Brag About Your 2021

Did you accomplish your goals? The more spray the merrier!

I think people are more interested in my puppies than me, so I'll spray about them first. 

Bernie, the dog above had a goal to stay up for 24 hours, he did so by crying every 15 minutes one night and attacking my throat on the chance I had fallen asleep. 

Tuckerman, had the goal of not moving under his own will power and he made it 17 hours (10:00pm to 3:00pm the next day). He currently is at 12 hours today so he might best the record. 

I had the most fun. 

Bootied a totem

No. But this was a fun day. 

Didn't get caught.

Gave some really good beta at the gym.

W Kwrote:

Bootied a totem

Color?

I got a yellow a few years ago. My most treasured piece of pro now. 

Didn’t accomplish my climbing goals :/

Made some progress in life goals and I finally learned Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat major.

I didn’t die. 

Started climbing again after 18 years. 

i survived. unironically it was pretty dodgy there for a bit--very proud of myself for getting through it

more immediately i've made BFF's with my boyfriends super skittish cat, a 5 month project thus far. she slept on my chest last night (-':

Ryan Bowenwrote:

Color?

I got a yellow a few years ago. My most treasured piece of pro now. 

Red, so not as treasured as yellow, blue, or black. Booty is booty tho

Dudeeee what a fucking year. I’m stoked. Started off a bit rough like ya do. Bouldered a lot in the winter months. Quit my job, unemployed and climbing every day of may-most of June. Started working again. Got depressed. Quit my job and went climbing pretty much everyday from September until a few weeks ago. Working now. Gonna quit in a week or two and go climbing for a while after I finish getting this motor rebuilt for the van I bought with dogecoin. Life’s pretty fucking rad man. Good year for sure. Met a lot of badass people. Realized my worth when it comes to actually working. Fuck the man, go climbing

Also met so many cool dogs

built and belayed from my first gear anchor, while leading my first trad multipitch.  
wasn't as big a win as I'd hoped for, but it was damn fun.

goal for 2022 is to adopt a dog, since I lost mine in 2021.

Got an insane amount of volume- over double my previous highest year (2019). Also blew a pulley for the first time, fun!

Didn’t die, no matter how many times MP told me I would!

PTPL, love the microdawgz. #honorarygotez

I'm stoked to read everyone else's highlights. Globally, 2021 may not have been a winner, but it's good to have Personal Points of Positivity (TM) to look back on.

2021 started out with a dope fiend jacking my car in Salt Lake City, burning out the clutch and stealing all of the contents of the vehicle. This included ropes, my entire rack (Totems!), a custom Misty Mountain Cadillac, most of my good clothes and a classical guitar. Renter's insurance weaseled out of paying. A dear friend of mine and long-time contributor to this site organized an informal MP Go-Gear-Me. Many of you sent soft and hard goods and helped get me back on my feet. Thank you.

I got a scholarship to a school in Northern Michigan, where the rest of my family lives, and started taking nursing classes. I managed to pass Anatomy & Physiology I with a B, despite driving to a famous sport climbing area five times this fall.

A stellar plastic gym opened two blocks from my brother's house soon after I arrived in Michigan. I taught a couple of injury prevention / training classes there, with all proceeds donated to the Upper Peninsula Climbing Coalition.

I worked a burly hardscaping job, 50-hour weeks through the summer and 25 through the semester, and managed to pay off the last of the debt I inherited from my divorce three years ago.

I turned 35 and completed my birthday challenge on the gym's 50-foot wall, logging just over 1700' vertical feet, mostly lead. 120' of warmup, then everything was 5.10 or harder.

And probably my proudest climbing accomplishment of the year:

Along with another contributor to this site, I got the first ascent of a hundred-foot 5.12a overhanging fingers to squeeze. The route involves demanding jams, big heel hooks and some classic blue-collar dirty work. Upon lowering, the climber ends up eighty feet from the start. On one attempt, I broke a foothold on the last move and took a thirty-footer onto a purple Totem, and received a proper soft catch. A local old developer confirmed that this route was the last unestablished big crack line in the area. Posting to follow.

Haven't climbed in 2 years, but I made a shitpile of dough, enough to start thinking about buying a really really nice helicopter. You want to talk about the best approach vehicle for remote crags? A huge chunk of the canyon country, like the Lab, is NOT in a federally protected wilderness.

Quit my job, moved into a van, sent my hardest gear route and turned 30. Worked on coping and surviving, daily, with my autoimmune disease. A pretty good year I'd say. 

Got a lot done until August when I injured my rotator cuff. Haven’t climbed at all since then. 

I can't afford a helicopter, but I did buy a car.