weekend in Rifle!

This last weekend I had the pleasure of driving four hours to Rifle, Co alone! I was meeting a group of friends up there. I roll into the canyon at around noon and meet up with my buddy Ben Schmitt and Scott Hahn. 

We hike over to the wicked cave to attempt to warm up doing the moves of "the bride of Frankenstein" a super rad 13d. Ben had been on it once last season, and quickly figured the moves out, basically he was about to piss all over this route and sent it on his third go! 

Scott had been trying a route next to us called "charleston choss" 13b, and he was looking way strong on it. He probably spent about a half hour on it working out the moves and sent second try using some straight up giant person beta in the crux. Mad props! So now it was my turn to try the bride, I quickly did all the moves and felt really confident after two more burns. I spent the majority of my second day resting, waiting for the evening temps and getting Ben's girl friend Emily and Eric's girl friend Tracy on some fun moderate climbs and having a good time.

Last season Eric was super close to sending street knowledge, and after two brilliant attempts this weekend was still unable to send...soon Eric! At the same time Brett was wasting no time, while grabbing some proud 12a onsights. I then warmed up and headed over to the bride. I felt super strong and confident but not strong enough...I was able to one fall the route...twice, but no send yet!

Sunday morning Ben and Scott quickly sent "Fluff boy" 13c. These guys were on a freaking rampage of sending! I think all in all it was one of my funnest trips to rifle and had an amazing time with good friends. You all climbed so well and I am so proud of you guys! Hopefully I can head back next weekend and send! 

route setting

Setting with Ancient Holds in an Ancient Gym
By Kyle McFarland


During the summer we all know that it can be tough to motivate ourselves to get out of bed in the morning and wander down to the gym and set a masterpiece. It is especially difficult if the gym is about as old as you and in less than optimal shape. If you’re setting on old decrepit walls with holds from Strait Up, Tony Yaniro’s Mount Charleston holds and old school pusher holds that haven’t seen texture in about a decade, you might have some psych problems. Over the years I have found a few little tips and games to keep me going, they might be a little archaic but it’s worth a try, right?
Basically the problem tends to be the route setter’s mind set. You have been setting on the same walls with the same holds for god knows how long. The only thing that wakes you from your repetitive trance is when you get a few new holds to play around with or if your very lucky a new volume or feature. Now if you’re not that lucky what can you do to put a spark back in your relationship with everyday route setting? Give the walls some love, maybe a little make over. Go down to the hardware store pick up some materials to build a small portable feature, something that can be taken down and placed somewhere new every once in awhile. They are not terribly difficult to build and are relatively inexpensive. It’s amazing that such a small addition to a wall can make such a huge difference. Once it’s in place and the ladders are out, alas a whole new wall for you!
Not all gyms have the option of building a feature, so then what do you do? Try playing a game with yourself. Try and set moves unlike any you have ever set before; switch things up a little. Take your style of setting and throw it aside for a second. If you are notorious for setting super techy routes, try setting something a little more dynamic and bouldery, you never know you could find some inspiration. Also maybe there is a route you have done in the past that sticks out in your mind. Whether it’s from a comp or something you did outside, take the moves and set a simulator one inside. It’s very small things like this that can help transform your route setting nightmare.
If you’re a gym owner there are plenty of things you can do to help in this crisis. Maybe sign up for a hold of the month club. Most of the hold companies now offer this. It’s relatively inexpensive and will add some, color, texture and most importantly hope to your route setters. You can also inspire your route setters by hosting a route setter competition every once and a while. Nothing over the top, but give them specifics to set, such as grade, excitement, movement and uniqueness and have some customers be the judge. At the end maybe buy them pizza or something, its little things like showing them you care that will make them hate their job a bit less.
Now, none of these seem like giant steps, but that is exactly the point. You don’t need to rebuild your gym to make it fun to set for, just change your routine a little bit. There are plenty of things you can do to get motivated again, like stay in the loop of the setting community, frequently visit sites like http://www.routesetter.com/ or other setters blog’s for new ideas. Mainly, open your mind to change, climb new styles and just set something fun.

Word on the street

Though no one reads this I would still like to share some awesome news. I have recently started working unofficially with project holds, just trying to spread the word on their great holds. I Have a huge box of holds on the way and among them is the new scar face (pictured bellow), a super rad sloper in the Kreases set. This thing is HUGE, we're talking dimensions like: 27in.L x 15in.W x 6.5in.D...yea HUGE!

I am very excited to help out the great people at project, they make super strong and awesome holds. Please check them out and get your mits on some madness!

Sending in Rifle

Well, I took a four day weekend warrior trip to Rifle this weekend with my buddy Justin. First of all I need to spray a huge thanks to Justin, he basically came up there to belay me for four days, super rad of him!
On my first day up there I ran into Joe Kinder and his girlfriend and five ten athlete Colette McInerney in the Ruckman cave. Joe had just sent a dope 13c extension of some 11d or some thing. On my last trip there I had attempted to onsight extended family, a 110ft 12c and fell about five moves from the finish. So after watching Joe do his thing I got very psyched and hiked extended family. The next day I did In Your Face a pretty cool and frustrating 12d that might have taken more attempts than any 5.13 I've done.
Then to top off the trip, this morning I sent Fluff Boy 5.13c. I started working it Saturday night, after a hard day of climbing. I had a super hard time trying to find the beta, so I gave up and went back to camp. The next day I returned with Brian Rhodes and quickly figured out the sequence. After three one falls I called it a day. This morning I warmed up very well, hiked over to the wall and sent it third try. All in all I'm very stoked and hope it will open a window to harder climbing for me!

pre day 1 trade show

So today was pretty mellow and yet exciting, all the five ten athletes attended a seminar to aid us in becoming better professional athletes. We heard from three guest speakers about working with media, photographers and what its like being a profession climber. It was a fantastic time and we all learned alot. I have never been surrounded by so many talented climbers and all around good people.

I look forward to working with them in the future, and today was a good start for the trade show!

OR Summer Trade Show

About four hours ago I landed in SLC and headed to my hotel. Its been a pretty mellow day, alot of sitting around and looking busy. This Friday is the start of the summer trade show, and Im here all week sitting in the five ten booth looking busy...pretty sweet gig.

But any way, I should be keeping up with this site that no body looks at. So my goal is every day of the show to post a new article on all the happenings of the show, and put up some rad photos of new five ten stuff...keep an eye out

Rifle Baby!!

Also this weekend after the WC my friend Justin and I drove down to

rifle for a day of climbing. It was such a gorgeous day, did a bunch of fun routes for training, almost sent thieves 5.13a and was super psyched to climb with this Bulgarian guy Minco and see my buddy Jerad send skelator 5.13c...super dope!!! here are some pics thanks to Justin