Adventures of a Girl

Just some pics from a trip to Stone Mountain with Rice and Rose

The other day it snowed, which is not a huge thing, except for that I live in the South. So it's an event of colossal proportions. 2 inches of snow guys, that's pathetic, it shuts down the entire city for about a week. Anyways, since Atlanta always handles snow in the worst way possible and it was a Tuesday, everyone was at work and in school when it started to snow, at about noon. School gets out at three and that's enough time for snow to stick, which it did. 

Now, this is the part where I complain about the school system I begged to be put in, but for the record I do still love it. So DeKalb decides to let school out at 2:30 so it's safer driving home, and my school decided to let all the people who drove to school out at 1:30. The way that we were informed of this was by some administrator going around to all the junior and senior classrooms and telling the teachers to let us go. However, whoever this lovely administrator was skipped over my classroom and I personally was informed that this had happened by two of my best friends, Rice and Allen, who had already been at home for 45 minutes while I was still stuck in school. This infuriated me and I was not in the nest mood for the rest of the day, yes, even though it was snowing. 

Another thing that didn't help with my mood was that after I got to my Rice's house to hang out and enjoy the snow, Allen, Eho had been begging me to hurry up and get down there, decided to leave and play a video game instead of hang out with me. How depressing, I was beat out by a video game. Whatever

Rice, me and Allen

After several days of sledding and walking around in the neighborhood and walking to the nearby meat market because it wasn't safe to drive, my friends and I held our breaths to hear of news that school would be closed Friday- yes, school had already been cut short one day and cancelled twice for 2 inches of snow. We waited and waited, and finally, when we were leaving the meat market walking across the parking lot, we heard news that school had been cancelled. This memory is a good one, I remember standing on the ice in the empty parking spaces with a couple friends and Brooks, a girl from school yelling that Dekalb had tweeted that we wouldn't be having school the next day. We all immediately broke into a cheer and there was lots of jumping for joy in an empty parking lot covered in about an inch of slush. Upon hearing this news we could make plans to leave and enjoy the freedom without having to worry about school. And, having been stuck in the neighborhood for 4 days, it was sounding appealing to get out of the state. Which we did:)

Rice happens to have a lake house in Wedowee, Alabama and that place in one of my top favorites on earth! She was nice enough to take me, both of our younger brothers, Henry and Patrick (who are best friends) and Bethany (one of our friends) to the lake house for the weekend to get out of the mess Atlanta had become. It was a blast! The lake gives a sense of calm, peacefulness, the feeling that there is nothing you urgently need to do. It's a reset button where you can pretend like there are no problems in the world. And although there are, and they need to be dealt with eventually, a time out really helps sometimes. Once we got there Bethany, Rice and I went on a run in the snow. We ran out to The Point. Once out there, Rice and I had a snowball fight and made snow angels. Upon getting back we stretched and talked some and I showed them how I could do a head stand. Rice is taking anatomy and was interested in the muscles in the back, she had also previously asked to take a picture of me doing a hand stand for a project in her class, but I had not gotten around to doing that yet. So while I was head standing, I decided why not strip to my sports bra and let her take a picture of me doing a hand stand. 

So that happened...

Other than that all we did was watch movies and mess around. It was amazing, as usual:)

For me, the entirety of Martin Luther King weekend was an adventure, but I'll cut out the boring parts for you guys. It ranged from dresses to frozen fingers to fuzzy shoes and a set of tools

Friday I had some uncomfortable social interactions with the opposite gender, skipped track practice to say goodbye to my parents and brother (who were going to north Ga for MLK Christmas* a day before I was), ate way more than I should have, went to a friend's birthday party, and ended up going to sleep around 3am.

Saturday I woke up at 7, packed up the car with my climbing gear and my duffle bag, and drove myself to a sketchy part of Atlanta (according to my parents, that was the first opportunity for me to die). I then registered for the comp* and found some friends that I waited with to be bussed over to the boulder field*. Once there I didn't bother too much with filling out my score card, as I knew I would have to leave early to get to Hiawassee, where MLK Christmas was being held, in time. I flashed Waves of Motion, my warm up (which coincidentally is the part where my fingers were so cold I couldn't feel them well enough to determine if my hand was on a good hold or a bad hold) and ended up around Yellow Arete, a V4* which I also flashed. It was about this time as well, that I was getting clod again and decided, since I had two sets of hand warmers, that one pair could stay in my pockets and one could go in my bra, to keep more of me warm; It was surprisingly effective. I worked some stuff in that area until I got it and worked my way back towards the entrance, knowing I'd have to leave before too long. I showed my friend how to tackle Alligator, a "Vweird" where you start the climb laying on your back with your head against the rock and end up flipping your legs over your head onto the rock and top out. I also did a route called Underfling before moving to the last area I stopped at before I left. There I did the infamous Easy Crack and Easy Crack Traverse, as well as Sourwood Arete before catching a bus to get back to my car (at this point I had survived the second part where my parents thought I might potentially die). After getting back to my car I drove for 2 hours to Hiawassee (the third chance for death to take me). Keep in mind that I had never driven that far alone before, I didn't have much experience with twisting mountain roads, I was running on 4 hours of sleep, and I drive stick shift. So It was a challenge, but I really enjoyed it, and for spite, I listened to the radio all the way there.

