Bham kids be spreading out. Grant Nailen has moved to Florida to shuck oysters for the summer and I have moved to the mountains. Hopefully I'll get to visit, and so will he. This is a picture of where I'm staying for the next few months, thank you Cara and Craigslist!

Ice, NC, and the greatest choss pile in Alabama

I know it has been a minute but, it has been crazy times. After David, Craig and I left NC, they headed to LRC in Chatty, and I went home. I had an absolute blast, hanging out with the folks, getting to see both my sisters, reading Sirs books, and climbing all over Alabama. I lost a cam at Steele, my ego at FAR(local kids are getting strong), skin at HP40, and some chedder at the bars! All worth it if you ask me. After long debate, and much consideration I packed my gear, sold a car, and moved to Asheville, NC. It was a hard desicion to take a break from the trip, but it turned out to be the right call. While David and Craig crush V10 at Hueco and Bishop, I'll get my multi pitch feet wet on some of the tallest, most runout and scariest crags the East coast has to offer. A rotator cuff injury at the local gym, and some extremely cold weather has the bouldering sidelined for now, but soon it will be "on like a chicken bone!" As for the gym it ain't no FAR, every time I go to climbax it makes me miss First Ave, lets just say there are a quarter of the problems, half the quality, greasy holds and it is more expensive?!?!?! But the locals are great, the beer is the best I've had anywhere, and the amount of climbing is intense. Here are a few pictures from the last 2 months, please forgive the quality, I don't have Craig skills......yet. Much love.






After moving to Asheville, I was fortunate enough to get a opportunity to climb some ice. It was t-shirt weather and the ice was melting fast. This all made for great climbing, unexpected falls, and the scary sound of a 100lbs of ice falling around you! Special thanks to Matt and Tanner fo showing me the ropes and letting me borrow a helmet.



Little River Canyon...Lizard Wall. It rained all day but not on us!

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Little Rock City

Had to post this picture of this stupid problem. I have left my guide somewhere, but thought I remembered this being a V6. It was not, it was stupid, next time......scratch that there will be no next time on this. Patio roof traverse stupid, patio roof established problems...SWEET!

Bouldering at the Bald, chillin with the locals.

Here are a few pictures from the bouldering session today. We met up with a few kids from Asheville who showed us around the eastern side of the Bald. Today was a killer day! David and I woke up at 6:30 and had a good breakfast, and bad coffee. We decided to take a trip to the top of the bald, which turned out to be one of the best views of the trip. After a scramble back to the car, we woke Craig, met up with the Asheville crew, and commenced with the rock scaling. The east side was sick, and the company was excellent. The temps were perfect for being on a rope but no complaints here. We were able to get a tour from Tanner, and checked out some sweet trad lines that demand a return with a rack. The climbing hotties were also out today and led to the quote of the day. Upon telling Craig that I thought a certain young lady was smoking hot but kinda nuts Craig replied, "I like nuts!" (Knew it!) It is just one of many accidentally gay statements, made by straight guys, so far on this trip. I would post the others but I'm trying to keep this somewhat clean. Let's just say that 3 goofy dudes that drink protein shakes on the daily slip up on the slang sometimes. Beth is letting us stay at her house tonight, which means showers and good sleep. Thanks again Beth! Good picture(as always) good times, much love.

Stealth mode

The guide book, internet, and the locals have let us know, there is no camping at Rumbling Bald. So we drove around today (after a early morning bouldering session, of course) looking for a place to camp. So far the best offer was $250 for 3 weeks. We said thank you and drove away. Thus, the first Stealth Mode week is underway. Wisely we had already downsized the gear and are prepared. The tourists looked at us strange when we scooped a pot of water out of the creek and cooked some hotdogs at the entrance to Chimney Rock State Park, but tourist always look at us strange. Thats what tourists do, look at things strange, take a picture, buy a candle from the cute little stores, and leave. Something about all the tourist in this town bothers me, maybe it's the towns people that make me dislike the tourists. They all seem angry about all these strangers and are far less receptive to a group of climbing dirtbags, kind of a buy something or get out attitude everywhere you go, shame because this place is beautiful. But, enough of that. We climbed, we took a bike ride on a golf course and on some trails, and have been hanging out in the grocery store for a few hours. After this we are off to find a place to camp, and hope we aren't disturbed by any law enforcers. Tomorrow more climbing, more searching, more enjoying the journey. Much love, peace out!



These are a few pics from the Bald. Our view during hotdog lunch(thanks Beth), David on Dimecrack V4, and yours truly on Classic Overhang V3(a problem I've been wanting to do for awhile, last time I only had one crashpad, and nobody with me, but the problem looked like a blast, and it was!)

Recharged, slightly hungover, safe, and psyched.

Couple of photos, mostly from Asheville, and one last goofy shot with Edna. Ashevile is one of my favorite cities, the food is good and the people are super chill. We stayed 2 days with Hutch, Beth, Hutch2, Elliot, and Guilian. They left yesterday and we pulled the vehicles under a overpass to stay out of the rain. After consolidating the gear and packing the unneeded supplies in the Riv, we headed over to MastGeneralStore to see a friend. After checking out the store, Chris showed us around Ashville. We ended up at a killer brewery called "the Wedge", where Moja was allowed and the beer was some of the best I have ever had. We all crashed at Ransom's. It's now morning, I'm as rested as I'm ever going to be on the road, and ready to crush some boulders. Forecast looks like sun and snow this next week. Much love.

So far it's been a sweet trip, good climbs and hikes. We packed up Pikey camp 2000 and with the Red in the rearview, we are on the road again. David and Craig took the van and I followed in the Riv, after a few hours on the country music hwy we hit a traffic jam, but no worries and no real time frame. We are visiting with some of my family in Asheville, NC for the day and then headed to the Bald to pull on some granite.



Pictures from the 18 mile hike david and I took. Actually it would be more correct to say pictures from the 5 mile hike that we all took. Craig was carrying way to much equipment to justify hiking the entire 18 so after 5 miles he turned back to the car. David and I continued across the Red and Natural Bridge state park. 18 miles in 9 hours. Fastest 2 miles 17 minutes, slowest mile took the better part of an hour. Around Angel Windows we lost the trail but kept our bearing and after a MountainHouse meal and refilling the water, finished the hike. The van was a welcome sight. Respect for Daniel Boone.
This is some random fall with a cool streaked wall, and creation falls, one of the coolest places for a safety meeting so far.