Episode 37: Follow the Stoke with Dan Mirsky

Photo by Luke Olson

For this episode, we sat down in the Red River Gorge with coach and trainer Dan Mirsky to talk about the redpoint process on his route Solid Gold, but the conversation went elsewhere, and we uncovered something interesting.  What resulted is a conversation that essentially boils down to this: do what you're motivated and inspired to do, even if it doesn't make sense.  

You can find and work with Dan at The Front Training Room in Salt Lake City, Utah, or on the social medias at: @danmirsky  

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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Kris Hampton  00:31

What's up everybody? I'm your host, Kris Hampton. Welcome to Episode 37 of the Power Company Podcast brought to you by powercompanyclimbing.com. First off, thanks again for showing up when I asked for a favor, we've now got 95 star ratings and 70 reviews. Well on our way to our goal of 100 by the end of 2017. And as far as I can tell, you guys are killing the game. I mean, these, these reviews are in depth and thoughtful. And it's not just, Hey, good podcast. You guys are putting a lot more into it than that. And I really appreciate that. I love reading this feedback. I do want to read one that we got somewhat recently. From Jon Frisby and Jon titles his review "Honest truth and excellent guests" and he says, "Kris and Nate provide tough love that can be hard to find in the climbing training blog/podcast sphere. They've helped me take a critical look at what I'm investing time and energy in. Also excellent guests. Kris knows the who's who of training for climbing and both provides good dialogue with these experts and knows when to get out of the way and let the master talk, for example, Stevie Haston's interview. I would like to see them get Maisch and Ilgner in future episodes." Jon, thanks a ton. I really appreciate that. And we're trying hard here. So thanks for recognizing. We actually have had Arno Ilgner on the podcast in Episode 17. And I've got several more conversations with Arno recorded, so you'll be getting those sometime in the near future. And I've talked to Steve Maisch about recording and we're going to do that this summer sometime. I'm actually going to try to record an episode with a bunch of the Shrimp Shrine crew as well. It'll probably just turn into heckling each other for an hour. But you know, that could be a lot of fun. And some of us need that. So. So yeah, look for those in the future. And thanks again, Jon, I really appreciate it. If you've not yet listened to Episode 36, about our Proven Plans and you want to train with us, you have any interest in training with us, you should definitely go listen to that episode. The Proven Plans have gotten glowing reviews thus far and, and we're really excited about them. We put a lot of work into those things. And we're excited to sort of unleashed these movement drills onto the world and the Proven Plans are the first place that you can get those. So if you're interested, go listen to that and check out our Proven Plan options. All right, I think I'll just want to jump into this thing. This topic that that we're exploring in this conversation with a friend of mine, coach and trainer Dan Mirsky, is that following your psych, following your stoke is an important part of the the process of progressing your climbing and getting better. And, you know, this conversation started as something different. It started as a conversation about redpointing and how to really dig into a difficult redpoint. And we we chose Dan's route Solid Gold to talk about because it was an interesting case. And we came across something about the process that Dan hadn't really thought about and and you'll hear that all coming up. But the conversation that we're having is is really relevant to me right now because I've been having this conversation with several of my clients and you know, one, Dana, recently we were talking about, you know, her her identity has always been as a comp climber. That's just how she's seen herself and, and she's sort of wrapped up in that and but she's not having the same fun that she used to have in comps and even though that's what we've been training for is a specific comp. She realized her stoke is starting to lean more towards outdoor bouldering. And, and I suggested to her that, that that's the direction we go, you know, if she still wants to compete, we can still do that. But let's focus more on what she's stoked on and, and she's ultimately decided that maybe she doesn't want to compete at all anymore, and that she really just wants to focus on what she's most excited about. And I I think that's a really smart, mature decision to make, especially when your identity's been wrapped up in one aspect of climbing. And yeah, I think that that motivation goes a long way. And I'm not saying that, you know, if you wake up in the morning and you don't really feel like training, and you're giving yourself an excuse, that you should just go sit on your ass and eat ice cream, even though, even though I do that fairly often. I'm not saying you should do that. I'm saying globally, overall, if you're more motivated to do something else, then that's what you should be doing. I mean, ultimately, this thing is supposed to be fun for us, right? Not many of us are making our livings off of going out and climbing rocks. So what this should be for us is an escape, a release, it should be fun, it should be a passion. And if we're just constantly beating our heads against the wall on something we're not stoked on, we might be going down the wrong path. So without further ado, Dan Mirsky.

Dan Mirsky  06:08

You know, I mean, as as scientific as we're getting with training, which is awesome, the spirit is just like, doing what you're inspired to do.

