Nick Bullock on The Bell the Bells. Copyright Jude Spancken

From reading your blog, it sounds like you feel that British climbing is missing the spirit of adventure it once was. What do you feel is missing?

I possibly need to clear things up, the piece of writing on my blog you refer was a little tongue in cheek, a piece written, like much of my writing, to make readers think, to stir their imagination, wake them up, play the devil’s advocate. Climbing needs attitude and in some ways I do feel it has become main-stream and tame. Climbing appears to be missing much of the anarchy and free thinking it once had the reputation for. How many people want information of conditions and individual moves and gear placements before actually getting on routes and giving them a go? Many people appear to climb for just the physical and not the whole package. I may be wrong but climbing does appear to be missing a little of the soul it once had.

Is it that spirit of adventure that drives you to travel to climbs all over the world, as well as find yourself on the sharp end on routes on the likes of Gogarths’ North Stack?

Yes, for me it’s the whole package, it’s the adventure of the day or the whole expedition that trumps individual moves and grades. Climbing for me will always be about the people I climb with, travelling to the crag, the banter, the wildlife, the countryside, the psychological elements and preparation and finally the physical aspects of the climb and when the climb is over it’s about the bullshit and the banter with mates. Some climbers today appear fixed on grades and numbers, it’s purely about pulling extremely difficult moves and everything else appears lower on the scale of importance, maybe it’s the fault of sponsorship, maybe it’s the fault of the climbers themselves, maybe it’s just my problem and it isn’t a problem at all!

You have climbed most of the E7’s on Gogarth’s North stack, including an on-sight ascent of the ‘Clown’. What mental preparation do you do before setting off on these routes?

Ok, before I get called a fraud, I didn’t actually on-sight the Clown, I did on-sight what is classed as the crux of the Clown, but I fell from the initial overhang six times with each fall getting closer to hitting the boulders. I broke the peg and the final three falls were onto a single cam. I was about to leave for a big expensive expedition in India so I thought enough is enough and climbed the overhang twice on a top-rope climbing out on The Hollow Man clean. I returned a few days later and lead The Hollow Man after top roping it three times altogether. I climbed the Clown the following year on my only visit to North Stack without re-working the overhang or looking at the crux section. It’s a great route. I have climbed Stroke of the Fiend on-sight which was my second E7 on North Stack and attempted The Bells the bells! on-sight as my third.

I find the best mental preparation for attempting this type of climb is to be climbing confidently and well. I will have climbed many hard routes by the time I attempt a route like The Clown or Surgical Lust, or The Bells in good style and I will have used several types of style of ascent, top-rope, ground-up, dogged or I will repeat routes I have climbed before. Confidence in my own abilities is the most important weapon in my armoury; stamina and a friend belaying are the others.

Given the amount of time you spend on these routes, the dubious nature of some of the rock and lack of protection you have plenty of time for your mind to wander and have things to worry about! How do you maintain control during these ascents? Are there any specific techniques you use?

When climbing routes like the ones on North Stack your mind does not wander at all. I would suggest anyone who has climbed an E7 on North Stack is so focused and ready for what they are about to enter the last thing that will happen is their minds wander.

Following on from your early ascents was the onsight attempt on The Bells The Bells a natural progression?

James McHaffie on The Demons of Bosche. Copyright Nick Bullock

The plan since my first E7 on North Stack, which was Wreath of Deadly Nightshade, was always to attempt The Bells on-sight. The reasoning behind this was on-sighting is in my mind the ultimate form of expression and personal belief and personal challenge, both mental and physical. Rock climbing for me will always be about battling with the voices and knowing, as long as preparation has been correct, I have the ability. Sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t. On-sighting Stroke of the Fiend was a stepping stone to The Bells and the day after I attempted The Bells but fell when a foothold snapped. Fortunately the peg, eighteen years old at the time, held.

Is there a route on Gogarth that took something special from yourself to pull out of the bag?

The one route on North Stack that was always with me, in the rowdy times, the quiet times and dark times, was The Bells the Bells! Even before I climbed anywhere near the grade of the Bells, the climb, its history and its first ascentionist intrigued and engaged. What possesses a person to put themselves into a position that could end in death? What goes through their minds? Redheads writing enhanced the whole climb and from the moment I learnt about the route I knew one day I would attempt to climb it. From this moment my whole climbing life appeared to be on a road travelling toward this one climb and when I eventually was good enough to attempt it I wanted to do it as John Redhead said it should be done, without high runners in The Cad and on-sight, or at least ground-up as I had looked at the section around the peg when replacing the tat.

When I did eventually attempt the climb and a foothold broke just above the peg Tim Neill, belaying payed out massive amounts of rope to give a dynamic belay, its fair to say that Tim saved my life by doing this, the peg held and I’m still here.

I climbed The Bells clean in 2005 with inspection and practice and high runners in the Cad and the experience was tainted because of this. I have tried to climb other routes, important to me, in better style ever since, in penance!

The Hollow Man in particular has the reputation as the hardest and most serious climb on the North Stack. How did you prepare for this route and the deal with the guidebook write up that a ‘blatant disregard for life is useful’?!

As mentioned above I top-roped The Hollow Man three times before leading it. I had also climbed The Bells that summer which shares a large percentage of the same ground, so it was fresh in my mind and I felt certain I could physically complete the moves. It’s quite strange, The Hollow Man is very very serious but I must have filled my self-belief bottle that summer at just the right time, I think I climbed it without much fuss or ceremony. And as for a blatant disregard for life, no-one starts one of the E7′s on North Stack with doubt or a feeling of failure, to do this would be suicidal, but guide book remarks like this appear to draw me and pique my interest.

What would you consider the most memorable of the North Stack routes you have climbed?

Jon Redhead’s Birth Trauma was a wild outing. Birth Trauma follows the usual line of the abseil near Parliament House Cave but I was so intent to try and on-sight the climb we abseiled another line. The rock is about as unreliable as you can get. One minute the holds feel solid and the next they are flying with you closely following. Birth Trauma is a poorly protected E6 which is quite steep so you have to pull. Jules Cartwright was belaying me and on the third attempt, after falling twice when holds ripped, I was really high and a whole ledge I had just mantled onto collapsed. After shouting to see if Jules was still alive (he was), I managed to top out.

Nick Bullock on The Bell the Bells. Copyright Jude Spancken

Have you had moments, where you have lost it completely on a serious climb? How were you able to regain control of the situation?

