Progress Abounds!

I haven't updated in awhile, but today is a good day!

I have been advancing in my climbing and I am super psyched about it. Most recently, I beta flashed my first 10c! It was so exciting to do the route and it was actually one that Tom completed earlier that day after falling off a few times. I was able to use my small hands and fingers to my advantage as I was able to get a good grip on some rather tiny holds. It was a really good feeling. =)

Otherwise, I'm climbing 10a consistently, so I would say that I could lead 10a. I've climbed a few 10b's, but most of them still give me a bit of trouble.

Today, I went to the IMA at UW for the first time to climb there. They have a big room with lots of bouldering and a few top roping routes that range from 5.6 - 5.12+. I was a bit disappointed with the rating system, though. The culture at UW seems largely skewed towards bouldering and all the routes were much harder than advertised. There were a few V0's that I had a rough time with and several V1's that I couldn't even finish. Everyone there agreed that the routes were "stiff" but that they liked it because when they go to other gyms, they feel like a champ. I can't say that I agree.

I did a 5.7, 5.8, and 5.9 just to see how the difficulty ratings stacked up. I don't think they were rated terribly well, but they were alright. (I should also note that the IMA Crags do not rate 10s. 11s, and 12s using letters! It's definitely a "fun" mystery to find out whether you're climbing a 10a or a 10d.) The biggest change for me was that the walls are a towering 40 feet tall!! I honestly thought the walls I normally climbed on at VW were about that height, but now I would say that they are about 30 feet tall. It definitely psyched me out on my first couple climbs, especially because I was on ATC with a new belay partner. But I quickly got used to it, and I think it's good for me to adjust to higher heights.

It was an interesting experience overall, and I will continue to climb there and get a feel for the community. I even got to feel like a badass today when I explained how hangboards work to a non-climber who asked me. (Because climbing makes you absurdly badass.)

(Side note: Up until today, I thought I had heard that you should be able to climb 5.11's before learning to lead climb. But I'm beginning to get the idea that you can do it much sooner than that, and I am definitely anxious to get outside. In fact, at the IMA, I was told that you should be able to climb a 5.8 to lead climb, but I'm not totally convinced. Time for research and I'll let you know!)

Bad Day Climbing

Yesterday was a yucky day climbing for me. I hadn't gotten to climb top rope in 4 days, and I finally got my chance to get on the wall again last night. And I totally bombed it.

By totally bombed it, I mean that I had a good warm up and did well on a bunch of 5.7's and 5.8's. I even beat the crap out of a hard 5.9. But then I struggled a bit on another 5.9 (although I managed to send it), and then I failed on a 5.10a. I just couldn't get past this one sequence, mostly for not knowing how to do it. With a little more height I could've mantled this one part, but I just couldn't manage it. I watched two other wonderful women do the route in two different ways, which inspired me to try and get past that part a third time. But as soon as I got up there, a familiar sense of impossibility swept over me again, and I couldn't make it work.

Asking someone to lower you when you haven't sent a route feels like one of the most humiliating things in the world.

What made it worse was that prior to my hiatus, I was the queen of climbing. On my last trip to the gym, I climbed a challenging 5.9 chimney route, then a 5.10a chimney route, and then a half slab/half vertical 10b. And my boyfriend, Tom, couldn't do it. It was the first time that I was able to climb a route that he couldn't do. It required flexibility on one particular sequence, and he couldn't move past it. As much as I felt bad that he was getting frustrated, part of me was ecstatic that I had managed a route that the tall and strong Thomas could not.

All in all, my bad day probably wasn't all that bad. But for some reason, it just felt like a huge step backward and I hung my head low as I left the gym. Hopefully, I'll do better today. *sigh*

The Beginning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnLQ1hm-Nac

This video is my current inspiration for climbing. I started climbing with my boyfriend about a month ago when he got back from 6 weeks in Palo Alto for job training. We head to the climbing gym about 4-5 times a week now, and the addiction just seems to grow.

Currently, I am very far away from the strong, sexy, and confident Alex Puccio. I can only climb V0's and V1's on bouldering. On top roping, I can do a few 5.10a's but my range is still all over the place. I even struggled on a 5.6 yesterday when testing it out for a friend before he arrived, so I've definitely got a long way to grow.

I hope to use this blog to voice my passion for climbing and chart my progress along the way. I'll include pictures and video when I can, and I hope you enjoy it. =)