Spring Break Training

.I headed to St. Louis for a 2 day training climbing camp. April 10th we went to the new Upper Limits in West County. We were one of the first people there so we had the whole gym to ourselves. We started off by doing three warm up routes that were about 5.9+. After that we did a couple harder routes about 5.11 the were a lot of fun and crimpy, my favorite type of holds. For lead climbing it went really well today! I'm super happy with how I did today. I on sighted multiple 5.10s and 5.11s. My favorite route that I did was a 5.10c. I wasn't to hard but it was a lot of fun and really tested my endurance. This was what started off a great day of lead climbing for me, by on sighting this route. The trickiest part of the whole route was being able to reach over the volumes. Doing a bunch of 5.10+ really boost my confidence and knowing that I was about to do multiple 5.10 in row. April 11th we headed to the brand new So Ill Climbing Gym. This place was amazing and really represented their plans. I didn't know what to say for a good hour about the place. We started off the day by taking out lead test. The lead test took place on an easy 5.9 and I took a fall about 8 draws up. I had a really good day climbing and was able to again multiple 5.10+. One of the coolest route I did was on the roof section of the lead wall and it was a 5.10c and it was really fun and straight forward. There was nothing tricky about the route. I did this route multiple times because this route also tested my muscular endurance. Once I felt I was completely warmed up I jumped in the 5.11s. It was a really good day for climbing and I felt really good about how I did. I did a lot of routes that were very crimpy and pumped my forearms. One of the crimpier routes was a pink 5.10d. I had a really good time at Climb So Ill and was really impressed with how everything turned out. Thursday, April 11, we didn't do a whole lot of anything. We stopped by my grandmas house and visited for a little while after that we headed back in town for pick up fishing bait, meal worms, and then headed to my uncles place. There we went to the pond and set up a couple of chairs and sat down to fish for the next 5 hours. The whole time we were out there is was about 55 degrees and only one little baby bass was caught. When we decided that we were done fishing we headed back to the hotel to go to the hot tub and to swim. The pool was about 95-100 degrees. Overall this week was very helpful on boosting my lead climbing confidence. It was a lot of fun and really wish it didn't go by as fast as it did. We got back Friday morning around noon and then I spent the next 4 hours relaxing from days before. I headed to work around 430 to work open climb at the rock wall at the Y. It wasn't to busy until 7 then I had every harness filled and people lined up out the door. It calmed down about 730 and that's about the same time Roan and Spencer came in to climb. They both did very well and i was happy to see them doing so well. Saturday comes and im heading back up to my home gym. I was really excited to go back so that I could tell one of the coaches of Adventure Rocks climbing team how cool of a place Climb So Ill was. I walked in the door at Adventure rock and it was packed full of boy scouts everywhere. They were mostly in the repelling area so it was it big of a deal, that and I dont think to many of them know how to lead climb. I warmed up on a 5.9 top rope then warmed up lead climbing on a 5.9 also. After the warm up I did went and tryed 5.12a lead. I got to the second quick draw but wasnt able to clip it. I came down and realized I was up for a real challenge and told myself I could do it and I was going to make it to the finish. I did another warm up route because I felt I should have done another one before I jumped into something that hard. After another two more warm up routes I went and tryed the 5.12 again. This time it went alot better; I did it in 6 falls. I was really happy with that and then did another few routes and then took a lunch break. After lunch I did another warm up route then jumped on that route again. I did it in 5 falls and then completed the last two draws and the finish draws with no falls. I was really happy with how my last try on that route went. I still did a bunch of really hard routes after that. Sunday I had to be at work by 930 to set up for a merit badge. There was only one kid so it was realy easy for him to learn and pick up on everything that we were teaching him. After that we had open climb and it was really busy we ran through over 40 kids in 2 hours. After open climb we had league where I worked on harder routes that we have set here. All of the photos and videos will be loaded to both Facebook and Flickr by thursday night. Check them out there are alot of really neat pictures that were taken. If you ever get a chance and your in St. Louis stop by Climb So Ill and Upper Limits in West County. They are alot of fun and the people that work in both places are friendly and will help any person at any ability level.