Continue with Facebook
Trad climbing progression - feeling stuck
|
Hi everyone, I've been leading for a few years now (mostly at the Gunks near NYC), but I feel like I've hit a wall in my progression and I was hoping for some advice. I can currently lead, pretty comfortably, in the 5.6ish area (for non-Gunksies, think 5.8ish), which I take to mean that 95% of the time, I can place gear from very comfortable positions (body weight is on my feet). Moving above 5.6, I feel like I would be in a completely different world - >5.7 in the gunks often means sustained climbing while placing gear from awkward positions. Even though I feel strong enough for higher ratings, I am very worried about being on a 'pump timer' while placing gear; I feel like I'll end up either with bad placements or pump myself to the point of falling. Is there anything I can do, either in the gym or on lower rating climbs, that will make going for a higher grade not feel like I'm taking a massive risk? |
|
You can always place and take, no need to fall really |
|
Training for endurance is an easy way to feel more comfortable placing pro. Also general fitness/cardio helps with recovery time. |
|
I echo Igor's comment about taking/hanging if you need, as that can be useful while you're pushing grades on gear. I'd also suggest two things - one is to generally get better at placing gear, so that it's faster and more likely to result in good placements. You can do this by leading stuff you're comfortable with, or by following harder stuff and paying careful attention to the pieces you clean. Following is only useful if you make it useful - if you just yank the gear out of the wall and keep going, you won't learn a thing. Either way, you want to accumulate enough reps that you can be confident your gear is solid. The other thing I'd recommend is to push your rock climbing abilities a little - outdoor bouldering or sport climbing are both great for this. This will make those 5.7s and up feel more secure. Getting solid gear is obviously the most important thing, otherwise YGD, but getting more solid yourself will also be helpful. |
|
So, they have this new thing called sport climbing and climbing gyms. Turns out they are great training for harder trad where you have to make clips while managing some pump or nerves above gear/bolts. |
|
I just gave up and started aid climbing |
|
No shame in top roping a climb to project. I'm projecting Boogie till ya poop. I'm super far away from the lead. But the climbing skills I'm gaining will hold me in good stead for offwidths of a lower grade. My advice is to pick a hard project and focus on that. You will gain skills and confidence to raise your onsite grade. Redpointing can be very satisfying. |
|
Also, focus on gym bouldering. Raw power will do you good for trad. |
|
Find a 5.6 or 5.7 route with a ton of gear options. Hang a TR. Get one belayer for the TR (keeping it kinda loose) and another for a lead rope. Place gear. Take on every piece. Over and over. Once you get confidence in your gear placement, both, being able to place gear quickly but also to know it'll actually hold you, boom, you're ready for the bigs. |
|
Work on letting go of your ego and fears, trad is a cerebral sport. The 5.6 is 5.8 thought? That’s not the gunks really, that’s just how trad climbing is, it’s totally different movement from sport at the lower grades. Learn how to fall on gear. You’re likely to freak out and increase your pump until you’re confident in the fall zone, only way to get confident is to safely take and grow your comfort limit. Like others said, do mock leads and let the tr slack out. Take some whippers. And try aid climbing, that’s the fastest way of gaining experience with tricky gear placements. |
|
yeah, take some whippers on 5.6's. great idea.... and no, 5.6 at the gunks isn't 5.8 elsewhere, lolz... |
|
Yes, you will be on a pump timer, at least through hard sections between rests. So get stronger so you have more time to hang on. You are going to have to climb through sections that you cannot hang onto forever. I like to climb up and down boulders at the gym to build up pump endurance. |
|
To quote the late great Todd Skinner - "when you believe you are strong, you are strong." Get strong, train. |
|
Climb a lot, climb harder grades. If you pump out you fall. You probably won't die. You don't need to train to climb 5.7 you need more mileage (or probably just get over the mental hurdle) |
|
Might be worth finding some 5.7 climbs that are not as sustained but force you to make some 5.7 moves on gear. In the gunks, I think Hans Puss P1, cakewalk, and sleepwalk could be good candidates. |
|
As you get to be a better climber you will be able to find stable positions pretty much anywhere on a 5.7 other than perhaps the crux move itself. So the pump clock will run much slower for you. As you get to be better at placing gear you will be able to do it more quickly and from worse stances. So you will run out less of your pump clock. At the Gunks in particular there is frequently a no-hands rest underneath a crux roof. You can frequently get gear in the lip. You can then pull the crux without stopping to place gear. |
|
Climb sport routes beyond your limit and up your degree of skill on small holds. Once upon a time, we all got pumped on 5.7. Efficient movement and strength specificity on small holds will pay large dividends. Sure, there is something to be said for being able to have good jamming technique, and knowing how to find solid placements quickly and get a good piece in efficiently, but the rest of it is just climbing. The best way to not get pumped on 5.11 is to be able to climb 5.13, and so on. You get the picture. There is a psychological side to this as well for many people. If you're not comfortable falling on gear, you should work out a safe way to test placements. Having more confidence in gear can subconsciously (or consciously) help by regulating your breathing and heart rate. As a matter of fact, another good way to train that is to do it sport climbing at or above your limit. I say these things because I spent a good 4 or 5 years chuffing it up, only trying to increase my "trad" grade and didn't climb sport routes or boulder much. Once I figured out the gains I could get from those 2 things, I focused more on them and wouldn't you know it, the ceiling for difficulty on my gear routes went up as well. So, the short answer, at least from my perspective, is that if you're solid at placing gear and comfortable falling on it, then get some mileage in on sport routes and boulders to increase your skill, strength, power, and endurance. That is what will pay the most dividends as far as an increase in the average route grade you can climb- no matter which "discipline" of climbing you're doing. |
Ziv I wrote: Lead steep stuff in the gym. |
|
As someone who felt similarly when I was moving through “lower” grades leading gear routes here in NC, there are a lot of great ideas and thoughts you should consider applying already commented (love a mostly positive thread), but want to emphasize what David said up thread; “You are going to have to climb through sections that you cannot hang onto forever.” You’ll surprise yourself with what you do hang onto (and it probably isn’t 5.7 or 5.8 that’s at your limit, honestly, if you’re feeling that comfortable on 5.6, and this is likely just a mindset/experience hurdle), but David’s point bears repeating: eventually you have to climb 5.7 to climb 5.7, there’s no getting around that need to commit on these types of routes. It is kind of surprising how consistently I observe this among my less confident partners, too, but I find a lot of younger trad leaders don’t quite grasp the difference between them clippy thing routes and gear routes. You keep doing it enough, you’ll figure out the mental part if your goal is really to climb 5.whatever. It took me climbing with some generous, much more experienced guys here who were willing to encourage and push me—consider asking locals for route recommendations based on what they observe in your climbing and your goal of moving up in the grades, theyll steer you right. |
Ziv I wrote: Practice your down climbing. If you get to a pumpy stance and can't get the piece in you down climb. Feeling confident in your down climbing ability will make moving into strenuous positions less committing. |
Victor Creazzi wrote: Good advice, I do this all the time when on sighting |
