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Climbing, Adventure, Gear & Choss
It’s All About the Pitches
How many pitches do you climb in an average cragging day? A book on climbing training that influenced me heavily this year says that 3 or 4 is a warm up, then hit 3 or 4 onsight or redpoint attempts, and then do 3 or 4 cool down routes. The idea is that one of the best things you can do to improve your climbing is log lots of mileage, so you’re getting somewhere between 9 and 12 pitches climbed in a good session.
I generally seem to hover around the 8 mark, but that usually means warming up, trying some harder stuff, and then leaving, usually because it’s dark. Seems like the cool down gets the chop pretty often, even though it can be an important (and super fun) part of the day.
So I’m curious to know what others’ experiences are. How many pitches are you climbing in a cragging day?
2 Responses to It’s All About the Pitches
Bulldog Creek Dog Walk (IV WI 4+)
Hayden Carpenter and Tom Bohanon recently repeated an obscure ice climb on the south side of Mt Sopris. Given a brief mention in Jack Robert’s ice guide, Bulldog Creek Walk is described as being 100 meters of WI 4. What they found was seven pitches of ice in a remote setting that makes for one […]
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How important is quality vs. quantity here?
I’m lucky to do 5 or 6. I’ve found that climbing outdoors takes a lot of me just simply because of sunshine, wind and approach (tyoleans!). I’m in Colorado too so I suspect the climate conditions are dehydrating. I swear, one of these days I’m going to pack a hammock in my pack, for mid day siesta!