The usual method of travel for me; last minute, slightly unplanned and completely unorganized. The whole trip was an idea conceived in almost a dream like trance. The possibility of it actually becoming a reality seemed as unlikely as winning the national state lottery. The sentiment I held was to listen to the tingling feeling that grew inside of me the closer the date came. No matter how many pro/con lists I made, I knew there would be serious regret if the chance before me was not taken. Work and rocks can wait, but this wouldn’t. There is only one Toronto World cup in 2014. Just …
Climbing Tips
A collection of posts relevant to improving your own climbing. They say it is a wise person who learns from their mistakes, but an even wiser one who learns from others. So go ahead, learn from mine!
For those interested in competition, please check out the competition post category which covers many personal stories, experiences and lessons learned from various Bouldering World Cups and locals. Here you can learn what to do, as well as what not to do. I didn't start competing as a youth so everything was very new to me, and hence, I feel I got a perspective which many competitors take for granted. My four year 'experiment' had a very steep but valuable learning curve which many of my stories share.
Innsbruck
Once Grindelwald wrapped up, there was one week until the next World Cup in Innsbruck. Seb, Cedar and I headed north to Zurich where we were given an opportunity which shouldn’t go past: to train with the Swiss team and their head coach, Urs. My vow for the coming trainings was simply to jump, jump and jump again. My dedication to this promise was held 60% the first day which is really good by my standards. Our second training session was with Urs and his team so we followed their program which thankfully included enough jumps for my liking. Normally I climb a lot by myself which I know isn’t …
GRINDELWALD
The World Cup season had started weeks ago for many a climber, but for myself, it was just the beginning. Unsure of what lay ahead, all I really hoped for was that I’d be able to walk away without the heaviness and despair which plagued me at the end of last season. I knew this wasn't last year and the chance of it repeating itself seemed solely a decision and view which I had to make. I was better prepared than last year as I had been climbing in a good gym this round. The only downside was that my last few months were spent working as a route setter; a job which I have found a new respect …
Four weeks with Jack Frost. Part 2
With three weeks till Nationals I let the cold winter blow through me. We walked religiously to the closest gym while battling the snow and wind which was so cold it awakened every cell. I resumed the strength aspect of my training where I had left off. Time passed quickly and already there was only 1.5 weeks left to the big comp. Tonde was flown to Montréaĺ's Allez Up which held a practice comp circuit as did the gym Vértical. It was at Vértical where I was introduced to the idea of "tapering" by trainer and bad ass climber herself, Melissa Lacasse. After asking her if what i was doing was …
Four weeks with Jack Frost. Part 1.
Jet lag settled upon me. At times I felt drunk and unstable; ready to burst with some sort of emotional explosion of gratitude tinged with nervousness. I had just flown from Munich to Montreal on a gamble. The World Cup circuit was coming up and qualifying required a visit to the homeland. I had waited in Munich for permission to get a wild card to do the comps and so avoid the hefty trip overseas but it never came for my deadline. My rational said to go for the regionals and nationals. That way, if I blew one comp, at least I had a back up...! :) Having received no answer days before …
backs, whips and a time out
The 80 year old came out of me this week. Rather the 99 year old. But to be honest, I haven’t met many 99 year olds, so I guess I haven’t really a fair comparison. There is one lady that I remember distinctly though. She was a retired ‘sister’ and lived in a retirement home in Melbourne, Australia where all the other retired sisters and fathers lived of that particular sect. It was the location I chose for a photo essay that I was doing for school. The home was in one of the older buildings in Melbourne making the backdrop quite beautiful and characteristic. The people there were so curious …
Some most un-recent tales…
It’s been a while since my last post. There’s been waxing and waning between ideas of what to write to the contradicting thoughts and emotions of why bother, wondering what’s the purpose of blogging anyway. Pre-Christmas season was a right off. Energy was low and the old game of tug of war came back. The questioning of if I was standing in the right spot echoed from my insides while ‘stay or go’ became the internal question of the day. To be with family and friends at Christmas pulled at me like they would never release. I thought about the last Christmas; the pre-Gite Arbonne days, being in …
How to climb V10. (or any grade for that matter…:)
For over a decade, my life has been weaving in and out of a nomadic lifestyle whose main purpose was to follow a blue colored sky and a shining sun overlooking a field of boulders. Living such a life entwined with climbing has given me many invaluable experiences not only about the sport but also life lessons about myself and the world. I often wondered how I could say thank you to a sport and way of living that has given me so much. So far, this is what I have come up with. I hope people find this useful.V10. What is that? It is a number signifying the level of difficulty of a boulder …
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Chasing chickens and plastic
By the end of the Scandinavian adventure and Leonard Cohen date there were 4 weeks left to prepare for the Munich boulder World Cup. Four weeks didn't seem like a whole lot but it felt enough as I used my time efficiently and well with the training know how's that I learnt after the end of the last comp in Innsbruck. The first week was unplanned and spent in the hot summer's heat of Fontainebleau. My friend Laura promised she would train with me if I stayed a week which was quite a promise was coming from someone who has climbed on plastic just twice in her life! Having someone to train …
Innsbruck
