Ibex: Reel Rock 7

   I met Rich (of the dynamic duo of Britten & Rich) up at Ibex this afternoon for a quick climb, followed by a screening of the Reel Rock Tour 7, sponsored by Backwoods & The North Face. Britten had been teaching yoga all day and didn't feel like climbing, understandably. But it was nice for Rich to come out & be my belay partner! I managed 3 5.8s and 2 5.9s, though I had to cheat a little on the 5.9s, for lack of an extra foot of height. (Eye roll)
   I must say that my new climbing equipment seems perfect so far: Tarantula-Mammoth rules!!! And now for the main event...

   The showing was comprised of 4 short films about some really incredible—super-human, even—professional climbers. The climbers featured were "Honnold 3.0" with Alex Honnold; "The Dura Dura" (the "HARD hard") with Chris Sharma & Adam Ondra; "The Shark's Fin" with Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk; and "The Wide Boyz" with Tom Randall & Pete Whittaker. And there's even more on the show's blog!

   Honnold is truly amazing; and is noted as the only climber in the world who could accomplish his insane triple crown: 3 faces in Yosemite—7,000 vertical feet—in 15 hours! Plus he's charming and witty, and somehow able to keep his wits about him, even in the face of certain danger.

 Watching these pros made me feel foolish for struggling as much as I did on my last climb of the day, a 5.9 that would be no "problem" at all for the pros. And I felt more foolish when Adam called Chris "old man" for being in his 30s. Sheesh! It is a little depressing to think that I started climbing a month after my 37th birthday... way past prime climb time. Sure wish I'd had the idea 20 years earlier. But you can't control what you can't change, so I will attempt to be happy at my present level and improve from there.
   And after the film, dinner at Thailand Restaurant down the street. Britten had the spring rolls, tiger cry beef, and crab rangoon waiting when we arrived!