Reeve's Roadtrip Blog

After suffering various flight delays, and difficulties in us communicating, Katy and Ryan picked me up from LAX, where they had landed several hours previously. Sure, they initially drove off without me, thinking I was in Pete, vicky and Paul's car, but they promptly turned around on discovering that I had been temporarily abandoned. I had the pleasure of meeting Adam 8c Jee in the car also, a fellow mental health nurse who I had heard about but never met. After a nocturnal shift behind the wheel, Ryan delivered us to the wild camping spot for the needles. Jet lagged and sleep deprived, the other 3 occupants of the car collapsed into a 16 hour slumber. Jee was keen to climb with me the following day. We started with the 2 pitch classic Thin Ice (5.10b). This went smoothly, Jee even seemed to enjoy the odd jam, but avoided the thrutchy b-chimney using sport climbers laybacking and knee bars. The next route, the Don Juan Wall (5.11b), features 5 pitches of crack climbing. Jee cop...

Sat on the coach to Heathrow, it struck me that I hadn't felt so nervous since I took my driving test, ten years ago to the month. It took me some time to identify the source of this anxiety. Sure, I was worried about finding someone to climb with, staying injury free, coping with loneliness, having enough money, and turning out of LAX onto an 8 lane highway in an automatic, but even the sum of these did not explain how I was feeling. More than these, for the next 9 months I am a full-time climber. I have no job and no fixed abode. Obviously the best solution for this upheaval is to actually go climbing. I headed to yosemite and befriended David in camp 4. David is a softly spoken physicist from Seattle. Reserved, intelligent and astute, he also makes these mini-shrieks when he's trying hard, acting as a cue to increase encouragement. Climbing with David, it soon became clear that I am Shit on granite.I have a lot to learn. I pull too hard with my arms, but if I put any more ...