Jason Lancaster

Last Saturday I began a project I’ve been planning on doing for a long time: I started building a home rock climbing wall.

My original plan was for an almost horizontal roof in the basement rafters but they have been unreachable due to the fact that I need a large workshop (for renovations) and the amount of crap Emily and I are storing in the basement. Saturdays are for brainstorming and working on house projects, so as I was organizing some stuff downstairs I realized I had a perfect start for the climbing wall under my stairwell due to my recent stair replacement project.

I started on the easiest to reach stair by cutting a piece of plywood and reinforcing it to the stair frame. Then, I attached a second plywood piece two stairs up. I opened my box of climbing holds [Thanks, Dave!] and decided on the optimum placement for each. Then I tested and played around until my hands lost most of their skin and I could no longer do a pull-up. Continue Reading

I came to an interesting realization today: My two passions, lindy hop and bouldering, are relatively new hobbies in mainstream media. Both were emerging and gaining popularity just as I was in high school. Things that didn’t exist in my childhood like having a local climbing gym or a local dance scene (on certain levels the dance scene did exist but not as it does today) are something that would actually be accessible and cool to someone of age 16 today. I don’t doubt there were areas around the world that picked up on these cultures sooner than others but it makes me wonder about the future of my investment in both if they are so incredibly new. And if they are just a phase, they must be leading to bigger and better passions. But what could be better? I have no freaking clue!

Last Wednesday, I had a really great climbing session with Tio Dave at ET in Timonium. They were setting a bunch of new boulder routes and I quickly sent a couple of the new unrated problems. It’s always fun to do that as it is a “no limits” kind of night. You might try something that is v9 but you’d never know because there is no official rating. Also, there was NO ONE there so we felt like we had the place to ourselves.

The bummer came towards the end of the night after trying some “easy” routes that were setup by Jason Kehl. I say “easy” because they were only rated 5.10 but were damn hard and took a few tries to figure out. I don’t think it was anything in particular that I did… I never heard a snap or a pop or anything. It didn’t even hurt much during the evening but the next morning my finger was swollen and hurt like crazy when I curled it in to my palm. It’s an old-school injury from when I was just out of high school rearing its ugly head again (at least, I’m pretty sure). It’s a fracture of the right index finger right at the big knuckle where the tendon from the palm pulls on the knuckle. It just ends up pulling a little chip off the bone which then floats around and hurts like crazy.

I’ll find out for sure on Wednesday when I have my appointment with the hand specialist. In the meantime, I’ve splinted my finger and I’m not climbing. What a drag. I’m not sure what I could have done to prevent this from happening again. This is the 4th or 5th time it has happened now. All from playing one stupid game of basketball in high school gym class and getting my finger jammed. I hate that game.

Update (12/21/07): Nothing conclusive came up with the doctor visit. The swelling went down after 2 days and after a little time off things felt great. I climbed again on 12/18 and again on 12/20 with no pain. Not sure what happened but I’m happy to say things are just fine as of now.

After spending a couple weeks away from the gym, instead opting for outdoor routes and bouldering, I went back last night and finished up the 5.11c/d that was giving me a fit back in September. First try was a bit awkward and I had to relearn some of the route. Second try I sent it clean and felt really strong after. I’m not sure where the endurance came from since I have not really had much time to climb recently. I won’t complain about it though.

The weather looks drab on Friday. I was really hoping for some good weather and the possibility of some more bouldering over at Rocks State Park. Last Friday Dave and I went there and had an awesome day. We setup two top ropes along Breakaway Wall and climbed 5 different routes. One of my best days climbing, ever!