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Hello again thread. Ice climbing season is in full swing in the Rockies. Anyone else getting after it outside on the ice yet?? Here's to 2014 - send an M10 roof, and climb the Weeping Pillar before the end of season.
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# ? Jan 6, 2014 02:28 |
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# ? May 21, 2024 17:41 |
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On that note, if you're looking to buy a new pair of ice tools, Bentgate in Golden has decided to do a demo program for ice gear this year. Great chance to try out the top-quality tools and figure out exactly which pair you like most before dropping the dollars.
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# ? Jan 6, 2014 02:32 |
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That's a fantastic idea if you're just starting out. I highly recommend the Petzl Nomics, or a similar bent-shaft tool, especially if you want to do mixed climbing and cragging at your local choss pile. They all climb about equally well (BD Fusion, Cassin X-Dream, Grivel Quantum Race) with their own nuances in terms of grip and swing. I have a buddy with new Petzl Quarks, and while they are an excellent waterfall ice and alpine/easy mixed tool, they are not nearly as fun at the drytooling crag. Borrow and swing as many sets of tools as you can before you drop the coin!
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# ? Jan 6, 2014 02:46 |
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When you're climbing multiple times a week, is it normal for your fingers to develop consistent pain if they've been immobile for any time? When I first wake up, the first movements of my fingers will be extremely painful until I've stretched them a bit. Is this alright, or is it a sign I'm doing too much and am injuring myself? I don't only climb, I also lift weights, but I didn't have these pains back when climbing was a weekly thing instead of two or three times a week.
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# ? Jan 6, 2014 03:41 |
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SlimPickens posted:Any Los Angeles goons in need or want of a climbing partner for the next month? I'm spending all of January in Orange County and would like to get on some rock while I'm there. Malibu Creek! There's a ton of great sport climbing out there and the rock is fantastic. [edit] Gym wise, Sender One is the new big one in Orange County. Irving fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Jan 6, 2014 |
# ? Jan 6, 2014 03:56 |
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Kylaer posted:When you're climbing multiple times a week, is it normal for your fingers to develop consistent pain if they've been immobile for any time? When I first wake up, the first movements of my fingers will be extremely painful until I've stretched them a bit. Is this alright, or is it a sign I'm doing too much and am injuring myself? That sounds bad. Climbing isn't different from any other sport in that there's muscle soreness and then there's pain. Your forearms being stiff and sore would most likely be no cause to worry, but what you've got probably means that the tendons and related parts in your fingers are being worked too hard. I'd suggest taking it easy for a while.
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# ? Jan 6, 2014 06:38 |
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Kylaer posted:When you're climbing multiple times a week, is it normal for your fingers to develop consistent pain if they've been immobile for any time? When I first wake up, the first movements of my fingers will be extremely painful until I've stretched them a bit. Is this alright, or is it a sign I'm doing too much and am injuring myself? Only you can really answer this for yourself. Generally, discomfort is an ok/good thing, but I wouldn't call it "pain." It's at the worst in the mornings for sure, but if they're becoming painful consistently throughout the day, you might want to rest a bit. If you really want to know, keep going until you hurt yourself. Congratulations, you've found your limit (I'm only partly kidding -- anyone who climbs for an extended length of time will start to figure out their own limits simply by trial and error -- overuse injuries are very common in climbing).
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# ? Jan 6, 2014 08:24 |
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Kylaer posted:When you're climbing multiple times a week, is it normal for your fingers to develop consistent pain if they've been immobile for any time? When I first wake up, the first movements of my fingers will be extremely painful until I've stretched them a bit. Is this alright, or is it a sign I'm doing too much and am injuring myself? This is likely inflammation and is not good, -do not climb- when they are like this. You aren't giving your fingers enough time to recover between sessions and so they are getting hosed up. But yes, it's perfectly normal. A lot of people, especially climbers in their first year, climb too many times a week and/or too hard and mess up their tendons. Baldbeard fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Jan 6, 2014 |
# ? Jan 6, 2014 17:24 |
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Ugh. That's what I was worried about. I know muscle pain, I'm well accustomed to that, and this isn't it. I figured it was either the tendons or the tendon sheaths, I just wasn't sure whether it was a sign I was overdoing things or if it was normal and expected. Thank you for the confirmation, even though it isn't what I wanted to hear.
