Winner Takes Nothing

I have been failing on Biggie Shorty, a V10 at LRC, for the past probably 5 or 6 climbing days. That is just recently. I also put quite a bit of time in on it at the beginning of the season. I still can’t make the big first move. I have all the other moves dialed and ready to go if I can ever pull off that first move but it just won’t go. Sending Biggie Shorty would mean quite a lot to me. The climb is iconic of power and strength. It has a ridiculously long move that I would love to overcome. It involves an intense dyno off small crimpers to a fairly small hold where I have to launch, cut my feet, and reel my body in on my shoulders.



Me wondering what to do on the last day at Biggie Shorty

The send of Biggie Shorty would have been for the win of the big competition between Mike, Josh and I. But the competition is now off. The competition actually started getting derailed a while ago though. Let me remind you about that comp since it’s been awhile since I talked about it. The three of us had picked 3 problems, one each, and whoever did all three first was supposed to get an all-expense paid trip to Hueco Tanks. Also, whoever was the first to send each one got a dinner of their choice. The problems were Zion at Rocktown, Biggie Shorty at LRC, and Lord of the Dance at Dayton. Things started looking good for Josh who did Biggie-Shorty very early in the season but then no one was getting any closer on anything with the cold, rainy weather for about 2 months. We all started training in the gym a lot.

One day, when we braved the cold to give Lord of the Dance a try, we decided to change the rules up. Nobody was getting any closer to doing the big throw on Lord of the Dance and no one was interested in going to Rocktown to work on Zion which was my pick. I agreed to substitute out Zion if we also picked a new problem to substitute for Lord of the Dance. Since all of us were seeming to get close on Hustle and Flow at Hospital Boulders and Honeycomb at Dayton, we decided to substitute those in with a big adult shake. Well, just recently I sent those two problems, things happened, the bet was off, and I didn’t have to focus on Biggie Shorty anymore. (If you didn’t notice, I take competitions fairly seriously!)

Academia versus V10 from Patti Wohner on Vimeo.

A short creative video I put together of me on Honeycomb and Hustle and Flow

With the competition out of the way, this weekend, at age 40, exactly a year since I did my first V10, I bouldered V11 in Pep Boys; Gross’ Roof. I knew it was coming, I just didn’t know when. The send of my first V11 was somewhat anti-climactic as it only took me 4 tries to do it. (I had tried it a few times last season and it seemed possible). But there are more on the horizon and I am looking forward to my first ascent of V12. It’s only a matter of time!


Me on the crux of Gross' Roof.

Can I Play Too?

Well, I’ve been avoiding talking about this topic publicly for a bit now. Why? Part of it was that I didn’t consciously know there was an issue. Part of it may have been that when I realized what the issue was, I thought I was being what Mike calls “sour grapes”. Or I thought others would think I was being “sour grapes” and I didn’t want to sound like I was whining. And perhaps part of it was that a big component of my mental game in bouldering is practicing a fair bit of denial about the possible limitations of being shorter than my male counterparts.

But today, I’m coming out of my silence on the topic and I’m saying what I think. Climbing gyms need to start attempting to make shorter clientele feel included, instead of ostracized. When Gym X allows their setters to create the majority (if not all) of their problems with enormous reaches and no supporting feet, it sounds like they are saying, “Women, short men, and youth, your motivation, your training, your experience, and your climbing doesn’t matter to us.”

Let me just start this off by trying to establish some credibility. You might think I am a girl that likes to lock everything off and climb as statically as I can on small crimps and that’s why I can’t do big moves in the gym. If you’re interested in my climbing training and ideology, visit some of my previous blog posts, but I will summarize here. Two to three years ago, indeed, I was very lodged into a particular style of climbing usually associated with female climbers; crimp ladders. Crimps were all I would climb on. But repeated finger injuries due to this type of climbing, and reading Dave MacLeod’s 9 out of 10 climbers forced me into an attitude adjustment and I began focusing on other types of climbing, most notably, problems with bigger moves on larger holds. Admittedly, I have not yet mastered jumping, pinching, and compressing, but, I have made considerable progress. I am particularly proud that I can succeed on powerful, dynamic climbs now. If I need to jump, I will!

Weekend Trip to Rumbling Bald from Patti Wohner on Vimeo.

Here's a video of last weekend’s trip to Rumbling Bald where I sent a milestone type of climb for me, Patio Roof (V8). I did this problem in a few hours at the beginning of the trip and repeated it the next day for video after having tried it 3 years ago and thinking I would never be able to do the powerful throw.

I have noticed, however, a big discrepancy between my level of climbing outdoors versus indoors. Outdoors, I can send V7/8 in a day. Indoors, I flash all the problems up to V4 in the gym, but quickly become frustrated that I can’t do any of the problems rated V5 and higher. I am not exaggerating. This has happened to me twice recently. My husband on the other hand usually has a great time completing most of the climbs up to V8, also his typical day send grade. I should note here that he is 5’11” and I am 5’5”. Typically, the reason I fail is because there is a very long move between decently sized holds that I cannot physically span. Now you might be thinking “just jump more”. Jumping can indeed work when you have bend in your knees and you can initiate movement. However, many gym setters move shorter climbers into the starfish position, i.e., what happens so much to my friend Jill on way too many climbs in the gym that she has come up with a name for it. The starfish is a result of bad setting and results in the climber becoming extended to their maximum. Once in the starfish position, it is quite difficult to get enough bend in the knees to initiate a jump. It’s okay for a few problems to be tall climber-centric, or maybe even a lot of them, but not MOST of them. What about folks who are even shorter than I am?

Recently, Mike and I took another trip to a climbing gym. We decided we would add feet for me so I could do the same movement he was doing. It was an interesting experiment. We found that on many of the boulder problems as set, I would end up in the starfish position, it occurred mostly at the beginnings of problems. If we added slightly higher feet, I would be able to get into the same positions he was getting into. I have heard the contention that adding higher feet makes the climb easier. In all the cases we added feet for me, Mike still preferred to use the lower feet because it was easier for him to execute the move. The higher feet felt “bunchy” to him but enabled me to do the same move he was doing, hence enabling my capacity to learn the intended movement or at least try it. We had a lot of fun that day; it was like being outside. Mike would suggest alternate beta that I could use for feet in order that I could do the same move he was doing. We didn't change the intention of the moves or the difficulty, just put feet on so I could attempt the intended move. If you climb at a gym that doesn’t provide feet for you, my suggestion is to count other feet on so you can try the intended move. The point is to learn rock climbing movement, not in doing a taped problem. If you are a setter, try taping a few other feet without changing the difficulty or intent of the problem.

The cool thing about climbing is that body size, age, and gender do not limit who can be strong at the sport. I just recently started setting boulder problems at TBA because I want to try and set problems of equal difficulty for everyone and I figured I should put my money where my mouth is! TBA is extremely receptive.

I aim to set like Kasia Pietras, who creates high quality, powerful, and dynamic boulder problems using volumes, slopers, and pinches while providing feet for everyone. I attribute much of my recent progress in bouldering to TBA during the time when Kasia was setting because I learned how to be dynamic. Kasia’s routes were so good because the intended movement could be executed by anyone strong enough to stay on the holds. I could actually practice long moves and learn how to stick them. This is a big deal!

Check out a Crux Crush interview with Kasia and Sydney McNair about setting.

http://cruxcrush.com/2013/09/19/making-of-the-heist-the-setting-team/

I have a lot to learn about setting but maybe one day I’ll be as perceptive as Kasia at setting unique, dynamic problems for everyone to enjoy.

Now, here's something for fun! Jill and I completing Unlocked (V8) at the Hospital Boulders in Alabama. Hope you enjoy!

Unlocked from Jill Sompel on Vimeo.

A Honeymoon in Hueco

When my husband first proposed the idea of going to Hueco Tanks for our honeymoon, I must say, I was somewhat skeptical. The last time I visited Hueco was during the winter of 2007 and I was there for approximately one month. In my opinion, even one month is a short amount of time to make a 20 hour drive worth it for trying to send hard boulder problems. I’ll be honest, that’s what I’m all about; sending hard boulder problems. For whatever reason, I like to repeatedly fail and suffer an undue amount of frustration before I finally send something. I get such a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction from this process. The more I put into a boulder problem, both physically and emotionally, the more I enjoy the success when it comes and success does come. It may be five years down the road, but it comes and boy does it feel it good!


The Sprinter Van, a perfect honeymoon accommodation.

Mike had arranged his nursing schedule so he had 10 days off in mid-November. What this would boil down to for a trip to El Paso was approximately 3 days of driving, and 7 potential days of bouldering in Hueco, which would have to include rest days. Seven days is a ridiculously short period of time to send anything difficult and I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to actually do any projecting. In my experience, it takes a week or so just to get used to the new style of rock, then it takes a bit to find a good project, and then a week or so to send it. Ideally you find a couple of projects to go back and forth between so you have more chances of sending something. Even with 30 days, it is risky business trying to send a project. If you put all your eggs in one hard basket, you might come back home with nothing. Alternatively, you could go send problems below your project level and go home with many sends, but in my opinion, this is less rewarding. To me, it is well worth the risk of coming back with nothing, to potentially send a problem at my project level.

I was also legitimately apprehensive that I wouldn’t even be able to get to my projects in Hueco. What if I became addicted to a problem, but then couldn’t get back to it because of park logistics? In 2007, it was much easier for me to project because I was a guide. I would avoid the North Mountain reservation conundrum by guiding in the backcountry. Back in the day, I used a loop-hole to make sure whenever I went into the back-country, I only took one other person who also wanted to project. Most of the other guides were supportive of my selfish strategy because it freed up paying clients to go on their tours. I wasn’t interested in making money to support a whole season of bouldering in Hueco like them, I only had a month and wanted to send my projects. So I would split the cost of my partner’s entry fee to make it worth their while. I realize now it was totally worth their while regardless of cost just to be able to get to their projects reliably, a constant struggle in Hueco. I had risked it all that winter of 2007 trying to do my first V10. I was in Hueco for a month and I was very close to doing “A Good Day for a Swiss Crisp Mix”. I ended up popping a pulley on this problem on my last day. I was disappointed I didn’t send but proud that I had given it everything I had, even to the point of injuring myself. I don’t risk injury anymore though.

