Joshua Tree " An Old Friend"

For Thanksgiving everyone seemed to be making their way to Bishop, so a few of us decided to head south to Joshua Tree. I used to climb in the area when I lived in the central valley, but I have not been back since. I really do miss this area and do not understand its lack of visitors, so a trip was in order.

During this trip I was able to meetup with a great crew of climbers including Ben Polanco, Matus Sobolic, and Michelle Yi was actually able to make it out to the park. We spent the entire day out on Geology Tour Road and enjoyed some great classics including Mirage, Pinched Loaf, and Slashface. Next,we made our way to Iron Resolution so Ben could begin to work out the moves...damn thing looks hard.

Right now, due to the high winds we are held up in a cheap motel, that is right, two beds and six people...you do the math. Tomorrow, we will be making our way out to the Rosetta Stone hopefully we can actually find it this time to attempt on old Rob Mulligan line. Hope everyone enjoyed a fun Thanksgiving.

Mad Rock On-Sight

A few weeks ago I went to Santa Barbara to meet Mad Rock athlete Piper Michelle to shoot some promo videos. We met at Santa Barbara's Brickyard and Piper ran laps on Walk the Dog for the next 2 hours. Ya, sometimes being an athlete is not all fun and games. Climbing is actually work and having to pull the same moves, lose skin, and then repeat for a shoot is very tiring. However, the end result is great!

Check out the promo video at Mad Rock for the new 2011 On-Sight or simply scroll down. Videos with athletes Steven Jeffery, Piper Michelle, and Grace Kane are coming soon...look for the clips!

Something Other Than Climbing

I have a friend who has been training for her first half-marathon. During a recent trip to Bishop she felt the need to run before we climbed at the Buttermilks. Trail running has always been really interesting to me, and although she was only training I felt that it would be a great chance to snap some photos. Check out a morning run on the Eastside. I really do not know much about the sport but this seems visually like something that I would like to pursue.

Weekend in Bishop

I have not been back to Bishop in 3 seasons. I finally decided to make the trip, and as usual it was epic. We got in at 1:ooam in the morning and the excitement was in the air. You couldn't ask for a more serene location. We camped at the Buttermilks under a full moon and in the morning we caught up with a great group of friends to climb.


Sometimes I feel carrying my camera around is a burden, I simply forget to climb. However, this trip, I am glad I had it. Here are some fun shots that were taken along the way.

Pine Mountain Pulldown

This last weekend I went down and shot some photos at the Pine Mountain Pulldown. This is a great outdoor comp put on by All Out Events and it is in its 3rd year. This year I was lucky enough to talk Ben Polanco from Evolv into joining me. I toured him around the crag and watched as he basically crushed everything out there. While we were climbing we ran into Dan Beal and Ian Dory from the Asana crew and they joined Ben and basically polished off every double-digit at the crag. I shot some amazing photos for an article I am working on. Some of the shots are of Pine Mountain and a few are from the next day at Santa Barbara's Brickyard. Here are the outtakes. I had to throw out some, but they were all my favorites. Please let me know what you think.

Joes Valley

Got out to Joes Valley this weekend with Rocco and Jacinda. The area is amazing to say the least and I was able to do a few classics. Jacinda was also able to quickly dispatch her nemesis Wills of Fire. The line climbs incuts and pockets to a five-star finish. After working out the beta for the top out she finally sent in good form!!

Prana's New Website

It is always nice to see your images used, especially by a company who I have loved for such a long time. The athlete is Tiffany Hensley, the girl is like my little sister. Tiffany is an amazing climber, always filled with psych, and is the perfect ambassador to showcase the Prana lifestyle. The girl is always climbing! Tiffany recently moved to Colorado to go to school and has been pullin hard after class...check out her blog at http://www.mocieka.blogspot.com/ to follow the craziness that is her life. On a closing note I have finished my website and will be launching it within the next week with all new videos and some new pubslished work! P.S. Yes, the photo used was a shot as a portrait but they fit it to a landscape.