So, I haven’t posted anything in a while. I was so discouraged by my persistent finger injury that I really didn’t have anything to say. But, I’ve recently been able to get back to the climbing gym. It seems that about 4 months or so of down time was just what my injured pulley tendon needed. I’m still pretty careful with it, and it appears that I will be buddy taping it for the foreseeable future. But, I am climbing again. And any climbing is better than no climbing.

Along with a recovered finger, the time off gave me time to gain lots of new weight, which I will use as a training tool in the gym (sarcasm). Seriously, though, I did take a huge step back physically. However, I gotta start somewhere….again. So, I’m back to V1. Actually, I’m back up to V1. I’ve been gym climbing again for a few weeks. Initially, I was back to V0. Oddly enough, I feel more controlled and my movement is smoother than ever. I’m just a bit on the weak and fat side, but that will change.

As for the gear issues, I do have an experience I want to share. My wife and I have started backpacking a bit, so I decided to order myself a new backpack. I found one a very reputable outlet site for a good price. When I got my new pack, I was a bit surprised to find a few “extras” inside of it. Oh….and it was filthy as well. Needless to say, the backpack that was sold to me as new was, in fact, used.

These were the "extras" I found in my "new" backpack.

Of course, getting an obviously used backpack when I thought I was buying a new one ticked me off a bit, but it is just a backpack.  What scared me was when I realized that I buy safety gear from the same site.  What would happen if, instead of a backpack, I had bought a rope or draws that were, unknown to me, used.  A rope can look clean and still have been seriously compromised by a foreign substance like the acid from a car battery in someone’s garage or car trunk.  The only way I would know that there was a problem might be as I lay at the bottom of a route.  Scary!

I wrote the company an email asking about their policies on used gear.  I really like the company, so I won’t name names until I get a response from them.  I bring it up here, just to point out that everything you buy, as far as safety gear goes, must be thoroughly inspected–as if your life depends on it.  And, a great deal may not be that great.  I am hopeful that the company can assure me that this would never ever happen with safety gear.  I’ll keep you posted on what I learn.

******** Update*********

No sooner than I had hit “publish” on this post, I had a response from the company in my email.  They profusely apologized and assured me that it was an unintentional mistake.  Also, they reassured me that it is, in fact, illegal to re-sell climbing gear that has been returned for any reason.  The speed of the response and the frankness with which they answered my questions makes me feel confident in ordering from them again — even on climbing gear.  I’m a happy camper, now.

I haven’t blogged in a while because I haven’t climbed in a while. I’ve made a point out of not climbing until my injured finger healed. So, today I made my reentry to the world of chalky plastic only to find that my finger still hurts like Hell. I don’t know how much longer I should wait, but I can’t climb like this. Anyway, I thought I’d leave you with a picture showing what I was going for but didn’t achieve.

The good news is that my new shoes rock. They are exactly what I was looking for. The bad news is that my finger is still not okay. Two weeks was not enough. I even taped it to my third finger. So, Im typing this on my iPhone while my wife finishes climbing. With that, here’s some gym pics.

As I start this blog and continue to recover from my finger injury, I’m finding myself looking back and reminiscing about my first climbing season.  My first lead climb, my first road trip, and my first experience of Miguel’s pizza are all memories that I’ll hopefully have forever.  There is one memory, however, that will certainly stand out more than any other.

Macon, Georgia, is not exactly the greatest place on earth to live for a rock climber.  Being 80 miles to the closest gym and 3-4 hours to any real climbable rock, Macon had only one real possibility for regular climbing — Boat Rock in Atlanta.  I hardly count Boat Rock as climbable rock because, as a beginner, the punishing, featureless slabs of skin-shredding granite were…well, punishing.  But, the boulders were closer than anything else.  So, as my girlfriend was teaching me to climb, Boat Rock was often the place we found ourselves.

While, during my time at Boat Rock, I rarely got off the ground, it wasn’t all punishment.  My first successful attempt at projecting a problem was at Boat Rock.  The classic finger crack, Lost Digits, was the first problem I ever set my sights on, worked over a period of time, and then sent.  Also, I learned a lot about footwork on the seemingly blank granite.  But, to me, the most important problem at Boat Rock is one that I’ve not sent — yet.

