Happy New Year!

This has been a great year of making new friends and seeing and learning new things. I am looking forward to another great year of making more friends and having better friendships with current friends. I am excited about our ever growing team and watching the kids learn and grow on a weekly basis. I can't wait to go on more cool climbing trips and dominating more competitions (the kids, that is). Stay tuned. Coach Ty might get me a Tip of the Week

sometime, well.....next year :)

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

John Bachar, Peter Croft, Michael Reardon, and Derek Hersey are all known for being expert at a very dangerous style of climbing. What style of climbing is it and which of them are still alive? Which climber is famous for free-soloing Astroman in Yosemite?

Happy Holidays From Your Coaching Staff!

Coach Jeff's Tip of the Week

Flappers, splits, gobies - if anything is proof of effort in climbing, it's skin damage. If you're not at least trying hard enough to get sore skin during practice - bear down, get ugly, do more!

And the winner is....

Autumn!

I am posting Autumn's answer how she wrote it since she worked very hard to learn this information and didn't really get a chance to share it at practice on Wednesday.

Lynn Hill:

Lynn started climbing at the age of 14 and her first climb was on "lead". She had to use a "Swiss Seat" since harnesses did not exist back in 1975. Her brothers and sisters taught her how to climb. Lynn is only 5 feet 1 inch tall and was the first woman to climb a 5.14, which was Masse Critique (5.14a) in Cimai, France.

One reason that Lynn Hill is considered a top climber in the world, man or woman, is that in 1994, she freed The Nose on El Cap in less than 24 hours. This is an impressive feat because it takes the average climber 5 days to ascend the 31 pitch route.

The first time Lynn tried to ascend The Nose, she ran low on food, water and chalk, not to mention she was exhausted. She decided to come back another time and try again. Lynn returned in two weeks, this time with plenty of supplies and a more positive attitude and was able to ascend the climb in less than 24 hours.

Lynn was also John Long's girlfriend. John, in case you didn't know, is the author of the "How to Rock Climb" books.

BEAT THAT STEVEN!

This week's challenge is a multi-part question so make sure you read it carefully and answer all the questions. There are six pieces of information that are required:

• Who was the first woman to climb 14a? When was this-and where-and what was the name of the route? This same climber is, perhaps, even more well known for a climbing feat she accomplished in 1994. Describe that feat and what makes it so difficult.

Good luck!

Sam is 12 years old and is in 7th grade at Mountain Ridge Middle School. He loves to eat filet mignon and his favorite color is green. Sam has two brothers, Seth and Dax, and two sisters, Lauren and Zoe. He says that Dax is "the awesomest".

Sam joined Team Momentum about seven months ago. He started rock climbing because he thought it would be fun and his favorite part of climbing is taking lead falls.

Sam prefers sport climbing to bouldering and would someday like to climb in Anasazi, Mexico.

Besides rock climbing Sam loves to play guitar, ride dirt bikes, wake board, shoot airsoft guns, snowboard, watch monster trucks, and, um, blow up cars. (I'm not sure if he has actually done this last thing but I'm just writing what he told me.)

Oddly, Sam told me that, not only is Cole his best friend, but he is also Sam's pet. (Again, I just write this stuff.)

There are two people that Sam most looks up to. The first is his father and the second is Kirk Hammet, lead guitar player for Metallica.

Someday, Sam would like to be a Marine or a professional musician. No matter which one he eventually chooses, he wants to continue to rock climb.

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

Looking for the Coach's Tip of the Week? Well, you found it. The tip is to come to the Climbing Team party this weekend!

Just in case you lost or deleted the email with the party info, I am posting it here:

• Saturday, December 13
• 6:00 pm
• Gateway Community Church, 584 E. 12300 S., Draper http://tinyurl.com/65dd28
  
• Please bring:

1. the food dish you were assigned
2. white elephant gift if you wish to participate
3. music and/or instruments if you wish to perform
4. money for raffle tickets for prizes to be given away
5. your ugliest holiday sweater, most festive hat, and/or craziest socks
6. Twister if you have it
7. a festive attitude

I have been told that there are even more prizes that have been added to the raffle giveaway. Coach Nate has generously thrown in a set of quick draws and some other climbing gear!

If you haven't had a chance to meet the new coaches and other climbing team parents, this is a great opportunity to do it!

And the winner is.....










Here's his answer:

1: Smith Rock-Traditional and aid climbing from the early sixties. In the 1970's Dean Fry bolted the first face route in the dihedrals, "Methusula's Column" (5.10a).

2: Red Rocks- began in the mid 80's

3: American Fork- Black Magic was climbed in the fall of 1988, Jeff Pedersen, Boone Speed, and Bill Boyle continued to develop routes.

4: VRG- Development began in 1989 by Jeff Pedersen, Vince Adams, Boone Speed, Tom Gilje, and Randy Leavitt.

5: Rifle- Richard Wright and Mark Tarrant put up the first route in Rifle called "Rumor has it," in 1991

6: Maple- Early 90's devlelopment began with Bill Boyle, Jeff Pedersen, Bill Ohran, Tim Hannig, Dan Snyder, with many others to follow.

Thanks for the history lesson!

The winner of last week's challenge was Sarah L. Well, she was the closest to the correct answer anyway. There were a few of you who answered one part of the question, but it was a three part question. The method of crack climbing is called Leavittation, created by Randy Leavitt, and the information I saw said it involves hand stacking. Jeff pointed out that that was incomplete. It involves the feet being above the hands, as well as hand stacking, in an overhanging crack. Hmmm, doesn't sound like something I am real eager to try, but if you had asked me three years ago if I would start rock climbing, my answer probably would have been, "why would anybody do that?".

This week's challenge is going to involve some research as well. You can find the information on the internet as well as in climbing guide books. Which books you may ask? I don't know, I just ask the questions. However, for the right price, you may be able to persuade a certain coach to spill that information :)

Here's the challenge:

Sport climbing has been developed in areas all over the western United States. Rank the following areas from oldest (developed first) to most recent (developed last):

• Rifle, Colorado
• Maple Canyon, Utah
• American Fork Canyon, Utah
• Smith Rock, Oregon (have you heard of that place before?)
• Red Rocks, Nevada
• Virgin River Gorge, Arizona

Post a comment to leave your answer but instead of just guessing, do some research first. The smoothie is worth it, I promise!

Keep your head down!

When you place your feet, you must keep your head down and your eyes on the hold until your foot is placed exactly the way you want it to be.

The best time to practice this is during warm-ups on easier routes.

Nathaniel is in charge of "special event" day for the team and he has declared that Wednesday, December 3, is "hat day". I guess this means that everyone should wear a hat to practice!