And You're Ready Now?

It's amazing what a crowded Upper Limits will force me to do. I had already climbed Truxton or Bust (5.6), A Bright Idea (5.8), An Early Winter's Frost (5.7), Face Plant (5.8), Sol (5.7) and a 5.8 with simply JW on it.

Patti: Where to?

Me: I can't believe that I'm saying this but the red route i.e. the And You're Ready Now?, a 5.8b route

I knew that I was facing an uphill battle but there was, literally, nowhere else to go.

I made one attempt. Went back down to get some tips from Patti who suggested that I do a drop knee, a concept that I don't quite get yet. Patti asked Jamie, an Upper Limits staff member, if he would explain the concept. Jamie was demure -- said that he wasn't a good explainer but he did give me some good tips. He said that he tells people to turn their hip. He also told me that I needed to get my hip into the wall. Yeah, I have a problem with my butt being pushed out when I do planks too.

Furthermore, Jamie advised me to kind of squat with my legs and have straight arms when I was, well, not climbing or at a pausing point. And I'm thinking I can squat; I've been doing that a lot in Cardio and Muscle class.

Jamie also said that it's counterintuitive but you should not be climbing energetically. And that's me -- in a nutshell. I tend to attack things when I take on something (like an elephant in a china shop).

I attempted And You're Ready Now? about five times but, apparently, I wasn't ready. LOL.

I was thinking about buying a chalk bag on Etsy but I was worried about the size. Earlier, I asked Patti if she remembered how tall her bag was and she said that I could check it out when we went climbing today. Surprise, surprise. Patti handed me a chalk bag and chalk ball from Jessica -- what a nice surprise.


Now, I just need to get a harness and I'll be an official rock climber.

In addition to calluses, I got another rock climbing memento from a drop knee of a different sort. I do need to be a little less energetic...



Check out this chica dropping knees all over the place.