I arrived back in Boulder a little less than 2 weeks ago from my trip to Bogota, Colombia. The experience was unforgettable. It was my first time to South America and I was blown away. The people in Colombia are some of the friendliest, down to earth, and fun loving people I’ve ever met. Within hours of being in Bogota, despite not speaking Spanish very well, I felt comfortable approaching even the most inhospitable looking stranger as a friend. That kind of societal openness is something I wish could be emulated in more areas of the world. We were also very fortunate with the people that we met. Local (strong) climber Mateo Cardenas embraced all 7 of us like family from the moment we met him, and he gave us the best tour of Colombia possible. I can’t thank him enough for his generosity. He’s also one of the only developers of the local sport climbing crags. Mateo has sunk countless bolts, and established a vast array of first ascents across Colombia’s wild cliffs. He has truly helped support, sustain, and grow the local climbing community with his development efforts. Much respect!

Mateo!

We also found great friendship in another local climber by the name of Juan Pablo Caballero. A self described “twisted wig”. But that doesn’t even manage to do his personality justice. While unfortunately not sharing as many outdoor climbing days with him as we all would have liked, he certainly brought his A game when it came to the local night life. Over the course of several nights, Juan Pablo proved himself to be one of the most enthusiastic, creative, and outgoing individuals I’ve ever met. We shared some great times. One of the reasons we weren’t able to hang out with him more was his job. He works for a film production company in Bogota and has a busy schedule. Some of his side projects are very entertaining:

And now I’m back. Too soon perhaps. But work needs to be done. I have a lot of competitions coming up and time needs to be spent on plastic. To be completely honest, I feel like I’ve been seriously slacking off since returning from Switzerland in December. I’ve managed to maintain a decent level of fitness, enough to climb The Game and win Sport Climbing Nationals, but for the past 6 months I haven’t had the motivation to really push myself into the next realm. Last year, around this time, I was training extremely hard. It paid off. I still believe that I am reaping some of the benefits of that training to this day. But that can’t last forever. It’s time to begin a new cycle. I returned from Colombia with new found energy for training and a desire to alter my life for the better. Health and strength have become primary goals. Bring on the summer.

While I was away in Colombia, some new developments were being made in the boulder fields of Colorado. Dave Graham managed, once again, to center everyone’s attention around a small boulder field in RMNP dubbed Endovalley. I am and will always be impressed by his ability to bring energy, vision, and determination to overlooked and underdeveloped areas. Watching the the developments over the internet was enticing, and upon my return to the States, I couldn’t help but go check the place out. Last week, Jonny Hork, Jon Glassberg, and I headed up to the park to check out the “new” area. Upon arrival, I was immediately taken by the beautiful roof project. I am most definitely a sucker for the obvious, clean, aesthetic lines. And so I went to work. Day 1 (Monday) resulted in a magnificent loss of skin and a thorough shut down on the intricate top out moves. Heel hooks have never been my specialty and this particular boulder required the use of the heels to the fullest. None the less, I was obsessed. Day 2 (Tuesday) was a work day involving setting some boulders at The Spot and climbing them. Sometimes we set too hard. I got wrecked. Day 3 (Wednesday) was a work day as well. Fore running provided a nice (rough) warm-up before Jon, Jonny, and I headed back up to Endo once again. Progress was made, and I was falling off the last move at days end. Unsure of the unpredictable weather, I ventured back out for Day 4 (Thursday) and met the same demise. Last move punt fail. Thanks to my incapable heels. And by that night my skin was thoroughly wrecked. Two splits fingers and my back (due to the extended moves) felt like someone had taken a crowbar to it. But the weather for the next day looked prime! Day 5 (Friday) was game on. After a thorough doctoring of the finger situation and approximately 1600mg of ibuprofen, I was back under the roof again. Climbing on it with Dave, Daniel, and Jimmy Webb, provided the necessary motivation to pull it all together for a send. Flux For Life was born and I encourage everyone to check it out. It’s climbs really well. V13 felt like an appropriate grade to me. Perhaps a standard in that style? Jon finally finished up the Endovalley video tonight, complete with my footage of the First Ascent. Check it out:

Next up for me is the Vail World Cup next weekend. I wouldn’t say I’m prepared, but I will certainly try hard and stay optimistic. It’s always a good time whether you are watching or climbing. I should be updating the blog a bit more regularly now, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, here’s some B-roll from Colombia.  The good stuff will be included in a feature article for Urban Climber Magazine.

Nic Sherman on El Tinajo Pichon 5.13c in Macheta

Bag Water

A little awkward…

Jonny climbing in Macheta

Kara Caputo!

Clearly redefining the color green.

Lounging at the pool…

Stopping for some pan fresca!

Oh hey!  There’s Bogota!

Pretty good street artist…

The Crew.