[andy popp]

So, I'm going to start this by fucking it up, by not linking all the previous threads, as is the tradition. Maybe someone can correct that.

I have two aims: rebuild any claim to being a climber, rebuild some kind of fitness.

I've never been more out of shape in my adult life. The last couple of years saw a slide into a too inactive life, combined with too much drinking. The last year in particular was difficult, and saw the loss of my remaining parent and a sibling, an extremely stressful job search, and a difficult relocation process. My ways of dealing with this have not always been the best and I've gained weight and lost strength. I've never been someone who enjoyed exercise - I've been very fit at times but only ever as a by-product of being very psyched on going climbing. I'm basically extremely unsporty and respond poorly to training. Running etc. have never appealed and probably never will. But I need to find some kind of solution.

Things have begun to improve a little already since moving. I now cycle to work. It's not far but does mean 12-15 minutes of raised heart beat morning and afternoon most days of the week. Work and home are on the fourth and third floor respectively and I always use the stairs, often multiple times a day. It sounds pathetic but even just these little bits have begun to make a difference. I've also begun to cut back on drinking, having three to four booze free nights a week. I need to find a more systematic ways to build on all of this

Any meaningful claim to being a climber at this point is pretty dubious. I've climbed twice this year. Emotionally I remain deeply attached to this pastime. It's central to who I am, and I can't see that ever changing, but I need to make that a bit more of a reality. Unfortunately, I've just moved to a country with close to zero climbing (and it wouldn't really matter if there was anyway, as it seems to rain continuously). But there does appear to be a good gym ten minutes (more cycling!) from work, so I intend to start going there regularly. I think that will keep me attached enough, even though I've never really enjoyed indoors (my ex home board being the exception). Perhaps I can look to doing one or two trips to real rock each year? I don't think I have any real attachments to grades etc. any more and would be as happy doing classic easy routes as anything else.

More positively, I want to bring a multi-year, multi-volume book project to a close in 2020 - its close now and should happen. That will be very satisfying. I've just started developing another book proposal, for an edited volume, and it would be nice to get that commissioned. I've landed in a fantastic professional position that should, all going well, be the final post of my career. I want to find a truly worthy research project to which to devote myself to for the next few years and produce something I can be proud of. I've no idea what that might be, but I'm excited to be in a position to have the opportunity.

I want to see my children continue to grow and flourish and to maintain good relationships with them. It would be good to see old friends more.

[haydn jones]

I'm actually going to take part this year after skipping the last 2 years due to having multiple (4) injured fingers and my only goal was basically don't fuck up my fingers anymore and have a good time climbing. Finger integrity at 99% now. Keeping goals strictly climbing based, however the reality of successful goals is making sure my life outside of climbing is stable and successful too.

1. Climb 8B again

2. Climb 8c+ again

3. Sort out my on going groin strain which has plagued me for over 2 years now. this really impinges my climbing, it makes heel hooks, rock overs, drop kneeing and wide bridging all harder and sometimes impossible when its bad.

4. Work on pure finger strength in a variety of grip positions, previously I used to be able to full crimp my BW on a lattice rung but would need 12KG assistance in any other grip. Basically If I can get up to BW in chisel, half crimp and full crimp I'll be happy.

5. 8b+ in a session

6. 8A+ in a session

See you all in a year.

[AMorris]

Never having taken part in this, I thought I might do this year!

I smashed my goals fairly easily for the last two years running, which is nice, but I think that might mean I need to up things a bit this year.

Boring training stuff:
1) 15s half crimp straight arm deadhang BM2 low rung @ BW. (current: 10s locked, 7s straight arm)
2) 7s half crimp straight arm deadhang BM2 small edges. (current: 2-3s locked right hand, 1-2s spent slowly falling off on the left)
3) Try and get back to strength on one armers without exacerbating the elbows. 3 on each arm would be plenty if I can do it safely.

Climbing stuff:
4) Wedgie wall, this is unlikely but I feel like it was made for me in terms of style. If I was every going to get up anything unexpectedly hard it would be this.
5) An 8B. This is also unlikely, as there aren't exactly any jumping out at me at the moment. 8B's are fairly hard to come by in the hills and I never go to that grimestone cave. I guess something like Ropes of Maui might be worth a look, but it doesn't fill me with enthusiasm.
6) New Noise, Lotus, Barrel Trav, full roadside (don't ask)
7) 7C flash

Others:
Don't get injured
9) Stop being a grumpy bastard
10) Take a holiday

That should be a suitably number of things to fail achieve by next year! I thought if I selected enough unlikely things one of them might come true 

[Wood FT]

Thanks, Andy. Lots of realisations there. 2020 looks like it has every chance of being positive for you.

Sport:
GBH (very confident)
Chimes of Freedom (desperate)
K3 (saw a fellow small person do it this year)

Look into Austrian Oak or Predator to find whichever suits me best and feels good.

