Sport Psychology for Climbers

Ten days ago, I finally sent Two Zig Zags.  I’d been working on it for over a year. Well not consistently.  There was the winter closure, and the crack was often wet in the spring, summer humidity rendered the textureless starting hold unusable, and the grease that built up on it... but still more attempts that it should have taken to consistently target the the pinch and figure out a couple of foot moves from there to the easy finish.  Especially since I’m significantly stronger and smoother than last year.

It got me thinking of the psychological factors at play for successful (or unsuccessful) redpointing. To be clear, my forte in the hard sciences of biomechanics, neuromuscular control and physiology, rather than sport-psych.  What follows is based on deductive reasoning from anecdotal experience as a coach and personal experience as an athlete.  Please leave a comment if you can contribute anything to support or refute my thesis.

There are two major things to consider.  The first is "attentional focus", which you surely are familiar with.  It could be something external like a part of hold you’re aiming for on an a dynamic move, or something internal like relaxing your breathing, or squeezing a pinch for all it’s worth until after you’ve done the next move.  Really this is just part of the learning process, emphasizing an area (of the body or move) that not as automatic as the rest (of the movement pattern or route).

The second is this thing called "optimal level of arousal".  Too much equates to anxiety, tension, perspiration, distraction.  Too little is laziness, carelessness, relaxation.  There are a myriad of techniques athletes and sport psychologists use to increase or decrease stimulation.  Though there is something to this, particularly for competition climbing, it probably gets too much credit for success in real world climbing.  I’ll explain...

Faced with a desperate situation in the mountains, the fight or flight response kicks in.  This is usually the optimal arousal for such critical events.  If it wasn’t, they probably died.  So you hear about the success of  this strategy around the campfire and read it in the mags.

When it comes to more mundane climbing tasks, such as working a project, there is more controversy.
A fairly recent article by Alison Osius, extolls the virtues of increased arousal (stress) on redpointing, and provides corroborating anecdotes by some big names in the climbing world.

There are as many examples of the opposite: success coming on days where there was no pressure, a bit of fatigue, and low expectations (low arousal).  Adam Ondra on the first ascent of La Dura Dura, for instance.  

Eventual success following repeated failures, with sporadic progress can be over-analyzed and weak links forged.  Ondra is quoted (in Rock & Ice #213) doing this very thing when discussing his success on that route.  More likely though, he just had finally deciphered all the nuances of the body movements required, and executed them without making a significant error.

Cypher Climbing Shoe Review

Time for a review of Cypher Rubik and Cypher Prefix climbing shoes.  The company is fairly new and just started producing climbing shoes this season.  I’ve owned a couple of Cypher slings for a year, and have been happy with them, but there’s not much room for innovation or error when it comes to something so basic.  Shoes on the other hand (foot?) are much more intricate.

Early in the summer, you may remember that I blew out the soles of my all-day shoes.  In anticipation of that event, I’d been trying things on at the shops both locally and on road trips, but could not find a satisfactory pair.  When the blowout occurred, it was necessary to bite the bullet, and order something online.

After much research and comparison, I settled on getting two offerings from Cypher.  The prices were really good, and I figured I’d have to order two of anything just to get the proper size anyway.  By ordering two different models, I hoped might even end up with two usable pairs.  After all, I was primarily looking for a comfortable shoe I could wear all day on easy to moderate routes.  Ideally, I’d also get something that could hold a dime-edge for a couple of specific projects at Munson Lake.

Out of the box:
     Both were ordered about a size and half down from my street shoes.  The Prefix was supple and light.  The forefoot was painfully narrow at first, but thin rands over unlined leather held the promise of a snug and personal fit once broken in.  The crinkle laces hold their tension at each eyelet, so customized cinching is a breeze.

The Cypher Prefix, with it's great laces.

     The Rubik fit perfectly, held it’s shape, and were comfortable with the velcro closure helping to secure them in place.  There is just enough padding under the straps to be comfortable without being bulky.


The Cypher Rubik is a flat lasted velcro climbing shoe.

