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!! 

Must Try Harder...Back to The Training Board

So I've finally got round to writing an update. It's been a while as I've lost a little momentum with work so had to concentrate on that.  There have been some ups and downs recently but I'm certainly happier with my climbing in general, it's moving forward albeit at a rather slowed pace (again).

Kilnsey Crag in the morning light, check out that roof!

The last time I posted I'd been to the lakes and had a good weekend; ticking MGC being the highlight. A few weeks ago myself and Joe headed to Kilnsey. Unfortunately, in terms of climbing prospects at least,  I had been out the night before. Although I didn't have too much to drink I didn't get to bed until 3. Picking up Joe at 8 was a real struggle but I managed it, just about. Luckily Joe had been out the previous night so he wasn't feeling his best either.

Kilnsey is another limestone crag in Yorkshire and is appears less intimidating than Malham in scale. Although the huge roof at it's top looks pretty damn intimidating! It also breeds a different style of climbing. Malham (WHEY!!!!) is all about sidepulls and using the foot holds to figure out a sequence.  Kilnsey on the other hand has reasonable foot holds, fewer sidepulls but very powerful moves.  I though this would suit my style - how wrong can 1 man be? Well pretty damn wrong. After warming up (and fannying about going to use the toilet in the village)  we got on Open road (6c). Joe put the draws in and I tied in - that was about as sucessful as the day got! I don't very often get freaked out by climbing, I lack confidence in doing the moves, but not freaked out. This was one of those days - pulling on draws, shouting take, worrying about if my knot was safe - just about everything that I could possibly worry about.

Enter my mental strategies which I've spoken about.  It was OK because I was out, enjoying myself and climbing a certain grade isn't the aim of the game.  


We stripped the route and moved on. I decided I'd put the draws into Direct flight (7a+) and work this instead.  Clip sticking my way up the route (use a device to clip yourself and the rope into the bolts from the bolt below) I got to the anchors and felt a little better. I still didn't have the sequence dialled so I was going to keep top roping it. On my second go working the route I could barely get off the ground and despite being on a top rope felt pretty spooked out again.  I stripped the route and decided to call it a day.  Joe hadn't faired much better all day (too much meat and beer at a BBQ the day before) so we sacked it off and went to get some organic ice-cream. This was the best tick of the day!

I felt pretty dejected by it all but on reflection it was perhaps a likely outcome.  I hadn't climbed at the venue before and I was tired and hunger over.  This probably wouldn't have been such a problem had I not been climbing at what is extensible my current limit. I've also been pretty slack on the training front, not wanting to waste money on climbing indoors when it could be used to get outside! Excuses aside I still felt pretty down beat about my climbing.

Although I keep saying failure is the key to success, it should be because it's at my limit not because I'm tired and hungover. Keeping yourself accountable requires you to be objective about the reasons why we didn't succeed, not making up excuses for why we are allowed to fail!

That was most definitely the low point of the last few weeks. It can be hard to use failures as motivation to improve of keep pushing yourself. Why not just give up, that way we don't have to feel the hardship of not achieving. This attitude is short-sighted, giving up leads to long term unhappiness as we never truly realise (or even get close to) our full potential.  With a renewed focus to keep getting out on the real rock and varying the styles of climbing the last few weeks have been better.

A trip to North Wales with Joe and Jon for the weekend came next.  With some suspect looking weather we decided to head to Lower Pen Trywn (LPT as it's affectionately known).  While waiting for the tide to head out Jon bouldered at the Parisella's cave while me and Joe headed to Upper Pen Trywn to try Axel Attack (7a), With Joe almost getting the onsight.  I on the other hand could barely get off the ground.  I felt totally weak and drained so I left Joe to it and just belayed. Heading down to LPT we got on what was supposed to be a 2 star 6b Kaffe Fasset. After some scary climbing (grass holds are always cool!) I clipped the chains and lowered off.  Joe had a similar experience; concluding that this Kaffe Fasset was definitely monotone brown! Finishing off with under the board walk (6c) and top roping Face Race (7a+).  The climbing at LPT is different again and although I was initially under whelmed, I'm quite keen to go back.

