Monday, March 23, 2015

WAGG Day 8 - Goes 25-27

Jay was in town last weekend and he coaxed me into a day at Necedah (the coaxing did not take a large effort on his part). I was psyched, but tentative about getting on Whiskey after a long hiatus over the winter. I had been training, but not enough, and did not want to feel like I had gone totally backwards on the thing. I decided to put a top rope on the route and see how things went. I took my time rapping down the route; cleaning holds, hanging draws and trying to remember all of the route's intricacies along the way. As I descended familiar holds triggered faint memories of the movements that would link them, my muscles twitched in anticipation and my mind slipped easily from its chaotic wanderings into a calm and focussed state. I have completed each of the movements to link all of those familiar holds. Taken as individuals, or even as pairs none of them is too difficult, but stacked, one-after-the-other, for fifty unrelenting feet, with virtually no chance of rest - well, one comes to understand how a candle can melt without ever having its wick set aflame.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Opening Weekend at Devil's Lake - March 7-8, 2015

The weather over this past weekend was amazing! On Saturday, I met Matthew shortly after noon at the CCC parking lot, and we headed up to the East Bluff for an afternoon of fun in the sun. It was a little chilly in the valley, but by the time we made it to the top of the CCC trail we were sweating. The sun was out, the rock was warm and we were psyched.