BOZEMAN!!!!

We are here at the competition and having a blast! I am working on homework upstairs here at the gym and thought that I would give you a little post while I had some time.

Craig, Ryan, & Chema (this is a boy's name he's a friend of Nate's) showed up last night around 5 o'clock and met up with Corey at Sticks(FYI:this is a climbing gym in Rexburg called Sticks and Stones. Corey lives here when he's not at school or at home). Jared and Jessica showed up around 3pm, I think, and went to Sticks with Corey also. We all went to dinner at BIG Jud's, a local eatery, and enjoyed the 1 lb of beef burger affectionately called the BIG JUD. Then we went home and watched a climbing video, which is the usual for a competition weekend, and they stayed up til midnight talking about climbing, also typical for a climbing weekend.

We left Rexburg around 8:30 and headed off to Bozeman, Montana; a climbing down with a college problem (just kidding). We arrived sometime after my nap and before the competition so that everyone could register and headed to The CO-OP, a funky little/LARGE grocery store that has organic everything and some really cool stuff. People grabbed food and we headed back to the comp right before it started at 1pm.

They apparently climb for 4 hours and get ranked according to their top 5 climbs and their point values(I may need to retract my statement if I find out other wise). They stand "in line" by putting their place cards in a pile and whoever is one top goes first. The gym is full of tons of climbers and techno music, it's actually really cool. Corey is right when he says that the energy here is amazing because it really is. Imagine being on that hyper high you get every once in a while; usually from staying up too late with friends, where you are silly and just so full of energy you don't know what to do with yourself. Now imagine adding techno music to it and having it last for four HOURS!!! If you can imagine that then you can get close to the feeling of the Bozeman competition.

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Five hours later...
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After everyone climbed 'til they were too tired to move. They then started the Dyno competition and the slack line competition while we waited for them to tally the scores. Craig made the top five and went on to finals. Finals are done by isolation, which means that all of the participants are not allowed in the room where the routes are. They come in as a group and have 3 minutes to look at the route, touch the starting holds and decide how to attempt it. It was actually really funny because all of the guys that were in the finals were friends and they were all giving each other tips, when in the real world they wouldn't. Craig made it up the first route but only part way up the second. His friend, Mike McClure, topped out both routes and won the open category over all.

After the competition was over we headed to Arby's for dinner and then started our 4 hour drive home. It was wet and icy and we didn't get home until 2 o'clock in the morning. Yay for really long road trips. And we get to do it all again next year.

Hunting 08

This is a slide of our first hunting trip together. Hunting has been a King family tradition for a very long time. My father has been hunting the area we go to for over 35 some odd years now. I have so many very fond memories in that country. Jentri was a bit nervous about going to begin with, but who could blame her? Honestly, I would be too if I were in her shoes. We left Rexburg area and arrived in camp at about 9:30ish friday night and left sunday night. It was a depressingly short stay. The hunt openned on saturday and we got into the elk that morning. Sadly we weren't able to make contact, but went out again on sunday. Jentri stayed in camp with the ladies on saturday, but came on the hunt on sunday. I do believe she had a good time. The weather was beautiful and warm all weekend. We are still trying to get things unpacked and settled from the trip. This trip is such a huge thing to me. The hunting area is truely where my heart lies.

Hardcore Marcus!!

These picts were taken a while ago when Marcus graced us with his presence. This is the day Craig put this, his project down! Thanks all to Marcus pointing out a new, tinny, hold. Craig shot these and I think they turned out very well. Good job! Thank you friends for creating such a memorable weekend for Jentri and I. We look forward with giddiness to the next adventure together.

Update

As you can tell, not much i going on out here in Rexburg. Jentri and I are working our butts off to keep our finances in order and keep up with our classes. Every once in a while I squeeze in a session at Sticks. Jentri comes and hangs out at the sessions every once in a while. Hopefully Jentri gets her boot off tommorrow! I have joined up with a school organized photographic society. So, there may be pictures posted randomly from now on.

It has finally gotten cold! This last weekend was full of snow! Yay for winter!!! I'm still workin away at the Outdoor Resource Center, Jentri just changed her job. I can't really explain it to ya, but she is leading some advertising groups for the college I think. All I know is that this experience will be great on a resume'. So, we have met a new climber named Kristin. She is an awesome young lady, and a great climber to boot! If only we could get her over her shyness!

Those two pictures were taken out near the climb named Warpath. Over conference weekend Craig, Kristin, and I headed out to flash the route. It ended up raining all day, but that was ok being as warpath is in this HUGE cave. Stupid me didn't get a shot of all of us sending the route, but I did get these really cool other shots. Anyways, more to come later.

Pocatello Pump!!!

So last weekend Corey and I headed down to Pocatello to have our annual Climbing friendly Reunion also known as the Pocatello Pump. We climbed on Saturday top-roping the routes that we would lead climb on Sunday. We went to Lava Hot Springs (a new yearly tradition) and then climbed again on Sunday. I lead a whole 2 climbs that day, one being my first 5.10.

After the climbing was over I decided that it would be a really great idea to break my foot on the way back to the trail so I rolled it as soon as we got to the trail head. There was lots of debate as to whether it was broken or just sprained it so I hobbled it for two more days and when I finally got to the doctors office they x-rayed it and found three breaks in one bone so now I have fabulous black foot wear that I get to have for 4-6 weeks.

Corey and I would like to give a shout out to Craig and Tolman for winning their division in the competition and Marcus, I am so very glad that you decided to come. It is always good to have you around and it is great to climb with you and get to know you better..