I only got to try it a couple of times, and I realized it was a lot harder than I originally thought, but I’m still really psyched on it and I’m not giving up. I was distracted by other rocks for the rest of my trip but still had fun and got to climb some new stuff and watched some friends climb some new stuff. Natasha sent her project, Mesothelioma, a beautiful highball in the Pollen Grains. It’s a new school classic, a gem. A friend Ben Eastman flashed the rig (V7), wearing a knee brace from his torn ACL.

 Then it was time for the Valley where it has been unusually good weather for this time of year, until this week at least. I hooked up with the Berkeley crew, who are the most psyched group of dedicated boulderers, willing to make the three-and-a-half hour drive up to the Valley for just a couple of hours of bouldering in a place they have climbed a thousand times. But the bouldering is that good there. I did a bunch of camp 4 classics like Thriller, The Force, Leroy, and Stick It, on my first day, all were about V10.

The next day the Berkley crew took us to a newer area called the Indian Caves where I surprised myself by flashing this slightly overhanging face problem called Drive On that they said was a “hard V10”. Paul Baraza also sent the line. The next weekend I made the second, and Kevin Jorgeson made the third ascent, of this really cool, squeezey, slopey (atypical of Yosemite style climbing) roof problem that Tommy Caldwell did first, last year. I also hung out with Valley monkey, big-wall master Ivo Ninov, and he got me psyched to get on the nose and try to free the hard pitches. He made it sound so possible.

Anyway, what’s next? Maybe back to the Valley for more pebble wrestling or something bigger, if the weather gets better. Maybe back to the east side for the ultimate project. Maybe up to North Northern Cali for the best limestone in North America (I’m not kidding) or any of the new found crags up there? Or maybe out to Indian creek, for my education at the university of splitters? I guess you will just have to wait and see for the next installment.

Oh yeah, I just started reading a new book by my favorite author, Carl Hiaasen. The book is called Nature Girl. It’s hilarious.