Has Been

With my usual menu of epic fare reduced to training and my comments on the latest health news being posted at The Nerd, there hasn’t been much to blog about here at The Straight Dope. To keep the entertainment coming, I’ve made a new silly video of yet another traverse.

It’s not like I only traverse. It’s generally saved for days when I don’t have much time or a partner. This traverse, which tackles the base of the Hell wall at American Fork, is unique because you can link it into a bunch of routes. A couple of these are projects for this fall, while a couple others are going to require me to get a lot fitter. But the first bit of business is wiring the base. Its tenuous movement featuring small, hard-to-use hand holds and slick tiny feet that Ben calls “don’t breathe” climbing. It’s also overhanging and pumpy. Currently, I can’t recover too well on the one flat jug, which is going to have to change if I want to complete any of the harder routes. As is the case with all the climbing in the Hell area, it’s not much to look at but the moves grow on you. The Ruckman guide calls this V8. It’s definitely harder than V5S1 in Deaf Smith and much easier than the G-Spot, giving me a perfect trifecta of traversing options for training near my home.

I’ve gotta say, despite being a self proclaimed has been, I don’t feel as though I’m fading into the sunset. I’m not as strong as I was 10 years ago, but I’m probably technically climbing as well as ever. Motivation is high and I’m finding that working through my injuries is rewarding in itself. While I’ll never be as prolific as I was when I was climbing full time, I still harbor thoughts of strategizing well enough to do the hardest climbs of my life.