This place has fallen into a state of disrepair. Last post? November. And just a video, at that. 2011 was not a good year for my writing. I didn’t do much at all. I’ve been focused on journaling more (this isn’t a resolution since I started before the new year), with the hope that something in the pages of my little black book would see the light of day (or, at least the light of this site).

In other news, we’ve settled on our destination for the year’s long road trip–Maple Canyon in Utah. Yes, that means sport climbing. Which means prior to going, I need to develop some form of route fitness. Training for bouldering is much more simple–climb hard stuff in the gym, hang from a block of wood in my basement, then climb for the cycle at Hueco Tanks. Simple. Route climbing requires endurance (as well as power), and I find it terribly difficult to train for that in the gym. My hope is that we’ll get enough trips to the New, plus perhaps a week at the Red, before we leave, and that will provide the volume of climbing I’ll need.

One benefit of going to Maple (and sport climbing, rather than bouldering) is that I will ratchet back my expectations. When we travel, I prefer to climb things quickly, rather than finding a super project to spend countless days on. I’d be fairly happy climbing stacks of hard 5.12s, with an easy 5.13 thrown in for good measure, rather than getting caught up in sending something “hard.” Of course, if something more difficult catches my eye, then all bets all off.

Posted on 5 January 2012