Sunday, March 30, 2008

Welcome "Flash" (Aaron.2)

The guy's strong. It almost made me want to go home and bite my pillow when Aaron.2 "Flash" flashed that hard 11 today. Of course, Aaron.1 had already done that same route a couple of weeks ago just to embarrass me. Today, Lisa led one roof route and one overhanging route. She's practicing for her leads at Willow and to complete the "Sleeping Bat" roof at Red Wing.

Lisa and I are trying to figure out outdoor climbing for this coming week. Based on the 5 day forecast, it looks as though the first chance will be this Wednesday. Of course, it all depends on how much snow and rain we get in the next two days. Even with some snow and rain, if the sun's out by Wednesday, it's likely that Red Wing's Winter Wall will be dry and, I hate to even think it, Willow River will be dry. (Oh man, thinking about that last move on that easy(!) climb at Willow, makes me shiver.)

Here's an article I read about falling. 'Cause I'll be doing a lot of falling the next time we climb at Willow.

5 comments:

Lisa said...

Richard, Stop denying your desire for Willow. Resistance is futile.

Lisa said...

What a great article Richard, thanks. I like this part alot, Realize that fears will occur in areas where you lose familiarity.

Aaron said...

Richard,
After reading the article that you posted about falling I've realized: The anchors will not fail. My belayer will catch me. I will not be crushed into a million pieces when I hit the face. I think we should be taking more falls outdoors. If we are not falling, then we are not pushing ourselves hard enough. I think we should be comfortable with falling; so that we can focus on clipping in to the top anchors, and not how to retreat from a bolt.

Lisa said...

Aaron, your comment scares the shit out of me, but that kinda typical. I think I will practice falling in the gym some tomorrow. Since even though it scares, you are usually right.

richard said...

I think Aaron's kidding. I hope. I also know that unless I stand up above the roof on that climb at Willow and quit thinking about falling, I'll never finish it.