Getting Solid Beyond 5.9
- May 2012
- Climb
Hi Steph,
I first heard of you by watching your free solo climb of the Diamond fantastic. I found your narration of the climb fascinating, but even more the way you said things imparted a sense of serenity, reverence and respect for not only the climb, but climbing itself. Now to my question: it seems like many novice or even well seasoned climbers “plateau” around the 5.9 to 5.10 region and I am one of those people.
As a medical student and future physician, I do not have the time to climb for months at a time, but I desperately want to climb comfortably in the 5.9 to 5.11 range. What advice would you give to someone where they aspire to climb in that range, but only have a few hours a week to climb consistently? Thank you Steph!
Keep calm and climb on!
~Burk
Hi Burk,
The hardest part with climbing is consistency, and as with everything, it’s necessary for progression. My brother went through med school, and I know how intense it is, and I know it stays intense also into residency. He climbed a lot during both of those phases, but he also didn’t sleep a lot 🙁
If you feel like you have a solid base in your difficulty range, one way to step up your progression might be to start working on routes that are out of your current ability range. So if you feel solid at 5.9, start your climbing day by doing a few routes you can do (so you warm up and have fun), and then choose a 5.10 or 10+ to work on. Go through the whole exercise of figuring out the moves and then redpointing it, whether it only takes 2 tries or 8. If it happened quick for you, try an 11- next time for your project route.
When you start getting on routes that are too hard for you, it gradually changes your perspective about the climbs that are more in your regular comfort range. Just make sure you keep doing climbs that are easier for you also, so you continue to like climbing and get to experience the flow of movement on routes that aren’t at your limit.
Hope that helps!
Steph
