A Return to Video Blogging

I ran into a reader at the Tully’s near my house yesterday. He asked me why I had stopped video blogging and he told me that he thought I was a natural and should keep doing it. So here is my return to v-logging. It’s a doozy. Hope you like it!

UPDATE: YouTube is apparently not uploading my videos. I’m trying once more this morning and then I’m moving to some other service.

UPDATE: I’ve now uploaded the video on Revver. It’s working!

As a bonus, here are the still shots we got.

Exit 38 Climbing Kicked Ass Yesterday

Yesterday afternoon, Andy and I went up to Deception Crags with our friends Mark, Megan and Rye. Andy led a 5.5 with only three bolts, which he said was kind of scary. He did really well though. Mark and Megan both top-roped it several times.

Rye led this nasty 5.9 — think 5.10b/c in the gym — and then Andy and I both top-roped it. The crux was this wicked dihedral with microscopic foot smears, only one super-secret toe hold and nothing but slanted, slippery slopers for hands. To top it off, it was very slabby. That makes it nice for taking the occasional rest by leaning against the rock. It also makes it really scary because if your foot slips off the tiny-ass smear, you’re going to do a face-plant into the rock. And in the case of rock v. Teresa’s face, rock will win every time.

Despite the busted-face factor, slab climbing is my favorite kind. Being female, I don’t develop upper body strength as well as my male climbing buddies. I can climb overhangs, to be sure. But it usually involves a lot of foot flagging, jugging and complaining on my part.

My main climbing skills are balance, grace and flexibility. All three come in especially handy on slabs. And every so often, you need to do a one-legged squat on a toe hold the size of Lara Flynn-Boyle’s right breast. Needless to say, climbing gives you awesome gluts and quads.

I got a bunch of photos with Rye’s camera, so as soon as he sends them to me, I’ll post them.

Forget Mike, When I Grow Up, I Want to Be Like Chris

Chris Sharma, ladies and gentlemen.

Thanks to Mark for the vid.

My First 5.11

I just got back from rock climbing with some of my friends. I made it up my first 5.11 in a very, very long time. For those of you not familiar with rock climbing, a 5.11 is a pretty difficult route. Most gym climbs start at a difficulty rating of 5.3 or 5.4 and go up from there. By the time you’re getting into 5.10 and up, you’re in the advanced range of climbing.

It’s wonderful to be able to bounce back so much more quickly from illness. I may have a love-hate relationship with albuterol, but there’s no disputing the fact that it helps my asthma.

I Jump on the Meez Meme

Deb was blogging about how she found out about Meez on Esther’s MySpace. So I guess I had better hop on the bandwagon.

I was really pleased to see that they had a rock climbing animation and background.