Winter Time Climbing

A lot of people ask me whether I climb during the winter months. My response is "Yes, it is the best time for me to climb!" At this point in my life, I am no longer spending every day of the summer living in my truck and on the road. I am no longer striving to repeat other peoples routes and am more obsessed with finding my own lines and cleaning and climbing them.

Summer time presents a problem for the routes that I enjoy establishing. Actually, it is a big problem. In the desert where I live, 90+ degree temperatures will make me sweat which in turn makes me slip off the tiny holds that would otherwise be grippable in cooler temperatures.

So, I have chosen to use the summer months for being project free and the winter months (when it is cold enough to hold onto those slippery nothings) for trying really hard on new routes.

That being said, my training over the summer is more maintenance or focused on my weaknesses overall, whereas my fall/winter training is specific to the difficulties of the new climb that I will throw myself at until I send. I am in that training zone currently, where my project consists of thin overhanging tips lie backing with an occasional shallow pinkie jam.

My goals for this training cycle are the following:

1. to gain the power necessary to continue the tips lie backing the entire length of the route,
2. to gain the core strength necessary to stay aligned,
3. to improve my crimp strength,
4. to improve my cardio, so that I am not out of breath while climbing.

They seem pretty reasonable considering what I have done to climb other routes in the past. As always, I know that it takes drive, absolute focus and passion for the climb in order to follow through on the training for me to achieve these goals. I also realize that it will take me weeks of working the route combined with weeks of training, good sleep habits and a healthy diet to see the final goal come to fruition. The process is slow and constantly an uphill battle, but it is one that I love giving myself to. I look forward to having to overcome the mind games that come along with a journey such as this to the day that I send this rig that I am calling "Get in the Ring."

Thank Andrew Burr for his beautiful photos of me in Yosemite.
Get outside and have an adventure!

piz : )