Dan Mirsky  06:34

Yes, sir. Sitting here, catching up on some coaching emails.

Kris Hampton  06:39

Man, I feel ya. That seems like my life now. Well, that kind of is my life now. 

Dan Mirsky  06:44

Yeah. Likewise, they keep coming.

Kris Hampton  06:48

Which is a good thing. 

Dan Mirsky  06:49

Yeah.

Kris Hampton  06:49

 It's kind of a cool shift in climbing to like, see adults willing to be coached and yeah, like understanding that it's valuable.

Dan Mirsky  06:57

Yeah. Yousef and I were just talking about that this morning. Yes. Something that's just kind of happening right now. 

Kris Hampton  07:03

Yeah.

Dan Mirsky  07:04

 People are actually looking at the energy, time and money they're willing to put towards training as more than just well I already pay for my climbing gym membership. 

Kris Hampton  07:16

Right, right. Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Dan Mirsky  07:18

 It is. It's really cool. 

Kris Hampton  07:19

It's been that way and a lot of sports for a long time.

Dan Mirsky  07:21

For a long time. I mean, even look at...

Kris Hampton  07:24

Climbing is a more complex sport in my opinion.

Dan Mirsky  07:27

Then...yeah. I was gonna say like, I mean, even if you look at like, the long distance running world, people totally are willing to pay for training plans.

Kris Hampton  07:35

 Yeah. 

Dan Mirsky  07:36

And, and you gotta like, I still feel like, you know, 50% of the time or more, I'm convincing, I'm trying to convince rock climbers why doing more than just showing up to the gym and flogging yourself for hours is a good idea. 

Kris Hampton  07:48

Yeah.

Dan Mirsky  07:48

 And it might be worth, you know, your financial investment.

Kris Hampton  07:51

Yep. And I'm glad people are getting there. And you know, I think that kind of blends well into what I want to talk to you about. Because, you know, coaching is more than just telling people, here's how many seconds you should be hanging on the hangboard. I know, that's not the full scope of what we do. In fact, it's a teeny tiny part of it. And it's something that I think you're well versed in, that a lot of people can use help with are these like, tactics, just what you go through mentally to send a route that's really difficult for you. And specifically want to look at and we can go all sorts of directions here, but I really want to look at your route, Solid Gold. Because I know that it's a really interesting case and that you were working on Golden, right?

Dan Mirsky  08:40

Yeah, yeah. Had been for a couple of trips to the Cathedral. I had to walk away from it a couple times.

Kris Hampton  08:47

Yeah. And you didn't ever do Golden. 

Dan Mirsky  08:50

I have now.

Kris Hampton  08:50

 You actually decided that you were going to do the harder, undone direct, rather than projecting this route that you hadn't done yet. 

Dan Mirsky  08:59

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  09:00

Which is I think that's a cool mental leap to make. So let's just, let's rewind and start with Golden. Like what, you know, when you started on it, what did it look like for you?

Dan Mirsky  09:11

Man, when I started in on Golden, it was, it was way above my paygrade. So it's almost sort of like I kept getting ahead of myself in that cave. And I think part of it is just the Cathedral cave for me, is perfect limestone climbing. 

Kris Hampton  09:31

Rght.

Dan Mirsky  09:32

 It's my favorite style and my favorite angle, in my favorite setting. 

Kris Hampton  09:37

Yeah, so you're inspired by it already.

Dan Mirsky  09:39

Exactly. I walk into that cave and I'm just inspired to try hard. I could sit there all day and envision different ways to climb up that cave. And then when I get bored looking at the wall, I turn around and I just faced like the expanse of the Utah-Nevada desert and there's nowhere else I'd rather be. You know, I just wish there was endless routes there to climb. So yeah, I first entered that cave probably in like 2007 or 2008. And, you know, at that point I'd maybe climbed 14 a couple times. And I had to try Golden because it's just the coolest looking line. 

Kris Hampton  10:02

Yeah, it looks amazing. 

Dan Mirsky  10:19

And it climbs amazing. You know, it's got it all. 

Kris Hampton  10:22

Yeah.

Dan Mirsky  10:22

 And I tried it. And I didn't do particularly well on it. But I just kept trying it because I was just so inspired to climb that wall. And yeah, I walked away from that trip being like, someday I'm gonna do that thing. You know, regardless that I didn't really make any good progress on it.

Kris Hampton  10:40

Right, right. 

Dan Mirsky  10:41

It was just,  I gotta do it.

Kris Hampton  10:42

Yeah, you know, overstokered on it.

Dan Mirsky  10:45

Overstokered. And then maybe a couple years passed, and I made a trip back there. With my buddy, BJ Tilden.