7c onsight and 8a RP abroad. Climb on the Diamond and that big Scottish Rainbow Cliff.

Boulder:
7B+ & 7C on lime.
West Side Story.

DWS: Mark of the sodding Beast! Stick the first dyno on Adrenachrome.

Multipitch:
Süpervitamin on the North Face of Titlis. Some friends confirmed quality and wild climbing. Also suggested it as a step towards a proper Deep Blue Sea effort in the future, the latter being much more run-out. Or, Murciana ‘78 on the Naranjo (again; didn’t go this year)

Life:
Secure 2021 work and decorate house. Keep laughing and develop confidence. Talk less and plan more.

Happy New Year, hope you all achieve your aims.

[36chambers]

If I can do 5 or more of these that would be great.

5 off the “why have you not done these yet?” list
5 sessions trying 8B/s
5 new UK crags
5 second one arm BM 10’s
5 off the board list
5 days sport climbing
5 eights
5 climbing trips (weekends/holidays)
5 FA’s (including shitty link ups and shitty sitters)
5 training room PB’s

allez

[lagerstarfish]

7C

resist urge to abandon family and go snowboarding

[Fiend]

Andy - set your aims on Bohuslan! It's lovely. 4 hours drive from Copenhagen so should be weekend-trippable, especially if you get a Volvo. You've got Kullanberg for day-trip projecting etc too. There's stuff near Gothenburg as well. But Bohuslan could re-kindle some fire in the trad / sport vein. It's also a nice area for non-climbers to hang out, picnic, explore the coast etc.

[Hoseyb]

Not totally sure what I want to do this coming year. However, I've had 2 to 3 projects dogging me for a few years so, maybe this year I'll..

Do the 40ft offwidth sea cave; Tosheroon.

Climb some of the sits on the Marchlyn boulder.

Make significant progress on my pipedream project ; Old Man Logan. Which means bumping my pb 5 grades.

I'm 45 so I'd better get my finger out

[Plattsy]

Andy - set your aims on Bohuslan! It's lovely. 4 hours drive from Copenhagen so should be weekend-trippable, especially if you get a Volvo. You've got Kullanberg for day-trip projecting etc too. There's stuff near Gothenburg as well. But Bohuslan could re-kindle some fire in the trad / sport vein. It's also a nice area for non-climbers to hang out, picnic, explore the coast etc.

In addition, about 2 hours drive to Kjugekull from Copenhagen.
There's a new guide too.
No experience myself but it's on my list of places to visit.

[TobyD]

So, I'm going to start this by fucking it up, by not linking all the previous threads, as is the tradition. Maybe someone can correct that.

I have two aims: rebuild any claim to being a climber, rebuild some kind of fitness.
 ....

Andy have a listen to the recent 'don't tell me the score ' podcast about walking.  Its pretty interesting,  and sounds like you might find it useful. 

[Andy F]

I'm bored of setting goals I never achieve, so:

Sport: 7a
Bouldering: Font 6b.

Both achievable, hopefully.

[spidermonkey09]

I'm not quite sure how to approach setting goals this year. Last year included enormous success but also exposed several enormous weaknesses in my climbing which will need addressing if I want to achieve the same level on any sort of consistent basis. This process began in Spain filling out the pyramid and generally gaining more experience and I think this year will be an extension of that.

- complete the Yorkshire Triple Crown. 8a+ is a problem grade for me in my pyramid and doing a few of them would redress the balance nicely.

- tick a few things off the left wall at Malham.

- have a few sessions on a gritstone 8A. Exorcist at Almscliff a potential but likely to be in the Peak more often this winter. Any recommendations appreciated.

- spend a few days trad climbing in the summer especially.

- be diligent with max hangs. Got up to +26kg on the Moon/monkeyboy protocol in the summer. Would be good to get to 50% bodyweight but no idea how realistic that is.

- keep doing regular core work and generally keep myself in good non climbing specific shape. I am a lazy bastard on this score so this might be challenging.

Good luck everyone!

[andy popp]

So, I'm going to start this by fucking it up, by not linking all the previous threads, as is the tradition. Maybe someone can correct that.

I have two aims: rebuild any claim to being a climber, rebuild some kind of fitness.
 ....

Andy have a listen to the recent 'don't tell me the score ' podcast about walking.  Its pretty interesting,  and sounds like you might find it useful.

Thanks Toby. I've always loved walking, and used to incorporate it into my climbing all the time, so that should be right up my street.

[cheque]

So, I'm going to start this by fucking it up, by not linking all the previous threads, as is the tradition. Maybe someone can correct that.

