1. My new shoes have finally broken in that last millimetre, and are now tight but not painful, and they really suit my foot shape.
2. I went into the climbing wall yesterday and was greeted by the unmistakable EEEEEEEE of kids with severe autism having a good time (I'm not only Aspie myself, I've also spent a lot of time working with kids and young people with severe autism, so this is very familiar). Turned out there was a group from a playscheme on a visit, and it was clearly a big hit.
I grinned like an idiot. MY PEOPLE, in one of my favourite places.
3. I fell wildly in lust with an orange V5. I've only done a few V4s so far, so this should be way out of my league -- and it's certainly at the very edge of my ability -- but so far I've managed to do every move except the last at least once (though it's 50-50 whether I'll bring any of them off on a given occasion).
It's very very balance-y, and most of it is actually a low-level traverse. So the moves are viciously hard -- my fingers are going to be made out of steel if I ever get to the point where I can link it -- but barely a step above the ground. There isn't that psychological factor of knowing that you're going to take a big fall if you try but fail.
You only take a significant fall on the last three moves, and because of how that bit's set up (climbing over the lip of an overhanging feature), you tend to fall out and back with no risk of bashing yourself on a hold on the way down (which is something I usually loathe about vertical walls).
I usually really like working with the psychological element in bouldering, but it's interesting to put it aside for a while and see what I can do by way of pure technical difficulty.
I think I'm going to get a lot out of working on this, whether I ever send it or not.
I have multi-part glee!
Date: 2009-04-17 02:53 pm (UTC)2. I went into the climbing wall yesterday and was greeted by the unmistakable EEEEEEEE of kids with severe autism having a good time (I'm not only Aspie myself, I've also spent a lot of time working with kids and young people with severe autism, so this is very familiar). Turned out there was a group from a playscheme on a visit, and it was clearly a big hit.
I grinned like an idiot. MY PEOPLE, in one of my favourite places.
3. I fell wildly in lust with an orange V5. I've only done a few V4s so far, so this should be way out of my league -- and it's certainly at the very edge of my ability -- but so far I've managed to do every move except the last at least once (though it's 50-50 whether I'll bring any of them off on a given occasion).
It's very very balance-y, and most of it is actually a low-level traverse. So the moves are viciously hard -- my fingers are going to be made out of steel if I ever get to the point where I can link it -- but barely a step above the ground. There isn't that psychological factor of knowing that you're going to take a big fall if you try but fail.
You only take a significant fall on the last three moves, and because of how that bit's set up (climbing over the lip of an overhanging feature), you tend to fall out and back with no risk of bashing yourself on a hold on the way down (which is something I usually loathe about vertical walls).
I usually really like working with the psychological element in bouldering, but it's interesting to put it aside for a while and see what I can do by way of pure technical difficulty.
I think I'm going to get a lot out of working on this, whether I ever send it or not.