Friends and myself woke early this morning to find temperatures at Grandmother boulders to be absolutely perfect. A windy night and sun from the previous day had dried out mostly everything. We were psyched to get on a lot of climbs, but ended up really working on French Crack (V7) and Zen/Zen Master (V7/8) It was like a massive beta party with five of us short, tall, gal and guys working the same problem. Everyone was getting super close and hitting all the moves; the main problem was having skin left over from the tiny, sharp holds to try again. I got obsessed with wanting to do it. The fatal “one-more-time!” declarations were starting to be made by all and I felt I couldn’t leave something that I had already done all the moves to. After lunch atop the boulder munching on carrots, spinach with goat cheese (<-YUM) yogurt covered raisins, and other random munchies, I gave my final “One last time…” and stuck the move that had given me so much trouble:

Unfortunately for me, while I was topping the boulder out, a friend innocently gave me a congratulatory fist bump, which resulted in an ear-bursting choir of “DAAAAB.” Friends also noted that the lichen towards the top is also off, that once I made it into the sun it actually made me lighter (sun dab,) and that a fly actually landed on my foot, carrying it to foothold that, before, had seemed so far away. Good thing I have friends that keep me straight. Can’t wait to go back to repeat and try the V8 direct version WITHOUT dabbing!