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I was hoping there would be a climbing thread here! I have just started climbing with a friend, we have been to three 2-hour beginners classes, and been on our own once, and I'm really enjoying it. The only problem is, I considered myself reasonably strong and fit before I went, but my grip endurance is really letting me down. I can climb absolutely fine for a few climbs, 30-45 minutes or so, then it feels like I lose all grip strength and can barely hold myself on the wall let alone make big reaches etc. Is there any particular way to focus my progress on improving grip strength and endurance, beyond "climb more"? The climbing wall is around an hour away, which means I can only make it there once a week maximum, so I'd like to be doing relevant exercises during the week as well. Of course the other thing I guess would be to improve my technique, I'm probably using my hands far too much! The course we went on was all about tying in and belaying safely, didn't really go into climbing technique. I'm really loving climbing, and looking forward to trying some outdoor stuff when the weather is better!
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Dec 19, 2012 09:18
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Thanks for the reply! I’d love to climb more, but am limited to getting there only once a week due to work and my girlfriend etc. I have one of those gyro-powerball things somewhere, though I’ve not used it for years, would it be worth digging that out for wrist and forearm endurance? I have a hand gripper thing as you describe, but it was cheap and is very easy to close so I’m not sure if it’s actually any good for this type of training. Maybe I could up the reps I guess, or look for a better quality / more challenging one (or just have a go with a tennis ball). Anyone have any other recommendations for exercises I could do at home or in the gym to work on improving climbing endurance? I already lift weights a bit but have never focused on endurance. Would stuff like push-ups be more beneficial than dumbbell curls etc? Edit: Baldbeard posted:Almost everyone new to climbing experiences this. It's the fact that hanging off of the wall on big juggy holds that you find on the easier routes is mostly grip (forearm) strength. When your climbing, try not wrap your thumb around the hold unless you have to. Even though it's instinctual because it gives you a bit more power, it will wreck your grip strength pretty quickly. Either way though, as you climb more the weakness will come later and later into your sessions until it's not really an issue. Thanks for the great reply, I'm climbing as often as possible unfortunately! I guess pulls ups would be a great option for this, as well as deadhangs as you said. Maybe wrapping a towel around the pullup bar to stress grip more, and I will give heavy farmer walks a try as well. Chris! fucked around with this message at 11:22 on Dec 19, 2012 |
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Dec 19, 2012 11:19
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English climbers - I currently go to K2 in Crawley which is a great climbing wall but is about an hours drive for me, which means I don't get to go as often as I'd like. Can anyone recommend any good walls near Brighton or Eastbourne area, or even other good climbs around Sussex? (Even if they're further away, just for some variation). Brighton has a climbing wall but I've heard it's very small and not much good, we're still going to check it out at some point though. Also I need to buy some climbing shoes as I'm tired of renting every time I go - I don't really want to buy online without trying first, any recommendations for shops which sell climbing shoes? I'm actually going to London this Friday, where I imagine there has to be a few good climbing outlets... Chris! fucked around with this message at 17:54 on Feb 19, 2013 |
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Feb 19, 2013 17:51
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JustAnother Fat Guy posted:So I was starting to get back into the swing of trad, and had a nice E2 project (crack climbing which I am terrible at) going but unfortunately the UK got beset by a blizzard this weekend, so I went back and attacked it with ice axes and crampons and climbed it. That's awesome, where was this? I went sandstone climbing in Sussex yesterday and it was stop-start snowing all the way there and during the climb. Luckily the rock wasn't too bad so we climbed normally, my toes have never been quite so numb!
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Mar 25, 2013 08:35
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Dumbdog posted:Chris where abouts on the southern sandstone did you climb, Fandango wall? Ive climbed there in the rain quite a few times. Got to be so careful the rock is so fragile when its even slightly damp. No I climbed at Bowles yesterday! It was a good laugh, the rock was pretty much dry just really really cold. Having to kick snow off my shoes before going up! I've only ever climbed indoors and on sandstone, only been climbing a few months. Trying to arrange a weekend climbing in Dartmoor next month though, the rocks there look fantastic.
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Mar 25, 2013 17:03
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I fell from a low overhang today (indoor bouldering), it was a route I've done before I just pushed it a little at the end of a session. I instinctively put my hand underneath myself and managed to hurt my middle finger of my right hand. It bent back the wrong way, it's a finger which has tendon damage already so was pretty painful, I just strapped it to another finger with finger tape and have left it. It's quite sore still and a little swollen but not too bad, not broken or anything. I guess I should just be careful for a while and try and fall better in future?jiggerypokery posted:I just started a training blog if anyone is interested. This was a good read!
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Mar 30, 2013 14:55
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Stangg posted:I'm pretty sure people sticking out their arms when they fall is the biggest cause of indoor bouldering injuries, from what I've seen and amongst my friends it's usually when a beginner is not used to falling or is scared of falling from the route, how long have you been climbing? I normally tell them to progressively jump off from higher and higher to get used to the height, that way your body won't automatically panic when you slip off a route, and you can just control your fall properly. Thanks for the advice guys, I've only been climbing since November and mostly did top-roping until recently, not much bouldering. Lesson learned though, I won't be waving my arms as I fall again!
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Mar 30, 2013 17:43
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spwrozek posted:If you are on overhung routes where you could fall bad, maybe land on your neck you should really have a spotter. He could have tapped you under the pits and on your feet you land. The overhang was probably 2ft from the crash mat - I've attempted the problem a few times (and completed only once) and fallen a couple times previously, with no issues at all. I just fell in a stupid way this time (flailing my arms like a fool).
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Mar 30, 2013 18:47
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Spent the day climbing at Hound Tor in Dartmoor, England. I've mostly climbed indoors and a little bit of sandstone so this was amazing, my first time doing things like jamming. Hands hurt like hell but it was SO good!
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May 19, 2013 15:34
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YourCreation posted:Awesomeness! Shame about the weather recently. I was up at Dewerstone a few weeks ago and it was gorgeous. I take it your sandstone was at Harrison's or Bowles? We were so lucky with the weather, it was dry and not too hot, started to spit on the walk back to the car park. It was fantastic, I can't wait to get back! Yes it's Bowles I've climbed at previously, which was good fun as well but I much preferred the the granite at Dartmoor! I've heard good things about High Rocks in tonbridge wells as well.
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May 20, 2013 11:29
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Dumbdog posted:High Rocks is really good, probably the best southern sandstone but you have to pay to get it. Its £10 at the moment. A season pass is well worth getting. Please dont just jump the fence because access is very fragile. Definitely hoping to go when I'm a bit better. The highest I can boulder indoors is 6a currently (and that's only a couple of routes at that grade) - it seems like things scale up pretty drastically when you're outdoors though! Also I have a ridiculous negative ape index, meaning my arm span is about 5'3". It's not noticeable until I'm climbing with my mate who's the same height as me, 5'7", and he can reach holds that are impossible for me from the same position. We did a measure up and it turns out I've got little dickhead T-Rex arms. Still, at least I can park in disabled bays now. (Not legally, but I feel morally justified).
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May 20, 2013 16:36
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I climb at Boulder Brighton, a climbing gym in Sussex which only opened about 3 months ago. The guy who signed me up and showed me around on my very first day there was Jack, a really enthusiastic, friendly and talented climber. He helped me and my friends out a lot with technique and stuff, he was such a great guy. I just found out that he died at the weekend climbing in Wales. I didn't know him that well but feel really bad for his friends and family, he was only 23. Be careful out there people.
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Jun 18, 2013 14:22
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Dumbdog posted:Finally on summer holiday for the year and super psyched because im gonna go climb in Parisella's cave AKA the Cave of Justice for the first time. Not somewhere Id imagine non UK Goons will have heard of but its a pretty legendary place for hard UK bouldering. Anyone spent any time there? Never been, I'm very jealous though!
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Jul 1, 2013 16:20
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There's the southern sandstone for some good bouldering in Kent - probably 45 mins or an hour or so from London (maybe a bit further, never done that journey myself as I come from the other direction). Look up Bowles rocks and Harrison's Rock, I've done Bowles and it's pretty great. For indoor bouldering there are tons of gyms in London but I don't know any specific ones myself, White Spider is meant to be good for top roping.
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Jul 14, 2013 18:41
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I fell trying to make the last hold on a steep incline last night, and jarred my neck when I fell. It was my first "proper" climb of the night as well, and a climb I've completed before without trouble - I drove myself to hospital as the back of my neck started to tingle and hurt on the drive home. Because of the height I fell from I was immediately put onto a stretcher and had my head strapped up with a brace and big foam things. Had my whole spine checked, including a sweet rectal examination, and was X-Rayed as well. The whole thing took about 5 hours, without being able to move my head an inch. My girlfriend drove down and read dumb jokes from the Internet to me. Thankfully there's no bone or nerve damage that they can see, just a pulled muscle in my neck. I'm basically walking around like a robot today, can't really twist my head. The Doctor didn't actually think it would take too long to heal - about a week. Don't know how long I'll have to take off from climbing. Stupid inclines.
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Jul 17, 2013 16:22
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:I have terrible luck with my neck as well, sorry to hear you got got. You were bouldering I'm assuming? Otherwise it sounds like you got the worst catch in the world or were climbing on a static line or something crazy like that Yes, this was bouldering inside! Thankfully it wasn't outdoors. As it was on a steep incline and I really wasn't expecting to fall (as dumb as that sounds) I fell pretty awkwardly - rather than bending at the waist, my body fell parallel with the incline wall, so all the force went into snapping my neck forward. Lucky it wasn't worse. Neck feels like it's getting stiffer and more painful (especially at the end of the day), I guess that's normal though. Gutted that I can't get out and climb, hoping it heals fast.
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Jul 18, 2013 07:26
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Pander posted:Apologies if this question is stupid, but is the (apparently) greater risk of injury in bouldering worth taking vs sport/trad climbing? I mean, I guess this bundles a few assumptions and a few more questions into it too (ARE injuries more common during bouldering? What kind? Is it an experience issue or is it equally likely that anyone bouldering risks injury?), but it just seems anecdotally from reading this thread that bouldering carries a higher risk. For me the bouldering gym is 25 minutes away, the nearest roped climbing is an hour - the nearest outdoor climbing is about an hour as well, so it's purely how convenient it is to get there. Aside from that, if I go bouldering for an hour and a half I could potentially climb the whole time, whereas when I go roped up for the same amount of time, I'll spend 45 minutes belaying my partner. I think that minor bouldering injuries are probably more common than trad or sport climbing, but if you're sensible the risk isn't HUGE, especially indoors where you have thick crash pads beneath you. (Says the guy still icing his neck).
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Jul 18, 2013 16:24
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AriTheDog posted:
Me too, I thought I had adequately warmed up but it was extra cold on Sunday and I have hurt my shoulder  I was leaning back on it and went for a quite dynamic move which necessitated pulling myself fast across the wall - so going from leaning out on the shoulder with my arm in front, to pushing forward and ending up with that arm outstretched to the side - and I kind of felt it go "ping". It doesn't feel really bad or anything now, just has a soreness if I raise my arm above shoulder height, and I can feel a slight "grinding" when I do that - again, not agonising or very pronounced, so I don't think I've torn anything, but I'm really pissed off about having to have more time off
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Feb 18, 2014 09:20
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Thank you all for your replies and advice regarding my shoulder injury. I was going to book a doctors appointment, but the injury was on Sunday morning, it's has felt better each day and now (Wednesday evening) it feels perfectly fine - there's no grinding or soreness at all, through any range of motion. I'm thinking of just taking 2 weeks off and as long as there are no issues in that time, just taking it easy after that. Does that sound sensible?
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Feb 19, 2014 20:53
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pokchu posted:I've always found that plastic is more rough on my hands than real stone, but that could be either anecdotal, or simply because of the stone itself (beautiful southern sandstone.) When I climb outdoors it's mostly on southern sandstone at Bowles, which I find comparable to indoors. But when I go to Dartmoor and climb on granite, it tears me up! But it's so much more satisfying to climb...
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Feb 24, 2014 23:44
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ConspicuousEvil posted:On a lighter note, I'm going to Joe's in a couple of weeks. Anyone else got some good climbing trips planned? Good post! I did my first outdoor climbing of the year last week, with a 1-night camping trip to the Peak District (in England). I just did bouldering but holy crap it's a great location! I'd never been before but will be going again ASAP. And at the start of May a big group of us are going to Dartmoor for a climbing weekend, which will be mostly top-roping as I've still got to learn to lead/trad climb! Though there's a new gym opening in Brighton this week, called High Sports, where I'm going to get some more indoor experience at that.
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Mar 4, 2014 08:25
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Dumbdog posted:Where abouts did you go? So much good climbing in the peak even if I have to admit im not the biggest fan of gritstone. Did the Edale Round - hiked up to Ringing Roger then walked round, past Nether Tor etc... Basically everywhere you turn is incredible rock! It's about 4.5 hrs drive from where I live but was completely worth it.
