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 Your socks play a major role in what you're doing out there. Me, my socks need to withstand the brutality I put them through. And they do.
Throughout the winter season I spend a lot of my time trudging through the snow. My focus and goal: to find new/ice and rock to climb. This, living in the Canadian Rockies, means a lot of hiking (through a lot of snow I might add). Over the last few years I've been able to wear and test a lot of outdoor clothing and what i've come up with: thank goodness for good socks. I don't care what jacket, pants, mitts, sweaters, even long underwear i have on, but what i do care about...are good socks. (Just for the record, I guess I do sorta care about what iIwear, but not as much as my socks.)
This past winter I had the opportunity to wear wigwam socks. I wore several different styles in fact and will never turn back. Whether in my touring boots, my ice climbing or competition climbing boots, my approach shoes, and even my crocks, my socks never let me down.
Every time I go out, I learn something, whether weakness or strength. If it's a new route or a route I've been on a bunch of times, it seems as though something is always revealed. A lot of the time is can be a humbling experience, and sometimes it can be an experience of perfection. These moments vary from time to time...but I guess that's what it's all about...allowing those moments in and using them for the greater good of your goals. And hopefully, someday, at some point, you'll get the opportunity to put to work everything you've learned, all the experiences you've had, to persevere past your limit.
This year has been a totally different year of climbing for me. It's the first year that i've actually tried to climb and climb past my "limit". What a trip this has been. It's forced me into positions that are totally out of my comfort level. During a day of training, my coach began to push me in this area "comfort", as he recognized that my climbing was "too comfortable". The result of this process, me taking a huge whipper off of a tiny icicle falling 25ft top speed. It was cool. The point: to stop climbing comfortably and push past your "safety blanket". We're getting there in this area. If you want to push in your sport, you can't stay at a "comfortable level". You need to put down your blanky and give 'er.
The night before a big comp, or any comp for that matter can be an emotional rollercoaster. At the world Cup in Saas Fee, we had a big athletes dinner, did some “testing” for a UIAA survey, mingled a bunch, had a big dinner, and then went home. (Oh, side note, I played a lot of ping pong and owned the table all night…beating all the euros! Yah!). When we got back to the apartement, I tuned my tools, tried to relax and then went to bed. The problem with bed was that my body still wasn’t used to the time change, so sleeping ended up being sort of minimal. So basically I layed in bed for a few hours, then got about 6hrs of sleep. Not bad, but not great. Sleep is important…especially before a big comp, or anything that requires energy and focus.
Isolation.
 The term "It is what it is" relates to pretty much everything in life. It's simple, yet deep. To find the mental position of accepting this term for what it is, it can prove to be a great challenge. Allowing such a term to dominate any given situation that would normally cause frustration and dismay, it takes time and effort. The term offers relief. It presents opportunity. You just need to be willing and focused.
 Finding the right direction is something that only you can answer. No book, video, coach, friend, or parent can help you...but only suggest to you. At the end of the day, you're the one that has to put one foot in front of the other. Some days that can prove to be very challenging. However, what it comes down to...is how deep you're willing to dig in order to keep your feet moving.
A lot of the time it's hard to find the right direction, the one that works best for you. There's so much literature, so many opinions, out there, typically you end up just pulling all your hair out from frustration. How do you know what or who to listen to? How do you know that the new book on the shelf has all the answers, boasting that this new and improved "way" is the right way? Well, put simply...you don't.
Stepping backwards is always a hard thing to do. Naturally, we just want to keep moving forwards. It takes patience, humbleness, and hard work to step back for the long run of gaining momentum. A route that i've been working on for over a year, my nemesis, that's been mentally toiling with me day and night. A route that caused injury and other such hindrances...there was something different to this route. I've climbed harder routes than this one, but as i've begun to realize that it wasn't about the number grade, but the journey to the succession of sending such a project.
For more check out: http://www.machavok.com/Climbing
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