Projects Projects Projects...

I got out climbing in Squamish last Saturday and it was super fun. I disappointed myself in terms of what I sent (nothing - har har har) but the day itself was beautiful and it's hard to get down when you're in a magical forest with perfect granite blocs strewn about.

I warmed up and then tried King Swing, a stout V7 as a way to stress my body before jumping on my project du jour which was to be Defender of the Faith, V9. King Swing was stinking hard and I didn't make any progress really; considering the only progress to be made would be to do the first move since it's the only hard move on it. Anyways, with a sense of trepidation I headed over to Defender to have a shot at it. I was pretty confident i could do it this session after feeling really strong on it after my last (and first) time on it. Unfortunately it was not meant to be. I could feel the holds weren't as sticky as the previous session, I for whatever reason could not even come close to doing the 2nd move, and I had the annoying nerves you sometimes get when you think you're going for the redpoint and at any time it might go. Don't know why I had that feeling since I felt so weak...ha ha ha!

Anyways, my friend Erik that I was climbing with managed to send it in fine style and after that we moved onwards and upwards into the forest from the Apron talus to meet up with strong Simon at a problem called Velcro. This thing is so sick! The stand start is V10 which I had a few goes at and felt surprisingly better than I expected so that was encouraging for me. Simon came agonizingly close to sending the low start that clocks in at V13, falling off the last tough hold after sticking it not quite perfect enough. This kid is a serious crusher, knows how to try hard, and he has the makings of a true champion: he busts his ass in the gym sometimes climbing 6 or 7 days on; he's really friendly; he's humble; and he's steamrolling through all the hard problems in Squamish; and he's just as psyched for you to send your project (which was probably his warm-up) as he is to send his own.

After burning on Velcro, we decided we were pretty much fried so headed down to check out King Swing one last time before calling it a day and heading home to Van city.

This week has been pretty uneventful...I got into the gym on Wednesday and had a super session; I sent 27 new problems, the highlight of which was flashing a V8, something I haven't managed in the gym before.

I'm also starting to get psyched on building back some fitness on the bike. That will start in earnest in April when my climbing membership at the Edge runs out and I have more time on my hands after work when I'll resort to more finger training and weight training in our apartment.

One last thing. I've officially decided on my project list for this season if anyone cares:

Boulder Problems
1. Defender of the Faith, V9
2. No TRoublems, V9
3. Velcro, V10

Routes
1. Ibiza, 13a
2. Chronic, 13b
3. Permanent Waves or Division Bell, 13d (more just to try than actually hoping to send this year, but who knows...never say never)

Okay...off to bed, I've been getting to bed early all week this week and have been getting great sleeps and feeling really good as a result.

Ciao!