EVEREST!

A basic but well presented insight into the effects of high altitude climbing...

Yes, even the pros thrutch!!!!

Thrutch feast... Enough said....

TR: Spiegal's Overhang

For a number of reasons, the last few months have left me unable to find much time for 'real' rock climbing, so when I had a free day yesterday I jumped at the chance to get outdoors!

We headed for the Cathedral Ranges in Victoria, Australia. This mountain range juts out of the plains like a knife edge. Steep, jagged and wild, it is home to some of the best sandstone slabs in the east.

My buddy and I had decided on Spiegal's Overhang. A relatively easy route, it is considered one of the best slab/cracks (for the grade) in Victoria. VCC give it classic status!

Heavily laden with rack, ropes and food we made our approach. Access to the Jaw Bones is via a marginally defined track which weaves its way up the mountain across boulders, scree and mud. A new layer of undergrowth has lead to the uprising of a vast majority of prickly bushes, right at body height...

Alpine Climbing Documentary

Another morning coffee, another documentary.. Filmed by the IMAX team in 2007, this documentary describes John Harlin's journey as he and his team climb the “Eigernordwand” route. A climb which took his father 40 years earlier. Beautiful cinematography and just a little cheesey. Enjoy!!!

K2 Documentary

Whilst having my morning coffee I stumbled accross this YouTube upload. Not a bad little video. Enjoy!!!

Determinants of Climbing Performance

In 1993, a study performed by Watts and colleagues suggested that amoungst elite climbers there may be number of intrinsic physical attritbutes which substantiate their abilities. These included measurements such as the ape index; which is a ratio of a persons arm span relative to their height, arm and hand volumes, experience, age, height to weight ratio and a host of others. Whilst commonalities were found between the climbers, these climbers were already elite athletes and as a result, statistical inference pertaining to the prediction of their abilities was confounded...

Since then, a greater body of research has been developed. From this research has come three simple, yet highly trainable physical attributes as proponents of climbing ability:

• One: Maximal Grip Strength (3)
• Two: Low body fat percentage (3)
• Three: Climbing time to exhaustion (1) + re-oxygenation during rest phases (2)

So what does this mean?

Train your Calfs for Better Trad Climbing!

Picture this....


You've just pulled the first crux of a rather pumpy trad climb...  This is your onsight attempt and it should be within your reach. You find a reasonable stance bridging gently between the two walls. It's not great, you're on your toes, but its stable. For now... You remove the gear from your harness. "Damn" you think, as the first piece is too big. Try another... But now your calfs are starting to burn, lactate is building up, the pH of the muscle is starting to drop. This flusters you and you once again choose the wrong piece. Only exacerbating the problem your leg starts to shake. Then, then you're off....





Finish the story however you like, the moral is you blew your onsight. One could attribute any number of complex factors to causing this fall but ,put simply, if you could only last that little bit longer it would not have happened! So here is something easy you can do each day to help prevent such a situation. Train your calfs....

How?

• Calf raises, Monday-Friday, 3 sets, each with 10 reps and a 60 second recovery between sets
• HOWEVER: With each raise hold it at the top for 6 seconds before lowering down. This will help emulate the same stance often found whilst climbing.
• Add one second on to the time at the top of each stance weekly

Try it for 8 weeks and see how you go :-)