Tag Archives: rock climber

Climb Hard = Drink Hard

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This weekend I climbed up in Palm Springs Ariel Tramway. It so feels good to be back! I have to admit (after a solid 7 days on plastic) warming up on peppered granite bites back HARD. This will be my 2nd season up in tramway, ready to hit new projects and climbs. I met up with a radtastic group of friends.  It was an awesome bouldering day trip filled with tons-o’-lowball sending, wouldn’t have it any other way. Not to mention the random snow fall shaped like delicious white dip-n-dots!

 

Girl beta… works every time ;D

 Sandal Sending

I desperately humped a rock for a solid 3 min… while everyone watched.

My friend Kevin (& his appendages) doing some crazy moves on Byron’s Roof!


Our group of 8 climbers ended the day at Getaway Cafe. We had some delicious carne esada fries, and killed 12 pitches of hangar 24. Our night consisted of watching youtube movie clips that have “climbing” in them… followed by an intense critique about how unrealistic they are.

The best one is that flaccid looking girl, Kirsten Stewart in “Catch that Kid”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVp9BoFNfDU

MAGICAL how she didn’t deck with all her quickdraws breaking off. Her ghost belayer must have an insane running belay.

Anyways… great granite climbs, fun people & beer… recipe for a great climbing trip.

Get out there & stay psyched!

I have a tumblr in junction with my blog if you want to follow: http://nickitynatnat.tumblr.com/

–> Natalie Duran

Vertical Ascent Climbing Club

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My friend Sarah and I started a rock climbing club at our university last year. Our goal with this club is to introduce students to the world of rock climbing. I have to admit, climbing is an intimidating and weird sport to jump into… so we opened up our arms and welcomed anyone into our world haha. Our cute little club name is “Vertical Ascent Climbing Club”.

VA’s 1st General Meeting @ The outdoor rock wall & ropes course on campus

The greatest part of climbing is experiencing it outdoors. Every month we try to plan 1-2 trips at our local climbing areas. Its really awesome because we meet people who have never camped or climbed outdoors before. Its an awesome experience to guide them, because their psyche is insane. The new members are always excited to experience new things, are are willing to learn more and more. Climbing has done so much for my own personal life, so I am more than willing to help others experience the sport as well.

VA’s first outdoor climbing/camping trip to Malibu Creek

When I climb (especially in bouldering areas) I usually run into a group of kids who are outdoor bouldering for the first time. Unfortunately most of the time they are being loud, obnoxious, and disrespectful to the landscape around them. I cant judge them, because they havent been shown how to respect the land and the climbers around them.

So, with our club. We want to introduce them to the climbing world in a respectful manner. Climbing etiquette can be common sense, but not all of it is obvious. So it is important to show these new climbers all about the world of climbing, respectfully, and in the safest manner possible.

A group of new & experienced climbers at Mt. Rubidoux. A local climbing spot 5min away from campus.

1st VA climbing trip out to Joshua Tree National Park

Brought out the mobile rock wall ON campus!

Even though we are a new club, the VA cabinet has worked really hard to create all these events and lessons for our members. We are really excited that our club is hosting the regionals for CCS Regionals (Colegiate Climbing Series, part of USA climbing)  at our local climbing gym Threshhold.

CCS series has not been present in the SoCal region. So, this year is a trail run for our universities. Socal has an extensive climbing community, and I see these competitions as a great way to gather us all together. UCSD/USD & UCR are the three colleges this year that are participating in SoCal CCS.

Pretty psyched for it to come together, its coming so close! I met up with the guys at Mad Rock HQ to sponsor the event. They are always happy to help the community. I managed to squeeze out two crashpads for our competition, which is VERY generous. Mad Rock always has my back ;)

So if your in the area, come by and compete. Competition its open to EVERYONE, not just college kids. If not, come by to hang out with the climbing community! We are going to have Goodwin’s Food Truck come on by. Also, the 5.10 guys are going to be there with a shoe demo for everyone to try out!

These are the moments that make it worth it, above is one of our new members Matthew Chun who went climbing outdoors for the first time on our Bishop bouldering trip. This is victory pose after finishing a 35ft boulder!

I’m really happy on how this climbing club started out, and what its potential is. I hope the psyche can carry on years after I graduate.

