|
Bud Manstrong posted:I really dig my Misty Mountain. Neptune has them to try on. They have the best selection around if you want to go hang in a bunch of em. Says the guy who apparently only boulders now.... Want to come work my 12a project with me this fall? I think I picked a good one. Should have trained more though.
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2015 00:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 22:44 |
|
|
spwrozek posted:Says the guy who apparently only boulders now.... [bicycle excuse 5B] Happy to come out and work it with you if I've got the weekend free. Just holla.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2015 01:55
|
|
|
Pink crack, ~v3 at Black Mountain, SoCal. while staring at this problem a shirtless guy smoking a cigarette comes up and says "ooooh yeah this one is fun" and proceeds to climb the boulder WITH his cigarette still in his mouth, and no pads on the ground. And then I chickened out and didn't finish the top out  
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2015 02:24
|
|
|
Apparently some people are totally against belay glasses when lead belaying - what's the reason?
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2015 00:07
|
|
|
They hate their necks and have never belayed anyone on a project suss go in Pipe Dream.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2015 03:26
|
|
|
Nifty posted:Pink crack, ~v3 at Black Mountain, SoCal. while staring at this problem a shirtless guy smoking a cigarette comes up and says "ooooh yeah this one is fun" and proceeds to climb the boulder WITH his cigarette still in his mouth, and no pads on the ground. And then I chickened out and didn't finish the top out Oh hey I was there on Saturday! I couldn't get my hands to stay in the crack
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2015 04:16
|
|
|
Has anyone ever hand-washed leather climbing shoes with success? I'm reading a lot of mixed things on the internet. I have a pair of Mythos shoes that have served me well since I started climbing, and I really like the way they fit me. I'd really like to preserve them if it's possible.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2015 05:01
|
|
|
magicalmako posted:Oh hey I was there on Saturday! I couldn't get my hands to stay in the crack Um yeah that pic was taken on Saturday, was at Pink Crack around 5pm hah
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2015 05:20
|
|
|
Nifty posted:Pink crack, ~v3 at Black Mountain, SoCal. while staring at this problem a shirtless guy smoking a cigarette comes up and says "ooooh yeah this one is fun" and proceeds to climb the boulder WITH his cigarette still in his mouth, and no pads on the ground. And then I chickened out and didn't finish the top out The most knowledgeable climber I know is a 60 year old relative of mine who lead belays me with one hand while smoking hand rolled cigarettes. He still crushes 5.12's. Smoking makes you climb harder.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2015 05:25
|
|
|
crazycello posted:who lead belays me with one hand that's probably a bad idea
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2015 22:37
|
|
|
I'm going bouldering outside for the first time tomorrow. Anything I need to know that's different from gym climbing?
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 18:51
|
|
|
Really think about your landings and how you pad them. Hopefully your spotters have a clue about what they are doing.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 19:01
|
|
|
Depending on the sharpness / roughness of the rock and how long you've been climbing you might get your hands pretty beaten up, I would suggest packing something for scrapes and cuts if you don't usually. Seconding the comment about landings and spotters, you need to be more aware of where and when you might fall.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2015 19:45
|
|
|
Spoons, not forks (your fingers, when spotting).
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2015 03:30
|
|
|
French Canadian posted:Spoons, not forks (your fingers, when spotting). Awesome advice! For sure key.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2015 03:35
|
|
|
French Canadian posted:Spoons, not forks (your fingers, when spotting). That's a great way of putting it, nice one
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2015 21:59
|
|
|
Tons of fun, nobody died. Only had one spotter so didn't get many pictures, but I'm trying to go back next weekend with more people. We ended up doing a fair few highballs which was an interesting change from gym climbing. Good poo poo. Thanks for the advice.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2015 23:37
|
|
|
Ravenfood posted:Tons of fun, nobody died. Only had one spotter so didn't get many pictures, but I'm trying to go back next weekend with more people. We ended up doing a fair few highballs which was an interesting change from gym climbing. Good poo poo. Thanks for the advice. How high were the highballs?
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2015 23:56
|
|
|
spwrozek posted:How high were the highballs?
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2015 00:41
|
|
|
Going out to Vegas in December. Would like to spend a morning bouldering. A simple google comes up with a ton of different guide books. Any of them worth purchasing or should I just use mountain project and ask http://www.desertrocksportslv.com/ these guys?
