Month: December 2008

When most people start up climbing indoors they want to get better, not for any formal competitive reason, although competing amongst peers is one of the drives to self improvement that from time to time we all ‘suffer’ from. Seeing more experienced climbers scaling harder routes allow us to see what is possible and can lead us to wish to emulate their successes.

Whatever the reason the chance to personally challenge yourself at any level means that in order to improve you will need to do some form of training. Whether this is laying out a personal training schedule, just trying to improve week by week or working on technique, it doesn’t matter. What you will benefit from is learning a little about the ways in which we can improve, the basic principles of training and movement techniques.

This article looks at the basic’s, as well as how to structure your indoor session to get the most out your climbing. After all in is not cheap to go climbing indoors, with some walls charging nearly £10 per session.

Basic Theories

When we climb we call upon three basic energy systems, there are other types and sub-types of energy system, but for now just consider the three.

Phosphagen System – The initial energy system, that can work at high or low levels, it only last around 10 seconds.
Anaerobic – This system kicks in at a high level of intensity when you start to get pumped, it can start working at around 8 seconds, complimenting the phosphagen system, but can only last around 2 minutes. The muscles are working so hard they start to shut down the blood vessels that supply the muscles with oxygen, the bi-product of the lack of oxygen is Lactic acid. It is the build up of lactic acid that brings failure.
Aerobic – This is at a low intensity, when you don’t feel yourself getting pumped. It takes a minute to get started but can keep going at a low intensity for hours. You can perform up to about 60% of your maximum effort aerobically, before you reach your OBLA (onset of blood lactate accumulation) level, which means you are starting to use some anaerobic respiration, and will start to feel pumped.

Whilst it is possible to train the body to adapt to either, essentially getting physically stronger will help raise the level and intensity that you can climb at across the board.

Overload?

Overload is a technical term that you will need to apply to any training to make improvements. Simply going to the wall once a week and doing the same routes won’t necessarily make for the best improvement. You have to apply and overloading factor to you routine which can be either.

Frequency – Number of times a week you train.
Intensity – The amount of climbing you do in a given time.
Difficulty – The grade at which you train at.
Duration – The length of time you train for.
Quantity – The overall number of routes you do in a session.

How you choose to add overload really depends on the type of fitness you are looking for. Aerobic training would benefit from frequency, duration, intensity and Quantity, but not difficultly. The reason being that if you increase difficulty you will start to work in your anaerobic levels, but training for improvement in aerobic levels you need to work within a threshold where you don’t start to feel pumped. This in effect promotes blood flow through the muscles and help dilate and strengthen capillaries.

Whereas strength would benefit from overloads in frequency, intensity and difficulty. As we are trying to make our muscles work as hard as possible and in effect tear the muscle fibres, so they can repair themselves stronger and large than before. This process only takes place during a period of recovery, and when training strength the recovery period might well be over 48 hours.

Rest/Recovery

Many people climb numerous times a week, however your muscle don’t develop until after you have finished training. Essentially training breaks down and often tears muscle fibres, it is only during the periods of rest that the body rebuilds them stronger. So at first allow at least 2 days between training sessions. If you don’t allow a long enough rest then your body can’t repair the damage, so you won’t benefit from training. Instead there is a potential to actually grow weaker.

The same is also true if you over rest, in a way your best bet is to start to listen to your body. After a heavy bouldering session your body might be sore for a couple of days. Whereas after a low intensity aerobic session you might feel better after just a day.

Warming Up

Something of a swear word among many climbers, as many experienced climbers still choose not to warm up, instead jump straight onto a hard route, thinking that they will be too tired after a warm up. This misconception is so wrong that it needs a little explaining.

A warm up serves to ready the body and the mind for exercise, and something as intense as climbing requires a thorough warm as possible. A warm up is the lowest intensity of exercises, that helps raise you heart and breathing rate, dilating the blood vessel in the muscles and lubricating the joints and tendons. It is the most import part of any session, a warm that includes some form of technique drill will not only warm up the body but the mind as well.

