Monthly Archives: August 2009

Life has been keeping me occupied, just as it should be.  I’ll start with Friday.  I was working all day, but in that night was a going away party for three of my coworkers who were moving on to greener pastures.  Work parties have a bad reputation of being quite lame, that is unless a brave soul takes responsibility for getting drunk and foolish.  So I got drunk and foolish…  We shut down the bar, then headed down the road to the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge.  I’d watched people jump off it before, so I knew it was [relatively] safe, maybe a 30 or 40 foot fall.  Before I could give myself a chance to change my mind, I climbed over the edge and jumped off.  You only live once.

After Friday night’s craziness, I took it easy for the rest of the weekend…

Things have been good for me lately.  My very good friend, Carolina, is back in Austin and beginning to settle into the real world again.  We finally tracked one another down on Thursday last week, had a few beers and tried to summarize our two very different summers away from each other.  Jerry and I have settled into our little blue East Austin house quite well too – thanks to a quick road trip to Boulder, CO last week, our house is now properly stocked with furniture and cool yoga props.

I went climbing with Carolina this morning.  My body is probably 90% recovered from hitting the water below the Lamar bridge, and my partner had been away from climbing for a solid three months, so we didn’t do anything too difficult.  I did lead a 5.9 that I know inside out from following on top-rope.  Believe it or not, I think that’s my hardest lead to date, despite being able to get up most stiff 5.10s.  I guess that’s what happens when you constantly climb with people much better than you…  Carolina got back in the swing of things surprisingly quickly.  I know she’ll be back to her previous form in a few weeks.

We christened my new rope this morning.  I picked up a Petzl Fuse 9.4 on super-clearance at REI, splitting the rope and the cost with my frequent climbing partner, Ryan.  Now I have a skinny, compact and lightweight 35 meter rope for toting around Austin.  After our lovely little climbing trip, we headed back to the house to finish off the pasta I made last night.  I couldn’t have had a better morning.

I went climbing on Monday at a new location on the greenbelt, a wall called Kingdom of Ging.  The routes are all 5.10b and up – just at the upper limit of my climbing abilities.  The wall itself is perched above a pretty large overhang.  To get to the first bolts, one must jump to a 7′ high ledge, throw a heel up, do a one-armed pull-up, and throw the opposite hand to the next small hold.  I’ve never done anything quite so physical.

So Ryan and I walked to the middle of the wall, saw a line of bolts that looked good, and threw the rope underneath.  He briefly walked towards his bag to check the guide book, but then hesitated and turned back around.  He said it’d be more exciting if we didn’t know the difficulty rating.  Ryan tied into the rope, and jumped up to the ledge.  You can imagine doing the sequence of moves I just described on lead, ten feet off the ground, with no protection – just little old me standing on the ground underneath with my arms in the air, waiting to shove him away from the rocks and into the sand in the event he did fall.

There were some nervous moments, but he did manage to get to the first bolt unharmed.  The second crux move of the route was above the fourth bolt, immediately below the anchors.  A big bulge, with tiny holds and lots of balance.  Ryan took four big (15+ feet) falls at the crux before calling it off; then Rami decided to give it a go.  Rami had been away from real rock for over a month, and was pretty unsure of himself, but looked in total control as he floated over the crux and clipped the chains.  We did two other routes on the wall then called it an afternoon.  It was sloppily done, but we managed to log some good 10d and 10b climbs.

The day after I felt like I’d broken a few ribs on my right side.  I never realized I had muscles in between them.

I had been away from rock climbing for almost three weeks – all of my regular partners were either injured, tired, or had conflicting schedules.  Relying on a partner is one of my favorite parts of the sport; the shared responsibility for one another really binds two friends together in ways most non-climbers never experience.  But on the flip-side, the necessity for a partner can really limit your ability to get out on the rock, as I was obviously experiencing.

I was lying in bed on Friday morning, maybe 8:00am, when my phone started ringing.  Ryan and I both had to work at 1:00pm, and he was calling to see if I wanted to squeeze in a few hours of climbing beforehand.  I was groggy, had errands to run that morning, and had to decline.  I hung up the phone and jumped in the shower, but something just wasn’t right.  My errands could wait – I needed to climb.  I turned the water off, grabbed my phone, and 20 minutes later I was out my door to meet Ryan.

We went to our usual spot, and warmed up on our usual routes.  I was feeling surprisingly fluid for being away from things for so long.  Ryan wanted a workout and we didn’t have much time, so we moved on to something more difficult.  He red-pointed Lonesome Dove (5.12a roof), making it look easy.  Apparently he was feeling good as well after his extended absence.  Before the roof, Lonesome Dove is Diving for Rocks (5.10d), and he told me I had to try it.

The crux move of the route is a huge dynamic move from two awkward pockets in the rock to a big ledge.  A fully committed jump upwards.  The first time I attempted the move, I was maybe half an inch short on my jump.  The guys watching me said it was the closest they’ve ever seen anyone get on their first try.  Second try I grabbed the ledge with inches to spare, my hands on solid rock and my feet dangling in the air.  Too cool.  The rest of the route was pretty labor intensive, but not too difficult.  I felt good to make it to the top, jumping back into the climbing world in good style.

I used to think days off should include a little rest and relaxation, allowing the body to recuperate from whatever woes may be wearing it down – work, a lack of sleep, etc.  It seems that lately though, mine have taken an opposite turn; if I don’t use my time away from work to climb all day, go for a long bike ride, or take a trip somewhere, I feel cheated.

So today for my day off I climbed.  My housemates and I headed out to Reimers Ranch in the not-too-early morning.  I feel like mornings are getting cooler around here, and since that cool air seems to stick around a little longer, I didn’t mind the 8:30 departure.  By the time we got to the base of our cliff, the wind was blowing at us and we were climbing in the shade.  Perfect.  We climbed a handful of shorter routes, each with a handful of fun problems, then wandered through the bushes to climb two routes Ryan found [pissed near] on my last trip to the ranch.

I love climbing.  I’m becoming so much more comfortable on the rock, and also on lead.  When I first started leading, I would fumble with my quick-draws and on getting the rope into the carabiner.  Now the motions are getting smoother.  The skin on my fingers is getting rougher, and my feet are getting sticker.

I’m moving back to the eastside much sooner than later, and I’m bubbling with excitement.  My friend/co-worker/yoga instructor owns a little house in the heart of East Austin, about two miles south of my last apartment.  Walking distance to everywhere I want to be, and fixie distance to everywhere I need to be.  It’s definitely an ideal match for my lifestyle.

In probably not more than a month, one of my partners in crime will be back in Austin.  I’m bubbling with excitement about that too.  We’ve had a chance to chat a little bit the past few nights, and they’re all doing great.  I miss her, but I’m really proud of what she’s doing at the same time.  My grand-mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, had surgery a few weeks ago, and just started chemo treatments a few days ago.  It’s such a god-awefully nasty process.  She’s helping my grandma and millions of others fighting cancer – I’ll put up with missing her for a little while longer.