Today is my birthday.
And…
I’m not doing a birthday challenge.
YUP.
After a summer of challenges, I’m burnt out. For me, the most difficult aspect of Spenser’s challenge was an inability to plan ahead. With the unpredictable weather Squamish is infamous for, plans always hinge upon a smile from up above. I couldn’t stand waking up most mornings not knowing what the day had in store for us. Our plans inevitably fell apart, our back-up plans often had to be reworked. I’m tired of planning.
Good Squamish.
Bad Squamish.
It’s not that I feel burnt out with the birthday challenge idea. I’m still really psyched for you to do a birthday challenge. I also had a great time and learned a lot from mine last year. It’s just not what I want to do this year.
Other than not having to plan, I have no clue what I want to do and, since we have to go to Vancouver to take a friend to the airport in the morning, it’s surprise Vikki Vancouver Birthday! (Brought to me by Spenser.)
You may (or may not) have noticed that I haven’t written in a while. Now that Spenser’s challenge has been over for a weeks, I’ve had time to digest what the hell happened this summer. It’s been an incredible whirlwind, with some of the highest highs I’ve ever felt. Usually the highs are complemented by concurrent lows, but for the past few months the scale was tipped. Don’t get me wrong, there’s been fighting and crying. Disappointments, headaches, and times when shit just didn’t work out. Leaky roofs and broken plans happen.
But, when I look back- I can’t believe what a summer it’s been! Spenser’s month of birthday challenges. I learned to trad climb (it’s hard for to me express how mentally difficult this was on me, so, for the moment, let’s just say it’s was real taxing). We’ve been editing & filming for our first paid series. We tested ourselves over and over again this summer.
Spenser looking annoyed at a chipmunk after running to the 3rd peak on the Chief in 36 minutes (AKA Day 1 of the Birthday Challenge). I think of this as the official start of our Squamish summer this year.
My first Squamish multi-pitch, Skywalker, with Georgie.
One of many reasons I fell in the love with this particular trad route. (I’ve now done Skywalker 3 times this summer)
Spenser mounting the trailer to inspect our leaky roof situation. Again.
I just love this photo SO much. Terry helping us fix our leaky roof by cutting some plywood. Underneath the Chief. Portable power is RAD.
Pure exhaustion.
Unexpectedly, in the middle of Spenser’s challenge, we flew to Salt Lake City to film Steve Edwards’ birthday challenge.
This also happened.
Kim, my fearless trad coach. Okay, fine, not fearless, but really the most positive, supportive person you could ever ask for in a trad partner.
Boulderers Gone Trad. I guess it’s catching on? Jimmy, Kasia, Terry & Flannery rack up to send the Grand Wall.
This was just a few days ago. I got to take out a Chattanooga girlfriend, Cody, on her first Squamish multi-pitch. Damn good feeling!
So far, so good.
All this to say, my blogging got pushed aside. I’ve written in my journal and when I look back, the thoughts are disjointed. As soon as I wrote about one important happening, another happened. I clearly couldn’t keep up.
I’m catching up now. Hopefully, I’ll return with more poignant thoughts on the summer.
As of now, we’ll be sticking around Squamish until the end of the month. Now that things have calmed down a bit around here, we’ll be climbing for ourselves and editing. So.much.editing.
YEA, IT DOES.