 Early impressions:
     The Prefix, which is designed as an entry level climbing shoe or rental fleet offering, is actually quite nice. They look like Puma sneakers from the 80’s.  My toes turned red from the constriction, but less so with each use.  The rest of my foot turned a subtle green from the dye leeching out of the unlined leather.

They look like they're from the 80's, and they have a classic performance to match: Not going to win any races, but they're dependable and just feel right.

     The Rubik was still comfortable, but not at all sensitive.  I could not decide if my feet kept slipping (off of granite, limestone, basalt, and schist) because the rubber is slick, or because I couldn’t feel what I was on.  They claim it’s 4.2mm but it seems thicker.  Looking closely, it’s possible to see the deformation and rolling of the edges when trying to stand on a big crystal or dime-edge.  The Enigma HP rubber is supposed to be of higher density specifically to hold small edges.  If it was thinner might this not happen?

Final verdict:
     The Prefix smears beautifully.  The 5mm Enigma rubber is softer than that on the Rubik, but hasn't pitted either.  The fit is now customized so that they are comfortable without being sloppy or loose.  They excel on granite slabs.  With very little rubber away from the toes, these are not a good choice for wide cracks or for heel-hooking, but do ok on thinner stuff (fingers to hand).  They edge well on vertical faces.  This is probably due more to the friction characteristics, and having strong feet in narrow shoes, rather than rubber firmness or shoe stiffness. I will buy them again.
      The Rubik are disappointing, though they are very comfortable and have maintained their size and shape.  I can wear them all day and will do so again provided I’m not getting on anything hard.  I still can’t feel anything underfoot.  They skid off of every rock type I’ve tried to smear.  They don’t edge very well, unless it’s at least 1 cm thick, positive, and highly textured.  They do an ok job heel-hooking and jam pretty good too.  The velcro stays closed (I have yet to open them with my pant leg or on the sides of a crack).  The rubber is pitting. Maybe once I wear through a millimetre of the sole they’ll be more sticky or sensitive.  Maybe they just need really cold temperatures.  I will continue to use them but will not buy another pair.

All show and no go:  They are comfortable and look cool, but leave a lot to be desired in the performance department.

How they can be improved:
     I’d love to try a Prefix built on a downturned last.  The unlined upper fits like a second skin, and shaping it for more pulling power could do wonders.  Coupling this with the soft rubber, particularly if it was trimmed to just 3.5mm thick, should make an excellent climbing shoe for steep granite (where precision, sensitivity and friction are crucial to stabbing then pushing off the crystals and tiny flakes on the underside of boulders.)
     Thinner rubber might fix the Rubik. Softer rubber would definitely do the trick.  In either case, this would not be a high-end shoe (which in fairness to Cypher, is not what they are after with this model) but a decent all-round all-day choice.

Busy Week At Munson Lake Boulders

Work schedule and weather aligned nicely the week after my return.  I got out to the Munson Lake boulders five out of those first eight days.  Climbing conditions were really good too, as humidity was low and a breeze kept the bugs away.

Sunday I scrubbed and worked a long balancy traverse, put up a new problem and climbed a handful of moderate to hard classics.

Tuesday was labour intensive, as I dug ditches, repaired the road, pulled alders, trimmed overgrown trails, and hauled rocks to build up a landing.

Most of the recent efforts have focused on a cluster of 4 boulders in the Megacrystals
Area.  Here you see Pierre on the rather small Mammoth (V1) boulder, with the backside of Wicked Lester to the left.

I spent most of the Thursday scrubbing in the Megacrystals area, and did some more trail work as well.  As the sun was beginning it’s descent, I was establishing three first ascents, and working a couple others (including that long traverse from Sunday, but without success).

On the back of these two of the new slab problems, is a unique V3 named The Hawks.

Arguably the nicest of the new problems, these V4's demand power and precision. 

Pierre and I camped on the weekend, and added seven more problems on Saturday.  Sunday, Shawn and Denise joined us for some laps on the classic problems.

Shawn nearing the end of the Gutterball traverse on the Kingpin Boulder at Munson Lake, NB.

