Climbers arriving for Festival

Alex Honnold and Ellen Powick were the first two Black Diamond athletes to arrive for the festival and we climbed in hot temps yesterday at White Mountain. It was great to watch them shred routes up to 13a, they stand on stuff I cannot even see let alone think about putting any weight on. Kind of opens up new realms of the possible in my mind. One of the local farmers came over to watch and asked me why Alex climbed so effortlessly while I seemed to struggle. And I thought I climbed the pitch pretty well.

There are a few other groups of climbers here but it is not like I was anticipating as the festival kicks-off in just a few days. Skies are gray this morning and temps are at least 5 degrees C lower. Light rains are forecast for today and tomorrow and I hope this will bring and keep the temps down for the rest of the year.

I'm still very busy with getting the YAI launched, and working with the local villagers as well as moving into my flat and working on the festival, so I haven't gotten out to climb much at all. I've been climbing within my comfort zone since I arrived in YS about one month ago, filling in climbs at the bottom of my pyramid (11a/b) and progressing well. Now, most spaces are filled up and I need to start on the harder stuff. Yesterday, after flailing on an 11b I'd redpointed a few times before, I got on a TR on China White (12b) and got a good wake-up call for just how much more strength I'll have to bring to the game real soon! I haven't even tried to pull-down that hard since the spring as most of the stuff I've been climbing has been smaller face routes whereas China White has huge jugs, but BIG moves. I'm psyched to get on more stuff like it, I think I just decide on 3 or 4 12s to project at a few of the crags and get on them each time I climb there, even if it's just draw to draw; I can figure out the moves and get used to climbing more strongly.