Rock Climbing with Rob Pizem: pizem

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August 29, 2014

Grand Valley Climbing: Short Walking Videos

August 14, 2014

Dolomite Part 2

The always beautiful northern Italy.

Well manicured lands.

BOOM!

The glacier on the backside of the Marmolada.

We walked and ran and slid our way down the mountain after climbing 2000' of perfect limestone! Then we hitchhiked back to the car. Good times.

The hike up to the refugio. It took about 45 minutes from where we parked in the woods below to get to the hut where we got beta. rested and ate before the climb.

Chris and I on the hike.

The right side of the photo is the Marmolada. Tons of routes, tons of climbing, tons of run.

A photo of the routes in the refugio. We figured it would help us on while on route.

The hut where we slept the night before the climb. Great food and a super place to meet random travelers! Don't forget to watch the goats play in the hills!

August 12, 2014

The trip began after two flights, a long layover and some night time driving through northern Italy.
We arrived in Arco, Italy and pulled into the only open campground next to the old down town. Italian campgrounds are great, small stores with all the staples that you need, swimming pools, showers and full support for your climbing, biking or vacationing enjoyment. We slept late trying to get used to the time change and recover from the travel and got some climbs in at the local popular wall called Massone. There are climbs from 5.6 to 5.15 and lots of them. The limestone is streaked and beautiful. It faces the east/south so the sun shines on it in the morning and leaves the best conditions to the afternoon in the summer. Winter however, your best time is the morning.
The rock is polished but that is what happens to limestone. It is great fun no matter what!

A route topo at the parking area of the wall.

We were in Italy to climb in the Dolomites and Arco is just a few hours from Milan and a great place to climb with literally thousands of climbs to choose from. The routes are 50-2500ft, most of which are sport climbs (even the long ones). Because our destination was the big walls up north we headed out that afternoon towards the Marmolada (at 2500ft tall mountain with tons of amazing climbs on them where you walk off on the glacier after finishing. Here Chris checks out a mountain lake with a small castle overlooking it. Yeah Italy is that good!

We quickly arrived in the heart of the Dolomites and tried to find out where the heck we were with respect to our dated guidebooks. Walls like this are commonplace. All of which have HUGE adventure climbs on them that are just a short approach from the car.

We stopped for the night in another great campground and enjoyed a meal in town during the world cup. Pizza and the Dolomites make me a happy camper : )

There is not any legal free camping in the Dolomites. It is a national park but the areas have been preserved for everyone to enjoy. There are cabins and hotels and campgrounds everywhere that can satisfy your need to sleep outside.

To be continued...

May 23, 2014

Training with Piz: 1 Arm Negative Release

Don't do these more than once a week.
They can be destructive.
Use a towel for the other hand (adjust the height of the hand (not on a hold)to change the difficulty of the hand on the hold)
Also, begin on a pull up bar to develop the ability then to move to a finger board and smaller holds!

Training with Piz: Elevated Push Up wtih Hand Raise

Do them and maintain a level/flat back!
Ah yeah!!

Training with Piz: Pinch Repeaters

Work your weaknesses by creating a repeatable set of 4 grips that you want to improve upon.
Set either a time or number of repetitions (based on your level or best) and go from there.
No more than twice a week with rest between each set.

Have fun and

Get outside and have an adventure!

piz : )

Elephant Butte Arches National Park's Highest Point

May 15, 2014

Mothers Day

Orson a day after his first bloody nose.

Beautiful momma!

Rowan

Family project on Mothers Day. Remove barely living bushes, level soil, build bench, mulch, plant flowers, sit on bench!

Jane loves doughnuts and what better place to enjoy them then at the local doughnut shop!

Happy Mothers Day Jane. Thanks for being wonderful to the kids and me.

I love you tons : )

Black Canyon and Big Wall Thoughts

Gearing up at the River

Heading up a nice 5.9 pitch

The traverse pitch from left to right through the pegmatite band (the pink stuff).

Getting wet

Nice views

Exposed

Ledge belay!

A far away splitter.

Getting my flare on.

A bolted anchor in the Black? Oh my.

Nice roof lieback

Super views!

I climbed in the Black Canyon the other weekend and it was great fun.
My partner and I were each climbing on routes that were new to us both and that is always a good time and adventure. Upon thinking about why I liked both of the routes that we climbed, I decided to share what I think makes a great multi-pitch climb.

