The Climbing Blog
A personal record of sends, failures, and hard-fought projects on the rock and in the gym.
Results for "Bouldering"
Orient Express*: Send with an Asterisk
Last Sunday, I showed up to the Glen after unlocking new micro beta from the previous session. I finally had hopes that I would be able to finish Orient Express. When we showed up, the first three holds were quite wet but luckily the rest of the holds were quite dry. The temperatures were somewhat high at around 27 C. At this point, I realize it's going to be a working session, where I will try to link more moves and make the cruxes more consistent. Translation for non climbers: The conditions were bad and the holds were wet/slippery. I probably have little chance of doing the whole climb, so I will be working on it piece by piece. Orient Express The climb itself is a classic line at the Glen that starts on a giant circular dish. I find the moves individually are quite easy for the grade, but linking them together is what makes the climb tricky. The first few moves are burly, making the later tricky moves challenging to execute. The Moves Most people (myself included) start with two and and a right heel hook matching on the dish. On my first attempts, it was difficult to even find enough space to place the heel along with two hands. After placing the heel, I go to a left hand crimpy pinch, engage the right heel and pull into a right hand crimpy pinch. I find that the right hand is better when I exclude my pinky. From here, I switch my feet so that the left toe is in the dish and bring my hips close to the wall, throwing for the left hand crimp. From here, I swap feet again and bump my right hand into a sharp tooth like crimp, setting myself up for the famout heel hook. I do the final foot swap and throw my right heel onto the sloper and drag my left foot into a nice undercliing. From here, I am able to bike with my feet and I am absolutely locked in position. The next two moves are personally the hardest moves for me. Up until this point, I have always fallen on these moves when starting from the bottom. This time, I am able to grab the right pinch with three fingers and a thumb. (Once again my pinky is not helping) From there, I cross and reach left to the crimp while keeping the heel and toe. From here, I throw hard into a comfy jug on the right, bring my feet up and cross into another jug with my left hand. The finish hold is on a final jug to the top right. I slip reaching up to the final hold, but I catch myself and end up campusing the last move. The Send* As I finish the climb, I am happy, as this is a personal goal of mine from before Covid in 2020. Once I get down, I watch back the video I see my feet slip a couple of times because of how wet the climb is. I also notice, however, that I dab my spotter on the big throw. Although it does not really seem like it stopped my momentum, I know immediately that I want to do the climb again without dabbing. In climbing, there are strict rules that you are not allowed to touch anything that is not the climb itself in order for the send to count. Perhaps I am being a bit anal, but I know that I want to send it clean. I tried again after, but I was too tired to complete the climb again that day. I am happy that I was able to do all the moves consecutively, and I know that I will be able to do the climb next time I am there when the conditions are better. Anyways, here is the video: Lessons Learned: Honestly, I have always found climbing outdoors quite challenging compared to climbing indoors. This is due to many compounding factors, such as climbing conditions (weather), availability, accessilibity, and just willingness to drive to Niagara. This year I finally just decided to say fuck it to all the doubt that I have had in the past and decided I am strong enough to project this V8, and although it took 5 sessions (and a whole lot of gas), I was able to link all the moves. Who would have thought that putting in the work would yield results? Only EVERYONE ever.
Jun 29, 2026
Orient Express: My First Project at the Glen
Orient Express is one of many climbs at the Glen that I have wanted to try for several years now. (along with One Inch Punch and Black Eagle) I finally feel like I am in a position to be able to spend more time driving out to the glen and actually project climbs. In 2020, one of my goals was the climb a V8 outdoors, but of course COVID had other plans. Unfortunately, since then, I have not made any serious goals or attempts to progress my climbing. This was partly due to focusing on my career and partly due to lack of ambition. Now that I am more comfortable with where my career is headed, I decided to take another stab at my goal from 2020. Although I am 6 years late, my modus operandi seems to be better late than never. I have already put in about 4 sessions and can do the climb in two links. I will be returning on Sunday (June 28, 2026) for my 5th session. If I send the climb, I will write more about the process and the micro beta of the climb itself.
May 25, 2026
Logging My Climbs and Blogging My Thoughts
To be honest, I have not really reflected on previous climbs or logged my ascents very accurately. I suppose there is the crag and the mountain project, but I have not really been logging ascents as diligently recently. The reason I wanted to start logging my thoughts was because I realized after trying bonfire rodeo a handful of times now, the climb oddly feels different each time I try it. I doubt that I will go back and read these, but I think it might be interesting to see climbs feel over time and perhaps I can quantify an small progression that I make. I am also realizing that I have been climbing long enough to not really remember what I have already tried. This is especially true for sport routes, as I am simply not as familiar with most sport routes. Specifically looking back at the sport routes that I have worked on, there is only really one climb that I remember, Jug City, which is a 5.9. With that being said, hopefully having a climbing diary will help me to remember what the holds feel like and how hard certain moves are. I think it will also be interesting to see how I progress. Currently, I am probably the strongest I have ever been, despite weighing the most I have in a long time. Hopefully I can find the discipline and motivation to properly diet and train. Anyways, the motivation behind this section of the blog is to track my experience climbing, whether it be achieving goals, making progress on climbs, or finding the motivation train. Maybe I will find the motivation to work on Black Eagle again.
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