UKC

I'm utterly rubbish at reading routes especially indoors; I tend to end up tying myself in knots or pulling a stupidly hard or off balance move when a simple one would have been fine. So how do I learn to plan my way up a route rather than resorting to brute force when I end up in a silly position?

Cheers

Mike

In reply to Reach>Talent: I'm new to climbing and this is something that I've been working on. Taking a break between climbs I use the time to look at the next route and try and plan my hand and feet moves. At least for the first half of the climb.

Watch better climbers, try to find someone who is climbing a little above your level, and see what you can pick up from how they approach it and how they move.

Go back to routes that you've already done and try and do them better, smoother.

Watch climbing videos, make your own. I've had a friend use his phone to film me when I've climbed (it's easier with bouldering), and probably learned more from being able to compare what i did wrong on a bad climb with what I did right when i succeeded on the same climb.

For what it's worth, this has been working for me.

In reply to Bishop0151:
Unfortunately watching others climb routes doesn't really help me as I'm 6'7"ish I have to tackle climbs in a significantly different manner to most other climbers.

In reply to Reach>Talent:
Stop your whinging then!

On a serious note, your reach will have given you an advantage when you began climbing. From climbing with someone who is also quite tall, my impression is that this can yield a starting grade in the mid 6's (which seems to tie in with your profile). Progression beyond this obviously depends on developing technique and "reading" a route comes from having a repertoire of movements.

A friend who was trying to improve his style/efficiency felt that climbing a route twice, in quick succession, might help. On your second ascent, you can use your knowledge of the route to climb it in a more fluid and efficient style. I felt this made a certain amount of sense, as our bodies/brains learn climbing through repetitive actions.

Another suggestion is to use rest positions to assess the ground ahead. Are there obvious gaps or poor looking holds? You're more likely to get it right if you plan your path from a physically comfortable position, as opposed to being forced to do something because you're pumping out.

Also, climbing is typically about working out what you will do with your feet (the hands just "follow"). If you're doing a move wrong, I find it's normally because you've misread the footholds. I think there's good quote from Joe Brown about this:
"How did you reach those holds?"
JB: "I climbed up to them."

Finally, stop whinging you're 6'7!!

J

In reply to orge:
I'm not whinging

In reply to Reach>Talent:

Working out a hand sequence indoors, well try to use the good holds on the left with your left hand, and the other way round for starters. The routes are set for people aho are a foot shorter, so don't look to reach that far ahead. If you get to a poor hand hold, then you might be better off going again if there's another one in reach (after adjusting your feet, say), and if there's a rising line of four hand holds think about crossing over, and if there's a big or good one thinking about matching or swapping hands. If you're wrong handed in a group of three holds you can ge any hand on any hold by moving the one yo want to the one you want or the other hand to the other free hold first. Don't hang arond on undercuts for too long, get your feet up and push on. With feet sequences, you should always be looking for foot holds anyway, but unless you're on a (slabby) slab or in a corner or looking at a no hander, it's probably the hand sequence that dictates the movement indoors. If it's a screw ons for feet route, you have to find and remember where all the best edges and holds are, it virtually always boils down to using the same ones. If hand holds are in too, then keep an eye out everywhere, but don't be blinkered. A lot of hard looking moves can be made easy by putting your feet higher than you want to do. Without dynoing, flowing, or exploiting Dawes/Houlding esque momentum, this and cranking on the first hold you find that's good enough straight away is the simplest way to climb more positively. You can lean off at an angle to use foot holds out to the side (master this and you need never bend your arms on easy juggy routes ever again), and learn how to egyptian, outer edge and heel hook (e.g. on lips of overhangs and around aretes) or you'll just waist energy even if you do get to the top. These foot positions that let you take a hand off are good to clip from too, which you will have to do some of if you want to lead without getting thrown out.

Finally some routes, including some at Swindon are just set shit and there's no stylish way to climb them so just get on with it.

In reply to Reach>Talent:
Not so worried about indoors. But outdoors...often career keenly over to some handsome looking boulder to scramble up it and then halfway up wonder whether...erm...what do I do if I get stuck??? And then slink sheepishly down again. Looking forward to getting used to rock and reading it confidently!

In reply to Reach>Talent:
Look and think before you climb.
Read about body positioning.

In reply to james oswald: You're getting confused with the green cross code and the karma sutra.

In reply to Reach>Talent:
Boulder loads. Movement then starts to come naturally as does the foresight