Thursday, December 6, 2012

Tour De Bloc - Halifax 2012

Last weekend Krissy and I competed in the first first of two altlantic stops for the Tour de Bloc Series. The comp went quite well over-all. I ended up a close second to comp vet. John Bowles.

Krissy ended up climbing great and won her first Women's Open Tour de Bloc comp! here are a

couple short vids from finals:
Tour De Bloc - Dec. 2012 Women's #1 from Ben Blakney on Vimeo.

Tour De Bloc - Dec. 2012 Women's #2 from Ben Blakney on Vimeo.

Tour De Bloc - Dec. 2012 Men's #3 from Ben Blakney on Vimeo.

Tour De Bloc - Dec. 2012 Men's #4 from Ben Blakney on Vimeo.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Numbers Game: How Much Did We Actually Climb in 8 Months?

The following is the quick numbers from each of stops along the way. We kept track of total number of unique routes/problems climbed (not including repeating the same warm-ups), number of difficult routes and total number of classics climbed.

Lincoln Woods in early January.
Lincoln Woods, RI
1 - day climbing
Ben:
7 - problems
1 - V10 or harder
3 - classics
Krissy:
1 - problem
0 - V5 or harder
0 - classics


Horseshoe Canyon Ranch
Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, Arkansas
3 - days climbing
Ben:
24 - problems
4 - V10+
8 - classics
Krissy:
10 - problems
1 - V5+
2 - classics


Krissy Sending New Religion V7 in Hueco Tanks
Hueco Tanks, Texas
28 - days climbing
Ben:
131 - problems
13 - V10+
55 - classics
Krissy:
59 - problems
10 - V5+
25 - classics


Bishop, California in March 2012
Bishop, California
17 - days climbing
Ben:
69 - problems
16 - V10+
45 - classics
Krissy:
28 - problems
5 - V5+
11 - classics


Krissy sending Baldwin Bash V7 in Joe's Valley - April 2012
Joe's Valley, Utah
16 - days climbing
Ben:
102 - problems
11 - V10 +
66 - classics
Krissy:
69 - problems
10 - V5 +
34 - classics


Ben sending T-Rex 5.14b in Maple Canyon - May 2012
Maple Canyon, Utah
26 - days climbing
Ben:
42 - routes
13 - 5.13 +
26 - classics
Krissy:
27 - routes
17 - 5.11 + (one 5.13a)
14 - classics


Ben on Simply Read 5.13d - Rifle, Colorado
Rifle, Colorado
15 - days climbing
Ben:
22 - routes
4 - 5.13 +
15 - classics
Krissy:
20 - routes
13 - 5.11 +
11 - classics



What the weather did not look like for most of our Squamish stay...
Squamish, British Columbia
2 - days climbing
Ben:
7 - problems
2 - V10 +
3 - classics
Krissy:
4 - problems
0 - V5 +
2 - classics



Krissy on Jingus Americanus 5.12d - Acephale, Alberta
Calgary, Alberta
14 - days climbing
Ben:
19 - routes
8 - 5.13 +
4 - classics
Krissy:
7 - routes
6 - 5.11 +
0 - classics



post trip depression staring on the last week of the trip...
Rumney, New Hampshire
8 - days climbing
Ben:
8 - routes
3 - 5.13 +
4 - classics
Krissy:
4 - routes
4 - 5.11 +
2 - classics

All in all, we climbed our hardest routes ever and achieved our goals. Some of the highlights include Ben sending T-Rex, a 5.14 enduro roof in Maple Canyon (every single person there that day stopped to watch and cheer him on, it was quite an inspiring send). Ben also was pretty stoked to send Alma Blanca V13 in just a few tries in Hueco Tanks. Haroun and the Sea of Stories V12 in Bishop was also pretty exciting and stands out for sure as one of the best boulder problems ever. Thanks again Jason for the excellent spot (glad you didn't get hurt) and for Krissy who held the crash pad down during the 30 mph wind gusts on that send!

As for Krissy, Sprout was hands down the biggest accomplishment of the trip. Her first 5.13 (a) and by far the most dedication and hard work needed for the send. New Religion V7 and Wills of Fire V6 were two of her favourite boulder problems. One made you feel like a superhero, the other made you feel like peeing you pants it was so scary but topping them out definitely felt great.

The trip was such an amazing experience. We met so many great people, saw so many beautiful landscapes and cities, and most important, we enjoyed every single minute of it all (except dealing with the sub-tenants, but thankfully that's all over with). If we were to do anything different, the only thing we would change would be to buy a camper van. 8 months in a tent wasn't too too bad, and we miss it already, but seeing how others managed with a van made us wish we had one.

So now we are back in Halifax for one final term in school then on to a new stage of our life..real work. Ben will be searching for work as an Engineer and Krissy for work as an Occupational Therapist. Who knows where we will be in 4 months. Calgary? Salt Lake City? We've had a taste of what these places are like and are now excited to begin this new journey. Wow, 8 months flew by. 

We will keep some long overdue posts coming. Take care! See you around!

-Ben and Krissy




Now, back to reality for a few months!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Calgary to Rumney

Blasting off some bear bangers


Josh on Whale Back 5.13c

Krissy on Jingus Americanus 5.12d

The view from Acephale

The crux of Jingus 5.12d

Krissy on Jungus again

The "B Team"

The hike to Acephale

and more hiking...

