Year in Review: Toot your horn. Or come clean. Let's hear it for 2011.

1. Did you have a goal or dream climb this year?
2. Did you meet said goal or see to the dream? Your 2011 road to [insert climb]. The boring answer is yes, yes. What is worth spraying about is: What did you do to get after a goal that actually challenged you? Did you have to sacrifice work, time away from family, days waiting out weather or your preferred style of climbing for that dream climb?
3. What is the most memorable lesson you learned about climbing or yourself as it relates to climbing *this* year?
4. Describe your biggest defeat, failure or most challenging and humbling route from '11. Epics, bails or sandbags.

Big, extra cheers and imaginary points to the climbing ladies that post up. I know at least 5 of you, crushing chicas that are lurking here!

Oh yes, I'm trollin. I've got 4 more hours of work, and would love to hear what you've been passionately getting after in the great wide world of climbing.

Completed the Devils Lake Centennial Challenge of a 100 climibing routes this summer. Was fun to revisit many old routes I've not done for many years. That was my highlight for the season.

NIAD

2011 was a banner year for me...one I'll always remember, up there with meeting my wife and the birth of my kids. I had a bunch of success on the rock (first 13d's and 14a's andfirst 13b on sight) and off (finished my PhD), but learned a lot as well. The biggest lesson was that climbing is primarily a mental challenge, even as the numbers get bigger, and it seems like finger strength is limiting...maybe in bouldering, but once you can do the moves, it all comes down to attitude and mind control. I like to think I learned some humility and patience a well. If I can hold on to those lesions over the years it will truly have ben a fruitful year.

PS, my wife did her first 12c and 12d as well as her first 12b on sight this year too, and I was very proud of her as well.

1. Climbed the Grand Teton (dream!)
2. First wall in a day down in Zion
3. Became consistent at onsight 5.10 traditional
4. Broke into 5.11 trad!
5. Visited the Red River Gorge for the 1st time
6. Put up a few FA's ;)
7. Clocked more climbing days than any year previous

I started climbing again this year after breaking my back last year.

I logged more days climbing outside this year than any other year. Despite flashing a V5 (soft) my abilities took a nosedive this year due to moving two hours away from the gym and all my regular climbing partners.

Overall I'll call it a success since I was able to spend most of the summer on roadtrips with great friends. Found a new favorite place: City of Rocks, Idaho. Took a few photos that I'm proud of, most notably this one The only thing that didn't work out was a trip to Mt. Hood (back spasms for several weeks).

Looking forward to 2012 despite no nearby climbing partners or gym. Another summer of roadtrips!

Did not really have any goals, other than going to Peru... Was a decent year in all!!!

1. Logged ~ 35 days on ice. Highlights - Curecanti Monster, (Black Canyon of the Gunnison), Hidden Falls, (Glenwood Canyon), N. Face of Notch of Notchtop, (RMNP)!

2. Got down to Zion to practice some aid. Highlights - Touchestone Wall, Moonlight Buttress, Desert Shield, Iron Messiah, Ashtar Command Tower. Looped back and hit the creek for a few days on the way back to colorado...

3. Traveled to Chile and Peru. Highlights - Acclimated to 5500m on a volcano in Chile, climbed around 4200m. Made it to the Cordillera Blanca, Amazing! Climbed at hatun Machay and various other rock climbing areas. Soloed Vallunaraju 5900m and we also made it over to La Esfinge and got on some quality granite at altitude despite my partner having a ten day stint of being sick. Overall an awesome place in know i will return to someday :)

4. Yosemite round 1. Got to the valley in Mid June - HoT! Highlights - Logged over a 100 pitches my first week in the valley with moderate free climbs up to 5.11 , ahh granite cracks! Serenity Sons, East butt of Middle Cathedral, Royal arches, Bishop terrace, etc. Did some moderate aid routes, S. face and Skull queen on Washington column. Met some yosemite locals and stayed in Boys town free of charge for about a month or so! Met some guy, on-sight guided 20 pitches of the nose until 1 fellow got too scared and we had to bail... Climbed Half Dome in a day teaching myself short fixing without a belay for the first time, with a partner I had never climbed with before! Wow, fun 14 hour day, not too bad for the first time! Climbed West crack on Daft dome and Cathedral in Toulome on the way back to Coloeado..