Heading over to Llanberis the plan was to go bouldering.  We had our breakfast in the pass, parking up and cooking it just next to the roadside boulders is a pretty sweet way to start the day! The outcome of a few hours walking and all of about 4 problems is that I'm not very strong at the moment, anything above V4 feels pretty damn hard.  We sacked it off and headed over to the slate and get on gnat attack (E1 5b). This route is awesome and I can't recommend it enough! The description is


"A delicate line up the right hand edge of the slab. Climb carefully to a break then traverse rightwards to the first bolt. Thin moves (harder for the short) lead up to the second bolt, followed by an easier run-out to the top."

Gnat Attack, E1 5b, Bus Stop Quarry Gwynedd. The 3 red dots show the two bolts
and the lower off - it's a little run out (photo taken from Life at the End of a Rope Blog). 

I really enjoyed climbing it and felt pretty steady on it.  The two run out sections are easy but it could be easy to get spooked out and drop it. I didn't realise just how run out it was until I was lowering off, thanks Jon for pointing me at it! 

With work not going too well I had to ease off the climbing during the week and concentrate on work. I was pretty worried that this would really affect my climbing but a weekend in the lakes quelled that fear to some extent. Leading another E1 at Shepherd's Crag in the lakes. We headed up to Borrowdale for the jubilee weekend: myself, Hannah, Jen, Matt, Andy and Daz.  Due to lack of signal we met up with Andy, Daz and Matt on the Saturday.  

As my sister, Jen, had never been climbing before we started out at Shepherd's Crag on some easy angled slabs which I hadn't done before either on the Thursday. After she'd had a taste I had a go at Conclusion (E1 5b).  The lower section is the crux, after which the climbing eases to about HVS.  Hannah seconded the route clean with some interesting Bum Shuffle technique to get over the first roof.  

We headed up to the Napes to do needle ridge to give my sister an idea of what a full mountain day is like.  After being a apprehensive due to some narrow approach paths she cruised it, enjoying the exposure and making easy work of the climbing. The decent from the top of Napes crag, appropriately named Great Hell Gate, is rather interesting and my sister found it..well..less enjoyable than the climbing.  Once we got down we headed to Keswick for some Pub grub and well earned pint!

And that's about it.  With work busy at the moment I'm finding it hard to fit in training 3 times a week as well as going out, so I've prioritised getting out at least once a week to keep my hand in. This should, at the very least, keep me shape. The plan is to consolidate the grades of E1/HVS and 6c-7a.  Then once work eases off hit the training hard again.  With a trip to Ceuse on the horizon I'm super keen to get back to it, despite it meaning I have to spend more time indoors!

The last few weeks has also shown me that getting pissed and not enough sleep the night before you go climbing really doesn't help, so why do I do it?  Make a choice about what you really want and stick to it! After the couple of E1s I've lead this year, with some time in between them, I finally feel like I've broken the infamous E barrier.  Now climbing E5 doesn't seem like the insurmountable task it did before.  I still need to actually get on some; had a play on White Wall in the Peak but that's it.  Fingers crossed for some decent weather again! I want to get back on the training though because I'm not feeling as fit or as strong as I did after Spain it just making it part of my routine again - watch this space!

Using Your Head to Climb Harder (Part 1)

Climbing can be broken down into 3 main areas: Technical, Physical and Mental. Most climbers understand that in order to climb at their maximum, they have to train all 3 of these areas. Many climbers place an over importance on the technical and physical training, leaving the mental aspect to its own devices.

By not training the mental aspect of climbing, we are leaving ourselves open to the possibility of continually underachieving. By tackling this facet of climbing with the same determination and time we spend on training to get stronger, for example, we will see a very quick enhancement in our performance. It also allows us to make the most of the technical and physical abilities which we have. Hopefully the rest of this post will give a little insight into how we can start to improve our mental performance and ultimately improve our climbing.

