In climbing, it is good to avoid getting too focused and concerned with numbers, and not with your own personal learning and growth as a climber. Same with this website. But as with climbing, I can look at the number of views of this website as a way to assess the general quality and usefulness of the site. And for the first time the other day, this site had 200 pageviews. While not a mind blowing number, for this small site and the niche audience, I was pretty psyched to see that. And it has been cool that we've been averaging well over 100 views (on weekdays, at least). So thanks everyone for checking out the site, and continuing to return to it. And while I've been less prolific at adding content lately, having so many people checking out the site helps keep me motivated to put in the time. 

SHAMELESS PROUD PARENT SPRAY BELOW - READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION -

In a more personal exciting development, last week I bought a climbing harness and helmet for my kids. They love scrambling around boulders and climbing on whatever they can, so I figured it was time. I took my 4 and a half year old son to the gym to see how he would handle the height of the wall. Needless to say, he crushed it. It took him a few tries to get comfortable with being up high, but he never really got scared. On his third or fourth try he rang the bell on the easy beginner wall - he was elated, and ended up ringing it probably six more times. He spent most of his time on the same wall, and it was fun to watch him learn the route. He started getting the beta dialed in, climbing the wall more smooth and quickly each time. He also loved being lowered, kicking off the wall and bounding down like the SWAT team. He's been bragging about it to everyone, and can't wait to go back. 

My last blog post was about last year - definitely a great year for me, climbing wise and personally. Now that we are a few weeks in 2010, I am looking forward to this year being just as amazing, and hope to continue improving as a climber. I am not too big on resolutions, but I certainly have some climbing goals for the year. And I think stating them publicly will help keep me motivated and working hard to ensure I fulfill at least a few of these.

General Goals -

• Climb and train smart to avoid injury! I've been pretty successful at this most of my climbing career, but it's even more important now that I am a little older and climbing a little harder.
• Build some sort of training wall in the backyard - either a small campus board or a modest wall. Anyone have any construction experience?
• Keep improving the site. I've been slacking lately, but I'll try to pick it back up and keep adding more areas and topos. Especially as the seasons change, I'll try to add more areas higher up the mountain where people are climbing at the time.
• Do more trad climbing and multi-pitch routes.  
• Get out of town for climbing a couple times (hopefully to Hueco...)

Specific Goals - 

• Boulder problems to send - Barefoot Traverse (Windy Point), Jewel Thief (Matterhorn), Hammer of Hate (Molino), Firepit Problem (Cochise)
• Routes to climb - Coup d'tat (Orifice Wall), Spinal Twist (The Dry), No Climb For Old Men (Helmet), Eclipse and Milanoma (Milagrosa)

Any one else have any climbing goals for the year?