Adios Espana

Margalef, Spain

After 24 hours of flying/airport time, I sit here in La Quinta, California to catch my breath before making the final drive back home for summer. Yes, we are going home early. Infact we even left Spain early too. It must sound crazy to hear that I would cut a climbing trip short, but in reality I am anxious to get home and relieved to be finally taking the rest my body has asked for since Hueco. Despite the disappointments of going on a much anticipated climbing trip with a limiting injury, we had a really nice time experiencing all of the different flavours of Spain.

 Balance is proving to be a basic necessity for me. Although I love to climb, I have started to realize that I love the feeling of climbing freely and confidently over stone more so. Limping along with injuries makes climbing feel stiff and hesitant, it makes it difficult for mind and body to work in unison. It's just not as fun!

 I am a goal setter and I had big goals for this trip. In hindsight, I really should of focussed on staying healthy, but I couldn't get this goal out of my head. I put immense amounts of pressure on myself to achieve it, and grew more and more frustrated with this small setback every time I tried to push it a little harder. I was in denial and couldn't let it go. I was afraid of letting people down, letting sponsors down; but in reality I had only let myself down.

Views from Margalef

Climbing is unpredictable. You never know when you are going to send, you never know what suprises a day can bring. Some of my best climbing moments have happened when I least expected them to, in a moment of spontaneous perfection. I crave these moments. Life is just as unpredictable; you can't predict and plan when you will get injured or when you will achieve your goals. 

Life is good. I get to travel, see the world and experience the rock all over the planet. I have a loving family and support from amazing companies that I believe in. But deep down we all have something we want or need to feel completely whole. I have defined goals and none of which can be accomplished with an injury. Questions repeatedly run through my mind. "What did I do to deserve this?", "How come I have been injured all flipping year?", "Will I ever be healthy again?", "Am I just not cut out for this?". I need to step out and take a deep breath.

These pressures we put on ourselves only hinder our ability to learn, they blind us from the ability to listen to our bodies, they take away from living in the moment, they rob us of fun. It is a downward spiral of disapointment and a lost touch with why you love this sport. Even though I wanted to quit climbing when I hurt myself on day 4 in Hueco, I really wont go down without a fight. I am now taking a 6 week rest period; it is a recharge of sorts. For once in my life, quitting while I'm ahead. My current goals are realistic and not driven by my ego or personal pressures: I want to get healthy and give some back. I hope to come back to climbing this summer feeling refreshed. Less pressure, more love. It is time to live in the moment again. 

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. – Helen Keller

In closing, this trip taught me a lot about myself. You have to fall down to learn how to climb higher. Our decision to come home early was based on both of our frustrations with 'limping along', I'd come to acceptance that I needed to rest, it also worked out to be cheaper to leave. Our last week was really nice, we had some good weather in Siurana, great times with Gill and Steve from Ontario, we got to see Margalef and Montserrat, we visited Barcelona, and we had a nice last night together in Madrid. It was really cool that we got to experience the majority of the climbing hot spots in Spain, it is something that may not of happened if I was locked down on a project somewhere. Oh we will return.

Team Canada in Tree Pose

Steve :)

Steve goes for a redpoint burn a classic 5.13a at Margalef

Pocket paradise

 I recently recieved some great news, I was offered a spot on the Sanuk climbing team! I am really excited about this as I don't think that I have worn anything but Sanuks since my first pair. For those of you that have not owned a pair of Sanuks, do yourself a favour and get some for your feet. They will be very happy feet! They have a great line of sandles and sidewalk surfers on their website www.sanuk.com. They're cute, comfortable, they go with everything, they're light, and you can just throw them in the wash if they get smelly. Sanuks seriously rock!

Enjoy a few more photos from our trips to Barcelona and Montserrat :)

Happy Sanuk feet in Barcelona

Barcelona busy streets

City Markets

Montserrat was one of my favourite stops this trip. It is a total tourist trap, but for a good reason. The rock formations are really beautiful and the town sits high up in the mountains with stunning views. We did a nice hike to the top of the mountain that followed a never ending staircase. We also checked out the climbing, and it looks like you get some amazing exposure on low angle multi-pitch routes.

Montserrat



The Conehead King of Montserrat

Montserrat

The never ending staircase.

Montserrat finger formations

A party of three climbing a multi-pitch classic

Now we plan to lounge around in California for a few days before we make the drive home. I really look forward to the upcoming guiding season with On the Rocks, it looks like it is going to be a good year! I cannot wait to climb at Lions Head this summer. Time to rest up for the much anticipated Ontario climbing season!

Home sweet home here we come!!!

Hasta luego Spain!!!