As we're now approaching winter, many of us hibernate indoors into the many climbing walls around the country, investing time, effort and money in order to maintain and improve our climbing performances.

It is a reasonable assumption to say that the majority of climbers focus on their physical performances and less on improving the psychological aspects of their climbing - just have a look at the climbing training literature to see the unequal division between the pages on mental and physical aspects.

Most climbers are aware of the importance the mind has in climbing in both success and failure yet the majority of climbers don't incorporate mental preparation into their regular training routines.

Dave MacLeod's book '9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes' has highlighted some of the key issues about mental preparation and barriers climbers may face which prevent them from improving but this is just the beginning...

The Harrogate Climbing Centre would like to introduce Craig Watson, Psychological Performance Coach who is giving a free talk about mind training for climbing on the 29th November 2010.

In the talk Craig will discuss some of the many issues climbers face, which prevent them from improving, some psychological techniques, which can be used to enhance performance and some hints and tips, which may help you to rethink your approach to both training and climbing.

From December to April Craig is also holding a monthly workshop on various psychological aspects of climbing from fear to goal setting.

Please see the Harrogate Climbing Centre website for further information.