The Wine Country Boulder Brawl

A year ago, I organized the first annual Wine Country Boulder Brawl with my good friend Nolan Kloer. The WCBB is a bouldering competition that showcases top California climbers at Napa’s premier climbing gym, Rockzilla. The WCBB was our attempt at giving back to the climbing community that has given us so much. Dwayne Robertson, the owner of Rockzilla (also the man that instilled within me the idea that downgrading a climb is always better than upgrading one), is one of the biggest reasons climbing is what it is for me today. I’ve only been climbing for a little over four years, but Dwaye has been an integral part of each step I’ve taken in my climbing life along the way. Without getting too sentimental, this man is like a second father to me. Organizing this competition to show off his gym was my way of saying ‘Thank you’ to the man that taught me how to downgrade.

Last year’s event was a much greater success than we had anticipated. Climbers from all over the state showed up and kept the room filled with that sort of late-night-gym-session sort of psyche. The highlight (for me at least) was when Five Ten Athlete, Giovanni Traversi, walked through the doors. G. climbs at a gym not too far from Rockzilla, and came to Napa to put on a show. And that he did. Watching G. absolutely CRUSH in Finals was the most gratifying thing in the world to me. We did it. We got people psyched, we gave back to Dwanye, and we drank a lot of beer.

This year, we’re going hard: On-sight Finals, FREE beer, High Tech Burritos (for purchase), DJ, raffles, Giovanni Traversi, and wine, lots and lots of wine (courtesy of Robert Biale Vineyards). 

The WCBB began as a simple way of showing a great man that we care, and has evolved into something more applicable to the climbing community as a whole. What I intend to do with this event is draw in some of the best boulderers from the state, and eventually the country, in order to bring to the spotlight all the things we here at Rockzilla love about climbing. Spreading our love for climbing with the community is at the forefront of the WCBB’s mission. Every year we throw this event, we’ll grow and we’ll bring in new climbers. In order to do so, we need cash prize. However, if climbers like Giovanni Traversi, Dan Beall, Max Zolotukhin, Natasha Barnes, and Brian Hedrick decide to show up this year, the prize money will come. 

If you don’t already have something booked and you’re interested in climbing with some very happy and very psyched individuals, please come to Rockzilla’s 2nd Annual Wine Country Boulder Brawl on Saturday July 21st. Comp starts at 5. Beer will obviously be there. Oh yeah, one more thing, THE COMP IS FREE.

Joe Ramos (master of all things ‘video’) put together a promo vid. Check it.

http://www.dpmclimbing.com/climbing-videos/watch/2nd-annual-wine-country-boulder-brawl

Peace.

Cal Poly ROOF PROJECT!

Earlier this  year, one of my good friends and fellow climber, Joe Maier, discovered a new boulder in the San Luis Obispo, CA area. Unfortunately, we are not blessed with copious amounts of double digit boulder problems. In fact, up until this new roof came into the public sphere, the hardest piece of outdoor rock couldn't even flirt with the idea of double digits. Don't get me wrong, we're happy to have rock at all, but watching those Colorado boulderers find new V12-V15 every week makes us sick! We want some cool, new-wave, overhanging roof project, jam-packed with crazy drop-knees and body-tension-core-lock-off-Daniel Woods(esque) sequences. . . .   Oh wait. 

https://vimeo.com/43802480 
(Click link for short teaser of Cal Poly's new ROOF PROJECT!)

(All Photos by Sam Monsalve)

A New SLO Classic

Sometimes I forget how truly blessed I am.  I live in an amazing community with a beautiful group of friends.  For the better half of my college career at Cal Poly, I have been hanging out with a unique group of people.  We climb, we eat, we write poetry, we hang out at cafes, and on occasion, we make it out to the boulders in San Luis Obispo (SLO).  The climbing in SLO might be limited, but what we have is fun.  The rock can be a bit brittle, but after some cleaning and brushing, the climbs are usually good to go.  

