Clip it, Clip it Good. 

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It feels like forever since I’ve climbed. Since Potrero Chico in January. As I scroll through my photos and read all these climbing posts and like all these epic Instagram climbing photos I think “I can’t wait to clip it.”
  
For me that’s the ultimate moment in climbing. The clip. Your left leg is flagging while your right foot is balanced most precariously on a tiny crystal. Your left hand crimping hard on a microcrimp and then you realize you should have grabbed the microcrimp with your right hand and now you’re screwed so you try to cross clip with the right hand all the while trying not to pop off the wall. 

  
This is the moment. You slowly start to pull up the rope. It’s short. You yell “clipping!” The timing is off and your belayer is trying to feed the rope, while you’re pulling and it’s snagging. You’re starting to pump out.  “CLIPPING!” Don’t think about how far that last bolt is. 

“Slack!” 

“I’m sorry!!!!!! ” 

“Slackkkkk!!!!!” 

“I’m trying!!!” 

Clip.

  
You take a deep breath, your whole body relaxes. The pump is going away and you pull through to the next “jug.”

Sigh. This is my favourite. This push. To hold on when everything seems to be going against your favor. There’s a 95% chance you’re going to fall, and somehow you manage to mentally and physically push yourself through extraordinary means to stay on that wall. 

  
And then on top of that you somehow manage to send your project. Exhilarating .

There is no other passion of mine that gives me greater fulfillment than climbing. Yes, I love to paddle, do pottery, paint, act and play in the bush, but only climbing pushes my limits mentally and physically. 

  
Through sport climbing I have been able to experience such great failures and overcome the same failures. It’s incredible. It’s indescribable. That feeling to work on something over and over again and fall. Sometimes falling many times. Sometimes in the same spot. 

Then that one time you get a little bit of a better hold or get half an inch closer to the next bolt, it suddenly becomes all worth it. 

To clip that last clip. Even to clip just the next clip. It’s the greatest release of endorphins ever. 

This season I’m going to clip it. Clip it good. 

Trans Canada Trail Journey with Woods Explorers 

TCTrail.com just released an awesome article about our amazing summer. It seems so surreal. Did it happen? I mean Adam and I have been sharing the same stories for months and weeks and the last couple months we kind of went back to our normal lives. And now, just even tonight seeing my parents for the first time in 8 months and resharing these stories and now this article… It’s beginning to sink it.


It DID happen. We DID travel across Canada and explore areas of Canada we never thought we would. We DID meet amazing people and experienced amazing things along the way. We made lifetime friendships with Cedric and Magee and Canadians from across the board.

One of these days… I’ll start to share with you all the little things that happened and made this journey so epic. But for now… Thank you TCT for giving us a chance to share with the world and fellow Canadians what an culturally importance thing you are. A Heritage trail that unifies Canada. Pretty sweet.

To read the article that TCTrail released about our journey click here : My Canadian Journey

Strong Women Inspire Strong Women

 One of the biggest things I’ve learned about my 5 month dream job as a Woods Canada Explorer is that inspiration is cyclical. I’ve spent most of my life surrounding myself with amazing friends and supportive family and everyone’s always been excited by my accomplishments and adventures but it wasn’t until recently that I finally understood what it meant to inspire someone.

Bouldering Yamnuska

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Adventure Withdrawal: The Four Phases

It’s 6am and I reach to my right where Adam should be sleeping. Empty. I roll over and instead of the squeak of my air mattress below my body I feel an expansive pillow top mattress that seems to have no edge. Which ever direction I roll… I am still on top of this thing. I reach to find the zipper to get out of my mummy sleeping bag and discover – oh I just need to flip the covers. [Video of todays’ adventure: YouTube ]

View of Yamnuska in the Fall

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There and back again. The next chapter of a Woods Canada Explorer

Woods Dream Job

My journey of a lifetime travelling across Canada on the historic Trans Canada Trail has come to a close, but with its conclusion begins a different sort of adventure for me…

Woods Explorer: Magee Walker, Cedric Schell, Adam Kochanek, Melba Seto

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