Recap of the past week/weekend of climbing followed by thoughts on injuries…

The past couple of weeks have been awesome for climbing. The high country is amazing and I’ve been more and more grateful for its’ unique problems and gorgeous surroundings. These climbs are so special and my group of friends who explore them with me are like family–we climb together, share rest days, dinners, bake nights, motivate each other, stay psyched together, trash talk and call each other out when necessary. We see each other frustrated on climbs and acknowledge each others strengths, weaknesses, best moments and worst moments. I am incredibly thankful for them and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

This past weekend was the (CCS) competition at ASU. This was probably one of the best competitions I’ve been to, as the problems were top notch and the atmosphere was really fun. The only downside was the lack of female competitors. I was the only woman in advance and thus won, but I would have loved to see more women competing and entering things like dyno-comps or pull-up contest at the end of competitions. I know there are a lot of really strong girls in the area that may not care about competitions, but it would be awesome to have a comp where the categories for women were stacked with talented women and not so dominated by guys. I always want to convince the girls to enter in dyno comps with me or what have you, even if we can’t beat the guys, just so we can compete alongside them.

Today Prattacus and I volunteered at a local ‘adopt-a-crag’ day. The crag was Warpen Endorphin, aka The Dump, a small but nice sport climbing area. We carried what seemed like endless piles of mulch, wood, and supplies up to the crag (not a terribly long walk, but hard nonetheless…) and cleaned up the area. Steps were added to the entrance and the path at the base of the climbs was given a good ol’ ”manicure.” It was inspiring to see all the local climbers come together and put so much time and effort into the place, discussing ideas about access and how the community can reach out and do even more service projects in the future. It definitely gave new purpose and meaning to this area and so many others that I visit and which are maintained by other groups. It is important to give back to the area when we frequent them and use/abuse them (in the best of ways, of course.) We even saw some bolts and anchors get replaced which was super interesting. There was talk about the NPS biologists and their concerns about the impact of climbers on the surrounding areas. I suggested a day where one of the biologists take us on a sort of hike throughout one of the local areas (leaving the crashpads or ropes behind for the day) and having them identify plants, talk about threatened wildlife, and teach us about our impact and ways to alleviate them. I think this would be interesting as well as provide a good relationship between the climbers and local agencies, showing them we do want to learn and protect our treasured areas too. We’ll see!

Afterwards, a new meaning of wrecked overcame me. My fingers, shoulders, back, legs, etc…were all shaking and exhausted from the competition before and the physical labor all morning. Nevertheless, the boulders were only a hop, skip and a jump away, so we grabbed our pads and headed over to the 221 boulders.

First climb of the day was a v5 called Doug Reed Roof. I ended up flashing it and loved the climb. The movements are not really my style, but it is very core dependent so I was able to hold on even with cutting feet Next, the very climb I wanted to do was a v7 called Druid Roof. My friends tried to encourage me saying I would flash it, being my style….and dun dun dun.. I ended up f*ing up my beta SO hard that I threw for a crimp, caught it with my middle finger only, and determined to not let go, held and tried to make a move. Well, a pop surely followed and I fell with the quickness. It seemed I have strained my tendon to some degree that more research will hopefully disclose. I haven’t wanted to admit it to myself or anyone else, but it will definitely be a few weeks or more until I can climb.

I have never cared about flashing problems outside before (must be the comp mentality) so getting to a climb, being nervous with people watching and hurried due to expectations from others and myself led to absolutely poor decisions. I regret my decisions very much, but know that this is not the end of the world, nor is it something that will stop me from climbing. I am doing a few ice baths a day (already 3 this evening!), making sure I get everything the tendon cells need to heal (glucosamine, omega-3, zinc, vitamin C…) and will be staying off of it for this next week (which I had planned to do anyways. Thanksgiving break in AZ!) I will continue all my aerobic training and yoga/pilates for strong core and other muscles. I will not say that I am completely fine, because I am devastated and was just reaching a point in my climbing where I felt like improvement was steadily increasing, but taking it slow and taking time off to focus on other areas of my life seem like a wonderful idea. I have school, a job, and other hobbies that I can focus on in addition to training for the day I am able to climb again.

I feel very egotistical writing a whole page about me me me me me, but this is a blog and hopefully other people can relate and empathize with a finger injury. I will definitely be posting healthy recipes, articles about tendon injuries and healing, and more cross-training ideas. If we can’t learn from each other, who can we learn from?

Off to work at the climbing gym, s’gon be a looong night!

* update*

mother chuffer,  I keep forgetting that the pain is real and that it is indeed there.  I test it every 5 minutes to make sure it actually does still hurt. I feel as if I’m in denial, and working at the climbing gym, I go around looking at people climb thinking “that is a crimp I could have locked off! But it looks impossible and scary now…” I know that it is important to not think too much about it and scare myself away from certain holds or movements as some people do after injuries. Getting it in  your head that all crimps are the devil after one mess-up is silly. I will learn from my mistake and train in the future so that my fingers get back to their strength or stronger without shying away from all holds. The way you approach the hold is more important than the hold itself. If you dynamically go for a half pad crimp and catch it with your index finger only, that is the error, not the crimp.

