For the last week or so, the weather has been a touch too warm. Myself and two others tried giving our local ice climbing area a go, but we ended up just picking our way vertically through frozen moss. Typically by this time of year the Bull River Canyon, Cranbrook, B.C is full on. Not this year I guess. We were able to sink our picks into a bit of ice, but really, not enough to get super excited. But with good news, a week later, the weather has turned for the worse. Or i guess from an ice climbers perspective, for the better. The temps have dropped to a degree of "wow, it's actually pretty cold out."
This past week of training has been good. Still pushing pretty hard which has been inspiring to keep going. A couple of days ago, myself and a buddy hooked up with Will Gadd and had a crankin' day at Haffner Creek. Haffner has to be one of the best places to train (doing laps) due to the steepness and variety of climbs. Keepin' up to Will was also certainly good for the ol' arms because every other move he was screamin', "come one, campus that, campus to the next 'jug'." It was a good day. I climbed a couple of M8+'s, an M7 and an M5...with no difficulty. At the end of the day I was working on an M9, but my arms were way too tired to pull hard. I'm ok with that though. If you were at a rock climbing crag about to attempt your project, you're not going to go and climb 4 pumpy routes prior to your attempt. You'd typically just do a warm up or two, then go for it. So what i realized is that, when you get to M9, don't go and climb a whole bunch of routes first. I need to be fresh and confident at that level. I know I can climb it no problem...just not after a full day of climbing other stuff (and by climb, I mean, either onsight or redpoint without difficulty). This last climb of the day also enabled me to see what i needed to work on and strengthen.
Upon my return from mixed climbing I totally forgot that a photographer was coming over to take pics of the climbing gym. My arms were tired, i was tired. "Just hang there for a sec. Actually, hold on, can you keep that pose for a couple?" Yikes, i thought i was going to blow off from the roof of my gym and land on my head. It was all good though. This photographer was keen and quite talented. We ended up getting so great shots of the gym (not an easy task due to being a "tight fit") and everyone was happy.
Climbing with people who are stronger than you is always beneficial. You learn better technique, how to improvise outside the box. You learn to push harder, and how to focus more on the task at hand. I've begun meeting other climbers who climb at a level that i enjoy pushing at. It's enabled me to learn more. Getting to a top level is never easy, thus drawing from resources that enable such goals to be reached. Hangin out with the best is a prime example.
The snow is on the ground now. Winter has set in. The steady flow of water has now turned to climbable ice. The season is on. Ouray is 3 weeks away. I have 21 days (ish) to refine the last minute details in my climbing. It feels good to be climbing confidently. I'm stoked. Training for the next few days will be more focused...pressuring my body in the areas that need to be "tightened".
Climbing is amazing. It's a sport that allows you to exert all your energy in such a way that when you're done, you really have nothing left. But when motivated, even in the state of despair, you keep going. Even when your body is exhausted, hurting, you still go out and fix bad technique, or work on certain moves that beat you the day before. It's a sport of community and growth. I love to climb.
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