When I came back from Lover’s Leap this July, “Echoes of Twilight” got pushed to me by a YouTube playlist. I immediately fell in love with the melody and wanted to make a cover. I thought it would be neat to combine this with my highlights from Lover’s Leap (even though the lyrics is completely out of context).
In the past 2 years, I have climbed in many places. Lover’s Leap is by far my favorite crag. I love the rock quality, the surrounding scenery, the local community, and how it is never overcrowded. Most importantly, I always unlock something new every time I climb at Lover’s Leap — it has helped me become a better climber more than any other crag.
- Sep 23-24, 2023: It was my first time at Lover’s Leap, first time climbing granite, and first time doing multi-pitch all year on Ham & Cheese. It took me a long time to sort out the gears and the transition while climbing as a trio, but this was so helpful for my subsequent multi-pitch climbs. I also did my very first trad multi-pitch without really knowing what I was doing. We thought we climbed Knapsack Crack, but I found out a year later that we were not even on the correct route.
- Oct 28, 2023: Climbed Corrugation Corner as a trio. This is perhaps one of my most memorable climbing trips. I was still very new to trad climbing and it was freezing cold. I also had to climb the last pitch in the dark (including a chimney, which I have never done before, and a sketchy traverse), without a headlamp. All I remembered from this climb was the silhouette of the crag under the starry sky, the stream of light on I-50 when I looked at it from almost 300 ft above the ground, and how scared I was. Still, I thought it was a really cool route and I had a lot of type 2 fun. I hope I will get to climb Corrugation Corner again under nicer conditions.
- Jul 13-14, 2024: Took a trad climbing class for the first time. It was extremely informative and we did a lot of very useful practices. It also helped me better understand the fundamental principles of trad climbing so that I could be less prescriptive when I work with my gears and ropes. We also climbed the real Knapsack Crack for the first time. This time I led the second and third pitches, and felt much better about trad climbing compared to last year.
- Aug 2, 2024: I took a day off work and went on a day trip to Lover’s Leap because I had no free weekends in the summer. I did my first trad swing lead on Deception, and the flow was amazing. We had to do quite a bit of route finding, and there was a super sketchy traverse, but this was probably one of my smoothest climbs ever. We also climbed Knapsack Crack again in two pitches before the storm hit. That was 600 feet of trad climbing (and 7 hours of driving) in one day — the most I have ever done!
- Sep 28, 2024: First time climbing a multi-pitch route without knowing where the belay station was. I led the first pitch and definitely overshot, but I was able to find a good spot and build an anchor there. It was a great learning moment and showed how I have been moving from being prescriptive to focusing on the principles. I was still recovering and had low expectations, but it still turned out to be an amazing climbing day.
I am very grateful that I found a crag I love so much — I have learned so much climbing at Lover’s Leap and enjoyed every single trip here so far. Many thanks to Paul, who went on every Lover’s Leap trip with me and provided 80% of the materials for this video. I might be done with outdoor climbing this year since I am still recovering from all my non-stop trips and activities since mid-June (and many other trips earlier in the spring), but I can’t wait for the season to start again next Spring!
“Echoes of Twilight” is not an easy song to learn and definitely pushed the limits of my vocal range (A♭3 to B♭5, more than 2 full octets — I am pretty sure I didn’t quite hit either end). Although the lyrics are not at all relevant, the way I was pushing myself to learn this song oddly reminded me of how I push myself when I climb. It was an interesting exercise trying to connect my two hobbies and I had a lot of fun!
