Hanging tough
It's been long enough; time for another climbing report!
I took over a week off, because my knees were threatening a rebellion from getting constantly bruised, and that allowed a lot of parts to heal and ideas to gel. I definitely recommend the occasional break from your sport.
My current project is to climb to the top of the overhanging section called "the cave." It's inclined enough that you really are "hanging from all fours," if you think of it like crawling, upside-down. An interim step, I figure, is to convince myself I can comfortably down-climb it. It's always harder to climb down something than to climb up it, especially if you tend to only practice one direction and not the other.
Down-climbing does two things for me. First, if I can climb half-way up and half-way back down, then I've built the endurance to climb all the way up. (Oh. Hm. If I'm going to get all the way up and all the way down, then I'd better start practicing up half-way, down half-way, and up and back again. Golly.) If you dropped a plumb line from the roof of the cave, it's 15 feet off the floor. But the climber, of course, travels the hypotenuse of that triangle. (Help me with my trig, here. How far is that, if the angle between the floor and the wall really is 60 degrees? Triangle ABC: Angle A is 60 degrees; Angle B is 90 degrees. Segment BC is 15 feet. How long is AC?)
Second, if I know I can down-climb it, then I'll know I won't have to drop when I get to the top. This has the mental benefit of reassuring me and the physical benefit of not telescoping my spine. (These kids, I tell ya.)
So I've got my mid-way goal, a big, blue jug I can just reach from the floor by standing on my tiptoes. On Sunday, and again on Monday, I started at the bottom, kiester planted on the floor, and climbed up to that jug and back down again, neat as you please. Joanna said I was starting to look like Shawna, in the way I used my feet.
It's amazing to see a thing that used to be just a glint of chrome lost in the heat shimmer on the horizon resolve itself into an actual, attainable destination.
In other news, memeatron climbed to the top of the cave his own self on Sunday. He claims he'll write about it on his LJ, sooner or later...
I took over a week off, because my knees were threatening a rebellion from getting constantly bruised, and that allowed a lot of parts to heal and ideas to gel. I definitely recommend the occasional break from your sport.
My current project is to climb to the top of the overhanging section called "the cave." It's inclined enough that you really are "hanging from all fours," if you think of it like crawling, upside-down. An interim step, I figure, is to convince myself I can comfortably down-climb it. It's always harder to climb down something than to climb up it, especially if you tend to only practice one direction and not the other.
Down-climbing does two things for me. First, if I can climb half-way up and half-way back down, then I've built the endurance to climb all the way up. (Oh. Hm. If I'm going to get all the way up and all the way down, then I'd better start practicing up half-way, down half-way, and up and back again. Golly.) If you dropped a plumb line from the roof of the cave, it's 15 feet off the floor. But the climber, of course, travels the hypotenuse of that triangle. (Help me with my trig, here. How far is that, if the angle between the floor and the wall really is 60 degrees? Triangle ABC: Angle A is 60 degrees; Angle B is 90 degrees. Segment BC is 15 feet. How long is AC?)
Second, if I know I can down-climb it, then I'll know I won't have to drop when I get to the top. This has the mental benefit of reassuring me and the physical benefit of not telescoping my spine. (These kids, I tell ya.)
So I've got my mid-way goal, a big, blue jug I can just reach from the floor by standing on my tiptoes. On Sunday, and again on Monday, I started at the bottom, kiester planted on the floor, and climbed up to that jug and back down again, neat as you please. Joanna said I was starting to look like Shawna, in the way I used my feet.
It's amazing to see a thing that used to be just a glint of chrome lost in the heat shimmer on the horizon resolve itself into an actual, attainable destination.
In other news, memeatron climbed to the top of the cave his own self on Sunday. He claims he'll write about it on his LJ, sooner or later...