Draw Chronicles: Dangling at Puzzle Box and Bad Ass Roof

It was Easter last Sunday, and even though I'm not religious, I still try to go to the (Priest) Draw on Sundays. See what I did there? Roofs are my sanctuary. They provide physical shelter, and a mental spot to recharge.  

Phoenix is heating up quick, so that means it's time to make the journey north. I'm excited to start climbing back at the draw (and the satellite roofs)  to work on the new projects. The list seems pretty hard this year, so I'm thinking of having three/four main roofs in order to keep the variety and moral up- Anorexic, Puzzlebox, Drop Zone, and Mars roof. That being said, I still have a few other things I would like to work on, so I'll also place them in the list below. 

Anorexic Roof Projects:

• Carnivore
• Eatmeater
• Meateater (already sent, but would like footage of alternative foot-first beta)

Puzzlebox Roof Projects:

• R God is Neither
• Cosmic Tricycle
• Sufferfish

Bad Ass Roof Projects:

• Big Block (starts on Bad Ass, traverses into Stinky Ass, finishes with a massive huck to a block)
• 7-5 = 2 (or whatever it's called)

Drop Zone Roof Projects:

• Drop Zone Left
• Unnamed Climb (Easier?)

Mars Roof Projects:

• Receptionist
• The Girl

Roof climbing is unique in that being strong can only take you so far, as there are a few other nuances to consider. That being said, you can still brute force it, but you will need to put up a bit of a fight. One example I have is from last year when a strong Texas climber thought that the Bat Cave felt about as hard as Free Willy in Hueco Tanks. It's just a whole different world dangling upside down, and the roofs here are very good at reminding you of that. Roof climbing is hard, and has its own tricks of the trade*. I'm still learning, but maybe I could share a few things I've learned. That being said, once you figure stuff out at the draw, you start wondering why you even had trouble in the first place. It's not often that you send a climb here, but when you do, it feels really nice since it means you truly understand how the roof works.     

Sunday was a good reminder of that. I came up from Phoenix for a day trip with Joe and his dog, Glitch. It was an amazing day, there was a light breeze blowing through the air, and time seemed to fall away. 

Timeless 

Glitch enjoying the shade

Glitch on the move

We met up with a transplant to Flagstaff from California, Will, who was looking to gain some more experience with the roofs. It was an interesting experience, as while we initially came up to work on the projects, we ended up showing (and climbing) our projects from last year with Will. We started the day off at Baby Coffin, and then proceeded over to Puzzle Box roof (PBR), where I managed to repeat (and capture footage of) Cosmic Bicycle after taking a nap for 10 minutes, and Joe and I half-heartedly put in some burns on RGod. We then ended the day at Bad Ass Roof, where I managed to cruise my last season projects in a single go, Badass, Stinky Ass, Badass-Stinky Linkup - and Joe started working on Stinky Ass, and Will got super close to finishing Bad Ass. 

Cosmic Bicycle @ Puzzlebox Roof

"Not even close" on RGod @ Puzzlebox Roof

Badass @ Badass Roof

Badass-Stinky Linkup @ Badass Roof

Although it looks like a pretty standard day of climbing (and falling), I think there were a few, good highlights. Over the past winter, I sprained my right knee doing a drop-knee at an indoors bouldering comp at PRG, so for a while, even attempting to twist my knee into anything remotely like a drop knee would not be an option. Nowadays, it feels like my right knee has returned to form. All the climbs done on Sunday required heavy use of the right knee. Secondly, I'm surprised by how much easier my old projects feel. I think I really learned them well, and I have some of the locals here to thank. Shoutouts to Tim for showing me the basic and more nuanced dark arts of roof climbing. His style is something that inspired me to improve my own, and I would similarly hope that my style will inspire future roof danglers. Anyways, roof season has begun. It's time to throw down. 

Appendix:
*arts of roof climbing: toe-ing down, toe-cams, bicycles, etc...