Here is my list based on what I like on a big route:

Ledge Belays (after breaking my back in 2006, I will never turn down a place to sit while I belay)
Bolted Belays (at least one bolt makes life so much easier and faster.) I don't mind building a complete anchor, but if its in a super assessable location (like the Black) and you are not getting the alpine portion/feel/experience of it with a long hike in for hours and blah blah blah, anchors are good.
Varied Climbing (the same move over and over is not that fun) I like overhanging terrain, cracks, face, slab, chimney, off width', the works!
Good Protection/Stone (that means safe, but not necessarily every three feet)
Exposure/Views (who doesn't like that feeling that they are way out there)
Solitude (I don't need to be standing in line on a big route, I could go to an amusement park for that)
A Line (this means that the wandering is limited) For me classic routes might need a little wandering, but when the majority of the route is all over the place, its just not that fun.
A Good Descent Route (nothing taints the experience more that when there is no established way down the wall)
Shade Potential (melting in the sun is not classic!)

When I think about my favorite big climbs, each of them embrace the above topics. What do you think?

Being Sponsored Thoughts

Contact Piz at pizem@hotmail.com for Motivational/Instructional/Entertaining Speaking Engagements, Climbing Instruction, Training and Weekly/Monthly Training Programs

Until then... Get outside and have an adventure!

piz : )

Thanks to my amazing sponsors: www.arcteryx.com www.camp-usa.com www.scarpa.com www.sterlingrope.com www.americanalpineclub.org www.brewersledge.com

As an athlete for various companies, I sometimes feel that my services are being utilized and sometimes not so much. This last week I was invited to speak on behalf of the athletes at one of my sponsors marketing and sales meetings.

First off, it was an honor to be invited to these meetings and I would like to do it again! (those of you who attend them every year as sales reps may think otherwise, but it was a new experience for me and I truly enjoy these kinds of things because they provide enlightenment to an otherwise dark and unknown world for me.) So back to the point, I was invited to speak about what we do as athletes and how we can further assist in the branding process.

Wow. Since understanding marketing is not something that I studied in school, I don't really know the processes behind the scenes. To be in the "secret circle" of a company was really rewarding and made me truly feel like I was an integral part of the team. I like that feeling. Knowing that what you do matters whether or not you get press or have a photo in a magazine or even if you are on the cutting edge of anything. Just you doing what you do helps, that is pretty cool. The other things are icing on the cake really.

I guess my reflection upon the experience is that companies are out there doing their best to care for the market, the environment, to connect with their client and to provide people a streamlined experience. There is a ton that goes into it and I am sure that I only was exposed to the tip of the tip of the iceberg. The complexity of moving from one company to another and be in marketing must be crazy since you have to learn so much about the new company and its past, present and future. In many ways it is way easier to go and climb rocks! But as I said before, I think that feeling utilized and being utilized by companies is when they will get the most out of their resources (like athlete programs) when everything works together toward that common goal, growth is not far off.

High School Graduation Time and Thoughts

It is the end of another school year. I think it is my 12th as a high school teacher.

I have taught at many different schools and many different sciences to say the least. Here is a brief summary:

I started off at a middle class high school teaching Earth Science and a course that was called Unified Science.
Then while teaching in Austria, I taught AP Chemistry, Chemistry, Biology, and a combo 7/8th grade Science.
Once I came back to the states I taught, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy, Geology, Marine Biology, and Physics.
Finally, I am teaching Geophysical Science, Biology, Marine Biology, Chemistry, Zoology, Astronomy, and potentially a combination course that I am designing to truly engage and motivate my alternative student body

With every graduation comes a sigh, not so much that students are leaving, but because the grind is over for a little while. Working with people/students where you get to know them and their problems intimately and in a way live it with them is pretty tough. Its one of those "by the way" parts buried deep within the teaching profession's job description. It's like when a student dies at your school, "by the way" your going to feel pretty crappy about that or when they loose everything in a fire, or when you see them falling in a downward spiral due to poor choices.

To you non-teachers summertime for us teachers is the holy grail and we get it every year. But the reality is that without a break and time to let it all go and recharge we wouldn't be able to give what we give every school year. Maybe it's just me, but that is how I feel.

So when I am enjoying my summer, I am really just trying to replace the many varied experiences and emotions that I had to deal at work throughout the school year.

April 29, 2014

Rest Stop fun with the Family

Jane and Orson hanging at the park.

Rowan liked chasing the front end loader.

Or ham : )

Rowan got to fly to kite for the first time.

He is learning how the string goes out fast when the wind picks up fast.

Rowan makes friends pretty quickly. He ran up to this boy and grabbed his hand and took off chasing and kicking his ball with him. After a few minutes they were laughing and playing together like best friends!

Rowan and Bikes

He is learning to glide and coast on his bike. Balance is coming slowly but he is having a blast learning at the local bike park!

We had a bike sale at my high school to raise money for our students. Rowan and I helped sell them in the rain.

With every storm comes a rainbow.

Rowan getting it done on the trails.