A different world

Tuesday, January 21, 2010

A different world

Coming home from Ouray, slightly disappointed but acknowledging some of the good that came from that trip, I was psyched to move onto the next competition–the world cup in Saas Fee Switzerland. It was slightly disheartening with how Ouray went, knowing that there was an even bigger event around the corner, as I basically, at first just wanted to crawl into a hole. However, as I’m learning, competition climbing has its ups and downs. And that’s just the nature of the beast.

Leaving my family for the second time in the same month, for more than a week, it was hard. I don’t like being away from my family for long periods of time. Usually after about four days, I start to get stir crazy. So this trip, after getting home from being gone for 11 days, and leaving again for 8…I wasn’t overly psyched. And along with that, I had a long journey on my own ahead of me.

Getting dropped off at an airport is becoming something of ease now (thank goodness for good friends and family). But this trip, traveling across the world…it was going to be something new for me. I used to travel to England and Scotland when I was little, but I really don’t remember any of that (or how it felt).

As I have learned, when traveling for long periods of time, nothing ever goes exactly how you planned it. And with this trip, that’s exactly how things went down. Having late flights, missed buses, getting stuck in a foreign village where no one speaks a word of English, it’s all adventure. For all of this though, you need to grow a bit of a thick skin in order to handle the curve balls that are thrown at you. It’s getting there, but still certain things throw me out of my “comfort zone”, but maybe that’s a good thing.

So, after a long flight from Phoenix to London, I hoped on another plane from London to Geneva. As I mentioned, because of late flights, my travels from Geneva, Switzerland to Saas Fee, Switzerland were put on hold. Instead, I got stay in a shoe box of a hotel that was way over priced (it was a bed, a tv, a sink and toilet, oh and a single bed at that). At this point, I was missing any sort of comfort from someone I knew, my wife, friends, whoever…but I really wasn’t going to get that…I just had to suck it up. As I did. It was a good learning experience. Gave me a chance to talk with God, watch a movie, and just relax.

I was able to get some sleep but still way off kilter from the time change thing, regardless I made the first bus in the morning and completed my travels to Saas Fee, Switzerland. Along the way, on the bus, we traveled through this crazy tight valley between enormous mountain ranges owned by the title of the “Swiss Alps”. It was amazing, every part of that drive kept me looking all over, back and forth, up and down…I didn’t want to miss any of it.

Since arriving in Saas Fee it’s been nothing but a great experience. This little village, looking like it was created in the 1800’s, was super cool in every respect. Whether all the shops, the kind and generous people, the towering mountains running right to my very door step, all of it keeps you in awe for every moment that you’re hear. Today i had the delight experience of sun tanning infront of bay windows that looked onto the Swiss Alps. Can you ask for more than that? It’s been a bit of a battle working with a village filled with people that speak little to no English. I’ve found myself constantly using hand gestures, dancing around like a monkey, in order to get across what it is that I’m asking for/requesting. So far I’m not starving and I’ve managed to do some shopping…so it’s going alright not speaking much of what they speak here (cross between german and French). I'm also with friends now which is really great. Always makes for a better experience. Marc Beverly and Justin Spaine are stayin with me, and others that i've met along the way are here too (like Adnres Marin, whom i'm on the Ice Holdz team with...and by the way...if you don't know what Ice Holdz are, and you like to climb mixed or ice, this is something you need to get on for training...and i hope to see this product get integrated into world cup competition.).

For the business.–I’m hear competing at the world cup. Tomorrow I represent Canada in a scene that I’m very foreign to. These competitors are the real deal. It’s not like Ouray or anything else I’ve experienced. They strong, really strong, fast, agile, smart, and did I mention strong? But all of this is ok. I’ve been training a lot and turns out that a lot of my training fits along side with this style of climbing. Good news. I don’t have any expectations here as I’m new at this, with little experience. But that’s what it’s all about: the experience. The more you have, the more you grow in that style. Tomorrow I’m just going to climb like I know how. I will throw for the moves I can’t reach, I’ll scream for the holds I go for and stick, I’ll get my feet up above my head, figure four everything in sight if I have to, and the point to all this…is that I’m just going to climb, trying my best to have as every bit of fun as possible. That’s cool. I definitely feel a little more relaxed here than previous comps etc. Maybe it’s because I’m naïve to what it’s really going to look like tomorrow…I don’t know…and really, at this point…it’s all good. Other competitors have been really great in welcoming the only Canadian onto the tour. It's been cool like that. Side note, if all else fails, i can say i owned the ping pong table at the athlete dinner tonight. Didn't matter what country stepped up to the plate...Canada held "his" own. Ha ha.

I’m psyched about tomorrow. It’ll be a great experience. Right now, gonna head to bed, keeping a level head, focusing on being strong, to just climb, and be ok with however it goes. From all of this, the main thing that I’ve learned is that my identity doesn’t come from how I place in a comp. My placing in any comp doesn’t proclaim the level of my ability in climbing. In competition sometimes you will fall off the first few holds and sometimes you'll have the climb of your life. It's all good. First and foremost, my identity comes from God and that’s rad. Secondly, my climbing…it is what it is. I love learning, getting stronger, climbing new routes, working with good people, meeting great people, and seeing lots of amazing/new places.

I’m psyched. Really psyched.

More to come after the comp.