Days Like Today…

There are days that I wall climb where all I want to do is work on technique. Then there are days like today; where I want to challenge myself and see if I can apply technique either consciously or subconsciously.

A few days ago, at the end of a two hour climbing session, I decided that I wanted to try a 10c that is in the corner of the wall shown here.

As you can see, the route has a variety of holds including some very nasty slopers towards the top. Note: There are even more at the actual top that I wasn’t able to get in this picture. I made it to the 4th clip the other day before getting tired. Today I wanted to try the route after a warm-up which included about 10 minutes of stretching followed by flashing the Pink 10b just to the right of the Red 10c. As I started up the route I felt confident in my technique through the first 3 clips. Things got interesting as I started to negotiate my way through the 4th and 5th clip. I needed to get my right foot on the hold that is to the right of the 4th clip. As I started to fatigue I was able to get it there and continue. Somewhere between the 5th and 6th clip my body started to get really tired as I attempted, at least 4 times, to reach the sloper that is to the left of the 6th clip. I almost made it and decided that if I was going to try another route that this was as far as I was going to go on the Red 10c for today so I asked my belayer to; “lower.”

After a 10-15 minute break which included belaying a friend on the very same route I just tried and cheering another friend as she flashed a 10b for the first time, I set my eyes on this route…

The White 10c. Several of my friends had tried it and thought I would enjoy the challenge. I have yet to climb a route with the square (block) holds seen here about 4 clips up. Getting to these holds was easy enough thanks to all of the technique work I have been doing with my feet and legs. For me the “C” in this 10c starts when you put your hands/arms on the square (block) holds located in the blue section of the wall. In order to get from those two holds to the square (block) hold located to the right, in the white section of the wall, I had to put my left foot on the foothold just below the first square (block), my right foot on the foothold to the right, in the white section of the wall. My arms were on the two square (block) holds and I used my arm strength to reach across to the first square (block) hold in the white section of the wall. I could do" but lost my grip each time as I prepared for what I thought I needed to do next. After about 4 tries to proceed I asked my belayer to “lower” me.

There are days that I wall climb where all I want to do is work on technique. Then there are days like today; where I want to challenge myself and see if I can apply technique either consciously or subconsciously. I accomplished both today and left myself with two very interesting routes to continue working on the next time I go climbing.