Lizzy

Confessions of a Splitter Addict

Trip Reports 18 Responses »
Apr 182011

Every trip I’ve taken to Indian Creek has been so different, but each is an incredible learning experience for me. There’s something about that place – it’s never quite what I expected, and adjusting my expectations in the face of reality is always a challenging exercise. Instead of writing a play-by-play of the entire trip, I’m going to focus on two routes that, together, really represent my experience from this last trip.

Small Lizzy high on the awesome Top Sirloin (photo by Austin Siadak)

Our first days in the trip went great. I was so happy to be out in the desert, and climbing beautiful cracks. I onsighted a couple of new routes (Top Sirloin and Battle of the Bulge, both fantastic), but generally preserved my skin and energy, not wanting to push too hard and exhaust myself, which I’ve definitely done early on previous Creek trips. We had our first rest day, so it was The Day. We started out at Battle of the Bulge and Luke got on Ruby’s Cafe, which he made look pretty chill until the roof. By the time he finished working out the moves through the roof, it was early afternoon, and time to head There.

There, of course, was Tricks Are For Kids, which I’d been dreaming about for the last couple of months, despite only being able to find one fuzzy picture on the internet. Any route that requires 12+ green camalots was intriguing to me. So we hopped back in the truck drove to the Way Rambo parking lot, and started walking. We walked for a LONG time. And then we walked some more. Probably ~2 miles until we finally saw the right features on the cliff-line. This is approximately when we actually read the approach directions in the guidebook, where we discovered we were supposed to park across the Creek and ford it, instead of walking 2 miles from the Way Rambo parking. Oops.

Tricks are for Kids in all its glory (the line just left of center).

Well, we thought, at least there will be a trail up to the crag, right? Nope, no such luck. Hayden had told me earlier that Optimator was a more fun and better 5.13, but I just couldn’t believe him. I had, after all, been dreaming of Tricks for a long time. So, given Hayden’s warning, it maybe shouldn’t have been a surprise that there wasn’t really an approach trail up the long talus slope to the base of Tricks… he did say it wasn’t the most popular place to go.

I was starting to freak out about actually having enough time to try it (we had walked for a long time), but we were already slogging up the hill and the extremely long splitter was in view. It was beautiful and I was afraid. I quivered at the base. Somehow, Luke convinced me to rack up, since we were here. He tried to convince me that if I did it in 10 takes, it wouldn’t be so bad. He was very patient with me. I finally got up the nerve to touch the rock. I bouldered up the crappy rock step to the base of the crack. I put my fingers in. Sand came out. I placed a small cam. More sand came out. The beginning corner section, which you have to climb before getting to the splitter, looked very long from standing at the base. I pasted my feet on some sandy holds and tried to layback up the awkward finger flare. I shook and trembled and climbed back down to the ledge. I started to feel very silly bringing us all the way up here, if I couldn’t even get myself to climb the initial section. With a lot of encouragement, I dried my eyes and tried again (more sand), and downclimbed again. Luke was, again, extremely patient and understanding as I downclimbed to the ground and curled up in a ball of frustration and sadness.

Long story short… we packed up and hiked 2+ miles back to the car. At least we weren’t late for dinner.

I was quite crushed, as well as embarrassed and frustrated, but there was a lot of trip left and I knew I had to pull myself together and salvage something. Tricks isn’t, after all, the only good splitter in Indian Creek. I came back to reality and realized that, probably, I should do more 5.12s before trying to project my first 5.13 (duh?). Plus I wasn’t sure I could pull together the motivation to try Optimator this trip anyways. Enter Sacred Cow, which SK and S had seen on their Thanksgiving trip, and raved about its beauty. I made a concerted effort to refocus my months of obsessing onto Sacred Cow. Surprisingly, it worked…

Sacred Cow (line left of center, with awesome upper headwall splitter)

After another rest day, partially induced by bad weather, Luke and I got up early and hiked up to Scarface so he could try Death of a Cowboy. By late morning, the rest of the group was arriving and we waved goodbye, heading back down to the car, and drove over to Sacred Cow. My heart was pounding. In many ways, Sacred Cow was the perfect substitute for Tricks: not quite as remote (but still not in a crowded spot, we had the crag to ourselves), not as hard (5.12 vs. 5.13), just as long (160 feet), just as incredibly beautiful (perfect splitter cutting through a steep, wavy headwall). I climbed Fatted Calf as a warm-up, which turned out to be perfect, since it was similar sizes (the hardest part being the big #2 camalots section), but not as steep and half as long.

We moved over to the base of Sacred Cow. It was beautiful and, although I was still nervous, I was in a much better place than when we were at Tricks – excited and hopeful. I racked up – more red camalots and 2.0 friends than for Tricks, which is better for me. The climb started with a couple tough pulls up a 0.5 camalot sized corner, then a flare/changing corner that went quickly to yellow camalots. My confidence from having just done Fatted Calf was key as I placed the 3.0 Friend and stuck my whole arm in the crack to pull around a small roof. Then the hugest jug I have ever found in Indian Creek appeared right before the red camalot roof. I was feeling pretty psyched.

After chilling out and taking some deep breaths, I headed out the roof/bulge, which didn’t actually feel that steep. In no time I was above it, moving quickly through a sharp, slightly smaller (black metolius) corner before a perfect stance at the base of the final headwall splitter. I reminded myself that this was probably the hard part and not to celebrate too early. I started up the splitter, trying to focus on the positive (the green camalots that I’d saved for the splitter are a little tipped out, which means it’s 2.0 friends, which are better and easier) rather than the negative (holy crap the green camalots are kind of tipped out, I wish I had more 2.0″ pieces!!!), in addition to moving slowly and methodically. It took a little extra energy to place the cams above me, but then I could get a break from the weight of the rope  for a couple extra seconds while I climbed up to my piece.

