training options near Conway NH?

I recently moved near Conway NH for the great climbing and outdoor sports options.

There's certainly fun to be had in the winter, but after much searching, I've been unable to find a climbing gym nearby. Closest seems to be in Portland ME (over an hour away). Not that I love gym climbing, I just want to keep my climbing muscles in shape.

What do you guys do to avoid detraining in the winter?

I think everyone just ice climbs and drinks

^^
That's the answer other than a home bouldering wall. That's my climbing partner's only regret after moving there, but overall you're definitely winning :-)

FWIW the Portland gyms are both new and quite nice. Lots of good places to eat after.

Climb ice or rock climb rumny on sunny days. Team tough rock climbs Rumny all year...

I ice climb a bit in the winter, but when I was living in the north country, I would sometimes do the hour+ drive to the Concord gym during the shoulder seasons. It's a little different, but making a day of a gym visit isn't as bad as it sounds. Also, get a hangboard if you can. Probably the best artificial training I can think of outside of a gym.

This area also abounds with sunny crags that can be pleasant if the sun is out and the wind is down. There have been a few such days already this season.

North Country Climbing Center in Lisbon NH.

Most our friends make the trip out to salt pump gym, seems to be worth the drive. I drive 40 minutes to the gym here in Vermont. You learn to make a schedule around it.

Eli wrote:I think everyone just ice climbs and drinks

+1

DRusso wrote:Most our friends make the trip out to salt pump gym, seems to be worth the drive. I drive 40 minutes to the gym here in Vermont. You learn to make a schedule around it.

I've made one trip to Salt Pump so far. It was about 1 hour and 20 minutes each way (lots of driving required on back roads). It's a nice gym, no doubt. I'll probably explore other gyms to see if I can find anything closer.

To make the drive worthwhile, I feel like I have to devote about a solid day to working out in the gym. Then my training would consist of about 5-6 hours once per week. Taking two days out of the week to go gym climb is a bit of a strain.

Eli wrote:I think everyone just ice climbs and drinks

I'm not into drinking... Does ice climbing keep you in shape for rock climbing? I'm curious about that, but ice climbing seems like a lot of standing around in the cold with freezing cold water dripping down on you. Not to mention the additional investment in equipment... Not dissing the ice climbers, but it just doesn't seem appealing to me. For winter sports, I prefer snowshoeing and skiing.

Have you tried it?

Phil Schuld wrote:Also, get a hangboard if you can. Probably the best artificial training I can think of outside of a gym.

I do have a hangboard, and I'm using it. My understanding is that you should not do hangboard training more than twice a week, and that it's mostly good for improving finger strength. It doesn't feel like I'm getting in shape from using it.

Phil Schuld wrote:This area also abounds with sunny crags that can be pleasant if the sun is out and the wind is down. There have been a few such days already this season.

Are the sunny crags top secret or would you care to divulge some? I'm mostly familiar with Whitehorse and Cathedral, but last year I also climbed at Humphrey's. Whitehorse and Cathedral look snow-covered to me, but I haven't looked at Humphrey's.

I'm deconditioned from being unable to rock climb due to a long-standing injury, so I'm looking for easier climbs, or top-roping, or possibly just a big boulder to work on. I'd like to get back in shape by doing some easy climbing several times per week. I'm doing some general strength-training with weights, but rock climbing is the best training for doing rock climbing.

Addressing some other remarks in this thread:

jdejace wrote:a home bouldering wall

Unfortunately, due to my living situation, a home bouldering wall is not in the cards.

Nick Goldsmith wrote:Team tough rock climbs Rumny all year.

I'd prefer to go to Rumney rather than a gym, and I didn't realize that area would be climbable now. Thanks for the suggestion!

tuckercowles wrote:North Country Climbing Center in Lisbon NH.

That is farther away from me than Portland ME, but thanks for the suggestion anyway! It might help someone else.

jdejace wrote:Have you tried it?

Drinking or ice climbing? Drinking yes, ice climbing no.

Look into ice climbing. An intro class if you don't know someone who will take you. Then you can develop an educated opinion. If you're an adventurous trad climber who already appreciates other winter activities, hard to imagine you won't like it. It's not the same as rock climbing but it's certainly (a lot) closer than skiing and snowshoeing. The only people I know who didn't like it just didn't dress warm enough and it ruined the experience.

I wouldn't live in the Northeast if it weren't for the ice. There's good rock but the season is relatively short and rainy.

Maybe try to find someone with a home wall who would enjoy a training partner?

Interesting situation. I lived in Portsmouth and had a climbing partner in Portland. We made the drive up to North Conway almost every weekend when the weather was good.

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. People hit up Shagg Crag when it's raining, not sure about the winter. Humphreys faces south too and is doable during the warmer parts of the winter.

I would find it hard to live in North Conway and not ice climb and backcountry ski. The ice climbing is arguably some of the best in the country, and the backcountry skiing can be a lot of fun too. Skiing from the Mt. Washington summit to within 5ft of my car at Pinkham in April was one of my favorite memories of the area. Like a triathlete, maybe it's time to be mediocre at three hobbies rather than good at one!

Almost always something to do in North Conway if you are proficient in rock, ice, and backcountry skiing.

