Unofficial, Official, Non Scientific, Scientific Data

Lat Strains are a strain in the arse.   One week and a couple days into PT and I have seen a huge gain in strength and pain is minimizing.  Based on the decrease in pain and my ability to pull more weight I have come to the conclusion that I am on the mend.  Until I am back to 100% I have decided to take up running, gunsmithing, moonshining and duckpin bowling. 

Stables

Apogee

photo: Danielle Vennard

February is typically the month we expect a few snow storms, bitter cold and more time spent in the gym rather than climbing outside.  We have been rather lucky with no serious snow storms to date and temperatures hovering near perfect for bouldering.  Typically I would be training and climbing in comps but I have been battling a nagging injury that refuses to resolve. During my stay in CO over the summer I noticed pain in my left lat after climbing sessions.  It was never serious enough to end a session but continued to be a nagging pain that would be more intense pre and post work out but during work outs seemed to loosen up enough for me to push on.  Its been about 4months and I am still suffering from a growing pain that seems to be in my lat/scapula/teres major area.  At one point last week I was completely unable to do a pull up.  This week due to increased pain and extreme loose of power in my left arm I stopped climbing and started doing some research.  I am not a Dr. but everything that I have read so far points to a teres major strain with a scapular/lat strain too.  Recovery time is around 4-6weeks and in rare cases upwards of 6months but its worth it to me to finally be back to 100% instead of hovering around 85% for the past 4months.  I am going to see a PT for my injury next week and I hope to get this resolved.
On a lighter note I made the annual trip to Climbnasium for their Frostbite comp last weekend.  They had nearly 140 competitors competing in beginner - open categories.  The energy was great competition was tough and I walked away with a first place finish, win all around.  I was originally planning on attending Nationals but this is no longer an option with my current health....  always next year.

Unlocked

photo: Kyle Adams

Every area that I have been to over the past 14 years climbing has its gems.  Every once in awhile those gems turn out to be difficult and beautiful.  In central Pennsylvania at one of my local crags Governor Stables, we have been trying to unlock the beta to one of the proudest boulders in the field for almost half a decade.  People have come through looking at this horizontal roof devoid of holds near the lip and tried countless ways to figure out how to gain the head wall and finish the boulder to the top. 
I had put a session in on the roof project in the past but I wasn’t making any headway so I almost wrote it off as a lost cause, just another amazing “almost climb” at GS. Last week I got word that the beta was unlocked.  I was curious so I got in touch with my good friend Char who decrypted the sequence that could potentially turn the problem around.  I sent him a text and asked him what was up and what he had figured out.  His response was “its tricky and hard”  hahahaha, not surprising.  Armed with this new knowledge that it was tricky and hard I went out to see what I could come up with.
I spent the first several attempts contemplating the move that only Char had done and trying as hard as I could to think trickely and hardely.  After sometime had passed and I tried everything that we had tried before, I figured it out.  I was psyched and started giving it some red point burns but I was too tired and sick to fire it.  I packed up and headed home.  Char and I talked briefly and we were both so close falling near the end but neither of us sent that weekend.  Char was headed out Monday but because of my class schedule and how sick I was feeling I wouldn’t be able to make it until Tuesday.
Monday Char sent easily in a few try’s and the climb after nearly a decade of attempts and trying to figure out beta finally fell.  I was super happy for Char but I still needed to do the climb.  Tuesday after school I drove up to GS and waited until the sun started to drop and the conditions got crisp and sent in a short session.
I share the same affinity that all climbers do with solving a problem.  Whether its the hard project no one has done or the problem that your buddy walks up with wool socks and a beer in hand thats giving you fits.  Either way I love to climb.