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Santa Barbara

Fire Crags - Upper Boulders (03/24/2010)

It was a long time coming, but I finally made it outdoors for the first time in 2010! Not only was this the first time I had climbed outdoors in 2010, but it also was the first time I had climbed in the US since coming back from our Euro trip last September where I got to do a little bouldering on the island of Santorini in Greece (on Perissa Beach).

Needless to say, I was quite out of shape and needed to get back on some familiar routes that were in my climbing range. Last fall the UCSB gym, my normal training spot, took out their auto-belay machines, leaving us solo climbers hanging. My only option had been to do bouldering, which I find a lot less enjoyable than toproping, thus I had been going a lot less. What I was lacking in climbing I made up for with gains in the weight room, but sadly most of that was wiped away after missing a couple weeks due to getting sick in March. Therefore, I had some pent up energy needing to be released and I needed to reconnect with climbing out in a natural setting. Throughout my outdoor climbing haitus, I managed to still have climbing dreams about going to new and exotic places. I think this was my bodies way of still "getting out" even though I wasn't.

Wednesday night after work ended up being the perfect day for climbing. Daylight savings had just started the week before, the weather was warming up but not quite hot yet, and the annoying summer bugs still hadn't come out. Starting from Europe Revisited on the left side of the rock, we hit every route all the way down to Grib Dat Hole, even trying the impossible 5.11b to the left of it. Most of the routes I was able to get up without any problem because my lack of strength was made up for with some technique and familiarity with the rock. However, my usual strategy didn't grant me the same success when attempting Jensen's Jugs, but I was able to find an alternative way up at the crux. This gave me a good pump as it usual does and I felt like it was at my climbing limit at that time. However, I still wanted to try doing the start on Grib Dat Hole using some of the tricks I have used in the past. I knew if I could hit the intermediate hold and then bump to the big pocket then I could basically finish the crux, but lo and behold I was not strong enough to maintain the position I needed to hit it. But I was not discouraged and instead was more than motivated to go out climbing again. I'm eager to quickly back in shape, and want to get back in a level where I can start ticking off the rest of the climbing spots in SB that I've yet to do.

Climbs done:

Europe Revisited (5.7 *) TR - A pretty easy climb that can be a little frustrating in the middle.

Bent Brain (5.8 **) TR - A tricky beginning in which I almost ate it. Once I got my foot up to the big pockets it was smooth sailing.

Jensen's Jugs (5.10a ***) TR - A classic climb that I always enjoy doing. The crux kicked my butt this time, but I was able to figure out another way up it by going more right than I usually do.

Grib Dat Hole (5.11a ***) TR - Failed to get down the start even though I knew how to do it. Not many tricks can help you here when you don't have the strength.