Written by Anna Hazelnutt

Photos by Tristan Hobson


The beautiful part about the try-hard is that it has many faces. For some, it’s an internal voice that says ‘keep going!’ when they’re about to give up. For others, it’s a subtle stream of decisions that drives them to the anchor, whether they are moving at their limit or simply flowing up a beautiful, juggy line. For my friend Sónia, it’s a thunderous roar that propels her to the next hold, and for me, it’s an intentional, deep exhale that encourages my body to move past any mental blocks and keep driving upwards.

 

I invited Sónia to come sport climb with me at my local crag, Coll de Nargó. We met bouldering in Albarracín a few months ago and couldn’t stop laughing the entire time. Not to mention how incredible it is to have a strong woman to climb with in a very male-dominated scene. Sónia is through and through a boulderer, and she told me she was absolutely terrified of rope climbing! Although she dominates on blocs, leading with a rope offers an entirely different set of mental challenges. I could relate, because I was in the exact same boat, having almost exclusively bouldered up until I moved to Catalunya for a few years. Additionally, I still get scared on the wall and have to navigate through numerous mental roadblocks. So, the goal for the weekend wasn’t necessarily to send hard, or to climb a certain number of routes. It was to have fun and try hard, whatever that entailed.

 

 

Off we set on our mini adventure, both of us excited to be outside on such a beautiful day and have some fun climbing together.

 

To warm up, I thought it would be nice to set up a top rope on a technical route called Todo por la Cara. With fun stemmy sections and a heady upper mantle crux, it felt like a good physical and mental warm-up. Sónia set off on the toprope, which was the perfect start to the day to ease into leading.

 

 

With the confidence boost and positive energy, I suggested we try Kundalini, just to our left, and see if she wanted to lead it after I put the draws up. From the start I could tell that the climb was going to be a bit harder than the last one as I found myself full crimping and locking off on less-than-decent holds. Hanging at the chains, I offered to set up a top rope for Sónia, but she shouted up that she instead wanted to push past her fears and go for the lead! What came next was inspiring. Move by move, Sónia audibly pushed through a myriad of mental blocks to climb one, two, three bolts higher. As the cruxy moves off the ledge appeared, she decided she was proud of her attempt, but would prefer to come down.

 

 

TRY-HARD
A UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE

by Anna Hazelnutt

5.0 minute read

 

 

The head game in sport climbing is a delicate dance, and while some people find their flow by pushing through fear immediately, others get emotionally exhausted if they push too early in the session. As the belayer, this creates a tricky balance between encouraging your partner to keep going, and knowing when to support them in coming down. I knew at the time that Sónia was physically capable of climbing the route, but wanted to make sure we were still having fun, which was the priority of our trip. So I lowered her, cleaned the route, and said, ‘You should instead go for a lead send of Todo por la Cara, the climb we did on top rope!’

 

Then came the try-hard.

 

The first few bolts were smooth, easy movements on good holds. Navigating through the climb, I could sense Sónia relaxing into the flow. I watched carefully from the belay, yelling up the occasional, ‘venga titana!’ as she clipped each draw. Then she froze. It was the stemmy crux, and being quite a bit shorter than I, instead of easily clipping the draw, she would have to execute a few moves of the sequence first. I kept yelling encouragement because I had no doubt that she was fully capable of sending this climb!

 

 

Sónia called down to me,‘No puedo hacerlo!’ I can’t do it! She entered the moment on the wall that I knew all too well- should she embrace the chaotic unknown and keep pushing forward, or return to the safety of her last bolt? I could sense her in purgatory, unsure about which path to take; as she toiled over her decision, the pump would only increase.

 

I knew this was the time to push. I reassured her, of course, you can do it; you already have! There was a jug just above the mantel, and I knew if she got past the crux, she’d have the determination to follow through to the anchors. Sónia down-climbed, shook out, and began to set off, and then down-climbed again. She cycled through these stages for a grueling few minutes until she decided it was time. Time to try hard. She unleashed her power breaths, the ones I had heard when she was crushing hard boulders in Albarracín, and just like that, mantled over the bulge and made it to the next clipping stance.

