Monday, October 3, 2011

Fresh perspective

I have been on the comeback trail for a while now (roughly since end of May). My focus has been on trying to build a good base of 7A to 7B problems, some new and some repeats, with a view to getting back in shape and refreshing my approach. In the past I have been too focused on hard projects which has meant that I have gone through a whole year at times getting only a few problems done and that sux! After a small wake up call from my knee op earlier this year, I realised how much fun it is just to climb so I decided to put off my hard project focus, and rather rediscover the fun side (and at the same time get $h&t done). The closing of Redhill has also been fortuitious because its forced me to climb away from soft grades and problems that I can do in my sleep - the kind of climbing that lulls you in to a false sense of ability!

Topside has recently experienced somewhat of a reneisance. It has been really good revisiting areas I haven't been to in years to repeat problems and also fill in some of the gaps. Most notably Momento (7B for tall people and closer to 7C for those who are shorter) which has been a long term nemesis (shorter people can't keep their feet in the good rail for the start of the crux section). Going back has also opened my eyes to the potential that still exists and has been overlooked in the past.Unfortuantely it also means more hard projects, but I am not going to lose focus just yet. Keeping the ticklist rolling has helped my psych to grow and I also feel like I am climbing better because I am learning new movement.

In the 4 months I have been back, I have put together a longer tick list than for the whole of 2010 which is statisfying but also shows how shameful last year was. But it isn't over yet (even if summer is approaching). I have started to push the level up a bit and have been satisfied with how things are turning out. I just have a feeling that projects are going to start being "satched up". This weekend I surprised myself by falling off the last hard move of Life Aquatic (7C+) - see the video below. Last weekend I could hardly do the moves in isolation! The video dosen't do justice to just how crap and sloppy the hand holds really are, and that isn't helped by the fact that there are not footholds. Now just to satch it up!






No comments:

Post a Comment