My concern now, 7 years later, was that things were different in Hueco Tanks. The park had actively sought out and destroyed any possible loop-holes and I was worried it would be difficult to project in the backcountry. However, Mike was certain if we went to Hueco during mid-November, before the crowds, we could get onto North Mountain every day. I am a very determined person and I know that where there is a will there is a way. If we wanted to get in the park, we would, I just wasn’t sure whether it would be worth the effort and stress.

So, I reluctantly agreed to go to Hueco with my husband, not sure what to expect. I came up with a very small list of problems I thought would make good projects for me on North Mountain; Free Willy, Chbalanke, Rogered in the Shower, and Theatre of the Absurd; all V10 and higher. I had tried most of them in the height of my dirtbag seasons spent in Hueco. I wasn’t sure if I was in V10 Hueco-shape since I had been doing circuits of V7 to V8 on southern sandstone for the previous few months in preparation for the Triple Crown and hadn’t been projecting much of anything harder than that.

We got onto North Mountain no problem and after we warmed up, I tried one of my potential projects, “Free Willy”. The sharp crimps on this boulder were ripping off what little skin I had regrown on the drive out here. Competing in the Triple Crown had destroyed my skin and keeping skin on my fingers since then, was a constant struggle. I did all the moves quickly on “Free Willy” except for the end dyno. But while I was practicing the dyno, the crimp hold I was moving off of was so sharp, it removed a layer of skin with each attempt. I loved “Free Willy” but I knew my skin would not hold up for very long on these sharp crimps. I was also somewhat discouraged by witnessing the attempts of a climber who said he had been trying to link up the dyno for 4 months! I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to make short work of this problem knowing that my biggest weakness, like him, is having the power to do long moves at the end of a problem. This was not the time for working weaknesses, not this one week in Hueco. I crossed “Free Willy” off my list, making the short-list even shorter.


Liv Sansov on Power of Silence. Photo from Hueco Guidebook by Matt Wilder

Mike was interested in “Power of Silence”, a problem he said he had always wanted to complete. I was remarkably not interested in this problem, and to my recollection, had never even tried it! It was way above my league the last time I spent any time on North Mountain when I was probably projecting V6 or V7. I was vaguely aware of its reputation for being hard for the grade. At first, I wasn’t that excited by it. I tried using the glassy starting foot-hold and my feet just wouldn’t stay on, even though I found the hand crimps to be very good. I remembered a photo of Liv Sansov on the problem in the guidebook. I studied the picture a moment and tried to figure out start beta so that I could get into the problem via the dihedral like Liv was pictured. After my foot still kept slipping off the glassy hold, I looked around for something not so slippery and found a little nub in the dihedral. After a few attempts, I realized I could campus my feet into a drop knee in the dihedral and go from there. It actually didn’t feel too bad. At the end of the first day, I was moving through the intermediate crimp and falling at the pocket. To boot, the crimps on this problem were polished and were not grating my skin off. I could try the problem for as long as I had power without damaging my already thin skin any more. I was suddenly psyched on "Power of Silence" and couldn’t think about anything else.

I was in need of a rest day though, mostly to grow back skin from previous attempts on “Free Willy”. Nothing was working fast enough to get me more skin; hand salve, filing, watching my fingers, licking, washing, nothing. As soon as a layer of skin would grow, it would crack and peel off like leaves of a cabbage.

Next climbing day, a little worried we might not get into the park because it was a weekend day, we drove in to wait at the entry gate early. We arrived at 6 am and were not even the first in line. People were off to the side camping, also waiting, but not in line, and we were worried about an altercation. Amazingly, everything went smoothly at the office and we headed up to “Power of Silence”. My first go, I climbed all the way up to the pocket-pinch and was set for the throw but I couldn’t generate any momentum. I felt my weight pulling me off each time I threw for the crack. It seemed like this move would be impossible, I was just too heavy. Throughout the day, I took many good long rests while going back and forth to Mike’s projects but I couldn’t make any progress on the throw. Eventually, Mike pointed out I wasn’t winding up for the throw. It was true, I was just uncomfortable up there for no reason, the landing was flat, and padded, and I just wasn’t really going for it. I decided to give it one really good go before I lost all my power. I finally got my fingers in the crack. I wasn’t entirely sure I had grabbed the crack but I noticed the crack had taken a layer of skin off the length of my finger. I almost did the crux move and I felt good on it! Mike had helped me by providing great beta once again!