Where as jumping straight on a hard route will result in a climber become pumped extremely quickly because the blood vessels haven’t had the chance to dilated, reducing the oxygen supply to the muscles meaning you will become pumped quicker. It is often hard to recover once you have suffered from this flash pump, meaning the whole session will be ruined.

As such when starting out indoors, you need to go on the the easiest of routes, and concentrate on climbing them as technically as possible, use the exercises from the last article like climbing sideways, climbing silently, one handed climbing, handless climbing and climbing slowly. This should typically last for at least 15 minutes, and you should not feel pumped at all, just a little warm and glowing and you should feel the body loosening up. You can extend the warm up for longer, working on very easy routes, after all the more easy climbing you do the longer the session will last, and the better value for money you will get.

Preferably start the warm up on slabs and don’t be tempted to move quickly to steeper terrain, often it is better to just repeat slabbier routes rather than move onto steep juggy terrain. During my warm up sessions I tend to do a reasonable amount of time on slabs that are so easy I can do some one handed and handless traversing. This helps me concentrate on find positions of balance, being precise with my feet and start to turn my brain to climbing mode.

If you warm up on routes consider going up and down an easy route 2 or three times before you switch over with your belayer.

During the latter parts of the warm up you want to start thinking about doing some stretching. Whilst this goes some way to help prevent injury, the main reason is to help us maintain and develop flexibility.

Stretching

The maxim I always use is warm up to then stretch, don’t stretch to warm up. Meaning that we don’t stretch when our bodies are cold, we do it after we have warmed up. If you want to work on flexibility at home you can warm up passively by having a hot bath and turning the heating up during the stretch exercises.

When at the wall you can add some stretches towards the end of your warm up, by performing some arm, finger, thumb, lower limb and shoulder stretches, in between routes.

The important thing to remember with stretches is that you need to hold them for at least 10 seconds statically, so don’t bounce up and down into them. Try not to force the stretch.

Sequencing training

In order to reap the best rewards you need to sequence the types of training you do, and spend at least a month doing each. Sport scientists recommend Strength – Anaerobic Endurance – Aerobic Endurance as the best way to sequence your training for overall improvement. However the majority of climbers just aren’t interested in that level of training commitment.

Training Specifics

Strength Training

Whether you choose to use a weight training regime where you can train general strength as well as work on the muscles specific to climbing; circuit training which will work on your more general strength; or climbing to develop the very specific strength there are a few key points that you need to take on board.

In a gym you will hear people talk about there 1RM or the maximum weight they can achieve one repetition of in a giving exercise. From this people work out there theoretical 3RM or maximum weight they can achieve three repetitions at.

If 1RM is 100% then 3RM is about 95% and 6RM 85%. Using low reps (3 to 6RM)and working to absolute failure will give maximum strength gains. When working this intensively the body rapidly depletes its energy supply and you will only be able to continue working out for up to 30 minutes. Some research has shown that if you work each muscle group once to the point that after the number of reps set out to achieve you physically can’t move the weight then this leads to the most effective strength gains, meaning that there is no need to rest and repeat the exercise. You ideally need to allow 3 to 5 minutes rest between exercises.

If you move that theory across to bouldering, perhaps the best way to make gains in specific climbing strength as well as hone your technique, then we are talking about doing 30 minutes of climbing at the absolute top end of your ability. Don’t forget to rest for 3 to 5 minutes between each problem. Whilst this may seem like a waste of money, to only go to a climbing wall for 30 minutes, you are of course forgetting that a very low intensity warm up on routes is a must for such activities. Followed by 30 minutes of intensive bouldering then another 30 minutes low intensity warm down and stretch.

Having worked in a climbing wall for several years I found it very difficult to spend to much of my spare time returning to train, but only going for a 15 minute warm up followed by a 20 minute boulder was more than enough for me to become reasonable strong. By the end of the sessions I would feel still feel OK, but that I was on the downward slope of my strength. I would never train to when I became too tired, as this is often when injuries happen.

