The Pain of Fall
This season is nearly over and it’s only now that I’m finally getting into it. Between the rain, the warmth, and a random case of the flu, it’s been difficult to find a rhythm. Strength and psyche have been hard to find but I think perhaps I was trying too hard to find them. After a few weeks of hanging on a rope and intentionally not training, I feel more ready to try hard again. Admittedly, I’m frustrated over my lack of progress on three V9’s scattered around the park – Expanding Man (still can’t do the first move), Giving Up Skin (tried far too many times), and most recently Headz Aint Ready, the sit start to Boulder X. I’ve walked the sit start and can’t figure out the mantle, but I think this frustration has seeking other problems to try which brings me to the 22nd of November. It’s a beautiful autumn day. The air is crisp, friction is prime, and my expectations are non-existant. First up, the scary, unnamed face on the Smog boulder, probably first climbed by Rio. My pad slips through the hole between the boulders in such a way that we fear doing the same. I crimp my way up to two hollow sounding underclings, set my feet and make a big reach out right for the lip. A few moves on slopers gives way to the heady mantle and without much thought, I’m standing on top of a V4 that I’ve eyed for years and never had the courage to try. I begin to think that maybe I’ll run laps on some of my old projects or try to repeat some of my harder ticks, but I opt to head up to Devil’s Den to finally give a go on a problem by the pond. It’s an underground classic in the sense that it’s probably one of the best problems in the park and very few people know about it. With six pads leveling the rough landing, we start whittling away the beta until we can do the problem in two pieces and with that we walk away, too tired to send, unwilling to burn out on a single problem, and anxious to return. Taking advantage of the number of pads, we pad the rocks beneath Numb Thumb, the softest V8 I’ve ever tried, and proceed to take down the sloping arete in a handful of tries. Of course the highball finish had me shaking and the dirty downclimb left me covered in mud, but that’s the Den for you. Going solo for the rest of the day, I brutalize my tips on Blaow, V10, for exactly 3 tries. Each try I come closer to the lip, and each try, my fingers rip open a little more. With a bloody knuckle and two split tips, I retreat towards something a little more friendly, but just barely. Before Halcyon and Confident Man existed, the Split Boulder only had a couple of hard problems on crappy rock. Coin Toss, V10, and Heart of Darkness, V12 shared a common sit start before a few holds decided to crumple. I turn my attention to the remains of Coin Toss, still V9, simply because it is shorter. Scars on the rock show me where it used to start and I turn my efforts to chalking up what’s left. Small crimps, a sidepull, and small feet are my only clues to the short puzzle, but I think I have an idea. Pulling onto the rightmost crimps, I feel them flex and a piece of one crumples beneath my fingers. Rather than rip them off the wall, I decide to start with only one hand while using my left on something far worse but more stable. Within a few pulls, I’ve figured out the start and I begin to piece together the rest. A bump move followed by a lockoff enables use of a gaston that lets me reach the jug and from there it’s over. Daylight is fast fading, my skin is wearing thin, and yet I’m unable to walk away. I pull back onto the wall and bear down to the point where my index finger rips open and blood begins to flow. I toss up to the sidepull, stem out to a mediocre foot and bump to the small horizontal crimp. As I swing my feet left, I feel my hand slipping and I waste no time in dropping into the gaston. Instantly feeling better, I reach left to the jug and know that I’m done.