I focused on each individual moment. Even when the anchor finally came in view above me, I forced myself to not pay too much attention to it. I was not really pumped, but I could feel fatigue setting in, so I paid extra attention to each hand and footjam, willing them to stay in place. The crack got a little slabbier and there was finally a wide enough spot to plug in a red camalot. I told my body to keep climbing and made the last couple moves to the anchor. I clipped it. I freaked out.

Psyched that I just freaking onsighted this amazing route.

By the time I got back down to the ground, I was really, really cold – I’d had to take off my climbing shoes to use as an weight when lowering the rope down to pull up a 2nd rope, and the weather had decided to crank up the wind while I was waiting, barefoot, at the anchor.

But it really didn’t matter at all. I was overwhelmed by an incredible euphoric send high, the best I’ve ever had. That day, that route, I broke through so completely. I know this was supposed to be the year of the redpoint project, but there’s something special about a hard onsight, especially when you’ve trained for months, and it’s your hardest onsight (or send of any type) ever. Especially on a route that incredible. I don’t think it’s just the send high talking when I say that it is, by far, the best pitch I’ve climbed in Indian Creek. I’ll probably be hard pressed to beat it (Six Star Crack, maybe?). More than that, I was able to turn an deep low (failing to be mentally or physically prepared for Tricks) into an amazing high, where everything clicked into place so perfectly. Experiences like that remind me why I climb.

You shouldn't believe every plaque you read...

So there you have it – just another average week in the Creek: unpredictable weather, struggling, sending, wondering why I try at all and then remembering very clearly all in the space of a few days. I’m not very good at dealing with disappointment, but I learned in this trip that I could. It would have been silly to just throw away all those weeks of training after one small defeat, so I was able to take my confidence in my abilities and refocus it elsewhere, to re-cast my goal (ok, I can still do Tricks, but when I’m really ready for it) and adjust my expectations on the fly. This is a pretty new skill for me, and I’m so glad to have had the experience.

Lizzy

Posted by Lizzy at 1:21 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Planet Granite Friction Series Final

Notes 2 Responses »
Apr 122011

I promise I’ll write something about Indian Creek soon, but in the meantime…

A few weeks ago I had a really fun time competing in open at the Belmont Planet Granite route comp (part of the Friction Series), and did well enough to qualify for a spot in the onsight final, the finale of both the Sunnyvale competition and the series (last Friday). I had initially been hoping to be in Yosemite that night, but many factors (sickness, stress, weather, possible government shutdown) made staying home for the weekend and attending this comp a better plan.

Shaking out on the easiest open route. (Photo thanks to Planet Granite)

I tried to keep my expectations reasonable: I had been sick and stressed out all week and I hadn’t climbed at all since the last day at the Creek, 2 weeks before. I felt good, though, as I warmed up, and I was 2 moves away from flashing the easiest open route (flash pumped, oops!). I made sure to rest a lot between efforts and easily made the 1st score zone on the next 2 harder open routes, turning in a respectable score, just a little lower than my score at the Belmont comp. I decided not to try the hardest open route, or to give more attempts on the other open routes, since I knew I needed to be as rested as possible for the final.

I had a surprisingly relaxed (as in, I was still pretty nervous, but it could have been way worse) attitude going into the final – I qualified 2nd out of 3 women, but the gal in 1st place is an amazing sport climber, and easily onsights much harder than I do. So the pressure was off to win, I was just nervous about making it high enough on the route to not embarrass myself in front of the crowd. I could definitely feel my nerves affecting my climbing (I’d never been in a final, let alone an iso + onsight final in front of a big crowd), overgripping and feeling shaky. However, I made it a respectable ~5 clips up. This was only good enough for 3rd place, but I still got $50 and one of our raffle tickets won a sweet North Face beanie.

Chalking up on the women's final route. (Photo thanks to Planet Granite)

It was actually a really fun experience and I was (pleasantly) surprised by the number of strangers who came up to me as we were leaving the gym to congratulate me… I usually keep a pretty low profile at the gym (or at least I think I do?). I only wish there were more women competing in open (come on ladies!) and that the route climbing series happened more than once a year.   Fortunately I have plenty to keep me busy in the coming months, including qualifying exam for my PhD, and I’m aching to spend more time outside (so please excuse me if I don’t post or tweet too frequently).

Lizzy

Posted by Lizzy at 4:29 pm Tagged with: ,

South Bay Duathlon

Notes 2 Responses »
Mar 182011

I spent a lot of the winter getting psyched on climbing again and running (and dealing with IT band issues – no fun). I recently signed up for a Long Course Tri in San Jose in June. This means 1mi swim, 56mi bike, 9mi run. This is long. Long enough that it would genuinely suck to go into it with insufficient training, so I’m making sure I’ll be ready.

Last weekend I did a little warm-up race down in Morgan Hill, CA to help me get back into the zone of racing and assess my fitness. I signed up for the sprint duathlon (vs. the international distance) so I could have a low-stress, fast race to get the feeling of riding my tri bike and doing my transitions.

Tri bike all set up in the transition area.

I drove down in the early morning light on Sunday and set up my bike in the transition area. I was really early, so I had plenty of time to do all of my pre-race routine at a leisurely pace, including a nice warm-up for my legs. We lined up to start at 9am and… we were off. I was initially hopeful I could stay with the leaders of the women’s wave, but I listened to my legs and eased back. I think the leaders were going 6:00 pace, which is definitely way too fast for me to start off my run. Fortunately, this fast start left me feeling very comfortable at a ~7:30 pace, which I was able to keep up for the first 2 mile run (2.2mi according to my Garmin). I had some minor bike shoe issues in T1 (not using my tri shoes, so I wouldn’t have to take my socks off), then headed out onto the bike. I felt good, but got passed more than I would have liked. I can tell that my cycling shape is not where it was last season, so it’s something to work on. T2 went very smoothly and I was out on the 2nd run, legs feeling tired but warm. I passed two women who’d passed me on the bike very early on into the run. Despite my tiredness, I was actually going a pretty good pace, not much slower than my first run. After a winter of half marathons, 2 miles went by really fast and in no time the finish was in sight. The announcer remarked on my strong kick (damn straight) as I came through the finish and I felt pretty awesome.

I ended up finishing 16th in the women’s division, and 1st in my age group (20-29) with a time of 1:08:37 for 2mi run, 10mi bike, 2mi run. It was a really perfect beginning-of-season race . It was not too stressful, helped me work out the kinks, showed me some current weaknesses (bike!), and I got to enjoy the benefits of all the running I’ve done the past 6 months. Hello, triathlon season!

Lizzy

P.S. Don’t worry, I’m totally still psyched on climbing, I pushed my next tri from April to May so I can have more weekends to climb in April and take advantage of my post-Creek fitness!

Posted by Lizzy at 1:27 pm Tagged with: , , ,

Pulling Plastic

Notes 3 Responses »
Mar 112011

Since winter returned to the Bay Area in mid February, we’ve been logging a lot of time in the gym, and as a result I’m climbing harder on plastic than I ever have before. Planet Granite has a series of route climbing competitions (free for members, which is cool) during the winter, so we decided to head up to the Belmont gym for some competitive plastic-pulling action.

Lizzy on open route 11 (photo thanks to Planet Granite)

Luke was planning on going to Jailhouse for the weekend (while I stayed at home and worked), so he graciously agreed to be my belay slave and beta gatherer, which was very awesome. My last experience at a Planet Granite route comp climbing in advanced (toprope only) was not super fun (only had time to climb 3 routes in 3 hours due to the lines), so I decided to climb open (my first time). Open is supposed to be 5.11d and harder, but I’d recently redpointed my first gym 5.12a, and the routes are usually graduated in difficulty with 3 score zones at ~1/3 height, 2/3 height, and the top, so I was fairly confident I could at least score on three of the four open routes. Also, I knew that very few women usually compete in open, so I had a pretty good chance of winning (which is always motivating).

We warmed up on non-comp TR routes to avoid the crowds, then I hopped on the easiest open route and made it to the 2nd score zone on my first try, which I was very happy with. Then another girl (who won) flashed that and the 2nd easiest open route, so I pretty much knew I was not going to win (I definitely don’t flash 5.11+/12- in the gym yet). This, surprisingly, was ok with me – I usually am competitive to a fault. Instead, I realized I could still get second in women’s open (still pretty cool) and qualify for the onsight finals at the last comp in the series, all without the pressure of needing to send on my first try. With my new relaxed attitude, I made it to the first score zone on the 2nd and 3rd open routes on my first try (the 4th, hardest route was just too crazy, I didn’t even try it), and made it to the 2nd score zone on one of them on my second try.

Lizzy moving out of Zone 1 on open route 11 (photo thanks to Planet Granite)

Luke flashing open route 9 (photo thanks to Planet Granite)

I had a super fun time hanging out with friends between burns, and it was an all around awesome confidence-boosting night. I ended up with 2nd in women’s open and had no regrets about how I climbed – I really pushed myself, I fell without fear, and I’m even currently in the 3rd slot for the onsight final (although I might be in Yosemite in hopes of sending Tales of Power, oops!). Thank you to Planet Granite for putting on a great event (and for making open routes that were fun, technical, and possible for a short person like me!).

Have you had any winter comp success?

Lizzy

Posted by Lizzy at 8:51 am Tagged with: , ,

3 Weeks to the Creek: Training Progress Report

Notes 20 Responses »
Feb 252011

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m super psyched for our spring break trip to Indian Creek. Not only do I LOVE crack climbing, especially beautiful Creek splitters, but I’ve also learned from experience that I need to put in the work and training to prepare myself for a successful trip. So training is what I’ve been doing, in a more focused way than I think I’ve ever trained for climbing before.

Feeling strong in the Creek in November 2009 (on Swedin-Ringle)

My primary focus was endurance, because I had great endurance on my last trip to the Creek, which helped me send a couple of my projects and not get pumped on any route (except one) until I was being lowered. It made a huge difference. I usually climb at the gym 2 nights a week, so I’ve started working an endurance night into most weeks: either a crack endurance night (climbing 2-3 laps on a crack without rest x 7-8 cracks = a lot of pitches) or a TR face climbing endurance pyramid (2 laps per route on  10b, 10c, 10d, 11a, 11b, 11a, 10c, 10a, or similar pyramid, with rests only between routes, to belay my partner).

On my other weekly climbing night, I’ve been pushing myself to try harder on lead and work on projecting things, rather than trying to onsight something and getting discouraged and moving on if I don’t send first try. Over the course of the past couple months, I’ve become more comfortable getting on routes that I can’t onsight. I’ve focused on being relaxed and playing on the moves, enjoying trying to push my highpoint. I’ve previously had a lot of trouble with nearly crippling anxiety before a hard lead (or, at it’s worst, before any lead), but now I’m relaxed and excited for a lead. I’m able to accept a little bit of nervousness and move on. I’ve also been improving a lot in my redpoints. I recently sent my first gym 12a on only my 3rd try (yes, until this week I’d climbed harder outside than inside, and I hope to revert to that state in the Creek!), and I hopped on another 12a (and fell, which was ok with me) right afterward.

I’m also running and doing core exercises regularly. In almost any measure (except for leading trad outside, for which the weather is not cooperating), I’m in better shape than my last Indian Creek trip (and I was in really good shape for that trip). My psych and confidence are high, my lead head is good, and I’m working really hard on school stuff to get as much done as possible before my little (well-deserved) vacation.

The only picture of Tricks are for Kids on mountainproject (from Karsten), doesn't it look AMAZING???