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 00:14
|
|
|
This is going to be kind of an e/n post but here goes: Earlier this year (roughly end of Feb so 7 1/2 months ago?) I decided I wanted to try to get good at climbing instead of just doing it once a week to hang out with friends and keep in shape a bit. Since then I have probably been climbing and/or bouldering 3-4 times per week for 2-3+ hours per session (realistically maybe 10 hours per week avg) except for during a 3 week period recently when I was recovering from a lower back injury. I feel as though my technique has improved immensely and I definitely feel a lot more comfortable and controlled when I climb but I don't feel like my finger strength or ability to climb difficult routes (where the limiting factor is making that one or two nasty crux moves) has improved much at all. I would love to spend more time climbing but I have already had problems with finger injuries and I feel like I am physically not capable of training my hands any more frequently. I would guess that my weight is probably holding me back at the moment as I have put on about 10 pounds compared to my previous stable weight when I was climbing less intensely and frequently (I'm about 6ft 2 185 lbs) but I used to go to the gym occasionally and do cycling, free weights etc. regular gym poo poo. I eat a pretty decent diet and other then going full nuclear and never eating anything other than salad and chicken / tuna / steak for the rest of my life I don't feel like I can diet my way into losing a significant amount of weight. I've tried working running, cycling etc. into my weekly exercise regime as a way of dropping some weight but between being tired all the time from climbing and social/family obligations I haven't been able to keep anything up consistently. I still prefer top roping especially on new/difficult routes, I feel like I'm still really missing something when lead climbing as I get loving pumped when clipping even on routes I've climbed multiple times before, everyone I climb with is way more experienced than I am and I try to learn as much as I can from them but nobody can point out any significant issues with my technique specifically wrt leading and I'm forced to assume that the problem is just tendon/ligament strength related due to having to hold on 1 hand while clipping and the only way I can improve is just hammering away at it even though it makes me feel like absolute poo poo having to back off and rest - sometimes multiple times - on routes I can comfortably complete on toprope. Most of the people I've asked about campusing and other forms of specific training have said that I'm probably not at the level where it would be appropriate yet and from what I've tried of fingerboarding or campusing I would agree, even the basic stuff seems extremely difficult. I'm bouldering V3/4s and climbing (French grades) 6b+ or c on a good day (toprope) 6a+ (lead) (used to lead b's but after my break from back injury no longer seem to be able to do so without loving up horribly) I really love climbing and it's probably not an exaggeration to say that it's the main reason I get up in the mornings and go to work and act like a normal human being, all I want to do is improve and I'm spending as much time as I can climbing but it feels like my body isn't cooperating and it's really getting frustrating  If someone could suggest something I could try to improve more quickly or just make me feel like I'm not sucking horribly then that would be nice 
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 00:40
|
|
|
compton rear end terry posted:Going out to Vegas in December. Would like to spend a morning bouldering. I rope climbed there and thought MP was OK. I have a hard time using MP for bouldering most places though. Not sure which book is good. Red rocks is really cool climbing though. Enjoy!
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 00:47
|
|
|
spwrozek posted:I rope climbed there and thought MP was OK. I have a hard time using MP for bouldering most places though. Not sure which book is good. Red rocks is really cool climbing though. Enjoy! I think when you're bouldering somewhere new, you just have to accept that about half your time will be finding the problems and complaining that the topo or line photos look differently in that light/planetary alignment/whatever.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 00:55
|
|
|
My first advice is stop top roping. If you want to climb hard, lead hard in the gym. I never TR. It is boring, I climb lazy and poorly. Leading pushes you to actually commit to moves and make it happen. It has pushed my climbing outside a ton. The second thing is what are you doing at the gym? I go twice a week with this plan to work on 12s. 10a, 10c/d, 11b/c, 12a, 9, 12a+, 10b, 9 (about 2 hours alternating with my partner). I climb with purpose, meaning no takes unless I know I am spent on the 12's. But I climb to fall, it is the gym after all. This has pushed me to onsite anything in the 10's and most 11b and down outside. About to go try a 12a (I need a rope gun) that shares a 9 anchor for gear retrieval. I really don't like hang board and campus training, I actually just don't like training. I love climbing and having fun climbing. At some point I guess you have to train but this has worked for me and I think with a hard winter and spring I might be able to think about 13's in 1-2 years. Skiing does get in the way though.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 00:59
|
|
|
Bud Manstrong posted:I think when you're bouldering somewhere new, you just have to accept that about half your time will be finding the problems and complaining that the topo or line photos look differently in that light/planetary alignment/whatever. What? You mean like how I always look using MP. The hunt is on!  Around the corner?  Three pitches later! 
