Low Life New Years Resolutions

Purdy. Early season scenery from Dreamer in Darrington.

Alright, 2010 is upon us. Umm, I guess that was 5 months ago. Sorry, I blacked out. What happened? Anyway, its time I updated this blog or deleted the damn thing. So here we go.

The end of 2009 was amazing. Two months climbing on the road (8,000 miles in the 4Runner, baby!) was solidly one of the best things I've ever done. My monkey ass even put together a dvd of all our footage on the ol' Macintosh. If you want a copy of Phil and Brett's Excellent Adventure: The Movie, just get me yer address and I'll send you one.

Francis representin' Montana at Stone Hill on Lake Koocanusa. Notice the Big Sky sized member (its like over 50 ft. long) kindly etched by locals in the background.

But that was last year. This is the Future. 2010. The Year Of Revenge (which is the official name on the Dirtbag Chinese Calendar put together by Brett Mollenhauer). Which, as far as the Future goes, could easily be viewed as a major disappointment. Instead of the flying cars, hovering skateboards, and the inevitable War Against The Machines that I was promised growing up in the 80's, the life changing technological advances that we actually got are Facebook and Twitter. Damn it.

But I'll leave that negative nancy talk for the pessimists out there: I'm on an optimistic kick these days. Cause all told, the Future for this dirtbag is pretty kick ass. Last year I climbed more than I ever have in my life, and this year I want to up the ante. With the birthday they call 30 looming in less than two years, I've decided to dedicate this year to goin' big.

Fellow climber on the trail to Snow Creek Wall in Leavenworth, WA.

So here are my climbin' goals for the year. I want to attempt 10 of the original North American 50 Classic Climbs. For those that know, that would be a lot of long lines. Ideally I'd like to complete 10 of those, but there's a lot of things in climbing and in life that I can't control, so my baseline is to at least attempt 10 of 'em. Either way, that's a lot of climbing.

Along with that, I'd like to climb El Capitan, which has been haunting my nightmares and daydreams ever since I saw that monster for the first time on our road trip last fall. And to top it all off, I'm currently trying to convince Ben Smith to skip class at U of Montana and head on down to Patagonia for some climbing during the 2010/2011 season. Fitz Roy and its terrifying neighbors beckon.

Mark and Dave on Vertigo at Peshastin Pinnacles.

So that's it in a nutshell. And if you've actually read this, I'd like you to help hold me to it. To pull it all off, its gonna take a lot of motivation, plenty of suffering, and a tough balance between working for money to afford it all (as well as an obscene amount of gear, gas money, and plane tickets), and time to get out and get after it in the mountains, not to mention staying healthy. Ask me how its going, keep me honest.

Adam Lawson in Darrington. Dreamer climbs the buttress through and above the water streaks in the background.

As far as where I'll be at and when, I'm currently living at the folk's place (real proud, I know) and working for my dad's construction company in the Dirty South Sound, which means I'm climbing in the Cascade's this spring and summer. Come September work will be on a hiatus, as Brett Mollenhauer and I are heading back to Yosemite battle white granite, black bears, and too-tanned California douche-bags for prime big wall real estate (hopefully some road trippin' again after that, too). And if all goes well, a PataGucci plane ride will follow soon thereafter.

Nice granite on Dreamer. I have by this point in the game learned that the term "nice granite", whether in Yosemite or anywhere else, means huge scary slab runouts and tough arm burning cracks.

Right now the season is off and kickin'. Highlights so far include early season successes on Infinite Bliss (5.10c, IV, 23 pitches of kick ass "alpine" sport climbing) on Mt. Garfield and Dreamer (5.9+ R, IV, 10 pitches) in Darrington. Smith and I got skunked for ice in Glacier National Park at the end of March, but still was a great trip to Montana. And this weekend will mark my 5th straight Leavenworth weekend in a row. Thats whats up for now. Yippie Kay Yay, Mother F@#%ers!

Cheesy summit shot from Dreamer. Typical Cascade alpine wonderland in the background.