training options near Conway NH?

Bingo. all that training just wears your body out. Just go climbing and have fun.

I don't think of North Conway as a place where rock climbers entertain themselves with some ice climbing in the off season. I think of North Conway as a place where ice climbers entertain themselves with a little rock while impatiently waiting for the next ice season. You REALLY need to try it.
Edit, I just re-read your last post about your finger injury. Hanging onto an ice tool is similar to hanging from a ring so that might be an issue until you heal completely. In any event, that area is a great place to be. Have fun and good luck.

ChrisN wrote:Longstack Precipice is another place to climb in the winter. It faces south, and is often drier and warmer than anything else in the state.. although it's about as far as Portland.

Thumbs up for Longstack, one of my favorite places I've climbed in NH so far. Thank you to Chinos for all the work they put in on a great area.

"Does ice climbing keep you in shape for rock climbing?"

hah- It's the other way around homie!!

I still cannot comprehend why someone hasn't opened a smallish bouldering gym in the Conway area yet?

I understand there is a lot of tourism there but adventure tourism which means locals that are active and would climb?

Chad Laflamme wrote: Just to offer a different perspective, I wouldn't live here if it weren't for the rock climbing. I ice climb "a bit", but not all that excited about it. You can occasionally get some good sunny days in the winter and climb at Shell Pond and Rumney; More to be had depending on your cold tolerance.

If I were primarily a rock climber I'd prefer to live in CO, UT, AZ, NV...more climbable days. It rains literally 4x as often on the East coast which is hard to plan around if you're a regular chump working M-F. Then up here you throw in some pretty harsh winters to boot. Obviously most of us have other priorities (career, family) but if one is moving primarily for rock climbing New Hampshire seems like a somewhat odd choice. Even climbing + skiing as OP suggested would send me packing for the West. I think waterfall ice is what makes the Northeast stand out (quantity, duration of season, ease of access to major metro areas). Obviously you could do much worse for rock, we do have quality stuff, but it's hard to argue with the quantity and weather out West.

When I had a weekend home up there I made good use of the then-existing wall at the Cranmore Mountain Club. It wasn't the best but it was sufficient to satisfy my climbing 'itch' during the winter evenings. For a variety of reasons I gave up ice climbing long ago. I love X-C, but really enjoyed at least a few hours each weekend I was up there climbing on that wall. I was really disappointed when it was shut down, and now am much less interested in heading up there on winter weekends (sad, I know, but true!!!!). I understand that the 'market' may be limited, but I still think that a decent quality bouldering wall would do OK in that area.

Tylerpratt wrote:I still cannot comprehend why someone hasn't opened a smallish bouldering gym in the Conway area yet? I understand there is a lot of tourism there but adventure tourism which means locals that are active and would climb?

I was wondering that myself!

Chad Laflamme wrote:As for training, I built a free standing hangboard setup with pulleys in my living room

Why pulleys? I have a fingerboard + pulley setup, but I figured I was the only one doing this due to my completely weak and lame condition. I weight the pulley to give me some help when pulling up on the fingerboard.

Chad Laflamme wrote:go to the cranmore fitness gym (no more rock wall) for general fitness

So, they used to have a rock wall? When did they take it down?

jdejace wrote:If I were primarily a rock climber I'd prefer to live in CO, UT, AZ, NV...more climbable days.

I'm not averse to moving out west, but there are financial considerations that would make it difficult (my boyfriend and I both have family in the NE, traveling back and forth would be time-consuming, a pain, and expensive).

A while ago, we looked into moving to CO. We couldn't figure out how to make it work without having a very long driving time to the crag - the areas closest to good climbing also have a high cost of living. I don't recall finding a house that we could even afford. It seems pretty true across the country; areas with good climbing are expensive.

dragons wrote:I'm not averse to moving out west, but there are financial considerations that would make it difficult (my boyfriend and I both have family in the NE, traveling back and forth would be time-consuming, a pain, and expensive). A while ago, we looked into moving to CO. We couldn't figure out how to make it work without having a very long driving time to the crag - the areas closest to good climbing also have a high cost of living. I don't recall finding a house that we could even afford. It seems pretty true across the country; areas with good climbing are expensive.

Vegas.

Alan Rubin wrote:For a variety of reasons I gave up ice climbing long ago

Dare I ask why?

