I have recently started a new job, and on my resume I have put a very small line on my personal interests. One of those listed is climbing, which my boss mentioned to me during the interview process. We agreed to go climbing someday and last night was it.
Well, he kicked my ass. I now have somone to look up to when I go climbing, and I think that his skills are solid enough to aspire to. For one, he said that he had not climbed in over two years, and only three times in the past seven years. To me, this meant he would be sticking to 5.8's and 5.9's the entire night, especially since he wanted to take it easy so as to not pull anything. That lasted long. Three climbs in and he was running up 5.10's that I was struggling to get over on. He then topped it off on a 5.11. Damn!
If I can get him to go more often, I should be able to climb my first 5.11 by spring. I am now totally motivated to get my weight down to 165 lbs and to get up to 5.11 by spring. I do not want to get my butt kicked like that again. Of course, I am not trying to compete, but you know what, I feel like I owe it whomever I am climbing with to climb somewhat at their level. I get only mild satisfaction when consistently climbing with someone with weaker skills than I have. I love introducing people to the sport, but want to challenge myself with people who can push me.
From now on, I have a plan to get better and stronger. If I am to climb alone, then I will boulder specific moves so that I can learn them. One of them is a lunging move. I do not know what it is called. It is not a dyno but it does require a fully committed lunge and grab. If you don't grab it, then you fall. I may even give the feet-free wall a go. That should help improve my strength.
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