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Post by joev9 on Jan 29, 2015 14:55:19 GMT -7
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alanl
New Member
Posts: 9 
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Post by alanl on Jan 30, 2015 15:23:16 GMT -7
Congratulations
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Post by MarkAnderson on Jan 30, 2015 18:25:04 GMT -7
Danke
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Post by Chris W on Feb 3, 2015 3:07:27 GMT -7
Mark:
1) Congratulations on what looks like a great route! Thanks for sharing with a nice blog post
2) Isn't it cold in Colorado right now? Did you train for a performance peak in mid winter?
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Post by MarkAnderson on Feb 3, 2015 8:49:45 GMT -7
1) Thank you 2) The weather varies a tremendous amount on the CO Front Range. Here's a forecast to give you an idea. This week's weather is pretty typical of this time of year, although perhaps a bit on the warm side. That said, I will climb in just about any weather. Kate has a nice thick hooded puffy and puffy pants (key). 3) Yes, I train for a performance peak in mid-winter. That's often my most productive season, what with all the great sending temps  |
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Post by gargano on Feb 3, 2015 19:19:37 GMT -7
That's awesome! Nice one Mark.
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Post by Chris W on Feb 4, 2015 9:33:36 GMT -7
That is a very varied forecast. I'll have to look into getting a nice big fluffy jacket for my wife. We just got her a pair of snow pants for Christmas.
Who watches your kids when you climb? If they go with you, how long do they last before they break down? My youngest is 15 months and doesn't last too long before he gets cranky and needs a nap.
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Post by joev9 on Feb 4, 2015 9:43:43 GMT -7
That is a very varied forecast. I'll have to look into getting a nice big fluffy jacket for my wife. We just got her a pair of snow pants for Christmas. Who watches your kids when you climb? If they go with you, how long do they last before they break down? My youngest is 15 months and doesn't last too long before he gets cranky and needs a nap. When my kids were young, I had great success with a jogging stroller at the boulders. It was a bit of walk to the boulders and 9 times out of 10 my kid would fall asleep and then I would get at least an hour, sometimes up to 2 of stress free bouldering! |
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Post by MarkAnderson on Feb 4, 2015 10:04:19 GMT -7
Stroller is a great way to go if it can handle the approach. It's not an option at most of our local crags though.
Anyway, if we are climbing locally, like Clear Creek, we try to climb on weekdays as much as possible while Logan is in pre-school and Amelie is at day care. On the weekend we either take the kids, or get Kate's sister to babysit (lifesaver). Many of the Clear Creek crags are totally unsuitable for kids. For example, the right side of Wall of the 90s, where all the hard routes are, is approached from a steeply sloping ledge 200' off the deck. The crag I'm climbing at now requires a tyrolean traverse to reach, and is only a few feet from a raging, ice-choked river (I'm not saying I've never taken an 10-month old baby across a tyrolean while strapped into a removable carseat, but I like to avoid it whenever I can). One of the reasons I prefer Clear Creek is that it's only 30 minutes from my house/work. I can warmup at home, jump in the car, get two good burns and be done in a 4 hour round trip. That greatly reduces the amount of babysitting we need, which makes it much easier to get a babysitter, and it allows me to climb on weekdays without burning through too much vacation time (although, since having kids I find myself less and less interested in vacations, which further makes it easy for me to rationalize using vacation time to climb at local crags).
If we have the kids with us, crag selection is severely limited, especially since all the rock tends to be pretty chossy in Colorado. But we've taken them to some pretty hard to reach places like The Monastery, and they've been to Shelf a bunch.
Of course, none of that answers your question about cold weather. We used to go to Lander a lot, which is in Wyoming, which is ALWAYS freezing cold. In those days we would just bring every down jacket in our possession, and then build a big nest for the kids. They also each have their own full-body one-piece snow suits (a la Maggie Simpson). The kids are quite warm in those, and an added bonus is that they provide good padding for falls. Wind is the worst, so it definitely helps to select routes that are somewhat sheltered, but another option is to bring a small tent and put the kids in there. As the kids get older it's not as important to be RIGHT next to them when you're climbing, so you can find a good central spot that is safe and sheltered and get them set up with books/toys and then go to the route of your choice, as long as it's not more than a ropelength or so away. It helps if you're just sussing beta and you can go straight in to a bolt at anytime if your belayer needs to help the kids. One great thing about climbing in really cold weather is that you usually have the crag to yourself, so you can get away with things like that which would otherwise potentially impact other climbers.
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Post by Chris W on Feb 5, 2015 4:02:21 GMT -7
Awesome! Thanks for the beta! It's all super helpful for me and, at this stage of my life, is almost more helpful than the actual training advise (the book has been a Godsend for that).
One of my primary goals for this spring season is to experiment with ways to climb with/without the kids and family to keep everyone happy. The approach in to my local crag (70 minute drive away) is a 1+ mile walk down an old closed road. I learned this fall that I could cut the approach down to a couple minutes by using my bicycle to get in. I've purchased a stroller from Thule that converts into a bike trailer to help get the crew in to the rock. I've thought about using a tent for naps and will try that this spring. I have one climbing partner that can sometimes climb on the weekday mornings if I'm working an evening shift that day and need to find more weekday partners.
If you're able, I'd love to read more "day-in-the-life" posts on your blog about how you and the Anderson crew (where the heck is Mike?) make things work to balance climbing and family/work life.
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Post by MarkAnderson on Feb 5, 2015 14:34:12 GMT -7
That's a good idea, I'll think about that.
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Post by joev9 on Feb 6, 2015 11:18:57 GMT -7
Stroller is a great way to go if it can handle the approach. It's not an option at most of our local crags though. I was very aggressive with the stroller, sometimes having a friend lift it over tough sections. I don't know how many times I said "If my wife saw this, she would kill me" Always kept the kids strapped in and never had an injury (luckily). One thing though, it certainly took away from my climbing as it got tiring to push that thing fully loaded and carry my crashpad, especially the time I broke a bone in my heal and had to walk out over a mile pushing that thing! |
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Post by Chris W on Feb 9, 2015 4:59:58 GMT -7
Mark, any chance you have a copy of your training calendar you could post? I'm interested in how you transitioned from a fall training season to a winter season to have a performance peak at this time of year. How does your winter season transition into a spring season? Do you plan a summer season? I'm dying to climb outside more but, with my local weather [in south central PA] only seems to allow performance temps in spring and fall. There are occasional winter days that would work, but not many.
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