Climbing Day
Day 60, 22 June, 4-6p


L-R: Billy, Lisa, Danielle, Rob, Robby, Susan, Gary.
The energy in the climbing gym on Saturday was blazing. The numbers are staggering. In two hours the team accomplished 92 climbs totaling 3220 feet! Goals were smashed by double in most cases, especially by Rob who wasn't going to climb at all and put in 245' on top of belaying.

The belayers were awesome and did a great job with the non-stop up and downs. The climbers were nothing short of on fire. A great day all around for kitties, fitness, FRoNN and good deeds.

To the climber/fundraisers: Thank you for participating, for working hard, for getting money to FRoNN and for being a really great, giving, thoughtful, caring, admirable and inspiring person.

To our supporters: Thank you so much for helping us make it well beyond what we thought was going to be the top!

And another big, special thank you to Renee who saved up $265 for FRoNN through her lemonade stand, allowance, garage sale and even asking her friends to donate to her FRoNN fund instead of giving her birthday presents!

Renee
Climbing Training Day 57, 19 June



Renee wanted to contribute to the work of Feline Rescue and has been selling lemonade to benefit FRoNN ever since.

She's not telling how much she was able to raise. We'll find out when she presents the check during our Climbing For Kitties event. Every cent will go to help the kitties. Won't you join her? Donate to FRoNN here.

The Perfect Knot
Climbing Training Day 51, 13 June

Ah, those years as a Girl Scout really paid off for Susan. While I'm still trying to remember if the rope starts from the back and to the right… or (k)not… Susan has it down, firmly.

A couple of us have gone ahead and bought year-long passes at Rocksport. Definitely "hooked" by the challenges and the physical changes we feel, especially in our arms. I've got to add more cardio and planks, especially as now that C4K is winding up, there's the RenoVegans Tough Mudders 2013 team to get conditioned for.

Hopefully when Rob's foot heals and if he's up for it, we'll get some outdoor climbing in.

Here's the Climbing For Kitties Whiteboard. This is a spreadsheet I created for FRoNN volunteer Gabie Gitthens to use to keep tabs on our climbs on C4K day. She'll transfer the numbers to a whiteboard so we can all see our progress.

Looks like we'll be clocking in over 2000' of cumulative climbing that day. We'll post this on our Climbers page for before and after stats: our individual and team goals for the day and if we make or exceed them.

Petal to the Metal
Climbing Training Day 32, 25 May

Was over a week before Danielle and Billy could make it back into the gym. Sometimes life gets in the way. I was excited that I went further along the traverse route than ever. Still didn't make it all the way around without falling to my doom.

Was a little rusty on the climbs, but after a few hours and some bouldering we both flew up the old familiars.

Good news is the flyer event details are all nailed down, the flyer design is complete, the t-shirt and totes designs are done and pre-ordering is available. Need to finish up the PR and make food arrangements and the rest will just be climbing.

Pedal to the metal from here on out! —Billy

The Gang's All Here
Training Day 22, 11 May


Maine Coon Belay team member, Gary Bell, gets a lesson from experienced lead climber, Rob Gorder, while Susan Shinn Cesarini ascends and Lisa Wallace looks on.


Left: Fifteen-year-old Robby Gorder learned to climb for Climbing For Kitties with his Dad, experienced climber, Rob Gorder. As you can see, Robby is a natural.

Right: "The View From Above." Billy takes a photo while Susan learns to belay. Rocksport staff member, Cameron, holds the rope, just in case….

Climbing Training Day 9, 2 May

Getting pretty used to the climbs and challenging myself with new ones each time.

Will be taking belay lessons so we can help each other on other than auto-belay climbs. Let us know if you want to join us.

Everyone improving by leaps and bounds, so to speak. —Billy

Climbing Training Day 6, 22 April

EXACTLY 2 MONTHS TO GO!

After having climbed 7 times to a cumulative total of 245' at the last visit, I shouldn't have been surprised that two days later my arms weren't willing to do as much. But I did get three climbs in including a climb back down a 5.9 for the first time which felt really good. Trick there is to only look down as far as the closest foot holds… ;-)

If you know me you know that I injured my back in a yoga session in early October 2012. Was in constant pain and limited mobility for 5 months until my 20 mile traning run for the LA Marathon in early March when it all went away. Good thing because I would have done the mara anyway. I'd never had a back issue before then. I'm saying this because I've noticed something since climbing—my back feels AMAZING. I wonder if there's something about climbing up like a gecko that self-adjusts your spine? Amazing how these fundraising events are packed with health benefits. —Billy

Climbing Training Day 5, 20 April

THREE TEAM MEMBERS climbed together today. Danielle climbed for the first time in years and committed to the Black Cat Team today. Brian climbed for the first time in a year or so as well and did great, Black Cat team bound.

Susan wanted to try it to see how it went and was ready to join the Tabby Team right away, hooked on climbing.

Long road ahead. Lots of good conditioning needed so we'll be getting in the plank position pretty frequently until 6/22! —Billy

Climbing Training Day 4, 15 April
Way too long between training sessions, but was really proud of my progress today. Climbed two 5.9 routes to the top twice and a couple of other half climbs. Wanted to do ½ of a harder climb at the end but arms gave out. —Billy

Climbing Training Day 2, 3 April
No joke, I really loved it. Got the bug, for sure. The skittishness of fear of falling is fading and I'm starting to climb higher and more complex paths. Sonja is recommending we stick to 5.8 difficulty until we master it on all the 5.8 climbs at RockSport. Can't wait to do more. Starting a 3 day juice-fast cleanse to drop some weight. Want to be light and strong to climb. Very excited about this. Still plenty nerve-wracked, but that's fading fast. —Billy

Climbing Training Day 1, 27 March
First day of climbing Sonja teaches Billy about knots, harnesses, grigris, belay and how to climb. I went up 2½ times and loved every minute, though when I rang the bell at the top of the very first climb and looked back down, I was pretty shocked to see Sonja looking so small and so far away. That rattled me a bit.

Here she is using a ratchet auto-belay, something she had never done before. You have a bit of a free-fall when you first start repelling down and that rattled the experienced Sonja as well.

But we'll be doing a lot more. Why? FOR THE KITTIES! —Billy