Are just five pairs of toe-downs enough? No. The Hornets make me feel super porn.
Wood, plastic and paper are the current media on which my life revolvs at the moment.
Wood, in the best form that wood can assume: a Beastmaker.
Plastic, holds on my board.
Paper: the amount of documents I'm writing and books I'm reading.
This last months have been dedicated to improve both my brain and my climbing, and - the jury still being out on the first subject - the second aspect has improved indeed.
First of all, I decided to get back to basics, and to dust off the mighty incut rung of my BM: set after set I managed to deadhang it with 14 kilos with right hand, and with 9 with left hand. I also managed to hang it back3 for both arms.
I finally deadhung the monos with my pinkies - obviously with both arms in this case - very briefly, but still it's a progress. Anyway it was a friend's Beastmaker so it doesn't count until I do it on mine.
Yay.
Plastic. Plastic and rock are (very) different. I'm trying to build up some power endurance to climb the route of my life, so my board sessions are divided into power sessions, power endurance ones, and tests on a 30 moves circuit on my board. Funny. The power endurance and the tests make me literally sick.
Rock is another thing. A three dimensional thing.
I have been out bouldering a couple of times as of late, and despite feeling OK, if only a bit tired (I'm seven weeks into my training cycle now), climbing on rock involves a lot more than bearing down on a two directional scheme.
D'oh.
The real joy of climbing on rock is wearing some cool rock shoes.
Anyway the training is paying off, last Sunday I managed to repeat a couple of problems without getting pumped.
Then, Adam Ondra.
He went to Uni, and entered a competition, which incidentally wasn't the local Alpine Club gathering, but a Lead World Cup event. He just won.
Why, one could ask, should the guy go to university, while he could easily travel the world and climb full time and live just on sponsors?
Because he is a smart guy.
My Roman ancestors used to say "MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO".
Climbing form comes and goes, mental form comes and stays.
I can't see why not asking 100% from our minds, more than just from our fingers (and arms and lats and shoulders and gonads): one year ago my life changed, and all I found in my hands was climbing. I started hating climbing, and with some help from close people I found the energy to make a move. Then to make another move. I entered a first degree Master in Criminology, and then went back to practicing in a law firm. I left Florence and commuting and settled back in Siena. I slowly started to find some kind of pleasure in climbing and in dressing up in a suite and combing what remains of my hair.
My neurons started connecting again. Not only "How much weight should I use for this set?", but also "What will I write in my Master's thesis?", "Which books do I have to study to pass my lawyer exam?", "Do you give me your number, darling?"
Every day in Court, I meet guys and girls, ten years younger than me, that are super smart, already officially lawyers, earning their livings with pride. I've done other things, I know, but BM feats of strength aren't a great subject for a nice conversation, aren't they. And they don'r pay the bills, unless you get paid to show off in a gym. Which I'd like to do, by the way.
So, no one wants to be the ex-wad that works a shitty job.
I think Ondra made a great move. He has already done every hard route in the world, and will win a few World Cups. In the meanwhile he'll get a degree and will somehow partially secure his future: when he'll grow up, and then become old, he'll finally struggle to onsight 9a's and at that moment, I'm sure he'll thank his formation, culture, and well functioning brain.
I've met climbers who literally can't talk about anything else than climbing. I get bored. Have I been like that? I hope I haven't.
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