August 1st, 2012: It was a lonely breakfast today, as all of my tentmates went on multi-pitches. I just had some perky’s. We met as a group and Lillie did her environmental explorer on Hummingbirds. It was interesting, she did a great job. And we’ve been finding that Hummingbirds are visiting us. You hear a noise, turn quickly and there’s a Hummingbird who has come to say hello and then it’s gone. They are gorgeous! I feel like Pocahontas when it happens!
Jack and I inventoried our climbing gear then we hiked about 15 minutes to the crag. After the group reviewed the topography and chose the routes to set up, Nate and I set up an anchor as a team. It was a bit annoying. He’s the type of person that just gets to work and wants to do it all, while I want to share vision, responsibility and make sure everyone has a part in the building. I was trying my hardest to get him to tell me what his thoughts were on how to build it, but he barely said anything so I just did what I thought was best. We made it work but I don’t think I’d want to build with him again. During the building I did take on a series of jokes from Jared, it was hilariously fun. There was a joke thrown out about me being overweight, and being stupid and it was all done in light humor where I played to it and gave it back. I enjoy our joking.
I was able to climb all the routes today (5.7, 5.8-5.9, 5.8). Using climbing terminology I would say that I flashed them all. After we had built the anchors, we had to rappel, and I had some trouble remembering the rappel set up (again, I think I just get nervous and think too much into it, but I swear I’m not scared of rappelling!). When I did remember, we all then took our big packs and rappelled down with them.
Anywhom, I had an advisor meeting with Jared at the crag today that went well. He said I’m doing well and that if I’m interested, to pursue the course to be a NOLS instructor or something similar. I think I might seriously contemplate it for the summertime! If my knees hold up…. He also asked on a serious note, if his jokes offend me. OF COURSE NOT! That’s just my playful personality and I would not give the jokes if I couldn’t take them. Big Smiles. Yesterday we even had a bit of a deal occur. See, Jared doesn't tie his shoes when he climbs, so while belaying him I advised him that it better not fall off and hit me or else we'd have some problems. So he then said that if his shoe hits me, that he would have to owe me ice cream. Well I'll have to hold him to that! I really like Jared. He’s fun and very smart about EVERYTHING and really genuinely cares about his students. His “gray” personality is growing on me too. He even hit me with webbing today in a friendly manner. I hope we stay in touch, he’d be a great friend and is becoming someone that I greatly appreciate and respect as a person.
After the climbing ended, Jared asked me if I wanted to clear the anchor gear at the top and of course I would NOT turn that down. I climbed a route, topped out, hooked myself into the anchor at the masterpoint and pulled myself up to remove all the gear at the top. He then showed me how to Mountaineer Coil the static rope too! I love that I get to learn all this extra stuff.
We inventoried the gear then hiked back where I hung out with Adam after organizing the gear under the gear tent. We talked about life, people, work, etc. He’s mad chill and it’s always nice to have someone who is actually willing to talk to you. And when he’s talking to you, he is genuinely interested and asks lots of questions. It was some great bonding time with him, he’s a great dude!
Paige cooked hash browns with peppers and we put it in some tortillas for dinner. Then Jared held a lesson on ethics versus style in the climbing world which was really interesting and educative. I wonder what CT is like?? I had no idea the climbing world was this serious and that you need to know the ethics/style of where I am climbing. We have an article reading for homework too. Also, Jared pulled me again, into the “principal’s office.” I’m just always getting in trouble. =-) He advised me that I should try to state suggestions to people instead of just general feedback (just like teaching!) and to try to rappel more every day since I seem to be struggling with it. You got it! And I’ll do it all with a big smile on my face, because I love it here.
August 2nd, 2012: Breakfast today was cereal and hot cocoa! Good thing because it was SO windy and cold this morning! Andrew and Adam took us to a sweet crag today. Lee and I built a rappel anchor on a ledge which was fun! Since it was on a ledge we had to be tethered in the whole time for safety. We worked really well together. We had struggled at first trying to decide if the anchor was right, and after using our checklist we learned, we discovered ourselves what we needed to fix and then we were successful! I had a great time working with him today and feel we make a great team! We didn’t get to rappel this route though because it needed to be trundled to get the loose rock out of the way.
I climbed 3 of the routes today which were mostly crack climbs which was amazing! Cracks are so fun! I even flashed a 5.10a!!! I was so proud of myself and it was nice to have support from Dalton too who watched from below. I then belayed and got to hang with Andrew for a bit and had a lot of fun getting to know his personality a little bit better. I got to do my first mock lead today with him watching. I’m not sure if I will be a good lead climber though because I like perfection and I thought too hard on some of the placements which seemed to bother Andrew a bit. I couldn’t help it though. He kept saying “Place and go,” but I wanted it to be right. I had 1 okay placement and 1-2 bad ones and the rest were perfect. I’ll keep trying and working hard to get it right. The mock lead route was a 5.7-5.8.
We climbed all day and I was in charge of gear inventory for the second day in a row. Again, I love doing this job because it gets me more familiar with the gear. We got back to base camp and had a Pot Luck dinner with couscous, falafel, shepards pie, and Andrew made a marble cake for dessert. It was all so yummy! Tyler gave us a lesson on Black Bears and Paige was on the hot seat. It was another great day in the Winds!
Reflection:
The views here continue to be spectacular and the sunsets never get old. What am I going to do with my life after this….? I feel that it might be lacking and I’m worried about that. I hope things fall into place and I can find somewhere that I will actually have friends and be happy…but I’m beginning to realize that I don’t think CT is the place for that. I’m leaning more and more every day towards moving and making myself LOVE my life. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy my life at home now, but I do feel like there is more out there for me. I think I am growing as a person out here and am not sure my life at home will fit me anymore?
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