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Mar 4, 2014 23:18
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Intergortion posted:I fell about 5m and hit a rock through my pad. RIP my ankle. Ouch, that sucks. Is it bad...?
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Mar 10, 2014 22:23
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Endjinneer posted:While you're there and waiting for other people to climb, borrow whatever gear isn't in use and have a scamper around trying to place it. Thanks for the suggestion! That's a great idea and I'll give it a go. Had a great indoor climbing followed by outdoor bouldering session today, and my friend and I are considering just buying 40m or so of rope and slings, and going ahead and having a go at setting up top ropes ourselves at the southern sandstone - how hard can it be? - and also having a go at leading indoors later in the week. Had to take too long off from climbing due to injury this summer, and it feels great to be able to climb enthusiastically again.
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Mar 16, 2014 22:38
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Sigmund Fraud posted:Just be sure to know what you're doing. I've seen twice people setting up incorrect anchors. In one case the rope was threaded along and through a sling, causing the sling to almost burn off before I got them to stop. The second case had two ropes in parallel through an anchor, melting the second rope when repelling off the first. Thanks for the advice! My friend has done a course on how to set up, but it was quite a while ago so I guess we should do another one so I can be confident that everything's solid. Rope's annoyingly expensive but I suppose it does save your life...! I'll look at getting 60m or so for my first rope then. Thanks again.
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Mar 18, 2014 08:32
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I lead climbed indoors for the first time today. I usually top rope at around 6b / 6c, but leading kicked my arse - did some 5+'s which seemed like 6's, and ended on a 6a which I couldn't complete - there was an overhanging section which I kept falling off of, and ended by trying a big dyno - it was a good way to get rid of any fear about leading. Indoors at least, no idea how you'd do it outside, having to reliably place gear and all, but I want to give that a try next!
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May 9, 2014 23:21
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spwrozek posted:Cool show motion video from last weekend. What a great video! Patrovsky, the more frequently you climb the less sore you will get! Having said that, I've started climbing outside on a weekly basis, rather than just in gyms, and it's like starting again in terms of how much it hurts my body.. Chris! fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Jun 14, 2014 |
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Jun 14, 2014 08:53
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Hooplah posted:Climbed outdoors for the first time ever yesterday! I've been top roping and bouldering on and off at Vertical Endeavors Minneapolis for about a year now (picked up a yearly membership during the hour sale back in Feb, been climbing there quite regularly since then), and I've obviously been itching to try some real rock. Got out to Barn Bluff in Red Wing and wow, that was a lot of fun. Was also my first time trying lead. Sounds great! I've started climbing outdoors a ton lately, unfortunately due to the rock around here there's no outdoor leading available, only top roping (southern English sandstone is too soft for that). I spent the day driving around different sites here and had a great day, climbing outside is so much harder than indoors, but so much more satisfying.
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Jun 14, 2014 23:41
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My regular shoes are UK size 8, but climbing shoes are size 7 - and that's really tight on me, without being really painful for long periods of time. Really they should be nice and tight, so you can feel and cling to the rock, and probably a bit uncomfortable / slightly painful at first - but they shouldn't be agonising.
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Jun 15, 2014 19:13
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jackchaos posted:Heads up mountain project app is now free. This looks pretty good, is it just for the US or does it show crags elsewhere (Europe, South East Asia etc)?
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Jun 19, 2014 10:07
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guppy posted:It's on the to-do list. Some friends invited me to the Red earlier this year but I couldn't go. My gym is running a two-day trip to Coopers Rock later this year and I intend to go on it. In the meantime, flawed though they are, gym grades are the best benchmark available to me for my performance. Gym grades are a great benchmark of your personal improvement! I only climbed inside for the first year or so and got way better. All people mean is that the grade you climb indoors won't translate exactly to your outdoor grade, like I can climb 6c uk indoor but struggle with 5c's outdoor. But the more you climb anywhere the better you'll become! Outdoors is much more fun though, and I'm improving much more now I'm taking the extra time to climb outdoors.
