2023-12-12 · SBP Poplar
Now here's a project that I can be proud of! I think I first tried this maybe a month ago; I made progress on the start but couldn't quite land the last move. Then I didn't touch it for a while, until I spent a good while on it on Saturday and Monday, getting decently consistent at the last move but really struggling with the start… then, I came back on Tuesday, put it all together, and flashed it!
The start is really hard for me. I do it by leaning back with both hands on the start hold and my right foot on the lower-right volume, then grabbing right, pointing my left toe into the lower hold, dropping my right foot, and quickly matching left to right. It's such an exerting sequence! I can barely do it. A strong climber who's shorter than me starts the same way but, after grabbing right, really leans into his right foot, wedges his toe at the junction of the lower and middle volumes, and fully pivots up-right to match hands, getting his center of mass high enough that he could easily grab the arête if he wanted. It looks really pretty, but I don't think it works for my body too well!
Traversing left takes strength and care, as the holds' angles aren't great, but it doesn't have any surprises. The very last grab is what feels scary. At that point, I have my left hand on the penult and my right hand on the antepenult, and finish by grabbing right hand across to the finish hold, swinging only moderately wildly, matching left, and sticking it. That's actually easier than it sounds, I think; now that I know I can do it, I don't have trouble with it. So that's nice.
I don't know if there's something in particular that clicked for me to be able to do the start. I don't feel like I intentionally changed something. Maybe it's fresh energy; maybe it's just intuitive practice.