Not That Day

The atmosphere hung still and cold by the boulders at Great Barrington. A warming, golden sunlight filtered through the leaves, spilled down from above onto a few chalky, white splotches of rock. It was nothing short of beautiful.

Our palms began to sweat.

Upon touching our tantalized fingers to the grey and orange stone, the rock bit back with a cold which pervaded our being far deeper than just our finger tips. That biting cold found it's way into a corner of our brain reserved only for climbing, and upon arriving, opened a dusty doorway into a niche reserved only for days like this; fall climbing days when perfection is defined.

This was it.

We warmed up and determined the plan of attack for the day; given conditions like this, one must remain disciplined and organized to take full advantage and accomplish our respective goals. I began trying The Prow Traverse - V5, an old, pumpy project of mine, which, on this day, felt far easier. I sent shortly.

Friend topping out the traverse

We dragged our pads down the leafy dirt hill and threw them down under The Probe - V8. Tyler proceeded to dispatch the problem in two, overlapping pieces. We began resting as the sound of rustling leaves alerted us to company. I can honestly say that, in most cases, I thoroughly enjoy meeting and befriending new people through bouldering. It's one of the aspects of the sport that sets it apart from others, and attracts me to it, and these people seemed to be as excited as we were about the beautiful day.

Tyler and I decided that this was the day, the day that we would crush numerous problems, regardless of grade, or style, or height. On a day like this, when our bodies move more freely and delicately from hold to hold, and we find ourselves sitting at the tops of boulder problems, we could do anything.

Tyler sat down beneath The Probe and began what was likely his send attempt.

He reached the namesake hold.

Something went wrong.

In the next few, blurry moments, a loud, cracking thud echoed off of the pines and withing all of the climbers watching. Tyler was on the pad, and the probe was on him. The unthinkable had happened; the probe was broken; this was not the day.

This was not that day.

Bewildered, half-true jokes were made at Tyler. Stunned faces stared blankly at the brown silhouette scar left by the break. Frantic hands caressed the scar for signs of a new hold. All that was left were two, horrid crimps.

JP slaps the sloper on The Egg.

So what? We had to move on, and although Tyler's morale was a bit wounded, we kept climbing; there was nothing else to do. I tried The Egg - V6 a bit, and sent The Prow Dyno - V4/5, as a heart-broken Tyler went to the speed boulder to sit and think about what he had done.

Friend on The Dyno.

We met back up and went to a new area five minutes or so past the Erkenen boulder. Tyler showed me an incredible boulder, displaying the best rock I have seen at Great Barrington, as well as a few hard problems like Kindred Spirits - V9 and True Bleau - V10ish. Next, we explored a bit and found ourselves at The Cube boulder. Whose beautiful, tall, proud face required a visit from us that day.

We set our pads underneath the least intimidating line on the boulder and began work. After a few goes, we both sent what we both decided was "the best V2 I have ever climbed", as it would be, we were climbing on a V4 known as Rubiks Cube. A deadpoint move to a perfect crystal-pinch leads to a heady top-out and incredible view.

Rubiks Cube

We ended our day at Snooze Button. Where we both decided we were done climbing.

We hadn't had that day, but we had a day, and, hell, the day we had was pretty fucking sweet. Climbing sometimes teases me and leaves me wanting more from it, but the moment I start to doubt my passion for it, it drags me back in with a day like this one.

Fading light on Snooze.

Thanks, Tyler, for making this day as awesome as it was, and for breaking The Probe, because if that problem was still there, we wouldn't have had the day we did.

It wasn't even that great a problem, anyway.

-WB