THE BEST ROPE BAG EVER!!!!

I been using this rope and I juts love it. Not only works just for climbing but also for all kinds of stuff including my laundry system!!!!

BLUEWATER calls it  the ROPE CAULDRON. Once again BW just kicking ass with another great product.
It is totally collapsible for transportation. Once deploy, it has room not only for the rope but whatever else you like to put inside. Also contains 3 gear loops and a zipper pocket.
Pretty sweet!!!!!!

   

HOW GU HELPED ME WIN THE SPEED COMP IN OURAY

 GU products have always been a huge part of my training and performance. From World Cups to expeditions and everything in between.
This year at the Ouray Ice Festival, I saw the benefits of hard training combined with good healthy performance products.
The competition at the Ouray Ice Fest is the most prestigious ice climbing competition in the country  and world renown one.

There are two different comps; difficulty and speed. World class ice climbers come from all over the globe to give their best and hope to stand on the podium.
In the difficulty competition you have to climb a very long and complex overhanging route. This kind of comp it is my favorite style.

On Saturday morning it was my turn, filled up with plenty of energy from the Roctane that I took while warming up, I launched my quest of getting to the top. After climbing 80+% of the route I made a technical mistake, loosing my ice axe. I still tried to climb up with only one. The couple thousand people cheering me on,  I could feel their energy while I was upside down fighting to try and get at least one more move up. I had plenty of energy, but with only one ice axe, there was only so much that I could do. At the end, I ranked 6 place overall not too bad considering that I was head to head with some of the best mixed climbers in the sport.

Moving from that result, I needed to focus my attention on the next day's comp, the speed comp. It consists of climbing two long ice routes as fast as you can while going head to head against another competitor. The final time combined from both routes gives the overall result.

I started my day with a smoothie that contained mainly fruits and recovery Brew, a session of stretching and visualization of how I was going to do the course, as fast as I could, set for the challenge.

The day went super good for me. It was my time to go and I was ready with my plan.  Which was to climb both routes giving 110% effort.

Lots of people cheering, I could hear the judges counting down the time.  I heard the clock count down to go and all the noise disappeared, as if no body was there. My surreal state stopped once I hit the bell on the first route. My senses came back and all the sudden, the noise of lots of people came back. Got lowered down, the other competitor had not finish the route, which was a good sign. I had a few extra seconds for me to lower my heart rate. My heart was pounding really fast.
Ninety seconds went fast, and it was time for the next route.

Once again, I heard the GO! And all my senses just focused on what I had in front of me. I climbed so fast that it almost felt like I was holding my breath all the way to the top. Once I swung for the bell, reality came back.

It was time to wait for the results, I knew I had a great run, but so did the other 16 competitors. Especially the Europeans, who are well known to be world class in the speed format.

A couple of hours later, at the award ceremony we heard the final results. When they called first place and my name was on the big check, it was a great feeling.  Like a dream come true.

This was possible thanks to GU and climbing partners/trainers Rob Pizem and Steve House.

     

  

     

OURAY ICE FEST RECAP

This year the Ouray Ice Festival was a total blast!!!!

Great times teaching clinics, seeing friends from all over the globe, and the challenge of the competitions were the highlights on this year's festival.

I look forward to this event, year after year. Training hard, I put major focus on fitness to perform at a high level in the biggest ice climbing competition in the country.

The OIF has two competitions: Difficulty and Speed.

On the difficulty competition we had to climb about 20 feet of ice followed by an M9 rock route, over an ice bulge, in order to get to the final structure. This is where very difficult and powerful climbing had to be done in order to finish the route. I was feeling very strong, and with plenty fuel in the tank after reaching the structure I made a technical mistake and one of my ice axes fell off.  Leaving me with only one tool. I fought toughly to climb with only one, but the steepness of the terrain did not allow me to continue without my other axe. Meanwhile, the crowd cheered me on for my solid effort and good show. Better luck next year!!!!

The next day (Sunday) was the Speed comp. I was totally focused, and after studying the course I had a plan.

The Speed comp consists of two steep ice routes.  The goal is to climb both routes as fast as possible and the total combined time will give the result. You also go head to head with other competitor.

The time had come, it was my turn.  I tied into the rope, waited for the sign of the judges, and there I went climbing as fast and efficient as I could. i remember thinking after i finish the first route, "man I climbed fast that route" the belayers lowered me down to the ground.  The other competitor had not finished the route which gave me an extra few seconds to rest besides, the 60 seconds allowed. He finished the route, got lowered down. We rested for bit longer and it was time for the next heat. On the second route i focused my energy on climbing as fastest as I could. Besically full throttle. My heart is pumping really fast, but my eyes stayed focused on the goal of reaching the top of the route as fast as possible. It was a surreal time until the sound of the bell from my ice axe hitting the metal wok me up.

I had finished both routes. After all the competitors (20 men and 6 women) had the opportunity to go it was time for the judges to pull the times and get the result. At the award ceremony, not knowing my name was going to be called for first place in the mens division, it was a great surprise, and an awesome feeling standing on the highest step of the podium, along with two of the best competitors in the world Jeff Mercier from France, and Mauro Dorigatti from Italy. Many hours of hard training had paid off and a dream had come true. Can't wait for next year's Ouray ice festival.  

2014 OURAY ICE FESTIVAL CLINICS!!

The 2014 Ouray Ice Festival is coming soon and the calendar of events is up on the web.
I will be teaching 3 clinics, 2 on Friday and 1 on Sunday.
Get your spot before they are fill up looking forward to see you there!!!!
Check out the Ouray Ice Festival Clinic Schedule

A Great Day of Early Season Ice Climbing in Ouray!!

