[slackline]

From Will Bosi on 8a.nu:

"...This was the first route I've ever spent more than 2 days on so I really got a feel for the projecting side of climbing but I'm not sure I'm convinced."

Not sure what he means by his last point

That he's unsure if he enjoys red-pointing routes....

I do enjoy doing stuff quite quickly to be honest, each time I made progress on the route I enjoyed it, but falling off on the same move over and over again wasn’t much fun!

[Footwork]

From Will Bosi on 8a.nu:

This was the first route I've ever spent more than 2 days on so I really got a feel for the projecting side of climbing but I'm not sure I'm convinced."

Not sure what he means by his last point

Yeah I've never understood this. It's like they don't know what a 'proper' siege is. Didn't it take Steve 60+ days?

Surely if he's going to test his capabilities to their absolute limit he's going to have to learn prolonged failure and how to deal with it. He's young though, so probably best he enjoys himself more than anything. 

[slackline]

Surely if he's going to test his capabilities to their absolute limit he's going to have to learn prolonged failure and how to deal with it.

Not everyone wants to test their absolute limit though. 

[Doylo]

He won't climb 9b if he doesn't like seiging. Climbings not meant to be fun you know..

[Will Hunt]

I'm with Slackline. He might not want to endure the misery of the long siege (yet). If he can piss his way up 9a imagine how much amazing climbing is open to him. If I was 17 and had my whole life ahead of me, I'd leave skulking around the Catwalk looking sad in between bouts of hanging on bolts until later and go and climb some incredible routes.

[Sasquatch]

He won't climb 9b if he doesn't like seiging. Climbings not meant to be fun you know..

yeah,  that's how ondra got there 

[Doylo]

He won't climb 9b if he doesn't like seiging. Climbings not meant to be fun you know..

yeah,  that's how ondra got there 

Seem to remember Golpe de Estado being a epic in that Wizard film. If you're 17 and can climb 9a without a total epic you might aswell have a nice time for a few years. Trying stuff that's a bit too hard for you can end up being 

[Stu Littlefair]

Whilst he's young I'd recommend not getting involved in epic sieges. There's so much to be done, and he can start to siege stuff when he's in his thirties and has ticked everything else.


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[mr chaz]

I live for the seige. Couldn't imagine anything worse than fantasising over a dream route, over and over, then finally getting to try it... and then just fucking flash it!? Nah,  no thanks

[36chambers]

I live for the seige. Couldn't imagine anything worse than fantasising over a dream route, over and over, then finally getting to try it... and then just fucking flash it!? Nah,  no thanks

+1

Doing stuff quickly is satisfying for about 5 minutes. However, the satisfaction of a successful seige lasts for hours.

[Coops_13]

I live for the seige. Couldn't imagine anything worse than fantasising over a dream route, over and over, then finally getting to try it... and then just fucking flash it!? Nah,  no thanks

+1

Doing stuff quickly is satisfying for about 5 minutes. However, the satisfaction of a successful seige lasts for hours.

Surely a middle balance is best. Not too quick so it's over before you know it but not too long that it pisses you off?

[Mike Tyson]

I spent 3 years trying Picnic Sarcastic at the Bowderstone. 3 very long years! And when I finally did it, using the heel hook beta and a good spot from those friendly Beastmaker lads, I was elated. But then felt lost, as I no longer had to try it repeatedly on every visit to the Stone. I hardly climbed at all for about 2/3 years afterwards. The joy of success was outweighed by the realisation of knowing I'd finally done it. I can not recommend taking a sabbatical that is roughly the same length of time as your siege. I regret that.

[Will Hunt]

I live for the seige. Couldn't imagine anything worse than fantasising over a dream route, over and over, then finally getting to try it... and then just fucking flash it!? Nah,  no thanks

+1

Doing stuff quickly is satisfying for about 5 minutes. However, the satisfaction of a successful seige lasts for hours.

Do you even siege, bro? How many problems have you put double digits of sessions into?

Disclaimer: I don't siege.

[Andy F V2.0]

I live for the seige. Couldn't imagine anything worse than fantasising over a dream route, over and over, then finally getting to try it... and then just fucking flash it!? Nah,  no thanks

+1

Doing stuff quickly is satisfying for about 5 minutes. However, the satisfaction of a successful seige lasts for hours.

Do you even siege, bro? How many problems have you put double digits of sessions into?

Double digits? Fucking lightweight. Triple digits are where the real action lies.

[moose]

Long sieges are fun for the period spent working the route - finding out new tricks, feeling like you've made incremental progress after most sessions. 

The horror only starts when you are RPing in earnest - session after session where the best result is falling off the same RP crux, but generally earlier.  Arriving at the crag with the sure knowledge of imminent failure and likely going backwards.  And the reward for the "send"?  Around 30 seconds of utter joy.  And, next week? You are back doing exactly the same thing around 2 metres along the crag. 

