To begin again

This has been a year of major changes. Over the summer I started a PhD at Cambridge. I pretty much said goodbye to climbing (and most of the rest of my life as well) out of a lack of spare time and facilities. Just before Christmas my former excuse partly vanished when the Kelsey Kerridge opened a newly refurbished wall.

I've been slowly getting back into climbing and life in general. It has taken some time to adjust to what feels like a new life. It is nice to have something familiar back. However, the old demon of my shoulder is starting to cause me some discomfort. It's back to the physio exercises at some point.

Here is a video of a couple of fun problems at the Kelsey Kerridge. Apologies for the video quality and even poorer background music.

Old Friends

With a slight flutter in my heart, I shuffle my feet, and the generous incut of the final hold comes clearly into view. With a weakened arm, I steady myself and momentarily pause. “Grab it; it’s yours” the voice in my head shouts while the rest of the world vanishes. I somehow manage to keep it together just long enough to pop and I feel my fingers grip success. The voice was right; the problem was in the bag.

It was indoors but it was my first V5 in I don’t know how long. The problem was a balancy number on a vertical wall that suited my fingers, but not my lack of technique. I decided that, on balance, climbing – even with an injury – makes sense for me right now.

The past couple of months have been rough and when viewed in the context of the year as a whole look pretty grim. Not unsurprisingly, I fell off a cliff (figuratively, not literally).

I’ve been running away for a while now. I think that I needed a bit of space but this could only go on for so long. I realised that one of the major things in my life that was missing was climbing.

My physio exercises fell by the wayside and my shoulder is no better. It’s still weak and very painful on occasion. It probably needs more rest.

I’ve always had an all or nothing approach to life. I need to have a goal and I need to feel like I am working towards it. I don’t even need to fully believe in it. I just need something. Climbing keeps me focused. It keeps me out of trouble. It’s an outlet for me that I can’t seem to replace with anything healthy.

With this in mind, I decided to climb again. I went about 5 times over the holiday break and it was very dispiriting to say the least. V1 was a massive struggle and I could only manage a few moves on harder problems.

Misguidedly, I thought that by just making the decision to climb again things would start to fall into place. I now saw climbing as yet another thing in my life in which I had some potential and that I ultimately failed at. Just what I needed. I thought about quitting. I told myself that I didn’t care anymore and I couldn’t see myself committing again. It hurt too much.

The next time I went to the wall, I learnt just how wrong all of those feelings were. I found a lovely 6a+ at Craggy 2 (my regular wall was closed for refurbishment). It was somewhat powerful and reachy (for me!), yet I got it on the second try. I remembered just what it felt like to send a problem – I remembered why I had to go back to climbing. It was something that I hadn’t felt in a long while, probably since I had my viva.

Today I managed to get up a V5 at the Arch. I’m still a million miles away from where I want to be. However it is so much better to feel like I am working towards something, even if I’m too injured to be able to climb like I used to. I am going to take a break for about a week or so and concentrate on my physio exercises, but I don’t think that I’ll be taking months at a time off again.

Break

A lot of this blog is taken up with posts about not climbing on account of injury, bad weather or most recently due to a hectic schedule. Generally this has quite a negative impact on my climbing.

Oddly enough, after my most recent break, I don’t seem to be a million miles away from where I left off. I’ve been away from regular training for well over two months now, but I might even go so far as to say that the break was slightly beneficial.

Here is a (somewhat boring) video of me at The Arch this weekend.



The V5 took one session to do and the V6 two; not too bad. I also ticked another V5 that took two sessions, but popped a pad on my finger, so no video for that one.

I like the initial heel hook move on the V6 and it seems to suit me. The wild dyno at the top and subsequent awkward hand matching isn’t the regular flowing sequence. It just works for me.


I haven’t been outside in ages though and that it really depressing.

I did however manage to get some mountain biking in at Swinley forest on Sunday. Cool crisp air and frosted earth. It’s not bouldering, but it’s not a million miles away either.

Silencio

In a desperate attempt to regain lost strength, not to mention dignity, I ventured to my wall tonight, expecting nothing more than a few V4’s.

I got a V5 that I failed last time on the first go and did a lap on it just to make sure, but even more surprising was the V6 that I did every move save the last and to make it even sweeter, I found out that I was adding moves to the start that weren’t necessary (though I feel it’s a much better problems with the gratuitous sideways campus move ;-)).

Seeing as I haven’t been climbing in ages and I was actually feeling very, very tired tonight, what was different?

First, it was quiet.

It seems as though the word is out and my favourite wall is no longer a secret. Good for business, bad for concentration.

Sometimes even utterly inconsequential V5s at the wall require a huge effort for me. I often have to put so much of myself into it; probably too much. I find it extremely difficult to do so if I’m being distracted. I have to dig deep and focus, silly as it sounds.

It is actually part of what I enjoy most about bouldering, the ability to commit and focus yourself 100% on something that seems impossible and ultimately (err… hopefully) seeing it through. It just doesn’t work for me in crowded room.

The other big difference is simply wanting it. After a layoff I always forget just how much you need to want something and the more difficult it is, the more you have to want it.

I still have a way to go, but maybe I’ve not lost quite as much as I thought I had.

Yo estaba bien por un tiempo,
volviendo a sonreír.

Slow Week

This was rather a bad week for training as I have mostly been occupied with the start of my course. I did however manage to make it down to The Arch a couple of times.

Here's a (rather poor) video if you’re that bored.



I like this V5. It suits my style (whatever that is – indoor slightly crimpy overhanging stuff?). I now try to do it a few times a session for power endurance training as its rather pumpy.

Hopefully once the schedule settles down I can begin anew. Actually, I need to start working on a proper training plan again as despite my best effort to abuse it, the shoulder remains relatively intact.

It’s actually quite daunting to consider that things might be going OK for a change.

I’m starting my course, my shoulder is mostly OK, finger is completely fine, they actually brought real boulders to London – surely I’m about to be hit by a bus?

Revenge

I went back to the wall last night and admittedly after a few attempts managed to work up the courage to re-do the V5 that I had a rather bad spill from. Grrr...

So my past two wall sessions have been as follows for completed problems: -

Monday: 4 * V3, 11 * V4, 1 * V5
Thursday: 4 * V3, 5 *V4, 2 * V5

Thursday wasn't great by any means as I was tired from earlier in the week / not sleeping (still) and knackered from several attempts on the V5 that I was worried about.

I've started to quantify my sessions as a yardstick as I don't seem to be making a lot of progress grade wise indoors. Outside, the weather is probably my biggest issue.

In what was quickly turning from a tragedy into a comedy, I pulled my hamstring while out MTBing. However, most of the injuries have settled down, thankfully.

To recap:

1. Two (still) marginally impinged supraspinatus muscles (argh)
2. One grade 1 or possibly 2, A2 pulley tear on my left hand ring finger – now pretty much healed (ya)
3. One blood filled blister on my left hand – slightly annoying
4. One sprained ankle – doing much better
5. Cuts, scrapes and bruises, passim – goes with the territory, I guess
6. One pulled hamstring – essentially healed and my sprinting career is no longer in shambles :-)
7. Strained back from bad indoor fall – healing and slew the psychological demons last night (see above)

The shoulder is only the real remaining problem as it still occasionally bothers me and on account of this I have been putting off proper training. I now appear to be stuck at V5 and I can't seem to progress beyond this with ‘just climbing’.

Might start to add the campus board in gradually.

Drive

I find drive to be a bit of a double edged sword which forces me to push myself, but sometimes clouds my judgement.

For one reason or another I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in ages. Last night at the wall I wasn’t up for much, so I decided to go for quantity over quality. My goal was 10 V4’s and two V5’s.

