The winner of last week's challenge was.....it's hard to say. Coaches Ty and Steven both scored 80% on their first time taking the quiz but since this is supposed to be for the kids, I will just say "Congratulations! Nice job!" Cole and Weston teamed up and got 80% as well but it wasn't really supposed to be a team effort and once again, they pretty much get whatever they want in the cafe so I will bring more cupcakes for them. Palmer managed to get 70% his first time through the quiz which is the only score I'm counting so I am declaring him the winner of the free smoothie. Nice job Palmero!

Now, on to this week's challenge!

This challenge will require going to www.momentumclimbingschool.com to find the answer.

Here's the question:

Under "Crack Climbing", there is a climbing technique listed which is named after one of Coach Jeff's friends. The technique starts with the letter "L". What is the name of the technique, what does it involve, and who is the climber that invented it?

Good luck! Submit your answer by posting a comment.

A New Game to Usher in Winter

Coach Ty's

Weakest Link Principle

By that I mean that you are only as strong as your weakest area of climbing. If you don't like slopers and feel weak on slopey problems, you need to get out of your comfort zone and work more problems like that. Not only will you get better at them but you will become an overall better climber!

I've always found the traditional part of Thanksgiving to be a little lame to say the least. I don't find a great deal of excitement in sitting around watching a parade and waiting to eat a bunch of food just to feel sick and then having to clean up the mess. But, that's just me.

It took me a long time to realize that the real point of today's celebration goes much further than eating, sleeping, and watching football. (Although I don't mind the football part). My point is that, no matter who you are, where you are, and what you do or don't believe in, we truly have so much to be thankful for. These are a few things that I'm thankful for:

• an amazing, loving, healthy, hardworking family; both immediate and extended
  
• the best in-laws anyone could hope for
  
• a roof over my head
• a car to drive and gas prices that are once again reasonable
• that God is obviously a rock climber otherwise he wouldn't have created so many amazing crags for us to ascend :)
• that I get to live in such an incredibly beautiful place (especially when there's no inversion) where there are so many activities right in our backyard
• I live in a country where I can vote
  
• steak and dessert
  
• the best job in the whole world, that I was fortunate enough to stumble into, where I get to spend time getting to know your kids and watching them develop the talents that they possess. Thank you for sharing them with me!

Feel free to add your own things to my list by posting a comment.

Have a fantastic day!

Weekly Challenge Quiz

Okay my friends, here's the thing; the only score that is going to count is from the first time you take the quiz. It isn't fair if you see the answers and then take the quiz again. After you take the quiz, your scores will be emailed to me so I have a record of what your scores are but feel free to post them in the comments. If you want a better score, take the time to do the research first instead of just guessing.

All right, I concede. Weston is the Monkey Master of Shame with 27! Go Weston!

Current Master of Monkey Kick Off

The current leader in the Monkey Kick Off game is Cole with 5134 monkey meters!

The current low score leader is Missy but since she's not officially a member of the team, Weston is the still the Monkey of Shame leader with 62 monkey meters!

Stay tuned for the Weekly Challenge!

Let's see who's got the best "Monkey Kickoff"

Give it a try and then post your best score in the comments.




For some reason, I have to think Aspen might be good at this... :)

New Game

And the O's win! There's a surprise. Sarah gets to go first this time.

Sarah! Quit cheating!

Someone said O lower right and Sarah said X middle right.

Sarah said X in the upper left.

Okay, someone needs to be X's. Steven?

I've had some requests for a new game so, anyone up for tic tac toe? O's go first so leave a comment and tell me which square you'd like the O in.

Coach Jeff's

"Give it one more go!"

Many of you are trying your projects once or twice and then saying,

"I'll try it next practice."

In reality, there is no better time than the present. You are warmed up and tuned into the moves. Give it another go...today!

Answer to Weekly Challenge

Alright yo, here's the answer: Marianna drives (actually her mom does) the farthest.

They live in Tooele but love Team Momentum so much they drive all the way to Sandy to be a part of our team! It's approximately a 50 mile drive (45-60 minutes depending on traffic) eclipsing the close to 40 mile (35-45 minutes) drive that Kaden makes. Cole, Weston, and Sam W. also have a pretty good trek.

Thanks for all the good guesses and the highly entertaining battle of wits that went on between Autumn and Coach Steven last night, however, Queen Katie came up with the right answer and enjoyed her delicious smoothie made by the very talented Matt.

Keep smiling :)

This week I want to know which team member drives the farthest to get to the gym.

Breaking News

Katie Crowned Queen

Team Momentum had a small but mighty representation at The Quarry's annual King Komp on Saturday, November 15.

Katie S. not only took first place in her division but she also tied with two other women for the highest female score of the competition.

Congratulations Katie!

Her sister Ellise took third in her division and Andrew P. took third in his division as well. He was actually awarded sixth place but after all the awards were given out, realized the scorekeepers had forgotten to add in one of his scores which would have bumped him to third.

Nice job guys, you really rock! Thanks for representing us so well!

Coach Steven's

Build your Base!

