The Virgin Gorda

Virgin Gorda from Christian Prellwitz on Vimeo.


Erika and I just got back from an 11 day trip to the Virgin Islands. We spent a few days on St. Thomas and St. John, and the rest of our time on the Virgin Gorda- exploring, making a day trip to Anegada and climbing in the evenings when the temperatures got somewhat reasonable (and by reasonable I mean high 80's).

The Virgin Gorda is undeniably a beautiful island with some of the best beaches I've ever seen and a fascinating landscape filled with enormous piles of granite boulders, rainforest, towering bluffs and spectacular flora. Not to mention the superb diving/snorkeling to be found on the many reefs of the Virgin Islands.

As for the climbing, here's my serious take. Some of it is really good. Definitely some of the most interesting features I've seen on granite- crazy pockets and huecos galore. But, a lot of it is really blank and/or uninteresting slabby less than vertical climbing on somewhat friable crimps and edges. I love slab climbing more than most people but it's hard to embrace in a place where it's constantly in the high 80's (shoe rubber melting off holds, fingers dripping with moisture). I'm probably a little more sensitive to heat than most people since I spend most of my year at higher elevations in cooler temperatures and I basically wilt in any sort of heat. That being said, I would generally only climb each day from about 4:30 to 7:30, preferably in the shade. All the problems that I did climb (many of which are featured in this video) were excellent and highly recommended.

If you're planning a trip to the Virgin Gorda, by all means bring a crashpad and shoes, but be sure to have a lot of other things on your agenda than just climbing- sailing, exploring other islands, snorkeling/diving, eating local cuisine. Climbing is like the perfect cap to the day, when everybody else is off at Happy Hour, you'll have the beach mostly to yourself, the sun low in the sky and a sea of granite to choose from.

Pawtuckaway from Christian Prellwitz on Vimeo.


Footage of some solo sessions after work throughout the month of June. Problems include: 'Burt Gives Blowjobs' (v6), a flash of 'Maxim' (v7), 'Atlas' (v6 ), 'Provia' (v6) and 'Bulletproof' (v6 and extra fun when it's 85 degrees).

'Up Into The Green Silence' (v4-ish)- Rumney, NH

a forgotten line that I recently re-cleaned and climbed- quite good!

Rumney Bouldering from Christian Prellwitz on Vimeo.


Erika and I are living and working in New Hampshire for parts of the summer. Here's some footage from a few days spent bouldering in Rumney this month (June 2012). We tried to document a few of the lesser known/shown problems of the area. The rock is unique and phenomenal and the lush forest surrounding (and often on top) of the boulders creates a beautiful backdrop. 

Spring Climbing Trip 2012 Video

Here's the video from our spring trip. Enjoy!

Spring Climbing Trip 2012- Part 2

 

'Choice Of Weapons' (v4)-- Rock Creek, CA

 

'Rusty Nails' (v2)-- South Bliss, CA

 

'The Elevator' (v9)-- Middle Bliss, CA

photos by Christian Prellwitz & Erika Curry-Elrod

Spring Climbing Trip 2012- Part 1

 'Little Mermaid' (v7)-- Joe's Valley, UT

 'Streetcar Named Desire' (v6/7)-- Joshua Tree, CA

photos by Christian Prellwitz & Erika Curry-Elrod

On the road...

Erika and I are currently in Lake Tahoe. We've been in Joe's Valley, Las Vegas, Joshua Tree and Bishop over the last twelve days. I know that sounds like a lot of places but that was mostly due to running from bad weather on our way to Bishop. Bishop was getting too hot, so we shifted to Tahoe for a few days. We're heading to Yosemite tomorrow where we'll be meeting my parents to show them around and spend some time in San Francisco. I'll have a video up at some point, but in the meantime here's a little stripped down version of one of my current favorite songs...Enjoy!

Telluride Bouldering Beta- Ilium Boulders Video

Here's some footage that I've shot over the last few weeks (a warm & dry March created some stellar climbing conditions) of some of the best problems in Ilium. There are certainly plenty of great problems that I didn't have the time to climb/film, but I tried to choose some testpieces, as well as some more obscure problems in order to entice people to check them out! My hope is to eventually do a movie like this for the Mine Boulders and the Tree House as well. We'll see.

The grades of several problems are different from the guidebook. These grades are just my thoughts after having the last five or so years to refine the grades a bit. Any comments/thoughts/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

A few notes on the last two problems:

-'Frogger Dyno' has been done by Scotty Michels and probably a few other people. It's actually the way the problem was originally done. Though it is somewhat contrived not to exit right towards the top, it is a great mental and physical challenge to attempt the direct dyno. The day I filmed this was actually the first day I ever tried it this way. It's exciting! There is a bolt on top (that you might want to back up) for working it out on top rope, if desired.

-'White Wizard Right' I started trying this when I went up to film 'White Wizard' because it seemed hard but plausible. It is somewhat forced as one of the hardest parts is avoiding the boulder behind you, but the moves climb beautifully. The moves aren't super hard (maybe v6?) but I needed to figure out a little more beta to avoid having my feet cut. Jim Hurst informed me the other day that Paul Pierce had come up with an exit similar to this recently, apparently using a heel/toe cam of some sort, though I think his exit took a different path since the exit holds I brushed were covered in dirt and lichen. If I find out more about this, I'll update this post...

Another One From Moab

'Frankenspank' (v7)

a few photos from a recent trip...