Train up! Get psyched!

With 8 inches of snow in my yard and possible tendonitis in both knees from another long ski season, I can only dream of sunny rock climbing anywhere in the western US. Luckily this weekend should provide weather in the 60's near Butte, with a maze of world class granite (maybe a stretch) to explore and climb. Hopefully we will see perfect climbing temps....more likely mixed rain and sun with snow on the ground. I have been waiting to regularly climb for a while.... in an effort to stop being so terribly weak and mediocre at the sport of climbing, I have been training. Despite this fact, I regularly flail and curse on anything harder than 5.10+, simultaneously calling for slack/take in the rope, before letting out a guttural scream mid-fall. If only I was as psyched as my good buddy Ethan (pictured, crazy). Ethan boulders and generally climbs like a crazed person, putting in long sessions at the local rock gym. Post send, Ethan then further crushes an intense climbing workout full of ridiculous one arm hangs, campusing/pull-ups and dips on gymnast rings (ever tried one?....so burly. my body convulses as I crank out 1.5 dips). The one time I have attempted the workout it hurt to sit up the next day, and sneezing was out of the question. Ethan does it multiple times a week, aspiring to climb 5.14 (ya right).

The mind must also be trained If I am to break through. Snow and boredom have pushed me to practice climbing self rescue and study more engineering. I practice escaping the belay, jugging the rope and the 3:1 haul, among other techniques so that I may be prepared to save my climbing partner in an accident. I practice because I am psyched. Psyched to climb longer and more difficult routes on peaks here in the rockies this summer, but the real challenge may be balancing full time work and school and the relatively new feeling of being a weekend warrior. Last summer I lived the dream of every other week being free from impingements...my climbing improved rapidly with multiple destination climbing trips. The strength gained has faded, but I will never forget the climbs, which is important for psyche factor. Hopefully this summer will bring some new adventures, probably in steep mountains with some of my best friends, including Ethan, if he ever leaves the gym.