Solo Day

Ryan here. I started off my climbing today with a trip out to Grandmother. I really wanted to try Sunday Service (V11) and Teamwork (V10) even if it meant going to them by myself. I went straight to Sunday Service and found an icy wind to be blowing hard down there. Even though it was a little cold I decided to give it a few burns. I never got my fingers fully warmed up and I was starting to get cold. Not to mention the low psych levels when you're climbing by yourself in the cold. All the moves of Sunday Service felt doable, but it's gonna have to wait for a slightly warmer day that isn't my second hard day on the rock. It's a cool problem and I can't wait to work it some more! I ended up hiking over to take a look at Teamwork, but it was covered in ice and snow like most of the ground. I wasn't quite ready to be done climbing for the day yet, so I decided to drive to Blowing Rock in hopes of warmer temperatures and less wind. Plus it was a beautiful day to drive through the mountains. I was right about the warmer temps, Blowing Rock was 7 degrees warmer, but there was still a cold wind, although not as bad as at Grandmother. I hiked to the Mushroom boulder to give Portobello (V9) a few attempts. Again, my fingers couldn't get warm enough to feel good, but I was able to try hard for a few goes. I fell at the crux move a few times and then shortly after that I started to feel the fatigue from yesterday and today set in. I headed back to the dorms empty handed today, but with some new psych and a great day of climbing. I didn't climb a whole lot today, but tomorrow is supposed to be a much warmer day and I plan on going to Rumbling Bald, so the rest will be appreciated tomorrow. I'm super excited to get on some of the problems at Rumbling Bald!!! It's gonna be a beautiful day. 

Portobello: