Little Photon that Couldn't

Superficial Lacerations

2011-12-31T16:49:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite photo from 2011. Grandpapy Wolvo Thistle.

Hello December skies, if it wasnt so cold out I might be able to emit more energy but it just aint there when I go to make another lap around the planet, one'll do it these day. Beaming from fire soaked branches and candle sticks brings out my intensity more so that making a bold entrance on the morning horizon

Both Metro and Alex trying to send simultaneously

Mr Ed, v8, The Master Bedroom (NY)

So I rummage around rooms finding what I might illuminate; the corner of a couch or a long end of a book shelf,

but by far, and by far I mean far, the most celestial sheen has these days come from the strings of a my guitar

said the little photon

Maxamillion

2011 folks, was a good year. 2010 kinda supremely sucked but 2011 made up for poor focus and failing tenocytes (forgive me tenocytes I will give you more eccentric training and less ramen in 2012) and a vacuum that swallowed many good question

The Claw, v10, Ice Pond (NY)

2011 was South Africa and Lincoln Lake and Harriman Park, was me leaving a long sought-after job in orthopedics for a not so obvious choice in community health, recovering from my worst climbing injury (-ies) to date and still somehow climbing v10 in South Africa, having an epic backcountry (spring 2011) season, finally getting a job in the ER, connecting with people I shouldnt have lost touch with, realizing I'd lost a few good questions and welcomed some home, Replacement Killers and Grand Tension sit and The Amendment, starting an anusara practice but flowing more with my spanish speaking patients, reaching the compete bottom of motivation like never before but correcting that abysmal nonsense right quick, fingerpicking on the porch, my first garden, and joining 8a.nu.

My yoga conclusion for 2011; I think the philosophy in yoga in way more vital to me than the practice because honestly, after 10 years of practice nothing changes but my mind ('cause the overweight soccer mom here for her first yoga class is sticking the position with a smile that I've been working on for over 2 years... without progress), in fact my shoulders and hips may get worse with intense yoga, so just take in the teachings, accept that I'm not a skinny-jean yogi, and go run a mountain, sit a bit, and mix in a weekly class that gives what I need, which is essentially a reminder and a hammock.

ER in Clanwilliam (S.A.) where I lost my first attempt at leading a cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Best book: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe or.... Blood Meridian. That said I havent finished "Cutting for Stone" yet and Dr Gosh is a complete badass.

Best Album: Tyvec "Nothing Fits" or Phosphorescent "Here's to taking it easy" or Mumford and Sons' "Sigh No More"

Topside's perfect stone

For 2012? Rock Rodeo? Will I take the MCAT, transition to full time ER, keep working in community health? V11 or v12? Have I climbed v11 is a damn good question. Goddam I need to train my fingers more. Keep up the guitar and more painting are mandated! China and Japan at my the top of my list for this year... but I would love to go back for another month in S. Africa, for Topside and out towards the Indian Ocean coast. I also want to explore Harriman Park, NY.
Did I fail to report sports med journal update again? Sorry, coming soon, maybe next update. I've got 1 article about female (joint) laxity and a couple about PRP that should be shared.

The Apprentice Changing Orbitals Thursday Remix

2011-11-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

Recently I went out to Joe's Valley with my buddy Al Lew on a mission to meet up with Dr Ben Elkon. Ben's been MIA doing his Peds residency in Utah. I was MIA for his wedding when traveling in South Africa, bad timing but damn it was a good trip

Before I left there was the final harvest of my first garden which is the setting of my forthcoming, long self anticipated next painting, really want to connect with the brushes and color again. Sometimes the side of an apple become really important.

Al displayed some serious off-the-couch-ness skills on our Joe's trip by doing Playmate of the Year in a matter of 30 mins.

Oddly I found myself completely uninspired in Joe's. Maybe a bit of burn out after nearly a year of finger recovery and then a big trip to Rocklands and then wrapping up a season in Wolvo. I felt like speeding through outer space, visiting other planets, or chasing down an astroid or working my way between branches at local canyons.

Meanwhile, I got myself into another PA job closer to Boulder and in the ER. I'm not saying that my current job isn't working but it is a long drive from Boulder and the promised loan repayment fell through.

This past Saturday I did my first day of training at the new job then ran up Boulder Canyon to finish off The Amendement V10/11 (Grand Tension was harder so maybe Tension was v11). This is somewhere in the range of the 3rd or 4th v11 I've done that has been down rated to v10. Nobody else has done Tension from the way I started it so I'm psyched to see what people think it is next summer.

I love the local climbing season. So often climbing can dominate my free time, it's nice to have local projects that I can push myself on but don't require so much commute time. Time to sip some coffee at a cafe, read my book (now reading Cutting for Stone which is spectacular, you should read this, read it in a day, be the first to read it in a day, Cutting for Stone in day) and journals, study a bit, hit a yoga class, play the guitar, sit, and not feel too overly rushed.

The Top 3 list for Boulder Canyon this season (the conquest for v12):

#1--Authentic Battle Damage

#2--Burnout

#3--Hug Right

Other of note are: Headless Horseman, Get Over It, Graham Arete Right

My apologize for not posting the sports med update. I have a lot of PRP data to down load on y'all from my journals and a recent conference.

I also have ideas to share from my practice in psychiatry these days, as in DONT do meth, you may become schizophrenic and loose your teeth.

Nex blog post, I'll try to bring you the sports med data and an update from the east coast, looks like I'm head to the Gunks and Farley for bouldering and NYC for family for Turkey Day. Gobble gobble.

Poison Dwarf to Topside

2011-09-11T13:48:00.000-07:00

If you’re traveling in a recreational time machine and happen to see you’re self step out of a spaceship, its best not to shoot yourself, just run.

Did you know that whales do head spins? This blows me away.

The send tally after 24 days in South Africa:

2 7c+, 2 7cs, 3 7b+s, 4 7bs, 4 7a+s, and 7 7a's. Best problem I did was probably White Mazda Clan 7c+. Best problem I tired was 8a and called Gliding Through Waves Like Dolphins... amazing feature. Did all the moves on Black Shadow 8a+ my first day, and only day, on it but never returned to project. There was no project. All sends were done on the express, let's get this done now, wisdom. Training conclusion: I was strong but had no flow, shoulda spent more time at the Spot doing laps on 4+ and 5-. Next time.

Grades dont mean shit, no seriously, for the most part v7-v10 took abut the same amount of time to finish, I just tried way more 7 and 8’s and stuck to them until they were done. Poison Dwarf, the hardest problem of the trip, 7b, took more effort than any other problem. Poison Dwarf, according to urban dictionary = “A selfish, untrustworthy, deeply obnoxious or evil person of diminutive size, whose ostensibly unthreatening appearance allows them to fulfil their predisposition for causing unprovoked pain and suffering in an under-hand manner for anyone who has the misfortune to strike-up a friendship them.” Frumpy little poison dwarf, why'd you have to treat me so ill?

Rob Guin on the best line I tried in S. Africa. A nameless white roof blob of perfect stone nestled in the thicket peering out over False Bay. iphone-ed.

Cape Town has lots of quality boulders but also lots of bunder-bashing.

http://sites.google.com/site/cutloosebouldering/topos/cape-town-bouldering/topside

Topeside, Echo Valley, 30mins from Cape Town International Airport.

Ostrich burgers are the future and if we had springbock biltong, I’d eat it every day.

Turns out I don’t have faith in probability and I’m a fair weather surfer. The cold water and great whites makes me hesitant to surf. The second week we of the trip a surfer was killed by a great white. The last week I was there a local lady was going for a swim and was eaten. That was enough for me to stay ashore, I dont like wearing wet suits or anything tight for that matter, like I could never be a road biker, wouldnt make it out the front door. Great whites and thick head to toe spandex, count me out.

Atlantic cold, Indian Ocean warm. Must make a trip to Durban next time down.

Oodshorn has sick limestone and it’s close to Vic’s bay with Warm water surf, another destination for the next trip that will be based more out of Cape Town.

South African’s love the BBQ, called the Braii. Kudu steaks are tasty.

There aint shit to do in Clanwilliam, serously, there’s more to do in Orangeville, Utah.

Slopers are a rarity in Rocklands; all those aretes and so few slopers, dumbfounding. Not everywhere can be Font.

Giving chest compression and breaking ribs for 45 mins is a bitching workout. I was debilited for a day after this experience. I volunteered in the Clanwilliam ER for a couple rest days.

Doctors in S. Africa follow the euro model and skip doing an undergraduate degree. They community doc’s (i.e. the doc’s that dont work in the private clinics; all South African have access to free health care at the community clinics and hospitals, no bill.) they get burned out too.

South Africa has a serious problem with HIV and MDR TB. Patients from the Suti (a country within South Africa that speeks a completely different language but uses the free health care of South Africa) don’t speak english or africans and they have a high rate of TB.

I may be TB postive now.

Some white south africans now resent resent affirmative action

Go to Potterville, hike the waterfall trail and then drive over the pass and swim in the lake on the other side, and drink some wine.

Drinks lots of wine in South Africa and dont bother with the beer.

Renting a surf board in the small towns of SA aint happening.

Trust your gut, study people’s faces, make calculated simple decisions and less calculated complex choices

I suck at dyno’s and on-sighting, Rob Guin doesnt

In the 80’s-mid 90’s white men in S. Africa, 100% of them starting at age 18, were drafted for what they call the Boarder Wars. My understanding is that the wars were over other nations protesting against appartide. One guy I talked with remembers killing many Cubans on the Namibia - SA boarder. If the young men didnt report to raft they were arested and put in prision.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Border_War

Pinotage is a wine specific to SA

In the rural hospitals there are few beds abd resources for premature babies. They have a developed a program called Kangaroo Kids that involves teaching mothers to hold their children skin to skin with the mother’s breast throughout the day.

Most climber in Rocklands are from Europe. The euro’s and one canadian coulple say that cheep tickets can be bought in the early spring and that prices get higher through the summer. This was my experience, I saw tic’s for 14 hundred at the beginning of the summer and ended up paying 1,850 because I waited and bought late, thinking prices would come down.

There's a place at the end of a dirt road deep in the Cederburg where economic development, invested from the state, failed but people still live there, at the end of the dusty dirt road that must be impassible in the rain, raising their cows and daisies and roosters.

The sounds and site of Riverside, the most aesthetic crag in RL.

Working with One's Limitation

2011-08-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

In Wolvo you get to see a weekly change in the alpine flora as you do the hike in and out of the boulders. 2 weeks ago it was thistles. Last weekend it was certain white flowers that draped them selves over the steep hilside.

I've been, or should I say my left hand has been, injured for the last year. I was training for a South Africa trip last spring and tore my A-2 pulley on my 3rd left digit, made a loud pop, lame. Over the summer I, first, cancelled my trip to S Africa the, second, started running and swimming instead of climbing. I did that for 2.5 months last summer and made a rapid return to climbing v8/9 within a couple weeks of being back. I was nearing healed this past spring when I pulled onto a slab in Joe's Valley, a v4 called Bowling Ball, and felt a twing in my left ring finger. I'd been trying to avoid pockets with my middle finger and tweaked my ring finger in doing so. Early the next day, I went on a mission to finish off my long time crimp project, yep... ignoring the twing, and hiked out to Resident Evil v10. I felt strong, taped my finger well and quickly found myself with my hands matched over the lip, staring down the "starfish." At that point my left ring finger made a funny feeling and I dropped off.

In the months that followed I've tried tapping the finger and avoiding all crimps but this was hard, in particular cause i climbed at Movement this winter/spring. Long story short, I wanted to make this South Africa trip this summer and I didnt want to take another 2-3 months off so I tried doing hang-board sessions as a means of keeping some strength in a controlled routine. It's been a struggle no doubt but Im in the airport on my my to Rocklands and my finger has been feeling better and better the last few weeks, but clearly not 100% recovered or strength.

My routine was to do weighted hangs on edges and pinches 1 night a week and then to tape my finger multiple times during a boulder session to hold the pulley/tendon down, but never pushing it.

The other interesting aspect of this spring training was dealing with schedule. I'm spending more time at work then ever in my life and thus am forced to train wisely.

Here are a few observations on my training. Last summer I came back feeling strong and light after running and swimming all summer, 5lbs ligher than I am now. This summer I havent found the time to run and instead have trained finger power. The end result so far is that being light seems more important than finger power.

We'll see how South Africa goes. Stay tuned, I'll be in Rocklands in 36 hours.

Below is Tom C. on Grand Tension v10 at Lincoln Lake.

Sport medicine update #2 and Rocklands bouldering next post!!!!

Lincoln Lake Shorties Vol.1

2011-07-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

4 weeks till S. Africa, just did an ultrasound of my finger and all is not lost, I have a little tear in my ring-finger A2 pulley but nothing that I cant tape aggressively for the next 2 month. That said, it hurt tonight as I cut my feet on a edgy problem in the Movement cave... but then it didn't hurt when I went upstairs to train on the woody and campus board. When I come back from SA I'm PRP-ing it. I'm not sure that PRP has been used for pulley recovery in the past but I think it's the future.

