Climbing goals for 2026

Winter: learn skiing. A few days of ice climbing. Consistent 3-4 days/week of climbing + cardio training in the gym. Shred weight to 170-175 pounds.

Spring: Levitation 29/some 10+ pitch trad classic (e.g. Epi, Inti to Resolution) at RR. Send some mid 12s, get more burns on my 13 projects at sports home crag.  some 5.11 single pitch trad when cracks stop seeping.

Summer: Bugaboo (Beckey-Chouinard, Bugaboo Spire, etc). Hopefully also Sierras/Wind River Range/RMNP. 

Fall: Climb every weekend at home crag + Yosemite trip. Maybe actually sending a 5.13 sports/OS 5.11 on gear?

Year round: Seek trad/alpine mentors, form lasting partnerships with stoked trad climbers at similar level, be a mentor for new stoked trad climbers. Find a reasonably well-paid job allowing me to live close to big multipitch areas (mostly looking at Sierras/Yosemite, RR, RMNP, SLC area). 

Jabroni McChufferson wrote:

Did you do that already ;) dang hard route by the way 

I've toproped it, I've never lead it.

Overall: climb as much as possible and continue to get into the alpine more, continue to become a better technical climber and get more confident leading more technical pitches on bigger trad routes. Ideally take on increasingly complex routes that involve things such as snow/ice, glacier travel, simul climbing, some aid climbing, or anything of that sort!

Tangible goals:

- lead rope solo a multipitch

- lead 5.10 trad

- onsight 5.11 sport

- redpoint send 5.12

Would be happy with just one or two of those! Don't want to set goals to harshly as there is a lot up in air that will determine my access to climbing -- which will ultimately decide whether I achieve my goals. Some of the goals are a matter of mentally going for it (5.10 trad) whereas other goals require a real amount of directed effort (sending 5.12). All tenable! 

Obvious goals are have fun and stay safe... but otherwise...

# Snoqualmie Valley

### Little Si:

- Develop and Send all at new crag "Love Shack" (includes something likely in the 12+ range)

- WW2: send Fly Boys and Massage Chair

- WW: send Hadleys, Oval, make progress on Enigma

- Black Forest: Send the boulder problems Stan FA'd

- Send AlexP's BGL proj

### E38:

- Send proj at Hawks Eyrie and downgrade all of Trevors routes

- Send Apex Predator at Co20

### Twin Falls - Dev/Send epic over-the-river line

### Middle Fork

Steg Butte:

- finish dev and send zach multi

- make some development progress on aviary route

Helms

- make sure trail is in good shape

- send Full Time Hobbit

El Crapitan - finish the dev and free the route

Garfield Ledges

- climb routes making sure bolts are tight

- ground up FA something really run out

Garfieeld - Finally do Infinite Bliss

Bookas - Send Gong Show

### Rattlesnake

- Improve the base

- clean up old fixed lines

- start developing new lines

# Other WA Areas

### Scablands (Central WA)

- Develop Wall in Moses Coulee

- Develop Lenore Multipitch

- Send everything at Winter Walk

### Levy

- Schist Cave

### WA Pass

- Do some free climbing on Liberty Bell E Face

My health was garbage in 2025, but got it figured out so hoping to get sone things done this year.

Sport: 5.12a

Trad: 5.11a

Boulder: v6

Big wall: el cap route

Gym: kilter v8

Specific routes: south face of Washington column, lurking fear, delirious at cotg, indian rock traverse, matthes crest, serenity sons, royal arches

Ok here we go! stoked to keep it rocking in 2026! Who knows with the weather we've been having in CO might even knock a few of these out before ski season ends: 

Coming off some recent issues with what I thought was overtraining for ice and mixed. A very relaxing holiday break has shown me that yeah, I may have been going too hard, but it only in relation to my protein intake and sleep quality, both of which were either mid or inadequate. 