 

Aims for 2008
Aims for 2009
Aims for 2010
Aims for 2011
Aims for 2012
Aims for 2013
Aims for 2014
Aims for 2015
Aims for 2016
Aims for 2017
Aims for 2018
Aims for 2019

[andy popp]

Andy - set your aims on Bohuslan! It's lovely. 4 hours drive from Copenhagen so should be weekend-trippable, especially if you get a Volvo. You've got Kullanberg for day-trip projecting etc too. There's stuff near Gothenburg as well. But Bohuslan could re-kindle some fire in the trad / sport vein. It's also a nice area for non-climbers to hang out, picnic, explore the coast etc.

In addition, about 2 hours drive to Kjugekull from Copenhagen.
There's a new guide too.
No experience myself but it's on my list of places to visit.

I know, I know ... but I fear there would be no point in going to Bohuslan just yet. Kjugekull and Kullaberg both look like good calls, and much closer than I was expecting anything to be.

[Fiend]

Yeah you gotta get back to HVS or so before Bohuslan starts getting reliably good (although there are some good crags with easier stuff). Let me know when you're ready 

[Wil]

I had a pretty good year in 2019. I was left with a few loose ends to clean up which can hopefully provide easy motivation for the Spring.

Trad:
Clean up some outstanding projects from 2018/19. Right Wall, Pacemaker, Darkinbad, Barbarella. It would be good to get a few other classic E5s in as well, e.g. Supersonic, Tales, Positron. If I get to the Autumn with 10 E5s under my belt I'll be very happy. I'm less concerned with whether I've onsighted them, but I do want to feel I've given the OS a good steady burn.

Harder routes: It would be great to finally put Master's Edge and Point Blank to bed.

Sport:
I've not got major objectives with this. I've got a short trip to Chulilla booked in, usual goals really of consistently onsighting low 7s and getting my try-hard head in gear. I don't have any UK specific sport goals.

Life:
I've become a bit fat and useless this Autumn/Winter. SO has moved jobs and I've eventually moved house (to Coventry) so don't have hills or crags on the doorstep, although not a million miles away. Basic life goals are to get back to regular fitness and motivation, and clean up sleep and alcohol habits. I've also gone full time freelancing which is mildly terrifying but hopefully liberating in the long run. I need to make sure I finish the year with a clearer idea of what the next decade might look like in that regard.

[Duma]

Don't think I did this last year, going to be an odd 2020 as other half has an injury that's going to stop her climbing at all until spring, leading until early summer, and bouldering until autumn. Plus the distraction of a big non climbing trip in Sept, so will see how we go...

General
Continue elbow rehab - has been a long process but feel like I can see the end now, climbing is fairly unrestricted, just need to get to a point where strength and power training is OK.
Keep weight Av 70kg from 71ish last few years - should be doable if I succeed in next aim...
Drink less often - I rarely drink to excess, but probably have a beer ~70% of days. I doubt this has a major effect on climbing, but it seems more habit than anything else, and the calories must add up.
Don't die on a motorbike in the Himalaya.

Climbing
Do something hard for me on dartmoor again, not really felt the psyche since Devon Sent a couple years ago, but Squire's new stuff has stirred something. Will probably require learning to love saddle tor, but might have a look at James's new arete (Interstellar) at Bovey, or attempt jungle VIP again.
Boulder in N Wales. Shamefully didn't manage it this year. Would really like to do Ultimate Warrior if poss.
Go to Ansteys, finish CS, and try something trickier.
Pembroke, have fun, an E4 O/S would be nice.

[Sasquatch]

I didn't post for 2019, but managed to do pretty well for my goals.  For 2020, it's going back to a couple of my 2018 goals.

Hmm. Aims for 2018 - At this point I'd say:

#1 - Local Sport Projects - 2 - Party wall and Byron Glacier.  Both in the 8c/+ish range and will take extraordinary effort to get fit and strong enough to make these feasible.
Got on one of these regularly through april/May and failed miserably.

#2 - Find, bolt and send 2-3 more good sport projects in the 8a-b ish range.
Bolted and sent 3 new 5.13's, two 13d, so this was definitely a success.  Also bolted a new 8b+/cish line that needs to get finished
#3 - Step up the business.
Mixed - initially looked pretty good, but didn't get to where we wanted.

Local Sport Projects
#1 Spotted Dick project - Brilliant vertical/technical climbing on glacially polished rock at Byron Glacier capped with a dyno.  This was bolted in 1992, and supposedly climbed back then at 12b, but the guidebook author got it wrong and mixed up two different project routes. 

#2 Party Wall Project - Local easily accessible project 15min Drive from the house.  Not the highest quality, but hard and clean.  I bolted this with a friend in 1998.  Tried it for a couple of years and gave up.

#3 Gargoyle Project - I bolted this in 2018.  It's amazing climbing in a spectacular location. 

Other stuff
Keep up with the work load and bring on 1-2 new employees.

