Success with Patience - Long awaited project sent!

Stepping back is always a hard thing to do.  Essentially you always want to be moving forward…well that works…usually, but not when moving forward leads you to digressing.  Over three months ago a route located at my local crag was eyeing me up (with an evil glare I might add).  A quick history behind this route: I’ve been working on it for over a year.  Time and time again, getting shut down by this steep beast.  Going over the moves in my sleep, I had the route dialed but I just couldn’t seem to put it all together.  Frustration begun to take over, mentally I was suffering dramatically.  My climbing was going down hill due to this route…and I didn’t even know it.

Just over two months ago I started working with my coach, Will Gadd.  Right off the bat he was in my face about what needed to get done.  Mileage mileage mileage.  And the way this was going to work…I needed to step back and climb easier grades-but a lot of them.  In fact, so much that for the next two months, I needed to just climb as many routes in a day as possible.  The hopeful conclusion: with all this mileage it would create a stronger base in my endurance.  My route that I was working on required endurance, strength and confidence…all of which I was lacking in the needed way.  Of course, knowing that I had to step back, it was mentally tough…but I new I had to trust Will as he’s “been there done that”.  With his experience and knowledge…who was I to question.  So for the next two months I put my head down and climbed my ass off.  Every outing, pushing my endurance further and further it was tiring but soon became rewarding.  I could feel my climbing getting stronger, I could hold on longer…my confidence was going up.  I could feel change.

3 months ago, attempting my project, getting frustrated, I injured my tendon.  It was a cold, dark feeling, knowing that this route took such a toll on me that I was willing to exchange success with injury.  I felt defeated.  I felt like giving up.  I knew that if I wanted to get this route, I needed time off from it.  I began to realize that this route had taken over my climbing.  I was so hung up on it that I literally stopped climbing. I would typically show up to the crag, do one or two warm-ups then flail around on my project 3 or four times and that was it – the night was over.  I realized that if I wanted to climb again, to have fun again, I needed to step back and get some things sorted out with my climbing.

3 months had now gone by, two of which were spent training, focusing on what I needed to improve on – my endurance, and contact strength.  I could see a noticeable difference with how long I could hold on, and how many routes I could do in an outing.  I was starting to warm up on harder routes, do laps on harder routes, and by the end of the “session”, I wasn’t tired…if there was time in the day-I could keep going.  An energy was developing inside me.  My passion was back to where it should have been all along.  I was super psyched with the fact that a) I listned to my coach b) Will’s coaching direction was paying off and c) I could feel, mentally that I was ready to re-visit the route that once stared me down.

I was heading to my local crag at around 4pm.  All day I could feel the energy rushing through my body; I knew that this was the day.  I knew that today would be the end to this long awaited “send”.  Upon my arrival and after two warm ups I was ready to give the route a go.  Tying in, strapping on my shoes there wasn’t anything that was going to stand in the way of this destined moment.  On a brief side note: five days previous to this moment I thought I would get on the route and attempt the move that once injured me.  I wanted to see if my tendon could handle the pressure of such a move.  Well, with a slight adjustment of my pinky finger and its position, all of a sudden pulling the move was simple.  By that simple adjustment, all the pressure was taken off of my tendon.  I could climb the move and I could climb it strong.

Taking long, deep breathes, every move flowing perfectly I became face to face with the move that had once defeated me.  Without giving it much attention I cruised through the move as if it was a warm-up.  I felt strong, confident…I felt a rush flowing through my body, like a class 6 raging river during high water season.  Resting below my previous high point I felt something different. I felt alive-there was tons of juice left.  Heck, why hang out here…lets keep moving!  Move after move, crossing over into the home stretch, reaching for the “clipping anchor hold” I grabbed it with power-there was no way I was letting go of this thing.  I clipped the anchors and with a deep breath I yelled at the top of my lungs.  A route that I thought not to be possible became inevitable.  I had slayed the beast.  A route that mentally toiled with me for over a year was finally put to rest.  As I was getting lowered the grin on my face was everything at once.  It told the story that had the happy ending we all hope for. 

Through this experience I was able to grow in my climbing.  It was a journey that has furthered me mentally and physically.  I’ve climbed harder routes than this 12d, but for a reason that I now understand, it wasn’t about the grade but the journey that was found within sending such a line.  It was about the experience that came out in the end.  You see, it’s not about the grades but what you can get out of the actual route.  Climbing continues to offer growth not only on the rock or ice, or in the mountains, but also in my personal life.  It’s become a journey that has allowed me to dig deeper. 

How far down the rabbit hole are you willing to go?