Sunday morning grind

Took an early morning train to New Rochelle to climb with Brian, Eric, and Jaclyn. Firstly, congrats to J-Dog for an excellent second climbing day, she's got a good feel for efficiency and climbing movement already - saw her throw a right foot flag around a corner for stability on her first ever 5.8. Good session, but the pump hit us all by the end.

We worked on lead routes today, a mix of pumpy roof routes for endurance and technical face climbs. B and I warmed up on a 9 (yellow/green), big jugs steepening out for the last third of the climb. Best fall of the day was Eric's monster whipper on the same route, with an armful of slack out (and then some) going for the clip at the steepest part of the climb (nice catch, Brian). I almost ran through the pumpy 10 (black) across the roof, but threw an incorrect grip on a hold and muffed a clip - too pumped to recover without hanging, but the moves felt good. Brian worked it twice, looking much better and more comfortable by the end. Hangdogged my way up the 11b (blue/white) that Brett made look so easy the other day. Burned myself out on the tricky start, but was able to figure out the subsequent moves including the exit moves around the lip and the big throw near the end. Also hit up the tricky double roof 10 (yellow) in the back; body positioning and foot placement was crucial. Brian climbed a 10 (pink/green) that started on a vertical face but exited on an overhanging dihedral, looked like confounding moves on very thin holds.

Finished up with some quick bouldering (V3ish) before running for the return train to Grand Central. Nice way to spend Sunday morning, but I really wish that in addition to the sports drinks and energy bars, the gym would stock some real fuel...