Another rest day for me followed because of skin issues but Mike wanted to climb, so we decided he would climb and I would be his caddy and I would climb the next day and he’d be my caddy. For some reason I started putting “newskin” on the holes in my skin and remarkably, it was stopping the cabbage effect. My skin was finally growing back.


New Skin I love you!

Then it was my big day after 48 hours of fretting and feeling a lot of pressure from myself. At this point I knew what it would mean to send this problem. Not a lot of women have done this problem. Mike was impressed at my progress on this climb and said it would be a big deal and I wanted to prove I could send it to him and myself most importantly. There was a lot building up in my head about this boulder and I think I lost more sleep over it than the night before the Triple Crown competitions. I was ready, I had told myself I could do it, there was nothing stopping me except for myself. I had butterflies. I had put all my eggs into the Power of Silence basket and I fed off the pressure of this knowledge.

I decided to perform in true Triple Crown style and not really warm up. This had worked out for me when I needed every last ounce of energy to complete 10 hard problems. We hiked our stuff over to “Power of Silence” and got set up. I did everything right on my first go and I wound up and stuck the crack, literally, my finger was stuck in it! I went to match the crack and my foot slipped off and I was falling. I was so disappointed and frustrated. It’s hard to think of it now, seems very spoiled to be so upset after making so much progress in three days on a project like this. It was only my first try of the day after all! But I had wanted to do it fast to convince myself I had made progress in my climbing. I wanted to be the kind of boulderer that could do hard V10 fast. All this build-up was going on in my head. Mike pointed out another foot that he thought wouldn’t slip when I matched and he was right. I sent “Power of Silence” next go. This was by far the best, most rewarding and fulfilling accomplishment of my life and worth every risk I have ever taken to achieve it. Thanks Mike for being so supportive of me and taking me on this wonderful honeymoon!

A Wohner Honeymoon in Hueco from Patti Wohner on Vimeo.

Please enjoy this video I made of our honeymoon to Hueco.

Gonna Be LOUD

Like many climbers, I found the dilemma of whether to participate in 8a difficult to address honestly and without contradiction and hypocrisy.

I avoided having an 8a scorecard until a few months ago, preferring instead to log my ascents and notes about my ascents in a small climbing journal. Actually, over the years, I’ve accumulated 5 climbing journals. But if I’m going to be honest, I’ve been using 8a as a source of information for probably ever since I learned about it. I would confirm grades on problems I’d climbed, or see what my friends and elite were up to, or even just read articles or find videos to watch. I would use 8a to find out what problems other girls were doing in bouldering areas I was visiting. All of this in secrecy. I would close the door to my office and delete the history from any computer I thought some other climber might use after me. 8a was a site I tried to act like I didn’t find much interest in. The thing is, like many others, I DID find 8a interesting and useful!!

I first heard about 8a in Hueco Tanks in 2003. It was definitely cast in a negative light in the circle I climbed with. At that time, the guides and Hueco diehards were “kind-of” against grades, although everyone that spent season after season in Hueco was trying to send harder and harder-graded projects. Hueco is indeed where I learned how to full-on siege a project that was one grade harder than I had done before. I projected Mopboys for over a month before I finally sent my first V6. And again Mushroom Roof for my first V8. Over and over again, trying to jump up the grades. Yet, this was okay as long as you never mentioned the grade of your project.


Me on Mushroom Roof in Hueco Tanks before the Mushroom Boulder was closed.

As guides, we walked groups of boulderers into East Spur Maze for their first time and the first problem they’d see they’d ask, “What is that?”
“Jig Saw Puzzle”, you’d say and you knew what was coming next.
“What’s the grade on that?” they’d ask, and you, as a guide would wince a little, and put yourself on a self-proclaimed pedestal because you were enlightened and they were not.
“V4” you’d reply apparently disgusted.
Then they’d see “Better Eat your Wheaties” and they’d ask the same question, and you’d say, “V4.”
And slowly they would learn not to ask about grades. That’s how I learned about grades. While I see the point of trying to take the emphasis off grades, because there certainly are many good reasons to de-emphasize grades, this is SPORT after all and athletes in all sport seek improvement and like to gauge their own improvement.

Let’s face it, gauging self-improvement is a very difficult thing to do in climbing as opposed to say something like running events where skill can be absolutely quantified by a distance or a time. In climbing, every accomplishment we have is different than any other we previously had in climbing and we have to gauge ourselves somehow by a very subjective measure. I posture it is a very fun measure, and I give props to John Sherman for coming up with it. If I’m going to be honest, I LOVE our grades. Honestly.

That being said, it does not entirely drive me in the sport as there are certainly other measures of progress. Take the past few weeks for instance. It’s finally cold enough to boulder at Horse Pens 40, where the boulderfield is infamous for being sandbagged, perhaps to keep certain “grade-chasing sprayers” away. I have finally been sending problems which for years I could not do; Waterloo, Suspicion, Lawdog. So progress right, but not in grades.

Waterloo V8 from Patti Wohner on Vimeo.