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# ? Jan 6, 2014 22:36 |
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Hi thread I've been bouldering now for about 6 months, and I go about once a week. I'm a big dude (6 foot, 220lbs) and I can consistently dummy the yellow routes without any issue. But it feels like the jump from yellow to blue is huge, and I don't seem to be making much improvement in tackling the blues. Anything I could be doing to help improve? I think a lot is just technique.
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# ? Jan 6, 2014 23:00 |
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Kylaer posted:Ugh. That's what I was worried about. I know muscle pain, I'm well accustomed to that, and this isn't it. I figured it was either the tendons or the tendon sheaths, I just wasn't sure whether it was a sign I was overdoing things or if it was normal and expected. Thank you for the confirmation, even though it isn't what I wanted to hear. Some advice I wish I'd taken earlier was to crimp as little as possible. It makes using tricky holds a lot easier at first, but seems to lead to finger injuries a lot faster as well. Using an open grip is possible/better 90% of the time; it just takes some getting used to at first. Consider doing some open hand only days, although you'll probably have to climb a few grades lower than usual for a while.
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# ? Jan 7, 2014 02:00 |
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MA-Horus posted:Hi thread Does your gym use V+number ratings? I'm not sure if gyms have some kind of standardized color scheme -- but I definitely don't know what blue or yellow means.
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# ? Jan 7, 2014 03:22 |
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MA-Horus posted:Hi thread Do I get a bonus for being the first person to say focus on your footwork?
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# ? Jan 7, 2014 04:23 |
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Dumbdog posted:What are everyone's aims for the new year then? Id really like to get more 7B+s done and maybe break into 7C. Also trips to the lake district and north wales as often as possible would be good. Two climbing trips this year. Do more rehab and antagonist exercises in general and especially for my bicep tendinitis. Eat more protein and visible abs
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# ? Jan 7, 2014 06:29 |
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MA-Horus posted:Hi thread Try looking at How to Climb 5.12, which has some pretty good exercises to build strength and technique
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# ? Jan 7, 2014 15:50 |
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Sorry, V0 is White, V1 is Yellow, V2 is Blue. I'm basically at V1 and some V2. Footwork doesn't seem to be a huge issue, it's more grip. I find the holds for V2 are much, MUCH more difficult.
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# ? Jan 7, 2014 19:37 |
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MA-Horus posted:Footwork doesn't seem to be a huge issue, it's more grip. A lot of bouldering comes down to exactly where your weight is with respect to the wall / move you are trying to make. Your feet may be placed securely, but still be completely wrong for the move you are trying to make. When people say "footwork" here they are sort of lumping a lot of body positioning technique into that word because footwork is how the technique often manifests itself. If grip is an issue, it's entirely possible that you don't have the strength yet to make the move, but it's equally possible that your body positioning is making the move require significantly more grip strength that it otherwise might.
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# ? Jan 7, 2014 20:51 |
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MA-Horus posted:Sorry, V0 is White, V1 is Yellow, V2 is Blue. I'm basically at V1 and some V2. I can almost guarantee you it's not your grip, but rather a technique issue. It can be hard to conceptualize at first, because chances are when you fail a route it's while making a hand movement, but poor balance and footwork is actually sabotaging your grip by putting too much weight on it. Strong and/or tall people get a free pass on V0/V1 and even V2+ depending on the particular gym. V2/V3 is where you start to see holds that make it difficult to support your full weight on and so you have to actually learn the correct sequence(s) to complete the route. This is like every climber's first major plateau. Watch better climbers and try to figure out why they are doing what they are doing. Experienced climbers move pretty gracefully on routes within their comfort zone, and you will see a lot of movements that looks like squatting or lunging while on the wall -- this is all about putting the maximum possible weight on your feet/legs.
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# ? Jan 7, 2014 22:03 |
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You'll be amazed at how much easier it is to hold on to bad holds once you get your footwork and body positioning down!
