It's raining; time to update the blog! Sadly, no pictures. One day I will get on the photography train and will make my blog shine with photography. Until that day I will strive to illuminate my blog with figurative language... ha.
Speaking of figurative language, today's poem of the day on poetryfoundation.org is worth me rambling about it and you reading. Go, leave this disorganized post and read it: "How To Be a Poet" by Wendell Berry. Now turn off your computer and take the screens out of your windows. Later come back when you remember it is raining and you are cold.
Now that you are back, hopefully with warm cup of tea, I can keep going. I don't write poetry often or do anything in particular with the poetry I write, except occasionally turn it in for a school assignment. But every time I struggle to write a few lines of verse I always enjoy the experience. Generally it takes me several hours and each word is chosen with the precision that might accompany an open heart surgery conducted on a roller coaster. But when I stop writing I am both exhausted and invigorated. For the next two days I have a triumphant belief in the power and language. It is basically like sending a climbing project without the loss of skin and desire to spray to friends...
Ah, now on to the good stuff (talk about a transition!). Rock climbing! This past weekend Cam and I went to Blowing Rock Boulders for the second time. On our first trip we only climbed on three boulders the Mushroom Boulder, the Smart Tom Boulder, and the boulder with Colt 45 on it. This trip I was psyched to get back on Colt 45 because I had done all of the moves on my first trip but had been unable to link the moves. Sadly, Colt 45 was wet. So, like all good boulderers I gave it a few goes before I finally accepted that you probably can't send a problem when it is dripping on you unless you are Daniel Woods. From Colt 45, Cam and I headed down to the 45 Wall at the suggestion of Tilley and Leif who we ran into at Colt 45.
The 45 Wall might be in the running for my new favorite boulder. We made quick work of the classic Center 45 and then moved on to some of the other rad routes on the boulder. I spend a good bit of the day working on Left to Center 45. I was psyched to make the powerful first move in an early attempt and then put together a tick-tacky foot sequence to get my feet to the starting foot of Center 45. From this point it was just a matter of making all the moves happen in one go... easier said than done. After several tragically strong attempts where I fell off as I went to match the second hold, I decided to be responsible and stop a problem that I could imagine re-aggravating my shoulder injury.
From there it was on to Stonehouse and Left 45. Cam sent them both quickly and moved on to the sickness that is Flagyl. After a bit of flailing I managed to finish Stonehouse, then move on to Left 45. The bottom section went fairly smoothly. I love me some crimps! Then I got to the top out...
Sunday I learned the meaning of the word punt. I have been annoyed this word for a long time. Sure it just means to chuck off the top of a boulder in an embarrassing manner, but it is such an ugly word and it sounds so much like that c-word many people abhor. All that said, the word punt has slowly grown on me. Another local blogger regularly posts "Punts of the Week" and I often enjoy these posts that feature folks I know chucking off of problems all Southerners know and love. But long story short, what I did at the top of Left 45 was punt. I had my right foot up like I was supposed to, I was pressing with my left hand like I thought I should, and I had a relatively decent right finger lock, but I couldn't move anywhere. I stayed in this position for what felt like forever encouraged by wonderful spotters, but was to no avail. I came down... and my next four goes, just the same. Hopefully, I'll send next time when I am less tired and more awesome.
By this point I was exhausted, but Cam wanted to go to one more boulder. We went to the Maddox boulder. Pretty rad! Cam quickly dispatched the traverse and I quickly realized I was to tired to use small greasy footholds.
Two word summary: Great Day! Met a ton of nice Boone climbers, sent some new problems, and got psyched on some new projects.
No comments:
Post a Comment