AND NOW WE CLIMB

i went out for my first day of climbing on wednesday. it started slow. i was signed up for a tour at 9 and showed up 15 minutes early as is recommended and strongly urged. much to my chagrin there was no guide available for the tour, which was canceled. so i sat as the fifth car at the gate for about an hour and a half until there was availability for walk-in reservations on north mountain. while we waited, inevitably a hack(y sack) circle was formed and i met half a dozen new friends.

inside i serendipitously met up with with some friends i had met back in chattanooga a couple of years ago, along with the others i had met. we had a great crew and fun day all around. we warmed up on a couple v3 highballs and a couple 4s and 5s. to my surprise i flashed all of them. i had been off for 3 days during the drive across country and was psyched to climb anyway.

one of my friends chris is here and got me psyched on this rockclimb called dean's journey (the kids give it 10 points). i got shut down at the crux multiple times before finding better beta. the bad beta was fed to me from my great friend mike. he's a strong climber and a sort-of mentor, but he gets his left and right confused easily. so after he got on it with us we realized it was a key left foot and not a right. after i figured that out i made great progress. great progress meaning falling off the finishing jug! this was a big surprise for me even though i didn't finish it that day. i know i can do it next time i get back to north mountain because i fell three times in a row going for the jug, which is not the hardest move by a long shot. i don't know how i missed it a different way every time, but i did. and even though i didn't send it, i was pleased to almost bag my first 10, in a day at that, and my first day at hueco this year!

don't by any means take this as bragging. because i finished the day out flailing all over a v4 that everyone in the crew sent besides me; i couldn't even do the move in isolation. that's hueco for you (not to mention different climbing styles in general).

it was a good first day.

here's a picture from thursday, on our tour of east mountain. i was pretty much wrecked from the previous day, but managed to squeeze out a v4 flash and a classic v5 second go (hobbit in a blender, i believe) and got close on a 7-pointer (the name escapes me). once again, i got the snot kicked out of me on try hard, v4; so it goes.

today's a rest day. a new friend of mine from british colombia, alysha, and i are going to the technical college a free hour-long massage after coffee and internet. it'll be my first professional massage. i'm psyched to say the least; i would also say it's long overdue.