Kris Hampton  10:54

 Yep.

Dan Mirsky  10:55

 He's one of those guys that's just, you know, pretty much capable of crushing everything.

Kris Hampton  10:59

Right.

Dan Mirsky  11:01

 And so he and I met up in St. George, and we spent maybe three weeks there. And it was like, in advance, it was just like, we're going for Golden. So we we, it was super cool. Because it was quiet time a year out there. We didn't run into many people. And he and I were just both committed to invest in the rock climb together. 

Kris Hampton  11:22

Right. 

Dan Mirsky  11:23

And BJ's, you know, always been stronger than I am.

Kris Hampton  11:27

 Yep. 

Dan Mirsky  11:28

Much more

Kris Hampton  11:28

 He's a super supportive dude. 

Dan Mirsky  11:30

Yes, super supportive dude. And he's definitely a better route climber than he is boulderer. So that kind of evens us out a little bit. Because I'm more of a route. He's more of a boulderer than he is route climber. Yeah, and I'm more of a route climber than I am boulderer. And so it was awesome to to have this experience of working on that route with him. And we definitely kind of were piecing together the beta, both making links. His progress was faster than mine. But we were both making progress. And then we would just go back to the van and night and hang out and cook food and talk about Golden and all right, let's do this again tomorrow. And you know, I mean, it was definitely one of those like, total bro-down, obsessed with the route trips. 

Kris Hampton  12:09

Yeah, that's that's the way BJ does it.

Dan Mirsky  12:11

Yeah.

Kris Hampton  12:12

Yeah. And it's cool that he found a kindred spirit in you. 

Dan Mirsky  12:15

Yeah, I mean, that we had been friends before. But after that trip, we're like, buddies for life kind of thing. 

Kris Hampton  12:21

Yep. Yep. 

Dan Mirsky  12:23

And he sent that trip. It was awesome. And I didn't send, which was a bummer. But I had made it further way further than I had before. I walked away on that trip, knowing I could do it.

Kris Hampton  12:37

Awesome.

Dan Mirsky  12:38

Whereas, the time before.

Kris Hampton  12:39

It was this huge leap to make.

Dan Mirsky  12:40

 Yeah. I mean, that's for me, you know, we're talking about redpointing on a bigger scale, the most important step and the most exciting step for me in every project redpoint effort is the moment it goes to the place where you know, you could do it. 

Kris Hampton  12:57

Yeah. 

Dan Mirsky  12:57

And sometimes that just means the time that you do all the moves. Sometimes it means the time you do that one link that you just couldn't conceive of, but there's always that one try where you're like, oh, man, I could do it.

Kris Hampton  13:11

Yeah. And for big numbers, that's, that's a tough leap to make. 

Dan Mirsky  13:15

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  13:15

Like you were there the day that I fell off the top of Transworld when it was soaking wet.

Dan Mirsky  13:20

Totally. I think I think my girlfriend at the time, Katy, was on Flower Power, hearing you while it was happening.

Kris Hampton  13:26

We were having conversations, rest to rest. And I remember when I walked back up the hill, like I was stoked that I had just fallen there where I could have been crushed. 

Dan Mirsky  13:36

Totally, right. 

Kris Hampton  13:37

But I remember you saying Well, now you know you can do it. 

Dan Mirsky  13:39

Exactly.

Kris Hampton  13:40

 You know. And that was I hadn't really thought of it in those terms yet. But that was a huge mental leap. Like, oh, now it's now I can do it. I'm sure of it.

Dan Mirsky  13:48

You know, then we're at a certain you know, if you get your head about it right, it becomes just a matter of time and and work and chipping away at that point. But that that moment where you go from like, gosh, man, I don't know, to Oh, I know I can do it. That's like that's kind of the best part for me.

Kris Hampton  14:05

Yeah, totally.

Dan Mirsky  14:06

I love the whole puzzle, the solving it. It goes from impossible to possible. That's like, that's what I love about projecting hard rock climbs.

Kris Hampton  14:13

Yeah, regardless of the time it takes. 

Dan Mirsky  14:16

Yeah

Kris Hampton  14:16

The time you have to invest in it, figuring that puzzle out is cool.

Dan Mirsky  14:20

Yeah. I mean, you know, of course, everyone loves doing things fast. 

Kris Hampton  14:25

Yep. 

Dan Mirsky  14:26

Sometimes it's just fast and dirty. And yeah, those are good, but you forget about them. So those ones that like you had to invest yourself in and test yourself that that stick with you.

Kris Hampton  14:36

Yeah. 

Dan Mirsky  14:36

And that was Golden for me for sure.

