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Anza Borrego posted:Hot take, Red Rock Canyon NCA is a better climbing destination than JTree. Rock isn’t as mean, tons of routes, easily accessible if you just want to sport crag but tons of multipitch out in the backcountry. Totally depends what you want, but yeah red rock canyon is rad too and has a ton of sport routes.
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Mar 24, 2023 17:19
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I've been climbing on and off for 15 years and pretty consistently for the past 2, and in that time I've watched enough people (usually young and already strong) take up climbing and get better than me in less than a year. There's always a slight twinge of envy but I mostly don't care as long as I'm still having fun. But seriously what is with these people who are leading 5.11d outdoors in their first year of climbing
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Mar 24, 2023 17:57
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alnilam posted:I've been climbing on and off for 15 years and pretty consistently for the past 2, and in that time I've watched enough people (usually young and already strong) take up climbing and get better than me in less than a year. There's always a slight twinge of envy but I mostly don't care as long as I'm still having fun. Have you tried being in your early 20s? That's generally known to help.
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Mar 24, 2023 18:07
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armorer posted:Have you tried being in your early 20s? That's generally known to help. My back spasmed reading this. I miss being that young.
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Mar 24, 2023 18:37
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alnilam posted:I've been climbing on and off for 15 years and pretty consistently for the past 2, and in that time I've watched enough people (usually young and already strong) take up climbing and get better than me in less than a year. There's always a slight twinge of envy but I mostly don't care as long as I'm still having fun. Two weeks ago two kid who used to be my students showed up at the bouldering gym. It was their first session and I was borderline insulted by what they could do. They could probably catch up to me in a year or two if they really decided to pick the sport seriously. They are about 18 and have super athletic backgrounds, so yeah super unfair. Sometimes I wish I began climbing earlier, but then I look at all my friends who were super into competitive sports in their teens and now that we are getting close to 40, almost all of them are sedentary and getting fat.
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Mar 24, 2023 19:32
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armorer posted:Have you tried being in your early 20s? That's generally known to help. One of my climbing partners is in his 20s and I have to remind myself of this each time we shows me up after not climbing for a few weeks. It's not my technique that's bad. It's his youth 
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Mar 24, 2023 20:33
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KingColliwog posted:Sometimes I wish I began climbing earlier, but then I look at all my friends who were super into competitive sports in their teens and now that we are getting close to 40, almost all of them are sedentary and getting fat. It would have been nice to have today's new starter climbing experience 30 years ago for sure. I'm not entirely rosy about what the reality was back then, which was "I can't reach the hoooooooooolds dad I'm stuuuuuuck iiiiit's cooooooold "  every weekend with a passable forecast.I'm kinda grateful that I had a climbing hiatus in my teens/early 20s really. Being a strong climber while being a reckless teenager would have been a tough phase of life. Having come back to climbing later on, I'm hoping to keep it going for the duration and glad I'm mostly in working order.
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Mar 25, 2023 00:10
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Go to the gym at around 3:30-4pm any weekday, witness dozens of middle and high school students effortlessly flashing every problem you've been working on for weeks.
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Mar 25, 2023 16:38
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Nothing makes me feel 
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Mar 25, 2023 16:57
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Welp, strained my A2. Just as the days are getting too warm to work on the proj. That's ok, I wasn't gonna send that poo poo anyway.Augster posted:Also started hangboarding again, goal is to do a V10 by spring.
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Mar 26, 2023 04:34
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chami posted:Nothing makes me feel Vicariously sending my first V5 again with friends I introduced to climbing is certainly high on my list of fun thing to do at the gym. That and introducing people to outdoor climbing.
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Mar 26, 2023 15:10
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interrodactyl posted:Do not try to sport climb at JTree unless you want to basically free solo. The run-outs are all 20ft or more and the routes are very exposed. Does 'sandbagged' in climbing mean that the routes are harder than advertised? In volleyball (my primary sport) "sandbagging" means "playing in a division below your skill level (in order to win easily) ".
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Mar 26, 2023 17:20
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The hardest 5.6 I've ever seen was in J.Tree for whatever that's worth. So yeah, stuff there is hard for the grade compared to a lot of other US outdoor trad places I've been. If you sport lead 5.11 and have never led trad before, I would say you should put up a few 5.6s and go from there.
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Mar 26, 2023 17:29
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👍 That's the plan. We all have very little outdoor experience (3 trips) , so starting low and working our way up (or just keeping at the same grade) seems like it'll make for more fun. Fortunately, the kids aren't too concerned about grade-they found the one outdoor 5.10a we've done very hard, even though they warm up on that indoors. It's amazing how different the gym is!
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Mar 26, 2023 17:38
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Jorath posted:👍 Also definitely make sure you go over trad anchor building with your friend. There may be bolted anchors, but there may not be. The 5.6 I reference was actually not that bad once you knew where to go, but it followed a crack for the first 15 feet or so and then you were supposed to exit the crack to the right onto the face. If you actually did that I could see it being a J. Tree 5.6, but if you stayed in the crack too long it just got harder and harder until it was more like a 5.10. Moral of the story - read the route beta and do second guess yourself if things seem notably harder than you're expecting.
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Mar 26, 2023 17:45
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It's loving snowing in Moab!
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Mar 27, 2023 04:19
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Jorath posted:👍 Yep, I’ve only bouldered at JTree and the rock there is full of slabby friction-y stuff and highballs that will make gym climbers take pause. At least the landings are pretty good! If you are thinking of renting gear like crash pads, Joshua Tree Outfitters can hook you up for a reasonable price and they even offered to lend us a guidebook (I already had my own copy I purchased for the trip). They even pointed out good areas for relative newbies to get used to the climbing there. All in all great folks. 
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Mar 27, 2023 13:10
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Baddog posted:It's loving snowing in Moab! We’ve gotten record snow in the state this year. It’s great
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Mar 27, 2023 18:52
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i love the snow but it's pissing me off this year. it keeps almost being gone and then every time i plan to head out to the local crag to attempt my first outdoor climbing it snows again! ah such is the life of a climber i guess. i begin my first lead training lesson today, so that's only adding to the hype to climbing outside this year
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Mar 27, 2023 19:00
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Here in Buffalo it's either snowing or raining from the beginning of March until the last week of May. At this point I refuse to let myself hope for good outdoor climbing weather before then 
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Mar 27, 2023 19:05
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Baddog posted:It's loving snowing in Moab! When my kid started the route it was still clear and actually the warmest it had been in awhile, by the time he got to the top it was snowing really hard and windy/cold as *hell*. Glad to get this one in.  https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105945424/skeletonic Next day was awesome though. That's the big bend bouldering area down there.  His first real multipitch up there.  https://www.mountainproject.com/route/107509741/terma
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Mar 30, 2023 00:24
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My gym is holding its first ropes comp in a hair over 2 months. Today I've decided to try and use these next 8 weeks to get into shape for it. Gained like 20 pounds this winter, down 4 or 5 over the last month but I want to try and maintain losing ~0.5 - 1.0lb/wk. Obviously it's hard to cut and train though. I think at least for the next 5 weeks the focus will be on lighter exercise while I continue to improve my diet. I was also watching a video today about an interesting, low-intensity hang boarding routine twice a day that I think I'm going to try an adapt, as well as just more body weight exercises. Maybe even a yoga session or two a week if I can really muster it. Not sure what I "should" be doing at the gym though. Figure I'll try to end sessions with laps on the auto belay but other than that I'm not sure what my weaknesses are. I would say crimps, but all 3 of my recent projects have been pretty crimpy so I have been focusing on that quite a bit. edit: lmao calendars are hard. It's next month, not the month after that. Guess I've only got 5 weeks 
Sab669 fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Apr 1, 2023 |
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Apr 1, 2023 21:32
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Sab669 posted:Not sure what I "should" be doing at the gym though. Figure I'll try to end sessions with laps on the auto belay but other than that I'm not sure what my weaknesses are. I would say crimps, but all 3 of my recent projects have been pretty crimpy so I have been focusing on that quite a bit. Comps are a pretty specific skillset, how's your onsighting? Rather than spending a lot of time hangboarding, I would try to see how closely you could replicate comp conditions for yourself and practice on rope as much as possible. Spend some time onsighting, either top or on lead (whichever the comp is), push your grade and see what happens. Try to push until you fall off and then analyze why you fell. 2 months isn't a lot of time for building muscle or tendon strength, but you could get a lot out of practicing specific technique and conditioning. How are you at reading beta / visualization? How's your mental game? Would you push harder if you did a lot of practice falls?
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Apr 1, 2023 23:01
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I'd say I'm decent at reading beta; I boulder primarily. Not as good at reading routes just because they're so much longer / more moves. I guess that is something I should practice! Thanks for the idea. I think my mental game is pretty good; I have ADHD and am somewhat less risk-adverse than many  only time I've really had issue committing to stuff is when coming off minor injuries.
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Apr 1, 2023 23:09
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp2udb2GJMI Got 2 sessions in at my local crag this weekend, and finally got on this high ball I've wanted to attempt for a long time. It's only a V1 but still had to sus out the beta / good holds, and some small pockets. There's this 1 really beautiful juggy flake ~2/3 of the way up, but it's also really narrow/thin? Like it feels so strong, but it's hard not to think "if that just loving snaps right now...."Definitely pooped a little when my foot slipped around 2:00
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Apr 9, 2023 20:23
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Use a rope
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Apr 9, 2023 21:13
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Speleothing posted:Use a rope Yeah that's high enough to work it with a rope and do a proper bouldering final send if you want the highball street cred. Falling would suck big time. Congrats on the send! The mental challenge isw certainly there at that height Spring is finally here for real. Still a few weeks to go before the snow melts off the top of bouders but drat I can't wait! I feel soooo much stronger than last year and it feels like I've improved my weaknesses quite a bit. Hoping to get my first V6 and/or V7 outdoor KingColliwog fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Apr 9, 2023 |
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Apr 9, 2023 21:38
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Yesterday I accidentally got on an "R" rated variation of a climb that was supposed to be chill, then followed it up by being unable to find the rap route until we realized that there was a fair amount of scary downclimbing to get there.
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Apr 10, 2023 16:05
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KingColliwog posted:Spring is finally here for real yep! it's gonna be in the 20s all week so it's looking dry and warm. planning to go out with the crew and climb outside for the first time (for all of us) on friday during the day, using our new found lead skills. very excited.
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Apr 10, 2023 16:29
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Slimy Hog posted:Yesterday I accidentally got on an "R" rated variation of a climb that was supposed to be chill, then followed it up by being unable to find the rap route until we realized that there was a fair amount of scary downclimbing to get there. So...you were in Eldo?
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Apr 10, 2023 16:39
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spwrozek posted:So...you were in Eldo? Yep Hahha
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Apr 10, 2023 16:49
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I really debated the "?". should have gone with my gut and used a "!".
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Apr 10, 2023 17:08
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Speleothing posted:Use a rope Park policy actually forbids ropes, so 
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Apr 11, 2023 16:27
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Slimy Hog posted:Yep Hahha Which route? I was there earlier fishing with a buddy.
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Apr 11, 2023 19:55
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gamera009 posted:Which route? I was there earlier fishing with a buddy. It was Swanson Arete, which I thought was only fine and I'm not sure why folks recommend it so highly; the final bit was fun, but the rest was meh. Wind Ridge is the better climb IMO and usually what I take folks on at that grade
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Apr 11, 2023 23:18
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Joshua tree trip report: Paid for a guide for me & two kids for the first day. Climbed 3 toprope routes on The Thin Wall, got tips & feedback on gear placement. Parking was awful, because it was Easter Sunday. Day two we headed to Hallway of Horrors and climbed a walk-off top-rope Buckets To Burbank (5.8). Then back to The Thin Wall (after giving up on the scramble to Dairy Queen wall) where I set up on the bolts there and climbed No Calculators Allowed (5.10a) and Count on your fingers (5.9). Got some rappel practice there to avoid the up-and-down scramble for the 4th time. Day 3 was the day I got to put your advice into practice. Headed to Billboard & Bilbo Buttress where I put up a mixed route to the left of Whispering Chickens (5.7). Used a bolt at the start for an Ohm then placed pro for the rest of the route. Got to test it out when I had to lower halfway when I realized I forgot my anchor building kit. Sport-led Driving Limitations 5.8 which was very easy except for the skippabble start which is probably above 5.10a. No nerves even when finishing the run out top, which was nice. Already planning to return next winter. Lessons learned: Don't visit on a holiday. The Eldrid Ohm is total overkill unless you have a large weight difference. I need to get better at transitioning from my PAS to the rappel. I found that process incredibly fiddly. One 13 year old boy is plenty. I need to practice placing gear a lot more on easy routes. If you switch back and forth from bouldering to ropes, don't forget to double check that your shoes and chalk made it back in your gear bag. I had to climb the last day in my backup shoes which fit a lot worse. Thankfully my hands don't sweat much. Thanks for reading my essay.
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Apr 13, 2023 20:10
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Jorath posted:
Sounds like it was a good time! This one point is something that can never be stressed enough - SO MANY preventable climbing accidents happen on/setting up the rappel.
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Apr 13, 2023 20:28
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armorer posted:SO MANY preventable climbing accidents happen on/setting up the rappel. For real, especially because you usually do it when you are most tired. Closest I've come to dying climbing was loving up my abseil after a long alpine route. Ab a few metres, a sudden jolt, I look down and I'm hanging from just my Prusik. Practice your stuff and always tie a backup.
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Apr 13, 2023 20:38
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Also hi climbing thread. The last half year or so I've been getting back into bouldering after a few years out and it's great! I still feel incredibly weak but it's been fun going through the beginner progress again where you're stronger almost every session.
big scary monsters fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Apr 14, 2023 |
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Apr 13, 2023 20:40
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armorer posted:Sounds like it was a good time! This one point is something that can never be stressed enough - SO MANY preventable climbing accidents happen on/setting up the rappel. Yes, this is why both the AAC and the AMGA now strongly recommend against rappelling down unless it is unavoidable. After cleaning, you should lower off of anchors whenever possible, and if people yell at you for it they're stupid.
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Apr 13, 2023 22:36
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