Climbing Wall, Rock Music, & Fat Cat

My main events in the last two weeks involved several separate days of long travel on public transport into the city.  Our LP meet-up was, as always, a stimulating delight.  I stopped late at the Rock Pub to hear Mundee, who played “Rock and Roll” by Zeppelin, and a week later I got to hear the full evening set of Munson, who played that same favorite song.  I got a much-needed haircut and visited a gym to check out their climbing wall and facilities. 

Movies are few and mediocre, but they fill in wait time while avoiding rush hour; they are air conditioned and have comfortable lounge areas, and I get cheap senior rate half-prices.  The refusal of Thais to stand up in theaters while the Royal Anthem is being played to honor the King is a definite new and shocking occurrence.  By my very rough count most recently, there were 30 of us in the theater (I was the only farang and almost everyone I could see was a Thai adult), and only 10 of us stood up while 20 remained seated.  A year ago: unimaginable!  The times they are a’ changing. 

I joined a downtown gym for a one-month trial, and the climbing wall is excellent.  I haven’t climbed in 15 years, so it was rough, and add to that the fact that climbing standards of difficulty have evolved tremendously.  The “easiest” climbs on their walls are at the limits of my (onetime) abilities when I climbed in the 70s and 90s, and they are face-climbs, not the crack or friction climbs I was most familiar with.  My forearms have been aching for days after. 

I hire a certified belayer for an hour, and the staff there are great.  When I go back this next week, I will resist trying to do “pure” graded routes – which are of such difficulty for me that it risks injury and only limits my climbing time – and I will instead just climb randomly on the wall, mixing holds from any nearby (and separately graded) routes to make it much easier so I can just stretch out this old body and regain the feel of climbing again in a more relaxed and meditative manner.  

That is similar to my old routines at Rimrock and Jakes Rocks after the thaw in springtime, when I had to slowly regain my feel on rock after a long winter.  I will also try to do more down-climbing while on belay after reaching the top, instead of being lowered on tension – because I’ve always thought down-climbing was essential practice (especially for free solo climbers and lead climbers), and it adds immeasurably to one’s psychological and physical technique.  It’s re-training time for me!  Ooh rah! 

After a long day in the city, and coming home late to avoid rush hour and to catch some evening Rock music, there I see Fat Cat waiting at the gate to greet me after midnight as I approach. 

-Zenwind. 

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