Rock Climbing Blog by Derek Rippe
Archive for December, 2008
A Great Day At Sportrock
Dec 28th
As I mentioned a week or two ago, there was a double heel-hooking, slightly inverted V4 in the far corner of the bouldering area at Sportrock that was giving me a lot of trouble – I simply couldn’t figure out the second to last move before topping out.
I’d been running over the problem in my head ever since the first evening I attempted it, mentally trying to work out the issues I was having. As I was in the shower this morning, thinking about rock climbing and that V4 (it’s odd I know, but most of my great ideas come to me in the shower), I came up with another potential solution to completing the V4.
Santa Claus Came To Town… And He Brought Shoes!
Dec 27th
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I spent about 4 hours over the course of two days at the local Eastern Mountain Sports store trying on climbing shoes. My tired 5.10 Spires needed to be replaced with something a little more modern with a little more toe and a little less suck. After trying on every shoe, I ended up choosing the La Sportiva Nago.
Of course, I then had to wait a month to actually get the shoes, as they were a Christmas present from my parents. After a month of patiently waiting and growing ever more frustrated with my 5.10s, Christmas morning finally arrived. Sportrock was closed Christmas day, so there wasn’t much I could do with them that morning (unless I wanted to mark up the walls at my parent’s house climbing on doorways and banisters, but I knew better), but the much anticipated day had finally arrived.
Fast Forward 1 – Part 3
Dec 17th
Well, tonight was the third and final session of the Fast Forward 1 class at Sportrock. The techniques and skills we had learned in the first two sessions were to prepare us for the this session, where we would be sequencing routes on the 40 ft. wall. As I mentioned last week, I was a little nervous about top-roping because I had no idea what my level of endurance was and how that would play out when climbing a 40 ft. route instead of 12 ft. bouldering problem.
New Routes
Dec 14th
Today marked the first day since I joined Sportrock that there were 100% new bouldering routes available to climb, as a result of the Friction Bouldering Series Finale on Saturday the 13th. I’d been looking forward to today for the last couple of weeks, and especially this last week since the entire bouldering section was roped off for the staff to set new routes and to keep people off the new routes prior to the competition.
Paracord Survival Bracelets
Dec 13th
A friend of mine sent me an email earlier this week with a Gizmodo link to these Paracord Survival Bracelets made by Tough Gear, Inc. They have a pretty slick idea with these bracelets – they are made out 15 to 20 feet of 550# paracord (rated up to 550 lbs.), that can be unraveled and put to use in any emergency (or non-emergency) situation.
“What do I do with it after I use it?” you may ask. Well, you can send what is left back to Tough Gear, Inc., along with your story, and they remanufacture it for you free of charge!
Climbing Rope Bracelets!
Dec 12th
My order from Green Guru Gear came in today while I was at work (I was hoping it would). I realized after I placed my order that I could have specified a color/design preference that they would have tried to match, but I’m happy with what I received. One of the bracelets is a light blue and tan mix (which makes it look like woven silver), and the other is red, yellow and black, and matches my chalk bag quite well.
Fast Forward 1 – Part 2
Dec 10th
Tonight was the second session of the Fast Forward 1 course at Sportrock. We started off reviewing the techniques we learned last week, including shifting our weight to keep our center of gravity in the right place, and using sticky hands and silent feet (the latter of which was my biggest focus area for the week). I did a MUCH better job planting my feet and leaving them, no longer bouncing and testing the hold before putting my weight on that foot. Happy feet, get ANGRY! (or sad – just not happy!)
After our short review session we moved on to sequencing moves in bouldering problems (something I had been looking forward to). The other two individuals taking the class with me have a lot more experience in top roping and trad climbing, so we started off easy on the bouldering problems so that technique could be a primary focus (E4 through E6, and a V0). While they were easy problems, I did find myself thinking in new ways while attempting to keep my center of gravity spread amongst all my limbs and making moves using the least amount of energy necessary. This was reassuring, as it means I am beginning to use the knowledge I have recently learned.
Green Guru Gear
Dec 8th
Out of pure curiosity, I went looking for some cool climbing apparel to see what was out there these days. I ended up coming across this cool website called “Green Guru”, a concept developed by Ecologic Designs – a group of outdoor enthusiasts devoted to creating products and gear from recycled and reclaimed materials. They have a line called the “Climbing Rope Series” which consists entirely of products made retired climbing ropes! Their Climbing Rope Series consists of:
- Rope Bracelets
- Chalk Bags
- Key Chains
- Dog Collars
- Dog Leashes
Practice Makes Perfect
Dec 7th
I hadn’t been to Sportrock since my FF1 class last Wednesday (*tisk tisk*, I know). I had planned to go on Friday, but hadn’t taken into account my 6:00 PM call time in McLean for my MSVA performance (oops). Decided I would go on Saturday, but ended up not feeling very well in the hours preceding the Reston Chorale performance that evening.
I finally made it over to Sportrock for about an hour and a half this afternoon before joining my parents for dinner and then heading off to my 5 PM call for MSVA performance #2. I made sure to take care of my FF1 homework – 5 wall traverses focusing on wall contact and sequencing. In reality, it’s not a difficult task, so I decided to step it up a bit and do all five wall traverses consecutively, without taking breaks in between. THAT was a great workout. I ended up doing 6 wall traverses, because I felt I still had some in me.
How to make a Chalk Bag
Dec 7th
I was browsing around the internet this morning looking for odds-and-ends climbing sites with interesting content, when I stumbled upon a site where a climber documented how to make your own chalk bag. I read through the step-by-step guide and the end result was really quite nice. While I already have a great chalk bag, I would really like to make my own now, and this seems like a great project for a rainy day. Click the image below to visit Donn Morrison’s step-by-step guide to making your own chalk bag.
Discussions