INJURIES!!!!!

(WARNING: I am not a doctor and have scientific evidence to back to following statements. If you are injured please see a certified sports medicine doctor, and take extreme caution when rehabbing injured fingers. I am in no way responsible for any injury caused by following advice given below. This is how I do it and should be taken as advice only. Again please see a doctor if injured.)

WTF!! I mean I've been injury free for a year and three months. Climbed my ass off over the summer nothing- no tendinitis, no finger issues -nothing. Now the temps drops out the bottom and what happens, I strain my A1 on my right ring finger and my A2 on my left ring finger. PAIN, no crimp no jug hauling, nothing. Makes me sick I'm getting old a ripe 27 years; how much longer am I gonna be able to pull hard? Who knows but it really makes me anxious wasting any cold weather!

DAMN OK so for now here's the a little secret for you guys. If you don't know I been climbing for almost 9 years pretty long compared to some of the kids who are out breaking barriers crushing stone. I may not be breaking barriers but I have picked up a few tricks along the way. For finger injuries I discovered a technique that involves short cold/hot sessions. First get a bowl and fill it with water and a few cubes of ice. It's important to get the water cold but not freezing you want it to hurt a bit but still be able to keep your hand in.(Warning: Do not freeze your fingers. If the water is too cold you can kill the tissue and could potentially give your self frost bite) Start by placing the injured finger/hand into the cold water for five minutes, then have a bowl with hot water, again not boiling, hot enough that it stings but you are able to leave you hand in without extreme pain. Place you hang in the hot water, you should feel the blood rush into you hand and the injury will really tingle. If you can feel the tingle in the injured section of you finger then you are on the right track. Once you finish five minutes in the hot water pull out your hand and massage and stretch the injured finger. Its important to repeat about three times. Do three to five sessions a day and take a very low dose of Advil. I recommend staying off prescription anti-inflammatory. They tend to be too strong and when the inflammation is reduced too drastically you loose the blood which carries the nutrients needed to heal injuries. Plus a lot of them can cause weight gain as well as internal bleeding, liver problems and other harmful side effects. After a couple weeks tape the fingers up and do a few light hangs from the large rails of a finger board. I recommend not climbing anything steep, crimpy, or hard until there is zero pain. If there is pain, there is still an injury. After you can hang from a finger board with no pain tape up and start climbing. Begin slow give it a few weeks to regain strength and in no time you should be healthy.

Triple Crowwnnnn!!!! Part I

One simple word comes to mind when I think back on the Houndears Comp... Debauchery!!!! The weekend started off right with a midnight drive through the foot hills of the Appalachians. My boy Lee and I arrived at Table Rock just in time to catch the sunrise. Well not quite, but we did dock around 3am, a bit late to catch enough ZZZs for the planned alpine start. Our plans were to climb as many multipitch routes as possible and then head over to Grandfather and set the Mammut booth. In true southern form we slept til about 10 and by the time we made it up to the parking for Table Rock the lot was for the most part full.

No worries, so we grabbed our gear and hucked into the forest in search of our first route. After getting lost several times and bush wacking some, we finally made it. We chose a sweet little 4/5 pitch route with runout bolts called Jim Dandy. Lee set off with the first lead and after about a half an hour we were climbing over some of the most beautiful stone with the most amazing views I've ever seen.

The 1st through the 3rd pitchs were all pretty straight forward, except the third pitch was about 50 feet unprotected, but at about 5.4 it was a pretty easy lead for Lee. The 4th pitch was another story. It was about 90-110 feet with two bolts! It was also the hardest climbing of the day at a whopping 5.7! OK, so the climb wasn't that difficult, but being close to 45 feet above the last bolt and not bringing any pro, it was extremely eye opening and I was pretty much scared shitless to say the least. After sending and setting up some shitty protection I yelled for Lee to start climbing. We then proceeded to run up a sketchy and very exposed scramble to the summit.After a few summit photos we booked down the trail to retrieve our gear and then down to the truck for ice cold beer.

Is That Chocolate on Your Face Mother Fucker !!!

After arriving at the camp grounds and saying our hellos, we preceded to set up the booth and begin the party. We partied till everyone was asleep and then turned in ready for the next days comp. Around early as fuck a.m., alarms began going off all over the camp ground. All I wanted was to stay in my warm bag, but was soon annoyed enough to get up. It was freezing!! The coldest it's been since last winter and I was miserable. I jumped in the truck, turned on the heat and waited for everyone to pack in so we could go get coffee and head for the boulderfields. Soon we were warm, and setup and were awaiting instructions from Jim and Chad. The parking lot was full of peeps ready to crush all in the name of free gear. I wasn't psyched as usual so we decided to hang around and chill for a while. After the competitors evacuated into the boulder fields, I slowly made my way in and began warming up. The day was long and the climbing good. I climbed as many problems as I could and damn I was tired and sore! After the comp we jetted back to the camp grounds and cracked open the booze. The awards ceremony was awesome and we killed all the beers, the pint of Makers Mark, the pint of Vodka, and the handle of Jack that Ronnie and Julie brought! Needless to say the crew was a bit unruly and several wrestling matches along with dance offs, tables slides, and bottle kicking ensued. Not long after, ole Lee went missing and was later discovered trying to break into an unknown jeep. We guided to his truck and he decided to cram himself in the back like a sardine. After some photos of the night, we carried Lee to his tent to let him pass out. The party was almost over and after walking around to a few camp fires decided to call it a night. The next morning we were all surprisingly chipper so we headed into downtown Boone for some delicious breakfast. After breakfast we said goodbye to all our friends and pointed the truck south. I'll have to say this may have been the most fun Triple Crown event I've ever attended!! Thanks to all my homeboys and homechicas that participated and congrats to the winners!!! Peace