[Lund]

Right.  Calling all cellar dwellers, and those with wood.  Steep, hard wood with more wood on specifically.

I have constructed, at great expense, a bespoke climbing facility in my garden.  It would obviously have been better in a cellar, but I don't have one of those, and I couldn't just tunnel under the house as it was constructed out of wattle and daub at the start of the 20th century and thus has no real foundations.

Thus, the setup is a specially designed and constructed shed at the foot of the garden, with purposefully slightly crooked doors, within which there is a 45 degree plywood paradise for adults.  Affixed to this is a mix of resin holds, and some really nice wooden holds, plus some absolutely fucking shocking footholds that make more core muscles shrivel up a bit just thinking about trying to keep your feet on them.  This is all bon, and as nature intended, so far.

The board project involves some desperate moves on these holds.

It's been very cold recently.  This is in a shed outside after all - there's no heating.  The wooden holds have become proper desperate to hold, and I'm wondering whether what to do about it because we may soon approach the point where the conditions become the challenge, not the deep, deep, deep burn and energy system failure.

So... any tips?  Do the holds go to shit in low temps?  Will chalk help, or spitting on my fingers?  What about adjusting the sandpaper grading until the temps improve?  Climb on resin until April?  Get a hairdryer?  Inject some MAN-THE-FUCK-UP?  What dosage?

[r-man]

What do you mean will chalk help? You aren't using chalk?

I've got an outdoors woody. It's much grippier in winter than summer. Getting psyched to go out in the cold is my main issue. Getting properly warmed up is the other one.

[Paul B]

It's been very cold recently.  This is in a shed outside after all - there's no heating.  The wooden holds have become proper desperate to hold, and I'm wondering whether what to do about it because we may soon approach the point where the conditions become the challenge, not the deep, deep, deep burn and energy system failure.

Humidity seems to play a big part in how wood feels (IMO) on boards. Just suck it up, it isn't going to be perfect all of the time; the old school was like this with things being a lot more feasible 'in season'.

[SA Chris]

Is it as cool as Dobbin's?

http://dobbinwondermule.blogspot.co.uk/

[Lund]

What do you mean will chalk help? You aren't using chalk?

I've got an outdoors woody. It's much grippier in winter than summer. Getting psyched to go out in the cold is my main issue. Getting properly warmed up is the other one.

Yes.  I am using chalk, copious quantities.  I spent significant amounts of time blowing and brushing it off, only to fire violently off the crux and land on the deck.  Last night I tried a bit of moisture: spitting on my hands, rubbing them together etc., and failed because my core muscles where trying to squeeze my lungs out of my nostrils - NOT because of the friction.  Which got me thinking.

How steep is your wall?  And how hard are the problems?  If this wasn't at my absolute limit then I don't think it would be as much of an issue.

Paul B says I should suck it up.  Any more for sucking?  (BTW Paul - are you broken bennett by any chance?)

[Paul B]

Instastalk.

[Lund]

Is it as cool as Dobbin's?

http://dobbinwondermule.blogspot.co.uk/

That mirrors my situation.  It's similar, just as overengineered, but bigger (wider).

[r-man]

What do you mean will chalk help? You aren't using chalk?

I've got an outdoors woody. It's much grippier in winter than summer. Getting psyched to go out in the cold is my main issue. Getting properly warmed up is the other one.

Yes.  I am using chalk, copious quantities.  I spent significant amounts of time blowing and brushing it off, only to fire violently off the crux and land on the deck.  Last night I tried a bit of moisture: spitting on my hands, rubbing them together etc., and failed because my core muscles where trying to squeeze my lungs out of my nostrils - NOT because of the friction.  Which got me thinking.

How steep is your wall?  And how hard are the problems?  If this wasn't at my absolute limit then I don't think it would be as much of an issue.

Paul B says I should suck it up.  Any more for sucking?  (BTW Paul - are you broken bennett by any chance?)

Yeah, I occasionally have the dry-firing issue. I run my hands under a tap and then dry them off again. Seems to help.

My wall is about 45/50 deg. I can't remember which. Problems are at my limit. I'd get bored otherwise. These days I do a lot of footless stuff (mainly cos it's easier to have a quick sesh) so it's not so much of an issue if I ping off, but it does happen now and then.

