For your viewing pleasure

As always I like to keep abreast of climbing literature (aka waste time not doing work). Although I'm not climbing much I still get psyched watching videos and reading reports.  So I've put a few videos up that I think are worth a watch.  Some form parts of series, you can go and watch the other videos in the series by clicking the link.

First up are some climbing basics.  If you're in to anything that isn't single pitch then you may at some time need to abseil (rappel for out US visitors) using a full rope length. This means tying two ropes together. The following video demonstrates this nicely!

Rock Climbing Basics 12: Knots for Rappelling - from Wild Country, Red Chili and Climbing Magazine. from Wild Country on Vimeo.

The one thing I might mention, which I don't think is such a good idea, is tossing the whole rope in one go. I picked this little tip up from Mark Twight's book (Extreme Alpinism: Climbing Light, Fast, and High). Throw only half your rope and the feed the other half through your hand. Although this might seem slower, it will help with avoiding tangles etc.  There are some other very useful videos in this series such as how to extend your belay device when abseiling (helps with stopping your prussik back up sliding into belay and when cliping when arriving at the anchor) and clipping into the belay!  

Another series from wild country is with regard to training. James Pearson is doing a series on how to train at the climbing gym. There are currently only two videos out but they are good and considering he's now climbing some pretty hard and big routes I'm happy to take his advice. I reckon there will be some more in the series to watch that space.

James Pearson - Stamina Training - Part 1 - Endurance training for routes of more than 30 moves... from Wild Country on Vimeo.

Next up is The Smiley's Project - Committed: Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. These pair are just awesome. They are trying to climb 50 of Classic climbs in North America. They are a married couple and it's really inspiring to watch. If you think so too, you can donate some money to their project and keep it going as they are doing off their own back and anyone who is willing to sponsor them!

This video is both awesome and scary all at the same time. I don't think I've seen such a loose pile of choss in all my life and I can honestly say that this climb will most likely never appear on tick list...what do you think?

Mt Alberta's Japanese Route from Mark Smiley on Vimeo.

They've got loads of other videos on their site so go check them out!

A few more training videos coming up. First off is Jan Hojer. This guy has made some quick ascents of hard problems and has a fair few f8a/+ flashes to his name.  I think he might like campussing a little... :-P

Jan Hojer Training from Jan Hojer on Vimeo.

This isn't a how to video just to give some perspective  We all think we know how to train or that we are training as hard as we can but are we really? Not to say that you're not of course, but videos like this always make me question am I training as hard as I can or is it as effective as it could be...who knows!

Galina Parfenov is next with this a video that is somewhere in between a how to and just showing what she does.  I think it's going to part of a series (I've noticed there is a preview up for part two on her youtube page) so check back to see what part 2 holds.

There are lots of videos popping up at the moment about various training ideas and methods. Youtube has some videos which have been put up by people doing sports science degrees on climbing drills for techniques which are good.  Basically there seems to be more information coming out about what people are doing and why. 

The final few videos up here are just ones that I think are cool and again, super inspiring! Not much more to be said!

Careless Torque from Outcrop Films on Vimeo.

I can't get the video for this one so just follow the link, click on on page 9 and you'll see it.  It's a video of Dave Macleod climbing his 8c+/9a Flight the feeling.  The route is an extension to Ring of Steal which goes at 8c. I love Dave's mentality. After climbing Ring of Steal the obvious thing to him was that he must be able to climb something harder, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to do the route, hence just bolt the head wall and do the harder direct finish.  

Hope you enjoy the videos and have an awesome weekend!

No climbing, no gym, no nothing!

As the title says I've not been up to much lately. Just working, working and working some more!

I did manage to get a session down at MCC last week, the first one in a long time, and I was pleasantly surprised.  I was probably climbing about the same grade (bouldering) as I was 6 months ago. Flashed most of the problems in the V2-V4 range and even manged to flash a few from from the V4-V6 problems.  It was a nice surprise and certainly not expected. One thing it highlights is that my training, probably more specifically my diet, really wasn't helping with my climbing, but I've spoken about that. As the weather is utter rubbish at the moment climbing really isn't on the cards, outdoor at least. I might head down to rockover this week and see what's what. Although my fingers might be weak(er) overall I feel  fair bit strong (or more stable at least) so it would be interesting to see. Might see if I can't get a routing session in at the weekend and check my stamina. I expect my route fitness is non existent!

The gym has been off the cards as I currently am without transport. The car is playing up (electrical fault of some description) and the bike I was using is out of action.  It wasn't my bike and I had it on long term lone from Andy, which I very much appreciate!! He's asked for it back so I've stopped using it and plan on giving it a full service so it's in tip top condition when he gets it back.  I'm waiting on some parts and tools to turn up and then I can get it done.

This left me with a minor dilemma; what do I do about transport? Well I've always had a bike since the ripe old rage of 11 when I had my first BMX.  There was a small part of me that wanted a BMX again but they are less than practical!

I've got an old mountain bike frame which would make a good starting point for a single speed cruiser, so that's what I plan on doing.  Once these tools turn up it can be stripped and the various parts that need adding/replacing can go on and it should be good to go!

This will be the bare minimum to get it road going but I plan to slowly build it up etc. I've added a page to blog which will detail the various stages and should hopefully serve as a guide to anyone who wants to do the same thing.

Bank Holiday Climbing and a few musings.

