Insomnia

Its 2 am, and I have no idea where my head is at. It seems to me that 2009 has not been a good year physically. I have sustained multiple injuries to my left hand this year, none of them from climbing, yet they continually are re aggrevated from climbing. It makes me want to scream. I'm looking at another month of 'rest' and it upsets me because all my goals have been derailed. In November I'm coming up on the end of my 5th year in this wacky sport, and everyday I feel more psyched and ready to push myself beyond my current limits. However at 26 I feel as though I am leaving my youth behind me, as well as the potential to build power. But that brings me to what's keeping me up this evening.

It is a wonderful feeling when the mind and the body exist on the same wavelength. Act as one, living within the moment, in the breath, free from distraction. These moments are rare, and in my experience tend to move in phases. Occasianaly these phases can be extended into days, sometimes weeks. If you have great mental strength, perhaps you always live in this phase. I have always been a realist; lets say this is the optimistic point of view of a pessimist. Self doubt has long been a resident of my thought process degrading my ability to hold onto that killer instinct in every sport I've participated in. The interesting bit is it only applies to activities which I care deeply for. For example, my love of rock climbing far outweighs my love of slacklining, but I am a much more accomplished slackliner than I am a rock climber. It is easy for me to find my ebb and flow on a line. Immediately before I even mount a line do my mind and body connect on the same frequency. It is because I always let go. I have no emotional ties to slacklining. The outcome from a day of slacklining has no affect on my emotional well being. Rock climbing on the other hand lends itself to obsessiveness. I spend many nights lying awake rehearsing sequences in my mind preparing myself to ascend lines that stand out. My ego is so intrinsically associated with rock climbing it has created a emotional void that can only be filled via send.

The re aggrevation of my collateral ligament occured only 3 days ago, but I am on the brink of insanity because I feel as if I'm withering away with out the one physical activity that makes me whole. As I grow older I fear I will need to create a new approach to all physical activities in my life. For now, I am at the peak of my physical prowess, and it is hard to be forced to rest. How does one mentally deal with such strife? I've tried all the usual distractions, but the aggregation of multiple injuries teasing me with full health aside from one joint and one ligament are killers.

Feeling vulnerable while seeking my flow. Don't take your health for granted, enjoy the shit out of it.

Corwina Park

Chris took me to a 'secret' boulder off of 74 before the town of Kittredge in Corwina Park. It is hardly a secret as it is less than a 2 minute hike from the trailhead, but I had never heard of anyone climbing this boulder before. Perhaps it is the lack of hard problems that exist on it, but there is a nice highball in the v3-v5 range. Matt and I got on it, but neither of us were psyched enough to send. It is interesting that it is the same quality of gneiss that is found in the park. If there weren't more diverse destinations close by, I would probably frequent this boulder often.


Matt Climbing. Chris spotting in the classic Hunchback of Notre Dame Style.

3 Sisters Guide Book

Bouldering has always been my first love in climbing. I began bouldering, and I will always boulder. I remember many trips J russ and I would take into the front range. We were complete noobs, rocking Umbro shorts, and placing climbing stickers on everything we owned. We were obsessed, and loved it more than anything. When we finally got sick of the sharp conglomerate of Flagstaff Mtn, we decided to venture into the unknown armed with Benningfields Colorado Bouldering, and Horan's Best of Boulder Bouldering. Boy did we ever get lost....constantly. J russ and I had an epic at least twice a week looking for boulders. Often we wandered around aimlessly finding nothing to climb, resorting to putting up some dirtbuglar on the closest chosspile we could find to make the trip "worth while."
Perhaps part of it was the fact we weren't very good at exploring for new boulders, but I feel a much bigger hand in our aimless wanderings was the poor description of boulder locations, and the lack of a proper map to get us there. Now we are much older, much more experienced, and I like to think we're much wiser, but that is always up to debate. Now I armed with education in the field of Geographic Information Systems, and it is time climbing guides on the front range are revolutionized in terms of accuracy and precision. I've decided to take it upon myself to create a guidebook for the 3 Sisters area in Evergreen in an attempt to create a guidebook which focuses on getting climbers to the boulders they desire with minimal knowledge of the area.
Today I hooked up with Luke Childres a 3rd generation First Ascentionist that has developed a great deal of the 3 Sisters area in the last 10 - 15 years. He is truly a legend in his own right, and he gave me the pleasure of working with him today. We gathered all sorts of data for the guidebook, and I am very excited to see the distribution of areas and boulders from a cartographic perspective. Here are a few pictures from our day.


Parking Lot 2

The First Ascentionist Taking Flight.

The Author on the Prince.

Gaining wisdom on Wisdom.

More 3 Sisters

Matt K. and I went to 3 sisters despite the weather channel's call for scattered T Storms. It turned out to be a beautiful day. We experienced one short 15 minute shower, and blue skies the remainder of the day.




Matt making the bump on Thievery.

Rainbows

The view from on top of the middle sister. (Enter dirty joke of choice here)

Baby You, You Got What I NeeeeeD.....

The last few weeks my house has turned into a hostel for rock climbers from Tennessee. It seems half the climbing community from Knoxville currently resides in Colorado for the summer, and I can't blame them. It has been really nice to catch up with old friends, and show them some Colorado Hospitality.
The more I mingle with climbers, the more I realize that we are actually quite a worldly bunch. There are few other sports which encourage a lifestyle of travel the way climbers experience travel. Traveling to destinations in remote regions away from the hustle and bustle of the 'tourist' experience, we see, feel, and understand culture better than most. For a long time I felt as though climbing was going to be another sport I'd fall out of after a few years, but I know now the draw is more than just movement and physical activity. There is an intrinsic association with the way we choose to live as well. I love climbing for everything it is off the rock as much as it is on the rock. Next time you go out, and get frustrated by your failures on the rock, remember everything you've learned from climbing off the rock.

Alex F. on Re-Entry Burn at Satellites.

Charlie on Slabrina at 3 Sisters