… but I wont graduate if I don’t study… Biochemistry FINAL tomorrow. Gotta go, thanks for stopping by if you get to this point!

climb on. yall.

-Natalie Duran

 

CCS Comp

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Been studying non-stop! Had my first final in Physics Laboratory yesterday, so I thought I need to destress by supporting my Climbing Club & My University in a CCS competition today!

CCS – Collegiate Climbing Series is a branch of USA climbing. Where universities all around the nation compete with each other hosting events at their local climbing gym, and then to nationals.

UCSD/USD hosted their CCS competition at the gigantic gym Mesa Rim in San Diego, CA.

The competition was very different than any comp ive ever participated in. The qualifiers round involved scoring your top 5 boulder problems & top 3 roped routes in the four hour time limit.



I had a great time bouldering, but roped climbing was a different story. Here is a back story to my complaining haha. Ive been hardcore bouldering for the past few months, I havent touched or clipped into a rope in those months! Once I got on the roped wall my lack of endurance training was BURNING my forearms. So frustrating that you know you can do a move in front of you but your so pumped to do it! CURSE you anaerobic respiration! Technique and strength are nothing without endurance.

MEGA pumped getting off a route!

Finals consisted of the top 5 male & top 5 Female. I placed for the finals around… which I later found out consisted of one route, on-sight format. The climber who got the furthest places on top. I instantly freaked out when I realized bouldering wasnt involved in the finals. I knew my endurance wasnt up to par, and I havent clipped in a biner in a while. The whole break period involved me laying on the floor flipping out in the inside. Developed of a headache because I was stressing out.

shaking out to de-stress... by dislocating my fingers ha

Powerful drop down move, as you can see by my bulging bicep



BUT! Once I tied in, focus mode turned on. I tried to control every movement to save every ounce of energy. I went through the route pretty well, allotting myself plenty of rest time. Being a Negative Nancy, I seriously though I was going to fall before clipping the first draw. To my surprise, I was doing really well. Fear was gone, my anxiety disappeared, and all I felt was focus concentration. I made it half way up the wall giving it my all before I took the whip after attempting to reach a crimp. PSYCHE is all I felt. Even though I didnt finish the route, I was still very happy and glad I got on the wall and did better than I expected. I ended up getting one move less than Rosie Bates.

Shows how much I really know myself. I know what I am capable of doing, just always challenging to stay confident when you have that dark looming cloud of anxiety and fear over your head.

My main takeaway for this event: stop freaking out & just do it… also, cross train with bouldering AND sport climbing haha.

PLACING OVERALL:
- Placed 1st in bouldering for women
- 2nd in the final’s on-sight lead route

Im so glad I made it out to compete, I had a great time and the climbing was fantastic.

Ok, back to cramming. While you guys climb on!

-Natalie Duran

 

Finally touched Alexandria

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A week later, we finally made it out to Alexandria without any mishaps. This boulder is deep in the heart of Joshua Tree National Park. The directions in the guidebook are very difficult to read, its almost useless… so we had to trust our friend Kody to lead us to the boulder. We had a group of four, everyone carrying a crashpad.

Oh man you have no idea… I am SO grateful the approach was mostly flat land. Flat land, but constantly dodging the prickly Joshua Tree bushes & cacti. If I could complain, walking through dirt washes are HEINOUS. Especially on this trip because I wore slippers, its like a constant gritty exfoliate for miles. An hour later we reached the beautiful highball boulder.

You better believe its a HIGHball! The stick brush isnt even long enough!

Its an amazing & beautiful boulder, which sits on the edge of a gorgeous valley. This boulder problem: Alexandria [V7] is defiantly my style. I love steep climbs, with great crimps that has powerful balance static moves.

I spent the whole day figuring out my own beta. After of a few hours of climbing and messing around, the problem seemed so cheese for me. Sadly once I started sticking the last hard moves, I was too SPENT to hang on and keep on going to the jugs to the top. Those falls really took a toll on me also, its a high fall! I had a few mishaps where my heel would feel sore because I landed on the edge of the crashpads. An injury would be hell for the approach out, I don’t think I want to hop around the desert for a mile to get back to the car.

Literally... all the "difficult" moves on Alexandria

Next month (after finals & after spring break boulding in Bishop) Alexandria is going down! FIRST TRY!

climb on!
-Natalie Duran