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![]() Photo Collage: Joe Iurato
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Live Your Ticklist
Words: Michael Pianka
You won't know bouldering until you approach your project with a cool stride, masking the turmoil of anxiety and tension in your gut. You won't know bouldering until your hands have been dipped in your chalk and are bearing down on the beginning holds; a meeting of old acquaintances. You won't know bouldering until the nervousness, the pressure and all thoughts that stray from your sole purpose dissipate, aware of only the rock and nothing else. You won't know bouldering until your spotters' careless joking is spiked by a jolt of shock as your body contacts new holds- a new highpoint. You won't know bouldering until the sheer intensity of your spotters and their screams of encouragement nearly startles you as you become precariously close to topping out your project; a problem that has become both a hated enemy and a beloved friend, a problem that has pushed the limits you once thought your body was incapable of, a problem that has become an extension of yourself. You won't know bouldering until you latch onto the final holds, put an end to the suffering this rock has caused you and regain focus of your surroundings. You won't know bouldering until you want to do it all over again.