Wow, chester! That trip report pretty well said it all.
This course was amazing! I think I learned more in one weekend than I usually do in a couple months. For me, that learning came not only through what Arno taught, but also through watching the other women talking, learning, climbing, and working through their fears and through watching how Arno taught. What struck me on the drive home was that in all of what we learned, very little of it was truly new - much of it was information and techniques that we all have and that we all use, if only subconsciously, when we're comfortable. But, Arno and the course (and Suzy and Doyle) tie it all together and verbalize it in a calm, rational, methodical way, so that we can use it deliberately when we're not comfortable, as a way of climbing and a way of living. That is what helped each of us yesterday, and what we'll each be able to use it in the future when Arno isn't hanging out over our shoulders. He brought out what we already had inside of us, and he brought it out of each of us in a slightly different way. And that's why he and the course are so damn amazing!
You girls are amazing! Stephanie: I think Webster’s needs a picture of you, in the definition of strength – you are an inspiration. Michelle: you’ve got it all, technique, balance and power, mental and physical, in climbing and in being. Chester: we may have used very different techniques and gear on the same climb, but the way you approached it mentally helped put me in the right frame of mind. And it was a garter snake. Even if you were scared on the inside, you were a warrior on the outside: calmly moving past it, calling Lucky Duck off, and once a safe distance away, taking a few baby-steps towards it to take a look. Mia: I can’t remember the last time I was so deeply joyous for one single person, let alone a person I’d met only 30 hours earlier. Congrats on being a warrior and on grad school (I’m coming to visit you!)
