Back in April I posted about a cool project Corey Rich worked on that photographed literally every inch of the boulder problem Midnight Lightning in Yosemite, CA. The end result was a virtual tour of the problem where you could explore every aspect of the boulder. If you haven’t seen it, you really should. In conjunction with that project, Rich Dane Henry filmed Tommy Caldwell running laps on the problem which you can learn more about in this video:
The main thing that struck me when watching the video was this quote from Tommy Caldwell about the infamous crux mantle [emphasis mine]:
A lot of people don’t understand the move…it takes a lot of belief
Belief. Precisely what I was talking about in my post from yesterday. When I tried Midnight Lighting some 3 years ago I very clearly did not understand how to do the mantle, and I completely lacked belief that I could do the problem. Despite reaching the mantle on a handful of occasions, I couldn’t muster a half hearted attempt at even trying to roll over on the move. Part of this was out of fear of falling, but most of it was mental.
Top climbers like Tommy Caldwell are no doubt very strong physically, but more often than not it’s their mental determination that gets them to the top of their projects. All too often “regular” climbers (like yours truly) are quick to make excuses about not being strong enough when perhaps we should be focusing more on believing in the abilities we already have.
I had that exact problem this past weekend in Yosemite. I didn’t believe I could stand on this one foot hold so I didn’t even try. Maybe I could have done it…
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that wuz sick . . . i luv seeing shit like that.
ive only been around (midnight-lightning)once a few years back and , i wuz totally dumbfounded by it.
theres deff an ” ora ” feelin 2 it.
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Hmm, I think your sentence “Part of it was fear… but most of it was mental” is an interesting statement.
I think one could read a lot into that.
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For any of us who *think* we’ll never do Midnight Lightning because
1) we lack the reach,
2) are too short,
3) aren’t as burly and aggro as Klem Loskot
Here’s Lynn Hill putting those mental demons to rest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8zg2n_OIuQ&NR=1
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