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It’s Christmas Eve and I’m sitting on a big, soft bed inside a warm, comfy house. There are not many other places I’d rather be. I believe it may be this same exact bed that has subsided my motivation for climbing and elevated it for comfort. When I look back on the past three years, this month I have always been working and living in a snow packed city. Outside climbing was impossible and apart from gym sessions the days were filled with becoming absolutely obsessed with the next time I would be able to touch real rock. For about nine months I have touched real rock at least every week and right about now I’d rather just sit here. Maybe my south side complacency has finally settled in while I’ve been at home. Maybe I don’t feel like battling the weather or my lack of ab strength.
Joe found his own Southern Comfort when he sent the route a few days ago. He had built up the route for a while in his head. He was eager about the fact that there had been no second ascent. About how it was possibly a hellish sandbag, ect. When he got on it after a week of plastic pulling and rest something just clicked, the route really wasn’t that hard for him. As soon as this mental switch took place the route was climbed quickly. It just showed me once again how your mental makes all the difference when climbing. From where you believe you are strength wise to what you consider your style to be. Are you there because you’re motivated or would you rather be in bed?

I was doing some blog lurking and came across this post:

“The crew is still trying to rally votes for Heidi Wirtz so she can win the Inspiring Soles contest! If she wins, she gets $25,000 for her non-profit organization: Girls Education International (here). This would be enough money to complete and expand their current projects: fixing up a girls school and paying for a teacher in a remote Pakistani village, and sponsoring 47 girls in Liberia to get their primary school education (with the goal of expanding this Liberia program to 100 girls). All we have to do is get tons of people to go online and vote for Heidi at this link (here)! It’s super easy & fast. Please help out by posting the link on your facebook page, sharing with friends & spreading the word. Thank you!”

Heidi is a great climber and a rad person. It’s awesome to see athletes like this reaching out to do something bigger for the
communities they encounter along their journeys. Vote for Heidi today!

Climbing cracks me up. You have these intense experiences while you’re climbing that feel totally unique and special. Then you’re reading through some newly found blogs and find some random person that has felt exactly (over dramatic, completely self absorbed, border line psychotic) as you did. I suppose it is these common experiences that keep us all coming back for more. For instance my most recent experience at the Concave Wall; tell me if you’ve heard it before.
1. You come to a new area and try climb that’s difficult for you, but not “impossible”.
2. You proceed to flail and make numerous excuses for why you suck.
3. You eventually come to terms with the fact that none of these excuses are valid. Determine you don’t know exactly why you suck, but you just do.
4. You start to think about all the people way better, more committed and worthwhile than yourself.
5. You get over it.
6. A few days later you return only to startle yourselves by pissing of the previous climb you just described.
7. You remember why you love rockclimbing again.
I have no explanation to this train of thought, but I have witnessed others going through the motions, or at least writing about them later. So yesterday when I acted out the last step of this situation, I was re-psyched on climbing and the Concave Wall, which I deemed unclimbable during my last visit. Joe was also amped, not just because I found a climb there I wouldn’t cry all the way up, but because he was super close to sending Southern Comfort. He will surely climb it in the next few days, and get the second ascent!
After climbing we decided it was too cold to cook the yummie steaks of perfection sitting in our cooler and instead we would seek refuge and warmth at a local hodge-podge of restaurant. As soon as I stepped foot in the Western Sizzler I knew what kind of sludge was afoot. I treaded lightly amongst the array of neon lighted trays at the bar. I skipped the mystery meats and even opted for dime-sized portions of heavily buttered corn and potatoes. Unfortunately Joe isn’t as well versed in the pick-and-choose tactics at these down south buffets. Later, before we had even fallen asleep he knew something was wrong. His feelings were confirmed a few hours later with violent puking. Anyone who has had food poisoning knows it’s not over once you puke. I knew then we wouldn’t be climbing today unless I was heartless enough to make Joe sit at the other end of the rope in pain for hours. Though I do feel bad for Joe, I am pretty bummed to not be able to try my route especially when the rest of the week looks like total turd. Tomorrow Joe swears he’ll feel better and we’re going to head back that way. Hopefully my magic ability to hang upside on the rock and cut my feet in a violent fashion will still be there when we return.

There really hasn’t been a whole lot of excitement the past week, apart from my dad flipping a four-wheeler on Thanksgiving Day. Don’t get the wrong idea, he wasn’t trying to do any Evel Kneivel tricks or jumps. It was an honest mistake that could have had anyone on the wrong side of the handle bars. Luckily the injuries were minor all things considered, and apart from the quick sobering up was a fun day.
The Red has been a battle for the past couple of weeks, with the weather broken up between freezing and pleasant days. We didn’t get enough days in a comfy house over T-day before we headed back up to handle some unfinished business. Rallying around the way we do it’s hard to remember that climbing is Joe’s job and media is an important part of the equation. We get caught up in projects and weather, rest days and skin. So we headed back with intentions of busting out some photos and videos, putting projects on the back burner. Joe shot some photos with John Dickey who’s on the road for a bit climbing and shooting. On Sunday there was heinous rain and we almost bailed on the idea of shooting video. Last minute we decided not to cop-out and went for it. Everything went smoothly and we managed to get decent footage despite the conditions.
On Saturday I sent number two on my tick-list of twenty, but only after having the ultimate whine session the night and morning before. I swear the longer that I just rock climbing the bitchier I get about it, truly pathetic. Now I’m tied over for a few days, though I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before I’m complaining about conditions or being stronger or some lame shit. Yay! Fun!