These twelve goals were chosen to be thrilling, challenging and a learning experience. My main expectation of this journey is to grow and my choice for each goal greatly impacts this. Given that, I have made a decision to shift gears and change one of my goals to something a little more personal.
Running 100 kilometers was something I was excited to accomplish but the more I thought about it the more I realized I wasn’t extremely excited about the journey. Now don’t get me wrong everyone has off days when training, even for things they adore, however you need to take the time to step back and evaluate what’s motivating you to do what you do. If the reason was solely to win, with no regard for the journey involved getting there, maybe that isn’t the right path for you. True success isn’t possible without savouring the journey and for that very reason I need to change goals.
Something that is in fact very important to me is rock climbing, like you may have seen in one of my past videos, I love to climb! Rock climbing not only provides many opportunities for goals but it’s also something that I enjoy whether or not I succeed. There are many goals I could have set pertaining to rock climbing but I decided on one that is both epic and local.
Ha Ling is a climb situated in the area of Canmore Alberta and is commonly known as the longest sport climbing route north of Mexico. It is described as consisting of from 20 to 25 pitches (a pitch being a length of rope when climbing vertically, long climbs need you to climb to the full length of your rope, anchor off, climb your length again and repeat). Rock climbing routes are graded by difficulty from 5.0 to 5.15 with 5.0 being climbing up a ramp or set of stairs and 5.15 being Spiderman worthy. Ha ling varies from 5.8 to 5.10b meaning that the hardest point of the climb should be no harder than 5.10b.
It has been about two years since I climbed regularly so I have some catching up to do. Here at the resort where I live and work I’ve managed to find some fellow climbers who are willing to drive the hour into Calgary to hit the rock and grow and improve only to head back exhausted at 11pm and wake up for work the next morning. After a while of going hard at the rock gym I know I’ll be back in the game and climbing hard!
Vertical Momentum
A journey into the skies, turbulence included.
Vertical Momentum 
Sounds like a good idea! The training involved in running ultra-marathons would chew up all of your time. Who is going to be your partner for this climb (after you get your shoulders, hands and hips in condition)?
All the best Kate.
So you’re getting ready to hit Ha Ling in the next week….kudos to you!! You’ve worked very hard to get to this point and if you feel ready to tackle the beast then go for it. Your climbing team is great and they’ve got your back as I’m sure you have theirs. Will be checking back here soon to see your updates.