NEWS FROM THE COBRA

A BLOG ENTRY FROM KEVIN JORGESON

BOULDER OF THE YEAR 2007

Hi Everyone!!I'm hanging out in a coffee shop/kids play center. Who thinks of thesethings? Seriously! Combining one of the greatest pleasures in life (coffee)with screaming infants! Oh well.The weather has been, well, hot. Very hot. And very humid. Its kind of likedipping your hands in butter and then trying to climb holds made of glass.Still fun though!For a day by day blow of the trip, check out my "journal" on my site, but Iwanted to share some other stuff with you guys. Like pictures! Check out theattached mini trip report.Every morning I crawl out of my stinky tent (VERY STINKY), stumble around"Tarplandia" (our camp name) for some coffee, then walk up a hill to admirethe view of the valley and lake. Yesterday morning I was doing just thiswhen I saw my first bald eagle! So cool!There is sooo much to climb here. The Grand Wall, or The Chief, features 1- 7 pitch trad climbs on impeccable granite. I've get to climb this featurebut plan on it soon. I did the classic Exasperator Crack, laughing the wholeway (see pic. Its not me though).The bouldering in the forest is small and concentrated. The granite heredoesn't lend itself to many holds, so most of the boulder problems are liptraverses. There are a few good lines though, like the one in the tripreport, called Be On 4, a classic v7 Charlie Barret and I did. Super fun. Ohyea, Charlie is here! It's been awesome to hang with him this whole time.Guy is a riot. I've been up to the Cobra Crack 3 times now. See attached pic. It's reallyhard! It starts in the dihedral with some 5.12 stemming and finger locksbefore pulling onto the slab and a no hands rest. Next is another section ofhard 5.12 finger locks to a jug. From here, it's sick. Two set up moves getyou in position for a seriously hard reach for a distant lock. I've onlydone this move maybe twice. 4 or five more moves set you up for the secondcrux. You reach high with your right hand for an undercling mono with theright middle finger, backstep the left foot, and do your best to lock it offfor the next reach. Stick this, reach left hand up, pinky down lock, andkick your feet above your head into a heel toe lock. Hang off the heal toeand reach out left to some edges. Swivel out of the heel toe and high stepto a jug. Heinous! Its hard to maintain psyche when it is SO PAINFUL. Myvery first try yesterday yielded a torn pinky finger, through the tape!Anyway, enough climbing talk. The weather is taking a turn for the worst.Its raining right now and will be for the next few days. I anticipate manyrest days in front of the computer, so email me so I look like I'm doingsomething while I stare aimlessly at this screen for hours at a time, jackedup on caffeine and pastries!