I've been pondering

I've been intending to make a blogging resolution; a resolution to post every day for a week... or to post every day for a week on one topic, and then every day for the next week on a different topic. It wouldn't be so difficult, really, once I devoted myself to it.

So today will be the beginning, and I'm going to take the easy road and post every day (through Sunday) on the topic of writing.

But first to enthuse for a moment about climbing this past Saturday with Shawn and Katie at Red Wing. Ah, Red Wing. Ah, Shawn and Katie. Shawn is a driven climber, and as such he got us on a 5.12 that none of us had climbed before - "The start of something good". The guide book says, "If you can start it, you're good." This was indeed the case, as the opening moves were godawful hard. So hard, in fact, that none of us could do them, and we had to improvise a stick-clip to clip the first bolt. A stick-clip, for the uninitiated, is a device for clipping your quick-draw and rope through the first bolt without leaving the ground. That is, a stick, that you somehow attach your rope to, and reach the first bolt with.
Anyway, Shawn led the rest of the climb, not without difficulty and hanging. Then I top-roped it, not without difficulty and hanging. But, oh was it good and rewarding. Hard, hard moves all the way, but doable, and excellent climbing.
Then we climbed a bunch of other stuff, and ended up on "Foreign Affairs". 5.10d, but with the crux between the first and second bolts, and consistently hard for the entire route. Shawn fell going for the second bolt. I caught him, of course, so it was a good lesson in the effectiveness of my belay. I think I can lead this route. It will be my new goal, seeing as how I've led my other Red Wing goals this summer.