Monday, January 18, 2010

A Busy Week Ahead

The next week is going to be a bit hectic as classes are going to start Tuesday and I will be making a quick dash out to the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City on Thursday. I plan on talking to a few editors about writing projects and scoping out some of the climbing-related booths in between appointments. I will bring back my impressions of the event for this blog since, if nothing else, OR has become for many an essential part of climbing culture.

Yesterday, I managed to get outside for about half an hour's climbing before it started to rain. For those in less temperate climates, this will sound pathetic, but most Front Range climbers will agree that this winter has been one of the hardest for climbing in recent memory. The snow and ice have stuck around for weeks, not days, and not just in the mountains but on the foothills and plains. That's my primary excuse for not posting much in the way of climbing activity.

Most of that really has been indoors, either at the Spot or on the home wall. The former can prove to be very frustrating at times as the setting typically emphasizes long pulls, sloping pinches, and jumpy moves. I sometimes leave having the feeling of barely dodging a bullet with shoulder injury there. Anyway, there's a lot of winter left yet. Whether I will be able to do much climbing during this time is an open question.

I should complete the review of the Dave MacLeod book, 9 out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes this week. This is a good and innovative book and worth taking some time to discuss.

2 comments:

Peter said...

Cool. Good luck with the writing projects. I've heard Petzl is going to debut some really cool stuff at the show...

Eldo has been dry for some time now. The front side of the Flatirons gets less sun then the backside, which usually drys out much faster. Same with the East Draw and some stuff on Dino Mnt as they face south.

S said...

I look forward to your review of Macleod's book as I really enjoyed the recent reviews you posted up.
And indeed, classes start this Thursday for us as well. You do such a good job of keeping this blog active and updated that I tend to forget you actually have serious academic engagements to attend to as well.

cheers!