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 01:06
|
|
|
I have basically given up on rope. It's all bouldering all the time now.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 01:18
|
|
|
gamera009 posted:I have basically given up on rope. You and all the other cool Denver goons.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 01:28
|
|
|
spwrozek posted:You and all the other cool Denver goons. Happens. My climbing partner of 4 years moved. No partner, no rope.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 03:50
|
|
|
gamera009 posted:Happens. My climbing partner of 4 years moved. You just need to come climb with me more. Although that involves south of Boulder.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 05:50
|
|
|
compton rear end terry posted:Going out to Vegas in December. Would like to spend a morning bouldering. I rented a pad from the guys you linked to. It worked fine. Also I'll be at Red Rocks this weekend wooooo and This is the guidebook you want http://www.snellpress.com/snb/purchase-southern-nevada-bouldering-guide.html
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 05:55
|
|
|
spwrozek posted:You just need to come climb with me more. Although that involves south of Boulder. Yeah. That's probably not going to work. I can't afford earthtreks. Also no way I'm driving that far.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 06:07
|
|
|
RabidWeasel posted:This is going to be kind of an e/n post but here goes: 6a+ lead / 6c toprope indoors isn't too bad after 7 months. And that really isn't that long - basically keep at it with the same frequency and you'll get better. I was pretty dispirited after the first 6-12 months of climbing, as my partner was just naturally better / stronger than me. As it happens, he stopped having time to climb shortly after that, and now 3 years on whenever we climb together I'm a good 4-5 grades higher than him. So keep putting in the frequency of climbing, try and shed any excess weight (I heard for every excess kilogram you lose, you can pretty much gain a climbing grade... Or something like that). And when you're feeling bad about any perceived genetic disadvantages, feel good that you don't have a 5'3 ape index!  Also don't worry too much about grades. The best climber is the one having the most fun.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 08:45
|
|
|
RabidWeasel posted:
It seems like you're a bit conflicted about what you want to achieve, you say you need stronger fingers etc but then talk about failing when leading routes cos you're pumped. If you actually want to get stronger fingers, just do a lot of steep fingery bouldering - trying and failing a lot, and doing lots of the type of hard moves you say you're failing on on the cruxes of routes. It sounds like part of the issue is just being nervous about leading, not even necessarily about falling, but just that you associate it with getting pumped and being miserable and flustered. If that's the case, I'd suggest knocking down the difficulty and just leading a ton of routes of say 5-6a until things like clipping start to come more naturally and you feel more comfortable above a bolt. As well as this, you should look into doing some form of specific endurance training if you really want to improve your sport climbing, whether that's building a base of fitness by doing aerobic capacity work (long periods, like 20-40 minutes at a time of continuous easy climbing, never getting above a very mild pump, although I appreciate that this is quite difficult to do if you don't have access to a circuit board and don't have that much room to lower the grade anyway). Alternatively, you could try to work power endurance, which may help you push through hard sections when you're pumped. Look up something like 4x4 bouldering circuits for that. It does feel like really hard work though. What sort of training facilities do you have access to? Does your gym have a bouldering wall or just routes? Is there a dedicated circuit board, etc? E: in before that guy tells you to buy the Anderson brothers book Still B.A.E fucked around with this message at 11:16 on Oct 21, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 11:02
|
|
|
Yeah the solution to getting used to lead is definitely adjusting expectations for which routes you can send. Leading just is a bit harder than toprope, so pulling back to mid-5's and working up from there is gonna be both much less aggravating and much more productive for you. However, I disagree with the post above that said that toprope is necessarily boring and not useful. Since it's a bit easier to climb in toprope, it can be really helpful to toprope routes that are outside your comfort zone for grades. I climb around a 7/7+ in lead but I've managed 8-'s and 8's in toprope and it's very cool to get to work with the moves/techniques that start showing up at the higher levels. Obviously you have to bump up the grades that you toprope as you improve, but I definitely think it brings something to climb above your grade in toprope so that you're not worried about clipping/falling/getting too frustrated when attempting a route that you know is too hard for you in lead.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 12:48
|
|
|
