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Women's Bouldering Clinic at Go Vertical, Philadelphia: A Summary

Kerry on our first problem, photo by Alex Linne

This past Spring I put together a bouldering clinic for women at my local climbing gym. I had the idea to do it for a lot of different reasons--expanding the climbing community, giving advice and climbing technique to those new to bouldering, creating an environment where women wouldn't feel as intimidated to try climbing boulder problems, giving beta to girls on boulder problems that they have probably never seen because so few women boulder at the gym...the list goes on.

But it's funny, I hadn't expected these clinics to inspire my climbing in the way that they have. During the first five minutes of the first clinic, I watched a 5', 105 lb woman figure her way through some boulder problem that I've only seen average-men climb in a very average-men kind of way really impressed me. I realize how infrequently I get to boulder with other women, and I just got really psyched to watch how every girl in class worked through the first problem we got on. The look of pure determination that swept over the faces of some of the women as they threw themselves at two or three moves of a problem over and over again was exciting; it's rare to get a chance to experience the climbing fire light in an individual. I actually walked away from those clinics with even more climbing spirit than I had anticipated.

Marielle flashes our cave project, photo by Katie Levy

The clinics worked like this:

Class One-- We introduced ourselves to each other and talked about our different climbing experiences. I went over the importance of warming up to boulder, and some good techniques for getting your fingers and muscles in climbing-mode before a bouldering session. We tried a few problems and it was really fun for all of us to see the differences in beta. Personally, I was excited to see who could flash the problems since at this point in the series, I was still sort of clueless to the bouldering ability of the women in the clinic. Some of the climbers really impressed us!

During a break, I gave my bouldering pep-talk in the gym's "Base Camp". I think it's important to emphasize to new boulderers that the amount of failure while bouldering greatly exceeds the amount of success, but this factor alone makes you much stronger and the experience more fulfilling. Another big part of my pep talk is about how bouldering is everything in climbing. But, spoiler alert, I don't want to ruin it for anyone taking my next series, it's a great pep talk. After the discussion, we went back out to try more problems. I had a student in class who had questions about specific sequences in problems that were up, so we had a good starting-off point as to what kind of moves were giving the students the most trouble. From there, we worked a variety of sequences within V0 and V1 problems and just climbed until we were tired.

Class Two-- I went over warming up again, and gave a brief talk about preventing injury in bouldering. I also reviewed spotting techniques inside vs. outside, and then we started climbing. The aim in this class was to see if anyone made progress on the problems we'd worked on last week as well as introducing new techniques. I had set up a few small half-problems on different wall features around the gym to work on sit starts and more compressed movements around these wall features. The difference of climbing ability among the women became more apparent to me in this clinic, so the class split off and I went back and forth between the two different groups and helped with beta.

At some point, I made the girls take a break to rest their muscles and discussed projecting boulder problems (I was noticing that most of them just kept attacking problems and were totally pumping themselves out, which was awesome). I discussed the benefits of isolating movements, working half of a problem at a time, and then linking up a problem. I also discussed the grading system in general and how to work problems that are slightly above your limit. We finished the class with more technique review and climbing.

Sharon goes for the send, photo by Alex Linne

Lovinda is not entirely sure she trusts my beta, photo by Alex Linne

Hanbing flashes our first problem, photo by Alex Linne

Class Three-- During this clinic, I encouraged everyone to really try to start bouldering at their limit. Some women in the class continued with their cave project that we'd been working on since Class One, some found new V1s to try, some others I encouraged to get on V2s and V3s to see how far they could get. We talked about different holds throughout the gym; I went over how to use slopers, how to layback on sidepulls, how to find an alternative to using one particular big pinch that some of the smaller women couldn't get their hands around. During this clinic, I tried to be there individually with each climber on whatever they were working on (I had a lot of fun, actually). I was happy to see that everyone, at this point in the series, was really into climbing with each other, and even when I couldn't be there, the women were discussing beta with each other and trying to get through their projects. We climbed through most of this clinic, and at the end, I started to go over ways to work on strength using particular exercises on the hangboard, on the wall as well as exercises to do on the mat after a climbing session.

After showing the clinic ways to build up contact strength and ability to use specific holds (i.e. crimps), I was happy to see the always-determined Tessa powering through a crimp traverse so she could get eventually get through a sequence on one of her projects.

