Tuesday Night At Rocksport

Yesterday was a great day at the gym. My brother and I went up there after I got off of work and climbed for a solid three hours. Tuesday is probably my favorite day to climb at the gym. It’s rarely very busy, and a majority of the regular climbers make it a point to show up. The gym ends up being filled with a myriad of persons whom are willing to catch for each other and share beta. Because of this, Tuesday always has an air of intimacy that is typically not there when the gym is busy with groups or parties.

My brother and I hadn’t been climbing much more than fifteen minutes when Mike came in. I climbed with his son often throughout the winter, but his son has since been sparse at the gym. Mike is an enjoyable personality and a great climber. We usually trade catches with him as he often comes in alone (which I can relate too) and he’s around our skill level. I really enjoy watching him climb, due to his slow meticulous style. We traded catches for about an hour and a half till we started mixing up a bit more. He started working on a favorite route of mine, a good 5.10a. After 1 try on the start, he got to the first crux and spent the rest of his night working this route. He had worked to the second crux before I had stepped away to climb myself.

About halfway through the evening Fehy(sp), our favorite employee, came over and belayed for us a few times and cut the shit with us. My brother and I where doing some endurance runs, and after my brother’s first two runs up a route, she jokingly challenged Dan to five more consecutive runs, which Dan obliged with a surprising ease. We where giving him a lot of shit because he kept stepping off the route not paying attention. So Fehy and I kept a tally of how many routes he’d have to climb past 5 due to cheating, this he did not oblige. Fehy went on to top out a very crimpy 5.10b/c which is quite a rough route to stick. This particular route has caused me some tendon troubles, thus I stay away from it, even though I enjoyed the challenges it presented.

I topped out a slopey 5.10a for the first time yesterday. This was originally a boulder problem up an mildly overhung arête, which has had a route added to it. Most of the climbers stray away from this route because of the slopes and balance oriented moves that riddle this route from start to finish. I personally love slapping slopes and working my upper core. I had not attempted this route beyond the boulder problem, and I was hoping to flash it. Unfortunately I peeled off twice because I miss read two holds and missed the sweet spots, which is ever so important on slopers, how frustrating. Needless to say I’m glad I topped it out, and felt strong through the finish.

I struggled my way up a couple 5.10b’s for the first time as well. The first, I came down just before the top out, as I was having trouble hanging long enough to figure out the footing above what I can boulder. I plan to work this route diligently until I’m topping it regularly. The second, I came off just above the boulder problem at the crux. This particular problem starts about twenty degrees (relative to the floor) overhung and wraps around the arête to the pitch above the overhang. This particular section is the crux and can often end up a nasty campus boulder problem if you don’t keep your core tight and feet on the roof. I have bouldered this many times, yet the crux is too committing at fifteen feet to attempt without roping in at the gym. I wouldn’t want to give the owner a heart attack, and or lose my membership for disregarding his bouldering policies. The word on the street is that once you hit this once it’s easy but it takes some work to build the muscle group required to stick it. I can’t wait! The last move of the crux is a huge slap on a mild slope!

All in all I would say between my brother and I we climbed at least 25 routes in 3 hours. I believe this is exceptional, considering we’ve only been working endurance for 2 weeks, one of which I was on hiatus due to my knee. My brother is climbing extremely strong for the three weeks he’s been climbing. Being six foot five with a reach that’s only rivaled by Shaq may help a bit I suppose. He bought his first pair of shoes last Friday and is going through the pains of breaking in a fresh pair of 5.10 Anasazi Verde’s. This particular shoe has a real deep heel cup and I hear causes exceptional discomfort while softening the heel as well as it’s small toe box, the latter being a common source of pain in most new climbing shoes.

We’ll be heading back to the gym on Friday. I’m pretty sure Mike will be there, and I know Josh, Angela and a few others that are involved in a fitness program that meets at Rocksport every Friday will come as well. They where both at the gym last night sans the rest of the Friday crew. Josh is a real strong climber and a great guy. He seems to be very active and virtuous in his generosity. Angela started climbing a few months ago and is progressing rapidly, she’s rather fun to climb with and has some cute friends, whom I hope will show up on Friday. We’ll see how the weather goes this week but it looks like we are going to be climbing in the gym this Sunday. The forecast is thunderstorms till Monday.