it's rappel, not self-rappel, mm k?

i made it out to clear creek canyon today with a new climbing friend, andy. andy is very systematic in his approach to climbing and (patiently) spent half the time correcting my sloppy technique and misused verbal commands. i needed his scolding, er advice. it felt a bit boot camp-ish at times but all very much well worth it. here's an example:

david: "ya got me? im coming down." andy: "it's take! that's the command. by yelling take the belayer should know you are relying on him to bring you down."

we also got into a bit of confusion on off-belay commands. we worked on that too. at the end of the day, we managed five total 5.9s and 5.10+s. i rappeled (not "self-rappeled" since you can technically only rappel solo) four of the routes. i didn't lead anything, but that's what I'm working on next. i now feel fairly confident in my ability to clean and rappel down 5.9s and 5.10-s. slow, steady, onward.

read (and reread) your climbing guide

funny story. i went to keystone on saturday to climb with my friend erik. after our usual wandering time - time spent looking for the wall - we found alpenglow. erik had his guide book and identified what he thought was a 5.9 route. he starts leading and i notice that he's having a bit of a hard time getting up. after much serious effort he gets to the top. i belay him down and then try it myself. after a few moves, i'm thinking. there's no way this could be a 5.9. erik picks up his climbing book and rereads the map. "david, you're going to hate me. this is a 5.11d."

a first. 5.10-

i accept. given perspective, personal climbing milestones are insignificant. with hurricanes, a war in iraq, it's sometimes easy to get caught-up in our own small world of crags, 'beaners and good fitting shoes. i do, however, think that we should harness the powers of climbing for good. i bet you there would be fewer fights and wars, perhaps, if folks learned to channel their stresses and anger into shifting higher. just a thought. i digress.

two cool things happened today. i did my first "serious" bouldering problem, and i made it up a 5.10-. when i arrived today, the auto-belay device was being used by a few climbers so i decided to give bouldering a shot. i found a V0 and made it up easily. i then found a V1 and after four tries figured out how to get to the last grip. the problem solving element of bouldering is great fun. i'd definitely like to do more.

i offered to help someone belay today. after some chit chat, i revealed that i'd yet to try a 5.10 indoors, and that my 5.10 attempts were unsuccessful. we navigated up about three 5.9s and then she said, "i think you should try a 5.10". convinced, i made my way up a 5.10-. hurrah! my first clean 5.10! we then tried another 5.10 i couldnt negotiate. boo. it was still a great day. another bridge crossed.

i'll be hitting the outdoors with erik on saturday in keystone. i'm so looking forward to more outdoor rock.

going vertical

i've missed posting! the last week has been a bit hectic. i recently spent three days doing trail maintenance on mt. princeton through the colorado 14ers initiative. it was an awesome time. on saturday a few of us climbed to the summit.

gym climbing is coming along. i haven't climbed outdoors in almost two weeks! summer is quickly fading. someone get me outside. stat! gym climbing is helping me build a good physical foundation. i can feel it. here's a photo from the summit mt. princeton.