Shagg Crag Is Highlight Of Road Trip

I booked off a week from work to take a casual climbing road trip through Maine, into the Eastern Townships, and back.  Shagg Crag, Maine was the first destination, where I met up with fellow NB’ers Dom, Marty, PJ, and Kristen.  Since I was coming from the northeast, rather than taking a long loop around to join the directions provided in the guidebook (suggesting an approach from the North Conway area to the SW) I decided to take a tertiary road south from Dixfield.  In actuality it was a mishmash of unmarked seasonal roads that were under construction in many places.  Countless long driveways, private roads, ATV trails, and logging roads branched off of the public road and most appeared more travelled.  The locals were very helpful and I made my way to the trailhead without too much backtracking.  When one lady’s directions included the caveat “The dirt road is in good shape, but you might not be able to get past the paved portion with that car. You really need a truck.” I was a little worried.  But my nimble little car wasn’t weighted down and I managed to pick my way through without damage.

Next time, I’m sure I won’t have difficulty navigating this, assuming I arrive before dark.  I don’t recommend this route to new visitors. Instead, drive another twenty or thirty minutes and go through Rumford Point.  It’ll probably save you time in the long run.

A long and steep hike leads to a spectacular clean white cliff riddled with stainless steel perma-draws.  The routes flow nicely since they follow obvious lines of bulges, rails, cracks, dihedrals, or aretes.  Nothing seems forced or contrived.  The moves flow.  The rock is solid with a sticky texture that isn’t too abrasive.  Big jugs provide rests and stances from which to work out the next sequence, so on-sighting is a reasonable expectation -though the pump from such steep climbing works in opposition.

Shagg Crag, ME

On our second day, after we’d climbed a few easier routes and we were tying in to start working something harder, the skies opened up.  Such a big overhang should of protected us, but this unrelenting downpour turned the trail into a stream.

Even after moving our gear to higher ground, Marty had to dig a trench to keep the base from flooding.

The waterfall flowing over the cliff began to trickle down the overhang a few centimetres at a time.  One by one our projects got soaked.  Our climbing day was basically done, so we went back to the campsite, and goofed around in the pond.

The next day, since the others were leaving for home, we decided to visit a nearby crag with a shorter approach.  This place obviously does not get much traffic, but it looked pretty cool nonetheless.  We took turns fighting the relentless pump on a route that follows funky blocky holds (mostly fat pinches and undercling) up a 35m wall a few degrees on either side of vertical.

They went to NB, and I headed north for a couple quick hikes at beautiful Grafton Notch State Park, then onward to Sherbrooke, Québec.

I spent a rest day visiting with family, and the next I went to climb at Orford (sorry, no pics).  I was warned that the boulders were a little overgrown and not that impressive.  Both were true.  I managed to have fun, even though I skipped some of the nicer looking problems as I was lacking a spotter.

Later in the afternoon, Mikaël joined me as my guide and belayer for the sport climbing.  Odd features, hidden holds, and a lack of texture make for beta-intensive climbing ideal for those who love to work routes, then put together a well rehearsed and choreographed ascent.  There is less appeal for instinctual climbers such as myself, so it was really nice to have the services of Beta Mike (as Dom dubbed him) to talk me up some of the routes.

With rain forecasted for the next few days, I decided to drive home on Friday morning.  And what a lot of rain it was!  About an hour after crossing the border, it alternated between heavy and monsoon the rest of the way (and took 9 hours).  It was warm though, so I did stop for a fun 90minute hike that was more like a shower.

The partially obstructed view from the Eyebrow trail which branches off of the Appalachian Trail, as it passes through Grafton Notch State Park, Maine.

All in all it was a great trip.  I look forward to revisiting Shagg Crag in particular.  Hopefully this fall.

Endurance Bouldering

It was a slow start to the day yesterday, but I had the urge to do the western bouldering circuit at Munson Lake, NB.  Though it was very hot (over 30º), the humidity was below 80%, so even though climbing hard was out of the question, I thought it might be possible to climb a lot.

I arrived at lunch time, and found a patch of shade suitable for a picnic.  Afterwords, I grabbed my gear, and started the clock...