Yellow Arete is another Boat Rock classic.  It’s one of the tallest problems there.  A beautiful, slightly overhung V4, Yellow Arete was often where my girlfriend and I would find ourselves ending the day.  Towards the end of that first climbing season, I had gone from not even being able to start the problem to falling off at the third move.  No, that’s not a lot of progress to some, but to me it was.  To me, I was finally working a V4.  

Yellow Arete. Photo from http://www.rockclimbing.com/photos/Bouldering/Mike_on_Yellow_Arete_96656.html

 Then, one day, as we had done on pretty much every trip to Boat Rock before, my girlfriend and I were staring up at Yellow Arete as we ended our climbing day.  To me this seemed like the perfect time to start a new project.  Looking up at the highball V4, I knew the project wouldn’t be easy, but I also knew it was possible.  I knew this new project would seem punishing at times and I’d probably leave some skin behind, but it felt worth it.  So, I pulled the ring out of my pocket, and right there on our crash pad, I proposed to my soon-to-be wife.

My wife and I finally got out of Macon.  It’s been a while since we’ve been back to Boat Rock and Yellow Arete.  But, that climb will always be on the list of climbs I must do someday.  I think of it pretty much every time I’m bouldering at the gym.  To me, that problem is more than a beautiful line or a wanted addition to my tick list.  Instead, that climb is represents the moment I started the most important and fun project of my life…the project I’ll keep working until I die.

Do you have a sentimental climb?  What is it and why?

The label “Gumby” has a pretty negative connotation.  I’m sure people wonder why I would embrace the label.  Most people use it to describe a novice climber that acts like he/she knows more than they do.  Of course, that’s not what I’m after.  Instead, I want to always remain mindful that I have a lot to learn. 

The importance of this came to a head at the end of my first climbing season.  I had started out the season learning the basics of climbing — tying in, top roping, the difference between sport and trad, etc.  Two-thirds through that season, I was able to start leading some easy climbs at 5.6 and 5.7 and was top-roping 5.9’s and a couple of 5.10’s.  Things were going great, and I was having fun.    

Along with that fun, however, came a bit of cockiness.  On the last day my wife and I were going to be climbing that season, we were at our normal crag, Foster Falls in Tennessee.  We had spent the morning climbing some 5.8’s and 5.9’s.  That morning, I had successfully led my first 5.9 (although, looking back, I think I went a bit off-route).  Then, it started to rain.  

To escape the rain, we packed up and headed around the corner from where we were climbing to an area under a huge roof.  There were several routes under the roof, but they were pretty much all 5.12’s and above.  However, there was one, short 5.10b at the end of the cave where we were.  My wife put it up, and I did a few top rope burns on it.  The starting move was the hardest move on the route, and the rest seemed like a 5.8, so I decided to lead it.  

Pre-Marital Drilling at Foster Falls, TN. This photo pilfered from Craghead.net. It seems that this route's rating is up for debate, but most guidebooks list it at 5.10b.

After pulling the opening bouldering moves and clipping the first bolt, I proceeded up the route that led to the left of the second bolt.  Once at the second bolt, I realized that I was in trouble.  The second bolt was several feet right of where I was, and, as far as I was concerned, there were no clear holds or foot holds that would allow me to get to it.  Looking up, the climbing wasn’t that tough, so I considered just skipping the bolt and climbing to the third bolt, which was directly above me.  However, looking down at the severe landing that would occur if I were to pitch off and deck made the climbing above me look a bit more strenuous.  

So, there I was.  I didn’t want to go right, and I didn’t want to go up.  Falling would mean a definite injury that I didn’t want.  So, I down climbed to the first bolt.  Oddly enough, I think that down climb was the best climbing I had done to that point.  Once I got to the first bolt, I went in direct, and my wife handed my the stick clip, which I used to make my way to the anchors.  It was a humbling and humiliating experience.

