Friday, December 04, 2009

Home Improvement, Part II


All of my extra time lately has been spent trying to finish the garage. The last few days I've been setting up the wall of death, our 20' tall bouldering wall. The first problem I set on the wall is a replica of the one in this Malcolm Smith vid, which is a replication of the route Hubble. I'm fairly certain I'll never actually do this problem but it seems important to have things to aspire towards. Maybe I'll do a move or two if I train hard enough.

I haven't done this yet myself, but you can check out Smith's version against the actual climb in these two videos.

Steve McClure - Hubble 8c+ from ben pritchard on Vimeo.



I'm hoping to finish everything in the garage before the flooring arrives next week. Then it'll be time to get to some proper training.
dude, i finally got the venue i've been looking for.

10 comments:

Steve Edwards said...

Okay, I just watched these two back to back. Is it just me or is Malcolm's problem WAY harder than the route? McClure is mutant strong but so is Smith. And he does say it's the hardest thing he's done by far. Considering that Hubble hasn't had a non-UK ascent (and only a handful of those) in 18 years, how hard is this stuff Smith was doing in 1991?!

I love it when I'm the only person to comment on my own blog.

Brian said...

I had seen both videos but didn't make the connection. I think your right about the simulator vs. the real thing.

Remember - Study(train) hard, Test(send) easy.

Don't be afraid to shave.

Reedster said...

I think the tendency is to make sure that the simulated problem is harder than the real thing. One thing is for sure it the video quality was better on the McClure footage and I couldn't understand everything that Malcolm was saying.

Micah said...

20 ft wall huh? That's bold. You installing a gymnastic foam pit at the base or a swimming pool?

bob banks said...

I gave him my green Cordless pad.

Steve Edwards said...

It's frickin' terrifying at the top. We're considering the Brickyard technique. Our only concern is that it's for "advanced" climbers.

Ben Banks said...

Can't wait for the snow to come so I'll quit screwing around outside and get strong. You still working on standard mono?

Micah said...

Ascents don't count with the cordless pad. It instills too much confidence.

Unknown said...

I only have 8' in my garage. But wait, my son's off at college, I could could cut a hole in his bedroom floor and gain +8 feet.

Steve Edwards said...

Fine idea. I know a pretty good under-the-bed design used by my friend Dave in Mammoth. You could raise your wall and still have a place for him to sleep when he comes home!