I chose a sequence that would distribute the shade breaks, and tried to time the attempts at the slabs and slopers when they were not in direct sun, or immediately after a break.  Since the circuit was first completed, a few new problems have gone up that are appropriate to be included, so those were added.

Starting off along Roadside (I Think I Tore My Sack, I Skinned My Knee..., Charyotte, R-U-N-N-O-F-T, and Sugar Ditch), I worked my way to and through Cornerstones (Roy Toy, Gutterball, Rubberman, Sideshow Bobbed, Cheese Grater Accident, Munson Burner, Le Pro, Curvy Trunk Cedar, HandSOME, HandLESS, Tongue Exercises, Rails Direct) in the first 80 or 90 minutes.  Due to effects of heat on rubber, my shoes did not stick well to the smears and crystals of Sideshow Bobbed, which took me quite a few attempts.  This was also when the heat started to affect me.

In need of shade, I went to Sue Boy (Big Foot, Ghoti, Ghoti, Banane, Multiple Choice, Oral, Junior High, Elementary, Edgecation, Rash, Headache, Mocking Bird, Eye Burst.  High School, which was done in the original version, has been removed from the circuit since it can't be safely protected with only a single pad.) where I tried to relax between climbs and allow some body heat to dissipate, with only marginal results.

Next I went to the Slab Area (Flail, Mace, Pepper Spray, Nutmeg, Husk Musk, Dalle Inversée, Stop That, I'm Brian and So's My Wife, Slab Mois Ça, That Stinks) where the deer flies destroyed any hopes of repose in the tiny patches of shade.

The long walk back to the car was accompanied by a welcome breeze, and some shade provided by the crash pad.

Time for another picnic at Hidden Wall, this time in full shade and with the occasional gust of wind. It was at this point that I realized my skin was holding up quite well, despite feeling like it was thin.  Upon closer inspection, I saw what the problem was:  Blisters!  I've had flappers, slices, punctures, abrasions, peeling tips... But blisters?  The chalk should keep the skin too dry for that, but it wasn't doing a very good job and three fingertips were blistering.  I decided to carry on (Pinch Overhang, Red Belly, Vlad You Are There, Rock Hog, Unnamed) and peeled off part the sole off of my right shoe, in the process.  Due to heat and constant wear, the rubber was delaminating from the leather.  And warm soft rubber doesn't smear well, yet the occasional sharp crystal can bite deep.  It was bound to happen.

The home stretch was in full sun (Use Your Mussels, The Clam, Four Peckered Bull, Taurus, Dunce Cap and finally, Secular Undercourse) which brought skin and rubber limitations to the forefront.  I made my way to the water, dunked, then stayed to cool off and relax.  Total time was 4 hours and 19 minutes, in which I completed 51 boulder problems.  That's just over 5 minutes per boulder problem.  The bar has been raised!

4:18.43

Weather Hindering NB Climbing Season

It’s been a slow start to the climbing season throughout Atlantic Canada.  If it hasn’t been raining, it’s been 30º with 90% humidity.  At Munson Lake, the friction sucks almost as much as the thick swarms of voracious insects do.  The road is firm, but lots of big rocks have worked their way to the surface and created clearance issues.

Shawn B working his way up balancy moves of Ghoti V1, on one of the hot and humid days in June

Nonetheless, a few problems have gone up since the last post.  If a project requires palming slopers or edging on a crystal, nobody’s been anywhere close to getting it though.

On her birthday, Denise braved the insects and scrubbed her way up the first ascent of Swat Team V0.  You read that correctly.  She did this tall slab in bold classic style –ground up on-sight!   It is found on the first boulder along the stretch of trail between the Spongiform and Bad English boulders.

Earlier in the day, at the Hardwood Area, Pierre and I each added one to Trailside after we, and Mike, did a lot of scrubbing.

Just some of the Trailside boulders in the Hardwood Area, Munson Lake, NB

In June, I put up two-thirds of the potential lines on L’Orignal.  With most problems deserving at least one star, this is a really nice boulder and is well worth the trail work I did the month before.  What lines remain are very hard, but obvious and do-able.  (I'm holding off on a topo for this one and for Swat Team.  Someone should be adding more problems once the weather improves, and I don't feel like doing the photoshopping twice.)

