Weekend Fun

My gal-pal and climbing partner Michele made the jaunt up from California to swing the sticks at least once this year. Michele has been dealing with some health issues and ultimately surgery so it's sidelined her usual trips up north but never her enthusiasm.

We made our way up to the Bear Spirit Crag. I was concerned about the hour long approach and it was taxing for Michele whose been spending her time recovering, not working on her uphill endurance while carrying a 30lb pack on her back. So the approach was tiring for her.

I led up the ice, this was the hardest pitch I've done leading with my leashless Nomics (now named Betty and Veronica). The ice looked untouched so I was swinging and kicking for every placement. I realized after the fact that I was also wearing my mono-points which did add to a bit of mental insecurity. However I took my time and was happy with the lead. There are different camps as to the wisdom of leading leashless or not. My feeling (so far) is that I'm happy to lead leashless on single pitch ice, where dropping a tool has far less consequence. On the multi-pitch I think I'll stick to Thelma and Louise and the leashes. Which If I think of Brad Pitt AND leashes AND ropes well its makes everything abit more interesting...muhahahahaha.... but I digress...

Michele re-acquainted herself with ice and was very disappointed that she had to swing and kick also since she was following my line. She got stronger on every lap as her muscles remembered what climbing ice was all about.

The next day we took a lazy day and Sunday I threw Michele on my climbing wall in the garage. Brian came over and we had fun setting up some new routes. That's the bonus with having a climbing guide partner who's an expert at climbing gym route-setting. Perfect! Brian put up some challenging routes that will keep me busy for quite awhile. I deliberately set up a down climbing route that should make my taller friends crunch up into interesting contortions to complete it in the cave section.

I also committed to a big objective this summer. One of those "Oh gosh what have I done?" scenarios. A "worthy" objective as I like to call it that will force me to step up my training to have maximum cardio and endurance. And yes as superstitions dictate I won't be mentioning the objective. I'm climbing with 3 other guys so I'll respect that they probably don't want me blabbing about it (too much)

I'll be creating a training schedule which will combine weights, cardio, running, and of course climbing. I'm excited about pushing my abilities and seeing what I'm capable of. No rest for the wicked..... :-)