2020 Outdoor Goals

I wrote a post in August of 2019 about my climbing goals of 2019, and even though I only accomplished one of them, I feel pretty happy with that.

My 2019 outdoor goals were apparently all climbing goals, and they were:

Improve my open hand strength, and my three finger drag strength
Do an outdoor V4 (I did an outdoor V2 last weekend!)
Find some good outdoor California climbing spots
Do an outdoor crack climb on trad

Retrospectively I did really good at my outdoor bouldering goal, finding an V4 on sandstone that felt impossible when I scouted it out, but then went back two more times and sent it. It was the first time I'd ever projected a climb, even though only two follow up visits were needed, it felt really good to figure out the holds, body position, and moves that worked for me. It's satisfying to eventually climb something that felt impossible the first time I tried it. I wrote another post about it with a video!

I Sent My Climbing Proj

I did it! I sent my climbing project[https://happyoutside.xyz/i-have-a-climbing-proj/] the next time I went out totry it! The previous time I tried it I worked out my beta for what I called the secondhalf, which is the part from a good crack foot jam, a good left hand hold, and acrimpy right un…

Happy OutsideGreg Cowan

For improving my open hand strength, I didn't even start attempting this, though I probably should. I know that I'd stress my finger joints and tendons less by adopting these safer hand techniques.

I didn't explore other climbing areas in California, though I did explore more sub-areas of Castle Rock.

And though I didn't do any outdoor crack climbing, I started practicing crack climbing at the gym, and I've gotten to the level of being able to do the hand crack in the gym on top rope. I'm making slow progress on this goal!

For 2020, my outdoor goals are:

• Climb an epic multipitch trad route! Possibly Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Must include some hand-sized crack climbing.
• Lead climb more, and work on my fear of falling.
• Be nicer to my body. By stretching, doing yoga, learning open handed climbing hand positions, and being more gentle while climbing.
• Get better at biking, including by doing some longer rides and learning more about how to maintain my bike.
• Learn about and do some mountaineering, maybe I'll take an AAIRE course or something.
• Go snowboarding in California! Lake Tahoe is supposed to have good ski mountains.