ChrisN wrote:I lived in Portsmouth and had a climbing partner in Portland. We made the drive up to North Conway almost every weekend when the weather was good... Longstack Precipice is another place to climb in the winter

Thanks for the rec, I will investigate Longstack. FWIW I can certainly see making a long drive to get to good outdoor climbing, and I've done that many times myself. I didn't reckon I'd ever spend 2+ hours in one day to make a drive to an indoor climbing gym, however, and I'm looking for ways to avoid that.

Old lady H wrote:Maybe try to find someone with a home wall who would enjoy a training partner?

Yeah, hm, I got my doubts that is going to happen. But if there's anyone reading this thread who has an indoor wall and needs a climbing partner for the winter, feel free to PM me.

jdejace wrote:Look into ice climbing. An intro class if you don't know someone who will take you

I will think about it.

jdejace wrote:I wouldn't live in the Northeast if it weren't for the ice. There's good rock but the season is relatively short and rainy.

Oy, that's depressing.

On a positive note, I did go out for a hike on a local trail today. I noticed several potentially climbable boulders about 20 minutes in. They'd need a lot of cleaning, but they weren't too snow-covered. And when I touched the rock, I was amazed to find they were reasonably warm and climbable! This might be a solution for me.

dragons wrote:I do have a hangboard, and I'm using it. My understanding is that you should not do hangboard training more than twice a week, and that it's mostly good for improving finger strength. It doesn't feel like I'm getting in shape from using it.

Huh, I find that when my fingers are strong, I am in good climbing shape! Guess it depends on what you're looking to get out of a workout. You can get creative and do longer hangs on bigger holds/less weight added to train things other than pure strength. These types of workouts would require less rest than your standard high-load hangboard workout. Hanging leg-lifts are great for the core, too

dragons wrote:Are the sunny crags top secret or would you care to divulge some? I'm mostly familiar with Whitehorse and Cathedral, but last year I also climbed at Humphrey's. Whitehorse and Cathedral look snow-covered to me, but I haven't looked at Humphrey's.

Not at all. I am not privy to any crags out here that haven't been well documented for years. If you don't have it already, the Handren N. Conway guide is an excellent resource. I couldn't begin to list all the areas that would be suitable. My personal favorite is Shell Pond in Evans Notch. All-day sun in a beautiful locale. Catch it on the right day and you can be climbing in a t-shirt in January.

Humphrey's is really nice in late/early season. Not sure how it does with water runoff in the dead of winter, but the Cakewalk area has a very sunny aspect and tends to dry very quickly. Very sheltered from the wind, too. The quality of the climbing isn't spectacular, but I've always had a nice time there.

jdejace wrote:There's good rock but the season is relatively short and rainy

I don't think this is true at all, but I guess it depends on your perspective

Phil Schuld wrote: Huh, I find that when my fingers are strong, I am in good climbing shape! Guess it depends on what you're looking to get out of a workout. You can get creative and do longer hangs on bigger holds/less weight added to train things other than pure strength. These types of workouts would require less rest than your standard high-load hangboard workout. Hanging leg-lifts are great for the core, too

What I've read is that you should not do fingerboard training more than twice a week, if you want to give your tendons time to recover. I'm sure that doing this type of training makes your fingers strong, but I do not believe that it is sufficient to be in good shape for general climbing.

Muscles recover faster, so you can do general climbing exercises more frequently (something like 3-4x per week is what I've read).

In my current shape, I find my forearms get far too tired when climbing just a few routes. I need to build up the major muscles in the rest of my body (esp my arms but everything else needs work). The tendons in my fingers will build up more slowly. There's a place for fingerboard training, but I don't think it can be your entire training routine.

dragons wrote:What I've read is that you should not do fingerboard training more than twice a week, if you want to give your tendons time to recover. I'm sure that doing this type of training makes your fingers strong, but I do not believe that it is sufficient to be in good shape for general climbing. Muscles recover faster, so you can do general climbing exercises more frequently (something like 3-4x per week is what I've read). In my current shape, I find my forearms get far too tired when climbing just a few routes. I need to build up the major muscles in the rest of my body (esp my arms but everything else needs work). The tendons in my fingers will build up more slowly. There's a place for fingerboard training, but I don't think it can be your entire training routine.

As I suggested above, the hangboard, while chiefly known for training pure strength, can be used for more than that although admittedly somewhat less effectively. Your traditional workout is meant to cause failure in a short amount of time using a combination of hold size and weight added. That definitely necessitates the recovery period you prescribe above.

What if you just hung 20s on, 20s off for 10 minutes, using only your body weight on jugs? This is a different workout entirely and is more for endurance than power. This would be an intensity level that would require far less rest and will perhaps help develop that nebulous "general fitness" you're looking for.

And of course the hangboard shouldn't be your entire training routine. But when you live in an icy hellscape that does not allow for outdoor climbing and you don't always want to travel to the gym, it can be an effective part of that routine.

Phil Schuld wrote:... What if you just hung 20s on, 20s off for 10 minutes, using only your body weight on jugs? This is a different workout entirely and is more for endurance than power. This would be an intensity level that would require far less rest and will perhaps help develop that nebulous "general fitness" you're looking for. And of course the hangboard shouldn't be your entire training routine. But when you live in an icy hellscape that does not allow for outdoor climbing and you don't always want to travel to the gym, it can be an effective part of that routine.

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.