Vegas Baby!

Been having a killer time here in Las Vegas with great climbing, great friends and the best girlfriend in the world! We have had some great weather until today. The new Southern Nevada Bouldering guide is amazingly detailed, offering up great beta on beautiful areas. Could not imagine spending my vacation any other way. As the weather has turn crappy we are heading home a little early, but with we leave Vegas, each with a few sends and great memories!

Joy

So, I did not post for almost an entire year and between three weeks of silence Kevin is clamoring for more, Becky and Shannon are giving me shit, pretending not to know who I even am. As if anyone could forget a 6'4 spas whose nickname is the ZEBRA!

Well, a lot has gone down in the last couple of weeks. The Giants are playing like the Giants of old, BADLY!! I have purchased a dream, yes you can do that apparently, god bless a America! A van that is slowly taking steps forward to becoming my ideal road-trip vehicle. The main reason I got it, of course, was to avoid being yelled at by Kevin for making a mess in his trailer. School has started again and I am soooo excited about my new class, iWorld.

However, these only serve to distract me from my elbow. Which at the moment is starting to feel better and slowly recover from its tendonitis. To say it was a setback would be an understatement. I was so psyched to be climbing, training, and seeing friends again. I really was starting to feel strong and even confident, but it was a little too much too quick. The good news is I have started to climb lightly again without much pain. I even had a chance to go climbing again with Vicki and Julie, showing them around some areas they had yet to checkout. Although, I was only hanging out and acting as tour guide. I was overwhelmed by Vicki on one particular problem, where upon reaching the top she expressed such joy. In that moment I wanted to be her. She was feeling what I think all climbers look for, the euphoric feeling of accomplishment.

Here is that moment...

Joy: A short climbing film from Zebra on Vimeo.

A Dead Mosquito is a Good Mosquito

Did a little climbing this week with Justin up in at the pass on highway 88. We had hoped to time our sessions with the cool temps of sunset, but we failed to take into consideration the booming population of mosquitoes. Needless to say we ‘bugged-out’ earlier than expected.

However, we did get to sample and see new areas (at least to us) up in the Tahoe area. The Crater Lake boulder is amazing rock. Lactose Intolerance: a fantastic line going up the center of the perfect face. The next evening was spent right off the road at three new problems. Gideon: awesome, slightly overhanging face, to a taller top-out both has a sit and a stand, and allows for awesome climbing either way. Denny’s: a short, but amazing compression problem on the opposite side of the road has amazing rock and really cool moves! Justin also did the line behind Denny’s that was cleaned by Noah Kaufman and was said to be a project on a June 8^th blog post, TryHardClimbers.blogspot.com.

Needless to say it was awesome climbing and hanging with my good friend Justin and our dogs Turtle and Gus. But the uninvited mosquitoes truly did put a damper on the trip. Those of you headed to Tahoe make sure to take a bath in DEET before heading up anytime soon.

Back From the Edge of the Earth

First off. I am alive. I have not fallen of the edge of the earth. I have just been laying low and tending to things that I have been neglecting for some time. I have taken my recent hiatus from climbing as an opportunity to reflect on what I really love about the ultimately silly endeavor of trying to wrestle boulders: friends, the challenge, and the exploring. The funny thing is the one thing I could not get away from was being consumed by climbing, thinking about, dreaming about, scanning climbing porn site after climbing porn site, watching videos, and trying to follow others' great accomplishments. So thank you to those that helped to keep me psyched!

Here is my first attempt at a climbing film with some good friends of mine!

Tahoe Bouldering from Peter Newman on Vimeo.

Sending in South Africa

zxHere is some video (my first on the blog, so I hope that it works) of Mike climbing in South Africa. Had a great time there and hope to do a slide show real soon, to share my adventure!

Andre and His Big Cats

A couple of weeks ago Mike and I escaped the clutches of Clanwilliam and ventured out to the farm land  surrounding.  There we met Andre, owner and operator of a game preserve. Andre raises game such as Springbok and Orax for people to come and hunt with only bow and arrow for sport.  In addition,  Andre has raised money to save the lives of 5 lions and 2 cheetahs who escaped the less sporting "cannned" hunts here in Africa for fat, rich and boring men.  Andre has created a sanctuary for these big cats to live out the rest of their days in bliss and under his protection.  Mike and I had such an awesome time that we decided to go back with more friends, look for boulders and Brie. The two experiences were unforgettable!

On another note I recently have received news that a dear friend, colleague, and mentor will be moving on to bigger and better things.  Kris Williams will be leaving Sacramento New Technology High School, in order to work for the New Technology Foundation.  Since the birth of the school Kris has been the heart of our efforts, he epitomizes what it means to be a teacher. We are lucky as a society to now have Kris where he belongs, at the foreground of an important educational movement, leading the way!

Update from Rocklands

After a little rain delay we have decided to take a break from the music video and get back to climbing.  Lyn, Paul and Cam have arrived and brought fresh perspective to the domino games and cold evenings.  

The first day post rain we hauled ourselves up the Fortress, a V13 compacted area.  Since I have done all the 13's up there ;), I showed Wick and Justin the beta on the aesthetic Vice problem and they set to work piecing it together. Since I did not climb, the next day Kevin, Wick and I toured around the Plateau with Lyn, Paul and Cam.  There I did Bullet-Proof and Running Out Of... both fun climbs on really good rock.  Yesterday, the hard men of our crew with their tick list from the movie PURE wanted to check out the Amphitheater, an awesome looking line that neither the movie, nor my photos could do justice. It is beautiful! 