10 Strategies for Improving Performance

As I've mentioned previously, many of these ideas discussed in this blog are not special to climbing. The following 10 strategies are a prime example of this. By using these not only in our climbing, but also in every day life we can start to become more successful.

1. Separation of Performance and Self Image

If a person perceives themselves with a certain self image (e.g. I'm a climber) and they place great importance on that role, then it can begin to have a negative impact on performance. By having this strong tie to a single role or belief, we can start to feel an overwhelming sense that we must perform perfectly every time in order to prove we are worth being in that role and ultimately our own self worth as a person.

An increase in a person’s performance is seen for processes orientated environment as opposed to outcome oriented. By separating self image and climbing performance we can begin to enjoy climbing irrelevant of the outcome. It also reduces the mental pressure and anxiety associated with climbing. This reduces the mental load, giving us more mental capacity to try new ideas or ways of climbing. This is an advantage as it can give us that small edge we may need to work out a crux sequence while climbing for example.

2. A Positive Environment

Each person has the ability to influence their surroundings. The type of influence we have on those surroundings is based upon our personality, mental attitude towards life and our previous life experiences. Those around you are affected by your thoughts and actions and vice versa. The fallout for climbing is that we should try to surround ourselves with buoyant and positive people, as opposed to those with a cynical and negative attitude, or climb alone. Climbing with people who have a downbeat attitude will have negative implications for our climbing, even if we realise it or not. If pushing the envelope of your climbing success is your main goal, take maximum advantage of the collaboration which can be gained by having creative, motivated and positive people around you.

3. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

In order to improve, our goals must exceed our current ability. We must also be willing to push ourselves to new heights of achievement to meet our goals. With-in the climbing framework, this requires us to push past the physical and mental pain we might be in; we must continually confront our fears and continue attempting what may seem impossible given the current situation or set of circumstances. This will cause our perceptions to continually evolve and the impossible will become possibly.

4. Take a Proactive Role in Risk Management

Climbing is inherently risky, this one of the reasons many of us climb. In order to push our grade it will require us to take on more risk. These risks can come from the obvious physical danger, taking a ground fall for example, or the less obvious mental risks such as failure, criticism or embarrassment.

To overcome these risks we must objectively assess the level of risk associated with a certain climb. By doing this with time on our side, we can have strategies in place to lower or cope with the risk (taking more gear for a route to reduce the likelihood of injury). To lower the mental risks we can use separation of performance and self image as mentioned above.

5. Increase Your Level of Self-Confidence

Our level of self-confidence is determined by our self-image and the thoughts which are continually running through our minds. Thoughts relating back to a previous poor performance or negatively loaded self talk such as I can’t, don’t, impossible and try lower our self-confidence and are the offspring of failure. By focussing on previous positive outcomes and successes we can increase our level of self confidence. Actually try visualizing the success - how did it feel to succeed and the empowerment of positive action. By reliving successes, both climbing and non-climbing, on a day to day basis we can start to reshape and reinforce our own self-confidence.

6. Get into ‘The Zone’

The Zone is the mental state whereby everything comes together and everything feels effortless. The skill comes in being able to achieve this state of mind like the flick of a switch. Again the way to achieve this is to use a previous experience where you were in the zone. This experience can be anything; it doesn’t need to be climbing related. For me there are certain songs which I have mentally anchored to specific events. On hearing the song, it transports be back to that event and I can be there again. If you have been climbing for a number of years, there will no doubt be at least 1 day where you had this feeling of being in zone. Visualize this moment and make a short mental movie of the stand out points from that day; ensure the movie is crisp and clear. To enter the zone replay that movie with those highlights, allowing the feelings of total calm to wash over you as you felt that day. You are now in ‘The Zone’. Experiment with different mental images and anchors until you find one which suits you best.


