RRC Archives

climb2core wrote:As the snow flies, it seems appropriate now to ask the question again....


JR was absolutely right for me. I had wanted to be able to send a 13 by end of fall, but wasn't even in the ballpark. However, I have progressed in that 12- are now falling every time I go out and I am optimistic for this year. How was your season?

I made HUGE gains this fall. Sending 3x as many 12's as my entire 10 years prior combined. And sending my first 12d. I worked extensively on a 13a about 8 years ago, and almost sent it. This time when I got into good shape I decided to knock out a ton of 12's rather than lay siege to a 13.

I think that's the key for me, and probably a lot of other people. If your goal is 13a, but you can't do it. Then do all the 12c/d's you can. If you can do all the 12d's in an area there's really very little doubt that you'll do a 13a at some point.

Assuming I get down to my target weight of 195 by march, I'm going to start projecting a 13a this spring. I don't want to even bother with it unless I hit my weight goal because I think the crimps are too small for my pulleys to bear all this weight. It shouldn't be too bad though. Only 10 pounds to go!

EDIT: I'd cite phil wilkes as a case in point. He decided he couldn't really do 12's very well so he instead did all the 11's at the red. Then he discovered he could walk up 12's.

The key for me this season was focusing on my weaknesses: endurance and weight. I did tons of laps in the gym. I lost 20 pounds.

Shamis wrote:EDIT: I'd cite phil wilkes as a case in point. He decided he couldn't really do 12's very well so he instead did all the 11's at the red. Then he discovered he could walk up 12's.

Phil spent a shit load of days climbing outside in a year. I imagine if he had spent more of those days on 12's, that he might have been walking 13's... No knock on Phil or what he achieved in any way though.

If I had spent my much fewer days of climbing on 11's, I imagine I sending 12- would still be few and far between. I have never seriously projected a route, but intend to do so this spring. It will be interesting to see how that adventure goes.

Shamis, nice job on the progress. Have you picked a 13 yet?

Shamis wrote:Assuming I get down to my target weight of 195 by march, I'm going to start projecting a 13a this spring. I don't want to even bother with it unless I hit my weight goal because I think the crimps are too small for my pulleys to bear all this weight. It shouldn't be too bad though. Only 10 pounds to go!

I wonder how many 13a routes have been sent in the Red when the climber was 195 or above. Shamis, that will be impressive. That gets me more psyched than watching a beanpole slink up 13d, any day of the week! Stick with it!

For me, the term "endurance training" means climbing a lot of steep routes at the red. You just can't mimic that kind of pump in a gym.

(Unless you consider the lode to be your gym, which, in that case, go get a life)

JR wrote:

camhead wrote:Ok, I'll reply to the training/spray thread:

I've always been a REALLY bad redpoint climber. After moving East about three years ago, I had ample climbs at the Red and the New to just onsight/flash, so I did not project much. Had a pretty good spring, despite a pretty bad tendon injury, and decided that it was time to start [s]numbers chasing[/s] serious redpoint projecting. Did a lot of power-endurance training this summer in the sweltering bouldering gym, then moved to hangboard stuff by late August. I'm feeling really strong this season.

However, so far this season, no big projects have gone down yet. I think I've been spreading myself too thin, trying to give equal time to the Red and the New, sport and trad, and balancing out where I want to go versus where my partners want to go. And I'd be lying if I said that I miss masturbatorilly looking at my ascents list and seeing a whole bunch of flashes filling up my recent climbs; I gots nuthin'. Starting to get worried that the season will end before I get anything done.

We'll see how the season winds up; I've gotten really close on my two most engaging projects at the New and the Red (Apollo Reed and WTOK), but no cigar yet.

This would make a great question for Kris Hampton(Odub or 512OW) over at http://www.powercompanyclimbing.com/ .

Your instinct is probably right camhead. You kinda stink at redpointing. With the info you gave a couple of things come to mind.

1 Tactics-Maybe your tactics could use refining.(PM me if you want to discuss this further)
2 Maybe your projects are too hard for you to Redpoint in the time allotted(basically I am restating what you already said). You put yourself in a position half way between doing what your good at (onsighting) and focusing on a redpoint.


Great post though. I do get the feeling that you are on the right track to improving your climbing! You are working on your weakness.

I

It was interesting to re-read this post. Thanks for resurrecting this thread, climb2core!

As I typed above, and about 16 months ago, 2010 was not a great year. I got really close on a couple projects, but my numbers-chasing of the elusive one-three was unsuccessful.

2011 was a super good year for me, however. Best I've ever had. More efficient training in the gym, getting better at climbing mentally, and climbing with stronger partners all helped me bust into 5.13 this year (after climbing for over a dozen years, yeah I suck!). I think that just increasing the volume of climbing outside was the most important factor, though. I began consistently driving to the New or the Red EVERY weekend in the spring, then I was lucky enough to be able to take a two-month Western roadtrip and climb a LOT of both sport and trad. A torn ab muscle sidelined me in late August/early Sept., but I managed to bounce back from it fairly quickly, and had a really good fall.

I'm now trying the "rockprodigy" periodization approach (along with everyone else on climbing websites, apparently), began around Christmas, so that I'll hopefully be peaking in fitness in late March. It's frustrating doing tons of hangboarding right now, and I'm not going to have a great winter bouldering season, but hopefully the payoffs will be worth it. I don't have any obsessive goals for redpoints this spring; there are plenty of harder routes at the Red and New that I've been on, remember the beta, and would like to see go down, and it would also be cool to onsight or flash a solid 12+. But I'm hoping to make the major goal a free ascent of Glass Menagerie at Looking Glass. We'll see how that goes.

So, yeah, that's all.

climb2core wrote:Shamis, nice job on the progress. Have you picked a 13 yet?

Since I don't live in the red anymore, I'll probably just try to send some easier 12's if I come down there. My 13 project will be at a local PA crag:
http://www.mountainproject.com/v/the-st ... /106553388

In some ways this stuff suits me a lot better than the red because routes tend to be gently overhanging. But the crimps at the top of this are small, so I really need to lose as much weight as possible or I think i'll be nursing a torn pulley again. I may even have to get down to 190.

group hug?

In fact I did not train and I am climbing as strong as ever. Didn't project anything easier, I just got on routes and crushed. Eat that old man.

Jacque wrote:In fact I did not train and I am climbing as strong as ever. Didn't project anything easier, I just got on routes and crushed. Eat that old man.

LMAO. Andrew, is this really you bringing this shit up again! Don't make me call you out again.