No, never. In general my mind is the strongest part of my climbing and I find pushing through or at least attempting to get through a hard section of climbing is better than backing off. I very rarely back off once I begin and if I do it’s because I know the climb is too hard for me and I should not be there. On occasion I find myself on a climb which is harder than the grade suggests or there is another factor like wet or loose rock making it unexpectedly more difficult, then I normally fall off but fortunately something holds or I fall a long way and get away with it.

From a conversation you had with Steve McClure you felt that hard training wouldn’t feed your soul! Do you ever do any training for climbing or expeditions or do all your trips keep you at a high level of fitness?

I have actually trained for a large percentage of my life as I was a physical education instructor, running, circuit training, cycling, weights, aerobics. I climb indoors a lot as well, but I have never trained specifically like campus board stuff, ladders, boulder circuits, my elbows would explode and I would rather be outside climbing at a lower level than spending hours and hours in a gym, I’ve done too much of that in my life already. I do train for winter by dry tooling but I enjoy that as its outside and good fun and good banter with mates.

Nick Bullock on Hysterysis Wall. Copyright Tim Neill

What plans do you have for 2012?

2012 is going to be a busy year. I have just returned from a great trip with Rob Greenwood in Canada climbing a load of big mixed routes and ice. I’m about to give six lectures for the BMC alpine Lecture series around Britain with my mate Tim Neill and run through the final stage of my book with Ed Douglas and Vertebrate the publishers before leaving for Alaska in late May. In Alaska Andy Houseman and I are hoping to climb the first British ascent and the sixth overall ascent of what was known as the Czech Direct on Denali, a two mile high, fifty-eight pitch route of consistently difficult climbing. Again with Andy Houseman we are returning to Nepal in October and November to attempt the unclimbed North Face of Chamlang 7300m in the Hongu Valley for which we have received grants from the Chris Walker Memorial Grant, The MEF, The Welsh Sports Council and The BMC. Finally my book will be published in September by Vertebrate and I will no-doubt give some lectures in December on my return from Nepal. This is not going to be a good rock climbing year.

The pictures of Nick on ‘The Bells The Bells’ were taken by Judith Spancken. For more details on her photography visit her website.

Our thanks go to Nick and Boreal for this excellent interview. Nick has a series of BMC lectures in April, to find your nearest one go to the BMC website. If you enjoy Nicks writing keep an eye out on his blog for details of his forthcoming book release.

Nick is sponsored by:

Nick Bullock on Gogarth North Stack is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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Tom demonstrating the art of the double fist jam. Photo Randall collection. Please don't reproduce without author's permission

What drew you to training specifically for climbing cracks?

The main issue that I came across when trying to improve my crack climbing grade was that there just wasn’t enough do outside! I had a small circuit of routes or boulder problems that I could do in the Peak District, but in the end I got to know the routes really well, so eventually there wasn’t much training effect any more. I suppose also, there was a realisation that cracks are often climbed with “technique” and if I could train more than just this and work on “power” and “endurance” then that would be a good thing.

We aren’t really blessed in the UK with many hard crack climbs, how did you learn the specific techniques required to climb cracks?

I initially learned to crack climb out in the USA, in Yosemite park. It’s a good place to learn, but also a harsh one. There aren’t any footholds or face holds outside of the cracks, so everything seems desperate at first. I met a guy from Montana, whilst in Yosemite, who seemed very happy to go climbing with me for a week and show me what to do on every size – I guess I owe him quite a lot!

What any aspiring crack climber out there should know though, is that every person starts off having a terrible time, cutting their hands up, dropping a million grades, and experiencing humiliation. The thing that marks out most good crack climbers is that they were prepared to go back and try again and to continue to experiment. My first crack was an HVS splitter hand crack (when I was face climbing E3) and I couldn’t get more than 15ft off the deck after an hour’s effort.

Tom training on his crack beam. Photo Randall collection. Please don't reproduce without author's permission

Can you describe a typical training session you used to develop the strength and technique for climbing cracks?

I don’t really have a typical training session that I use, but I’ll give you an example of some stuff I did in my offwidth cellar before going out to the USA.

I’d begin the session by doing a low intensity warm up, and would generally sample lots of different sizes to get a feel for how I was feeling that day. Was I strong/tired/sore skin etc, which would then dictate how my session would be carried out. On a good day I would spend an hour working on strength endurance sets (around French 8a/8a+) – so very hard moves and around 15-20 of them in a go. I’d combine them in continuous reps with variable rest until I started to feel I’d lost the “edge.”

To finish off the session, I’d then spend another hour or so doing endurance training (around 7b+) doing lots and lots of mileage! This generally involved getting sweaty, losing some skin and wanting to have a shower afterwards.

You seem to have created a variety of innovative training techniques to help you get stronger at climbing cracks, such as crack situps. Can you describe what you did and how they helped?

I’ve always been quite analytical about my climbing and how I improve, so I broke down crack climbing movement/technique into its constituent parts. I then devised different ways of training each section of the climbing. For example, the upside down situps, were for Century Crack as I knew I’d have to sit-up and place stacks or Friends between my legs over, and over, and over again….

I noticed you training with a 20kg weight vest. What benefits did the vest bring to your training sessions?

The weight vest was used during the later parts of our training season when Pete and I felt that it wasn’t possible to get a high enough intensity in our training sessions without it. When you can do endless laps on a horizontal crack without tiring, it’s pretty much essential that you go back to basics and shock the body again.

The weights vest doesn’t bring any benefits itself – it’s more that it allows you to control the intensity of the training session. If you’re not continually overloading the body, it’ll stop adapting and growing stronger/fitter.

The scars of crack climbing. Photo Randall collection. Please don't reproduce without author's permission

Did you also use weights in your training to help you target specific muscle groups?

I didn’t do that much weights work relative to people that are really keen on it, but I did identify certain muscles as requiring a decent workout. In particular, the bicep was key to giving high standard of crack climbing (especially on very steep terrain) so both Pete and I did thousands and thousands of bicep curls. I can’t remember the amount we did in 2 years, but it was a very large number!

With the crack climbing you were trying is it important to have good overall body conditioning such as a strong core?

Having a strong core is very important in all sports, but it tends to highlight itself as a weakness in certain types of movement. Having said this, I’ve coached quite a few people who think they have a weak core, but in fact it’s not always that simple – hip flexors and lats can have a massive effect on the chain of movement in your core.

Overall, it’s important to have an overall body conditioning that is adequate to allow you to sustain a prolonged training cycle. Often people wade into a year of hardcore training without preparing the body beforehand. I suspect that early season injuries are a result of this in quite a few cases.

