Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Zephro
Nov 23, 2000

I suppose I could part with one and still be feared...
Perfect, thank you.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

armorer
Aug 6, 2012

I like metal.
Anyone familiar with outdoor climbing areas in the DC metro area? Ideally to the west in northern VA?

I'm going to take my 10 year old niece out to climb some real rocks. Doesn't need to be big but needs to have stuff in the 5.5 to 5.8 range. Trad, sport, or TR from whatever set up are fine.

Bud Manstrong
Dec 11, 2003

The Curse of the Flying Criosphinx

armorer posted:

Anyone familiar with outdoor climbing areas in the DC metro area? Ideally to the west in northern VA?

I'm going to take my 10 year old niece out to climb some real rocks. Doesn't need to be big but needs to have stuff in the 5.5 to 5.8 range. Trad, sport, or TR from whatever set up are fine.

Carderock seems perfect for that.

armorer
Aug 6, 2012

I like metal.

Bud Manstrong posted:

Carderock seems perfect for that.

Yeah, that looks really good, thanks!

Jester Mcgee
Mar 28, 2010

A lot of things have happened to me over my life.

I’m going sport climbing for the first time ever in a couple weeks. Can I, realistically, make enough progress on endurance in those two weeks to be able to climb hard instead of hanging at every bolt? And if so how?

My climbing experience consists of bouldering for 2-3 hours 3-4 times a week for the last 4 months or so (if that’s relevant at all I have no idea).

asur
Dec 28, 2012

armorer posted:

Anyone familiar with outdoor climbing areas in the DC metro area? Ideally to the west in northern VA?

I'm going to take my 10 year old niece out to climb some real rocks. Doesn't need to be big but needs to have stuff in the 5.5 to 5.8 range. Trad, sport, or TR from whatever set up are fine.

I'm a fan of Elizabeth Furnace as it's pretty much the only sport in the area with climbs from 5.6 - 5.10 though it's a bit of a trek if you're not west of DC. Great Falls is on the other side of the river from Carderock and dependent on where you live may be way faster to get to than Carderock. Like Carderock it's pretty much all TR with some trad thrown in that very few people do. It's more spreadout and less crowded with a longer approach.

@Jester: Yes, either go climb sport for 2 weeks in the gym or do 4x4s bouldering.

armorer
Aug 6, 2012

I like metal.

asur posted:

I'm a fan of Elizabeth Furnace as it's pretty much the only sport in the area with climbs from 5.6 - 5.10 though it's a bit of a trek if you're not west of DC. Great Falls is on the other side of the river from Carderock and dependent on where you live may be way faster to get to than Carderock. Like Carderock it's pretty much all TR with some trad thrown in that very few people do. It's more spreadout and less crowded with a longer approach.


Cool thanks, I'll check these out as well.

ShaneB
Oct 22, 2002


Jester Mcgee posted:

I’m going sport climbing for the first time ever in a couple weeks. Can I, realistically, make enough progress on endurance in those two weeks to be able to climb hard instead of hanging at every bolt? And if so how?

My climbing experience consists of bouldering for 2-3 hours 3-4 times a week for the last 4 months or so (if that’s relevant at all I have no idea).

Do you currently hang at every bolt in the gym? Outdoor climbing is a bit more challenging but it's not like it's going to turn your muscles into goo. Are you going to try to hit stuff at a higher grade than you do in the gym?

Are you leading sport, or going to top rope after someone else leads it? Do you lead in the gym now?

rest his guts
Mar 3, 2013

...pls father forgive me
for my terrible post history...
Sounds like he doesn't rope climb. I don't really either, but if I were you I'd change my sessions in the gym to limit bouldering to keep up my power (if I am trying to climb anything harder than 5.10, which, despite what you can boulder, will be challenging without good endurance) then throw in some 4x4s and potentially some 20-50 move circuits on the system wall to cap it off.

