New obsession.

Me working the first crux on Hobo.

So, since I have FINALLY sent "Before the Storm" I found a new boulder problem to obsess over. Hobo V8/9! I think this is perfect for me and will transition me nicely into climbing V9s. And, if I send this I will have completed my goal that I set at the beginning of this year to send a V9 before the year is up! It was kind of my New Year's resolution, I have been increasing three grades every year I've been climbing and I really hope to stay on the same track. This will be my third year climbing so the goal is V9 before year's end.

Yesterday I got out with a few friends but didn't get to get on Hobo. Instead a friend Andy Burgoon took me on some crazy Haycock circuit and I ended up climbing 14 different problems, with Andy racking up 27 sends for the day. Hopefully if the weather is good I'll get out sometime this coming week and work out some moves on Hobo. Otherwise I will be competing in the Vertical Extreme comp this Saturday. I suck at comps and can't seem to find motivation to climb hard indoors but we'll see how it goes.

Pre-tempest

Sent "Before the Storm!" I finally sent an ongoing project of mine at Haycock this past Sunday. I have been working this problem on and off since the beginning of spring. It's a V7 that starts on two sharp crimps and traverses up and right and ends with a dynamic throw to a weird slopey sidepull. For so long I would float through the beginning and fall over and over throwing to the finishing sloper. It basically turned into more of a mental battle to get past that last move. I also sent "Chiba," a V4 that feels like an impossible V6 in the summer.

Check out the video of "Before the Storm"


Before the Storm from Matthew Herman on Vimeo.

Hard climbing, bloody flappers and West Virginia love

Coopers Rock, prime sandstone bouldering on the northern part of West Virginia. Complete with steep powerful roofs, crimpy technical faces, butt draggers and, of course, high balls with slopey top outs. Although we didn't get threatened to have our asses placed on the nose of a crazed local who despises banana peels (long story) , we also didn't walk three miles on the wrong road, I didn't go to the bathroom surrounded by thorn bushes only to realize that a outhouse was 20 yards away and we didn't get lost on side trails and climb on wet rock. So, all in all I would say it went better than my first trip to Coopers.

After a freezing cold night camping then losing the main trail hiking to the first area, I was having a few flash backs of my bad trip here the previous year. But, we eventually found ourselves and the trail and got into some good climbing. We started the day warming up on a few classic three and four star problems. Nate almost got the flash on "Twist Dah Hick," a classic high ball V5 with a hand-foot match eight feet off the deck. After stealing his beta I sent second try and he sent his third.

Nate and I also sent "The Bulge," a very cool V5 with a lot of slapping and a few positive pockets. I muscled through the top out where as Nate delicately finessed his way up as usual.

Jamie working "The Bulge"


Nate on "The Bulge"


We decided to move on to better things and harder problems from there. Fortunately for us we ran into about eight very cool guys who climb at Coopers often and they took us around to all the classics in the area. Our first stop was a super asthetic problem called "The Allusionist."



Now, let me give you the run down on this problem. You hit a positive pocket with the right then go up left to a credit card sized gaston.



You then bump left again to a pretty good incut crimp gaston.



You proceed to get a right foot above your right hand.



Then cross right into a very sharp crimp above your left hand.




Continue to jitterbug your feet from one pocket to the next.



Then throw to a barely visible good slot five feet up. All this overtop of a 45 degree downhill sloping runway. Amazing!! Well, amazing until you throw for the slot, miss, and pull a Dave Graham...



Heartbreaking, the picture does not do it justice. (bad photographer) What you can barely see out of focus is the biggest flapper I have ever had. A quarter of my bad was ripped off and I bleed like a champ everywhere. That was on my third or fourth go, I know it would of went down next try. This climb was definitely the highlight of my trip and I will be back soon to get the send and some revenge. That pretty much ended the day for me. I continued to climb easier stuff but it was halfhearted and I was bleeding everywhere. Oh well, more reason for me to make the four hour trek to WV.

I'm heading to Chicago this weekend to attend the ADA's Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo. It's going to be a blast and I am going to hoard all the free stuff at the expo. Clif Bar and Lara Bar will be there and I amy attempt to finagle some free deals out of them, we'll see how I'm feeling. I also may stop at a local gym and compete in their ABS comp on Sunday. Check in for an update from the conference after this weekend!

Gunks

This post is a little late but I was busy with school and putting together a video of the Gunks. Lindsay, Adam and myself went to the Gunks last weekend and climbed for a day and had an amazing climbing trip with perfect temps. We met two incredible climbers from Canada who entertained us with their melange of the english and french languages. They both proceeded to flash my project for the day, New Pair of Glasses, and make it look like a joke. But, it all worked out in the end because I finally got the send! This is definitely one of my favorite climbs, a classic problem with rad moves.

After that I got worked on some other V7's. Just increasing my project list...

Check out the video.

New Pair of Glasses from Matthew Herman on Vimeo.

Check back in for and update and pictures from Coopers rock and a Nutritional guide for climbing or athletes in general.

Ninja Squirrel

Uggh!  Went to Haycock yesterday and attempted "Before the Storm" again and still could not pull it off!  I felt solid on it and threw to the finish about eight times and missed hitting the good hold right every time.  I think I need to take a break from it for a while.  On a good note I sent "Ninja Squirrel."  Its a two move technical V6 on a face with hanus (had to look this up in the urban dictionary to get the spelling right) crimps.  At one point I felt as if my fingertip was going to get ripped completely off.

Here is some old video of Adam Stoltenberg trying Ninja Squirrel.

So, yeah this is how you basically start the problem.  Grab the start holds, try to weight them then cringe in pain.

Red River Gorge

After a combined 20 hours of driving alone in a car I am back from a 3 day trip to the Red River Gorge.  A 10 hour trip at night each way involved a lot of freestyle rapping, funky dance moves and boxes of Mike and Ikes to stay awake.  If anything on this trip I think I have built up my driving alone endurance. 

Originally, the plan was to meet a friend of mine, Tyler, who is suppose to be driving up from Alabama and staying at the Red for two months.  I still don't know what happened, but he wasn't anywhere at the Red and I couldn't reach him by phone so I was stuck at Miguel's with no rope and no climbing partner. I felt like a total  climbing mooch.  So, after sulking in my own misery for a few hours I ran into Jeff Silcox, a good friend of a good friend who I had met last year in Bishop, and climbed with him, Andy Burgoon and a plethora of Czechs.  You just can't beat how open and social the climbing community is.

Although everything didn't go as planned it did end up being another amazing trip to the Red.  I had an epic fight with a project of mine, Ro Champo, and finally sent on the last day.  Short, steep and big moves between big holds, definitely a classic.  This ended my trip perfectly and gave me some adrenaline to drive home with.

First Post!

So, I have finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and create a blog. I am still unsure as to what exactly this blog will contain so we are all in for a surprise. First I will let you know a little bit about myself. I am 24 years old and I am a full-time student at West Chester University in West Chester, PA. Unfortunately I do live on the east coast but I am destined to move out west seeing as one of my biggest passions is rock climbing. My other passion is nutrition which is what I am studying at WCU. I'm thinking this blog will mostly contain updates on my climbing and also random research I come up with on nutrition.

Alright enough of the introduction, here is some unedited footage of me on my current project "Before the Storm" at Haycock Mountain last Wednesday.