Isolate different climbing strengths, by working the fingers on less steep terrain, on small hand holds, if a problem is too hard try using bigger footholds, but remember as you get stronger to make the foot holds smaller.

Work you arms and shoulder by moving onto steeper walls with bigger holds, concentrate on making every move as statically as possible, working the muscles slowly and not using any power to overcome any reach.

Bouldering for technique

Unlike strength where you are trying for an short intensive burn, bouldering can also be enjoyed at a much less intense level. Instead of trying to use the upper body as much as possible, you try and use it as little as possible, instead using footwork, body position and balance to reduce the need to pull hard.

In virtually ever bouldering wall in every country there is going to be someone more than willing to give some free advice on matters of the best way to climb a problem. The trick is to avoid taking this advice for granted instead trying a problem in a variety of different ways, and asking yourself which way felt the easiest for YOU and perhaps why?

It is this feedback that will help you to become a better climber through listening to your body. Whilst it is tempting to boulder on steep walls, when working technique consider that we learn skills like movement through repetition of that movement, in fact it takes around 100 repetitions to lay down muscle memory of any one movement. So slabs and vertical walls, will at first be not only more appropriate for the general angle of routes you aspire to but be at a level that allows repetition.

There is one over riding rule to technique training and that is practice does not make perfect, practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice will make perfect.

Often we never actually see ourselves climb, so we have no benchmark of how we actually climb. Try taking you digital camera to the wall and videoing you and your friends on boulder problems. Review your performance after you have climbed the problem, and see how you compare to others who climb that problem. Look for keys to better performance like which way your upper body is facing during the crux and what foot and handholds you are using. Don’t try and over analyse the video, instead pick one move and try to make that once section better, video yourself again, and then repeat the process. If you try to work on more than one point you may overload you brain and end up climbing worse.

Anaerobic Training

Anaerobic ability is the ability of the muscle to continue exercise after they have effectively shut of the supply of oxygen to them because they are working so hard they squeeze shut the cappillaries that bring the oxygen. This is something which we call upon whenever we are trying to push ourselves on the hardest of routes we can manage. We rapidly become ‘pumped’, which is when the lactic acid in our muscles builds up to such level that in brings about total failure.

The lactic acid is a bi-product of our muscles working without a sufficient oxygen supply. As soon as this starts to happen unless we get a good rest, the clock is ticking. Failure will come about in a matter of minutes, due to the gradual accumulation of the lactic acid in the muscles.

You can train you muscle to operate better in this lactate overload, by training at a level that promotes it. Usually this is done on routes, that are near you maximum level and after a short rest or interval repeating the route a few times.

So if you have lead a F6b at the wall as you best effort, then train on climb a F6a, with sustain climbing rather than one with a distinct crux, and however long it takes to climb give yourself twice that time as a rest period. Then climb the route again and rest again, you are trying to make it to 6 internals, if you can’t then lower the grade.

To apply overload start to reduce the interval or increase the grade of route.

In real terms this type of training will only give you a few extra moves before you fail. Mainly because although you can increase your ability to keep climbing through the ‘pump’, you can’t cheat nature and lactic acid will always win.

You are far better improving strength and aerobic ability, in effect raising the level where the pump sets in.

Aerobic Training

To train aerobically, you must be working within a level that you can sustain aerobically, so in climbing this is a level where you won’t feel ‘pumped’. If you start feeling pumped stop and drop the grade and angle of the climb.

Essentially, specific training for aerobic climbing is only a little more intense than what you warm up at. So by extending the warm up to include more easy routes, up to where you feel the pump and then drop the grade and or angle to the minimum and start up through the grades again. This low intensity climbing is another good place to practice technique, trying to get you legs to do all the work. Typically you need to keep this level of exercise going for about 1 hour, including the warm, after this level of exercise it is a great time to do some stretching to help your flexibility.

Climbing easy routes for an hour can be tedious, so instead of just climbing routes try and use the time for technique again and have a list of exercises, and climb up and down a route in the style suggested.

