|
deleted
Deleted
Oct 14, 2004, 2:28 PM
Post #1 of 14
(2027 views)
Shortcut
Registered:
Posts:
|
import_temporary
|
|
|
|
|
crag
Oct 14, 2004, 2:48 PM
Post #2 of 14
(2028 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 29, 2003
Posts: 623
|
Less of a gift and more of need to climb. A need that has far out weighed my gifts.
|
|
|
|
|
jer
Oct 14, 2004, 2:59 PM
Post #3 of 14
(2027 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 26, 2000
Posts: 426
|
nagual,
this is a good question and is something that has been on my thoughts lately. Not so much my abilities, but my potential.
Nearing 30, I am finding a need to define why I do things and what my goals are. In climbing I have narrowed it down to two things: to achieve my potential, and to spend time with friends. So, then, what IS my potential? Well, who knows really, what any of our potential is?
I have climbed for almost 11 years now, and my progress has been painstakingly slow towards where I feel my potential is. I have worked my way up the grades, but realized early on that my strength was not in reaching the higher grades...because my love did not seek that, and was not satisfied by that.
My love is adventure and beautiful places, but I also strongly feel that to obtain the higher grades (in any sport, olympics, etc.), one needs to be born with the right genetic makeup(for instance Klem Loskot). I believe with hard work and patience, any motivated, athletic person can be a "contender"; but the truely gifted were born that way and will always be ahead of the rest of us, passionate or not.
I ran with guys like this in high school. I was passionate about running. I practiced twice as much as other guys on my team. I was always a leader at practice, but come race day, they had that extra ummph that I didn't seem to posess. Did they want it more than I did? Hardly.
jer
|
|
|
|
|
tori
Oct 14, 2004, 3:15 PM
Post #4 of 14
(2028 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Feb 23, 2003
Posts: 141
|
Every time I get above the pro, and I don’t see good holds, and I don’t see good placements, and I can’t down climb, and I think I’m about to fall and get my femur jammed into my ribcage, and I want to get scared but I suck it up and make the moves I get the gift of climbing. I have been amazing myself regularly for three years now and it only gets better. If this is your gift than it’s always up there somewhere and you can find it early and often. :)
|
|
|
|
|
metakinjo
Oct 14, 2004, 3:17 PM
Post #5 of 14
(2027 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 4, 2004
Posts: 56
|
I have often wondered what my climbing potention it. I have been climbing for 5 months now and I can only climb a 5.9 and I boulder a v1. I would like that think that I have the potential to do a lot better. However my excuse will be that I am too overwieght. I am 240lbs at 5'7". I am not exactly a light wieght. LOL. But weight aside, is there a peak in strength that I have to meet before I am at my full potential? Or can my skill only get soo better? WHO KNOWS. All I know is that I am going to climb as hard as possible and train whenever I can to get stronger and more skillfull.
|
|
|
|
|
grayrock
Oct 14, 2004, 3:41 PM
Post #6 of 14
(2027 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 1, 2004
Posts: 46
|
IMO your potential is limitless. In order to begin to reach your potential you would have to quit your job, probably loose your wife and kids and so on and spend all your time climbing and/or training (with proper rest of course). You have to decide what price you are willing to pay. To me there are lots of important things in life that I either like to do or do just because they are important. All that takes away from reaching my climbing potential. But I am satisfied with that. I feel I have a pretty good balance in my life right now and if I didn’t, my wife would let me know. When I climb, I usually come home with a smile on my face, the feeling of satisfaction in my chest, the desire to do better next time and a buzz that last about 2 days then it’s time for another fix.
|
|
|
|
|
rockprodigy
Oct 14, 2004, 3:57 PM
Post #7 of 14
(2027 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 10, 2002
Posts: 1540
|
This is a good question, and hopefully I can give all of you some hope. First of all, I don't quite fall into your desired demographic of the 13+ climber, so far I top out at 13b, but I have no doubt in my mind that I will be in the 13+'s eventually, probably soon.
I feel that I basically have NO physical talent for climbing whatsoever. However, I feel I am gifted in the mental arena. I am very disciplined, focused, and motivated, and in terms of scary trad climbing I seem to have an above average ability to handle risky climbing.
I too was a runner in high school, and had no talent at that either, I would work my a$$ off and always get beat by guys who were just plain gifted. However, through stubborness I was able to get good enough to run on a Division 1 NCAA team in college. My climbing career is the same.
I climbed "casually" for several years in high school because I didn't have access to rock, and I was able to achieve the level of about 10c. When I got to college and had the opportunity to climb consistently, I was able to get up to about 11b after a couple years or so of consistent climbing. I don't think that indicates that I have any tremendous talent. At that point I decided that I was going to train like I used to train for running. My first "season" of training, I improved to 12b. Since then, I have been training that way, pretty consistently for about 6 years, and I have improved to 13b, and my trad level is at 13a.
