I recently took a short climbing trip with my best friend to Jackson Falls in Southern Illinois. This obviously wasn’t my first climbing trip, but it was my first trip to this area in 10 years. Regardless, I expected my lead head to be about the same as it has been in the past. Boy was I wrong. 

My friend hung the draws on Deep Throat, a 5.10b at The Gallery. I tied in and began climbing the easier bottom section. I clipped the first draw and began to move through the overhung section. I matched in a massive jug and got a high right heel hook. As I pulled myself up to reach for the left hand jug a few feet above meet, I got scared. No, scared is an understatement. I’ve never been so scared of anything in my entire life. I was so scared that I was in tears. I didn’t trust my belayer, though he has much more experience than I do. He definitely knows what he’s doing. However, I’ve only ever taken one fall with him, a bad one at that, and it was a year ago. Each time I made a move in which I felt could result in a fall, I got scared. I couldn’t shake the thought of getting hurt again with him as my belayer. 

It’s funny, we went on another trip a few weeks ago and was much more likely to fall on any given route on that trip to the Red River Gorge, but I didn’t get scared, even with my friend as the belayer. I don’t know exactly what it was that made me scared, but I’m working to overcome this fear. 

1. Grades are so subjective that a 5.12c to one person can be 5.11d to another or 5.6 to one person can be 5.9 to another. Different styles of climbing can affect how you perceive that grades as well. Like if you’re bad at slopers, routes with slopers will feel harder to you than to someone who is good at slopers. Grades are just a number. Just like your GPA is high school or college. All that really matters is that you’re challenging yourself.

2. Grades outside are inconsistent. I recently climbed a 5.10d at Bruise Brothers that felt easier than a 5.10a I did at 10 Wall. Also, grades in gyms will never reflect grades outdoors. Your gym redpoint is most likely several grades higher than your outdoor redpoint. My hardest outdoor send is 5.10d and my hardest indoor send is 5.12c. Many factors contribute to this phenomenon, but I’ve found that it is true for most people. 

For many months, I found myself bored with climbing. Going to the gym became something I had to do, rather than something I wanted to do. Upon returning from my recent trip to the Red River Gorge, I took some time to reflect on the experience. This trip really stands out from the rest: maybe it was the people around me, maybe it was the way the week’s events transpired, or maybe it was the crags to which we returned. Whatever it is, something clicked and I rediscovered why I love climbing. 

I often hear people say that climbing is a personal sport - that it is just you and the rock and nothing else. I agree, but the way I see it, it is also very much a team effort. My favorite climb of the trip, maybe even in the Red, was one that I had no interest in initially, but my friends convinced me to give it a try. Without my friends there to push me when I can’t push myself and cheer me on when my confidence is low, I couldn’t accomplish anything in climbing or even life. When my friends send (or even try) a route that’s hard for them, I feel proud. Their successes are my successes; their failures are my failures. So yes, climbing is very personal, but in a way it’s still a team sport.

One day, we’ll look back on the trip and see how funny it really was. It’s still fresh now, and we’re all dealing with the aftermath of the week’s events, but thankfully all bad things come in 3s. Monday, the transmission gave out in PMRP and we had to get towed out.  Tuesday, my climber took a huge lead fall (almost decked), sprained his ankle pretty bad, and I sustained minor wrist and ankle injuries as well. The storm hit right as we got back to Miguel’s. One of our tents collapsed and the other flooded. Luckily that’s when the nightmare ended. We ended up renting a room above the shower house, woke up to beautiful weather on Wednesday (my birthday!!!) and got in one last full day of climbing. 

At the end of last year, I decided to leave IU at the end of the spring semester and finish my undergraduate education at USI. This decision was not easy. I was afraid that no matter what decision I made, it would be the wrong one. Overall, I’m happy with my decision. However, It’s beginning to hit me that I won’t be able to see one of my best friends very often after we move out of our apartment in a few days. This would be true regardless because we wouldn’t be living together anyway. Besides, I rarely see my other best friends anymore either.

I haven’t told my roommates yet, and their questions about next year are getting harder and harder to answer honestly without giving too much information about my plans.

I chose to leave my current school and finish my education elsewhere for a couple of reasons. I decided on a major kind of late and now I have 3 more years of undergrad rather than 2. I don’t feel at home at my current school. The student body is too big and I never really found my place amidst the sea of 40,000 undergrads. I feel that this decision is the best one for my future, assuming my physical therapy career dream becomes a reality. If PT school doesn’t work out for me, maybe I’ll regret leaving IU, but maybe not. 

I also believe that leaving IU will allow me to live more. During the school year, my entire life is school. I don’t have a job and I don’t spend time doing anything for me. Leaving IU will allow me to focus more on my and what I want to do than if I stay. 

If you’ve been paying attention to climbing or technology media recently, then surely you’ve heard of The Whipper. I came across this product on Instagram. The Whipper has also  been featured on many websites including MobiHealthNews, Business Wire, Yahoo! Finance, and Wareable.

This product is referred to as “The World’s First Climbing Performance Tracker.” Naturally, I was skeptical at first. Climbing performance tracker? How would that work? Now, I’ve used the FitBit, but it isn’t very useful for me as a climber. In fact, I recently discussed with one of my climbing partners how a climbing-specific performance tracker could even be possible. 

After reading up on this product, I learned how wrong I was to think that a climbing-specific performance tracker was impossible. This is little guy does it all.

With the use of motion sensors, The Whipper tracks your vertical distance, falls, incline, time, and pace and even presents the data to you in a meaningful way. It also allows you to track your progress over time. I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty cool. However, that isn’t what got me hooked. My favorite part about The Whipper is the Smart Coach feature. This built-in coach gives you personalized feedback, training advice, and recommendations, though it’s no substitute for a real coach. 

Although having a real coach is, at least in my opinion, much better than relying on technology, many people are opting for online coaching in the form of subscriptions or Skype sessions. I believe that The Whipper will soon become an essential tool for these climbers seeing as it will allow those people to see their progress in a different way even when they don’t have a coach in the room with them. 

I’m excited to try it out!

 Here's the podcast if you'd like to listen: