[geedee]

Aright there, look how brave I am — opening myself up to a world of shit on a bouldering board, having the gall to ask for advice about stuff whilst only ever having 'climbed' at the Berghaus wall!

Anyhoo — I know all about having to build up forearm/finger strength through repeating the same routes, doing dead hanging on a bar until your arms fail, not trying out the campus board too early etc. etc. Actually I'd be lucky if I could even muster the strength up to hang even longer than one second on a rung on one of those things! Which is basically to say, I've already anticpated the 'search the forum' replies.

My question is: when do you reckon I'll start seeing any progress in strength and technique, if you guys can cast your minds way back to when you first ever started climbing around on a wall like a school kid up a tree? I've been going for about a month, repeating the traverse, trying to use progressively harder holds etc. then thinking 'right — I'm going to tackle that overhang today' and then not even being able to climb it for more than a few seconds, sometimes not even being able to pull myself against the wall!

I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel, which is really pissing me off, but at the same time, maschocistically addictive!

I think part of the problem is not knowing the routes on the walls in there — I can't really get my head around monitoring what I'm doing, i.e. starting off on the easiest climbs, mastering them, then moving up a grade systematically — any ideas on that, or do I just keeping throwing myself at it until I get the strength and technique magically one day to feel I can call myself a climber, albeit a shit one!

My only aim in terms of bouldering is this: to be able to piss off for the weekend with a couple of mates to the countryside, climb a few routes/problems on some good English rocks, get pissed in the tent and replace my endless binge-drinking weekends with something mre fulfilling — I'm not looking to beat Chris Sharma or anything, I'm under no illusions — it's more of a personal thing.

Anyway, any words of advice or motivation for the beginner climber would be muchly appreciated, but it's understandable if you want to throw some abuse my way, or not even bother at all.

CHEERS!

[Paul B]

Strangely enough there used to be a guide book style topo for the Berghaus Wall, that may be worth a look.

That wall has produced some steely fingered people in the past however I'd seriously look at going elsewhere if at all possible. If you can get out with people instead, your technique will improve light years faster than on an indoor wall.

Good luck.

[webbo]

when you talk about the traverse are you traversing the whole wall.if you are you probably are too pumped/knackered to do up problems.also you might be attempting stuff thats too steep for your strength/technique.
trying watching other folk do stuff and try and copy them or bite the bullet and ask them for advice.you'll learn more from being shown then trying to work it out from the interweb.

[dobbin]

Unlike some previous 'newbie' posters who have been shot down for asking stupid questions without proper research, your post appears considered and well thought out. I wouldnt imagine you would attract much vitriol with such musings.

Anyway, at first I remember seeing quite a lot of gains quite quickly, but I think a really key thing at this stage in your development is going to be climbing with other people and at different places - mix it up. From Newcastle you're gonna be fairly well placed for the county which is one of the premier bouldering areas in the UK, presuming you have a car you should avail yourself of Chris Graham and co's excellent new boulderguide and go exploring. Also, get these mates you're gonna hole up in a tent with and get them involved. If theres a pack of you getting started together it gets much easier.

beer makes you fat by the way. 

[nik at work]

If you really are a newcomer to bouldering I wouldn't bother to much with finger boards and the like.
You will get stronger, but for most it is a gradual process which takes LOTS of time. My advice would be to try and find someone else to climb with who is a bit better than you, and someone who motivates you. Look for someone who appears to climb "well" rather than someone who beasts their way up the wall. And then whilst you're waiting for the strength to arrive get some technique.
But mostly have fun, lots of fun....

[moose]

Anyhoo — I know all about having to build up forearm/finger strength through repeating the same routes, doing dead hanging on a bar until your arms fail, not trying out the campus board too early etc. etc. Actually I'd be lucky if I could even muster the strength up to hang even longer than one second on a rung on one of those things! Which is basically to say, I've already anticpated the 'search the forum' replies.
CHEERS!

I'm no expert, but I doubt prolonged deadhanging from a bar will achieve much except buggered elbows.  Deadhangs for improving finger strength are done for short periods (~8s), reducing the size of the hold/grip as you get better.  Repeatedly doing the same routes might develop stamina but probably isn't the best for gaining strength.

As an ex-Berghaus wall devotee my own routine was based on devising ever more evil up-problems on the more overhanging walls.  Basically pick a section of wall (eg a column of panels), if you get up it, add a sitstart.  Once you can do that, start eliminating feet and handholds (e.g. discs, pockets, jugs) or adding rules (sitstart only using holds on the lowest panels, no deviating from a certain column etc).  The "barrel" overhang in the middle (opposite the "whale" boulder) was particularly good for this kind of thing: small holds, poor feet and an evil "lip" to surmount (especially now the thicker matting has removed a lot of the best footholds for sitstarts). 

Enough practice and you'll soon be at the stage where you're devoting hours of your life to linking two hideously small, polished, painful crimps.... toothbrushing them with a baleful expression.  Gains should be rapid at first - developing the brawn to do pullups off juggy holds shouldn't take too long.  After that though, you're at the mercy of your finger tendons.  Progress is slow, but don't despair - it comes eventually, especially with bouldering 2-3 times a week.

Other classic problems to try are just obvious stuff like getting up the big overhanging wave just using the big pockets, or, just using the tufa at its right-hand side.  Or, climbing the stepped overhang nearest the door only using the flakes or the pockets etc.  Just have fun - find something that's a pleasantly tricky challenge, and when you can do it, make it more difficult.  Ask around - everyone has their own favourites.

I would recommend that you try to get a bit of variety though.  Go outside, or if that's too hard try a different wall.  Sunderland Wall is easy to get to by metro and has lots of burly, bouldering with grades that enable you to measure your progress.  Durham and Newton Aycliffe are possibilities (the latter more for toproping) and there'll be a new wall in Byker soon I think?

[SA Chris]

Patience young paduan

http://www.climbnewcastle.com/

If they build it you will come.

etc.

As per dobbin's advice get some cash together and get the bouldering guide, I know it's available at Tiso in Newcastle and probably elsewhere. Then make use of friends / family / public transport and get out on some real rock.

[Slide]

Hi there fella.

The berghaus wall my first taste of bouldering as well as Whickham Thorns centre.  Like yourself i was wanting to fill my weekends with more than lost weekends in the pub,club. As i recall 'back in the day' i found the place pretty hard going to start with and my friends were improving quicker than i was.  Unlike Dobbin my gains were, and still are hard fought but you just need to stick at it.  If you enjoy it enough the gains will come.  It helps to have a bit of friendly banter and competition between friends and as i recall there never was a shortage there.


With regards to the traverse.  We, stupidly, did the 'full' traverse to warm up (show off) then were fucked for the rest of the session. Take your time on piss easy stuff to warm up slowly or you'll get the ol 'flash pump' and that'll put you out for good while.

Stick at it and the fruits of your labour will be plenty!

[Don Jebus]

I was Durham university until recently, so I used to go to the Berg regularly and found it to be a good place for foot work and finger strength, but not so good for other areas. There is a guide book you can buy for the wall available at reception so you'll be able to aim at certain grades by knowing what grades you can climb already.
I only started climbing last January and found the Berg quite hard to begin with but then fairly rapidly improved. The way to get better early on is just to climb as much as possible, being a student I was managing 3-4 4hour sessions a week, so found it came quickly. The main thing i found was to make sure you don't have to many long gaps between sessions as then your body will be forced to grow muscles. Leave things like the campus board and finger boards alone for now, as you just wreck your tendoms and have to rest your arm for a few days. Better to get a pull up bar and do chin up sessions, that worked wonders for me!

