First Climb of 2012

Everything was dripping at Rockwood, but I did manage to find 4 problems that were dry enough to climb today.  They were very easy, and it was fun to move on real rock for a change.

This is from today at the Main spot.  Notice the limestone below, and some sort of granite or gneiss above.

***

Nothing has been published about this place, even online, so here's a bit of a history on the bouldering in Rockwood Park, Saint John:

The first Friday in March of 1998, I and Graham MacK, were likely the first climbers to boulder for earnest in Rockwood Park.  Some shitty TR's and sport routes had been established earlier on a 20' tall road-cut at Lilly Lake, and over the years people had probably played around on the short loose cliffs in the Arboretum.  Likely, much of what we stumbled upon on the Western boundary had been at least attempted previously by local kids.

We explored enough to find three cliffs with 8-12' overhangs, some with 20' of additional 4th class slab.  That spring and the one that followed, we'd head out when we'd be home for March Break or after exams.   Hazen S and Will H joined us and together we climbed pretty much everything there.  From the get-go our attitude was to eschew naming and grading any of the problems.  Aside from collective laziness of not wanting the burden to record and store documentation (we'd just finished exams, remember), we felt this was most appropriate given the nature of the rock: for starters, the climbing is mediocre.  It is heavily featured, and crisscrossed with obvious, and not-so-obvious routes.  Keeping track of each problem would be next to impossible, and as far as we are concerned utterly pointless.  All that being said, it's a fun place to play after work.  The approach is a flat 200 meters.  All the landings are good.  Though heavily featured, few holds are positive or in-cut, making for fun movements.  And a small group can have fun without moving the pads between V0 and V5 problems.

Over the visits, names did emerge for the three walls.  Right-to-left, they became the Crime Scene (after a plastic gun found at the base), Limestone (how creative), and the Main Wall (or cave, or spot, or area, or the "Y'know, from the power lines you go to the left –that one.").  There are a number of other outcroppings nearby, some we've played on, others not.  Also, some are outside the park boundary and therefore on private property, so use good judgement.  To get there, head up Patricia Lane off of Sandy Point Road.  Turn right at the transmission tower, and follow the trail.  Just before it gets steep up to the next tower, turn right to hit Limestone and the Crime Scene, and left to the Main wall.  You can also approach from Fisher Lakes.  From the Northwest edge of the parking lot, head up the horse trail to join the power lines.  Continue straight under the lines when the paved trail makes a sharp turn to the right.  Just after the next tower, head down the knoll and turn right or left.

 A fun slab on one of the outcrops 

Munson Lake Guide Upgrade

The online Munson Lake Bouldering Guide just got an upgrade!  The arial photos are higher contrast, newer (showing 2 roads that I had to pencil in on the old photo –which, as it turns out, I was very accurate in drawing), many are higher resolution, and they're stitched together seamlessly.

I've just fine tuned a number of map points.

Now I'm really anxious for the road to open up.

Check it out:


View Munson Lake Bouldering in a larger map

Periodized Training 3 (Hypertrophy)

I'm half-way through phase 2 of this periodized training program for rock climbing, and I'm tired (as designed).  This week (3) is an unload week, and my body needs it (as designed)!  This months phase is still just three days a week in the gym; large muscle masses, high volumes of moderate loads with short rests.  As for the major lifts, Tuesdays are horizontal push and pull, Thursdays are push and pull below the sternum, and Fridays are push and pull involving the yoke .  The first two days start with a squat variation to begin the hormonal cascade, and because I need to simultaneously consider preparing for a four day ski trip next month.  One assistance exercise is done each day, and two for the trunk: one stability and one mobility.  Two to 5 sets per exercise.  All sets have a target of ten reps.

As for the climbing, I'm still getting on the woodie 3 times a week, and still for just 45 minutes to an hour. I've begun to focus on increasing repetitions and volume, particularly when it comes to grip style.  This has helped identify that I've developed an affinity a lumbrical gripping style with my left hand.  Perhaps it came about from making the jump from no climbing to climbing on a 45º wall with small pinches and thumb catches that offered security to a left hand while the seriously injured right took a reduced load.*  I'll discuss more about grip styles as they take a more prominent role in later phases.

Lumbrical dominant... has it's place but I tend to overuse it.

Open hand... one of the things I need to focus on. 

Another of my favourite ways to increase the volume is to stutter my way along each of the problems set for last phase.  Do move one, reverse move one, do move one and move two, reverse move two, do move two and three, reverse move three...  This triples the time to complete a route, and provides an eccentric load.  The former increases endurance, the latter exposes flaws in optimal beta as well as a small physiological stimulation for improving strength.  Since these problems were set to practice my limitations, the stuttering is really helping me refine my technique and improve my composure and control.

*Fifty four weeks ago I mutilated the tip of my right middle finger on a band saw.  I lost half the pad and a third of the nail.  It's almost fully grown back and it's nearly as strong as the adjacent fingers.

Close Encounter

I've just returned from an exploratory hike.  I walked down the road about half a kilometre from my house then turned into woods and walked along the power lines and gas pipeline in search of short cliffs.  I forgot my camera.

I followed human (boots), dog and crow tracks through the snow, and our collective path was occasionally crossed by deer tracks.

About half a kilometre in, a couple of deer came into the clearing and stared at me until I got within 60m of them.  I forgot my camera.

A short distance later I came to the first promising looking rock.  Sharp conglomerate slab about 15' high.  I followed this feature into the woods and came across more outcroppings, some steeper and 30' high.  I forgot my camera.  The sandstone matrix seemed to be solidly binding limestone cobbles.  This time of year it's too hard to tell if it is in fact solid –the frost could be reinforcing it.

The next two changes in topography were limestone.  Most was rubble covered with soil and vegetation.

I returned to the pipeline and headed up a 40 m, 50º slope.  When I was about a quarter of the way up, a large coyote sprinted across the top of the hill.  I forgot my camera.  With nothing but blue sky behind him (I think it was a him) I had no reference scale, but I would guess it was as big as a German shepherd.   I continued up the hill to size up the tracks.  They'd broken through the crusty layer so were too poorly formed to get a good idea.

Midway along it's path were three small fresh turds with deer hair.  I could see the dent and roll one of them made as it popped out mid-stride.  I forgot my camera.  I must have disturbed this guy mid-shit on the edge of the woods.

On my return trip, at the bottom of the hill and around the corner, in the middle of my tracks was a fresh yellow mark in the snow and the smell of urine.  Fresh tracks, the same as those atop the hill, but in the opposite direction led across my path.  I forgot my camera.  This must have been the alpha-male and he was not happy with my trespassing.

Periodized Training 2 (Foundation)

I went skiing last night and it was tough.  Thirty centimetres of powder had been skied out as it fell through the day making for hard work over, through and between the soft yet heavy bumps.  My thighs have never burned so much when skiing.  Not one of my 8 runs was done top-to-bottom without stopping for relief.  The point of this anecdote is to convey to you how drastically proper training can affect performance:  This is the first season I have not trained to ski.  Climbing season went late, and we've had no snow so there's been no point.  I doubted I would ski at all this year.  How I have been training is contradictory to what I'd be doing if ski season has been the goal, and I paid for it on the hill.  (Everyone in the lodge and on the chair was discussing the difficulty of the conditions, but most winters I'd have no trouble gracefully ploughing through a fluid descent.)

How have I been training?
This first month has been the foundation phase: a goal of restoring symmetry and efficient joint mechanics for the work that's to come.  It is similar to a hypertrophy protocol, but the muscle masses involved are smaller (typically single joint movements) and the work-to-rest ratios are volitional.  Basically, the training stimulus is one that will improve joint integrity through increasing muscle length and strength simultaneous to stability and control.  It has been working.  Some increases in lean mass, are noticeable.  My co-ordination at the end ranges of motion have greatly improved and I'm climbing better.

Training is done 3 days a week, and climbing practice 3 days a week.  I'm following a 3-day split: 1) is anterior musculature, 2) is posterior musculature, and 3) is medial and lateral musculature.  Seven exercises each day, three sets of ten at a controlled continuous pace.  Rest periods are typically in the 90 second range but may vary greatly one way or the other.  Loads are progressing linearly.  The details of the training programme are far to complex for me to convey them in terms climbers can comprehend to safely and effectively follow.  Find a good Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) in your area and get them to work with you.  How you do the exercises is paramount, and you need a qualified, insured, experienced professional who can get you the optimal results without injury.

The climbing practice is not strictly regimented, but it is deliberate.  Realizing there are some skills where I need more work than others, I set a number of problems that rely on executing moves where I am limited skill-wise.  All problems are within my ability; some quite easy, and the hardest ones I'm successful on about 30% of attempts.  My goal on non-training days is to take at least one attempt on each of the roughly 10 established problems.  Some days I'm taking lots of rest, get only half of them first go, and call it a day.  Other days I'm a little more motivated to work multiple attempts, then I'll take down a few shitty problems and replace them with some nicer ones that I work as well.  A couple times last week, I walked all of them thrice consecutively and played around on the wall a bit longer.  As the month has progressed, my climbing strength and technique have both improved noticeably.  Some of the hard problems that came off the daily list after week one, made it back on last week and I could do them with ease.

The current 10 on Kermit the Zebra

We're still 2 or more months away from Munson Lake road opening (which with some luck will  happen before peak bug season).  At this point in the training process I'm hopeful of success on my projects.