For those of you unfamiliar with it, the Ouray Ice Fest is a weekend in January where thousands of ice climbers come to town. There are tons of events (all with New Belgium beer); lots of climbing; and good energy everywhere.
A few years ago, I volunteered to assist with the competition. The process is pretty simple - the athletes rappel down into the canyon, wait for their turn, and then climb as high as possible on a route set up specifically for this occasion. They get one try. When they fall, they lower back down to the bottom of the canyon, and then walk or climb back out of the canyon via a different route. In a typical year, one climber in 25 tops the competition route out and everyone else falls at some point along the way.
I had a few jobs for the day - rigging lines for the climbers to rappel in before they compete and to climb out after they fall, retrieving stuck tools during the competition itself (sometimes the athletes fall and their tools remain stuck in the rock or ice), and providing backup for the athlete check-in process.
As the day drew on, there was a rescue call from somewhere else in the ice park. Colette (in charge of registration, but more importantly, one of the town's EMTs) was gone as fast as you can say crampons, leaving me to check in the remaining competitors. I hadn't paid much attention to the details of this particular job; but as I took over, I discovered that I was basically just providing a little low-down on the process for the athletes (e.g., where to rappel into the canyon).
After a person or two, I relaxed into my new job. Up walked Josh Warton. It was his first year competing and he had a simple, but new question for me.... 'if I take my jacket down with me, how will I get it back?' I was taken aback by Josh's assumed outcome in his question - that he would top out the route.
My surprise must have shown on my face. Embarrassed, I laughed and said 'no one has asked me that all day.' He laughed and said something along the lines of 'I know it's unlikely, but you never know, and it is cold out here.'
In that exchange, I saw the practice of positive mental attitude, visualization, law of attraction, or whatever label you prefer, in action. Josh had thought through success far enough to realize he would be cold when he reached the top of the gorge.
Josh did not climb out of the gorge on the comp route that day. But two years later, he would. And the year after that (see picture for him topping out the 2010 comp 5 minutes ahead of the second place finisher... that's huge).
I'm no expert, but I can tell you that the most impressive accomplishments on Josh's resume have nothing to do with competing. Let's just say that he's climbed some big stuff in amazing places.
So far my version of this positive mental attitude thing is pretty simple...think UP. Simple, I know. But it (sometimes) works for me.
It's been suggested to me that I employ what I call the 'Josh Warton training program' - climbing at Rifle and the Black Canyon this year. I'm not sure I'll be stalking him quite like that, but I would like to model his mindset. And maybe I'll pack an extra jacket to leave on top.
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