Steep Wall Reset
The main wall has been getting a very steady supply of new amazing holds including some yet-to-be-on-the-market very purist slopes which are actually a reshape of a BEAUTIFUL old E-Grips set. CATS is really starting to get pretty well done in terms of holds, we will continue to get more, but the Main Wall for instance is essentially devoid of holds that are not fantastic. Because of this I have started improving the Ramp Wall and even the Cave Entrance Overhang. So there are a variety of completely new lines emerging in areas previously unclimbed.
I would like to start posting more, but on November 3rd I defend my Thesis so I should be pretty busy until then.
Bubble Wrap
Finally put to rest January 29th 2013 by Daniel Woods.
Footage here: https://vimeo.com/58526931
Brown Disc 2.0
Sustained Watermelon
High Step
The Barndoor Boulder
Grip A and Grip B
This is the most powerful way to hold an edge.
One should keep in mind that whenever you are setting up for a powerful move or a hard lockoff, or really some sort of movement that is near your limit, the hand that you are moving off of should generally be in Grip position A.
This is a very versatile grip which serves a number of functions, one of which is to prevent people who think Grip A is too stressful on the fingers from bitching at me.
Essentially the main purpose of this grip is increased tension and to a smaller extent some energy savings. This grip should be much more commonly used on steep walls and on very poor edges, or those where the danger of dry firing may be high.
The basic logic behind Grip B is to address the weaknesses of Grip A. Grip A requires more energy, pulls in one direction, and one cannot really do a move pre-Gripped A. Grip B is really the more dynamic grip. On dynamic moves and deadpoints one should hit edges in Grip B.
First off it is easy to hit a hold immediately into Grip B. On this note it is easy to explain some of the tension element. So on a dynamic move on the steep, you move up at the hold, your fingers connect on the hold and your body then starts to move away from the wall, right as you hit the hold your thumb should engage into Grip B, which then resists the outwards sag of your body. I think it is pretty easy to see and most people would agree it is pretty absurd to hit a hold in Grip A, if you have a video of someone going for a hold with their thumb over their fingers before on the hold please share. It is possible I suppose but completely loony.
Most people then of course hit holds open handed or half crimped without the thumb; like when climbing on campus rungs. Hitting holds without the thumb is of course very easy to do but is neglecting a very strong digit and a very high force generating grip. When actively using the thumb you have a greater chance of staying on the wall. This also will help keep your feet on as it prevents your body from moving away from the wall.
The other important and even more neglected use for Grip B is as the lower hand when the upper hand starts to connect with the next hold. In this case it is used for the same general reason; increased tension in the outwards dimension. So this is the very crucial to the steep A to B Flip. You power off a hold in Grip A and as your upper hand starts to connect on the next hold your lower hand should flip to B to help it, and your body stay on the wall. This is even more relevant if your feet cut as in this situation the lower hand will be doing next to nothing if it is not in Grip B.
And as a detail alluded to earlier, Grip B is superior on holds that you may be afraid of dry firing off of, or very poor side pulling edges. When you are in Grip A on a very poor edge you may be applying too much force in general and certainly too much force straight down. Grip B will force you to spread your weight over a slightly larger surface area on your fingers and will be applying pressure to the bottom of the hold with your thumb. This is even more relevant to very poor side pulls where if one attempts to straight A them there is too much downwards force for your hand to stay securely.
In this video you can see the B-A-B flip. Although in this particular shoot my hand cuts, but you get the idea.
And here you see a better example of hitting something with more speed in B and then flipping to A. The third to last move to the pale blue, but there are some good flips on the bottom as well but they are harder to see.
I believe that this is a very large part of training that is very neglected. I am not perfect and I am sure if you go through my videos you can find some poor grip positions. But I try to climb on edges using only these two grips. Essentially the two biggest problem most people have climbing this way is that they either overuse Grip A, or they climb half-crimped but neglect the thumb. There is no advantage to climbing without the thumb pinching the bottom of the hold (Grip B). I am aware there is some argument that training with the thumb over the finger(Grip A) is bad because it is simply a crutch for your fingers. I would say that you should train in a way that you climb and that if you never train Grip A then you will be unprepared for it outdoors. But climbing without using the thumb at all is a waste and not superior in any way that I can think of.
Grip A delivers maximum strength on a hold. Grip B is for energy savings and increased tension.
If your look at a lot of the really strong climbers like Daniel, and I think the biggest exponent of Grip A and B; Jon Cardwell (Lots of fantastic A B action between 1:10 - 1:40). You see that they do not frequently half-crimp without the thumb. That is a lazy grip.
I think keeping in mind these two grips and using them as exclusively as possible will certainly make you a stronger better climber. It is one of my most important pieces of advice for those who are looking for some.
None of this applies to route climbers.
Red Hornytoad
FA: Daniel Woods
Other Ascents: Paul Robinson
Best and Worst Hold of the Week 2
This week I will review two very basic looking positive crimps, one shaped very well and the other not so well.
First up for our Best Hold of the Week we have this black, well aged, E-Grips Comfy Crimp. The E-Grips line of Comfy Crimps is an old school classic that is still very much in production and is essential to any overhung wall. Throughout E-Grips' history, I, personally, am aware of three generations of texture: Old Exfoliating, Old Glass, and Modern. Between the Glass and Exfoliating textures I am not actually sure which is older, the Exfoliating generation is however much more common in CATS compared to the Glass generation. The Comfy Crimp that is featured here is a member of my favorite generation of the three; the mythical glass generation. Having a hard glassy surface has a number of advantages. Because the surface of the hold is not very porous it does not get shoe rubber or chalk embedded in it, the hold can get chalk stuck onto the surface, but with a proper brushing it is as good as new. I will not restate all of my texture points made in the previous post, but it is also great to be able to pull hard on these holds for hours and days without any wear to your skin. I am not even entirely sure why holds are not this texture now, perhaps they chip easier.