As humbling and humiliating as it was, however, it was even more of a learning experience.  It was through that experience that I realized just how much of a gumby I truly was.  The route I was on, Pre-Marital Drilling, is really not very difficult.  Even then, I had the physical ability to make all of the moves on the route.  Physical ability, however, is not all there is to climbing.  What I lacked was experience.  

It is from that experience that I am embracing my gumbiness.  I’m claiming this status because I want to remain mindful that I will always have a lot to learn.  I want to avoid the traps of trying to climb harder out of ego.  When I push my limits, I want it to be safe, smart, and fun.  Above all, I want to climb for the joy of it.  That day on Pre-Marital Drilling, I was trying to climb a 5.10 for the sake of climbing a 5.10.  From here on out, when I climb a route, I want it to be because of the beauty of the line, the fun of the movement, or the challenge that teaches me…not the grade.  Whatever you may think of me as a climber, I want to always consider myself a bit of a gumby.

What do the three things in the title have in common?  They are all things I don’t do.  It’s not because I don’t know how important they are…I do.  There’s just something in me that is adverse to doing the smarter, more mature things in life.  And, yes, I am already suffering the consequences.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve tried all three.  While I was dating my wife, she loaned me a beginner’s yoga DVD to try out.  I had no idea that someone could be more remedial than beginner at something.  Halfway through the DVD, I was genuinely worried that I would neither be able to get out of the position I was in, nor explain it to the poor soul that was bound to find me.  I was afraid it was going to look like some bizarre auto-erotic S&M ritual gone wrong.  I know I should give yoga a second try, but I haven’t yet. 

It’s not like I don’t keep trying to like vegetables, either.  You have no idea how hard is to be the freak at the dinner table that can’t stomach lettuce.  Mostly out of embarrassment over the anti-social nature of my picky eating habits, I continually try things like broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower.  My palette just won’t cooperate.  Give me a potato or a bean and I’m a happy man, but try to force something down my throat that will actually make me healthier and my body revolts.

As for stretching for climbing, I think my failures in this area are why I’m injured.  My warm-up routine before climbing is, at best, scattered.  I really have no routine.  I might do this stretch for a couple of minutes one day, then the next time do no stretches at all.  I never spend more than a few minutes limbering up.  So, it’s no shock that I’m hurt.  I want this to change.

I’ve already received some good advice on warming up from The Rock Climber Girl.  Also, I just found an article that gives me some basic ideas of how long I should be stretching and warming up prior to climbing.  What I need from you, dear reader, is some stretching exercises I can do before climbing.  What do you do to stretch?  What are good ways to keep your forearms limber?  Are there any good resources on stretching that you know of?  Any help is much appreciated by me and, I’m sure, any other beginner that might be reading this.  Thanks for the beta!

Five Ten Galileos

I just received my Five Ten Galileos today.  I tried them on and they feel great.  To me, they feel exactly like the Anasazis I tried on, except with a more comfortable heel.  If, by the end of this climbing season I find myself in Squamish climbing Dreamcatcher, I might miss the extra umph of the Anasazis, but barring that, I’m sure I made the right decision.  The final verdict, however, will be when I get them on the wall.

Unfortunately, that won’t be for a couple of weeks at least.  With an injured finger, I am focusing on conditioning and overall fitness.  With that being said, I’m blogging right now to give me an excuse to drink a bit more water before I go on a run.  I guess it’s time to do just that.  But, I have to admit, it is really hard not to head to the gym to try the shoes out…just a little.

Today, in light of the fact that I won’t be able to climb for a few weeks due to finger injury, I decided to go shopping for climbing shoes.  Like most things I do, I researched the shoes I was interested in and asked a couple of questions to my great magic 8 eight ball in the cloud — Twitter.  From all of that, I came down to three shoes.

Evolv Defy

Initially my first choice was going to be the Evolv Defy.  I was able to find these at several stores, unlike my initial second and third choices.  When I tried them on, they felt true to size and comfortable.  I felt like I would be able to edge with them easily, but was a bit skeptical of how they would smear.  This feeling was seconded by some of the feedback I had received from other climbers who owned them or that knew people who owned them.  