We spent the afternoon at Roadside where I have found this awesome 30 foot jug haul.  It was the perfect thing for me to do multiple times on an active recovery day.  Tomorrow I am heading back to the Sassie Boulders for Petite Hueco and Springbok to hopefully put them to bed.  However, this morning I woke to a story from our friend Walker who was at the Sassies and had a close encounter with a Cobra. As a snake lover...NOT...I am really excited! 

Filling Time

Today marks our third rest day due to rain, and I can honestly say that I am glad to have awesome friends on this trip.  It would be so easy for a group to step on each others toes in such close quarters, even more so when you factor in the anticipation of climbing.   We have had cookie and chocolate taste tests.  We have watched and debriefed the HBO show DEADWOOD. We have produced MTV Cribs episodes and Music Videos.  But more importantly we have dedicated our trip to use of Garlic as the main ingredient to all meals!! We have filled time well!

Mike and Pete's Mac & Garlic Pre-Send Meal:

Dice 20 Heads of Garlic (trust me it is not too much)

Dice 1 Onion

Sauté in Skillet with Liberal amounts of Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper

Then Steam until softened.

Boil water and add enough pasta (pasta should have the ability to capture garlic and cheese)

Grate enough cheddar cheese. 

Once Pasta is done toss together and stir.

Bon Apetit! 

Projects Galore

Yesterday, Justin, Mike, Kevin, and myself made it to the Sassie Boulders.  Although the day was a bit warm, climbs were sent and projects found.  

For me I discovered a roof problem called Petite Hueco.  I have done all the moves in three different sections. With a fresh effort I hope it will go down rather quickly.  Both Justin and Wick made ascents of thy beautiful problem Pinotage.

We have one more guaranteed climbing day before it starts raining,  so we are planning on setting to work on our music video project...stay tuned!

Ups and a Down

So far this trip has been made up of fantastic Ups and one really horrible Down.  Most of you already know that Becky has hurt her knee pretty badly. Thank goodness for her positive and "trooper" demeanor, for it has kept us all going.  

Wick in particular has been absolutely crushing the sandstone blocs with sends of Oral Office, Hole-in-One and Sunset Arete.  Justin has been sick, but learning moves on Barracuda, and Black Mango Chutney,  being 100% he will have awesome day at the Eight-Day Rain sector. 

We celebrated the 4th of July with some South African beer and some Dominoes. We have been Brieing(bbqing) quite a bit and Justin found an awesome butcher shop.  

For those of you on your way, the weather seems to be getting better and the sunsets are absolutely breathtaking!  

Arrival!

So for the past three years it has been my goal to climb out of the country. On Wednesday that goal was met in Rocklands, South Africa!  We made it after starting in California at 3:30am, with a small stop over in London for some fish and chips and few pints, then an overnight haul on South African Air, we arrived in Cape Town 50 hours later. WOOT WOOT!

South Africa is more than I expected the people are really friendly, house is perfect and the rock quality is bar-none.  Every time I look out the back door I feel in awe of this place.  To be in this beautiful place  with such awesome friends is a dream come true.

 

Parting Shots

Wonder Woman

We took a rest day yesterday, and found out some good news. My finger issue is actually a slight forearm tear. It sounds a lot worse than it is, and according to boulderingdoc after a little rest and vitamin i, I will be pulling on crimps and slopers in no time.

In the mean time I have been hanging with my honey, spotting and pretending to be a photographer. Heather had some awesome goes on Iron (wo)Man and Bowling Pin. They both are sure to go next time!

On another note; to all climbers who take dumps with in the boulder fields of Bishop. Please dispose of your waste appropriately so that humans don't step in it, and dogs don't discover it as tasty morsels, hmmmm!

Hope all is well, ciao.

Peter

Certainty is Not Real

About 24 hours ago I was psyched as all hell. I was feeling like training hard. Justin and I had fixed the woody. I had just gotten back from a day in Yosemite. I was heading down to Bishop with my girl friend for a four day stay with plenty that we wanted to do. Life was looking up and I was super stoked to be climbing and to be anticipating a trip of a life time this summer.  

Certainly, things were going  my way. Heather and I decided to go to the Happys for a afternoon session to ease into the weekend. We found a new boulder to warm up on, we both did Big Chicken, and at a recommendation headed to the rim to try Mr. Happy. I pulled into a pocket and shooting pain went straight down my ring finger and to my elbow.

Needles to say I am a little bummed.

Pouring Some Out to the Homies

A huge shout-out to the Davis crew down in Hueco Tanks! The last 12 days have been SPLITTER!!! Climbing for me will always be about progress, as I am sure it is for many, but more importantly to me it is about having fun with my friends. Whether it is singing the wrong words to the wrong tune, blind taste tests, playing keep away, holding the words of the warrior poet Ice Cube sacred, gluing stallions in un-expecting places, or simply sharing a smile under a piece of rock in order to keep each other psyched; climbing will always be about the people I am with.

Thanks to all my climbing partners, and the many more adventures to come!

Peter

p.s. If everyone could refer to Kevin as “Daisy” that would be great.

Great Times, Great People!

Leaving for home tomorrow, and real world. This years trip to Hueco Tanks has been filled with good climbing, great energy, and tons of laughter.

Enjoy!!