Feedback: Yet Another Climbing Blog

I'm looking for honest but not inflammatory feedback. I don't want to hear you don't like it, I want to hear WHY you do or don't like it.

Yes, another collection of everything climbing, but hopefully it rises above the average brain dump on the internet. You be the judge. Feedback on the content, writing style, and page design are all welcome.

Other than an attempt to stymie my summer boredom and kickstart my career as a narcissist, I'm attempting to produce regular and high quality content, as well as build a base of training knowledge and advice.

The content varies depending on what I'm doing at the time, right now it's more training as I'm in the midst of a new cycle, whereas several weeks ago it was a lot of trip reports on my outside endeavors. It's a blend of my personal climbing and training, with more eloquent writing and insight tossed in. Feel free to comment on the balance or necessity of specific posts etc.

Enjoy!

rocksropesandcrashpads.blog…

I agree, good content, pretty good stuff overall. Maybe just read up on the use of "it's" vs. "its" ;-)

I'm not normally a grammar nazi, but we are talking specifically about writing here; I noticed you used them interchangeably a couple times on the home page alone. "It's" = a contraction of "it is"; "Its" = the possessive form, as in "...its immediate and measurable results."

Edit to add: You should also think about adding a Subscribe option. The RSS feed is hidden all the way at the bottom of the page, and a lot of people don't understand RSS. You can add an email signup form that's all automated, for free, using a service like MailChimp.

Abram Herman wrote:I agree, good content, pretty good stuff overall. Maybe just read up on the use of "it's" vs. "its" ;-) I'm not normally a grammar nazi, but we are talking specifically about writing here; I noticed you used them interchangeably a couple times on the home page alone. "It's" = a contraction of "it is"; "Its" = the possessive form, as in "...its immediate and measurable results." Edit to add: You should also think about adding a Subscribe option. The RSS feed is hidden all the way at the bottom of the page, and a lot of people don't understand RSS. You can add an email signup form that's all automated, for free, using a service like MailChimp.

Thanks Abram! I added the email subscribe in the top right corner. I'll read up on its/it's soon, I'm usually good on my grammar, but that's one I've neglected.

Putting you on the reader. Dont let me down.

Thanks Ryan, I'll do my best to please. On a side note, your blog was actually one of the first I read when I started researching periodization.

Very cool! It's awesome to see your HYP data and how it translates to your experience on Techno! Have you tried Jedi Mind Tricks at lower Vadar? Shorter and more powerful.

Thanks Rajiv, I was looking into some more powerful projects for this fall once I've gone through my HYP and MaxR.

I'd been looking at Big Kahuna because it's harder than what I'm on now and it nails that odd in-between of powerful moves and a little endurance and I could time it well with the end of my MaxR and beginning of PE.

Up until now I've been avoiding more bouldery things because of the work involved, but Jedi Mind Tricks looks really interesting. I'll definitely give it a go next time I'm around Vader. Perhaps I'll have to find that V-grade crux vs route grade chart and use it in a post since most of the routes on the chart are at Rumney anyway.

I am digging it, good blog. Congrats on your send of Techno!!

Good stuff for sure.

Thanks Josh and Ace! Techno was really rewarding and I can't wait to get back to Rumney to find a fall project as I peak for the season! I'll keep posting about my season progress in training and everything else of course :)

-Brendan

Brendan. Your writing is solid and the blog layout itself is quite good. Maybe it's just me, but I've found it really hard to get a Blogger layout to feel really customized and professional looking, and you did a great job with that.

So here's some criticism, and I hope you don't take it badly (definately not a "teh blog sux brah" sort of thing here).

But reading through your posts I was, how to put this, bored? You're obviously doing some neat stuff, sending projects and doing some neat development. But it feels like the emphasis on training posts puts you into a by the numbers writing mindset. Admitedly, the training posts are, by definition, going to be more factual and mathematic. But then when you talk about going multi-pitch climbing, or developoing boulders, it seems like you write like in a blow by blow "this happened, then this happened" style that misses out on the adventure and mystery that must surely motivate you to some extent and would be much more pleasant to read through.

Obviously, this is just a blog, I'm not expecting Tolstoy here, and your stuff is well worth reading. My advice would be to go deeper into the figurative and less into the literal. I really enjoyed reading your most recent post on how you didn't climb for a weekend from "lack of psyche". That's an interesting topic that allows you to explore the why in your climbing life. I'd love to see more of that.

Sorry if my critique is a bit vaugue. I like your stuff, and I look forward to seeing more of what you have to write about as the climbing season begins in full for you up in NH.

I disagree. More numbers! More training!

Yeah Im going to have to disagree as well. I like my blog posts to read like an 8a.nu scorecard.

Name, Date, Grade, stance on softness of grade, and of course general First Ascentionist asskissery.

Ryan Palo wrote:Putting you on the reader. Dont let me down.

Speaking of which, need you to get on something hard/sick, and spray about how you mushroom hammer stampped it, or cartwheeled off! Haven't seen enough of the Paleo diet lately!

Didn't have time to read thru all the posts yet, but so far so good Brendan, I'll put it on my reader.

The Blueprint Part Dank wrote:Brendan. Your writing is solid and the blog layout itself is quite good. Maybe it's just me, but I've found it really hard to get a Blogger layout to feel really customized and professional looking, and you did a great job with that. So here's some criticism, and I hope you don't take it badly (definately not a "teh blog sux brah" sort of thing here). But reading through your posts I was, how to put this, bored? You're obviously doing some neat stuff, sending projects and doing some neat development. But it feels like the emphasis on training posts puts you into a by the numbers writing mindset. Admitedly, the training posts are, by definition, going to be more factual and mathematic. But then when you talk about going multi-pitch climbing, or developoing boulders, it seems like you write like in a blow by blow "this happened, then this happened" style that misses out on the adventure and mystery that must surely motivate you to some extent and would be much more pleasant to read through. Obviously, this is just a blog, I'm not expecting Tolstoy here, and your stuff is well worth reading. My advice would be to go deeper into the figurative and less into the literal. I really enjoyed reading your most recent post on how you didn't climb for a weekend from "lack of psyche". That's an interesting topic that allows you to explore the why in your climbing life. I'd love to see more of that. Sorry if my critique is a bit vaugue. I like your stuff, and I look forward to seeing more of what you have to write about as the climbing season begins in full for you up in NH.

Thanks, I've needed a bit of a kicking lately. Mostly it comes down to the facts and numbers are easy to write into a short easy post whereas the creative take some applied effort and enthusiasm (just like my climbing) and I've been lacking that lately. I'll set aside some time for a deeper post soon, I might already have a topic in mind actually. Thanks for the feedback, it's more specific than you'd think :)