Face the upper body right.
Face the upper body left.
Face the upper body left and right, pivoting around as you change the direction you are facing.
Climb Silently – really concentrating on no foot noise.
Climb Slowly.
Climb as fast as possible.
Climb aggressively.
Climb as fluidly as possible.
Climb with your hands staying below your shoulders.
Climb and find as many hands off rest as possible.

Effectively, this aerobic training is helping to encourage capillary growth in the muscles, by widening, reinforce and promoting new pathways. It also helps to improve the efficiency of the heart and lungs to transport oxygenated blood around the body.

You can help your heart and lungs out by doing other aerobic activities like swimming, cycling, running or aerobics. Whilst this won’t help the specific muscles of climbing it will help strengthen the heart, and increase the amount of oxygen that you blood can supply to the muscles along with how efficiently the lungs can remove the carbon dioxide and replace it with oxygen. Again general aerobic workouts need to last for at least 1 hour.

Courses

There are very few courses that offer training, to qualify as a Mountaineering Instructor you only have to climb VS, although many climb a lot harder. A qualified instructor who climbs in the higher echelons of the graded will have a wealth of personal experience and the ability to communicate it, as well as the ability to train key safety points.

Finding a coach or trainer can be very hit and miss, as anyone can set up in business as a climbing coach or trainer, as such it is often personal recommendation that work best. Although people like Neil Gresham, Adrian Berry, Steve McClure, Katherine Schumacher, Dave MacCloud or other top climbers who have not only reached their highest potential through training, but also offered ‘coaching and training’ for several years. These coaches often have the edge over ‘instructors’ when it comes to the sports science rather than the training of technique and safety. You should expect to pay up to £40 per hour.

For the majority of people who start out climbing increasingly do so through the indoor route. The safe and easily accessible nature of indoor climbing means that many people start out using a climbing wall as an alternative to a Gym, and before long find themselves hooked on the sport and wanting to take it further.

This is the first of a series of articles that will appear here that will show you how to progress from indoors climbing through to climbing outside on real rock. It will look at the different equipment, skills and even courses that are on offer to help you get the most out of your climbing, whilst at the same time help minimising the risk to you and those around you.

This first article is starting from the very basics and looks at the equipment and skills you will need to master in order to climb in the majority of indoor climbing wall independent of an instructor or friend. Most climbing walls requiring you to be able to put on your harness correctly, tie into that harness and belay someone up a top rope and safely return them to the ground. There are a few more basic pieces of kit you’ll need, as well as some skills but they will all be covered below.

Equipment

For indoor climbing most walls can hire out the equipment, eventually you are going to need your own harness, rock boots, chalk bag, HMS carabiner and belay plate. There are so many of these items on the market, the most taxing decision is which is best for you. Here we look at some of the pro’s and con’s and help you become a more discerning shopper.

Harnesses

So many companies make so many types of harnesses the choice can be a little bewildering. If you buy a harness from an outdoor shop they will all be UIAA and EU rated to the appropriate safety standard. As such any harness you buy will do the job you require. However a little forward thinking means that the harness you buy now will help serve you for a few years to come, depending on wear and tear.

When and if you make the transition to the outdoors, you will need 4 or more gear loops on your harness, as well as adjustable leg loops, not only to help cope with those seasonal weight increases but the thicker clothing you might wear outdoors.

Harnesses do come in different sizes, many of which overlap, so unless you feel like your about to turn into a anorexic then it is better to have a harness that will allow some ‘growth’. Always try a harness on before you buy them, not just the waist loop but leg loops as well. Check they all fit, are comfortable to move around in and most shops will have a hanging loop, so you can feel how the harness feels when you are hanging in it.

Some manufactures make male and female harnesses that cater for the different proportions of either sex. Metolius even make a Safetech harness where every single point you could possibly clip into is rated to 10kN. Most climbers rely on common sense not belay off there gear loop that is only design to hold 5 kg’s, however it is a reasonably common error when starting out, something which I have seen in at indoor walls numerous times.

The final consideration with a harness is the type of buckle that is used to fasten them. Essentially there are two types the first A) requires the buckle to be double backed by the climber. B) When tighten the buckle locks of automatically.

Rock Boots

If there are a lot of harness to choose from then there is even more rock boots. The number of manufacturers is vast, all producing a variety of boots, that have a variety of specialisation’s within climbing, as well as the ‘Lasts’ or foot shapes that they are built around.

In an ideal world you will be able to go into a shop and say that you are looking for your first pair of rock boots, and be recommended a few pairs to try on. Unfortunately not all outdoor stores are staffed with experienced climbers or for that matter stock a large range of rock boots. So your best bet is often to shop around and try on different models, makes and sizes until you feel you have a boot that fits your foot. Just because your mate uses a certain brands model doesn’t mean that your foot will fit that boot.

In terms of fit you need your rock boot to be snug, with your toes touching the end of the boots but not totally scrunched up so they are to painful to wear for more than five minutes. If the sales assistant tells you that you need to buy rock shoes two sizes too small, walk out, you’ll only end up buying a another pair down the line having crippled your feet for a few months.

Having gone through a variety of boots and decided on a pair, try walking around the shop for 10 minutes and see how your feet feel. Remember that sometimes you might be wearing your rock boots for a couple of hours, especially when you make the transition to climbing multi-pitched routes.

Chalk Bags

Whilst a simple item, there use is often far from ideal. It is a personal choice, but aim for a size of bag that easily allows access to your whole hand. Some climber choose to clip theirs via a carabiner to the back of there harness. Whilst this may seem a good way to carry the bag it is often too low to easily get your hands into.

Instead use a short length of cord around 1.5 metres will be adequate, by tying the bag round you waist it is held higher and more secure, and in the confines of a corner or chimney, it is often possible and far easier to pull the bag round the front for easier access.

Screwgate Carabiners

Climbing inside you will need at least one screwgate carabiner that to securely fasten a belay plate to. Again the choice is immense, all will be rated and stamped with a CE number (European safety standard) so in reality any will do. However the main use of the carabiner will be for use in conjunction with a belay plate so a HMS type will be preferable.

With this in mind the two main types of screwgate carabiners are, A) Micro HMS carabiner and B) Large HMS or Pear Shaped carabiner or C) D-Shaped carabiner. Whilst either would work with a belay plate the best to use is a HMS carabiner, as it helps the rope run more freely.

Belay Plates

Like all things climbing the range and variety is massive, and goes from the most basic and effective A) sprung stitch plate, more elaborate tubular belay devices like (B) DMM bug, (C) ATC or (D) Metolius BRD. Then of course there is the more complex auto-locking device like the (E) petzl Gri-Gri.

All can do the job you want them to, and all have various pro’s and con’s associated with them, with some being slicker or less grabby than others. All need proper training and vigilance when belaying.

The Essential Skills

There are several skills that are fundamental in climbing, and whether you are a beginner or a total expert there are very few variations to doing this safely. Whilst this is not a complete this of all the variations, it has been kept basic and simple to avoid confusion. Also many of these early principles and habits that you get into will follow you through your climbing from starting out indoors to climbing multi-pitched routes in the mountains.

Fitting a harness

Hopefully you would have brought a harness that fits and is comfortable, more than likely you will have tried it on at home and read all the instructions. Quite important because some harness have multiple adjustment point.

To start of with loosen the waist belt and if a fully adjustable harness the leg loops as well. After this you will probably have to untangle the harness, the trick here is to start with the waist loop, remember any logo’s will have been stitched onto you harness so they read the right way up. Then move the leg loops around waist belt until there are no tangles or twists in any part of the harness.

Put the harness on, make sure the waist belt is around your waist, and not your hips, and tighten till you can just get a flat hand down the front of the harness, but not a clenched fist. If the buckle needs doubling back to lock the harness closed do it as soon as you have the harness tight enough. Avoid any distractions or questions until you have locked the buckle off, this will prevent you from ‘forgetting’ about it, which is another common near miss you see in climbing walls all the time.

