rad video of The End of the Affair E8

UKClimbing.com has this video (and more) of Alex Honnold, Kevin Jorgeson and Matt Segal on The End of the Affair (E8 6c):

The End of the Affair from UKClimbing.com TV on Vimeo.

from UKClimbing.com

video of Alex Honnold on Gaia E8

Gaia looks hard. And scary.

from UKClimbing.com

rad video of Jordan Buys sending French Duke E9 7a (Font 7c+)

Jordan looks like he peed his pants near the end, which is understandable because I almost peed my pants watching it.
to the video: Jordan Buys on French Duke

sorry, Bob

Clearly, I was wrong about you.

Bob is my shining star

I don't know why I'm always amazed how big of an ass-clown Bob is. He's so friggin' grumpy it's amazing and he brings the grumpness so consistently I'm more amazed at myself for constrantly being amazed by it. Basically, it's all very amazing. He truly never quits. I know he kicks kittens before going to bed every night. Kids, don't let this happen to you. Invest your time in something worthwhile, like hustling/pimping, while you're young so that when you get to be Bob's ripe old age of thirty-grump you can relax. And here's what kills me the most: Bob has this list of things that are gay. For instance, I'm a fag for swimming and climbing trad. Well, that's amazing to me because I thought gay guys hung out in gay bars. You know, gay bars like the gay bars Bob hangs out in for the free drinks. That's right, Bob goes to gay bars so gay dudes will hit on him and buy him drinks. Now, I understand the concept that many things can be gay but there has got to be some scale by which to measure a thing's gayness. And on this scale, going to gay bars has got to rate higher than swimming. I can go on forever with this shit. Bob used to be a swimmer. He swam at the high school next to mine. And sure, he'll tell you that gay bar thing was years ago and high school was even longer ago but that's already more gay stuff than most of us will do in our lifetimes. He just got it all done early and feels this qualifies him to sit back and judge like a big gay king of a gay hill. It's just not fair. I can wear G-strings every day, starting today, until I die and won't eclipse his gayness. There's no way for me to out gay Bob. Therefore, he will always be there... watching... judging.

Anywayz, here's a video of Bob on Hard Boiled:

Bob on Hard Boiled from Elijah Ball on Vimeo.

today is my fifth mensiversary

Yup, mensiversary. Which means two things happend today: I celebrated my fifth month out of the hospital and I learned what a 1-month "anniversary" is called. Technically, I'm supposed to review the past 30 days and take stock of rad things I've done. And I've been busy so I thought, for my first recognition of the pneumonia mensiversary, I would by new freediving fins. Had I realized how expensive sweet freediving fins can be I might have considered treating myself to dinner or buying 12 pairs of climbing shoes instead. But never mind that; you can't put a price on happiness. My C4 Falcon 80's will be here in a week. And yes, they're carbon fiber. Rad.

Lisa Rands cranks V12 in South Africa

Rands Sends South African V12
www.climbing.com - June 16, 2008

Ian Thorpe's freestyle

Video analyzing Ian Thorpe's freestyle technique:

Ian Thorpe swimming freestyle 4 - kick and rotation

learning to swim from a mutant

Michael Phelps is not human. He's some sort of fish/man thing. And this video dissecting his freestyle is mega rad:

Wait, where am I?

Surprise! I'm at work.
But, Elijah, it's 3:30 in the morning.
That's right!
And here's something new I learned about wildfires: they make your power go out. They make your power go out for so long that every server, switch, router and coffee maker at work silently explodes. Ahh, IT... just 1s and 0s, right? What could be so difficult?
Well, the mysteriously named 'Gap Fire' went to town on the hills behind my home/work again last night. And despite our best efforts at containment, no matter how much we drank in the front lawn watching the thing, it continued to ravage our neighborhood. At this point I'm qualifying it as big. Possibly 'way big'.

Hans and Yuji climb the Nose in 2:43:33

Nose Speed Record is Broken
climbing.com - July 2, 2008

it's getting hot in hurr

Santa Barbara bouldering poster boy, and fellow Owl Tor aficionado, Brian Spiering peeped these photos of our area's iconic bouldering locale, West Camino Cielo, up in flames last night. At about 6:00 yesterday evening things got bright up in the hills behind our domiciles, prompting Brian's and my neighborhood to be on alert for evacuation. We were spared those orders by about 4 blocks but tonight could be spicier. I hate to see forest burn, though I'm aware this is healthy and necessary to our preserved lands. Brian is way more pumped. With the foliage out of the way he's expecting this to open up some new crags. We shall see.

photos courtesy Brian Spiering, Amerian Riviera Bouldering

I don't know which is worse

I will never try to put up a Yosemite speed record. That's right, everyone out there who was nervous can relax. But that's not to say such feats aren't rad. Being a friend of mine, I can attest that Hans Florine is in fact rad. So I was psyched to hear he and Yuji had made a bid for another speed record on the Nose. And in usual Climbing Magazine fashion, this report sucks:

Florine-Hirayama Nearly Regain Nose Record climbing.com - June 29, 2008

Eclipsed only by this article's suckiness:

On Speed in Yosemite: Catching up to the Hubers (yeah, that's really the title) UKclimbing.com - June 29, 2008

U.S. Olympic track and field trials start today

ESPN has highlighted some American dudes to watch for:

men to watch at U.S. Olympic track and field trials

espn.com Olympic coverage - June 27, 2008

rad climbing video

Sonnie Trotter sending Cobra Crack

Steve McClure cranks Rhapsody

McClure bags Third Ascent of Rhapsody (E11 7a)
climbing.com - June 20, 2008

"McClure tied in to lead for the third time on the afternoon of his fourth day on the route. “I thought I could detect a degree of nervousness about his climbing … this seemed to pass once he was properly committed on the runout, and he was totally focused,” says Keith Sharples, who was photographing McClure on his send. “When he got to the top, he looked over at me and said something like, ‘Man, that was a close one – nearly didn’t make that.’”" - Audra Ord

crankin' scary style

Sonnie Trotter Repeats Rhapsody
climbing.com - June 10, 2008

"Writing on his blog on June 6, he said, “Rhapsody may be an eliminate, but…there is a tremendous amount of logic behind what Dave did, and that deserves a pile of respect, I think…. The only rule is don’t bail left to the arete (a cop-out), stay on the face, and the line is very much obvious. And yes, very hard. Dave presented us all with a challenge. A challenge to climb this sequence of holds, and until someone does that challenge will always remain. I could do the ‘direct version’ and the ‘cop-out’ version, but I still didn't climb Rhapsody, and I would not be truly satisfied.”"

also, Sonnie Trotter's blog

nothing to do with anything

... but rad none the less.

opinion on Pistorius

'Blade Runner' ruling subverts nature of sport

msnbc.com - May 22, 2008

"What if further study does show that Pistorius can run faster because his artificial Cheetah blades work better than legs? Should he or others be kept out of competitions involving able-bodied persons?"

...and in other paralympic news

Amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius allowed to compete in Beijing

Times Online - May 16, 2008

"Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee sprinter known as the fastest man on no legs, will be allowed to compete at the Beijing Olympics after a ban on his prosthetic limbs was overturned today."

rad article about a wheel chair racer

A Blur of Hands, Spokes and Determination
The New York Times - May 15, 2008

“If a doctor said a magic pill could probably let me walk again, I wouldn’t take it,” said George, who has won three Chicago Marathons. “I’ve worked very hard to be who I am.”
- Josh George

rad quote

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.
- Olympic creed, by Pierre de Coubertin