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# ? Jan 9, 2014 00:23 |
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Nthing that holds are a lot better based on how you grip them and where your body's mass is relative to the hold. I worked on a V3 for a week or so that had a move that went around a corner and pretty much every single time I did it, I swung way out and off the hold. I stuck at it an eventually figured out the exact sequence necessary, and any other motion I did would sabotage the whole thing. Bouldering problem moves can be extremely finicky if you aren't set up correctly on the wall to execute them.
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# ? Jan 10, 2014 17:21 |
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Some of our local climbers had an accident quote:"Witnesses told them they saw Farrar and DiPaolo arguing in the parking lot. One witness later found Farrar with major head trauma and saw DiPaolo running up the trail." (Via WJLA) It happened at Carderocks. Didn't know either of them, but wow. WTF dudes?
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# ? Jan 16, 2014 23:22 |
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Went to the climbing gym for the third time today. First time going alone so I was stuck with the auto belay routes. I was able to climb for a lot longer than before. I am using rental gear and I want to know if buying my own would make a difference. I can live with the harness but the shoes bug me. The gym just got a bunch of new gear so maybe its because it isn't broken in yet but I fell like the shoes are too stiff. I have a hard time 'feeling' the holds on the wall. What should the soles feel like?
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# ? Jan 17, 2014 02:17 |
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IF you plan on continuing to climb buy your own stuff. Plus it will motivate you to go outside and climb.
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# ? Jan 17, 2014 02:30 |
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Inevitably there will be a point where you will save money by having your own gear rather than renting each time (for me it was ~12 visits, YMMV), if you think your climbing experiences are going to last at least that long, then you may as well gear gear...
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# ? Jan 17, 2014 03:12 |
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I have four visits with gear left on my pass at the local gym. (climb Nashville if anyone is in the area) after that I will make the call if its worth sticking $200 into a shoes and harness. I have already ordered chalk and a chalk bag.
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# ? Jan 17, 2014 03:21 |
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Sound_man posted:I have four visits with gear left on my pass at the local gym. (climb Nashville if anyone is in the area) after that I will make the call if its worth sticking $200 into a shoes and harness. I have already ordered chalk and a chalk bag. It's about half that price. $120-$140 with a locking biner and ATC or reverso is about right
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# ? Jan 17, 2014 05:47 |
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Don't spend a fortune on really expensive tight shoes though, until your footwork improves you will demolish shoes. See it as an incentive to work on it. Bad footwork is expensive!
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# ? Jan 17, 2014 09:26 |
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Sound_man posted:Went to the climbing gym for the third time today. First time going alone so I was stuck with the auto belay routes. I was able to climb for a lot longer than before. I am using rental gear and I want to know if buying my own would make a difference. I can live with the harness but the shoes bug me. The gym just got a bunch of new gear so maybe its because it isn't broken in yet but I fell like the shoes are too stiff. I have a hard time 'feeling' the holds on the wall. What should the soles feel like? The "feel" of a climbing shoe is completely subjective! I wear Solutions and Testarossas and prefer to have stiff thick soles that I can't feel much of anything through. Other people like to wear shoes with thinner soles so that they can feel holds and rock through the shoe better. But yes, having your own shoes will definitely make a difference. Most rental shoes are made to be durable and long lasting so they don't perform quite as well as ones that you can buy.
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# ? Jan 17, 2014 14:04 |
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jiggerypokery posted:Don't spend a fortune on really expensive tight shoes though, until your footwork improves you will demolish shoes. See it as an incentive to work on it. Bad footwork is expensive! I finally retired my Nagas after 2+ years of solid climbing - I actually wore a thumbnail sized hole under my big toe on one side. Just got Muiras and holy crap I climb so much better with stiff, sticky rubber again. First shoes do absolutely get destroyed by sloppy foot placement, I'm glad I didn't go over $100 for my first pair.
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# ? Jan 17, 2014 17:20 |
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skudmunky posted:I finally retired my Nagas after 2+ years of solid climbing - I actually wore a thumbnail sized hole under my big toe on one side. Just got Muiras and holy crap I climb so much better with stiff, sticky rubber again.
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# ? Jan 19, 2014 03:56 |
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No climbing vacation for me and my main climbing buddy this semester due to incompatible schedules. Buuut me and another friend might go on a 3 week car trip centered on California in June. I've never been to the US so which crags would you recommend? It wouldn't be a dedicated climbing trip but we could perhaps squeeze out 5 days at one crag and a couple at some other. We'd be looking for sport pitches in the 6a-7b range (font). On another note I think we should be posting more videos! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvJK5IuS5Z4
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# ? Jan 19, 2014 04:15 |
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Sigmund Fraud posted:No climbing vacation for me and my main climbing buddy this semester due to incompatible schedules. Buuut me and another friend might go on a 3 week car trip centered on California in June. I've never been to the US so which crags would you recommend? It wouldn't be a dedicated climbing trip but we could perhaps squeeze out 5 days at one crag and a couple at some other. We'd be looking for sport pitches in the 6a-7b range (font). If you're after sport Red Rock Canyon outside Vegas has plenty. Joshua Tree has some sport as well, and bouldering. Yosemite and Joshua Tree have TONS of trad though.
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# ? Jan 20, 2014 03:45 |
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Sigmund Fraud posted:Holee poo poo two years. I consider myself a decent climber with good footwork but by shoes need resoling every 3 months. What's your secret? My secret is being a poor college kid who didn't buy new shoes till the old ones had a hole in them. Still keep em around though actually, pretty comfy for super long bouldering sessions. I definitely need to look into the resoling thing though, I want my new shoes to be usable for a long time yet.
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# ? Jan 20, 2014 16:12 |
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Sigmund Fraud posted:Holee poo poo two years. I consider myself a decent climber with good footwork but by shoes need resoling every 3 months. What's your secret? Unless your climbing on some kind of super rough rock that kills your shoes then thats amazingly fast. If you dont mind me asking how long have you been climbing?
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# ? Jan 20, 2014 18:48 |
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Dumbdog posted:Unless your climbing on some kind of super rough rock that kills your shoes then thats amazingly fast. If you dont mind me asking how long have you been climbing?
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# ? Jan 20, 2014 23:57 |
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Sigmund Fraud posted:3 years. I climb 4 times a week at around 7b. I wear La Sportiva Python which has very sticky rubber so it wears easier than less sticky shoes (like Mad Rock). Sounds like your foot work should be ok then. I havent had pythons but they are quite thin arent they? I dunno though 3 months still seems really quick.
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# ? Jan 21, 2014 00:06 |
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Sigmund Fraud posted:No climbing vacation for me and my main climbing buddy this semester due to incompatible schedules. Buuut me and another friend might go on a 3 week car trip centered on California in June. I've never been to the US so which crags would you recommend? It wouldn't be a dedicated climbing trip but we could perhaps squeeze out 5 days at one crag and a couple at some other. We'd be looking for sport pitches in the 6a-7b range (font). Owens River Gorge. And if you are already at Owens, you have to at least stop in Bishop and visit the Buttermilks, even if you don't have pads you just need to see it. http://www.mountainproject.com/v/owens-river-gorge/105843226
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# ? Jan 21, 2014 00:51 |
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Just got back from bishop and I'm going to have to agree. Go to bishop. Roll up on people with pads already out if you have to. Or climb something that looks easy. Either way just do it.
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# ? Jan 21, 2014 07:13 |
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This morning I woke up, grabbed my shoes, and had a short drive out to Stone Fort for some casual solo bouldering. Then I woke up and I was in Florida again
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# ? Jan 21, 2014 12:40 |
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# ? May 21, 2024 17:41 |
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I've been bouldering and climbing harder than usually lately (harder grades, not more often), but yesterday I had stop climbing because of a pain in my middle and ring finger on my right hand. I was hoping the pain would go away after a night of sleep, but the fingers are still numb and it's a litte painful to clench my hand to a fist. Should I take a break from climbing until the pain goes away, or is it ok to just tape the finger when I go climbing? I've had a lot of advances in techinque and strength lately so it would suck if I have to stop climbing for a while. Then again, if climbing worsens the fingers that would probably lead to a more serious injury and a longer break. I don't know a lot about climbing related injuries, so I hope someone here have some tips.
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# ? Jan 21, 2014 18:41 |