How did you develop the endurance required to climb a sustained roof crack?

The endurance to climb roof cracks is generated purely by lots and lots of mileage on that terrain. If I were intending to climb a 30ft roof crack, then I would make sure that in my training sessions I can climb at least 150ft of horizontal roof in each session. This amount can be broken down of course, but the total mileage is important as your body is almost over-prepared for the event in a way.

It’s also important when trying to improve endurance that you don’t spend to much time “totally boxed” as you’ll be more likely to fail to complete the whole session. Take it easy, pick your pace and get the work done…

Tom bouldering out a crack. Photo Randall collection.Please don't reproduce without author's permission

How did you fit this training into your normal climbing training, such as bouldering and circuits?

I didn’t really to be honest! I had to make some fairly significant sacrifices in my normal climbing to achieve my crack climbing goals. I don’t regret it though, as I have achieved something that I’m pretty content with and if I put a paper bag over my head down at the local wall, they’ll never know it was me who’s failing to get a up a crimpy V2….

I’ve seen you resting from your feet jammed in a roof crack. How did you develop the strength to get yourself into this position and then rest?

Again, this comes down to practice. At first, I spent ages working out all sorts of different sequences with my feet and what angles I had to have things in the crack and then, well, it was down to getting out there and doing it again, and again, and again…. You get the idea! When it comes to unusual things in climbing that people often see as some kind of mad trick, then it’s about not being embarrassed to make a fool of yourself and just try it out. After all, you can never look as silly as me.

Our thanks go to Tom and Beta Climbing Designs the UK importer for Sterling Ropes and Climb On for arranging this interview. For more information on Tom visit his Blog. Tom is sponsored by:

Tom Randall on Training for Crack Climbing is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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What training do you feel is most beneficial for your climbing? Can you provide details of the sorts of sessions you do?

Let me first start off by saying that unlike many climbers I enjoy training. The word training has been frowned upon long enough. For climbing to progress I think it’s important for everyone to be open to share methods and thoughts.

Magnus Midtbo on the FA of Blood redemption. Photo copyright Nicolas Delaleu

Periodic training has been really important to me. There is a time for everything. Unfortunately at a high level you can’t be in top shape all year around, so you have to make priorities for when and what you want to be in shape for.  Over the years I have experimented with a lot of different methods. Coming from Norway has been both a blessing and a curse, as I was forced to travel to find out how to train for climbing. The most logical place for a competition climber to progress is Innsbruck, so that is where I went. The thing though was that after spending time in Austria I couldn’t really explain why the Austrians would be so much better than everyone (when it comes to competitions).  The only reasonable explanation would be their gym Tivoli. The gym has a higher concentration of hard sport routes than I have ever seen. It would make no reason to set such hard routes at any gym in Norway, since only a handful of climbers would have a chance at them.

Although I wanted to move permanently to Innsbruck I couldn’t, due to obligations at home.  When I no longer had Tivoli to train at, I was left to figure out new ways for me to progress. And I think that is why I’m doing so much “weird“ training.

Since then I have put together something that works for me.  We are all different, so it comes down to finding something that works for you. I can’t stress that point enough.  How I train will not work for everyone, but hopefully people can learn a thing or two.

My main focus right now is hard sport climbing. For that most of my training happens indoors. Some months before I need to be in shape I try to do some weight training, as well as a lot of exercises with my own body weight. Being all over strong has a lot of benefits. Personally I think that is the reason I have never been injured. I try to do hard periods of 10 days, then 10 days of normal training. With two days rest in between.  During those hard 10 days I will get weaker every day, almost to the point of being overtrained. But after a hard period I will get fitter and fitter every day during the easy period.

An example of how a hard day of training can look like:

Morning:

• Warm up. Light running 15 minutes
• Weight training. Try to include as many muscles in your upper body as possible. Do 10 different exercises with 8 reps x 2.  Try to focus on antagonist strength (opposite of climbing). However you can incorporate a couple of exercises that are directly related to climbing. Together with an instructor you will be able to find something that suites you.

Evening:

• Warm up 15 minutes
• Moderate bouldering 15 minutes (always do power before endurance)
• 10 circuits X 30 moves (endurance) Rest between circuits equals climbing time. So you rest just as long as it takes you to complete a circuit. Or your climbing partner can climb in-between if he takes about the same time as you. Have a guy pointing out holds for you, while counting out loud.

An easy session will be an hour of bouldering, playing around on different problems. Or an hour and a half of lead climbing. Same thing, Just climb whatever catches your eye.

Has there been any advice given to you, which made the biggest difference to your training / climbing abilities?

Peter Bosma, a Swedish coach who used to coach the Norwegian team told me not to stress about climbing and training. I later found it to be a really good advice. Before, during and after training you need to be fully aware of what you are doing and be able to analyse the signals your body is trying to give you. Most of us, including myself just want to rush off to whatever is next on the days schedule. Never rush training. Make the gym your home while your there

Your strength/power training looks very intensive, with many days on, how do you structure the training to avoid injury?

Periodic training has been the key for me to avoid injuries. I think most climbers stick to the same routine all year around, which after a certain point will lose effect. The body will adapt to the routine and improving will be hard. Diversity is important to avoid injuries. Try to shock the body as often as you can with new exercises. During the periods I do weights, I gain muscle weight. It’s very individual how fast you gain muscle weight. I gain weight really easy. The muscles you gain won’t really help your climbing. But after going back to only climbing you will lose the muscles without trying. Though you have lost muscle mass you will still be stronger in ways climbing does not cover. Personally I think that has helped me a lot. I have never been injured, so something I must do right.

How do you combine this training into the other training aspects of the sport such as power endurance and stamina?

Endurance (Stamina) it is easy to bring back once you have had it. Most of the climbers I know having started at a young age with endurance training have an easier time bringing it back. For some it can take as little as a week. Therefore I like to focus on getting physically stronger and do more endurance just in front of an important comp or trip. Ideally I spend a week or two in Innsbruck before an important competition.  Even climbing outside in Spain can be good preparation for a competition, especially if I have a lot of on-sights left to try.  For instance after spending more than a month in Rodellar I felt the strongest I have ever felt.

I believe you also do specific training for the muscles that you don’t generally train during your climbing sessions. What do you do and why do you consider these exercises important?