Whether it's V10 or 5.14, you must have a solid base, or foundation of experience on easier climbs to achieve your goal. Grade skipping never works! Starting Monday, we will be using Coach Ty's route pyramids to help you track progress toward your ultimate ascension!

Ellise

Ellise is 9 years old and in the 4th grade at Grace Lutheran School. She loves to eat cheeseburgers and her favorite color is green. Ellise has one sister, Katie, who is also on the climbing team.

Ellise joined Team Momentum just over a year ago when it first began. She started rock climbing because she thought it was going to be fun and she found out that she was right. Ellise's favorite thing about climbing is going for a move and to her, the best part of being on the climbing team is that she has such great coaches that teach and challenger her.

Ellise loves to boulder and sport climb (she has recently learned to lead climb) and she competes in many competitions. Someday, she would love to climb The Grand Teton.

Besides rock climbing, Ellise loves to ski, hike, bicycle, and drink tons of water to keep her hydrated during all of her physical activity. She also does yoga with her sister and father.

Someday Ellise hopes to become a veterinarian.

Congratulations Ellise! Thanks for being such a wonderful part of Team Momentum!

Answer to Weekly Challenge

Alright, I will put everyone out of their misery and put a stop to the bickering.

Andrew guessed the answer to the very first image I posted in about 3 minutes through some very shrewd detective work. Yes, it was Palmer. However, since Andrew won last week's challenge, I asked him to concede to not winning again and posted another image.

There were a couple of good guesses but it didn't take Cole long to recognize his brother, Weston's, hat. I should have known that he would guess it easily. Also, Cole gets whatever he wants in the cafe anyway so I asked him to not say anything and let it ride a couple more days to see if anyone else could get it.



There were several more guesses (sorry Rich, there is no Jordan on our team) and then Monday evening, Nathaniel guessed Weston as well. He was, of course, correct. But, as Autumn so cleverly pointed out and after looking back at the comment posts, Nathaniel posted two guesses on Monday which was clearly a violation of the rules.

So now what do I do? We all know it's Weston but there has been no clear winner other than Andrew and Cole. We could let Cole buy everyone else who guessed, a smoothie, but I don't think that would make his dad too happy. How about I bring cupcakes to practice tonight and anyone who can guess whose birthday they are for gets to have a cupcake? :)

Thanks to everyone who posted a guess. I'm glad you're all getting the hang of this.

Weekly Challenge - November 9, 2008

Autumn is right Nathaniel, the rules clearly state that you can make only one guess per day, sorry.

This week's challenge is going to be a little different and there are going to be some rules. The challenge is like a puzzle. The image I post today is of a member of the climbing team but it is covered up except for one piece so you can't tell who it is. Tomorrow, I will post the image again but with another piece of it uncovered. Each day I will add back another piece until someone guesses who it is.

Here are the rules:

1) each team member can only make one guess each day

and

2) you have to guess by posting a comment on the blog.

Any guesses made at practice will be completely ignored. If you don't know how to post a comment on the blog, follow these instructions:

When you get to the end of this blog post, you will see a line. Directly below that line you will see two things, the date the post was made and next to that, the number of comments that have been made on the post. If you click on "comments -", it will take you to a new screen where you can post a comment.

Capisca? Bueno! Here's the first post of the image:



Good luck!

Dads of Rock Climbers

Dads of Team Momentum climbers, don't forget that tomorrow, November 10, from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Momentum is your free climbing class with Jeff and Steven. You won't want to miss this opportunity to learn from the best and meet other dads.



Also, it's a good time to ask Steven where he gets his fantastic hair styling tips!

Coach Ty's Tip of the Week

This week's coaching tip is about gas. That's right, gas. Not gas you get from eating chili or $4.00 a gallon gas, but energy-for-routes gas! Three ways to conserve gas on a route are:

1. Breathe-most people tighten up when they do routes and don't breathe enough. Relax and breathe!
2. Shake out-let your arms hang down loosely, not at the same time of course, and shake them vigorously. Let the blood flow back into your arms and get the lactic acid out!
3. Rest on the route-look for ways to roll your weight over on your feet and legs; try to hang straight-armed letting your body go loose. Think of ways you can rest on the easier sections of the route and save gas for the harder sections.

I was pretty close with my Police lyrics :)

Winner of Weekly Challenge

The answer to this week's challenge is:

Amanda and Jeremy

Andrew was the first person to come up with the answer and therefore wins the smoothie. Furthermore, he figured out how to post a comment on the blog.

Congratulations Andrew!

Weekly Challenge-November 2, 2008

I am happy to announce that after my server being down for the last couple of days, it came back up in time for me to post a Weekly Challenge so here it is:

I need to know the names (first names only) of the brother and sister who tried out the team last Wednesday.

I was excited to see them at the gym on Saturday as well :)

Good luck everyone!

Remember, the winner gets a free smoothie in the cafe.

Women Experience Rock Climbing

Mothers of climbing team members:



Don't forget that this Tuesday, November 4, is the "Women Experience Rock Climbing" class from 7-9 p.m. You get to attend for free just because you have such great kids and we want you to be able to experience the same fun that your kids do! Make sure you sign up at the front desk so we know how many to expect.

See you there!

ps-it's at the gym in case you were wondering