Me on Waterloo in Horse Pens 40 during Boulderween 2013, hence the red wig!

Anyway, I never had an 8a scorecard until a few months ago. Then I decided I would create a logbook on 8a to enter in my boulders from V7 and above because I wanted to see my progress over the years. Once I entered everything, I found out that in order to get a score across years, you had to make your scorecard public. This is what I took issue with and had to think about for a while. Did I really want my score to be public? What was this saying about me? I thought about what my friends from Hueco and Flagstaff would say who still don’t have scorecards to my knowledge and I know would judge me for climbing for the “wrong reasons”.

I looked at the women who made their cards public. Not many of the strongest female climbers that I know about have their scores public. However, seemingly most of the top male athletes are reporting their top ten climbs publicly on 8a. I wondered about this discrepancy. Why are so many strong women missing from 8a? Are women just not very good at dealing with competition? Is it still culturally frowned upon for women to report their accomplishments and take pride in them? Or do the top female athletes honestly not care about 8a? Still not sure of the answer, maybe I’ll find out, but until that time, I’ve decided I’m going to be loud and I’m going to talk about my accomplishments. I’m going to make my scorecard public, and I’m going to keep it that way regardless of whether I am winning or losing, and despite lovers and haters.

Power of Silence V10 from Patti Wohner on Vimeo.

Short video of me doing Power of Silence a few weeks ago in Hueco.

My Story of Triple Crown

I have wanted to place in a Triple Crown ever since 2006 when I competed in my first Triple Crown, and watched Kate Reese McGinnis tear up the HP40 boulderfield. I couldn’t believe it when I heard she had sent all V7 and above! I was astonished; 10 problems in one day over V7, including “Slider” and “Suspicion”, who was this girl? I hadn’t even heard of her before. I placed 4th in Open that year with 4728 points. My scorecard included boulders from V2 to V7. Not enough to even get me into third place in Open.

For a long time I was stuck somewhere in the middle of the Advanced and Open categories. Not wanting to sandbag the advanced category, I competed in Open for 3 years (2006, 2008, and 2009). In 2008, I decided to do the whole Triple Crown, all three events. My best score: I barely broke 5000 points in the LRC event. I didn’t place, making fourth overall. I took with me my experience to 2009, and came fourth overall again. I had done much better than the previous year and ended up with a Hound Ears score of 5421, a fourth place score of 5864 for HP40, better than the last year but still not good enough to place, and 5800 at LRC. I was burnt out and not happy with my fourth place result.

I took a few years off. The Triple Crown requires a lot of effort, A LOT, to do well and keep pace with the locals who know the boulderfields. Ten of the hardest boulder problems you can send in a day is difficult to accomplish and training for it requires a much different set of tactics than trying to send harder and harder grades. I wanted to spend more time projecting and less time sending problems I had done many times before. I eventually got much stronger, sent V10, another long-time goal, and relocated to Chattanooga, the heart of Southern bouldering. I ended up with the most fantastic climbing partner, my husband, Mike.

Then I was inspired to try the Triple Crown this year. I am stronger and lighter now and my new husband was wanting to compete. He was coming off an injury. Repeating old problems he knew wouldn’t hurt his injury, was seeming to help him get back into shape. I was bored and angry in the gym and wanting to climb outside, but it wasn’t quite the season for projecting yet. So we decided we would compete in the Triple Crown.

I came up with a dream list of problems. The list I had wanted to put together for previous Triple Crowns, but could never execute. I decided I would only do problems I loved doing, that way the competition would still be fun. I was surprised the first time we went out to LRC and got on some of the problems that had come easy to me in previous years. They didn’t feel so easy in 85 degree heat and 98% humidity! But the temperature and humidity kept creeping down and I got very good at feeling comfortable sticking to moves I was slipping from.

It was strange for me to be bouldering in the heat. Once I attained a certain level in bouldering, I turned my nose up at climbing in the heat. I didn’t like lowering my expectations and my motivation was undermined by the drop in ability with the heat, so I quit climbing outside during the off-season. But circuiting added a new element of motivation. I dropped my level of expectation and the focus was on trying to do the ten hardest problems I could do given the conditions. While I couldn’t send my projects, I could send a pretty good list of V7 through V9 in the hot and humid weather.

Comp day was here. I was excited and ready to go, and ready to win. I forced myself into my go-to attitude of success. I knew no one could beat me, or at least that’s what I told myself. Kasia was turning her attention to the West, and I thought, "it’s my turn now".

And then suddenly people were disappearing into the woods and onto the boulderfield. The comp was on. I waited in line for my first warm-up, “Incredarete”. It was a V2. I’m sure there was a time when I couldn’t do the first move on this problem but I cannot remember it. But here I stood on the Organic pad looking up, incredulous. After 5 tries, I could not get my foot to stick on the first move!!! I was embarrassed, but passed it off to nerves, and after the fifth try I said to myself, “OK, move on, don’t get upset, just go to the next warm-up”. I proceeded to “The Main Event” and did it with no effort, locking off the crimp. That was all I needed to get my thinking back on track.