Recent sports meds stuff that I'm going to make an effort once a month now to update y'all on:

(1) PRP vs steroid injections for medial or lateral epicondylitis. Go with PRP and your outcomes are, without a shade of doubt, better and longer lasting. A recent long term trial compared the two and was publish in American Journal of Sport Medicine 6/2011.

(2) In the same issue of AJSM an article looked at the healing effects of icing. Cold water bathing of leg as done using 8 and 22 degrees C. The two water temperatures both reduced blood flow to the limb to the same extent but the colder water caused more vasodilation. Thus, under the principle that more loss of blood flow to skin causes a reduction in blood flow to muscle and other injuries, colder water causes less blood flow to tendons and muscles. The article makes that point that muscle inflammation is a limiting factor in the recovery from muscle strain... so a reduction in blood flow means an increase in healing/decrease in recovery time. BUT!!! for finger injuries the opposite is true, the huge issue with finger injuries is blood flow. So, based on this study I would suggest cool but not cold water baths.

Interestingly, this study makes the point that hand circulation is different than legs because hands have more anastomoses and need to be studied independently.

Ok, now I need to get my shite together for my colorectal cancer screening talk tomorrow morning.

1 Year Out

2011-05-31T08:50:00.000-07:00

This week marks 1 week out from PA school. To reflect a bit, as I've been feeling a bit run down lately, I was going to recap the whole career progression, as I've found that career stress, sending, and social life are all intimately intertwined.

A year ago I graduate from CU's 3 year PA program psyched on going into orthopedics and sports medicine, I'd done nearly all of my elective rotations in ortho and enjoyed them all. But meanwhile, building throughout PA school were 2 opposing/conflicting tides, one was this thought that I wanted to go on to become an MD, i.e. do residency and specialize, and two that I'm an intellectual dork and something like internal medicine or emergency medicine would provide the intellectual stimulus and variety more than ortho. But, being as life is that you start one thing and it's best to see things through on occasion, I finished PA school planning to go into ortho.

I had 3 job offers within a month of passing my boards and almost moved to Cali. The summer was a bit of a mess, no job, no money, I was injured, had called off my S. Africa gradation trip so I started work in August at an ortho group outside Boulder. The group seemed a good fit in the interview but as it turned out there was no availablity of mentoring for me, a new grad, and I was left boarded and frustarated and undertrained working way too many hours, climbing like poop and wishing I was in residency getting the training I really wanted and making use of my time.

I left that job, sent a boulder problem, and then started a job in Community Health. Communty health is under-served work; no insurance, poor health, at least 50% spanish speaking, family medicine/urgent care. This was not my focus in PA school but I figured it could provide a strong basis for any other job and it may help pay off my loans and get me to where ever I want to be next without the burden of debt. As it turns out I'm working tones of hour at this job too, still climbing like poo but I am intellectually stimulated.

I've made arrangement to go to S. Africa to do my graduation present a year late. I'm psyched for this but just hope I can find the time and energy to train for this.

I laughed at myself yesterday as I stepped onto the scale in my room. 172lbs before the run 169 after the morning jog. 1 year ago I was at almost the exact same weight, shooting for the exact same goal, 165 and crushing v10's, and on my way to Rocklands.

As for the MD question, time will tell. I have research questions I'd like to pursue and I like the idea of being a sports medicine doctor but going back to repeat the same courses for 3 years is a tough pill to swallow. Taking the MCATs again (I took and crushed them 8/2000 and for various reasons never fully when down that path) is an even tougher pill to swallow.

So, if you see me staring off lost in muddled introspection that may be my inner discourse, quality of life questions, PA with less comitment or MD with bigger loans and bigger hurdles.

Weathered Defiance

2011-05-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

Al Lew giving a go on Koyaanisqatsi (v11) near Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon. I've checked this problem out and seems do-able but a more pervasive issue has blocked my radiation

The intention and belief,

I am light

fragmented light

in instances coming together

between the trees
Lauren Wilson (http://laurenhillwilson.blogspot.com/) getting her first taste of the Cowboy sandstone of Joes Valley. Someone help me defend my "cute" GTI. "My ride, my ride, our relationship is classified" --Andre Nicotina... maybe she has a point.

We skirted around the sun's fiery intent using the new guide book http://www.joesvalleyguidebook.com/ which helped keep the psych up cause temps were hot and I'd blown my tip out on the first warm up of the trip and had to get out the glue and tape, we needed new material, the old project were not going to fall, not this trip, not in these conditions, not shackled with an ailing adrenal gland.

Big moves in Joe's. Lauren learns that big move bouldering in the Spot can pay off, next season.

So feeling weathered and raw and short a stove we went to the local saloon and met with the locals. Two guys told us about the recent mining history in the area. Turns out that the mine in Huntington Canyon had a collapse in 2007 that killed some of these guys' friends and registered on the richter scale many miles away (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crandall_Canyon_Mine). According to these guys, this mine supplies energy to Nevada, Utah, and SoCal. If you've had your ear to the floor, you may have hear of bouldering development happening in Huntington.

They also say that the mine/refinery that we pass as we turn off for Joe's, the one on the right as you turn left for Joe's, in one of the worst around, i.e. it's mostly run by illegal immigrants that dont speak english and in the case that the whole place is going to blow up, which is a risk you swallow when you work in these sorts of places, you cant even communicate the urgency your co-worker. That and the safety checks and part updates, all of which these guys we're chatting with know in great detail, all are poorly kept. They say that a good majority of the towns population works in the these two mines or the one near new Joe's. Most of the immigrants that work the smaller refinery do not live in Castledale or Orangeville, they live in a town out east into away from town where there's only one cop and a lot of trailer homes.

The mine out near New Joe's collapsed a couple years back and killed another friend of the guy I'm chatting with. He says these lands make you hard. Says that the guy from Aspen who cut his arm off and is now the star of a movie came to the local high school, the one in Castledale, the closest high school to where the man lost his arm (he was hiking in the San Rafael Swell which can be accessed by a dirt road not far from the pizza shop in Castledale), and was booed off stage 'cause the public in middle-of-nowhere Utah thought this guy was a fool for getting lost, not a hero of any sort.

The wind picked up that night and it got cold and damp. Something big wobbled through camp that night and brushed our tents and left with less bluster than the canyon's vast dark howl.

A Quick Transition

2011-04-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

There was a hut trip

and the snow was good

Jenga was played

and there were losers

while boots were roasted over electric stoves at 11k feet

and with a twist of days and weeks and long hours at work and behind the wheel and dreaming and stumbling forward into my own routine, I found myself in spring.

One afternoon I fought and finished-off a long time foe called Replacement Killers (v10/11)

and then found two new: The Hug (v11) and Authentic Battle Damage (v12)... none of which are pictured in this blog. Metro Mark's Toil and Blood (v8?) and Steph Marvez on Hard Boiled (v10/11) you see above and below.

Amidst all this arrived my first professional journal: http://ajs.sagepub.com/ and leafed through its glossy pages drooling over the conditional verb tense

And having done all that I needed a break from it all and went to Joe's with Mercedes and the new vertical girl squad. Check 'em out at: Girlbeta.com and www.verticalgirlclothing.com

Things was a bit warm and I had an epic night of no sleep after thinking coffee in the late afternoon of the utah sun and driving 90 mph in the new GTI was certainly a winning idea but recovered well through it all, woke at 7am the 2nd day out, and with large coffee and gem-mini donuts got the velcro-temps on my new favorito problemo in Joes, Playmate of the Year v9. And, oh so psyched, later that day, in the booming waves of mid-day middle of nowhere solar radiation, I figure out my beta on Resident Evil, another v9/10 (but seems the same difficulty as Playmate) that is the ultimate NOT MY STYLE problem that I'm determined to send in this current cycle of samsara, but droped after the crux 'cause I felt something funny in my my left ring-finger whilest pulling like mad on the midget crimps over the lip. Now I know it'll go, the v9/10 mega-project!

And I leave you with a snap shot of my grace in turmoil... can't wait for the powder to start falling again.

Delayed Onset Qualia

2011-02-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

Title of the Painting above reads "The Gunks and Santa Clause." My 4 year old nephew painted this one for me over Christmas.

Below is a recent painting by my Dad that I really like. Something by me coming soon.

The guitar crept out the last few days, keep finding myself on the couch with it. Got an evening strum in on the new porch a fortnight ago, cant wait for spring and more of that.

Droegger choosing his line at the East Draw:

Why I don't crimp: take a close look at his middle finger. For those that are interested, yes my finger is doing better and I'm not tapping anymore but no I'm not even considering crimping for another month or two with the left hand, slow and steady, eccentric strengthening, protein bars, recovery drinks, Movement, new job, possible Mallorca trip, possible Cambodia trip, rosetta stone, and remembering many motions to intentions from yesterday and then trying to clarify what it was that hit so ostentatiously and moved on some time ago.

Great problem in Chautauqua, anyone know the name and grade of this one? It's off the mesa trail. Droegger, the Chautauqua Maetro.

One of the best boulder problems in Boulder country, Burnout (v12). Herm' destroying the first, the crux, moves of this gem, looking like a Marvel comic superhero-sketch. He should have sent this day, temps were champagne where nuances felt like bold gestures weighing in like steak and wet broccoli.

Herm's words of wisdom to Jesse on how to get things done: "picture you're in a parking lot punting kittens."

Next week off and plans to go to Hueco if the weather clears. Mas despues.

Today's Song

2010-10-18T21:06:00.001-07:00

Do I look fat in the picture above? Nope, just standing next to Albert Lew. Somewhere in the Indian Peaks Wilderness there are a few good problems with some damn good views.

So even though photons follow linear equations,

sometimes bending for large masses,

some things just never add up.

Train, train, training,

studying, driving, coffee in the lap, sun rising over Denver's prairie dogs

and young neighborhoods.

Then finding that right track that that line that you hear once and it sticks,

"the ashes from the fire keep me breathing"

just passes and notice a stirring

and responsibility and questions about being penniless or purposeful

or both

Training again.

Run 'til the sunset and when its gone, salad.

Salad and books and responsibility and damn crimpers that wont let my ego run wild with success and alarm clocks and the easel

sits unused

and the storage unit moans

and the whole thing just doesn't add up all the time

and then sometimes,

sometimes things come together and there's nothing else to say but to run like a gale wind

tearing the hats off comfortable hikers,

like Pan with a stinky coat of fur and youthful blinding confidence shooting rainbows visions out your sweat glands

I'm Goin' to Sine Your Pitty on the Runny Kine

2010-10-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

Seth, above on Gorillas early season, went and did his shoulder in on Unshackled @ Lincoln Lake, adding to the summer of destruction where I missed my South Africa trip sat out for 2.5 months, Troy sat in a wheel chair for 3 month, and Collett blew out his bicep. I tried playing guitar but that too hurt the finger, had to give that up for the summer.

Near the end of it all I went and got a job, cut the fur, and had an emo moment, I think this was mid-summer move number like 4 or 5, thanks JohnO for helping me out with the basement room, and Matt and Laura and lending me a spare room while I sorted things out.
"And since the possession of qualities assumes a certain pleasure in their reality, we can see how a man cannot summon up a sense of reality even in relation to himself may suddenly, one day, come to see himself as a man without qualities" from Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities.

Annie on a 4th of July trip to Red Cliff.

Will Cole trying hard on Return of the Jedi (v8).
And for a while, when I was injured I tried, 3 times, to get to those boulders behind Longs peak, long hikes with no success.
Lost in the forest.
Still following the stream.
Went to Lake Tahoe to check out a job. Truckee had the right vibe but was too far from the hospital I'd be working at. I'll be back to ski these mountains.

Once Steph got stuck on a rock,
Flan climbed like a teenager,

and I used my boobs to finish Anvil V8/9 @ Lincoln Lake.

Then the Pootie Tang boulder was created. Rob Guin and I put up two problem on this one: Sa Da Tay (v3/4) which goes right and Wa Da Tah (v5). Sa da tay!

Then Rob risked life and limb on one of the best lines I've seen in Lincoln Lake, name unknow, grade v8/9?
Then I tried on the same dang friggin amazing line.

Shortly there after summer was gone. A few more photos from Al Lew from the last day up at Lincoln lake are coming soon.

As for up dates on Sports med topics, gi'me a few weeks, work's been nuts lately.

Terminal Bush Whacking

2010-07-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

I've been holding out on the update because things have been complicated, lots of visiting different universes with one part of the body while other part of the whole was somewhere else, wandering in marshes at 11k feet boulder hunting, pondering location and wondering if wondering is worth the effort or if not wondering is possible, and injured to boot with an A2 pulley partial rupture while warming up. It's 2 weeks now without using the injured finger, I figure I have maybe a month more of rehabing it.

Before injury I was thinking that both Slander (v11) in Area D in Evans and Gorillas (v10/11) were going to go down very quick, was feeling the beast and the weightlessness, but now denied. I'd even started working No More Greener Grasses (v12) in Area A Evans, , after watching Angie crush, a steep crimps fest' and was feeling psyched and like it was very possible.... Prey for quick recovery. Jason Kahl recommended heat, Carlo Traversi recommended vitamin-I and cool soaks, others recommended splinting. I'm trying a mix of many things and I'll let y'all know what I find.

