Phantom of the Opera

This refers to the climb, not the, well, opera. Here is what happened - bearing in mind that this was 1995. We put up a top rope, lowered down and set to work. We understood that the first few bolts-worth constituted the crux and substance, as it were. So far so good, because they were trivial. The first few bolts worth. Actually they weren't trivial, but this is the interwebs and I am allowed to lie brazenly. They were OK.

Up and up I went. The last move seemed hard, but finally I had that sorted and was ready to redpoint it.

I got on with it. Half a mile into the route, and with something around another 17 to go, things were looking decidely cock-eyed. I was lost and attempting to superimpose the sequence from some other part of the route onto the place where I was currently located. In Phantom of the Opera (the opera, not the climb) Carlotta is singing the lead in the Phantom's opera, contrary to his instructions. Under his malign influence things do not work out for her. Following a hideous attack of croaking, the lead is given to Christine in the next act. That's pretty much what happened to me.

Phantom of the Opera. It's absolutely brick hard at grade 28.

Faaarrrrrckkkk where's the off button?

I just drank another cup of concentrated caffeine with coffee flavouring and now I notice that my screen is vibrating. I hadn't noticed anything wrong it with before. It's quite new. Jeez. The quality of things you buy  nowadays.

And I just ripped my desk in half. I thought it was supposed to be solid wood. WTF?

I was going to write a post about the merits of moderation but I really don't have any time to do that now because I have to train.

If he gets up, we'll all get up, it'll be anarchy

The scene: Saturday afternoon, around 4pm, draws up on 3 routes and the wall in shade.
The characters: Phlip, Christo and me with parts to play; Danie, Kobus and Anro supporting.

Phlip got up first, and then, one by one we all got up. I went last, and I think I was the only one grunting on my route whereas the others seemed pretty competent on theirs.

Bam, I stuck the sloper. It felt like my body arched out as I did so, although perhaps the video will show otherwise. The next easy move didn't feel quite as easy as I wanted it to - the foothold was much skinnier than I remembered and I had to pop for the big jug. But nowhere, on any move, was there any other idea in my head except complete focus on the climbing.

A great day. Thanks to everyone who was there.

As I Am.

http://www.vimeo.com/12639043

Horizon

We walked down the steep road to the beach, stooping under the mangrove trees on the boardwalk, and  sat on the solid linearity of a bench. Sea and cloud and sky were all mixed up in grey and blue.  And no matter how you hope that it won’t, time goes just as fast when you have only an hour left as when you have a lifetime.

So with my future in the past, in a world with no horizon, I drove away, steering through a lens of tears.

Intimidation

Where I Stood (perhaps I shall be sick of the song by the time I do the route) starts up The Dream I Knew. This entirely lacks an approach march. While we should be clear that this isn't the world's hardest route, of course, there is simply no waffle anywhere. When I looked at it on Sunday I have to admit that I was a little bit intimidated. It's full throttle from move #1 and continues in that vein all the way to the chains, a reasonable distance above.

Why is it called Where I Stood? Because it's a very strong contender indeed for the best song ever written. Furthermore, the song says a lot things that I can totally associate with. Not so much as the singer, but more as the singee.

The route might match the quality of the song. Incidentally, Andrew Mac from Flat Stanley told me I could call my other line As I Am. I chatted to him at a meet and greet after a concert - what a great guy.

Priorities

Somewhere down below lies a post about accountability. This pre-supposed freedom of action. I no longer have that, due to an incorrect date of birth. Therefore I am resolved as follows:

1. As I  Am 30/31, which I shall wrap up next time for sure
2. Where I Stood >32 which is actually my last big objective and I really want to to do this.

The other stuff is merely nice to have.

Chose the correct option and win a trip to Oorlogskloof

Here are two things to do with a wrist that has, inter alia, a torn TFCC.

Option 1 shows use of a big strapon. As used yesterday afternoon during training.

Is this correct? Obviously not. They are always purple.

How about option 2?

This shows the use of a small plaster. This is correct. It is covering up the site of the cortisone injection.

Doctor my wrist hurts

Don't know how the hell the pain started masquerading as pronator quadratus because it's definitely the TFC, confirmed by MRI.


I hope to get an appointment with the hand surgeon this week. From the medical literature it seems that the periphery of the TFC on the ulnar side is slightly vascular and tears there might heal following immobilisation. The bulk of it is avascular and so tears won't heal. From the MRI it's not clear quite exactly where the "full thickness tear" might be.

Now what?

I could ask the surgeon to fill my wrists with cortisone and hope that masks the pain for long enough for me to open the major new line I am working on. After that I deal with the consequences. Presumably the consequences could be significant by then, given that at this point already I can no longer do stuff like eat soup with a spoon!

Alternatively I get surgical repair with several months' immobilisation and rehab. In this case I really don't believe that it would be possible for me ever to get back to climbing the standard I wish to. Perhaps I am overly pessimistic but I don't see many examples that suggest that 50 year olds recover from wrist surgery and get back to climbing grade 33. When I combine the wrist with the OA in the fingers, which is fairly bad, it seems to me like the clock is ticking...

Is climbing some arbitrarily defined grade and certain routes really important? That's hard to say. From my current perspective the answer is "yes". That might be an odd way of looking at climbing, but so far I have been unable to make the mental adjustment required to look at it any other way.

Perhaps I need some sessions with a psychologist to gain a little perspective rather than a trip to the hand surgeon...