Ten Percent Gains

In just a few visits to NB's best bouldering spot this spring, we've managed to increase the total number of problems by nearly 10%.  In the previous post, I only mentioned some new problems in passing, and concentrated on describing the road conditions.  This time I'll do the opposite:  The roads are slightly more compacted, but still very rough and also soft in places.

The first new problems of 2013 are in the Slab Area.  Crack Head follows a thin shallow seam up a near-vertical slab, and Butthead comes up from underneath the boulder to a rounded slabby arete.  From there I went to the Middle Area to add a traverse to the right face of M, as I'd finally managed to leaver a backbreaking block out of the landing zone on my last visit of 2012.  The last addition from day one was Spongiform, whose landing had been too wet to attempt in the fall.

*  *  *
Last Tuesday, I'd hoped to cut a trail for Megacrystals Area.  On my way out, I passed a couple of guys trying to find the boulders, so I ended up doing some guiding instead.  It was probably just as well, as rain was threatening the whole afternoon, and I didn't want to stray far from the car in case the skies did open up and I had to make a quick exit before the road turned to mush.  I did work a few moves on one project, but didn't get it.

I spent this past Friday trimming branches and hauling rocks to remedy a very bad landing below the north arete of How The West Was Won.  I scrubbed it a bit, but still don't know if a line is possible.  After lunch I cut about 200m of trail at the northern part of Megacrystals leading to this beauty.

Those two big flakes sounded very bad when touched, and easily popped off, fragmenting as they hit the soft ground. The rest of the rock is solid, and though there are not going to be any juggy sit starts, I think some nice problems will soon be established.

On Sunday, Pierre and I put in a 10 hour day that started with climbing about 10 established problems, then moved on to trail work, scrubbing and 10 FA's.   The first of this new bunch is an absolute gem that I couldn't quite get when Mike and Jono helped me scrub it in the fall.  After the winter, the sloping finish is a bit cleaner, but still just as long a reach.  It took a bit of work to figure out the last part, but I got it.  Found on the Houdini boulder, it's a 3-star V4/5 called Escape Coat.  The features are atypical for granite and the sequence is incredible!

Next, Pierre put up Holy Weed Stacks, which is a neat addition to the slab side of M.  We followed this up with parrallel finger cracks on a boulder we discovered while cutting the trail from Houdini to M.

With a couple of detours, we eventually made it along the Middle trail to the Bad English boulders.  This is what we ended up dubbing those that Mike, Jono and I worked on late last fall.  After lots of scrubbing and laughter, there were 7 new problems, and plenty of variations and eliminates up the heavily featured south-west one.

Road To Munson Not Good

Since it’s been so dry, with a province-wide fire ban, yesterday I thought I’d try to drive out to the Munson Lake boulders.  Being ultra cautious, based on last year’s experience, I stopped many times to test the road on foot prior to attempting sections by car.  Eventually, I made it, but even the return trip took at least twice as long (and three times the focus) as usual.  Here’s a detailed report:

Seven Mile Lake Road is firm and dry.  Some sections are riddled with brick-sized rocks, others pot holed, some deeply rutted, and there are a few eroded washouts.  Collectively these make for a rough, but uncomplicated drive.

Munson Lake Road is wet at the turn-off, but passable.  The rest of the road is dry, and rough.  Early season ATV traffic stalled in some of the uphill sections.  Their side-slipping tracks, and 3-point turns have left deep scars in the road surface.  Typically muddy sections are dry, but still deform under weight.  The bulk of the remainder is very soft and sandy.  There are fresh moose (and now human and tire) tracks as deep as 10cm in places.  Since the weather changed so quickly, what I think happened was as the frost came out and moisture evaporated, things dried in place, with lots of air space between the granules. Driving isn’t very good, and with the bit of rain forecasted later in the week, everything could turn to deep mud for quite a while.


Overall, I’m glad I made the trip.  A sandwich box, which I’d forgotten out there in December, was especially happy to see me.  (I didn’t have the heart to tell it I didn’t even realize it was missing.)