Alex Biale climbing Boulder in the Woods. Photo by Chris Bersbach

Alex Biale making the First Ascent of Second Year (V9) Photo by Chris Bersbach

The climbing in SLO is not vast, but we make do with what we have and enjoy the process of searching out new lines.  The rock usually does not lend itself to difficult climbing, but every once in a while, you stumble across something a bit harder the the previously established stuff.  I've added a few problems to a few areas, but nothing that stands out.  However, a good friend of mine, Justin Lawson, established a new climb in the Bishop Peak area.  In my opinion, it’s the best problem in SLO.  The boulder problem climbs up the steepest and tallest face on the Potato Boulder on the north side of the mountain.  Good holds and fun movement lead you up a 25 or 30 foot face above a sloping landing which we have dubbed the “crux” of the climb.  Spotting this climb is almost just as hard as climbing it.  Weird.  Here is a video I put together of my second ascent of the boulder.  To be honest, this was one of the most fun days in SLO I’ve ever had.  It was the perfect culmination of good friends, being outside, loving climbing, and having a good time falling.


https://vimeo.com/42431562

The Dark Side

Obsession can be defined as “an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes a person’s mind.”  Being someone who is blindly obsessed with this activity of rock climbing, it is hard to remind myself that, while I might be getting ‘better’ at climbing, I am still vulnerable to ‘real’ life.  There have been so many moments where I find myself discouraged by the subtle distractions that diminish my ability to perform and execute movement on rock.  Things like humidity, injuries, lack of pads, or physical exhaustion, all lead to self-doubt, a lack of concentration, and an overall feeling of incompetency.  Why do we let ourselves do that?  I’m making a generalization here, but I can say with a certain amount of conviction, that most climbers who take this shit as seriously as I do have felt something like this.  And that’s okay.  Not only are we allowed to feel weak and defeated, we’re supposed to.

When non-climbers talk about climbing, they use terms like a) gravity b)heights c)courage and d)recklessness.  If there was a question asking, “What does climbing mean to you?” and I had to pick between these four, I’d say fuck it and bubble in, e)none of the above.  If rock climbing was just about finding rocks and trying really hard to get to the top of them via back muscles and calloused finger tips, I’d be bored.  But what keeps me driving 7 hours back to Bishop, what keeps me awake at night, what keeps me restless in the classroom, what keeps me full of focus and fear, is this dark obsession I have with the process that can be most accurately described as: repeated failure followed sporadically by moments of clarity.  

By butting our heads up against a pre-established framework and failing repeatedly, whether it be academics, a rhyme scheme, or a boulder problem, we are forced to utilize the more abstract levels of our minds in order to come up with a solution.  In a poem, it might mean being forced by a rhyme scheme to use the third or fourth or 18th meaning of a word in order to complete a line, which in turn influences the balance of the entire poem, and could lead you to shocking insights in what you're trying to say. In climbing, it might mean the 'Eureka' moment: "stumbling" upon crazy beta for the project you've been obsessing over for so long that finally makes it possible, or waking up in the middle of the night with the right answer. You don't know why you threw that toe-hook there, and you don't know why it worked, but it did, and now you understand the boulder much better.

What happens when I become so helplessly addicted to this process?  It isn’t dark to repeat a pattern of healthy activity, but it is dark when I can’t stop, and there’s a difference there.  Until now, I have never really questioned why I can’t stop climbing, or what happens when I do, and where do I draw the line between habit and addiction.  The reason I find myself sitting here at this cafe pondering these notions of addiction, obsession, and the ‘darker’ side to climbing, is because of my answer to the following question:  If climbing were to evaporate from existence and I could no longer be a ‘climber,’ would I be okay with losing this sort of warped control I have over my life?  My answer is, no.

Right now, I am dealing with three semi-serious injuries that are collectively preventing me from rock climbing.  I have a broken rib, a fucked up A2 pulley, and a joint that decided it didn’t want to crimp anymore.  It’s Tuesday, it’s the one night of the week where I always make it to the climbing gym because both Joe Maier and Itai Axelrad (the strongest kids in SLO and my good friends) can make it.  We turn the music up and wreck our bodies on hard movement for hours.  And it’s not just the literal act of climbing that keeps me coming back, it’s the feeling of control over my body and my surroundings.  I can’t settle into this ‘feeling’ every session, but there are times where I feel like I have the power to manipulate gravity.  That is obviously an abstract exaggeration, and I might only be referring to one single shoulder move I did in the cave last week, but if you’re like me and are one of those obsessive-compulsive boulderers who spend weeks trying to understand one move or to climb one project, you know what I mean.  

I am sitting here wondering why these Tuesday nights are so important to me.  It’s certainly not because two of my good friends and I get together and go free-soloing all the classic ‘easy’ slabs in SLO and enjoy the scenery, it’s because of that sense of power and creativity I feel when I push myself in climbing.  I have an appetite for and am addicted to this creative and controlling impulse to ‘progress.’  By that I mean, there has not been a period of time that has lasted longer than a couple of days where my primary focus in climbing was to simply enjoy rock climbing.  Whenever I step into the climbing gym, or I walk up to The Buttermilks, or I go to a new area, I immediately look for the climb(s) that should be at my physical limit.  I might take my time warming up on all the classic, ‘easy,’ aesthetic lines in the area, but I’m going there to try hard.  

I know some very strong climbers who have said out loud, “If I could only climb V5 for the rest of my life, I’d still be psyched!”  Part of me wants to call bullshit.  However, the other part of me wants more than anything to believe them.  This is my ‘dark’ side to climbing.  If for some reason, I was unable to physically and mentally ‘push’ myself, or, if I was unable to continually obsess over ‘hard’ movement and unclimbed projects, climbing would be less.  

Alex Biale on Luminance. Photo: Jake Novotny

For those of you who have been asking, I did not climb Luminance.  I had one strong go where I fell because I broke off a foot hold.  Then the heat and humidity hit and the problem was unclimbable.  Luminance will be in the back of my mind, haunting me, inspiring me, teasing me, and even though I will have to wait till next season to try again, this feeling of being completely obsessed and defined by the process is everything to me.

2012 CCS National Championship

In the context of competition climbing, I’ve never made a mistake that had any real consequences.  Sure, I’ve made my fair share of stupid decisions, but nothing major.  However, when I arrived in Boston, MA this weekend to compete alongside the top tier of collegiate athletes in this year’s CCS National Championships, I made two.  The CCS (Collegiate Climbing Series) provides eager college climbers with a unique avenue for elite and friendly competition.  

Here’s how the comp works:  100 competitors climb for 3 hours (one group in the morning and one group in the afternoon).  Over the course of those 3 hours, each climber must complete 3 sport routes and 3 boulder problems.  You can complete as many as you would like, but only your top 3 scores from each count towards your overall score.  These routes and boulder problems are assigned point values.  Consequently, the harder the climb, the more points the climber earns.  After this initial Qualifiers round, the top 10 men and top 10 women move onto a Finals round later that evening.  

During the afternoon Qualifiers round, I was able to flash (climb first try) the top 3 hardest sport routes and climb 3 of the harder boulder problems which placed me in 3rd overall (out of both the morning and afternoon sessions).  I was happy because I made Finals and that was my goal this year.  I was not going to Boston to win Nationals, I was going to Boston to try really fucking hard with some of the countries strongest athletes and prove to myself that I earned being here.  

The Finals round format consists of 1 boulder problem and 1 sport route with 5 minutes on each and a 5 minute break in between.  The climbers are given 4 minutes to collectively review the problem and route to figure out a sequence.  In isolation, as excited as I was, I knew I was screwed.  I had not been on a rope since last year’s nationals and I was still fighting cramps and fatigue from the afternoon Qualifier’s round.  That was my first mistake.  Competing in the afternoon round was a rookie mistake and I learned my lesson.  The competitors from the morning session were all feeling rested and fit while the competitors from the afternoon were all struggling to not pass out.  Now I know.  

My second mistake happened on the boulder problem.  When the group reviewed the boulder, I stayed quiet and went through the sequence in my head.  It seemed pretty intuitive.  However, some of the other competitors voiced their opinions about how to make the opening roof sequence efficient, and I listened.  Their method contradicted mine and I made the mistake of thinking they were right and I was wrong.  

When it came time for me to climb, I pulled into the roof and hesitated.  There was a quick moment of indecisiveness and I chose to go with the method the other competitors were talking about.  I tried this 3 times and failed, not even making it to the overhanging crux of the boulder.  With a minute left I decided to say fuck it and do my thing.  I am not an efficient climber, I do not like to rely too much on insecure feet, and I sure as hell don’t like having to keep my feet on the wall.  Instead of relying on fancy footwork, I campused (climbed with no feet) the roof section, which was my initial method, and made it to the overhang.  I fell on the second to last move of the boulder and apparently got the highpoint thus far.  I made it up to the same spot one more time before the 5 minutes was up.  I gave that boulder everything I had because I knew I could do it.  However, because of my first 3 failed attempts, I was too tired to execute the last move.  I was exhausted.  The judge handed me my scorecard and I was promptly escorted to the sport route.  I was so pumped when they called my name, I purposefully fumbled with my knot for a minute to give myself more time to rest.  I could barely close my hand.  From what others tell me, I made it to the hold right below the hold where the top 4 men fell.  Because of my lack of conviction on the boulder problem (and some scoring issues that I unfortunately did not talk with the judges about until after the results were finalized) I placed 6th overall.  

