|
|
Post by James_E on Dec 17, 2015 14:19:51 GMT -7
It isn't quite 2016 yet but work is slow and vocalizing my goals helps keep me motivated to train through the winter. Feel free to share your short, medium, or long-term goals.
-----------------------------
This year my goals were fairly vague because I was planning a wedding and I knew planning my season out was a fruitless endeavor. Regardless, I had a very successful season, climbing my first couple 5.13a's and pushing into some harder multipitch routes. Next year will be much more predictable so I sat down and made myself write out specific goals.
Sport: I somewhat arbitrarily chose Black Ice at Little Si as my main sport climbing objective, mostly because of the length and beauty of the line. I laid out 4 short term goal routes to build up to that climb, any of which I would be psyched to send. The challenge will be working through those routes without getting tired of hiking to the same crag all the time. I also have a week trip to Ten Sleep planned where I would like to get on Hellion or a number of other routes in the 5.13b-5.13c range.
Trad (single pitch): Bobcat Cringe at Index. One of the most striking and unique finger cracks I have seen. I toproped it a couple years ago and it seemed feasible. I suspect that once I start working on it it will come together pretty quickly.
Multipitch/Alpine: I spent most of this year sport climbing, but in general my big goals are long free routes in the mountains. After all, I live in possibly the best region of the country for that style of climbing. The main goal for 2016 will be The Tiger, an 11 pitch 5.12 at Washington Pass. I have planned out five routes to help me get ready for it. Realistically if I could tick off three or four of them this summer before trying The Tiger I would be satisfied. They are all fairly large undertakings on their own.
There they are. Now to suffer through a few months of shitty weather and hard training...
|
|
|
|
Post by erick on Dec 17, 2015 15:24:49 GMT -7
I like this idea, Jamese you have some good goals. Sounds like you are based in WA so if you want a partner that seems to be climbing at your level to help you work projects let me know.
I am just about to enter my year end performance season and the wife and I are headed south, hopefully I will nab my first 5.13. Once the new year starts I will begin training for Darkness at Noon at Smith. Beyond that things get more vague...
My trad skills are not what they should be and I would like to fix that, I have a few goals at Index but my main project is full Japanese Gardens
I did a bunch of bouldering this fall and since I am likely moving to leavenworth this spring I will probably get a few bouldering projects as well.
And to top it all off I have a bunch of routes at WA pass I want to get on as well. As you can tell I need more hard and fast goals.
Eric
|
|
|
|
Post by James_E on Dec 17, 2015 15:32:27 GMT -7
I like this idea, Jamese you have some good goals. Sounds like you are based in WA so if you want a partner that seems to be climbing at your level to help you work projects let me know. I always need more partners! You said you're moving to Leavenworth, where are you located now? Darkness at Noon is also one of my season goals, but it's in the "routes I'd like to get on if I manage to drag my ass down to Smith" category, so I didn't list it. |
|
|
|
Post by erick on Dec 17, 2015 16:36:37 GMT -7
Mount Vernon. Hope of tulips, some really good mexican food, and the best "secret" crag in the state.
|
|
|
|
Post by jcm on Dec 17, 2015 20:22:16 GMT -7
This is turning in to the rained out Seattle climbers thread. Anyway, 2015 wrapup and 2016 goals (sorry if it goes long-winded):
My 2015 climbing season was a bit of a mess. I won't go into the full story, but I had an extremely (and unexpectedly) busy summer field work season and was away from home more often than not for much of the year, which kind of blew the climbing season. Still, I had a good time getting back into trad climbing, climbing some big slabs in the mountains, learning how to climb the Index funk, even managing to send some things. It wasn't a big-numbers sort of year, but still had some value as a transtion period. Also, despite being not in peak shape, I managed to onsight a handful of routes at my peak onsight limit. Wierd.
2016 Goals:
- General structure: Train all winter for a late winter Spain trip, which will be oriented toward trying to up my OS grade. After that, spend the rest of the year focusing on continuing to get better at granite funk (Index), and working on climbing harder multipitch. In the past I pretty much only trad climbed from 2002-2010, then pretty much only sport climbed 2011-2014. Now I'm working on taking that sport climbing progress and applying it on big granite.
- Work less, climb more. Maintain better training regularity. Build or buy a better setup for hotel room hangboarding. Use up that comp time I gained working too much last season. Take more trips.
- Sport climbing (OS/Travel): Go onsight things in Spain. Planning a trip in Feb/March, will spend much of the trip in Chulilla, which I keep hearing is a very good crag for onsighting, and where 7c is the money grade. Perfect- trying to onsight 12d would be a step up (12c previous best). Trying to go for hard onsights is fun way to spend a trip; you get to experience more routes, while still seeking performance.
