On my last bouldering trip, I succeeded in completing just one problem that I had failed to climb on several earlier visits. That might not seem like much, but it was enough. After a long period in which my climbing had been stuck in a cycle that alternated between knock-backs and slow recoveries, even this small achievement felt good and like progress. It was what I needed to feed my optimism about my climbing.
It was on a bouldering trip to Brimham Rocks in the Spring that I had some realisations about what I must do if I want to continue to enjoy rock climbing. It occurred to me that I need a mindset that brings together and balances three things –
- Realism about what I can expect myself to do considering my fitness, age, the demands of life, and events that stop me climbing (e.g. a bad cold).
- Optimism that practice will enable me to improve, and so climb the problems that interest me.
- Remembering to just enjoy the experience of climbing.
This is what I’ve been trying to do since on regular trips to the climbing wall. However, a focus on doing a small number of bigger walks, a full life, and inconvenient weather has meant that I’ve not been climbing outside since that trip to Brimham. With those walks now done, I’ve been thinking about outdoor bouldering and starting to miss it. So, I decided to commit myself to getting back on the rock, and booked a day off work to make it happen.
While I know that making a commitment like this can help make you do something, I also know that it’s a risky thing to do with an activity that’s weather dependent. There had been a week of sunshine in the run-up to my day off, but the day itself was grey and cold with the threat of drizzle. I’d therefore changed my plan from where I had been going to climb to the exposed and fast-drying Almscliff. This proved to be a good decision. Although some of the rock was a vibrant green with algae, it was wet underfoot, and there was rain in the distance, the conditions at Almscliff were still passable for climbing. That was as much as I needed.
Being realistic about what I could climb, I headed for the relatively high concentration of easier problems on the Field Boulder and, following that, the Low Man Slabs. They both have problems that I’ve done in the past as well as problems I’ve not finished. This makes them a good place for practicing core skills and for challenging myself a little. I topped out on a few problems, including a short one I’d never tried before. I also backed off on others when I couldn’t figure out the moves. This included an intriguing, longer problem that I’d never attempted before, and which I determined that I’ll try again.
It felt good to be climbing. I enjoy the way bouldering quietens my mind and focuses my thoughts on solving a puzzle. I also like it that even when I know the solution to that puzzle, I still have to execute the moves in the right way to get the solution to work.
The places that I visit and the things I see there are another key part of what I enjoy about the experience of climbing. On this trip, I was delighted to see a kestrel hovering and gliding over the boulders and field incredibly close to me. I was also amused to spot the profile of a smiling, unattractive face in the cliff called Low Man while I was eating a sandwich.
The highlight of the day was completing that problem I had tried so many times and couldn’t solve. I’d known each time I’d attempted it that the answer was to get a foot higher, but I didn’t find it simple to do this. In the end, it was about confidence as much as improvements in my skill level. I weighted and trusted my foot on the shallowest of smoothed scoops and pushed up to gain the next handhold. It was then a few easier moves, and I was at the top. It felt great to move on the rock like I used to be able to do. A little change in my approach had been enough to enable me to succeed on this problem. This little achievement was also enough to feel hopeful that my climbing will steadily improve.
