What To Do In Winter
John Sullivan on Imagery Mirror (5.12c/d) in the dead of Winter
For most climbers, winter is for training. We batten down the hatches and go to work in the gym. Hopefully, there’s a specific objective we’re training towards and we’re following some sort of program that aims at said objective. It doesn’t have to be fancy, as long as it leads us down a path where we are steadily progressing in a relevant way.
How many of you are taking advantage of the cold and wet season to level up some of your weaknesses? I hope that anyone reading this newsletter is able to respond with a clear and concise “yes.”
I also have another question though. When’s the last time you climbed on real rock? Was it this week? Last week? Last month? Last year?
If you’re anything like me, you might find that once you’ve diverted your focus to some off season training program, that the thought of climbing outside seems oddly challenging. It takes much more work and time to get out there. It will be cold and maybe damp. Not to mention your whole training week will get all screwed up. The list of “reasons” goes on.
But here’s the thing. Regardless of what time of year it is, or how psyched you are on the current off season plan or lifestyle, the truth remains the same. If you want to perform well on real rock, you have to actually climb on real rock. Furthermore, just like every other aspect of your fitness, your abilities begin to fade when they are ignored.
We all (should) train strength year round to some degree because it’s the most important facet of climbing fitness and the hardest to earn. I don’t have the energy to argue the merits of strength vs endurance or mobility or whatever right now. Just understand that if you want to climb well for a long time, the best bang for your training buck is to strength train because more strength makes everything easier (and safer). Any strength earned is well worth keeping, and fortunately it takes far less energy to keep strength than to gain it.
Now, let’s put fitness aside and talk about the skill that is climbing rocks. I argue that just about every single climber I know should be investing as much time as possible on addressing their skills in the craft of actual rock climbing. Why? vMost folks stand to gain more from addressing their fear of falling than from hangboarding. Others would find more days “sendy” if they figured out better systems for managing the cold. And all of us need to get better at moving efficiently in an environment where the holds aren’t marked and the floor is not padded.
Our feel for moving on real rock and comfort existing and performing out in the elements is much like strength in that it can take quite a while to earn, but if we keep in touch with it on a regular basis, it persists for extended periods of time. However, if you go weeks on end without getting your reps in, your body and mind slowly slide backwards. Remember last Spring when you first got back on the sharp end after months in the bouldering gym. You were shaky right? Clearly some ground was lost in your head game.
So what to do about it? GET OUTSIDE AND GO CLIMBING.
I know the weather is touch and go. I know it won’t be as glamorous (or will it?) as a perfect Fall day, but just getting out there a few times each month will dramatically improve your baseline for whenever the “real” season starts and you begin to get out more regularly. Don’t worry about sending projects. Don’t even worry about climbing a ton. Just go outside with no expectations and climb a few things.
I have a rule for myself. When conditions are questionable I do what I can to still go anyway. Because the truth is, more often than not, it’s more climbable out there than we want to believe sitting on the cozy couch with our warm coffee and weekend pastries at home. Think about it this way. Say you try to get out one day each week during the six warmer months of the year. That’s 26 climbing days a year. Not bad. If you were able to get out even one time each month during the winter, you’d add another six days to your year. That’s 23% MORE climbing in that year. Not to mention you’ll be way more tuned up during the first few months of Spring. Maybe you’ll even send something?
Ok, I know. Certainly, there are less options out there when it’s 35 degrees and actively raining and there’s going to be some days like that every winter. These are great days to get into the gym and make progress on your winter training plan. But, there are also going to be plenty of dry days and some of these might not even be that cold. It was 55 degrees and full sun up at Lookout Point and Eagles Rest on February 1st. That’s almost TOO hot for some people!
Whatever your ideal weather is, one thing is without doubt. There are way more viable options in the Winter than there were even five years ago.
The left side of the Garden Wall gets full sun and much of it is climbable with just a few days of dry weather.
Some of the routes at The Moondial stay completely dry even in an active rain storm.
The Sun Deck dries almost instantly during the wet season.
Many other parts of Eagles Rest have some rain protection and stay dry through light rain.
The RIP is steep enough to stay dry through most weather conditions.
Many of the routes at The Madrone Coves dry quickly because of direct sun exposure
The Turtle Boulder at Lookout Point and Adam’s Boulders are in full sun and dry out instantly
Better still, every month it seems like more options emerge. Well, they don’t actually emerge. They are created through a crap ton of hard work. Local route development has arguably exploded in the past few years because of a small group of arguably crazy people who have invested numerous days into finding, cleaning, and bolting new routes.
I will belabor the point because it’s important for every climber who gets outside to understand this. It takes a TON of work and TON of money to create new sport routes especially in less than ideal rock like we have in the Willamette Valley. Sure, it’s satisfying work, just like it's satisfying to remodel your bathroom. But none of us want to be perpetually remodeling bathrooms as volunteer work where we pay for all the materials ourselves. (Note: If you do in fact like remodeling bathrooms for free, please get in touch with me. I have some work for you!)
So you’ve got two options:
Learn how to safely clean and bolt new routes. Spend your rest days hiking around in the woods and scrambling through chossy rock to try and access new lines. Spend about $100 on bolts and anchor hardware. Then blow all your precious energy doing manual labor for a few days. Maybe you’ll end up with one new route.
Help support the crazy few who actually are able to sustain the above activities alongside the rest of their lives. Then just drive to the crag and climb new routes.
For a long time I opted for the first option. But my lifestyle has changed (at least for now) so I’m diverting my efforts to the second.
If you’re like me, and don’t have the time or energy to actually do route development (even if you would like to), here’s a dead easy way to get behind your local developers.
I’ll copy a note I wrote about this campaign to reiterate why I think it’s important that you support this. If you haven’t already donated, you should.
I’ve done quite a bit of developing locally over the last five years, and invested thousands of dollars already for the routes I’ve bolted….
And I’m donating to this fundraiser.
I urge you to as well.
A few points I’d like to add emphasis to:
1. Almost everyone in this chain spends nearly a thousand dollars each year on a gym membership to ensure they can climb and train year round. I’d argue that access to more routes near your home is the most important thing for your development as a climber. Consider donating a fraction of your annual gym budget to your local crags.
2. Yes, other people bolt routes locally and they (myself included) are not asking for money to cover the cost of hardware. That’s their choice. BUT… JD is asking and it’s a fair and honest request especially considering he’s the most prolific local route developer in the past decade that I’m aware of. And if I’m not aware of someone more prolific, it’s only because they have chosen to not publicly share any information about their work, a practice he actively works to avoid. And yes, intentionally NOT talking about a crag or route, but saying it’s “fine if people climb there”, is the exact same thing as saying “it’s closed”, which as JD points out, is totally bogus. Simply put, when the guy who’s bolting most of the new routes asks for money so he can keep putting up awesome routes for us, we need to step up and answer the call.
3. JD does top notch work on routes. Like he literally obsesses over this stuff because he knows people value safe high quality bolting and well cleaned routes. He’s just asking for money to cover hardware, but if we value his time at even minimum wage, the community has already racked up a five figure bill.
I wish I had the time and bandwidth to continue finding, cleaning and bolting new routes, but my time is far more scarce than it was in the past. To be honest, I’d rather use my free time to climb. So, I’m donating $100 and am psyched that there will be even one more awesome line waiting for me when I get out there.