3 game changers I learnt last week

Hello Cracksters

I’ve just been on a climbing trip with Tom, to Switzerland (Tom says hi by the way), trying an 8b+ trad line.

We’ve had around 5-6 climbing days to get the route done, which for me, at this level on trad is quite tight…

So today I’m going to give you 3 things I’ve learnt (or been reminded of on this trip), that I think we can all take away and apply in our climbing

1. We all get scared

What do I mean by this?

In the past I’ve found I can often deal with big safe runouts quite well, I haven’t really had to do any specific training or mindset to get me into the zone to go for it on this style.

On this route there definitely are some long runouts, however I found myself on my first redpoint quite nervous and a little hesitant.

Why?

Because, I hadn’t taken any kind of big fall for a year and a half, and I felt like my brain was out of that mode.

Like I say in the past I wouldn’t have had a problem with it, but now I felt like I needed to approach this differently if I was going to get the most out of my final climbing days on lead.

So, instead of going all out on my first lead, I really used it as a learning experience to see what the fall was like, get my head back in the game. I obviously put in a solid effort, but secretly in my mind, what I really wanted to do was climb high into the crux, take the fall and put my mind at ease that it was in fact totally fine…and that's what I did.

Usually on a short trip with a few climbing days to do a project, I would be in the mindset of “making every go count”, but in this situation I felt like not putting my mind at ease may have detrimental effects on other lead attempts.

My plan worked, during my next lead attempts I was at ease with the consequence of a fall.

So what I learnt…

Sacrificing one attempt to settle the mind can massively boost the quality of future attempts (and the quality of the attempt is what counts).

So, if you know you’re going to be running into some doubts (whether it’s long runouts or something else), on your leads, get a few leads in to clear the doubts, so that your performance can shine through.

2. Test the options

What do I mean by this?

On this route there are some flaring jams, in the crux, which are quite subtle and you can use different parts of the feature to create different qualities of jams.

On this climb in particular, you can:

1. Use the bad part (which has a harder move to get to it), but makes the next move easier.

2. Use the good part (which has an easier move to get to it), but makes the next move harder.

When there are options like this which feel really 50/50, i.e. you’re not quite sure which one is better, the only way to truly know is to test it on lead.

Experience what it’s really like to climb into that sequence from the ground under the lead pressure.

My first lead attempt I tried option 1 and fell, my second lead attempt I tried option 2 and also fell. But I could tell straight away that option 1 felt better.

So what I learnt…

Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference when trying individual sequences, it’s only when you add all the climbing from the ground that the difference becomes apparent.

Sacrifice some lead goes to test the options, to enable you to reach the perfect lead quicker.

3. Figure out the easy parts

What do I mean by this?

When something is at your limit, take the time to work the easy bits as efficiently as you work the hard parts.

That doesn’t mean spend as much time on them (as getting the easy parts dialled will take a lot less time and energy), it means get them figured out to the same standard as the cruxes

Climbers can often forget this. But that extra 5% of fatigue you can conserve on the easy parts, may just give you the extra 1% you need to get through the crux section.

So what I learnt…

The best way for me to do this was on every session, warm up on the easy 6c intro to the climb. By doing this I was killing two birds with one stone; I was warming up, but also getting mileage on the easy section and getting it super dialled so I could climb it without thinking.

Summary

If we look at the points above, it can seem like they are taking more ‘time’, more preparation. But like I mentioned earlier, the quality of the redpoint is what counts.

So even if the trip is short, still do your preparation, and get the climb to a point where you are putting in quality redpoint time, as one quality attempt is all it takes.

Keep spreading the jamming joy, thanks

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3 game changers I learnt last week

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