last night i scanned some pictures from this summer. click here: PICTURES

well it's raining... i was thinking about going to t-wall tomorrow but it looks like i might have to settle for the canyon. Fisher and I went bouldering on thursday at hp40. It was a killer day and there were only a couple people climbing. Being from alabama I'm normally used to and come to expect run ins with the locals. But, i believe the new owner of hp has some issues that need to be resolved if horsepens is going to become an international climber friendly destination. The first of which being all of the guns. I'm all about the second amendment right to bear arms but whenever i see a 13 year old carrying a shotgun around large groups of people I begin to become concerned. Stereotypes and stigmas associated with the southeast are only exacerbated by gun weilding individuals who brag about their "having video cameras in every campsite." What about the right to privacy? Granted horsepens is private property but the very nature of hp40 is to provide some type of escape from the normal intrusion of city life. Climbers and visitors alike do not want to see M-16s, high powered hunting rifles, and shotgun weilding teenagers running around a public use area. I believe there is a lesson to be learned from "Bowling for Columbine"

well this weekend was definitely eventful. Started out going to the canyon but upon getting down to Crazy House I realized that I had left my harness at home. No big deal though because Rocktown is 30minutes away. Driving up Pigeon Mountain we began to notice what looks like snow. Turns out there was an ice storm the night before which in turn deposited about a quarter inch of ice on everything (including the boulders). So after bouldering for 4 hours without being able to top anything out we went up to Chattanooga. T-wall the next day was incredible. Perfect temps and new routes made for a killer day.

• Puppy Ride
  
• Stone Wave
  
• Electric Rats (really fun)
  
• Margin of Proft (AMAZING!!) take small gear
  
• Digital Macabre
  

happy new years. When climbing last year came to close a couple days ago I started to wonder what would be in store for this year. Climbing truly transcends any season or year. The only impact these artificial distinctions have up the sport is progression. This year will see both personal and global breakthroughs in climbing grades and summits. Should be interesting!