eldiente

What route are you talking about on South Early Winter? Are you thinking of the Direct East Buttress? At last check, the bolt ladders climbed free at 5.11.

Funny as I have the same problem when gym training. Often my skin goes raw and becomes soft long before my arms get pumped. Sometimes this happens outside too, but often outside the pump sets in first. Bouldering is usually the worst for me as I used to try and do 50+ problems in a night. A few things I've tried... *Don't do steep jug hauls. I find the overhanging jug hauls to be hard on the skin, it gives me splits and blisters low on the fingers and has minimal training value. I mean, how often outside are you going to climb a 45 degree wall with huge buckets the whole way? I can see maybe doing a few easy laps to warm-up, but that's it. If you feel the need to do jug hauls, go use a pull-up bar or something more skin friendly. *Dont squirm. This again is more of an issue on routes with big holds, but often my skin get trashed shuffling my hands around on a hold trying to re-grip it. Stick the hold and don't wiggle, that wiggling action saws away at the skin. *Climb hard routes. Do enough "easy" routes to get warmed-up and then do problems/routes that require 100% effort. I'm thinking of roped routes that are hard enough where you're falling half the time and leave you gasping at the chains. For most mortals, 3-6 routes like this and the arms will be pumped but the skin won't be too raw. *Climb thin stuff. Again I find the big, more abrasive on the skin. Thin crimpers might wear out a tiny spot on the tips of your fingers but leave the rest of your skin un-touched. -Nate

Not entirely sure, but I think this is an established aid line done by other parties in past years.

Stevie Haston recently ticked 5.14D sport and flashed a .13+ crack at the age of 52! Clearly this guy is washed-up and should move over to let the young kids climb. [img:center]http://www.dmmclimbing.com/uploads/news/Stevie_Left_Right.jpg[/img]

Timbuktu is a real place in Iowa with real workers and real jobs. Respect.

I do find that jumping from tall problems gives me sore knees and a stiff back when done repeatedly.

Split Beaver is indeed burly. I got spanked on it when I tried it a few years ago... [img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/RkDCyr-jt5I/AAAAAAAAAGE/bWtk-lyymBs/s512/IMG_0374.JPG[/img]

Ahh I miss Durango. During the summer there is some fun sport routes on this wall.

I was thinking more along the lines of the mental difficulties, not the physical ones. The point I was making was that placing gear does not automatically make a route "bold" and conversely clipping a bolt does not make route "trivial." Give EBGBs a J-tree a try and try to tell me that clipping bolts makes a route safe, or Rock Warrior in Red Rocks for instance. I'd have a better chance of success on a trad climb two numbers grades higher than these routes just knowing I can plug gear whenever I want.

Again I'm going to have to say, why do we keep associating trad with bold and/or run-out climbing? Sure, there are gear protected trad climbs that are run-out, scary whatever, but your typical crack climb is not bold or run-out. Get sketched out on lead? Place another piece of gear and continue you on. I'd say the average trad lead is less committing to on-sight than your average bolted route. I can't stop half-way through a hard section and place another bolt. As for working out routes on the rope.. Yeah maybe on TR this is true but you ever been on upper Heinous? The rope only helps stop your 40 foot fall and doesn't offer any help in "working" the moves.

Funny how everyone associates "trad" climbing with bold because your placing gear. I find the opposite is true, climbing at the Creek I can plug a bomber piece every 6 inches if I want. No commitment or boldness is required, easy to on-sight as I know that I can stop anywhere and plug bomber gear. If the on-sight goes South, I know I can French Free it to get up the pitch. Mellow fun. Same goes with gear. Yeah a big shinny bolt aways makes you feel good, but I feel the same way about a good cam. Climbing above natural gear is no more scary or bold than climbing above a bolt. The longest/most painful falls I've ever taken have always been above bolts. You get into positions where you have to make a hard clip or take a nasty whipper. No way you can plug in more pro to calm the nerves or French Free the moves to get around a crux section. So in this sense I sometime find a bolted pitch to be more "exciting" or as some on this forum would say "bold." *Eds note. I was thinking about this yesterday while on sighing this dirty 5.11C R pitch. Technically this is a rap bolted sport pitch, but the first bolt was half way out and wiggled, the second one was bomber but a ground fall from 40 feet to clip it. Remind me again how this is "safer" than climbing a few feet above a bomber cam?* -Nate

Kevin did you just discover YouTube this week? What's up with all the video postings? Looks like a fun route to me, although you'd think it would make more sense just to wear the harness from the start vs putting it on mid route.

