1. We got the Beta
If you’re planning a flash, then make sure you get all the beta that is available.
The important questions we needed to answer were:
What was the width? What was the depth? how was the friction? And what was the length of the climb?
For you and your own projects, you may ask the questions:
Where is the crux? How do you climb the crux sequence? What gear should I place? Which side of the harness do I need the gear? Etc
The more information and the more detail, the better. Don't leave any stone unturned.
2. We Built a Replica (Fast!)
We didn’t just head to Germany and hope for the best. We built a size replica of Autobahn. Building replicas is quite commonplace these days, but often I feel like people can get hung up on the build, and forget that they’re losing training time. We didn’t spend a week building it; we spent an afternoon.
When building a replica, it doesn’t need to be pretty or aesthetic—it’s only you looking at it. It needs to be:
- Functional (for us, as exact as possible for width and depth)
- Comfy (so you actually want to train on it, and your muscles give out before your skin)
3. Setting a Target
We set a target from the outset: 30 laps with weight, which equated to the 60m distance whilst carrying a rack of cams.
Setting a training goal which matches the route/event is really important. Better still, set mini goals between where you are now and the end training goal (if the end goal seems too far in the distance)
4. Make it Hard (But Not Too Hard)
We actually built the replica slightly harder than what we were expecting. Tom had mentioned the friction was good on the climb, but we built the replica with plain wood, meaning it was pretty slick.
This served two purposes:
1. It was harder (at least we thought it would be)
2. It made it comfy, as we weren't ruining our skin and getting abrasions from friction paint.
Point to note here: Don't make it too hard, or else you won’t get the right training effect. You want to aim for about 15-20% harder at an absolute max.
We knew the climb was long and that we needed to be training endurance; make the replica too hard, and you’d be training power endurance or bouldering, which would be ineffective.
5. The Mental Game: Trust the Process
This is where most people quit. At the beginning, it's hard. I think in our first session Mari managed a maximum of 4 laps (8m)—we needed to be able to do 30 laps (60m). That's a big difference!
We didn't panic or rush. We trusted the process and the slow accumulation of work. She showed up, put in the time, and those laps eventually turned into the 60m continuous effort that was needed.
6. The Slow Build-Up
Even though I have a deep history of offwidth training, I didn't jump straight back into 60m efforts. My muscles, feet, and bones certainly would not let me!
We slowly let our muscles, skin, and connective tissue adapt to the specific stresses of offwidth climbing over weeks, not days. We gave ourselves a training period of months, not weeks, to make sure we were ready.
7. Perfecting the Project Tactics
A flash ascent isn't just about movement; it’s about making sure your tactics are flawless. We spent time perfecting our gear and protection plan. This included testing taping methods and glove systems to ensure comfort and maximum friction and durability over 60 meters.
We had questions:
- Palm glove on, palm glove off?
- Taping, no taping?
- How should we fix everything to our hand?
- Trousers or shorts?
- Kneepads no kneepads?
- Long sleeve or taped forearms?
We tested many combinations over multiple training sessions and settled on what worked. We’d been through the process and didn’t leave anything to guesswork. Crucially, we both settled on a method that worked for us (which ended up being different)—we didn’t just copy each other.
8. Training with the Load
We decided early on that for a flash attempt, we couldn't solo the route like Tom did. We needed the protection, which meant carrying all the necessary cams.
We replicated this weight by training with a weight belt later on in the training cycle. Why? Because you need to train the actual work load and not just the movement.
We also trained with a greater weight then the rack of cams
9. Matching the Training to the Goal
Towards the end of the training, when it was nearly time to go, we did a few more little things to try and replicate what it would be like on the day of the climb.
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I trained with a harness even though I was just bouldering on a replica in an attic.
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I did one maximum 30-lap effort (60m) on the replica without pre-hanging off my legs in the warm up. Why? Because at the climb, there is nowhere to actually properly warm up without getting on the climb itself, so it’s hard to activate the legs and shins in the correct way before setting off. I wanted to make sure I could do the full distance needed straight off the bat (as this is what we'd be doing on the flash)
Note: I would not recommend this as a normal thing to do in an every day session.
10. Gear strategy
I’d already decided how many pieces of gear I was going to take on the route and how I was going to spread them out across the 60m. I had a gear placing plan.
11. Got our runout trad mindset in check
To stay fully protected on this climb at all times, you would probably have to carry a rack of 20+ size #5 cams. This is a massive amount (to own) and carry.
To get comfortable with taking less you have to understand your own abilities compared to the level of the route (the process of how to do this is a whole other newsletter in itself). But, before setting off we were comfortable with our mental headspace of taking less cams.
12. Believed (Mindset)
Before leaving the ground, we actually believed we could make the flash. We knew we had gone the distance in training; now it was just applying it. I think we actually both believed we were stronger than the route and that we could do more.
Climbing something like this is so mindset-orientated (i.e., you never really fall off an offwidth, you usually actually just give up). We knew that if something went wrong, we had the physical capacity to deal with it.
Interestingly, something went wrong on Mari’s ascent: her shoe lace snapped, meaning her shoe was looser than it should have been. She had to put way more weight through her other leg, meaning it got more fatigued. However, she knew her level was beyond the route (or at least believed her ability was beyond the route), so got on with it, didn’t give up and made it work.
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