I consider alternative training very important, because it prevents injuries. I train with slings almost every day to target specific muscles that I either don’t use when climbing, or if I need to get stronger at something very specific in order to send a climb. Jungle Sports is a Norwegian based company, and I have been a big fan of their products for a long time. Recently I got them to Sponsor me, and give all followers of my website, facebook and twitter 10% off on all their products, by using coupon code Climb10 in their online store at www.jungle-sports.com

What training methods do you find most effective for targeting finger strength?

Finger strength (small crimpy holds) has always been my weakness, so I might not be the right person to answer that question, but I have always felt my fingers being the strongest after bouldering a lot outside. The holds are usually smaller, and I think most people are able to push themselves further when motivated to send something.  To gain finger strength on plastic I find way harder. My advice is to climb on holds with less friction, so that you have to pull harder in order to stay on. From what I have seen it seems like finger strength is a lot about inheritance. Some people seem to be born with strong fingers, while others have to work hard for it. Generally lighter climbers have relatively stronger fingers. Especially in the beginning, since finger strength takes a long time to build up. I feel like my finger strength increases every year, without training specifically for it.

You do a lot of double hand work, such as plyometric rebounds and footless bouldering. Can you describe the sessions you do and how they benefit you?

Usually I just do 15 minutes of such training after bouldering. I have always been good at it, and that is probably why I enjoy it so much. I think the videos of me training on youtube are a little misunderstood. I had a couple of interviews for different newspapers, and a documentary targeting none climbers. They thought it was important to show a lot of different exercises that people generally have an easier time relating to, such as one-finger pull-ups. For a none climber the difference between a video of a guy climbing 8a and 9a is barely noticeable.  Unfortunately the newspapers etc. wanted to focus more on the training aspect, because they think it’s more spectacular.

That said, yes I think training upper-arm strength is very beneficial in moderation. A couple of days after  doing such training shown on the videos, I always feel very light climbing on long steep “juggy” routes.  And if you do it once in a while during the winter it won’t take much effort to maintain it the rest of the year.

Magnus working Neanderthal 9b, Santa Linya, Spain

I’ve seen the video of you doing negatives and one arm pullups recently.  How did you progress to the point at which you could do them so well?

For a bigger climber such as myself it’s Important to have strong arms, to give us a benefit in one area. Ever since I was able to lock off for 10 seconds on one arm I have put on weight to make the exercise harder. I find doing negative one arm pullups to be the best way to improve on doing one arm pullups. Usually when I’m strong enough to do 10 reps of an exercise I put on weight or find a way to make it even harder.

Climbing is a sport which requires strength and coordination between the bodies different muscle groups. What techniques or equipment do you use to help you improve in this area?

Doing alternative training has helped me understand my body better. When climbing I rarely think much about what my body is doing. Everything goes automatically, and I believe that is how it should be. However, when I do alternative training I really have to focus on doing the exercise right. Hold the right posture, and use only the muscles needed. Might sound weird, but in a way I think it has helped me in competitions. Everyone competing gets nervous, and that is something you just have to deal with. Some climbers get too nervous and over grip holds, which will lead to them falling earlier than they normally would. While other climbers will use the adrenalin to their advantage. Obviously that’s the difference between a good and bad competition climber. Same thing with hard on sights, and sometimes even red points outside. Being able to let go of the nervousness and use only the muscles needed I think has been improved by all the alternative training I have done – A better understanding of the body.

Our thanks go to Magnus for sparing his time for this excellent interview. We wish him every success in his climbing and competitions during 2012.

Magnus Midtbo on Climbing Training is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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Me at the summit of Stob Dearg

Climbing Everest is so much more than the 20 minutes spent on top of the world. An Everest expedition is an accumulation of many months, even years of preparation. The expedition is a journey which requires sourcing finance, attaining the relevant climbing experience and developing an appropriate level of fitness.

Developing appropriate fitness for Everest is very specific. Understanding the obstacles faced on Everest will help you to design an effective training programme. Everest is renown for not being the most technically demanding of climbs, this enables you to focus on other obstacles, namely; altitude, length of the expedition, and the continuous ascent/descent of the mountain.

The greatest hurdle to overcome by far is the altitude. At Everest’s summit, the level of oxygen is only around 1/3rd of that at sea level. As if that isn’t enough, the barometric pressure is significantly reduced (~253 Torr). This forces the inspiratory muscles to work much harder than at sea level. That in turn loads the cardio-pulmonary systems raising your heart rate and lowering your SpO2 (the levels of oxygen in your blood)

The next major problem you face with an Everest ascent is simply the amount of time you’ll spend climbing. You must treat your training as you would for a marathon (or an ultra marathon!). Your body’s ability to work for extended periods at relatively high intensities of up to 50% VO2 max/80% max heart rate is essential. You will inevitably spend very long days on the mountain. Unless your name is Ueli Steck, 16-14 hour summit days are not uncommon!

You should also be aware that high altitude also heightens the risk of medical complications such as HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema) and HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Oedema). Training is unlikely to physically affect the likelihood of these complications arising but feeling prepared and confident will lower any stress brought about by uncertainty. This in turn could have a small effect on the likelihood of experiencing these medical complications.

Summit Ridge of Baruntse

So far I’ve only covered the physical aspects of training for an Everest ascent. You must also consider mental conditioning. Being under pressure for around 2 months whilst on the mountain not only stresses your body, it can provide significant psychological pressure. It is imperative that you have mental fortitude; not only to keep you going when you’re ready to sit down and give up, but to provide you with the mental acuity to solve problems you’ll almost certainly encounter. This will provide you with self sufficiency and the ability to help others, rather than relying on help yourself.

You’ll certainly need a good level of focus and composure on the climb. For example, the cornice traverse prior to the Hillary Step where there is a 10,000 ft drop to one side, and an 8,000 ft drop to the other, both only inches away from you.

Knowing the challenges that you must face begs the question, what type of training is going to be most effective?

Physical Training

The most important systems to affect and induce physical adaptations are: The cardio-respiratory systems (i.e.: decreasing resting heart rate, and increasing VO2 max), the skeletal musculature – increasing muscular endurance (through a greater buffering capacity, more efficient removal of H+, and increasing volume and changing substrate utilisation of mitochondria).

Finally, the key word when considering a training programme is specificity. The training must be specific, or matched as close as possible to the demands faced upon Everest.