The Women's Clinic is probably one of the more fulfilling climbing experiences I've had. I'm looking forward to setting new boulder problems for the next series; after giving this first clinic, I have a lot more insight as to what new boulderers need to be introduced to off the cuff.

I had a moment during one of the clinics where I was working individually with a girl named Kerry, who is very new to bouldering; we were working on a V0 that I set and as I was giving her beta and she was linking up all the moves, I realized that on almost every problem we worked on throughout the clinic, she climbed with the same beta I would have used. Our only real difference is that I boulder constantly so I have more strength than she does, and she has the same anxiety that I had for almost a year when I was climbing. But seeing that she has ability to pull technical moves as long as she has the right beta, as well as the focus to work one to two moves over and over again...well, I hate to sound corny, but it reminded me of what I loved about bouldering when I first started. The only real challenge was for me to try to remember my strength while giving her beta; it's more difficult to remember what I can do powerfully and how much I might rely on that versus the strength of a new climber.

The next series is scheduled for July/August. The dates are 7/22, 7/29 and 8/5. The clinics all start at 6:30 PM and we climb til 8; they are free for Go Vertical members and $6 for non-members, which is a DEAL. To register, please email me directly at avuocolo@gmail.com. It's totally worth your time, I promise.

Yours Truly doing her best at delivering the right beta, photo by Alex Linne

Quick Post on Bouldering at Gunks...

So I went bouldering at the Gunks today for the first time, and man, on Carriage Road (also called Trapps Area) I just couldn't find anything inspiring except for a problem that was way out of my league. So I spent most of the day working like 2 moves on a V8, but I found it fun. Thin and kind of heinous crimps on a nice arete with some fat pinches, I was just dying to test my contact strength on something serious outside.

photo by Katie Levy

Well, I didn't know it was a V8 until later in the session. My friend Mat Underwood walked up to it and pulled through most of it without much effort, but was apparently too burned out to work it. I think part of it was a psych-out on his part because after he had given up, we found out that he thought it was a V4 and I think his assumed rating caused him feel weak rather than realize he was actually climbing really strong.

Again, this feeds my ongoing tangent about ratings and how disappointing it is that climbers can become mentally committed to or dismissive of a problem one way or another based solely on the problem's rating.

But that's for another blog post.

Anyway, I found a vid of the problem with two ways that it can go down. I have most of the beta sorted out already. I just have a few more years of solid climbing to get done so I can eventually send this thing as well as these guys do:

More on the Gunks to come, too. I'd like to get the hell off Carriage Road next time and over to Peter's Kill to try to find some different climbs:

If anyone knows the name of the problem towards the end of the video, please let me know. It looks like fun.

Also, I'd like to get back there when the friction is high, because man, that Gunks' conglomorate is awfully slippery when it's 70 degrees and sunny. Otherwise, it was a freaking beautiful day to be on that mountain preserve and out of Philly.

Schist Storm

One of the major letdowns of getting into climbing while living in Philadelphia is the total lack of good outdoor routes and bouldering areas in and around the city. On the other hand, there are good bouldering areas that range from 1.5-4 hours away, such as Haycock Mountain in Nockamixon State Park, PA; Mt. Gretna, PA; and the newly re-opened Governer's Stable, PA. But, like I said, in and around the city...you're sort of left making the best of a bunch of random sharp, wet boulders along the Wissahickon Creek, of which I refer to as The Schist Storm.

First of all, if you try to look anything up online about the bouldering at Wissahickon, you'll come across two different areas. One area is called Forbidden Drive, which refers to the bike path that runs along the creek. The other is an area called Livsey Rock, which is off of Livsey Drive in Northeast Philadelphia, about 10-12 minutes off of Roosevelt Boulevard.

On Forbidden Drive, the bouldering experience is strange. For one thing, you're climbing directly on the bike path. You put your pads on the path, and half of the responsibility of your spotter is to watch for cyclists approaching who are either a) new to the path and not expecting to see people climbing and possibly falling into them or b) aggressive and irritated about the climbing and looking to plow you down. As for the climbs themselves, they sort of range between sharp slightly overhung problems with lots of traverses or, further down the path, some alright high slab to play around on. I've also heard there's even more, but I have yet to actually find it. On the bike path, you're actually bouldering on these rock faces that look like they appeared either due to erosion (the ground on the other side of the path continues to drop down towards the creek) or cutting that took place when the path was made. The rock here is usually pretty wet; these aren't freestanding boulders, but sort of a series of rock walls with grassy tops where, further up the hill still, sit some houses. Hence the runoff and wet rock.