So my first goal of 2026 is to sleep well and eat tons of high-quality protein (whilst avoiding cheese and most dairy other than nonfat Greek yogurt). I've fixed my protein intake this past week, and started going to bed at old man hours again. I was getting like 50 minutes of REM sleep a night for as long as I can remember and suddenly I'm up to 100 minutes?! My RHR has also plunged back down. So that's awesome, and I feel like a new human both with climbing and other aspects of life, particularly my music. 

Anyway it's a bit hard to get an idea of what I can attain this year since my fitness level felt warped the past ~2 months. But some ideas that I will refine later:

• Onsight 5.9 trad, redpoint 5.10. (edit: onsighted both, thanks for the catches Fritz!) Have had a regular trad partner for a minute now (thanks Chris!) so I'm finally getting enough practice following and mock leading to start thinking about trad goals. 
• Onsight 5.11a sport, redpoint ≥ 5.11c
• Hangboard 2x/week (while I am still focused on ice/mixed training, then reduce to 1x/week). Finger strength goals TBD. 
• Work on mental game, start meditating regularly again
• Figure 4, 20 seconds per arm for ≥ 3 reps with good form
• Get tons of ice laps in, do some mock leading. Get some mixed in if possible
• TR/follow HMR or similar long and difficult vertical/overhanging ice route with good technique and without hanging
• LRS ≥ 5.10c. Get some safe LRS practice whippers in and LRS an easy multi pitch 
• Get good at building a variety of anchor styles. Learn basic aiding somewhere
• Find partners and get out West. Possibly move out west now that my company seems to be more open to people living out of state... 👀👀👀 though that is more of a 2027 goal. 

Thanks for keeping the tradition alive Fritz!

This year my goals are a bit different than last year. I'll be moving to Europe for 3-5 years (or possibly longer) starting around August, so this year my goal is to tick off the things I can only do here and to get the things I'd regret not at least trying. Since I started climbing outside I've been enamored by big wall climbing, so all of my goals this year are focused on that. Specifically I have 3 objectives I want to get done before I leave the country:

1. Climb the South Face of the Washington column and Southern Man to prepare for my next goals. I plan to do this next week. It has been snowing and raining quite hard since the start of December, but it looks like it is finally going to stop on Thursday. There is a chance the snow ontop of the dome might cause some issues, but hopefully it'll sluff off quickly in the warmer weather.

2. Climb The Shield starting from Mammoth Terraces over spring break. I'll almost certainly be climbing it solo and won't have a lot of time, so skipping freeblast will make it easier to top out in a reasonable time. The shield is the climb I've wanted to climb the most after first seeing pictures of the headwall pitches and has been the long term goal I've been sortof but mostly not working towards for the last 4 or 5 years.

3. Climb South Seas in late May, early June. This last one I am a bit unsure of because it is very sustained with almost half the pitches being A3. However, after the shield it is the climb I have most been looking forward to climbing, so unless the shield goes badly or I don't get to climb it over spring break, I intend to at least give south seas a go. This one is more of a stretch goal.

For the later half of the year, my only goal is just to meet some new people and learn about the local climbing scene of the area I move to. 

As I said the last 2 years, I'd still like to push my grades a bit more, but considering the context of this year, it just isn't that important of a goal right now, so rather than push grades I just want to enjoy climbing. Maybe next year I'll try to send 5.12d again.. although I guess the goal will be 7C instead of 5.12d by that point.

2025 Goals:

1. Send V5  
   Sent 3x V5s, each in a single session and 1x V5/6 that took 3-4 sessions.
2. Redpoint 3x 5.12b    (2/3)
   Sent 2x 5.12b, which were both pretty solid in the grade, so I feel good about it even though I missed my mark.
3. Redpoint 2x 5.9 handcracks  
   Didn't prioritize this, but I did gain confidence in hand jams.
4. Run 1:40 half marathon  
   1:34:27 for the Little Rock Half-Marathon
5. Don't get injured  
   I did have surgery on my wrist, but it was from an old injury.