With these things in mind, some examples of ideal training exercises for Everest are:

• Running for over 2 hours @ over 50%-60% max heart rate
• Cycling for over 3 hours @ over 50% max heart rate
• Hill walking for over 6 hours with a weighted pack

Great view of the summit ridge of Baruntse

There is a final method of training which is currently being investigated by scientists and has exceptional potential as a training method for all athletes, especially high altitude mountaineers. It is known as dynamic apnea training; which is essentially the restriction of breathing during exercise. This form of training has been used by many mountaineers and climbers including Bear Grylls prior to his record breaking Everest climb. Apnea training is one of the only methods of training which can induce physical adaptations to the lungs such as an increased lung volume which is both a notoriously controversial subject and an area that sees almost no adaptations from any other sport. The most obvious method of apnea training is swimming. A progressive programme should be used to gradually induce adaptations, so for example, swim 2 lengths normally, then attempt half a length without breathing. Gradually build up until a normal length then a full underwater length is achievable; then repeat this for 60 lengths. Remember that many free divers and apnea trained individuals exceed 7 continuous lengths underwater in a 25m pool without breathing.

**A note about apnea training: apnea training at you respiratory limit should ideally be done with a partner due to the risk of blacking out. Never attempt solo apnea practice in a pool where there is no life guard**

Mental Training

You may be wondering where the psychological training comes in. The answer is simple – every cold rainy morning that you haul yourself out of bed to run, every sacrifice you make that brings you closer to your goal of climbing Everest is building your psychological strength. The longer you allow yourself to prepare, and the harder you work, the more prepared you will be.

And this is why Everest is all about the journey. An Everest expedition itself is only 2 months. Yet you will have been training for those two months for the past 2 years (you may have been dreaming of climbing Everest for much longer than that). An Everest ascent is simply the accumulation of everything you have learned, worked for, sacrificed and gained. It is the final piece in a very large puzzle, and the final destination of a very long journey.

If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a comment below.

Preparing to Climb Everest is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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3. Attempt to be oldest man to climb Everest ends in tragedy

We have started by looking at things like their diet, body fat levels, current training structure, current climbing grade, strengths and weaknesses, reoccurring injuries and access to training facilities. Using this information we have design a program that will help them achieve their target.

We will come back and review everyone once every two months, looking at their training and if its helping them achieve their chosen targets. At the end of the year, we hope we can all celebrate as we hit our 2012 goals!

Gareth Hanson – Current Grade VS

Gareth on Pork Chop Slab, Almscliffe

Gareth is 40 this September and wants to be in the best shape of his life for his birthday. He indulges in cross country mountain biking, snowboarding, climbing and more recently kite surfing. His focus tends to shift from activity to activity depending largely on the weather conditions. If it’s windy he will kitesurf, if it’s dry he will climb and for everything else MTB seems to fit the bill.

He currently leads VS trad and 6a sport outdoors and particularly enjoys climbing slabs and walls. He has had relatively little leading practice lately so can find it harder to commit to moves above protection.

Gareth’s training is currently a mixture of indoor climbing sessions, weights, cycling and kite surfing, along with occasional trip out climbing. Up to this point his climbing training has had very little structure. He has a history of rotator cuff problems as a result of weight  training and other sport related training in the past.

Gareth is 5 foot 7 and weighs 72kg. His diet is generally healthy and varied.

Climbing Target – E1 Trad and 6c Sport

Gareth’s training at the moment isn’t specific enough to improve his climbing performance. Although weights do have benefits, they don’t target fingers, technique or stamina, which are key for improving his grade.

His diet and weight is healthy and will have little impact on his overall performance at his grade level.

Gareth’s new program has been designed to make him a more confident leader, improve his climbing fitness and overall finger/body strength. The program is as follows:

Monday – rest or bike.

Tuesday – Boulder at the climbing wall. Warm up really well on nice easy stuff. Then look at doing different types of boulder problems on roofs, overhanging/vertical, slabs. This will target the different muscle groups required for climbing and help build his technique on the varying surfaces. Finish with core and specific rotator cuff work.

Wednesday – Rest or bike.

Thursday – Leading at wall. To help him improve his confidence and stamina he will do leading pyramids as follows with a 10 min rest in between each route.

5b, 5c, 6a, 6b, 6b+, 6b, 6a, 5c, 5b

Finish with core and rotator cuff work.

Friday – Rest.

Saturday – Climb outside or climbing specific weights.

Sunday – Climb outside or Power endurance circuits, composing of 5 sets of a 25 move circuit with 6 minute rest inbetween.

Menna Pritchard – Current Grade VS

Menna climbing at the Gower

Menna is a single mum to a toddler.  As the same time she is also studying full-time for a degree in Outdoor Education, as well as working as an Outdoor Instructor and doing
some volunteer PR work for a few companies. As a result getting spare time for climbing training can be difficult.

Menna currently leads VS outdoors and although she does lots of swimming and weight training, she doesn’t do much climbing specific training.

Menna is 26 years old, 5 foot 4 and weights 61kg.

Climbing Target – E1 Trad and improve her overall bouldering ability

Menna is in a similar position to Gareth in that her training should be more specific to climbing. Time pressures will sometimes make it difficult for her to train regularly, so her priority will always be climbing outdoors, where she can gain the best overall improvement in her climbing ability.

Her diet and weight is healthy and will have little impact on his overall performance at his grade level.

Menna’s new program has been designed to improve her climbing fitness and overall finger/body strength. The program is as follows:

Monday – rest, swim, ride or surf.

Tuesday – Boulder at the climbing wall. Warm up really well on nice easy stuff. Then look at doing different types of boulder problems on roofs, overhanging/vertical, slabs. This will target the different muscle groups required for climbing and help build her technique on the varying surfaces. Finish with core.

Wednesday – rest, swim, ride or surf.

Thursday – Leading at wall. To help her improve his confidence and stamina she will do leading pyramids as follows with a 10 min rest in between each route.

5a, 5b, 5b+, 5c, 6a, 5c, 5b+, 5b, 5a

Finish with core.

Friday – rest, swim, ride or surf.

Saturday – Climb outside or climbing specific weights.

Sunday – Climb outside or Power endurance circuits, composing of 5 sets of a 25 move circuit with 6 minute rest inbetween.

Tony Rees – Current Grade E3

Tony on Lucky Strike, Pembroke

Tony is a full time climbing instructor on Gower, which gives him excellent access to both rock and partners. He has a young family, but has a lot of flexibility at home. His other hobbies include the regular trappings of outdoor folk such as paddling, surfing etc.

He has lead up to E3 trad in the past, but has recently been plagued by golfers elbow. This has had a knock effect on his overall climbing strength and fitness, as his training has been limited.

His main climbing strengths are his technique and overall stamina, but feels as though his ability to climb through hard crux sections of routes his main limiting factor.

