I sent a V8 yesterday.
It was a good day; warmed up, sent a fun V5, flashed a V6 (which I thought must be soft, but everyone else had more trouble on it than on the V5, so....), and started working on green and white. It had a fun start; heel hook around a corner, hold awkwardly onto slopey rails, up and slap around the corner to a hold, and then the crux---figuring out what the deuce to do with a big blocky hold with only one good spot, and no good feet to use so as not to barndoor.
Anyhow, I worked out a sequence, and then the next few moves weren't so bad, and so it was sent.
My automatic reaction is that if I sent it (in particular, in one session), that it can't be a V8. I think I need to let that view go.
I had never sent a V8, and so anything I could sent I always assumed was a V7 or less (this is more relevant at the coop, where problems are not always graded), and honestly, that doesn't make sense to hold onto that view. I am getting stronger. If the consensus is that that climb was a V8, then I have sent a V8. Maybe a soft one, I'm not sure, but I need to accept that yes, I can climb that grade.
I'm getting stronger. Onwards and upwards.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Physio
I'm heading to Edmonton this weekend for the Tour de Bloc local competition; once again, I will be in the open category.
I'm curious what the competition there will be like; I know who the strong climbers are in Vancouver, I know how good I am in relation to them, but I don't know that in Edmonton.
I like the U of A gym though, which has had some pretty fun problems every time I've been there. They've hosted nationals before as well, and I gather that the setup is much better for spectators than, say, the Edge, or Cliffhanger, or Beyond the Crux in Kelowna.
I'm crossing my fingers that I'll make it into finals there, but it really depends on how strong the local bouldering scene is. We'll see.
Speaking of fingers, I went to see my physiotherapist again about my middle finger on the left hand. The previous injuries seem to be all gone, but in the last few weeks. a new pain has started to show up in the first joint on that finger. As usual, this worries me (not the least due to the fact that I would like to be able to compete at full strength this weekend), but after a bit of poking and prodding, Len figured that it isn't a joint issue, and that it's simply another tendon problem. He figures that I should be able to climb on it just fine if I warm it up well enough with some simple exercises.
He and I are supposed to go climbing later this week, and hopefully some time during the summer, which raises the question: How do you climb with your physiotherapist? Climbers talk about aches and pains pretty often, do I have to avoid that topic now? The etiquette escapes me.
I'm curious what the competition there will be like; I know who the strong climbers are in Vancouver, I know how good I am in relation to them, but I don't know that in Edmonton.
I like the U of A gym though, which has had some pretty fun problems every time I've been there. They've hosted nationals before as well, and I gather that the setup is much better for spectators than, say, the Edge, or Cliffhanger, or Beyond the Crux in Kelowna.
I'm crossing my fingers that I'll make it into finals there, but it really depends on how strong the local bouldering scene is. We'll see.
Speaking of fingers, I went to see my physiotherapist again about my middle finger on the left hand. The previous injuries seem to be all gone, but in the last few weeks. a new pain has started to show up in the first joint on that finger. As usual, this worries me (not the least due to the fact that I would like to be able to compete at full strength this weekend), but after a bit of poking and prodding, Len figured that it isn't a joint issue, and that it's simply another tendon problem. He figures that I should be able to climb on it just fine if I warm it up well enough with some simple exercises.
He and I are supposed to go climbing later this week, and hopefully some time during the summer, which raises the question: How do you climb with your physiotherapist? Climbers talk about aches and pains pretty often, do I have to avoid that topic now? The etiquette escapes me.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
A cold day in Squamish
We pulled into the Grand Wall lot at about 12:30pm; I was glad for my four layers as we made our entrance into the shaded forest, setting up near Superdyke (V3) to warm up.
We hopped on Dyke surfer (V0) as a warmup, and I admit that I felt a little weak. The rock was cold, and I worried that I'd slip on the top-out. But we continued on. Off to Largonian Bulge (V2), which I'd last tried years before when we first came out to Squamish. I remember that we were regularly sending V4s and a few V5s, and we were shocked that the V0s and V1s would spit us off so callously. Largonian Bulge was then a V1, I think, and it just epitomized the shock we felt upon moving onto real rock.
Flash forward to today, and I dispatch it with ease. Despite what I felt those summers ago, I would comfortably say that the grades do match well enough.
We then moved around to look at Slave to the Pushers (V5) with another pair of climbers. It's a burly, somewhat awkward and slappy climb, in many ways typical of the problems in Squamish. We worked on this while Kasper and Daniel worked on the hardest V3 in Squamish, the aforementioned Superdyke. A few tries in Slave is sent, but Superdyke resists all of our efforts.
Daniel and I quickly mopped up Palminator (V4), the left-hand cousin to Easy in an Easy Chair (V4), and we moved on to look at Lounge Act (V6), which Kasper wanted to try to send.
After setting up in one of the nicest spots to watch a climb, Kasper shows us the beta, and Daniel promptly flashes the climb. A few tries later, Kasper and I both desperately send it, and we move on below to try out the juggy Swank Stretch (V5). When my turn comes, I pull on, reach up left to the finger slot, hoist up and out right... and stick. Up the the jugs, and out--flashed! A while longer as each of the other climbers make their sends, and we move on to the project of the day.
Worm World Cave (V9). No luck on this, but we make a lot of good progress in terms of the first few moves. It'll go, it'll go.
We looked at Corrupted (V7), which seems quite tricky: There is a match on a hold barely large enough to hold three fingers, and then the crux move of a big swing out right. Sadly, none of us were able to send this either.
Packing up, we quickly stopped off by Trad Killer (V4) which I happily flashed, and then out through the talus fields home.
We hopped on Dyke surfer (V0) as a warmup, and I admit that I felt a little weak. The rock was cold, and I worried that I'd slip on the top-out. But we continued on. Off to Largonian Bulge (V2), which I'd last tried years before when we first came out to Squamish. I remember that we were regularly sending V4s and a few V5s, and we were shocked that the V0s and V1s would spit us off so callously. Largonian Bulge was then a V1, I think, and it just epitomized the shock we felt upon moving onto real rock.
Flash forward to today, and I dispatch it with ease. Despite what I felt those summers ago, I would comfortably say that the grades do match well enough.
We then moved around to look at Slave to the Pushers (V5) with another pair of climbers. It's a burly, somewhat awkward and slappy climb, in many ways typical of the problems in Squamish. We worked on this while Kasper and Daniel worked on the hardest V3 in Squamish, the aforementioned Superdyke. A few tries in Slave is sent, but Superdyke resists all of our efforts.
Daniel and I quickly mopped up Palminator (V4), the left-hand cousin to Easy in an Easy Chair (V4), and we moved on to look at Lounge Act (V6), which Kasper wanted to try to send.
After setting up in one of the nicest spots to watch a climb, Kasper shows us the beta, and Daniel promptly flashes the climb. A few tries later, Kasper and I both desperately send it, and we move on below to try out the juggy Swank Stretch (V5). When my turn comes, I pull on, reach up left to the finger slot, hoist up and out right... and stick. Up the the jugs, and out--flashed! A while longer as each of the other climbers make their sends, and we move on to the project of the day.
Worm World Cave (V9). No luck on this, but we make a lot of good progress in terms of the first few moves. It'll go, it'll go.
We looked at Corrupted (V7), which seems quite tricky: There is a match on a hold barely large enough to hold three fingers, and then the crux move of a big swing out right. Sadly, none of us were able to send this either.
Packing up, we quickly stopped off by Trad Killer (V4) which I happily flashed, and then out through the talus fields home.
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