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swoopee
Feb 24, 2011, 1:43 AM
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lithiummetalman wrote: This is what you need to do. 1. Get a crashpad 2. A beanie 3. A vehicle 4. Some buddies, g/f, dog, cat, chinchilla 5. Beer 6. Ramen 7. Roadtrip Go to Bishop, Hueco, JT, etc Climb hard, have fun, make good times. Come back and report your progress!
I have all but number 4. People and animals hate me. Can I still boulder? 
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curt
Feb 24, 2011, 2:43 AM
Post #27 of 60
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swoopee wrote: lithiummetalman wrote: This is what you need to do. 1. Get a crashpad 2. A beanie 3. A vehicle 4. Some buddies, g/f, dog, cat, chinchilla 5. Beer 6. Ramen 7. Roadtrip Go to Bishop, Hueco, JT, etc Climb hard, have fun, make good times. Come back and report your progress! I have all but number 4. People and animals hate me. Can I still boulder?
Yes, but with nobody to spot you, be sure to wear a helment.
Curt
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spikeddem
Feb 24, 2011, 5:29 AM
Post #28 of 60
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curt wrote: swoopee wrote: lithiummetalman wrote: This is what you need to do. 1. Get a crashpad 2. A beanie 3. A vehicle 4. Some buddies, g/f, dog, cat, chinchilla 5. Beer 6. Ramen 7. Roadtrip Go to Bishop, Hueco, JT, etc Climb hard, have fun, make good times. Come back and report your progress! I have all but number 4. People and animals hate me. Can I still boulder? Yes, but with nobody to spot you, be sure to wear a helment. Curt
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swoopee
Feb 25, 2011, 3:18 AM
Post #29 of 60
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I always wear a helmet.
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firewrx612
Feb 26, 2011, 9:58 PM
Post #30 of 60
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My story is similar to yours regarding the fast initial progression.
I was (and still am) a life long mountain biker who took up climbing fairly late in life. I'm 38 now and have been climbing for a bit less than 2 years. I always wanted to try climbing, but outside of 2 or 3 times here and there I never did. Then in April of 2009 a rock gym with an extensive boulder area opened up 5 minutes from my house. So I started bouldering then and got hooked fast. I was going at least 3-5 times a week. In January of 10 I did 2 V8 problems within about a week of each other and then I plateaued. I haven't done a single V8 since.
Part of the problem was, I had some tendinitis in my rotator cuff. It wasn't that bad, so I worked through it, until it got a bit worse and it started to affect me at work (I'm a firefighter). Then I'd take a week off, but it'd come back. Then two weeks, same result. I tried that a few more times until I just bit the bullet and took a full 6 weeks off. This coincided nicely with the birth of my first child so it was kind of perfect. After coming back, I took it easy for a while and didn't go to the gym as often. It's six months later and I feel great. I'm as strong as I was, and feel much better.
Now I'm working on a V9 project that I actually think may be possible soon.
So I guess my advice is, take it a bit easier and if your body tells you to rest, rest. Especially when you're dealing with tendons, they take a long time to heal. Especially when you're old like me.
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Masterkush
Mar 10, 2011, 9:10 AM
Post #31 of 60
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lithiummetalman wrote: This is what you need to do. 1. Get a crashpad 2. A beanie 3. A vehicle 4. Some buddies, g/f, dog, cat, chinchilla 5. Beer 6. Ramen 7. Roadtrip Go to Bishop, Hueco, JT, etc Climb hard, have fun, make good times. Come back and report your progress!
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spikeddem
Mar 10, 2011, 3:51 PM
Post #32 of 60
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firewrx612 wrote: . . .I'm 38 now and have been climbing for a bit less than 2 years . . . in April of 2009 a rock gym with an extensive boulder area opened up 5 minutes from my house . . . I started bouldering . . . In January of 10 I did 2 V8 problems within about a week of each other and then I plateaued. I haven't done a single V8 since.
V8 in nine months of climbing. Even for someone that is 18 or 19, that is quite likely the most ludicrous progression that I've ever heard of, except maybe Dave Graham's 5.14a in a year. Now, add in the fact that you were 36 or 37 years old, and it's unbelievable. I mean literally, it's unbelievable.
I'm not one to harp on others about quick progression, but this is just wrong. Considering you haven't done a V8 in the last year despite having done two in a single week, my guess is that the routes were three or four grades soft.
