[as646]

I'm just curious; if you climb 8A, how long did it take you to get to that point?

Is it a reasonable goal to set to go from 6C to 8A in 2 years?

[a dense loner]

I don't know are you a fat bastard? If so this will take longer than if you're a skinny fuck

[tomtom]

I'm a skinny fuck and it took me 3 years to get from 7A to 7B+...

[as646]

Certainly not a fat bastard, but I'm not exactly light at ~82 kg.

[a dense loner]

I assume you've asked the question cos you're relatively new to climbing. 82kg is heavy for a climber, whether you're in proportion or not. There's no getting away from weight whatever other people say. You'll prob be loads better on burly open handed probs, as a general rule than vertical crimpy horror shows. Depending on where you live and what type of training climbing you're doing will dictate your style preferences more often than not. Then you get into the can of worms over what is actually an 8a, which out of a survey of 4 one will always disagree

[finbarrr]

i'd say age is the most important factor (after genetics).
if your 15, you have a shot.
if your 30 and try to progress like that, the odds are you'll injure yourself

[a dense loner]

Motivation is key, he is are you?

Still as true today as when we first crawled out of swamps

[moose]

Also depends on whether the 6c start grade is a true reflection of your inherent ability.  I got into routes 2 years ago and went from 7a/+ to 8a(ish) over 2 seasons of sessions at Malham and Kilnsey (to 7b+/7c over the first season).  I'm in my mid-30's and never train or even climb midweek - just weekends.  But the start grade was possibly somewhat artificially low - before then my route climbing had been limited 3 weeks a year of trying to on-sight stuff in Spain and the odd indoor session when rained off a trad weekend.  But, since I could boulder F7b+ with a predilection for long crimpy traverses, taking to RPing routes wasn't entirely unforeseen.  I suspect a lot of my "improvement" has been mental and strategic rather then physical: learning how much further I can climb when feeling boxed, trying to get used to falling (still terrible at that), RP tactics (it's remarkable how much energy I used to waste trying to equip and strip routes).  I'm not sure if I'm physically much better (my on-sight grade has only shifted up a grade or so). 

So whilst, 6c to 8a might be a stretch, I reckon if you're young, dedicated, and can already boulder pretty well (or get into bouldering to build a good base of power) you could rocket through the grades.  You can go a long way just by shedding incompetent habits... and there's no harm in trying.

[Bonjoy]

Bouldering grades hadn't reach the UK when I started climbing. Plus I spent years doing routes and/or pissing about not doing much. Your question kind of assumes a new climber sets progression to their maximum bouldering grade as a goal from day one. Maybe that's what kid do these days. No wonder so many seem chained to a finger board.

[abarro81]

To the OP: 6 1/2 years from starting climbing, or 8 if you don't count traverses. But then it was probably 2 1/2 years after starting that I did my first 6C (not that I did any bouldering, it would have been as part of a route), and whilst I started bouldering a lot after about 3 1/2 years climbing (when I moved to Sheffield) it's never been my focus for improvement so much as routes.

As an aside, I've met numerous people who've got very taken by a goal of climbing grade x (usually 8a route or 8A boulder) within y years of starting climbing, and whether they've achieved it or not I don't recall seeing any of them still climbing and being psyched years down the line.

[Doylo]

Power endurance 8A's are more achievable cos a: you don't need to be anywhere near as strong b:you can break them down and grind them out. But some people will say it's not proper bouldering....

Took me 3/4 years from starting bouldering seriously

[as646]

Some interesting food for thought.

I've been climbing just over a year, so I suppose I'm still fairly new and bright eyed. I don't really have the intention of grade chasing, I know this is a very one dimensional and shallow way of measuring progress and approaching climbing. I come from a background of competitive sport, so even though I love climbing for the sake of climbing, I find it quite difficult to escape from that mentality.

One of the guys I climb with used to be sponsored before he took a "hiatus", and what he has said mirrors what is being said in this thread, that becoming so obsessed with climbing better, stronger, harder completely sapped his motivation and he got to the point where he just became disinterested in it.

That said, adding a bit of structure to my climbing can't hurt, and I've always found goals actually motivate myself. Perhaps I just need to set a more realistic short-term goal

[tomtom]

Nothing wrong with working your way up through the grades.. But I'm not sure setting a timescale for it works.. Progression is rarely linear (from person to person - and by one person).

[Nibile]

It's not a matter of time, it's a matter of dedication.
If you want to tick 8a you can (easily) do it by dedicating all your time to just one problem that suits you. Other thing is if you want to be somehow consistent at the grade.

[Oldmanmatt]

I went from projecting 8A (last one Biceps Power at Can Boquet) in 2010 to failing to onsight an indoor, 10m, 6c, this Friday last. And all it took was not finding the time to train, training too hard (when time was found) resulting in injury, not climbing outdoors and going from 74kg to 84.7kg.

So...

3 years is enough to make a 4 grade difference to your climbing.

Perhaps if you tried the exact opposite of my gruelling regime, you may have a shot...

[peewee]

Took roughly around 3/4 year's for me. Starting off just climbing loads at the wall and outside for the first 2 years then started training more on a board and that brought the biggest gains. I started at 18 and I am now 24 and have always weighed rougly 58kg so that could be classed as cheating . 

[bendavison]

Why do you want to try and put a timescale on it? 8A isn't the be all and end all after all. Why not aim for 8C? Think long term and you're likely to reach the higher grades and be consistent at those grades. Basically, what Nibile said and then some. I wouldn't worry about specific training to try and force grade improvement just yet either. You won't be failing because you're piss weak even if you are piss weak. Just go and climb as much as possible at different walls/crags and try fucking hard and you'll improve faster. The amount of time it takes you will also be influenced hugely by previous sport/training experience too.

So to answer the question: yes, 6C - 8A is possible in two years, by all means go for it, I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to push yourself. But don't get hung up on the timescale, there's no shortcuts.

[Johnny Brown]

Amuses me that folk pass comment on your weight without knowing your height.

It took me about 18 years, but the only training I did (pullups) was to get from VS to E1 at about year 7.

[abarro81]

Nothing wrong with working your way up through the grades.. But I'm not sure setting a timescale for it works..

This is what I was getting at. I love trying to improve and grade chasing, my anecdote was more about those who are very focused on a timescale. Good post from Ben too

[a dense loner]

Don't worry Johnny as soon as I posted about the weight I realised I hadn't mentioned height but couldn't be bothered mentioning it again since I couldn't think of a single person who weighs 82kgs who has climbed 8A, at that weight. Apart from willenburg, lamprecht but they're massive human beings. I'm sure there are others but very few and far between so for the general populous I refrained from adding.

[a dense loner]

And ignore Johnny McClure, going up and down a Bachar ladder 3 times a wk is training

[as646]

I'm 24 and about 1.85 m tall for what it's worth.

[a dense loner]

For what it's worth I'm English so have no idea what 1.85m means 

[tomtom]

I'm a Scorpio and like thrash metal and kittens.

[Kingy]

I did my first 8A aged 30 after having started climbing at 16 so I guess it took me 14 years. I largely ditched the trad at weekends when I was 23 (rightly or wrongly depending on your point of view) allowing more focus on sport climbing/ bouldering. I had 2 years off training in my mid twenties when I went back to college to change career/ retrain. When I resumed proper training aged 28, it took me 2.5 years to get to 8A.

If I had only bouldered I reckon I could have got to 8A a lot quicker but sport climbing and trad get in the way as they require different skillsets/ training methods. I personally reckon people who exclusively boulder are missing out on a lot as I find sport climbing more memorable and rewarding in the long term but that is a separate debate!