Will Hunt said:
petejh said:
Fiend your movement technique is already really good from what I’ve seen of you climb.
I find this a very interesting statement. When I have climbed with Fiend or watched him climb on videos, I've sometimes caught myself thinking "huh. This is guy who wobbles up death choss for a laugh?"
Sometimes the Fiend is wont to cut loose for no reason. This happened at Witches, I think, and it was also his preferred sequence for swinging his left leg over and up to a high rockover at the end of the hard climbing on Metal Guru (hint: there's ample footholds to step the feet through nicely and do it static which helps if you're tired at that point - which you probably will be on redpoint). It's a really nice, flamboyant thing to watch but it must be crap for performance.
At the risk of embarrassing Fiend..
I think what you've pointed out is exactly why he has good technique. I.e. A climber who is able to recognise that a 'flamboyant cut loose and swing up' is a perfectly fine way to do a sequence while also being very good at shuffling upwards on tottering death choss ledges is undoubtedly someone who has a good repertoire of climbing technique. Compare to someone focussed mostly on bouldering or sport climbing who's got strong arms/fingers and is great on crimps or compression. Put them on tottering death choss and watch them turn into the world's shittest climber.
I've watched Fiend do bouncy dynamic high-step techniquey stuff on a technical groove proj I bolted in a granite quarry. Seems like a style he's well suited to - that kind of Dawes-esque quick hobbit-movement. Yet he's also decent at climbing slowly and carefully on collapsing ledges which demands balanced application of load and slow methodical progression.
This is a person who just needs some confidence in his forearm fitness!