been a while

It has definitely been a while since I have posted anything on this site. I've been busy with work but have been able to do some climbing lately. I need to update the site but am not sure what I plan on doing. Another thing is what is the purpose of a blog if you post once a year. I might start posting more frequently or I might just replace it altogether. It seems that most of my observations these days are not climbing related but tend to be centered around what was on either (a) sportscenter that morning (b) the front page of the Times or (c) some crazy person at the hospital. Most of you have already probably seen the first two but the latter might provide some entertainment (modified of course to avoid some privacy violation).

adventure

we all plan climbing trips. Even if we have no time, no money, and no possible way of taking a month off all of us are continually planning that dream trip. I came across the story of some guys who went up to the Cirque of the Unclimbables. You definitely should read this especially if you are bored at work: Cirque Adventure 2005. That is how you do a climbing trip.

injuries

i'm looking to amass some information on climbing injuries. If you would be interested in contributing send your injury information to jm@climbingodyssey.com.

new site

I've changed the layout of this page to coincide with a site I'm currently in the process of creating. It can be found at climbingmd.com. It is a site that in the future is going to be a site entirely dedicated to climbing injuries. I've spoken to several people who are interested in contributed articles (you can too at: jm@climbingodyssey.com) but in the mean time I have just posted a blog about medschool. The site should be fully operational by the end of the summer. I just have to figure out how I'm going to lay it out and get all of the content together. I also enabled comments for this site.

A couple of us went up to sand rock last weekend. the weather in AL has been really nice so I've been able to get outside and climb more recently. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get outside as much as like due to school and grant deadlines. But, hopefully the next couple of weeks will lighten up. I'm doing research this summer and i don't believe that I'm going to have enough to fill up all of my time so I've been throwing around some ideas about additional research projects. I was thinking about doing a study of climbing injuries. Maybe a survey or a prospective study of alabama climbers. any thoughts, let me know.

Training page coming up in two weeks.

In addition to common sport/trad climbing injuries, I've decided to expand the climbing injuries section to other injuries/sicknesses occured in the mountains. I just finished working on a high altitude sections. I've always thought the body's response to high altitude was pretty interesting so I put together a few articles that explain pulmonary function and high altitude. Seeing that my flash progress is coming pretty slow i might just put them in the current format. they should be up by the end of march.

Recently, i've been pretty busy with physiology and cell so i haven't had much time to put together a complete injuries section. so i'm putting up an unfinished prototype for the next couple of days (at the prompting of others) to get some feedback on the layout. i've already typed up over 10 pages of information but i haven't had time to integrate it into a cohesive site. CO Climbing Injuries. Tell me what you think.

in my research for the climbing injuries site I came across a great book on climbing injuries. It was written by two physicians and is relatively comprehensive. I would recommend it if you are interested in all injuries that affect climbers. It is called One Move Too Many... and is available at amazon.com.

i'm still working on this injuries site. look for it in Jan 2006.

Just finished my last exam yesterday. I was looking up climbing injuries on some of the medical journal websites and I was shocked to find out how much information and research is actually available on climbing. Most of the information comes out of Europe but there are some really interesting articles from the US. I'm going to work out a new injuries and climbing physics page to help make some of this information more readily available.

I've been climbing almost as much as I've posted on this section. We just finished the first block of medical school and anatomy is over. Sometime, I'll try to put up some stuff about being in medical school and climbing.

The thesis is done so i've updated a few things. Look for more media but for now i've updated the Boulder section. We've been climbing a little lately and I'm starting to get back in shape.


Isn't it strange
That princes and kings,
And clowns that caper
In sawdust rings,
And common people
Like you and me
Are builders for eternity?


Each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass
A book of rules;
And each must make
Ere life has flown
A stumbling block
Or a stepping stone. (R.L. Sharp)

It has definitely been a while since i have posted anything. Part of the problem is that i have been out of town for a while and the other part is that i really didn't climb all that much the last couple of months. But, that's all changing because i have the easiest semester of all time. i have some new stuff to put up but in the meantime check out winslow's site www.craghead.net in the meantime. adios.

jody

I've been restoring an old sailboat and put up a new page on the website. It is in the developmental stage plus I am converting the old site into flash. It should be up by the end of August. Here is the sailing page.

sorry to have neglected you all for a couple of months but things are finally starting to calm down enough where I am having some time to go climbing again. I'm probably going to the canyon this weekend and I might put some more work on my boat, Kamala (an old sailboat that I'm fixing up).

it's been a while. i've been doing some climbing lately. yesterday, jimmy and i went to yc and did land of cotton (then it started raining). luckily tombsuba was dry so we climbed there the rest of the afternoon. i'm looking forward to this bouldergrass throwdown. I definitely need a break from this ochem nonsense.

This weekend I went climbing at Shaking Rock [take 78E out of Athens to the town of Lexington (20-30min) you will see a funeral like headstone that says Shaking Rock on the right side of the road right before you get into the main part of town, Turn Right and drive for a bit]. There are only a few boulders but it is a good place to check out if you are in Athens. Equator and the problems on the far boulder (the big one) are good. Worth checking out.

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!

