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HEY! So May was a really crazy month with exams and graduation and everything, pulling on plastic has consumed the majority of my time recently, but I did manage to make it out to Foster Falls last Monday to try The Big Empty 5.13b/c. It took me awhile to figure out the moves but I managed to give it three solid attempts while refining my beta. My high point was a move before you clip the last draw so I hope to finish this climb within a trip or two...

warming up...



The Big Empty 5.13b/c

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!

Lactic Acid Bath...

Hello children! Going back to school after an awesome spring break was of course depressing but got me in the mood to climb routes for some reason. I've been training my endurance this past week and I'm actually starting to see some improvement. I went to Tierrany at the Obed yesterday with Audrey, Josh, Amanda, and Christian to try to remember how to climb for more than 10 moves at a time, ha! We warmed up on Huecool Junior 5.10d then I jumped on Jungle Jane 5.12a & sent 2nd go after figuring out the beta on my first attempt. All I can say is that the routes at Tierrany are loooonnnggg! Definitely worth the hike though (its about 45 mins to get there once you park...) This coming weekend is looking like a trip to the Red with Max Marlowe as long as I can re-arrange my work schedule. In the meantime, here's a video of Max on the route I want to project at the Red. It's called "Ultra Perm" 5.13d & is an absolutely gorgeous line with awesome movement..

Max Marlowe - Ultra Perm from Sean Stewart on Vimeo.

Chatty Update

So Tuesday I went to LRC and climbed with NevernotpsychedNate. My skin took a turn for the worse very quickly as I fell out of the seam at the end of Bedwetters V9. Later that day Biggie Shorty V10 ate the remainder of my skin but I did make significant progress on it by dialing in all but the first move. Unfortunately most of the boulders at LRC were really moist so it made it very difficult to climb hard. Wednesday was a rest day so there's not much to talk about there but today was a beautiful day and I spent most of it murder crushing at Dayton. This morning I warmed up on the roof and crushed Crazy Craver V11 in a few goes. Im very excited to have done this climb because it is a new level for me and has been a goal of mine for a while. After that I hiked around and saw Tim Hinck & Ashley Hamilton working some problems near HSR. After talking to them I threw on my shoes and ended up flashing HSR V7. This climb is really fun and definitely worth doing if you're at Dayton. I ended the day with a quick repeat of Riverdance V9 and putting a few goes into the low start called Lord of the Dance V11. So far this week has been awesome and I still have a couple more days here in Chatty so Im psyched to see what happens

In Chattanooga Triiiickk!!!

So as most of you know I'm in Chattanooga for the week and I plan on doing as much bouldering as I can while I'm here. Today turned out to be pretty interesting starting with the drive down which involved me doing an Irish Dance with a total stranger at the BP in Monteagle. The gas station was blaring Irish music even though St. Patty's Day isn't until Wednesday but whatever, I just work with what I'm given. After that I went to the Cumberland/Pep Boys Boulderfield (name is currently being disputed by the powers that be) and dispatched 7/11 (V10) with the quickness. Afterwards I worked out all the moves on Gross' Roof (V11) but no send today. Shortly after that Nick & Kit showed up and we worked Big Gulp (V11), Salo's Roof (V9/5.13c), and Kit repeated my problem "Huckleberry Finn." We both agree that this direct line flows a little bit better than the original jug start and adds enough to the V6 to bump it to V7. So honestly I'm not 100% on this yet but the plan for the week so far looks like: Tues = 1/2 day at LRC, Wed = LRC??, Thurs = Dayton, Fri = Rocktown, Sat = ???/home. Hopefully I'll find some more people to climb with while Audrey is in class. If you're in Chatty and wanna get out hit me up!!!