Climb Better

Tonight I had yet another successful climbing session at Stoneworks- I climbed and climbed and climbed and pushed until failure. I chatted at length with a wonderful climber who is planning on moving somewhere near Jackson Hole, Wyoming aka, adventure mecca, the minute his equally wonderful girlfriend finishes her masters next year. Together they have toured the world, spending extended periods of time exploring other continents, countries, and adventure destinations. I’m pretty sure my jealousy was palpable. How can I make my life into the one they share?

Step 1: climb harder. It’s true that my mental blocks over the last couple of months have been significant. But, it’s also true that the reason I have struggled with them is because I care so much about climbing as both a sport and a lifestyle. I had to find the balance between caring too much about the outcome of something, and simply allowing things to happen at their natural progression. Which is where I am now. And I can feel myself starting to crush again.

I may have lost nearly all of the skin off of my fingertips over the last couple of days (thanks, weather…), but the result has been a renewed energy and focus on footwork. And I felt the change tonight- I felt the shift in my ability and style after I re-energized myself about the experience of climbing- the very essence of it- after I climbed last week- but tonight I really started to feel things coming together.

So, step 1 is in the works, but I’d like it to read more like “climb better.” Not in the sense that I need to focus on just getting better and better (although that will hopefully be apart of the progression of my climbing), but in the sense that I need to continue to focus on climbing as the betterment of myself as an individual, to focus on climbing in a more conscious level- and to experience its culture, energy, and charisma, in the purest way I can manage.