- Sport climbing (RP): No big RP goals this year. Maybe try to clean up a bit of unfinished business from spring 2015 at Little Si (Chronic) with residual Spain fitness, but this isn't critical.
-Trad Climbing (Cragging): Work through some more of the classic Index 5.12s. Projects queued up for next year are Batskins, NAD, and Numbah Ten. Bobcat Cringe sounds interesting too... Also would like to climb one of the multipitch 5.12s on the Upper Town Wall.
-Trad climbing (Multipitch): This is the big set of goals. Squamish: Freeway, White Feather, Polaris, U-Wall. WA Pass: Hitchhiker, Passenger, Ellen Pea. Thin Red Line and the Tiger are possibly longer-term goals but maybe recon them this summer. 2 week trip to Yosemite in October: Astroman, Rostrum. (Note: If I manage to do even half of this list I'll be psyched out of my mind).
- "Girlfriend climbing"- Squamish Buttress "Lite" (aka the Butt Face). She'll be stoked.
|
|
|
|
Post by erick on Dec 17, 2015 20:59:28 GMT -7
We should all meet up at index some time. I could use some coaching help. Good luck in Spain, I hope to make back there again. And focusing on onsighting is great way to explore a new area because it does get you on so many routes.
|
|
|
|
Post by jonfrisby on Dec 17, 2015 21:04:00 GMT -7
I'm living in my car for 4 months next summer (Rifle, Ten Sleep, Wild Iris, Squamish) after climbing in Thailand (10 days), Hueco (10 days), the Red or Obed (1 week), the New (1 week), Rumney, and the Gunks this Winter/Spring. This will be the first time I'm getting to spend a 5+ day stretch in any one place so I'm really hoping to jump forward this year. I want to do at least 2 12d's (Big Kahuna in Rumney, and Narcissus Direct in Summersville) this Spring and get my first 13a or b in Wyoming. I've got my eye on When I was a Young Girl I had me a Cowboy in Wild Iris. I also want to send a V9 in Hueco and do more 12s in the Gunks.
|
|
|
|
Post by jcm on Dec 17, 2015 21:55:27 GMT -7
I'm living in my car for 4 months next summer (Rifle, Ten Sleep, Wild Iris, Squamish) after climbing in Thailand (10 days), Hueco (10 days), the Red or Obed (1 week), the New (1 week), Rumney, and the Gunks this Winter/Spring. This will be the first time I'm getting to spend a 5+ day stretch in any one place so I'm really hoping to jump forward this year. I want to do at least 2 12d's (Big Kahuna in Rumney, and Narcissus Direct in Summersville) this Spring and get my first 13a or b in Wyoming. I've got my eye on When I was a Young Girl I had me a Cowboy in Wild Iris. I also want to send a V9 in Hueco and do more 12s in the Gunks. Jon- let me know if you want any more travel beta or route suggestions for Rifle, Squamish, or Ten Sleep. I've spent a ton of time in Rifle and Squamish, and a decent bit in Ten Sleep too. I think I gave you some Rifle info in an earlier thread, but I'm always happy to talk road trips. For Rifle, if you give me a target grade and a preferred style (steep vs. vert, bouldery vs. pumpy), I can probably give you a sweet list of suggested routes. Same goes for Squamish trad climbs. |
|
|
|
Post by jonfrisby on Dec 17, 2015 22:28:40 GMT -7
Thanks jcm. Yeah I think it was a thread I made over on MP. I will definitely be looking for beta pretty soon. Thanks for the offer
|
|
|
|
Post by Lundy on Dec 18, 2015 7:52:55 GMT -7
Jon - not sure what your climbing style is, but I think Slash and Burn is one of the best 12d's in the universe at the New. Quite vertical with lots of thin holds and it doesn't let up for quite a while once you enter the business pretty low. Just throwing it out there as I enjoyed that climb more than Narcissus Direct. At least go take a burn on it. It's sooo good.
|
|
|
|
Post by tradmike on Dec 19, 2015 20:58:35 GMT -7
Well 2015 started off pretty good and ended up pretty crappy, put on a ton of weight and in turned climbing went downhill.
2016 first goal is to lose the damn weight I put on. Then i want to lead congratulations at devils lake in Wisconsin5.10a finger crack on slippery quartzite. I have top roped the route and the scary part is the crux is down low. Guidebook actually says sight of many deckings, so the plan is to figure out the gear on TR.
I also have a list of 37 trad climbs( my age that i want to complete for next year).