In other news, I really want to go check out Tricks Are For Kids at the Creek. I’ve scoured the internet for inspiring photos, but it’s slim pickens out there. Photos or beta to share would be awesome and greatly appreciated.

So, as it turns out, training works! Whoa. Imagine that. And I’m actually still enjoying my 2 nights of climbing in the gym (I’d previously thought training=drudgery=no fun). How’s your winter training going?

Lizzy

Posted by Lizzy at 12:03 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Yosemite Humble Pie

Notes, Trip Reports 12 Responses »
Feb 072011

One of my climbing goals for myself for 2011 is to work on projecting climbs. I have a strong tendency to idolize my dream climbs and save them for an onsight go. Sometimes, this works out great (as with Sunshine Dihedral). Other times, it does not. Although onsighting is a great skill to have, I know there is also a lot to be learned from taking the time to work through a route that is initially above my head (as with Swedin-Ringle, which, at 9 tries including successful redpoint, was my longest-worked-on trad project). Trying to onsight every “project” means (1) I’m setting myself up for disappointment, because the route might have unexpected difficulties that I’m not prepared for and (2) I have a harder time switching that route to a redpoint “project” because I put so emotional and physical energy into the thought/effort of onsighting it, that don’t want to get on it again. So, for good reason, I’m trying to make 2011 The Year of the Redpoint Project.

Fish Crack (left) and Crimson Cringe (right)

In between us and the base of Fish Crack and Crimson Cringe...

The awesome weather recently has meant that south-facing crags in the western part of Yosemite Valley (e.g. Cookie Cliff, Arch Rock, etc.) are perfect for climbing, even in February. This opportunity to start climbing in Yosemite unusually early in the year is perfect for my goal of projecting, because it means I have lots of time to try out routes and come back to them many times during the rest of this year. This past weekend, we did just that: go find routes a little off the beaten path (i.e. not in the SuperTopo book, gasp), get on them, and gather information for projecting.

On Friday morning, we pulled up to the Cascade Falls parking lot on Hwy 140 (just east of the Pat & Jack parking) and gazed through the trees towards Fish Crack and Crimson Cringe, two ultra-classic Yosemite cracks. We scrambled towards them and gazed at their awesomeness. We also gazed at the torrent of water separating us from the base of the climbs and the water draining from the base of Crimson Cringe. At least now we know where they are, and we can come back when the water level is lower – step 1 for projecting (find route). Plan B for the day was Tales of Power, which doesn’t have a nearby warm-up, so we went and top-roped Roadside Attraction.

Lower stem corner on Roadside Attraction.

We then drove back up to Hwy 120 and parked just east of the longest tunnel. We geared up and carefully worked our way down (starting at the eastern end of the tunnel) until Luke found the rappel trees above Separate Reality (yes, THE Separate Reality). We set fixed Luke’s 80m rope (I’m sure a 70m would be long enough, not sure about a 60m) and rappelled down past Separate Reality (which was wet in places) to the base of Tales of Power, which is basically directly below Separate. The entire rappel after the Tales of Power top anchor was freehanging – the route is STEEP.

Looking up at Tales of Power.

Very afraid at the base of Tales of Power.

I had been prepared and psyched for the “crux” steep thin hands, but when I made it to the sloping ledge at the base, I was terrified. The route starts with a leaning, overhanging squeeze chimney/slot, and finishes with another squeeze chimney. I am not very good at squeeze chimneys, because I’ve spent hardly any time learning how to climb them properly. I don’t think I’ve been so terrified of a route in a long time. Luke convinced me to rack up and try the squeeze, so I put cams on my gear loops and pulled on my Miuras in between sobs of terror. I stood in the base of the squeeze chimney and took deep breaths. I thrutched up and placed two cams, then took and lowered. I struggled up slightly past my highpoint, but couldn’t figure out how to transition from chimneying to climbing the flare (i.e. both hands and feet in the crack), and lowered again. I gave Luke the cams.

With a number of takes, Luke made it to the top. He agreed that the bottom squeeze/flare was hard and awkward, and he found the hand crack to be surprisingly painful. I put my shoes back on (to follow the pitch) and stood in the squeeze chimney again. I took more deep breaths. I thrutched up and took out cams. I slipped and squirmed some more and was able to transition into the flare (which felt really steep). I made it to a no-hands rest below the hand crack without falling. The hand crack was AMAZING. The jams were perfect for me the whole way and it didn’t feel as steep as it looked. The squeeze chimney at the end was another story. I sobbed and thrutched and hung on the rope. I eventually made it to the top.

The prize: beautiful, amazing, steep hand crack (the rope in the top of the photo can give you an idea of how steep it is).

I haven’t had a real climbing project since Thanksgiving 2009. I tried, but I just couldn’t seem to find any route that inspired me like my 2009 projects had. Despite all the sobbing and thrutching (or maybe because of it?) I have found a project again. I found a route that is truly inspiring (really, the hand crack is INCREDIBLE), that pushes me both physically (endurance fest) and mentally (steepness, exposure, fear of squeeze chimneys), and challenges me to become a better climber by learning new techniques (squeeze chimneying…) that I’ve previously avoided like the plague. I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m wondering when I can get in the gym and thrutch in the squeeze chimney next.

It’s amazing what a little humble pie and the right attitude (redpoint project, not onsight) can do. Instead of frustration, I’m filled with motivation. I want to work on my weaknesses. I want to go back and sit beneath the steepness and be afraid. I’d say this is a good start to The Year of the Redpoint Project.

Cramming at This and That Crag

Damage after Tales of Power + Cramming in same weekend. Notice different location of blood reflecting different hand sizes...

