Which is better? Ontario or the rest of the world?
In this
blog I'll be talking about traveling to the States, Spain, and the First
Ascents I've obtained in Ontario. Maybe I answer the title's question or maybe
you will still be pondering when does Joe work? No one knows!
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| The start of many adventures with Tyler and I! |
After my
last death trip with my father I decided to go on a 4 week trip with my boy
Tyler! A trip with Tyler will always be filled with adventure, laughter,
spontaneous moments, probably no near death experiences or maybe just one, Boy
Talk, and Cookies!! This trip did not lack any of these! We started our trip by
hitting up Rumney and I had the dream of trying the 5.14c (Living Astro), but
the hot/humid weather had other plans for us. The plus 40C weather was making
the hike to the cliff dreadful and we wanted to rent a donkey to carry our
bags. Since Tyler refused to carry my bag to the cliff, I was dead by the time
I started climbing. I tried the 5.14c and was surprised that I was able to do
the crux in this weather, but for some reason Tyler and I were just not having
fun sweating buckets. We woke up on day 3 and randomly decided "Let's call
John Shen and he will tell us where we won't sweat to death". John gave us
the great idea of hitting up Shagg Crag! Shagg Crag not only has the best
quality rock I've ever climbed on, but on the hike back you have the choice of
swimming in the most beautiful setting ever!
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| The swimming and jumping area at Shagg Crag |
I must warn you there is a rock to
jump into the water, which feels like 20 feet high, but 99% of the world would
say 4 feet high... Yes... It took me days to build up the courage to jump off
this 20 foot( maybe 4 foot) boulder into the water... If you want to see this
brave jump and hear me roar like a Lion, then check out this link (which also
has more videos of Tyler and I's adventures!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQwIxrGzqmU
The rain did not stop for the next 2 weeks, but luckily Shagg
Crag stays dry and we completed 95% of the climbs there! After completing Shagg
crag Tyler and I hit up Wild River , I got my first 5.13 onsight! This 70 foot
5.13 really meant a lot to me because I suffered from tunnel vision on some of
the holds and probably could have found an easier way to do it if I had more
time to read it. Instead, like many onsight attempts, you sometimes become
fixated on only using certain holds in a certain way and you become blind to
other techniques that may make the climb easier. However, this is part of the
battle I love. Sometimes you only have mere seconds to make a decision that is
going to either make or break the entire climb. Lucky and unluckily for me this
5.13 took me over 20 minutes to send
because I milked every rest and had a open mind during crux. At the end of the
day I got lucky and sent a very crimpy 5.13, which helps because I tend to like
crimps.
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| Shagg Crag |
Some key non-climbing parts of the adventure included surfing
in Portland, being rudely woken by a moose, and
then we continued to Quebec for yummy ice cream and knee bar climbing.
We ended up camping at a 5 star parking lot of a ski hill for 3 days and failed
to learn how to knee bar for the next 3 days of climbing.
Our next destination was our last, but you know what they
say, save the best for last! We met up with my childhood hero Zach Treanor in
an unknown location by Thousand Islands. Zach has a nose for smelling out
Ontario's best cliffs and this time was no different. He's developing a whole
cliff side by himself! Zach's determination for developing is one of many
reasons why I look up to Zach. This new cliff called "The Wall" was
no disappointment. The 3 of us went right to work and bolted 6 new routes.
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| The victory ice cream after Onsighting my first 5.13 |
One of the first climbs I bolted was a 5.10d and it is an experience I will never
forget. The main ledge was filled with 3 feet of thick dirt and the only tools
I had for removing it were my two bare hands and my wire brush. I felt like a
dog digging a hole for a bone. The best part was the route is less then
vertical under the ledge, which means all the dirt I cleaned off the ledge was
covering the rest of the route. After
half a day of work the route was completely cleaned and bolted! Probably the
best 5.10 I've ever bolted.
Afterwards we sent a
few more 5.12's and I failed to FA one of the coolest 5.13's I've ever
touched!! This 5.13 had crazy lock offs, dyno’s, and a classic mental run out
on slab climbing! Where I might or might not have cried for a few minutes
before doing the run out to the anchors. But really I just needed those tears
to clean off the dirty holds that Zach forgot to clean for me. Zach's new area
will be a classic destination for sure! Sadly this trip had to come to an end,
but this trip was a classic Joe and Tyler adventure!