I have seen no signs that my improvement is tapering off or reaching any sort of physical limit. I intend to keep improving, and I have no doubt that I will climb 14a some day. The only way I won't is if I get severely injured, or I lose the desire to climb.
I think there is a theoretical limit to our physical potential, but I think none of us are likely to reach it in our lifetimes. The fact is, we don't know enough about training, and climbers in general are not disciplined enough for us to reach that limit. Therefore, if you are motivated and disciplined, you can always get better at climbing.
So far, I've just been talking about the strength aspect of climbing, without mentioning the technique aspect. From what I have read, your technique can improve throughout your life, even though your strength might taper off as you get older. That is why there are 50 year olds who can climb 5.14, whereas in a sport like running, the top athletes are in their mid-to-late 20's.
I think that basically any healthy person should be able to climb 5.13a, if they really want to. Whatever physical limit there may be, should be way above that. The question is, are you willing to make the sacrifices to get there. Obviously for certain people, that may require more sacrifices, but I think you have the potential to get there if you really want it. The fact is most people aren't willing to change their diet, and spend 20-30 hours a week training for many years in order to get there. They'd rather smoke a bowl and talk about how grades don't matter.
|
|
|
|
|
deleted
Deleted
Oct 14, 2004, 3:59 PM
Post #8 of 14
(2027 views)
Shortcut
Registered:
Posts:
|
I think just about everybody that is of average genetic make up, I mean your not 3 feet tall or 400lbs etc. can at least climb 5.12. I thought I would never reach that grade for a long time, I didn't have any role models that where as big as me. I climbed for many years off an on and never really did any better then hard 5.10's. I think the most important thing I've learned that is that your potential in climbing is often higher or much higher then you think. Climbing is very complex, you have to get everything right and balanced to move upward in the grades. I used to climb with this one guy, he was strong real strong and his foot work was horrible; if he had his foot work down he could probably climb 5.13's that season. I know other people that are natural climbers but get all out of sequence and can't read the next moves that are comming and fail there. I think it is key to discover your weakness and balance them with your strengths. Climb with some really good climbers ask them to watch you, video tape yourself etc.
I highly recommed the Eric Horst books, they are a gold mine of information that will send you to the next grades if you work at.
To climb hard 5.14-5.15 probably does require some genetic talent, but I'm not totally sure because I've never trained hard enough to try anything that hard.
Keep in mind to that there are 5.13's out there that are 80 feet of tuff 5.11 moves and there are 5.13's that are 5.10 climbing to a hard boulder problem in the middle then more 5.10. Don't get too caught up the numbers. Don't think that since you can't do a V10 boulder problem that you'll never climb 5.13 etc. You may muscle endurance that no one has every seen before and doing crazy 5.14 endurance routes that are a bunch of v4 moves one after another. And endurance takes time to build so you'll never know you potential for a while anyway.
Also, think of this there are many more goals out there in climbing then just climbing the "hardest" route, and be the "best" climber.
[b:50c355a78d]You could be the most
Most diverse climber
Oldest to do a certain grade
cool headed climber
Fastest climber
The biggest climber
THe funniest
The most inspiring climber
The happiest climber
The most endurance
The highest pain thresold climber
The best crack climber
The best trad/hard route climber
The best gritstone climber
The best boulderererer
The best compeitor
The kindest climber
The Best Climbing teacher
Most First acents
ect. etc.
[/b:50c355a78d]
Out of no where recently one of my latest goals has to become one of the most level headed climbers, I want to feel like I am walking down a side walk even when I'm at my limits and about to fall. So I'm starting to identify want things I need to work on to reach this goal. I noticed I need to work on not fearing a fall and trusting my gear to where I don't spend 1% of energy worrying about it. I also need to work on trusting the belayer fully etc. So lately I've been doing things like finding a nice overhangin route to fall off of and hooking up a bomber anchor and doing lots of practice falls while keeping my mind calm and my body lose. I'm starting to get to the point now where falling doesn't bother me at all and it's just more annoying to fall then something that is scary. It was actually fun after a while of taking jive falls. I was able to stay calm when falling and know my rope and belayer will catch me.
Last weekend I lead of an easy sport route and noticed how I was not worried about falling at all anymore, just a healthy thought in the back of my mind.
And this is the process of identifing weaknesses and training them to be strengths, I use no matter what climbing goals I may have.
|
|
|
|
|
needrock
Oct 14, 2004, 5:39 PM
Post #9 of 14
(2029 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 5, 2004
Posts: 21
|
well, i don;t know about any of that, but this is my first year climbing and i have already sport led 5.12. i think that someone said it right on earlier though, it's jsut a need, a subconsious yearning to always be climbing. just keep that fire for climbing alive and you will see the results you want, and even if you don;t, who cares??...as long as you're still loving it...
|
|
|
|
|
wyattwyattwyatt
Oct 14, 2004, 7:35 PM
Post #10 of 14
(2027 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Apr 22, 2004
Posts: 73
|
i think this is an interesting question. i would like to hear more specific answers from those on this site who climb at high levels (5.12 and up). what level do u climb at now and what kind of progression took place getting there? was it fairly steady? or was there a time period where u progressed in leaps in bounds? how long did it take u to reach 5.12? if there was a period where u progressed very quickly, what do u attribute it to?
note: obviously there are many people who have no desire to climb at high technical levels and simply climb because they love doing it -- more power to them. but this question is more about finding out about a typical progression (if there is one) to specific number grades. if u dont believe in number chasing, no need to flame -- to each his own.
|
|
|
|
|
deleted
Deleted
Oct 14, 2004, 8:29 PM
Post #11 of 14
(2027 views)
Shortcut
Registered:
Posts:
|
[quote:a939923126="wyattwyattwyatt"]i think this is an interesting question. i would like to hear more specific answers from those on this site who climb at high levels (5.12 and up). what level do u climb at now and what kind of progression took place getting there? was it fairly steady? or was there a time period where u progressed in leaps in bounds? how long did it take u to reach 5.12? if there was a period where u progressed very quickly, what do u attribute it to?
note: obviously there are many people who have no desire to climb at high technical levels and simply climb because they love doing it -- more power to them. but this question is more about finding out about a typical progression (if there is one) to specific number grades. if u dont believe in number chasing, no need to flame -- to each his own.[/quote:a939923126]
These are good questions. I hope more people that climb hard reply.
I know for myself, the hardest I've climbed was 5.12a redpoint a couple years ago, I moved and stoped climbing, now I just started getting back into 2 months ago and plan to stay with it for as long as possible. My life is much more stable now, and I think I have right enviornment now to get to where I was a couple years ago and push beyond that.
I've been climbing off and on for 20 years. I was stuck climbing 5.10s
I never really climbed more then just in the summer with friends when it was nice and climb in the gym once a week in the spring and summer.
Finally one season a couple years ago I made my mind up to train hard all winter and be good shape for spring, insteading of starting my season then. I really don't like climbing inside in gyms that is why I would always start my season in the spring time, when the weather was good.
The results where dramatic for me since I trained very hard, harder then I every did for climbing all winter and ate really good and rested really good. By spring I was super strong for about 2-3 weeks when my training cycle peaked. My hardest redpoint attempt I did was a 5.12a a couple months later, god knows what I could have done red point wise if I would have climbed something when I peaked. I mention this 2-3 peak period I experinced because at the time I didn't know what was happening till a couple weeks later and I was kind of tired and my climbing strength droped off. Now that I have a better idea about how my body responds to training cycles I will plan a training cycle to peak in spring and again in the fall, both prime climbing times here on the east coast for redpoint attempts etc.
You have to patient, dedicated, clear goals, good information to push beyond your current limits.
I think my progress was in leaps and bounds. It wasn't till I got real serious into training right, this includes the right intensity at the right time, the right food, and the right rest. If you get any of these factors wrong you will either just stay where your at and get fatigued or worse get injured and climb worse.
I think for me I was able to reach my goals training consistantly in a systemanic manner.
I highly recomend reading as much as you can about training and climbing, books like Eric Horst's climb 5.12 is excellent start.
|
|
|
|
|
euroford
Oct 14, 2004, 8:36 PM
Post #12 of 14
(2027 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Aug 26, 2002
Posts: 2913
|
i just have fun.
|
|
|
|
|
deleted
Deleted
Oct 14, 2004, 8:40 PM
Post #13 of 14
(2027 views)
Shortcut
Registered:
Posts:
|
[quote:db67b4ba17="euroford"]i just have fun.[/quote:db67b4ba17]
I have fun too, training, climbing outside, reaching my goals. I think adding goals to my climbing makes it even more rewarding and fun. :D
|
|
|
|
|
aleclimb320
Oct 14, 2004, 9:12 PM
Post #14 of 14
(2028 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Apr 29, 2004
Posts: 23
|
rockprodigy, thanks for writing your post.
When I began climbing, I also felt as though I had absolutely no natural ability. I mean, I really sucked ass and wondered if climbing was even worth pursuing. But I loved it too much, despite my suckage, to give it up. I am actually really surprised and pleased at my progression after choosing to stick with it and I plan on only climbing harder. And not just hard for a girl, but hard - period. It is inspiring to hear of similar beginnings and feelings, resulting in goals such as mine being achieved. Passion and determination can make any potential limitless.
|
|
|
|
|
|
