South Africa; a land of established beauty and miles of untapped potential. I’ve seen pictures, I’ve watched videos, and I’ve heard first-hand accounts of the bouldering that I’ll be exploring for the whole month of July. But everything I’ve heard will be nothing compared to the experience. It’s something I can’t even imagine right now! The farthest I’ve lived from my birthplace in New England is right here in Colorado; I’ve never been outside our country’s borders. I’ve spent the past few months preparing myself physically with my trainer Kris Peters and I feel stronger than I have in...

The weather and work-life balance has been rubbish of late but I still have managed to get out and grab a few personal firsts (and some lasts). The last time I blogged for the 5.10 Community website it was spring; and you know Scotland, the weather is nothing if it is not erratic, it was super hot.  The conditions were beyond what you would want for hard sending but it was fabulous to get the warmth after a long cold winter spent indoors working my socks off at TCA Glasgow.

Midnight sun, elks, stockfish and mosquitos – that is how I pictured Norway. Now, after a six week roadtrip throuh this beautiful land, I know that it has plenty of other things to offer, amongst others the best granite climbing I have seen so farWe skipped the area around Oslo because we already knew the climbing there and headed to Trøndelag, the district around Trondheim. The village and crag of Hell has not only an extraordinary name, also the rock is special - granite conglomerate! The steep, powerful routes really fitted my style and I made some quick repeats...

Spring usually signifies life, rebirth, flowers, etcetera. For me - it was death. Spring semester 2012 was complete mayhem. School is alright if you stay on top of things, but as soon as those things start to slip, it creates a landslide of work you are constantly battling to try and get to the top of. I'm normally on top of the hill, but after March madness, I was left scrambling to get back up all semester long.

Much of this past month was filled with training in the gym, since I was finishing up all of my school stuff before graduation. I graduated Saturday, June 9th, and it was all very exciting but somewhat depressing at the same time to know that I wouldn’t be returning to school with all of my friends next fall. However, graduation did mean that I’m now on summer vacation. And as a result, I went on a short family trip to Yosemite this week. I hadn’t been to Yosemite before, but I found, as all others have, that it’s a...

The 2012 Vail World Cup experience was amazing! When one thinks of Vail they might think of skiing and fur coat shops, when I think of Vail I think of rad competitive climbing and expensive pasta. Last year the wall was at a prime location near the center of the village and at the foot of the mountain, (Mt. unknown) and this year it was near the end of the village next to a soccer field….not ideal for spectating but it all worked out perfect in the end. Good job to all the setters, USA Climbing and comp coordinators...