New week; new project…
On my 1 year anniversary of climbing I decided to celebrate with the toughest climb yet; an 11a that makes the one I tried a few weeks ago look easy. Here’s a picture of it…
This will be my project for the next several weeks.
The thing that initially got my attention was the overhang at the top. From the ground it looked a lot harder than an overhang I tried a few weeks ago. Spolier: It was very intense. More on that later. Before I started the route I felt the fat kidney shaped hold (seen here in the Red section of the wall). That hold looked like it was going to be friendly. Turns out it was only friendly enough for me to get started and move into the White portion of the wall. The remainder of the holds, from the ground to the first clip too where not meant to be gripped for any extended period of time. A fellow climber that I have befriended over the course of a year told me that he thought this route was “intense” but that I would “enjoy it.” Five minutes into the climb and I could verify that it was certainly intense. My climbing coach and I set a goal to reach the fifth clip as a way to start this project. We would assess whether or not to continue when I got there. Between clips 1 and 4 I felt my strongest and made incremental progress. Tired, I was at the fifth clip before I knew and we decided to take a break. One of the many reasons why I like climbing with my coach is that she holds me what we commit to. If I say I want to take a break, we break; even though in my mind I want to keep going. We adjusted our initial from “let’s try to get to the fifth clip” to “while we are here let’s go to just above the eighth clip” so I could feel what that big black hold (in the Black section of the wall) felt like prior to trying to get through the overhang. It is between the fifth and eighth clips that I exerted the most energy. While the holds are block like they are hard to grip. I tried to remember to grip with my thumbs below and my fingers on top. This picture does not fully do the degree of difficulty of the overhang justice. It’s, to quote a friend, “Intense.” I matched my left and right hands into the big, black hold just above that eighth clip. To my amazement that hold was surprisingly friendly; plenty of space to get my fingers in. My coach instructed me on which foot holds to try as I muscled myself through a position that I never thought I would put my body in some 40 feet in the air. It felt like my back was parallel to the ground as I worked my way through to the top. On my way down I felt good about the effort I put into this climb but also know that I have a lot to clean up the next time I try it. At least now I know what to expect.