 

 

From the belay, my heart was racing! I flashed back to when I had just arrived in Ten Sleep WY, I had taken a small hiatus from sport climbing to focus on my mental health, and felt overwhelmingly nervous on the wall. I hopped on a climb at my onsight limit, and remember shaking before clipping each draw, certain that I was about to fall on every single move until I had clipped the anchors. My new friends yelled from the ground for me to keep going, whooping cheering as I made one desperate move after another. In each move I took, I fought against my internal monologue pleading for me to take a rest on the next bolt. Against all odds, I had made it clean to the chains.

 

Move by move as Sónia neared the anchors, I sensed her fighting that same battle. I yelled up, “VENGA SÓNIA FUERTE!”

 

Only one move from sending the climb, her arm grabbed the rope and waived up to the anchor draw, then snapped back to the rock as she dropped the rope. Up to the draw, back to the rock. From below, I continued to shout encouragement- I knew she could clip the anchors if she dug deep.

 

Her hand reached far to the right, leaning in towards the chains…

 

*click*

 

 

A huge smile spread across both of our faces. We cheered together, 25 meters apart, as she looked around at the beautiful Coll de Nargó landscape behind her! Her energy was vicarious, and when she got down to the bottom we just started dancing and celebrating and hugging.

 

The day was a huge success. Not because of the send, because it’s never really about the send, is it? It was a success because Sónia overcame the physical, mental, and emotional barriers she faced while on the wall. It was a success because we shared this universal moment of trying hard. What we walk away with after a day like this trickles down into our everyday life, and feeds into what makes us, us.

 

 

A huge smile spread across both of our faces. We cheered together, 25 meters apart, as she looked around at the beautiful Coll de Nargó landscape behind her! Her energy was vicarious, and when she got down to the bottom we just started dancing and celebrating and hugging.

 

The day was a huge success. Not because of the send, because it’s never really about the send, is it? It was a success because Sónia overcame the physical, mental, and emotional barriers she faced while on the wall. It was a success because we shared this universal moment of trying hard. What we walk away with after a day like this trickles down into our everyday life, and feeds into what makes us, us.

 

 

Although I didn’t send a project or climb at my limit, I also tapped into my try-hard. I had been nervous about the day; the grades at Coll can be hilariously sandbagged. Usually, I’m the one who’s scared! I knew I wanted to create a calm, fearless energy at the crag for Sónia to feel comfortable in. The entire day I was hanging draws while onsighting new routes, setting up top ropes, and taking them down again. I felt my confidence grow as I played more and more on the rock, laughing with Sónia and having such a fun ‘girls day out’ at the crag.

 

A few days later, I returned to the crag filled with positive energy from my day with Sónia. Her try-hard percolated into my mind, my energy, my forearms and fingers. I had been too scared to lead my own project at Coll, so up until this point, I had only tried the second half of the route twice on top ropes others had put up for me. But now I was psyched. I took a deep breath, harnessed the try-hard, and went for a lead attempt despite not knowing all of the sequences by heart. And then, I sent.

 

 

Although I didn’t send a project or climb at my limit, I also tapped into my try-hard. I had been nervous about the day; the grades at Coll can be hilariously sandbagged. Usually, I’m the one who’s scared! I knew I wanted to create a calm, fearless energy at the crag for Sónia to feel comfortable in. The entire day I was hanging draws while onsighting new routes, setting up top ropes, and taking them down again. I felt my confidence grow as I played more and more on the rock, laughing with Sónia and having such a fun ‘girls day out’ at the crag.

 

A few days later, I returned to the crag filled with positive energy from my day with Sónia. Her try-hard percolated into my mind, my energy, my forearms and fingers. I had been too scared to lead my own project at Coll, so up until this point, I had only tried the second half of the route twice on top ropes others had put up for me. But now I was psyched. I took a deep breath, harnessed the try-hard, and went for a lead attempt despite not knowing all of the sequences by heart. And then, I sent.