climbing

[astridv]

I went climbing last night and made a move that pulled a bit too hard on that one slowly healing finger (seriously, finger, it's been three months, what the hell). I learned that I need to give it a day or two to recover when that happens and I have to stay away from the more demanding routes until then. So I tried something new - picked the easiest wall they got, but using my left arm. That was actually a lot of fun! That bunny slope, suddenly not so simple anymore. I have to try more of that, I like the balance of technique and strength required. And I can climb at my limit while still going easy on that $§%# finger.

Well, I'm off to the market to get some asparagus (season's started!) I have so many great Leverage fic to share, and one vid that is so full of badass awesomeness that, wow. Going to make a post later today. In the meantime, two short climbing vids: Introduction to Boulder Climbing. And here's 8 year old Ashima Shiraishi on Power of Silence (V10).

Comments

[rydra_wong]

I just found that Ashima Shiraishi video. She's going to rule the world someday. Apparently she's recently sent Chablanke (V11/V12). Aged 9.

*bows down in awe of her*

Re: the finger injury, I've found Dave MacLeod's cold therapy protocol pretty effective:

http://onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com/2007/06/finger-injury-treatment-videocast.html

And in case you haven't seen it, here's some inspiration for the one-handed climbing (it's an amazing exercise, isn't it?):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03Cow7sn5w4

[astridv]

Thanks for the links! I can't get the first one to work, I may have to fiddle with my noScript settings.

Heh, in the second vid, the part starting from 0:45... "Look, Ma, no hands".

I really enjoyed the one-handed climbing. At first I fell off right away, but pretty quickly I got a feel for the different way of balancing. I just had start taking more and more breaks once I got near the end and my arm was starting to tire.

I can't wait to try it again. :)

I think it helps that I'm small for a German, so I tend to jump at a lot of grips that taller people will just reach for. But a route that's practially nothing but little jumps, that's different.

[rydra_wong]

Yeah, I had a look at the first video just to check, and it's not working for me, either (and someone's mentioned it in the comments). Which is weird because it was working a few weeks ago.

Basically, his protocol for treating long-running finger tendon and pulley injuries goes like this:

Fill a bowl with cold water (as in "from the cold tap" cold). Add two or three ice cubes. Put your hand in the water and leave it there for 30 minutes.

The idea is to get cold-induced vasodilation (the flushed sensation you feel after a while when your hand starts to feel warm again) as a way of boosting circulation to the finger tendons and ligaments.

I've been trying it on my tweaked fingers and it seems to have accelerated the healing a fair bit.

[lakrids404]

It looks like a really interesting sport. Sadly enough am I afraid falling of? or heights?.



I tried to climb these tree poles, but I had to stop after a couple of meters, very annoying

[astridv]

It's the most fun sport I've ever done, hands down. It never gets boring, either.

I've gone climbing with friends who weren't comfortable with heights. What they did was, they first climbed only two or three meters, got back down, climbed up again but this time a meter higher, until they slowly made it to the top.

After a while you get a different feel for the height. That optical illusion - where 10 meters looking down look much farther than 10 meters across the street - seems to fade (in the knowledge that one is safely belayed).

I still remember the first time I climbed up I came down after six or seven meters because that felt high enough. Two weeks later I looked down from the highest point (about 16 meters) and realized that I had completely lost the feeling of being far above the ground.

[lakrids404]

I think I will try again, at the local fitness center climbing wall in the fall

[astridv]

Hey, let me know how it goes.

[rydra_wong]

I've never met a climber who isn't scared of heights. *g*

It's a pretty basic human fear; IMHO it's just a question of learning to be okay with it and learning that you can fall off safely (because of the ropes and harnesses in roped climbing, or the squishy mats in bouldering).

In bouldering you only go up a few meters anyway (4 or 5 meters is usually the limit); the focus is on the difficulty of the moves, not height.

[lakrids404]

They then just look like, that fear is not an option for them :)

[rydra_wong]

We're just having so much fun that the fear fades into the background. Most of the time. *g*

[slashaddict13]

I have to show the Ashima Shiraishi video to my daughter! She's turning 8 in a couple of weeks and we got her some climbing lessons as a present. She's been a couple of times and really seems to enjoy it.

[astridv]

That's a great present! I so wish I'd discovered climbing sooner. Of course when I was a kid indoor climbing didn't even exist yet, afaik.

I went a couple times with a friend and her 5 year old daughter. Kid seems to really like it, too. The walls are a bit too tall for her, too hard to reach, but she's like a monkey in the bouldering cave.