Recently there’s actually been some exciting stuff going on in my life outside of climbing. Most significantly, I finally got my driver’s permit with the goal of getting my driver’s license by the end of this summer. I’m already 21, well on my way to 22 (my birthday is in October) but I suppose it’s better late then never to finally get my license. I also got a new phone, which is notable since I’ve had the same phone (my very first cell phone) since 8th grade (note: I just finished my junior year at college!). It was quite difficult to give up my old phone, which my dad referred to as an “antique.” It was practically indestructible and was still functioning well when I decided to upgrade. I got a basic version of an iPhone, and this seems really high tech after my clunker phone, but I come from a big “Apple family” (my dad, sister, and step-mom all have iPhones) so I have lots of “iPhone experts” who can help me out.
But, this is a climbing blog so I will stop boring you with the rather mundane details of my life. I have been climbing a lot, as always, but I also feel like I’m been climbing relatively well lately (for myself at least.) I’ve been climbing with my dad basically every week, and despite the hard grades, I managed to get another 5.12 at Vertical World after only two attempts. However, there’s still a lot of 5.12 climbs I haven’t managed to do without falling yet! I really enjoy climbing with my dad. Not only is it a good opportunity to spend one-on-one time with him, but I also seem to do a lot of climbs when I’m with him and always leave the gym tired. I did some bouldering this weekend and that was a nice break from all the rope climbing I have been doing. I went to the Seattle Bouldering Project, an exclusively bouldering gym near Capitol Hill in Seattle. The grades were much easier there then at Vertical World which was a nice confidence booster. I did several v6s and I also flashed a v7, although it did seem particularly easy for the grade. To put this into perspective, at VW right now I find a lot of the v5s there hard! I ran into a couple Whitman alumni while there–in particular, Lily-who was the climbing gym manager at Whitman two years ago and Dan, who graduated from Whitman in 2011.
I also made plans to climb outside with Dan next weekend at Exit 32, which is located near North Bend, Washington, which is an easy day trip from Seattle. My only worry is the rain (it’s been raining a lot in Seattle lately) but as long as the weather doesn’t interfere I should be climbing outside soon! I’m excited to see how all the training I’ve done inside affects my ability to climb outside. (I’m hoping my endurance will be really good since I’ve been spending a lot of time climbing 50-foot walls.)
