UKC

There are many ways to improve your climbing, but here's an alternative worth trying.

Step 1) Swap your sticky rubber for an old pair of bendy fell walking boots.

Step 2) Don't use your harness, instead tie into the rope round your waist.

Step 3) Leave the chalk at home.

Step 4) Spend 2 months climbing following the above steps.

You'll be amazed how much your technique, footwork, balance and how you use handholds improves. You will obviously need to drop a couple of grades (maybe more) in the beginning. Also, not wearing a harness will add focus to your gear placements and reduce any cavalier approach to falling off.

After 2 months, go back to your normal gear, and see how much your climbing has improved?

Trust me, it will work.

In reply to Goucho:

Sounds interesting. Not sure about the no harness bit, how do you carry your gear? If the answer is "you don't", then what is the relevance of the "add focus to your gear placements"?

In reply to Goucho:

Haha, nice training plan. Less chance of tendon injury too, I reckon

Seriously though, I think doing a large volume of easy soloing is an under-rated way to improve your top onsight grade - making you fitter, smoother and faster and more confident on easy ground once you return to leading. There is value in re-teaching yourself how to move over rock without the constant need to stop/start and deal with the additional factors of carrying weight, placing gear, speaking with partners, and making belays. I've always seemed to lead my hardest at the times when I've also been soloing lots of easy routes (eg 4/5 or more grades beneath my normal lead grade).

I'm not sure about your bendy walking boots thing though! Sounds... unpredictable.

Danny

In reply to Skip:


Use a bandoleer over your shoulder - you can get a big wall rack on one of those - well we used too

In reply to DannyC:
I actually believe that a lot of climbing is about 'feel' for both movement and the rock, and the best way to hone that is to do lots of fluid climbing, not spending 5 hours trying to dog a 40' grit route 2 grades harder than you climb, or spending the day trying to stick a sloper on some boulder problem.

In reply to Goucho:

If you swap Dunlop Green Flash for the bendy boots, then you've described my setup when I started. #apprenticeship

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:


Same here, but swap boots for slip-on plimsolls and rope around waist for a Troll climbing belt.

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:


Pretty cool looking footwear as an added bonus

In reply to Skip:

"how do you carry your gear" - clipped to the rope around your waist. Obvious?

Steve

In reply to Goucho:





But I tried this for several years when I started . Why should it work this time?

In reply to Postmanpat:

Because you're going to put your heart and soul into it.

Mick

In reply to Goucho:

There was always a horse breaker's myth about tying a testicle to the saddle with baling twine. I was girl so excused...

Just reminded me of it.