七月中從 Lover’s Leap 攀岩回來，在家裡聽音樂時，YouTube 向我推送了這首《暮色迴響》。我一聽就愛上了它的旋律——雖然它的歌詞跟攀岩完全沒關係，但是它的旋律卻莫名地讓我聯想到 Lover’s Leap 的花崗岩峭壁——那聲空靈的「神啊，可不可以讓我感受一下」響起的瞬間，我眼前浮現了我們先鋒攀岩時，拉著繩索沿著高聳入雲的峭壁攀登而上的畫面。我當時就想試試自己翻唱，並結合一些我在 Lover’s Leap 攀岩的回憶。
過去兩年間，我曾在許多不同的地方戶外攀岩。Lover’s Leap 是我目前為止最喜歡的攀岩地點。我喜歡這裡的花崗岩岩質、周圍的風景、當地的社群，而且從來不會過分擁擠。最重要的是，我每次來這裡都能解鎖新技能，它比其他任何地方更能幫助我成為更好的攀岩者。
- 2023年9月23-24日：第一次去Lover’s Leap，第一次爬花崗岩，一年來第一次多段攀岩。因為操作不熟悉，我們在確保點花了許多時間整理我們的岩械和繩索，但是這次的練習對我日後的多段攀岩非常有幫助。我也在毫無頭緒的情況下進行了人生中第一次多段傳統攀岩，原本以為我們爬的是 Knapsack Crack，一年後才發現我們當時根本沒找對路線。
- 2023年10月28日：Corrugation Corner 多段傳攀。這大概是我最難忘的攀岩之旅之一。當時我對傳攀還不是很熟悉，而且天氣十分寒冷。我的最後一段繩距是在黑暗中爬完的，而且我沒有頭燈。我唯二記得的畫面是星空下峭壁的輪廓，以及當我從將近一百公尺高的岩壁往下望時，50號州際公路上的流光。雖然我當時害怕得不得了，但事後回想起來卻是很特別的一段經驗。希望我以後能在條件好一點的情況下再攀爬一次這段路線。
- 2024年7月13-14日：終於第一次上了一堂正兒八經的傳攀課，內容非常豐富，我們也做了許多實用的練習。這堂課幫助我更清楚地理解傳攀的基本原理，讓我能更靈活地使用我的岩械和繩索，而不是一板一眼地照本宣科。我們也第一次爬了真正的 Knapsack Crack，這次我領攀了第二、三段，對傳攀感覺比去年更加熟悉了。
- 2024年8月2日：請了一天假去攀岩（因為整個暑期實在沒有空閒的週末了）。第一次輪流領攀，整個過程十分順暢。因為路線不是很明顯，所以我們花了不少力氣確保我們在正確的路線上，過程中還有一小段很嚇人的橫穿。雖然如此，這大概是我目前最順的一次傳攀了。我們還趕在暴風雨來臨前，迅速地再爬了一次 Knapsack Crack，把三段合併成兩段爬。一天下來，我們爬了兩百公尺的傳攀（外加開了七小時的車）— 人生中最多的一次！
- 2024年9月28日：第一次在多段傳攀時找不到真正的確保站。我領攀了第一段，爬著爬著就爬過頭了，但是我還是找到了一個合適的位置架設保護點。對我來說，這是一個很好的學習經驗，代表我已經從之前的照葫蘆畫瓢，進步為能開始靈活運用傳攀的基本原理了。當天因為我的身體還在恢復中，所以沒有什麼特別遠大的攀岩目標，但依然是美好又開心的一天。
我非常感謝能找到自己如此喜愛的岩壁，我在 Lover’s Leap 學習到了非常多知識和經驗，也十分享受迄今為止在這裡的每一次攀岩。今年的戶外攀岩或許已經吿一段落了，因為從六月中開始馬不停蹄的旅行、登山、攀岩（加上春季的好幾段旅程）已令我身心俱疲，但是我已經等不及明年的戶外攀岩季節再次開始了！
《暮色迴響》並不是一首簡單的歌，而且超過了我音域的極限（從降A3到降B5，超過兩個八度——我很確定最高音跟最低音我都沒有完全唱準）。雖然歌詞內容跟攀岩不相關，但是我在挑戰自己學習這首歌時，聯想到了我在攀岩時也是不斷地挑戰自己、突破極限。將我的兩個嗜好聯繫起來真的是一段妙趣橫生的體驗！