Year plan to Salathe Wall

[slybean]

Hi,

1) I’m a 5.13- climber (a can do 13- in a few tries, sport, trad, crack).

2) I have a long dream of climbing El Cap (The Salathe wall).

3) I have a strong partner (similar climbing level).

4) I need to do it now before i die...lol



Here is The Plan :

1) Jan-feb-mars-mid april.: I would do a cycle of first Arc, then Strength (H-board) then PE.

Note I live in Canada so no outdoor climbing at that time. Except a week in Redrock multi pitching (Rainbow Wall, etc) end of march.


2) May to mid July I work a lot (seasonal physical work) 6 days a week (65 hours). This year i did Eva Lopez training and some Deadlift 2 times a week with success. So i would do the same for that period.


3) End of July to mid September. One day outside climbing with priority on volume and endurance routes with variety (skill proofing). plus one day Strength (repeaters), and another day Arc (gym). progressing to Two days outside plus one day repeaters and second day PE Gym).



4) End of september to first week of October : Yosemite and getting my ass up the Salathe Wall in good style.

5)Drink a beer and rest.



So hope it’s clear. I have a few questions :



1)In the winter, i don’t work at all so i have time and I’m well rested. So could i add physical exercises that would bring my fitness up while doing a RCTM cycle?
2) Could thoses exercises be specifics so it wouldn’t be detrimental to the climbing? This without raising the chance of getting injured.

3)Any others advises would be appreciated.

[MarkAnderson]

I don't see any issues with your general plan, but if I were you I'd try to get as much mileage as possible on granite, preferably in Yosemite.  I see you have a Red Rocks trip planned for late March.  Yosemite is usually climbable that time of year.  If you live near granite, I'd try to get outside on it as much as possible as you approach Fall.

Are you hoping to free the Salathe? If so, what style do you have in mind?

[climbnkev]

I agree with Mark and would plan at least one trip to Yosemite before your week there to hone your granite skills.

Ground up efforts, while undoubtedly the best style can be cursed by the weather in Sept. I climbed the Muir in late Sept and had both 90 deg heat and hugely epic thunder storms in a 5 day span. I have also seen perfect 70 deg weather with no clouds in the sky for over a week. Once climbed up to past the Ear and met a party that spent the next 10 days in a single portaledge when an early season snow storm blew in the next day.

Logistics are also quite challenging for free climbing during the high season for European visitors. Just this year I went up for a quick run up the Freeblast only to find 4 parties in the first 2 pitches( 2 parties waiting at the base). Came back 4 hours later to see party #4 at the top of the 2nd pitch.

Point being that you want some extra time and if you have the ability to pre-haul to the top of Heart or better yet hollow flake you are going to enjoy the free climbing a lot better. When going ground up often the stress and labor from hauling can make or break the ascent.

This is all assuming you don’t have big wall exp. so if you are seasoned then excuse my leap, but your chances of freeclimbing the Salathe in a single trip as a .13- climber are pretty low. The headwall is a big sandbag. If this is your first time up El Cap you would have a lot better chance with Golden Gate and could avoid a lot of the crowds at the same time. If you are super psyched on the Salathe then you should probably do what most free climbers do, and spend a week on the summit working the headwall. Then rap the route and stash gear at the alcove and check out the second crux(Monster OW). Come down and rest a few days and go from the ground.

Regarding your training, make sure you include some general full body fitness to get you psyched for the vertical camping. Betchel has a great article with some good ideas here. www.climbstrong.com/work-capacity-climbing-hard-day-long-part2/

[climbnkev]

I just re-read your post and realized maybe your goal was just an ascent of the Salathe vs a free ascent.  If that's the case then assuming you guys know how to haul, follow, and all that monkey business, then you should be fine with your current plan.  I am still a big fan of pre-hauling to Hart, then doing the Free blast.  It is really nice to keep the momentum up once you start climbing.  Given your free climbing ability I would recommend shooting for a 3 day ascent, as the hauling on the Salathe sucks.  Consider ditching the ascenders and attempt to follow all pitches free.  Good luck.

[richb]

I don't know how you feel about top-down vs. ground up, but if I were going for a free or nearly free ascent in a short window I would rap in, stash gear and food, suss out crux pitches, and then climb from the bottom. There's some beta for doing this on the Mountain Project page for Freerider (see comment by Evan Stevens): www.mountainproject.com/v/106261545?search=1&type=route&method=resultsPage&query=freerider. They're not the same route at the top, I know, but much of what he says is applicable to the Salathe Wall as well.