Kris Hampton  14:38

So you're you're in season two,

Dan Mirsky  14:41

Season two

Kris Hampton  14:41

You made huge progress.

Dan Mirsky  14:42

 Big progress. Walk away, dude, I know I can do this thing. And then, you know, two more years go by without getting back to it. You know, just life, climbing in Rifle, living in Boulder doing the thing. And actually, I think it was the fall... I might be having these...I'm old now. So I might have my years off. But I know I made it back there in the fall of 2013.

Kris Hampton  15:08

Okay, quick question. Do you think that the fact that you knew you could do it had anything to do with not getting back to it sooner? I'm only curious because I had this battle in my head with Transworld over that winter. 

Dan Mirsky  15:24

Yeah. 

Kris Hampton  15:25

Like, I basically just did it. Like if it were dry, I did it.

Dan Mirsky  15:29

 Totally.

Kris Hampton  15:29

 Am I going back to it? I don't know.

Dan Mirsky  15:32

For me, I wasn't that close. 

Kris Hampton  15:33

Okay.

Dan Mirsky  15:34

 So for me, no, that was like Golden was still one of those routes says just like, you're going to bed at night running through beta on your projects. And like that one just comes up like, yeah, Golden, keeping me awake at night.

Kris Hampton  15:45

 Okay.

Dan Mirsky  15:46

 So no, it wasn't that it was just the other things, you know, yeah, the other rock climbs that were closer or 

Kris Hampton  15:51

Life happens.

Dan Mirsky  15:52

Life happens. Closer rock climbing projects happen.

Kris Hampton  15:54

Yep.

Dan Mirsky  15:55

I made the decision to leave Boulder to live on the road. You know, I kind of like came in from living on the road when I moved to Boulder. And after a few years there, I was ready to move on again. And so this was that time. And I basically was like, planning that out for six to eight months. And the whole time is like step one is go post up at the Cathedral and do Golden. 

Kris Hampton  16:19

Okay. Yep. 

Dan Mirsky  16:20

So get back there and expect basically spent the month of November reacquainting myself with the route. And kind of like I've had the awesome feeling that you know, we've all experienced, hopefully where you go back to something and you're like, oh, nice, dude. I'm stronger now. 

Kris Hampton  16:37

Yeah

Dan Mirsky  16:37

 Like this is not only possibly doable, but it's gonna happen. I can do this. 

Kris Hampton  16:43

Yeah. 

Dan Mirsky  16:45

But that's also one of those classic style routes, where the, you got to do a lot of climbing just to get to the hardest climbing. 

Kris Hampton  16:50

Right. 

Dan Mirsky  16:51

So there's a lot of chance for your brain to get in the way and for that doubt to creep in. And I started getting higher on the route and higher on the route and falling in the crux boulder problem, maybe making it half a move further and half a move further. And I remember like, right around Thanksgiving, I actually like had this go where I should have, still like to this day, I'm like, I should have done it that try. 

Kris Hampton  17:15

Right. 

Dan Mirsky  17:15

I kind of I stuck like the second to last move in the crux and all that was left is is standing up and kind of dead pointing to this ledgeish kind of thing. And I like missed, weirdly stepped my, my foot behind the other foot instead of in front of it, thus creating this like pretzel position, like or almost like a mermaid. And I had no ability to generate up the wall. And I remember just sort of sitting there on these two holds and looking at the ledge and knowing I wasn't going to get there.

Kris Hampton  17:48

Oh no! Hahahaha. And you did say earlier tonight that your specialty is snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. 

Dan Mirsky  17:53

You know it goes away...

Kris Hampton  17:55

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. 

Dan Mirsky  17:57

I definitely did that today. Definitely snatched defeat.

Kris Hampton  17:59

 I can't even say it right haha.

Dan Mirsky  18:01

You don't want to. Don't learn it. Be bad at it. And it's interesting it goes goes in waves for me. Sometimes I'm really on my game. My mental is super strong. 

Kris Hampton  18:10

Same here. 

Dan Mirsky  18:11

And I do that one move. I go to the top and clip chains. 

Kris Hampton  18:14

Totally.

Dan Mirsky  18:15

 Sometimes. I don't know. It's, it hasn't hasn't been there for me recently, even though I've feel physically pretty strong and good. But yeah, that was one of those moments. And then I and then classically, like is probably happened to all of us or has definitely happened to me. I couldn't get back. 

Kris Hampton  18:34

Right, right 

Dan Mirsky  18:35

And then the seasons classically, the season started closing out. It's getting cold. December up there is kind of, it's kind of off time. 

