Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Just another great climb...

“Cannot wind down because I am im the forest and have rock, machete, green, water meeting, a spider in front me dropping in, and a social web connection. Damn.” - the night before.  ...Got no sleep, climbed a bit shaky the one on the right, this one next, relaxed on send! My friend loved it too and gave a great spot too, a difficult spot, spotted well. So much fun. Beautiful moves.

Monday, June 07, 2010

April-June, 2010

Great personal comeback. After years... Back to where I've wanted and needed to be. It has taken a lot to get here. Have mostly needed to spend a lot of time alone. In nature. Have discovered much good. And some debilitating things. Things I will make I through. I knew I could get back here, and am happy and confident knowing I can get above and beyond, too. Am energetic and now ready for more!

Bouldered lots of places recently. Lots of exploration. A few sessions with some friends. More time alone. Discovered much. A lot of time alone with what I love more than anything else in the world, the natural one. Have climbed many new climbs, (and a few repeats I found to be inspiring). Climbed lots of easy, really fun pristine climbs. Climbed several new and hard lines, most being very pristine and amazing. (One less so, but super fun!) One climb required so much persistence over a couple weeks, related to forest/rock/excursion personal logistics and commitment, the move commitments involved, and the numerous difficult moves to master. Unrepeated lines for my good friends, or, really just me alone to return to.

Have encountered many animals and plants. Lots of deer. A boar. Beavers. Birds. And more. Reindeer moss, other mosses, plenty of pretty flowers, in many of colors, plenty of vultures alone (we've scared the shit out of each other several occasions!. One climb I call 'Vulture Feather', because of the vulture feather.) ...Crayfish high up on hillsides (hmm...), a head skull in a cave (hmm...), go-ahead millipedes, snakes, snakes, and pretty snakes, ...have made friends with grade school janitors after getting lost in the woods, have written a song about the Johnson County sheriff is lookin' out for me, ...the German chocolatier lady likes me, I like horses and hay... oh yeah, Arcadia valley in Missouri is so beautiful!!! I should write a book. I forget!

A beautiful spring. Nice rock. Nice moss. Good moves. Temps have been great. Have climbed in 60s and 70s a lot, and, one special night in the 40s! Love the sunshine, and when it rains. Have been enjoying it, driving hard, taking it easy, and pushing through some personal struggles as well, and feeling ready to climb harder and better and discover more great things and places. Next season is going to be great.

Psyched!

***

Getting hot and almost June...Oh my!
A V10 in the mid-80s on hot pink wonderful granite? How does that happen? It's hot out! Me it's supposed to be a laying-low time now I told myself! I had my fun the past few months. And besides my wrist is healing from falling high on it so much! Moderates feel painfully hard baking in the sun. Oh but lovely shade… Yes! No skin and a good, proper dosage of Inspired! Do it! and some good proper music and quiet is how it happens. I can't wait for winter for here. Love it!
My heart is free in Missouri...

(And the Shawnee, of course) ...The underground spring-fed waters flowing here is in my blood. And the forests, hills, streams, of this part of the Ozarks here in my home of Missouri, I can think of no other place to be. So many remote and peaceful places. And, good people are in small towns, always.

Many projects I'm preparing for. Some logistically simple, not too high, easy to try over and over without much safety concern, some I gotta get my fingers and core just a bit stronger, some develop more patience with, ... and some hard boulder problems but that are just quite big, hard, and and committing... I need to make a few big pads for this one climb of a lifetime right here outside of Graniteville. Its all squeezing, slapping, and unlike other new high hard lines I've climbed this past Spring (in the Shawnee), this one will get continuously HARDER each move as it approaches 20+' high out this big perfect black and orange granite bulge!

Toes are fucked. Joint deformity. But, that's ok. I think they've adapted. I know my fingers have. Are very strong and healthy and am happy about this. I can deal with the toe pain and adaption. I have new techniques. I make better choices what and how I climb. A lot of what I thought i needed to do to climb hard, climb anything, and climb happily I've learned I don't. I've changed. My style even. Well, just took the best and lose the rest, or use them less. Adapted. Grown. Improved. What's important, what is not. Climbing teaches me that. What's worth it, what is not. I'm more dynamic now than ever, more in control when need to be. And I love to go for it now more than ever! Feel much stronger, bigger, lighter, and healthier. Climber's toe, predisposed genes. My German side grandma had em! Problems will not hold me down! Not from surviving and being free. I am going forward, and succeeding. I've used an implementation to climb up rocks, more my big toes than a shoe.

It's Memorial Day weekend, and my grandpa's heroism in the Battle of the Bulge and at Normandie reminds me to pay tribute to he and others and the battle itself inspires me to live or die, in the full wide range of breathing on earth.

Climbing better and harder and totally free.
Relationship with nature is richer and deeper. Vast.
Bottomless. And I will be abiding.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Friday, March 26, 2010

Nice glacial moraine granite

Bouldering with Dan (and Blake and Dimitry) on nice glacial moraine granite and some conglomerate city rock was great. Loved the big arete stuff! Oh and that dolomite!!! Days without any popular culture. And slapping each other if mention reference. Total hermitage and great moves on rock. Still snow. Good weather. Sunny. Dan, you better come climb on the sandstone, limestone, rhyolite (in the twilight) and granite here soon!! There's a mill and shut-ins. And derelict houses taken by the forests.