Friday, June 12, 2009

The Great Outdoors...


I don't think I've mentioned this here, but I enjoy rock climbing. Chris, Peter, Johnny, and I have been climbing since about July of 2008... unfortunately, Chris and Johnny are no longer really into it so it's just been me and Peter. Since then, it has strictly been indoor climbing. We've both progressed from struggling on V0's and 1's and now we're solid V3 and V4 climbers. Peter has the slight edge cause he's a really strong climber and it's awesome to see him finish routes so easily now. I'm a bit of a weaker climber, but I tend to focus more on the quality of the climb as opposed to just finishing it. Either way, I think we've both found something that we really love besides motorcycle riding and we both want to get even better. Recently, we both went with a fun group of climbers from Rock City to 'The Tram' in Palm Springs, CA. It's a beautiful mountainous range about 8k feet above sea level... it was our first time outdoors together (although I went a few days earlier to Steele Valley, blog to come) and it was amazing. The feeling is so different compared to climbing indoors and as a climber we ran into said, "survival mode" kicks in. Here's a picture of my proudest 'send' outdoors so far. The name of this route is 'Yo Picasso'... perhaps because it looks like a distorted face or object that Picasso is known for... either way, it's an 18 foot send and it was amazing.

As usual, it took me a while to get the sequence down. Watching Peter and the others helped... although I do want to mention that I did provide Peter with a beta to get from one point of the route to another too!

The sequence we followed up was a V3 and I worked really hard to get it. The first time I attempted the finish, it was SCARY. You're about 16 feet off the ground (which doesn't seem that high), but when you're hanging on your finger tips and everything in your body wants to fail, it is crazy scary! My arm was too weak to pull myself up so I came back down. Peter finished it immediately after.

This was motivation for me to get it because I knew if Peter could get it, I would eventually get it. I did. This time, I tried to conserve as much energy as possible because the ending was where it counted the most. It was a proud moment and I don't think I'll ever forget it... if I do, that's what I've got this blog for!

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