When you have finished the waist belt, adjust the leg loops, they need to be comfortably tight, but not restrict movement yet not hanging loose half way down your leg. Again, as soon as they are adjusted, double back the buckles to lock them closed.

The last point is to visually check that yours and your climbing partner(s) harness are on correctly and that all the buckles are locked off. This last step has saved numerous climbers both expert and novice over the years. I have pointed out this to numerous people before when climbing, and you can expect a mixed response, some people will thank you, whilst more insecure people can bite your head off, whatever the reaction it is better than seeing someone hit the deck next to you.

When you have finished, you will hopefully not have to adjust the leg loops again for a while, and by simply loosening the waist belt you will be able to step out of the harness, leaving it ready to use the next time you go climbing.

Tying into a harness

Having got your harness on you now need to tie into that harness correctly, whilst other climbers or your friends may choose to use bowlines, double bowlines or other knot. To start with it is better to keep things nice and simple and use only the fig 8 knot.

Whilst it may seem easier to tie a fig 8 on the bight, and clip in with a screwgate carabiner (see Diagram), now is a good time to start developing your knot tying skills, so by the time you are moving outside, or have to tie the knot in anger for the first time alone you have it dialled.

The vast majority of climber use a re-threaded fig 8 to tie directly into there harness. This requires you to tie a fig 8 with about 1.5 metres or from an outstretched hand to the opposite shoulder. This tail then needs to be threaded down through the waist belt and then continue through the leg loops. This is a good habit to get into, because if you progress outside and you are in a driving blizzard and wearing gloves, you can occasionally miss thread the second point, and it is better to miss the leg loops than the waist belt.

You then need to pull all the tail through so the loop of rope you are making is nice and small, like the webbing loop that links the leg loops to the waist belt. Then follow the rope back through the knot ‘re-threading’ it (see diagram). For the knot to be secure you have to dress it or tidy it up so it looks nice and neat, this also helps when it comes to undoing the knot after it has been loaded with your body weight.

The end of rope that protrudes from the knot needs to be at least two good handfuls, and for the belts and braces approach tie into a stopper knot.

Again when you are tying into the rope don’t let anything distract you and when finished tying into the rope, it is a good habit to check the knot again. As a belayer check the knot of the climber. This double checking your partner is one of the most fundamental fail safes in climbing, we are only human after all and total possible of making silly mistakes.

Belaying

Belaying safely is one of the skills that changes very little from beginner to expert. Whilst the more experienced people might look sloppy when they belay their friends. It is not excuse to copy there bad practice. When you are starting out the more disciplined you become the better your belaying will become. The old adage practice makes perfect is wrong, practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

It is therefore essential that you develop a correct pattern for belaying (see diagram), as these first moves will be the platform you work off throughout your climbing, so it is important that you start off being as vigilant as possible. In short it is a four step pattern:

1. Take the rope in
2. Lock the rope off
3. Swap your hands over.
4. Return to the beginning, ready to take in

Common accidents are novices belayers dropping climbers, by letting go of the wrong rope for sometimes less than a second. This can be prevented by having a third person backing the belayer up by holding onto the ‘dead rope’ for the first few times, and then just during the lowering for a few times after that until both the climber and belayer are confident the belayers ability. Whilst this might seem a little over the top and at times condescending, would you prefer to be responsible for someone’s serious injury if you momentarily ‘get it wrong’.

The next thing to master is the process of lowering someone off the wall, once they have reached the top. Whilst it may seem like experts simply throw themselves off the top, have a good look at what they do, the odds are on that they will communicate both verbally and visually, as well as feel if the rope is tight as a way to checking the belayer has them tight and locked off before committing to the rope.

This is where climbing calls come in, calls that a few years down the line might require your instant reaction. So starting to use them correctly in a climbing wall will help ingrain them until they become also subconscious.