2026 Goals:

1. Redpoint 2x 5.12c
2. Become a more confident trad leader
3. Run first marathon and finish within 4 hrs
4. Don't get injured

I did a 12-week training plan to prepare for this fall season which helped a ton, so I want to run a couple more cycles of that this year. Focus will be on finger strength, flexibility, and movement.

My 2026 Climbing Goals:

1. Limit Injuries or better yet avoid them altogether. 

2. Send some of the classic Index 5.12s; prioritizing Fifth Force, Numbah 10, Biology of Small Appliances, and Heart's Desire. I've only sent a few Index 5.12s so this is a hard goal for me but I'm extremely close on Fifth Force (fell on last move) and have had a promising session on Numbah 10. With good health, stoke, and decent conditions this goal is achievable 

3. Do the North Ridge of Stuart, West Face of CBR, and some scrambles in the Enchantments. 

4. Climb V9 and 5.13. This is my least inspiring goal because it is grade driven, but it's extremely doable as long as I can find routes of this difficulty that fit my style and get me stoked. It would be nice to be able to tell people I climb 5.13 when travelling for climbing lol

@John you're insanely strong on the board wtf

I will brag that I have done all the rock related goals on your list but am nowhere even CLOSE to touching the board numbers you are talking about. To me V9 on the TB2 feels untouchable, pretty sure I could only do like 8 6C+ on the moonboard in a session before trashing myself. I tested my Bm2k middle edge hang last week and need to take 30 lbs off to hang for 5 seconds. 

Incidentally, one of my 2026 goals is to log 50 sessions on the TB2 this year

Rock goals:

- Redpoint the Shadow from the "ground" (Squamish)

- Redpoint Ozone (Gunks)

- Send Evilution Direct (Bishop)

szhengwrote:

@John you're insanely strong on the board wtf

. To me V9 on the TB2 feels untouchable, pretty sure I could only do like 8 6C+ on the moonboard in a session before trashing myself. I tested my Bm2k middle edge hang last week and need to take 30 lbs off to hang for 5 seconds. 

Incidentally, one of my 2026 goals is to log 50 sessions on the TB2 this year

Tbf, I did the 65 6Cs in a sesh last year in maybe 4 “redpoint” attempts and this morning I got through 12/62 of the 6C+s before Pixel Bricks totally housed me. It will be a legit hard goal. As for the outdoor stuff, yeah, probably easier than the 6C+ session or the remaining 10 7A+s i have on the moonboard. Living a very board centric life since having kids, so I definitely have the familiarity edge. Not easy to get out with the wife to do routes these days. As for the middle edge, I am still at -35lbs on my right, -40lbs left, so a bit aspirational…

Just to clarify, when John says astro/rostrum he means the Rostroman linkup ;-)

No explicit progress on goals here because the Mini comp is in session, but training resumes next week.

Thanks Fritz for provoking me to think.  2026 should be a good year - with two new knees, two new hips, two new shoulders, three lumbar surgeries and four cervical surgeries.  Lots of titanium.  My goals are to climb as much as ever.  Spend days and days at City of Rocks and Castle Rocks getting mileage.  Having a good time with the little gang of old climbers (old in terms of age and old in terms of length of years climbing with) that hang out at my place. 

I’d like to possible lead one of the old 5.11 classics that I used to have wired.  Especially if trad.  Climb most days scrambling around on easier routes for mental and physical meditation.  Maybe have a couple of 25 pitch days by myself.  Be friendly to everyone I run into and help when I can.

Spend 3+ weeks in the Dolomites/Cortina de Ampezzo climbing hard(er) classics with my local friend and doing easier historic classics by myself.  Visit a few other fun places to climb like Red Rocks, St George and Eldo - love Eldo!

And . . . take great care of my little shadow and best friend - Joe.  Go everywhere and do everything he wants.