[slybean]

Thanks for the replies !

Yes, I would like to free all the pitches under three days. My problem would be mileage and volume prior to the trip to stand up against the big wall workload.

I know the Headwall is total sandbag. I wouldn’t mind going home without doing it free if I can give a few honest tries.. It is almost the main reason of going up there. I can’t imagine a better feeling than climbing the Headwall on a nice crisp day with a friend.

I know for the crowds, I usually prefer to climb a choss pile alone than to deal with crowds but the SWall is not going less popular and me less younger.

I can postpone to October. Or If the weather could be nicer a could spend all november but I think it can just pour for days and days.

On the good side, I have mostly vertical granite in my area and
I could go back in the following spring to finish to job.

1) How early The Salathe could in season?
2) Do you think work capacity training (like Bethel suggest) would be detrimental to a regular Anderson cycle (big wall trad version)? Maybe keeping the less specific exercises to minimize injuries and not jeopardize recovery???
3) Mark, Are you writing a new version of the RCTM?

Thanks climbnkev for the wall strategies.

[scojo]

Have you done a lot of other big walls before, and how did you handle the workload? If you plan to do some other (not quite as hard) big walls earlier in the year, that could give you a sense of how you need to prepare for your goal.

[MarkAnderson]

I would defer to others on your first two questions. Personally I've had great luck in October, but it's been a long time since I climbed anything in the valley. Theoretically, I would think any work capacity training would undermine power to some extent, but how much is hard to say, and since I've never really done it, I don't know. I think the training I did for SB improved my work capacity as a side-effect, and it definitely hurt my power somewhat. As for #3, no, we don't have any plans to.

[Chris W]

Nov 3, 2017 19:17:04 GMT -7 slybean said:

3) Mark, Are you writing a new version of the RCTM?

I kind of feel like the forum is a living version of the RCTM

[slybean]

I imagine outdoor mileage would be the most effective way to go. Getting the skill proofing and volume. But Rob Pizem seams to be doing some kind of circuit training www.trainingbeta.com/strong-circuits-quick-focused-workouts-peak-performance/ with good result.

[korduroy]

Is this your first time in the Valley and on granite? Yosemite granite is a different beast than squamish or even north Conway.

So my climbing partner freed the Freerider last season after having done MANY big walls. He grew up in the Bay Area and spent his youth climbing in the Valley. This was his second attempt at doing it. He failed his first attempt because he was physically exhausted from the extraneous work done outside of the climbing on the big wall. He said the hardest thing to do was to climb hard pitches when physically wrecked.

The way we trained for it (I merely helped him – I did not climb with him) this past winter/spring was I would wait for him at the Waimea crag (rumney) and he would hike up to me with a heavy loaded pack. He would immediately drop the pack, tie in, and fire off a 12/12+. Once sent, he would untie, load the pack and hike back to the car, then back up to me, and repeat. After two laps on the same route, he would then hike to the car, and I would move to another harder route. This time, he would hike up, down, and up again before tieing in. We did this for a month or so prior to his trip. Needless to say, he cruised it.

That being said, I would suggest that during your summer outdoor days, that you really train to be physically exhausted before tying in to the routes. If you have a limited window to do this route, then you should really train for specificity. If you can rig up a haul system at your crag, then maybe do that. Haul a heavy bag, then fire a pitch and repeat. OR just plan to the route over the course of 7+ days.

[RobF]

Love it! Principle of specify of training at its finest. Hope you didn't get too bored waiting for your mate flogging up and down the hill.
Think I'll spend this winter doing some specific training myself for my local sport climbing venue. Load up with my rope and quickdraws then practice jumping over a little stream and walking up a 30 metre diagonal path...

[Tom]

Dec 13, 2017 5:19:06 GMT -7 korduroy said:

Is this your first time in the Valley and on granite? Yosemite granite is a different beast than squamish or even north Conway.

So my climbing partner freed the Freerider last season after having done MANY big walls. He grew up in the Bay Area and spent his youth climbing in the Valley. This was his second attempt at doing it. He failed his first attempt because he was physically exhausted from the extraneous work done outside of the climbing on the big wall. He said the hardest thing to do was to climb hard pitches when physically wrecked.

