Fulfilled

Happy holidays to all, I've had my hands full as of late but here is what you missed!

My last post was of a beautiful day of sending double digit boulder problems. I took two days off then headed back out to the Priest Draw with Jill Church. It was a very very crisp day and we struggled to stay warm. I have a little vid clip of Jill looking like a masked bandit that I'll embarrass her with on another day...
We kidded around for most of the day but because of my send day I was ampted to try my long time project, The Receptionist. So I lit the burner under our feet and we booked it down to the Mars Roof. On our way I spied a heart shaped rock. Now I have to preface this occurrence by saying that I see hearts everywhere and I have been known to hold certain superstitious attitudes. I commented to Jill on what I had seen followed by, "I'm not sending the receptionist today. Everytime I see a heart shaped rock something goes wrong." And she replied, "That sounds to me like a self defeating prophecy." We'll see, I thought.
Walking up to the Mars Roof we were greeted by a runway strip of pads already laid out beneath the climb. Wow! I'm usually there all by myself without a spotter let alone three extra crash pads! Word.
I hadn't been out there in more than 2 months so I attempted the end first. I didn't catch the crux hold until my second warm-up attempt but thought it best to try it from the bottom anyway.
Walking up to those holds was like being home.
"Hello, my old friend." I whispered to the rock.
There is something about being out at that roof. The trees speak in hushed rustles and there are always hummingbirds (save in the wintertime). I've often imagined Navajo or Hopi tribes having large meetings and sitting on the perfect thrones around the roof.
I set up my brand new camera, pressed record, walked to the start holds. The others were talking about a new area near Sedona when I started climbing. I tend to like having a distracted audience.
I bounced through the beginning moves with a well rehearsed rhythm. When I latched the telephone (the crux hold of the climb) I bore down. Even though I hit it low I thought to myself,


"Just don't let go!" So I moved with measured preciseness, I kept my breath strong. It was a blur throwing for the top jug but when I hit it, I awoke with a holler!!! YEAAAAH. haaaaa.
I just sent The Receptionist!
F-yeah. I'm 5'1" and I can't tell you how many times I've heard that I'm probably too short. Or that I need to use the heel beta (which I can't reach) or try another climb on that roof or whatever. Who cares. I did it. And I can't help but think that it was something in my mind that was holding me back all the time. Jill mentioned to me once that I tend to "savor things." Meaning that I work and work and work on things that I could really just send. That week made her statement sound too true for me to not accept. Thanks Jilly for being so wise.

A good day

I was so comfortable in my bed this morning.
I carried Ava on my shoulders through the snow down to Montessori, studied a bit then prepared to head out for a short day of grappling. I picked up Kim with her brand new BD Mondo which barely fit into my volvo (good thing I forgot my dog) and we headed out to The Draw.
Pottery Wall was a veritable solarium and we basked in the warmth of the sun in our tank tops and casually commented on the snow all over the ground. A red tail hawk flew overhead and we felt lucky to live in Flagstaff.
My warm ups went, but they didn't feel easy.
We headed to the Puzzle Box Roof and padded up Cosmic Tricycle sit (v10). I had been trying it before Thanksgiving and was starting to get frustrated by my inability to latch the top hold. I worked out some new beta for the ending, cranked the Ting Tings and prepared for attempt #1.
SEND
I rejoiced at the top feeling vindicated after putting myself through mental anguish for not sending over the four days I had worked it.
We can really be hard on ourselves can't we?
I was still psyched about my send when we headed over to The Black Roof. To my surprise I did the "easy" problem on the left first try. (And that thing always feels hard.) So I decided to work out some beta for The Black Hole (v10) which starts on the right side of the black roof and traverses across it finishing on the most awkward problem in the Priest Draw. I hadn't been able to do the first move for years (like 4.5) and I hit the pinch my first try. I thought to myself, "Wow, that felt kinda easy. Weird." So I started working the next couple moves and thought to myself that I would work on it from the start cause its kinda long (13 moves +) and maybe one day I'd just gain the right endurance to send it. So I spotted Kim on her problem and we chatted for a bit and I decided I'd just try it from the start.
I hit the first hold and it felt good. I grabbed for the second hold (a shallow slimper) and stuck it. I scrambled my feet to push for the third long move to a small crimp. Stick. I jammed my right foot in a hole and made a very big cross, my feet swung and I stabbed them to the wall. Stick.
Oh cuss. What am I going to do now? I hadn't worked out the beta? I hear Kim behind me, "Go for it, you can do this." So I cut my feet and campused for four moves on good holds. But then I had to finish up on that sh*tty problem that is so awkward and hard. I hear her again say, "You just this one, you know this ending. You can do it." I pasted my feet to the wall, shook out my numb hands and pushed for it. Stick, stick, stick.
SEND
Holy cuss, I just did 2 v10's in less than an hour. !!!
This was by far the best climbing day I've ever had. And the season has just begun.
I feel strongly that most of this sudden ability has been locked away in my mind. A fear of success? Not realizing full potential? One thing is for sure. I know my potential now and I'm not giving in to old habits. It's okay to be humble but not to a fault. When humbleness holds you back from success is it worth all the hard work? It's okay to succeed and be happy about that success.
I worked really hard to get here.
I think I'll let myself enjoy this one.

Video coming soon.

Hueco dreaming...

