Friday glee is mostly frictionless

[rydra_wong]

The Friday post of glee is where you get to tell us about your climbing-related happiness this week.

It can be a new achievement or adventure, or just that you climbed and had fun; it can be that your favourite climbing wall is expanding or that you bought new rock shoes or that you found a cool ice-climbing vid on YouTube. No glee is too small -- or too big. Members are encouraged to cheer each other on and share the squee.

To enhance this week's glee, slatey funtiemz: Hazel Findlay on Rainbow of Recalcitrance and making an attempt on the ridiculously stupid (and I mean that as a compliment) Gin Palace. Matt Segal and Johnny Dawes provide belaying and moral support.

Comments

[rydra_wong]

I have tremendous glee this week, because I did a new V5 (only my third ever), and because my beloved Miuras have come back from resoling.

(cofax7, I got them resoled with Stealth C4 this time, out of curiosity and because I've liked it on other shoes. So we shall see how that holds up to my toe-dragging habits.)

[emperor]

V5? Excellent :-)

[rydra_wong]

V5s are generally out of my league (as are a lot of V4s). But intermittently, there'll be one I can do on flexibility, stubbornness, or in this case, nerve.

[emperor]

I'm a bit like that with corner routes. They suit my climbing style, it seems, and I can mostly just bridge my way to the top. Not very elegant, mind ;-)

ETA: edit to add my climbing userpic stolen from LJ. I should probably get a more recent photo...

[rydra_wong]

I love bridging. I keep finding ways to turn things into bridging problems when they're really not meant to be. *g*

[emperor]

Slate scares me a bit, it has a bit of a rep for being sharp!

This week's glee is entirely limestone-based :) On Sunday, after lunch, we hopped in the car up to Harborough Rocks for the first trad of the year. The weather was perfect and very summery, but there was still plenty of space on the rocks. The routes are all pretty short (which is a change from the multi-pitch stuff I was doing in Wales last year), but that meant I got 6 ticks in the afternoon despite plenty of faff. I think my highlight was Pedestal Crack (S 4a) which wasn't particularly challenging, but I couldn't find any gear in the first 6m or so (the eponymous crack), so had to keep it together enough to climb up that to the ledge. After a false start (my belayer said "get some gear in!", so I downclimbed to re-assess), committing to this felt pretty good, and I felt great pulling up to the top of that route :-) Also, while the routes are titchy, there's still a great view from the top of them!

[rydra_wong]

I couldn't find any gear in the first 6m or so (the eponymous crack), so had to keep it together enough to climb up that to the ledge

Scary stuff! But it's great when you can feel confident in your own judgement about whether to commit or not.

[emperor]

There were plenty of positive holds, so I don't think I was being foolish; OTOH, polished limestone can be unexpectedly slippery!

[wpadmirer]

My glee for Friday was actually getting to climb this morning with my partner Fred. He's a great climber, and he pushes me to climb harder and work out more. (He knows I'm naturally a very lazy person!)

I was in Los Angeles, CA last weekend for the opening of a play I wrote. It did well and has received one review so far - and it was glowing. YAY!

So getting back on the wall was a reward!

[rydra_wong]

Yay climbing AND play! Congratulations on the opening!

[wpadmirer]

Thanks!