The series of events behind this photo taken by Yuto Okamoto of me on Public Enemy yesterday is interesting. In order to prepare my body for the demands of the climb, I was thinking of warming up on Mike's Arete from the Mother of Invention start. Humoring some weird, faint notion in my head, I changed directions and ended up on top of Game Changer. And that's how the process of Tide Turner V10 ended, and how this photo of me getting my ass kicked on this Superstitions test piece came to be. In true fashion, I didn't film it, so now I want to get footage.
In other news, last week, Anthony did his first lap of Game Changer, and I still get worked by Mother of Extension.
Anthony on Game Changer
Mother of Extension
Yesterday, I luckily became privy to some secret beta for the shorties that I will hopefully get around to posting here. I also did a linkup of the Mother of Invention start to the arete exit, which I dubbed Arete d'invention, and got thrashed on Misadventure of Captain Stabbums and Public Enemy. A slow process, but if Tide Turner is any indication, maybe they'll go the same way.
Went out to Groom Creek the last few weeks. It has snowed out in Prescott so the majority of the boulders are covered in snow, rendering most impossible to climb with frozen topouts. Fortunately, one boulder remains dry, and it is usually the best in the area. The past Saturday, a group of friends converged on the Moonstone boulder, which gets sun exposure all day. The landing might have been snowy, but the holds are dry. Most started sieging Moonstone. I took pictures and finally captured footage of Eclipse.
Alex
Ajinkya
Brian
Ben
Twilight hour when conditions sucked
Conditions were nice on Saturday. When I sent, it was in the highs of 50 degrees F with little wind, so holds felt manageable. The right foot smear at the start was being cooperative for once. I also implemented a little modification in the toss to the sloper jug. Instead of opening the right hip, I opted to drop the right knee inwards. The improvement in the stability of the position was very noticeable. In order to dial in the movement, I repeated the moves a few more times. I also experimented with the conditions for Eclipse and observed that when the temperature drops to 40 degrees F, the smear foot becomes almost imperceptible and difficult to trust. The holds become quite slick. I dry-fired off of the left hand undercling during an attempt at a lap during colder temperatures.I also pulled on New Moon for a giggle. The movement is quite good, but I don't think it's worth the trip back to this area.
The day after, I went out to the Superstitions to climb at the fortress again. The plan was to figure out the bicycle on Misadventure of Captain Stabbums. Although I was very tired from the day before, I was able to figure the move out and managed to chunk the climb in several sections despite the skin and body being unconditioned for volcanic rock and the physical style. I also attempted to repeat some old projects to regain the fitness and found out I'll need some time to regain the strength I had last season. The problem with the winter season is that there are such a variety of rock types and skin conditions matter, so multiple sessions are needed to get used to the style.
Nevertheless, it is nice finally hopping on something that is both equally mentally and physically difficult. I was talking with some friends and I think it occurred to me that the lack of stoke was probably caused by trying things that were either too easy or too hard. The few moments where climbing was fun has happened when climbs required equivalent mental and physical effort. Following this, I wrote down a new list of boulders that I would like to do for the various styles in order to build fluency on terrain on things other than roofs. It's nice actually having an actual list to direct your attention into.
Last minute ascent of Matt G's Seeker before forest roads closed
Latching the jug on Seeker
Ben on Mike's Arete
Latching the throw on Misadventure of Captain Stabbums
Bobby climbing something on Smilodon Roof
Flesh Eater PC: Bobby A.
This is going to be a bit different from the usual entry.
I used to talk way more back in the day than I do now. Maybe I deserved it, or kids can be assholes, or both, but I think I shut up when I was 13. I regret it. I used to be wordier too back in the original days. Now, I feel like I can't get words out onto a page at all and I struggle to say anything more than single word responses. I'm trying not to repeat an experience that happened half a lifetime ago, or more, or less, so I'm going to try to walk down a different path.
Is it weird to put this on the internet? Probably. But so is putting up videos of yourself, so whatever.
I was going on a walk today and it just occurred to me that although the Covid pandemic has officially been declared "over" since May 11, 2023, which is, technically, about 8 months ago, life still doesn't feel that way to me. The world has kept spinning, and I've definitely felt like I've been stuck in place. That's not a great sign.
In retrospect, it was not very surprising. Unlike the summer, it was a very disorienting fall. Life, my job, and the school semester took up a lot of time, and as such, I didn't feel like I had enough bandwidth left to do things I wanted, even if I wanted to. Logistics were another hassle entirely. I like to think that I was more happy-go-lucky but it went away this fall.
I do derive a lot of joy from being outside and moving around. Climbing, and exploring have been the means for me to do so in recent years. Usually that would be enough. A few months ago, I heard a phrase from a fellow climber that has stuck with me longer than I would like to admit: "We're [climbing] here just to kill time."
The phrase has affected me a bit more than I would like to admit. There's a lot to unpack on my sentiments for this phrase, but to put it frankly, I think the phrase is fucking bullshit, and yet, it has echoed in my brain for the last 4 months because it has also held kind of true to my current situation. I don't know how to process this sentiment. Time enjoyed or done to achieve something worthwhile to the individual, is never time wasted. But for some reason, climbing hasn't been as fun as it used to be.
I've been trying to change a lot, both in and out of climbing. But since this is a climbing-related page, let's go with that. Primarily focusing on roof climbing used to never bother me, but over the last few months I've gotten quite irritated at the thought of feeling (and being) a one-trick pony. It doesn't help that I feel like I hear this sentiment a lot. I've been feeling like a freak of sorts, where I can do a unique style of movement, but for everything else, I feel like a total beginner when I have to do a more normal style of climbing. I've been trying to push out of my comfort zone onto other terrain, to little-or-moderate success. It's a bit daunting thinking of having to redo the amount of time and work to learn skills that everyone else has (or thinks I have), and in that way, I'm also just stuck in place and I need to backtrack. You know that feeling when it seems like everyone is speaking in some secret code, and you're just not getting it? It's kind of like that. Except, you also know a language that others don't really care about.
In that regard, it's shaken a lot of confidence I had because well... confidence comes from trial-by-fire success, and I don't have much at the moment. Currently, I've been bouncing from area to area, and trying a whole bunch of new things I normally wouldn't, and it's been strange, and humbling to not be able to do things most others can. I've lost a lot of patience as well, and it's something I'm trying to learn again. Thinking you know something, but also learning it again is such a weird feeling. I'm not really sure what I get out of airing this out on some page on the internet, but at least it's out of my mind. But maybe, just maybe, after a while, I'll come back to this and I'll realize that putting it out on paper was the first step.
