2024: Year in Review
Summer 2023: Back to Basics Prior to 2024, I wouldn't have called myself a boulderer. Sure, I'd have bouldering "phases" every now and then, and I would always play on new sets in the gym, but my passion had thus far been rooted in sport climbing. I prided myself on my ability to stay relaxed on long routes, and what I lacked in strength and power, I made up for in route-reading, endurance, and flexibility. There was a slight problem though: more and more frequently I began to encounter sport climbs with boulder cruxes that I simply couldn't do, despite feeling fresh and trying individual moves in isolation. For well over a year, my max redpoint grade remained unchanged. Continually getting shut down on these cruxes was a constant source of frustration, but planted an important seed in my mind. In the early summer months of 2023, all of my primary sport climbing partners had either moved out of state or were taking a break from sport climbing to focus on boulderin...