[Aussiegav]

Thought I start a thread for those who 'Get Bitten by the Bug'.  That bug you get when you try a new boulder problem or route that suddenly fills your head constantly with excitement & you obsessively think of the sequences / possible sequences.


Since returning to climbing, I've deliberately tried to stick to Onsight's or doing things first or second try.
On Saturday afternoon,  I got on two routes in Chee Dale, Fringe Lunatic - Max Wall & The Man Who Fell To Earth - Embankment. The first route had wet starting holds which prevented any serious Redpoint try. I was too tired to try and Redpoint The Man Who Fell To Earth after doing all the moves after an extensive dog on it. I especially like the route at Embankment, route of two different halves. A nice wall to start then a boulder problem to finish.

Since then I've been constantly thinking about these routes, pouring over the net & looking at the guide for more info. Trying to work out when I can get back on them.


I'd forgotten how good that feeling is and how it affects you when you find that good problem or climb.

Feel free to share your latest joy/obsession & why.



 

[Wood FT]

I love that feeling. It enriches the whole thing.

[abarro81]

I reckon that feeling is the best part of redpointing.. feels so exciting 

[SA Chris]

I love that feeling. It enriches the whole thing.

I was thinking about this the other day, some routes or problems for whatever reason (real or notional) don't apeal to you at all, but then there are those that just have that something about them, that you let them get under your skin and it almost becomes an affair where you put the time and effort in, and slowly they start to reveal themselves to you, until you finally unlock them completely.....

.....then you move on to another.

Always makes me think of the opening lines to True Happiness This Way Lies by the The

  

[Fiend]

Interesting topic. I don't get this so much in the way described as I'm not such a dedicated redpointer, and when I dabble in it I tend to get lots of projects on the go to have a wide choice of venues, and when I do really focus down on one project I tend to fuck myself up 

But I did get this a bit last year, approx 50m across the river from what you've just described. I had a few sessions on Lightweight @ Two Tier, and apart from the nasty very first move to the first proper hold, I found the first half to the good rest some of the best climbing I'd tried on a redpoint project - the feel of the holds, the combination of power and subtlety of the moves. To the extent that before one session I was lying in bed at night peacefully visualising the moves in my mind - partly a minor tactic, but partly because they were just nice moves to run through and visualise!! (and I did it that session, by the skin of my teeth and in the nick of time as the "game over" afternoon sun was just starting to creep onto my right calf on the mid-height rest...)

So I guess that was the bug. I wasn't really obsessed with the route, but I was engrossed in the moves. I've probably had it on blocs too but they haven't stuck in my mind as much.

[Hoseyb]

This is my main modus operandi. I guess it comes from my core motivators of adventure and romance that run through all my silly adventures. I'm a bit soppy at heart and probably informed by a diet of TV from a young age that started with Sunday reruns of Harold Lloyd and Errol Flynn, past through Monkey Magic and Danger man and still revisits The Princess Bride.

I find a challenge that ticks my boxes and I whirr and fizz about it until its done. Unless it gives me a kicking, in which case I will pop it in the box marked unfinished business, push it under the bed, and move on..
Of course in vulnerable moments or bordem I'll pull out the box, riffle through it and maybe hatch another mad scheme using this year's new trick...

So, eventually things like "it's not the years..." "The Beast in Me" "Liquid Armbar" "George's crack" and "The Tosheroon " get climbed.

Fortunately being into new routing means I'm rarely thrashing around on things other people are trying to get on and generally getting in the way. George's was an exception.

[MischaHY]

One of my favourite moments in the redpoint process is the time where you get absolutely spanked on a move, go away and spend days thinking about every possible version of it, then go back and smash it out with fresh arms and beta. In Siurana right now and had it happen twice concurrently on two different routes and subsequent days. Suddenly the moves are unlocked and it's ON.