I'm looking forward to the next 3 months, January, February, and March. They are my most favorite of the year without question. The Fall semester is over, the sun has lowered into the winter sky, and the temperatures drop to once again encase the mountains in my favorite crystal lattices of ice and snow. No bugs, few crowds, fires in the wood stove, it just gets better. How? Because climbing is now funner than any other time of the year. Sure, I like to rock climb, but I love to ice climb.
I'm looking down the barrel of the UIAA International Ice Climbing World Cup once again and am really excited to be going back for my third year of participating in this incredible competition. I have gained so much as a climber from these competitions it's difficult to put into words. It's hard to sum up the days, the weeks, the months on the road. Sharing a drive that all the competitors have during these competitions is beyond explanation.
Sometimes, the World Cup feels like a traveling circus, doing stupid human tricks for a couple days, then getting back on the road with the "carnies" and doing it all over again in yet another country. What breaks up the madness of the competitions is the development of a family. We speak different languages, share good times and bad, and learn about each others cultures and traditions.
I hope that I will be able to continue to represent the United States of America this year as best I can in this forum...on all fronts. I'm looking forward to freeing up some time and getting away from school, from work, and the all of my "local duties" to get back on the circuit. And although I think this year will bring some change to the ice climbing realm it should be a great year to get back to some of the older stomping grounds and realize the future.
Getting ready for the road,
Marc
