Monday, September 17, 2012

Minnehaha

So, I've been up here in the land of the Caribou for the last four days.  My time has been split between driving and climbing.  This past weekend I stayed at this climbing area in Sandstone, MN.  The rock was, well, sandstone...very much similar to that of Chattanooga and the Red River Gorge.  The first day was spent bouldering.  It was hot, but things still got done.  My tour guides were motivated and strong so I climbed a few things then picked up the camera.  The next day I thought I was going to cross the river and go bouldering again to finish up some problems.  However, I ended running into some friends of friends that offered a belay on what I had been told was the states best 5.12.  I couldn't turn that down.

Sandstone, MN from Chaz Warren on Vimeo.


Sigma .12a

Now I'm at Vertical Endeavors rocking another Evolv demo before I head to St. Louis tomorrow.  Then I head home!!!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Suburban Tour

It just occurred to me that I spend more time in suburbia on my Evolv demo tours than I do in the cities.  This past weekend I had a few free days to fill.  I was in Carmel, IN visiting the new Hoosier Heights as well as Nurpu River and Mtn Supply.  The plan was to climb in the gym obviously, until I found out that the PGA Tour BMW Championship was being held just down the street, which was literally like 5 miles away.  FOUR!!!  Psyched.  So, I had no choice but to go to this ginormous spectacle of an event. Everything about it was on an extravagantly huge scale.  The course was beautiful. The Grand Stands were huge and everywhere (probably custom made for the course).  And the people, well, there were ALOT of people there, like 35,000 or something.


Tiger on #2 tee




Tiger's birdie on #13

 Tiger on #16 green
Winner Rory McIlroy
Vijay Singh was leading and blew it the next day
#18 after the crowds left 
#18 
#18 Grand Stands
I would not say that I am a "golfer".  I am a climber who likes to play golf.  I grew up playing with my dad at the local country club and eventually got my first job there.  So, I guess you could say it's in my blood. Anyway, watching the pros play is like watching Sharma, Ramonet, and the other elite climbers climb, excluding Ondra.  Perfect execution looks effortless and easy.  The whole time I was like...."Oh yeah, I can do that.  I'll just do what he did."  Needless to say, it's not that easy.  Do golfers watch golf videos like climbers watch climbing videos?

So, that was awesome.  The next day was spent trying to play half as good as the guys I just watched and climbing at Hoosier Heights.  All the while, living it up in suburbia.

Cheddar