Never Over Stating!

I don't like to over hype things in life. I like to keep it real.

So when I say this I want you to understand the importance of this news.

• Human Control of Fire 400,000 years ago
• The Wheel discovered 3700 BC by the Mesopotamia
• Algebra invented by ancient Babylonians
• Penicillin discovered 1928 by Alexander Fleming

Major discoveries in the history of mankind. Now I bring forth the fifth and most important!

The "I" boulder! How will this boulder change history the same way the other listed above?

Only time will till.

However with 7 new problems and potential for many more this might even have far greater implications then I can list here.

Now to record a little history about this new boulder. Like many great discoveries, I was lost when I stumbled on the boulder. Like Columbus I thought I'd found something different than what it was. I left soon after to try to meet up with my group but knew I had found something special.

A few weeks later coming back with my good friend Mike Chapman we set about cleaning what we hoped would be an awesome problem. Instead we found much much more. First problem up was the super cool "I" squeeze overhang. Then TD joined the party adding a hard sit-start to the "I" and another gem to the left called "Tip Toe". The following day Meshkat, Mike, Bubbles and myself head back adding four more gems. "Row Boat", "Love Boat", "Mast" and "The Mustache Slabs".

When we finish off the last of the classics, I'd be happy to take any willing parties to check out a new out-of-sight boulder.



Bubbles sailing to the second ascent of "Mast"
Photo Courtesy of Meshkat Javid

Challenges

Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good challenge. Not necessarily a challenge for me to do, but coming up with one for someone else and then insistently bullying them into doing it. Yesterday was another one of those days. Seeing how the weather in Squamish was just shy of boiling, climbing hard projects was near impossible. So we decided to do a points day.

A points day for those who don't know is when you add all your V grades to see how many points you get. i.e. V1 equals one point and so forth. The all time record I've heard of is 307 points in a day without repeating any problems.

Yesterday started off with a bang for me. I had 39 points in under an hour. I was on my way to a decent score, when an old enemy showed up and shut down the day. That's right, my bicep tendinitis is back... Damn!

So instead I spent the next couple hours laying on my back and forcing people into climbing various problems I deemed interesting or exciting. Injury bullying if you want to call it a name.

The points game didn't make it that far what with the scorching hot weather, swelling feet and fingers. So a few hours later everyone had given up on the day and were just hanging out at the black dyke boulder. That's when I decided to throw out an open challenge. How many times could you climb Viper in an hour. I thought 20 would be difficult. But it would get you an unofficial 100 points. No one seemed interested. No matter how much I bullied or used psychological tactics. But finally one guy broke down and decided to give it a go.

T.D. said he'd do it if for nothing else to shut me up about the whole thing and the rest of them could rest in peace. So he started off climbing the problem at an average of 13 seconds a go. I thought he'd slow down but after climbing it exactly the same for the next hour he managed to climb it 60 times with no falls and only one beta change. The rest were almost like I was watching a loop of viper over and over.

Chaulk, bump, cross, grab the lip. Chaulk, bump, cross, grab the lip. Chaulk, bump, cross, grab the lip.

Over and over.

The gauntlet has been thrown down. 60 in an hour. On one of the hottest days in recent memory.

Also 300 points in the quickest possible way...

Though offical points rule states: no repeats.

Autobody Video

Autobody from Matt Lucas on Vimeo.

Tim happened to catch this ascent on film. Hope you enjoy seeing a giant on a tiny problem.

Peace.

Can you dig it!

Problem X finally goes down! Booya! For those of you who haven't figured it out, problem X is "No Troblems".

Yesterday Janelle and I drove up to Squamish to spend the night in the campground. We are thinking about moving back to Squamish and decided to see what its like to commute so I picked her up from work and drove up at 5. It took 45 minutes with the highway not yet 100% complete. Not bad...

This morning we woke to a super beautiful day. We headed down to the local coffee shop and bought a couple tea mistos. We then took a walk around downtown while we waited for the Canada day parade. Squamish seems like easy living, let me tell you. Right now we're weighing the pro's and con's of Squamish living. Squamish sure put it's best foot forward.

After the parade Janelle and I headed up to the boulders. I took a really long time warming up. But instead of following Thomo, Dave, Regan and the rest of the gang I thought I felt pretty good. So Janelle, Meshkat and I headed over to "No Troblems". I set up pads and brushed the holds and decided that this would be the try. Each move from first to last flowed. No battles, no worries. I punched the jug and knew that I wasn't going to fall. This was my best send in as long as I can remember. Its a glowing ball of happiness that I hope to hold on to for as long as possible.

Thanks to all the people who spotted me.

Problem X, Y, and Z are all put to bed... but like a bad horror series, three new monsters reared their ugly heads! No rest for the wicked. Friday the new battle begins.

Stay tuned!