So the next few post are going to be more medical. As I have all of next week to wait on jobs to come through I'll be posting on some topics I've been reading up on. The last two may take me into the Fall to post on but I will be following up on these topics:

1) Ligament and Tendon Repair and NSAID use

2) Female Ligament/Tendon injury and Ovulation, Considerations for Prevention

3) Muscle Growth: the Number vs Size question

4) Muscle Activation and Mental Fatigue, Implications for Training and Sending

Dem Apples (v8/9)

2010-07-05T08:02:00.001-07:00

Had a great weekend hanging with amigos in Redcliff, bouldering a bit and swimming in the river. I went back to film this problem that I did back in 8/08 when I was living in Vail doing my Steadman rotation (see previous post). Grade? Well, the summer that I did this thing first I was able to do Cool Arete in a session and all the other v8's in Redcliff during my afternoon circuit, but this thing took me many many days to sort out. That said, that was the summer that I went to Rodellar, Spain for sport climbing. This spring I've been on a rope less than 5 times and the power is up. I went back to the problem and it didnt feel to bad, maybe it is v8, maybe easier, maybe harder, got my thug strength in full effect these days. Here's the video. Thanks to Matt and Kristen and Annie for going back here to spot and film.

Oh, other new problem that Mercedes showed me on this trip is called Mercutio (v6) just left of the Start Crossed Lovers (v6), fun dynamic moves with a tree tickling your back. I guess she got the first female send, sorry no video of this one.

and then moments later, choosing the mantle over trusting that slick foot...

I'll be updating y'all on my PA-C status, job hunt, and where I'm living sometime this week. Sorry for slacking on the blog.

Newlin Was Sweaty

2010-06-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

Spent a couple days down in Canyon City this past weekend. Still had lots o studying to do so the mornings til noonish were all books but saturday afternoon I spent with the VAC team in Shelf. Sunday and Monday were spent in Newlin. Here are a few clips from Sunday where Dan Smith and I ran around on the moderate classics. Diane French hurt her ankle on Sunday so send her some positive healing vibes if you are into the whole vibe sending thing.

Newlin in a Blender (v6) and Atari (v4)

Pineapple Express (v4/5)

Robot Rodeo

2010-05-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

Didn't bounce off many boulders this weekend, mostly lurked in the inner dwellings, spent a lot of time on wine glass rims, noses, and book leafs, erasers, bare shoulders, some time between the trees and glancing the pond, some time on pavement. My buddy Paulo got hitched this weekend and was a sight to see, big ol' Italian family, and with him he brought fellas from out of town.

Mo Philips, my man from East High is now putting out some fine tunes for the bambinos. Check him out at http://www.mophillips.com/. One night he sang a bit of Robot Rodeo and a bit from Train Beard, killin' it.

One afternoon I got out for a few hours with 2 of the other Spot coaches: Seth and Jay. Went and explored somewhere between Boulder and Ned'. One nice bloc had a couple v6/7 sorts of problems. Drogger showed the most finesse.

Given all the festivities and responsibilities these days I did end up missing out of the end of year Vail Athletic Club team party and was bumbed 'cause I had a killer winter training with those kids.... guess we'll need t get out this summer.

Gettin' Down to Business

2010-05-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

Seconds after weighing 173 I weighed 178 at the other end of the room. Frantically re-weighing found a flat floor (darn ghetto basement apartment) and a consensus around 175lbd, 5 lbs shy of my summer goal. 3 weeks ago I freaked out about my weight as the days of eating snickers and drinking more than my usual cup of coffee just to get through my last week of lectures left me feeling less than energetic, so went out and bought... Wittgenstein. I've named my scale but am not sold on the name... suggestions?

Below is Sergei Kiefel on a nice v4ish sort of highball in the Flatirons.

Me trying Grundle City Boys (v10/11, I think) below. Rumor has it that Ryan Silvan, the man who had the vision and gall to turn "All-Star" into an adjective, sent this thing recently. I've gotten to the last move but can even figure out how to release. Temps are turning up so it may be next season of Fall for this one.
My abode for the next month, study study study, gotta pass that exam.
This summer is the first time I wont be studying for exams in 3-4 years so I hope to climb well and finish some projects. Here's my Spring/Summer/Fall list:

Route:

Tiempos de Ciegas (13b/c), the only route I really want to do. Got the moves down just need to get it wired and send

Boulder Problems (a bit of a Lifetime List):

Famous Anonymous Nowhere, Chatauqua Park (v10/?)

Grundle City Boys, Satellites (v10/11)

Fleshfest, Satellites (v10)

Black Ice, Fern Canyon (v10)

Replacement Killers, Boulder Canyon (v10/11)

The Nickness, Newlin Creek (v10/11)

Chrome, Evans (v12)

No More Greener Grasses, Evans (v12)

Gorillas in the Mist, Evans (v10/11)

Silver Surfer, Evans (v10)

Super Gui, Evans (v10/11)

Last Dance, Evans (v8)

Bush Pilot, RMNP (v11)

Dead Raccoon, RMNP (v11)

Chunky Monkey

2010-05-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

Chunky Monkey is a relatively new v8 in Joe's. I also did Enter the Heatwole (v8) on this trip and this thing seemed a bit more pumpy and powerful. It's up right fork in the Team Effort area. Park as for Team Effort and walk up the road for a few seconds. It'll be on your right. Notice the multiple pads stacked as too even out the landing; falling off the top could end you up in the road... and as it turn out, the top-out is no joke. Complete Joe's up date coming. Great trip, got a few problems in and lots o' studying and head clearing done.

A Comprehensive Review... backwards

2010-04-15T16:06:00.001-07:00

So when people say that they are mad that they just washed their car and then it rains are they

a) mad that they should have waited and got the car wash for free or

b) they are mad because the car no longer looks blow-dried?

I honestly ponder this question.

Segunda Pregunta: Why do people on Colfax, east of Colorado Blvd., drive under the speed limit, like 20 mph in a 35?

a) worried about getting a ticket 'cause it's hood and there are lots of cops?

b) thug life

c) no-insurance

d) all the above

e) I should ask why I always feel the need to be speeding or doing just 7-9 over the speed limit?

Sunday: Above is Gina, working hard on Hand on My Steel (v5ish), a stellar problem of crimps up perfect sticky stone in Newland Creek outside of Canyon City. The rock here is an amazingly textured gneiss, the problem are semi-steep, cool slopers, positive top-outs. One stand out problem is The Nickness v10. Elkon and I tried this thing a few times but both failed... but were both on our third day on of hard bouldering and were thin on epidermis and glycogen but heavy on caffeine and pscyh for a new area. It was my first time to Newland.

Below is Ben Elkon sending a cool Jamie Emerson line in Newland, name?/v?. Looked about v6/7ish. Ben tried the sit but was denied. I polished off some nonsence to the left which, after breaking a key hold off, felt about v5ish.

Saturday afternoon: Satellite session with Ben and Merlin. I've been nursing a bit of a cold for the last week and a half and my energy has been crap, this Satellite session was no exception. Though I did get psyched on doing Richter Scale v10 in the upper area. Elkon sent, the others didn't... but did all the moves, may be a shade easier than v10, maybe v9. The stand is called Halley's Comet (v7) and is a great problem that is way harder than it looks.

Weeks ago: So I've been on a rope all of 5 or some times this year, need to get on a rope but getting on a rope is tough when you are busy with work and studying trying to finish up grad school, rope climbing is so stupid time consuming, bouldering is lovely and casual and you get mega-strong... for a short session of short problems. Below is Jen on a dope but techy 13b called Stuffed Wolf in Clear Creek, taking the wipper up high.
Graduate May 28th. PANCE exam (National PA-C boards) June 15th. Destination post grad? Time to buckle down for the big review and make sure I learned something over the last 3 years. I'll try to keep the blog rollin'. Big adventures to come this summer, post graduation.

Life on the Plains

2010-03-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

I keep telling myself to blog about cookies but today is not the day, little cookie research has taken place in the last few months, nothing to note other than a bakery in NYC (www.rubyetviolette.com) that is rumored by Stephanie seen above to have outrageous cookies.

Pukes craggin' at it's finest seen above.

Before leaving Vail I finished reading Impact of Inequality, here are 2 quotes. I highly suggest the book.

Wilkinson explains the "group density effect": "all human beings are genetically 99.9 percent the same.... Skin color reflects the power of the social meanings attached to it.... African Americans who live in predominantly white areas, where they are more likely to feel both conspicuous and more discriminated against, tend to have less good health even though they are better off. This is the so called group density effect."

Wilkinson later quotes Robert Frank: "study after study show that beyond some point average happiness is almost completely unaffect by increases in average income level... average satisfaction levels register virtually no change even when incomes grow many fold." Wilkinson shows earlier that mortality rates within a country show the same relationship with average income. He goes on to add "In short, happiness and measures of well being in rich countries are more closely related to social status and relative rather than absolute income"

Above in Ben Collet on a pre-send burn of a new route called The Badger Traverse ("13a"/12c-ish) in Boulder Canyon.

Leaving Vail has been rough, about twice as rough as it was leaving Boulder for Denver. Quite simply, Denver's cramping my flow. As far as I can tell it all adds up to city planing: congestion, traffic, distance from trails, and lack of I-70 public transportation add up to a place that's hard to live and play. I've estimated that I spend 7-10 hours per week MORE in the car when I live in Denver vs Boulder or Vail. That's about 35 hours per month! The disapperence of time hit me hard when I came back.

Vail rotation reflections still to come.

I'm looking forward to spring temps and finishing up on my projects that I left unfinished last Fall.

42 Days, Mountain Running, and the Joy Compass

2010-02-21T08:10:00.000-08:00

About 1 week ago I wrapped up a 42 day long yoga program, I'd never done a proper retreat or weekend intensive of any program of this sort. I was hoping to find some increased hip flexibility, clarity on my career path, re-engagement in my meditation practice, and an opportunity to explore being a little less obsessed with rock climbing.

Here's the program: 6 weeks of daily meditation, yoga, journaling on specific questions, and diet changes. It's hard for me to address the program as a whole because week to week I was faced with difficulties that were not wholly predictable; emesis, diarrhea x1 week, intermittent insomnia, coaching schedule conflicts, and a changing clinical schedule added up to a sizable challenge. One thing was consistent, I've trained less for climbing indoors and haven't climbed outside but once in 2 months, that's real change... no qualifications on good or bad.

Vail Pass Back country:

One day I raced up Vail Mountain with some VAC climbing kids and coaches. I was a bit late starting. If you look below you can see the pack heading up the hill. I'm taking the photo from the starting line as I'm put my skins on my skis. Still placed 2nd in my age category but nearly puked about half way up.

Meditation: I've been sitting a lot this year but a new community and 42 days has helped settle me into a consistent practice again. Via my friend Bret up hear in Vail I met up with a new teacher Felix (www.PranicHealingFI.com). Thursdays that I wasn't coaching I went to his place and sat for an hour. One evening my friend Rachel and I sat for an hour at his place and then chilled and discussed meditation and being human and Felix told of his his Joy Compass idea. He says that joy is different than happiness or passion, joy is experienced without opposite, there is no coming down off joy. Unlike most emotions joy comes from being centered. If we know joy we can use it as a guide that will never lead us down the wrong path. Example, if you are out drunk on beers having a blast, maybe even get lucky and fall into someones arm, there is a opposite emotion to this... the morning after with a hangover and dealing with our actions, this is the example Felix used. That said, Felix points out, this is all dependent on how aware we are of what we are doing. There is nothing intrinsically wrong here. How aware are we of this desire to escape our bodies, to not be in our minds, to become something else, to not be our self with someone who is also in the same state. How aware are we of this process? If aware, we know what we are doing and there is no surprise. If aware we can have joy because we are not stirred by the consequences of our one self inflicted blindness... on whatever level that may be. Implementing the Joy Compass is a constant checking in to see to how we are interacting with our environment and how aware we are of this interaction.

Yoga: the Vail Athletic Club has some of the coolest yoga instructors I've met in years. Along with 42 days they've pushed me to develop my own morning routine. Unlike previous experiences with power yoga, this is helping my climbing. It reminds me of my practice with Nataraja; both physical and spiritual.

Diet, changing my diet was hard. I realized how dependent I'd become on ramen and peanut butter for cheep fuel. Though all and all my diet has changed from the better. One week we did a fast, unfortunately it was the week before the last Spot Comp that I had been training for. I gained 5 lbs in a week on the "fast." I'll explain that later.

Journaling: the hardest question for me that I had to answer and I've spent the last 2 weeks answering is: "If you could change one thing in your life what would it be AND what belief is holding you back from making that change."

I've also been skiing the back country tones, last weekend there was 3 feet of pow on Vail pass.

I'm back to Denver in 1 week; will try to make another post this week to update on the rest of 42 Days, climbing with the Vail Athletic Club team, and... oh ya my Eagle Care rotation up here in Edwards Colorado.

Holiday Bro' Down

2010-01-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

That's Buster, staring the skin-track down, the way back home, paws frozen, after a day of deep early season turns on Vail Pass. So far the pass has been very stable, I've only seen slides on North-West aspects that are over 35 degrees. Otherwise, no issues... though I did hear woomping on the skin up a low angle run a few days ago, before the latest snow. The snow pack reveals a poorly consolidated foot - foot and a half on top of a sketchy granulated inch layer and underneath that is another foot or so of poor consolidation.

