Smoldering forearms

Last night I went to Brooklyn Boulders (BKB) with Kreuter and his fiancé, Alexandra. Together we wrestled synthetic rock and beat ourselves up for three hours. BKB periodically rearranges the holds on the walls to keep the climbs fresh and challenging. As such, last night, there was a new inverted 5.8 climb that we enjoyed conquering. The crux of this climb puts your back nearly parallel to the floor causing your forearms and fingertips to burst into flames (not really, but sort of). Thankfully, there were plenty of bucket holds, although it still demands a lot of upper body strength. Inverted climbs force your center of gravity out away from the wall giving your forearms a hell of a work out. When I reached the top of the route my forearms were smoldering. Below are a few iPhone pictures from last night. I used the Tiltshift Generator App to selectively blur, adjust saturation & contrast, and apply a slight vignette.

Above from left to right: Myself chalking up before the crux, Kreuter coming down after besting the 5.8 inverted route, Alexandra scaling a 5.7 while Kreuter belays.