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.

The best place to buy cheap climbing shoes, hands down, is the REI garage sale. Here in Phoenix, both of the REI stores have bi-annual garage sales where anything that was returned gets sold as ridiculous prices. Slightly used shoes are sold for $20. Almost new shoes are sold for $40. Now, when I say slightly used, I mean VERY slightly… you can tell they’re used, but they have probably 90% rubber left on them. And when i say almost new, I mean you cannot tell they were ever worn.

I’ll pick up 5 or 6 pairs of climbing shoes for the price of one new pair. You can’t be super picky on brands or models, but sometimes you’ll luck out with pairs of Katanas or Muiras. Most of the time, I’ll get lots of Evolv Evos and Deifys which I am totally happy with for the price!

All you need is two 48 inch (or 120 cm) slings.

From personal anchors

Tie three overhand knots in one half of each of the slings.

From personal anchors

From personal anchors

Put locking carabiners on the last loops.

From personal anchors

Feed the other end of the slings (the biggest loop) through your harness in a girth hitch. Make sure to feed it through both the leg and waist loops.

From personal anchors

From personal anchors

…and you’re done! Clip the biners to you gear loops and you’re good to go.

From personal anchors

Tips

• Use two different color slings, it makes it easier to tell the right personal anchor from the left.
• The slings will have a small hard sewn section which creates the loop, try to get this sewn section in the biggest loop but as close to the first knot as possible. This will keep it out of the way.
• Use small locking biners, when clipping the anchors you want to have as much space as possible.
• Use biners with key lock noses, this will make unclipping snag free which is nice when you’re trying to get onto repel.

Tonight, from 7-10 a group of ASU Interior Design student will be holding an event to raise money for victims of domestic violence. It’s a climbing event held at the Phoenix Rock Gym. It should be a fun. I’ll be there taking pictures, and a friend of mine will be DJ’ing. If you’re looking for something to do tonight and you want to boost your karma points, you should stop by. Here’s more details:

Climb for a Cause!!!

Rock climb for Chairity as your complete entrance fee will raise money for victims of domestic violence!

4th year Interior Design students at
Arizona State University:
- create a chair that encompasses the mission of The Family Advocacy Center while promoting awareness of domestic violence
- builds a chair that is inspired by an artist or artistic movement
- raise money or use donated supplies/services to build the chair The chairs will be auctioned off in Spring 2010 at the annual CHAIRity gala where all proceeds benefit The City of Phoenix Family Advocacy Center

The chairs will be auctioned off in Spring 2010 at the annual CHAIRity gala where all proceeds benefit The City of Phoenix Family Advocacy Center

September 26th
7pm – 10pm
Phoenix Rock Gym
1353 E. University Dr.
Tempe, AZ 85281

only
$ 5 without gear
$ 10 with rental gear
Cash or Check accepted only

Enter raffle and win!

For more information contact Elena Reiche
602.460.6704 or email ejreiche@asu.edu

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.

When I went to the url on the flier I found not only the survey, but a whole blog dedicated to “Sport nutrition for rock climbing”! Sweet sauce! This is the first online resource that I’ve found for climbing nutrition outside of various informal forum posts. There aren’t may blog posts yet, but what’s there is gold. I’ve learned about oxidative stress, good practices for hydration, and recipes for great climbing meals.

The blog’s author, Krystal Merrells, does a great job at explaining everything. Often times I find that when experts in the nutrition field start seriously talking about nutritional concepts, everything quickly goes over my head. This is not the case here. While Krystal does have a recently publish research paper titled “Following 2 diet-restricted male outdoor rock climbers: impact on oxidative stress and improvements in markers of cardiovascular risk” that goes into these crazy details of nutrition and climbing, her blog makes everything understandable to even noobs like me.

Check out her blog, and if you find the information useful at least take her survey. Keep up the good work Krystal!

So if you’re a climber, you would like to try climbing, or just want to support a fellow human being during a hard time, PLEASE join us at PRG on Sunday the 11th from 7pm-10pm. Have fun, climb, maybe get some swag, and do something to help a climber in need.

For more information check out the flier for the event and the Cure Casey website.

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.