Still B.A.E posted:It seems like you're a bit conflicted about what you want to achieve, you say you need stronger fingers etc but then talk about failing when leading routes cos you're pumped. If you actually want to get stronger fingers, just do a lot of steep fingery bouldering - trying and failing a lot, and doing lots of the type of hard moves you say you're failing on on the cruxes of routes. To put it in more detail, the problem I have is this: I need to clip, while doing this I need to have one hand off of the wall for a while. Doing this usually makes my active hand and wrist feel like poo poo, even on relatively good holds, and on some routes I will be feeling weak and unable to grip properly after just a few clips. Sometimes I can position myself where this isn't a problem but I'm not good at being able to judge when this is possible. If I'm feeling totally hosed a short rope rest will always sort things out for the next clip or two but then I need to rest again. Conversely I can toprope crimpy routes in my grade range well without resting so finger strength doesn't seem to be the real issue, it's more like I have issues with keeping a single hand clenched while supporting my weight, and I don't have the ability to quickly recover afterwards without a full rope rest or extremely generous (i.e. no hands) rest on the wall. Still B.A.E posted:It sounds like part of the issue is just being nervous about leading, not even necessarily about falling, but just that you associate it with getting pumped and being miserable and flustered. If that's the case, I'd suggest knocking down the difficulty and just leading a ton of routes of say 5-6a until things like clipping start to come more naturally and you feel more comfortable above a bolt. I was thinking about this during the day and came to the same conclusion - especially since I feel noticably worse on lead now than I did a prior to my break. The wall I climb at has a real lack of nontrivial routes which I can lead comfortably, and my regular warmup routine already includes most of them - I don't particularly want to spend a whole evening climbing just 4 routes if I can help it. Like you said, I don't really feel nervous about falling but I associate lead climbing with getting pissed off and making stupid mistakes and climbing sloppily. I don't have an intuitive sense of when is a good time to clip early and when it's better to keep climbing, I've tried learning by observing but I think that trying to do poo poo that doesn't suit my level of fitness is actually part of what has caused this problem in the first place. Still B.A.E posted:As well as this, you should look into doing some form of specific endurance training if you really want to improve your sport climbing, whether that's building a base of fitness by doing aerobic capacity work (long periods, like 20-40 minutes at a time of continuous easy climbing, never getting above a very mild pump, although I appreciate that this is quite difficult to do if you don't have access to a circuit board and don't have that much room to lower the grade anyway). The gym I use the most has a bouldering wall + routes but nothing else, they are currently expanding their training facilities which should hopefully be done before Christmas so I'm kind of excited about that. Endurance seems to have become a problem for me - which I'm surprised about since I have only been increasing the amount of time I spend climbing. Most of my favourite routes on the climbing wall are on a shorter section of wall, not specifically because they're shorter but because the shape of the wall (overhanging start into a vertical second half) lends itself to routes that I find fun and interesting, the taller walls tend to be straight at the bottom and overhanging and/or inclined higher up. I guess this might have resulted in inadvertantly training specifically for shorter routes but I still spend the majority of my time on the long walls so it feels like a bit of a stretch. Chris! posted:6a+ lead / 6c toprope indoors isn't too bad after 7 months. And that really isn't that long - basically keep at it with the same frequency and you'll get better. I was pretty dispirited after the first 6-12 months of climbing, as my partner was just naturally better / stronger than me. As it happens, he stopped having time to climb shortly after that, and now 3 years on whenever we climb together I'm a good 4-5 grades higher than him. I've actually been climbing for coming up to 2 years now (bought my first pair of shoes in Jan '14 and started before then) but was doing so casually, max 1x per week until earlier this year when I decided to try to get better. I always have lots of fun but this is the first time when I feel like I'm having to choose between enjoying myself and improving and it sucks. Thanks for the replies everyone! I'm not as down on this whole thing as I probably sounded but it's been bothering me and I wanted to vent.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 16:44
|
|
|
RabidWeasel posted:To put it in more detail, the problem I have is this: I need to clip, while doing this I need to have one hand off of the wall for a while. Doing this usually makes my active hand and wrist feel like poo poo, even on relatively good holds, and on some routes I will be feeling weak and unable to grip properly after just a few clips. Sometimes I can position myself where this isn't a problem but I'm not good at being able to judge when this is possible. If I'm feeling totally hosed a short rope rest will always sort things out for the next clip or two but then I need to rest again. Not sure how much option you have, if possible maybe try working less overhanging routes? Very overhanging routes knock my grades down a fair way. Also concentrate on not over-gripping, keeping your arms straight and footwork - the arm holding you to the wall while you clip should be relaxed, you should be in a comfortable position with your feet solidly planted and taking as much of the weight as possible, and your hips angling the weight over your toes rather than hanging off your arm, and your arm should be straight and not over-gripping. Sorry if this is all obvious to you, just stuff to concentrate on to hopefully make clipping easier...
