Interested in helping with the Trail Work Day at The Pit, September 26?

Here are some details…

The work day at The Pit will begin at 8am and run until 1pm or longer if necessary on September 26. The focus of the day will be on the trail system leading to the base of the cliffs. Areas of concern are the main trail trending left towards the Swiss Tower and the erosion gully left and below the Sun Tower. These areas are getting hammered from climbers and hikers and the main goal will be to limit the erosion and block off unnecessary ’social’ trails that have been created from short cuts. We need to work together to keep our land managers happy with climbers and keep our climbing areas open. The Northern Arizona Climbers Coalition and the Access Fund will be sponsoring the event. The U.S. Forest Service is supporting this event, they love it when users give back to the forest. Come show your local support and come with a pair of gloves and some tools like shovels, rakes, pick axes, etc. Plan for a day of hard work and fun by dressing appropriately for the weather and bringing plenty of food and water. Keep an eye out for more information about the clean up. Will Cobb (Access Fund Regional Coordinator for Northern AZ) and I have a meeting with some Forest Service officials this week at The Pit to find out exactly what they will let us do. We will keep you posted on what the plan is. This climbing community is one of the best around, I know this will be a success and can’t wait to see everyone out there!

Chris Tatum

Reel Rock Weekend

Reel Rock Weekend is hosted by Vertical Relief Climbing Center

Vertical Relief organized this event to give back to the climbing community and one of the most used and abused crags in Northern Arizona, The Pit. With the help of the Northern Arizona Climbers coalition (sponsor of The Pit trail work event), Carrie Cooper (New Zealand Bouldering Slideshow event at Vertical Relief) and Reel Rock Film Tour (climbing films at The Orpheum Theatre) we hope to give you one last great weekend of climber fun before summer is over. Show your support of local climbing by volunteering your time working on the trails at The Pit and enjoy the fun at the other events!

Vertical Relief wants to thank you for being the best climbing community anywhere! This is also VR's 14th birthday. Thank you for making us a success! Have fun at the events!


Thursday, September 24th
Reel Rock Tour at The Orpheum
When: 7:30 pm
Cost: $10 (tickets available at Vertical Relief and The Orpheum Theatre)
Info: The fourth annual Reel Rock Film Tour showcases the best new climbing films from around the world. This year, the films Progression and First Ascent: The Series will be presented.



Saturday, September 26th
Trail Work Day at The Pit
When: 8-1pm
Info: Come volunteer your time with the forest service to improve the trail systems at The Pit.
Sponsored by the Northern Arizona Climbers Coalition. For more information, contact VR at info@flagstaffclimbing.com or 928-556-9909.


End of Summer Party w/Potluck, BBQ and BYOB at Vertical Relief
When: 6 pm
Cost: Free
Info: Bring food for the Potluck/BBQ and eating equipment. BYOB.


New Zealand Bouldering Slideshow w/Carrie Cooper at Vertical Relief
When: 8 pm
Cost: Free/Buy a raffle ticket, support the show!
Raffle: An entire Prana Outfit, mad rock shoes, voodoo gear $5 per raffle ticket
Info: Carrie Cooper is one of Flagstaff's hard climbing mama's. She and her husband, photographer Kyle George, along with their 2 year old daughter Ava, traveled through New Zealand for 5 months living out of their 27 year old campervan, exploring, surfing, and climbing. Come and enjoy the images and hear stories of secret crags, remote surf breaks, high ball bouldering, and raising a child in the outdoors.

Bad Movie Night at Vertical Relief

On Saturday, September 12, Vertical Relief will be hosting "Bad Movie Night," featuring the movie Cliffhanger.

BBQ @ 6:30 pm
Movie @ 8 pm

Cliffhanger is undoubtedly the most realistic climbing film ever produced in the modern world. Filmed on location in Rocky Mountain National Park. This stellar cast headed by Stallone, Lithgow and Turner show us what it is really like on the sharp end.

NEED I SAY MORE?

...so come hang out, bring some food for the BBQ and your favorite beverage. Socialize and watch the best climbing film ever.

ALL OF THIS FOR FREE!!!

See the trailer below.

Reel Rock Tour is Back! Hosted by Vertical Relief

Vertical Relief will be hosting the “not to be missed” Reel Rock Tour, at The Orpheum Theatre, Thursday, 9/24, at 7:30 pm.

Cost:$10 (tickets available at Vertical Relief and The Orpheum Theatre).

Check out the trailer for this years amazing films below.



There is a film making competition on the Reel Rock Tour website that is also worth checking out. View the films here.

See ya at The Orpheum!

New Stealth® Paint Patch Kit

Five Ten has a new patch kit on the market, Stealth® Paint.

Stealth® Paint is a rubber compound developed from recycled Stealth® Rubber. It is designed for use on climbing shoes to increase durability and perform spot repairs while still offering the friction Stealth® Rubber is known for.

The kit includes a small tin of powered recycled Stealth® Rubber, a tube of Barge Cement, a plastic spoon, and a stirring rod. As well as instructions that are more like ideas on how one might use the kit.

I was able to test out this kit and discovered that if you follow the directions exactly you are most likely to end up with a rubber booger sculpture on your shoe. So, I would like to offer my own suggestions on use for success.

-First off you must do this outside no amount of ventilation inside can vent those fumes effectively.
-Stuff your shoe with newspaper .
-Make sure to clean off area of your climbing shoe to be painted; I suggest roughing up the surface with some sandpaper.
-Next use masking tape to tape off area where you DON’T want paint. It has to be masking tape.
-Then apply the Barges cement to area to be painted. Allow this to dry completely.
-Use something besides the lid of the tin for this next part. (Something small and disposable works -- yogurt container or the like)
-Mix at most one spoon full of the rubber with a half spoon full of the cement; I say this because you have less than 30 seconds once it is mixed together to get the paint on the shoe.
(If you let it sit for 30 sec first it is much harder to apply smoothly)
So doing several smaller batches works much better.
-Use the mixing rod to apply the paint to area where cement is on your shoe. Rolling the rod over the paint makes it pretty smooth.
-Allow to dry, over night is best.
-Once its dry peel off tape carefully. Use the sand paper to lightly sand down edge of paint I think this helps to keep it from delaminating.
-Try not to touch the wet paint once it is applied. If you do, it just kind of balls up and won’t stick as well.

I used the paint to fix some small areas on my La Sportiva Solutions the toe patch was starting to delaminate (after a year of climbing). The Stealth® Paint worked really well for this it seems to be holding up well even to toe hooking and the like. It is even sticking really well to the upper which it synthetic on these shoes. Over all, I think it’s worth the money. I don’t think this paint will make your shoes seem like band new again but it should give them an extended life.

Good luck and if you have any tips or ideas for better success feel free to add them.

Thanks.
Sam

Vertical Relief has the Stealth® Paint Do it Yourself Kits for sale. The kit retails for $16.99.