The view of Acephale from the parking

Krissy so close to the send of Jingus

The crux of Jingus - the anchor is just out of the frame...


We have now left Calgary, AB and are hanging out in Rumney, NH for a few days before our trip finally comes to an end. Calgary was great! There is so much rock in the Bow Valley!

We met lots of great people and saw many great crags. We are definitely looking forward to our next trip there - or even moving there asap! For our climbing in Alberta we chose to check out as many of the different crags as we could instead of choosing a hard project in one area. It was nice not being in project mode and just trying many different climbs in many areas. Checking out different areas meant LOTS of hiking - this is not Rifle where you just drive your car up to the cliff and belay form your bumper. You have to work for every send in Alberta - hour or more hikes are very common. The plus side to all the hiking was lots and lots of eating - eating out at various restaurants (mainly the Wild Rose) and having awesome home cooked meals courtesy of Josh and Regan! Despite all the eating I am pretty sure we left more fit than we arrived. We owe a super huge thank you to Josh Muller and Regan Kennedy who: let us stay with them in their home; cooked us delicious meals; acted as tour guides and chauffeurs; hooked us up with swag; and then sent us off with dinner to go and a huge bag of delicious homemade beef jerky. You guys are so awesome. We got to meet the crew at Flashed, also really cool people! They sent us off with lots of goodies and made sure we were all chalked up. Derek Galloway and Greg Tos also showed the same generosity by letting us borrow ropes/gear at the Lookout and offer beta and a place to stay if needed. Greenberg lent Krissy his harness one day when she forgot to pack hers...he had just met us that day. Thu, Kayla, Kelly, Vicky and Regan were a blast to climb with. Such strong and inspiring women! Ben's old friend Craig took us out to dinner one night and we had a great time catching up with him. Ghislain and Fiona had us over for dinner in their new house and Brian showed us around one day. Oh and thanks to Evan for showing us that you don't always need a rest day!

As for the climbing in Rumney....it is hot and humid as usual! We are both struggling a bit with motivation and tired bodies. We have been climbing one day on and then one day off for the past few days. Ben is trying to finish up Urban Surfer 5.13d and has one-hung it multiple time the last couple days. Krissy is trying to complete Techno Surfing 5.12b and Flesh for Lulu 5.12b - if we can finish these off in the next couple days we will likely head over to Cathedral Ledge and do some easy trad climbing for our last few days before driving home.

It is pretty crazy that our eight months is now over! We have met so many great people and have seen many incredible places the last few months. We have enough memories from this one trip to last a lifetime. It is definitely going to be tough to integrate back into the real world - tent life has become the norm for us. One more week and we will be back in Halifax. We plan to stay there until December when Ben graduates from Engineering - then who knows, hopefully moving somewhere with great climbing and job prospects for the both of us.



Monday, July 30, 2012

Alberta Sport


Josh making the FA of Prime Time 5.14c

Ben sending The Hood 5.13b

Shut Down at "the ice box of broken dreams" aka Acephale

The Hood at Acephale

Krissy working Altius 5.12c at Acephale

Altius 5.12c

BC/AB border scenery

The streaked limestone of Alberta

Head wall of The Hood 5.13b

Crux of Altius 5.12c

Altius 5.12c

The upper Acephale wall.



Krissy sending Beat Farmer 5.12a at Heart Creek

Regan on The Hood 5.13b

Thu on Army Ants 5.13c
The bouldery crux of Army Ants

Pepper

Rain belay

Beat Farmer 5.12a

Jade and Ben headed to the climbing

Heart Creek - just down the road from Acephale

Regan sending Hecubus 5.13a - her second 5.13a in a week!

Jade, always psyched to go climbing











Friday, July 20, 2012

Back in Canada

We are finally back in Canada after 6 month of doing "The Circuit" in the US. Much had happened since our last little post.

The big news is that Krissy finally sent her first 5.13a - Sprout, in Maple Canyon, UT. It took about 18 days and 40 tries for the send! (see Krissy's Flashed blog for more!)

After Krissy's project was finished up we headed back to Rifle, CO so I could finish off one last route. After a few more days effort and some beta tweaks I was finally able to send Simply Read 5.13d (hardest 13d on the planet I think!).

We have just spent the last couple days in Squamish, BC doing a little bouldering. The conditions have not been the greatest (either hot or rainy), but it has still been fun to check the area out. We managed to do a few of the classic problems and are now headed to Calgary, AB for some limestone sport climbing!
Mike and Rebecca

Ben sending T-Rex 5.14b - 33 bolts of cave climbing!

The start of T-Rex

Krissy looking cute as ever

Krissy's hand made sun catchers

Shoulder stretching

Another view of T-Rex

Ben sending No Troublems V10. This was the first V10 in Squamish.


The unique granite holds on the very steep No Troublems

Jessa
The start of No Troublems in the dark Grand Wall forest
The view from the climber campground in Squamish

Breakfast at the base of "The Chief"

Ben went caving for a lost water bottle and found a brand new Solution

The world's hottest spotter?

Krissy on the Stinger V6

The scenery during our 24hr drive from Colorado to BC

Must see coffee shop in WA

Ben on Worm World Cave V9

Krissy sending Trad Killer V4

The forest filled with great boulders
Trad Killer V4

Try hard face

Scott providing sun blockage for Stinger Low V8/10?

Vancouver