I had a bit of time to ponder climbing goals for 2017 over the past month or so. Here they are;
- Commit to a single project route on a 5 day trip and focus all of my energy on that one project. Don’t “leave anything on the field”
- Complete a full RPTM cycle without deviation
- Improve my onsight average by two letter grades.
- Climb a 5.10 trad route
- Change my work/life situation to better align with climbing training
This years goals are a bit more nuanced than last years goals – I’m trying to focus on goals that will inadvertently lead to my development as a climber.
Commit to a single project route on a 5 day trip and focus all of my energy on that one project. Don’t “leave anything on the field”.
The grade here is really unimportant – it’s more about finding something at the peak of my ability and committing 5 days to it and being willing to give it everything. At the RRG trip in Thanksgiving, I went back and forth on different goal routes. It’s a common theme among sport climbers – do I spend a week working a lofty goal route, or do I drop it back a notch and tick a bunch of climbs within onsight range.
Complete a full RPTM cycle without deviation
This is a self-discipline goal. There is much to be said about just sticking to a single training program and seeing it out. I’ve done one RPTM cycle before that was followed to about 80% of the intended cycle. Then another 2 that would have been about 50-60% of the cycle. This time I want to stick to the cycle >90% of the planned workouts. So far I’m 3 workouts into my first cycle for the year and it’s going well. Here is a video of some ARC climbing training from one of those sessions.
Improve my onsight average by two letter grades.
This is my ‘number’ goal for the year. Currently my OS average at my home crag sits around 5.11a/b. I want to get that up to 5.11c/d. I think this is a better goal to have for the purpose of eventually red-pointing even harder routes.
Climb a 5.10 trad route
My long, long term goals include some big wall climbing, and when I move back to Australia, most routes under mid 5.11 are trad in Victoria, where I’m planning to move. With that in mind, I’m going to have to learn trad. I’ve already got the rack – thanks to Backcountry, who had a special with 25% off all trad gear. We have also recently met some other Aussie climbers living in TX, who climb trad, and are open to teaching us the ropes.
Change my work/life situation to better align with climbing training
Living far away from a crag means that climbing on real rock only happens about 1/3 of my weekends in the year. Even with that level of weekend outings is hard to maintain as I’m about 2.5-3 hours away from the nearest crag. In addition, I live in an apartment, and so I cannot build my own home training wall. This year my intention is to change that situation so that I’ve at least got a home wall to set limit boulder problems and train on. Added bonus if I can move closer to a crag.
goal8a (5.13b/29) - Eye of the Tiger 