Lately I’ve been leaving the bouldering pads at home, instead opting to clip bolts on the larger boulders in the forest. Squamish is home to sever classic sport routes which I would like to do in my next few years here. The most famous one is of course Dreamcatcher 5.14d, but just as good (in my opinion) is Permanent Waves 5.13d. Unsurprisingly, I feel very close on Permanent Waves and very not close on Dreamcatcher. However, I think there may be long term hope for me, and so far I’ve had some fun days just trying to make small progress on the route. Here are a few photos from Vikki, who made a fast ascent of Young Blood 5.13a the other day. (Another route on the Cacodemon Boulder) Nice job Vics!

Update: Rumor has it that Sean McColl just made the second ascent of Dreamcatcher 5.14d. Nice job Sean!

I left Mammoth about two weeks ago and made the long drive up to Vancouver. It was a mostly uneventful drive except for one of my car windows literally exploding on the interstate. After a few hours in Portland, it was all fixed up and I was back on the road. Since then I’ve just been getting settled in my new place and making trips to local areas. I’ve spent a few days in Squamish, but successes have been few and far between as there always seems to be something (heat, humidity, rain or sometimes all of the above) making conditions less than ideal. This weekend I decided to go for a change of pace and went sport climbing on Vancouver Island with my girlfriend Vikki. On the drive over, I checked out a nice sandstone cliff band called Duke Point. The rock quality was on par with things I’ve seen in the south and it looked like there was potential for hard problems.  I climbed a few things but would like to return to try the harder stuff. We continued on to the sport climbing and spent Sunday and Monday there. I climbed a very nice route called Globe Trotters 5.13c and started working a few other things. One of the highlights of the trip was watching Yuji Hirayama onsight Dinosaur Highway 5.14a. Yuji is a true master of the sport and his skill was very evident on the climb. He spent about 20 minutes on the 25 meter pitch, milking the rests and moving quickly through the hard sections. It was the sort of performance that made me want to become a better climber. School starts tomorrow so my time to climb will definitely be more limited, but I plan to continue going to Squamish and making trips out to the island through the fall. I’ve made a small dent in my tick list, so hopefully I can keep up my strength and finish a few more things before the rain comes. Until next time…

I’ve spent the last two days at a Beautiful area called Way Lake, near Mammoth Lakes, CA. The area isn’t huge, but there is a small number of good problems on great rock. In a lot of ways, Way Lake is like a smaller Chaos Canyon. It sits among striking tall peaks of the Sierra Nevada, and the rock type is gneiss. Unlike the park, there aren’t a lot of hard problems, and a lot of the classics are in the lower grades. Jeff Sillcox and Charlie Barrett have been awesome tour guides, and it’s clear that they and the other locals have put a lot of work into developing this area. I’ve seen about 70% of the problems, so here are five that I’d recommend to anyone who visits: The Seam V5, Wave Catcher V11, Knife, Dance V7, Wills’ Seam V11, Crimp Ladder V7. I feel like I’ve been climbing well lately and I’m psyched to see some more areas before I head up to Vancouver. I plan to check out Bishop, the Table Lands, and Rock Creek. Unfortunately, it’s quite hot in Bishop right now, so I don’t know how much climbing I’ll do. Perhaps I’ll make a trip back this winter. Here are a few photos from the trip. Click to enlarge.

I’ve packed up all my belongings into the Prius and I’ll be hitting the road in a few minutes. I’ve had an excellent summer in Boulder, and even though I haven’t really sent anything lately, I feel like I’m back in shape. I will definitely miss my friends and the climbing here, but I’ll be back before too long. For now, I’m psyched to see new places and meet some new people. I wasn’t able to finish Freaks, but I’m seriously considering coming back for a weekend this fall to try again. Here is a video of my best attempt. The yell at the end might be a bit much, but what can I say – I was pretty frustruated. Video by Jason Pinto

Freaks of the Industry Attempt from Ryan Olson on Vimeo.

Today I fell off the end of Freaks of the Industry for the fourth day this year. This is certainly not the first time I have had an epic on a power endurance problem, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Two years ago, I spent about 15 days of a five week trip to Hueco on Full Throttle V13. The last few days I tried it, I started to get into the V7 finish. I was pretty devastated on the last day when I realized I wasn’t going to send. However, life goes on, and I suppose it’s the failures that make victory so good. I have one, maybe two days left to try Freaks this year, and I’m hoping I can execute through the finish moves. Conditions are supposed to improve a bit, so hopefully that helps. If not, at least I have Way Lake to look forward to! Below: Jamie Emerson executing on Freaks.

In 10 days, I’ll be making my way towards Vancouver with a few climbing stops along the way. The main destination will be Way Lake near Mammoth, CA. I’ve heard lots of rumors about this place, and I’m getting really psyched to check it out. I’ve also written up a list of climbs I’d like to do this fall. It’s a pretty big list, so I’d be psyched if I just completed a quarter of it. Check out way lake videos here.

My time in Colorado is winding down and I’ve been trying to focus on one final objective before I leave. I have put three days so far this year into Freaks of the Industry V13 and I’d really like to finish it off. Evening conditions have been decent but not great, so we’ll see what happens. This wraps up my seventh (I think) year in the park, and I have spent over 365 days climbing up there. The scenery and the rock quality combine to create one of my favorite places on earth. Despite all the days, I’m still finding new problems to get psyched on, and I think I’ll have many more years of enjoyment up there. Here are a few old photos of Freaks, and on the right, the famed “Punch In/Punch Out” tree. As Jon Glassberg says, “You have to be clocked in to do work otherwise you don’t get paid…” Click on the photos to make them bigger.

Welcome to the new ryankolson.com. I’ve tried to expand the focus to include my climbing and web design work in addition to my photography. Why? Well mostly its because it has been hot and I’ve had some extra time on my hands. I hope you enjoy it!

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend checking out the new Squamish Climbing Magazine. It’s a free online magazine with nice layout and design. I think the first issue looks great and I look forward to seeing more. (I might be a bit biased as I made an appearance.)

That’s all for now. I’ll be trying to update the blog often for as long as I stay motivated, so check back or add me to your rss reader.

Living in BC and going to school full time has meant less climbing for me lately. A change, but not necessarily a negative one as I am really enjoying school. I do wish that I had more time for things like taking pictures and climbing, but I suppose its impossible to have everything.

I have made it out to Squamish a few times, and the Forest is a great place for climbing photography. I’ll be trying to publish the best shots, but here are some of the other pictures.

After spending four days stuck inside the Salt Palace, and then two days in a car, I’m happy to say that I’ve arrived in Vancouver. The trade show was very fun at first – seeing friends and meeting with climbing companies – but after a while, the whole thing was a bit wearing.

One of my photos of Paul Robinson is being used in a Five Ten advertising campaign, so it was fun to see it in a large size (above). I ended up shooting the Mammut competition, mostly just for the practice, because anyone needing photos from it already had a photographer there. Here are some of my shots from that: