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Got to do my first-ever trad lead today! It was just a slabby 5.5ish corner crack but it was still pretty cool. I'm out in Red Rock Canyon with a couple buddies and tomorrow we're tackling Cat in the Hat, at 650' 5.6 multipitch! I may even give the 50' 5.5 pitch a shot at leading, we shall see!
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Mar 7, 2013 07:59
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canvasbagfight posted:Thoughts? I'm probably going to get some Miuras. These shoes rule. I rubbed a hole into my Defys after about four months of climbing three to four times a week, and holy poo poo do I love them. Mine are super tight and I have blisters all over my feet from the first couple of sessions I did in them, but they're going to be awesome once my feet toughen the hell up. The toes on them, particularly feel a lot more sturdy than my Defys, and my balance feels a lot better on smaller holes where it would have been shaky with the other pair of shoes I had. Totally worth the money I dropped on them--especially since there's next to no chance that I'll be dropping this sport any time soon. It's addicting as hell. Finally doing V3s pretty consistently in the gym. Can't wait to get outside once it warms up.
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Mar 7, 2013 17:55
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pbpancho posted:Got to do my first-ever trad lead today! It was just a slabby 5.5ish corner crack but it was still pretty cool. I'm out in Red Rock Canyon with a couple buddies and tomorrow we're tackling Cat in the Hat, at 650' 5.6 multipitch! I may even give the 50' 5.5 pitch a shot at leading, we shall see! Low-angle, slabby trad pitches are terrifying. You're usually looking at horrible, rolling, cheese-grater falls, and it's a miserable time. Once you hit 5.9 or 5.10 steeps, trad feels much more comfortable.
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Mar 8, 2013 01:27
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pbpancho posted:Got to do my first-ever trad lead today! It was just a slabby 5.5ish corner crack but it was still pretty cool. I'm out in Red Rock Canyon with a couple buddies and tomorrow we're tackling Cat in the Hat, at 650' 5.6 multipitch! I may even give the 50' 5.5 pitch a shot at leading, we shall see! Leading Trad is awesome! I started last summer and remember my first lead like it just happened. I'll bet if felt like a 5.ohshit placing gear and being on the sharp end the first time. Gives you a different perspective, don't it? I have heard a general guideline is to climb 1 to 2 grades lower then you lead sport in the gym for outdoor sport and then 1 - 2 grades lower then that for trad. Seems about right, I can sport lead 5.10 in a gym and the hardest pitch I lead trad was 5.6. Never sport climbed outside but I would like to give it a go this summer. I will have to beg Goons to teach the noob sport climbing in clear creek this spring, I'll trade leading multi pitch trad in Eldo / flatirons. I can't wait to get back outside. We've had some good weather in Denver but I have not been climbing outside in months. Now we have 12"+ snow forecast for the weekend 
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Mar 8, 2013 02:50
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canvasbagfight posted:I've recently gotten back into climbing after a 6 year hiatus. I have some Evos that have a good amount of rubber left on them from 2007, but they feel awfully slippery even after taking steel wool to them. Is there any hope or does the rubber compound just age beyond salvage? It's not just the highly polished knobs I'm slipping off. Practically everything. I literally can't trust my feet at all on anything but large shelves/jugs when I climb. While it's great for getting my arms back into the swing of things, I'm finding it hard to advance. I was climbing at the V4 level before and now I'm happy just to send a V2... Thoughts? I'm probably going to get some Miuras. Completely anecdotal but my backup pair of shoes are pretty ancient (actually unsure how old, just know at least 6 years, were a gift from a friend who was encouraging me to get into climbing. He worked at a gear shop and got them for super cheap but they didn't fit so he never wore them) and they still stick pretty well. Been climbing on them for the last couple of weeks as I'm getting my Miuras resoled. I really enjoy my Miuras. I'm male but actually wear the female version because I thought the heel felt better.
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Mar 8, 2013 02:54
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spandexcajun posted:I have heard a general guideline is to climb 1 to 2 grades lower then you lead sport in the gym for outdoor sport and then 1 - 2 grades lower then that for trad. Seems about right, I can sport lead 5.10 in a gym and the hardest pitch I lead trad was 5.6. Never sport climbed outside but I would like to give it a go this summer. I will have to beg Goons to teach the noob sport climbing in clear creek this spring, I'll trade leading multi pitch trad in Eldo / flatirons. I can't wait to get back outside. We've had some good weather in Denver but I have not been climbing outside in months. Now we have 12"+ snow forecast for the weekend I am in for all of this. I haven't climbed since October (bought a house and ski season!) But I think I am going to grab a 30 day membership to crank back into the season. Maybe get the home wall setup in the basement too. End of last year I was leading 5.10c in CCC so hopefully I can get back to that and maybe push to 11 this year.
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Mar 8, 2013 03:15
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canvasbagfight posted:I've recently gotten back into climbing after a 6 year hiatus. I have some Evos that have a good amount of rubber left on them from 2007, but they feel awfully slippery even after taking steel wool to them. Is there any hope or does the rubber compound just age beyond salvage? A number of things can degrade the rubber on shoes. Plenty of places will resole them for you, and it's way cheaper than getting new shoes. Unless you want new shoes anyway. And if that's the case, there are few places you can donate you old shoes so they can recycle them to make new ones. Niyqor posted:Completely anecdotal but my backup pair of shoes are pretty ancient (actually unsure how old, just know at least 6 years.. hahaha those aren't old! My dad uses pair of La Sportiva shoes he bought in '79. Those are ancient shoes. Of course, he's had them resoled a few times, but still. In shoe-related talk, I have a longer second toe that smashes in the front of my shoes. I'd been waiting for it to happen, but today my nail finally fell off. It didn't hurt, but it definitely gave me the willies. Anyway, does anyone else experience this? What shoes do you use? Or are my mutant toes doomed? For reference, I have Mad Rock Banshees.
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Mar 8, 2013 03:16
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I figure I'll ask just in case, but any Italian goons that want to teach me how to climb? I'm in Milan, and while I'm sure everyone at the gym is friendly, I speak next to no Italian. I have my own gear and everything, just no one to climb with.
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Mar 8, 2013 05:33
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Reformed Tomboy posted:A number of things can degrade the rubber on shoes. Plenty of places will resole them for you, and it's way cheaper than getting new shoes. Unless you want new shoes anyway. And if that's the case, there are few places you can donate you old shoes so they can recycle them to make new ones. The nail on the big toe of my left foot just doesn't grow any more from where I smashed it into a pointy bit of rock. I'd say it's part and parcel.
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Mar 8, 2013 12:43
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So did anyone catch wind of this story? It came out last month and it was a huge ordeal in the northeast climbing world. I had actually known this was going on in the past because my buddies are pretty big in the climbing scene down in the Gunks. But someone finally caught it all on camera. See if you can name that climber. http://www.dpmclimbing.com/articles/view/just-cleaning Despicable.
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Mar 8, 2013 16:59
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Blech. No I hadn't heard that story but I'm glad they managed to bring it to light. I hit the Gunks for trad climbing sometimes, and walk by all those boulders on the carriage road. I don't understand what would compel someone to do this sort of thing. There is SO MUCH to climb in the Gunks.
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Mar 8, 2013 17:13
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 Does anyone know where this is from? Googling Vertical Axis doesn't give much info...
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Mar 8, 2013 19:09
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 Who'da thought deepwater solo climbing could be indoor/gym-ified? edit: Well I'll be... alnilam fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Mar 8, 2013 |
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Mar 8, 2013 19:37
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Recycle Bin posted:
It's from the Hard Moves finale last Saturday. It's quite a big European Team Bouldering Competition between the Gyms. Oh and of course it was awesome  http://www.facebook.com/hardmoves?ref=ts&fref=ts http://new.livestream.com/Hard-Moves/SUPERFINALE
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Mar 8, 2013 19:55
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Reformed Tomboy posted:In shoe-related talk, I have a longer second toe that smashes in the front of my shoes. I'd been waiting for it to happen, but today my nail finally fell off. It didn't hurt, but it definitely gave me the willies. Anyway, does anyone else experience this? What shoes do you use? Or are my mutant toes doomed? For reference, I have Mad Rock Banshees. This is known as Morton's Toe- a sign of of monstrous ancestry. Evolv makes a shoe, the Demorto, that they say is designed for people with it. You might want to try on a pair next time you're shoe shopping.
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Mar 9, 2013 00:23
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Reformed Tomboy posted:hahaha those aren't old! My dad uses pair of La Sportiva shoes he bought in '79. Those are ancient shoes. Of course, he's had them resoled a few times, but still. They don't even compare in age to your dad's. Asked the friend who gave them to me and my estimate was fairly close. He guesses they are from 2005.
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Mar 9, 2013 03:34
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I've been bouldering twice a week for the last few weeks and have been ramping up from V0s to V3s. However, just today I noticed my first tendon pain: while gripping something (at home) with my right hand such that my hand hinged shut with pressure on my fingers, my middle finger's right knuckle flared up with a throbbing soreness. I don't notice it generally, but if I either extend or close that finger all the way, the knuckle is definitely sore "inside," which I understand to be characteristic of tendon aggravation. What do I do? I want to take the most cautious, best-healing approach, whether that constitutes time away from bouldering (or rocks in general), some kind of treatment / assistance, or some combination of the two. What does taping do for instance? Should I use it? armorer posted:As a general rule you should learn to differentiate tendon pain from muscle pain. If you have an ache / twinge / whatever and it is in an area generally devoid of muscles (elbow, wrist, finger joint) then you should pay attention to it. Don't just pop some Aleve and climb on it anyway, it will only get worse. That said you don't necessarily have to stop climbing if you develop a pain like that. A lot of the time you can just climb different routes for a while until it fades. If you are climbing a lot of crimps and develop a nagging pain in one of your digits, go climb overhung stuff for a week of two instead. That type of variation should give it time to sort itself out. I'll note that none of my stuff was particularly crimpy (I don't have that strength yet), so I'm a bit concerned because I'm not sure if that means (per this post) that it shouldn't have developed. I'm not sure if I ramped up too aggressively. Also: I saw some earlier references to "warming up tendons." Is that actually a thing? If so, how do you do it, and how do you know when it's done? Petey fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Mar 9, 2013 |
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Mar 9, 2013 17:34
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Petey posted:I've been bouldering twice a week for the last few weeks and have been ramping up from V0s to V3s. However, just today I noticed my first tendon pain: while gripping something (at home) with my right hand such that my hand hinged shut with pressure on my fingers, my middle finger's right knuckle flared up with a throbbing soreness. I don't notice it generally, but if I either extend or close that finger all the way, the knuckle is definitely sore "inside," which I understand to be characteristic of tendon aggravation. Stop climbing for a couple of weeks is the best way to treat this. Ice and rest. Taping your finger to another can help support it until it's healed, though rest till it doesn't hurt after a full day of climbing is the best way to approach this. Kind of trial and error I know, best to err on the side of caution. Also tough to rest, I know. quote:I'll note that none of my stuff was particularly crimpy (I don't have that strength yet), so I'm a bit concerned because I'm not sure if that means (per this post) that it shouldn't have developed. I'm not sure if I ramped up too aggressively. I usually use a hairdryer, your gym doesn't have one of those hand dryer things on the bouldering wall?
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Mar 9, 2013 18:04
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:
Just kidding, climb a few v0's with a few minutes rest in between, work your way up to v1, v2...just work your way up to your projects instead of just jumping right on the wall. The few minutes rest is important too, don't just climb a bunch of easy stuff real quick and jump on your projects, ease into it.
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Mar 9, 2013 18:10
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Petey posted:I'll note that none of my stuff was particularly crimpy (I don't have that strength yet), so I'm a bit concerned because I'm not sure if that means (per this post) that it shouldn't have developed. I'm not sure if I ramped up too aggressively. My comment about crimps was mostly to illustrate that you can climb other types of routes to avoid the pain. That certainly isn't the only way to injure a tendon. Just pay attention to it. Stopping climbing is the best way to let it heal, but that is no fun. Sometimes taping it will help, sometimes it won't. You basically need to see what you can do without aggravating it until the pain subsides.
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Mar 9, 2013 18:23
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I love spring. 60s almost all week around Chattanooga, hope everyone else is as lucky!
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Mar 9, 2013 20:21
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Petey posted:I've been bouldering twice a week for the last few weeks and have been ramping up from V0s to V3s. However, just today I noticed my first tendon pain: while gripping something (at home) with my right hand such that my hand hinged shut with pressure on my fingers, my middle finger's right knuckle flared up with a throbbing soreness. I don't notice it generally, but if I either extend or close that finger all the way, the knuckle is definitely sore "inside," which I understand to be characteristic of tendon aggravation. I had a similar problem that happened because I was attempting to climb things that I could kind of hold on to but wasn't really strong enough (fingers, forearms, hands) to do. I took a break from climbing for about a week and worked on upper body strength and other stuff at the gym that didn't use my fingers, and it went away.
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Mar 9, 2013 22:24
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Thanks all. I don't want to stop - I had finally been able to crush a few projects! - but maybe I'll take this as an opportunity to rest, life some weights, continue with yoga, etc for a few days.
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Mar 9, 2013 22:37
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Many successes! Me and my climbing partner have conquered all the 5.8's in our gym and have moved on to 5.9's but can only get about half way (if that). Despite the fact that it is a fairly arbitrary measurement, it's still really nice to be able to gauge personal victories. The issue we are having is mainly due to the holds being less uhh...holdy? Smaller areas to actually grip as well as less holds in general. I'm working on foot placement because as a 6' 135 pound guy I am immediately reaching to lift myself up and in doing so wasting lots of energy. We started bouldering for the first time tonight and it was much more intense than I expected. Most V0's we did after a few tries except for one particularly tricky route. It was really nice to be able to do them over and over and really feel the burn as far as grip strength and upper body strength. Looking forward to more bouldering to help with the top rope walls! 
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Mar 10, 2013 05:34
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Claes Oldenburger posted:as a 6' 135 pound guy I'm 5'7 ~155 pounds, kinda jealous of all you tall skinny people. On the other hand, I have a fair bit of leg strength, so on some tricky stuff I can more or less do a single leg squat up and be all like 
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Mar 10, 2013 06:19
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Claes Oldenburger posted:Smaller areas to actually grip as well as less holds in general. I'm working on foot placement because as a 6' 135 pound guy I am immediately reaching to lift myself up and in doing so wasting lots of energy.
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Mar 10, 2013 16:44
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modig posted:A nice exercise for this is try to climb something like a 5.7 (generally just not as hard as you can handle, so it will move up as yo move up) without bending your elbows. It limits what you can do with your arms, and forces you to focus more on the rest of your body. It would be hilarious to watch someone take this completely literally.
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Mar 10, 2013 20:18
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Stangg posted:It would be hilarious to watch someone take this completely literally. A guy who worked at my old gym would do boulder circuits with his arms wrapped in cardboard to keep him honest about not bending them 'bows. It was more weird than hilarious, but he's a better climber than I am so what do I know.
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Mar 10, 2013 21:09
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Climbing coaches tend to use pvc arm sleeves for this climbing drill.
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Mar 11, 2013 02:13
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Manstrocity posted:A guy who worked at my old gym would do boulder circuits with his arms wrapped in cardboard to keep him honest about not bending them 'bows. It was more weird than hilarious, but he's a better climber than I am so what do I know.
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Mar 11, 2013 03:24
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modig posted:I saw someone recently climbing while holding a fist sized ball in each hand. That's a drill put forward in Self Coached Climber for ingraining good feet movement and showing how much upward progress you can make without pulling with your arms at all.
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Mar 11, 2013 05:06
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First day climbing with the weight vest today. Holy crap what a difference. I thought I would be taking it easy with 10 lbs in the vest, but it kind of kicked my rear end. I ended up climbing mostly 9s and a few 10s, stuff I normally just sail up, and every move was difficult. At the end of the evening I knocked out 8 pull ups with the vest and was struggling on the last one. Usually I can do 15 or so. I plan on only climbing with it every other gym trip, and I think I'll stay at 10 lbs for the foreseeable future.
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Mar 13, 2013 03:35
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modig posted:I saw someone recently climbing while holding a fist sized ball in each hand. I recently started doing "no-finger" climbs in the gym. You can use fists, palms, wrists, etc. but can't let the bottom side of your fingers touch a hold. It has the same effect of training you to use your feet more. (and it's goofy as hell, which is the real reason I did it)
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Mar 14, 2013 23:24
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Man, I've hit a pretty serious plateau and I'm feeling pretty discouraged. I've been climbing for 9 months now, and I can do most of the V5s and some of the V6s in my gym, but I've been at this level for a while now. I can't seem to get the V6 grade on lockdown, especially cave routes. After progressing so quickly and then stopping, feels like I'm at a dead-end and I have to lose weight or magically grow 3 inches or something. I need some sort of mindset change. Starting to think 'progressing' is more important to me than 'climbing' which can't be good.
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Mar 15, 2013 02:25
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Change it up. Put bouldering on hold an do a shitload of routes. Depending on where you live (ie the availability of local climbing), find a partner and project some hard things to be a goal. Find a rich partner and learn trad! But don't just keep doing the same thing. Work on another aspect of your climbing, and when you go back to serious bouldering, apply your new additions to the problems. For me, going hardcore on routes for a while really helped with the endurance I needed for full on, sustained boulder problems.
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Mar 15, 2013 05:08
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Baldbeard posted:Man, I've hit a pretty serious plateau and I'm feeling pretty discouraged. I've been climbing for 9 months now, and I can do most of the V5s and some of the V6s in my gym, but I've been at this level for a while now. I can't seem to get the V6 grade on lockdown, especially cave routes. After progressing so quickly and then stopping, feels like I'm at a dead-end and I have to lose weight or magically grow 3 inches or something. You've only been climbing 9 months. Just give it time. Switch it up for a while, give your fingers time to catch up, and you'll come back stronger.
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Mar 15, 2013 08:04
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pokchu posted:Change it up. Put bouldering on hold an do a shitload of routes. Depending on where you live (ie the availability of local climbing), find a partner and project some hard things to be a goal. Find a rich partner and learn trad! But don't just keep doing the same thing. Work on another aspect of your climbing, and when you go back to serious bouldering, apply your new additions to the problems. For me, going hardcore on routes for a while really helped with the endurance I needed for full on, sustained boulder problems. Tarnien posted:You've only been climbing 9 months. Just give it time. Switch it up for a while, give your fingers time to catch up, and you'll come back stronger. Thanks, good advice. It definitely is my fingers too. I boulder 3 days a week for close to 2 hours each session, with way too short of breaks between attempts. There's days when my fingers just can't do it -- they won't hurt, but they will just be weak.
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Mar 15, 2013 19:01
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Baldbeard posted:Man, I've hit a pretty serious plateau and I'm feeling pretty discouraged. I've been climbing for 9 months now, and I can do most of the V5s and some of the V6s in my gym, but I've been at this level for a while now. I can't seem to get the V6 grade on lockdown, especially cave routes. After progressing so quickly and then stopping, feels like I'm at a dead-end and I have to lose weight or magically grow 3 inches or something. I'm plateaued around V4 (and have been for probably a year, at least). Without losing maybe 10-15 lbs, it's going to be very hard for me to get up to V5 level. However, when I look at it, my technique has gotten so much better that I don't struggle the same way I used to. I celebrate those little victories, like the day I can not fall on my rear end on the first move of a V4/V5, or when my form has improved to a point where I can stick holds that were impossible for me to reach before (I'm 5'4).
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Mar 16, 2013 00:26
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jackchaos posted:I haven't really read anything. The closest I've gotten is having the head setter for the bay area touch stone gyms come and do a day long clinic. So if you find cool articles post them! routecrafting.blogspot.com isn't updated anymore but has some good reading. A friend has met him an climbed his routes and the author sets well.
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Mar 16, 2013 06:54
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henne posted:routecrafting.blogspot.com isn't updated anymore but has some good reading. A friend has met him an climbed his routes and the author sets well. That blog is really fantastic and I make all my route setters read it before they seriously start setting.
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Mar 16, 2013 07:23
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