Why Man Fire?

WHADDUP?! Lately school/work has been pretty balls to the wall so unfortunately I won't be able to get outside this weekend, but I did manage to find a bunch of old footy from LRC which I was able to throw together in a short vid. With high school winding down things are getting crazy with my schedule, but I am more than psyched to be getting the hell outta here and off to Boone, ha! I'm buying an HD video camera & getting Final Cut 6 before I get to NC so the quality of the vids I'll be posting starting this fall are going to be MUCH better. Until then, check out this little vid I put together...

LRC from chris adkins on Vimeo.

Tis the Season

Lately it has been heating up down here in the dirty south so I've been getting psyched on routes, but the cool temps rolled in yesterday so I decided to start off the day at the Cumberland Boulders. I warmed up on the 7/11 roof & tried Big Gulp (V11) but no dice. I did manage to stick the huge throw once but that was it. After that I headed down to Gross's Roof (V11) to try my luck, and sure enough, it went! I had very briefly messed around on this climb over Spring Break and thought that the bump move was above my level, but after about 15 minutes of work yesterday I stuck the move and then spent about 20 more minutes before my foot finally stayed for the match. Feeling accomplished I hiked out, got hissed at by a snapping turtle (yes, snapping turtles hiss like a pissed off cat), and met up with Audrey for a little bit of sport climbing. I wanted to try to flash a route I had been looking at called Widowmaker (5.12c). Audrey gave me the rundown and I walked the crux section which involves pulling the lip of a roof on some small holds at about 40ish feet, then some more face climbing to the anchors. After clipping the last bolt I found myself falling about 3 moves from the anchor clipping jug....FML! It was fun though and I'm glad to see that my endurance has improved even if it is just a tiny bit. I'm going to try to start getting out sport climbing more often in an attempt to bring my sport climbing abilities closer to my current bouldering level...It's too hot to boulder now so hopefully I'll learn how to climb on a rope this summer, ha! Here's the vid of Gross's Roof, I had to prop my Flip Ultra against a rock so it's not great but it'll give ya an idea....PEACE!

Gross's Roof from chris adkins on Vimeo.

So worked!

I've been at the Red River Gorge for the past 2 days and I always seem to forget just how pumpy the routes here are! I've been climbing with Max & so far we've gone to the motherlode and Bob Marley crag which are both dope as hell. Today I fell going to the 10th and final bolt on Tuna Town 5.12d. This is a really cool climb with a long run out at the end to make things interesting. Basically its a jug haul up a steep wall with 3 different crimp sections & is just fun climbing in general, it will also get you into shape pretty quickly! I got a chance to get on Ultra Perm 5.13d today & I can honestly say that it's the most badass line I've ever been on. The slab section at the beginning of the route is easy but uncomfortable with a no-hands rest right before you pull onto the overhang to start the business. I was able to do all the moves on it today and link a few bolts but I'm nowhere near a send right now. I plan on climbing as many routes as I can between now and the summer in an attempt to get some endurance before I come back here. I'm going to project this route this summer and hopefully I can get it done before I go to Boone in the fall! That's all for now, not sure where we're climbing tomorrow, but I'm headed back to Nashville after a short morning sesh so PEACE!