Celestial Mechanics v7

• ME IN THREE • 2. A Face in the Crowd (V7) at Stone Fort This was my first V7, but the main reason I remember it is because of how unfulfilled I felt after doing it. Part of that is because I did not try nearly as hard on it as I had tried on routes that were ‘easier’ grades, but it was also because I became acutely aware of the ‘okay, onto the next hard thing’ mentality that was developing in my climbing. Atop this boulder, I realized how little value grades carried in measuring my success as a climber. It also further dismantled my attachment to grades as a means of measuring difficulty, especially when I compared the climb to others of the same grade, in the same area. “A Face in the Crowd” was my anti-style at the time, yet it only took me one session; comparatively, “Celestial Mechanics” -- another V7 that is exactly my style -- took years of trying before I could even pull onto the start. Grades don’t matter! Climber: @deuceishiphop