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 17:52
|
|
|
RabidWeasel posted:To put it in more detail, the problem I have is this: I need to clip, while doing this I need to have one hand off of the wall for a while. Doing this usually makes my active hand and wrist feel like poo poo, even on relatively good holds, and on some routes I will be feeling weak and unable to grip properly after just a few clips. Sometimes I can position myself where this isn't a problem but I'm not good at being able to judge when this is possible. If I'm feeling totally hosed a short rope rest will always sort things out for the next clip or two but then I need to rest again. By being unable to clip after a few clips, do you mean pumped? What you described with clipping, which is basically pure endurance, and the relatively large difference between your bouldering grade and sport grade seem to indicate an endurance issue. If you normally switch off every route with a partner then this isn't really surprising as endurance training requires being on the wall for 20+ minutes which pretty much doesn't happen unless you practice traverses a lot or explicitly set out to do so.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 18:44
|
|
|
asur posted:By being unable to clip after a few clips, do you mean pumped? What you described with clipping, which is basically pure endurance, and the relatively large difference between your bouldering grade and sport grade seem to indicate an endurance issue. If you normally switch off every route with a partner then this isn't really surprising as endurance training requires being on the wall for 20+ minutes which pretty much doesn't happen unless you practice traverses a lot or explicitly set out to do so. When I say I can't clip I mean I am so pumped that I can't hold myself on the wall while I clip so I have to rest and recover before making the next clip. I think I have pretty much figured out my problm at this point, I used to have much shorter rests between climbs when I was climbing with a friend who was about equal level as me since we would pretty much just top rope everything as fast as we could and usually went for quantity of climbs over quality, but he doesn't climb any more due to RL poo poo. I do feel noticably more out of breath after climbing a route than I used to even though the individual moves feel easier and I find myself wanting to stop for a breather more often. Last night was particularly bad as we were climbing as a group of 3 and and the other guys were working a difficult overhang route, I probably only got 2 climbs in the last 45 minutes which is part of the reason I came home feeling kind of pissed off. The wall is going to have a few auto belays set up soon, I will definitely give those a go (never climbed on auto belay before) and until then will make sure I set some time aside in the bouldering room for more traversing. Chris! posted:Not sure how much option you have, if possible maybe try working less overhanging routes? Very overhanging routes knock my grades down a fair way. Also concentrate on not over-gripping, keeping your arms straight and footwork - the arm holding you to the wall while you clip should be relaxed, you should be in a comfortable position with your feet solidly planted and taking as much of the weight as possible, and your hips angling the weight over your toes rather than hanging off your arm, and your arm should be straight and not over-gripping. Sorry if this is all obvious to you, just stuff to concentrate on to hopefully make clipping easier... Almost all of the routes at my gym have overhangs (only small ones on the grades I climb) and that's usually where I have issues with clipping for obvious reasons as you said. Other than that I don't really have noticable problems other than the fact that once I get pumped from a bad clip I spend the rest of the climb being sloppy. RabidWeasel fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Oct 21, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 19:39
|
|
|
RabidWeasel posted:Thoughts and thoughts and thoughts and thoughts.... Focus on what you're bad at until you're better at it (a one sentence summary of this book.) For you, this seems to be leading as much as possible. Alternatively, see the thread title of the general exercise thread: Yes, you are overthinking it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2015 21:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 22:44 |
|
|
Nifty posted:I rented a pad from the guys you linked to. It worked fine. Also I'll be at Red Rocks this weekend wooooo and This is the guidebook you want http://www.snellpress.com/snb/purchase-southern-nevada-bouldering-guide.html Just ordered, looks awesome 
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2015 00:26
|
|