In 2011, Denver climbing activist, king of psyche and all-around great guy Luke Childers bolted a stunning arête at The Armory, a compact crag at the top of Clear Creek Canyon. Clear Creek is quickly becoming the epicenter of sport climbing on the Colorado Front Range, largely thanks to guys like Luke who have a…
Focus is all about summoning maximum concentration and attention at the moment it is crucially needed. Most climbers think of this when its time to send, but the ability to summon and maintain sufficient focus is also vital during daily training. With training cycles that last for months, often involving several weeks of training on plastic,…
I will be presenting a slide show at Bent Gate Mountaineering’s Community Night on Wednesday, May 14th. Festivities run from 6:00-8:30pm. Here’s a Google Map of the location. I’ll be talking about how I evolved from a novice climber to my current level, and key ascents that inspired me to improve along the way. In particular…
Since the books arrived last Thursday it’s been a non-stop whirlwind of hauling, signing, packaging and shipping books. It’s been frantic, but I kinda like that, and it’s really gratifying to see shipments going out every day and watch the stack of books steadily shrink. If you haven’t gotten your copy yet you can order…
In this post I introduced the concept of the Transition Phase. This is the several-week period during each training cycle in which you shift your focus from primarily indoor training to primarily outdoor climbing (and sending!). Chapter 10: Building a Seasonal Training Plan from the forthcoming “The Rock Climber’s Training Manual” thoroughly describes how to…
Last spring I climbed Mission Overdrive in Clear Creek Canyon, a linkup that begins up Daniel Woods’ 5.14c(/d?) test-piece Mission Impossible, and then traverses right at mid-height to catch the upper half crux of the canyon’s mega-classic 5.13d Interstellar Overdrive. At the time I was curious to investigate the complete Mission Impossible, but the remainder of…
Throughout my first several years of systematic training, I believed the Strength Phase (in which hangboard training is the primary activity) was the most “important” phase. That is, I thought the quality of the Strength Phase was the key predictor of whether the upcoming season would be successful or not. If the phase was flat, I…
As implied here, I’m inspired by the climbing career of the legendary Jerry Moffatt. During his prime, Moffatt was the best climber in the world, and he dominated on redpoints, onsights, boulders and competitions. What inspires me most though, was his commitment to hard work and his dedication to training. He was a phenom in his…
Last year I discussed at length the benefits of Campus Training, how to perform a Campus workout, and how to fit such workouts into your training schedule. Next week I plan to describe how to get the most out of your campus sessions. Campusing “well”, will reduce the risk of injury, improve your performance on…
The holidays are upon us, which means friends and relatives will soon be pestering you for your wish list. If you don’t already have it, I highly recommend asking Santa for a copy of Jerry Moffatt’s outstanding autobiography Revelations. Jerry Moffatt was probably the best climber in the world for most of the 1980s, and he…
The Rock Climber's Training Manual 