Jeff Struck sending Tendonitis Traverse (v5) at Morrison, moments after barring the hatchet on his high school demon of a proj', crushing like a holiday Nutcracker (Lauren that reference is for you if you are out there reading this).

I'm trying Taxi Driver (v10, a link of tendonitis into Air Lupus) and Government Issue (v10, a link of tendonitis into Cytogrinder), feeling strong, perdy darn sure they'll go down this winter... if I drive down from Vail a few times.

Stuck coming close on Willow (v5), I think that being a midget would help on this rig.

Loose Ends

2009-11-27T10:20:00.000-08:00

“A problem arises only when you try to manipulate a situation to your advantage or try to ignore it. Then you are violating your relationship of trust in the phenomenal world” Chogyam Trungpa

First off, I want to give props to my boy Al Lew. I omited a very impressive send by him a few weeks ago in Joe's. You may know Al as the guy who warms up on 5-Spots at the Spot or maybe the guy who is building rockets for your next space mission, either way he sent Worm Turns (v11) second try on or last trip out, making it look like v5.

Below is a v5 called Corkscrew in Red Stone that a crew of 5 strong climbers, including myself, couldn't get close to figuring out.

Today I'm heading down to Boulder for the Spot Highball comp with the Vail team. These kids are keeping me psyched even though I've been feeling a little burned out this week.

Here's a quote from The Impact of Inequality: "Powerful modern analysis on the contribution of status considerations to the pressure to consume have recently been proved... both show the extent to which material consumption is fueled by its power to signify position.... Between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s surveys showed a doubling of the aspirational incomes people thought they would need to live as they would like to... people saved less... and were more likley to get into debt"

Ok, all that above is from a post I intended to post couple weeks ago.

Above is another v6 from Redcliff.

The Spot comp was dope; one of the best comps I’ve been to in a long time, vibe was good, problems were stellar, peop’s were good. I didn’t climb well, but climbed better than expected, was feeling very off, kinda-anxious, tired-post-long-week feeling, and feeling the need to be outside. Then I coached the Vail team at the kids comp and ran into kids from the BRC team that I used to coach and are now crushing and saw kids from the Spot team that asked me when I was going to return and start coaching again and also saw kids from the old Spot team that I coached and are now the Movement team and all these kids turned my day’s frown upside-down. Still with the itch for stone, I ran up to Flag’ for 4 quick laps on the Monkey Traverse (normally v4 but v5 because the end was covered in ice and a bit dicy) and ran back to the Spot and flashed A1-A4 and A10 then only had time enough before getting pumped and the comp being over to pull off O2, all stellar problems. The comp got me psyched to train for the next Spot comp. The Vail gym has a super steep wall that is damn fine for training so watch your laurels wreaths, I ain’t setting the next comp, I gonna weigh in... I think that it’ll be good for my coaching if nothing else.

The next day, folks were heading to RMNP to do come backcountry so I headed to Vail Pass for a solo mission to check out conditions. 3 hours of touring led to 2 decent runs and a big glowing smile on my face with frozen boogers and psych for the storm that came that night. The next day I was sent home early from the hospital (unheard of) and I got to ski from 1-3... skiing nearly to my doorstep where I responsibly went back to studying. Don’t feel bad for me.

I’m now done with the 6 week Pediatric and Women’s Health portion of my rotation in Vail. My spanish esta mejorando and my certainty that this is not my field of choice is 100% solidified. My preceptors were superb but, lord help me, I can’t do well child checks or pre-natal visits, not my things, go bonkers, straight toxic bananas and bonkers. On monday I start in Family/Internal Med at the same clinic where I did my last 6 weeks, psyched for some labs and pharmacology.

Next post will have snow and hopefully a report on the Vail backcountry snowpack. I’ll try to get one more post in before I head down to Silverton and the Farmington to visit family for the holiday.

Settling into New Movements

2009-11-18T11:50:00.000-08:00

That's Will Cole (3rd year med-student) on my favorite v6 in Joe's (Planet of the Apes) taking a weekend off to join me and Al Lew and a few others down in Joe's. The weather was stellar, as always I was hoping to crush but as usual I got served by Joe's. I'd been sick with the swine for the last week and was just recovering. Saturday was a complete waste, no energy, still lots of coughing, fell off the top-out of Team Effort "sit-start." Feeling a bit better on sunday I went back to Team Effort thinking that I may be able to warm up on it; second try I tore half of my finger off on the dyno-ish move to the pinch. Ugh. The rest of the day was cool but hampered by a mummified middle finger.

Below are 2 videos from Red Cliff. I love this place. This was probably the last session up there of the season.

Lately I've been doing a lot of meditation, yoga, and reading. I have free daily yoga at Vail Athletic Club because I coach there so I have no excuses and it's felt great to get back on the mat, it's been a long time since I had my yogi flow.

I'm reading "The Impact of Inequality" by Richard Wilkinson. The book looks at the effect social relations have on our health, essentially the sociology of health with a focus on how disparities in income effect health outcomes. Very academic.

I've failed to find the links to medicaid policies and emergency medicine but that info is coming soon.

Medicaid and a ABS comp in Vail this weekend

2009-11-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

Note: in my last post I should have wrote "medicaid" not medicare. I have corrected this. I will post an explanation soon. I have recently learned of why there is so much use of the ED by immigrants that has a lot to do with how our laws are written. I will write about this in my next post.

Also, I'm coaching and setting for the Vail Athletic Club for the next 4 months. This saturday is an ABS comp that I'm psyched to be part of. Come on up and play in the valley.

Assorted Atrocities

2009-11-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

Recently Peter Beal made a post on his blog about the soul of climbing. I agree with Peter in that one of the most characteristic, novel, and life changing aspects of climbing comes with the combination of subtle movement, a quite mind, a feeling of understanding of the connection between you and certain rock, within a committing and possibly dangerous situation (a few things I miss about trad climbing in Eldo, "The Church")... which can all be easily be lost in the pursuit of hard problems. Below is a video of me on a problem I've been working on in the Post Office that embodies the soul of bouldering: so much prep', so little time on the wall, so down-right stupid looking sometimes. I'd like to call it Famous Anonymous Nowhere (v10), but I can't link a few of the moves, got all the moves, not the link. This is an attempt after sorting all the moves out... on a not so strong day. Oops, video is at the bottom of the blog.

This is Ben Elkon on the new V6 "Yoda" near F.A.N., I thought it was v5 but then Ben (solid v10, recently sent v11) fell off it a few times.
This is Doug committing but failing on the V4 "Goldfish Tombstone" in Area B on the Hume boulder, spotted by Ben Collett. Collett was trying to wrap up on Bierstadt but was looking a bit water-logged and pickled from his time at the beach, ahh next season.
John Thiel, looking a bit hung-over and disheveled on the v10/11 "Gorillas in the Mist," Area B, Mount Evans. He and I both sorted out our own beta that day but neither sent. I ended up completely changing my right foot beta and using the arch of my right foot on the arete as I saw Schulte do in his video, this gave me the extra length to get to the lip... after a year of trying everything but this.
F.A.N.

This last month I spent in the Emergency Department where I saw more trauma and got more hands on experience with procedures than in any other rotation. Of biggest concern to me was the use of the emergency room for non-emergent situation. For those without insurance of those who only have medicaid it seems that the ED is the place to go if you are concerned about flu-like symptoms. This is so unfortunate given that these patient have no patient follow-up, receive/charge the largest bill imaginable for the symptoms, spread viruses to patient that are emergent, and receive very little patient education, all because they are in the ED and not seeing a primary care MD or PA. The fact is that there are clinics available; somewhere there is a breakdown in the understanding of how our health care system is supposed to work, or simply there is a refusal to make and keep an appointment, an inability to organize one’s life, or a laziness that takes people to the ED where patient know that they can be seen and treated. All that said, it was an amazing rotation and I'd consider returning as an employee. At this time my top fields are: ED, Ortho, Adult Inpatient Medicine (no really, I dig this stuff), and Psych.

Update from Vail and Joe's coming soon, my schedule up here is more chill than its been all year.

Calling Bluffs and Behavioral Modification in the nest of Teen Developement

2009-09-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

A new problem in the Post Office area that I thought was going to be v4, maybe more like v7/8.

My last rotation was at the "Youth Service Center" i.e jail in Greeley. One issue stood strong as a point of contention and made this rotation quite challenging. Obviously all the kids in prison have done some wrong but I'm of the opinion that this should not change the level of willingness we have for treating these teens as youth who make mistakes/bad choices and ultimately need to be treated in a certain manner that will encourage proper development.

Many of these kids come to the clinic with concerns that make you question the motives behind the complaints and their veracity, i.e "I'm puking blood, I have Ebola, my foot is broken, I'm dying, I think I have cancer, etc." It's so easy to blow off the complaints as psycho-somatic or malingering but what I got to thinking about was something on the next level: even if the complaints are not grounded in real medical issues, how do we best treat these kids medically and behaviorally?

I had a patient with a chief complaint of "broken neck," really he had torticollis like the hamster below.

Man... why can't I do the last move on Gorillas!!? Kept falling off the last move early this season so I stopped going up to try it, got frustrated. The last 2 weekends I've gone up and tried the move a million different ways, got the JJ dispatch on the intricacies and a rejuvenated psych, and I think I'm goin' to combine some tech-magic with some raw thuggery and icy temps later this month, mo-fro is going down. Evans is gorgeous now, white peaks, golden valley, aspens changing, red plants jumping out here and there, breeze that smells of snow and decay.

Most of the time the kid is in a position of knowing that he is mistrusted and having to prove him/herself. Though this may make sense given a history of manipulation and crying wolf is it not possible that by instead showing trust and care we encourage proper behavior and by distrust we may be perpetuating the game the child has learned to play so very well?

Though I don't have the exact articles at hand, during my previous life in psychology I read a few papers that were showing how behavioral modification and token economies were less effective in teens as compared to pre-teens. In our teens we fully develop the capacity for abstract thought and in turn start to develop or own personal philosophy along with a sharpening of our capacity and desire for reason and growth spurt in the pre-frontal cortex. What better time to set examples for youth struggling with choices; instilling a philosophy as opposed to perpetuating a complex gaming.

Stacked on top of this issue is the question of treating behavioral issues pharmacologically in teens. How much of psychiatry is an aid to the child and his/her development and how much is an aid to the caregivers in controlling difficult behavior? Don't get me wrong, I am a strong proponent of psychiatry and have seen many cases in my career that were irreparable without pharmacotherapy but the the question of snowing a kid with antipsychotics as a means of anger management should bother those who are concerned with the long term outcomes of abnormal or inadequate development of coping skills, self soothing, life skills, confidence, and an internal locus of control.

Now I'm back from Greeley, working in the ED wondering where to go with these thoughts, wondering how to find time to answer these questions. 5 weeks and I'm off to Vail.

Greeley Wildlife:

Below it Ted Lanzano on the 13b Jump at the Industrial Wall, but really he was doing "Chump 13a" (the low start has been done by Andy Raether at 13c called Jew Don't Wana Go There) 'cause he was being a wus and not doing the jump part. I was still nursing a bum knee and tried/got served on Terminal 13a 'cause I couldn't bend my right knee.

During my month in Greeley I drove the 45 minutes to Carter twice a week and would climb for about an hour and a half before the sun disappeared and my body called it quits. I had a fun circuit going with a number of v5's and some pumpy traverses and a few easy high balls; I'd never been that psyched on Carter but my nose for the place developed. There's a new boulder at Carter Lake thanks to the low tide, or at least I think it's new, it is under the Kahuna Roof by a stone's throw. Here are two problems I did one night. The first v5/6, the other v2/3ish but quality, nice setting, quiet, walk home on the beach in darkness bathed in sore bones, sometimes jump in water speckled with pink and orange and watch ripples.

Digesting Big Spurious Perms

2009-09-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Something about Greeley has made me question my identity lately, or maybe its the fact that I'm not coaching or setting, not going to dance classes, not sitting at the Shambhala Center, as was the life of old, but maybe it's the rows of corn and the milky mid-west skies that seem to pester me in a sort of Devotcha-Megadeath-Sigur Ros tone: "do you speak in tides or grains or sand," and when pressed I think the answer is more of solid state.

I spent the last month of my summer in Inpatient Medicine at Denver Health. Before showing up my first day I wasn’t sure if I was going to be getting my hands dirty doing colonoscopies, discussing constipation, or dealing pain drugs to those of chronic need and disability. In short, this was one of those rotation that I was a bit anxious about: 1 because internal med involves loads of labs and labs, to date, are not my strength but also; 2 because there is so much to learn from inpatient medicine that I felt like I had to take a deep breath before diving into this tome of practice.

Below is Sock Hands on a pile of an boody-dragger problem that almost tore my LCL.
My experience was top notch, in fact one of my favorite rotations so far. The patient volume was low but there was a huge emphasis on detail and understanding the patient and his/her labs through and through, being able to confidently explain the differential and make a diagnosis. I saw a million chest pain patients, worked on my spanish with the “emergent” dialysis patients, saw a crippling gout attack, saw a 36 year old women with alcoholic neuropathy and osteomyelitis of 3 of her toes that required amputation... and I got my first wif of Clostridium Difficile in the ED. Last, my attending at DH for the last 2 months were so inspiring I continue to ask my self if I may want to go down the MD path.