It was really nice to finally get some harder climbing in and tenderize the finger tips a bit while in the process of putting up 4 of the 10 or so new problems I ran out of time for in the fall.

Spongiform one of the new problems goes up the right, and a traverse (once clean) looks possible as well.

Oh, and my training outcomes... Generally, it feels like I’m climbing rather sloppily, which I’ll attribute to early season rust.  This should get polished off with a few more days on the erratics.  On a positive note, for all but the most balancy and technical problems I attempted, strength and stability gains more than made up for my (temporary) lack of grace.  The strength increases were very noticeable, along with how quickly and thoroughly I would recover between attempts.  With a bit of luck, I’ll soon be able to get on some of the harder projects and really put the training programme to the test.

2013 Pre-Season Training for Climbing

I completed the 2013 off-season training for climbing with a peaking phase.  Without getting into the technical details, here’s how I kicked my ass:

• Very heavy resistance training 5 days a week.
• Campus board training twice a week.
• Climbing practice at least twice a week.
• Four to 5 hours of badminton each week.
• Bushwhacking exploration once a week.  (This always included a combination of postholing, steep slippery hard-pack, mud, and leaf-covered tiger traps formed between the big rocks.  No footwear covers all of that terrain, and I usually guessed wrong.  It was good for the mind to get outside and into some new territory, but physically it was an exhausting conclusion to the week.)

It was hard to keep up that intensity and volume of training for the month, and my body was eager for the scheduled week of active rest that followed.  But now, I’m fully recovered, and STRONG –and itching to climb, too!

Unfortunately, winter doesn’t seem to want to end.  Bouldering at Munson Lake won’t be in the cards for a few more months anyhow, as it will take that long for the road to solidify enough to be passable.  Elsewhere, though, there are a few projects I’d like to get on early in the season before the bugs come out, so I want to be ready to go at any time.  For now, that almost means training as though it’s in-season.

I’ve rearranged all the holds on Kermit, and will be hopping on the wall at least once a day, and ideally 3 or more brief sessions focusing on small holds and technical moves.  Given my work schedule and daylight, I know 4 days are definitely not going to entail outdoor climbing.  This is good in that I can schedule resistance and campus training days appropriately to avoid fatigue on potential projecting days, yet still maintain or even progress strength and power.

2013 Off Season Training for Climbing

Following the 2012 climbing season in New Brunswick, I took about a month before I started to pull plastic.  In that period, I followed a general resistance training programme and participated in a variety of sporting activities to keep the blood flowing.  In the new year, my off-season training began.

When I designed the off season programme, I was planning on taking a 2-week climbing trip sometime in March.  Though this fell through, preparing myself handle a high volume of  climbing at a reasonably high level in a couple months (The trip was to include bouldering, sport and multi-pitch trad.) was as much a consideration as getting better for the local 2013 season –whenever that may start.

This programme was designed for me. (Short male in his 30’s, climber of 15 years, formal resistance training history of >10 years for power/speed sports, but only one year for climbing.  Very good flexibility, strength and joint stability {including the region that you think of as “core strength”}, low percent body fat. Ability to squat 2x body weight, bench presses 1.5x body weight and pull-down 1.75x body weight.  Access to climbing gyms is limited, but with excellent resistance training facilities available.  Preferred discipline is bouldering.  Primary weakness is sticking and pulling trough long, off-balance moves between side-pulls on overhangs.)  You can likely benefit from incorporating some of these training ideas into your programme, though something tailored to you and your specific needs will be superior.  Of course how you do things is more important than what you do, so seek out a professional who will work with you.

The resistance training protocols were inspired by the recent work of Villanueva, et al.  (Though I did manage to train for my own goals, I was still guinea pigging some new research ideas to see how it feels and measure how well it works.  Ultimately, I wanted to know if it would be beneficial to apply it in the future when working with my athletes.)

