Intimidated?
Our egos are ruthless. Whether we want them to be or not, they are always there, hiding just beneath the surface ready to throw a wrench in the works. I recently spoke with a climber who was feeling, for the first time ever, competitive about his climbing. I've seen climbers stop a workout early because they, admittedly, didn't want to look bad by failing on a 5.11 in front of people. Years ago, at Rocktown, a popular bouldering area in Georgia, I encountered it myself, for the first time in quite a while.
The day started off strong, having onsighted a V5 while warming up and sending my V8 project, "The Vagina", in a just a few attempts. I figured that with temps nearing perfection, now would be the time to go check out my ultimate dream boulder, "Golden Harvest" V10. As I approached the boulder from the backside, I could hear voices, and strangely, found myself hoping that the climbers were working on the V5 next to "Golden Harvest."
They weren't.
There were 3 guys working on "Golden Harvest," and according to the incessant spray, they were all close to sending. They looked strong. They were obviously dedicated boulderers, while I toted around a pad older than their climbing careers. I took a little time to commit, not wanting to make a fool of myself by falling off the first moves, which from the looks of things, were quite difficult.
After watching several attempts from the climbers, and taking a deep breath, I found myself standing at the start holds of one of the most beautiful boulders in the Southeast. I had watched the beta intently, visualized myself making the first couple moves, and stepped on without hesitation. To my surprise, the (what had appeared to be difficult) first move went easily. I almost hesitated on the second move, thinking that I must be doing something wrong for it to feel this doable. On my first try, I was able to get set up for the crux move, and move toward the distant, hard-to-snag hold. I was nowhere even close to hitting it but, on that first attempt, I had equaled the high point of these "stronger" climbers, and more importantly, had vanquished the jitters.
While sitting there on my ancient pad, psyching up to commit to trying, I had a few important thoughts. Regardless of the outcome, the situation was going to end up a positive one. Here's why…