Skills

Author: Heather Weidner Publish date: Aug 6, 2018 When I first started climbing 15 years ago, the term “girl climbs” was still being thrown around in all its gender-stereotyping glory. In case you’ve never heard it, it basically refers to hyper-technical, vertical routes requiring fancy footwork and strong fingers. I excelled at these types of climbs, and enjoyed dancing up vertical terrain around Northern Colorado when I was a beginner living in Ft. Collins finishing up veterinary school. I moved back to my hometown of Las Vegas after school to fulfill a scholarship for the state of Nevada working as a vet. Having a four-day workweek, I finally had time to pursue climbing more consistently and seriously. However, much of the sport climbing around Vegas was steep limestone—sometimes even horizontal—with holds chipped by 6-foot-tall route developer. As a 5’5” girl with a 0” ape-index, these routes were extremely difficult … [Read more...] about Working Your Weaknesses: Embrace Your “Anti-Style”

Get comfortable going airborne so you can let go and climb Author: Arno Ilgner Publish date: Jul 30, 2018 Falling is something we all tend to avoid. It’s scary and can potentially cause us injury. However, falling is also a very real part of climbing, so avoiding it doesn’t help. It’s also a skill. We can find responsible ways to integrate falling into our training so we can practice it well. To do this, we check our motivation. Instead of being motivated by practicing falling to “get it over with,” we’re motivated to be present as we practice. How do we do this? There are two important aspects: 1. We practice in small increments, which allows us to take on a little stress or fear and work through it gradually. Starting our practice on toprope or at the top-clipped lead bolt can help. Then we can increment to longer falls by taking one step up as we become comfortable, until eventually we’re taking honest body-length-plus … [Read more...] about Learn This: Practice Falling as a Skill

Author: Matt Lloyd Publish date: Jul 19, 2018 You’ve dreamed big, but you know that as a responsible tax-paying adult, your biggest, boldest dreams—the kind you lived for as a child—often die before they’re born. So you resign, by default, through a lack of initiative and action, from what you really want; you’re waiting for a perfect moment that never arrives. The truth is that a perfect, fully-fledged plan never lands in your lap. Nor can you accomplish big and bold dreams with just preparation and prudence. If you want to move beyond wistful fantasies of corniced ridges and high-altitude rock faces and actually go big, then it’s time to embrace the whatever-it-takes, gett'r done world of goal completion. I call it disaster style, a term borrowed for the hardened alpinists of the generation before mine. It’s a philosophy of bold, adventurous living. It’s also how you find inner serenity and still manage when … [Read more...] about How to Accomplish Big Goals Disaster-Style in 6 Easy Steps

Author: Steve Bechtel Publish date: Jul 18, 2018 Everyone wants to send, but figuring out precisely how—amidst the many training approaches out there—is challenging. However, what you should focus on is maximizing effort—in the appropriate way, relative to where you’re at on your project. I developed the above flow chart, with suggestions, to show you an easily customizable path to redpointing your hardest. 1. Train Your Cardiovascular System Most climbers have plenty of cardio capacity. However, if approaches wear you out, you might need basic conditioning—walking with a pack, hiking, or doing easy multi-pitch climbs. Aim for 30-plus minutes per day, every day. 2. Get on the Hangboard If you can’t hang the holds, get on a hangboard. Debating protocols is like arguing over which vegetable is better: Any vegetable is a good start. Figure out which holds challenge you, and train those. More work per session is not better; instead, … [Read more...] about Flowchart: What to Train to Redpoint Your Project

When you're putting your body through the strain of 5 months on the trail, you need to take care of it. Author: Liz "Snorkel" Thomas Publish date: Jul 18, 2018 Dear Snorkel, What vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients do I need to make sure I consume during a thru-hike, and how what’s the best way to get them? I love walking, but I’m not so crazy about my teeth falling out. Worried About Scurvy Dear Scurvy, On a normal backpacking trip, it is possible (though not advisable) to eat nothing but junk food. Depending on your off-trail diet, most bodies store enough nutrients to last through a short trip. But try the same tactic on a thru-hike, and you could compromise your health. To get into the nitty gritty of how a thru-hiking diet differs from a backpacking diet, I’ve enlisted the help of our Thru-hiking 101 class nutritionist, Katie “Salty” Gerber. In addition to being a pedigreed thru-hiker—she’s traveled the length of … [Read more...] about Ask a Thru-Hiker: What Nutrients Do I Need?