Though it included just 4 exercises, the hypertrophy protocol was typical in all other respects: each exercise performed for three sets of ten repetitions at 70% of the 1RM load, and rest between sets and exercises was 60 seconds.  Engaging large muscle masses to move significant loads through big ranges of motion was key.  As such, the work:rest ratio (1:3) results in a hard 16 minute workout, which is taxing metabolically and only for advanced lifters.  The hormonal response was felt approaching the end of nearly each workout, so loads were barely progressed, if at all.

The exercises on day one (Mon) were Squats, Bench Press, Inspiratory/extension Pull Downs, Lateral Glides (a hip mobility and trunk stability exercise).  Day two exercises (Friday) were Front Squats, Incline Bench Press, Expiratory/flexion Pull Downs, and Lateral Glides.

The strength protocol is a bit more novel.  Four major exercises were performed, and the rest periods remained at 60 seconds.  The difference form month two being that each was performed for 8 sets of 3 repetitions at 85% 1RM (the same volume-load as the hypertrophy protocol).  The same exercises were used with one exception: Lateral Glides were replaced with Walking Lunges, as performing the former with heavy loads is not advisable.  It was possible to increase all loads at least once throughout the 4 week training block.

My on-the-wall time was comprised of two portions: climbing practice and resistance training.  Depending on time and interest level, climbing practice lasted anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes.  Early on this entailed setting long off-balance moves to work my weakness, then on stringing 5-8 of these together into problems.  Later, as I became more proficient, I’d work through the circuit in various sequences, do a few problems back-to-back, or try some new hard moves, but kept rest periods brief.  Immediately following the climbing practice, I performed the resistance training portion.  Having done major lifts the day before, it was time for the assistance exercises, namely deltoid, triceps, biceps, and abdominals.  Historically I would do these standing.  That is the functional approach.  Ground based sports performance responds best to ground based training.  However unlike the vast majority of sports, climbing is done on a vertical or overhanging surface.  (Notice, I did not say that climbing is a sport.)  Performing lifts while on the climbing wall would be more sport-specific. (OK, I’m just came really close to calling climbing a sport there, but I refer to sport-specific in the global sense of specificity of training.  Climbing is not a sport.)

So that’s what I did: Dumbbell press (deltoid) like reaching high, overhead elbow extension (triceps) like swinging an ice axe, biceps curls like pulling up slack before clipping, and hanging targets (abs) like lifting feet to high holds after cutting loose.  The first month was a hypertrophy protocol (3x10, 60 seconds rest).  The second month used a conventional strength protocol (3x5, >120 seconds rest).  Each set began from a different rest or clipping stance, with an attempt made to ensure a certain level of right and left symmetry.  The intention was to finish each set with enough reserve to complete one more rep of the exercise and hang on for 2 more reps, though this was not how things always transpired!

Biceps curls on the wall

Triceps extensions on the wall

The results:
I didn’t bother monitoring body composition for any changes, as I got sick for a bit not long before and again during the programme.  Recovery from those would have tainted any results, since they were not drastic.

Basic strength in the three major lifts increased a respectable 4.6 - 8.8%, so that part of the programme was effective.  I don’t really have a standard to compare climbing ability pre- and post training.  The outdoor season hasn’t begun, so I can’t get on any projects or test pieces.  Everything on Kermit is obviously easier, as I’ve been working on them for as much as 2 months now.  Subjectively, I feel very strong when climbing, at least as strong as I’ve been at my best.  I’ve managed to skip holds on all of the problems at home, and felt comfortable on the routes I got on at the crappy wall the other day.

From an invested effort perspective, I credit the on-the-wall resistance exercises with the biggest bang for the buck in terms of improved climbing performance.  These were the most novel to me, so it stands to reason that would be the case.  I like the tenacity required to maintain balance, stability, and grip while focusing on the dynamic portion of the exercise, so will keep these in future training phases.

The Esquilax, Part 1

Yesterday I went snowshoeing to Bald Peak.  Aside from enjoying the fresh air and the activity itself, I wanted to see how much snow had accumulated on the few boulders near the summit.  My hope was “very little” so that we could head back on some warm day soon and climb.

