Coming Up This Month

Here's a list of things I hope to have for this Month:

Awkward Core April

Extended Basics Clinic

Advanced Clinic

Outdoor Climbing for the First Time this Season

The Officer's Retreat at Zealand Falls

More Challenges of the Week

Challenge of the Week #6

So I fell asleep and missed the end of the day. While today is April Fools Day, this isn't a prank. Here's your Challenge of the Week from the awesome Steve Wong.

Set aside quite a bit of time for this one if you're new to setting.

Set five routes each with a different style at a grade two below your typical climbing grade (what you can on-sight 95% percent of the time) on the Hueco Scale. Set each route one after another.

For example:
Each route should have the grade V2 if you can climb V4.
a) Technical Slabby Stuff Crimps
b) Slabby Slopers
c) Dynamic Flat Wall stuff
d) Static Overhung
e) Dynamic Overhung

The closer your get to having the grade be V2 for each route, the better.

Try to select styles that are harder for you to set, though it's okay to practice what you already know.

Depending on the organization of your holds, take no more than 30 minutes to select the holds you will be using for your routes. Aim to set each route, tape, and chalk holds in less than 30 minutes. If you have a drill, you'll need less time. Forerun and tweak for an hour, then get feedback from other climbers. If you stick to the time constraints, this will take 4 hours. If you limit hold selection and setting to 15 minutes each you should be able to do this in 2.5 hours. Neither of the estimates include the time it takes to get feedback.

I definitely want to see if anyone does this and how it turns out. Setters comment below with your target grade then list the style you set for and what grade it turned out to be. Post links to videos of people climbing them if you have them.

Good luck!

Challenge of the Week # 5

Sorry I forgot to put this up on Monday. I planned to put it up on Tuesday when I remembered, but there was no internet when I got home.

Here's the challenge: Set a route with 2 butterfly moves (wide wingspan) challenge yourself by setting the route for people on a foot shorter or taller than you. If you are a short person, set for tall people. If you are a tall person, set for short people. If you have the opportunity to set for kids, that's an option too.

An Ice Carnival and a Fleece Jacket

I not too recently attended the Ice Carnival organized by College Outside, VICE and Cathedral Mountain Guides. It was awesome. I've never been ice climbing before so it was really just awesome being able to participate in the first ever Ice Carnival.

We left for New Hampshire right after I got out of a lab I was running for the class I was tutoring. On the way up, we stopped by a gas station and I had to stop my self from stocking up on chocolate milk for the weekend. Shortly after drinking half of a less than I pint sized bottle, I had to ask that we stop at another gas station so I could go to bathroom again. Then I had to force myself not to buy an additional chocolate milk for the next morning. I really like chocolate milk. Being in a car 3/4 filled with almost vegetarians and a vegan we decided to stop by 99. Luckily, they had a vegetarian sandwich and we ate all of their popcorn.

When we got to the lodge, it was pretty impressive. We're already trying to figure out how we can stay there for some of our trips. Why freeze in a tent when you can stay warm at night and get a good night's sleep so that you can send everything the next day? Though we did try to help put up a huge tent. Also as a college student, I've got to admit that my kit is no where near where it needs to be to get to through a winter night and actually sleep, so getting to sleep in a lodge where the temperature was set 15 degrees higher than my college student apartment was amazing. A lot of the groups were still coming in, so we hung out for a while and explored. That night we made almost 200 PB&J sandwiches and I got flashbacks to my sandwich artist days at subway. It was a beautiful organized assembly line. That night we also fitted gear that we'd need for the next day. I was lucky enough to get to wear these amazing La Sportiva boots.

We had to wake up early the next day. That night I had woken up to the sounds of a Clif Bar wrapper being opened. Ian had had too much coffee the night before, couldn't sleep and woke up hungry. I don't know if anyone else woke up to the sounds of the wrapper, but I think I did because I was a little bit hungry too. I probably got enough sleep, but I'm not a morning person during the winter. We had delicious bagels which I was too lazy to properly prepare and hot cocoa. Then the sponsors brought their demo gear for us to borrow. I borrowed a pair of outdoor research gloves. They were pretty good and did the job, but a men's extra small seemed to be too large for my tiny hands. I got to borrow Janet Wilkinson's belay parka which is sized large. I always felt bad about buying really big clothes, but the jacket was so warm and you kind of have to have a large jacket if you want it to fit over the puffy that you are already wearing.

The girls group I was in kicked butt. I think it was everyone's first time, but we had a great time. I definitely found myself overgripping the ice tools -
- it's hard not to on your first time. We got to climb a bunch and then Janet took the time to show us how to put ice tools in. It's really cool how that works and it was oddly thrilling to watch the ice shavings pop out through the center. It's like, "look how much progress you're making screwing this in!" On the last route I ripped my pants with the crampons, which must mean I was trying pretty hard. I finally got to sew them back together and thanks to my awesome sewing skills it now looks like I ripped them and poorly sewed them up.

When we got back, I was super hungry and pretty tired. There was pizza and beer, but since I haven't yet acquired a taste for beer, I had hot cocoa again. It was delicious and piping hot. Oh my goodness, the pizza was amazing. It had mushrooms on it. I love mushrooms. I'm not so convincing on that one, but it was really good, I promise. We actually almost stopped at that pizza place on the way up.

Later there was a raffle and a clap push-up competition. WPI was well represented by Jesse who pretty much destroyed everyone else. Ian was convinced he would do really well and he did, but he had also previously convinced me that he is not a huge fan of push ups. In the raffle, I won an awesome jacket. It is a a beautiful Patagonia Women's R2 jacket. It's so fuzzy, so, so fuzzy! It is amazing and I wear it all the time. The only problem is that people keep petting me. It's kind of hilarious and weird at the same time. I've also offered to have people pet my arms. People have stood around petting my arms for minutes at a time. Everyone got to win something in the raffle which was really cool. It was great to have all these sponsors remind us that they actually care about college students and know that we do want to buy their stuff, we just don't always have the money. Also winning things is nice.

We got to see some awesome presentations and it was an awesome time. Plus, I got load of stickers to add to my collection. I hope I can go next year and I hope more of my friends can come and get into ice climbing. Even though it was during the weekend before finals week it was such an amazing experience and I got to come but refreshed and pumped for the last few days of the term.

Updates to the Blog

Hi Everyone that reads this!

First of all if you've actually been reading it regularly, thank you so much. It motivates me a lot when I know that people will actually read this and it makes me want to do things like proofread, which sometimes works.

I've been procrastinating on my homework by working on making this blog look awesome since last week I avoided this and actually worked on my homework. I'm a good student, I swear. Anyway, if you've been watching my blog constantly, you've probably noticed that it's changed quite a bit multiple times. If not, then you've probably only noticed once now that I've mentioned it. I switched the template with the hope that the blog would be a little bit easier to navigate and that it might be a little bit more visually appealing.

I've also set up a YouTube channel that will allow you to watch a playlist of awesome people climbing my routes. Currently you are able to veg out to about 5 minutes of climbing route videos in the form of a playlist. Since the videos appear to be of higher quality when I upload them on YouTube and then add them to the blog, I'm going to do that from now on which means that you can easily find the videos later on once I have a huge number of blog posts which will totally happen. You can find the channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/plasticpatterns

If you use Google+, future posts will also be shared to there.

Hopefully, the blog will be more enjoyable to watch, read, and look at. With all of the options, it might also be easier to remember to read this.

Finally, I've registered a new email address: plasticpatterns@gmail.com. I promise to check it regularly.