Kris Hampton  18:44

Totally

Dan Mirsky  18:44

So, I walked away again. But I guess the the other important thing that happened during that fall was actually... a little rewind.... when I showed up that year, Joe Kinder, who's done a ton of climbing up there, route development and he's a good friend and you know climbing role model, had put in a bolt. And it really just took one bolt leading off of the intro to Golden which is in itself its own route called Space Shuttle to Kolob, where Space Shuttle breaks right and takes this line of weakness up into this hole, which is part of the route Golden. Y'all go climb into this hole. I mean, I would take my shoes off.

Kris Hampton  18:55

Right.

Dan Mirsky  19:01

Ramsey, Bill Ramsey, had a stopwatch in the hole. 

Kris Hampton  19:34

Of course he did. 

Dan Mirsky  19:35

I found I found liquid chalk in there, rolls of tape. 

Kris Hampton  19:38

Totally.

Dan Mirsky  19:39

 You know, you could sit there for two hours. If you're you know, you could just have your belayer tie you off. But you know it really breaks the rock climb.

Kris Hampton  19:45

Joe wanted to skip the hole.

Dan Mirsky  19:47

Well, no. So you know, Joe had already done a route, avariation he had called Golden Direct.

Kris Hampton  19:52

 Okay.

Dan Mirsky  19:53

That to me was a little bit more like Left Golden.

Kris Hampton  19:56

Gotcha

Dan Mirsky  19:56

And I think Joe had added this bolt and did something different. He was just looking for a new challenge. I think he was looking to train for harder things in Spain. 

Dan Mirsky  20:07

Yep.

Dan Mirsky  20:08

 Just trying to get as much climbing as he could get out of that cave.

Kris Hampton  20:11

 Sure.

Dan Mirsky  20:12

 I don't actually know. But for some reason, he didn't just take it straight up the wall. But when I walked up to it, it just stood out to me like, you climb straight up the coolest panel of the wall and it doesn't feel like it's contrived. But it just leaves you in a path that avoids any opportunity to rest in these pods, whether it's in a  kneebar or sitting down and taking your shoes off. It's just the line that goes up the strength of the wall versus the weakness. 

Kris Hampton  20:42

Yep. 

Dan Mirsky  20:43

So as I was trying Golden that fall, I just was looking at this cooler line. And even though Golden was within my ability, it was still hard for me to do.

Kris Hampton  20:55

Yeah, you were kind of epicing on it at this point.

Dan Mirsky  20:56

I was, yeah I was epicing on it. I mean, I've done 14b a lot faster than I was doing that. For sure, I was getting in my head. At the same time, I just couldn't resist the temptation to try this more inspiring line. And it even got to the point where I was kind of trying Golden one time and then I would tie in and start checking out the the variation.

Kris Hampton  21:23

Oh cool.

Dan Mirsky  21:24

 Which was you know, the direct line. Because I would ultimately get to more or less the point where you traverse into for regular Golden and so I still had a chance to climb on the whole route. But all the while I was kind of like checking out these other moves that connected into it. And so yeah, the season closed out, had to walk away and somewhere during that time away, I just made this decision that I was just gonna do the line that inspired me the most.

Kris Hampton  21:55

That's pretty cool. 

Dan Mirsky  21:56

Yeah, and

Kris Hampton  21:58

 That's a big mental leap to make I think.

Dan Mirsky  22:00

It was. I mean now that I look back on it, like I've kind of almost surprised at myself I mean, I always take the I like the hard road, you know. 

Kris Hampton  22:09

Yeah

Dan Mirsky  22:10

Like I'm one of those guys it's like what's the what's the thing that's kind of the least my style. Let's see if I can do that.

Dan Mirsky  22:15

 You know and and I and I think I just yeah, I don't know maybe it's that character trait in me or or just it was just that that line that was... I couldn't not try it you know. So I, when I got back in the spring, I mean I started going up there I remember hiking up there one day to check to see if I go climbing, there was like these icicles that it was like you know when water is seeping out of limestone holes and then all sudden it had just frozen in mid seep so there's these icicles just shooting out of limestone holes all over the cave. I was like alright, this we're still not ready for this. I'll come back in another month and check on it.

Kris Hampton  22:15

Yep.

Kris Hampton  23:01

Haha yeah

Dan Mirsky  23:02

So finally started getting back up there way too early that next spring. And I started really investing pretty pretty much in Solid Gold and just abandoned climbing Golden.

Kris Hampton  23:13

 Yeah.

Dan Mirsky  23:13

 I had no idea really how hard Solid Gold was going to be but I could tell that it basically just added more of a similar difficulty of climbing. So it wasn't that there was no moves I couldn't do pretty straight away right but it was like doing a slightly easier route than Golden into Golden.

Kris Hampton  23:32

Right, gotcha.

Dan Mirsky  23:32

 So I knew I was gonna like build a ton and I hadn't yet built the fitness or or the you know resistance or the mental toughness to do the hard part of Golden at the top after having sat in a hole.

Kris Hampton  23:45

 Yeah.

Dan Mirsky  23:46

 But just start going for it anyway. 

Kris Hampton  23:47

Yeah, I wonder if you had, so the go where you, you know, mermaid-pretzeled yourself up. When you were in that position

Dan Mirsky  24:01

Merman. Merman.

Kris Hampton  24:02

Haha yeah when you mermanned up, the if you had just gone up and done it the next go, do you think you ever would have come back to check out Solid Gold?

Dan Mirsky  24:12

Dude, you know, I never thought about it like that. I think I would have walked away. 

Kris Hampton  24:17

Yeah

Dan Mirsky  24:18

 I would just be like yes, I did Golden. I did my goal.

Kris Hampton  24:21

 Yep. 

Dan Mirsky  24:22

Cuz that was my goal. That was it. It's just go to St. George. Do Golden. No, I don't think so. So that was you know, the merman moment was a blessing in disguise.

Kris Hampton  24:32

 And maybe somewhere like in your subconscious it was like the stoke was disappearing for Golden a little bit because of this oh, now I'm going downhill again, you know, or going downhill for the first time on this route.

Dan Mirsky  24:46

 Totally dude.

Kris Hampton  24:47

 And, and then you're inspired by this other line. You're like, oh, here's the stoke. Yeah, I follow this.

Dan Mirsky  24:54

I think I think that that is definitely true. I think I could I think that was even maybe a little bit conscious on my part, whereas, like I'm doing worse on this part, what's something else I could put some energy towards? 

Kris Hampton  25:07

Yeah.

Dan Mirsky  25:07

That isn't just like any try where I'm not sending is a worse try.

Kris Hampton  25:11

Yeah. So that every day isn't just about failure.

Dan Mirsky  25:14

 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think that's, that's really you know, I'd have to be really honest and genuine say that that's for sure true. I don't know if you've ever experienced that on Transworld, where it's like once you have that high, any other any try, any try that isn't the top the anchors is a fail. 

Kris Hampton  25:29

Absolutely.

Dan Mirsky  25:29

 And that can be a really tough headspace to get into. 

Kris Hampton  25:32

No question. Yeah. So then Solid Gold, once you start working on it, did it happen that one season?

Dan Mirsky  25:39

 It did, actually. Yeah.Yeah. So I started going back out the following, so it was the following spring. Yeah. I mean, I went, we went back to Colorado. For a month we came back. We were living in my Airstream trailer like in the desert out in this out St. George. It was amazing. Such a good time in my life. 

Kris Hampton  25:58

Sounds so cool. 

Dan Mirsky  25:59

Just the good, simple life. Every morning waking up in the J trees out there. And it was too cold to climb in the Cathedral. But I love climbing at the VRG. Yeah, stoked, climbing at the VRG all winter. And basically just waiting for the temperature to be 50 degrees in St. George. And I knew I could basically bear that up there at the Cathedral. So started going back up there. And you know, like it is when you go back to a project, I quickly started making good progress on the Golden part.

Kris Hampton  26:32

 Yep.

Dan Mirsky  26:33

 And there was there's definitely some wetness. I've kind of infamously like coated this undercling hold in aluminum foil. 

Kris Hampton  26:42

Yep.

Dan Mirsky  26:43

 Because I decided that that was better than grabbing a wet undercling. And I started making pretty good progress with the Solid Gold bit which essentially like two boulder problems that lead you into Golden.

Kris Hampton  26:58

Wait. You left the aluminum foil on it?

Dan Mirsky  27:00

Oh, yeah. Yeah. For like, a month plus.

Kris Hampton  27:03

Haha so it wasn't like putting aluminum foil on it to like draw the wetness out like some people do?

Dan Mirsky  27:09

No. Well how would that work?

Kris Hampton  27:11

I've heard of people putting aluminum foil on holds and then removing it before trying to send. 

Dan Mirsky  27:17

I'm not sure what that would do. 

Kris Hampton  27:18

Maybe I'm just mistaken. Maybe they actually leave the aluminum foil on.

Dan Mirsky  27:22

I think you are mistaken. Yeah, some of, the person who explained it to me...

Kris Hampton  27:24

This shit is crazy. 

Dan Mirsky  27:25

Oh, yeah, it is. But it actually like went, okay, let me explain and I think you might see the value in it. So in the Frankenjura, I guess, I've never been there. But someone told me that that when the pocket's wet, they'll just line in the interior of it with aluminum foil. You know, the pockets have sharp lips, you put your finger in it, it's not, it's a pocket, so it's not so much about friction.

Kris Hampton  27:47

Right.

Dan Mirsky  27:47

 And what happens is when you take your fingers out of the pocket, they're dry.

Kris Hampton  27:50

Right.

Dan Mirsky  27:51

 Because you had your hand on the aluminum foil, not the rock. 

Dan Mirsky  27:54

Ah, see, I had heard about this.

Dan Mirsky  27:56

So I applied the same concept to this undercling. I had to reach all the way over my head and grab and then take down to my waist. It was basically like putting a five pound weight vest on to do the move because like, try grabbing an undercling covered in aluminum foil over your head and going and doing the rig.

Kris Hampton  28:15

Do that in the gym and see how it works for you. I totally had that wrong forever.

Dan Mirsky  28:20

Because there's no absorptive qualities of aluminum foil, it just means it keeps your hand from getting wet.

Kris Hampton  28:25

 I never, I thought maybe it was some chemical thing that happened. Because you can use aluminum foil to take rust off of things. So I'm like maybe aluminum foil's magic.

Dan Mirsky  28:34

Takes wet off of things. Maybe I've been doing it wrong, maybe that's the actually the answer. But I'm pretty sure...

Kris Hampton  28:41

Maybe you were supposed to remove it.

Dan Mirsky  28:43

In any event, it kept my hand dry. It made the route a little bit harder. But I was I was definitely making progress and putting the pieces together and going through my process which i think you know, I have spent a lot of time kind of working and climbing in areas that projecting is a big part of it. So you know I have a lot of tactics, a lot of, not tricks, but just techniques I use to build make progress on a route. You know, so doing big sections at a time. I'd you know, complete a section that I'd go down and overlap to the next section. And you know, the route was definitely coming together and it was getting to the point where I was getting back to falling at the upper crux of Golden again.

Kris Hampton  29:27

Ahh

Dan Mirsky  29:27

On my best goes. 

Kris Hampton  29:28

Yeah.

Dan Mirsky  29:29

There was kind of a low percentage move at the beginning right at the beginning of Solid Gold. Where I, you know, frustratingly, have this heel hook slip and that would like end a try or two. But yeah, I kind of came, eventually, all the way back to just being back up there again. But it was a little bit different that spring where like, as I was closing in, I just maintain this really strong mental confidence. And I remember distinctly there was three straight climbing days, not three days in a row, but three of my climbing days in a row where I basically got one hand move further every day. 

Kris Hampton  30:10

Right.

Dan Mirsky  30:10

And there's it's like a you know, it's basically like move two three and four in like a five move boulder problem. It's just like every try was just a little bit better than the try before, enough to keep that that stoker going.

Kris Hampton  30:27

Yep. 

Dan Mirsky  30:28

And then the day I did it it was just like that those perfect sense. You just like watching yourself climb and execute perfectly.

Kris Hampton  30:37

Yeah.

Dan Mirsky  30:37

 And I didn't merman.

Kris Hampton  30:39

 You didn't Merman? Yeah, that's important.

Dan Mirsky  30:41

Stuck the move. There's still like this kind of awkward weird V6 exit move, exit boulder problem. Always had the fear of punting up there. 

Kris Hampton  30:51

Yep. 

Dan Mirsky  30:51

Didn't do it. Crushed it. I actually climbed out of the cave and stood on top, in the sun.

Kris Hampton  30:58

Nice. Nice.

Dan Mirsky  31:00

And that was, yeah, still, to this day, maybe like the you know, one of the best moments for me in rock climbing, for sure. 

Kris Hampton  31:08

Yeah, I think that's really, really, really cool that you were able to see that option, even though your epicing on the easier, quote unquote, version. And, and then apply yourself to that harder version. Now there was no, there was no training, in between those two seasons, right, other than just climbing at the VRG? Or were you training specifically for Solid Gold?

Dan Mirsky  31:34

You know, that was a little bit before I had developed...

Kris Hampton  31:41

Yeah, I thought it was kind of before your training phase.

Dan Mirsky  31:43

Yes. Yeah. You know, I had I had like, I would say I was training but that looked like going and climbing at Movement Boulder, and climbing up the gray wall on the lead wall there. Which is great resistance training for sure.

Kris Hampton  31:58

Yep. 

Dan Mirsky  31:59

There setting is great there. It's clean, straight, steep panel. But it wasn't, I didn't like have tactics or you know, methodology, worked out a program that I was on to train for Golden. I just was trying to get stronger by climbing. 

Kris Hampton  32:16

Yep. Did you think you were a better climber coming into that spring?