5. Back in Co real quick... Highlights - Get ready to go back to Yosemite! Climbed pervertical sanctuary and talked about a potential trip to the Cirque of the Unclimbables in spring. Went back and did Mudflap Girl in Glenwood Canyon and then climbed the North West Buttress, of Capitol Peak! What a classic, fun and loose alpine route!

6. Yosemite round 2! Sept 18, back in the valley! Highlights - Completed the Nose guiding, NIc and Alain, fun times up there on the big stone! Kicked around the valley for a month or so after the nose fiasco. We got to stay in a very secluded HOUSE this time in the valley thanks to a very good friend! Thanks K you rock! Met up with ol Tommy Caldwell and helped haul some loads to the top of the Capitan to earn a lil extra cash, thanks Tommy! Did lurking fear in a 20 hr push, short fixing without a belay on C2+ hooks was exciting! Did Nose in a Day with Lucas, whom I had never shared a rope with! We went on to climb Steck-Salathe before he left, but were too tired to do the Rostrum! Misc free routes went down here and there and it was another successful trip to the valley! Back to the creek and then colorado we go!

7. Stopped in the creek for a week on the way home! Typical fun times on the sport sport cracks... Watched Jack put up Annanuki and Devin did a few FA's. The end of my long summer, means work in the near future, o well, till next time!!!

8. Back in Boulder working a lot and trying to climb... Highlights - Poured ~ 90 yards of concrete for a green house and a home up on Gold Hill. Set of car alarms using a chainsaw to cut down trees, took down a 105 ft tall 5 ft in diameter cottonwood! Used a blow torch to melt some snow as well as other fun power tools! Finally got a few days ice/mixed climbing! Followed cougar tracks up dead man gulch on got on Vrain Strain! Wow what a climb especially in its current state of needing an F ton more ice on it!!!

Have fun all, Climb On!!!

Considering that I spent the first half of 2011 living on a single income (my wife's) in London and trying to plan a wedding, I had a pretty good year.

- small sampling of the Gritstone (Stanage and Curbar), including a 30 foot fall on a 40 foot climb, with one piece between me and the ground.

- 4 day trip to the amazing granite sea cliffs of Cornwall (Bosigran)

- Few day trips to local limestone areas, all new to me

- 10 day trip to El Chorro, Spain, where I on-sighted two 7a's and a 7a+. Grades were a bit soft but it was still a good trip. Also did a moonlit ascent of Amptrax, complete with wine and a drunken bushwhacking walk off.

- a week at the City of Rocks with a lot of 5.10 onsighitng and a scary experience on The Crack of Doom

- Did most of the moves on a beautiful .13a hand crack in Little Cottonwood Canyon... big confidence builder for me.

- 25 days in California: The Incredible Hulk, tons of grade III granite in Tuolomne and a week at the Needles, which is some of the best climbing I've done.

- quick stop in Castle Valley to do Holier Than Thou. Great route in one of my favorite areas. Cool to climb that style in the desert.

- A dozen or so 5.11 trad onsights in NC and WV and a .12a sport flash at the New

- Redpointed some 11+ routes at Moore's Wall and made progress on a few 12's.

- Headed to Morocco later this afternoon for a few days of sport climbing (it's still 2011).

I saw over a dozen new areas and climbed hundreds of new routes. I onsighted twice as many 5.11's as I had in 2010 and redpointed about the same amount of 5.12 sport, even though I spent A LOT less time actually sport climbing that I did in 2010. And even though I don't boulder much, I am doing v2-v3 in one or two goes now and v4-v5 in an hour or so.

I'd say my 2011 was about seeing new areas out west and sending stuff in NC and WV that was previously over my head. It was sort of my last hurrah in the US before spending a few years in Europe.