So, basically your sessions would be:
warm up (light traversing/easy bouldering) ~10 min
work up to your max grade/problems that aren't at your max grade but you know you probably can't send (so poo poo you suck at) and do 20-30 attempts at that max grade. This should easily eat up an hour with proper rest.
-3-4x 4x4. If I were a V5 climber, I'd do something like V3, V2, V4 (in a style I'm good at), V3 probably. I think this style of workout is best on an overhanging wall since you're basically just trying to blow yourself out. I'd probably rest around 3-5 minutes between sets.
-end with circuits, 20+ moves. Big rest between sets, like 5-10 minutes if possible. You're either trying to simulate what an actual redpoint go would be like or you're just grinding out moves at a submaximal intensity just to fry your arms and fingers. If I'm going for the latter, I'd go for more moves (30+). If I am trying to 'redpoint' I'd probably go for 20-30.

non-climbing related, but a lot of rope climbers swear by running for general endurance. Idk how much progress could be made in two weeks, but I always feel really good after even a few sessions of cardio, which may or may not be placebo.

rest his guts fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Jun 26, 2019

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

You get rope endurance by climbing ropes

Jester Mcgee
Mar 28, 2010

A lot of things have happened to me over my life.

Yea I’ve never climbed ropes before other than a few goes on the auto belay when I first signed up at my gym. I already run, so that’s good, and I’ve probably gotten all of the climbing benefit I ever will from that. So, I’ll either try to snag one of the other boulder peeps to try to do some top roping with or I’ll do 4x4s. Thanks for the advice everyone!

rest his guts
Mar 3, 2013

...pls father forgive me
for my terrible post history...

spwrozek posted:

You get rope endurance by climbing ropes

That's just patently false. Obviously it's preferable, but think for five seconds about what your local gym is like. It's highly inefficient to train rope climbing in a gym and much easier to circuit and boulder. There are plenty of 5.14+ climbers who only rope climb outside.

That said, he could just climb himself into shape once he goes outside. I really don't know what kind of shape is possible in two weeks, I just know that I'd specifically go after endurance and limit bouldering to maintain my power.

interrodactyl posted:

You do get rid of lead head by climbing ropes and falling though. Also depending on when you go to the gym, ARCing or 4x4s are really impractical depending on how crowded your gym is.

Yeah no doubt. I climb in extremely high traffic bouldering gyms and the system wall and tboard are reliably open. I've also found that there's generally, depending on the size of your gym, an area of the gym that is always less occupied. If I have three hours, I'm not spending 1.5 of them belaying someone else or worrying about hogging the autobelay. I'm especially not going to autobelay unless the gym has a high wall, which seems rare in Washington at least (unless you want to fight the crowds at Vertical World and constantly be climbing above or below someone)

rest his guts fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Jun 26, 2019

interrodactyl
Nov 8, 2011

you have no dignity
You do get rid of lead head by climbing ropes and falling though. Also depending on when you go to the gym, ARCing or 4x4s are really impractical depending on how crowded your gym is.

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

Ok I should clarify. I don't train, I just climb, training discussion is awful.

If you never climb ropes and are going sport climbing. You probably want to climb ropes to practice clipping, get a lead head, and plenty of endurance for your first time on ropes.

What do you think 4x4's are going to do for (assuming) 5.10 climber...

rest his guts
Mar 3, 2013

...pls father forgive me
for my terrible post history...

spwrozek posted:

Ok I should clarify. I don't train, I just climb, training discussion is awful.

If you never climb ropes and are going sport climbing. You probably want to climb ropes to practice clipping, get a lead head, and plenty of endurance for your first time on ropes.

What do you think 4x4's are going to do for (assuming) 5.10 climber...

Limit bouldering, 4x4s and circuiting are just climbing, friend. No one's telling him to train. The reason I suggested a 4x4 is because you're at least somewhat simulating the pump you're going to experience on the wall, and you'll be forced to do crux moves while tired.

Ubiquitus
Nov 20, 2011

rest his guts posted:

Sounds like he doesn't rope climb. I don't really either, but if I were you I'd change my sessions in the gym to limit bouldering to keep up my power (if I am trying to climb anything harder than 5.10, which, despite what you can boulder, will be challenging without good endurance) then throw in some 4x4s and potentially some 20-50 move circuits on the system wall to cap it off.

So, basically your sessions would be:
warm up (light traversing/easy bouldering) ~10 min
work up to your max grade/problems that aren't at your max grade but you know you probably can't send (so poo poo you suck at) and do 20-30 attempts at that max grade. This should easily eat up an hour with proper rest.
-3-4x 4x4. If I were a V5 climber, I'd do something like V3, V2, V4 (in a style I'm good at), V3 probably. I think this style of workout is best on an overhanging wall since you're basically just trying to blow yourself out. I'd probably rest around 3-5 minutes between sets.
-end with circuits, 20+ moves. Big rest between sets, like 5-10 minutes if possible. You're either trying to simulate what an actual redpoint go would be like or you're just grinding out moves at a submaximal intensity just to fry your arms and fingers. If I'm going for the latter, I'd go for more moves (30+). If I am trying to 'redpoint' I'd probably go for 20-30.

non-climbing related, but a lot of rope climbers swear by running for general endurance. Idk how much progress could be made in two weeks, but I always feel really good after even a few sessions of cardio, which may or may not be placebo.

If someone had a lot of skill in leading/rope climbing, maybe this would make sense.

That person should rope climb, so they're not completely unprepared.

rest his guts
Mar 3, 2013

...pls father forgive me
for my terrible post history...

Ubiquitus posted:

If someone had a lot of skill in leading/rope climbing, maybe this would make sense.

That person should rope climb, so they're not completely unprepared.

That's a very good point. As someone who is afraid of the ropes, I suppose my bent is to avoid them at all costs.

Sharks Eat Bear
Dec 25, 2004

Jester Mcgee posted:

I’m going sport climbing for the first time ever in a couple weeks. Can I, realistically, make enough progress on endurance in those two weeks to be able to climb hard instead of hanging at every bolt?

No. Just focus on having fun, staying safe and learning as much as you can. If you have the chance to rope climb indoors in the next 2 weeks go for it, especially if you're planning to lead outdoors and can get some gym practice first.

LostCosmonaut
Feb 15, 2014

Got my first V3 today :toot:

Nearly got a second on a fairly juggy overhanging route, but ran out of energy. Should be able to get it by this weekend.

Endjinneer
Aug 17, 2005
Fallen Rib

Sharks Eat Bear posted:

No. Just focus on having fun, staying safe and learning as much as you can. If you have the chance to rope climb indoors in the next 2 weeks go for it, especially if you're planning to lead outdoors and can get some gym practice first.

Seconding this. Go with low expectations and return pleased with your achievements. You'll be back again.

Sab669
Sep 24, 2009

LostCosmonaut posted:

Got my first V3 today :toot:

Nearly got a second on a fairly juggy overhanging route, but ran out of energy. Should be able to get it by this weekend.

Nice!

I got my first V4 (not that video) and a new V3 tonight, so I'm pretty pumped. One of the dudes I regularly climb with has said my footwork looks a lot better, so I guess the Masterclass videos helped :)

Hopefully got my first outdoor bouldering session next Friday, assuming weather cooperates. Any advice for a First Outdoor Experience?

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Sab669 posted:

Hopefully got my first outdoor bouldering session next Friday, assuming weather cooperates. Any advice for a First Outdoor Experience?
Mostly rope gym climber here that has only gone outdoors...twice. I think I saw posts about it earlier, but to reiterate, remember that gym grades won't necessarily map to anything like the outdoor grades. So just take it easy to start and get a feel for what you're getting into.

And as far as basic climbing goes, be patient and just keep looking and feeling around for features to grab/stand on. It's like simultaneously having infinite options yet only so many that'll actually be usable. Gym climbing is so obvious in comparison :downs:

Sab669
Sep 24, 2009

Yea I'm kind of expecting to Not be able to complete anything honestly.

meowmeowmeowmeow
Jan 4, 2017
Thread has moved on a bit but I learned to climb at a gym that didn't grade routes at all and I think I'm a better climber for it. Taught me a lot about reading routes from the ground and trying moves to figure out how stuff feels. Spent a lot of time trying moves on things way over my head in a way I don't think I would have in a graded gym..

Jester Mcgee
Mar 28, 2010

A lot of things have happened to me over my life.

Sab669 posted:

Nice!

I got my first V4 (not that video) and a new V3 tonight, so I'm pretty pumped. One of the dudes I regularly climb with has said my footwork looks a lot better, so I guess the Masterclass videos helped :)

Hopefully got my first outdoor bouldering session next Friday, assuming weather cooperates. Any advice for a First Outdoor Experience?

I don't know if your gym has topouts, but mine doesn't, and so the first time I went bouldering outside I was super afraid of all of the topouts. Unfortunately, I'm very inexperienced, so I don't have any real advice other than try to stay cool.

Sab669
Sep 24, 2009

Topout being when you actually climb over the wall? No; but it has plenty of problems where the top of the wall is the final hold, and those are often super sketchy feeling.

And meowmeowmeowmeow - yea I like going on Problem Reset day because they don't grade the stuff immediately so it's fun to try all different problems and then a few days later go, "Oh that's a V6 - no wonder I couldn't do poo poo on it"

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

Climbing on top of the Boulder is often difficult. Feel free to beach whale.

armorer
Aug 6, 2012

I like metal.

spwrozek posted:

Climbing on top of the Boulder is often difficult. Feel free to beach whale.

Beached Whale you say?

https://rockandice.com/videos/weekend-whippers/weekend-whipper-beached-whale-top-out-gone-wrong/

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

Lol, but don't do that

Niyqor
Dec 1, 2003

Paid for by the meat council of America

meowmeowmeowmeow posted:

Thread has moved on a bit but I learned to climb at a gym that didn't grade routes at all and I think I'm a better climber for it. Taught me a lot about reading routes from the ground and trying moves to figure out how stuff feels. Spent a lot of time trying moves on things way over my head in a way I don't think I would have in a graded gym..

Every once in a while the gyms around here have a competition where the routes aren't graded but the approximate order of difficulty is known. Those routes or boulder problems tend to stay ungraded for a while. I enjoy it.

Most recently, that resulted in me working a 13b. I probably would not have done that otherwise. I'm unsure if I'll be able to send the route before it gets taken down but it has been nice trying it out.

Macnult
Jul 7, 2013

Is speed climbing discussion cool and good in here? It's nothing like regular climbing, however my gym is opening up their SC section for First Monday like they do every month and I'm trying to find an online resource to map out a route. Worst case scenario I'll just get a video of myself climbing (poorly) on Monday and figure things out from there, but since it's a once a month thing for now I'd like to have a leg up beforehand.

M. Night Skymall
Mar 22, 2012

Macnult posted:

Is speed climbing discussion cool and good in here? It's nothing like regular climbing, however my gym is opening up their SC section for First Monday like they do every month and I'm trying to find an online resource to map out a route. Worst case scenario I'll just get a video of myself climbing (poorly) on Monday and figure things out from there, but since it's a once a month thing for now I'd like to have a leg up beforehand.

I doubt anyone in here does it, but almost every pro is training speed now because of the format for the olympics, so you can troll instagram and see lots of videos of people training for it. Or just watch a national cup, or I think there's like a worlds for speed maybe.