7. Ritulise Your Climbing

The rituals we go through before a climbing can greatly effect the outcome of a climb.  If we have poor foundations we can expect a poor performance.  The type of foundation you lay (soft or hard) is a result of your pre-climb rituals.  These include all the things which we do to prepare for a climb such as warming up, scoping the route out, visulizing the sequence, the order we tie in and put our shoes on. Every little detial can effect the outcome. Again by thinking back to prvious events and the rituals we performed on that day, we can repeat these and increase our chance of sucess. By performing these rituals everytime we climb, they will be come engrained and we will be in a positive mental state, ready to succeed at the climb.

8. Stress and Tensions - Take back Control

This is a key strategy as tensions leads to failure. Tension and stress bore away from the inside and are shown in the emotions and actions which we display. Everyone has seen a tense and stressed out climber, with their high levels of emotion being clearly displayed. Trying to use negative emotion as a fuel for success is highly likely to lead to failure. Taking a step back and few deep breaths, along with a positive mental mantra will greatly improve your chance of success.


In order to reduce tension and stress, we must continually listen to our bodies. By feeling the small increases in stress and tension levels, we can stop them becoming a limiting factor in our climbing and in our lives - this is a 24/7 battle and we can win. Here are 6 Easy steps to help in this continual fight against stress and tension

1. Attempt to have an awareness of small rises in the level of rising tension, controlling them before they gambol out of control.

2. Take a few deep breaths to calm your breathing, and then allow your subconscious to take control.

3. Be observant of any areas of muscular tension, on feeling this relax and allow the tension to escape like air from a balloon.

4. Allow a wave of relaxation to wash over you from head to toe.

5. Remove all thoughts of the past or future; these thoughts will sabotage your mental and physical excellence. Now refocus on the present and climbing.

6. Adjust your posture, smile and crush your route like the Zen Master you are!

9. Make Use of Positive Self-Talk


An individuals self-talk can greatly affect the outcome of a certain situation.  We can think about having two voices inside our heads, critical and proactive, which are in constant chatter to one another. Certain situations require that we listen to the critical voice (evaluation of performance and weaknesses), but the proactive voice is the voice of change. It keeps us moving forward in a positive manner and as a result will allow us to produce our best performance.  By having control over this self talk, we can control our attitude and ultimately our climbing.
The question is which train of thought do you follow? It may be difficult to know this, as the level of self talk may be so intense that it may not be easily discernible.  Despite this difficulty, by listening to yourself for a few days you will soon come to realise which voice is leading your mind - especially while your climbing.
Your current style of self-talk will be based upon your upbringing and those around you. Those who grew up with complaining parents will most likely be complainers themselves and as such, will gravitate towards complainers.  By becoming aware of your self-talk, you can start to control it and use it to turn the negative into the positive. When the critical voice steps forward with 'this route is impossible', adjust it to something positive 'this route is really challenging'. Change 'this is scary' to this is 'exciting'. By having a handle on your self-talk, both while climbing and not, you will become one step closer to being a master achiever.

10. The Independence of Happiness.


Being happy should not be based upon situations or outcomes. True winners have great levels of fortitude with respect to bad results and criticism. They truly believe that they will attain success provided with enough time, effort and patience. By having fun (the reason we first started to climb), we can overcome the barriers which face us, such as poor technique or a lack of strength. By removing the conditional aspect we place on climbing (I'm only happy if I'm winning) we can start to have fun no matter the outcome, we will then find the outcome we desire comes much quicker.

The above ideas are covered in Eric Horst's Book Training for Climbing. They are also talked about in various other books and articles online. If your looking for a more general approach to these ideas about mental training, I find the framework of NLP very good. Joseph O'Conner's book, Coaching with NLP: How to be a Master Coach gives a great account of using NLP techniques to start achieving those things you always thought impossible.


Don't forget, we need to train our minds just as much we do our fingers!