I suspect that my most enjoyable days climbing are those spent on-sighting, or doing 2-3 try RPs - hard enough to be satisfying but without the regret of wasted effort.

That said... I bloody love it all really - even a day spent falling off the same moves as always can be a joy if the route is good enough.  You just have to chose your projects carefully - routes with an appeal beyond the grade - and not take the failure too seriously.... it's all "money in the bank".

On a related subject, just occurred to me that Ondra is so good that any route put up by another climber he must know he can very likely do.  Must be odd having an RPing experience so at odds with most other climbers - perpetual certainty of success from the outset.

[bendavison]

On a related subject, just occurred to me that Ondra is so good that any route put up by another climber he must know he can very likely do.  Must be odd having an RPing experience so at odds with most other climbers - perpetual certainty of success from the outset.

But I suspect this is not true. He has tried routes that are hard for him since he was 12 by the looks of it. He seems like a guy with phenomenal foresight though, so perhaps the only certainty he had was that if he didn't do it now/then, he would surely be good enough in years to come.

Maybe he hasn't sieged to the lengths of Steve Mc and several others on here, but few do.

Sorry to continue the off-topic strand in a thread which is usually good at staying on-topic.

Time for a split? - 'do you even siege, bro?'

[SA Chris]

Maybe he's saving things graded 8b-c that he has some good chance of flashing for days when he is feeling on form.

[Doylo]

Haha Moose has nailed it. There's redpointing and there's redpointing though. Day 1 - 10, easy peasy, you're not even trying. Always a certainty. Day 10-20, mental stress starts to kick in but fun still to be had and you can take the positives. Day 20 - 30, any fun is starting to drain away now as it becomes a real war of attrition. Day 30 -50 , a form of madness, this is now a full on mental and physical battle. Day 50-100 -  Shark  . Of course the longer it takes the better it'll feel when you finally do it. Then if your route has a stopper move it can double the anguish.  I fell off the same move probably 70 times last year.

[SA Chris]

I find if it takes too long it doesn't feel good though. When I finally send after a prolonged siege all I feel is relief.

[moose]

Of course the longer it takes the better it'll feel when you finally do it. Then if your route has a stopper move it can double the anguish.  I fell off the same move probably 70 times last year.

Not my own experience.... maybe burbling happiness for the rest of that day at best. 

Often though, the longer it takes the more profound the anti-climax.  Like when I did my finals at Uni - no real joy.  More, mild relief and a sense of "so... that's that...." with some trepidation about what to do next. 

Mind you, I do doubt / mistrust myself, perhaps excessively.  I get tortured by the feeling that my next project will somehow be "wrong" and mentally destroy me.  I won't be able to give-up before its too late due to the amount of effort invested already.  Coming soon, from a self-help bookshop near you "The Rock Worrier's Way"!

[36chambers]

I live for the siege. Couldn't imagine anything worse than fantasising over a dream route, over and over, then finally getting to try it... and then just fucking flash it!? Nah,  no thanks

+1

Doing stuff quickly is satisfying for about 5 minutes. However, the satisfaction of a successful siege lasts for hours.

Do you even siege, bro? How many problems have you put double digits of sessions into?

Disclaimer: I don't siege.

no. none.

I was actually just thinking about bouldering. The most I've spent on a route is 3 RP's across two days...

Bouldering-wise 7 or 8 visits, but most of that time was working the beta. Once the moves are done it's just a matter of getting on with it .

[Coops_13]

I think it all depends on your attention span. Mine is quite short and I was getting frustrated  and pissed off at Lapinere in Ceuse. Did it 4th or 5th RP. But maybe with sieging experience, comes sieging patience...


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[petejh]

Of course the longer it takes the better it'll feel when you finally do it.

I doubt this and worry that on clipping the chains of Oak as he surely must, Shark will be left staring into an almost unbearable black hole of emptiness that must follow a 10-year siege.

10 - 12 sessions seems a good target, after that strength/fitness ebbs and to me it makes sense to move onto something else and come back again later in the season when fitter/stronger.

[Fultonius]

I've always been an onsight / quick RP kind climber. I'm not how well I'd deal with a protracted siege. The closest I've been would be 7 sessions, maybe 3 figuring out the moves and then 4 redpoint sessions.

I suppose I've had longer boulder "sieges" but it doesn't really count when it's your local crag and you just go down to try stuff - it's not like was single-mindedly focussing on a particular problem.

[Wood FT]

I had 13 sessions on a route last year, in retrospect I really enjoyed it though the 12th was annoying as it felt like the right time. I look forward to the next one, probably 3 routes to the right on the same wall, such is life