Also, as the guys before me said mix it up a bit! There's the new Durham wall which is great and just down the train for you, it's higher than berghaus so is a bit more of a challenge. There's loads of good places outside near where you live too, shaftoe being one of the best bouldering crags i've been to (better than burbage area if you ask me!). Go to wildtrak shop (60-62 St. Andrews Street - Newcastle Upon Tyne) and pick up the new northumberland bouldering guide and get out on the rock too, that'll force improvement and is also alot more fun! Also, the guys who work there are very friendly and helpful, so ask them about where to go and advice on how to improve, i'm sure they'll help.

So basically just climb lots and it'll come, keep mixing it up too! That's what i've done and yesterday I did my first font 6c, sweet!
Sorry if this is a bit garbled, not too good with putting thoughts onto paper...
Good luck and happy climbing! 

Don

[geedee]

Cheers lads!

Good advice there — I guess what I wasn't expecting so much of was 'get out there straight away' but I guess back in the day BEFORE back in the day, indoor walls wouldn't have existed therefore no other choice!

RE: Don Jebus — Christ I have to notch up my session length a bit by the looks of things! I've only been doing 3 one hour sessions per week!

Maybe that's been the problem then — I have no concept of timing or anything! I used to train with weights at the gym previously (although you could never have guessed it mind!) and I knew that I could do X amount of sets times 3 different exercises for one muscle group and stick to 3 muscle groups a session and however long it took to do that, that's when I was done.

At the moment I finish work at half five, walk up to the wall, do an hour before I feel knackered/hungry/feel that it's about time I nicked off, and then leave!

I do have a concept of what's harder to cling onto, and trying to memorise a route, trying to gain finger strength and balance etc. which kind of makes it more frustrating as I haven't got the comfort of TOTAL blind ignorance.

Another thing is the grading — I've tried reading up but it's still making no sense, it's kind of like the theory part which is always a bugger. I have no idea whether, as a total beginner, I should be able to climb ANY sort of grade and if so, where do I find these grades to practice on?

I think I'm going to have to bug some people at the wall for advice next week and see how that goes!

But regardless of all that above — and this is where it gets a bit emotional so watch yerself — I'm so pleased I actually managed to drag my arse up there and see that something like this is 'within reach' (i.e. the whole bouldering thing). The whole thing about just needing your shoes, chalk and mats to get out there really appeals and I've been saying to myself for YEARS that I need to get an outdoor hobby — when I was a kid it was all about the fell walking, hill climbing, orienteering, LOADS of canoeing, bit of camping etc. and then as soon as I discovered booze proper it just all went out the window. So needless to say this is something I want to make a go of, but I would love to make gains quite quickly, just so I feel I can make proper attempts at various routes and feel like it's something 'that I do', instead of just giving it a shot. My original aim was to use a mix of the Berghaus, Sunderland and (when it opens) Byker walls and then get outdoors next summer but by the sounds of it, maybe getting out in the autumn is a good idea.

Next stop — solo ice climbing!

Cheers peeps!

[Don Jebus]

Nice one mate, you've gt the right idea i think. With the getting knackered part, maybe your doing to much to fast in your sessions, take some breathers and chill out for a bit at times (that's where going with mates comes in handy, some to shoot the s**t with). Also, when I get knackered I take it as a sign to push harder, and keep going till i'm so dead i can barely move. Me and a freind used to do alot of traversing to finish with as you can just fall off the wall with no danger when you pump out. We'd work on our project routes at the start. However, if you do that, make sure you warm down properly otherwise it's gonna hurt like hell the next day. You can also try doing 4x4's which is doing 4 easy problems one after another 4 times with a minute break between each set of 4.

As for grading, V no. just go up 1, 2, 3, etc. Then Font. grades go up in no.'s as well, but can have a plus or minus after the no. meaning harder/softer. Also when you reach the grade of font. 6 it os further broken down into numbers and letters from a - c i.e. 6a, 6a +, 6b, 6b+, 6c, 6c+, then 7a, 7a+, etc.

Hope this helps!