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saint_john
Mar 10, 2011, 4:27 PM
Post #33 of 60
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maybe it was a V3 and he misread it. 3s and 8s can look similar. I assume he has bad eye sight since he's so old.
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sp00ki
Mar 10, 2011, 10:04 PM
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Such a weird thread. I can't quite tell if he's actually looking for advice, or for strangers on the internet to help stroke his ego...
That said, i'd be curious to know what testpiece V5s he's flashing (or, at least, in what areas he's climbing V5/V7), or if he's referring to juggy dynos in a softly graded gym somewhere.
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firewrx612
Mar 11, 2011, 1:39 AM
Post #35 of 60
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Vasya Vorotnikov was there on one of the days when I was working the problems and he didn't dispute the ratings. He and his climbing partner gave me some beta that helped me finish the problems.
Believe what you want.
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gosharks
Mar 11, 2011, 2:01 AM
Post #36 of 60
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MasterOfKungFu wrote: I would agree on the ratings at your gym being a bit soft simply because it is a University climbing gym and the people who set the routes there are most likely students who haven't been climbing and setting long enough to really know what they are doing. Not to take away from their ability, but they might be ego trippin'.
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sp00ki
Mar 11, 2011, 5:59 PM
Post #37 of 60
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firewrx612 wrote: Vasya Vorotnikov was there on one of the days when I was working the problems and he didn't dispute the ratings. He and his climbing partner gave me some beta that helped me finish the problems. Believe what you want.
In that case, you're probably talking about DRG-- whose boulder grades are incredibly soft, especially when compared to the outdoor bouldering on the east coast.
To put things into perspective, i've been climbing for a little over a year-and-a-half.
When i take a day trip to DRG, i typically flash V5 and V6, depending on the style. There isn't a boulderfield from Rumney to the Gunks to Haycock or GS or anywhere on the East Coast where i can flash V6. I certainly cannot come close to flashing V6 in my gym.
(that said, i'd wager DRG's problems are some of the most well set-- if not the best-- in our area)
(This post was edited by sp00ki on Mar 11, 2011, 6:09 PM)
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firewrx612
Mar 11, 2011, 7:05 PM
Post #38 of 60
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I'm talking about Rock Spot.
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sp00ki
Mar 11, 2011, 7:09 PM
Post #39 of 60
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Ah. He's a routesetter at DRG.
Forgive the assumption!
(This post was edited by sp00ki on Mar 11, 2011, 7:09 PM)
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jomagam
Mar 11, 2011, 7:15 PM
Post #40 of 60
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In reply to: V8 in nine months of climbing. Even for someone that is 18 or 19, that is quite likely the most ludicrous progression that I've ever heard of, except maybe Dave Graham's 5.14a in a year.
Nick Duttle did a V10 in 8 months. Just sayin'...
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MasterOfKungFu
Mar 11, 2011, 8:56 PM
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It wasn't intended to be pretentious. I was just making an over-generalization.
But you would agree that setters at a gym with 10+ years of setting experience are better at grading than college students?
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sp00ki
Mar 11, 2011, 10:42 PM
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Depends on what they're setting, of course. A V12 climber who sets will probably have a much harder time accurately telling the difference between a V3 and a V5 than, for example, a V7 climber even if he's been setting for three times as long.
At least, i'd imagine it that way.
Don't know anyone who's been setting for ten years.
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MasterOfKungFu
Mar 12, 2011, 6:38 AM
Post #43 of 60
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We got some veterans here at the portland rock gym, and one cool thing about its little bouldering section is the whiteboard which has a list of the routes and you can right a little check mark if you think a route is graded soft or hard or just right.
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flesh
Mar 22, 2011, 5:36 AM
Post #44 of 60
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Guys the gym is great for training but you really shouldn't assume you can climb any specific grade based on your gym.
I know the route setters at three local gym's which I alternate between. As an example, there was a pockety v8 that I flashed, easily, I told the setter it's not even close to v8, he said, it's v6 but I rated it that way so that v6 boulderers wouldn't try it and hurt themselves on the pockets! lol
I've done dozens of problems outside above v7, for reference. Right now, there's a v7 im my gym that's v5. There's a v8 that's v 11 that no one can do. Lol.
