Sunday, February 20, 2011

Tryin to find the motivation

As I'm sure many climbers do, I constantly struggle to find a significant reason for why I climb.  It seems that the reasons I climb are always changing, and the satisfaction is more and more temporary.  Sometimes when I have a bad day, I feel like quitting climbing and committing to a "real life" with a good job and a social life.  Considering the way I live now (no job or anything else), I can't even imagine trying to balance between seriously climbing and the "real world."  I really love progressing as a climber, but when I no longer have the time to put towards training and getting out, then I can't progress and the satisfaction will be gone.  It makes me sad to think it, but at some point I'm going to have to give up climbing and move on with my life. 

That's what was going through my head yesterday as I sat under the Seven Eleven roof at Cumberland for the hundredth time, trying to do the first move.  Erich and I took Ben out there to show him a new area and try to finish off some of our projects.  Erich got on Salo's Roof again and after putting in a good effort and figuring out some new beta, he had the punt of his life.  The video below shows his second punt of the day (not even his high point!)  Ben, in classic Ben fashion, went around and did a bunch of good moderate lines before returning home to Asheville, NC.  I sat under the roof trying Slurpee until my head couldn't take it any more.  I had to take a break and relax before reluctantly deciding to try Gross's Roof (8a).  I'm really glad I decided to try it, though.  I felt really strong on it, sticking the first move every time.  I also figured out some new beta for the second move and did it in a few tries!  Here is another Awesome video, courtesy of the Flip Cam:


And, here is a picture of Erich on Salo's Roof:


5 comments:

  1. Sweet flipper video and awesome send on that v11! aaaaand cool shot with Erich on Salo's Roof. Good light.

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  2. Ok... badA vid, but what is Gross's Roof really? In the post it says 8a, and the vid says 11. Keep up the good work; the vids and the climbing is looking really good!

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  3. ok, either you're joking or you've been out of the climbing game so long that you aren't trendy enough to keep up with my blog. euro grades breh, everyone's doin it! and thanks for the feedback!

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  4. I would say it's the whole "not trendy" problem. So, when you post grades in your blog those are in euro? Damn it! I only comprendo Amero grades, so I really have no clue what the hell you've been climbing. This is -Merica! damn it! Use -Merican grades, foo!

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