The Climbing Thread

jpaul · 26 Nov 2018 at 14:31

not strictly climbing but saw this, over weekend

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/extreme-everest-with-ant-middleton

I thought, what an arrogant guy, he discussed how decision at the summit to make a phone call to his wife, left him queueing for the decent,
behind 'weaker' candidates, without acknowledging it was a poor decision, that fortunaely for him, did not have too bad consequences.

mid_gen · 27 Nov 2018 at 07:43

Starting to think about a proper training plan for next year. Going to do a week or two in Font in Spring.

Kinda plateaued now after 18 months of just bouldering 3x3hours a week. I'm projecting 6C boulder problems right now, so my aim is to break into 7A in the first half of next year.

Going to go for it and really push myself. Going to pack in alcohol for the year (not that I drink much these days, but I do notice it on the wall if I've had a drink in the last few days), and sort out my pre/post training nutrition. I don't have any weight to shift, I just want to make sure I can climb hard and recover quicker.

I've been fitting in a short session in the gym, and regular moonboard sessions that has been a real noticable gain. The moonboard in particular is really good for training my main weakness right now, which is maintaining core tension through my feet when making moves...I'm still at the stage where I'm launching from one move to another and letting my core relax in between. Gotta cut that out....it's really hard to train though! The moonboard helps though as it becomes twice as hard if you cut feet.

Street · 27 Nov 2018 at 16:14

jpaul said:
I thought, what an arrogant guy, he discussed how decision at the summit to make a phone call to his wife, left him queueing for the decent,
behind 'weaker' candidates, without acknowledging it was a poor decision, that fortunaely for him, did not have too bad consequences.

I thought the same when I saw that part.. Came across as a bit of a nob!

jpaul · 11 Dec 2018 at 16:49

Some more voyeurism , he was interviewed on R4 this morning - seem to be several showings in UK,
and maybe soon on netflix, or a hopefully a 4K disc (like utube taster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRGF77fBAeM )

How Jimmy Chin Filmed Alex Honnold’s Death-Defying Free Solo

Street · 11 Dec 2018 at 22:29

jpaul said:
Some more voyeurism , he was interviewed on R4 this morning - seem to be several showings in UK,
and maybe soon on netflix, or a hopefully a 4K disc (like utube taster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRGF77fBAeM )

How Jimmy Chin Filmed Alex Honnold’s Death-Defying Free Solo

I went to see it tonight, really worth a watch. I'd put it up there with Meru and The Dawn Wall as one of the best climbing films.

kiteloopy · 12 Dec 2018 at 10:34

Street said:
I went to see it tonight, really worth a watch. I'd put it up there with Meru and The Dawn Wall as one of the best climbing films.

So did I - with live Q&Q at the end right? I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Amped to get back onto the wall after a few weeks away.

Alex is pretty damn funny - in the sense of being so blunt and honest.

jpaul · 12 Dec 2018 at 15:31

lucky folks - will wait for the anticipated prime/itunes release, I guess

interesting article

Nowhere is that more evident than in Free Solo. Maybe the greatest paradox of the film is that it required a monumental operation that remained invisible. Five cameramen had to be ready to be in position on the wall on just a few hours’ notice, and there was a crew of three more on the ground. There was a helicopter for big sweeping shots of the wall and aerial shots of Honnold, a speck in a red T-shirt, shimmying up the white granite. He needed to be able to decide the time of the climb based on his intuition and readiness, not on some production schedule. He needed to feel free to bail. He wanted to be filmed, but he didn’t want to feel filmed.

... avoiding stage fright

t-rex · 13 Dec 2018 at 10:24

mid_gen said:
my main weakness right now, which is maintaining core tension through my feet when making moves...

Have you tried front levers? I used to do a few after my bouldering sessions. Really helps with the core tension.

kiteloopy · 17 Dec 2018 at 19:25

jpaul said:
lucky folks - will wait for the anticipated prime/itunes release, I guess

interesting article

... avoiding stage fright

20th of May for release but they did say that it was open on friday (14/12/18) on the showing. see if your local is showing it.

Rannoch · 17 Dec 2018 at 19:32

Street said:
I went to see it tonight, really worth a watch. I'd put it up there with Meru and The Dawn Wall as one of the best climbing films.

Saw it today. Awesome movie.

Street · 17 Dec 2018 at 22:17

Vargas said:
Saw it today. Awesome movie.

There is a parody knocking around that's quite funny, Honnold linked to it the other day.

Rannoch · 17 Dec 2018 at 22:25

Street said:
There is a parody knocking around that's quite funny, Honnold linked to it the other day.

Cheers, will have a look

Combat squirrel · 18 Dec 2018 at 19:55

Glad to see a climbing thread!!!!

Done it abit on n off for a couple of years now -- but more into it recently, then out comes Free Solo, and boom, climbing interest peak! - I do live in Snowdonia so a good place to be, glad to see many enjoy it !

DrToffnar · 20 Dec 2018 at 14:00

Joined a gym some 5 months ago now specifically so I can get into bouldering. A friend showed me Adam Ondra's 'Silence' and that was it, I had my next life goal.

Still a long way off being fit enough yet I believe, despite never even having touched a wall. I just know I don't have the necessary strength in my arms and core to do a lot of the movements. I've managed to shift around a tone 12kgs (starting weight of 95 at 5"11) but still don't feel anywhere near strong enough.

