The Tipping Point

Yesterday was everything that I love about climbing packed into a one day. I needed yesterday pretty badly and the timing couldn't have been better.

We started things off at North Shore and messed around on a bunch of the warmups over there. It's been forever since we'd climbed there and all of us had a great time and climbed a number of classics in the hour or so we were there.

Shortly after that we headed up to Venus Rising so Katie could give it a few tries. She'd apparently gotten really close the prior day but hadn't quite gotten the sloper.

After a couple tries she got agonizingly close but still ended up on the pads. Resolving to only give it 3 goes, she ponied the hell up on her next try and pulled out the clutch send with confidence. Honestly it was almost anti climactic as she just hiked it and made it look super casual.

This is more than likely the FFA of Venus and a landmark for Katie. Venus is her anti style and she'd made relatively little progress on it until this year when she all of a sudden got psyched for it. Even this spring she wasn't even thinking about doing it so it's great to see a nice little moment of progression.

Personally, it was great to see her finish a project as it's something I've missed this year. I've become accustomed to always being around when she finishes things but my year just hasn't allowed for much time outside so far. I was very happy to be there for this one.

After that Chris and I packed up to go down the hill to the roof and everyone else walked over to Fat Pants.

In short, Chris and I fixed the landing on the roof and figured out all the moves on the stand start project. Most importantly we did so without the aid of the detached boulder it sits on. It's something both of us felt very strongly about and we're very glad the moves go without it.

Towards the end of the day Chris started talking about how absurd it would be to use the boulder and proceeded to get a double no handed kneebar rest without either of his shoes on. I'm ecstatic that the moves go 100% on the roof.

In long form, we had an awesome day and spent a good 2 hours fixing the landing. It's a process that we relish for many reasons and it always makes us proud to know that we spent the time and put out the effort to make future climbing experiences enjoyable. Very few people have the same mindset and it makes me happy to have a friend in Chris that shares the same values as I do in that regard. We truly love the entire process of putting up new boulders and Sunday was an awesome day for both of us as we got to touch on everything we love about establishing new lines.

As for the climbing itself, it's incredible. Once we're done there will be two lines, a stand and a low. The stand is going to start on the undercling crimp for your right and your left hand will be on the main hold on the roof. It's obvious and extremely logical. I was able to do the first move, Chris was able to do the bump move and we were each able to do all the other moves. I think that either Chris or myself will do it next time we go. We'll see.

Now, the low start. Woah. It should start on the far left side of the roof and will go through a couple of incredibly hard moves that eventually links into the stand start position more perfectly than we could have planned. Chris was able to imagine the body positions and hold weight just enough to think it'll go. It will be incredibly hard when it goes but will climb through the entire roof. When done it will be one of the best in the midwest for sure.

I want to take a minute and thank Ian, Peter and Remo. All three of you have said something to us about not trying the roof until both Chris and I have had a chance to play on it a bit. I can't tell you how much it means to both of us and we truly appreciate it. Things like this are what make the Madison community so great. This has never been a closed project and never will be, but the fact that you guys have held off, knowing what it means to Chris and I, is incredibly nice.

That's enough of that.

I'm currently very psyched about pretty much everything. Life. Work. Climbing. Everything is pretty awesome right now. I haven't felt this good, physically and mentally, since I did Moj two years ago. It's a great place to be in and Sunday was a prime example of the best days that we get. Don't take them for granted.