Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Cracking a beer on the boat.
Tonight’s beer is the So What IPA from E9 Brewing out of Tacoma, a “West coast style IPA,” whatever that means.
It’s good to be here with you guys to talk a little about life and a lot about bouldering.
Yesterday was the super sesh. I and about seven others made the trek up to the Clear Cut Boulders, aka the Reiter Foothills Boulders, aka the Gold Bar Boulders. We had more pads than we could use, even on Road to Zion V5, an epic traverse that will put any group’s pad numbers to the test. We started out at Warm-up Slab V0, which you already know is one of my favorite boulders of all time, one of the first boulders I ever climbed outside, and also the boulder I’ve definitely climbed the most in my life. What would be second? Hmmmm. I’ve climbed Bricklayer V0 in Leavenworth a bunch. I’ve definitely climbed Regatta de Blanc V0 and BMOC in Gold Bar a bunch. Magic School Bus V2. It’s probably Regatta de Blanc V0, one of the most popular boulders in Gold Bar and one I initially had more fondness for but now, for whatever reason, don’t like as much. I mean, it’s still kinda cool. It’s got a heel hook. But like. I don’t know.
After Warm-up Slab we went to the Tetris Boulder for a bit, the sun beating down on us, the inversion visible on the Skykomish Valley floor below. It felt like some of the hardmen were getting antsy to try something hard, even if they weren’t vocalizing it, so we then went up to Road to Zion V5, aka everyone’s favorite epic maneating lionheart granodiorite fantasy blitzkrieg traverse. Pretty much everything about his boulder is epic. The size of it. The cleanliness of the face. The fact that you’re not dragging your ass but doing most of the moves at head height. The fact that it goes on forever and might end up in Narnia. The fact that the top out is spicy af and you can’t really pad it and by the time you get there you’re pumped and crying for help and the only person to spot you is screaming “everything you! got come on!” in your ear and the rock is kind of wet and mossy and you don’t know where the holds are.
At least, that’s what I imagine it’s like. I didn’t send it.
But I watched Wyatt, Matt and Brad all flash it, and it was inspiring. Heel hooks. Toe hooks. Hip opening. Crimps. Jugs. Lunges. Big moves. It was great. I got a little frustrated because I want to be able to do more moves, and because the heel hooks weren’t as comfortable for me as they were for other people, but it’s a great boulder to learn on, too. It’s great practice for getting your core close to the wall. For weighting your feet. For keeping your arms straight. For doing every trick in the book to not get pumped. And I can’t wait to go back.
Well, I can wait a bit.
IN OTHER NEWS! My beer is almost done. I’m climbing outside with Matt either Wednesday or Thursday. We’re either going to the Index River Boulders or the Zelda Boulders or the Five Star Boulder or the Camp Serene Boulder or we’re just saying fuck it and chartering a plane to Red Rocks. Though I guess we wouldn’t have to charter, we could just fly Alaska. In other OTHER news, work still hasn’t picked up, but I’ve started working on the novel again in earnest, doing about 1,000 words a day. I’m 68,000 words (about 225 pages) in, some of which I hope is useable. I hope the book is actually readable. I’m going to have to re-write some or all of the beginning, and I still don’t know how it’s going to end. But when do we ever know how anything is going to end? Not knowing how things are going to end, in fact not knowing how any given day is going to end, is what makes life exciting, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.