After fighting my way through about 7 V4’s and one V5 (I told you I was tired!) I decided to try a second V5. It was one that completely played to my strengths and indeed I got it initially on my second try. Last night was different. It’s a fairly sustained problem and I managed the bottom and middle sections fairly well, but towards the top I was flagging and to compensate I fashioned a really poor heel-hook rest. This left me in a completely unstable position for the last move.

I was tired, pumped and set up wrong; however I still threw for the last hold. I did this problem a ton of times before and I really, really wanted to do it tonight. I had it – right?

Wrong. I fell in a completely uncontrolled manner, half back slapping and half compressing my spine. Ouch.

I normally am acutely aware of when I am in a potentially hazardous position to fall from and won’t do the move, unless I am about 95% certain that I will make it. Last night, due in part to being tired, but also on account of wanting to reach my goal, this judgement was clouded.

Besides being shook up about the prospects of what could have happened if landed slightly worse (self-inflicted paralysis never appealed to me) and a bit of bruising, I’m OK, thankfully.

It was a good lesson to be reminded about.

Banter

I've been debating on whether to do a blog about this or not, as I feel I am giving it way too much importance, but what the heck, it's obviously on my mind...

Anyway, so I was at the wall tonight, feeling rather tired for some reason, but I managed to re-do a V4 that I did earlier in the week. On getting to the top I immediately dropped off and on the way down I heard someone comment that 'it doesn't count; you didn't hold the top for 3 seconds'. Um, I didn't realise it was a contest; but still I laughed it off. Possibly sensing my annoyance, he rather grudgingly added 'oh just joking, you did well'. Erm, thanks...

Later on in the evening I bump into the same guy again, only to see him flailing on another V4 that I flashed, shouting to his mates that he has to do this problem because he saw some girl do it. His friends all in turn look over to me. He did eventually manage to do the problem with the addition of a few holds that weren't part of it, drops down and announces that 'now he can go home'.

Yep, I am a girl, but I'm still strong, even more so than some guys, but there is a whole world of people who are stronger than me. Let's just hope that our friend runs into some more strong girls. Maybe then he'll change his attitude. Well, one can hope...

On a more positive note, I remember ages ago, a girl came up to me in the changing rooms and said that she really liked watching me climb because I gave her a few ideas and she even copied the sequence that I did on one particular problem and then she was then able to do it.

I think that was one of the best compliments that I ever received. One of the primary reasons being that I never thought I could. I never saw myself as 'strong' or 'athletic' before I started climbing. Challenging people by making them feel that they can do something that they didn't think possible – well, that is inspiring.

Burning off stupid guys – that’s just a bit of fun ;-)

Arch Bimbling

I had a bimble at The Arch today. It was good fun, but I was feeling rather tired / weak due to having flu / a cold / some sort of illness (?) all week.

First up is one of my current favourite problems. It’s not overhanging, powerful or indeed even festooned with positive holds, so it isn’t exactly my type of problem. I just think it was well set, even if it is easier for people with small hands ;-)



Next up is my (proper) V5 project. It’s a tad bit um, err… more interesting for the short, but I’m not letting that get in my way.



Lots to work on...

The Long Haul

I’ve started climbing again in earnest. I have some residual pain, but the physio reckons it won’t do me any harm. For reasons still unknown, I apparently had a very, very bad case of SIS. It was much more painful and took longer to recover than usual. Lucky me. The good news is that I no longer have pain doing day to day tasks, which is an enormous change in quality of life for me. I don’t wake up in pain and dread each time I have to bend my arm. Anyway, back to climbing…

So I’ve been bimbling at The Arch for the past two weeks. I wouldn’t say that I lost all of my strength but quite a sizeable proportion. Oddly enough, one of my best days was my first day back. I was quite sore and had to rely on technique a lot. Next week I start feeling better and a bit stronger – technique immediately goes out the door. I’m sure there is a lesson here. I just can’t seem to take it on board (but I like cutting loose, grumble, grumble).