I had my pity party, onto the next step:
—–>Training tomorrow: 1 hr run, 1 hr bike, 1 hr yoga/pilates
—–> omega-3, vitamin C, zinc, ibuprofen, and all the fruits and veggies I can stuff in my stomach
—–> Print off all finger related injury articles and wisen up
—–> actually get school work done..

My Gurhd, I thought. This is like Novacaine all over again…

I cringed at the thought of pulling every single move at the bottom of the climb only to fall at the dyno labeled easy by the masses. The latest obsession, Chapter 13 at Lost Cove Boulders has driven me absolutely crazy. Today, even though sick and three days on, I did every single bottom move together up to the dyno three or more times. By the time I was up higher and realized what I had to do, my legs literally went limp and my attempts were so half-assed I could have been mistaken for a torso. I remember this feeling on Novacaine–an easier climb with similar crimpy holds leading to one enormous move. I remember the continuous feeling of not commiting, until one day it clicked (not to mention I had the best beta/climbing partner ever: Kelley Burns) and I felt like I was trying hard in a way I had never done before. Having my feet cut and swing off of a tiny ticked foot was terrifying and thrilling. Even more so was the realization, Oh my gurhd, I can dyno?!

Now on a much harder climb I face that same feeling. I think about how I can trick myself into thinking I am much closer to the ground than I am, or realize that the landing is completely flat, or a number of things. Big moves are my nemesis, and even though I may occasionally turn into the hulk when I cannot execute big/powerful moves (Melise..angry..)  I love to search for climbs like that which house my favorite type of climbing–steep and crimpy, with something that really pushes me out of a comfort zone–retarded dynos.

If I could shout out any advice that has worked for me in the past to the ladies and men alike who may be uncomfortable with dynamic moves–(1) Find spotters you absolutely trust and who have patience and will encourage you, (2) arrange the pads yourself-no excuses, (3) Let yourself make space for one attempt where you absolutely allow yourself to commit no matter what, even if you just try to jump for height and not grabbing the hold, more will follow when you realize it isn’t as terrifying as you once thought, (4) Probably don’t think about it as much as you’d like!

Would love to hear from others if they have some sneaky dyno tips as well.

Above all, having patience is key. I was definitely devastated and annoyed with myself for falling at the last move of the problem over and over, but I am happy to have improved on the climb each time I go and know that it will go, whether it’s tomorrow or a few days or a month. I know it will happen and I’m not in any terrible rush to do it.

Awesome weekend full of chuff-tastic fun. After a rest day party on Friday consisting of shared ice-baths for our hands, climb-on, pumpkin pancakes, and “Tomorrow Will Be Gone” (link here, it is a must see!: http://vimeo.com/31326082) we were psyched for cold temps for the days to come. Saturday was in the forties but perfect for bouldering at Lost Cove.

Warming up was a pain as usual. We (and by we, I mean only myself) cheese grated off warmup problems due to the cold (and now that I think about it, may have had something to do with eating so much the night before: pancakes with peanut butter, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, honey…hm, nah!) The area was full of tulip trees which assumed crazy beautiful hues of yellow in the morning light. I was psyched from the gorgeous views even with the flails. We hiked throughout the boulder field chalking up and brushing our project holds. First send of the day was a v7 that Kelley day flashed and took me a couple of tries to figure out the ”dyno.” It was done static by both of us shorties with awesome foot beta. Whatever anyone else says is lies, I say!

Heinous Crimper sit start, photo by Drexel Bakker

Next we headed to my favorite project of the moment, a gorgeous v7/8 called Chapter 13. The boulder housing this problem is blank save for perfect crimpy holds leading to another ”dynamic” move, leading to a dyno to the finish jug. I was having trouble with the first semi-dynamic move being unable to catch the swing. This time I figured out my own beta and did the move static again. Made me want to giggle like a little school girl screaming !@$% your dyno-wack-beta tall people!!! I promised on my life that my “last go” was indeed my last go, so I did not try the last move dyno afterwards. Cannot wait to go back and hopefully send next time.

Chapter 13

Afterwards we headed to 221 boulders, where Brennen almost day-flashed Ominous Roof, an insanely physical v9. Brennen hits a small crimp, throws his feet over his head in a toe hook, bumps hands, bumps toe hooks, cuts feet and swings around for a heel, rocks up to slopey pinches…aaand next time will send first go. It was awesome to see. They later both owned “what’s up arrete” which is one of a handful of compression problems I’ve seen in the high country so far. chugga woo woo!

Today we went to Gma and got shut down by almost everything. Pratt sent the  v7 French Crack and it was a great send. We worked on Eye Candy and Drexel worked out his beta for Clamper, doing it in two sections. The boy has improved seven v-grades in a single year and I can’t wait to see what else he does this year. I got to pet lots of puppies too, providing more excitement than getting shut down by Eye Candy!

Brennen gets the sharpest crimp on the problem; photo by Angel Anderson

I fall off the big move, again!; photo by Angel Anderson

Pratt send French Crack, it was definitely the hat that did it. Photo by D. Bakker

puppy love!

It’s so inspiring to see my friends who work, do well in college, have friends and lives outside of climbing (Sort of..), and still CRUSH when it comes to climbing. Balancing all of these things with something you are incredibly passionate about is certainly a challenge, but necessary to keep the psyche coming back again and again. With that said, off to study for a physical geography and french test! Hope everyone got out this weekend and had a great time.