Regardless of their devotion to climbing, everyone, I'm sure, has a ticklist of some sort. Inevitably, climbs make their way on to that list that are a) way too hard, b) way too far away, or c) way too blond. But therein lies the point of the ticklist: passing time thinking about amazing boulders (or routes, I guess). The classes I am currently enrolled in require a good deal of time sitting in the back thinking about problems I'd like to try, and today I came up with this, my North American All-Time Ticklist:
Slashface, 8B, Hueco Tanks.
Black Lung, 8B, Joe's Valley.
Nothing But Sunshine, 8B, RMNP.
Circadian Rhythm, 8B, Poudre Canyon.
No More Greener Grasses, 8A+, Mt. Evans.
The Shield, 8A+, Little Rock City.
Eclipse, 8A+, Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Wet Dream, 8A+, Red Rocks.
Right-Hand Mini Problem Sit, 8A+, CATS.
Something From Nothing, 8A, Great Barrington.
God Module, 8A, Horse Pens 40. Notice: video contains invalid ascent. Put them feet on the wall before the first move, son!
Haroun and the Sea of Stories, 8A, Bishop.
Drive On, 7C+, Yosemite.
Golden Harvest, 7C+, Rocktown.
Obviously, most of these climbs are far beyond my limit. Furthermore, it can be a heavy financial burden to take the necessary time off from work and school to travel to all of these areas, not to mention dealing with the swollen price of gasoline and data plans (for updating 8a from the iPhone, of course). I know that I’ll never see some of these climbs, and I’ll send fewer, but what matters is that making these ridiculous lists and thinking about these amazing climbs keeps me motivated, keeps the psyche level high. Why else spend so much time hunkered down under the steep wall at CATS, groping greasy pinches and fingering heinous crimps while spandexed children hurl themselves screaming down the runway and into the air with all manner of flips and spins and crash breathless onto the foam mats inches from the finish jug of Epic? That, and it also helps pass the time while the Professor explains multiplying fractions or details the many rules of run-on sentences. So win-win, really.
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omg at first i thought it would be all hateBs and my face really did turn red for a second and i had heart palpitations. but then, real grades started to show up. while most of the time i'm kidding, i am not at this point. i really thought this would be the antisockhands list on purpose and i was ready for nuclear war.
ReplyDeletehere's my lifetime list:
celestial mechanics, lrc?
high plains drifter, bishop
petite hueco, rocklands
pousif, font
midnight lightning (to the lip), yosemite
yabo roof is a lot better than drive on. the crimps on drive on are ghetto and apparently the rock is still exfoliating and crumbling a tad.
ReplyDeletehayden, thanks for the info. i think we talked about these problems briefly in joe's, and i'm glad to have the opinion of someone who has actually seen the climbs in person. my opinion is based solely on the clip in dosage v.
ReplyDeletecircadian is very disappointing. it climbs well but you feel like you're sitting on the boulder behind you, which you most likely are.
ReplyDelete