As i sit here on the Norwegian coast with the sun constantly at my side, I think back to the innsbruck comp, which seems so long ago. It was the last comp for a while and when it was over, I asked myself: really? really thomo, why...? The feelings afterwards of ah shit, that sucked, were growing tiring. I could have shrugged my shoulders and said, oh well, that's it, gone is gone, but that is sometimes easier said than done. This comp was frustrating because it was the last one for a while and i wanted to do well and... i didn't. Every problem had a huge move which shut me down. There were …
A taste of Slovenia
Out of all the european WC's, Slovenia was the comp I was most looking forward to. I have met different climbers from there throughout the years and because they were so cool, I just assumed their country was as well. I spouse it's never wise to assume things but the small Eastern European country didn't disappoint. The streets were littered with tasteful graffiti. The cleanliness wasn't up to par with that of the sterility of Germany which was rather refreshing. There wasn't one bus ride where someone didn't talk to us. Obviously because of the cuteness that stood next to me but all the …
A world cup and a kid
After the slap in the face from millau i vowed to step out of BlocAge and go to the Paris gyms to climb and experience real comp style problems. Unfortunately still being carless, that plan didn't work out. But the weather was drier and the San Francisco crew had arrived which meant psyched climbing partners who easily picked me up so i could join them which of course, I did willingly. Admittedly I was over going to the same gym and the temptation of fine sandstone with fine people was irresistible. Sometimes a bad comp can question my abilities as a climber but after a couple weeks in the …
Millau
Eye opener. Slap in the face. But i am not stupid. i knew what i was in for. But, somehow along the way, i forgot. It didn't take me long to realize that BlocAge hadn't prepared me for this comp. The problems there were nothing like those at blocAge... The holds there were nothing like those at BlocAge... The slopers, the gigantic pinches, the monster size holds and the particular type of setting... But i knew this. Yet i didn't take what seemed then like a gigantic leap to change my situation. I can fairly say that my lack of transportation really limited my choices. There was …
Ketch-up
This is post is dedicated to Sandra who, one night could not sleep. In the middle of the night she decided to check out my blog. The next morning she scolded me for not having written anything about my time here in France. Alors, Sandra, cette est pour toi. XX The time between my last post seems so long ago as much as happened and yet nothing of great importance at the same time. I left Italy after Arco, went to Paris for the World Championships, went to Germany for a brief taste of the Frankenjura, saw a bit of Cresiano, embraced the American culture found scattered around Germany and …
Arco, Arco, county Wicklow…
With only two competitions left after Munich I was looking forward to some rest. My shoulders had taken a hard beating from the very start of this year and looked forward to some real rest as in, no climbing whatsoever. But that had to wait. I was bound for the world championship in paris via a short detour to Arco, Italy for the rock masters international. Note... international, not invitational. One has to actually get invited to the invitational events in Europe and to get invited, one has to place well, real well. Arco was an epic; getting there and leaving... Google maps said it was …
Munich
My spirit was in need of the type of revival that only fresh air, rock and good people could quench. The slovenians had invited us to join them in silvretta, an irresistible invite. As we drove between mountain and sky, thoughts of friends and boulders ran through my mind. Our greeting was a Spanish couple with smiles that extended from one ear to the other. They were as puzzled as i was as for knowing if we were at the right parking spot for silvretta but the near by vans littered with climbing pornography confirmed that for us. My soul felt immediately rejuvenated. i was outside facing a …
Rope comps, epics and plans gone awry.
It seems typical that as soon as the ball starts rolling, something quickly comes in front of it to stop it in its track. From the last blog post, some 3 months ago (!!) i felt i had a good rhythm going with writing and keeping on top of “work like things”. Then my computer broke, i had to leave the next day for Chamonix and I wasn't anywhere long enough to get it fixed until Munich which was two months later. Ironically, a few days after i did get it fixed, someone broke into my van and stole it! Along with my beautiful Canon which was the biggest loss of all. But gone is gone …
british times
Some stories are more interesting starting at the end. Perhaps the beginning wasn’t too exciting or in all probability the end was so recent that the memories and feelings of it are as vivid as if they had just happened and so it is easier to remember and write about. Tonight when I got home I decided to skip a few pages of the book that I have been reading, ‘Thinking body, dancing mind’. Some people have recommended it to me because of my ongoing mental problems when it comes to competitions. Skipping to the chapter on injuries, (Yes… again…) the opening quote said: “The superior man …
My first Nationals
It was never my intention to go to the Nationals. They were supposed to be in Alberta and I was supposed to be in Europe. But as life would have it, they were switched to Montreal and I was stuck in Montreal waiting for essential things like passports which arrived only a few days before the comp. It would seem like chicken behavior to escape the comp at this point but regretting not going seemed even worse. And so I went. I paid to go and compete with the intention to give my best effort and keep my focus on the climb in front of me. The after affect: self inflicted torture and suffering I …
Plastic, injuries and awkward situations
For a number of reasons it has taken me weeks, well, many extended weeks, to start this blog. First off all , telling folks about my indoor comp life as of late does not really seem that exciting as does talking about my being plagued by a badly behaving shoulder. On top of that writing about my gym climbing abilities or there of lack of seems somewhat like self sabotage which is not really a healthy habit as some wiser folks would point out. Mind you, this post is just about that. This time of year I am usually walking in the desert sun with fresh air in my face, sore finger tips and a …
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