erikred | Climb On

This is slowly becoming my Climbing Journal.

Went climbing yesterday with

mkb_cbr. Started with a nifty 5.6 with a little two-wall action, then moved to the 5.5 that I had to cheat on last time. This time, success! I managed to power through some tricky bits and persevered through sheer stubbornness on the rest. It certainly helped that

mkb_cbr has a belaying device that gives virtually nothing while you're hanging; on a regular belay, you can actually lose half a foot while you're getting your strength back, and if you're only progressing half a foot at a time, well, you do the math.

After that I wanted to assail a 5.7, on the basis that if I don't start pushing myself, I'm not going to progress. The 5.7 I chose had a sort of incline that made it potentially easier (since you can lean in a bit) but the foot and hand holds were tricky bastards. I got to do four things I'd never had to do before: 1) I lifted myself up with my elbow; 2) I got a foot-hold by reaching backwards and upwards and kind of hooking my foot(*); 3) I "found" a foot-hold on an adjoining wall that I had to stretch to reach; and 4) I rested by standing on one foot and leaning against the incline (a strangely comfortable position). When I made it to the top, I thought I was going to explode with joy. What a feeling!

(* Okay, try this: stand with your left hip against the wall; put your right foot flush up against the wall; put all of your weight on your right foot and bend your knee slightly; now stretch out your left hand straight up and your right hand out to the side along the wall and pretend that you have great grips with both of those; now, slowly bend your knee and lift your left foot up and back until it's about half-way between your knee and your butt and anchor your foot against the wall; when you feel like you're secure, lift yourself up using your left foot. Fun, huh? Now imagine doing that fifteen to twenty feet off the ground.)

I finished up with my old friend the 5.4. It's funny, but that was the climb that really made my arms sore. That's almost certainly a sign that I climbed it wrong, but hey, it gave me a workout.

Next climb is scheduled for Thursday night. I can't wait!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is it really a sign you climbed it wrong? I mean, you really do have to damage muscle a bit to make it stronger, no? It that all folktales and hogwashery? I am not well-versed in muscles, after all.

I am fairly sore if I do things *right* at this point in my own hobby of choice, though that should change eventually. Which is to say nothing for the clicking of my bones - something wicked this way comes.

Actually, you're right, insofar as I did need to stretch out (read: damage/tear) the muscles to make them stronger. The thing is, though, that since I was doing a 5.4, which is supposed to be much easier than the 5.7 I challenged myself on just before, I should have been able to use the tricks and techniques I learned in doing the more difficult climbs to make the 5.4 a piece of cake.

So, I climbed it wrong from a technique point of view and I climbed it right from a muscle-building point of view. Physical moral relativism, hehe.

Climb On

sore spot

Re: sore spot