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| The hike to Wild River Crag! I'll never forget this beautiful hike =) |
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Spain
What is better than a Joe and Tyler trip? Clearly nothing, but a Joe and Justin Ticknor trip can match that! Now what can Justin provide in a trip? Justin is charming, the best chef around, funny, and is just down to have a good time. Did I say he is single ladies? Probably not for long after everyone finds out he sent his first 5.11 on lead in Spain!
Justin and I decided to hit up Spain for a few weeks, but
this trip was more about trying out new food, visiting family, and adventuring
to Rodellar for climbing! We started off the trip by spending a few days with
my family that lives in Barcelona. We had a great time enjoying Justin's meals
and spending time on an empty beach. Yes, I said empty and not because the
beach was a private beach, but because plus 25C is apparently too cold for the
Spanish. People could not understand that Justin and I were swimming and
tanning in plus 25, while the locals were walking around in their winter
coats.
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| Spain-->Rodellar Crag |
After sweating too much at the beach Justin and I adventured
to a small village called Rodellar, which is a world class destination for
sport climbing. This area is equipped with tufa packed 45M long routes, 5-6 restaurants , 4-5 different
hostels/hotels, and a cliff side that
does not seem to stop. Rodellar probably has over 1000 climbs, but 80% of the
routes were wet. Our first day 90mm of rain decided to come down and even if we
had perfect weather afterwards the walls continued to cry with water, or, maybe
that was me crying again? Justin and I tracked down every dry climb we could
find and went to work! Justin impressively climbed 3-4 routes a day. He sent a
5.11 that was powerful and full of throws! He was also a champ about belaying
me for the rest of the day. Justin would
belay me until I finished a whole crag. I would climb one route, rest 5-7mins
and move on to the next route. My best day of climbing was onsighting seven
5.12s and onsighting one 5.13! My endurance was on point, but sadly I was just
not strong enough to climb the wet hard climbs.
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| A little dip before our Bromance Picnic |
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| A romantic first kiss in this stone heart shape ;) My girlfriend was a bit jealous, but who can resist Jt when he goes in for the kiss |
Ontario
Back to Ontario climbing! This
Ontario season was unreal for me! I was lucky enough to send the 15+ year old
project at Crag X, Mark’s project at Devil’s Glen, and sent another open
project at RW. The one route I want to go into detail is the 15 year old
project I called “Team Choss”. Now, I'm not
saying there is nothing special about the other two routes, but this
route needed more than my crimp strength. The support of my friends and family
helped to encourage me, figure out the beta, and basically keep me on the wall
long enough to finally send this project.
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| Ontario Climbing -->Wild Fire at Devil's Glen. |
I tried Team Choss back in the
day. After sending my first 5.14 and I childishly thought I could send
anything. I was obviously wrong and failed miserably because I did not have an
open mind and climbed with tunnel vision. This is where the help of Max, Jared,
Elli, Chris, and my father came in. This route took 3 days just to figure out
the first 20 feet of climbing. Every time I would fail or say this move is impossible
my friends would yell out beta like “Use a Knee bar? Heel hook? Huge cross
over? Dyno, oh wait, Joe can’t dyno”. Instead of failing over and over again on
the same move I would try out beta that didn’t even make sense, but the crazy
beta would work! I would only get one move further, but that was all the
motivation I would need to continue the battle.
Not only did I have to fight
through difficult movements, but the Canadian weather was becoming colder and
colder. One might say, winter is coming. Each day my hands were getting closer
and closer to getting frostbite and I was slowly losing all my climbing
partners. But what happens when the young and reckless cannot climb in the
cold? You bag the old and even more reckless!
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| My dad and I trying to keep warm by the stove. |
Why is Ontario climbing my
favourite place to climb? I can climb at world class cliffs and at the end of
the day I can still see my best friends and family. As much as I love
travelling the world and climbing at new areas, after a few weeks I always get
home sick. Sometimes people forget the whole picture. The whole picture for me
is climbing, family, friends, and cookies. Take one of these factors out and I
will always feel like something is not right. Live life to the fullest and
enjoy every moment as it was your last!
Joe Skopec