So picture yourself having just reached the top of the wall, you want to be lowered off so you look down and shout ‘Take!’ whilst at the same time trying to get eye contact with the belayer, and watch and feel them take the rope in tight and lock off the rope. When the rope is tight the climber responds by saying ‘That’s Me’, and slowly eases their weight onto the rope, you can keep your hand on the rope going to the belayer as a back-up. When you have committed your weight to the rope, the belayer should look look to visually check, as well as feel the added tension in the system. This is the signal to the belayer that you are now ready to be lowered. The belayer should respond by saying ‘OK’, before they start to lower in a SLOW and CONTROLLED manner.

Trying to lower someone as quickly as possible might seem like fun but it can end in tears. Really rapid lowering will produce a glazed on the rope as the friction heats up the top carabiner, and effectively melts the rope.

Basic Movement

When starting out climbing there is a tendency for novices to be overly dependant on their arms. Where in truth easy routes can be climbed with the majority of effort on your feet. I order to promote good technique there are a few exercises that will help you.

Sideways Climbing

In this exercise you can either face left or right, meaning that your left or right shoulder will be almost touching the wall. As you climb up you will from time to time need to pivot round on your feet to face the opposite direction. This techniques really helps on slabs and vertical walls.

Silent Climbing

The aim is to climb up as silently as possible, the reason for this is most novices have poor footwork, and tend to stab holds a few times before they eventually get there foot on a hold. By trying to make silent foot movement it forces you to look down and place the foot accurately on the holds.

Slow Climbing

Like silent climbing this slows down the climbing process and makes you more accurate with your foot placements. It also helps you feel how the weight transfers from one foot to the other.

One Handed Climbing

Try climbing a slab with only one or if it is very slabby, no handed. This really helps you find positions of balance, between the movements.

Introduction to Indoor Climbing Courses

Most dedicated climbing walls offer this kind of course and are a very good way to start out if you don’t have any friends willing to offer you an indoor apprenticeship. The courses often comes with a training element for somewhere in the region of 6 to 8 hours of instructed time followed by a short assessment.

The assessment is the climbing walls way to assess that you can fulfil there criteria for signing in as an independent climber. Typically this is Putting on a harness correctly, Tying into the harness and belaying correctly. The courses also tend to cover the basic risk and control of those risks both in roped climbing as well as on a bouldering wall.

If you book a course through an independent instructor, then look for someone who is either SPA (Single Pitch Award – Able to offer indoor and outdoor climbing on single pitch venues) or an MIA/MIC (Mountaineering Instructor – Able to offer a full spectrum of indoor and outdoor climbing including teaching lead climbing and instructing/guiding on multi-pitched rock routes). Ask if they are insured, and if in doubt about there qualifications you can approach the MLTUK the awarding body about a particular instructors qualifications.

Red Walls is an amazing sweep of rock that is split by a promontory, thus dividing the wall into Left and Right hand Red Walls. Whilst geographical, this split is also one of difficulty as well. Many climbers won’t make it onto the Left hand red wall proper, because its just too hard. Deygo (E3) the easiest route up the main part, actually starts up an E4, thus you face a dilemma, is degyo an E3 with an E4 pitch or an E4 with lots of E3?

There are many routes worth an outing and the rock is a special consistency, more soft than actually loose. Again only thirty seconds from the road this is the place for roadside epics!

It ain’t called the Main Cliff for nothing, a big and intimidating and stuffed full of routes across the grades. From the amazing astral stroll that is Cordon bleau the high level girdle of the crag, that at VS allows for some impressive views and situations for the grade. Main Cliff is also the first of the true climbs at this cliff, taken the name from the crag ‘Gogarth’ is must for any sea cliff climber. Five pitches of unforgettable adventure. Similarly there are routes of most grade on this cliff, however there is a section that has series of over ten routes that are E5 and above, with an awesome array of stars.

That said though, for the elite the crag is amazing, however for the mere mortal this crags really does illicit the adventure, and after all that’s what the Big G experience is all about. The one down side is the walk in and approach when compared to the South Stack routes.