On Saturday, we did a little more exploring, climbing Cramming and Tips (which Luke really enjoyed) at the This and That Crag. I totally tore up my right hand through the combination of Tales of Power and Cramming. It was awesome. Luke still had some energy, so he also did Lunatic Fringe and Stone Groove at Reed’s Pinnacle. I had to go home on Sunday morning for some school-related stuff, so I dropped off Luke with Matt for a day at Jailhouse and I drove the truck home by myself. I felt awesome. I was floating. I still am, really. I have a project. It is not an onsight project. It is difficult for me in many ways. It will require a lot of effort to get ready for it, and to actually climb it. I couldn’t be happier.

Looking up at Tips at This and That Crag.

Do you want to join me in making 2011 The Year of the Redpoint Project? Do you already have some projects lined up for the year? Let me know in the comments and let’s share the psych!

Lizzy

Posted by Lizzy at 11:50 am Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Sweet Gear Review: Patagonia Hi-Loft R3

Reviews 3 Responses »
Feb 012011

The concept of a super fuzzy fleece is not a new one. I have been attracted to them for a while, but until now, I’ve always been disappointed: I’ve had major fit or function issues. Although it isn’t perfect, the Patagonia Hi-Loft R3 (revamped for Fall 2010) is pretty darn awesome. As a functional mid-layer, it performs exactly as I think a high loft fleece should: it is extremely breathable, plus it’s extra fuzzy texture helps trap air and keep me warmer (previous fleeces, in my experience, have not been warm enough despite their fuzziness, or have not been breathable because they were “windproof”). As such, the R3 is not “windproof”, but works basically as well as an insulated jacket (e.g. when layered under a shell) to keep me warm.

Women's Hi-Loft R3 Hoody (image from Patagonia.com)

Once I got my Hi-Loft R3, I basically found myself wearing it all the time, which surprised me because I had previously given up on fleece in favor of down or synthetic insulation. These kept me warm and breathed decently well, although they definitely lacked some ease of movement. The new Hi-Loft R3 fabric is very stretchy, so doesn’t restrict your movement like a denser fleece, or a traditional insulated layer might. The R3 also feels lighter than other fleeces of comparable warmth.

In terms of features, the Hi-Loft R3 is just right. It has what you need (hand-warmer pockets plus one small chest pocket) without excessive doo-dads that you don’t.

The Hi-Loft R3 is a great layer for underneath my DAS Parka.

The Hi-Loft R3 is slightly different in the men’s and women’s versions, and since Luke and I both have one, we’ll both give you a couple thoughts about the characteristics of the Women’s Hoody / Men’s Jacket:

Women’s Hi-Loft R3 Hoody

The Women’s Hi-Loft R3 is a hoody, which I think is great! The hood has a perfect not-too-tight and not-too-baggy fit that allows it to fit comfortably over my head (pony-tail or not) and underneath the hood of a shell, or my DAS Parka. The hood isn’t big enough to fit over my helmet, but I can fit it under (although I’d need to adjust my helmet a little bigger).

Generally, I think the R3 Hoody has a more flattering fit than comparable “monkey fleece”-style jackets (I’ve had similar jackets made by Mountain Hardwear and The North Face) – it is not cut like a box/bag and is long enough in the torso and sleeves (unlike my previous fuzzy fleeces). Patagonia XS (and I assume the entire size range) seems to have been getting larger over the last couple years, which is sad for me, because the R3 Hoody, even in XS, has a little looser fit than I would really like. (This sizing issue in XS also holds true for many other pieces of Patagonia outerwear, including the new R1, the Down Sweater, the Nano Storm, the Micropuff.) A loose fit makes it harder to wear the R3 under my tighter fitting shells, but it does mean I can easily wear it over my Down Sweater Vest.

I wasn’t super excited about the colors that the R3 was offered in for Fall 2010, so I ended up choosing brown (an unusual choice for me, I usually go with bright), and it has been a great choice. It doesn’t end up looking dirty (like some of the lighter color choices might) and is a great color for wearing to school, or to the crag.

Need a matching outfit? The R3 checks in for belay duty!

Men’s Hi-Loft R3 Jacket

The Men’s Jacket lacks the fuzzy hood, but gets an external chest pocket and is offered in an amazing yellow color. Following comments by Luke:

When I first saw the new R3 I wanted it. The yellow screamed out to me and in that over the top kinda way I hope it would be “cool”. When my new fuzzy jacket arrived I wore it all the time. The material is soft to the touch both inside and out.

The first weeks had me wearing it around the town and eventually it made its way into my climbing pack. In the mornings when skateboarding to the train station, I could tell that the R3 breathed well while still keeping me warm.

In California the R3 is perfect for most cool weather situations. Traveling over the holidays the R3 layered well under a jacket to keep me warm during the small blizzard that hit the east coast .

As a climber, the R3 is great for active situations. I would throw it on right after a climb and the fleece would breath out my sweat and keep me dry. For long approaches and alpine climbing I expect the R3 is a bit heavy since it doesn’t offer much more warmth than the Nano Puff. However the fit is much more flattering and the jacket is stretchy and moves with my body.  In the size that I tried (a medium) I appreciated that the R3 was long enough to tuck under my harness. This really helped keep in the warmth and kept it out of the way while climbing.

Check out the differences between mens and womens Hi-Loft R3

Conclusion: the Hi-Loft R3 is a great lightweight, yet warm mid-layer fleece, perfect for the climbing gym, around town, or chilly belays at the crag. The fit may not be perfect for smaller women (like me), but in my experience, this slight negative is more than made up by the great function of the R3. Also, the hood on the Women’s Hoody is awesome.

Full Disclosure:  Lizzy purchased the R3 Hoody first and  Luke was provided a sample by Patagonia for review. The opinions expressed above are those of the reviewers and reflect our experience with these jackets.  Feel free to leave comments regarding your opinion of the Hi-Loft R3.

For more Sweet Gear reviews from Luke and Lizzy check out our Gear Reviews page.