Tony’s training sessions are generally weights based in an effort to improve his climbing strength. These sessions have directly led to his current elbow problems.

Tony is 32, 5 foot 8 and weights around 11.5 stone. Although his diet is healthy he does confess to eating any chocolate or sweets he can get his hands on.

Climbing Target – E5 Trad

Tony’s first priority is to resolve his elbows issue. Since he got the problem he has stopped any climbing specific training for fear of making them worse. This is a common mistake climbers make when they get injured. He really needs to climb at a lower level that doesn’t affect the elbows to help strengthen the connective tissue and aide healing.

The first part of Tony’s program is based around gentle bouldering, gradually increasing the standard as his elbows get stronger. This is combined with eccentric work specific to the injured tendon, regular icing after training and massage of the finger/elbow flexors.

As Tony moves into the E5 category power to weight become much more important. Any reduction in his weight and improvements in his diet by cutting out sweets and chocolate would help his progression.

Once his elbows are stronger, Tony will start doing more specific climbing orientated training, targeted towards his weakest area, bouldering strength.

Monday - Rest, cycle etc

Tuesday - Bouldering on a Moon Board and then finish with a power endurance session on a finger board.

Wednesday - Rest, cycle etc.

Thursday - Bouldering on a Moon Board

Friday - Rest, cycle etc.

Saturday - Routes outside or power endurance circuits. 4 sets of 25 move circuit with a 7 min rest.

Sunday - Routes outside or power endurance circuits. 4 sets of 25 move circuit with a 7 min rest.

Rob Lonsdale – Current Grade Font 7c+

Rob climbing Brad Pitt, Stanage

Rob works full time, as an IT Support Technician at an Independent School. He started off trad climbing 10 years ago, and then progressed onto sport routes for a couple of years. He finally decided that bouldering was the way forward, finding this to be by far the most fun and social side of the sport. When he’s not bouldering he mountain bikes in the summer and snowboards or ice climbs in the winter.

Rob has recently bouldered up to 7c+, with his focus predominately on gritstone. His training is purely bouldering based with extensive sessions on the competition problems at his local wall.

He has ruptured a pulley in the left ring finger, requiring surgery to fix. As a result the left hand is significantly weaker as a result. This particularly shows up on a campus board where he can do 1-4-6 static with the right and only do 1-3-5 with the left. He also has had shoulder problems in the past.

Rob is 29, 5 foot 5 and weighs 10 stone. His diet is generally good, although he confesses to having a weakness for crumbles and cooked school lunches!

Climbing Target – Font 8a

Currently Rob’s training is based around competition circuits at the local walls. His climbing style is generally very static and controlled with good locking ability. This suites him very well on his favourite rock type, gritstone.

Robs two main weaknesses are the lack of strength in his left hand/side and a lack of ability to move quickly for holds. As a result left hand specific work and campusing/plyometrics will be introduced into his program.

His body fat percentage has been measured at 14%, which is at the top end for an athlete. Any drops in this area will certainly give him an edge on the hardest boulder problems.

To aide recovery and muscle growth Rob will take a protein shake within 30 minutes of the session end.

Monday – Rest

Tuesday – Boulder and campus board session. This will be a mixture of laddering, touches and double handed work. To strengthen the core Rob will also introduce front lever training into his program. Finish with core and rotator cuff exercises.

Wednesday – Rest

Thursday – Bouldering. Including specific work for the left side, such as long moves off small finger holds, dynamic moves to marginal holds leading with left hand and systems training.

Friday – Rest

Saturday – Bouldering indoors or out

Sunday – Bouldering indoors or out.

Paul Fearn – Current Grade 8a+

Paul on the start to Caviar, Rubicon Wall

Paul works at home for a Chinese mobile phone startup. Although he has a 9 month old, working from home provides him with plenty of flexibility for his climbing. From his roots in trad climbing nearly 25 years ago, he now mainly focuses on sport climbing and bouldering.

His hardest sport route is 8a+, climbed last year. His climbing has been blighted by back and shoulder injuries until recently. Following lots of conditioning work he now feels that this winter will be his first uninterrupted period of training for 15 years.

Traditionally Paul has focused on training his strengths and little time on his weaknesses. As a result he has strong fingers, but poor upper body strength and power endurance.

Paul is 40 years old, 6 foot 2 and weights 73kg

Climbing Target 8b+ sport route

Pauls focus over the winter will be on improving his weak elements. Before Christmas he went through a block of strength training, including bouldering, plyometrics, campus board, bachar ladder, weighted pullups and front levers.

For the next eight weeks he is going to focus on power endurance, with a one week break inbetween for a bouldering trip to Spain. To maintain his current strength he will continue to do one strength session a week.

To try and stay away from injuries he will spend a lot of time working on his core, rotator cuff and lower traps and back flexibility.

At the moment he is the heaviest he has ever been. During the climbing season he will lose 4kg to improve his power to weight. At this level of climbing losing 4kg can help give you the edge needed to reach the next grade.

Pauls training for the two blocks of power endurance is as follows:

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - 25 move 8b+route circuit on his board. Initially he can’t do the circuit and has to do it in three overlapping sections. He will take a 15 second rest between each section and then have a longer 15 min break inbetween. As he gains more power endurance he will be able to eventually complete the circuit and use it for intervals. Finish with four sets of power endurance on a finger board, front levers, core and rotator cuff/lower trap work

Wednesday:  Rest. He finds repeated days of power endurance hard on his forearms, so needs to adopt a one day on one day off approach.

Thursday - Repeat Tuesday, but finish with PE on the campus board.

Friday -Rest

Saturday -  Bouldering on a Moon Board. Campus and plyometrics. Finish with intervals on route length boulder problems (20 moves) around 7c-7c+

Sunday – Rest and then repeat

We are all going to meet up at a climbing wall in 2 months time and check on our progress. We will let you know how it goes!

Follow 5 Climbers: Try and Achieve Their 2012 Targets is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. 12 week progression to insane grip strength – guest post by Paul Wilson
2. Steve McClure on Training Power Endurance
3. Join the 2012 British Bouldering Team

Steve McClure on a power endurance route at Raven Tor. Photo copyright Steve McClure

As part of our training series this week we are going to focus on power endurance. Often overlooked by many climbers, training power endurance, is critical to getting you up most UK sport routes where the hard sections are usually no more than 10 to 30 moves.