Plans for 2012 and 2013 - Catalunya and more El Chorro, Southern France, Fontainebleau, Peak Gritstone, Yorkshire Limestone, Wadi Rum in Jordan, limestone in Turkey, exploring the climbing on Gran Canaria, and the local limestone in southern England (if we don't decide to move north to Sheffield). I'd also like to do some Scottish Winter (yes, really) and North Wales looks sick. But I actually have a job now so I guess I'd be happy to see even half of the above areas.

Hey Greg G - that's awesome! What was your .11 trad? That's a fun barrier to push against here in slc.

1: I finally got the FA of White Lines !!
2.The road to this took 3 seasons (off and on) of cleaning, aiding it a few times, adding a bolt or two when I blew out some key gear. I even got super psyched when I pink-pointed the first half two seasons ago. Last season I finally sent the final boulder problem.

#3 applies here - But this season I changed tactics some. First of all, I got serious about cleaning it. Every time I'd scrub, the choss would fall backdown into the crack so I finally brought up a gas-powered leaf blower to blow the dang thing out. The last couple of years, my partner Mike Perkins has had us doing a lot of sport climbing to get stronger. So this year we decided to keep going up once a week. It seemed like every time we'd get a little closer to pink pointing it. I'd find a new rest (thanks Rob) or better beta for the boulder problem (thanks Mike!).

After a while, I was consistently getting it in 2 hangs and then one. Then I pulled the gear and started true redpoint attempts. Turns out I ended up skipping some gear and it seemed to help a ton. Took the whippers I needed to take and kept choking up at the last crux. Finally, I went back to Mike's beta for the final boulder problem and it went from feeling like a V6 crux down to a V4! I even figured out an even easier way to do it the last week of attempts. In the end, sending it felt like .12a. But I know that's crazy and many friends said add a # or at least a .c or .d to it. Who knows how to grade something you've put so much into. But its a totally amazing climb and tons of fun.

For #4, my biggest defeat was ripping the long head of my biceps tendon while setting at the gym. Stupid ladder shifted as I tried to clip in a bag of holds. freak and stupid.

These photos are from a couple of weeks before we sent, when we were pinkpointing it.

I'm 5'6", so its doable for short people. photo courtesy of caseyhyer.com Edit: I just noticed the two cams at my chest. Unless that spot has improved over the years, both of those cams popped on my several times and I eventually quit using them.
Its nice to have your feet up high photo courtesy of caseyhyer.com
The angle of the climbing

Oh yeah, and Mike and I also got the direct start to Early Bird. We call it Hair of the Dog
Its the direct line in this photo:
Hair of the Dog is the crack leading to Greg's position. Boisall's photo of Greg S.

My year was marked by a lot of failure, with two exceptions.

1. Did not redpoint 13c sport. I still have to hang my head in shame on two different routes that I spent WAY too much time on.

2. Did not get to start developing our new crag. Too much time working on the above routes. If anyone is interested in a 3 mile bushwack to get to an amazing feature (a new Killer Cave that is about 3 times bigger) let me know, because it's not a secret, at least in my book.

3. Got my ass handed to me at the Red, although I suppose actually going there was a goal that I did fulfill. I really need to work on endurance on steep rock.

4. I did finally redpoint the Cranner Rock Roof Crack, which is the first 5.13 in Wyoming and is ostensibly a crack climb, although it climbs much more like a sport route.

5. I also put up a great new 5.11d. Probably the steepest route of its grade in Wyoming, out at the Sweatlodge. But it was my only FA of the year.

Looks like 2012 is going to be a year in which I get serious and maybe start doing some real training. I am not getting any younger.

I had big plans for lots of big climbs this year but ended up not getting out much. 2011 was a big year though. Returned from a year traveling, started a business (with the thought I would have more time to climb, ha!), got married, and after a year of moving 12 times am finally closing on a house (tiny condo) Monday! The one thing I improved on was my overall trad skills. My sport climbing probably dropped a number grade but I think I gained 1+ in trad.

Just means there is more to climb next year!