Author: Climbing Staff Publish date: Jul 17, 2018 Climbing Magazine is looking for reader-submitted mini-tips and “climber hacks” for our Quick Clips department: the best how-to, DIY tips for the gym, crags, mountains, and beyond. If you have an idea that you think fits and is 50-200 words long, send it along with any photos to [email protected] and we’ll give it a look. The winning tip, as chosen by our editors, will win a No. 7 or No. 8 Dragon Cam from DMM! Here is an example of the sort of thing we’re looking for: When knotting Dyneema slings (i.e., for an anchor), clip a carabiner through the knot to make it easy to untie after it's been loaded. —Tyler Hagen … [Read more...] about Quick Clips: Send Us Your Climbing Hacks, Win a Large DMM Dragon Cam

Eat smart to fill your belly and send your hardest We’ve all heard the term “climber bod” tossed around as we ogle each other’s strapping lats, sinewy forearms, and string-bean thighs. But it’s better to fuel for performance rather than appearance, which means including a source of fuel with some building blocks. Fuel sources are carbs (quick-burning fuel; think gas on a fire) and fat (slow-burning fuel; think of a dense log). If you’re climbing sustained routes or for long periods, or are giving intense send-gos, prioritize carbs, which give you an almost-immediate edge by delivering a new burst of chemical energy to hard-working cells. Fat is helpful for long days in the alpine or at the crags, when you need a steady, slow-burning energy source. Protein, meanwhile, is the building-block macronutrient. When consumed before, during, and after exercise, it improves your muscles’ adaptive response to prolonged sessions and improves muscle … [Read more...] about 3 Turbo-Charged Crag Snack Recipes

Weather trapped you inside? Limber up and quiet your mind with these easy poses. Author: Emily Pennington Publish date: Jun 25, 2018 Fact: We don’t go hiking to sit inside a tent, but sometimes, the weather doesn’t give us a choice. And after hours of sitting inside a 28-square-foot bubble of B.O., listening to rain tapping against the flimsy nylon walls, it’s easy to see how the experience would fray anyone’s nerves. What’s worse is that sitting still for hours after a workout can actually be harmful to major muscle groups. Lactic acid build-up can cause muscle soreness, stiffness, and fatigue when hikers don’t stretch after a long haul, turning your backpacking trip into a death march. This series of 10 yoga poses is designed to help wilderness lovers stay limber in mind and body, even when the weather keeps you zippered up. Bust them out on a deflated sleeping pad or bag liner to protect the tent’s flooring.  Finish off … [Read more...] about 11 Yoga Poses You Can Do in a Tent

The internet is in a panic over a huge invasive plant that can cause severe burns and temporary blindness. Here's what hikers should keep in mind. Author: Adam Roy Publish date: Jun 22, 2018 If you've read the news lately, you've probably heard of giant hogweed. The invasive plants sound like something out of a horror film: they grow taller than a ranch house, have bristly white hairs lining their stem, and, oh, can give you third-degree burns if you disturb it.  Better yet, it's spreading: While this invader was formerly mostly found in the northeast, staff from Virginia Tech's Massey Herbarium confirmed earlier this month that the plant has now established itself in their state as well. Here's what you need to know about giant hogweed. What is giant hogweed? Also known as giant cow parsnip or hogsbane, giant hogweed (heracleum mantegazzianum) is a member of the apiaceae family, a group of plants that includes carrots, dill, parsnip, caraway, and several other … [Read more...] about Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Giant Hogweed, the Plant That Causes Third-Degree Burns

Author: Matt Samet Publish date: Jun 21, 2018 Crusty Corner is a column written by Climbing Editor Matt Samet, a climber of 30 years. When he's not at the gym or the rocks trying to stave off the inevitable performance decline of middle age, you can find him in his basement playing Xbox. I’ve stopped keeping count of how many times it’s happened: A friend and I head out climbing early and get to the crag before everyone else, or to arrive with the first wave of climbers. I’m a father now, climbing for nearly three decades but with two young kids, and I need to get out and back home early if I’m to keep my weekly hall pass and not just be consigned to one-hanging “Red Tape” ad infinitum for what little remains of my productive years. Here on Colorado’s Front Range, there are many, many climbers, and if you climb on a weekend at a popular crag, it pays to leave early, especially if you have a specific route in mind. We have seen … [Read more...] about Crusty Corner: Three Simple Tips to Be a Better Custodian of Crowded Cliffs