"buildering," architecture, and spiderman

i stumbled across an article in the most recent issue of urban climber magazine on city climbing and "buildering" (a wordsmithed take on bouldering) in urban philadelphia that i found so amazing and so awesome that i had to dig a bit deeper. the article focused on a few places in philly where one can experiment with climbing man-made structures.

while this style of climbing has apparently been talked about since the 1970s, in my humble opinion, it isn't attracting the attention it deserves. it's insanely beautiful.

urban climbing, and in particular "buildering," (because of its accessibility) has the potential to esthetically and radically transform our physical interaction with architecture and the urban landscape. it also has the potential to bring the magic of climbing to a broader audience. consider the popularity of spiderman and other superheroes that scale buildings. that mythos is somehow echoed with urban climbing. it's also conceivable that architects will one day more deliberately create crimpers and slopers on their buildings specifically for these imaginative athletes.

the illegal dimension of the activity also adds a mystique that can't be duplicated by outdoor climbing. it's like urban skateboarding without the destructive impact of hard wheels crashing against rails and concrete.

having been born/raised in nj, im more familiar with urban landscapes than i am with natural ones. i know this to be true. there's a ton of concrete to climb out there! it is conceivable that urban kids, as well as adults, can make this their sport. had i discovered this as a teenager, i'm sure i would have been hooked.

don't doubt. check out the "urban installment" videos on the website of the fragilo video production crew.

a lump like a plum

i took a nice little fall today. a friend and i decided to visit north table mountain in golden, co. the weather was amazing! 60 degrees and it's winter? can't be that. i led two 5.9s, cleaned a 5.7 trad route, and then bit it on a 5.10a route up a greasy arete (def. sharp, narrow ridge formed as a result of glacial erosion from both sides). fun times. i was about to grab a quickdraw for the second to last bolt when i slipped on my footing. down i went. about 10-12 feet. my foot also got stuck on the rope towards the bottom and i flipped horizontally. the experience scared the bejesus out of me. i was shaking for a bit. a few minutes later i climbed the route on top rope. i knew that it would be a bad idea not to at least top rope it - that would have been a big mind screw. i made it up and then realized that the "tricky" spot wasn't so tricky after all.

it's amazing to me how much of climbing is entirely mental.

overall a good experience and a good day. getting used to falling is important, eh? lump on my shin that looks like a small plum and all.