matt segal

Got a little psych back yesterday…went back to Black Rocks to try the infamous route Gaia, one of the first E8 routes on the Grit established by Johnny Dawes. Kevin and I had tried it a few days before, but there was no success on my end… It took for ever to warm up since it was really cold and windy, but after swinging on a near by rope swing and hanging on some jugs I felt ready. First go didn’t go to well, I fell at the technical crux which luckily is right above the gear. Its a big move from a small left hand pocket to a really good hold in the corner, I really had to want it in order to do the move, since once you do it you’re questing up the scary part…

After the first fall I tied back in and went to the top. Before I realized it I was matching on the upper sloper, the hold that Jean-Minh Trin-Thieu takes the famous whipper from in Hard Grit. Feeling super calm I matched the hold and threw for the final sloper with out a problem, so psyched!

So we’re down to the last week of the trip, I feel I’ve climbed a lot but don’t have anything to show for it. For one reason or another I haven’t sent much, I could come up with a load of excuses why but the main one is I’m just not psyched. Its hard for me to wrap my head around why since I’ve wanted to climb on the grit for years but the timing just feels off. I’ve been non-stop traveling/climbing for so many months with no down time and I’ve reached the tipping point. My mind and body are over it and need a break.

I should of known better… I know I need a couple long breaks from climbing every year but since I graduated from College over a year ago I haven’t really stopped. I don’t think I’ve spent longer then a month at home since my last semester at Naropa, crazy! Maybe it’s cause I’m now a “full time” climber with nothing else to worry about so I feel the need to keep going.

Being a full time sponsored “athlete” is definitely a great opportunity and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else but sometimes its not the easiest life style. You’d think it would be, not having anything to do but wake up and go climbing. But when your life revolves around climbing its easy to get sucked into bad moods when you’re not climbing as well as you think you should be. Maybe that’s just the pressure I put on myself but my mood is effected by climbing, all it takes is a couple bad days for me to spiral down the nasty road of being bummed…

Being in England has been especially hard since the climbing days are limited due to weather. You have to be ready to step up at any moment, the good weather windows can be short so there’s always the pressure to get out while its good since it never stays good for long. One bad day of climbing turns into a week of bad climbing when it rains for days and you’re left to climbing in the gym… This has been my trip, and I haven’t been able to make the good days count…

I know it’s all in my head but its hard to rally on scary climbs when you’re not psyched to climb anything… With one week left I’m going to make the best of it; simply get outside and try and do what I do best, hopefully I will rediscover my love for climbing, something I think I’ve lost since I’ve been in England…

Finally the weather cleared and we had a proper day on the grit. It was the first “real” climbing day we’ve had in over a week, and it was sick! The weather was splitter, sun shining with a nice breeze. We started the day at Curbar, where Kevin and I sent The End of the Affair E8… so psyched! Finally got up a route! It was a pretty mellow experience since it felt way easier on lead then it had on any previous top rope tries… It was so cool, before I knew it I was pulling the the last move, which is the crux for me and is at the most dangerous part of the climb… it felt so easy…  Since I’ve been in England I’ve forgot that I actually climb much better on lead then I do on TR. I think my lack of confidence on the Grit has made me forget this… I need to just sack up more…

After Kevin and I dispatched, we walked over to give Alex a belay on some variation of Knocking on Heavens Door E8. Knocking is a pretty cool looking slab with ancient bullet shot holes for most of your hands and feet. He cruised all the way up to the crux and just as he was about to throw the last move we heard this death curdling scream in the distance “aaahhhh I BROKE MY LEG” Luckily Honnold was unfazed by the scream and finished the crux with ease… Once he topped out we rushed over to the Kayak slab where we heard the scream come from to see what happen and if they needed help…

We got to the scene and a someone had fallen off the slab. The climber had a compound fractured his leg and was obviously in a lot of pain… His partner called in the accident and a huge rescue team and helicopter arrived… We helped carry the climber tot he top of the crag where the helicopter awaited…

It was definitely an eye opener and reality check for all of us, climbing can be dangerous… After the rescue was over and the climber was off in the helicopter we all divided… Pickles went off to send The End of the Affair for the 3rd ascent of the day and the rest of us left Curbar, Alex, Sam, Dave and I went to Black Rocks while Kevin opted to go on the solo mission and try the Groove on TR…

In typical Honnold style, he walked up to Gaia E8 and thought it didn’t look too bad… After a quick warm up he flashed (much closer to an on-sight) Gaia… Was pretty sick, there was no chalk on the holds and he didn’t have any beta, he had just seen Hard Grit a while ago… Super proud!

After watching Honnold I had the internal battle of whether I should try and flash or headpint… He made it look pretty doable but I know I’m going to do a different sequence since I’m shorter… I watched Sam try it on TR and opted not to try since by the time it was all said and done it was getting dark and I decided I should at least try to give it a proper flash attempt. But now that today I’m sitting in the rain I’m kinda beating myself up over it. Should of just sacked up… Hopefully I’ll get another chance…

And that was a real day on the grit… 4 E8’s got head-pointed, one flashed and one bad injury… Crazy!

The rain started again… so Alex and I are going to compete in a local bouldering com at the Works then probably hit up the pub… should be fun… Kevin has managed to get a really bad cold and hasn’t left the couch all day. I guess this is England: bad weather, scary climbs, broken bones, colds, indoor climbing and my personal favorite the pub…

Not much has gone down since my last report… I think we’ve climbed outside once in the last week! Bummer! Was a pretty sick day though, Honnold flashed End of the Affair at Curbar in Arctic conditions. Crazy! Once again I didn’t sack up for the lead, just didn’t feel up to it with the given conditions… I guess thats what the grit is all about… taking the conditions you get and making the best of them. You cant wait for perfect conditions since they may never come…

On another not we’ve tallied up all the movies we’ve watched since in Sheffield… Definitely depressing, check it out:

Team America
The Three Kings
Collateral
Talladega Nights
Jack Ass The Movie
Point Break
Shaun of the Dead
Set in Stone
Committed
Donnie Darko
Stone Monkey
Underdeveloped
Bulletproof
Outlaw
Transformers
Final Cut
Band of Brothers Series (10)
American Psycho
Anchor Man
Hot Fuzz
Psyche
Cliff Hanger
Smoking Aces
Lucky Number Sleven
Donnie Brasko
Matrix 1
Matrix 2
Matrix 3
Onsight
Consumed
Hard XS
Hard Grit
The Sharp End
Bourne Identity
Bourne Supremacy
Bourne Ultimatum

So boring… Hopefully the weather will get better soon and we won’t completely loose the plot!

The rain has finally come… bummer!

The last few days have been filled with movies and wall sessions. I’m starting to understand why climbers don’t travel to England… The forecast is shit for the whole island. We haven’t seen the sun in days! Hopefully it will stop soon since we all have unfinished projects…

Team America is slowly loosing the plot; there are only so many bad films we can watch in a day. I think our record is 4… Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! Boredom strikes again… I thought I was well trained for this after a season in Squamish but I thought wrong… It still sucks!

We’re contemplating leaving England for a few days since we can find cheap flights. But where to go? Amsterdam? Mallorica? No decisions are being made yet but if the forecast doesn’t change we’re off…

Well, that’s it for now… gotta get back to our movie marathon; think we’re on episode 6 of the HBO series Band of Brothers! Whoopie!

Oh on another note, we all woke up this morning extremely psyched to hear that Obama won! Very exciting! We can now slow down the search for British wives and confirm our return tickets back to the US… Sickey!