Josune Bereziartu - Pro Blog 5

Well, almost everynigth we used to watch a classical movie in my DVD player. Old and classical movies are my favourites expecially from the end of the 40´s to the 60´s. classical movies that I used to watch in the below 32º cold campground Oregonian nights. Watching Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, or Cary Grant, Edward G.Robinson -- or even Hitchcock movies -- relaxed and inspired me. All of them are “pure and naked cinema.”

Classical routes in Smith are like this, too: pure climbing lines, and (as in the brand new Guide Book the author says:) routes that “must be done.” For sure once I sent the photogenic and mediatic “Chain Reaction” made me begin to try others classical ones.

Aggro Monkey, Darkness at Noon, Churning in The Wake, or Rude Boys, for example. I could “taste” a double dose of runouts on many of those routes. I felt like a “brave woman” reaching the anchor of Rude Boys, 5.13b/c, just when I was almost in the top, a small piece of rock broke under my left foot. I did not fall, but I suffered a big rise of adrenaline in my blood. A placed nut, pretty far away from where my feet were at that moment, protects this last part of the route. I admit, I became a “rude woman;” bad thoughts came into my mind, especially in relation to the route setter. So, I am sorry ...

In the middle of the trip, we were hit with rainy weather. We had to find the steepest walls to be protected from the rain so we spent those four days in the Aggro Gully. I sent White Wedding, and Bad Man -- both routes I felt like 8b+ difficulties. The last days I spent visiting old friends in Boulder, Colorado. We had a very nice time with Matt and Amanda, and with Howard and Kate, too. We recalled some old climbing stories which, you know, made you feel like you were in the old movie, ”As Times Go By.”