matt segal

It’s been a while… Sorry for getting so far behind in bloglandia. The last few weeks have been non-stop for me. I spent ten days in LA visiting with the family, which was really nice. The new addition to the family, Scout Kingston Berke is absolutely the coolest.

So after 24 hours of travel I made it from LA to where I am now, Arco Italy. This place is really cool, a true climbers town, its like the whole place revolves around climbing… its wild, limestone cliffs surround the pristine valley filled with vineyards. The last few days I’ve just been sport climbing but am planning on going bouldering in some granite valley that sounds really cool…

Not sure what’s next, first priority is buying a car, exciting, I think I find one an old Audi Wagon… Big pimpin in the EU… Until next time Ciao Ciao

I almost forgot… on the climbing front, my good friend Ethan Pringle (aka the EFP) just got the second ascent of my route the Orangutan Overhang in Independence Pass CO. I established the route this spring and felt it was somewhere in the 5.14- range. In classic EFP style he repeated it in a day and felt it may be closer to 5.13+ but was not sure. “We’ll have to see what the third ascentionist thinks for a consciences.” He said. Regardless of its grade the line is sick… good job!

Crazy! New born hands vs. gnarled hands... Scout and I

The youth is so serious today... she's probably stressing about the upcoming election...

In transit... Milano train station...

The epic is over! I finally sent the Cobra Crack, so psyched! It went down on Tuesday, my last day in Squamish… talk about cutting it close… It was perfect, all the locks felt really good and before I knew it I was holding the finishing jug. Will hiked up to belay and it meant a lot to me to have him up there. I feel like I owe it to a lot of peeps especially for either hiking up the brutal hill to belay me or just give me moral support and confidence.

It was so crazy when it was all over I couldn’t believe I did it. The climb had become such a mind fuck for me… from it feeling to hard to endless rain. I watched the summer pass me by as I banged my head against this perfect climb. It wasn’t until the day before I sent that I finally accepted the fact that I may not be successful, and I think it was because of this shift in attitude that I was able to send.

In my studies at university I spent a lot of time studying Buddhism and there is a saying that one most “abandon all hope of fruition.” This sounds so simple, but in fact one of the hardest things for me. Often I find myself thinking about the future and what it’s going to feel like to accomplish my goals. In the end those thoughts just hinder progression and any way it never feels like you think it will, sometimes better and sometimes worse. This one felt much better then I’d ever thought it would.

So when it was all said and done I had a celebratory beer with Will and Hazel then was off to Boulder. I ended up doing the drive from Squamish to the Boulder theater for the Sharp End world premier in 24 hours… now that’s some endurance driving skills…

There are no photos of me on the Cobra and there won’t be any. I never got around to it… oh well it happens… All I have is a shot that was taken immediately after I did it.

On another note props to the people crushing stone, Alex Honold just got the first free solo ascent of half dome in Yosemite and Chris Sharma just sent his epic long project at Mt. Clark, to amazing climbing feats I can barely comprehend. Way to crush guys!

Celebrating with the people! Hazel, Will and I have a beer behind the liqueur store. Squampton style!

Site 52 finally got evicted from the campground. Definitely not something to brag about, if you were around 52 in the last few months you may not be surprised about us getting the boot. The final straw was leaving a huge mess out: “BEAR ATTRACTANTS”

We all were super hung over from a night at the Brew Pub and when the camp host came around in the morning (walking through a sick monkeys vomit and seeing left over curry dinner out in the open) none of us even thought about arguing. We knew we fucked up! We spent the morning cleaning and packing…

Luckily since everyone else in Site 52 left I was able to convince the park to let me move to another site. It wasn’t an easy task and couldn’t have done it alone, fortunately I had Hazel the Brit on my side and she was able to pull it off. So it’s all good! I’m back in the campground and my new site is cleaner then ever. Will definitely miss the days of 52, cramming 10 people into the tiny lot and getting rowdy through the night.

But enough has been said for the moment, the time has come for me to hike up the hill… so I’m out!

Collin, The Ninja and Will chillin at the base of the Cobra

OUCH!!!! The note....

Micah and Will being "the thugs of the forest" simply because they don't say sorry. 52 for life!