tallahassee rock gym offers new problems
remember how i was singing the virtues of the tallahassee rock gym a few weeks ago in cheap thrills? last night's visit revealed the good news of new problems!
to clarify for those who don't frequent rock walls, a "problem" at the rock gym is a little different than the run of the mill problems encountered in daily life. rather than an unexpected event that you wish wasn't there or that causes negative stress, a problem for indoor bouldering or top-roping is a route the climber works their way across or up using designated hand holds and foot holds. from a start point (marked with a vee) to a finish point (marked with a square), holds on route are marked with tape. each route's tape markings are unique to the route in color, width, and/or pattern of tape. to put it another way, if you start at a vee made of thick neon pink tape, you then work with only the holds marked with strips of thick neon pink tape until you reach the end. the difficulty of a problem is marked on the start point.
fresh problems are exciting because once you've "mastered" a problem it isn't as fun as it was at the beginning--the challenge declines and it becomes more like a rote exercise. new problems require new thought and new physical solutions, which in turn keeps the activity dynamic. and unlike those unwelcomed problems life throws at you, a new problem at the rock gym is a problem you encounter on your own terms. you can take it at your own pace, you can "fail" to solve repeatedly without negative consequences, and you can select problems that stretch your skills without overwhelming yourself. finally, solving or failing a new problem at the rock gym seems to have the same general effect of inciting euphoria by the end of a session.
but, all explanations aside, this update would be incomplete unless it mentioned this: the new problems were super fun last night, and thanks to the expert coaching of one of my climbing companeras i picked up a couple new moves to boot!