The Solution Tour stormed the Southeast with multi-media presentations, climbing shoe demos, and one-on-one climbing with La Sportiva athletes. The response from local climbers, gym owners, and retailers was off the charts.

The following diary entries and observations were submitted by La Sportiva athletes Timy Fairfield, Jason Kehl, Abbey Smith and videographer/photographer Dan Lubbers.

We want to give a special thanks to Dan Lubbers for coming on the tour and donating his time and photos.

Wednesday 10/10 - Louisville, KY:

After 2 hours of sleep, I awoke at 4 am and flew from Albuquerque, NM to Louisville, KY.

Met Abbey Smith at the airport and picked up the 12 passenger van at Dollar-Rent-A-Car.

We stocked up on healthy food at Rainbow Blossom.

Drove to RRG in pursuit of some "mental health".

Thursday 10/11 - Red River Gorge:

Hooked up with Sportiva team member, Patrick Cassidy. Learned how to set up the Sportiva easy up tent and learned the proper way to pronounce the city "Louisville". It is actually pronounced, "Lew-uh-v'll".

Friday 10/12 RRG:

"Friction Slab."

More people here today than I have ever seen.

Flashed "Bulldog."

Saturday 10/13 - RRG:

Bouldered at the Cove in the RRG

Sunday 10/14 - Lexington, KY:

Hooked up with Jason Kehl.

Monday 10/15 - Nashville, TN:

We are on our way to Nashville baby!

Met the owner of Climb Nashville Gym and Sportiva team member, Lance Brock. He and his wife Carrie and their son Ethan ("Little Deputy") showed us great southern hospitality. Thanks guys!

Tuesday 10/16 - Nashville, TN:

Next up the real deal, Climb Nashville. Our gracious host, Lance Brock, spoke of the abundance of rock in the South East. The people were psyched, and even though we were climbing inside, the camaraderie of the group provide for a fun atmosphere. We left feeling great.

Wednesday, 10/17 - Knoxville, TN:

Next up Knoxville and the University of Tennessee outdoor program. A bunch of good guys, and another great bouldering session. Its always nice to interact with the locals and feel like we are joining on a usual night at there gym. The slideshow went of without a hitch.

Thursday 10/18 - Knoxville, TN:

Also located in Knoxville, we visitied RockCreek Outfitters. We were greeted with a plethora of heinous problems.

Next- River Sports Outfitters Climbing Center created desperate boulder problems specifically for us- that were absolutely desperate, if not impossible. They're form of hospitality was tough love!

Great turn out- 80 people climbed with the team and another 60 people stayed for the multi-media show.

Friday 10/19 - Knoxville-Chattanooga, TN:

Woke up, packed van, helped Abbey clean the wound on her arm after she passed out from the site of blood. Got to The Golden Roast (coffeeshop) to eat brunch and start my day with a chai latte'.

Got to Luke Laeser's house in Chattanooga, TN. Walked down the street with Abbey and Jason to go to a coffee shop. While inside the coffee shop a girl came up to Jason and said, "Hey, are you that climber guy?"

Tennessee Bouldering Authority was like a blast from the past. It is a gem - one the few enduring hardcore climber-driven training facilities in America. With great curved wall architecture and 2' thick landing pits. Located on the top floor of a historic building in Chattanooga, TN.

Abbey and I bonded tonight, we brushed our teeth together, it was nice.

Wednesday 10/24 - Atlanta, GA:

A Drunken Monkey Bouldering Comp- What?

Adrenaline gym in Suwanee, GA organized a drunken bouldering contest to coincide with our appearance. The formula was simple: add the V grade values of your completed problems, multiply them by the number of pre-measured drinks that you consumed within the first 15 minutes of the comp, then divide this figure by your body weight.

Thursday 10/25 - Atlanta, GA:

High Country Outfitters (Atlanta, GA) owner, Bubba Sloan, gave us a warm welcome for our multi-media show - we even posed for photos with the attendees.

Got pulled over after trying to check into a dive motel. Apparently, the out of state license plate on our van was expired. Luckily the police in Atlanta had seen much worse than us so they kindly directed us to a safer hotel.

Friday 10/26 - Atlanta, GA:

Next, we hit up Atlanta Rocks for a shoe demo. There were a couple of familiar faces in the crowd, it being our 3rd show in Atlanta. (Not sure if it was the bad ass shoes or our femme fatal Abbey they were coming to check out) The Altanta Junior Team was also present that night and we valiantly fought for a little wall time. Sadly, we lost.

Saturday 10/27 - Atlanta, GA:

Chris Sierzant, La Sportiva athlete, hosted a costume party climbing at his gym, Escalade. Our multi-media show featured guest appearances by touring La Sportiva athletes, Micah Dash and Matt Segal. Their content added an element of adventure to the night.

Sunday 10/28 - Atlanta, GA:

Our last stop in the traffic-ridden Atlanta- Wall Crawlers- It was a beautiful fall Sunday afternoon.

Oneanta, AL:

Arrived at the infamous Adam Henry's house in Oneonta, AL.

Adam is the driving force behind the bouldering development at HP40. He has a killer steep sport crag in his back yard. You can literally see his project from the kitchen.

Adam also has an abundance of arrowheads he's found on his property.

Monday 10/29 - Horse Pens 40 Ranch:

I experienced the distinct rock of HP40 for the first time. It is one of the most well maintained/managed bouldering areas anywhere - no litter, great parking, safe landings, short approach, safe landings, and clean rock.

Alabama Outdoors Shop (Birmingham, AL): Sweet Home Alabama, and the last state of our tour. A smaller crowd and more personable venue. We met great folks and got a lot of questions about the Tour, the shoes and us. It was fun.

Tuesday 10/30 - Birmingham, AL:

Horse Pens 40-

The anticipation has been building, we are in Horsepens- have a couple of days to spare. We quickly forged our way into the boulders, climbing until our little tips were shredded.

Great fun and now we were ready for the final event, the HP40 Triple Crown Comp.

Friday 11/2 - HP40:

Triple Crown HP40 Multi-media show.

The Comp was great, we all tried harder than we should! Afterwards we were ready to party, and so was everyone else. The wild party atmosphere made for one of the best shows we did on tour. My only concern was that the single Abbey Smith, might be tossed in to the crowd of wolves for the taking. But we survived a couple of close calls and made it.

Throughout this month long tour many guys inquired about Abbey's romantic status. But at HP40 the guys in the audience demanded a date with Abbey be included in the raffle. I had to inform the bachelors that it is not Sportiva's policy to raffle "dates" with female members of our climbing team.

Saturday 11/3/07 Heading Home:

Despite the hectic schedule, I feel that this tour brought me into contact with some phenomenal new climbing areas and great people. The unique characteristics of this region of the U.S. and the climbing community has opened my eyes.

When is the next tour? We want more…