NEVER-STOP-EXPLORING

Angie Payne on first ascent team climbing the jungle tower Poumaka, located on the French Polynesian Marquesas Island of Ua Pou

Entering the unknown is not natural to me. As a climber, I’m not that crazy or adventurous. There were some really bad, low moments for me. We were in this disgusting notch of mud in this cave, and it was raining and we’d been up there forever. I was over it. I was being a sour puss. I collapsed into this puddle of emotion and cried.  I never became numb to my fear—I was scared to the very end when we were back on the ground.

A Rest Day Workout for Climbers Who Hate Rest Days

If there’s one thing I know about climbers, it’s that they hate rest days …

And if there’s another thing I know about climbers, they don’t actually like to rest on rest days. So instead of just doing a few “cruiser routes” or maybe “just a few boulder problems” that will ultimately lead to you projecting or climbing just as hard as the day before (because let’s face it, sending is way better than resting, and once we start climbing, there’s no stopping it), try this active recovery workout instead.

The goal of this workout is to give your climbing muscles a rest, work your non-climbing muscles in order to maintain muscular balance and avoid injury, and increase mobility where it may have been lost by climbing. None of these movements require any equipment, the order doesn’t matter, and the number of reps and sets you do is up to you. The goal is not failure and exhaustion. It is simply active recovery.

So I’m still figuring the the distances and such out with my gopro, Belated sunrise shots.

Highs. Lows.... and everything in between; relationships made. Broke..... trust and lost there of.... “growing up.... but in the end it’s boiled down....

Now 26. And to think I started this blog when I was 18?

That’s 8 years.... 8 years of happiness and sadness and well..... I’m going back to my routes....

Paying off my dept..... and back to outdoor rec. back to gear shops. Big walls, guiding for a living.... away from the daily hussle and bussle....

I just watched this amazing documentary on Netflix called Maidentrip. It’s about a girl named Laura Dekker who is the youngest person to sail around the world alone. Her trip lasted two years, starting in 2010, when she was 14, and ending in 2012.

All of the footage aboard Laura’s boat was shot by Laura, making it kind of an autobiography (or selfie-film, even). It basically gives this beautiful, introspective account of a teenage girl who’s going through all kinds of issues that come along at that age, but with a protagonist who’s also this extraordinary role model of teen girl power. Every bad review of the film I’ve read so far complains that it was too boring or focused too much on Laura’s ~teen angst~ and personal issues. Isn’t that the point, though? I loved the honesty that Laura so vulnerably recorded, and loved that the film didn’t included any unnecessary drama (like every. single. other movie that’s set at sea). There also wasn’t a single mention of doubtfulness about the fact that Laura should take on this challenge as a girl. Laura and her parents fought a long court battle against child welfare organizations in Holland, but that was due to concerns about Laura’s age. She also home-schooled herself during her journey, and wrote a weekly column for a Dutch newspaper. 

What kind of carabiners you use most?