Five Ten Galileo

My second choice going into today was the Five Ten Galileo.  After seeing the shoe review on Podclimber, I became interested in them.  They seemed like a good fit for someone like me.  I’ve heard a lot of great things about the Stealth Onyx rubber, they are reported to be comfortable, and they aren’t overly aggressive in shape.  The only problem is, I have yet to try them on.  No store I went to in Seattle carried them, and I went to 3 really good stores.  My climbing gym even said they couldn’t order them.

Five TenAnasazi V2

Finally, my third choice, based upon a recommendation from a pro, were the Five Ten Anasazi V2.  These are very similar to the Galileos, but a bit more technical.  After traversing the city, I was finally able to find these shoes at my climbing gym (where I should’ve started the search).  I tried them on and they seemed to be sized a bit smaller than I am used to.  I usually wear a 10 in climbing shoes and a 10.5 in street shoes.  In the Anasazis, I need an 11.  They definitely felt like I could accomplish anything I wanted and more in those shoes.  The Stealth Onyx rubber felt sticky and stiff.  The heel cup was a bit uncomfortable on my feet, though.

While I really wanted to buy the Evolv, I had to admit to myself that one of the main reasons for this was all of the good things I’ve heard about the company.  Still, they felt like good shoes and I don’t think they would’ve been a mistake to buy.  The reason I didn’t get them ultimately came down to my opinion of the rubber as I tried them on combined with word of mouth.  In a similar fashion, having a pro climber personally make a recommendation about  a shoe stroked my ego a bit.  I almost bought the Anasazis just so I could say that I was talking to Steph Davis and she recommended them.  Ultimately, though, I decided to order the Five Ten Galileos.  I think they fit me and my climbing a bit better.  The reviews I read talked about their comfort and durability, which, for a gumby like me, are critical.  And, let’s face it, I’m not going to be climbing 5.13 or v7 in the next couple of seasons.  It is more important for me to have a shoe that isn’t uncomfortable when I’m standing too long on a ledge halfway up a 5.9 learning what “lead head” means.  

Really, I don’t think any of these shoes would be bad decisions.  With that being said, I think I’m making the best one.   Reading the reviews and talking to people has taught me a lot in a short time about what to look for in a climbing shoe.  However, the most important thing I learned was not about equipment, and, trust me, I love equipment.  The most important thing I learned was about community.  I feel like I already knew this about climbing, but it really got driven home today.  Climbing is a special sport.  The movement, the excitement, and the nature are all great, but the people make it really special.  Just over Twitter, I had several people, from company reps, to sponsored climbers, to unsponsored, but passionate climbers all giving me their best information.  It is nice to be a part of a community that seems, for the most part, to want everyone to have a good time.  

This doesn’t seem to happen so much in other sports — especially with the pros.  I love riding my bicycle.  I even do a video podcast about bike commuting.  However, not once has Lance Armstrong engaged me in a conversation on Twitter (and, yes, he’s on there) — much less gave me tips on selecting a bicycle.  I’m not blaming him.  I know he’s busy.  On the other hand, having a professional athlete that I look up to and respect actually take an interest in my experience of the sport to the extent that she would, not only make a suggestion, but follow up with me about a shoe purchase says a lot.  

I’ve read some discussions about whether or not sponsored climbers are really good for the sport.  Well, I can’t speak about all sponsored climbers, but I know in my case, never has sponsorship money bent spent any better than Five Ten’s sponsorship of Steph Davis.  Maybe if Lebron James started climbing, Five Ten might be able to sponsor him and sell a shit ton more shoes, but the way that sponsored climbers like Steph Davis interact with regular, even beginning, climbers like me makes the sport a better sport.

I learned the same lesson twice this week.  Self-control is not my strong suit.  As I try to get back into shape for climbing, I’m starting to watch what I eat…or at least trying to watch what I eat.  For me, my biggest enemy is portion control.  I eat too much.  I noticed this as I had seconds at pretty much every meal I ate this week.  I didn’t need the extra food, but I didn’t stop myself either.

