Rest day, shmest day

So it's been several days since my last post and it's not because of a lack of eventful happenings. Mainly, I write these on rest days, but I've been really psyched to climb everyday this last week. My muscles ache in the mornings (especially my elbows) but after morning PT and a bunch of pushups my body starts to feel better. Even after climbing the last 4 or so days straight, I'm still psyched to go back and work hard. I suppose having some projects that I feel really close on helps. The aforementioned projects are:

Checkerboard
Beefcake
Soul Slinger

I tried Checkerboard for the first time today and it is an absolutely beautiful climb. The photo below is of my friend, Sierra trying it. She got really close to finishing it many times today, all the way to the last hard move. It turns out that I had met Sierra years ago up in Squamish. I remember her trying and eventually succeeding to climb Sesame Street, a really challenging V9. Anyway, after getting the beta on Checkerboard down, myself, I got up to where she was getting 3 times and fell each time. Each time I was up that high, I wanted to make the last move a lock off, but I finally realized that I had to pop to reach that next hold. It is a heady last move and you're tired from a series of difficult crimp moves with high feet. It will go this trip. I believe it.

Crimpin' ain't easy. Checkerboard (V8)

Beefcake is a silly climb in a cave. I have no photos of it because it is totally dark back there. It feels like a very trollish climb, but the movement is quite beautiful. There is one point on it where I'm heel hooking with my right foot and toe hooking really hard with my left. Using both of these to keep compression I can release one of my hands to a good hold. It feels incredibly hard, especially this one drop down move off of shitty feet, but with good conditions and after a rest day, it might go down.

Lastly, Soul Slinger has always felt impossibly hard to me. I did battle with that climb 3 years ago and made little progress on it. I finally had a breakthrough a couple days ago when I moved off of the bad peanut pinch to a small dish above. I had never connected with that hold before and it felt really amazing, although that hold is utter crap. You have to then crimp really hard and slowly raise your right foot up and cross to a decent pinch before jumping to the hero bucket.

Some guy on the peanut pinch and slopey dish.

The game plan for the rest of the trip is to do these climbs. Of the three, I am most psyched on Checkerboard, though Soul Slinger is amazing as well. Beefcake is technically the hardest of the three at V10, but the least aesthetic.

Other momentous moments have been climbing and repeating Pow Pow. Flashing Rio's Crack, a stunning V6 in the Sads. Climbing Go Granny Go and Go Granny Ho, two fun climbs on the Grandma Peabody boulder. Trying and getting close on the Iron Fly Dyno. Going to the hot springs near Mammoth late at night with a nice couple from Denver. Turns out the guy, Greg Miller, was a former setter at Stone Gardens way back in the day. We reminisced about Seattle and Stoney G's together. Talking about all the good food and beer up there made me miss it all the more.

It's only been a week and a half, but it seems like ages. I've been meeting new, cool people all the time, though, and getting to hang out and just climb every day is a real treat. Maybe one of these days, I'll actually rest and then dispatch these projects. Until then, just gotta keep crankin'!