Over the bank Holiday myself and Hannah headed out (for the first time this year) to place some gear and do some Trad.  Nothing that difficult or scary on the cards, but trad always feels a little bit scary when the last time you placed gear was well over 6 months ago (checkout the post).

So with good weather promised and the desire to still tick the classic rock tick list the plan was to go and do Troutdale pinnacle. After a hefty few days in Bristol for a friends Stag Do, I didn't fancy getting up at the crack of dawn.

We had a leisurely start and arriving in Borrowdale about 11.30am we walked the short distance towards the crag.  It was obvious straight away the crag was busy. A few climbers walking in the other direction warned that there were 3 parties on the pinnacle and a number of others on all the other routes up to about E2; some of whom appeared to having an epic!

Armed with this knowledge, we headed back the way we came and towards Shepards Crag. I knew it would be mega busy so I suggested we headed to do Fool's Paradise at Gowder Crag, only another 10 minutes further on.  The guidebook said it was one of the best VS's in Borrowdale so why not.

Arriving at the bottom there was a party about 2/3 the way up so we stopped for a quick bite to eat and to rack up.  I felt pretty on edge. Not having lead anything for some time, I wasn't certain of success on this route. My average lead grade last year was only HS (despite me doing more climbs last year than any year previously) although I can't remember the last time I fluffed a VS.

Anyway, after a rather dank first pitch the climbing that followed was simply great. I could tell I hadn't been on the sharp end for a while but I really did enjoy it.  Having no real desire to climb the route, but just being happy to be climbing, seemed to have worked. I was happy above gear and wasn't fussed about falling off. I was always placing gear in a rested position and didn't get stressed and panic when the climbing was a challenge. Basically it was as climbing should be, challenging but not so scary that once you finish the thought of going again fills you with dread.

That's where I was last year. Putting myself under so much pressure to be out and climbing routes all in the name of being able to say I was good climber, or an E3 leader (or whatever), that I stopped having fun. It became a massive chore. I was constantly pushing myself and if I hadn't done something that pushed me beyond a certain level, as opposed to just pushing me, then the day had been a failure. This was in-spite of the fact that I might have lead some really good routes, or that I'd just been there to experience someone else's success!

So I feel like I've got some psyche back, not to start training again, but just to go out and have a good time.  I do want to start training again just not at the moment. With my PhD in overdrive (I'm trying to finish for September) then training just isn't going to fit in.  As I've said before I'm going to the gym at the moment and it's really helped my overall condition and alleviated many of the problems I had.  What I'd like to do is combine the both, I think it's something that will help me stay fresh and be able to train that much harder.

The other thing which going to the gym has really helped with is the mind muscle focus that is required when lifting weights, or more preciously bodybuilding.  I've been following a bodybuilding type program which focuses on a certain look rather than just being able to lift weights. The upshot of that is that you train your mind to activate the muscle group you are working. This means you can lift a very light weight and still see plenty of growth. The reason being is your muscle has no concept of weight, it just knows that it has to do work. As long as you're stressing the muscle it will adapt and grow. Also if, for instance you're training pecs, then there is no point lifting a heavy weight only for your shoulders to be doing the work!

'So what's that got to do with climbing?' I hear you ask. Well one of the aspects of my climbing which I know is rubbish is I over grip. I'll be climbing really easy stuff but I'm baring down on each and every hold as  if my life depended upon it. Through the training I've been doing I'm much more aware of how hard I'm squeezing my muscles and I can only see this having a positive effect on my climbing.

It's also helped me with my posture, especially while training. I was doing some fingerboarding and I noticed that my shoulders and elbows were all out of shape (I was rotating my elbows towards the centre line of my body) which puts huge amounts of pressure across the upper back and neck.

I was basically doing all the things that might cause you to have neck issues from fingerboarding, namely:

• Avoid extending you neck (i.e. looking upwards) - always did this when I got tired - keep looking forwarding.
• No shrugging 
• Keep your shoulders low and tight
• Do not flex you arms.

Basically I did all of these things in one form or another. 

The final point to take from these musing which I had is that I was actually reasonably strong prior to this prolonged break. I've checked out my old training diary for the finger boarding I was doing and I could fully lock off on two fingers (both hands) for over 7 seconds and repeat this for numerous sets.  So why was I so crap?

Well mainly poor technique and not being aware of how poor I was climbing. Focusing too much on JUST climbing and the idea that the reason I couldn't get up stuff was because I was weak.  The gym stuff has made me realise the importance of repetition and high volume sets to start a periodized training program.  It's one thing I've never done. I mean who wants to climb loads of easy routes, you want to be redpointing the hard stuff right? Wrong! You have to go and do loads of volume, stuff that doesn't completely box you, in order to learn how to move efficiently on rock and be relaxed.

So although I'm not going to be training for a while yet (I'm having to actively not because it's easy to go/not go to the gym but climbing is a little more involved and I need all my brain power for physics :-P), but when I do I really think that I can make lots more of what I've got. I mean if I was training like a mad man before and climbed a few E1s (but mainly VSs) and I haven't climbed for months but can still climb VS that really shows that my training and the routes I was climbing were rather disconnected. 

The only criteria I have for climbing at the moment is that the weather needs to be spot on otherwise I can't afford the time off.  If we should get some more decent weather then you'll see the odd occasional post.  If not then come September it'll be time to get serious (but have fun) again and I'll be posting more regularly.  E5 is still my goal but my main aim is just to have some bloody fun!!