LRC, Instinct

There was one problem I had in mind when we were planning out trip down to Chattanooga. Instinct. I'd seen video and pictures of it and it just looked like such a cool line. Overhanging crimps suited my style really well and the moves all looked fun and interesting.

There's a stand start that goes at about V7, but the whole time my goal was to work out the moves on the sit start. Weighing in at V10, it was, more than anything, something that I wanted to test myself against after a long winter in the gym. The line itself is really really proud with only a couple of drawbacks. Unfortunately one of the holds on the lower section is very badly glued. That was a big disappointment and I lost a decent amount of psych for the problem, but oh well. The flake itself flexes and everybody seems to call it the "epoxy" hold. Coming from an area where everything breaks, Gov. Dodge, I'm just sort of used to adapting to a broken hold. Oh well. Not a huge deal.

We warmed up a little on our first day and messed around on some problems by Super Mario. In hindsight, I probably should have saved my skin for Instinct but it was fun to get on some problems and complete something. We walked over to instinct and I got relatively shut down by the first move. I seem to like doing that. After a few goes I started warming up to the first move and got closer and closer to sticking the long lockoff. I tried a bit harder and stuck the hold with 2 fingers and reeled in the rest. I pawed my way through the next couple of moves and dropped off. I was actually really psyched!!



I definitely didn't expect to get the starting moves so quickly and was pretty happy with myself. A crew of guys showed up from Atlanta shortly after and I was able to work out some beta and try the moves from the stand start too. One of the guys, Jon maybe, did the full sit and I was able to get some cool shots of him on the send. Sounded like it was his first time linking in so everyone was pretty excited.


Before I could finish working out the final moves my skin started to give way to the sharp crimps and I had to call it a day. I was psyched at how doable everything felt and I'm looking forward to going back. It's funny how important progression is for me. Especially after a long winter in the gym I love coming out to real rock and feeling stronger than I did the previous fall. Its such a good feeling.