Here is another one from Jeremy Blumel and his bi-weekly column with The Squamish Chief. A little ray of sunshine to go with your Friday morning (if the perfect weather didn’t have you there already!).
Jeremy getting his lunch on. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Blumel ©
After a winter of bouldering and training in the gym, finger-boarding at home and the slow increase in the amount of outside rock time I was able to fit in, I finally had a little golden ray of sunshine today, which reminded me what exactly this is all about.
After careful and tenuous scheduling with my partner, I had a full day to throw myself at the rock, any rock really. Anyone with kids knows how difficult it is to keep a tiny piece of time for yourself during a week, so the time I had Saturday was precious. Over the two previous days I had thrust myself through two quick, ultra-efficient bouldering sessions that had punished and brutalized my body and mind. My shoulders all the way down to my anklebones were sore, tired, stiff, cut and grated. Those anklebones are the worst, sticking out awkwardly, just waiting to be ripped and scraped down the sharp edge of a boulder.
The chance to climb all of Saturday came to me as if by magic, like an archaeologist taking the bejewelled statue from its final resting place with shaking hands and sweaty brow. Could I withstand another boulder’s onslaught?
Would my body hold out? My skin would be in tatters. My ray of sunshine began with a call from an old friend who had just returned home after a winter working in his ski touring lodge. “You able to climb today?” was one of the first items mentioned and like that, the die was cast. What better way to spend a full day out than catching up with a great friend on our home cliffs?
“So, what should we climb?” It became obvious. We needed to get high off the ground and climb something world-class; we needed to climb The Grand Wall. My ray of sunshine began cresting the horizon.
For the full article, please visit The Squamish Chief.