Your Heart is a Stone We Throw

Well, I was all geared up to write this post about my epic journey to success on my latest project at Little si; but unfortunately success was one move shy of coming to fruition. 

I’ve had a good last couple of months, sending-wise.  It all started back in May when I was able to finally put down Vanilla Ice and then quickly dispatch its older brother Black Ice.  I kept the ball rolling by getting some good onsight climbing done in Skaha, and then returning and ticking off a few projects at Equinox and then putting down a couple of hard link ups at little si.  But after all of this success I was left feeling hungry still for something bigger.  I figured it was finally time to go for a new challenge, and that manifested itself in a route that I have had an on-again off-again relationship with for the last twelve months.  Enter: Flatliner (5.13c).  Oooohhhh, aaaahhhh, 5.13c!  It’s time to break new ground and climb a grade that I have never climbed before and this fits the bill pretty perfectly.  It’s not a new route to me by any means, but historically I’ve struggled to complete the routes crux and so it was time to dial in this beta and go for a send. 

Starting just about a week ago on Thursday, I launched into full blown project mode.  That means I show up to the crag, warm up on something mildly difficult, and then start firing off send burns on the project.  My first work session involved some great breakthroughs.  Flatliner basically consists of 100feet of climbing most of which is roughly 5.12.  The route culminates in a heartbreaking crescendo in which there is a stopper three-move sequence which could go (by itself) at around V.6.  So you basically climb a long 5.12d (albeit with some stellar rests) to a three move V.6.  I would certainly not call this ‘hard’ for the grade, but seeing as how I’ve never sent a 5.13c or even tried that many 5.13c’s I wouldn’t really know.  What I do know is that it feels hard to me; however, it has been getting easier and easier.  The three move sequence goes as follows: leaving a good RH pinch and LH crimp you reach up LH to a weird almost perfect gaston-undercling, you have to bring your RF up to a small razor blade jib and your LF up to a good spike/horn, you move your body over the LF and lean hard into the gaston-undercling.  Once you have achieved some kind of balance and stability by ‘perching’ on your LF you strenuously release your RH from the pinch and bring it statically up to a what we call ‘the credit card’ which is ostensibly a stepped crimp that is a millimeter in depth and slightly incut creating a sharp edge that, if you crimp hard enough on, will slice your finger open.  Once you have mastered the move to the credit card you have one more move left which is really all about body tension.  You move your weight over to the RF now and drive upwards with your hips stabbing your LH into a shallow 3-4 finger undercling which is very small so you have to be precise when you hit it.  Once you establish on this small undercling you move the RH out to a good crimp/pinch and then move around a bulge using a series of high good feet and low juggy underclings and side pulls and it’s over. 

I had never stuck the credit card move more than once in roughly 25 attempts.  But, starting last week I was able to do the move 2 out of every 5 attempts.  Then I was starting to do it 6 out of every 8 attempts until I was firing the move with bitter consistency.  BUT, and this is a big but, I had still not been able to climb through the undercling move.  I tried the move a few times but really what was overshadowing my due diligence on completing all the moves was the sheer joy I had at the fact that I had now seemingly mastered the credit card move which in all reality I had come to believe was the defining crux of the route.  In the back of my mind I knew the undercling move was going to be hard but not impossible and surely not as hard as the credit card move, so I started giving the route send burns hoping that if I stuck the credit card move on link the undercling move would go just out of sheer adrenaline induced try-hard.  And this is where the theme of this post comes into play.  Because yesterday, my fourth work session on the route, I managed to climb through the credit card move on link and fall going to the undercling twice before I split my tip open and wasn’t able to seriously try hard anymore.  The lesson being that I neglected to work out every detail of the route and I paid for it by failing to send.  Now, a part of me is really motivated because now I know I can do the credit card move and I’m just one move away, however, that one move could mean two more attempts or twenty!  I just don’t know because I’ve NEVER stuck the undercling. 

So, here I am at work with my finger all taped up staring at the forecast, which is not good- we have a heat wave moving in, the likes of which the NW has not seen in a very very very long time.  And Little si, being a somewhat conditions-dependent crag due to its low textured rock could very well be out of service for a while.  When really all I want to do is get back on this route.  I can’t stop thinking about it, I WANT it so badly, not because of ego-based motives but because I know I can do it and yet the challenge of finally linking all of the moves is so seductive to me that I can’t help myself.  I’m really just at a loss for words.  I don’t want to do anything else but finish this route and yet I can’t.  I physically can’t because of the split on my finger, the heat could really be a problem making it extremely greasy and even more difficult than it already is, and I only have a certain window of time during the week that is predicated on work and the weather (which usually are great at not syncing up).  My mantra for the moment is ‘patience’.  I’m a terrible climber in the light of patience.  I’m always paranoid that taking time away from a project will result in me not being able to do the moves, or having to spend countless sessions re-learning them, or maybe I’ll get hurt working a different project and won’t be able to climb on the route I really want to climb on, and so and so forth.  Just paranoid delusions.  So for now, patience and healing. 

My failure won’t stop me from commenting on other’s successes though.

And the past week has been full of them, for instance Kevin sent Extended Illness rather quickly and quite casually I might add.  No surprise there, he is getting after it, and the scary thing about Kev is that once he decides to go for something and realizes it’s possible, it usually gets sent.  Lisa Chulich paid a visit to her once ‘local’ crag and put down Propaganda in two tries, it was great to see her and see her climbing so well.  And Austin joins the Californicator tribe as of yesterday with a strong RP.  It’s been amazing and motivating to see everyone getting after harder and harder projects and pushing themselves to accomplish their climbing goals and continually setting the bar higher and higher for themselves.  I’ve seen a lot of change in some of the people I climb with as of late.  Forest sent Technorigine and is now throwing his hat in for a bid on both Californication and Chronic.  Kev finally got on Enigma, Nick is inches away from Californication, Justin is putting in good burns on the Whore, and it just seems like EVERYONE IS CLIMBING SO STRONG LATELY!!!  I love it.