Post more regularly on UKB

[kingholmesy]

I’d love to get fit enough and find sufficient trad mojo in 2020 to try any of the big E5s locally that I always put off. Any out of Oceans (Maer Cliff), The Devonian (Sharpnose), Saviourblade (Carn Gowla) or Il Duce (Tintagel) would be amazing, but not sure how likely it is that I’ll get into good enough shape to try them.

Other than that I don’t have many goals this year. There are a couple of new routes (trad and DWS) that I would like to get done, or at least try and live to tell the tale.

I’d also like to tick off some more of the local E4s, and it would be good to get at least one weekend away somewhere - maybe Pembroke or Gogarth.

Not sure yet whether I’ll try to get 8a ticked as an after work goal over the summer. I’d like to, but I live more than an hour’s drive from work, with the nearest 8a an hour in the opposite direction.  It would probably require me dossing at the crag then going straight into work the next day, which never seems very appealing.

Anyway, if I can manage at least some of that while still maintaining a semblance of happy family life I’ll be doing well.

[Bradders]

Good luck everyone!

Climbing

- 15 new problems 7C+ and up (can include link ups)
- go to Switzerland
- as ever, it'd be nice to do more from This is Yorkshire...still have some relatively low hanging fruit to enjoy
- do a high quality 7C in both Scotland and Wales

Training

- 7C on the Depot board
- stretching >3 times per week

Life

- get married
- move house to somewhere I can build a board
- build board

[gollum]

Another year and time to decide what I want to do.

Last year I set the unrealistic target of 8A, so this year I think I’d be better setting the still hard but slightly more realistic target of 7C.

I definitely climb inside far too much so I think an outside target is a good plan. I will aim for 100 days outside this year, which hopefully is achievable despite plenty of trips planned that most definitely wont be climbing.

Based on the above, have something to write in the Best of 2020 thread when it appears.

Train fingers at least twice a week and be diligent about it, unless I am on a trip of any sort.

Train abs at least four times a week.

Aim to get solid at 1-4-7 on both arms.

At least two days each for Wales, the Lakes and the Peak, plus at least three weeks bouldering out of the country.

Make good use of the camper van.

I have a solo 24 hour ultra event planned for July and I’d like to do more than 80 miles in the time, well I’d actually like to do 100 miles but just not sure whether that’s a realistic goal or not.

A sub 4 hours at Barcelona marathon would be good, but I better get my finger out soon if I have any hope of achieving that.

Probably key to many of the above is get my weight down a bit to maybe 65k from my current 70 or so.

Again the most important goal is to enjoy what I am doing. not give a monkeys and as every year from 3015 onwards still be here and healthy next year.

[Fiend]

Fairly down-to-earth ones for me:

1. Regain trad confidence as follows:

> Falling practise indoors (and outdoors if suitable)
> Stamina training
> Complementary training (fitness, flexilibity, calf raises)
> Don't get sucked into too much sport climbing
> Make use of sport climbing for falling practise
> Avoid trad climbing with people who walk up my lifetime ambitions after I've backed off them
> Keep up with easier trad routes in uncomfortable styles to work my weaknesses
> Sometimes boulder / train on vaguely relevant terrain for particular trad routes
> Aim 3. below as it's a big hinderance physically and emotionally

2. Use confidence to tackle inspiring routes.
3. Focus more regularly on healing digestion.
4. Do more climbing trips away.
5. Keep flexible with conditions and venues/styles.
6. Keep up theraputic exercises, stretching etc.
7. Go to more hardcore / dnb nights.
8. Keep decluttering and selling stuff.

[yetix]

-get a lot better
-get a little stronger
-7C+
-get out on a rope more than 2019 (2 sessions)

[jwi]

1. Climb three 8bs or harder.
2. Try to do a somewhat challenging multipitch route in good style. Routes and styles that would count would be things like RACS in Ordessa (o/s), Ayahuesca in Verdon (a few hangs), Troutherpie in Aiglun (RP after work).

This will be achieved by

1. Improving pull strength. I've had an injured shoulder for the last year and a half that stopped me from doing basic strength work. It seems fine now. Let's say 25 pullups, full ROM, no kicking, but at any cadence I like.
2. Improving finger strength, i.e. improving 2kg on both hands on my benchmark edge in the half crimp. (This seems extraordinarily difficult for me, so this is likely a weight loss goal). Being serious about variation of load.
2b. A basic 3-4-5-...-15 ladder up the thinnest rungs on the campusboard at the gym.
2c. At least 8 weeks of systematic training of the two finger and one-finger pairs in the gym before going to Margalef in the spring.
3. Improving flexibility. At least 30 min of stretching a week, at least two sessions.
4. Practice what I preach. At least one block of high volume/low intensity work. Probably in the summer. Ugh.