Chasing numbers

Chasing numbers.  Most of us do it in one way or another, whether we admit it or not.  Just as runners chase longer distances or faster times, climbers are notorious for chasing harder grades, higher summits, or first ascents.  Then there's my mom.

Yes, the woman who can't stop herself from doing pullups at any of her children's weddings.  The woman so in love with the vertical world that the conventions of the horizontal are increasingly lost on her.

Yesterday she went to the gym to celebrate her birthday just as she has for the past seven years, climbing a route for every year of her life.  67 climbs to celebrate 67 years.

That's the kind of number chasing I can get behind.