In the meantime I finished up on Resonator (13a... the contrived but cooler way), the Orb13b but maybe a/b if one uses a rubber knee as I did, or two as others have done, and Mirror Mask (v10, not v11 as it has been called),

made a trip to independence pass (see www.independencebouldering.com for Greg's work towards developing the rock up there) with Brent, Terra, Clink and Katie Whipple who took a big fall on her bum, tough girl, shook it off and got on the most amazing 11a I’ve ever been on; pumpy, amazing holds, slopers, slab, heal hooks, dyno, jugs, perfect, and at 11a called Baba Fats,

"Well, that is that," says Baba Fats, sitting back down on his stone, Facing another thousand years of talking to God, alone. "Yes, Lord, it's always the same...old men or bright-eyed youth... It's always easier to sell 'em some shit than it is to tell them the truth."

Shel Silverstein

I’ll post on the Greeley experience and working in youth corrections next. Climbing goals for this fall are limited but I want to get back up to Tiempos de Ciegas (13c) in Boulder Canyon and wrap that up. I also want to finish Gorillas (v10/11) in area B at Evans. That’s would wrap up a darn fine season and send me off to Vail in style.

Below is a little thing that I climbed above Dave Grahm’s Big Worm, I’m calling it Big Perm, V4 (probably done already but if not... call it Big Perm V4)...8 in-cut crimps up slightly overhanging rock to slopey top out, but if you’re climbing v4, climbing this thing would be down right foolish, falling from the top moves, the crux, would break something... and you know this. I scrubbed and did all the moves on the problem to the left of Big Perm but couldn’t commit up high, the crux is up high and off balance on this thing, big supper cool and about v5 over all, start in the underclings and go up.

The Electric Salad Days' Gestalt

2009-08-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

Asher flashing the classic Autobot (v5) in Lower Chaos

Charlie working Big Worm (v13/14). I did all the moves of Mirror Mask (v10) yesterday which is the stand version of BW. AMAZING feature. Sadly, it was stupid hot up there yesterday and I will return Sunday to wrap that up.
Been trying the sit to Silverback called Chrome (v12), temps and humidity and my inconsistent schedule this summer have kept this one far from my reach.

The above two photos are from the Post Office in Chautauqua. The top photo is undone. The bottom photo I did and am calling it Poster Child (v5/6).

Today is a rest day, after thrashing myself on Big Worm, that I've decided to dedicate to doing a few case files, writing a poem, painting, and cleaning my hoopty and crib. Since I'm in Greeley next month, I'm trying to do a painting in a week so I don't leave it hanging. Most paintings take me about 6 months, a few quarts of dark beer, lots of good folk music, and loads of free time, but here we go.

The Electric Salad Days' Gestalt:

Blistering through Space and Time

Heart and soul may leaves me empty

I need my nervous system

my charged particles

too much soul leaves me

a rubber weed detached

and bombarded by over-ripe cucumbers

and dead fish

too much heart has an amnesia effect

and I find my way back to 8th grade fervor

aimless and overwhelmed with pointless goals

and arguments from the 17 hundreds

pacing and wishing for battle ships

and the aches of gory entrenchment

When my body electric speaks

it doesn't lie

it helps navigate through asteroid fields

and around loose planets and their gravitational pull

Sometime, when busy flying,

my sodium, calcium, and potassium channels

are at work

mending threads from heart

and soul's late nights wandering

Only so that when I awaken

from a brief nap at the wheel

happy to have dreamt,

an opening unperceived

was sought

but enough so that a gentle bow could be placed

walking on tip-toes

while I slept

and before word of another heart

having closed

Ambizions of a Rida

2009-07-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

"So many battlefield scars while driven in plush cars, This life as a rap star is nothin without heart, Was born rough and rugged addressin the mad public..." 2Pac (from Ambizions of a Rida)

Above is me on Bierstadt in Evan's. I call this thing V10 if you climb it straight up. I feel like the sequence out left that uses totally different holds is a different problem that deserves a different grade. If you were in the gym and did a variation of a gym problem that didn't do the crux moves or most any of the moves of the original taped problem would you say that you had done the taped problem and then feel like down rating was in order?

I've been riding my bike to Denver Health lately, it's easing the carbon guilt, the morning commute and helping me get through the long hours I've been putting in at the nursery, I dont think that the ride is helping keep my legs small for sport and bouldering but maybe that's a ambition I hold in vein. Got another month at Denver Health starting this afternoon in inpatient medicine, from newborns to adult chronic disease.

Caring for newborns over the last month has been an amazing expereince, I went into the rotation with dread; it was my least favorite rotation my 1st year to the point that I felt near panic attacks when I had a wet diper and a crying kid to deal with. This time around was so much different, not to say I'm going into peds now but I got to the point where I enjoyed doing the goo-goo ga-ga thing with the little ones and I even had fun... much of this was due to working with rad, motivated, good people.

If the baby was cool with it, I'd hold them and do part of the exam, like red reflex or cardiac exam, while in my arms. Figuring out how to calm a baby became an art, as I'm sure any parent has experienced. For me, I became acutely interested in cardiac sounds, was that s1 and a muffled s2 or what that the kid moving or was it the breath sounds, was that an arrythmia or a jossling of the kids onesy, do they have a hiatal hernia or is it just a loud baby gut. During my month I heard a couple VSD's, a tetrology of felot, saw an ectopic kidney, saw duodenal atresia, 2 Down Syndrome babies, a lot of jaundice and poo and much much more. Cool stuff.

The neonate exam had a certain weight of importance to it that I haven't felt in other exams. If I miss something will others brush off possibly equivical finding on their physical exam? I made an effort to be slow and methodical and not let haste come before listening and being confident with what I was documenting.

Also of note from this rotation was the population. 90% of the mom's were young and mexican, spanish speaking only, and delivering their 3rd or 4th kid. There were tones of issues with drug abuse, depression with suicidal idiation, and domestic violence. All that said, I'd walk into the room to chat with mom about lactation and their child and every room would be filled by a festival of extended family. It made me consider that my own cultural glasses are a bit to quick to see a situation as unstable or unfit for parenting. My own expectations of the perfect parent I havent seen but maybe once or twice in the clinic but maybe these moms bent my glasses and I'm rethinking my bias... though I do wish they'd have less kids, not because I was tired of delivering kids but I do think that having the huge family is a set up of continued poverty that drains a health care budget that is already strapped.

Below are a few photos of the area I'm now calling The Post Office. The Post Office is the area that I've been exploring while post-call this last month (aint much else to do post call but go for a hike and feel numb). I'm putting further exploration on hold until the fall when I can finish these harder lines. The best line up there I'm not showing, yet. Sorry these images came out a bit foggy, settings on the camera must have been off that day.

New-V9ish rig:

New v7ish thing:

Lastly, Jonny Copp passed away during my last rotation. To me Jonny was a embodiment of dreams I've stowed away, a zen master, a vision of old aspirations that I haven't yet found total peace with, a human present pushing my future, a reminder that we all get clouded by fear and expectation and that some of this is under our control.

"Our everyday falling evasion in the face of death is an inauthentic Being-towards-death. But inauthenticity is based on the possibility of authenticity... but Dasein does not necessarily and constantly have to divert itself into this kind of Being. Because Dasein exists it own character as the kind of entity it is, and it does so in every case in terms of possibility which it itself is and which it understands" --Martin Heidegger from "Being and Time"

Another view of that V9sih thing:

Femoral Neck Fractures and the Cliffs of Insanity

2009-06-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

Above Vanessa "V" Compton and Jacky chat as Schulte takes a cool down lap on the amazing v4ish flake in Area B Mount Evans, gosh darn this thing is cool. Bye bye to V. Below Schulte, feeling good, glows below his own Silver Surfer (v10) also in area B. The rain cleared and the afternoon sun was notched down to mild and warm, there was breeze, things were sticky.

Me on Last Dance (v6 difficulty, full-value v8 spook), about to do the crux moves at mid hight and then turn into a spooked mouse and drop off the wall like a writhing rotten apple, again. I may need to TR this one to be able to feel comfortable committing this high, soy pansy.
Ben Elkon on a new line in the Cliffs of Insanity (v8/9ish)? Kwality.
Below Elkon is struggling to overcome the weight of long days in inpatient medicine on a new big squeezy line that I did (Prince Humperdinck, V5/6 from the sit). I was post call and had only slept from 8am-11am then saw how nice the weather was so headed out with someone hurtin' almost as much as me.
Undone but soon to be done line below the previous two (v6-ish pump from the low right sit). A much harder start awaits a large biceps wielding me that is akin to the first move of Handy-Caps.

I just finished my rotation at Panorama Trauma Ortho/St. Anthony's Central ED. The most startling thing I saw there was not a single case or gore in the ED or an I and D with puss in the OR but a pattern of old white women with broken hips. Girls, please, exercise and get your calcium and get your bone scan and meds. Interestingly I went to a pharm-sponsored dinner where the talk was on bisphosphonates and how prevention was the answer because surgery didn't bring most of these women back to functional. And yes, I'm still psyched on ortho surg. Next is Denver Health Neonatology, wahoo! I'm going to try to post once an month with a review of my rotation and sooner if anything amazing is sent or learned.

Hanging Surrender

2009-06-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

When I paint draw or write it is an idea or a state of being, a feeling, an essence that I'm trying to capture, not verbal crafts or an attempt at being a camera, the point is much more in the emotions evoked. The above was done with my grade school bee's wax crayons from the Waldorf School (they are so old they say "made is West Germany" on the side) from my crazy-creek (actually Luna Kyle's crazy creek) while watching the sun light dwindle in right fork of Joe's Valley.

In Joe's I re-read Ken Wilber's "No Boundary," here's a quote: "In blindly pursuing progress, our civilization has in effect institutionalized frustration... the more we succeed in this adventure of progress, the more we actually fail, and hence the more acute our sense of total frustration. The root of the whole difficulty is our tendency to view the opposites as irreconcilable." Maybe this thought can be used to view our culture of medical advances with little overall improvement in life satisfaction. Advances in medicine hold the promise of less suffering but maybe we simultaneously reject the idea that suffering is part of being human and even part of happiness and that maybe the body is wise to express more than 1 mode of being. Not to say we should all suck it up and live in caves and suffer and find some sort of ascetic enlightenment just saying that social and inter and intra-personal and kinetic intelligence are indispensable in the application of technology.

Below is post-rehab Tara Gee on a classic Red Cliff Kluttergarden warm up. If Brent sees the position of her shoulder in this photo he may not be psyched. I did a new v8/9 up in Red Cliff this day and was psyched, but was not able to repeat my project from last summer Dem Apples (which is harder than the other v8's up there, it may be v9ish) over at the Aircraft Carrier.
The next few photos are from a bouldering area that may be "new" and just up the hill from Boulder. I stumbled upon these boulders when I caught the sent of a potential route up the hill while on a short jog. The jog turned into a 3 hour adventure and I was late to my 1st over night call shift at St. A's. I'll post specific location after I get up there a few more times. If anyone recognizes these photos let me know, I haven't posted picture of the amazing boulders up the hill from these, those photos will come soon. That said, these here boulders don't suck. This area has problems as good as some in the Satellites, but a bit more spread out, a few problem may be qualify as off the chiz-ain.

There's an amazing line up the arete and up the face.
There are two distinct lines on this boulder.
On the back this boulder is one of the better problems I've seen in the area. On this face are 2 lines than look super cool.
Sometimes Joe's puts cool little rocks on top of other rocks so the little rocks have a view too. If you've been to Joe's you know the little dark deposits that you find in the rock there; this is one of those deposits but it's fallen out of the hillside and perched itself below the Salsa Verde boulder.
Sick new chalk bag from Jeff Struck in Stump Town. Word hommie.
Sometimes you forget where you are in Joe's and you pull on tuffas.

So here's a little Joe's update (I was going to take photos of these new problems but it started raining on me and I left so I wasn't tempted to climb on the wet sandstone holds):

Bring the Heatwall V8--directly below G2-07 (another rad v8), cool steep trickery to wild top-out

River Runs Though it v8--left fork, mile marker 6, rare compression in Joe's

Black Continent v8--left fork, mile marker 8

Chunky Monkey v7/8--just down the hill and up the road (visible from the road) from Team Effort, right fork

Playmate of the Year v9 and Battle Toads v10--above the house on the right side of the road near the mine in right fork

I will take picture and post better directions after my next trip out.

Simulacrum, Dopamine, the Common Bug and other Queries

2009-05-02T16:56:00.000-07:00

Is creation a necessary but not sufficient requirement for being art? When is photography art? Art is a creative process right?

Welcome to my hood. Just a few bounces on the Pogo-stick down the block from my place in Denver and you've got rib's and catfish frying, a place to get your praise on (if you're into that), and a cafe with unprecedented rainbow power if you're in need of caffeine and want to shake up your predominant coffee house simulacrum. Needless to say this is a huge change from my old digs near Chautauqua in Boulder. Because I'm broke as hell I haven't tried to ribs and catfish yet but when I do be sure that there will be a post on that.

