First Shot

This was my first photo shoot with a pro photographer, Corey Rich. The pics are clean and he shoots Voyeur, so its not staged. Its pretty interesting to climb all day and not notice a photographer getting world class shots of you. I was 21 when this took place, bleached hair, prana shirt and my first pair of Cobras.
Thats my update for the day.

PS. Hello to everyone in Russia who keeps tabs on me and the whole Cordless crew. Feel free to drop us some msgs in Russian on our FB Page.

Lost Vids

This is maybe my all time favorite Vid of Chris.

Chris has always been at the forfront of sport climbing and he continues to be. Big up to the boys at BIG UP.

Revolution Climbing

At no point during your lifetime is there a greater sense of truth, than making choices for the future. What we do in life, echoes across the pages of history in eternity.

We make choices that refelct who we are, what we identify with, and where we wish to go.

And at those junctions, at those crossroads, we find we can choose between money and power, stress and debt, or fulfilment and truth.

What do you think people who work for Cordless choose?

What we live, on our own, at the tips of our fingers everyday, whether we cut school for a proj or miss the last bus for an extra run on the campus board, at the end of the day, its all about you. Yourself. Alone. Watch.

November Rain

I wrote this a couple years ago, while I was visiting friends on the west coast of Canada. Circa 2007

I stepped out the door from my best friends’ trailer, fumbled down the

steps and walked about half a mile into the endless rows of win

e grape vines among the 1000acre layout they lay amongst.
The sun is drowning behind a shadowy storm front. Lightning strikes in the distance but is heard only a solid minute later, were I stand. Above me, the sky is clear and the stars faintly starting to make their appearance as her majesty sets in the hollowing thunder.

I decide to sit and wait. To see what will, what can happen?
The silence is eerie. The wine season and her harvest are well over with, and all that is left is bare vines and rows of never stopping hibernation. I feel a sense of kinship growing. I feel somewhat at home, somehow responsible for this. The plants have given all they had to me, to us, to everyone, and yet now, as much attention as t

hey have had over the last 8 months, they are now left stranded, weeping for sunlight that barely shows

itself in the winter months to come. The thunder strikes closer now. Every so real! The storm seems to head in my direct-

ion,as surely as there is oxygen in my lungs, it begins to drizzle. The cold air feeding into me, to the bone, with the humid dawn she draws.

And yet the tour continues. My journey must go on. I stand, wet on the bottom from the dead humid grass, and walk back towards my secure home for the night.I see my friends watch television, and tell myself that a much superior spectacle is happening outside, a much better experience, a better way of seeing real life. But I cannot tell them this; they are not ready for it. Not ready for the truth.

So I settle into the couch, for it is my bed for the night until the sun warms this place up again in the light of morning. At which time, with everything packed and ready, I will head into the next and last portion of my travels. I will head west, the way of the cowboy and the lonely wanderer, into the unknown. What could become only one person knows, and he or she is not letting me in on any of that!

The Last Battle Lost

I know this is a blog about me and climbing. But I really can't resist these days. For some reason, I feel impurvious to the fact of being silent and saying nothing. Watch GASLAND here or go to FAST PASS TV and choose your link to watch it.

Its important not only to water, but to the earth and our future generations. Oh and on a side-note, "they" are already drilling in the Canadian Shield Up North and already there are reports of huge amounts of water contamination, sporadic flam-ups from the land and faucets, and children getting sick from local water in camps and villages.

Please just watch and sign the petition.

Ulric

Slayer and the dog that saved his Karma

Once upon a time, there was a mean young man, who, with the help of his friends, saw the possible money involved in Capturing dogs and cats and other domestic animals when they escaped from their homes or just got abandoned. They didn't like animals very much, but they sure did like money.

So one day, they started up this " Society" and named it the Berger Blanc. After seeing a couple adds in the yellow pages and having nowhere else to turn too, citizens of Montreal started calling the Berger Blanc to pick up the

stray dog in their backyards, or the cat that pooped on his lawn.

But behind the smiles and the clean white vans was a wall of denial. Once inside the fortress the animals where beaten, they where fed left overs, sometimes from other animals. They did not have spacious lofts like we do, no. They had to stay in confined spaces with hundreds of other cats and dogs, living in faeces, vomit, urine and the decaying bodies of there comrades.

So there they waited, to be rescued from their masters and/or from an adoptive parent. But with so many cats and with no control on who comes in or out, finding your pet was almost impossible.

So after a couple days, shorter than even the SPCA, he Wicked Witch of the North End of Montreal would stomp into the cages, throw the animals in a barrel, and execute them in plain sight.

And so this went on. For years, people lost there pets due to lack of control in the pick up and tagging process or simply because the Berger Blanc never checked for Electronic tags.

And so it continued. The angry man who runs this business has many cars, many houses and many wives. But he also as many canines waiting for him up high.

And this is all possible due, in part, by the lack of compassion from the City of Montreal and the Government of Canada, especially the conservative party, who cares little about anything else than buying military jets.

I would urge you all to sign this petition to make sure this does not continue. Go and read about all this at the Mirror's site and pass this on to your friends on blogs, FB, twitter or just scream out-load.

I also urge you to visit this site, Chiot Nordique, which, in co-operation with the SPCA, is saving puppies and dogs from gruesome conditions. I have already applied for one myself.

Watch this Video

I know this is a little morbid for a Saturday morning, but this had to be said.

Ulric

Jason Kehl

Jason is a good friend and one of the raddest humans I have ever met. He's honest, down to earth, and climbs cause he loves to do it. He works his ass off for all his sponsors and this is some of his creations on vid. Check it out.

The Process: The art of shaping. from CryptoChild on Vimeo.

