It was between 40 and 45 degrees yesterday up on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona; the wind felt like it was blowing 50 mph and it did not seem like we could find any cover. My friend Ryan and I went up there to do some bouldering for the day. When the conditions are this bad it is hard to stay focused on the goal of finishing a boulder problem; you can’t feel your hands or your feet for that matter, and these extremities are pretty crucial for climbing rock.

The first problems Ryan and I worked on were completely exposed from every angle! As our hands gripped the rock we could feel and almost hear our fingers cracking. Bouldering in this environment can be rather discouraging after a while, but, you keep truckin’ on because the idea of finishing a problem far out weighs the pain your feeling. On the outside, climbing in these conditions, it all looks crazy; although, on the inside, you feel as if you were born to climb and there is nothing that can stop you.

We ended up taking a break for a little while, which gave us time to eat and figure out where we should scout for new challenges (problems) to climb. As the sun was setting, we were hiking down a mountain stream when we came upon our next challenge! We were losing light quickly but we pushed on, what we found were two giant boulders that had been pushed up next to each other by the elements. Our challenge was the inside of the cave made by these boulders. Right as the sun was almost completely gone, Ryan got it! All my photos were taken with my iPhone and the video was shot with my Flip camera.