Vertical Plains 2010

If I'm not careful, I'm going to build a reputation for being "the guy with the majorly delayed blog entries." But I have hope for the future, I plan on joining Procrastinators Anonymous...tomorrow.

A month ago, February 13th and 14th to be exact, a group of students traveled to the Vertical Plains Climbing Festival at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Seven of us headed out on Friday afternoon with plans to see the Telluride Mountain Film Festival showing that night. i wasn't as impressed with the films this year compared to last year, but overall it was very entertaining and a good pump-up precursor to the climbing events of the next day. Check out all the films shown this year in Telluride:
http://www.mountainfilm.org/festival/2009/weekend/films.asp

They're not nearly as prestigious as an Oscar but here's a list of Colter Awards I give to some of the ones shown at Tech: "The Red Helmet" (Best Action Sequences), "Samsara" (Best Climbing & Best Overall), "Look to the Ground" (Most Inspirational), "The Hidden Life of the Burrowing Owl" (Most Comical), and "The Great White Shark Song" (Most Likely-to-Get-Stuck-in-Your-Head-for-the-Next-Month).

After sleeping at the home of a mutual friend (thank you very much Holts!), we found our way into the climbing area the next morning ready pull on some plastic. The whole day was a blast! A competitive atmosphere is both relaxing and stressful at the same time, but everyone is always really friendly and helpful. Scores were given for each pre-established climb and judges would give you credit if the climb was completed successfully from the bottom to the top. Bonus points were added for a "Flash," climbing the route on the first attempt. Included within the climbing competition was a rope climb and a dyno competition. I don't think any of us climbed the rope but Jarrod, Asa, and I qualified for entrance into the dyno comp which was held later that evening. I failed to hit the first problem, but Jarrod held strong and represented ACU well by impressively making it past the first two.
Then the awards ceremony rounded out the evening. Much to our disappointment, none of the ACU group won any door prizes! Oh well, it was fun cheering for everyone else (I have to confess I may have coveted my neighbor that night...). Then Jarrod surprised us all by winning his category! Well done, sir, display that trophy cup with pride.

With tight forearms, slack shoulders, but full hearts we left the campus for a hole in the wall Thai restaurant, then headed home rocking to the sound of the Shins.

This is guest post-er Colter Lane, signing off.