Steve McClure needs little introduction to most climbers. Having climbed the UK hardest sport route, Overshadow at Malham Cove 9a+, and onsighted upto 8b+ he can certainly be considered to have excellent power endurance! Steve recently kindly spared me some of his time to do an interview on the training techniques he and others use to enable them to get up some of the hardest power endurance routes in the world.

What techniques do you recommend for training Power Endurance?

As a first stage I would suggest the ‘getting really pumped’ method. The key is monitoring the time period. It needs to be about 90 seconds to 120 seconds, from start to failure. The movement needs to be either the same, or on a circuit with absolutely no change in difficulty. This is the problem with circuits, as often it ends up being too easy and then too hard with a fast build-up of fatigue and failure due to being ‘powered out’ rather than pumped. The campus method has worked very well for me and many others. This must be done with feet on, or it will be too hard and you’ll be bouldering! Feet can be on specific footholds or a chair or whatever. Aim for 3 – 4 reps of this, each taking around 90 – 120 seconds. Rest 5 – 7 minutes in between. The movement should be similar to normal campusing, but with feet on, like rung 1 – rung 4, rung 6 match, then back down again (worth putting in rung 2 on way down to cut out the crux move (dropping 4-1) and so you lead with a different hand each movement)

What happens if you don’t have access to a campus board?

It is possible on the fingerboard, you can do actual hangs with feet off, 7 seconds hang, 5 seconds off. However, it may be better to have assistance from feet on a chair or similar allowing you to use smaller hand holds and stay on the board with both hands on for about 5 seconds, then one off for 3, both back on again for 5, the other hand off for 3 etc. This is more applicable to climbing where you stay ‘on the rock’ rather than stepping down, and the hold size will be more appropriate.

What do you do during the rest part of the interval?

You can throw in some body tension exercises.

How do you help improve your recovery on the rock? Do you do try resting on large holds during the rest period, of the interval, and then going again?

On the board it’s useful to switch to a better hold (if available) and shake out to aid recovery just like on a real route. Typically stop the movement before failure at around 4/5 tired, and shake for 30 seconds (15 each arm) before going back in. Alternatively come off completely at 4/5 tired and rest on the ground for 15 seconds before getting back on.
Rest properly between each set though, where a set may include a few rest periods of 15 seconds on the ground or on a hold. Each ‘Set’ must be quality, starting the work feeling reasonably fresh. Just as if you were trying a route.

Do you vary the grip you are using on the campus or is it done open handed?

On the board I always use open handed, (though this tends to be a half crimp for the middle finger when all 4 pads are on a rung). Crimping repeatedly is prone to injury, especially when going for it really pumped.

How many times a week should you do this training during a power endurance cycle?

This must be done twice a week as a minimum, but 3 times maximum. It can be done after climbing, and in fact is a very good top up, as its relatively low impact and not too power orientated. It can also be done in its own right, though it’s an easy session really, and just doing this 3 times per week will give you more PE but less of everything else.

How should you fit it into your training week?

You can either fit it in after a climbing session or you can do a PE session the day after, to make your climbing volume go up slightly.

How long should you train using this approach?

Aim for a 4-5 week block, backing off if you start to feel too tired. If you make 5 weeks at this intensity you should feel the gains. Take a week off PE completely, then resume for another 4 or so weeks. Then you should be firing! PE will be great! Drop off this exercise to once a week at maximum, to maintain this PE level.

Do you use any other techniques for developing the PE required for the test pieces you are well known for?

Circuits are probably the best overall, but hard to make, and use in busy walls. Bouldering continually below your limit is great, drop off a problem and then within a few seconds (maybe 10) get back on. This can be done for around 5 problems. Make sure the level is correct to avoid failure too early.

Our thanks go to Steve McClure for taking the time to complete this interview. We wish him all the best for his climbing during 2012.

Steve is sponsored by:

Steve McClure on Training Power Endurance is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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These objectives can be anything from doing your first E1, increasing your climbing grade from 7a to 7c or doing a specific route.

Using a Scoring System

Climber with a high ranked score for stamina on Ergometria – Sector Wildside Sella. Picture courtesy of Orange House Photos

To help you design a training program a good place to start is to look at your current ability. Try honestly (if you can’t be honest get a friend to do it for you!) giving yourself a score between 1 to 10 (1 being given to your worst attribute and 10 to your best) for each typical climbing characteristics such as finger strength, explosive power, lock off strength, power endurance, stamina, technique, body fat percentage etc. So for example if you find that you are getting pumped fiddling in wires on a E1 or making those clips on a 6a, but can crimp your way up Font 6c boulder problems, then score yourself a 3 for stamina and a 10 for finger strength.

Then consider your objectives/target routes for this year. Let’s look at two approaches. One where you have specific routes in mind and another where you want to improve your grade to a certain level.

Targeting Specific Routes

For the specific routes, what type of climb are they? Are they long Gordale stamina test pieces or crimpy Peak power endurance routes? How do these routes compare with your key strengths and weaknesses? It may be helpful to score the routes with a similar system that we did for ourselves, with a 10 for the dominant route climbing characteristic and a 1 for the least dominant. Let’s try this with a typical Peak District sport climber wanting to peak for a holiday in Spain. The objective for the holiday is to a do 7b+ steep tufa stamina test piece. The scores may be something like the following:

Typical Tufa Pulling in Spain

Clearly we have a mismatch in the key strength attributes. To achieve success on the route, the climber is going to have to include much more stamina training on overhanging rock and include more bouldering/route work using pinches/slopers with long locks. Building these elements into your training program now will maximise the possibility of success on your chosen route.
Remember that the scoring system is specific to the climber or route concerned. So if a fingery 7a is your maximum grade, then you won’t get up a stamina 8a, by focusing on just your weak elements. You will also need to make gains in your strong areas, however these can be done at a lower level than your weak points.

If you have specific information about the route then you are at even more of an advantage. At this time of the year you need to be looking at replicating the types of moves found on the route within your training program. For example if the hard sections of the route are primarily small layaways, then create a systems type model using layaways or boulder problems with layaway holds.
If you have access to your own training board then you can be even more creative and build a replica of the types of moves found on your project.

Targeting a Specific Grade

There are two approaches to improving your climbing grade. The first is to use a balanced training program to improve all your climbing attributes. The second way is to focus your training effort improving specific attributes which will allow you to skip a number of grades.

Creating a Balanced Training Approach

This is the slowest way to improve your climbing grade but does result in a more balanced climber and one who is capable of operating across all the different route types within their grade.
To achieve this it’s important to develop a training program that has a mixture of all the different climbing attributes. The program must be specifically tailored to place strong emphasis on the weak areas. Remember to still train your strong areas, otherwise you will find yourself in a position where you just become good at your previous weak elements!

Focusing on Specific Attributes

Focusing on your strengths – a fingery, power endurance route in France

When looking at your score you may have one or two attributes that are particularly strong. For example you may be one of those lucky people who have naturally strong fingers, but have to put in a lot of work to make gains in stamina.
So why not focus on these strong attributes and select your routes carefully so you play to these strengths. Using this approach it’s certainly possible to jump your grade from 7a to 8a, with a good winters training. However the resulting climber will be fairly specialised in a certain style of climbing and the number of routes they can do at the new grade will be limited. You may well find yourself in a position where on some types of routes, that focus heavily on your weak points, that you still climb at your old grade.
To correct this at some point you will need to spend time focusing on the lower scoring attributes, before you will be comfortable at this new grade.

Over the next few months we will look at different training techniques to help you achieve your climbing goals and show how these can be incorporated into your training programs.

We will also provide our readers with advice on how they can best achieve their climbing objectives. Please post your comments at the bottom of this article and our contributors (including myself) will offer guidance on how you can improve your climbing.

Turbo Charged New Year’s Training Resolutions is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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Rob Gray

I’ve done plenty of seasons ice climbing over the last 13 years,  I’ve done gully’s and ridges in Scotland and the Lakes, climbed Water Ice in Norway and in the Alps, but so far I’ve never done any of serious mixed climbing, sure I’ve torqued an icy crack on a buttress when the ice has run out in the lakes, or back and fronted a rocky chimney to get to the next section, but that’s about as far as I’ve ventured into this strange new world.

Luckily, there’s now a small selection of indoor walls where you can learn this art of climbing rock with ice axes, I was keen to have a go so booked myself and good pal Rob Gray into a session at The Foundry Climbing Centre. A Bargain at £10 including axe and helmet hire and a climbing session too.

On arrival we were given a pair of Grivel monsters and a Grivel helmet with face cage (you wouldn’t want an axe in the mush would you) and escorted to a sectioned off part of the wall purely for dry tooling.
You can climb in your winter boots if you prefer but I chose to use my Anasazi Blanco’s. Lets not make it harder than it has to be..

Subject of the latest 'Slasher Movie'? No, it's Rob Lonsdale

The routes were graded between M3 and M4 in the ‘beginners section’. The holds are regular indoor holds that may have notches or dimples drilled / cut into them for you to hook and pull up on and some wooden blocks with sections missing to hook and torque on. Being a bit gung ho, we decided we’d start off on the M4, the hardest and longest route of the 3. We made good progress but both ripped off just before the top on a move where we had match in a shallow dimple.  It took a little getting used to finding the notches and where to hook, but confidence quickly came one we realized what you could hook and pull on next to nothing. By the end of the 2 hour session we’d managed to do all 4 routes cleanly, but the forearms were absolutely screaming and it was a struggle to untie the rope. An excellent workout and a great laugh too.

We’ll certainly be going back to try the routes on the main wall, M5-M8.  I’m sure a few sessions here over the coming months will improve my tooling technique, which in turn will improve my ice climbing – and improvement is never a bad thing. Go give it a go.

Dry Tooling At The Foundry, Sheffield is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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3. Dry Tooling – Evil crag wrecking practice or legitimate training technique?

The video below, which is actually filmed as an advert for a popular snack company, highlights this very serious issue and shows one of those ‘not so lucky’ moments.

I think it demonstrates a very clear moral.

-

Clearly this wasn’t a video made by climbers.

I said earlier about the very clear moral:

Don’t take Doritos to the crag. All the MSG’s in there are bad for you.

NOW FOR THE GEEKY BIT:

- I spotted THREE mistakes/slip-ups in the editing. If you spot them then add a comment below …

- There are also a couple of ‘why would you be doing that?’ or ‘why has he got that?’ faux pas moments in there too. We’d love to hear your comments on those too.

Why you should always pay attention when belaying … is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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There, I said it.

On a number of occasions in the last year I have failed to achieve something through fear, most notably last year, while in Snowdonia I failed to reach the summit of Tryfan. It wasn’t through lack of fitness, or desire to reach the top and leap gazelle like from Adam to Eve (or is it Eve to Adam, I forget) no, it was a simple case of getting about three quarters of the way up the north ridge, looking up at the wall of rock that remained and my bottle going.

I have always been afraid of heights. Always.

8 years old, school trip to Durham Cathedral. Climb to the top of the tower. Going up the spiral staircase I can feel the tower swaying – it’s not swaying and unless a major earthquake hits Durham it never will – but I can feel it swaying all the same. Get to the top. Refuse to go anywhere near the parapet. Miss out on view of Durham.

Two years later, 10 Years old. Family trip to Richmond in North Yorkshire. My Dad drags me to the top of the Castle Keep to cure my fear. It doesn’t. The Keep is only 100ft high. I still hear the screaming when I close my eyes.

In three visits to Paris I have never managed higher than the Second floor of the Eiffel Tower.

Ski lifts – usually these delightful contraptions skim along a mere 20-30ft above the heads of the merry crowds below, however there is (or was, its been 10 years) one lift in Teton Village that suddenly takes off and soars up a vertical cliff face, I have travelled on it once, and I tried to get off halfway. Had it not been for Mrs W halting my progress I would now be a greasy red smear on that cliff face.

The London Eye fills me with dread, and a sense that it would be an enormous waste of money; as I would inevitably spend the entire revolution gibbering, face down in the centre of the pod.

Me clipping bolts on an overhang

I know it’s a cliché but I started climbing thinking it would maybe finish what my dad had tried to start and that by exposing myself (not that like you perverts!) to my aversion would rid me of the fear.

It hasn’t.

What it has done is teach me, to an extent, to control it. It still surfaces now and again, I climbed last Wednesday and tried to lead on an overhang, I got three clips off the ground and started to struggle. All I needed to do was bring a foot up onto a feature and step up bringing the next hold and clip into reach. But I couldn’t do it, then I realised, I wasn’t afraid of the height or the fall particularly. I was afraid of not doing it, of failing.

I look back at my failure on Tryfan last year and thinking about it, I realise I wasn’t afraid of the height; in fact I was sitting on a nice flat bit at the time, it was looking up and thinking what if I go further and then find I can’t do it and get stuck. Failure.

So now I’m afraid of failing, here we go again…

Fear of Failing or Failing from Fear? is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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