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Jul 9, 2014 07:39
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I also have smelly climbing shoes unfortunately. I was lazy for the first ~6 months with them, and didn't do anything to stop them smelling - basically left them inside a bag between climbing sessions, never aired them. They started smelling really bad, I bought boot-bananas and have used them for probably about a year, but they never made much difference. I now have them airing between climbs, and I spray them with anti-bacterial spray etc, but honestly they loving reek still. I don't have smelly feet generally, and I'm not an especially sweaty person
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Jul 18, 2014 20:42
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brakeless posted:Two week bouldering holiday in Finland. Looks like you had a great time! I'm going to Vietnam for 3.5 weeks from this Thursday, and want to climb while I'm out there. It's not a climbing holiday, so I won't be bringing gear with me and will only get a chance for 2-3 days climbing. Anyone know any good climbing spots in North Vietnam (or elsewhere in the country)? Will be checking out ha long bay and cat ba island for climbing for sure.
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Jul 19, 2014 16:34
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brakeless posted:Take pics, please? I'll try! Thailand is apparently far better for climbing, but I'm not going to get a chance to go there on this trip. I've heard mixed reports about the climbing in Vietnam, but hopefully I'll find something fun for a day or 2! I spent months backpacking around Morocco a few years ago, but wasn't into climbing at that point. Turns out I visited some amazing climbing locations without knowing it, if only I had started this hobby a bit earlier.
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Jul 19, 2014 17:39
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I've got the travel bug something fierce now but my next 10 months are going to be filled to the brim with studying so I'm going to have to live vicariously through others.
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88h88 posted:I'm predominantly a boulderer even though I've been slacking at that. I've been rope climbing a few times but not for years. I recently went and had another introduction as I'd forgotten how to tie my rope and such. In a reverse of this situation, I used to just boulder all the time, but since April haven't bouldered at all, but have been climbing loads with ropes, both in the gym and loads outdoors in England and abroad. I thought that this would have made improvements in my bouldering, but I went bouldering again on Tuesday night and loving sucked! When I last went I was around font 6b, but I didn't complete any 6's and struggled on some 5a's and 5b's!
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Aug 28, 2014 13:16
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tynam posted:Roped climbing teaches you to be as efficient with your moves and as static as possible. Bouldering is pretty much the opposite, since you're usually fighting just to stay on the boulder. When I boulder, I always feel like I'm using 100% of everything I have, whereas when I'm roped in, I'm usually at 50~75% until I hit a rough stretch/crux. Yeah, when I had been primarily bouldering for a long time, and suddenly changed to ropes, I struggled with my endurance for a while. Now my endurance has gone up loads on ropes routes, I sort of thought I'd see big improvements going back to bouldering - was a bit shocked to see I've lost power! Will have to try and mix things up more often, and try and achieve a mix of both skills...
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Aug 28, 2014 21:37
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Well I've been climbing outside every Sunday over the summer but it's now too wet to climb on my local southern sandstone, so I guess that's me done with outdoor climbing this year unless the weather dramatically improves But I will be heading to the gym later today and will be MASTERING LEAD CLIMBING (inside) this winter! Instead of just flopping off the wall half way up like I usually do. I climbed a bunch in Vietnam and Cambodia this summer as well, which was absolutely incredible (I'd not climbed overseas before and limestone has ruined climbing on sandstone for me), I will upload some pictures when I get time.
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Oct 5, 2014 08:34
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At my gym, if you want to top rope you use the pre-set gym rope, but if you're on lead you bring your own rope.
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Nov 15, 2014 11:42
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big scary monsters posted:Man I suck at climbing and am super weak at the moment. Went bouldering indoors yesterday and I hurt so much today. Dartmoor's fantastic for climbing! I'm taking a week holiday there in April for it. Haven't climbed in Bristol, but spoke about it with my cousin just a couple of weeks ago - he used to climb a lot and said there's at least 4 climbing gyms, he boulders specifically. Not sure where though, sorry. Otherwise, you're not too far from Wales for the odd big day out...
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Jan 9, 2015 17:31
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big scary monsters posted:Yeah, I've been to a couple of the bouldering venues, Bloc is pretty good and The Climbing Academy is alright although not as good as the one in Glasgow. I'm a big fan of Dartmoor, the granite there is where I first cut my teeth (and hands) climbing. Ahh yeah for outdoors you've a bit less choice. Same situation here - I'm about 45 minutes away from the nearest crag, and it's the Southern Sandstone so only available when it's not been raining (so about 4 months a year, and it's not great even then). I can sympathize!
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Jan 9, 2015 17:52
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