Over the last few weeks I've been busy with work, training and finishing up travel plans.  One of the things I'm happy to have finished is adding some logos to my jersey. Last year the way things worked out I wasn't able to get the logos printed in time before I started traveling. Thank you to Rankin Const., the Toronto section ACC, and all of the individuals who help fund my traveling so I can go to all of these competitions. Thank you most of all to my wife Rebecca who helps me with everything. I couldn't do this all on my own. 

Last year I really felt like I missed out on doing new routes with all my traveling. Thankfully winter came at a reasonable time this year and I have been able to get out before I started traveling.

photo: Maarten van Haeren

So far this winter I have managed to 4 new routes all of which are on the same wall just down stream from the Grotto Cave. They are very different from the cave routes because the after the steep starts the wall is gently overhanging instead of horizontal. I still haven't come up with names for them. They are all very technical and in the M8-M9+ range.

photo: Maarten van Haeren

Yesterday morning I woke up at 3AM to the sound of freezing rain pelting my roof. After laying in bed for 15 minutes not falling back to sleep I got out of bed and beat the 3:30 alarm. We were expecting freezing rain which would make for an interesting drive to the airport. Hauling my bags out to the car I was pleasantly surprised when I didn't fall flat on my back on icy pavement but stepped onto wet pavement instead.

The drive to the airport wasn't as bad as I anticipated. While the roads were slippery, there weren't any major back ups or slowdowns.  15+ hours of flying split between two flights and I was in Korea. Getting out of the airport went smoothly and I caught the correct bus to get to my hotel. Unfortunately I didn't get the correct stop. I thought I needed to get off at the last stop, but it was probably one of the earlier stops. With a little help from someone passing by on the street I was able to figure out where I actually needed to be and a quick subway ride had me back to where I needed to be.  After about 26 hours of traveling I finally got to my hotel.