I like these threads, it's fun to read what people kicked ass at over the year.

2011 was great for me. Climbing aside, I got married and was accepted to nursing school. Yahtzee!

As for climbing I started off working for my first el cap route. I got to do lurking fear and the nose in early summer. I even met some of the speedy guys on the nose, Hans and Leery, pretty cool. And the vertical camping was just as rad as I had hoped.

After doing those walls though I realized I want to do long free routes as much as I can, aid is just so boring to me. So I'm working at progressing my abilities. I did one training cycle (courtesy Anderson bros) and it knocked my socks off. I did my first 13, then another (snake watching...which may have been my favorite pitch ever). Bouldered my first V8, then another of those too. I'm looking forward to next year with more training and lots of new levels. That and hopefully another injury free year.

Biggest failure was in not getting back to the creek, or to the south platte much. I really want to get some mileage on the cracks and hone the technique. I guess I'll have to remain a crack gumby for a bit longer.

Good luck to everyone in 2012!

First full year climbing, and I'm happy to say I accomplished a lot of what I had hoped for. I got in some good leads early in the year, but after finding out my husband and I were having a baby, I had to step down from the sharp end. I'm super psyched for 2012 when hubby finally gets to play belay bitch for me!

Really branched out from my home crag to experience the delights of Red Rock, the ADKs, Eldo, Lumpy, New Mexico (Organ Mountains) and Acadia.

Didn't let baby slow me down! Still got out for 37 days on real rock even after the happy news. Still climbing at the gym even though he's due to arrive in a few weeks.

Still setting big goals for the year to come, Red Rock again in the spring, 24HHH in the fall and who knows what sandwiched in between!!!!

I quit climbing. Then I quit the internets. Then I quit quitting both. I'm ambitious to try to quit quitting the quitting of one or both of those before the year is over.

SteveZ wrote:I like these threads, it's fun to read what people kicked ass at over the year. 2011 was great for me. Climbing aside, I got married and was accepted to nursing school. Yahtzee! As for climbing I started off working for my first el cap route. I got to do lurking fear and the nose in early summer. I even met some of the speedy guys on the nose, Hans and Leery, pretty cool. And the vertical camping was just as rad as I had hoped. After doing those walls though I realized I want to do long free routes as much as I can, aid is just so boring to me. So I'm working at progressing my abilities. I did one training cycle (courtesy Anderson bros) and it knocked my socks off. I did my first 13, then another (snake watching...which may have been my favorite pitch ever). Bouldered my first V8, then another of those too. I'm looking forward to next year with more training and lots of new levels. That and hopefully another injury free year. Biggest failure was in not getting back to the creek, or to the south platte much. I really want to get some mileage on the cracks and hone the technique. I guess I'll have to remain a crack gumby for a bit longer. Good luck to everyone in 2012!

It sounds like you had a breakthrough year Steve, great job! It's very rewarding to hit a big milestone like 5.13, congrats, I hope you keep it up. I applaud your decision to pursue free climbing those walls...anything is possible if you work hard and believe!

Mike Anderson wrote: If I can hold on to those lesions over the years it will truly have ben a fruitful year. .

i'm thinking a good moisturizing cream would actually be a better option.

but other than that, nice work man! wife, kids, phd, and the climbing.... wow that is impressive. keep up the good work! also, congrats to your wife, she is climbing really strong!

SteveZ - congrats to you also, keep up the good work!

tenesmus wrote:Hey Greg G - that's awesome! What was your .11 trad? That's a fun barrier to push against here in slc.

I started off with Equipment Overhang, Sketched my way up Prepositional Phrase, somehow onsighted Smurf Smasher at the city, survived Up a Cliff without a ladder (missed the TCU placement, and thought i was a goner), then finished my season with Gordons Direct.

All in all I am really surprised by this ticklist I've got here. I never would've thought I could do it!

You guys put me to shame.

This year was a failure for me climbing-wise. Work+November wedding (in Yosemite at least!) meant I didn't climb nearly as much as I wanted. No goals achieved.