Next up was “I Think I Can”, a crimpy V9 infamous for its variability in difficulty for different body types, but on my circuit, normally a warm-up. However, some of the key holds in the middle of the boulder problem that I was accustomed to using, were taped off, a small pocket and a key foothold. I was worried I would have to revise my strategy right off the bat, but I still had my three tries according to my rule. After three tries, I have to move on to something else. On my first attempt with the new beta I was hesitant, and tried to adjust in an uncomfortable crimp and slipped. I came up with a plan of action for my next try and decided to execute. I wouldn’t adjust on the crimp, I would use it how I grabbed it, and throw for the next crimp. I was unstable on every move with the new beta, but climbed through it to a ballsy jump to a jug at the end. This send was all I needed to get me pumped.

The next problem I was worried about was "Dr. Atkinson". I sent it for the first time last year in cold weather and I had sent it once this year when conditions were pretty good. But the key hold was very temperature dependent and required a lot of force on the pointer finger, and I could only pull into it with the best of friction. It is an understatement to say it was not a good friction day. The other issue was I had slashed that necessary pointer fingertip on a crystal on Cleopatra a few days earlier so I had tape wrapped all over my fingertip. The taped finger wasn’t bothering me up until now, but I couldn’t make it work on "Dr. Atkinson". I had to give up after my 3 tries and move on to "Now and Zen".


Me attempting the crux on Dr. Atkinson.

The organizers had also made Now and Zen different by adding an extra move onto the beginning but didn’t cause me too much of a problem.


Me topping out Now and Zen.

Mike and I proceeded to a few more boulders and Gina and Ray took pictures and carried pads. I felt like a rockstar with an entourage. We then went to “Spank the Baby”. Jill was there and I arrived just in time to see her send it. It was her first time sending this problem, always an awesome accomplishment for the competition if you’re a local, I think. I love getting a new send at a Triple Crown but I wasn’t expecting to get one.


Jill avoiding the tree dab on Spank the Baby

I tried to send “Spank the Baby” but kept falling where Jill had executed perfectly. I had had issues on that heel hook in the past but didn’t think it would be a problem. I even changed from my Shaman to my heel-hooking Talon but that didn't even work. I had to give up on it after spanking the baby too many times.


Me trying to get the heel perfect on Spank the Baby

I was in dim spirits because I had only done 3 problems and Mike had 7 already! I knew this inequality could happen and was prepared for it, but it was difficult to not let it get to me. He was almost done and I had almost a whole card to fill up!


Mike crushing Grimace.

Things weren’t looking much better when I went to “Man Hands”. The boulder was in the sun. Mike was giving me words of support but I interpreted it as he thought I wasn’t doing well and what I needed was to believe I was crushing. I got my feet set and then I was off. Sometimes I have a hard time starting because I know I will either succeed or fail and how I feel when I start will affect the outcome. I think, “Will I succeed now, how about now, maybe it will be better in five seconds, if I chalk up once more, if I brush the holds once more”. I made it through the crux and was getting ready to throw to the last jug and everything blew! My hands burst out of those little greasy seams and Mike caught me. Everyone was feeling my despondent energy. It WAS hot, hotter than I knew how to deal with. I had to pick it up here or I wasn’t going to make it.

I had seen a lot of strong girls in the boulderfield; among them Carrie Cooper, Sarah Grainger, Francesca Metcalf, Jill Sompel, Kaitlyn Honnold, even girls from other countries. I didn’t know who all was competing in my category but I knew there was some competition out there.

I tore the tape off my pointer finger, chalked up, pulled hard into those seams, and crimped my way through Man Hands like my life depended on it.


Me setting up for the crux moves on Man Hands

I felt so good on the top-out even though I was pumped! I was back in. From there I crushed the rest of the problems I got on. I even sent “A Face in a Crowd” which I hadn’t sent yet this year, and hadn’t planned on doing for the comp, because despite what people say, it’s freaking hard!!


Me on A Face in the Crowd

Both Mike and I had 10 problems and thought we were done. I had 7920 points. But somehow neither of us wanted to be done. We still had an hour and a half left and after my final problem, he wanted to go try Psychosomatic and I was wondering how I might get above 8000 points. The crew journeyed back into the boulderfield. Gotta hand it to Ray and Gina, they were truly a fabulous couple to spend the day with and they went back and forth across that boulderfield with us many times.


Awesome couple Ray and Gina

We met up with Zach Campbell at “Psychosomatic” who suggested we go to “Cloud Nine”. Mike tried Psycho a few more times and determined he wasn’t going to do it so we pressed on to “Cloud Nine” with Zach.

