[Muenchener]

My mate has gone and booked an apartment in Arco for Easter. I don't get outside much these days, due to family and my local crags being the Alps where the weather tends to be crap on the rare weekends when I can get babysitters, so this is a rare chance for a biggish trip for me. The focus is going to be more "family holiday in a climbing venue" than "hard projecting all day every day"; nevertheless I see a chance to get some worthwhile things done.

Question is, what would be a realisitic aspiration for Easter, starting from now, given the lowly level I am currently at, and what should I do to make it realistic? I have in the distant past onsighted 6b fairly regularly and 6c a handful of times. I always used to focus on trad & onsighting and have never systematically redpointed anything (I did once do all the moves on Consenting Adults in an afternoon, but never bothered to go back to put it together). At the moment I've just about made my way back to 6a onsight, having started climbing again in the spring after a very long layoff.

At this level, I'm pretty sure that mileage is a lot more important than (e.g.) campusing. But do I need to put any sort of structure/periodisation in at all? Should I just carry on with a couple of sessions a week at a leading wall interspersed with the odd bouldering session? Or should I go all scientific and actually start planning to have cycles & phases & all that jazz?

[erm, sam]

Depends what mood you are in. If you fancy the increased effort of doing some periodisation/focused training then give it a go. If in reality that might be too hard to manage what with real life etc, just tailor your wall sessions to be more useful.
Mark McGowan went from 6a to 8a in 180 days, so in theory anything is possible, it just depends how much time effort and focus you want to put in.

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,15228.0.html

[Muenchener]

One more thing ...

Is virulent-coloured lycra still required for Easter euro sport climbing trips, or was that particular climbing byelaw repealed while I was away?

[shark]

One more thing ...

Is virulent-coloured lycra still required for Easter euro sport climbing trips, or was that particular climbing byelaw repealed while I was away?

Its now enshrined in European Community Law though codpiece is still at the draft stage. If you see any Italians at Massone flouting the law ask them "No Skuche ala Gats?" - they'll get the point.

[duncan]

what would be a realisitic aspiration for Easter, starting from now, given the lowly level I am currently at, and what should I do to make it realistic? I have in the distant past onsighted 6b fairly regularly and 6c a handful of times

In my experience (more come-backs than John Travola) getting back to your previous level is possible with reasonable dedication - in my case non-specific climbing 2-3 times a week.  I've never managed to get stronger than in my youth, though I am trying again this winter and attempting to be a bit more systematic about it.  The inspirational Mark McGowan has managed to get back to his old standard impressively quickly, it will be interesting to see if he can get stronger still. 

One more thing ...

Is virulent-coloured lycra still required for Easter euro sport climbing trips, or was that particular climbing byelaw repealed while I was away?

I bow to Nibs' greater authority but fluro is making a come-back if the Italians in Yosemite this year were anything to go by. This is the look you should be aiming for.

[Muenchener]

This is the look you should be aiming for.

Drifting a little  , perhaps, but ... damn. I just bought new climbing "pants" from Verve. They were available in grey, orange or virulent green. I chose grey, er, "gray".

[Nibile]

I'll try to scan a few old school pics.
two words:
- lycra
- yellow

[Muenchener]

Critique/pimp my training plan please:

I've been studying: Self-Coached Climber & Udo Neumann's Lizenz zum Klettern (German-only updated edition of Performance Rock Climbing). I'm currently onsighting around 6a, mostly on plastic but also a couple outdoors as a reality check. Challenging but realistic goal: I've heard Arco has tough grades and easier routes are v. polished, so I'll aim for 6b onsight at Easter.

Since I have a specific goal/timeframe to build up to, and don't expect to be getting outdoors much between now and then, a proper periodisation cycle seems like a good idea.

Until Christmas I will continue doing what I'm going now: random climbing wall sessions, two to four times a week. I have one regular evening with wth a group from the Alpenverein where I mostly try onsights at or slightly above my current limit; other sessions are more routes, or bouldering, depending on availability of partners & time.

Christmas/New Year I will take a couple of weeks off - one week visiting family in England.

Then it's fourteen weeks to Arco. I intend to continue with my one session a week at the wall doing hard (for me) routes, but periodise my other sessions as follows:

(1) January: three weeks: mileage base. Lots of easy routes / easy traversing & circuits if bouldering. I did this in August as rehab from a ring pulley injury, and it seems to have been beneficial.

(2) February: four weeks: hard bouldering.

(3) March (first week is half term, family ski/snowboard week. Active rest. Then ...): three to four weeks: power endurance. Redpoints / projects, 4x4s, harder traverses/circuits.

(4) April: two weeks: route fitness. Onsighting at my limit. Try to get a weekend or two in Frankenjura, weather permitting, in an  attempt to convert plastic fitness to rock to some degree.

(5) Easter: Arco: crushing.

Are (1) to (4) likely to lead to (5) if pursued diligently? Do I need the mileage weeks in January, or should I just go straight into a Winter Bouldering Campaign?

And: what are the best single pitch 6's at Arco? I'm willing to drive to outlying areas if necessary to avoid the full Stoney Middleton / ice rink experience.

[erm, sam]

I don't really have any useful criticism except to point out that you have a plan, which is a bit more than I have. I maybe going to Arco around easter, but when I came to think about a training plan I looked at how far away it was and thought "oh, thats ages" and promptly thought no more about it.
Get stuck in I say.

One thing: If you are going to the wall 2-4 times a week between now and christmas, why not make that your 'milage base' phase and spend a bit longer phasing into/doing the hard bouldering/PE bit, rather than not starting doing anything hard until Feb?

[Muenchener]

One thing: If you are going to the wall 2-4 times a week between now and christmas, why not make that your 'milage base' phase and spend a bit longer phasing into/doing the hard bouldering/PE bit, rather than not starting doing anything hard until Feb?

Thanks. I was already toying with the same thought.