The Perfect Day
Last night was not unlike many nights on a climbing trip for me. All snuggled in my sleeping bag ready to drift off to sleep I fantasized about the perfect climbing day, tomorrow’s climbing day. I will wake up, enjoy a good cup of coffee that Paul will make for me, get dressed in a super cute climbing outfit, eat breakfast and pack lunch. At the boulders I will run up a handful of quality warmups, strategically chosen to get me both physically and mentally ready for the day’s big goals – warmups like a decently sized ramp of a VB to get the shoe rubber re-acquainted with granite friction, a burly V1 to get the blood pumping, a V2 traverse with shouldery moves and glassy footholds to encourage precision feet in lieu of strong-arming it and pumping myself out for the day, and a featureless V3 mini-slab to secure technical confidence. With these warmup climbs complete, I will then be exactly ready for goal #1: The Kor Problem, rated V3 and a historic Camp 4 slab classic. And no other climbers will be on it. And the sun will be on it mostly, but not totally, the tree shadows framing the sunlit patches on the golden-rock crux – a crux who’s well worn, slippery tiny footholds have scared me off for years. I will look at this beautiful climb that, while a challenge for my mental ability, is well within my physical ability and tell myself “it’s all your’s if you really want it.” I will convince Silas that this climb is perfect for the two of us. And he will run right up it, which will get me so psyched that I will totally forget about those slippery tiny footholds and run right up it after him. We will all high five and celebrate, then jump in the van and roll down-valley to goal #2: Balance of Opposites, rated V7, a climb that wasn’t originally on my radar this trip, but one I’d worked a couple days due to it being one of the few boulders that were dry when we arrived. I will suss out the top-out beta that was stumping me last session with ease, rest, then pull on and crank it to the top. We will all high five and celebrate. Then we will jump back in the van and drive up-valley to get beer and pizza and play a lively round of Clue in the warm Curry Village dining room. And then later that night I will snuggle into my sleeping bag and replay the perfect day in my mind before drifting off to sleep.
Well….
…aside from the annoying chore of having to move campsites in the morning, cleaning up the new site of dog shit, a group of dudes taking waaaay too long to get off The Kor Problem, and the standard daily bickering of my children, my perfect day went just as fantasized.
posted by ARR
This entry (Permalink) was posted
on Saturday, November 19th, 2022 at 7:15 pm and is filed under Bouldering, Yosemite-California.
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