Looks like my first outdoor session of the season should be on the 30th. I have two areas I want to visit in Texas before the new year and should be able to get to each at least once if not twice.

First stop will be at Rogers Park just outside Temple (basically 2/3 of the way from Dallas to Austin)

There are two problems I’ve identified as good candidates to do this climbing season (before it gets warm next summer)

1st problem – Acoustic Elvis (V5 without the top-out)





2nd problem – Fire in the Belly (V5)

14:07 mark here



Second area will be McKinney Falls in Austin.

1st problem – Prow (V4)



2nd problem – Double Clutchin (V4)

3:54 mark here



Here’s to staying injury free and putting some of these down the next 5-6 months or so. Would love to get out to Colorado or Tennessee as well!

Those problems all look fun. That first V5 has a rowdy looking move on it! How many days do you think you will be able to get outside this season? If you make it out this way I'll def show you around.

General advice for sending outdoors is always try to use good tactics and make sure you build a decent base of boulders. Do different warm-ups each time if possible and don't neglect 2nd and 3rd tier boulders.

I've never climbed on pocketed limestone but that style typically has slippery polished feeling feet, sharp crimps and pockets. Practice keeping tension on slopey feet will probably be useful. Also, I'd do some work on pockets both on and off the wall if possible. For me personally, pockets feel super tweaky. Getting the body somewhat used to that grip before you start hammering them outside will hopefully reduce the likelihood of any issues with the fingers or hands.

Not sure how many times because Rogers is the closest to me and is a two hour drive in no traffic. The style isn’t ideal for sure but it’s kinda what we have in Texas. I’ve been working pockets in the gym and in my recruitment pulls at home recently to prepare a bit. Definitely not my favorite hold type for sure.

I’ve scoped out a lot of V0-V1 climbs but a lot are super ok looking with not so fun top outs. There are some traverses that would be ideal to get some mileage on as well. Overall I’m a pretty risk averse person so Ill take it super slow. It’s also why acoustic Elvis appeals the most to me.

Also I don’t want it to come off as if I think I’ll do these early in the season at all. I am in like 6c moonboard shape so I’d say after a bunch of sessions, sussing out the moves, and creating some specific training strategies I have a good shot by early 2022 of doing some of them. Initial plan is to feel them out in person, stay healthy and enjoy the process.

Don't sell yourself short! 6C on the MB is nails! There are lots of fingery holds on the MB. The feet on the kicker are slopey and require good body tension. It may transfer well.

Also I'd recommend paying attention to landings and how you place the pads. Tall blocs with good landings are often safer than shorter ones where the landing is uneven. It can be easy to roll an ankle on the edges of pads as well. That happened to a friend of mine this Sunday unfortunately.

W5D1 rest

W5D2

AM Home (1 RiR)

3x Underhand chins 11,7,7xBW+35 (181.9 TSW)
2x Overhand chins 9,7xBW
3x Rope one armers 2,2,2x20” knot

PM Climbing gym

3x 3x6sec 20mm half crimp BW+40
3x 3x6sec various pocket hangs

50min 30deg Kilter
Sent “Highgarden” V6 (my rating- V4) - 2nd go
Sent “bph11” V6 (V3+) - 3rd go
Sent “The Freaks Come out at Night” V6 (V2)



Here is a climb I’ve been doing a few times each session. Bunch of varying pockets and mediocre feet.

Thanks! I think Acoustic Elvis is prime for a MB replica. Yea my biggest fear is ankles. I’m clutzy in general so gotta be extra careful/mindful.

W5D3 (1 RiR)

3x 30deg smith bench 10,10,8x135
1x 30deg smith bench 14x105
4x Jewett cable raises 4 sets x7.5
4x Seated DB press 15,11,9,9x25’s
4x DB side raises 4 sets x10’s
5x Curls 5 sets x20’s

W5D4 (1 RiR)

3x Seated leg curls 14,8,7x110
3x Smith calves 15,12,11x195
4x Smith squats 12,7,7,5x150
1x Leg Press 13,4,3x90 (Myo Reps)

This will be the last session of my mesocycle I’ll probably type up some thoughts tomorrow.

W5D5 (0-1 RiR)

3x Neutral chins 12,9,6xBW+25
3x One arm Pulldowns 12,11,10x55
3x Lat Prayers 14,10,9x180
3x Incline DB curls 21,10,7x17.5’s
2x Cable curls 11,9x140

Bouldering 55min

-Flashed V6-V8 (my grade V2)
-Sent V6-V8 (V4+) 2nd session - video below
-Sent V6-V8 (V4) 2nd session

Are you saying your gym is 2-4 V-grades soft?

Maybe you are much stronger than you are giving yourself credit for

Deload went fine. Traveled to see some family and did two light workouts. Biggest issue I’m having is my eyesight is kinda ****ed and causing me some serious headaches. Been through three different contact prescriptions to no avail.

I did make it out to Rogers Park. After not finding the crag for like 60min I finally figured out where it was. Super nice day for climbing and overall it’s a solid area.

Managed my way up a V2 and got to put in about 10 efforts on one of the V5’s. Got the first two moves dialed in but solo with only one pad and a bad landing area I never went for the victory jug.





Excited to work the moves on the board a bit and try again over the holidays. Should go but idk if I’ll ever feel comfortable enough alone on that move.