I learned a lesson at Cloud Nine. I had never been on Cloud Nine, never seen video for it, didn’t know any beta, and didn’t know if girls had done it. The jug for hands was taped off and apparently increased the grade from V6 to V8. While I have done V8 in a day, I had never done it when it was over 80 degrees. I saw Mike and Zach do it easily and in my head wondered if it was possible for me. I noticed I was thinking negative thoughts. Tentativeness is a weakness of mine. I know some problems are height dependent and so I always wonder if this is one of the problems that I won’t be able to do. Both Mike and Zach had made a big move around the arête and I wondered if I could also do this move. I had a hard time figuring out the first move but learned it and then was stopped by the greasy sloper at the top. I couldn’t hang onto it. I was getting very close by setting a heel hook and throwing around the arête like Mike had done. Then I noticed a point on the topout much closer than where the men were throwing to. Next time on the problem I found the right spot on the sloper and locked off to the point. I need to keep in mind that there is always different beta, and I should never hold myself back wondering whether it is possible for me, of course it is!

The extra 200 points for sending Cloud Nine was enough for me to break 8000 points and I ended with 11 problems V7-V9 including a new send and a 10 problem score of 8172, crushing my previous Triple Crown records and winning the event! I had placed in a Triple Crown and sent my dream list. Mike won the Stonemaster category and we were both a very happy husband and wife!


Mike and I!!!

Next stop, HP40!!

Back to, or Rather, Beginning Summer Training

It is hard for me to imagine now, how I got to my current level in climbing, without doing much training. Not only have I not done much training, but in the past I almost had a disdain for training, okay, I had an outright disdain for training. I would even secretly make fun of people training at the gym. Or maybe I wasn’t necessarily making fun of the training itself, but what these folks were doing for training. It was almost like I knew somehow, that the guy dynoing V5 all over the gym wasn’t going to improve his climbing by doing more pullups. I also had some bad experiences getting injured during, after, and seemingly even before extensive training.

My ex used to tell me I had strong fingers and great footwork but I lacked “body strength”. I guess I didn’t know what on earth he meant, and at the time, I was too afraid the answer to a question such as, “What do you mean?” would destroy my fragile little ego. I imagined he meant that the functioning of all my body together wasn’t strong, or that my torso needed to be bulked up, or maybe even my legs were weak, but no, that didn’t really make sense. Body strength. I guess I still don’t really know what he meant; looking back I should have asked for clarification because I possibly could have been 3 years into training this so-called body strength already. Because as I sit here now, revelation in hand, it looks like I am in for the long haul of developing body strength right from scratch.

What I think my ex was talking about was upper body strength, the big muscles, shoulders and biceps, muscles women seem to have a hard time developing. I have just recently put it all together, after many years! So I thought I would write about it and hopefully save others with a lack of "body strength" some time and frustration.

Here’s how it all came about. It was when my husband Mike convinced me to train with him one night on his “Moon board” that I had a huge epiphany, actually both of us did. It was from then on that I will never forget that I am a woman and he is a man, and all women are women and all men are men. Sorry, but even the strongest women in the gym have the same shortcomings in terms of this body strength as I do. Mike and I were doing the hangboard. Mike was amazed at how I could hang from his Moon board with one hand on any hold, no weight taken, for seemingly however long I wanted. I was rather astounded that he could not hang at all, and had to use weight bands in order for him to complete the task. I thought I was a total hotshot. But then it was my turn to be astounded by his amazing strength. We went to one-armed lock offs and he casually held his weight for 10 SECONDS!!!! We kept on adding the bands for me and even with 5 bands, I could still not hold my weight up on one arm for 10 seconds. We have both climbed V10. How is it possible to have such combinations of strengths and weaknesses and get to such a level? That’s a question for another blog.

I once did an experiment at ACTIVE gym in Athens based on an hypothesis that arose from some personal experience and observation, because that’s what I do, experiments. I asked the women that were there in the gym to do 3 fast pull-ups. They were beginners and intermediate climbers alike, one girl was there for her first time in the gym and couldn’t even do one pullup!! I had to tell her newbie boyfriend to quit at around 9. None of the girls could do a fast pull-up like the guys could. Okay, so pretty elementary; women have a difficult time with pull-ups relative to almost any man, who is in shape. Given, that may be rare these days. But don’t you think someone like me, who has been climbing for 13 years should be able to do some fast pull-ups? NO. Don’t you think powerhouses like Whitney Boland or Jill Sompel should be able to hold themselves in an unassisted lock off for 10 seconds, NOPE!!!

Now that I have fully recognized the value of training my body strength weakness, I want to go full steam ahead! Of course that’s what I want to do. You’d think you could just jump right in full steam! But no, there’s a catch, just like developing technique, or finger strength, or anything climbing, these things take time and loads of patience. If you read the small print on any of these training methods, even for those nice big large muscles, you need to use caution, lest you end up injured.

My plan was to do 1 session of campus board training, 1 session of lock off training and 2 sessions of bouldering at TBA per week. No hangboarding because I already have strong fingers. Within the first week, I had my first ever case of elbow inflammation!!! First ever I swear. Why? I think because my body is so accustomed to putting as much weight as I can on my feet. From what I have read, the elbow is the weak link. All those big muscles and tendons all connect right there in the elbow at a small little joint and are easily inflamed.

