Unsolicited Advice Part III: How to get Better at Climbing

[clausti]

By the time she's done [a ton of 5.11's and a couple .12a's], the 12b will be a piece of cake.

so, here's a question for ya.... what would you recommend to someone with a pretty wide pyramid in .11's and a couple .12a's for the season... and the season before that..... and the season before that.... who still seems to find .12b out of reach?

[mike_anderson]

It sounds to me like "this person" either has a mental barrier with the grade, or she doesn't typically spend much time on a given route, i.e., if she doesn't onsight or do it 2nd go, she moves on and never comes back (or at least not for a while). She is basically banking on her onsight level improving, and thus elevating her to the grade of 12b without addressing a critical weakness; redpointing.

I would suggest that "this person" decide if climbing a 12b is really a goal or not. If it is, then she should make a commitment and dedicate some time to that goal. That means sacrificing chances at doing other climbs to achieve that goal. She may need to project a 12b the first time or two to break through that mental barrier. The project route needs to be the center of her climbing universe until she sends. That means she goes back to the same crag as many times as it takes to send the route...she doesn't bounce around between other crags, giving her project one burn every month or so.

Does that sound right, or am I off base?