I wonder if the issue also depends a bit on hold type? Wooden pinches perhaps the slippiest hold type?

[Duma]

Its the 7th of March! shirley this is only going to become less of an issue? spit on yr hands for a couple of weeks and all will be well.

[Paul B]

Yoga might help?

[a dense loner]

Softwood, pine etc is better in winter. Hardwood, mahogany etc is better in summer. Better as in more holdable. Dobbins is the shittest board I've ever seen.

[Lund]

Yoga might help?

Yoga?!  Yoga got me into this situation!  I was single and strong and could go to the wall whenever I chose.  Then, whilst I was laying in bed recuperating from an unfortunate accident involving a heavy blow to the head, I realised that yoga was the thing that was missing from my life.  That my lack of stretchiness was indeed the thing stopping me doing 159.  I immediately bounced out of my sickbed and began to stretch.  It was not long before a crowd gathered to watch me balancing on my head, keeping my core empty, my anus soft, and breathing out of each nostril in turn.  Amongst this crowd was my future wife, and thus began a journey that ended up with a second child being due imminently, a larger house being required, and a large wooden erection in the garden.

[bendavison]

I haven't read all the responses, so sorry if this is a repeat. I get similar issues, but not just on wood. I think it's to do with dry skin - try moisturising more and warming up extremely well.

[Sasquatch]

Deadlifting will help

[Nibile]

Lund, my friend, welcome to the dark, mysterious land of board climbing.
To deeply know and decipher the subtleties of board friction is, at best, impossible. "SCIRE NEFAS", to say it with Horatius.
As for Beastmaking, some days you are bolted to the slopey pockets, some others you weigh a ton and have grease under your fingers.
And it's the same with plastic, I'm afraid.
After years and years, I am still facing the same question marks: liquid chalk? normal chalk? normal chalk in blocks or powder? How fine must it be? How thick a layer should I have on my tips? Should I use the fan before or after? Will liquid chalk cool down my skin too much, due to the evaporation of the alcohol?
So, my friend, to follow Horatius' advice, "nec Babylonios temptaris numeros", "Dum loquimur, fugerit invida
aetas: carpe diem quam minimum credula postero."

Now go and crank my friend.

[webbo]

How far is it from the back door to the board and how many down jackets have you got. If the distance in yards is greater than the number of jackets you have access to. You need more jackets.

[Fultonius]

What you need is a mini weather station measuring temperature and relative humidity. You can then come up with an algorithm that calibrates effort against conditions - this could then be used as a control input for your ConditionsNeutraliser^(TM) automatic angle adjustment system.

[TMR]

I have a humidity meter. If it reads over 90% i dont bother. 80% is borderline, anything under i class as "primo connies".

[Jim]

in our old house, the board was in the garage at the bottom of the garden. in the winter I used to run a long extension lead to it with a fan heater in side. it managed to warm it up just enough to be bearable on really cold nights but heating with electricity is very expensive. as to the dry firing, just spit on your hands, rub it in till its almost dry and then chalk up and repeat as necessary until your properly warmed up

[SEDur]

I have a couple board in my barn that I train on, and its generally pretty cold and slightly damp in there. So much so that spores have formed on the surface of my boards (not the holds however).

Part of my investment was the purchase of various wooden holds from Beastmaker, Crusher and SillyGoat, both of the finest quality. However, I found find a lot of the time these holds were not only inherently desperate by nature, but I used to ping off them all the time.

 In some cases now, this has become less common and I think its because the acidic nature of my skin has worn down into the wood and made the finish less slick.

[Lund]

Thanks for the replies y'all.  I think increasing the water content of my skin whilst it's so cold seems to be the way ahead, so I'll keep trying that.  I'll avoid the sandpaper - I do agree that the wooden holds will probably get broken in to be a bit easier - a bit like how the 45s on a new beastmaker are so much harder than on a board that's seen a lot of action.

[monkoffunk]

The woody in Red Spider near Portsmouth is pretty awesome, but terrible friction. Think the problem there is all the filth, rubber and chalk, on the holds. After meticulously cleaning it I still fell off, but at least I knew then it was due to being weak.

[the_dom]

Deadlifting will help

Deadlifting always helps.