Ok. So we recognize that this video could have been A LOT better. We have numerous reasons for this, some of which include: significant inebriation, lack of experience, and poor planning. There are obviously a few hair styles that we unfortunately forgot to record…including the final result. Oh well.
Boom.
For christmas Stacys parents gave us the wonderful gift of a few hours at a house turned spa called Zen Blend in South Austin. Stacy got an hour and a half of massage, and I got the same amount of time in their isolation tank.
First, I’ll assume that you have no clue what I am talking about when I say isolation tank, and give you a little bit of background.
Back in 1954 a physician and psychoanalyst named John C. Lilly started doing research on sensory deprivation. Sensory deprivation in this case means taking away all stimulus of sight, sound, gravity, and touch. After a few not so appealing or entirely functional attempts he came up with what we currently know as the isolation tank. An isolation tank is basically a space ship looking, enclosed tank, that holds 200 gallons of water that has been heated to the exact temperature of skin, and a half ton of dissolved epson salt. With that amount of salt even the skinniest of people will float effortlessly without having to use a single muscle. As you are surely wondering what these things look like.
Ok, now that you have an idea of what I’m talking about I’ll tell you a bit about my first experience.
First, I was told the pre-float process which entails taking a quick shower, putting in ear plugs, and putting a bit of solve onto any open cuts or recent scrapes. I also picked out some soothing Native American Flute music to start and indicate the end of my float session. After doing all of that it was into the tank I went, which at first touch felt like bathwater at the perfect temperature. I sit down and pull the door closed. Instantly its as if I’ve closed my eyes, but I’m positive I haven’t. As soon as my body is horizontal and my ears go below the surface of the water the pounding of my pulse and the sound of my breathe is almost overwhelming. I immediately feel like I’m on one of those gyroscopic pinwheel things that they have at Nasa, to test astronauts puke threshold (I assume). Then comes a bout of uncontrollable laughter….deep belly laughter, from an unknown place of confused joy. Next, I had to overcome the issue of bouncing off the walls….literally. While the tank is obviously quite large I am still a little over six feet tall with a decent wing span so before too long the tips of my fingers and toes are bumping the walls. After steadying myself and allowing the small waves created from my breath to keep me centered in the tank it was time to attempt to focus and relax. Initially, my brain is going at a mile a minute which seems a bit like a crazy movie. On this odd looping track, switching from a piece of a song that is apparently stuck in my head, to how long I think I’ve been in this thing, to wondering if I am completely relaxed, back to the song stuck in my head, to how incredibly loud my pulse is, to wondering if my eyes are open or closed, all in a matter of seconds….or maybe minutes. It didn’t seem like it took too long though to really feel like my thought process was slowing down and what I’m guessing to be pure relaxation starting to trickle in. In fact, I don’t think I did, but I very well might have gone to sleep for a short amount of time in there. One thing I do know for sure is that I had a good, long, meaningful conversation with myself, a conversation that I can say I have not had in that depth before. Then, just as I was starting to feel like I was ready for my physical body to be vertical again, the soothing Native American flutes came back on and my first float was over.
So that was my experience in the isolation tank. Zen Blend is apparently the only place in Austin where you can go try out this very unique and interesting experience. If you think you might be interested and you aren’t a truly claustrophobic person I really suggest you give floating a try.
-Travis
Well hello there.
Its been a while.
Just wanted to let you know we are still alive and kickin.
We are still climbing rocks.
But a few other hobbies have been taking up our time.
Shaun has been doing quiet a bit of skating.
Travis has been training for the Cap10K in March.
There has been school.
Searching for jobs.
Business creating and building.
And tons of loving life.
But…we’re still here.
- CCC
Josh put down Fear of the Butterfly on our most recent visit to The Ped. In typical sloth style he used half the holds, and made it look like a V4.
The video:
For super spiffy HD-vision watch it on youtube.
- CCC
The crew went out to Crawford, Texas a couple days ago to see how ole’ Tonkawa Falls was doin’. Turns out its doin’ just fine, aside from some semi-solidified chalk in a few of the huecos (which felt like damp powdered sugar). The place was in tip-top shape…just as we remembered it.
We put some work into the very fun and dynamic “Not If Your Pregnant”, with Colby and Josh pulling the tough mantle for the send. We then moved on to the Craw Cave where Craw & Cro Magnen reside V4 & VProj, which is another cool featured cave problem. Just to the left of the Craw Cave is Wonder Wall, where Travis used his left-handed crimp power to come quite close to finishing out Wet Snatch V7.
After getting worked on the right band of rock we moved over to the obligatory left band of rock, and the classic Snake Charmer V4. Since most of us had previously done Snake Charmer the immidiate question was, “is there a sit start?” Fortunately, the answer to that question is an undoubted YES!! With a few tries under our belts, Shaun found a tweaky left-hand undercling that seemed to do the trick. After a quick Crawford sized shower and just before our departure, Josh put in a good effort..getting to the lip and making the decision drop off due to the damp dirtiness, and a few obstacles above the lip.
So that was our trip to Tonkawa. We will surely be back soon.
The evidence:
- CCC
Last Saturday, the ATX was blessed with the presence of Dustin and Brad Saunders. The weather was amazing, and many good times were had. If you aren’t privy, the Saunders brothers are twins who have been absolutely crushing the boulders up in Colorado. They are very good friends of the CCC crew and we can’t wait to see and climb with them again. They are currently experiencing their maden voyage to Hueco Tanks, and we’re sure they are doing the good work and putting down big numbers in great style.
While in Austin we took the brothers to McKinney and Gus Fruh. Dustin put in some very solid attempts on Tilted Earth, doing all the moves but one and almost putting together a link before moving on. After McKinney, and tacos from Taco Deli we moved on to Gus Fruh. Colby sent Tessla Rossa quickly followed by Dustin, with Brad and Travis both coming crushingly close. Dustin also quickly sent the left variation from the slots in the roof(?name). Tim is getting closer and closer to getting the Hanks-Tessla Link, which looks quite pumpy…and very fun.
Visual Stimulation:
- CCC
Cedar Park Skate Park, Early Mornin Sesh:
- CCC
Happy Holidays!
- CCC
Carrying on with the “best of 2010″ theme. As you all know we are getting more and more into making climbing videos, which of course has the side effect of watching any and all climbing videos we can find. Positives and negatives certainly arise from this. Negatives being, we’ve wasted countless hours of our lives watching videos that did nothing other than remind us what not to do. The positive being we see some above average climbing videos, we make a list, and you benefit. With many people having access to HD cameras and video editing software the climbing video scene is blowing up, although the good stuff seems to be few and far between so far. Who knows where it will go in the future.
There was only one big production climbing video that we saw, and we certainly can’t complain. It was Core on Blu-Ray, and now that we’ve had a glimpse of a climbing video in 1080p we’re totally ready for more. In fact its almost like watching TV in HD, once you get used to it non-HD looks relatively poopy. Chasin the dragon…
Here is a list of the shorts and low budget goodies we think you should see:
Again, if you’ve seen a video that we missed and you think is amazing….let us know!
- CCC
