Crux Wednesdays

If you are a Harry Potter fan and read the title of this post, crux is not short for horcrux :P But I do mean crux in reference to a portion of a climbing route.

This morning a coworker greeted me with a cheery "happy hump day!" Her words lingered throughout the day as I was stuck indoors. Naturally, my mind wandered to climbing.

A crux in a climbing route is the hardest section. It's usually the part that gives you trouble and prevents you from flashing or red pointing a route. Wednesday's are like a crux in a climbing route. It's the middle of the week and I feel tired from the activities that happened on Monday and Tuesday. My brain doesn't want to function as it blankly stares at my computer screen. Just like in a climbing route, once the crux is over the rest of the route or week feels like a breeze - or breezier. 

After pushing through a crux and wrapping up the remaining moves, a sense of bliss washes over me as I either A) clip into the anchors or B) hang onto the last bouldering hold with complete control. Another route complete! Similarly, as the clock strikes 5:00 pm on a Friday, heck yeah, BLISS! Hello weekend and outdoor climbing!

We made it through the week's crux! Just a few more days to go :) Until then, I'll be dreaming I'm outdoors, getting my climb on....

Climbing in Leavenworth Washington - pockets for days

As usual, if any of the climbing terminology went over your head, here's the vocab!

Crux

The most difficult portion of a climb

-From: Wikipedia Climbing Glossary Terms 

Flash

To climb a route first time without practice but with beta. Climbing it without beta would be an on sight.

-From: Rock Climbing Glossary 

Red Point

In sport climbing, the term redpointing refers to free-climbing a route, while lead climbing, after having practiced the route beforehand (either by leading with frequent rests on a rope - for which the team "hangdogging" arose - or by top roping). Many climbers will frequently try to redpoint a route after having failed to onsight or flash it; although occasionally a climber will forgo an onsight attempt if they suspect that the route is so difficult that an attempt would be pointless.

-From: Wikipedia Redpoint Climbing 

-Elle