I've been sick for a solid week now; I swear that I had some simple RSV for a few days, thought that I was getting better, and maybe I was, but then I went and got the dang flu, the flue kicked my toosh so good that I was in bed by 9 the last 3 nights and sleeping till 8 the next morning. Being in the while medical field now and studying pharmacology and viral vs bacterial illnesses has made this cold an unusually enlightening experience. For one, I got to think about how to medicate myself: would I give me antibiotics? What kind and for how long? How would I educate the patient on symptomatic care? What have I learned about symptomatic care? What are the best products for cough, sore throat, myalgia, feeling like doo-doo, and nasal/sinus congestion? I know we've learned some of this in lecture but I feel that there has been an emphasis in my lectures on how to figure out if it is bacterial and associated with serious morbidity or mortality and if it isn't then to convince the patient that they don't need antibiotics. This is all fine and dandy but the worst part of a cold is the loss of swagger that goes on when you get sick. I went to the doctor after day 5 with the cold when I felt like the back of my throat was bleeding and my head was near exploding, I didn't have a temp and my rapid strep was negative. The MD told me to drink a lot of water and to FU if I wasn't getting better in a few days. "But wait," I had to say, as she made for the door, "what do you recommend I do for the congestion, for the sore throat, for my mojo?" I'm studying like mad for my end of 2nd year exams (must pass to go onto 3rd year clinical) and needed some help in clearing the snot from my brain. She stopped and recommended what seemed somewhat in tune with my lectures on antihistamines but not all together satisfactory. She was rushed, I was a walk in, I'm not dead, she was right with her diagnosis, I'm feeling a bit better, it wasn't bacterial, but there are lessons here, I've taken notes for myself.

Lastly, 4 weeks and 7 exams until Joe's Valley!!! Anyone that wants to ir con mio a Joe's (did I mention that I've been working at an all Spanish speaking pediatrics clinic every friday, oh that's where I got the bug...) should join me the last 2 weeks of May. I've half thought about stickin around to finish off the 3 routes that my draws are hanging on in Boulder Canyon but... hopefully nobody's lame enough to take'm. Oh, for those of you with limited time but want a good work out here's something I've been trying to do: get my tail up to the satellites, do Captain Hook v9, Turning Point v8, and Face Full of Brian v8, and maybe the 2 v6s on the BBC boulder and go home. At some point I'll be trying to add on a few other problems (namely more dangerous Grundle City Boys and Flesh Fest) but as for now, its a great wee-little circuit... and gets the legs fit for the months soon to come.

Two medical ideas I’ve been throwing around for a while: engineering dopamine receptors that aren’t subject to drastic de and up-regulation. If serotonin receptors and muscerinic receptors and and histamine receptors are like this why is it that we become so tolerant to dopamine stimulation? Yes, the drug abuse potential of this sort of breakthrough would be absserd. The other idea... well, I’ll save that one for later.

Wrestlin' Antigens and And the Grinch

2009-04-20T21:00:00.001-07:00

Folks, there's a post comming soon, my back-side has been in a massive paper vise for the last 2 months, soon coming soon. If you can't name the problem above you suck at life and climbing, wait... just kidding. I sent Air Lupus v8/13a in Morrison yesterday after 4 hours in a cafe and 7 days with the flu, so I got that going for me. I tried linking the V5 Tendonitis Traverse into it but couldn't do the link-up, it'll go quick though, they say that's v10 but truly no move harder than v5, just a lot of it. Out for now.

Physical Examination

2009-03-11T17:08:00.001-07:00

I've been listening to Underworld's Beacoup Fish lately, taring through my CD collection like a hungry buzzard in a dumpster I needed something to keep me put and finish up my last ever, thank the lord, set of mid-terms. This is my third semester living in Denver and the adjustment to the pace and lifestyle has been cool but challenging. Driving is a real issue for me, to school takes 30, to the gym takes 30, to a cafe takes 15, it all adds up. I guess if you don't leave the city to play in the hills then you may not need to drive as much but that just aint me. On the other hand I'm digging being out of the Boulder bubble for a number of reasons.

So any way, this is a short study break for me, felt like jettisoning some ideas to see what floats or maybe to see if it helps me float... right. So a few things have been hitting me lately: one with school and the other with climbing but they seem related to a bigger question, something that philosophers and psychologists and scientists have pondered: measuring one man's achievements against an other's. With school, I've noticed, and this is no new thing, that exam performance tends not to correlate well with ability or preparation.
I say this not only from personal experience of doing well on exams I feel incompetent on and do only so so on information that I feel is second nature, but also I've seen classmates struggle with questions that I find trivial while they blow me away with their knowledge base. Because I'm trying to keep this brief I'll move on and get back to this idea later. And so it goes for climbing. Peter Beal recently posted on his blog about his frustration with bouldering grades and how variable they are, one man's slopper is another man's crimps. Font was the most my-style bouldering place I've been and easier for the grade than most Hueco problems, I also think the gym is harder than outdoors. Body type, neural circuits, muscle type distribution, and other psychosocial factors that are out of our volitional control are at work in our education, work, and play, sometimes... times like these for me, I try to give thanks for what I got goin' for me in order to muster somethin' extra for what I don't. Rambling'. Spring break post commin' next.

These photos are from a couple weekends ago in Eldorado with Taylor Roy and Tera Gee. On the way out T and I found 2 crazy dope problems that need some attention.

Dungeon Master

2009-02-24T21:13:00.001-08:00

Here are a few photos from 3 "new" problems I found up on Flag. To reach this boulder park at the First Overhang parking area, walk like you're going to Peter Beal's new TWBB but before you get there and just after you pass the huge high ball on you right (the Pina Colada boulder) turn right down a narrow path, the problems are right there on the steep east face of the Pina Colada.

For Right Dungeon Master (v7ish) start with you hands matched on the sloppy rail with bad crimps, right heal up and right, huck to the lip with your right hand match and finish as you may. For Left Dungeon Master (v8ish) start with your left heal on the rail out left and go with your left hand to the lip, match the lip and finish as you may. Right and Left actually climb quite a bit differently, enjoy. Oh, EZ Harrison got the FA of RDM. Left was left undone until I went up today to finish (note, this problem was untouched as of last saturday). I arrived to find someone chalking up getting ready to try the problem. I wasnt sure how to feel, I was psyched to see that people didnt think the problem I put up was a pile but I also wanted to get the FA on the left variation. Well, the kid Alex M.... somthing German, super cool nice guy from Florida, ubber strong, sent left before I had even warmed up, a half an hour later I was warmed up and sent. I did ask him not to climb it becuase I had found, scrubbed and sorted out the sequence but he was a bit determined to climb the problem so I said go for it.

With Right DM I took EZ and Wade to the problem cause I was psyched to get people on the problem and wanted to share the love on a cool new steep problem. I guess what I comes down to is that in bouldering you can't claim sending rights and maybe that's for the best 'cause it aint your work, other than the scrubbing and searching, it's open game. More thoughts on this later, I was just psyched to finish Dungeon Master.

After doing Left Dungeon Master I scrubbed and did some problem to the left which is in the v4-6 range, fun and steep and a bit commiting... bring pads and spotters. Start on the chalked up jug out left, make some big moves, and finish on the top out hold on Dungeon Master, maybe uhhhh Reluctant Dragon is a good name for it. Be careful, this problem may still be shedding.

A Felt Swan and Sexy Knife

2009-02-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

Got two exams next week, had 1 this week in Pharm, exam was hard, lots of different material, covered Asthma, OTC cold meds, some anti-depressants, some cardiac drugs some Glaucoma drugs all draped under the umbrella of the autonomic nervous system. So next week is COPD, MI's, Angina, Chest X-rays, Intoxications, Altitude Sickness, and Vaginal Bleeding. I've put in some time studying today and am going to study a bit tomarow morning but then me and some hommies are driving to Silverton to ski are tails off on my 33rd (my Lord it's true) birthday. Side note: I went to a free yoga class at Lululemon in Cherry Creek tonight and it was dope. There were about 15 of us and we all chilled, ate chocolate and drank some vino tinto juntos despues, in el tienda... fue muy differente de los classes in Boulder che yo se tan bien.

This past week I got my psych back for climbing strong again. The stress of this semester was hampering my finger strength, making me not sleep so good and making me sedentary and heavy. So, last week I shook it up a bit by goin out salsaing one night and climbing 7 out of the last 9 days with quick sessions (1 day at Dark Waters, one day in Eldo, two days at morrison and a few days in RNJ north). I'm also going to start traing with David Wahl down at RNJ, give it a shot for a month. I'll post my reviews of this next week.

I have some big goals for this year in climbing. I've fully abandoned trad climbing for the mean time and want to finish some sport routes and some boulder problems. The Orb (13b) and Tiempos de Ciegas (13b/c) both in Boulder Canyon, the sit start to Silver Back (v12) in Evans and Replacement Killers (v11) in Boulder Canyon are at the top of the list. The Orb isn't even a training thing, I just need to go up and finish. Replacements I've done all the moves too. Anyway, time to train, Spring aint far away. Oh, then there's my Joe's list. More on that later.

I'll leave y'all with this poem from Naruda, until next week.

Walking Around

I happen to be tired of being a man.

I happen to enter tailorshops and movie houses

withered, impenetrable, like a felt swan

navigating in a water of sources and ashes

The smell of barbershops makes we wail.

I want only a respite of stones or wool,

I want only not to see establishments or gardens,

or merchandise, or eyeglasses, or elevators.

I happen to be tired of my feet and my nails

and my hair and my shadow.

I happen to be tired of being a man,

Nevertheless it would be delightful

to startle a notary with a cut lily

or kill a nun with a blow to the ear.

It would be lovely

to go through the streets with a sexy knife

and shouting until I froze to death

I don't want to go on being a root in the dark,

vacilating, stretched out, shivering with sleep,

downward, in the soaked guts of the earth,

absorbing and thinking, eating each day.

I don't want for myself so many misfortunes.

I don't want to continue as root and tomb,

just underground, a vault with corpses

stiff with cold, dying and distress.

That is why Monday day burns like petroleum

when it sees me coming with my jailbird face,

and as it passes it howls like a wounded wheel,

and it takes hot-blooded steps toward the night.

And it pushes me into certain corners, into certain moist houses,

into hospitals where the noes stick out the windows,

into certain shoe stores with a smell of vinegar,

into streets as frightening as chasms.

There are brimstone-colored birds and horrible intestines

hanging from the doors of the houses that I hate,

there are dentures left forgotten in a coffeepot,

there are mirrors

that ought to have wept from shame and fright,

there are umbrellas everywhere, and poisons, and navels.

I walk around with calm, with eyes, with shoes,

with fury, with forgetfulness,

I pass, I cross by offices and orthopedic shoe stores,

and courtyards where clothes are hanging from a wire:

underdrawers, towels and shirts that weep

slow, dirty tears.

--Pablo Naruda, about 1973 from Residence on Earth

Particles ain't Waves

2009-01-25T20:05:00.000-08:00

It's cold in outer space, or maybe it's just wind chill when you're flying at the speed of light, either way, I'd spent some time recently exploring the nape of my universe and have recently turned homeward looking for somethin to warm, something to ricochet off, even a dirty snow bank on the side a mountain highway would do for now.

Reentry wast pretty rough, it aint always easy to play particle when you've been waving for a good time, the thing is is that you know that space was cold and that all that running around in random floating patterns was a bit tiring but it's hard to break that rhythm, its like trying to salsa with a partner if you've been break dancing for a few years or maybe a bit like atrial fibrillation and you may just end up with a stroke or bustin the back spin when it aint supposed to fly or maybe you just notice a feelin that you want to radiate and have people stop and notice and not just go flying past the naked eye indefinitely. I have friends that are waves too, they rarely stop to wonder why people don't, or even if they notice your passing.

Tonight, driving home with groceries, cabbage and teriyaki, ipod random played Dearly Departed by Devotchka, heard that song in cafe today studying and whilst sitting in room before yoga started and then only saw Little Miss Sunshine 2 days ago and was thinking that I don't want no fashion show either unless it's funky and then came home and started a training log because I weigh 10lbs more now then I did when I started PA school and maybe that's why wave aren't me and particle are and gonna bust past this slump and finish up school but also gonna stop to give props to the Spot crew for being damn cool folks to set with and hats off to Ashley for the tab.

These Photos are from Vail Pass about a week ago.

Three Pillars of Ping

2009-01-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

Oh Captan my Captan what's to say about the fowl cold winds that brush me bows and steers my keel from right filling my teeth with brine? Schools back in session after a long three week break, one of the oddest break I've had in years. I'm usually off to Costa to surf, to NYC to club and visit family, or to some other adventure travel sort of destination but this break, not for lack of effort to bend it otherwise, turned every way but the norm. The fact is that I typically have a set plan for break, I tried to have a loose plan this past break and in the future I'm going back to making definite plans. Maybe last summers journey made me feel like settling down a bit for a break. The original plan was to go to Hueco for a couple weeks, then a huge storm cycle hit Colorado and kept me home for a couple nights of salsa and about 10 days of deep powder skiing on Berthod and at Vail, then my Dad had some medical issues that needed attention so I visited him and got a day of skiing in at Silverton (55'' of reported fresh that day... epic).

