Most Improvement Over a Climbing Career?

"Career" meant loosely here.

The climbing podcast circuit usually interviews pro climbers or other extremely talented amateurs. These are frequently enjoyable conversations and I do learn things from them, but often I find that individuals in the discussion started rock climbing at a much higher level of athleticism and climbing ability than I did. In your personal experience, what is the most improvement you've seen from a climber you have climbed with? I mean spent a considerable amount of time climbing V0s and 5.8s and clawed their way to climbing at a high level. Those are stories I would be interested in hearing, even if they never made it to 5.14. If there are podcasts or whatever I'd listen to those but I'm generally interested in the board's experience.

When I started climbing I smoked 2 packs a day and weighed 45 pounds more. Today I scream on 5.10.

my improvements include(but are not limited to)

Off road van skills 

Freeloading

Cloud readin 

Berry picking

Bear avoidance 

Unclusterfucking the tag

Doobie rollin in the wind

-All VITAL skills to send 14-

I’d be curious about this too! In particular slow incremental progress over decades and decades. I started climbing age 20, first 5.12 at 26 and 5.13 at 33. 36 now and wondering if climbing 5.14 is possible before the inevitable decline sets in.

Anyone sent their first 5.14 after 20+ years of trying?

Zi Chong Kao wrote:

I’d be curious about this too! In particular slow incremental progress over decades and decades. I started climbing age 20, first 5.12 at 26 and 5.13 at 33. 36 now and wondering if climbing 5.14 is possible before the inevitable decline sets in.

Anyone sent their first 5.14 after 20+ years of trying?

Here ya go. Sent his first 14b at age 40 and first 14c at 50.

he sent his first 14a at age 25 and has been climbing since he was a teenager. that context feels important

If I understand your criterion correctly, you want to hear about people who started climbing as adults, spent several years climbing at easier levels, and have eventually made their way to higher grade by training intentionally, after multiple years at a plateau?

I think my husband qualifies there. He started climbing somewhere around 2006, after destroying his knee playing squash, and having a knee surgery. He was also overweight at the time.
He spent a lot of time at 5.8-5.10. We hadn't started climbing together until ~late 2010, and at that time he was projecting 10-. So, ~4 years at the 5.10 and below grade? He sent his first 12a less than three years later.

The only difference was that he started hanging out with people who were climbing 12's-14's, who told him that of course he could climb 5.12... and he started projecting routes, and training, and also lost some weight. But honestly, I do think that mental aspect was huge. He told me he used to think of 12a as a mythical grade that only "elite" people could climb, because he was hanging out and climbing with people who were all climbing 5.10 and maybe occasionally toproping 5.11, if someone had put it up for them. He didn't know anyone personally who was climbing harder, and assumed they were all people who started climbing as teenagers, and were climbing full-time. And then he got to hang out with people who were weekend warriors, like him, with regular day jobs and families, who made it look very doable.

Nate Slavin wrote:

When I started climbing I smoked 2 packs a day and weighed 45 pounds more. Today I scream on 5.10.

Nate, cut yourself some slack, that was a 5.9+. 

Dane B wrote:

he sent his first 14a at age 25 and has been climbing since he was a teenager. that context feels important

Lol that is important context! I do wish they had included that. Thanks. 

i think he likely could have done that long before 50 had it been prioritized. 

i started in my early 30's when i moved to colorado from louisiana. i didn't even really have fun the first couple years as i was always terrified. i was also not in great shape overall. at some point i decided i was going to take it more seriously and that i could do better than climbing 5.fun.. by 34 i started climbing 12-, 35 midgrade 12's, 36 12+, and 37 13-. the last couple years i have primarily bouldered. reaching 13- and v8/9 starting in my 30's feels like a proud progression and overall improvement yet i still compare myself to my friends who started much earlier in life and climb harder than me and think about what could have been