I can be a complete lazy ass, and Miel knows it. I can sleep
for ten hours straight and tolerate unmade beds and towers of “stuff” piling on
tables. During this trip, so far, I can’t help but see this side of myself even
more. I avoid planning and thinking too many steps ahead. I prefer to keep my
eyes on my book, read sign after sign (even if I can’t understand), watch varied
characters walking by, and take in the views instead. When the time comes when
I do need to make decisions or figure out directions, I take time digesting
panel boards or patiently wait in line in help counters.
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| SNCF Train schedule panel board. Photo of guy's ass not planned! |
I had only one main preoccupation: To ensure that I always have a big enough time allowance, in the event of unanticipated delays, or if I simply take too much of my own sweet time (you know, like going to the toilet too many times, doing a side trip to another coffee shop, taking the longer way around simply because I didn’t want to plan for the best one, etc.)
My “chill” attitude almost always extends to my climbing,
and Miel hates it. I can be relaxed to a fault, not pushing myself hard enough
and never aiming for an on-sight attempt. I’m not sure why I’m this way, but one
reason I can think of is because my general mindset when on vacation is to take
away all kinds of pressure I can put
on myself.
Possibly, I end up purging the pressure of having to perform
on a route. Completing a route, and on-sighting for that matter, demands so
much mental focus, and maybe I just don’t want to put it that much “work” into
it. (Tamad nga).
Possibly, it could also just be an excuse to avoid the
feeling of potential failure, in case the on-sight attempt does not succeed. ;)
Either way, all my climbs so far have been spaced out and
unambitious, and I am still figuring out if I should even make any kind of
change to this outlook. Because it’s not like I haven’t been having the time of
my life with everything else!
We visited Gargantua for a second time, and was received by
awesome winds that I’ve never before experienced while climbing. The crag isn’t
so high up, nor the routes particularly long, but even just standing on the
ground felt like I was being pushed around! We found out that it’s not always
like this for Gargantua, and it was simply our “lucky” day ;)
I already mentioned how Gargantua has a huge cave, and the
routes we hopped on for that day mostly passed through its roof. On it I was
able to redpoint a 6-ish warm-up, on-sight a very short 7b, but unable to redpoint
another 7b. It was a reaffirmation on what I know my weaknesses to be (executing
high lock-offs for a wide, reachy move), and a validation of what I can be
strong at (pulling on pockets in a roof – thank you, TS boulder wall, haha!)
The next day was another type of climbing in Entrechaux, a
riverside crag that offered all sorts of rock features: Tufas, slabs, roofs and
vertical faces. I struggled with the 6-ish warm-up that had crimps on its crux
section, but managed to on-sight the second route (7a) that was packed with
laybacks and kneebars all through-out.
I was thrilled to have finished a crimpy 7b on a second
attempt. I felt like I really put my mind into it, with its two cruxes requiring
good body placements and composure, due to the delicate, tiny foot holds. The
second crux, in particular, called for a super high-step (right foot) on your
previous two-fingertip handhold, in order to reach for another two-finger open crimp.
Basically it was a style I don’t often get to test myself on very often,
especially outdoors, so I was happy to have pulled through.
Meanwhile, Miel continued to hop on his 8’s. An 8a and 8b in
Gargantua, and another 8a and 8b in Entrechaux.
I tried to ride on with Coralie’s energy yet again, when she
invited me to wrap up the sector on a slab-start 7a. The thin edges proved too
much for my fingers that I ended up linking one part with the help of quickdraws.
But I was happy to get a good workout, practice my cleaning skills, and overall
adding something to my climbing repertoire.
And like a cherry on top, despite having about 2 hours of
sunlight left, James brought us to another spot which the locals simply refer to as the “Quarry”.
It is obviously an old quarry site with its striped markings, but the quarrying
activity has long been abandoned and what remains are excellent lines from 7a
and up.
By this time, our skins were shredded from climbing 6 days
straight, so only one route was setup at the Quarry. The remaining minutes were
spent eyeing the crag’s project lines, and a bit more appreciation of the area’s
history.
So yes, you can really say that I’ve been quite chill, not
logging hours and hours of climbing. I’ve been basking in the French sun like
there’s no tomorrow. Miel can call me a lazy ass, but at least he’ll have a
jolly, happy, lazy-ass belayer for all his super routes, anytime.
*Climber references:
- Gargantua - https://climbingaway.fr/en/climbing-areas/gargantua
- Entrechaux - https://climbingaway.fr/en/climbing-areas/trois-rivieres
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