The combination of growing older and going into the medical profession has a way of altering the way you relate to people but in particular your parents. I spent a good deal of time doing research on various medical conditions to prep for seeing my Dad. Then, after doing all the research, you find that what's in the books and journals is different than what's happening in practice and you become a 4 year old and cant stop asking why. Either that or the insurance company wont pay for what's in the literature.

Then the plan was to return home from visiting my Dad and head to Hueco to close 08 out in good fashion but then my car broke down on route to Hueco and I returned home tail in hand and a bit bitter about the car. One of the saddest part of all that was that I wanted to shoot some pics of road side trash and of these cactuses in New Mexico that I see every time I drive down... next time, these are the coolest cacti I've ever seen, looks like a bunch of stick me being held up at gun point by the wind.

Not all was lost though, Jeff Struck (see www.traininsecret.blogspot.com) was in town from Stump Town so we got out and ran around on some Flagstaff classics. Climbing with Jeff is great because he's seen me whimper on 5.9 so he can give me proper perspective on what to be content with. Tim Hare was back from Bolivia so we got out to Carter Lake one day where I finally did Kahuna Roof (something I've tried on and off for years while guiding kids on BRC summer camps... wait did I just say I was trying Kahuna in the summer, ohhhhh maybe that was the issue), the hardest v5 in the universe. Tim always brings a cool crowd; for those who dont know Tim, he's one of those mysterious people who spends half the year in south america guiding youth immersion trips for Where There Be Dragons and the other half in Boulder chillin.

One day I went to Eldo with T. Roy and started workin on the Paul Robbinsons v9 in the river next to the Rincon parking lot (note, bring a spotter, the game aint over after you do the crux move... saddle up and swallow the coconut sized lump in your throat for the last massive lock off). I talked to Paul last night and he wasnt sure the problem had seen a second assent yet. He also said that he went straight up the arete with a "huge" crux move. I found other beta that only requires a kinda-friggin-huge move that still seems stout but... anyone up for catching a 175lb male falling from 10ft into a frozen river bead?

Then I got psyched on finding a new project for the winter and started workin on the boulder canyon Replacement Killers (v11). Wondering around up there I found a couple new problems. One is about v7 from the sit: start with both heals squeezing the arete and make a hard/crux move left off a slopper to an ok edge then go up. Careful with the top out. If you fall toping out, try to turn around so you can run down the slab. Thanks Terra for braving the cold and taking the photos.

I also found a v10ish problem between the Castle Rock parking area and the main boulder field. It's in the trees up against the cliff side. The last move if lovely. I couldnt do it but it but I'll back back to work it out soon. It involves pinching this amazing granite wide arete with your left and making a super powerful move to a slopper with yourt right; the traverse into it is quality. Start on the sloppy gaston and move into the steep crack traverse with knee-bar and heal hooks. See more photos on facebook.

As for school, I've put in tones of work on setting up an international rotation in Mexico in the city of Leon north of Mexico city. It seems that I'll be goin next winter for about a month to work on my spanish and see patients. I've also set my 3 month family medicine rotation for Eagle Care in the Vail valley. Speeking with my preceptor up there she says that 75% of the patients are spanish speaking only; the plan is to go to Mexico to work on my spanish so that I can come back to the Vail valley and confidently see patients. How crazy is that? I'll be staying for a 4th moth in Vail doing another rotation with Steadman Hawkin orthopedic surgery if all goes as planned. Ortho's numero uno on my list of what to do post grad (a year and a half from now). I also have some interest in Emergency Med but I'll need to wait for my 2 months of 3rd year ED rotation to figure out if that's the direction I want to go. The nice thing about being a PA is that I can do FM, ED work, and Ortho surgery with no need for an extra residency. "Heck Ya" for PA's.

Chillin with Brent and Terra last night we got to talkin about performance in athletics and I got to thinkin about all these research ideas I had back in the days of my psychology persuits, only a few years ago I went home last night thinkin, only somewhat seriously, about another few letters to tack on to PA. More on these research ideas on mentation/neural related performance later.

Lame Post

2008-12-25T07:57:00.000-08:00

Hey all,
I havent posted since Hueco because I have no camera, no new photos, and the last 2 weeks of school were straight rough. I'm in the airport now heading out to Farmington/Durango for a few days to visit my Dad. The plan is to ski Silverton for a couple days while out there, I'm crazy psyched about checkin this mountain out. With my Last week of break I'm thinkin of goin south back down to Hueco until the 4th and then commin back to start school on the 5th, got some things to wrap up from the last trip down and it sounds like loads of amigos are gona be down that direction. So far this break I've hit Vail 3 days, Berthod 4 days, the Spot 3 days, Flag 1 day, and RNJ one day. I think I had some energy to get out and still got a bit left, gots ta be empty by the 5th when school starts back up. I do have a new camera now so Silverton/Hueco post commin soon.
Peace.

Hueco Gobble Gobbled my Camera

2008-12-03T17:53:00.000-08:00

I've been up since about 5am this morning studying growth curves, hormone cycles, genetic syndromes that lead to late and precocious puberty, and tyring to add it all up in my head to equal good patient care and a good grade to end the semester. Things wouldnt have been so bad studying for this exam but this little piggy went to Hueco for ThanksG break only to return 48hour before a fairly big exam. That said I wasnt stressing, got cocky and rolled south with more pairs of climbing shoes than notes in my satchel.

Hueco's an odd place for me, lots of memories, this was my 3rd time down, every time I get spanked like a child but always in different ways. Hueco's cool like that, you can be super confident on the home turf and then get humbled by the wild movement and steepness down there.

Ben Elkon and I drove down Wednesday and climbed Thursday-Sunday and drive back. Ben brought his board review (medschoo stuff) CD's so we listened to many hours of lecture going both ways. It was cool to listen to an hour lecture on GI symptoms and then be able to chat about it for hour in a non-academic way, like having a conversation about beer.

Saw the BRC Jr Team down there and it was great to climb with some of the kids I havent seen in close to 2 years. Also great to kick it with Yao and Jen and Sandy and Mr Wilder and his Friend from Cali. Matt was trying some Sharma probelm with Mr Woods but only Daniel sent, though Matt was lookin close. I had photos of that but... if ya'll are in to Facebook see Ben Elkon or Matt Wilder's shots.

I finished Pumped Full of Seamen v9 on my 3rd day but that was my best send. I also got in some cool 6's, a 7 and some 5's but nothing too big. Both Ben and I were close to getting Deans Journey v10 but we both came up sieve fisted.

One final down, 4 to go. Done the 13th, I'll harness the creative spunk again then and hit y'all with some different wavelengths in mid-December.

Lost my camera somehow in Hueco, this photo is from the last tip out with T Roy.

Rollo Get me a Hammer, More Power, and a Brush

2008-11-16T17:21:00.000-08:00

This past week I took a break from memorizing aminoglycosides, fluoroquinons, and other antibiotics and went for a wander in the Health Science stacks. I fell upon a book by Rollo May called "The Discovery of Being"(1986) after my second isle of random loitering. Here's a cool quote from that book, that I went and checked out and am now reading: "In the experience of normal anxiety... if a person did not have anxiety, he or she would also not have freedom. Anxiety demonstrates that values, no matter how beclouded, do exist in the person. Without values there would only be barren despair."

Saw the cutest girl ever in peds-ortho clinic this week, 6 year old, sharp as a tack, I had here do her own reflexes for the first time and she broke into laughter when her limbs would go crazy and out of control, couldnt get enough, even just thinking about it makes me smile, luckily she wast broken, she just thought she was.

Yesterday T Roy, Mr Sjong, Amy Carden, Al Lew and a few others fromCali and the Spot crew all went up to try the classic Power of Tower in the Terrain boulders in Chautauqua park. It was friggin cold and hard to warm up but the place is gloriously beautiful and the lines inspiring so we all got after it. The crew was perdy dang strong so we all made quick work of just about everything there but Tower of Power. I gave a few goes but threw in the towel early cause I wasn't that psyched on funky movement: it involves multiple toe jams, a knee bar, and locking your foot in a funky slot kinda over your head... I was hopping for thuggy arete climbing but this was everything but. Cool line if you're into the above mentioned kinda climbing. Sjong and Taylor both should've sent but everyone came away empty handed. Super fun day and great to get both crews of people (or at least parts of them) I've been climbing with out together.

I've been getting the itch to paint; so a few nights ago I got the brushed out and did a quick little piece. It's been so long since finishing the last piece that the hardest part for me was getting my head right, getting the am I going to be fickle or bold or am I seeing deeper or on the surface or ducking around the corner not showing what I showing kinda performance tonight head talk when letting brush touch paint and then mix or go primary and mix on canvas. It took me about an hour just to loosen up. I didnt want to start anything long term, just get the machine lubed and running, here's my first few dab in over a year; diving back into old sectors in the cortex, even revisited salsa for a few vueltas.

Oh, and for all you medical types out there: A cup of cristal with endo will get you amped and angular... that's the way to remember that the Culpa and Ampulla make up the Crista in the inner ear and that the whole thing detects angular acceleration and is bathed in endolymph (not perilymph). That is all.

Tender Silver Back and Existential Marshmellows

2008-11-03T16:53:00.000-08:00

"If you search for your awakened heart, if you put your hand through the rib cage and feel for it, there is nothing there except for tenderness" Chogyam Trumpa

First off, I'd like to find time to finish a painting some time soon but this dang mount Evans bouldering (and school) has kept my time on lock down for last ohhh year and a half but there's been a break in the storm, I finally sent Silver Back in area A of Mount Evans. I was working the problem for 3-4 days and was feelin good on it and then 3 weeks of exams hit and I was stuck in cafes and libraries for a good while. Luckily old man winter is hangin his hat somewhere else for now and I got a shot at wrapping things up this past weekend. Saturday I went up and climber with Brian Ng (from my program) and Ansen (ask this guy about his PhD work on Rumination). With Brian I was getting to the last move but couldnt make the last huck. That afternoon I walked out bumbed; not sure if I wanted to take the time to head up again the next day. My psych was back by the time I got home that night. Sunday: stacked a shit load of pads up (by myself) and jumped onto the last holds to work out the last move. I damn near broke a leg tumbling over the stacked pads but I sorted the move out, stood with my shirt off in 40 degree temps to cool my tips down, sat in meditation for 5 mins and sent. They say V11 but I think 10 point is fair, maybe a v10/11, never done a v11.

Existential Marshmallows: Last week my classmates and I had a lecture on ADHD where they said that kids with ADHD seem to be the type of kids who, if given the chance to get 2 marshmallows instead of 1 if they can wait 5 mins, cant wait and they eat the 1. . Brian Ng and I were chatting on the way back from Evans about how we can all use a little of this in our lives and the unwillingness to put off what you want and how our concept of patience works as a virtue if the world behaves itself and doesnt go and rear it's capricious mercurial sometimes prosocial head. So sometimes you just gotta obsess and not put things off, get things done, make the trip, eat the shmellow.

Last, a few of my classmates and I hung out with the inpatient kids at Children's Hospital the night before Holloween to try to cheer up the kids who werent in the costume they wanted to be in. I made spiders for like 3 hours straight. Check out my spider.

Run Out Norepinephrine Reuptake Raccoon Turd

2008-10-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, feeling a bit... no more than a bit like a box of sand, or maybe compost or errrr more particle like than have been in a while. Seemed to be running into things and not floating around corners as usual. Tend to rattling around like a lemon drop in your oral cavity. I guess school can do that, no other excuses really.

Ryan Silven sent Dead Raccoon (v11) in Middle Chaos today, I came up to witness given that my brain wasn't getting work done and its been a tough few weeks so I gave myself a break. Heck, I even voted before going up to RMNP. I threw myself at Raccoon Turd (v9) and did all the move but couldn't put it together, in fact couldn't get my engine going much at all, was psyched but flat. It'll go my next time up no problem.

Then on the way out I was chatting with Ryan about my interest in fatigue and how it's interesting that stress has a fatigue that lasts longer than muscle fatigue and I was saying how one guy a few years ago proposed that we are all stressed (us modern chimps) and in a constant serotonin deprivation because we use it all up so I was rambling as I am now and had the gal to wonder if stress fatigue is norepi shortage and if a SNRI would help recover from stressful weeks in school. SNRIs are things like Effexor used for Major Depression. Or maybe there is a hormone (like cortisol and epi) that's metabolites can be somewhat toxic at high plasma concentrations. Ore maybe it's cortical, in that the cortex just doesn't want to fire because its been busy firing and wants a break. Dont know folks.

Also worth noting, I got on the Naked Edge with my good Friend Jeff Stuck, representing Stump Town, and go way spooked on the 4th pitch, so spooked I couldn't finish the pitch. I think he and I are going to rap into the upper pitches and work them out so we don't have to risk falling on the old pins in hollow rock.