Posted by Lizzy at 11:41 am Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Winter is for Training

Notes 9 Responses »
Jan 182011

Winter here means two things: training and skiing. Storms come through and dump tons of snow in the mountains, which means a lot of granite areas are covered in snow (or snow melt), but the ski slopes are also fantastic. Skiing turns a negative (storms –> no climbing) into a positive (great skiing!). But all skiing and no climbing isn’t very good preparation for an awesome Spring Break climbing trip (Indian Creek, this year), so training is the other important theme of winter in NorCal.

In the past, I haven’t really focused on training much, since having fun and staying psyched is higher on my priority list (because training is hard to do when you’re not actually psyched or having fun). Now, however, I am really excited about returning to the Creek, and I realized how my “training” in Fall 2009 (climbing regularly in the gym and on the weekends) lead to a very successful Creek trip in Thanksgiving 2009. I want to be strong physically and mentally for our trip this year, and this doesn’t just happen without a little bit of work.

Crack technique, endurance, a good mental space, and general fitness are all key for any good Creek trip (at least in my previous experience), so I’m focusing on those for the next ~2 months.

This is how we feel about the cold, damp, fog-cloud weather.

Crack Technique

The weather isn’t great for much actual crack climbing right now, so for the time being I’m just doing lots of laps on the cracks in our climbing gym. I’ll definitely want to be getting outside to climb cracks before our trip, if nothing else to do laps at the Grotto. In particular, many of my potential projects involve fingerstacks, so I’ll be getting my technique dialed for that crack width.

Endurance

Routes in the Creek are long and often involve doing the same move (e.g. handjam + footjam) over and over again. Endurance is really important. Great crack technique will get you nowhere if you still get pumped after only 30 feet of handjams. I’m working on endurance in the gym, both on lead (long, steep, challenging-for-me routes) and on TR (multiple laps on a route with no rest, and hopefully no falls). I’m also trying to generally climb more (while still listening to my body and not pushing myself to injury) to work on my all-day endurance. Last year, it took me about 4 hours to recover after a very committed redpoint effort on Digital Readout (I fell about 3 feet below the anchor – I was crushed and exhausted). In general, I’d like to be able to recover faster and climb more pitches per day.

Gosh, look at the great views from the crag!

Mental Space

The Creek is a great place to push myself on lead, because the gear is solid, the falls are generally clean, and the nearly infinite variety of climbs provide perfect challenges. When I don’t climb (and lead, and fall) consistently, I become a little less brave.  I need to be in a good mental space before our trip in order to take advantage of my potential. I’m working on pushing myself in the gym and planning to lead more outside (as soon as the crag stops seeping – wet holds make me a huge wimp).

General Fitness

General fitness is usually a good thing for my climbing fitness. I’ve been going to the Abs and Core class at our local climbing gym regularly, and I’ve started to notice my core actually getting stronger, which is beneficial for climbing, running, cycling, etc. I’m also planning on doing more half marathons and triathlons this year, so keeping my fitness level up is important. Running and cycling (and, when it gets a little warmer, swimming) are incorporated into my average week.

Heading back home after a winter training day at the Table Mountain.

I am lucky to not be taking any classes this quarter, so I have a very flexible schedule – work when I’m most efficient (including the weekend if I’m not climbing), take breaks to train (run, bike, climb, etc.), and actually have time to go to the grocery store so we can eat well. I won’t be so lucky, training-wise, during Spring Quarter, so I hope to take advantage of the flexibility of this quarter so I’m in a good place before the somewhat crazy times of April and May.

What are your winter training plans?

Lizzy

Posted by Lizzy at 8:08 am Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Ski Adventures, December 2010

Trip Reports No Responses »
Jan 012011

I wasn’t one of those lucky kids whose parents put them on skis not long after they learned to walk: I didn’t discover snow sports until high school, when many of my friends had decided to switch from skiing to snowboarding, so until last year, snowboarding was all I knew. But I decided to try out skiing and I’ve never looked back!

Truck windows are excellent targets for snowball-throwing.

This fall was a crazy quarter of school, so we needed a good outdoor decompression day after finals and before Christmas. The forecast was for a lightly snowy day at Kirkwood, so we packed up the ski stuff, got up early, and headed into the mountains. It wasn’t super cold, but it was snowing A LOT when we got to the ski area, and it continued snowing a lot all day. We hadn’t quite planned on that much snow (meaning our legs and butts were all fairly wet by the end of the day, due to the constant barrage of wet snow), but it turned out to be an amazing day with zero lift lines (hardly any other people on the mountain, really) and fresh tracks basically every run (even though the snow was on the heavier side). It was my first time skiing full runs of ungroomed heavy powder, but it wasn’t too bad. It took a little extra motivation to head back out after lunch, with our not-so-dry clothing, but it was well worth it and we had run after awesome run until the lifts closed.

Our plan for the days between Christmas and the start of winter quarter had been to climb in Joshua Tree, but non-ideal weather forecasts made the long drive seem not so exciting. The “bad” weather looked great for skiing, though, so we decided to head up to Kirkwood for two days of powder! These things never go as planned, though, so both ways into Kirkwood were closed due to snow/avalanche issues (and the lifts were closed due to wind) most of the day, so we were “stuck” in South Lake Tahoe. We had all had more than enough hanging out inside over the holidays, so we decided to do some cross-country skiing so we could play outside. After a little driving around and a couple calls, we made it to the Spooner Lake Cross-Country ski area, where we rented some gear and headed out on the trails.

Lover's Leap looked pretty snowy (on the way to South Lake Tahoe).

It was my first time on cross-country skis, so it took a little while to get used to them, but I got the hang of it eventually and we spent an excellent 3 hours skiing around Spooner Lake and part of the way to Marlette Lake. Beer sausages, showers, and some Mythbusters episodes at the Matterhorn Motel in South Lake were a great end to a great day, even though we didn’t end up making it to Kirkwood.

Beautiful weather for skiing!

SK is psyched to be outside!

Fortunately, all our waiting paid off and the pass between South Lake and Kirkwood was open the next morning, so we got up early to catch first chair for a beautiful powder day.

It had snowed a lot on the previous day, and since the lifts had never opened, there were still A LOT of fresh tracks to be had. It was only my 5th day of skiing, but after some warm-up runs and some very helpful advice (plant pole ahead and downslope to help initiate your turn, especially when turning around bumps) we ended up on some excellent steep powder-y black and double-black terrain. I was actually surprised to find that I already felt much more comfortable on steep terrain on skis than on my snowboard, even though I’m still not as good at skiing as I used to be at snowboarding.

Lizzy & SK (red & blue jackets, center) skiing over to Chair 2 at Kirkwood.

All in all, it was a great couple days of playing in the snow, and a much more fun way to be outside in the cold than shivering in Joshua Tree. It’s been really fun to be improving a lot with each additional day that I ski, although the cost of ski trips (more than climbing trips, often) and our upcoming pilgrimage to Indian Creek in March mean that I definitely won’t be skiing every weekend. Fortunately, I think climbing and skiing can totally coexist here in NorCal over the winter, so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time for both.

Have you had any fun winter snow or ice adventures yet?

Posted by Lizzy at 5:21 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

Hello, 2011!

Notes 2 Responses »
Dec 212010

2010 has been an interesting year. It hasn’t been at all what I expected (especially climbing-wise, particularly when compared with 2009), but there have still been many great experiences and anyways, I think having “off” years makes me appreciate the “on” years that much more. Rather than rehash what adventures have or have not gone as planned this year, I thought instead I’d share some of the exciting things we already have planned for next year. Because 2011 is going to be awesome and I’m PSYCHED.

After running 50k, Luke is more excited about running shorter distances.

January will be a good month for me to focus on getting some solid time in research-wise during the week, since I’m only taking one class this fall and we don’t have any really major adventures planned yet. You can be sure that there will be climbing (training for our Spring Break adventure, see below), skiing (since I have a Kirkwood season pass this year), and running (1/2 marathon #3 will be the last weekend of January). I’ve been trying to convince Luke to do a few triathlons with me and he is considering starting swimming lessons in January. After completing the TNF 50k, he is more focused on running shorter races that involve less preparation and recovery and allow him to run faster.

February will probably be pretty similar to January, with lot’s of time devoted to work, but still plenty of time to climb (Spring Break is coming soon!), ski, run, and maybe get out my tri bike again. Luke is very excited for spring break and hopes to spend most of February training and getting out to some of the “local” sport climbing areas near Sonora.

Psyched about the Creek!!!

March will be crazy, as it always is, because the quarter ends (finals are always during my birthday) and it is time to get outside for a longer trip. This year we will plan on returning to the Creek, hopefully with a psyched and fun crew, a solid base of training, many sets of fingers crossed for good weather, and better planning (derived from my lack of appropriate planning to deal with unexpected circumstances during our 2010 spring break trip).

April is also already looking busy – I’ll be heading back home to Seattle for a couple days, hopefully doing my first Olympic triathlon, and we’ll be organizing Yosemite Tweetup (April 23/24 weekend). We already have campsites reserved in Lower Pines for the tweetup and we’re working on some other cool ideas – I think it’s going to be a really great weekend. All this while I’m doing some serious work on my thesis proposal, talking to my committee members, and cramming for quals… Luke will be focusing on running most of April in preparation for his 2nd road marathon, Big Sur, on May 1st.

I <3 running?

May is Quals month. I don’t have a date yet, but it’ll be in the first half of the month, so I’m trying to keep my weekends free for now. I hope that I’ll be able to take some time away from study/work to play outside before my quals, but it’s way too early to commit to anything. Hopefully Luke will pick up my slack climbing-wise this month (as he pretty much always does) and I’ll still get out there. I’d also love to squeeze another race in, which might end up being a good compromise for a pre-Quals weekend. Weather this year was not so good and Luke wasn’t able to spend as much time on El Capitan as he expected. Hopefully by May the rock in Yosemite will dry out and he will get back on Freerider with Stein.

June is a big month for Luke and I. Stay tuned for more on that :)

That’s about as far as I’ve really planned in advance for now. I know I’ll be returning to South Africa again for a couple weeks this summer to do some more sample collecting and other assorted geologizing, but there should still be plenty of time for alpine climbing adventures and more triathlons. Next fall should hopefully be a lot less crazy than this fall, which will hopefully be conducive for SK and I to attempt our girl power + baked goods ascent of the North Face of the Rostrum (which we had planned for this year, but it just wasn’t happening).

El Cap will still be there to climb in 2011

Motivation and psyche are always a struggle and an enigma for me, so as always one of my major goals for next year is to find the right balance between challenging myself and still having fun. I feel like I’ve learned a lot this year and I’m hopeful that I can apply that to make next year a more “successful” (or at least more prolific) climbing season than this year.

Do you have any sweet plans for 2011?

Lizzy

Posted by Lizzy at 11:42 am Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Mud, Hills, Exhaustion, Success: TNF EC Weekend

Notes 5 Responses »
Dec 132010

The first weekend of December was another no-climbing weekend (it rained, anyways). Usually, no-climbing weekends are “rest” weekends. This was not particularly the case, because we are not quite ridiculous enough yet to find running considerable distances on hilly, muddy trails relaxing. It was, however, incredibly awesome. Luke and Julie ran 50k (~31 miles), I ran a half marathon (13.1mi), and Josh was an excellent support crew.

Josh and Julie drove up from LA on Friday and we all piled in to the trusty RAV and drove up to the race hotel in Sausalito. We turned in early, because the next morning was going to be an early wake-up (although the 50 mile started 2 hours earlier, so I can’t complain too much).

