![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wwilliam47It is, I think, getting to the time of year when my lungs actually need medication for proper function. Three off days are not enough--or possibly too much--to recover stamina proper-like.
In the interests of space and not boring the regular readers (all five of you, I know), I shall attempt to sum up changes/lessons learned on the day:
Pink 5.10a: yes, this is easier when the 3rd hold is a proper down-pull and not a side-pull. 5th hold kicks my ass now even if I get up to 3rd/4th well, though. Thus far this is one hell of an exercise in patience and being careful/reading rock for where your feet can and must stand. Going to be *very* satisfying when I knock this one down, assuming it stays up long enough. The crimps are getting less deadly though, which is a Good Thing(tm).
Orange 5.9, "Squirrel": THIS IS RESURRECTED, GUYS. BECAUSE SARAH T. LOVES THIS ROUTE AND WANTS US ALL TO BE HAPPY. The lower 10 feet or so are radically different from how it was set previously; I think it's nearly as left-handed now as it used to be right-handed. It is incredible how much difference it makes to my perception of the route when all the easy holds are for my shitty arm, rather than vice versa. This, plus six extra weeks of climbing development or so, means that I can pretty easily haul my carcass up to the start of the crux sequence. The crux is (approximating): left hand pinching a decently horizontal blob, right hand on a side pull on a crimp, left hip in, both feet on pretty solid big-ass ledges that are tilted back relative to your orientation. You have an undercling paddle thing around your left thigh somewhere and a solid crimp-like thing with a decent lip on it about 3 feet above your head (assuming your head is pretty much between your arms). Get over to the paddle, stand up, and grab the crimp-like thing. Simple, eh? (The problems of course being getting over to the paddle in the first place, and then standing on it successfully.) I have a Clever Plan that is probably too cute for my own good, but the fact that the paddle is an undercling means I should be able to wedge one foot *under* it for counter-rotation force to stay more secure...noting that otherwise you have no footholds of use and are flagging, smearing, or hand-foot matching.
Other stuff: the bouldering wall is getting back towards route-dense enough not to be much fun. Everything zusammengeworfen, routes getting randomly altered/half-deleted, no good. Unlike past Mondays, not too crowded, though that may partly be because I didn't make it over until 6PM. Fingers not too pissed off at me today; nor are large muscles. Bike tires need inflation or I'm really losing it with my legs (guessing the former).
In the interests of space and not boring the regular readers (all five of you, I know), I shall attempt to sum up changes/lessons learned on the day:
Pink 5.10a: yes, this is easier when the 3rd hold is a proper down-pull and not a side-pull. 5th hold kicks my ass now even if I get up to 3rd/4th well, though. Thus far this is one hell of an exercise in patience and being careful/reading rock for where your feet can and must stand. Going to be *very* satisfying when I knock this one down, assuming it stays up long enough. The crimps are getting less deadly though, which is a Good Thing(tm).
Orange 5.9, "Squirrel": THIS IS RESURRECTED, GUYS. BECAUSE SARAH T. LOVES THIS ROUTE AND WANTS US ALL TO BE HAPPY. The lower 10 feet or so are radically different from how it was set previously; I think it's nearly as left-handed now as it used to be right-handed. It is incredible how much difference it makes to my perception of the route when all the easy holds are for my shitty arm, rather than vice versa. This, plus six extra weeks of climbing development or so, means that I can pretty easily haul my carcass up to the start of the crux sequence. The crux is (approximating): left hand pinching a decently horizontal blob, right hand on a side pull on a crimp, left hip in, both feet on pretty solid big-ass ledges that are tilted back relative to your orientation. You have an undercling paddle thing around your left thigh somewhere and a solid crimp-like thing with a decent lip on it about 3 feet above your head (assuming your head is pretty much between your arms). Get over to the paddle, stand up, and grab the crimp-like thing. Simple, eh? (The problems of course being getting over to the paddle in the first place, and then standing on it successfully.) I have a Clever Plan that is probably too cute for my own good, but the fact that the paddle is an undercling means I should be able to wedge one foot *under* it for counter-rotation force to stay more secure...noting that otherwise you have no footholds of use and are flagging, smearing, or hand-foot matching.
Other stuff: the bouldering wall is getting back towards route-dense enough not to be much fun. Everything zusammengeworfen, routes getting randomly altered/half-deleted, no good. Unlike past Mondays, not too crowded, though that may partly be because I didn't make it over until 6PM. Fingers not too pissed off at me today; nor are large muscles. Bike tires need inflation or I'm really losing it with my legs (guessing the former).
