Let me eat cake
For breakfast, with my own homemade cafe au lait...it was terrific fuel which got me all the way through an afternoon of routesetting, with the healthy addition of half a banana, half an apple, and half of a granola bar. Doing things by halves, except my setting, which came out well. The young guys in charge of route setting gave it their approval, observing that it had "movement" in it. Setting a route for indoor climbing is similar to choreographing movements for performance art, and it is impossible to satisfy all the performers who try the routes, so I'm glad when the people who've done route setting for several years think my problems are all right. Another routesetter asked me to be a guinea pig on a problem he had just finished. He's a tall guy, with a wife shorter than I am - she's about 5 feet one - who gives him hell if he doesn't put in footholds to acommodate us little people. Unfortunately, this particular route was horrifically difficult for me, footholds or no, and I am certain I resembled a ballerina tripping over her own feet as I struggled to ascend. He was tactful, and said,"Thanks for doing this. I'll put another foothold down at the bottom." Yeah, that'll fix it for me! What I needed was another foot of height, and about 25 years shaved off of my total... Went home early, since after I did a lead route, the big bruise on my right ring finger started throbbing again and I decided not to push it.
Over the halfway point with The Glass Bead Game; all 560 pages are to be finished by March 1...
Over the halfway point with The Glass Bead Game; all 560 pages are to be finished by March 1...
posted by isabelita at 9:40 AM
7 Comments:
No problem for me if you eat cake for B-fast - especially if you burn it all of routesetting. Btw, I am finally making it to Joshua Tree for a friend's "bachelor" party. Really, its a bunch of my adventure racer pals getting together to celebrate one of our group's 40th b-day climbing about.
Any suggestions? We head there at the end of March.
'spike, are you guys going climbing there? Are you going to camp? We stayed in the Hidden Valley Campground, which was good, albeit a bit noisier on the weekend nights. If you're climbing, I hope you have people you trust to put up the routes. I found that even the so-called easy routes, as in 5.8 or 5.9, were hard. Our son was our "ropegun," and he led everything, thank goodness. Will your group have a guide? Tell me more!
If you're hiking and scrambling around, you can get a fabulous bunch of exercise. It's typical for climbers to get kind of "lost" in the boulder fields while looking for routes, and you end up scrambling for hours sometimes. But it was sooooo wonderful, evne being off route in the boulder fields.
Kathy - You wish I would kick some 20-somethings butts? I gotta say, the ones I'm friends with, and our kid's friends, I really like. But I know there are some baby cons out there who need... disciplining!
"I resembled a ballerina" - I'd be interested to see how your tutu combines with your harness. Yowza!
Spike - Picture show here.
How fast do you read, I.? You must be able to really plow through the pages when you need to.
Not if I'm failing to get much out of the pages, Neil. This tome is frustrating.
Isa and Phil,
thanks for the tips and the pics. Now I am even more excited for the trek to JT. I have never been there and a friend's spouse is setting this up as a 40th b-day party for him. So, I don't have all the details. I do know we are staying in the Nat'l park at some campground. So, I think it will be car camping - which is alright by me as it means we will eat well. Or, we may be backpacking in. I'm bringing my gear no matter - should be a blast and judging by the pics, it will be no end of fun. BTW, love the travel chello. Must sound wonderful against the backdrop of the rocks.
Oh boy oh boy, can't wait to hear about your J-Tree trip, 'spike!!!
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