Ascending

There is something very stressful about attempting to red point a climb when you have no prior beta and haven't even witnessed some dirtbag climb it before you. Every time I lead climb, I ask myself, "Why I am trying this, this is scary!" I get incredibly stressed out, my heart rate spikes, my palms begin to moisten and I feel weak. I have even been known to throw out an obscenity or two. I am not a fan of this phenomenon. My new solution is to drink three quarters of a beer and then attempt to climb. Now hold on, let me explain before you get your panties in a bunch. The beer counteracts my initial reaction to get stressed out on lead climbs by altering my mental state of being, essentially tricking it into thinking I am doing something very timid, but it doesn't hinder my physical ability to puller super hard. Those of you who have never lead climbed cannot even fathom the stress that comes with the sport. But on the other end of the spectrum, when you climb something that is very difficult and you stick the moves, you feel invinceable. This is the reason I put myself in these types of situations. I'm a little sick, when I say, "I like being scared on the rock, it almost makes it fun." But in all honesty, why else would we do extreme outdoor sports if we didn't have some natural inclination to putting ourselves in epic situations that have the possibility of turning out poorly. We like that stuff. It's fun. We feed off each other's energies and learn to just go for it. Sometimes we puss out and sometimes we get the send we wanted. All in all, a day of stressful climbing is always fun and is infinitely better than a fabulous day at work.

P.S. This post was inspired by my current St. George trip. It has been really amazing, the climbs have been anything from immaculate to downright scary, we've put up a lot of routes, the friends have been really really great, the food has been phenomenal, the sleeping sound and the energy has been super positive and high. I'm going to miss it when it's over. Thankyou Alec for throwing this down.