Good luck to everyone.
|
|
|
|
Post by James_E on Dec 20, 2015 22:42:29 GMT -7
-Trad climbing (Multipitch): This is the big set of goals. Squamish: Freeway, White Feather, Polaris, U-Wall. WA Pass: Hitchhiker, Passenger, Ellen Pea. Thin Red Line and the Tiger are possibly longer-term goals but maybe recon them this summer. 2 week trip to Yosemite in October: Astroman, Rostrum. (Note: If I manage to do even half of this list I'll be psyched out of my mind). - "Girlfriend climbing"- Squamish Buttress "Lite" (aka the Butt Face). She'll be stoked. Many of your Multipitch goals are also my multipitch goals in preparation for The Tiger. Freeway, Hitchhiker, Passenger, and Ellen Pea are all on my list. Let me know if you ever need a partner for some big granite adventures! |
|
|
|
Post by jetjackson on Jan 1, 2016 13:26:43 GMT -7
Happy New Year! It's raining here in TX, so nothing better than to set out the plan for climbing in 2016! Here is my meticulous plan, which will surely hit some snags, but it's good to set some goals and work backwards from that. I pushed hard at the end of 2015 to break into 5.12, but didn't quite make it. My PB is still a 2nd go 5.11b. Mostly because I felt my 3rd go RP level is about 5.11d, I went straight for projecting a 5.12a. I was pretty close, able to do the route with only 1 hang, and overlapping the 2 parts. However, my last weekend in the season, after I had attempted a few times, when I went back to project, the route was wet from seepage - I had to jump on another 5.12a, which I got awfully close to ticking in one day, but kept whipping a foot from the chains. I learnt heaps in 2015 about training, and trying to fit it around a hectic lifestyle, with work travel and family commitments - in 2016, I am planning ahead so I am better prepared to succeed in hitting my climbing goals. That's the background to my goals for 2016, which are; Send 5 classic 5.12a Texas routes, all with different styles. Send Rain Dance (5.12b) Send The Grinch (5.12c) - a short bouldery route (STRETCH GOAL) Send a Classic 80 foot+ 5.11d or 5.12a Send Mexican Chicken (V6), or similar V6 at Hueco tanks. I’m starting the year with a short 10 week cycle, skipping PE, before a trip to Hueco Tanks, where I hope to hit a V6. One I have my eye on is Mexican Chicken. I was just at HT 2 days ago, and came close on one V6, just slightly lacking in the grip strength for the crux move. So the first cycle has 10 HB sessions, 4 Campus sessions and plenty of limit bouldering. I have a 3 day trip to Hueco booked for first week of March. Then I hope to tick the 5.12a I had missed last year - the one in the video linked above. With the second cycle I’m aiming to hit a 40 foot 5.12b called Rain dance, it’s a bouldery start and finish, with a pleasant in between. I’m starting with plenty of arcing, peppered in between planned family visits, in order to get my endurance back after the bouldering phase. I also want to tick a few other classic 5.12a’s in Texas - Liposuction, Jade, and Liposuction during the performance phase of this cycle. With the 3rd cycle my goal is to tick a classic 5.11d or 5.12a route that is >80 foot, possibly overhung (maybe at the Red). As my local crags are mostly 30-40 foot routes, they are short and powerful, but I want to extend my climbing to really long routes and so I have put in a good 2 weeks of ARC’ing and plenty of PE during this phase. During the PE Phase, I plan to try and tick a route called The Grinch, at my local crag, a short, powerful, 30 foot 5.12c - that’s my stretch goal for the year. The last phase of the year will be a last attempt at short bouldery routes (the grinch) during the PE phase, after which I am headed home to Australia for Christmas, and planning to hit a few 60 foot 5.12a and 5.12b classics in my home town. My full plan is on google spreadsheet here
Good luck to everyone in 2016! |
|
|
|
Post by MarkAnderson on Jan 1, 2016 15:36:24 GMT -7
Where are you from in Australia? And, if you're just visiting us here, why in god's name do you live in Texas?  |
|
|
|
Post by jetjackson on Jan 1, 2016 15:53:48 GMT -7
Where are you from in Australia? And, if you're just visiting us here, why in god's name do you live in Texas? I'm from Brisbane, great place to climb, but I didn't really get fully absorbed into climbing until I moved to Texas in October last year and didn't have much else to do in my spare time. I got transferred to Houston, as I work in the chemical industry, and that's Houston - Oil and Gas, Chemicals and Medicine. Luckily it's only a couple of hours from Austin, and has good flights to get out and go to other crags. The crag I grew up near in Brisbane is called Kangaroo Point (KP as we call it) - it's lit up at night, so you can climb any time of the day. See the photo below - that's KP. When I was younger I used to traverse the cliffs when we went there for family BBQ's. There is a climb called 'Be a robot for jesus', it's got BARFJ painted at the bottom of the climb to sign the route, and when I was younger I used to look at it and think that it must be impossible to climb. It's pretty blank, with mostly small crimps, and very balanced moves. It was 26 (5.12b) until it got chipped a few years ago, and now it's a 25 (5.12a) - one of the hardest routes at the crag. I'm dead keen to jump on it when I get back home for a visit, and see if I can send it with my newly developed climbing skills.  |
|
