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disobey_gravity2011-06-10 09:10 am
rydra_wong) wrote in disobey_gravity2011-06-10 09:10 am
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Friday glee has gritstone rash
The Friday post of glee is where you get to tell us about your climbing-related happiness this week.
N.B. Please feel free to post your glee on any day of the week; the Friday glee is just to get the ball rolling.
To enhance this week's glee -- yes, I freely admit that I am on a streak of posting gritstone vids, but here's yet another. Having made my own pilgrimage to Fontainebleau earlier in the year, I'm charmed to see these guys coming in the opposite direction:
4 Froggies in the Peak part and Part 2.
(My French is nonexistent, but I'm getting the impression there may be some sheep jokes in there ...)
N.B. Please feel free to post your glee on any day of the week; the Friday glee is just to get the ball rolling.
To enhance this week's glee -- yes, I freely admit that I am on a streak of posting gritstone vids, but here's yet another. Having made my own pilgrimage to Fontainebleau earlier in the year, I'm charmed to see these guys coming in the opposite direction:
4 Froggies in the Peak part and Part 2.
(My French is nonexistent, but I'm getting the impression there may be some sheep jokes in there ...)
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And I climbed a couple of V2s, and went up some V1s missing out a few holds, which was pleasing.
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I also climbed a very nice sandstone wall, a couple of red brick columns, and that weird-ass sculpture in front of the university that I saw marked on buildering-spots.de. I've been living in this place for 20 years and never even noticed the thing before... it's a whole new way to discover the city. Really fun.
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I'm actually not sure as to the legality but I think that it might not even be illegal if it's on public structures instead of private ones? Or... semi-legal?? I don't know if there's even a paragraph in the law text that would apply here.
When I climb things like garages or house corners, I make sure there aren't too many people around, just in case. But with public sculptures, bridges, or walls I'm no longer that concerned. You get used to the feeling of being in public. I try to make extra sure to leave the spot just as I found it, of course. No chalk, no foot prints on white walls.
Cliffs sounds appealing as well! We don't have any here so one has little choice but use man-made structures. But I also like the idea of reinterpreting architecture. :)
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Alternatively, keep an ear out at the climbing wall, and ask the staff; it's quite likely that there'll be people plotting outdoor trips, and you may be able to tag along.
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(And there will inevitably be a moment when you look down and suddenly your large bouldering mat looks tiny.)
If you're going with a group of people, people will pool resources and lay out several boulder mats to cover the likely fall area if it looks like it could be awkward, and act as spotters for each other (to ensure that someone who falls does land on the mat).
If you're on your own, you need to think about where you're likely to fall (and if, for example, you're going to come swinging off at an angle), so you can decide where to place the mat.
There may also be problems where you decide that one mat won't be enough, or you don't feel comfortable without a spotter, and have to back off.
FWIW, I got a DMM Highball mat and it's served me well so far. I'm fairly comfortable going outdoor bouldering on my own with a mat. On my recent Peak trip, there were one or two things I backed off that I might have gone for if I'd had a spotter, but generally I felt comfortable judging the risks.
And the mat really makes a difference versus falling on the ground.
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I stay away from places like our district court house with its really inviting fassade.
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I'll try to do a proper write-up when I'm not comatose from exhaustion.
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Climbing this morning with Kim, and I guarantee that will make it a better day!
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(A patch on my jawline got quite vigorously exfoliated on my trip when I slid slowly and inexorably off an especially rounded top-out ....)
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But I knew I was going to get scuffed up in the Peak District; gritstone is gorgeous stuff, but the inevitable downside of its friction is that it cheese-graters your skin.
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My partner couldn't make it, so I went alone for the first time and bouldered for an hour or so. It's interesting - while before I've felt like there are a lot of women around, this time I was the only girl in the area a lot of the time. I guess because I was bouldering and not top-roping? Anyway, I find it funny how much of the time people spend sitting on the floor staring at the wall, even when it's empty, but OTOH I totally get why. You can only hold on for so long!
I tried a whole bunch of different problems, and the better shoes definitely helped. I need to go more than once a week to improve more, though. It's a bit awkward to fit it in and I'm not sure I have the time this summer, but in the fall I move to a new town with a climbing gym a 5 minute bike ride away, so I might just do some weight training at home to try and build up my strength until then.
I seriously love this shit, though. :D For someone who hasn't ever (ever!) committed to anything athletic, and hasn't done any form of sport or exercise since, uh, 10th grade? This is quite a mental and physical shift, so the fact that it's so easy and I just want to go every day is a good sign.
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this time I was the only girl in the area a lot of the time. I guess because I was bouldering and not top-roping?
Maybe? It depends on the place, I think -- the climbing wall I go to is bouldering-only and seems to have roughly equal numbers of men and women, but I think bouldering does tend to skew more heavily male, maybe because it's seen as more power-based.
Anyway, I find it funny how much of the time people spend sitting on the floor staring at the wall
Hey, the sitting glaring at the wall is an important part! Really! *g*
Actually, it can help with figuring out a tricky or baffling problem. But mostly it's just a way of pacing yourself; if you keep throwing yourself at the wall again and again and again without a break, your energy burns out much faster.
This is quite a mental and physical shift
I know! Isn't it amazing?
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I will do a new shoe post, then, but I did want to say thanks for the awesome advice, I made good use of it not being a complete n00b with the salesguy.
The gender split's been more equal other times, and it might have been there was a critical mass of dudes in the main area and that kept women out. That sounds awful, but I know it takes more guts to walk up to a wall when twenty brawny dudes are there!
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I know what you mean. It can feel intimidating, or just create the sense that this is a very macho, power-based thing, and no-one who isn't already climbing VRidiculous should even bother entering the sacred arena.
Particularly when they've all got their shirts off and are doing super-hard stuff to impress each other.
But it's weird now, because I know some of these guys. Some of the hardest climbers there were sincerely cheering me on and encouraging me when I was failing horribly on V0s, and are total sweethearts.
(Conversely, some of the brawny shirtless dudes who are busiest showing off to their mates actually can't climb for shit, and I have to restrain myself from flitting up the problems they're struggling on as part of my warm-up. Unless they're being assholes, in which case I have no compunctions.)
So now I wander past, snicker at
or oglethe shirtlessness, cheer if someone I know is going for something hard, and get on with my projects. But I remember the inadvertent deterrent factor it can have at the start.no subject
...and then when I went back two days later, they'd finally gotten around to resetting that wall, so it was gone. But I found another route that hit me with about the same pattern--repeatedly falling off before I could even start, then slowly progressing--which should last longer. So I have that to work on next time I go in. (I think. They usually only reset the walls every few months.) So, a new nemesis route! It's lots of fun. That's some good glee, right there.
Also gleeful: discovering that one or two V0 routes are now sufficiently easy for me that I can legitimately call them "warmup" routes.
I also tried some V1s at the encouragement of gym staff, and discovered that I can't even start the ones identified as "pretty easy" yet. Which was a little discouraging, but, hey, as long as the V0s are providing a challenge, I'm not exactly stagnating.
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discovered that I can't even start the ones identified as "pretty easy" yet.
If the gym staff are being encouraging, they might be able to give you some tips. It's possible that the problems require more strength than you have right now, but it's also possible that it's a technique issue and that knowing how to tackle a particular move (or what move you need to be trying to make in the first place) could make them much easier.
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