The Climbing Thread

I had a good day out today at Helsby Hill. We were trying to avoid the rain and seeing as all the National Parks were forecast to be miserable we chanced Helsby and it turned out to be a good choice. It's a decent venue with a short walk in, loads to do at all grades and some bouldering at the top too.

We ended up warming up on a couple vdiffs then dropping down to do two VS and an HVS before ending the day with some bouldering. I'm absolutely shattered now though and have no skin left on my fingers which is always a sign of a good day, I did have to bail on heading into town for beers though!
 
Focusing on my most loathed problems the last few weeks, it's starting to pay off. Now doing about 3 hours 3 times a week and strength is really improved, starting to make progress on the cave roof problems...forcing myself to keep repeating them and work my core instead of making my arms drop off. Fun stuff!

I have some hallux rigidus in my right big toe joint which is stopping me doing a few problems, but I've got some joint mobility exercises which are helping.

They've just revamped the gym part of my hall, may have to start attacking the campus board and other exercises....although I need to look up some routines and exercises...
 
Went outdoors first time on the weekend down the Eifel region near Cologne. Beatiful day for it.

Two of us first time on the ropes so just doing easy stuff and getting some practice. Think I'm hooked, great way to spend a nice sunny day :)

Felt like superman when I went to the bouldering gym the day after too, absolutely monstered through all my project routes, done wonders for my confidence after spending a few hours outside clinging to tiny pockets and pea sized footholds.
 
mid_gen said:
Went outdoors first time on the weekend down the Eifel region near Cologne. Beatiful day for it.

Two of us first time on the ropes so just doing easy stuff and getting some practice. Think I'm hooked, great way to spend a nice sunny day :)

Felt like superman when I went to the bouldering gym the day after too, absolutely monstered through all my project routes, done wonders for my confidence after spending a few hours outside clinging to tiny pockets and pea sized footholds.
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Sounds great! Im hoping to get outside for the first time this year. UCR in bristol run sessions in the Avon gorge, unless anyone has any other advice for begginer out in the bristol area?
 
mid_gen said:
Went outdoors first time on the weekend down the Eifel region near Cologne. Beatiful day for it.
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Nice one, outdoors is so much better than pulling on plastic!

I've been getting fed up of the lack of a decent winter climbing season in Wales having only got three routes under my belt this year. All the good conditions seem to have come in the week or weekends where I'm away. We're going to have a road trip up to Scotland for the day in a couple weeks in the hopes of getting something done before all the white stuff goes.
 
Got my harness, belay and carabiner today ready for the weather to break. Found another climber at work so have a crew together now :)

The Boulder Bundesliga is at my gym for this month, some really nice routes. I'm placed about halfway in the men's 2nd division...but I reckon there's 2 out of the 4 remaining routes I think I can manage with some more practice. One is a big pinch crux on the horizontal overhang that is just right at the limit of my grip at the moment, the other is one of those daft routes that is just two ridiculous dynos strung together...more a mental challenge than physical!
 
mid_gen said:
Got my harness, belay and carabiner today ready for the weather to break.
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It's that annoying time of year when it's not winter enough for winter climbing and too wet for trad. I think the ice axes are definitely being hung up for the year now though. :(

We took a chance at heading to Curbar today hoping to get some trad in but most of the routes were soaked. We did an HVD and HS that were mostly dry, looked at a few others but they were a bit slimy so bailed and went bouldering instead.
 
Street said:
It's that annoying time of year when it's not winter enough for winter climbing and too wet for trad. I think the ice axes are definitely being hung up for the year now though. :(

We took a chance at heading to Curbar today hoping to get some trad in but most of the routes were soaked. We did an HVD and HS that were mostly dry, looked at a few others but they were a bit slimy so bailed and went bouldering instead.
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Was planning to go outdoors today but the weather has been awful. Went here instead :

http://bergstation.nrw

First time indoors, was good to pull some difficult moves 20 metres up, definitely gets the adrenalin going like it doesn't bouldering!

Wanted to try some leading as my climbing partner knows his stuff (long time trad climber from the UK) but they want you to take their course before they'll let you on, which is fair enough. 120 Euros though. If there were some easy sport routes outside we could go learn there, but the places we've been are too sketchy to learn on, 3-4 bolts on a 15m crag.
 
