Thursday, September 16

next up

I've had such an overwhelming amount of support and psych pouring in from the community over the last few days, it would be downright wrong for me not to begin by saying thank you. I see my success on Kryptonite as a representation of how far I've come as a rock climber, more so than a particular breakthrough in difficulty- and this of course is much more personally meaningful. If there is indeed a 'secret ingredient' to my success, it's only that I work my ass off.. and nothing feels better than tasting the fruits of years of honest hard work. It means a lot to me that so many people responded to my send with comments like.. 'you've inspired me to train harder' or 'I'm skipping work on Friday to try HARD on my project!' This is the real benefit of sharing our experience with one another, and I'm hopeful that I continue to inspire the community in such a way.

Momentum is a powerful ally and at this point my main focus is to stay as motivated as possible over the next three weeks until I begin my extended trip to the East. I've kept myself from revisiting the Red River guide book and checking out the New River Gorge and Chattanooga area guides because I'm quite certain that it would create uncontrollable psych. In the meantime, I've got a couple more potential new routes to look into up in Estes Park, and a few stray rock climbs around the Front Range I've yet to try.
estes valley granite
One other thing that has, for a while now, motivated me is my day job (miraculously this is NOT a typo). I've been setting routes at the Boulder Rock Club for nearly four years now. The process of setting requires a unique blend of artistry, vision and mechanical skills. You have to be able to wield a drill, charge up ladders and bust ass while at the same time begin able to visualize movement, different body types, and think creatively- setting good routes is really challenging, and I continue to learn from the process. It's especially cool that I have the freedom to set routes in the BRC that might attack a weakness of mine, or sharpen a skill set that I'll be needing.. anything to stay motivated!
Paige Claassen wrote an awesome little lifestyle piece about our recent road trip on the Sportiva LIVE site. if you have a minute definitely check it out. Tonight I'm heading to the Boulder Theatre to shoot the shit with friends and have a look at the 2010 Reel Rock film tour- stoked! Also Arcteryx has posted a really cool, visually awesome short about skiing in Kashmir.
and lastly, I'm proud to announce a fresh partnership with Maxim Ropes. Paige has been a Maxim athlete for a while and we frequently climb on her ropes- I've been shocked with how durable these cords are. Climbing legend Randy Leavitt heads up the climbing team which features the diverse talent of wicked climbers like Alex Honnold, Ethan Pringle, Lisa Rands, Jacinda Hunter, Paige Claassen, Scott Milton, Chris Lindner, Lev Pinter, Kris Hampton and now.. excitingly, myself!! I'm very excited to be part of the team.