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 …
BlocAge
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 …
A little bit about climbing…
When I finished writing my last post I realized I had said very little about climbing. Maybe this is a good thing as i find talking about climbing and especially, what one has done in terms of climbing generally not that interesting. Surely there is a way of speaking about climbing which can take in all of the aspects besides that of simple achievements. And so, I try to speak about climbing... Before the death of my van I can say, yes, I did get to go outside when weather permitted which unfortunately wasn't too often since it was the wettest and coldest winter since the 1960's. I was …
A Fontainebleau winter wrapped up
November. I arrived in Font in just in time for the ideal perfect fall conditions which turned out to be the perfect timing for the arrival of what was to be the worst and darkest winter that has befallen northern Europe since the 1960’s. And so the story goes... I debated between waiting it out or going to the sun in Spain or even to Germany to get an early start to training for next year’s competition round. After a lot of procrastination and pro/con lists I had finally made a decision. I was going to Spain. Screw the rain and climbing alone and lets just forget about training for now. My …