The fact that Cranmore shut down their wall makes me wonder if there just wasn't a market for it. Or, maybe it was mismanaged.

dragons wrote:Dare I ask why? The fact that Cranmore shut down their wall makes me wonder if there just wasn't a market for it. Or, maybe it was mismanaged.

I gave up ice even before Alan..cold,wet ,expensive...?

Cranmore did Ok for a while i think. There's a lot of winter rock stuff in NH ..Humphries is frequently nice, Sundown, WH south buttress,,There's also quite a bit of decent bouldering as well..

dragons wrote:The "general fitness" that I'm looking for is not nebulous. What I want is a training program to rehab myself so that I don't run out of steam or injure myself when I start climbing outdoors in the spring. I'm currently recovering from an injury to a knuckle that seems to have been caused by and/or exacerbated by training on rock rings (for pull-ups). This injury put me off climbing and lots of other activities for almost 2 full years. So if it seems like I'm being obstinate in avoiding the hangboard, that is why. I'm not interested in training that puts a lot of load on my hands, esp my knuckles. I'm still cautiously working on recovery there. That's also one of the reasons that I'm reluctant to try ice-climbing; gripping an ice axe and pulling myself up on it would probably be bad for that knuckle in its current state. If I can find some easy bouldering or top-roping locally, then I'll be moving in ways that strengthen my torso, shoulders, and legs, in addition to my arms. I did find at least one boulder the other day that needs to be cleaned, but it should give me some useful workouts. For anyone else reading this, there's a nice description of some fingerboard protocols at Eric Horst's site.

For torso, core, and leg workouts I suggest checking out Pilates for the Outdoor Athlete. I have a mat regimen that I've been doing for somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 years now. I've noticed that it does help maintain a decent level of total body climbing fitness when I haven't had the opportunity to get out much, though your standards for climbing performance are likely higher than mine. I'm also pretty content to go ice climbing, cross country skiing, or seeking out winter mountaineering adventures when the weather isn't good for rock climbing.

Nick Goldsmith wrote:Bingo. all that training just wears your body out. Just go climbing and have fun.

+1

Specificity Principle: There is no better training than actually performing in the sport.

If you really want to get out, hit Rumney. Jimmy Cliff gets tons of sun and is south facing and is a great place to run laps on 10s.

Mike Morin wrote:For torso, core, and leg workouts I suggest checking out Pilates for the Outdoor Athlete. I have a mat regimen that I've been doing for somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 years now. I've noticed that it does help maintain a decent level of total body climbing fitness when I haven't had the opportunity to get out much

Thanks for the book rec. Are you using the climbing-specific exercises in that book, or other ones as well? Can you tell me more about your workout? About how long does it usually take, and also how many times per week you'll do it? I used to have a free weights routine that I used 3 times a week before I started climbing (I also have an ab routine that I continue to use). After I got injured, I found it difficult to maintain strength because a lot of the exercises aggravated my injury. For example, doing biceps curls messes with my knuckle... I'm trying to build up strength as I recover, without re-injuring myself.

Mike Morin wrote:though your standards for climbing performance are likely higher than mine.

I doubt it. It's a dream of mine to one day do an unassisted pull-up. Prior to my injury, I was trying to move into leading 5.4 at the Gunks. I'd like to get better at climbing so that I can do a wider variety of routes. There just aren't many climbs at the grades that I can easily handle.

PS I'm short, 5'0", which makes a lot of climbs harder for me than for the average climber.

caesar.salad wrote:If you really want to get out, hit Rumney. Jimmy Cliff gets tons of sun and is south facing and is a great place to run laps on 10s.

I will check out Jimmy Cliff, thanks! I don't think I'll be running any laps on 10s, but there are a number of climbs there that I used to be able to do.

Jeremy Cote wrote:+1 Specificity Principle: There is no better training than actually performing in the sport.

I believe this to be true. However, if you cannot train on real rock, and your "off-season" is at least a few months, you're going to become detrained and risk injury (or at least incredible wimpiness) when the season begins. In another comment, Chad mentioned his "off-the-couch" ability. My "off-the-couch" ability involves groveling up a 5.2. So I need to do something to maintain strength and balance until I can get more training on real rock.

It just snowed here yesterday, so I think the boulder that I found the other day will probably be covered in powder. I'm going to go take a look at it again today.

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You folks think a climbing gym would thrive in Conway?