Well, we’re wringing our hands, and we’re reading the entries, and we’re going to wait until Monday to announce the winners of the 5.10 Days of May contest, so we have plenty of time to think about it. The hardest part about choosing 10 winners is… only being able to choose 10 winners!
While you await our decision, shop Five Ten at Rock/Creek to take advantage of the sale prices, or to start daydreaming about which shoes you’ll pick if you win one of the ten contests. Below, check out some great examples from the various days of the contest that required a bit of writing:
“The next day began like a dream. We had set up camp with the help of a flashlight and were amazed at our surroundings when the sun came up. We had actually slept on top of one of the giant railroad car-sized boulders which just happened to contain some great warm-up routes on it. Just after we found our whereabouts in the guide and were warmed up, that slight chance of rain became a reality…” — Stephen Glass
“It probably took me ten minutes to get myself down that easy V0 boulder problem. I fought fear all the way up and back down that climb. Even so, that specific weekend trip to Horse Pens 40 sold me. I was bought by the outdoor world of climbing. My fingers were thrashed and my legs bruised. I had never had more fun in my life!” — Katrin Bell
“Where one beauty ends, another begins in Yosemite, as the valley turned into a magnificent display of newly formed waterfalls, adding the smorgasbord of eye candy. We ended up spending our time hiking in the rain and lighting blue darts in our tent.” — Ryan Stott
“I would LOVE to go back to Joshua Tree, in California. Last time I was there I sprained my ankle on the first day of my trip and couldn’t climb the rest of the time. I spent about three days sitting on a crash pad in a Vicodin haze. If I could go back now, I would climb until I couldn’t grip anything! I would climb like a madman to make up for the time I lost!” — Daniel DeMoss
“I’ll never forget standing on a book-sized ledge halfway up, back to the face, facing south. The terrain sloped away, down to about sea level, and then flat as far as I could see. A hawk (or maybe it was a buzzard) cruised across my field of view, far below me. That was Sunday. Monday morning I showered for work; my fingers were so blown I couldn’t push the button on my Sure aerosol deodorant. I had to use my thumb.” — Patrick Dean
“I sent this route on the last day of the trip right as the sun was setting, and I ended up getting lowered off in the dark. My friends and girlfriend were all there encouraging me to send and doing so at the last absolute minute was awesome. A long winter of training had finally paid off and I got to do it amongst some of my closest friends. The send was definitely one of my hardest and it was perfect punctuation to the end of an even more perfect climbing trip.” — Jacob Current
“There was one route in the gym that just looked so awesome…The more advanced climbers called it a campus route, but I was lucky if I could campus even the first move. I must have done the start 100 times. I probably worked on it for two weeks. I asked so many people for beta on that thing that I would forget what I was even climbing. Then one day, I was there all alone and just nailed it. It was beautiful… I’ve since advanced past v3, but I climbed Blue every time I went. Eventually I could campus through it. A few more days and I could campus there and back. They just recently took it down and replaced it, but it will always be my first real, successful project.” — Max Pelli
“Another try, and I got to the first hold, but the next move was so hard that I couldn’t reach the hold. Another try and the foot slipped again… “What am I doing here?!,” I thought, but the line is so cool! I must get myself to the monofinger that all the guys talk about. This monofinger is like a V which your finger pinch as a nut. Amazing. So I did the next try…got to the third plate and there was the monofinger. Four movements to reach it with alternate foot and hand holds. PERFECT monofinger. And I reached it.” –Eduardo Meirelles
“The wind whooshed up and scrambled my hair, and I leaned back into my harness, letting the rope gain tension, knowing dad wouldn’t let me fall. Those days climbing were always the best part about spending summers with dad. Sun or fog, we’d all be out on the rocks, sharing the beauty of nature and geology, smiling like kids long past adolescence.” — Stephanie Striefel
Check back on Monday to see if your name was picked to win a pair of Five Ten shoes!
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