I know I'm supposed to be studying for my physics final but I can't help but dreeeeeeam.. dream dream dreeeam.. dreeeeeeam. about Hueco Tanks.
I made a last minute whirlwind trip a few weekends ago with my friend Kim Haase. We played hooky from school and drove 8.5 hours for three days of hot hueco temps, bitch'in rock climbs, and stylish company. I climbed like cuss but I had fun, ain't that whats its about...
Now, I've set my sights on training the right holds, the right angles, the right... oh who cares. I'm just so psyched that all I want to do is rock climb. I made a list of possible projects, half of which I've only seen once, some of which have good names, and some I've been lusting after for years. I am determined to have a different season than last year. My M.O last year was, "I fall off the last move of boulder problems." This year, my pre-emptive M.O. is "I crush these boulder problems." Can it be as easy as changing your mental approach? Maybe I should consult Thomasina Pigeon or Jill Church. They seem to have no problem crushing these boulders.

Unmotivate your fear: Flying and Climbing

Lately (as in the last 6 months) I've been delving deep into my head and exposing my weaknesses. When I turned 25, something very odd started happening to me, I began to fear. I grew up traveling with my parents. Car trips from our home in Louisville, KY down to Florida, Colorado, Canada, even Mexico. When I was 10, my father accepted a job and we all moved to Hong Kong and the travels we did from there, well, they were exotic. So, who'd a thunk I would start to fear flying in an airplane??? But it happened. Followed by a fear of heights and the ocean. WHAT!!! I started surrendering my will to my fears and instead of them just quietly backing down into the narrows of my mind, they ruled it. When we flew from LA to NZ last spring my fear of flying was at an all-time high. Every bump sent me into a near heart attack/ panic attack (and it was a very bumpy flight). My fear was starting to exhaust me. When we landed in New Zealand, I spent 3 blissful months until the prospect of getting back on the airplane entered my head when we were still two months from returning home, enter my anxiety once again.

Fear builds on itself.

When it comes to high ball bouldering, you have to trust yourself and before you try a climb look at it, know your ability and assume you can and will do it before you get on it. So I started small, got a little bigger, then a little bigger. My first high balls were probably really scary to watch as I lost all sense of technique at the top of climbs and my fear would send my feet skating and my hands clambering for the top (GASP). But the more I did the more I could relax when I got high off the ground. This sense of relaxation when the fear started to set in was a technique I started using in more than just climbing.

photo by Derek Thatcher

Replace fear with a positive feeling.

A few days before we set off back across the ocean on our 12 hour flight, I started meditating on the idea that flying was fun. I imagined myself tucked in an economy chair with clouds floating out the window. I didn't imagine a bumpy flight or Ava misbehaving. I meditated on the idea of a perfect, bump-less, relaxed flight. And boy do you get what you put out there. The flight home was about as nice and relaxing as a flight can get.
When we returned home I didn't have much time to think about my fears, with friends visiting, family to catch up with and summer in full swing. It wasn't until Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in SLC that I got to address my fears again. I hadn't taken a lead fall in, hmm, 3 1/2 years or so. I met up with some friends Jonathan Seigrist and Andy Mann and we decided we weren't going to let the intense heat keep us off the rock. But I didn't have a harness. Outdoor Retailer always comes through. I got a brand new Arcteryx R-280. Now I have to interject here. Have you seen these harnesses? Have you tried them? They are so barely there its like you aren't even wearing one. And the technology is serious. I do not worry about my harness. Part of my fear of heights is increased exponetially when I climb routes. It's not that I'm scared of the climbing, I'm scared that my gear is going to fail. I look at the rope as I clip it into the quickdraw and as it bends my fear says, "The rope is going to break!" Or as I'm staring at the anchors while I'm cleaning my fear says, "The anchors are going to blow." It's my unfamiliarity with my gear and the fact that I have to trust something other than myself and my spotters that motivates my fear. But that day out with Andy and Jonathan I asked them not to tell me grades and I lead everything I got on. My fear was in check. I took my first whippers in years and with these two as climbing partners I felt safe and motivated by something more... flirting.

Photo by Andy Mann

Fear can be secondary to fun.

This experience catapulted me into a new phase of my climbing: Rout'in!! I now have a feeling to replace my fear when I climb high balls or routes. I flirt with the rock and I have fun with it.
Fear builds on itself. Replace fear with a positive feeling. And say to yourself, "Have fun." That's what its about anyway right.

UC MAG #33........GO OUT AND GET IT!!!!

The new Urban Climber is OUT, and look who gets a shout out on the COVER!!!

Photo by Andy Mann

Just click on the photo to read the interview.

Thanks for reading!

The Mark

The flu has hit. It knocked me down for 5 days. Flu: 2 Carrie: 0 . I get winded just sitting on the couch so I thought I'd wrap up some long awaited projects.

June 2008, I had an idea whilst driving with my friends Greg Locker and Shadow Ayala through the blazing hot western desert. I wanted to make a film based on the question, "What is The Mark?"I was seeing this theme in everything around us, so why not document it and see how it presented itself in our lives as well as the lives of stranger who had left their mark all around us. The West is full of small ghost towns, graffiti on old gas stations, abandoned furniture in strange places. It all seemed so connected somehow though it didn't quite congeal until I took out my camera and watched the world around me from a new point of view: the outsiders. I'd love to hear any of your points of view so feel free to chime in!

Obscurity Tour: Ralph Machio

Jason Jackson and I headed out yesterday to one of Flagstaff's obscure five star problems. Its located off the beaten path of West Elden and presents a style of climbing that is unlike anything else in Flag. You begin on a sloping rail tick-tacking yourself to the bulge where you make a karate kick (the Ralph Machio move) to find whatever foot hold will allow you to reach up and negotiate with a series of nipple sized "holds" trying with every move to roll more of your weight onto the precarious standing foot that is squeezing to stay put allowing you to finally grab the "Thank you god" hold at the top. Jason dispatched this so quickly I didn't have time to bust out my camera...so your stuck with footage of me. Enjoy, and happy hunting.