The orange 5.8, pictured above intermingled with the yellow 5.11 on the black portion of the wall, was the first “proper” 5.8 route that I’ve ever sent!!! It fit my climbing style well. I was on auto-belay, which makes me a bit nervous, and on the first attempt, I climbed halfway up the route before letting go because I noticed that I wasn’t resting enough along the way. I rested for quite a while on the bench as two kids and their dad took over that particular auto-belay. After they were done with it temporarily, I snuck in for the send… The first half of the route went down fairly well, and I rested where I could. The crux is the top third of the route, where there are no good rests, so I had to power through to the top, which meant speeding up without sacrificing technique! By the time I reached the top, I was so pumped that I couldn’t even grip with my right hand!!! I climbed to exhaustion on that route!!! Now I know for sure, though, that I can climb 5.8 indoors!!! I also know that my new Misty Mountain climbing harness works extremely well!!! I was so excited to get to post that orange 5.8 redpoint on MyClimb and Facebook!!!
CLIMBING 4 THE REST OF US 