Bit of an odd question but I've been bouldering for about 2-3 years now but generally only spend an hour or so in the gym 3ish times a week. What do you guys do to drag your sessions out to 3-4 hours? I find I'm pretty much done problem wise of achievable problems and am nowhere near anything more complex to justify working on it as a project.
 
you're lucky if you can access a gym 3 times a week !
time spent probably depends how large/vacant the gym is (used to have luxury of our own key and going late),
but if you are there with a couple of mates, and chosen music, can easily spend a couple of hours,
lowish traverses&dynamic moves plus those sequences you do everytime looking for small improvments and discovering feet positioning,
trying out some of the moves the gods are doing, need some recovery time too.

edit : forgot and the regular roof sections, but we had a fairly low roof
 
Sao_Sin said:
Bit of an odd question but I've been bouldering for about 2-3 years now but generally only spend an hour or so in the gym 3ish times a week. What do you guys do to drag your sessions out to 3-4 hours? I find I'm pretty much done problem wise of achievable problems and am nowhere near anything more complex to justify working on it as a project.
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If I'm bouldering indoors, I'm only ever usually there for about an hour and a half at the most, roped climbing I can spend a bit longer doing as there is more faffing!
 
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Makes me feel a bit better! Usually I just rock up, bash out climbs fairly solidly for an hour or so and head off, though yeah I guess if I go with mates I can be there a good bit longer :)
 
jpaul said:
you're lucky if you can access a gym 3 times a week !
time spent probably depends how large/vacant the gym is (used to have luxury of our own key and going late),
but if you are there with a couple of mates, and chosen music, can easily spend a couple of hours,
lowish traverses&dynamic moves plus those sequences you do everytime looking for small improvments and discovering feet positioning,
trying out some of the moves the gods are doing, need some recovery time too.

edit : forgot and the regular roof sections, but we had a fairly low roof
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Thankfully I've always lived/worked fairly near a gym so I'm lucky in this respect!
 
Sao_Sin said:
Makes me feel a bit better! Usually I just rock up, bash out climbs fairly solidly for an hour or so and head off, though yeah I guess if I go with mates I can be there a good bit longer :)
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Yeh it's generally the social side that keeps me there longer, especially at the weekends if I'm having a coffee and a chat. In the week I'm short on time in the evenings so just bash out what I need to until I'm knackered.
 
Sao_Sin said:
Bit of an odd question but I've been bouldering for about 2-3 years now but generally only spend an hour or so in the gym 3ish times a week. What do you guys do to drag your sessions out to 3-4 hours? I find I'm pretty much done problem wise of achievable problems and am nowhere near anything more complex to justify working on it as a project.
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I usually do a full lap of the easiest problems, then next level up, and then a full set of the 'starting to get challenging, but still flashed every time' routes, paying particular attention to footwork on the easy stuff. That's an hour gone already.

Then I'll do limit climbing on my project routes for half an hour. Then half an hour on hard routes that I've already got down. Then half an hour in the gym doing some on the hangboard, campus board, various other exercises...then 15 minute warm down on the easy routes.

The time usually flies by, could easily carry on :)

Got a competition at my gym this Saturday so I'm taking it easy, probably just do 90 minutes twice in the week.
 
mid_gen said:
Got a competition at my gym this Saturday so I'm taking it easy, probably just do 90 minutes twice in the week.
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How did the comp go? I was quite pleased with my result in the winter league at the place I go to, ended up in 10th out of about 150! :D

I thought the weather had turned for the better as we managed to get out to Helsby last weekend for some trad with glorious sun and warm rock. The plan was to do do Grooved Arete on Tryfan this Saturday but I think it's all going to be a bit damp and miserable so may have to think of an alternative.
 
Street said:
How did the comp go? I was quite pleased with my result in the winter league at the place I go to, ended up in 10th out of about 150! :D

I thought the weather had turned for the better as we managed to get out to Helsby last weekend for some trad with glorious sun and warm rock. The plan was to do do Grooved Arete on Tryfan this Saturday but I think it's all going to be a bit damp and miserable so may have to think of an alternative.
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Comp is this coming Saturday, will see how I go. Depends who turns up, it's mostly a 1 year anniversary for the gym, excuse for a few beers. In the Boulder Bundesliga I placed 150 ish out of 400 in the end.

Going bouldering in Glees next Tuesday as there's a bank holiday, 4 or 5 of us driving down, provided the weather holds up. Currently looking to be 18C and dry so perfect, but there's rain over the weekend and it's quite Woody so hopefully not too damp.
 
Finally back to climbing 100%.

Did the comp, which was great, not sure where I placed, but did 5 hours of bouldering, climbed my limit. Kinda trashed my fingers though. Then went outdoor bouldering a few days later, and just stripped what was left of my finger tips raw, and finished off the last of the sole on my Solutions.

Had to take a week off for my fingers to recover....then breaking in a new pair of shoes for a week. They've finally stretched out and my skin has returned....hallelujah! Wearing Five-Ten Hiangles which are so much better than the solutions for my feet, fit like a glove, and smear better...and half the price of the Solutions :)
 
It's been just over a week since I returned from a bouldering trip to Rocklands. Finally got round to putting together a video. Sorry, I'm no 8A crusher!:o

If you love climbing you have to try and visit Rocklands, it's by far the best outdoor bouldering location I've been to (so far).

Climb names in the description.

 
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