What happened to that nice blue sky?…

Sorry Eddie, your face looks like it was consumed by a black hole…

So what do you do? Well… usually I adjust my exposure so you can see the climber, maybe slightly under exposed. Then I’ll do my best to crop as much of the over exposed sections out later. Like so…

It’s not horrible, but it’s not great either. A better solution is to expose the photo for the background, then add a flash into the mix to light up the climber. I’ve just started doing this with limited success so far:

It’s not wonderful yet, but it’s getting there.

Unfortunately, Marty’s fallen on some hard times and is in need of financial support for medical bills. I’ll let Greg Opland’s post on mountain project explain the details:

First off, Marty is alive, so this isn’t a horrible post.
Too many of those lately.

But, Marty was bouldering last week up by Salt Lake City while he was there for the OR show, and cratered into the pads. They saved his head and shoulders, but his leg augered in under him and he came out with a badly broken femur. He was in the hospital for a bit while they plated and screwed his leg back together, but he is expected to make a full recovery. He is returning to Phoenix sometime today.

Now for the bad part… Marty didn’t have medical insurance. Friends have set up an account in case other friends and partners in the community want to donate to help him out with what I’m sure are pretty horrendous medical bills. I believe the PRG guys are working on a couple of fund raiser projects as well, so stay tuned for info on those. Marty has spent a load of his own money over the years putting up a boatload of great routes in the Phoenix area (and elsewhere), so maybe this is a good time for some of us to pony up and help him out.

If you’d like to help Marty out, here’s the account info:

Marty Karabin Recovery Fun
Wells Fargo
Name on the account: Robert Olson
Acct Number: 9613232793

Note: To donate to the account, you need to provide the name on the account and the account number. The name on the account (because he set it up) is Robert Olson.

Here’s a couple of pictures of poor Marty recovering…

Get well soon Marty!

Shadows, well lit areas, DARK areas… so fun! Check out the rest of the pictures here.

I used my Canon 40D with a 430EX flash set to manual with a cheapo $30 remote flash trigger bought off ebay.

Check out more pictures of shirts I’ve designed.

The full story however doesn’t end there….

Kiddy pool from Fry’s: $7
Two blocks ice from QT: $3.50
Massage after getting a sore neck from cramming yourself into a kiddy pool for a couple hours: $65
Telling your friends you can’t climb because you injured your neck in a kiddy pool: PRICELESS!

Let the snowboarding season begin!

Most devious crux: Kor-Ingalls
I didn’t know I was at the crux until I was in the air!

Worst approach: Snake Dike
Most run-out: Snake Dike
Only route I bailed off of: Snake Dike
No… I didn’t bail off of it because of the runout. After going through that horrible hike, and climbing five pitches of pretty boring runout climbing it started to rain on us

Biggest shit your pants move: North Face/West Crack of Oak Creek Spire
The five plus foot jump across the void from the summit of the lower spire onto the wall of taller spire has to be the scariest single moment of my climbing career.

Scariest pitch: pitch 4 of Stolen Chimney
This was some intense exposure with a crazy summit.

Most hilarious: Community Pillar
I didn’t know climbing could be so funny!

Best crack: The Prow
This is a super cool route with neat face-climbing-like movement. I’ve only TR’ed it, but I want to go back and try for a send!

Most surprising flash: The Bat Cave
Super cool problem with TONS of pockets. It’s a miracle that I hit the right pockets on my first try.

Most uncomfortable seat: Traitor Horn
It looked good from the belay, but when you get up there it’s like trying to sit on a greased pig.

Worst rock: Rink-Kudo
Yeh, super shitty rock. Thought I was going to die. You can read more about it here.

Most mosquitos: Matthes Crest
The mosquitoes were really on the approach… the long, long, long approach. They came in SWARMS! Seriously, reapplying bug repellent kept them off your skin, but they just hovered around you. Blood thirsty little bastards!

Most proud to send: Regular Route of Higher Cathedral Spire
Total Valley test piece! Cool face climbing moves with super exposed climbing… my kinda climb.

… and last but not least …

Most phallic spire: Totem Pole
This erect piece of rock was hard! There was lots of sweating and grunting that left me tired as a dog.

We decided to try a new place in Upper Devil’s Canyon called The Beach. Marty’s little guide to Upper Devil’s did a good job of leading us there without too much trouble. The Beach itself is a relatively small area with climbs ranging from 5.9 to 5.13. The crag is approached from the top, so it makes it easy to setup top ropes on some of these stiff routes.

We ended up climbing a couple of 10s, a couple of 11s (one which was uber classic dihedral/face/arete that I want to go back and send), and a 12 (overhanging arete with a crap start but decent climbing the rest of the way).

Despite being super cold and actually getting snowed on a little, it was a good time. The Beach has a couple of good climbs, and is great if you just want to top rope climbs in the 10+ to 12 range.

Check out the rest of the pics from the trip here. Pictures taken by Erin and Sav… yeh, I lugged my big camera all the way down there and didn’t take any pictures myself!

There was a pretty decent turnout. The competitors were 90% kids… who climb stronger than I.

Overall, Mike put together a good comp.

The only gripe I had was the total lack of swag. They raffled off ONE pair of shoes, threw out maybe four ABS shirts, and gave out crappy little ribbons to almost everyone. This is the least amount of shit I’ve seen given out at any comp I’ve been to. Hell, I went to Climbmax’s showing of the Reel Rock Film tour a month or so ago and they had LOADS of stuff raffled off. Now they have a comp and can’t find anything except a pair of shoes to give out?

Ohh well, it was a good comp and I had fun anyway.

So… how did I do? I placed 1st in the intermediate category. 1st is great and all, but with intermediate I feel like I just won the special olympics. I signed up for intermediate because I didn’t think I would be climbing very strong. Lack of training and overall climbing time lately has my endurance down for harder routes.

Now Tim, I know you’re going to accuse me of sandbagging my way through this comp and I ASSURE you that isn’t the case. I actually thought if I climbed two advanced problems I would get bumped up. Turns out you need three advanced problems.

Check out the rest of my pictures from the comp.