Routes, routes, and more routes

Setting the roof climb is always the crux of the competition routesetting extravaganza for me. It's 90 feet of holds then another 20 feet of horizontal terrain. So by the time you reach the end of aiding out the roof and placing that final jug at the end, your legs hurt, your back hurts, your arms hurt...and you're still a little bit scared that something, not sure what, but something, might give way you you'll come crashing down. It's a nice feeling to come down with that route finished.

We've moved from the the purple room, through the overhang area, through the pink room, now through the blue room and into the green and outside routes. We're not quite to the home stretch but we are definitely rounding the bend.

I've taken on a number of the 5.12 to 5.13 range routes this year and while it's fun to play around with setting at that difficulty level, setting those routes is not nearly as much fun as setting in the 5.10 to 5.11 range. Obviously it's needed for the competition but when it comes to everyday training and "climbing gym" routes, most of those don't see nearly the traffic.

Part of me looks forward to going back through and adding solution holds (i.e. positive holds) to some of those crimpy and slopey lines. But we'll see....

The competition is April 6th so we still have a couple of weeks remaining for about 15 more routes. Will we make it? I think so.