Maybe I'm just making excuses though. There's a nice climbing gym literally on my route home... maybe I'll just head in there early in the new year...

t-rex · 22 Dec 2018 at 17:27

DrToffnar said:
Joined a gym some 5 months ago now specifically so I can get into bouldering. A friend showed me Adam Ondra's 'Silence' and that was it, I had my next life goal.

Still a long way off being fit enough yet I believe, despite never even having touched a wall. I just know I don't have the necessary strength in my arms and core to do a lot of the movements. I've managed to shift around a tone 12kgs (starting weight of 95 at 5"11) but still don't feel anywhere near strong enough.

Maybe I'm just making excuses though. There's a nice climbing gym literally on my route home... maybe I'll just head in there early in the new year...

Just start bouldering ASAP, nothing makes you stronger. Just make sure you stay on the easy stuff for a while until your fingers get used to it.

mid_gen · 27 Dec 2018 at 16:58

DrToffnar said:
Joined a gym some 5 months ago now specifically so I can get into bouldering. A friend showed me Adam Ondra's 'Silence' and that was it, I had my next life goal.

Still a long way off being fit enough yet I believe, despite never even having touched a wall. I just know I don't have the necessary strength in my arms and core to do a lot of the movements. I've managed to shift around a tone 12kgs (starting weight of 95 at 5"11) but still don't feel anywhere near strong enough.

Maybe I'm just making excuses though. There's a nice climbing gym literally on my route home... maybe I'll just head in there early in the new year...

You don't need to go to the gym, just get climbing.

Bouldering is an excellent full body workout. I just had to chuck out some t-shirts as they've got too tight across my chest from just bouldering for 18 months

You'll learn quickly just by doing it, and watching others on the wall. As well as your muscle strength, your tendons and ligaments will toughen up, which takes a lot longer than muscles.

Get on the wall

mid_gen · 6 Jan 2019 at 18:50

Bit of a disastrous start to the year with getting food poisoning over the holiday which totally kicked my ass. Finally able to get back to climbing something close to 100% today.

Mission Fontainbleau 7A is now in full swing! Away in Sweden on work next week but fortunately there's a really good bouldering gym there so I'll be able to fit in one session at least...always like to try some different setting.

Got a few bags of Huel that I'm using for my pre and post climb during the week, normally I'd just shovel a load of whatever was available down my face (usually cake/chocolate in the office) so never felt like I was climbing hard weekday evenings.

jpaul · 28 Jan 2019 at 09:22

for in home use, has anyone purchased a hangboard , or even a more diminutive pull up bar.
The door frame lips in current house are definitely no strong enough ?

reading this https://www.climbing.com/gear/review-our-top-5-hangboards/
quite liked https://products.latticetraining.com/product/lattice-testing-and-training-rung/#reviews
but would need to attach that somewhere.

in other news:
courtesy of https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/e...t_programme_last_night_-_ant_middleton-695728
-> http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/201...season-summary-record-weather-record-summits/
and hilary step stuff

did anyone see that -

jpaul said:
whilst climbing/belaying is a situation where you have to trust someone, thought this was an unrealistic portrayal, you would typically not use the (figure of 8) device portrayed to protect someone, from falling, rather a gri-gri,
Even with a figure of eight (wearing gloves), belayer would be holding controlling hand, in downward position such that there was only rope stretch, to 'fall'/take-up once the guy fell on the rope.
Editing too made it look more dramatic.

Street · 28 Jan 2019 at 22:07

jpaul said:
for in home use, has anyone purchased a hangboard , or even a more diminutive pull up bar.
The door frame lips in current house are definitely no strong enough ?

I've got a Beastmaker 1000 in the garage. I knocked up a quick wooden structure to bring it away from the wall and mounted it on ply.

However, I've injured the A2 pulled in my middle finger again so I'm off the climbing for a bit.

Luckily it's winter season and pulling on axes doesn't hurt so I should be back to full strength by the summer, just need winter to hit properly in Snowdonia and the Lakes as driving to Scotland is a pain!

jpaul said:
whilst climbing/belaying is a situation where you have to trust someone, thought this was an unrealistic portrayal, you would typically not use the (figure of 8) device portrayed to protect someone, from falling, rather a gri-gri,
Even with a figure of eight (wearing gloves), belayer would be holding controlling hand, in downward position such that there was only rope stretch, to 'fall'/take-up once the guy fell on the rope.
Editing too made it look more dramatic.

Just checked it out, whoever was on the orange safety line wasn't doing a very good job, although I guess it's hard to simulate a real fall and communicate that the brake has failed in a timely manner. In an ideal situation the ab would be backed up by a prusik anyway, although I guess these guys are abing for speed not safety hence the use of a slick figure 8 belay device instead of something with a bit more grip.

fez · 31 Jan 2019 at 09:13

Street said:
However, I've injured the A2 pulled in my middle finger again so I'm off the climbing for a bit. Luckily it's winter season and pulling on axes doesn't hurt so I should be back to full strength by the summer, just need winter to hit properly in Snowdonia and the Lakes as driving to Scotland is a pain!

If you've done your A2 in you should still be able to climb with a 3 finger open grip as long as you are strict with yourself. I had a really long term A2 injury that only recovered properly when I cut out any grip positions that remotely bend the affected finger (ring finger).

My goals for this year are to climb font 7C and to actually train. I'm moving much nearer to a climbing wall in the next few weeks hopefully so I should find it easier to actually train at the wall instead of just climbing with mates and generally mucking about too much.