Sunrise at Tennessee Valley aid station

After a little bit of last-minute freaking out and getting lost, I successfully dropped off Luke, Julie, and Josh at the race start and drove to the first aid station (~4 miles into the race). It was still dark when I got there, but 50 mile runners were still coming through (with headlamps – pretty awesome). Luke and Julie started running at 7am and reached the aid station ~40 minutes later. They were through quickly, so Josh (who had taken a race shuttle to the aid station from the start) and I hopped in the car and drove to the 2nd crew-able aid station (3 out of 7 were crew-able), which was another ~10 miles of running for Luke and Julie.

Luke and Julie (and other runners) heading out of aid station at 4 miles.

We waited in the rain while 50 mile runners came through (I think this was ~19 miles on their course). This was pretty awesome to watch all these ridiculous people come through. I mean, they still had really far to go at this point, which is also pretty ridiculous. Luke and Julie finally came through, within 10 minutes of each other. They seemed ok, but the rain and clay-ey soil were clearly not doing good things for the trails. Julie runs in FiveFingers, which have especially bad (as in no) traction in mud, so she was not so happy about that.

Luke heading back into Tennessee Valley at ~25.5 miles

At this point, it was time to get back in the car and head back down to the first crew-able aid station, which Luke and Julie would pass through again at mile ~25.5. We knew we had tons of time to get there, so we made a detour by Starbucks because it was not particularly warm outside (especially when you are standing around getting rained on). This was a Good Idea, especially because Luke and Julie both took considerably longer than expected to reach the aid station.We kept getting excited about the shirt color of the very small dots running down a distant hill, only to find that said dots were not Luke or Julie. They got there eventually.

We swapped out Luke’s wet socks for a dry pair and Julie’s muddy FiveFingers for actual shoes, then they were on their way for the final 6 miles (separated by ~40 minutes at this point), which included a final climb and descent.

Finisher medals!

It was muddy out there.

I shuttled myself to the finish with plenty of time to see Luke finish, and Josh did the same in time to see Julie finish. Luke’s time was 6:35:03 and Julie’s was 7:09:19. That is a lot of time to be running, if you ask me. I think they are pretty awesome. Showers, dinner, and relaxing were in order, with another early bedtime.

Julie finished!

Sunday morning was my turn, so we all piled into the car at early-O-clock and drove to the race start. I’ve actually done a decent number of races this year, so I was accustomed to the pre-race nerves and followed my usual routine (which makes me feel moderately prepared). The only depressing thing was when the announcer called our race a “sprint”. Ouch.

This is me making me "I'm trying to smile, but I'm really nervous" face.

Everyone lined up to start the half marathon.

Anyways, I started near the front and focused on not running too fast in the first mile. Just because other people are passing me doesn’t mean I need to expend all my energy to not get passed. This might seem obvious now, but in the heat of the moment, I do have to actively remind myself of simple truths like this. My course had ~2300ft of elevation gain spread approximately evenly between 3 “mountains”, the first of which I encountered in the 4 mile stretch to the first aid station. This wasn’t too bad, although I still walked a little, and I focused on not going too fast on the descent (I’ve learned that running fast downhills irritates my IT band).

I gave my long sleeve to Luke at the aid station and ran through, heading off for the 2nd (steepest) climb/descent. This one was definitely more challenging, both uphill and downhill, because of the grade. Mr. IT band was not feeling very happy after that downhill, even though I leaned back as much as I could.

Running out of Tennessee Valley aid station @ 4 miles.

Thanks for cheering me on, guys!!!

Nevertheless, there was only one more mountain before the finish, and on the way I got to see Luke, Julie, and Josh again at the aid station (mile 8). My legs were much more tired on the final ascent, so my walking:running ratio was much higher. And it was raining. Oh well. I was happy to finally reach the long downhill, although not so happy when the last aid station said I was at 10.5 miles and my Garmin said 11. I tend to believe my Garmin…

Those last 3 miles were about gritting my teeth and just keeping moving. There was a very small amount of slight uphill before the finish, where my tired legs begged to walk, but I was just focusing on the shirt of the woman I’d been passing back and forth for the past 4 or 5 miles because I knew I should be able to keep up. When I finally saw the finish line, I was super psyched and somehow my legs had the energy for a nice finishing sprint! My time was 2:36:14 (for 13.85 miles, according to my Garmin), which I was really happy with. My quads were tired from my modified downhill running, but my IT band was substantially less painful (and recovered much faster) than Nike Women’s Half, which is even more awesome considering this course was much hillier. I also ran a 22k (~14mi) 3200ft elevation gain trail race in Malibu in ~3:05 back in May 2009 (which involved approximately zero training – I was just happy to finish), so this was a considerably better effort and result than that.

Sprinting it to the finish

Happy to be sitting down.

The course was challenging, but I really enjoyed the whole experience. It was really cool to be part of an event with such serious ultra-runners and to do a half marathon so completely different from the Nike half. Since my current super-stealth long-term goal is to do a Half Ironman (and by do, I mean be well-prepared for and hopefully crush…) in summer 2012, I’m hoping to get a fair number of half marathons on a variety of courses under my belt so 13.1 miles can feel like “no big deal” after swimming 1.2 miles and cycling 56 miles. I’m not there yet, but I still have a lot of time.

In the meantime, I’m really enjoying running and I think it’s been great cross-training, for both motivation and fitness. We did actually climb outside this past weekend (gasp) and I’ll be skiing next week, so no need to fear that this is turning into a running blog. If, on the other hand, you want to read more about the Endurance Challenge, you can check out Julie’s blog about the weekend, or the excellent coverage on iRunFar.

Lizzy

Posted by Lizzy at 9:05 am Tagged with: , , ,
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