I'm the eternal optimist and I think I'm in shape for one of my better climbing seasons. With the elusive winter hiding elsewhere, I've had quite an amazing start of the year with a dozen full days on real rock already. My shoes are in for a resole, so for this year, with a fresh pair of shoes, I'm aiming quite a bit higher than previous years:

• I've noticed that my endurance for big days is lacking and especially during the approach. So I'm trying gluten free. On a single climbing trip, I'll aim at completing three 30oz approach packs of doritos, of which one should be done in less than 24h with confidence and in good style.
• I'll be doing more high quality veggies with my regular weekly training. Sending deep fried ocra with a shrimp salad rig twice a week will be my choice.
• Onsight at least three new (to me) flavors of pop tarts.
• Mentor at least two of my climbing buddies to realize that the healthiest post-climb recovery refreshment should have the appropriate ratio of electrolytes, probiotics, and electrolytes. And all this is found in a substantial squirt of ketchup straight from the bottle. That sugar/vinegar combo is soooo invigorating! I tried the Louisiana hot sauce ketchup from Heinz the other day, and it was like IV adrenaline hitting my blood stream!
• I have already felt that my increased strict training schedule requires better protein. I have replaced chocolate milk on my breakfast cheeze doodles with a protein shake and I'm confident this will give me two letter grades at the end of the season.
• Finally, my toughest project: Find a source of my favorite red point ice cream. Two years ago, after many, many attempts, I tracked down traditional dill weed potato chips. This year, my goal is to find licorice-chili pepper ice cream. Any hints or help in reaching this goal is highly appreciated.

Grant J wrote:

• Lead climb 5.10b outdoors
• Lead climb 5.8 trad
• Learn big wall, LRS, and mountaineering systems
• Climbing/camping weekend trips 1x per month cheap (Yosemite, Red Rocks, Jtree, Indian Creek)
• Get one arm pull ups
• Get pistol squats with weight
• 3 hour marathon
• Finish all 3 ultra marathons un-injured
• Surf 1x a week

🤔

This thread is my accountability partner ...

I've been living in northwest "Where climbers go to die" Montana for the last 17 years ... my time here is (Finally?) coming to an end. With a projected departure date of mid-June, that leaves me four-ish months to send this thing ... not accounting for weather ...

I've developed around 60 routes in the last 10 years, this is the cherry on top: The last line I've developed here is the prettiest line I've ever scrubbed and also the hardest, somewhere in the 12+ range with sustained 11 climbing and multiple 12 sequences.

With "only" four months to do this, the deck is somewhat stacked against me: This is an hour and a half from my house, I work M-F, it's south-facing, I've only sent a handful of 12- routes ever, and, maybe the true crux, finding partners in the climbing desert that is NWMT is hard enough as at is, finding someone to belay me on a (currently) closed project not that close to the road is (understandably) even more daunting/selfish/annoying.

Throughout my climbing "career" my goals have primarily been trip-oriented (travel there, try that), this is the first real "performance" goal I've set for myself ... but, if I think too hard about it, there's probably a lot more to it than that. :)

The line: All bolts, it goes up the dihedral and stays left up the slabby face, 85 ft., name TBA. I spent a few snowy Saturdays in December scrubbing and bolting it and I've managed three TRS sessions thus far this year (apparently it doesn't snow or get that cold in the mountain west anymore); I can do all the moves, now I just need a selfless partner, a weather window, a day off work ... 

Jason….you developing up by Koocanusa ? That rock is so cool. Wish it was less of a pain to get to. The ethic on gear + bolts was gorgeous.

John Clarkwrote:

Jason….you developing up by Koocanusa ? That rock is so cool. Wish it was less of a pain to get to. The ethic on gear + bolts was gorgeous.

Yep, that's primarily where I've developed. Who doesn't love a route that's four bolts, a .3, 3, and a nut? :)