Star and I took Gavin to Nagano for some snowboarding this Valentine's Day. What a success!!! We stayed at Hotel Terry. Our rate included breakfast and dinner. The breakfast was a buffet and dinner was a very interesting French (Japanese interpenetrated) cuisine. The first night we were at the hotel in the town of Hakuba, it snowed about a foot. Star and I had decided to split the ski day and take shifts with Gavin. It worked out very good. Star was very happy to be on her board again. The views from the top were amazing. The next day I sent Star out for some more runs and I went and took some photos of the surrounding yamas (mountains). We wound up having such a great time that we booked another trip in a couple of weeks back. This time we are staying at a different hotel that seems VERY nice. We will see. On Tuesday Jack and I went ice climbing. It was the first time that I have ever been. Knowing my experience is key in the story. This waterfall that Jack picked was to be a first ascent and onsight. He had never been to the base before due to lack of trail and a super steep approach. Well after an hour of hiking/scrambling/climbing up 1000ft we made it to the base of the 60m waterfall. It was awesome. Everything went great!!! Jack onsighted it and I followed clean. The line went at WI3/4. Super fun day. We even made it back to Tokyo in time to make it to Caramba.

Also in the happs was the bolting of some routes at the Col. Towers area.

Here are the pictures!!!


Go Climb Something!!!!

This week was some what eventful. I am making headway on the guide book. I have been in touch with a publisher and they seem to be interested. So, I hope this will go somewhere. I went to another sport area close to home today. Really nice joint. Tufas and stalactites, super cool. I also built a climbing wall in our storage closet in our condo. Small but pumpy. The wall will be great for days I can not get outside or to the gym.

This weekend the fam' is heading to the Nagano Prefecture for some snowboarding. We are staying at a ski in/out resort in Hukkabu, which is where the Olympics where held. Hukkabu is being dumped on right now. Steep and deep!!!!!

Star and I have been talking about a few things and trips is one of them. In the next 1.5 years we are looking into going to Australia, New Zealand (south island), Mongolia, S. Korea, and Exploring Japan more in depth. I am pumped about all of these ideas/trips but most so about Mongolia. I am turing 30 next year and we think it so to have a big excursion. So I looked into Chad and Morocco. Both are in the future but not near future. For now the Ulan Bator area of Mongolia looks tops. Clean rock too many untouched stone. The perfect ingredients for a fantastic trip. For more reading on this check out Black Diamond's recent trip there.

Anyway. This week looks like developing more at the Towers area and bouldering at the gym. Star is on call so I will not be able to get outside this week. Next Tuesday I will be heading out with Jack to check out some new large and STEEP!!!! boulders that he found and can not stop talking about. I am stoked to say to the least.

Enjoy the pictures.


Go Climb Something!!!!

The new area cleaning has begun. I have taken a couple of photos but none are very becoming. But saying this I have one just to show what it looks like. The new area is about 60 ft tall and just as wide. The rock is limestone and as of today we figure that there are about 12 routes ranging from 5.7 to 11c-ish. We will be bolting the lines very soon. The trail is being put in now and looks very good. Anyway I have spent some time here and it seems like this will be a great place to bring beginner climbers. Privater guiding area.

The other trip that Gavin and I took today was to Hinohara. Hinohara is about 30 minutes from Fussa and a nice drive. There is an old crag there that looks amazing. But the cliff, Kanoto 100m high, has been closed for many years due to the cliffs status. This cliff in Japan is to us in the states like climbing Mount Rushmore. Without the old dudes faces. The rock is very nice and steep towards the top. I really wish that we could still climb there. So it goes. I took some nice shots of some old scary gear. If this place did ever open, a hardware overhaul would have to take place asap. There are some nice large boulders nearby that have seen some climbing it seems. I know one of Yuji and Dai's hardest problems is in this area but not exactly sure where.

In other news, I am heading to Caramba tonight to set up some easy problems. I am teaching a bouldering class there on Friday, so I need to prep a bit. More cleaning and finalizing on the lines at the new area on Saturday and hanging with the fam on Sunday. This week is jammed packed with fun!!!


Go Climb Something!!!!!

Lately we have been climbing quite often. This past weekend we drove a hour away and checked out Kawamata. KM is a really cool sport climbing area with tons of fun routes. Many new projects, or so it seems. The weather was very cold so we did not stay long. The weather was over cast and because so it was -2C. We drove over to Base Camp and had a fun day climbing with Hit chan.

On Monday Jensen and I woke up at 5am and made the 3 hour drive down to Joyama. It was his birthday on Sunday and as a present I decided to take him multipitch climbing. We arrived to three other guided parties already climbing. But fortunately they were climbing other routes. We geared up and headed for the summit on a direct route 10c. A very fun onsight as it turned out. It was super fun showing Jensen how to handle himself on a multipitch climb. All in all it was a great day.

On Wednesday we headed back to BC and I have to say it was my best work out in a month. A very good night. I finally finished some projects and made great progress on others.


Go Climb Something!!!

Gavin Talks from Eddie Gianelloni on Vimeo.

And so he talks.

Our trip to the Izu Peninsula was a blast. We drove down the beautiful east coast to our hotel on Wednesday to our temporary home, the Star Hotel. The hotel was OK but we had private onsen access that was killer. An onsen overlooking the Pacific Ocean is very cool.

The next day we went up to Jogasaki to check out the coast there and to see what all of this seaside climbing is all about. Well I have to say that some of there areas looked great and others were very underwhelming. we hiked the trail above the cliff and located several great lines but all most all seemed very short. After a nice snack we drove up to Futo to check out Jackson boulder. This is not a destination boulder by any means. It also is not very beautiful, with three of it's sides covered in spray paint. It does tote a few 7a and a 7a+ problems. Their are a few easy problems on it too but nothing impressive. If you are there check it out, but do not make a special trip just for Jackson boulder.

On Friday we headed over to the west side of the peninsula for some sight seeing. Of course I was looking for some boulders or areas for some route. We actually found a few potentially nice spots. One of the areas is on the beach and has three large boulders. The main boulder is actually pretty cool. It is about 10 feet tall and on one side it has a couple of tiered sloper shelves that start in the middle and work their way up to the top. The start of this problem is on nice crimps. This would be the main problem on the boulder, probably V6/7. I could only play on half of the problem since part of the boulder was wet. This is the only thing with this boulder. It is rather close to the surf. But still climbable in the right tide. On the other sides of the boulder there are a couple of cool problems most v2 or 3. But on the seaward side there is a very tough problem on VERY small holds. The other two boulders are the same height and offer easy problems up to V4. Fun place, but not a destination area. We found a great lookout that gave us a fantastic view of Fuji and the Pacific Ocean at sunset.

On Saturday we headed to Joyama. I have to say that this is by far the best area that I visited on the peninsula. May great routes and long routes too. Up to 9 pitches it seems. In the sun all day, so great for winter climbing. When we were there it was about 8C in the shade and 12C in the sun. Great climbing weather!!!! With the little man in tow we hike up and climbed a bit but had to head out early. Gavin was ready way before daddy was. And so it goes.

All in all it was a killer trip. We found a few other spots with really nice rock and no sign og climbing due to the vegetation in and on the walls. I think this area has much to offer with more to come it seems.

Enjoy the photos. Gavin is starting to wake and I am on duty.