I had it in my fridge for all this while cos I told myself I'll only get to savor it if I get Dead Souls done. And since I was getting pretty close, I figured it'll be pretty soon before I pop the lid and chug that golden ale down....WRONG!!!
Why? Cos it was all put to a stop due to THIS....that's right...Midnight Lightning!!!
Nope. Not only did I not do it, I shattered my left heel on the granite slab beneath it falling off the lightning bolt hold. First day, first try, and I completely missed the pads. So that pretty much ended my Yosemite trip right off the bat. Good thing is, I get to see my Mom alot earlier than intended so we ended up heading down to So Cal for the visit. Guess I don't have to narrate the aftermath of showing up at Mom's with a shattered heel that's now all purple and porky. Since I did mention that I was broke, that meant I didn't get the chance to get my injury checked out. So after 2 weeks of ice and elevation, we returned back to SLC with the climbing season in full swing...except for the fact that now I only had the use of one foot and how excruciating it was to put on just a regular shoe (let alone a climbing shoe). Tanleng was psyched and I was gonna let my injury get in her way of heading out to AF so I figured I can still perform my duty as her faithful belayer. So we headed out to AF with a walking stick in hand...well technically it's just a tree branch I picked up from the brush. So here we have a glorious climbing season going on, with me dragging a bad foot when I was reminded of the beer that's still in the fridge. I guess that was all it took for me to suck up the pain, slip on me climbing shoes and give Dead Souls a go.
Though I didn't send it right away, I felt pretty good on it. So I made the decision to rest a couple days, which I needed to do anyway with the OR Tradeshow in town and having to set at the Front for the comp in conjunction with the OR. Guess it came down to the rest cos it did go down on the first go coming back. That feeling was sweet cos I was so in control pulling every single move and basically cruised it with the sweet knowledge that I was gonna finally savor that little can of watered down beer. So did I drink it...NOPE...I kinda stared at it for a while and figured that I can save it for the next send...one that would feel hard...one that will take relentless effort. And it turned out I didn't have to wait too long for that to come. Cos we were headed to Maple and I was gonna get on something my anti-style....Millennium 14a.
Maple's pretty much Tanleng's playground. She's awesome with power endurance climbs and she pretty much walked Rucksack Wanderer 12d/13a and Deliverance 12c/d in one weekend. Me, I was getting my ass handed to me. See, I'm pretty accustomed to NOT getting too pumped at AF. I can deal with super bouldery moves but MAN...when it comes to long endurancy stuff...I'm a wuzz! So Millennium's basically a jug haul to a V4 crux and a dyno end. And it was starting to get pretty depressing having to put in so much legwork with the thought of never being able to send this rig this season.
But then again, when it's up against beer...I figured I better suck it up and put in 110%. I guess that mentality worked cos I unexpectedly pulled the crux, fought my way to the last rest and gave the dyno all I had. DONE FREAKING DEAL!!! And did I drink my little can of Pabst when I got home....YES!!!!
But does it mean that I'm just gonna kick back now that the beer's gone? I guess not...not when I'm up against BIG G!!!! YYEEEAAYYUHHH!!!
Here's a vid of Joey Kinder walking Big G. Dude's strong and made it look easy. Enjoy!!!
Joe sending Big G from Joey Kinder on Vimeo.
