For me as with many people I'm sure I had a mental block about being able to climb harder. I was stuck in the mindset that I could only climb as hard as v6 so I rarely tried things that were harder. This mindset was shattered when I took a trip to mortar rock in Berkley, CA and hopped on what I thought was a v6 called Black Plague. It turned out to be the v7 called Pinkey Paralysis and just like that my mental block was gone. That happened in November of 2013 and shortly after that I was able to get 2 more v7s to finish off 2013 strong. But with only 85 climbs that year it is a sad comparison with 2014's 351.
The biggest difference in the two years is that in August of 2014 I moved to Bishop, CA to pursue my dream of climbing everything in my favorite area, Bishop. Now I did send 120 climbs in the first 6 months of the year but the last 4 months was were I really got down to it, sending 231 climbs in the later half of the year. It turns out that climbing in bulk actually helps improve your ability dramatically, the more rock you can get on outside the better the climber you will become I can almost guarantee it! Now I'm not saying that you will move up a ton of grades in a short time period, but you will definitely be able to move with more efficiency on rock and increase the spacial awareness of your body. ie knowing where your body needs to be for you to do the sequence of the beta you've unlocked.
No climbing all the time might seem like the best thing in the world, and yes of course it is ;-), but there are some negatives to it as well. If you are not giving your body the nutrients and conditioning it needs it will start to fail on you. In my case I am terrible at stretching to insure proper flexibility for climbing. Now if you talk to some of my friends I'm sure they would tell you that they think I'm flexible, but the thing about knowing your body well is that you can get into positions without needing to be all that flexible. A subtle shift here a slight rotation there and voila you can make a high-step or scrunchy heel hook with ease. The thing about not stretching properly or having a quality diet is that you are more prone to injury. In 2014 I believe I had 6 or so injuries that put me out for a decent amount of time. These include getting partial tears in both of my achilles tendons, the second of which I am still recovering from, as well as both sets of my strong fingers(middle and ring) twice each. So what I've learned from these experiences is you need to know your body better than anything else so that you can know when to not push it to the breaking point. Some of these injuries happened very quickly so there wasn't as much of a chance to not injure them. but for both of my Achilles tendons there was very little excuse since they both could've been prevented. Moving forward I know enough about my tendons to know when to stop, even though sometimes I keep going long after it is health for me.
Now for some of my proudest moments of the year I'm going to list the top sends of 2014.
Last Dance v9 -- my first v9 so I was so psyched to get it the first day I worked it.
Fly Boy SDS v8 -- my second v8 of the year but my first in bishop
Pit Bull v8 -- my first v8, Since I'd only gotten my first v7 a couple moths earlier I was super psyched to get this climb finished in only two sessions.
High Plains Drifter v7 -- my first v7 in bishop, I got it after my first v8 and v9 lol
Vicious v7 -- a cool second sesh v7 I took down in castle
Flake Out v7 -- a fun 7 in yosemite i took down in a handful of tries
Dark Side of the Moon v7 -- short and sweet on this climb on the indian rock side of castle, few moves but with a landing thats better not to fall on.
Joss v7 -- a soft v7 in yosemite that I got in two goes.
Seven Spanish Angels v6 -- one of the best lines I've ever climbed, definitely my favorite v6!
Give Me a Rim Job v6 -- a nice final send before I left town for Christmas, took two sessions to get it.
Birthday Hug(aka unnamed #4) v6 -- I renamed this line because i just don't like having unnamed climbs haha.
The Gleaner v6 -- easy after I got some new, more dynamic beta.
Smooth Shrimp v6 -- people keep telling me this is soft, I definitely disagree.
Howard Carter Sit Start v6 -- I love one move v6s you get done with the hard part and your done!
Every Color You Are v6 -- I was so stoked to get this line! it took about 2 sessions but it is very fun!
Bowling Pin SDS v6 -- flashing climbs is a rare occurance when at this grade or higher for me so I cherish each of them. The only problem is it's hard to give people beta haha.
Something Wicked This Way Comes v6 -- one of the best lines I've done so far while in colorado!
The Twilight Zone v6 -- another short and sweet flash this one in the happy boulders
Cujo v6 -- tough line in tahoe at the beavers area
Power Ballad v6 -- this climb was really hard because it had been siting in the sun all day and the first crux was basically the first move witch was a dyno to a sloper then you have to mantel it for the second crux.
Cig-Arete v6 -- an easy short v6 traverse
Touch Your Toes v6 -- this one took a ton of tries and a lot of my skin, both finger and arm haha.
Erotic Terrorist v6 -- I got this on the road trip Nick and I took driving him to CA from CO
Cave Route v6 -- got this on the same road trip, with a little help from the dusk temps
Hard v6 -- one of the tough lines in Rocklin, CA
Lost Keys Traverse v6 -- did this the way it was meant to be, first go of the day
Coz Daddy Roof v6 -- fun little traverse in castle
Blonde Ambition v6 -- took two goes, its in yosemite
Chocolate Bunny v6 -- hard short climb thats quite balancey
Well those are all of the v6 and above climbs that I got last year, I hope this year will be as fruitful. I wish I had more of these on video, if I remember I'll go back to do them and re-record the sends so that I can have them all linked to vids. If you want to watch any of the other climbs I've done check out my YouTube channel TheIrishKing!
I hope you enjoyed my update on 2014!
Until the next adventure,
-The Irish King