Climbed at Tombsuba and Horsepens the last two days. It felt really good to go bouldering again. I was suprised at how sore i've been today. I'm definitely going to focus more on bouldering this next year. Last year my new's resolution, pretty much the only one i've ever adhered to, was to climb 500 routes before new years. After ticking my 615 route of the the year on tuesday, I realized that all those climbs did very little in terms of explosive power. Resolution 2004: To spend the same amount of time climbing routes as bouldering (with less focus on achieving just a number).

finished up with exams last week and went to the canyon that weekend. We we're the only ones climbing at the canyon, and probably in the whole state b/c of the weather. Tomorrow jimmy and i are headed somewhere before the urban outpost climbing party.

one more week... exams will be over and hopefully I'll have come up with something to do over the month of January. Taking a class is beginning to look less appealing so I think I might just have to go climbing. ?Donde quiero subir las rocas? Is really the only question of any pertinence these days. Fortunately though, my days of writing endless carbon chains and rings are withering to a close as I finished my last organic test today. 4 exams, 1 more test, a spanish interview and a partrage in a... happy holidays

i'm at home right now pretending not to be thinking about climbing. Relaxing during holidays sure is difficult but don't worry I'm going climbing this weekend. Sitting here in front of the most amazing resource of climbing material (the internet) I was trying to think of areas to climb at over the next couple of years. We all read about the Torres del Paine, the towers of Patagonia, the Cordillera Blanca (Peru), the Cordillera Real (Bolivia), the Bugaboos, the Cirque of the Unclimbables, the Himalayas, the Alps (mostly Chamonix), Yosemite, Zion, Portrero Chico, the Verdon, Austrialia, New Zealand, SE Asia, and countless other places. But, I think if I were going to assemble 4 expeditions to 4 places i'd chose: the Dru (Europe), the Fitzroy (South America), El Cap (North America), and K2 (Asia).

this weekend we hit up little river canyon. Crazy house, Tombsuba, and Lizard Wall. Majosha is looking like the project for this winter. I really liked the 11d to the right of Demented. Funstuff. This weekend headed up to ole sand rock with mi hermano. better get back to spanish lab.

Instead of going to NC this weekend we went up to Chattanooga. T-wall on saturday was amazing. The weather this time of year has been killer. The climbing was fun and all but what was really amazing... Qdoba Burrito. It's behind Lupi's and is killer. Climbed at Foster Falls on Sunday. At the Dihedrals area there were 4 guys and 9 girls climbing. i thought that was kindof cool.

Amazing, November is here already. This time of year is perfect really perfect for climbing in the Southeast. Boulderers, sport, and trad climbers are all salivating over the perfect weather. I've taken the last week or so off because of some tendon problems. But this weekend I'm headed up to NC to do some multipitch. for now I have a physics and ochem test.

It's been awhile. The last month or so i've been climbing a little bit at the canyon and sand rock. lately, the weather has been amazing. The project lately has been lion at jungle gym (little river). That's life in a nutshell. lata.

Went up to the canyon yesterday and climbed at Brandnewbia. Did the first four or so routes as you walk in. Definitely hot but fun. Tomorrow is the Organizational Fair in the Fieldhouse for OAC (6-8pm). later

Back from the beach and have finished moving everything into the apt. School starts monday. The fun is over for a while (until next weekend). Winslow, Lisa, and I went up to Sand Rock a couple of days ago. The weather was nice over on the holiday block but Sun Wall was baking even in the shade.

been kickin' it on the beach lately.

The last two days jimmy and i climbed at the canyon. Yesterday during the rain we climbed at Lizard wall and today we climbed at White Wall and Jungle Gym. The rock is prime in the shade. Lizard gets it in the afternoon (after 3). I'm moving back to birmingham this weekend. so watch out!

Rain... Rain... GO AWAY

I've been working hard in montgomery. It's amazing how much work builds up after you goof off for a month and a half. I would put a lot more pictures up on the site but my computer is broken.

Today we went climbing at the canyon. Greg, Steve, and David are still pulling hard in spite of the high temps. It was fun to climb back in the south after a month and a half off.

After thirty hours, i'm home. word.

After three days of climbing around the Lander area we are taking a rest day. Three days ago we caught the tail end of the international climbers festival and went up to Wild Iris. Suprisingly it wasn't very crowded and we ended up getting a ton of great routes in. After climbing the last two day at Sinks Canyon I'm shocked that Wild Iris gets most of the publicity. All of the routes we've done at Sinks have been awesome!! We're trying to decide what to do next. I can't believe that it is almost time to go back to alabama. definitely been a great trip.

In jackson right now at Mountunes and we just updated the site with a bunch of pictures. Headed to Lander right now and look to climb in the Winds, possibly Pingora, and at Wild Iris and Sinks Canyon. THe international climbers festival is going on right now so that should be cool. Take it easy and it looks like we will be back in the Southland soon.

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WHAT UP!! we're wyoming bound right now after several really good days of climbing at american fork and maple canyon. the weather has been pretty warm in the sun but in the shade it's been perfect. in the salt lake library right now which is absolutely amazing. After we finish up here we are driving to Jackson to climb in the tetons. The exum and black ice are looking prime to climb right now but we are still not sure what we are going to get on. Hope everyone had a fun fourth. later.

after 7 days on we finally get a rest day. Right now we are the University of Utah Student center in blazing Salt Lake City, it's 100+ degrees. We ended up climbing the Yellow Spur at Eldo and it was pretty much one of my favorite climbs of all time. It's rated 10b s but 10b on the 8th pitch with only rusted pitons as gear feels a little bit harder than at Sand Rock. Anyway after leaving Boulder we headed to South Platte. Climbed a bunch of great cracks as well as some heinous offwidths. From there we drove to Rifle. Rifle is sport climbing paradise with amazing limestone routes just seconds off the road. The best routes there we thought were Feline, Easy Skankin', Rumor Has It, Eighty Feet of Meat, and Rehabilitator. I think i'm going to go back and spend some more time there one of these days. We've climbed the last three days in maple canyon. The climbing there is totally unique in that the wall is plastered with thousands of giant cobbles. You never know what kind of hold you are going to grab next so the onsight climbing is pretty hard. Onsighted quite a few elevens and after today I'll redpoint a few of my 5.12 projects. Well I'm off to get a milk shake to try and cool things down a bit but have a good one.

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