matt segal

The last few weeks have been insane… I’ve been unmotivated for bloggin since I’ve been overwhelmed writing for the climbing mags…  Not sure who I’m kidding… I’m not a writer, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I’ve been acting like one: desperately holding onto the plot, stressed about deadlines, looking to substances for inspiration, ignoring my cell phone and locking myself in my room with nothing but my laptop. Never thought it would be me in this circumstance… Oh well, but I do admit… its kinda funny…

Luckily writing isn’t the only thing that’s been keeping me busy. Since ABS Nationals I’ve been super psyched on the “fit kid” program and have been training consistently. So psyched, feels good to be sore after a proper gym session…

But don’t worry… I’ve been spending equal time keeping it real in places like Eldo and the Downer! Eldo has been super sick! Finally found a new project that is inspiring. It’s located in the Kloof Alcove (same wall as the Iron Monkey) and is super wild. The crux is somewhere in the V10 or V11 range, but the real problem is that you do the hardest moves in the most dangerous section.

After many attempts over 4 days I’ve successfully TR’d it twice… So I know it goes… its just a mental battle. The last time Eric and I were at the Kloof we thought it would be a good idea to chuck a bag off the crux to to see what the fall would be like… Not sure if that was best, since the bag showed us exactly what we didn’t want to see…

Bellow is the footage of us hucking the bag…

mattdrop

mattdrop1-iphone

Before I got sucked into the Eldo project I heard of a new sport climb established by Wade David that may be a good highball/solo… I checked it out and decided going ground up was bad idea… So I tried it on a rope, flashed it… it’s somewhere in the 5.13b range… Pretty fun… but not sure if its worth going back for the solo… Check it - Photos by Wade David.