Cordless has supported Jason from the beginning, and this is his Homage to Clark, Johnny and the whole crew in SLC who spend countless hours for rice and beans pay to bring you innovative, high quality products for training, sport climbing and bouldering. This is a great video.

Revolution Crash Pads from CryptoChild on Vimeo.

Pusher

And I cannot forget to embrace my boys from Cordless. This is what started it all.

So iLL

So iLL has such cool graphics on the website I just had to post them. That's it, that's all!

Music

Placebo - Running up That Hill

The end of the Affair with...

Here is my response ( or more like support ) to one of this weeks Mirror articles, The Front, about just one more idiot in office. I sent it to the weekly rag, we'll see if they publish it. Enjoy.

Alex is part of the Project Montreal party or whatever you want to call it, here is the FB page should you want to see where you dollars are going.

The Front
Time, terresses

Where Does it End?

By Ulric Rousseau

Its really starting to get to me.

All this political shit in the papers, 4 elections in 7 years c

osting us millions, Charest taking a 6 day,

100,000.00$ trip

to Russia on my dime. Now, they want to chop off the legs of those who pay their salaries. Mille End city counselor Alex Norr

is decides that 1 am is late enough for us? Just because you go to bed at 9pm ( I do too ) doesn’t mean everyone should. What is this, communist China? You know, I

do not mind a cut in the biz hours of operations on the establishments, but shouldn’t a cut in income to the owners and workers come with a cut in their

taxes across the board? I mean, if you are making 20% less because some over the hill burnout who has nothing better to do on a Monday morning but to conjure up some lame reason to address an issue that is, in my opinion, the last to be addressed, then shouldn’t you be paying 20% less in your land yaxes, income taxes, booze taxes, licenses fees ect? I mean, in all fairness, when the government idiots in parliament ups its annual salaries, don’t they up our taxes and fees? Doesn’t Mr Norris have anything else better to do? How about walking over to the Laurier station and stopping drug dealers, or maybe walking the beat making sure women are safe in alleys across the city, or picking up needles before our 4 year olds poke themselves with them. Really. Our attention is entirely focused on issues that have no importance. If people want to stay up until 4 am spending money and infusing there capital into the system to pay your salary, then, MR. Norris, I suggest you let them. What is it they say, oh yeah, don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Really. Are we paying this idiot or is he doing this as a hobby out of his mothers basement? Oh, and btw, if you are out of ideas on what to do next with your time Mr. Norris, here are a couple. Fixing the potholes in your burrow, making bike paths, planting a tree, adopt a dog at the spca and shut down le Berger Blanc. How about cleaning the bus stop shelters of its stench, focus on getting the city to shut down to cars, or make it easy for people to drive motorcycles, or how about opening an orphanage, or making it easy for loving people ( gay or straight ) to adopt a Canadian kid instead of sending our money over seas or making sure our mayor is not spending his nights going over spy cams in his office, giving people a reason to go out and vote, ect. I could go on.

El Salto Guide up-date

Here is the link to the updated El Salto Guide. Its free and will be updated with pics soon.

El Salto, Mexico

Easy on Sunday moring

This is the classic Sunday morning ritual when I am home. Orange juice and a documentary.

Watch Home, a documentary about our planet and the evolution of life.

We would have climbed today but the weather ( -4c ) and the rain and snow are making sure we stay inside.

Good Sunday morning to all...

Back from the dead

Sorry. I have been interrupted by millions of things over the past few months and have gotten lost off path.

This is the rebirth of my blog.

Since my last post, many things have changed. I am no longer with Evolv or Bluewater. Some would ask why, but I guess, its safe to say, a Gentleman never gives details. I was somewhat upset, to say the least. Having my contract terminated

by email was a very sad day for me. But, thanks to Jim Sanford and LaSportiva, I am climbing in the shoes with which it all started for me. I am happier and more "in tune" now that I have ever been.

Above all, we just spent three months in Mexico putting up new routes ( see pic ), laughing and hangin out at the petting zoo ( our campground ). We made great friends, new encounters and had dog for a couple months. Living in this mode really showed me that this is what we are meant to be doing. LIVING.

I also made a point to change a couple things in my life during this trip. Sorta of a little new year resolution. I will update this blog every week. I will climb harder this summer than any past year. I will also make it a point to adopt a dog in the coming weeks. I seem to be needing something around me, and the more i think about it, the more i believe that I miss my dog so much more than I realize.

Cheers peeps...

GRIPPED June 2011

Here is an insider for all your cravings. Gripped is publishing an article about Quebec climbing. I think this is a first for any mag, let me know if I am wrong. Also will have nice pics of PeeWee sending hard cracks, some nice bikini shots, and other pictures, some taken by Francois Lebeau for example. Can't post anything yet, but here is just a teaser.

"I love living in Montreal. The city is overflowing with charming and beautiful people, there is a vibrant culture of swingers, non-stop parties and countless crags are within an easy drive of all this debauchery. Welcome to La Belle Province.

Within a 100 km radius of Montreal, there are over 60 climbing areas covering every aspect of modern rock climbing. Expand that radius to 350 km and Montreal-based climbers have access to the Bas St-Laurent region, which leads north to desert beach bouldering in the Appalachians or white pocketed granite climbing in Kamouraska.

Like the nightlife in Montreal, the climbing in Quebec is always engaging. Sport routes often have spicy runouts, which help keep the energy and true spirit of climbing alive. The granite trad climbs also very entertaining. The rock is hard to read with very technical and pumpy climbing.

Here are 10 of the top Quebec areas that any road-tripping climbers should visit."

Make sure you keep a look out and come join us this summer in Quebec for some good times and a little bit of rock.

Vid Yo

If anyone wants to see what El Salto looks like. Here it it.

Not sure why, but the video is not centred, so your controls are fucked. Play around and you will figure it out.