This season here in Ouray, CO we are having an incredible start to the Winter with tons of Ice climbing and great skiing.

My training for the upcoming competitions and climbing projects is going super well, and most importantly very fun.

I have couple of days in between training cycles, so I decided to go and have fun ice climbing in the backcountry for two days in a row.  The first route I did it with my girlfriend Annie, we climbed the Ribbon WI-4 200M.  The second was with Bryan Gilmore who is one of my favorite climbing partners. We climbed the Talisman WI6, M6R 220M.

I usually start my day with a smoothie to get energy and my body in tune. 

Here is one of my recipes:

1 Banana

3 Chard lives 

1/2 Apple 

1/4 Cup of Berries

1/4 Cup of yogurt

1/4 Almond milk 

3 scoops of GU RECOVERY SMOOTHIE!!!!!

Some ice, put it all on the blender and you will get the most awesome 

smoothie. A great way to start your day!

  

While drinking my yummy smoothie, I'm putting together the gear that I'm taking for a long day of hard alpine ice climbing:

THE  ROCTANE and ELECTROLYTE BREW is a great and efficient way to stay hydrated after long approaches and to keep energy levels high, so they are one of the items I make sure to have with me!!    

   

After the approach from the trail head to the base of route a warm ROCTANE cup and a ROCTANE GU will get you ready to start climbing hard!!!!

  

There we go climbing time!!! Keeping the BREW and GU up will make me fill like a Rockstar or I should say an Ice star!!!! The route in this photo is called The Talisman. Right now (early conditions) the route it is really hard!!!

It is pretty incredible how you feel with good overall nutrition and products like the ones GU offers. Performance will always be up when you stay on top of providing your body with fuel.

Thanks to GU for keeping me always energized for my adventures, competitions, and expeditions all over the world!!!!   

 All best, 

IMAGES FROM PERU!!

Here are some images from the trip to Alpamayo in Peru.

This is a view from our hotel in Huaraz of Huazcaran  which is the tallest peak in Peru.  

Typical food of Peru where is all natural and delicious.....

Our acclimatization hike to some pre Inca ruins.....

After living Huaraz our next stop was Cachapampa where we pack all the gear in Burros and start hiking in. I took a photo with the future alpinist of Peru....

The trail to our first camp was really cool.....

We hike by a huge lake the view from here was fantastic.....

Some of the rock formations here where pretty tall like a big wall.....

In our rest break our porters and cook took really good care of us with awesome food....

Getting closer to BC of Alpamayo...... 

 Once establish in BC the 360 view offer beautiful panorama.....

 Taking a breakfast before going to a hike. Here is most  of the team.......

This photo is taking from our camp 3. we can see from here the glacier that we need it to cross in order to get to high camp....

Getting all the gear ready including the Blue Water Ropes to head up HC, getting there we need it to do some technical climbing.....

Once a HC a great view of Alpamayo and the route that we climbed super great view from this camp...

Most of the way up!!!! This face was about 400 meters long with super fun ice climbing....

After 5 hours of climbing all the team was at the summit 19,511 feet great to be up there......

After our summit we came down to BC to rest and eat some amazing food that our cook Max had ready for us!!!

This photo is taking from Alpamayo BC, this Mountain is call Artesonraju......

All and all a super fun trip I'm totally looking forward to climb more in the Cordillera Blanca next year!!!!

PERU!!!

Our expedition was just in credible.

Every moment was juts fantastic, in our journey to the top of Alpamayo: 

from our long bus ride from Lima to Huaraz, meeting great people in Huaraz,

putting all our gear together in H town, taking the bus to Cachapampa, the magic hike through the majestic canyons that took us to our first camp where we spend the our first night out where we can hear the Santa Cruz River running with its clear water. 

Our next day hike to Base camp where the first view of our objective and lots of other just stunning mountains that captive our attention. 

Once at BC the UNO games start and the scores start to acumulate. 

The meals that Max (our chef) made for us where out of a 5 stars mountain hotel. Our way up making carries and getting and higher we got to see different side of the hills side and the glacier open right to our view. 

Moraine camp at the foot of the main glacier was a great place to observe our surounding. After spending the night there it was time for us to head up an get to Col camp, where cool glacier travel and little of climbing was waiting for us.

We also witness the strengh of our porters Zacarias and Pelayo, that carrying 90 pounds of stuff did not slow them down a bit to climb steep snow at 16,000. 

Once Col camp the hole entire face of Alpamayo was just in front of us with its dreamy looking ice runnels that go from the top all the way to the base. After the rest day, it was time for us to atemtp the summit. 

We woke up super early alpine start early and start heading to the base of the route. 

300M 45 to 60 degree ice runnel was waiting for us. 

The climb was just fun super sticky ice and dreamy snow took us to the top of Alpamayo where, we all enjoy our success. We took some photos and start rappelling the face. 

It was a very long route 10 hours round trip of just fun climbing and rappelling, before we knew it, we find ourselves back in camp, a rest day was in order and then we start back tracking our way down to BC where Rodrigo and Max had plan a fun day of rest and eating  for us. 

They made a very special plate call PACHAMANCA. 

It takes long time to make since they make a fire first, dig a hole put all the food in the hole cover it and let it cook for 45 min. It was a great feast. 

The next day it was time for us to start our hike down to Huaraz. 

We spend couple of days there and we all flew back home safe and sound. All and all it was a superb expedition full of great time and incredible views and company. I'm totally looking forward to do it again next year. I also wanted to thank Ted, Chris, Julie, Charles, Rodrigo and company for such incredible times.