RRC Archives

My 2 cents - forget about leading outside until next spring. Get outside with experienced climbers and do a ton of top roping and cleaning. Use the gym as a tool only, not a means to an end and not a gauge to how hard you can climb outside. As you have found 5.10 inside is NOT 5.10 outside. - Lead routes in the gym and take lots of fall as a way to increase belaying skills. If 5.10c is the hardest thing you can climb - for example - then you should only be trying to lead routes outside at 5.8/5.9. There is this bad vibe in climbing these days that top roping is weak/inferior, etc - which is why so many inexperienced get in over their heads on lead. Top roping is how you increase you skills and confidence. Climbing on plastic is never going to be a substitute for the experience gained outside.

rhunt wrote:My 2 cents - forget about leading outside until next spring. Get outside with experienced climbers and do a ton of top roping and cleaning. Use the gym as a tool only, not a means to an end and not a gauge to how hard you can climb outside.


There is this bad vibe in climbing these days that top roping is weak/inferior, etc - which is why so many inexperienced get in over their heads on lead. Top roping is how you increase you skills and confidence. Climbing on plastic is never going to be a substitute for the experience gained outside.

^^^^^^^^

twan wrote:The time you spend searching around for better holds, you could have move a number of holds further. Chances are you're not going to find a better hold.

Some of the best advice I have heard yet. My friend once told me something similar that has stuck with me, and I have always found it to be true. If you are on bad holds, then keep moving fast, and they will usually get better.

Keep climbing when you think you are pumped, chances are you are not too pumped when your brain starts telling you to take. And the RRG is much different than it was when I started climbing there, not every single moderate is a slab climb with ugly fall potential. Muir Valley is a great place to cut your teeth, I have even climbed overhanging 5.7's there!

I really miss pocket wall. Although I did not do my first lead climb there, I did a lot of my early leading there. 9's and 10's that were really just overhung 6's. Great juggy holds and nothing to bounce off or scrape on when you took a fall. Good times.

Wow, I have the complete opposite problem you have. I have only climbed outside and now this winter I plan on climbing indoors so I can work on pushing myself into the harder climbs. It will be wierd to have the holds color coated and layed out for me.

Have fun climbing inside. The music is terrible, everything smells of pizza, and at any instant your chalk bag can become the community property of 5-10 grade schoolers.

If youre at Rockquest beware of the archetypal, poorly parented bedwetter who thinks throwing rocks okay with everyone. You handle this by gathering a few kids around and telling them the rocks are there to break a fall, not to throw, and then you arbitrarly push one of them down to reinforce it.


The parents are all from Mason or WestChester so they have no idea how to handle you abusing their kids. (warning: you might actually encounter a redneck parent from Fairfield, Clermont or Milford. If this happens, lie like a dog).

milspecmark wrote:Wow, I have the complete opposite problem you have. I have only climbed outside and now this winter I plan on climbing indoors so I can work on pushing myself into the harder climbs. It will be wierd to have the holds color coated and layed out for me.

nice spray, too bad going indoors for the winter only means you should grow some testicular fortitude

rhunt wrote:My 2 cents - forget about leading outside until next spring. Get outside with experienced climbers and do a ton of top roping and cleaning. Use the gym as a tool only, not a means to an end and not a gauge to how hard you can climb outside. As you have found 5.10 inside is NOT 5.10 outside. - Lead routes in the gym and take lots of fall as a way to increase belaying skills. If 5.10c is the hardest thing you can climb - for example - then you should only be trying to lead routes outside at 5.8/5.9. There is this bad vibe in climbing these days that top roping is weak/inferior, etc - which is why so many inexperienced get in over their heads on lead. Top roping is how you increase you skills and confidence. Climbing on plastic is never going to be a substitute for the experience gained outside.

I absolutely agree with getting outside with experienced people but I disagree that outside is harder. I have very limited color perception and cannot make sense out of all that tape. You have gymsy types like Redpoint all over the place telling you to "use your other left foot" and dum stuff like that You have dudes come out of the crapper with chalk still on their hands getting on the same holds you were going to use. Outside is pretty clear for me and seems easier. I still love to toprope - I know, whatever but I like it, its fun. I also think you should start out with a small passive rack - maybe a few cams like camalots from .5 to 2" and some slings and a couple of lockers, on some of the older crack routes. These routes can give you quite a workout for the grades. I also think that going bouldering to places like HP40 are really good ways to learn to climb better outside and are super-user friendly.

krampus wrote:

milspecmark wrote:Wow, I have the complete opposite problem you have. I have only climbed outside and now this winter I plan on climbing indoors so I can work on pushing myself into the harder climbs. It will be wierd to have the holds color coated and layed out for me.

nice spray, too bad going indoors for the winter only means you should grow some testicular fortitude

LOL... please don't link that pic again.

you are right though, you can climb at the red through the winter well enough. I'm actually looking forward to it... goodbye crowds.

I have climbed up to 5.12 outside, but I have never redpointed a climbing gym route harder than 11-. I absolutely cannot climb in the gym. I always feel like a monkey fucking a football. I think part of it is that I see all these feet, but I can't use them, they are not "in". It's madening.

Seriously, I don't know what my problem is. I hate RockQuest. ClimbTime is worse because it is hard. Ever seen a monkey fucking a football the hard way? It is a sad sight.