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February 05, 2006

Sending Ingredients

April on Mexican Chicken V6

As climbers we are always looking for the perfect combination of events that make us succeed. You know, after a day of success you look back on the things you did right before like, getting a good nights sleep, eating the right meal, warming up, stretching, drinking DECAF coffee because the caffeine kind will give you "sewing machine" or "Elvis" legs, and stepping just perfectly on the trail to your boulder problem avoiding the tree root BECAUSE LAST WEEK WHEN YOU STEPPED ON THE TREE ROOT YOU DIDN'T SEND!!! Yeah, that might seem extreme but after you've physically mastered a climb there is always your mind that plays trick after trick, making you crazy, making the send that much more rewarding.

The combination of events that worked for April started on Friday morning. First, we decided to sleep in. We never did get a good nights sleep since the tequila drinking binge last weekend. After sleeping we ate! Cracker Barrel in Las Cruces suited our need for sending fuel. April and I combined ate 4 pieces of French toast, a stack of pancakes, a side ball of butter, loads of maple syrup, bacon, eggs, orange juice, water, and coffee with sugar and cream.

When we threw down our crashpads at Warm Up Boulder I said, "Man I'm feeling kinda lethargic from that breakfast." (It was about 2:00PM). April said, "Yeah, me too. I can't tell if it's the sunscreen or the grease and butter that I feel seeping out of my pores?"

Shortly after that conversation April sent the problem, "The Butterdish," V2! A classic line with a slippery right-hand hold. When you grab the hold a timer in your mind starts ticking. 3...starting to slip...2...better grab something quick...1...opps too late, my right hand slipped...0...I'm on the ground, crap! Oh well, looks like breakfast paid off. It's better to fight butter with butter.

Realizing we wanted to hit up about 5 more areas and we only had a few hours to go before the park closed, we started moving quick. April made fast work of "Donkey Head," V4, sending on her first go. We hurried up "the chains" to the 100 proof roof and set up the camera on a tripod. Good thing we got it set up and in place because it only took 2 tries today...April SENT "Mexican Chicken," V6, 2nd go! It was RAD.

Saturday started out somewhat slow for April making minimal progress on problems like "New Religion, V7" and "Jigsaw Puzzle, V5." But, by the end of the day she had 7 points...3 from "All the Idiots" and 4 from....MOONSHINE ROOF, V4! Yeah. I was pretty surprised she had the energy. In fact, I took out the video camera, turned it on and filmed her send (2nd go). A mega classic ticked off!

After typing out some of April's tick list I've realized it's hard to convey the magnitude of her accomplishments. Recently she's made amazing links, progress on problems she ruled out as possible for herself. Most of her attempts ended falling on the last few moves, sooooo close but lacking the sending ingredient necessary to overcome the mental/physical barrier. After this weekend we both thought back. Hmmm, what was the sending ingredient? What did we do differently? I know...it was the 4 pieces French toast with butter smeared evenly between each slice and half a bottle of maple syrup poured evenly around the exterior of the plate at Cracker Barrel! Nah...it was hard projecting paying off and April proving she is climbing STRONG!

"So how's the finger?"
It's been 7 weeks since I blew out my ring finger but finally I'm starting to increase the difficulty in boulder problems that I try. I'm currently trying a bunch of V4s. I managed to do a few this weekend. I've ticked a lot of N. Mt. V4s so the remainder of problems are uh...unique? Here are a few of my sends from the weekend:

1. The Slash (V4): Didin't send. Fell and bottomed-out on April's horrible, napkin-thin crashpad (I'm buying her a new one tomorrow).
2. Pseudo Left (V4): Lowball. Kinda cool but really just one hard move getting into a slopy undercling.
3. The Pseudo-Feather (V4): Very lowball. Awesome slopers until you pull an easy roof.
4. Epilady (V1): Highball over a hole. Good to a weird top.
5. Shaved Pits (V2): This might be better than Seka's Speciality (V2). Bad landing for a big move but awesome jugs to the top.
6. Mushroom Tea (V4): Overhanging wall with good edges. One of my favorite styles of climbing.
7. Thingfish (V4): Very crimpy. Not that great.

Posted by Paul at February 5, 2006 10:16 PM

Comments

Posted by: Tammy at February 6, 2006 04:42 PM

Posted by: grit at February 9, 2006 03:00 PM

Posted by: April at February 10, 2006 09:09 AM