Moe's Valley, an analysis.

Siemay and I just had an awesome week out in St. George.  Despite inclement weather, we were able to climb 3 days and mountain bike 1 day.  Day 1 was by far the best day.  Moe's is a smallish area with some excellent rock and chossy in places.  There are true standout lines that make it a very special place, totally worth visiting, like Moab's Big Bend area.  Although the rock is soft and prone to breakage, the holds are often perfect, as if sculpted for human hands.

"Gription" V9 must do.

Long move.

Techy Heel Hook with crunchy bicycle (key beta for me!)

Match ham-hock for a second to stabilize., go for the open hand finger bucket!  v3 topout for desert.

I sent "Gription" V9 in about an hour after warming up.  This line is beautiful and as a hard moderate is a true gem of the area.  I worked on this with Anthony from Sonora, CA.  He and his wife, Jessica, joined us for several sessions.  Anthony topped out "Gription" in the rain the next day!

Next, I went down and did "Bazooka Tooth" V10.  I had really wanted to try this problem after seeing video of it.  I did it 2nd try and for my body (6'2", full meat) it felt like a V8.  I did have a nano-dab "brush-by" on the pad, but did not know it (Anthony and Siemay called me out!)  I decided not to repeat the line as it had tweaked my back slightly.  It also wasn't a limit problem, so I felt okay violating my usually unwavering pure ethic about dabs.  Plus, here's the final jug we're talking about (see left.) The problem starts low on a right undercling, left gaston.  Bigger people can stem out right and milk their size.  It felt like V4 to a commiting upside-down  drive-by dyno.  Rad.

We finished off Day 1 by sending "Spectro" V7.  This line looks exactly like a mini "spectre" a classic, Buttermilk testpiece.  It was harder for me than Gription or Bazooka Tooth.

Day 2 I tried "Show of Hands" V11 and made good progress, but was unnmotivated working on it all alone. and stopped trying it after about 20 minutes.  The rest of day 2 and 3 were doing tons of easy to hard classics , so much fun movement.  We didn't climb much after this since we heard that a friend had broken a hold secondary to the rain.

Our New roadtrip home.  The Truck Camper!

So, we went mountain biking!  This was a real eye-opener.  As much fun as surfing, climbing and snowboarding.

Siemay was in "do classics" mode and many of the hardest lines did not fit her 5'1" stature well.

Another highlight was the amazing BBQ place we found.  UNREAL!  Troy's BBQ, if you're venturing to/through St. George, is AMAZING! Take Bluff exit off I-15, go 3ish blocks, rith on 700 S. it's on your right.  DO NOT MISS THIS BBQ.  I have had BBQ all over the country: Miami, Chicago, TX (all over), NM, AZ, etc.etc.  THIS IS THE BEST!  (And you can sign the wall.  FUN!)  All in all, a great trip despite the weather.

During rainy days, we played "Settlers of Catan" with old firends from St. George (Isaac, Lauren, Jorge, Seth) before they went up to the trade show.  They are developing some incredible new areas down in and around St. George.  Thanks for the hospitality, guys!!!  Here is Seth's website about St. George climbing (with rad pics/video.) http://desertratpro.com/

Also, Jesse Bonin has some new vid of super local Carson crag: Prison Hill: http://www.betabase.blogspot.com/


Seek perfection of character. Respect others. Try Hard.