The Present and Recent Past

I've never had the opportunity to take an extended climbing trip. Before this journey began, the longest one I had been on was a trip to Andalusia in the south of Spain for fourteen days...two of those days were spent travelling and two of those days I was extremely sick and unable to get out of bed. My personal life has always molded around my professional life, but not without thoughtful planning and a whole lot of (perhaps too much) motivation.

I may go crazy without having something I have to do. I'm still not used to the fact that I no longer have appointments to make, emails to respond to and quotas to meet. For the past 18 months I've never been separated from my work blackberry. I was always on call, always available and always pulling out my phone to see if that little red light that let me know I had received a text, email or voicemail was blinking. When working in sales, month end had the potential to produce two very different Kyles: I could be relieved and happily coasting along with confidence having already achieved my budget numbers, or, I could transform into a ball of stress and hopelessness if I was behind. I could hardly wait for those feelings to go away; the idea of freedom, just climbing and serious 'me time' was an exciting one. Now, 13 days into my travels and I'm already in search of stimulation apart from the rocks. Reading books, internet-ing, writing again, training lightly, cooking, watching people go about their lives, climbing, resting, watching movies, etc, etc, blah blah blah...I have moments when I miss feeling like I'm a 'responsible adult'.

At any rate, since this blog is 'for climbing' and since I'm in the midst of another day of rest, I thought I would share some of the ways that I attempt to speed up the recovery of my skin and my body from the demands of lots o' climbing and life on the road. The best thing to do for recovery is be less than 25 years old and weigh less than 130 pounds...then your skin can't get thrashed and you won't get sore, ever...

1. When my skin is thin, I slice garlic cloves and rub them on my finger tips...not scientifically proven but in my experience this helps my skin recover better than any of the many hand salves on the market.

Garlic!!

2. Also for thin skin - try holding your hands close to the campfire at night for a while. Fire dries your tips and hardens your skin!

Healing!

3. If you get a cut, split, or scrape on your hands, use neosporin and band-aids and cycle 30 minutes - an hour with medicine and band-aid on, 30 min - an hour off. Dr. Noah Kauffman taught me this trick. One time I put it to the test and religiously switched 30 min on, 30 min off for eight straight hours. A bad flapper was healed enough to climb on it in less than 24 hours...crazy!

4. Try to consume a diet that is high in protein and good carbohydrates and low in crappy sugars and fats. Eat well, climb well! Check out 'Seeds of Deception' by Dr. Jeffery Smith for some in depth info on how important it is to monitor what we put into our bodies. It's amazing to see how quickly a plant can be affected by lack of nutrients and or water consumption...I like to think we are no different.

5. Do oppisition exercises on rest days like push ups, thera-bands, reverse forearm curls, etc. 100 push-ups per day (4 sets of 25) (maybe every other day) is a great goal and it will help your climbing.

I know, I clearly have too much time on my hands if I'm composing and publishing useless info like this...take it or leave it. Maybe all you need to climb that project of yours is a little garlic?! It's actually quite good when you put it in your food too. 

On another note, browsing through my pictures from this past summer brought back some fond memories worth sharing...

Cole Allen on one of his spectacular new problems 'Quantum Mechanics' at the Chaos boulders

Twice this past summer I visited my home land in Washington state. Somehow my travel dates fit perfectly into the finicky Northwest weather windows and I had some amazing climbing days. Leavenworth holds a special place in my life. Not only did I learn how to climb there, it also helped me realize why I climb. The setting, the rock, the variety, the people, the solitude, the adventure...it's all amazing in WA.

 

Cole on the first ascent of the 'Wave Dyno' on Mt. Home Rd.

 

 

Drew creatively crossing the creek to get to new boulders off the Colchuck Lake trail

 

 

Jens on 'Wingspan'...BEAUTIFUL granite cragging at the Miller High Life crag

 

 

Cole grappling the crux sloper on 'Hamburger Helper', Smithbrook Rd near Stevens Pass 

 

 

Amazing problem I called 'Traumatized' across the river from Mad Meadows

 

I'm ALWAYS surprised at the amount of quality new climbing there is to enjoy in Washington state. Kelly Sheridan's upcoming updated guidebook will include a plethora of great new problems and areas! I still consider the NW my home and I believe I will settle down there again in the near future.

 

It's been raining pretty hard here in Vegas for the past 24 hours. I happily welcome it. It's kind of a treat to be in a rain storm in the desert...besides, forced rest days are the best rest days! I hope everyone has wonderful holiday/vacation plans in store...perhaps I'll see you out here!