A freakishly mild, dry Bay Area winter means only a couple things:

• No Christmas tree burning (for fear of starting a wildfire); &
• Yosemite in February! (what?)

Even the bears are confused, some of them still awake, ambling around like drunk toddlers, just angling to steal our Clif bars. And they’ll be so tired in the spring!

You know, or huge, having spent the winter eating moar food! instead of burning off that winter fat.

…or both tired and fat: narcoleptic roly poly bears bumbling about confusedly. A spectacle for the Korean tourists, for sure.

Anyway, climbing outside in February is great, but climate change is real, you guys. So do your part.

• Unplug your electronics when not in use (they still sap electricity from the socket, even if the appliance is off or disconnected from the charger)
•  Turn your thermostat down (yeah we all like to pretend we’re in tropical paradise in the dead of winter, but suck it up. Bust out your fuzzy socks.)
•  Wash your clothes in cold water (they’ll be just as clean, I promise).

1^st Town Hall Meeting Notes 2/7/2012

Opening Greeting from Lance, Co-owner of Brooklyn Boulders

• We’ve been making lots of changes, as you all have noticed.
• New mats and auto belays as examples of consistently reinvesting.
• Yearly, we give away upwards of $300,000 to organizations and groups.
• We will never be able to accomplish every single individual’s wants for our facility, but we are trying hard to fulfill all the realistic requests.
• Who’d like to start with their questions?

• Questions
• 1.1.  Answers
• Any chance of doing dry tooling classes for ice climbing?
• 2.1.  It is too dangerous for our current facility, but we will definitely look into the possibility for our upcoming venues.
• Then how about a small wooden wall to practice ice-climbing technique?
• 3.1.  Please help us design the perfect setup for an exclusive ice-climbing space in our new facility. We’ll let you know as soon as we’re ready to design!
• Can you guys track your patron numbers in real time on the site so we know when BKB’s too busy?
• 4.1.  There are privacy issues when running live streams over the net, but we will look into the legality of possibly launching it.
• 4.2.  Also be aware that rush hour can be anticipated from 6:00PM-9:30PM weekdays and 11:00AM-8:00PM on weekends. We are working to mitigate the intensity of our rush hours with offerings during non-peak times.
• I learned how to climb at BKB, and I went outside only to find that I had to “freestyle” when figuring out how to climb a crack. Can you offer that, maybe in your new facility?
• 5.1.  This is something that can definitely be taken into consideration when designing the terrain in our new facilities. Thanks for the suggestion!
• It’s so dangerous when kids are running around.
• 6.1.  We will remind our staff to be ultra vigilant. We are launching a “BKB Intro to Indoor Climbing” videos that will be required to watch for newcomers, they’ll be on our digital presences, and they will showcase all the etiquette for spatial awareness necessary.
• 6.2.  If members ever want to help out or chime in, then PLEASE DO!
• I am disappointed by the lack of communication regarding all the membership changes, which were rolled out on New Years.
• 7.1.  We know that there was a gap in our communication about these changes, but through our in-house announcement corkboards (6 throughout the gym) and our newsletter (subscribe via http://eepurl.com/cvg8r) we attempt to disseminate all the appropriate information.
• 7.2.  You can still freeze your monthly memberships (more info via http://www.BrooklynBoulders.com/prices/memberships). Members who had any of the EFT structures that are now discontinued are grandfathered into those prices.
• 7.3.  You can still bring in one guest per month as a member, or two guests per month with annual memberships. There are also a few other membership perks (more info via http://www.BrooklynBoulders.com/prices/memberships).
• Why’d you take away the off-peak offerings?
• 8.1.  In addition to simplifying our product offering, we felt as though we were offering a much higher value for less money. Example: you work nights and your schedule affords for you to come in during the emptiest times. That was our thought process.
• 8.2.  Please email Membership@BrooklynBoulders.com for ANYTHING.
• I’ve been using my Punch Pass for guests instead of my monthly guest pass that I previously knew nothing about. What should I do?
• 9.1.  If this is the case for anybody, email Membership@BrooklynBoulders.com.
• What is the maximum capacity for the gym?
• 10.1.               We have a number of opportunities we’re pursuing. As soon as we are ready to announce a new facility, we’ll let you know.
• Really early hours please, like open at 6AM?
• 11.1.               “Show of hands?” More than 2/3’s of the people voted yes.
• 11.2.               We will look into amping up our staffing to see if we can. Great idea. We’ll keep you posted.
• Outdoor climbing adventures? Training outside of the gym?
• 12.1.               We are looking for partners to provide our community with outdoor excursion opportunities!
• 12.2.               Rocco Bocchicchio, Head Instructor & Curriculum Director, joined our team in the Fall for coaching kids and adults, as well as heading up a climbing resort (http://www.HuecoHacienda.com). He and our COO, Gavin Heverly, are putting together a very robust plan for offering everything you need to become an expert. We are hoping it’ll be ready for launch on April 1^st, but we’ll keep you posted.
• If you are pushing people up to the Gunks, how will you prepare them?
• 13.1.               That is an extremely relevant question, and is in discussion right now. How do we educate individuals with proper outdoor climbing etiquette and general respect for nature? We are currently and will continue to partner with Access Fund (http://www.AccessFund.org/). In the coming year we will be ramping up partnerships of this kind and are looking to increase donations. We will also be including outdoor etiquette in the majority of our classes.
• Volunteer hours?
• 14.1.               We’re looking into setting up a street team for event marketing for people to swap hours for membership. Also trying to figure out how to accommodate people willing to help at BKB. Brainstorming.
• Conditioning for non-climbing activities?
• 15.1.               We are investigating the feasibility of including cardio, weights, flexibility, nutrition, etc. and should be notifying our community within the next months.
• More chalk eaters?
• 16.1.               We installed the air-pears (bug-zapper-looking contraptions) that circulate and ionize the air.
• I’m injury prone and would’ve loved instructions for “how do I not tear things?” when I started.
• 17.1.               The “BKB Intro to Indoor Climbing” videos, BKB Fit, and our new class offerings that are coming down the pipeline will definitely help.
• Pro Shop should have resoling service and a smoothie stand.
• 18.1.               Resoling is toxic, so please send them to the appropriate fixer-uppers.
• 18.2.               Juice Haven just opened up on 3^rd and Union, two blocks away! We’re in conversation to get you guys a BKB discount and will keep you posted.
• 18.3.               In case you didn’t know, we price match other NYC retailers in our Pro Shop.
• The water fountain is broken!!!
• 19.1.               We had people come in today, but they weren’t able to fix it, so we’re scoping out other options to replace it.
• 19.2.               Another water solution is to use the water spicket by the bike racks!

