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Negotiating Overhangs
Negotiating overhangs is physical, fun and sometimes scary. It is for this reason that the Via Ferrata de Thônes via ferrata section is such fun. It gets your adrenaline pumping as you fight to keep hold and clip and unclip in the relevant sections. It forces you to overcome your fear of being over the void. The third section of the Via Ferrata de Saillon is a challenge for the very same reason.
The video above shows rock climbers at the IFSC World cup negotiating an overhanging wall and trying various techniques to get further than other people. We see how they use heel hooks and go for it before losing their grip and falling. This footage is fun because we see them work to solve the problem in a number of ways and then fall. When they fall the belayer slows down but does not stop the fall so it looks as if they are falling towards the ground. Imagine an ordinary person getting that sensation. It would scare them.
Fear is good because it keeps us safe. It means that we’re thinking of the consequences and we are aware of the dangers. It means that we will only progress within our comfort level. If we have doubt we can climb down to the nearest quick draw and rest. If we ignore that fear then we may fall. By staying in our comfort zone we are safer.
When you’re climbing you know when you have good foot holds and hand holds. You also know how long you will be able to stay in that position. The more afraid you are the more energy you burn. That’s why positioning is important. In the video above we see that one person decided to climb feet first through the overhanging section. Our leg and feet muscles are much stronger than our arm muscles so they allow us more time to think of a solution. With time all of these climbers could have negotiated that section.
Sportstracker has been improved.
Today I was pleasantly surprised after racketing in the mountains to discover that my phone’s battery had not depleted. I was using sportstracker for over two hours and some charge was still left after an hour and a half. There was so much battery left in fact I went for nine more kilometers of walking and still the battery is healthy.
That’s not the only thing that’s improved. Now you have maps. You can’t move around the map except by changing geographic location but you can see the roads around you and more. It’s much simpler than google maps but then again there’s no need for such accuracy anyway.
Now I can spend half a day walking and still have enough power to be tracked the whole way. I know, half a day isn’t that long. Still better than an hour or two though.