A climb and some musings on bouldering
Apr. 17th, 2014 06:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylEnjoyable but not particularly epic afternoon of climbing — I still feeling yesterday's swim & R had had a couple of weeks off — and we both found ourselves pumped relatively quickly. Despite being tired I flashed a couple of routes set yesterday, both of which I liked — the 6b had a nice reach-y crux in the middle that I had to stop and think about, while the 6a was smooth and sat really comfortably under the hands.
I also made another assault on Tuesday's bouldering problem as we were finishing up. When we went in to the bouldering room, there were a couple of people in there, one of whom was attempting the same problem. After watching the guy made a decent but unsuccessful attempt, I commiserated saying I couldn't do it either and promptly hopped up on the wall. I flowed nicely through the crux, got a good solid crimp on the the penultimate hold and, much to my surprise, found that I could pop both hands up to the finish with no trouble at all. All slightly embarrassing, given the fuss I'd made about not being able to do it but I guess I'd just worked it to death on Tuesday and the only reason I'd failed to finish was because I'd pushed myself to the point where I wasn't able to hold the final crimp.
Afterwards R asked me whether I found it easier or harder to boulder in front of an audience and my answer was an unequivocal no. But on reflection, I've realised that's not quite the whole true. I still feel slightly self-conscious about being quite so crap but if I'm working on something with people who are the same level — or better but in a way that doesn't seem completely unreachable — then I don't mind so much because I enjoy the camaraderie of it.
Plus, I've found I've come to enjoy bouldering in and of itself. I like the working and solving part, even when I'm not good enough or strong enough to send a particular problem. I like the idea of being able to get up a big rock without any assistance and, inside, I like the idea of being allowed to climb on the brightly coloured furniture. I like the sociability and way it makes it easy to get talking to people. But most of all, I like the moments when it all comes together: when I put something together after several attempts and it all just flows in a nice controlled way or, more often, when I see someone really good put together one of the really tough problems in a single take that makes the whole think look polished and easy.
I also made another assault on Tuesday's bouldering problem as we were finishing up. When we went in to the bouldering room, there were a couple of people in there, one of whom was attempting the same problem. After watching the guy made a decent but unsuccessful attempt, I commiserated saying I couldn't do it either and promptly hopped up on the wall. I flowed nicely through the crux, got a good solid crimp on the the penultimate hold and, much to my surprise, found that I could pop both hands up to the finish with no trouble at all. All slightly embarrassing, given the fuss I'd made about not being able to do it but I guess I'd just worked it to death on Tuesday and the only reason I'd failed to finish was because I'd pushed myself to the point where I wasn't able to hold the final crimp.
Afterwards R asked me whether I found it easier or harder to boulder in front of an audience and my answer was an unequivocal no. But on reflection, I've realised that's not quite the whole true. I still feel slightly self-conscious about being quite so crap but if I'm working on something with people who are the same level — or better but in a way that doesn't seem completely unreachable — then I don't mind so much because I enjoy the camaraderie of it.
Plus, I've found I've come to enjoy bouldering in and of itself. I like the working and solving part, even when I'm not good enough or strong enough to send a particular problem. I like the idea of being able to get up a big rock without any assistance and, inside, I like the idea of being allowed to climb on the brightly coloured furniture. I like the sociability and way it makes it easy to get talking to people. But most of all, I like the moments when it all comes together: when I put something together after several attempts and it all just flows in a nice controlled way or, more often, when I see someone really good put together one of the really tough problems in a single take that makes the whole think look polished and easy.