On the climbing/injury front, I noticed the same thing.  As I blogged about earlier, I have an injured finger.  As a result of the post, I got some good advice from folks about warming up properly and so on.  Today, I read a post on AllClimbing.com that made me think I might just have torn a tendon pulley in my finger.  (who knows if my self-diagnosis is right or not?)  As is often the case with injuries like this, rest is best.  So, what did I do?  I went to the climbing gym.  I went, however, with the express plan to only do the warm up routine that was prescribed me by my fake doc.  Plus, I was going to do a really good job of taping my finger.  

The traversing, to my surprise, was actually not that boring.  I could really feel my stamina being challenged without getting too pumped.  Also, I was able to do a lot more footwork work than I usually do.  I’m going to spend a lot more time focusing on traversing from here on out as I get into shape.  It also allowed me to be really selective with which holds I was grabbing, which was nice for my finger.  

The tape around the base of my finger helped as well.  I could really tell that it held everything together.  I think, for a good while, taping will also be a part of my normal routine.

What didn’t help was my lack of self-control.  I was doing a really good job at being good to my finger until I decided it would be a smashing idea to hop on a problem that was at or just above my grade.  Cue the finger pain.  Lesson learned, right?  Nope.  Tried two more until it became really obvious how stupid I was being.  

Luckily, because of the tape or the warming up or the mostly taking it easy, my finger doesn’t hurt any more than it did before going to the gym.  My last two trips to the gym haven’t been so lucky.  If you’re thinking, “Don’t go back to the gym until you’re healed, Moron,” you would be justified.  It’s hard, though.  

I spent two years bitching that I didn’t live in a place with decent rock or a decent climbing gym.  Now, all of a sudden, I can ride my bike to, in my opinion, a really good gym.  The same thing that excites me is also hurting me.  The fact that I’ve never climbed this frequently makes this experience both fun and painful.  It’s painful because my tendons are trying to play catch-up to my desire.  This is where I have to stop concentrating on footwork or strength or endurance and focus more on a more basic but important skill — self-control.

Matt Tackett of Red River Outdoors checking my gear placement and providing instruction.

I wasn’t too sure about taking a climbing class, much less a multi-day intensive class.  I had always heard about the joys of learning to climb from experienced climbing partners as you go.  However, I wasn’t going to have to pay for the class, so what would be the harm?   A little over a year ago, my wife was able to obtain a leadership grant that agreed to foot the bill for her and I to take a class to learn to trad climb.  Not only did the grant pay for the class, but it also paid for our lodging and bought us a brand new rack, rope, and helmets.  Sweet deal, huh?

Since my wife had begun her climbing career at the Red River Gorge, she suggested we take our class from Matt Tackett at Red River Outdoors.  Normally, we would probably couch surf or camp to save money, but we had money to spend.  So, we rented the climber’s cabin from RRO.

The Climber's Cabin at Torrent Falls

Staying in the cabin was great.  We had Torrent Falls climbing area right outside of our back door, climbing holds on the wall, and a loft bedroom.  Since the cabin has three sleeping areas plus the living room, it would be a sweet deal for a group of climbers to rent it out.  But I digress.  Long story short, the climber’s cabin at Torrent was a good time.

Matt Tackett teaching Janetta (my wife) self-rescue techniques.

The class was great, as well.  Matt and Amy (owners of Red River Outdoors) are super people.  Matt and Eric, our guides for the week, were laid back and a lot of fun.  They were more concerned with what we wanted to learn than shoving a canned class down our throats.  Of course, their focus was on safety, but they made sure it was fun and that we were able to get some climbing in.  When the weather was sketchy, they used that time to teach us self-rescue techniques and knots we would need to know.  All-in-all, the class was fun — even though not a moment was wasted.

Of course, you dirtbags that have been climbing for years probably don’t need a basic trad class.  However, if you do know some gumbies that are wanting to trad climb, I highly recommend a class like the one I took.  There’s something to be said for a teacher that has no stake in getting a few pitches in while he or she gives you some tips.  Along those same lines, someone willing to hang all day while you fumble around with cams and nuts like a moron is priceless.  I’m no experienced trad climber, but thanks to that class, I know that I can be a safe trad climber.  If you take a class like this, and you’re lucky like I was, the class will be a hell of a lot of fun as well.