The way we trained for it (I merely helped him – I did not climb with him) this past winter/spring was I would wait for him at the Waimea crag (rumney) and he would hike up to me with a heavy loaded pack. He would immediately drop the pack, tie in, and fire off a 12/12+. Once sent, he would untie, load the pack and hike back to the car, then back up to me, and repeat. After two laps on the same route, he would then hike to the car, and I would move to another harder route. This time, he would hike up, down, and up again before tieing in. We did this for a month or so prior to his trip. Needless to say, he cruised it.

That being said, I would suggest that during your summer outdoor days, that you really train to be physically exhausted before tying in to the routes. If you have a limited window to do this route, then you should really train for specificity. If you can rig up a haul system at your crag, then maybe do that. Haul a heavy bag, then fire a pitch and repeat. OR just plan to the route over the course of 7+ days.

I'm really interested that you guys did this at Rumney and not at Cannon?  Is it because of the difficulty in finding hard pitches right off the ground?

[korduroy]

Yes, exactly. My partner said that what he felt dragged him down on his first free attempt of FR was hauling his bag, and then having to fire a hard pitch. The concentration of hard climbs at Cannon are few and far between compared to Rumney. Plus, the stairmaster that is the approach to Waimea is a great ass-kicker. Plus, with most of Waimea being pre-hung, we didnt have to fiddle with gear or setting up quickdraws.  We could specifically focus on climbing while exhausted.



We did initially try this training at Cathedral on the Prow, but he did not find it to be hard enough of a climb, and the demand from the hike was minimal.

[slybean]

HI,

Now the feedback. What I finally did for training, the result and what I would do differently.

It’s going to be a long post.
First, end of 2017 I started my training by tearing my rotary cuff…surfing. The next day could turn the key to start the car. Sh@#$T!. I went to see every speRCTMkicksAssts, did everything exercises, stretching, etc. So, I could still pull down climbing, no side pull, no gaston and belaying was the worst. So I did a long ARC phase and when things improved shoulders wise I started weights training and antagonist for the shoulders. That was Jan- feb.
By march, a gradually went into the trad/big wall training schedule from the manual and finish it by end of April.

Secondly, May, June and July, I worked a lot but could manage 1 day of climbing outside and 2 to 3 day of capacity training (See Steve Bethel Capacity training prog. www.climbstrong.com/climbing-hard-day-long-part1/).

Thirdly, August and September evolve to 2 days of volume climbing outside (mostly trad route, low angle on granite) and 2 days of Steve Bethel Capacity.
The result: On October 6, did FreeBlast and came down. Next day rest and prepare everything for the wall. On the 8th, haul to Heart. We spend 6 days on the wall (we planned for 4 or 5). We free as much a we could. First crux the Monster, it’s hard to be prepare for that pitch. Then the Boulder pitch which need working it has a sport climbing. The Enduro would be ok a ground level but that was day 5 and the battery were getting pretty low. We aided the headwall. We where thrash for a few days after.
So for the Salathe Wall, here’s my advises afterward. Me being a 47 years climber with no previous big wall experience.
1- Pre-haul and Then do free blast. Easier to do FreeBast compare to Haul to Heart.
2- Rest One day and then go up free blast.
3- Find a way to practice the Monster (Heel toe and arm bar.)
4- Practice Hauling, get a efficiency with rope managing
5- Don’t bring to much.
6- If you want to free every pitch, Go from the top, rap, stash water and food, practice the Headwall, Enduro, Boulder, Monster pitches. Going ground up you need to be quite resilient.

But this is a training forum. What would I do differently. After the previous summer of climbing a lot of trad and crack routes from moderate to 5.12+. I felt a couldn’t send second try 5.12+ and up. I’ve lost the top end. I felt fit and the Work Capacity help a bit leg wise. You do need a lot of legs exercices. I would do more legs.
Also, Doing volume climbing and skill relate climbing was hard to gauge and plan to progression through the summer. I would maybe do one day a week of volume climbs progressing in the number of pitch and latter in difficulty. And the second day, I would do more sport and hard routes to keep the top end to level.

If ours big walls skills would have been better, we could have freed more, climb faster but only by a small margins. To free a big route like that would need a lot of tactics for regular climber and planning and time.
We did top out, we did have a excellent adventure, we had a lot of fun, it was a dream come true.
Thanks for all yours advise