IF YOU STILL HAVE ANY QUESTIONS,
ask us on Facebook or put a note in our
suggestion/question box at the front of the gym.

Take care,
BKB

I’ve spent years perfecting my travel sketchbook kit. Here it is:

From left to right:

1. Canson 65 LB 5.5” x 8.5” sketchbook.  Something this size fits into lots of bags and the paper is just thick enough to hold wet media without getting too rippled. Also easy to tear out pages for scanning or giving away later on.

2. Rotring ArtPen “F”. In most of my professional work I use a nib pen for my inking. I love how nibs give a wide range of line width and expression. Much more than any uniball pen. These are a bit pricy, but I really enjoy how it is as close to a nib pen without having to bring an inkwell (which always spills everywhere!) around.

3. A Kuretake watercolor pen filled with a mixture of drawing ink and water. Ink washes are a great way to add depth and shadows to drawings. With this, I get my inkwash mixture to go.

4. A variety of Faber Castell PITT artist pen big brush pens. These give great color and don’t stink like adpens. Sometimes I’ll just use the grey one instead of my inkwash watercolor pen.

On this last trip to India my girlfriend Casey and I went primarily to see a friend’s wedding in Mumbai, but also made it up to the Hindu holy city of Varanasi for a few days before the wedding began. Here’s a few of the entries. You can see more cartoons and sketches from our recent trip on Casey’s and my blog here.

Waiting at Newark airport for our flight:

Once we made it to Varanasi:

And then at the wedding itself:   (Congratulations Aditya and Riddhima!!!)

So next time you’re on the road, rest those climbing calluses and grab a pen. It’s also fun to pick up supplies along the way. Some of my favorite work from around the world was done with Crayola markers and funny letter stamps I picked up on the road. You know what, I’ll end with one of those from Burkina Faso when Casey and asked for two teas at a restaurant. It still cracks me up.

Keep up with everything else they do @TelephoneNsoup.

The gear

I woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning that day in July to get to the first job site. I got to New Jersey to the office at a bit after, loaded the truck with ropes and gadgets and we headed out; the destination an hour north to the Newburgh walkway over the Hudson river. We were to rappel down the side and to take pictures of the legs of the bridge and to document any areas that had rusted so badly that it would affect the integrity of the bridge.

The climb

We need to be all attached to two separately anchored points at all times, redundancy, the points need to hold 5000 lbs each and need to be protected from sharp edges so the ropes don’t get cut, common sense? The concept is simple and it makes sense always to have a backup line. I guess my days of free climbing buildings in queens and hanging out on top of buildings after dark for fun are over (maybe). So we build anchors off the beams under the railing and lower down the ropes 200 feet to the base of the bridge. I rappel down take pictures while in awe of dangling 200 feet up over the Hudson River, the only thing going through my mind… Am I really getting paid for this?!? It almost made sunburn and the frustrating hour getting the ropes untangled from the beams and trees due to the high winds worth it.

The view

The game is the same as in the gym–don’t fall… the stakes are a little bit higher though. You might have seen me climbing at BKB, jumping around like a monkey, but that’s only half the story. My aim is to share experiences with you from the climbing of the (under-construction) Freedom Tower and the bridges connecting the boroughs, to my unforgettable experiences camping and climbing in Bishop and Yosemite. This is my life and I hope you find it interesting, so until next time, this is Jeff the monkey signing out.

My New Year’s resolution this year is to focus more on progress and accomplishments I’ve made rather than immediately worrying about what I should be doing next. So here goes! I’m now completing V1s successfully, several routes a visit. Given my progress I feel confident I will be completing V2s by the end of January.

Part of diving into indoor rock climbing is getting over the nervousness of climbing in front of other climbers as a newbie. As you might imagine, the best way to get over this insecurity is just jumping in and successfully completing routes which will build your confidence.  A few weeks of going to the gym and bouldering around ought to do the trick.

And as a beginning climber after pulling muscles on two different visits to the gym which kept me away from the gym for a week or more each time, I’ve finally learned the value of stretching!

Brooklyn Boulders Yoga Instructor Jocelyn O’Shea

Brooklyn Boulders offers yoga classes, and I highly recommend new climbers add some element of yoga or stretching as they grow as a rock climber.  Yoga teacher Benita Hussain Matador Sports suggests these six yoga poses for rock climbers. There are also simple stretches to do before, during and after climbing such as these muscle stretches recommended by indoorclimbing.com.

At this point I could definitely benefit from spending time working on technique by practicing on some of the longer traversing V0+s before completing some V1s during my regular visits. By spending a few weeks doing this I’m hoping V2s won’t be far behind!