OFF THE WALL

Feed from OFF THE WALL

Relentless

People were staring. I felt guilt; shame. Could I really go through with this?

A dull dreary damp grey Christmas Eve. Not much good for anything but oddly perfect for relentless rehab exercises. I’m almost there, almost mended, but the ice carrot is dangling very near. I have promised faithfully to the lovely Lisa that I will do everything in my power to ensure my shoulders are as strong as they possibly can be before I start hacking and hanging on vertical frozen waterfalls.

I’m allowed to move on from the relentless boredom of exercises in the morning and evening gloom with an acrid rubber band to movement on a wall adorned with holds. And on a dull day like today the bouldering centre is just the place to practice the art of ‘setting my shoulders’.
I lose a bet that there will be less than 20 people there...there are 23 - and join the escapees from the consumer madness that is a UK Christmas.

The last time I was here I hung upside down, got blisters on my fingers and threw myself at the coloured holds until my shoulder hurt. Unsurprisingly I now know that that wasn’t a good idea. Today there is an entirely different agenda. ‘Training’, not fun, not proving myself or showing off. And if there is the slightest complaint from my shoulder I shall leave instantly. Honestly.

It’s radical and it makes both me and those around me uneasy. I’m aware of eyes watching me as I progress up the walls using ANY of the holds. Shocking isn’t it? I must positively avoid following a line of red, green or those nice blue and yellow swirly ones. Instead I must use the holds as tools to recovery – to reach and ‘set’; and to make it increasingly difficult and again, to ‘set’. I use holds that fit in with what I need to do, not just because they are a particular colour. Outrageous.

Circuits prove very versatile, but I get easily confused by the need to take a circular path as well as use holds that provide a particular movement. The man waiting for his turn looks very confused too. So I give up on that idea and try a traverse using handholds by my chest and keeping myself close to the wall, while ‘setting’ at every move. It makes me sweat and grunt...so it must be good for me.

I have earned a cup of tea. Sitting there feeling slightly dazed, I look longingly at the severely overhanging wall in front of me. Perhaps I could just try a few moves and see if the training to make the ‘setting’ subconscious is working. A few moves in and I know it’s best avoided. I’ll stick to the real world. How often will I need climb upside down in any environment that isn’t contained by 4 walls?

How things have changed. I love the challenges that climbing presents, but nowadays I know it’s best to pick them rather than square up to all of them. I can now resist the ‘child in a sweet shop’ syndrome and the tyranny of the indoor climbing wall. This way I’ll end up with teeth - and I’ll be able to revel in a week on huge towers of thick Italian ice in sunshine and blue skies away from the drabness of the UK winter.

Posted by fishinwater