Trading Places

So Derek and I had another climbing gym swap-a-roo meetup where he came to my neck of the woods with a couple friends and we all went to the gym where I work, Triangle Rock Club.  TRC is a pretty nifty place with some okay bouldering and some really great top-roping and lead routes, which works out great for me since bouldering is, let's say, not my favorite.  I had a great time showing them around and getting back on the walls after not having a climbing buddy for a few weeks and I think my guests enjoyed themselves as well, but I'll let Derek speak on that.

As far as what I climbed it was nothing too far out of the norm or spectacular for me.  I borrowed a page from Wayne's book and warmed up on a 5.7 and then kept increasing the rating until I was starting to struggle.  My max attempt of the day was a 5.12- which I didn't send since I couldn't get through a big move to a slopey hold, and my best flash was a crimpy 5.11 that was a friendly reminder to work on my grip strength and form.

It's really frustrating to me that the jump from 5.11's and 5.12's seems so huge and I hate that I'm starting to feel like I can't move up to the next grade.  As much as I don't enjoy bouldering maybe it's a necessary evil to break out of this plateau, that or maybe I could get off my ass and climb more often but I'm having a lot of troubles finding the motivation to get out of the house right now.  The closer my Seattle move gets the more stressed out I get about meeting my savings goal before I leave, and of course leaving the house translates loosely into spending money so it's a constant struggle.

Not that I'm not still excited to move though, still really looking forward to that.  Anyway it's been a pretty slow time because of that so I've been living vicariously through watching other climbers in the gym while I'm working, particularly boulderers.  That counts for something, right?