[Falling Down]

Great first post and a good attititude..

Get yerself up to the County or down to Yorkshire ASAP before you get to used to climbing indoors.  I'd be very surprised if you can't find someone to climb with at the wall or on one the internet climbing websites.

[Slide]

Be a little careful of long sessions if you are doing a lot.  No disrepect to Don but a four hour session is too long if you're 'training' properly.  granted if you're taking lots of breaks and chatting.

For example:

training at the foundry i last no longer than two hours and i'm spanked cos i tend to get down to business and the majority of probs are power/strenght

training!? at the Works,up to the three hour mark but in reality i'm chatting, wandering, chatting, drinking tea doing a lot of tech probs etc

The main thing is you should know when you're done and stop before you injure yourself.

[Don Jebus]

Yeah, sorry, should have pointed that out, i do quite a bit of sitting around but tend to get more done over a longer period. If i'm on my own don't normally last more than 2 1/2 hours. The thing is i tried not to make indoor session to much like structured training to begin with as it's supposed to fun, that's why you do it when you start. Skin loss used to be a limiting factor too...  blood everywhere 

[Nibile]

i suggest, with others, to climb outdoor as much as you can.
indoors, as boring as it could be, at first i suggest to do loads of circuits or problem on vertical ground, with slopey, not incut hand holds and little, poor footholds to improve your balance and technique.
on the big overhangs, if the problems are "tracking" (feet follow hands) the foot positioning can always be very casual and not precise, esp. if you climb on easier stuff with big hand holds. avoid it. it's better to train power in isolation, you don't want to climb on overhangs cutting loose, with bad technique just because it's cool. you have to be patient, the day will come when you will need NOT to cut loose to send your project, so you have to start preparing yourself for the bigger goals you will soon be setting.

i hope this helps, it's just what i should have done when i started, instead of mounting a fingerboard and living on it for seven years.
good luck, i'm sure you'll do good, judging by your sensible posts.
 

[tommytwotone]

Good advice from Slide about taking it easy if you're indoors - learn the difference between warmed up (i.e. forearms tight but they'll go down if you give them a bit) and flash pumped (i.e. forearms solid, feel weak as a kitten next time you pull on). If you can manage the ebb and flow of your energy over a session you'll get a lot more out of it.

I'd echo everyone else's sentiments about getting out there asap - being a strong armed beast is one thing, but footwork and "feel" will (arguably) get you a lot further than grunt alone. At least I hope so...

[Zods Beard]

Good advice here, just get out as much as possible, you don't sound strong enough to train yet. I've been climbing for 3 years and only just started doing campus boarding and the like. Even so I'm still fucked after half an hour! If you over train as well you'll be too tired when you go out, a problem I often have.

[philo]

i trained at the berg and still do. it has produced some top class climbers who still use it.
its only worth the money for the wave wall now tho. there are some hard problems on there but are all made up etc.
all in all eldon lesuire is a let down to the wall, they never clean the holds or move them.
get in with some of us there, talk to people we are all open!
when do you normally train?
and its a decent wall to learn on imho all be it a little hard

drop me a message and get outside we normally head up to northumberland a few times a week and try get to yorkshireee as much as we can

[geedee]

Philo: I'm normally there Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays but I'm going to switch it next week to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — I'm away with work at the beginning of the week so it won't be until Wednesday I get to the wall.

It would be good to get out, although impossible during the week due to work — maybe I need to wear some sort of pink carnation so you can spot me at the Berg!?

[philo]

ill be the one with a fluorescent yellow vest.
or you could say what time etc? tues is bad as you get all the students in
monday you get the NMC vets
ill see if i can get in on wed or friday!

[Jovial Geordie]

I can recommend the Durham Climbing Centre, which is just for bouldering. It's only a quick train and bus from Newcastle and makes a nice change.

Also, if you wish to get outdoors and can drive, try Summerhill at Hartlepool. Its like Whickam but with more boulders and chavs.