I have this very moment returned from
Central Park where I was
bouldering with
some friends of mine, Emilio and
Sky,
and the
Worthless Boulder.
We were working the long traverse and three
rollerbladers stopped to watch. They
were Dutch. One of them, the teenage girl
asked if she could have a go.
Sky took out his spare pair of climbing boots
and handed them to her.
She scrambled into them and attacked the rock.
I mean attacked. She said that she had climbed
once before, in Italy.
I have rarely seen someone so strong on their first attempt.
She didn't give up, kept launching up the rock, determined to
get the problem. She mentioned that he was a Gymnast,
even when her feet were slipping she kept
her fingers on the rock.
It was amazing to watch, she would come down get a piece of advice and
run back up again. No fear, absoloutly undaunted.
After climbing she took off the climbing boots
ran over to the grass and started doing front
flips terminating in a full somersault. I think my jaw dropped.
One of the guys asked me how old I thought she was.
"19" I said. He said
"15 she's my niece. Thanks for letting
her climb, she needs a lot of exercise."
All I can say is way to go teenage girls. Way to
go Clarice.