The HorrorCrux

Route Name: HorrorCrux
Grade: V6-
Moves Incorporated: Matching, Cross, Switch Feet, Flag Really Goshd*rn Far, Lie back, Gaston,
Types of Holds: Crimps

So I've been pretty busy lately, not really, but I was catching up on sleep that I hadn't gotten during the term, so naturally, what I mean by sleeping is playing pokemon for the first time in almost four years while eating and taking some naps periodically. Anyway, I've put up quite a few setting challenges that I've tried to complete in the little amount of time I had before my final exams and I've finally had a chance to try and catch up.

In order to catch up I've tried to put about three challenges together, but I forgot which ones I've posted so I did two of the ones I haven't posted yet. The challenges I though I was supposed to do were:
1) Set a route with at least twenty hand moves
2) Set a route with a butterfly move or two
3) Set a route with two drop knees using the same two feet.

I got to about 15 moves and then ran out of crimps as well as time. A bunch of new climbers came in and I had to set a bunch of V0s and V1s. I set one butterfly move, but it might not be all that reachy for anyone taller than me. The two drop knees were set, but most people who either lean forward or lie back to reach the hold rather than do the drop knees I wanted to see.

Check out the video of Ian climbing it. 

Comments and stuff go below. 

Bloody Ballerina Beta (Not Really)

Here's Hristos "sending" Bloody Ballerina... Tall people. 

I couldn't find anyone who wanted to twist their arms like that.

Challenge of the Week # 4

Four moves on one hold. The moves can be made with either hands or feet.

Bonus: 5 or more moves off of one hold.

Go and set already (and then climb on!) Post links to pictures or videos of your route in the comment box.

Challenge of the Week # 3

Two no hands rests.

Post links to pictures and videos of your route in the comment box.

Bat Balls

Route Name: Bat Balls
Grade: V4/V5
Moves Incorporated: Face the Crowd, Bat Hang, Drop Knee
Types of Holds: Jugs, Pinches

This route was set for Challenge of the Week # 1 - The Cartwheel like route. There are probably other ways to force a cartwheel like movement, but this route was definitely very challenging for me to visualize. Distance wise and movement wise, I just wasn't really sure what would work for the route. I've never set a bat hang route before because up until now, I didn't have shoes with sufficient toe rubber, and most people at the CAVE don't have them either.

Things I learned: Bat hangs are really hard to force. Most of the guys at the cave can campus a route that has a properly spaced bat hang, so this is definitely something I could see being forced more for girls, but even then there are definitely girls who could probably campus something that is bat hang worthy for their height.

I wish I got of video of someone climbing the route with the intended beta, but I couldn't convince anyone to do the bat hang.

If you have any tips on forcing bat hangs, comment below.

Reading Exercises

I haven't been able to post much recently because it's finals/midterms week here, but I just wanted to post a few tips on how to study while getting some sort of exercise in.

Planks:
You can do these while reading your textbooks or studying. Hold the plank until you can't anymore, don't even worry about counting. Do it every thirty minutes and you won't have to worry about maintaining a strong core.

You can also do back planks to even out your core. If you don't know how to do back planks, it's easy. Lie on your back and put your weight on your shoulders and your heels. Arch your back. If you exercise your back a lot you'll barely feel it and can probably get it in for quite a few minutes. If you're feeling it right away you should do more back exercises.

Alternatively, you can hold superman positions while reading, but it can be pretty awkward to actually read in that positions.

Wall sits:
You can also do this while reading or studying. Go until you can't anymore. Repeat every thirty minutes.

Calf Raises:
Do these while your read. Do at least three sets. Do each set until your calves burn. One set should be feet parallel to each other, the next with your feet pointed inwards and the final set with your feet pointing outwards. Repeat the three sets if you keep studying.

Challenge of the Week # 2

I've got another one for you all. I tried to set a cartwheel route and the video will hopefully be up soon.

Drop knee 2 times one on each leg. Why not even out the workout?

Optional Challenge: Force the two drop knees to occur on the same two footholds.

Post links to pictures or videos of your routes below.