can see below, a whole system of hanging logs that are roped together and he has logs leading into his climbing gym shed and to his Splice.  It's an awesome endurance workout to figure 4 and figure 9 all around the logs and into the gym and up and down the splice.

Gord's Backyard Training Logs, Climbing Gym, and Splice

.Gord had also just received and hung the large log that is hanging vertically at the back right of the photo.  It only had 2 hols drilled into it and the below video is of the first time we're getting onto it.  Subsequent trips on and off the log went much smoother and didn't need assistance.  :)

Gord also showed me some of the other exercises he does such as one arm rows on a tool, wide pull-ups on tools, hanging grip strength endurance, one-arm lock-offs on tools, leg lifts on tools, and more.

Here are a few pictures from a trip last spring that Jen Olson and I took to The Bull River.  It was a really fun two days of drytooling and mixed climbing.  I'm really looking forward to going back to The Bull this winter and getting on the longer, harder routes!

Me on Kneed Your Knees to Ride the Bull (M8)

Jen on the First Ascent of Rodeo Princess (M7)

Jen on the First Ascent of Rodeo Princess (M7)

Basement Training Circuit!

After watching all the World Cup videos and talking to Gord McArthur and other mixed climbing friends I built a training circuit in my basement.

The idea is to train mainly feet free so that when we do have feet it's a bonus.

I've placed 2x4s is the rafters, hung an 8x8 & other boards with drilled holes, quicklinks on rope, Ice Holdz, and we put up one overhanging piece of plywood.

Check out a video of our first circuit in the basement.

I get my tool stuck in a quick link hanging on rope.  If you put your tool in more than one tooth it's hard to get out!

The below pictures were taken by Jay Garland

ICE CLIMBING WORLD CUP 2012!!!!

Do you have your tickets?

To what?

The gun show! a.k.a. the Ice Climbing World Cup

I do!

I'm very excited to be representing the United States in the 2012 Ice Climbing World Cup competitions in South Korea, Switzerland, France, Romania, and Russia!

I'll be spending the rest of 2011 training, climbing, and prepping for the competitions in January through March of 2012.

Stay tuned for training fun, climbing adventures, gear info, and lots of pictures and video!

Kendra

dreamingofice@gmail.com