My homey, a longtime climber, called, checking on whether I was pulling down any sweet climbs.

“Not outside,” I said. “It’s too cold.”

An Arctic front had blown in. Winter’s frigidity had swallowed California’s Central San Joaquin Valley. Still, I was knocking out practice.

“I had so much fun yesterday practicing flagging at the gym,” I said.

I paused. Waiting, hoping for his praise.

Silence.

My mind raced to find flaws with my efforts. Maybe good climbers had decided that flags were for noobs and nitwits, and I hadn’t gotten the memo.

Finally: “Oh, that’s technical,” he said.

His tone wasn’t condescending, though. “I never learned that,” he said. “I just pull myself up.”

Whew! He wasn’t saying I was a dumbass.

“I don’t have that option,” I said.

I guess. I haven’t tried to pull myself up. I know I use my arms more than I should despite trying to live by the mantra “Use your legs.”

But I am improving – using another mantra: “Knowledge is power.”

I am teaching myself in the gym, gliding from wall to wall paging through “The Self-Coached Climber,” [By Dan Hague and Douglas Hunter / stackpolebooks.com] churning through its exercises.

Now I sow the seeds of knowledge that will serve me when I emerge from winter’s cold cocoon as spring thaws the sleeping rocks.