The boulder whose name I can’t remember could be topped out, but there’s a fair bit piled up at the base.  The Esquilax had some snow in the off-width, but the crack itself was dry (despite melting temps and full sun).  The other problems on it were not climbable as there was at least 10cm of snow right to the lip.  With this week’s forecast, the chances of early March bouldering are favourable.

One of the Lodge/Smith problems, on the back side of the Esquilax.

For those who are interested, here’s a bit of a history lesson on the area:  The southern tip the Mount Douglas summit plateau is exposed granite, which rolls off southward to form 10 to 20 meters of near vertical cliff.  Climbers, who have been coming there for many decades, appropriately dubbed the area Bald Peak.  Some Nerepis Valley residents, refer to it as Devil’s Rock.

Most of the visitors are hikers.  The face probably sees more ascents on one Saturday in September (a UNB Rock & Ice event) than the other 364 days combined.  Over the years many people have explored nearby and scrambled up some short cliffs or one-move boulders, but there’s not much there.  I know of only twice when people ventured to the top, specifically with the intention to boulder (and find more).

The first party was made up of Jon Lodge and Derrick Smith, who walked much of the South and West slopes of Mount Douglas.  In the process they established a couple of boulder problems just below Bald Peak, dozens at the Ski Hill (adjacent to the cliff known as Mount Doug), and came across the cliff that became Sunnyside.  The specifics of their ascents have mostly been forgotten.  Hopefully one of them will read this and pass along some details.

A few years later, Jeff Hum and I tried to follow their steps.  It was a sweltering and humid day.  Hum was hung over.  We had to stop for a rest and to re-hydrate before reaching the summit.  I had some lunch.  He fell asleep.  I wandered off and discovered a few things.  1) We were one turn, and less than 100 paces away from the summit.  2) Derrick had left his toque beside a boulder and it was only partially decayed. 3) Esquilax exist!

After finding the hat, I went to the base of the steep overhang (that matched their description and whose sharp crystals still had some chalk on them), squeezed onto the exposed slab and hopped down the back side.  There, I came face to face with dark eyes, massive buck teeth, long whiskers, and a pair of 25 cm ears on a head the size of a volleyball.  We stared at each other in disbelief for a few seconds, then it slowly turned it’s grey body away and hopped a couple times.  It’s  white rump was at least 30cm wide.  Just before takeoff, with thick legs extended, it’s little tail was almost half a metre from the ground.  It stopped, looked back at me long enough for me to confirm it had the head of a rabbit and not a lynx, then turned again and in three slow graceful bounds disappeared into the woods.

Reeling from this experience, I looked up at the boulder.  Nearly a 2 metre roof split by a crack.  It’s spectacular! How could they have missed this?

I went to wake Hum.  On our way to the boulder we got turned around in the thicket and emerged at another boulder that looked worthwhile.  We immediately went to work on it.  Once we got some shrubs and branches cleared out, we realized we were just a few metres from the Lodge/Smith boulder problems.  No wonder they missed the roof crack!

J Hum back in the early 2000's on the boulder we didn't name.

After a blown out shoe and a few FA’s, the heat had taken it’s toll on us and we packed up to leave.  Passing the roof crack, we stopped in awe.  I couldn’t resist. I had to do this thing.  Easy face moves lead to the crack.  I started at fingers, then a hand jam, a fist for the next move.  I remember cutting my feet loose and swinging from an arm bar to do a heel-toe near the lip, then an off-with top-out.  I dubbed it The Esquilax and I remember it as being the nicest boulder problem I’ve ever done.  The rock, the moves, the setting, the exposure, everything.

The roof is not quite 3m off the ground, and just left of the frame, the flat landing drops of pretty far, making for some exhilarating exposure!

Isn't it gorgeous? Hopefully a real photographer will come for the next ascent and get some better shots.

I couldn't back up any further, but enough to show the snow in the off-width.

I plan to climb it again this spring.  It will be interesting to see if it holds up to the high status my memory has instilled upon it.  I’ve climbed hundreds of problems in the years since the first (and only) ascent, so for the past while I feared it may not.  Revisiting it yesterday though, it looks exactly as I remembered.  Stay tuned...