Sunday I enjoyed MLK Christmas, visiting with family that I hadn't seen in a while, giving and receiving gifts (this is where the fuzzy shoes and set of tools comes in, because I received both for MLK Christmas), just like real Christmas! We left that evening because my brother had a soccer game and got back late. 

Monday I basically spent all day helping my best friend shop for prom dresses to avoid any more unwanted uncomfortable interactions with the opposite gender. Good news, it worked:)

*Dict.e.on.ary

MLK Christmas-my family has a tradition of celebrating Christmas on Christmas with my dad's family in Atlanta and another Christmas over the MLK long weekend with my mom's family up in north Ga. 

Comp-climber word for competition

Boulder field-an area containing the large rocks that can be climbed

Personal favorite inanimate object: either my phone, bed, backpack, purse, room, or my stuffed animals

So I helped out with Divisionals again. Today  I was a judge instead of an iso monitor, so I got to see more people climb. Being a judge consists of watching the competitors as they climb, making sure they aren’t doing anything they aren’t supposed to do (using off-route holds, flying starts* or getting beta from the crowd), and recording how far along the route they get on each attempt, which is how the competitors are scored. So it’s a little bit of an important, big deal kinda job:) But so was iso monitor, they make sure climbers are in the right place at the right time, in order, and ready to climb. Basically volunteers are the bomb. Back on topic, as I was saying yesterday, the nature of comps is making friends with everyone, and I saw a lot of the same friendly faces today that I saw yesterday. It was nice to be recognized and have those short but warm exchanges with people again. After all the judging was over there was a raffle for the volunteers in which I won a pair of evolve shoes:) I wish I could have stayed for the award ceremony to see everyone get their medals invites, but I had to say my good byes and leave early.

I judged Female B and Female A #3 for the first session and Female B and Female A #1 for the second session. Now a shout out to all the Female A and B ladies, you guys climbed awesome! Below are pictures of the routes I judged.Female B and Female A Finals #3 route

Female B and Female A Finals #1 route

Also I would like to add congratulations to everyone who placed in their respective categories and those who will be heading to Nationals in Colorado in a month or two. I have a handful of friends in that group, including the girl in the picture below. She finished all three of her routes and came in second place, she’s going to nationals! I love this girl, she’s like my little sister<3

Helen topping out* on her second route, crushin it!

* Dict.e.on.ary

flying start– when a climber doesn’t differentiate between the action of taking their feet off the ground before making the first move. (This is bad because they could be pushing off of the ground to their first move instead of only using the holds)

After competing for several years myself, I am now helping out with climbing comps*. Today I was an iso* manager and escort, making sure that the competitors didn't get beta* that would give them an unfair advantage and bringing them from iso to the chair for their first climb. I was a little nervous because I know the regional coordinator, who played a large part in the smooth execution of the comp, and she was telling other volunteers that I was an expert because I had once been a competitor and knew how things were supposed to work. People twice my age were being told that they should look to me for answers; it was a little intimidating. But I got into the swing of things and established a routine and it was all okay.

I would call today a success because I did some things I have never done before, and it's in the title, I'm a girl with a passion for adventures! I found a woman I didn't know in a crowd of about 300 people to give her someone else's iPad to take a video of her son climbing. I escorted quite a few people to and from the bathroom so that they wouldn't be tempted to peek and see the routes prematurely. I went on a hunt for other people's items that had been left in iso (people were not allowed to reenter once they had left and seen or climbed the routes), which included a little boy's blue pants, which were tough to find, because, as it turns out, they were white when turned inside out. 

Anyways, I enjoyed helping out with the comp because it meant that I got to experience the wonderful atmosphere of the world of competitive rock climbing. I miss it, the air is full of nervous excitement, energy, and of course, chalk*! Everyone being supportive of everyone else, seeing people you haven't seen in a while, the adrenaline rush you get once your name is called to be escorted to your next climb. 

The climbing world is small, and the competitive climbing community is even smaller. In fact, there are so few people involved that after a few comps you become friends with them, despite the age differences and various home states. The relationships that are built, even if not close, are important. They make you feel like a part of something, something small, but broad. Each competition begins to feel like a reunion. It is such a tightly knit web of so few people stretched all across America that you feel lucky to be involved in such a special community, knowing that most people won't have the chance to feel the same sense of belonging that the climbing community provides. 

So there's my sentimental speech for today. Tomorrow I'll give a quick update on how finals went and hopefully snap a picture or two, sorry I don't have one from today:/

*  Dict.e.on.ary

comp-- climber lingo for competition

iso-- climber lingo for isolation, a place separated from the part of the climbing gym where the routes are. (Used in order to keep competitors from watching others climb a route. This is done to keep all climbers at the same level of knowledge about the route previous to attempting it)

beta-- Advice on how to complete a climbing move or moves

I'm starting an adventure blog! I'll be talking about climbing trips and competitions, camping, rafting, any adventure I have to share. I'll post anything from videos and pictures, to crazy stories, and descriptions of people and places I love. I'll have to catch you up some, but that part comes later. Also here's a picture of me on a climbing trip, just so you know who you're hearing so much about:)