Looking back, I did not do as well as I would have liked, but I can say that about almost every comp I’ve ever been in.  I am starting to view these competitions less as competitions and more as chances to learn something about myself.  Competition climbing is a way of understanding what your body and mind can do when put under immense amounts of pressure.  Once you clearly understand what it is that gets in your way of achieving your goals, whatever those goals may be, you can then actively work to remove those barriers and move forward.  I learned that I need to trust my gut, even when it might not be the most logical thing to do.  Because frankly, I have never been too keen on logic.  My barriers stem from certain insecurities I have about the way I climb.  I don’t ever feel as strong as I know I can be. 

This year’s CCS Nationals was not just about trying to make podium again, it was about testing a year’s worth of mental and physical progression.  It was about visiting a new city with my parents and friends.  It was about experiencing the anxiety of isolation and learning how to utilize pressure so that it turns into a tool for growth.  This year was not about what place I came in, it was about trying my best with some cool individuals and keeping my eyes wide open.  

That being said, this coming weekend, I’m going back to Bishop to try Luminance.  If you’re psyched, let’s go climbing.

The Right Way Up

Fact: For the past 4 or 5 months, I’ve been faking it.  

Since the moment I began a relationship with Five Ten, I have been putting on this show of what I think a sponsored climber is supposed to be.  I have been pushing aside the things I hold dear in order to look like something I’m not. A few nights ago I sat down to figure out how on earth this could be happening, and here’s what I came up with:

Fact: I did not get sponsored by Five Ten because of the climbs I have done.  

There are 10 year old girls climbing a lot harder than I am.  Consequently, I have been struggling with the question, Why did I get sponsored by Five Ten?  When I sat down with Kelsey Reddoch, the Five Ten rep in Salt Lake City, I doubt she saw an up-and-coming Daniel Woods, and she definitely did not see someone who makes better media than LT11.  

But what I hope she did see is my sheer capacity for psyche. I hope she saw my ability to give a majority of myself to a certain thing, completely and without hesitation, and how helplessly and utterly excited and proud I am to be a part of the climbing community. And if that is in fact what got me this sponsorship, I guess in a way I’m relieved and very grateful, because even though my climbing abilities have suffered lately, I’ve realized that those other parts of me are still firing harder than ever. After years of being caught up in the glitz of climbing media, sometimes it’s hard for me to stay in touch with my center, especially now that I feel like I have some minuscule part in it. I’m still learning, but luckily for me, I can’t help but wear my heart on my sleeve.  That’s where my core is, and my abilities, my successes, and my failures are all simply offshoots of that core.

For instance, what is it that hurts so badly about watching our friends do the things we want most to do in the world? 

A few weeks ago, my good friend Joe Maier and I went to Bishop, CA over spring break to check out a problem called Luminance. Luminance has an ominous reputation for being one of the most aesthetic and dangerous climbs in Bishop (if not the world), zigzagging up a sharply overhanging wall above one of the most mind-bendingly bad landings I’ve ever seen.

But do I have to be physically/mentally stronger to climb Luminance, or to acknowledge the roots of resentment and envy in myself? Honestly, sitting here writing this, I’m not sure which is more difficult. Watching Joe stick the last hold and top out that boulder hurt, bad.  And because it hurt, I then felt like a shitty friend and bad person. After the initial relief of Joe being safely on top of the massive granite block, I felt sick. And not because of the adrenaline rushing through me as I stood there, spotting one of my closest friends on a dangerous climb, focusing on his safety with every fiber of my being.  I felt sick because now, it was my turn.  If you have ever seen Joe climb, you might understand this next question I asked myself, How the fuck am I supposed to follow that? 

At that moment, I was trapped outside myself, like some sort of third party spectator.  I was watching myself fall on moves I should be doing every try, and I couldn’t do a thing about it.  I was so caught up in thinking about all the people back home who were expecting to hear about me sending Luminance.  I was thinking about the fact that Joe just sent it first try that day.  I was thinking about how pathetic I felt trying to climb with him.

But I realize now that even then, at my most pathetic, the rest of me felt elated, surprised, impressed, and just beyond fucking psyched for Joe to have made it safely to the top. The rest of me felt inspired and full of an ocean of respect for my friend, because I understand exactly how scary it is to be up there. And it occurs to me as I write this that maybe what I was out there to send was not Luminance at all, but instead to find a way to work through my own weaknesses, to confront the parts of me that I’m not proud of, so that when I do go back to Luminance next time, I can find the right way up. 

Here is the video that Joe and I put together of his send.  http://vimeo.com/40488430

And here is the video of me bailing off the last move after taking a bad fall the try before:  http://vimeo.com/39611735

If you're still watching, here is a video I filmed and put together documenting my Spring Break to Bishop.  I hope you like it:  http://vimeo.com/39654839

Big thanks to Joe, Ian, and Drew.

