Looking Forward

Gabe and Aaron locked into an awkward, post send, man hug.

With the wedding coming up and Katie having done Anchorpoint, we wanted to have a nice relaxing day. We ended up meeting Aaron, Gabe and Ellen out at Venus Rising and messed around at a couple of the problems out there.

We started at Axiom of Arete Aesthetics after getting a bit of beta from Aaron. He'd worked it earlier in the week and it was well chalked up, for sure! After a few minutes of scrubbing I set to work and nearly threw out my back on the hard, barndoor moves. I eventually figured out a relatively simple way up the first feature but cooler temps will help a touch.

After about 15 minutes I had a softball sized knot in my back and had to lay down on the pads like a sad little boy. We got up to pack and go over to Venus Rising and while I was standing there I could feel the knot getting bigger and bigger. I've never felt anything like it!! It was hard to breath!!

At Venus I sat down and caught my breath while everyone threw themselves at the problem. Katie looked much stronger on it but was pretty lax and was just out there to have fun. Aaron and Gabe were both looking very strong on it and it seemed inevitable that they'd send today. They did everything they could to prevent that, though.

Both of the guys hit the final sloper multiple times and Gabe even tried my "Nipple" beta to no avail.

Aaron then made a proclamation that this would be his last go for the day! Ellen got the camera out and took video of him saying that and the subsequent attempt. He pulled on, matched the crux hold, threw and...


Came right back down to the pads in horrible, horrible defeat. He put his tail between his legs and packed his stuff up for the day. A sad moment for Mr. Kaetterhenry indeed.

Gabe on the other hand was trudging along like a trooper, making the annual trek to the match and then making the annual trip back to the pads. It was kinda like Pong, actually.

Then out of nowhere Gabe hit the match, screamed "Oh it feels good!!!", and then made a phenomenal throw to the top. The result was much of the same, with the hitting of the pads and all, but it gave Gabe a boost of hope. It also seemed to get Aaron going again and he started contemplating trying the problem again amidst our heckles that he already said he was done.

A few minutes later it just sort of happened. A group of about 30 people walked by and started to watch as Aaron booted up. He went up to the match hold, just like he had so many times before, set up for the throw and then, with authority, hit the final sloper and stuck it! He scampered up the topout and the crowd of 30 plus people started clapping, yelling and cheering for Aaron!!! Maybe the funniest this I've seen at the problem since RV did it a couple years ago and yelled profanities about 8 feet in front of a 5 year old kid.

Psyched...

With that, Gabe said that he'd stick around a try it a couple more times. A few minutes later another group of about 10 people came by and watched as Gabe pulled onto the start holds. He looked super solid the whole way and made his way to the match hold without issue. He threw for the top and stuck it too! The group behind us took the cue and started clapping and cheering too! Hilarious!!!

He topped out without issue and came back down the trail with a smile on his face.

Happy to be done with the problem!

After that I repeated Bark Biter quickly to warm up and was reminded of how good that problem is!  It never gets its due and really needs more traffic!  I was also reminded of how sketchy it was the first time I sent it.  Bark Biter was my first V4 and I sent it with no spotters and one Metolius pad.  Very sketch.

We all moved our stuff over to Perfect Medium to give that thing a couple of attempts. I vowed to try it once without tape but after starting to weight the sharp hold my baby soft tips said otherwise. I taped up while Gabe tried it a couple times.

I felt really good on the first go and thought I'd do it the next try. It seemed that every other attempt had something little go wrong. I actually had my left hand ON the upper crimp twice but my foot popped once and my right hand came off the other. I'm sure that in cooler temps it'll go again, no problem. That one is definitely on the birthday challenge.

Gabe came agonizingly close to doing it as well but he walked away without a send and I walked away without a repeat.

Interesting group...

Sadly the group send did not transfer to Perfect Medium. Next time...