RRC Archives

It would not surprise me at all if more people hit the 5.14 mark this season than ever before in the history of sport climbing.

Let's face the facts, it comes down to grip strength to weight ratio and your hands are all tendons. To excel at high strength sports it requires shorter tendons and longer muscles. Conversely, in sports requiring athletes to excel in actions it is beneficial to have longer tendons and shorter muscles. Long elastic bands are good at storing energy. Unfortunately, though, this means they produce less force when they recoil. Thick elastic bands, on the other hand, have greater stiffness in that they require larger forces to stretch them, but they create large forces during recoil.

It has been proven that tendon length and girth is determined by genetic predisposition, and has not been shown to either increase or decrease in response to environment, unlike muscles. So, there you have it. Unless you were blessed with thick short hand tendons it is highly unlikely that you will hit the high end of climbing.

You guys are all acting as if the rating system is objective.

It's not!

I could if I wasn't always climbing with naysayers like brentucky

it makes for a fuzzy feeling drink the kool aid xmas story with a fairy tale ending kind of topic, but get real people.

I like the definitive and cogent nature of Brentucky's argument. But if I turn the coin over I might ask how does he know. Of course it would not surprise Tucky if one or two of his 8-year-old running initiates in the back of the pack make the Olympic sprint team even sans performance enhancing drugs. How do you know that the front runners do not run in front because they love it (50%) and they have grit and determination (50%)? I suppose you could call grit and determination heritable traits . . . .
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I climbed with this guy a while back (named withheld to protect his identity). He had been climbing for 10 years before I knew him--even went to New Zealand in a foreign exchange program in High School and climbed there. He did his first 11 in his first 3 months of climbing or something silly like that. Once in a while he would try a 12, but his mantra was '12's are hard.' We climbed together for a few years just bagging 11's and at some point he just takes off ticking 12's at a blinding pace and then ticking his first 13 before leaving the Red for Utah. Ok, screw it, most of you know who I am talking about. We might have calked up that 5.11 lifestyle/ ceiling to native potential and we/he might have just left it at that, which brings me to the main point of my line of reasoning.
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Such a perspective would have been defeatist. It is a flat, uninteresting denial of the potential within. Yes, you got it; argue for your limitations and they are yours to have hold and cherish for the rest of your life--with no interest and no money down. This is the wrong direction to choose. We will not be suppressed! Go forth! Occupy the Motherlode; occupy the Darkside; rage against the your own machine, pound on the wall, take the battle to your limit and never ever surrender! Fall back and re-group momentarily to return with sinew, renewed thews, tooth, fingernails and all your other native weapons to pit yourself against the adversary. You are all super heroes people! You are all made of star dust!
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So, Goodnight, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England!

Ok, the short answer is no. NOT EVERYONE. Let us assume we are talking about climbing at or close to Adam's level. A consistent 5.14 climber. We will also make the assumption that climbing at that grade consistently puts you at an elite level in the sport.

I am not qualified to talk about what it would take to climb at that grade because I have never done it, nor have I coached anyone that has. But, as an an elite competitive gymnast and then elite coach, I can infer something about attaining the elite level of physical performance with in the sport. We would groom out the top 50 kids at a young age. They would have receive disciplined and qualified training by coaches that produce elite level gymnasts. Of that 50, half drop out or move away. Of the remaining 25, most can make it to level 10, say about 20 or so. (akin to climbing 5.13). Of those 20 that made it to level 10, you would be lucky to have 2 go elite. So, I would say about 4% of the identified gifted and talented prospects make it to the elite level. I would say optimistically maybe 10% could if it wasn't for injuries.

Regarding the huge improvement in climbing skill level... the same thing happened in gymnastics. It is a revolution that almost all sports go through. It becomes mainstream, with a larger genetic pool of talent to choose from, better facilities and access to training, and improved methodology of training. BUT, after that revolution of the sport things will slow down. Gains will still be made, but incrementally slower. I think 5.14 is approaching a level of physical fitness in the sport that is getting into the realm of genetic selection.

That being said, if I climbed 270 days a year (Clevis), I am damn sure I would climb 5.14

Off to the gym...

What a mind fuck . . . who would figure me as the lone voice for spirituality?

if my pizza delivery girl drove up in a porsche i'd invite her inside

Art, I thought you were going to end with the Vulcan funeral rites.