Summer

The rope ran behind my right shoulder as I moved out of the short, opening roof. It was a bad position to be in, I knew, but at the end of the day I was pumped, breathing hard, and lacked the energy to pop the rope back in front of me – it was either that and fall, or keep climbing and maybe reach a better stance. Working at a grade I used to onsight, trying to get back some strength, I’d figured out the crux move the previous work day; today, however, I went to a key sidepull too early from a poor crimp, and no surprise, I was off the route. Just before the rope flipped me upside down and hurtled my poor brain towards the floor, I had a thought that had been pervading my mind for the past two months: I hate climbing gyms.

First and foremost, I felt like a right idiot for taking a fall like that in a gym. I mean, really? A near groundfall with my skull while on toprope?! Don’t worry, I didn’t actually hit (though I may well have deserved it), but I was reminded of how the Texas summer heat really is such a bummer. With rock temperatures at the nearest trad- climbing area happily lounging at 110 degrees F, anything other than indoor training is only for those far crazier than I.

Time has passed quickly on this side of the computer screen. A whole semester passed by back at Colorado College with nary but a drop into the gym once every blue moon to strip holds or set a route. What can I say? Living at a school without a means of transport and climbers I don’t trust is unmotivating. Sue me. So I’m back to the gym for a summer of training, quick prayers for a long and heavy cool spell, and looking to find a way to stay motivated once back in the big C.

As far as training is concerned, it’s been near constant core and endurance workouts. Hanging knee lifts and a workout learned from an enemy of a friend have gone down nearly every day and have finally started to bring back those abdominal muscles so handy in the whole climbing thing. And when it comes to motivation, my two best climbing buddies just returned from a ten day trip through Colorado, and I hear tell of a new area just being opened up near RMNP…