When I go to my brother's gym, everything is a grade softer than my gym, he always refers to himself as a v7 or v8 boulderer, i took him to a granite bouldering area and got him on a v7 and a v6, he couldn't do multiple moves on either. I was spoon feeding him the beta, he climb v7 and once in a while v8 at his gym. I routinely flash the v8's at his gym and only rarely can at mine, those I can are usually soft. I bouldered v7 inside one full year before doing it outside. Funny thing is, around v10, I think it switches to more sandbag in the gyms. It's easier to climb above v10 ouside, lol. We have v11's in my gym that my v13 bouldering buddy projects and cant do after multiple days.
Moral of story, you can climb a certain boulder grade when you climb something outside that's been there for years and has had dozens of ascents and has consensus. Other than that, I try to just use it as a frame of reference.
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pyrosis
Mar 22, 2011, 7:51 AM
Post #45 of 60
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flesh wrote: Guys the gym is great for training but you really shouldn't assume you can climb any specific grade based on your gym.
+1
And the moral of the story? go climb outside. :)
To the OP: Keep it up, don't get discouraged, have fun, learn about yourself, learn about movement. Don't be too caught up in the grade.
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spikeddem
Mar 22, 2011, 2:31 PM
Post #46 of 60
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pyrosis wrote: flesh wrote: Guys the gym is great for training but you really shouldn't assume you can climb any specific grade based on your gym. +1
Right, because outdoor climbign--as opposed to indoors--has a non-subjective grading system?
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flesh
Mar 22, 2011, 6:57 PM
Post #47 of 60
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spikeddem wrote: pyrosis wrote: flesh wrote: Guys the gym is great for training but you really shouldn't assume you can climb any specific grade based on your gym. +1 Right, because outdoor climbign--as opposed to indoors--has a non-subjective grading system?
Not non-subjective, but, significantly less subjective, especially if you aren't very tall or very short, and equally important that I mentioned, is that there's is a consensus over years as to the grade of the problem outside.
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spikeddem
Mar 22, 2011, 8:47 PM
Post #48 of 60
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flesh wrote: spikeddem wrote: pyrosis wrote: flesh wrote: Guys the gym is great for training but you really shouldn't assume you can climb any specific grade based on your gym. +1 Right, because outdoor climbign--as opposed to indoors--has a non-subjective grading system? Not non-subjective, but, significantly less subjective, especially if you aren't very tall or very short, and equally important that I mentioned, is that there's is a consensus over years as to the grade of the problem outside.
Consensus has nothing to do with the subjective qualities of a route.
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pyrosis
Mar 23, 2011, 10:46 AM
Post #49 of 60
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All ratings are subjective, which is why I trust a consensus based on ascents by numerous climbers over years to be much more accurate than a grade assigned by how hard a single route-setter thinks a problem is. The subjective nature of the rating is somewhat mitigated by the consensus. EG, tall climbers find a reachy problem much easier than short climbers, but the consensus ends up being somewhere in the middle. Climbers obviously find some value in this, otherwise why even bother to have ratings at all?
And perhaps I am biased, but I strongly believe: If you have not yet climbed that grade on real rock, you have not yet climbed that grade.
Not that it matters, in the grand scheme of things. Nobody really gives a shit what grade you climb, or I climb, or anyone climbs.
Back to the OP: plateaus are quite common. Find out what weakness you have that is holding you back, and work to overcome that.
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spikeddem
Mar 23, 2011, 3:12 PM
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pyrosis wrote: All ratings are subjective, which is why I trust a consensus based on ascents by numerous climbers over years to be much more accurate than a grade assigned by how hard a single route-setter thinks a problem is. The subjective nature of the rating is somewhat mitigated by the consensus. EG, tall climbers find a reachy problem much easier than short climbers, but the consensus ends up being somewhere in the middle. Climbers obviously find some value in this, otherwise why even bother to have ratings at all?
The consensus does make ratings reliable, but it does not change the fact that they're not subjective. If you ask 100 people if they like hot dogs, and they all say yes, does that mean it is not subjective? Of course not. Same goes for grades. Adding more people's opinions does not make something less subjective, even though it does make it more reliable.
Furthermore, except at major bouldering destinations, you can you almost be guaranteed that any legitimate gym is going to see more ascents on a given climb (at least ascensionists adding their opinion to the consensus), except perhaps the hardest problems in the gym.
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