The Art of
Listening to Your Project
This is it, today you’re going to push your limit and attempt a project that will really test your climbing skills and mastery. Your pace quickens and a feeling of lightness makes you feel strong and ready. The approach trail jogs over a rushing stream and then weaves into a forest. Anticipation makes five minutes seem like hours. Silly thoughts creep i nto your mind, like “Is this how Chris Sharma felt that first day on Biographie?” Without thinking about the two years of projecting it took Sharma before he sent.
A stump catches your foot and almost takes you down face-f irst while your hands scramble to get out of your pockets. Luckily, a spontaneous ninja-like move with your foot regains your balance in time to have you deposited at the base of your new project. It’s a dream come true. The animated descriptions heard from friends by campfire light all make sense now.
Projects usually start with such excited and hopeful beginnings and the route Dial 911 in the New River Gorge was no exception. Remembering that f irst encounter and staring up at the climb, my mind was trapped in a tunnel vision of all the reasons why this project was perfect for me. My best friend had danced up the route in a few tries and suggested I could do the same. It was my favourite style, vertical climbing with rests between intense technical cruxes. From there, my ego jumped i n and furthered my risky dialogue of expectations.
I pulled onto the starting holds and gravity pulled me back into reality. Hanging on the rope from that first bolt was like hearing a bell. The school of rock was now in session and I had so much to learn. Why was this project so different, so painful, so long in duration?
The answers I needed were there from that first day, the challenge that took 10 years for me to grasp was finding out where to look. The following five pointers are from my specific experience, but apply to everyone’s projecting struggles. They’re found hidden within the comments made after every single fall we take. By the person we least expect: ourselves.