So, bottom line is that I had to stop all training, recommended in the fine print to prevent tendonitis, and I am realizing I will have to develop this body strength over a much longer period of time than I had previously thought. Argh. My message to all women out there, start training body strength gradually NOW!

Getting out of a Plateau

It’s been a long time and a lot has happened since the first blog. Writing a dissertation doesn’t lend well to blogging I’ve noticed. However, dissertation-writing has lent well to improving my bouldering. I came to Chattanooga in December, wondering what the season would bring. Each season, I think, and even write down somewhere that this could be The Season, THE Season! The season that I’ve tied all my hopes and dreams into, perhaps done some training that will finally work, perhaps something different will happen and I won’t sustain a finger injury. Well, this was THE season I’ve been waiting for - for about 5 years.

I finally climbed V10, not one but two and a whole bunch of V9s. V7s and V8s were easy. In fact, I thought Chaz Warren’s goal of 9 V9s would be pretty cool so I tried to copy-cat him. Also, I have a little philosophy that in order to be able to say you climb a certain grade, you need to climb that number of boulder problems of that grade so it gets harder as you get better. For instance, you need to climb 5 V5s to be a V5 boulderer and 9 V9s to be a V9 boulderer. This resolves the ambiguity when someone is trying to size you up and inappropriately asks how hard you climb. It really doesn’t matter, it is just a fun little game. I ended up with 11 V9s or harder!

Anyway, I probably jumped up 2 V grades, which by the way, and frankly, I feel I deserve since I have been in a plateau for 5 years or more.

So now you might wonder how I finally got out of this plateau; did it just miraculously happen because that’s what just happens one day. I don’t think so.

I am a scientist so I feel I can’t really answer this question in an unbiased way. Many things changed in my life in December that could have contributed.

1. I realized that women must train differently for bouldering than men. I emphasized dynamic fast pull ups and dynamic movement in general to try to increase my dynamic abilities.
2. I completely changed climbing partners and began climbing with people with a similar attitude, at the same level of climbing, and who aren’t afraid of failing for the benefit of improvement, and love to project.
3. I moved to Chattanooga where I began climbing at a gym with world class climbers setting problems and had outdoor climbing available whenever it was not raining. As a consequence, I didn’t get worn out from driving three hours to boulder fields. I slept in, waited for it to warm up, met my local climbing partners, and perhaps some Athens drive-ins, and drove 20 minutes to the boulders.
4. I started climbing on rooves again.
5. I seriously started projecting V10. Up until this year, I kept saying I wanted to send V10 but I had not really tried to send one in a LONG time. You have to get on V10s if you want to send them, lots of them.
6. I read Dave MacCleod’s “9 out of 10 climbers” which hugely influenced me. Thanks Jill.

7. I saw Will Smith’s inspirational video which also hugely inspired me. Thanks Thomasina.

8. I had few work distractions such as courses and field work as I was only writing my dissertation on rest days, my focus was bouldering.
9. For most of the season I did not have a boyfriend which is highly unusual.
10. I lost a lot of weight and was about 10 pounds lighter than previous years.
11. I changed my attitude about being shortish (5’4”) which compared to other women is average but relatively short compared to my male climbing partners who are both 5’11”. Dave MacLeod has a good argument for why it is actually better to be short and once I learned how to climb using the benefits of being short I quickly made progress on long moves. I never want to hear another person say something is reachy. Changing my attitude from "I might not be able to do that because I’m shortish" to "there is probably a way I can do that dynamically or if I climb tall" made a big difference.
12. I laid off the crimpy problems for the most part and focused on powerful climbing.
13. I saw a physical therapist about some back issues I was having and he noticed I was pulling from my neck instead of the big muscles in my back, weird, but physical therapists rule, they are the real GOD if anyone is truly seeking the truth. I made a concerted effort to change how I pull.

So there are many factors that I could attribute my success (at finally coming out of my plateau) to. Shedding the scientist in me that would really like some hard data, I could guess at the four most important; 1. Positive serious climbing partners, 2. The weight loss, 3. Living next to boulderfields, 4. Attitude change and all the repercussions associated with it.

So now my bouldering comrades (Josh Spegal and Michael Wohner) and I have a little competition to try and keep the progression moving forward. We have a set of three V10-V11 boulder problems; Lord of the Dance at Dayton Pocket, Zion at Rocktown, and Biggie Shortie at Little Rock City. The first of us to send all 3 problems receives an all-expense paid trip to Hueco Tanks for Thanksgiving from the other two! This little competition is to try to motivate us all to climb V11 since none of us have done it but also to work on our weaknesses. All the problems have something each of us have weaknesses in. We have all started training hard for the coming season. I'm really planning on sending all three first!!

So here is a video of me doing a few problems at Rocktown.

BionicRats and RottenEgg from Patti Newell Nickerson on Vimeo.