Boulder Bouldering in 2 Days

2008-10-19T17:57:00.000-07:00

I got a great guiding assignment from the Spot this weekend (http://www.thespotgym.com/); Ashley calls me and says "I know you're busy but a v6/7 high school student from Tucson who's considering CU for school is in town and wants a bouldering tour of the FR for a couple days, you in?" Heck, I do have Adult Clinical Medicine exam 8am Wednesday with class all day Monday and clinic all day Tuesday... I'm in. I've guided in RNMP, Eldo, the Flatirons, Boulder Canyon, Clear Creek but the thing I'm always most psyched on is bouldering so guiding bouldering, particularly in that v6/7 and above range is friggin fun. Most days I've guided bouldering has been with the BRC or Spot Jr team and it's only for 2-3 hours not whole day outings where you can hike and chill. So... Dan from Tuscon and I hit up the Citadel in Boulder Canyon first, the v5/6 was quick to go down and super fun, good monkey slaps up quality granite with a committing toss at the top. Then Dan and I trashed our tips on the crimpy Will Lamier line Citadel ("V8") and eventulay sent with our own idiosyncratic variations (he's skinny and 120lbs, I'm... not). The problem may be a bit soft but it's fun none the less.

We also hit up the Satellites for a lap on Turning Point and general tour of the goods there. On Saturday we were humbled in Eldo then went to Flag to do a few classics before headin back the Spot at 5. Dang, how do you fit the best of bouldering in Boulder in 2 days? Dan did Citadel and Hagans, not to bad for 16 and relatively new to the whole outdoor thing. Ok, back to barium enemas, strabismus, HepC, and LFTs for me.

Oh for info on the Citadel see: http://www.bouldercanyonbouldering.blogspot.com/

I'm psyched to go try some of the harder dyno problems up there.

Stayin Alive in the Dirty-D

2008-10-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

After WW2 many of the war fields in Europe were covered with Poppies because they are a primary growth plant (weeds). As a way of raising money for charities and never forgetting the past (something Europe is good at) farmers buy poppies and spread them along the roads that pass through their land. This photo is outside of Rodellar, Spain. After someone told me this I never looked at the fields the same.

2 exams this morning, one in Pharm and the other in Derm, goodness I'm not sure how they went. Emergency Med test this thursday. Sometime I find it difficult to motivate and memorize for hours and hours for some of these exams. Truthfully I think I study a lot, sometime 8-10 hour on a weekend day but at the very least 4 hours per day on the weekends. It seems like a lot but I'm put to shame by the dedication of some of my classmates, they're not distracted by inanimate blocks of sediment strewn amongst the thicket, detritus, arthropods, and foot prints... maybe for the best. There's a line in Melville's Mobey Dick that speaks to this, something about Tahiti of the Soul old Hermin wanted to warn us about, no not about bouldering... augh I digress, it's more than that isnt it.

Just as memorizing for hours and hours is more than just that when you step back and realize that this has to do with medicine and relieving suffering and you job and you license and doing no harm, and duty and sometime is easy to get overwhelmed buy it all, not just information but perspective can be quite difficult, needs delayed gratification and passion and interest and damn good study skills to pull it all off and still make it to the Spot, Eldo, Cats RMNP or wherever for a little session to get perked up so that you stop saying to yourself "An Ox gets you perked up better than a water or any Vice" as a way of remembering Oxycodone is percocet and that Hydrocodone is Vicodin andthat the ox is more potent. Yep, insanity. Here's two photos from this past summer. The font photo is one of my favorite v7's Plats de Saison: sit start to a left heal to ok right edge to a nasty left pinch, dyno to slopper with right, match and traverse way out right on sloppers and heals to a balancy rock-over.

Oh: check out Andy Rather's comments on the route in Rifle he put up. We'll put Andy!http://www.rockandice.com/inthemag.php?id=37&type=news.

Also: I did a photo shoot with Jane Sears and a photographer from Whistler over the summer. Here's the link to those photos: http://www.kevinarnoldphoto.com/data/web/boulder1/.

Aspen with Mom

2008-10-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

"Seasons change, mad things rearrange, but it all stays the same like the love doctor strange" umm says some rapper can remember who. My mom was in town for a business trip in Aspen so she and I got to hang for a couple days up in the Roaring Fork valley. The timing wasnt perfect given that I have 5 exams in the next 2 weeks and 3 of those exams are 1/2 of my grade for the semester... boo hoo, but it was awsome to see my mom.

So as my time has disappeared and the season has changed I've stopped goin up to Evans and I've gone up to the Satellites twice now. Turning point has been flowing consistently and I'm gettin close on Captain Hook now too, though I was a bit confused the 1st day up. A note on Turning Point, though I think it's a far cry from V9 (maybe v8), I think the grade is a bit more solid and the problem a bit cooler if you match the edge around the corner and then make one more hard move by busting a left to a jug. It forces a couple more moves and gets rid of the contrived finish by basically avoiding the always possible top rail, and the moves are cool and force a nifty toe hook. I'll try to get up there and get a film of Captain Hook with beta (I do think this one is V9) and Turning Point my way... and maybe even Flesh Fest.

Next week is hell for school so it may be a few days without a post.

Dirty Socks Hot Day

2008-09-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

How do socks end up in the gutter? Been there for at least 5 days now, many things could be thinking about on way to monday pediatric clinical medicine lecture but run back to car to grab camera and end up being late to class, a bit, because I saw sock in the road and spurred my curiosity. It seemed to be warming after a cool night on the pavement welcoming the eastern sun. I know its silly but these socks have mad flow; check the arc out, that's me feeling particle complementing the sock's curvy waves.

Climbed with Denver crew over weekend a bit in Evans but much rain and snow. I was dying to finish up on Silver Back and Gorillas but only Gorillas was dry. A storm rolled in and it snowed and stuck lightning for about an hour. On Gorillas I was gettin to the last move consistently but couldnt finish, Ryan Silvan will here me on this one. I think it's one of the best problems on the front range (in that v9-v11 range); amazingly clean and powerful moves.

Last week I saw a pt who couldnt remember how many c-sections she'd had in her life "3 or 4" she said. I almost tried to clarify but the I figured maybe I should look up a diagnosis she'd told me she had and then get back to hear. Before I say an thing more I'm gona research a bit more on how much I can say without getting into legal issues. So for now, suffice it to day that me and 3 of the doc's in clinic all got educated that day.

Anyone ever wondered what would happen if the US chose to eliminate it's military? Would we have the same tension with other countries? Does the benefit of being able to defend victims of human rights violations internationally out weight the wars that might otherwise be dealt with in a more creative and peaceful manner? I ain't sure, just thinking here, trying not to loose my image of earth passing by.

Observations of Medication Lists and Health Insurance

2008-09-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

I've seen it in family medicine, long term care, and now two different orthopedic clinics: a massive medication list, disability, and a poor understanding of that list has a high correlation with use of medicaid; I saw a women in Vail who flew on a private jet to get to her specialty clinic appointment but was going to wait until she was that right age for medicare to pay for her surgery. No right or wrong just a lot of info in little Duder's head these days. Check this link I found for some interesting stats on medicare and medicaid http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/Key%20Medicare%20and%20Medicaid%20Statistics.pdf.

Road Side Trash

2008-09-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

What are you doing walking along the side of the road? Did ya loose something. I figure most people think I'm looking for a lost ring or a Benjamin or maybe even somewhere to take a leak but no, I'm staring at the road side rubbish appreciating the manner in which my fellows stumble and crash into cigarette buts and plastic wrappers. Sometime it's nice to walk along the side of a road and just listen to you feet in the gravel, the hum of the pavement, and to let your eyes play with the angles as the road goes so straight and everything else just doesn't.

As for an Evans up-date: Mr. Al Lew, representing So-Cal, go the sit to Ass-Tassel after a few tries and called it v7/8 (that said he did the V9 sit start move to Hume in his approach shoes just after AT so...). It's a darn fun problem located directly behind the Gorillas boulder. There is no longer a stand to this problem because a hold broke making Ass-Tassel mas chulo.

Wave Form 9/10/08

2008-09-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

I never had considered the option of passing earth by but maybe, looking at my trajectory, I should reconsider this whole outer space thing, maybe I'll just keep wave forming it and forget about all this particle talk.

New problems from Evans to be posted within the next week: Ass Tassel (v4/5), Wind in the Willows (v4), and a sit to Ass Tassel that climbs totally different than AT), all in area B and ... two more somewhere else.

Over the weekend Ben Elkon and I did Taylor Roy's "Death Clause" in area B and think the thing's v8/ Dope mega steep moves that require you to call in the cavalry for the finish. I got Steph and Flan psyched on it so maybe we'll have some grade confirmation.

I'm thinking of starting another painting now that I have a home again. I have this concept of painting a "crazy diamond" that's been plaguing me for some time now. Bree Smouse and I came up with the idea on a road trip nearly 3 years ago and I've yet to complete the idea. The thing is that I'm not so great at the abstract: I can glow, obstruct, sneak past typical barriers but I can only say what I'm try to say and when I try to make it something else, to somehow abstract the idea that I'm trying to get out I loose it or it becomes plastic.

Sent Bierstat v10 today, a gorgeous day at Evans. The number one thing I'm digging about being in Denver is my proximity to Evans. Silver Back and Gorillas are next on the list. Stay tuned for footage of Ass Tassel.

Pagoda's Shoulder (a Boulder Field)

2008-08-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I woke up to the last day of my summer break, anxious to get one more big day in Rocky before headin back to school I chose to hike my arse up to some boulder field I spotted from the top of Longs 2 years ago. After spotting the boulder field 2 years ago I bought the GPS maps and did some talkin around Boulder trying to find out if people had been back to this valley. It lies south of Longs, east of Pagoda, and west of the Palisades, and IT HAS NO TRAIL. Later that summer I tried gettin up there. I ran up the Sand Beach trail (about 5.5 miles) to the end of the trail. At the end of the trial the fog was sopped in so I went home. the Next trip up was last summer, I left Boulder and hiked on the same trail for about 4 miles until I saw a clearing that showed me it had snowed (in August) below tree line the night before. So once again I headed to Camp Dick for a little session. This year I had a new spark of inspiration; I was talking with Jammie Emerson at Angie's little talk at Prana and he said that he too had tried to get up to the same boulder field but had been shut down, actually Olson had tucked out due to the long hike. So I woke up early and made a good go one more time this last weekend. I packed my crash pad feeling auspicious. I had maps, water, food and a camera. I made it to the end of the trial and hike north-ish on a trail like path up mount Orton. At about 1:30 I saw a huge storm brewing and striking over Longs so I figured I'd wait to see what happened. At this point you are WAY exposed if you go any further. You can see the boulder field from ere about 1-2 miles away but the path disappears and you need to do descend into a valley that would suck to be in in the middle of a storm. I waited for about an hour and sure enough the storm turned my way and opened up like Poseidon wrath and chased my tail out of the park. Not, there may be an easier way to get there. If you stay at the base of the shoulder of Meeker that merges with the Palisades this take you straight to the boulder field and you may avoid unnecessary elevation gain. The marker for this turn off is the main stream crossing on the main trail at about mile 4.0. You can see this possible path on the other side of the valley in my photo attached here. Ciao.

Vail & Red Cliff 8/08

2008-08-24T07:19:00.000-07:00

So there are many reasons why I've chosen to start a blog. One is that I've been crazy busy the last couple years and I've started to loose touch w/ people to the point where I'm not sure who wants to be kept in touch. I figure this will be a good way of getting my latest pipe dreams out there, showing the latest boulder problems I've found, sharing beta, posting about potential new routes, sharing my paintings, discussing my painting, getting my writing out there, looking at road side trash, and who knows what else. We'll see.

I just returned from a month in Vail where I was doing my 1st surgery rotation at Steadman-Hawkins clinic. The MD and PA I worked with were hilarious easy goin guys but also great educators. I have a feeling that I'll be returning there. At SH I worked d with exclusively with spine and neuro. I honestly didnt expect there to be so much neuro. I studied like mad the 1st few weeks and I think I started to get it, how the bony structures are oriented and how the nerve roots travel and behave and synapse and cause unbearable suffering or sit quietly but actively at peace. Cool stuff that little photon didnt see coming at him.

In my spare moments in Vail I would head up to Red Cliff's Clutter Garden and Aircraft Carrier and run circuits. There's amazing bouldering here! V5-V11 with the bulk being in the v5-v7 range but plenty of potential. I did a rad new problem that I cant belive hadnt been done before. I'm calling it "Dem Apples, V8." It's below the aircarft carrier and you can see it from Romeo(another great thuggy v8 to add to the ciruit up there) . It's a sit start off 2 semi-miserable pinches to some good side pulls, to some terrible sloppers, to a big move and then a 5.9 no-fal- zone top out. I have a video below showing me work the problem.

I also found a boulder midway between the clutter garden and Homesteak. It has huge potential for hard stuff. I couldnt finish the problem but go check it out. To find it go to the clutter garden parking area, pass the parking area going in the direction of leadville, pull off at the first pullout on the right, walk across the street (to the east my brother to the east), walk 30 yards down the road (headin south), then walk into the trees for 5 mins and see the boulder field and huge steep boulder. This may be more safe in spring when snow is covering the bad landing.

I'm off to Wild Basin today to search out a boulder field. I'll post about that and maybe a bit abot my Estes Park family medicine rotation when I return. School starts back up tomarrow. Ciao.