Media. Motivation. Momentum.

This week is finals week here at Cal Poly.  Cafes and libraries are overrun by sleepless students.  Espresso seems to be at the top of the food chain.  People are frantic, stressed, overwhelmed, and tired.  I have spent the last three days sitting at the same table at the same cafe in an attempt to fill my brain with all there is to know about Classical Rhetorical Theory.  As you can imagine, that becomes very old very fast.  I spend my “spare” time occupying my mind with music, climbing media, and random plates of poetry.  While on my break from studying this morning, I came across a new climbing flick produced by Louder Than 11.  LT11, for those of you who don’t know, is the leading media production company in today’s climbing world.  They produce the best quality movies with the top climbers.  And it’s all free, “Whether you like it or not.”  It has become a reoccurring trend among my close friends and I to send each other the latest and greatest flicks via email and correspond for a few minutes about how badly we want to go climbing.  I genuinely look forward to these brief online interactions.  We share videos, articles, and pictures to constantly remind ourselves how amazing climbing is and what it has done for us.  

Anyway, LT11 released a new video about the bouldering anomaly, Daniel Woods.  A couple weeks ago, Daniel Woods competed alongside some of the world’s strongest climbers in an outdoor bouldering competition in Hueco Tanks, TX.  The objective of the comp is to accumulate as many “V-Points” in six boulder problems as possible.  You have nine hours to do this.  Let me beak that down.  In order to gauge the varying difficulty levels in bouldering, climbers use what is called the “V-Scale” to assign subjective “grades” to boulder problems.  The lowest of the grading scale being V0 and the highest standing proud at V15.  To put the grading scale in perspective, I can count the number of climbers (in the history of climbing) that have been able to consistently climb V15 on one hand.  Well, MAYBE two hands.  Anyway, the goal of this annual competition is to get as many of said V-Points as possible in six boulder problems.  Here’s an example.  My personal best day of climbing looked like this: V7, V10, V12, V5, V7, V6.  To a lot of people, this is the beginning of their warm-up circuit.  But I’m proud of it.  So, if I competed in the Hueco Rock Rodeo against Daniel Woods, I would have a grand total of 47 V-Points.  During the 2012 Hueco Rock Rodeo, Daniel Woods was able to acquire 76 V-Points.. in six problems.. in one day.  That's two V14s, a V13, two V12s, and a V11 (first try).  I hope you can all appreciate what that means.  Just in case you don’t, here is the LT11 video of Daniel’s BEST DAY OF BOULDERING EVER:  https://vimeo.com/38347438  

When I watched this video during my study break, I was at a loss for words.  The feat accomplished in this video might be the most impressive piece of bouldering I have ever seen, for lots of reasons.  As soon as the video ended, I hit repeat and watched it again.  This pattern continued a few more times.  Following the initial state of shock I seemed to be caught in, I sent the video to some friends.  They immediately responded and we began to talk about climbing.  We were like giddy school boys watching Michael Jordan jump over however many people he jumped over while dunking the winning dunk in the final scene of the cinematic masterpiece, Space Jam.  

The first climbing movie I watched back when I started climbing four years ago was the BigUp Productions' (another leading production company) video of Chris Sharma establishing the First Ascent of Realization, the world’s first 5.15.  (Video here:   http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-200477265572892748)  I remember sitting at my computer for hours watching this video over and over again.  For some unknown reason, I felt like I was apart of it.  I felt like I was cheering Chris on and he could somehow hear me.  Weird, I know.  But I was moved.  Every time I sit down to watch a climbing movie, I feel like a kid again.  I have always been taken back by watching people push themselves through whatever is hardest for them.  Watching people utilize the deepest parts of themselves to overcome struggle is the most inspiring thing in the world to me.  And as cliche as it sounds, watching that journey unfold is a big reason why I enjoy watching climbing videos.  Watching individuals manifest their dreams motivates me to chase mine.  It might be a bit excessive, especially because I’m talking about a climbing movie, but still.  Movies tell stories and if the story is told properly, it can initiate momentum in people’s lives.  That’s what happened to me this morning.  I’m supposed to be studying and all I can think about is getting strong enough to climb Top Notch (V13) in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. (Top Notch is featured in this video, which happens to be my personal favorite piece of climbing media, at 1:54, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWhNtKTY9e0  This video follows Five Ten Elite Athlete Carlo Traversi through some of Colorado's most classic problems. Carlo filmed, edited, and produced this video.) My psyche is high and my motivation isn’t going anywhere.  I’m ready to pursue the life I’ve always wanted. And I feel like I finally have the momentum to do it.