Now onto the shape. Once again I apologize for not having posted a Grip A and Grip B blog post yet. For now just know Grip A is full closed and Grip B is what is pictured to the left. It is very easy to shape a hold which feels fine for a full closed crimp, it takes much more subtlety to shape a good Grip B. But this crimp does a great job. Sometimes Grip B works well simply because there is enough texture for the skin to grip the bottom of the hold well. But it is much cooler and more motivating if there is actually micro-features that you are pinching. Micro-features here are quite crucial as mentioned earlier this hold has very little texture. So the subtle little divots in the hold actually play an important feature in making the hold a pinchable edge. The simplest reason though perhaps that I like this hold is simply the way the actual grab of the hold is shaped. This may be somewhat subjective, but I really love gently rounded incuts. I am known for loving razors and such but really my favorite holds are rounded edges with a very small incut in the back. In the case of this hold the incut is quite large, but it is the same idea. These holds allow you to hit the edge with quite a lot of speed without hurting your fingers, there is no edge to catch on your pad, there is no texture to grate your skin. In addition the sides of the hold are in effect "open" which make the hold much more versatile as a side-pull of gaston, I will discuss how some holds fail to take this into account shortly within this post. In summary this is very positive friendly hold that is great on the steep and can be used anywhere from V4 to V11 or to VGodKnowsWhat if turned aggressively enough.
In summary big lips cause comfort problems, potentially will lead to more injuries and suck even harder if it is a huge closed lip. Rounded glass textured incuts are very versatile and can be trained on quite easily for a variety of moves and difficulties.
I will not post a Hold of the Week this coming week, but I will make a Blog post.
Best and Worst Hold of the Week 1
To start things off with this series I decided to pick two holds which I have a fair bit to say about and that contrast well together. This is also a good example of an ancient CATS style hold, a Straight Up, beating a modern Teknik hold.
First, above, we have the Best, the Dolphin Pinch, dubbed by Ryan Silven, as it looks like a Dolphin. More importantly to this disscusion as I am not holding this hold superior due to the superiority of dolphins over ducks, is the fact that it is textured like a dolphin. One of my least favorite things about climbing at the Spot and Movement, is the fact that my skin may often give out before my fingers. It gives you the standard "gym skin" that you get from almost all gyms, the textured holds eat away your skin(and shoes), and climbing on it for multiple days leaves your fingers pink and purple and out of shape for anything outdoors. Also, quite importantly, it is better to grip a hold than have a hold grip you. Textured holds are not as good for training on multiple levels; bad for your skin and requires less crushing strength. The shape of this hold is also quite pure and versatile. As you can see the hold is in a position for the right hand,
In summary this is a great hold as it has perfect texture and is thin in a sense which makes it hard but also slopey not a thin edge like pinch. It has been recently used to make "The Dolphin Pinch Problem" which I will feature soon.
Here you can see my hand gripping the hold.
My hand looks like a duck. As if my hand is saying "quack quack"
This is a Duck pinch.
You can detect Duck pinches at your home gym by simply squeezing a questionable pinch. If your hand looks like a duck, it is a Duck pinch and should be removed with the greatest of haste.
Duck pinches are stupid as you can not really utilize your thumb to pinch it but at the same time you cannot just hold it like sloper. Yes they can be meat wraped but lets not even go there.
But you may also be asking "Hey what if you just pinch it like a normal skinny pinch? The same way you hold the Dolphin pinch."
Well here is a picture of the grip in question. I can explain why this doesn't work slightly but you may have to go and try this at home to fully understand. As you can see there is a great deal of plastic between the point of contact and the edge of the hold. This means through that due to the terrible duck slope of the hold that if you try to actually crush and pull off of the hold this way two things may happen: one your hand will slide off the hold, or two your hand will collapse into the above Duck pinch position. Gripping it properly simply does not work well. It is like if you take a proper sloper like the ETCH Egg or something worse would be an even better example, like the slopey side of the ETCH Breastplate, and try to crimp it, it does not really work; it either feels like shit(the Egg) or literally does not work(the Breastplate).
Hopefully now you may understand why I hate Duck pinches, and why slopey non-textured pinches emphasizing thumbs are excellent.
This is my first post of the series so please let me know what you like and do not like.
It's Alive
For some news in a slightly familiar vein for those who visited the site previously, my friend Sasha Diguilian made a very impressive flash ascent of LaSportiva, this is the first female flash, something along the lines of 3rd female ascent and a rare flash for either gender. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that she had never been in CATS before and could not even make out the stickers so I actually had to point it out as she went.
Outside of the steep we definitely have a newest hardest climb usurping Keen Extension and Red HornyToad. It was set by myself and Ryan Silven and lacks a good name, not that we ever have "good" names in CATS. I suppose it will just be refered to as the V15/16, or perhaps in true CATS form; OrangeRedYellow as that is the crux sequence. Enough holds have changed since my old photo database that I cannot highlight the holds, I can take new pictures but I no longer have access to the quality camera that I did. But given that this is the first or second hardest climb in CATS I will take pictures next week to put up in the guide section. I will try hard to get footage of Daniel doing it, but not sure when he will be around and it took him three days so it is not on the circuit yet.
That is all of the news for now. But I will start updating again. So tell your friends and check in for new posts here, in the blog, and on the Vimeo Channel.