100% they set soft but it’s not even that absurd compared to other gyms, but yea super soft. If you compare the problems to Kilter grades I’d say it’s 1-2 grades soft. Compared to moonboard more like 3ish.

I do think it’s hard to set like V4’s, definitely hard to set a V4 that’s consistently V4 throughout the problem’s movement.

Edit I do think Acoustic Elvis is more like a 6, so I don’t think I’m hard on myself just that gym climbs are routinely soft.

In my experience, it is common for people to climb 1-3 grades harder outdoors than on the Moonboard. Style of course is a big factor here, but generally speaking the benchmarks on there are harder than outdoor grades.

Did you try that move in isolation with the pad under you?

If I am out solo I'll typically take 2 pads and a small auxillary pad.

I hopped on a few times and wussed out a bunch. The vid I posted was one of my poorer efforts through the first two moves but wanted to get it on film in case I could spot any inefficiencies.

There are two issues. One the landing is super uneven but more importantly there is a large drop off from the cliff side where if no one was there to spot and stop you, you could conceivably find yourself rolling down.

Good news is it’ll go for me eventually if I want to work it a few more times. I’m going to keep working on a few things after sussing it out and try to get back before the end of the year.

The hill certainly makes it sketchy, particularly when you are doing a big dynamic move. Uneven landings are always tricky!

Did you generally enjoy the session out? How was climbing on the limestone?

Had a super nice time besides aimlessly walking around for an hour with a crash pad lol. Rock was nice and temps were good, no complaints there other than I’m not a huge fan of pockets and that’s a lot of the climbing there. It’s also a spot where having 2-3 others with pads would be a big help to work more of the V3-V5’s which are plentiful in the area.

Headaches are persisting, gotta be the eyesight but it seems to be improving so maybe it’s something else? Idk kinda worrisome been a week now. Slept great last night and woke up with a headache so makes me wonder that something else is going on. Covid negative on a PCR so who knows what’s up.

Got in some pull ups, 4x6sec 15mm hangs and 45min on the 45deg Kilter board. I guess until I feel better I’ll just eat at maintenance and do deload level workouts. Fun.

Back at it, training motivation remains low but fear of regression compels me forward. I’ll likely run this mesocycle through the holidays.

W1D1 rest

W1D2

AM Gym

Smith rows 12x135, 14,10,10x115
Seated cable row 15,14x75
Smith calves 16,11,9x170
Cable Upright row 12,10,9x50

PM Climbing gym

3x6sec 20mm BW+40
3x6sec 15mm BW+15
50min 45deg Kilter Board

45deg Kilter grades confirmed legit. Probably on par with 40deg Moonboard grading IMO.

W1D3

3x Seated leg curls 16,11,11x90
3x 30deg incline DBs 8,7,6x55’s
1x Pec Dec 15x70
2x Paused Smith squat 9,8x135
2x Leg press 13,13x110
3x Freemotion curls 18,12,9x25

Just dropping in for the first time in ages to say that this log is genuinely disrespectful to other climbers who might post here

you're downgrading stuff 4 grades which is just absurd. If you were some pro climber sending V14 you could do this and no one would care since everyone knows that V14 climbers don't really know what a V4 feels like anyway, or care about sends in that range, but considering that you're an intermediate or lower level advanced grade climber, presuming that your knowledge of the grades is so accurate that you can make such outrageous downgrades on almost every single climb is quite obnoxious.

Maybe sending your project seems that much more legit when you can claim that other routes one grade lower were actually 4 grades softer than it, and that the people sending harder routes than you are actually sending stuff 4 number grades lower?

For all of your "V6 is V2" I've yet to see you post a single video of you sending anything legitimately hard ever, so it's hard to take your grades remotely seriously. Quit ****ing around with the bizarre ego gratifying stuff because it makes this log completely unreadable. I'm not pulling punches here, this is absolutely painful to read. We get it, you think graders suck and you climb with lots of cool people who don't give a **** about the stuff they send in the gym and make themselves feel good by downgrading everything. Letting those people drag you into their egotistical games is not a good way to live, and posting that stuff on here disrespects every other climber who reads this log and posts their own sends

you're just feeding the troll, don't let his posts bring you down

all of the gym sends in existence are 2-4 grades soft, but his outdoor project that has a single move that requires any effort *is actually a V6, not a V5*

Wat

Sounds like a fatty is checking in.

Spenda is ripped to the bone and has no legs, can also do a 1 arm pullup. Of course he thinks v6s are v2s.

Shiet, pretty sure I can send a v4 on my first try. But lolclimbing.

I regularly climb much, much harder than anything posted in this log now, though I'm sure txclimber would grade them like V3, and I'm also not remotely close to a one arm pull-up, nor do I spend my time doing leg curls, because I'm not a test injecting psycho

this is a huge peeve of mine so excuse me for being pissed off at seeing someone doing something that hugely degrades the abilities and accomplishments of almost every single person who reads this log. all the climbing posts in this log do is demotivate people who want to be better, just so OP can feel proud about his V5 outdoor sends.

truly pathetic

have a nice night, really sad to see where you decided to take your climbing hobby since you actually had potential

Climb Off!!!

Spenda vs TTGL

Spenda -400
TTGL +300