Yellow Walls is probably a good contender for best crag, as it is neither to big nor small, solid nor loose and again one of the 30 seconds down hill walk to get to. In terms of climbing most people come here to climb the Moon the ‘seriously space walking pitch’ possibly the most memorable pitch hereabouts. however the other routes like Creeping Leema and the Cow all interlink bites of this crag.

The Impressive architecture of P1 Creeping Leema

Dave Rudkin tackles the bottomless groove on Creeping leema

Wen Zawn is an iconic gogarth crag, immortalised by Leo Dickinsons picture of the Drummond’s First Ascent of one of the most famous route’s in the entire world. A Dream of White Horses, which is a must for any climber worth his salt, and perhaps captures that feeling and gogarth experience impeccably. A long drop to a watery grave, improbable lines and a distinctive architecture rule in this tight zawn.

If the classic easy line isn’t enough for you then there are routes that take climbing into the stratosphere on this crag, none more so than Conan The Librarian, the only four star route in the new gogarth North guide. A route I am desperate to attempt, and one that sadly you’d struggle to get many guides to guide you up. You’ve got to have a dream, hey!

Well, this crag only just made it into my shortlist. Despite having some of the best route at Gogarth, they are often short and intense outing, and lack the type of commitment that many devotee’s come to expect from a classic gogarth route. that said the most intense climbing experience one can have in soloing hard routes is not only possible but actually reasonably safe on one of the crags finest route Electric Blue, possibly the best E4 deep water solo in the whole of the entire universe. However that’s probably not enough to push this great little crag into the realms of the best crag at the best crag in the world.

One of the things I found enlightening about the crag, was the name, on the surface a great welsh word, obviously meaning a climbers paradise. However look at it in reverse and you get red wall!

Gogarth is the best crag on earth, however what is the best crag at the best crag. Such a decision is hard if not impossible, However there are a few front runners like Main Cliff, Wen Zawn, Red Walls, Castell Helen, Yellow Wall and Llawder. Now whilst argument for and against many of these venues are numerous and often based on experience rather than a scientific checklist of things a truly great crag needs to have. Unlike a Blue Flag beach, where water quality can be measured, toilets counted and sand graded, a crag however won’t succumb to these ridged criteria.

So first up I offer you Castell Helen, which the hardcore of Gogarth Devotee will disallow due to lack of any real hard climbing. However they haven’t been strapped to the main overhangs, at the business end of the crag. Free Stonehenge a Stevie Haston E7 would put the toughest climber to the test. Where as the everyman side of the crag has some of the easier routes at Gogarth, as well as some of the most well travelled routes. In fact if popularity was the measure then this would be the best crag at gogarth.

Dave Rudkin on the Easy pitch of Free Stonehenge E7 6b

Sadly though despite being a 30 second walk downhill from the car park, the lack of hieght and commitment required on the majority of its routes, probably would prevent it from win a the Gogarth.

The above picture when clicked on gives a A4 sizes beta for how to retreat of route through abseiling. These skills are an important part of climbing safely, and will also help you get down to the bottom of sea cliffs as well.

Picture Stolen from Mountain Art, Ginger Cain’s Online Shop, possibly the perfect place to shop for those tricky climbers christmas presents

Well I have been putting off christmas, as long as possible, but if I wanted to get the gives to my family then I needed to get them all in the post sooner rather than latter. Now usually I go around and try and find cards that reflect something of my family. Now as one brother is a comic and the other a genetic scientist, both with few interests outside work and Xbox 360 gaming, I decide this year to go down the route of choosing cards that said something about me.

So I went down to Ginger Cain Mountain Art Shop on Llanberis High street and brought 10 cards for £10, let it be know that you can get 20 cards for £18. The cards are mini versions of his amazing water colour prints. Anyway if you passing llanberis then maybe a small print or just a pack of cards might the the solution that you are looking for if buying a present for a Climber, Hillwalker or Mountaineer.