Since I have let my blog responsibility slip for these last couple months, there is a lot to write about, thus the procrastination can continue no longer, for the sake of my friends back home.

After getting back from my short trip to Squamish, I tried to soak up every little bit of sunshine, salt water, and plastic pulling I could get my hands on before leaving for Europe. I packed my bags more than two hours before the departure of my plane this time, actually more than two days before, to reduce the stress of preparing for international travel. Among my belongings were a couple of suspicious looking packages that didn’t contain any Illegal substances, but large stashes of chalk and Clifbars, are treated like gold now.

I incorporated a stop in Maryland for an invitational Bouldering comp, the ASCI Showdown, which was awesome because it was all expenses paid for! WOW! What a concept! It was the first comp I have seen of its kind in the states, and I was a little burnt out on comps when I got the invite, but was excited to be a part of this one. The “day” of travel I endured to make it to the comp on time could only be described as epic. I awoke the morning of my flight at 3:30 am and made it to the Oakland airport to find that my first connecting flight was cancelled due to giving the flight crew their required 10 hours of rest from the last flight that arrived late the night before. I found myself contemplating alternate plans for the summer, maybe going back up to Squamish… Then the lady at the ticket kiosk said “they” could in fact get me to Pittsburg that day. So after three flights, a five-hour layover in the Charlotte airport, and a two-hour car ride from the Pittsburg airport that I was damn lucky to get, I arrived in McHenry, bum-fudge-nowhere-Maryland at 2:30 am — eastern time of course. 

The organizers put us up in hotels, fed us, and transported us to and from the venue. Everything went smoothly until I pitched awkwardly off the top of the second problem in the finals and my ankle took the brunt of the 2x4 strategically laid under the jingus pad setup. After the initial shock wore off I was able to put my shoe back on and climb on the last two problems, before the real swelling started. 

Overall the comp was cool, minus the pads, and I had a good time hanging out with all the comp climbers and the organizers. The next day, against the pleas of my girlfriend, I headed off to France with a limp, a huge swollen ankle, and a 30+ kilo backpack to meet Jon Cardwell, Andrea and Gabor Szekely, to climb on some euro limestone. The trip felt doomed from the start, but I wasn’t going to be deterred that easily.