Saturday, February 23, 2013

A Trip with Trent!

It is hard not to get excited when ever I get to get outdoors with my kids. I took Trent over to Bozeman Mt Feb 15-18th for a little ice climbing and snowboarding. It's only Trent's second outing on ice and he did great! As for the snowboarding heck he's been doing it for years now its getting harder for Dad to keep up! We climbed Saturday and Sunday in Hyalite Canyon started out at the Corner Climbs met up with Joe and Bob moved on to Mummy 2 and Scepter. Next day we pulled late shift and climbed at G1. Monday we finished off our trip snowboarding at Big Sky which was awesome! Killer mountain for sure! It is always a gift for me to get to share my love for the outdoors with my kids!

Corner Climbs we climbed Thin Chance the one on the right


Trent sizing up the ice

At the top of Thin Chance


Trent climbs the Scepter!


Dads gotta get some too! G1 right pillar


Trents first time belaying me on ice leads he did great!


Waiting for the tram at Big Sky that boy can ride a snowboard and I couldn't be more proud!


Enough said!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Get Your Zen On!

Call it Zen, the calm or just plain patients as a climber I must always be vigilant to work on it. A life's work in progress it is the most influential aspect in my climbing. It has taken a very long time for me to really see the impact ones mental game plays while climbing. Once I lose any sense of calm while climbing the doubt and fear come rushing in. They will always be there but if I can keep them at bay my climbing will keep improving. I can train until I'm blue in the face, but if my mental game is weak all is lost. The past few years I have started to really find my "Zen" while climbing and it has been a revelation for me. If I climb more patient things like putting in a hard to place screw or gear are so much easier now. It's like ah crap hit air take the screw back out take a deep breath, switch hands depump and place it some where else relax. If I'm able to stay calm I'm able to make things count and that's so important. Good foot placement, sticks and gear is what it's all about better to style up an easy route that shake your way up a hard one! Once I start to let panic set in for what ever reason things start to feel dire and the real pump sets in. One of the beauties of climbing for me is if my mind is right it is just about that task at that very moment that counts no distractions from life. That for me is probably one of the main reasons I climb to have some time to unwind in a very busy world. A Buddhist Monk I'll never be but I can always aspire for a better state of mind!

Practicing my "Zen" on a rotten Sundance Kid Moses Coulee,WA 1-31-13
 Dale Carnegie You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind.