September 2016
Snowshed, Lake Tahoe.
I had a score to settle here.
There was an off-width 5.9 I floundered on and couldn't finish a year+ ago, and a 10b I'd been too scared to try.
Looking back on all my posts, I always seem to have a score to settle.
At every location, there's always something I didn't get to do or couldn't send.
Is it a sign of overambition, where I'm trying things beyond my ability?
Or of insufficient desire to do well?
I suspect it is the latter.
For the strength and technique I have, I severely underperform in my climbing, limited by my lack of Try Hard and Commitment.
If only I could improve both of these...
But I've also been telling myself this for years.
This isn't new news.
I did end up putting down both the offwidth and the 10b, but in both cases, I improved my base ability and strength, but didn't push my actual Try Hard and Commitment.
In the upcoming year, I will take some time off to focus on physical and mental recovery.
Climbing is a strange thing--
In so much of life, we say it is more important to focus on the journey, less on the destination. I do think that's true in life.
But in regards to climbing hard, I have to focus more on goals and less on processes. I've put effort into trying a lot rather than trying hard.
Next year, I will focus on improving the quality of my attempts at the expense of the quantity.
More bread yom yom yom.
If both my legs irrepairably broke and I couldn't climb, run or cycle anymore, I'd open a bakery.
But lets hope the first clause of that sentence never happens.
The first set of pictures were of camping in Tahoe and not of climbing... I got too excited about climbing to take photos. The reason I'd never make it as a professional photographer... well that and I still have a lot to learn. I think I have a decent sense of framing, but my understanding of aperture and whatnot is quite low.
I did manage to take one photo while I was at the Cookie Cliff at Yosemite though!
Where I also had yet another score to settle (surprise, surprise!).
I got the 5.9 chimney (right) that I didn't send my first time, and I got to lead the first pitch of Outer Limits (10c), which had been my major goal of the weekend! Though I did not try the 11b second pitch. That's for next time!
The score is still unsettled though as I didn't send Outer Limits, but I'm excited for the next attempt! I have to remember that it gets wider at the top... The last 30 feet were quite stressful as I bumped the same #2 cam the entire way up... including to spaces that were a little too wide for a #2... actually, you know what, let's not talk about how stressful that last bit was.
Julia's Memorial was also this month.
After the event, everyone agreed-- Julia's life had been far too short, but she had been insanely cool for all 30 years of it.
Why, if we could fit even half as much amazing in our expected lifetimes of 79 years...! Or if we could be half as amazing as she believed us to be...