Where did this leave me – well at V3 (flash) or V4 (worked), if forced to put a number on it. I have a lot of work to do. I seem to take ages to recover as well. I just recently upped my protein intake and I’m interested to see how the next few sessions go.

At first, I very much had the ‘kid in a sweet shop’ attitude. There was a new wall to play at and I was so thankful just to be climbing again. That lasted about a week. Then as the guy from The Rock Warrior’s Way would say – my ego kicked in ‘but I’m not happy bimbling’, ‘I climb to achieve things’, etc.

Scarily enough, this time is different. Yes, V7 would be great and I still believe that I am more than capable, but for the first time I don’t feel like I need to do it. I guess that I changed enough of other things in my life that climbing now holds a much more realistic position. I’m still very motivated to climb, to train and push myself. It’s just not exactly everything anymore. I think that my focus has shifted ever so slightly, but ultimately I feel that I stand to gain from a slightly more laissez-faire approach.

It’s difficult to think about how much hard work it will be just to get back to where I was, let alone better. I’m optimistic though, which is of course odd for me. This past week I’ve been climbing by myself, which is a strange feeling at first, and I learned something. I climb because I believe that I can. Recently I’ve had quite a few long dark nights of the soul, but that basic belief hasn’t changed. And that’s what I’m going to use to get me though the long haul.

The Arch Update

I paid The Arch a second visit last Friday night. This trip confirmed my initial observations about the excellent quality of the problems, with one exception. They have reset the problems on the overhanging ‘wave’ wall at the back. Wow, is all that I can say. The idea of The Arch being a soft touch venue has now been completely erased from my mind. Lots of inspiring problems up to V10 (!) were to be found.

Now if only I could get some strength back…

The Arch

I stumbled into The Arch for a look ‘round a couple of weeks ago after a night out with some friends. As my shoulder was seizing up with pain at the mere thought of lifting another pint glass, climbing was out of the question. However this reckie mission provided fuel for the idea that The Arch could be The Promised Land of Indoor Bouldering.

On first acquaintance, The Arch was relatively small in size, but made up for this by having far fewer crowds clogging up the wall. This was a refreshing escape from the maddening herds to be found at the other major London walls. The place felt informal and the upstairs chilling area was almost cosy. Thanks to a huge ventilation fan, the air was very clean (for a climbing wall in London). I suppose my standards aren’t that high though since every time I visit the Castle I seem to develop a sinus infection brought on by a particularly evil combination of Victorian dust and chalk. Despite not trying any of the problems that night, just eyeing the line sparked my interest. Finally, they had a proper, grown up grading system – V grades. I think both Font and V grades have their own merits and I’m slightly partial to V grades, but in the end I don’t really mind. Either system is vastly preferable to British technical grades.


Yesterday my physio decided to cancel my appointment and in an act of rebellion I decided to give The Arch a try. Registration was straightforward and I was soon off bouldering. There were quite a few warm-up V0 - 1’s on the slab area and some on the vertical walls, however much to The Arch’s credit the place didn’t seem overly bogged down with massive jugs adorned with associated punters hanging off them taking photos for Facebook. The temperature was cool enough that tons of chalk wasn’t necessary.

Most important was the problems themselves and this is where I feel that The Arch excels. They weren’t ultra contrived slapping to abstract volumes as so beloved by a certain London wall; no these were properly thought out, interesting problems that I was dying to try. After warming up, I found a pleasing moderately overhanging V2 and a more fingery V3. Both were spot on for the grade and fun to climb. An airy V1 up and high level traverse soon gave way to a few more problems in the V2 –V4 category. I found an orange V5 problem that went up an arête which I should have flashed, but didn’t want to commit to a feet off dyno on my bad arm. I eventually summoned up the courage and cartilage; however I did feel that it was soft for the grade. The adjoining blue V4 confirmed this suspicion. In all fairness though I have to say that I was quibbling over a grade or two, which isn’t exactly the end of the world. I then flashed a Dawes V5 (Johnny being one of the current guest setters along with Gaz Parry) before retiring for a coffee and a recap.

All was going well, a bit too well actually. I haven’t been climbing for nearly two months excepting a few random sessions here and there. I am still injured so I’m very hesitant when using my right arm. Despite all of this I was still flashing most V4’s and a V5. Something is wrong here. Either I greatly benefited from a lay-off (unlikely) or the grades are soft (grrr). Being the ever pessimistic person that I am I calculated that if I had my act together I would soon outgrow this place. Where were all of the sick moves on heinous overhangs to be found? Where were the non-existent crimps, the stupidly small holds, the tweaky pockets, the willing your feet to stick, the…

To be fair, there were a few V6’s and V8’s which I didn’t try because I am still after all injured, but where was the Promised Land of Hard Bouldering? The potential built up in the easier problems fizzled out after V5. Which leads me to question who is the target audience for The Arch. I can imagine that complete beginners would feel like a fish out of water, but regulars would be left wanting more.

All and all it’s a great place with a good vibe and a lot of potential. It’s reminiscent of a smaller Southern version of The Climbing Works. However, I would go so far to say that they need to have more hard problems, with the precedent set by amount of interest in the easier problems. I can imagine The Arch might fall victim to its own success and become over-run, however I heard they have room to expand. For now it’s a great environment and I’ll be back. Even if I never find an appropriate project above V5, the problems are interesting enough to make me feel that I have come quite close to The Promised Land.



The Arch Update - 05/ April / 2008

I paid The Arch a second visit last night. This trip confirmed my initial observations about the excellent quality of the problems, with one exception. They have reset the problems on the overhanging ‘wave’ wall at the back. Wow, is all that I can say. The idea of The Arch being a soft touch venue has now been completely erased from my mind. Lots of inspiring problems up to V10 (!) were to be found.

Now if only I could get some strength back…

Before We End and Begin Again

I’ve had a rough couple of weeks. My shoulder injury is hurting again and life in general has me rather down. I’ve been questioning my motivation and self belief, in climbing and other areas.

Why do I push myself so hard? I’m not seeing much progress, the opposite actually. I keep getting ill and injured. Is it worth it? Should I just give up? I don’t feel like I want the same things that I used to want. When is it time to let just go?

Why did I ever think I could change things; what was my basis? I though a look back might remind me where my notions of climbing were born from. Maybe they will give me what I need to persevere.

I’ve had a very odd relationship with climbing. I started indoors and progressed fast. I lead a few easy climbs outdoors, but I wasn’t happy. I wanted more. I wanted to be able to do moves outside that challenged me as much as the ones indoors, but given the pre-eminence of trad in my mind, this could only ever lead to one conclusion.

Climbing was a logical progression from hiking / hillwalking / scrambling, bits of which I have been doing for most of my life. My ultimate goal was actually to get into mountaineering. I enjoyed being in the hills far away from the noisy, polluted city that is my home. Even the relatively small mountains of Wales and Scotland seemed grand and majestic to me. I enjoyed being in their company and the reassuring feeling of insignificance helped to put the difficulties of my life into perspective.

I decided that a good foundation in rock climbing would serve as a basis for bigger and better things. Since I lived in London miles away from rock I went on an indoor climbing course at the Castle in November 2003. I quickly progressed through the grades and I remember clearly my first UK 5c top-rope one month later in December 2003. Shortly after this I top-roped a UK 6b slab on the first try. Looking back at it now, I realise that this period gave me a sense of confidence and reinforcing self belief which made climbing out to be the first sport I actually enjoyed. However, this initial period of progress also had a dark side that was about to make its self very clear. I soon grew very tired of top-roping and signed up for the next available leading course at the Castle in February 2004. Shortly after the course I led indoor routes up to UK 5c.

I've won the Boulder Ladder at the Castle so many times, I've stopped counting

That Easter (2004) I went to Portland for my first taste of outdoors and managed a few low grade routes. A desire to combine my new found climbing skills with my love of being in the mountains led me to take a week long trad leading course at PYB in April 2004. Shortly after the course I went on to do a few Welsh mountain classics. In June 2004 after trad climbing for 2.5 months I decided to tack on a bit of climbing after visiting my parents in the US.

The rock at the Gunks in New York state was nothing like the Welsh rhyolite and dolerite that I had experienced before. The rounded, horizontally broken rock was much more akin to gritstone and mostly protected by cams (which I hardly ever used before) and tricams (of which I had none). However, I liked the delicate face climbing. The features suited my style well. I did a few warm-ups and shortly afterwards wanted to jump on something more challenging. I chose a 5.8 (normally about HVS, but later I was to learn that the grades are ‘traditional’ and date from when 5.10 was the hardest grade) that I liked the look of and quickly started up. I had spied from the ground a crack, where I thought I could place a nut, however I got to it and realised that it was too shallow for gear. I continued, confident in my ability and assuming that I would find some gear soon. The crux came and I only had two dodgy cams placed near to the start. I did the crux moves, but then freaked out after realising there was still no gear to be found. I made the decision at about 35ft that I was now risking serious injury and decided the best course was to down climb. I managed to reverse the crux and made it down a few more feet to where I did a rock-over on tenuous edges. I now know the move was nearly impossible to reverse and I fell about 20ft directly onto the back of my head. The last sound I heard was my cams popping. I lost all of my vision and went through the usual ‘this is it’ type moments.

Eventually I came round and managed to walk out, however back at the hotel I became violently ill and decided to go to the hospital, where I was not surprisingly diagnosed with a concussion and received various comments along the lines of ‘we hardly ever treat women with massive head traumas – it’s normally (American) football players’.

My head CT

Very soon after, I tried to do some leading and managed a few climbs indoors and some ridiculously easy stuff at Portland in attempt to say ‘look, I’m fine’. I wasn’t though. After my accident, I got stuck in a cycle of not living up to my potential and being demotivated about climbing. I spent years getting scared on VDifs and trying to force myself to do the moves when all that I wanted was to be back on the ground. It also led me to question myself; if I can’t lead a VDiff what kind of a climber am I? I thought that if I got enough mileage at an easy grade I could slowly build up my confidence. Wrong. The easier climbs didn’t inspire me in the least and they even served to make me feel worse about myself.

Almost by chance I decided to go on a bouldering trip to Font with a few friends. I was really rubbish at bouldering (I think I managed a Font 5 on my first trip). Nonetheless I had fun and I was doing much more enjoyable moves on a Font 5 problem than I was on a VDiff route. But that was just a holiday abroad, what I really wanted to do was trad – or so I thought. I went on to do some leading indoors and made a huge amount of progress culminating in redpointing a F6c+ indoors last December. I also got a lot stronger by keeping up my bouldering.

Having fun in Font

Last spring I wanted to spend some time in the US and thought it would be great to combine this with climbing, but I didn’t want to have a repeat of my last trip so I decided on a bouldering holiday and Bishop fit the bill. As with my first trip to Font, I was nowhere near stellar, but managed to struggle up a V4 and a few V3’s. However what I did find was something amazing, something that had been shut off in my mind for years. For reasons way too lengthy to recount here, my career was basically put on hold and for a long time all that I had as a means of measuring progress in my life was climbing, but even that hadn’t been going well. I never felt that I lived up to my potential and it was very dispiriting. One day at the Happy Boulders I was climbing in a dusty cave working a V3 and I soon realised that I couldn’t span all the way across the roof to the lip, but I tried it anyway. I somehow managed a backwards dyno into an iron cross and stuck it! As is the nature of bouldering, I of course fell off the next move.

First trip to Bishop

For once I thought – maybe I can do this! Back in the UK on the first bank holiday weekend as per normal I went to North Wales and tried to do some leading. As was now the norm, I again fell to pieces on a run-out VS. This time I gave up. I finally realised that I wasn’t happy at all. While I loved being in the mountains, I hated feeling scared all of the time, looking for my next piece of gear and doing moves well below my limit.

Something just clicked and I decided to say good bye to trad for the time being at least and got semi-serious about bouldering. I started to find boulder problems that were pretty near to my limit, but just possible. When I sent them this just feed that old confidence that I hadn’t felt since I started out all of those years ago. I wanted to see just how far I could go with it. How strong could I actually get – how far could I push myself – what could I achieve?

I’ve always been an all or nothing person. I’m not inspired by things that aren’t a challenge. What attracted me to bouldering was the ability to work at my very physical limit, but by its very nature this doesn’t come easily. I’m not happy bimbling around on VSs. It’s not my personality. I sometimes wish it was different. I sometimes wish that I didn’t always want (or need?) more.

I’m constantly hard on myself. I don’t really know any other way to be. Early on I thought that it was within my abilities to achieve a few things for myself with climbing. It’s proving to be more of a struggle than I could have ever anticipated, but what else am I supposed to do? Give up? No, I’ll keep fighting, because that’s the only other thing I know.

Desire

Tonight I got further on the hardest problem that I ever climbed indoors. It was the black problem in this video. I figured out a new sequence just before the move where I fell off in the video:



It consisted of twisting, bringing my right foot over to the left and finally letting go with my right hand and bringing it over to the crimp on the left. Holding the barndoor off the sidepull with my lefthand was the technical crux. I stepped up, got the next hold and the one after that, but then my foot slipped and I came off of the wall one hold away from victory. I managed to pull myself back on but it was too late. I was off. My heart pounding and when I finally came to I realised there was a round of applause. That’s certainly never happened before :-)

I’ve said it lots, but I think it bears repeating. I really have to want to do something at my limit. Earlier in the night, I was rubbish, falling off problems that I sent before. I find the contrast striking. I was climbing so weakly and then almost immediately afterwards I did the hardest moves that I have ever done. The only difference I can think of is that I wanted it more. It’s something deep inside, way beyond tiredness, even muscle strength. If it’s really what you want it goes deeper. Nothing else matters.

When I started working that problem the dyno earlier on was my limit. This still does stop me often, but now I’ve progressed to falling off the top. The move that was my limit is no longer, however, there are a whole set of moves that are now stoppers for me. I guess it’s just the nature of the game. I guess it’s what drives me.

Two Trick Pony

I’ve been thinking about engrams lately and I’ve come to the conclusion that I rely on two basic engrams when the going gets tough. Sadly, they are both born from a climbing life spent mainly indoors due to living a. far away from real rock and b. in the rainiest place this side of Patagonia.

At climbing walls, the holds tend to be positive and far apart (for me at least!). These two details have somewhat dictated my style.

First up is the lock off on a first finger joint edge (for variation the example hold is slopey and at an angle), smear and work your feet up as seen in the first move I do here (NB, the videos aren’t art, rather they’re for illustrating a point).

All videos taken at the Castle, London.



Next is power. This isn’t one specific move but rather an approach. I often gratuitously power through moves where a bit of technique would stop me from getting tired mid way through a problem, however sometimes there really is no substitute for power (especially if you are 5’3’’).



Last trick is levitation :-). When all else fails, make the impossible reality. Significantly easier said than done, especially when you need it most! The throw I do here is a bit of a one off for me at the moment, meaning I can only do it a few times a session before getting completely knackered. The problem is made harder for me because I can't reach the logical next hold. Instead I have to dyno a sidepull on a 30 degree overhang.



Well I guess that’s three tricks, but the last one is incredibly unreliable so I’m not counting it. What I need to do is expand my repertoire, preferably with moves that are more relevant to real rock.