Skipping the last oh 10 posts because I'm too lazy and it sounds like nonsense... Most of Xfit is interval training with a different name. Athletes and fat folks alike have been doing these types of workouts for just about ever. I recall doing many of these same workouts that now have girl names when I wrestled in junior high. Simple and hard. Now for some reason these workouts are revolutionary, controversial and require that you pay $$$ to a coach to show you how to do them. Very odd. Just about any athlete can benefit from interval training, however it is important to do the training targeted to your sport. Unfortunately, many of the Xfit WODs have no benefit for climbers and in fact will make you a worse climber. EX: A 1.5x bodyweight bench press requires massive pushing muscles that you'll have to drag up the mountain but won't be of any value to you.

Are you kidding me? I can guarantee that there are many elite athletes working out this way and pushing themselves to the limit and even puking...maybe not at theie time trial, but in their preparation for sure. So you're saying that an olympic athlete is not going all out in a close race and is holding something back? Maybe, who knows what goes on in someone's head. Although I'd think most folks at that level of competition are going all-out in a way that none of us could even imagine, 100%+. At the end of hard race, these guys aren't puking or rolling around the ground. You'll see cyclist a immediately get on the trainer and spin out, a runner does light jogging etc. It is possible to work really f**ing hard and still be able to cool down properly. Of course nobody at X-fit really cares, it is hard to brag on your WOD blog about a cool down.. Sounds much better to talk about puking or passing out.

This makes me laugh. When's the last time you saw an Olympic marathon runner puke? Or Lance Armstrong finish a time trial and collapse? That's right, these guys aren't elite and not trying hard enough. I've never understood why anyone thinks falling over after a work-out is a good idea. Puking? I could break my finger with a hammer and the pain might cause me to puke, doesn't mean that I got a good workout.

These "Druggies" you're referring to probably all climb 5 grades harder than you do. I know, it hurts to think that the most successful climbers also happen to be stoners. Just think, you could be climbing way harder routes, and having more fun (cause you'd be high) than you are right now.

I was in the same area the previous weekend (dribbles area) and noticed very unstable snow. While hiking around the top we experienced large cracks going through the snow. We were spooked enough to give up on the walk-off and rap the route. I have to question why the climbers continued to force up the gully after setting off the first slide(?) Sliding 300 feet would be enough for me to bail or at least go climb something else that day. I really hate to hear about people dying this way, what a waste. Condolences to Guy's family and friends. Sounds like a good person and the world needs more of those.

This problem is about as much fun as you can have in Cabo without having to get a shot the next morning. [img:center]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/SCOVhWUc0DI/AAAAAAAAChc/fe9el7lsQqg/s640/IMG_1934.JPG[/img]

[img:center]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/SCOVYGUc0BI/AAAAAAAAChM/B4hWNnQYNU0/s512/IMG_1931.JPG[/img] Don't bother with a rope or gear, not worth it. Bouldering there is way fun though. I soloed a route that had bolts and they looked awful, very sketchy. On the plus side, there was lots of um', maybe one of these would hold a fall on the way down? (And you thought Ozone was over bolted!) [img:center]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/Sw11IcU9xJI/AAAAAAAAIZs/j3eXDmse_lo/s576/IMG_1939.jpg[/img]

No one that runs a marathon at a competitive level has anywhere near 15% body fat. More like 4%-8%. On the same note, I bet you'd be hard pressed to find an elite (whatever that threshold is) rock climber that has body fat over 10%. Easy test. Go to gym and onsite the hardest route you can. Add 10 pounds to your harness or wear a weight vest and watch how much of a difference it makes. For me, 10 pounds in the weight vest cuts off one full number grade, sometimes even more.

The building next to PRG has a 10" OW that has been lead and free soloed. Rumored to be hard...

I always thought for 5.10bish that is was not super easy, that little spot above the tree is a bad for big hands, #1 size always feels like work for me.

Yes, a regular pair of snowboard boots and crampons works just fine. How often are you going to have to climb waterfall ice to get at your chosen descent? Very simple, put crampons on snowboarding boots, walk-up. How's this for stoke?

Dusty, expensive, no shade, loud, no water. Basically it sucks.

Um, melting hot boulder problems,stupid hot sport climbs. Or rad, perfect temperature granite cracks? That's an easy choice.