Mar 10 2015

Climbing With Kids: Injuries and trips

Climbing, Injuries, Kids, Motherhood, Travel
by Beth

As the Dawn Wall excitement exited the Valley, Theo and I got back into our quiet routine in Yosemite. California’s dry and warm weather unfortunately continued, allowing me to keep climbing and start ramping it up. My body slowly felt like it was getting back into my all too familiar climbing rhythm - albeit at a much more reduced level. I actually was able to climb with people during the “climbing” part of their day, not just the “warm up” part. It felt beyond incredible to feel like I was...

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Apr 14 2014

Climbing Pregnant: Slowing down in Month 7

Injuries, Pregnancy
by Beth

After having my best month yet last month, I was optimistic that I would ride that feel-good wave through the rest of my pregnancy. Alas, by month 7, I found myself looking round, feeling slow and becoming increasingly useless.   When you’re a health-conscious, athletic person, there are a few things in life that you’d never imagine yourself experiencing: like having to wear loose, over-sized clothing or waddling around like a stuffed penguin on flat ground. I was plus 25 pounds, and feeling every one of them.   I didn't climb at all this...

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Climbing Back Video

Climbing, Injuries
by Beth

I had the pleasure of working with my good friends at Big Up Productions on this recent video on my past few years with injuries and climbing. As I've written on this blog, I've had my fair share of injuries over the past handful of years, but my passion for climbing is just as strong as ever, whether I'm climbing 5.10 or 5.14. It's great to be able to team up with such great folks to document the thick and thin of being a professional climber. I hope you enjoy the video!   ...

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Mar 18 2013

Spanish Five Hang Send

Climbing, Injuries, Travel
by Beth

My two hands crowded the partial jug of the limestone hole, shuffling back and forth trying to gain some relief of a pump. My forearms were full of lactic acid, barely able to close my fingers around the hold. My breath was rapid and my heart was racing. I knew I didn’t have much time before gravity won and I was hanging on the end of the rope. Contradictory thoughts swirled through my head: should let go due to the fear that I would hurt myself again? Or should I...

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Apr 23 2012

Shoulder Labrum Injury

Climbing, Injuries
by Beth

Beth,    I found this post through googling around the internet about climbing shoulder injuries and I must say this was a very well written piece. Sorry to hear about all of your recent injury troubles - I hope you can find some peace from all of that soon!  I dislocated my shoulder in Mallorca almost 2 years ago, I was in grad school in the UK at the time, went to two physical therapists there who eventually cleared me to climb after about 8 weeks. However, since then it has been a...

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Apr 06 2012

Injuries: Taking it slow

Climbing, Injuries
by Beth

Hi Beth,   Any chance you might write a blog post on what you've been up to in the injury recovery department lately? Are you still doing things such as therapy exercises, meeting with doctors, and generally easing your way back in to climbing more and more frequently?   All the best, Max     Hi Max,   Thank you so much for your message and checking in. Physical therapy exercises are still a part of my routine. I now look at them not only as a way to recover but also as preventative. They've become sort of like brushing...

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Mar 15 2012

Collateral Ligament Injuries

Climbing, Injuries
by Beth

Beth, Thanks for the injury related post. It is interesting to hear of all the injuries that pro climbers sustain. It is not limited to us amateur climbers. I saw you mention an injury to your collateral ligament. I was wondering if you could expand on this in a future blog post. I am currently suffering from a collateral ligament injury to my middle finger PIP joint, and I haven't been able to find much information on this injury, related to rehabilitation beyond splinting and buddy taping. How much time...

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Feb 22 2012

Injuries

Climbing, Injuries
by Beth

I recently did a photo shoot for Outdoor Research along the Northern California coast. I had the pleasure of spending two days with fellow Outdoor Research ambassadors, Shingo Ohkawa and Graham Zimmerman. I had met Shingo several years back in Patagonia, while on a hiking trip with my dad. Yes, you read it correctly, hiking. I flew all the way down to Patagonia and didn't even take my harness. Luckily, I know myself well enough to recognize that I would have been miserable and terrible at climbing there, so I...

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Reading

Climbing, Injuries, Yosemite
by Beth

I've never been much of a reader. I'm not sure if it's because my entire family consists of bookworms and it was my way of rebelling. Or if it's because I am too antsy to sit still for any measurable amount of time. For whatever reason, I'm just not that into it. I can usually make it through a medium length magazine article, as long as it has enough pictures to take up the majority of each page, but give me a book and it's just a lost cause. I've...

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