What about partners?

[ryanmcd]

Hi y'all--I'm in my first cycle, just getting back to climbing after 18 years off (and only a couple years of serious climbing before that). I love everything RCTM preaches. I can instantly visualize how to make the indoor workouts fit into a very busy life. But I'm wondering how it's supposed to fit with partner climbing outdoors. Presumably, I'm not supposed to search out a belay slave. But finding a partner who's available when I am, and at a similar level, who holds RCTM priorities (and happens to be in the same phase of the cycle!) would be pretty hard. In your collective experience, how do the earlier BF and later PE phases work, taking partners into account? What kinds of education do you provide your partners with?

Those are questions that I think many folks might have. Specific to my situation, in case anybody has similar experience, I'm also looking for suggestions on how to do the BF, PE, and Performance phases (a) when you are trying to make climbing an enjoyable lifestyle for your family, which in my case includes my wife who is a beginner, my 11-year-old son who onsights 10c on toprope, and five younger kids who have varying degrees of interest in climbing; and (b) compounding the difficulty in fit is that my main climbing partner, who has four kids about our kids' age, put up 5.14 testpieces in the New River Gorge once upon a time and now boulders super hard V--. He's happy to spot me on V3s and belay me on 5.10s, but that has its limits, and I also want to be a good partner to him. 

In short, how partner-dependent is RCTM, on a scale of 1 (just do it) to 10 (you need to have an identical twin partner to do it)? And how do partners of varying skill level and fitness work together?

Thanks!
Ryan

[Chris W]

Ryan, I could write a book about this. My wife isn't nearly as gung ho about my climbing, but she isn't actively working against me, which is a plus.

1) I rarely get to climb outside unless it's my PE and performance phases (and even then I have a hard time getting outdoors). This is in part to placate my wife. My kids are all small, age 5, 3 and 8 months. She knows, however, that during the PE and performance phases I expect to get out at a bare minimum once per week.

2) Having a readily available climbing partner (wife, kids, etc.) would be a HUGE plus. I have a very hard time finding climbing partners. My partners don't follow the RCTM. They are willing to belay me on my projects and I'm willing to do the same for them.

3) I train at home. A home wall is vital for my training.

4) The Rock Prodigy method is the ONLY way for me to train. I tried a lot of other things before, but since the I found the RCTM, I'm actually improving. It's a great way to train with a busy life and family.

5) My climbing partners rarely are at the same level as me, some climb higher grades, some don't. ALL OF THEM are competent belayers.

6) Check out Erica Linberry at Cragmama.com. She has lots of cool information about climbing with family and kids.

7) Ask more questions and I'll be happy to share my experiences

Chris

[ryanmcd]

Hey Chris--thanks for the response. Sent you a private message to start the conversation.
thanks,
ryan