Back on the sharp end

It has been 4 months since my fall and I’m getting back into climbing. These past 4 months have been full of different emotions from frustration and hopelessness to excitement and incredible stoke. I spent most of my winter break just relaxing with family in Australia. My activity levels dropped to an all-time low, but I think it was a good place to soak up the sun and recover fully. When my parents had to go back to work, I flew to Queenstown, New Zealand where I was able to tramp around a bit in the beautiful mountains. None of the climbing I planned could happen because of the back problems, but I bummed around at a hostel for a week and made some great friends from around the world. I can’t wait to plan a trip back to climb, the mountains there look incredible.

Roy's Peak, New Zealand with Max and Luc

Back at school, I thought I would not get any ice climbing in this past season. But to my surprise, my doctor ok-ed me to climb and I had the best ice season yet – even got 3000ft of vert at the Daks in a weekend! Many thanks to great friends I’ve made through Potomac Appalachian Trail Club Mountaineering Section and the American Alpine Club who were stoked enough to drive 6-9 hrs north for weekend trips.

Keene, NY 3000 ft of Ice weekend thanks to PATC-MS

I’ve also been fortunate enough to travel to Spain through a Global Business Fellowship program that I am a part of at Georgetown University. I was not able to climb outside in Spain, but was able to indulge in good food, trail running, bouldering at Sharma’s gym, and of course practice global business through Georgetown’s partnership with ESADE. Just a few weeks after this trip, we had Easter break at Georgetown and I took a 24 hr flight to Bali, Indonesia to surf, hike, and relax. Skipping two extra days of class was absolutely worth it. This was my first time in SE Asia, and I can’t wait to go back. I even found a bouldering gym in the village of Ubud, which was absolutely insane! Bali in sum - the people were relaxed, the waves were warm, and the food was amazing.

Sunrise over Barcelona on a morning trail run

Skiing Whitetail Mountain, PA on a weeknight with Elliott and Jeanette

Surfing in Bali 

Sunrise in Ubud, Bali

Hiking around Nusa Penida, Bali

Coming back to the reality of classes, I’ve stayed motivated through setting up a training plan from reading Steve House’s book Training for New Alpinism. Steve’s book has been instrumental in shaping how I am preparing for my climbing goals. Specifically, I am training for a 6-9 month climbing trip around the world - starting January 2019. This trip revolves primarily around alpine climbing in Patagonia, Nepal or Alaska (partner dependent), Squamish and the Bugaboos. Also a sport climbing/DWS jaunt in Spain and the Czech Republic with my roommate Emily. No partners for all the alpine yet, but I’m hoping in convincing some old friends to take some time off and meeting new partners around the world.

Learning how to aid climb at Great Falls, VA

Update to now - this past weekend I spent whipping at the New River Gorge, West Virginia. It was a great wake up call to how alpine climbing training does not translate to hard sport climbing. It also reminded me of how much I love rock, and also how much I have to improve. I can’t wait to come back in Sendtember after a long summer of training and conditioning.

Eric ready to belay at the New River Gorge, WV

Currently, classes are over and I am back in California for a few days before flying to Shanghai, China and Tokyo, Japan with my parents. I have not been back to China in close to a decade. I am both nervous and excited, it will be great to explore the city and find some cool climbing gyms, but I am also nervous about how this trip will affect my training regimen and how much my Mandarin has degraded.  Regardless, I am super stoked to check out Tokyo though. Is it bad that I am mostly excited to check out the gyms? I think I will enjoy the hiking and hot springs, but definitely looking forward to checking out the climbing scene.

View from the plane home over the Sierra Nevada, CA (and yes I cried tears of joy looking at the view)

Bumming around SoCal right now, sport climbed and surfed Malibu yesterday. Today, I’m off to San Diego to catch up with my childhood best friend and maybe some more waves.

 

Malibu Creek State Park, CA 

Hopefully I will start updating this blog more than every 4 months, but we’ll see where this all goes.