Mons Hubris
Aug 29, 2004

fanci flup :)


Topping out and finding a way to come down is definitely the worst part of outdoor bouldering to me. Something like Plumber’s Crack at Red Rocks looks fun to climb but I don’t think I’d ever do it because I would be terrified to try to downclimb while maintaining tension over a narrowing crevice of rock.

rest his guts
Mar 3, 2013

...pls father forgive me
for my terrible post history...
Any sort of wedge-crack is terrifying to me, too. I did the one on the backside of Stem Gem in Joshua Tree and it turned into 20+ minutes of some random dude trying to calm me down as I was hyper-ventilating and very vocally worrying that I was going to fall down the gully, scrape my face off and get stuck. I literally refused to move out of the first wedge after climbing into it.

Topping out is definitely a unique skill-set, but I think the difficulty is a bit overblown. Sure it's scary, but it's pretty easy to execute a good top-out if you just commit to the mantle/high-heel/whatever it's requiring you to do.

First time out chat: just buy whoever is guiding you a beer and offer gas money. If you're spotting for the first time, remember that you're primarily there to guide them onto the mat when they fall and to make sure their head doesn't smash into something. You're not catching, just pushing. Also, if the landing is sketchy (uneven, jagged or slim) I'd make sure at least one of you knows what you're doing as pad-placement isn't always the most intuitive thing in the world. My first time out I remember being really sketched at how little of the ground around me was padded and how uneven everything was.

Also, etiquette. If there are other people around, ask to join them before stepping all over their pads and poo poo. Also, never touch the rock with unchalked hands; you're just making it slick and likely pissing someone off. Also, don't just show up in your approach/tennis shoes and hop onto a boulder - you're tracking mud and debris and making the climb harder. Finally, take off your climbing shoes between attempts and try not to step off the pad with them for the similar reasons. Since you often have to trek through poo poo on the downclimb, having a towel or some sort of 'welcome mat' to scrub your shoes on helps. Alternatively, just wipe your shoes on your own crash pad (but no one elses, it's rude). Since you're relatively new, I'd probably just leave the brushing and prep work to the person you're going out with.

rest his guts fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Jun 28, 2019

rest his guts
Mar 3, 2013

...pls father forgive me
for my terrible post history...
Oh, last thing. When it comes to bouldering outside, I've found that highballs are often softer than other problems at the same grade. The challenge is a lot more mental, so if you're feeling up for it just do it! Nothing will improve your headgame more quickly.

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

So what about people who don't climb with chalk?

Also your friends should be fine with cleaning your shoes on their pad.....

rest his guts
Mar 3, 2013

...pls father forgive me
for my terrible post history...
For sure his friend should be, but another person might not be. It’s basic courtesy to just use your own if you’ve got one.

I don’t know anyone who climbs without chalk. Limited chalk, sure.And the chalk thing is sort of contextual anyways - no one will care what you do on a warmup, but if you join another group at a problem and start sweating all over because you’re not chalking it’s just sort of rude. Some of us have terrible skin already, doubly so unchalked.

Macnult
Jul 7, 2013

M. Night Skymall posted:

I doubt anyone in here does it, but almost every pro is training speed now because of the format for the olympics, so you can troll instagram and see lots of videos of people training for it. Or just watch a national cup, or I think there's like a worlds for speed maybe.

That’s what I figured. I feel like regardless of what I read up on what I really need to do is just keep climbing it

spwrozek posted:

So what about people who don't climb with chalk?

A friend of mine climbs without chalk, claiming he “trained” himself to not need it. Dude can do V6/V7s without issue and his hands don’t sweat. More power to him I guess

japtor
Oct 28, 2005
I kinda did that at my gym once, minus the tree. I think my hands were just flat trying to get any traction while trying to step up over the edge, foot slipped, panicked, and desperately pawed at the surface as I slid completely off.

I gave up on that problem for the day, but eventually got it later.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Sab669
Sep 24, 2009

I suppose this might be impossible to give a hard 'yes/no' answer to, but if it rains the day before my outdoor climbing trip should I just cancel it? Weather is calling for rain Thursday night (I'm hoping to go Friday morning) :ohdear:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply