Home climbing wall!?

 

I’ve just officially opened my home climbing wall (boulder wall of course), where I can climb 4m (or 2,75m) “high”, in a 65º (or 35º) overhang, from the vertical, and 2,7m wide.

 

 Should you do one too? 

Yes 

- If you like to train alone;

- It’s a great fun building it (but time consuming);

- If you want  a climbing wall to train as you like and for as long as you please;

- Time saving (you don’t have to spend time going to your climbing gym)

 No 

- Time consuming (but great fun building it);

- If you don’t want to spend between €500 and €1500 in tools, t-nuts, screws, pads, holds and wood);

- If you don’t have a proper place to build it;

- If your wife is against it;

 

 

 

And now what? 

Some friends gave me some unwise hints…

“-Why not expand it to your wife’s side of the attic?” 

But my question was more of the type: And now… Climb more!? Climb the same but in less time!? Quit going to our most popular training center “ www.econauta.com/rocodromo ”?!

 

I will answer these latter…

To see more about my climbing wall see a newer post at:

http://ricardofb.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/home-climbing-wall-in-my-attic/

 

 

Motivation – do’s and don’ts

 

How many times did you feel you were sure you would do the next route onsight (and did it)? And how many times have you tried a route (possible for you) knowing that you would fall (and you fell)? Is it a common place for you that because you had no success trying your friend’s boulder you think you are out of shape, and in the same day you manage to do a hard move that no one else does and next thing you know you are feeling unbeatable?

 

Be aware of your motivation level and manage it! Here are some topics of reflection for your next climbing session…

Do’s 

If you are feeling unbeatable call home saying you will be late . Even if you are tired you will still have a pretty good probability of excelling; 

If you are not feeling in good shape try:

New and if possible different types/styles of climbs;

To experiment future projects that you think would require you to go there several times even if you were fit (some routes need time to be done, and this learning period you don’t need to be in top shape);

If the problem is lack of training, try to lower your climbing level (grade) and increase the number of climbs per day, this way you go home with some success and regain your climbing motivation;

 When working on a project (a hard route for you), give it a rest if you starting to get bored, or if you feel there’s no clear improvement from the former tries; If you can’t, try forget how good or bad the moves before the crux went… always focus on each move rather than “this wasn’t perfect” or “…if I do this I will beat my record!”  

Don’ts 

Forget to do the do’s

If the problem is weight, besides trying to solve it, don’t measure your weight too often. In this way you will not overemphasize this issue in your head;

If you are not feeling in good shape don’t compete with people who usually have your climbing level;

If you feel you won’t be able to succeed in your next climb, don’t go there until you know you can or you will;

 

Please comment your methods and suggestions

Boulder – 2007 Portuguese National Championship

Here’s some info and photos of last week’s competition in Espinho. A especial thanks is due to Rui Pereira the photographer in service day (you can check other photos from him at his portuguese blog: http://www.quinto-duro.blogspot.com/)

Competition format 

The competition format is already acknowledged to be the best for competitors. We are given a scorecard and have almost 4 hours to do 19 boulders of progressive difficulty each with different scores and within each boulder also 5 different scores (depending on in which attempt you toped them). It looks like a climbers’ meeting (and for many it is ). After this qualifying round a 4 boulders final with the standard international rules (a onshight first attempt 5m to top or bonus and 5m to rest).

Main results (men and women)

 1º José Abreu (4 tops)                          1ª Isabel Boavida

2º André Neres (2 tops)                        2ª Marisa Correia

3º Ricardo Belchior (1 Top)                   3ª Rute Delgado

The Photos 

 

Climber: Luis Carlos (Bibs) on the third hardest boulder of the qualifying round

Photo: Rui Pereira

 

 Climber: José Abreu on the hardest boulder of the qualifying round

Photo: Rui Pereira

 

 Climber: André Neres and Isabel Boavida on the first and easiest boulder of the finals

Photo: Rui Pereira

 Climber: Ricardo Belchior and Marisa Correia on the last boulder of the finals

Photo: Rui Pereira

Climber: Ricardo Belchior and Marisa Correia on the last boulder of the finals

Photo: Rui Pereira

Climber: José Abreu in the last boulder of the finals impressing Rute Delgado who should be climbing :-)

Photo: Rui Pereira