Saturday was the final local Tour de Bloc competition of the season and, more importantly, the first chance for anyone to climb at John's new climbing gym True North Climbing! I have to say it is, without a doubt, the best gym in Toronto and the best gym I've ever climbed at. No detail was overlooked, from the bottle spout on the water fountain to the perfect texture on the walls and the amazing variety in climbing surface. The competition went perfectly and the problems were amazing. Also, I had my best competition ever, finishing second of thirty-seven in the Men's Recreational Division!! I even got a silver medal!! Now that I have done well in the Men's Rec, I'll be entering the Men's Experienced division at the next competition.

I can't wait to go back to True North and get on some of the roped and lead climbs. Excellent work John!

Here are some images from the competition.

Men's Rec Results

Tash on the stalactite

Problem 48, my favourite problem of the day

Problem 40 on the Tooth

Lead cave and other roped climbs

Start of a problem

Start of problem 45 on the Tooth

Hold on problem 36

Crimpy hand holds on problem 50, the highest problem I finished

Shiny new rope

Women's final problem number 1

Women's final problem number 2

Women's final problem number 3

Men's final problem number 1

Men's final problem number 2

Men's final problem number 2

Men's final problem number 3

Men's final problem number 4

Me and my silver medal

As the weather improves I've been getting out with my camera more and more so I have a bunch of new photos to post. This makes me happy.

Globe lamp in the rain

Reflection of the Royal York Hotel + CN Tower on a Montana

The Empire Sandy at Sunset

Contradictory faces on Yonge Street

Streetcar Bokeh

Buns in Kensington Market

Butternut Squash Carbonara

Delicious Butternut Squash Carbonara

This weekend was great! The weather was sooooo freakin' good and I always feel amazing when we get that first breath of Spring. Winter is dying and I can't wait until it is buried. I have my balcony door open right now and I can smell Spring in the air. It's fantastic.

In addition to the weather, we also did a lot of fun stuff. On Saturday we went to the St. Lawrence Market for the first time in a while and picked up ingredients for chili (among other things). In the afternoon we made the chili and then Chris, John and Matt came over to help eat the chili. Matt even brought an ice cream cake for dessert which seems like an excellent celebration of the the death of Winter.

Today, Kim and I went to the Bay and used some of the gift cards we received at our wedding to purchase a new set of (desperately needed) dishes. It's nice to have enough matching plates and bowls to be able to feed a group of people larger than four all at the same time.

We also made a pot roast braised in delicious St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout. Before starting the roast cooking, we seared it in the grease of freshly cooked bacon and then caramelized onions in the same grease. All of this then went into the dutch oven with the roast and the beer and some beef broth and it turned out fantastic. We added potatoes to cook in the liquid near the end and they were great because the onions and bacon chunks ended up sticking to them to make yummy oniony-bacony potatoes.

I'm pretty sure the correct beer pairing for the meal would have been the same Oatmeal Stout used to cook the meat, but unfortunately I had decided earlier to go climbing in the evening and so I could not partake in the alcoholic beverages. This made me sad, but I had such a great night climbing that I'm over it now. I'm really enjoying the new Toronto Climbing Academy, although I wish it was a bit closer to downtown. I also can't wait for the Tour de Bloc competition at the end of March that marks the opening of John's new gym, True North Climbing. The construction progress photos look amazing. It's a great time to be a climber in Toronto.

Now that they've officially blogged about it, I think it's OK to mention here that Patrick and Toni have a new, healthy baby girl named Kiera! She was 6 weeks premature, but that doesn't seem to have done much harm. Kim and I are both super excited and happy for the new family. We have to start figuring out when can go to Australia for a visit because we can't wait to meet Kiera and see Patrick and Toni again.

If you're interested, there are already a bunch of photos posted on their blog.