Dan Mirsky  32:23

No, nope. I just thought I'm just gonna do this thing. Yeah, I've got the time. I'm here. I've got the stoker. I made some good progress last fall. I'm just gonna keep beating my head against the wall on this thing until I do it.

Kris Hampton  32:39

Yeah, I think that's cool. You know, we kind of started this conversation talking about, we were going to talk about like a redpoint campaign. But I think it's more important that you are like, following your psych, following the stoke on this one particular line that captured your imagination, more so than the thing that you were one move away from doing.

Dan Mirsky  33:03

Yeah. You know, and, and which, again, which had actually been capturing my imagination for a couple years.

Kris Hampton  33:09

Right, exactly. 

Dan Mirsky  33:10

It just evolved.

Kris Hampton  33:11

Yeah. And you just followed all it, it shifted to another place and you went there and went with that. And I think that's a super important thing for people to be able to wrap their heads around because I've I've abandoned projects when I just wasn't psyched anymore. And I've got on things that I thought were above my head and done them when I was just super stoked for them.

Dan Mirsky  33:31

And I am maybe a little more stubborn than you and I've I haven't I haven't abandoned things when I when I should have maybe I've followed through. Continued to bang my head.

Kris Hampton  33:43

Oh I do that too. I do that too.

Dan Mirsky  33:44

 And I've done them and sometimes it's like a little underwhelming, the satisfaction isn't you're like, Okay, cool. I completed.

Kris Hampton  33:54

Yes.

Kris Hampton  33:54

 Like the completion

Kris Hampton  33:55

You're like check. Move on.

Dan Mirsky  33:57

Yeah. This was like full on inspiration. And like, I you know, always remember just like climbing out of the cave. Sun on my face. Happened to be the great friends happen to show up that day. Not because they thought I was gonna send, just random happenstance. You know, classically, I didn't even clip the anchors. I just ran off the edge of the Cathedral cave and jumped back in. And I was like, 

Kris Hampton  34:21

That's, that's so badass

Dan Mirsky  34:23

Grin on my face for days.

Kris Hampton  34:24

Yeah, I think I honestly, you know, this might seem like I'm cutting it short. But I think that's a really good place to just stop this. Just follow the stoke. Do what you're inspired by.

Dan Mirsky  34:37

Yeah

Kris Hampton  34:38

I think that's that's what you're talking about. You know,

Dan Mirsky  34:40

I mean, as as scientific as we're getting with training, which is awesome. And I certainly, we've certainly both gone down that path. The spirit is just like doing what you're inspired to do. 

Kris Hampton  34:53

Yeah. Yeah. 

Dan Mirsky  34:54

And that's like, the most important thing with climbing. That's the intangible part of climbing. 

Kris Hampton  34:58

Yeah. 

Dan Mirsky  34:59

You know, What will motivate and drive us all to be better climbers?

Kris Hampton  35:04

Yeah. Awesome. Cool. Now we can have a more scientific conversation. All right. All right. Thanks, man.

Kris Hampton  35:10

You notice what Dan said there at the end. That it'll motivate and drive us all to become better climbers. I think that's really important. It's not all about becoming a stronger climber. You still have to be able to apply that strength, then, you know, if you're not motivated, it's not going to happen. And I love it when a conversation like this makes it onto tape because so often they don't. And I get so frustrated when I don't have a recorder on and I have a great conversation with somebody. So thanks to Dan for sitting down with me and for letting this conversation go in an interesting direction. You know, I think that's what makes this podcast what it is. If you're interested in working with Dan, you can find him at The Front Training Room in Salt Lake City. And you can also find him on the social medias @danmirsky. So reach out to him touch base and you know, if you're in Salt Lake City, do yourself a favor and book some sessions with Dan. And one more time if you are interested in working with us, our Proven Plans are now out. You can go to the site, which is powercompanyclimbing.com. Click on the Proven Plan banner and everything you need to know is there. If you haven't yet, we are still looking for reviews on iTunes only 30 more to go to reach our goal of 100 in 2017. You guys are killing it. And if you haven't yet, you can do it right now on your phone. You don't even have to press pause, you just go to your podcast app. You search for Power Company Podcast. You tap on our logo and then tap reviews and from there you can either tap on write a review at the bottom of your screen or you can read all the other great reviews that people have left for us and we appreciate those hugely. And last but not least share us on your social medias on the on the Facebooks and the Instagrams you can find us at Power Company Climbing. On the Twitter's you cannot find us we're not motivated to be there. So we don't do it. That's what you're supposed to do. Right follow your motivation so we don't tweet. We scream like eagles.

Dan Mirsky  35:10

Yeah, man.