I've climbed at Forbidden Drive once or twice. It's a great place to meet other climbers, and if you catch one or two locals, they'll show you the decent problems. I haven't fallen in love with anything here, but being that it's close to the creek and in the woods sorta, it's a nice place to escape the city on a nice day. I've also heard rumours of the cats at Fairmount Park allowing climbers to bolt and/or set up permanent anchors on a taller rock face that you'll see as you enter Forbidden Drive. It's a pretty flat wall, but it looks chock full of slopers. It may be the city's best outdoor pump fest yet.

Livsey Rock has a nickname that my friend Bryce clued me into, "Livsey Let-Down". I think the nickname was born partially because the area consists of only two boulders. One is the taller rock called "Livsey Rock", which is somewhere between 30-35 feet with anchors set up on top for top rope. The climbs range anywhere from 5.8-5.10, and maybe with some variations you could find a 5.11a or something.

One of my first rope climbing experiences was on the aforementioned rock, and, like Forbidden Drive, there's a few feet of flat ground below the rock and then a pretty steep drop off to the creek. So it's funny, you don't really want to drop anything off the top off the rock while you're setting up your anchoring system because it falls way, way down, far from where you are. The group of dudes that I went there with, who, within the climbing community have been dubbed "The Boy Band", thought their brand new rope was set up properly to the anchors and they got ready to drop the rope down to the belayers on the ground below; someone yelled "Rope!" and they tossed it over the ledge, and over it went, not attached to anything and down it flew, down the drop off, towards the creek, and it took like 15 minutes to get it back up to the rock again. Meanwhile, the Boy Band took turns blaming each other for the mistake, like "Dude, why would you chuck the rope off the side like that?! God!"

And, the top roping is sort of boring. And the rock is really cold in January, like most rock is.

A little ways down the drop off below Livsey Rock, the ground flattens out as you get closer to the creek, and there's a decent sized boulder with a short steep roof where you can find 4-5 problems, most of which are variations of one obvious line. Those problems seem to range from V4-V2, and they start on this hold

When I was there, I saw a few chalk marks off to the right of this problem on some thin but cool-looking holds, and after sitting under the roof on those thin holds, the problem looked like it was somewhere at V7 maybe. But who knows, I'm not great at rating outdoor climbs without trying them, and I couldn't even get off the ground on this one. There are also some problems along the creek-facing side of the boulder as well, mostly on slopers and jugs, mostly warm-ups. I had checked out this boulder after the unfufilling afternoon of top roping last year, and I came back this winter to see what the problems felt like after a little more climbing experience under my belt.

Livsey was a great place to go this winter on one of those weird, unsettling global-warming summer days in February. I skipped out of work early and called my good friend Carmella and, while these problems are in no way epic, it was great to just rent a car for the afternoon, drive 20 minutes through the city to Fairmount Park and climb outside by the creek in the sunshine for a few hours until the sun went down. Here are some shots of the great Livsey Variation (unofficial name, I have no idea what any of the problems here are called or rated)

Carmella tearing it up

Me feelin the summer winter day

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And yes, I find the name "Schist Storm" appropriate when referring to the entire Wissahickon climbing area/experience. For one, most of the problems are only as fun as you will them to be. If you're looking for something 3-star, or something like Mandala, then you're S.O.L.

Also, the rock is something specific to this area of Philadelphia. It's referred to as "Wissahickon Schist" and nearly all of the stone houses in the surrounding neighborhoods are built from it (I went to a wedding last fall in Germantown in a stone house made from this schist, and damn, it was a freaking beautiful place). At the risk of sounding like I'm plagarizing a scientific article because I know very little about all things geological (but I'm hoping to learn more) the Friends of the Wissahickon site describes the rock as such

Wissahickon schist and quartzite are metamorphic rocks formed from sedimentary deposits of mud and sand that at one time were washed off very ancient continents into a shallow sea. These sedimentary deposits were compressed into shale and sandstone. During the long periods of mountain building, the shale and sandstone were slowly transformed into the schist and quartzite we find today. In some places, the compression and heat were extreme enough to fuse the schist with emerging igneous rocks into hard- banded gneiss.(http://www.fow.org/geo.php)

The article goes on to state that the schist is full of small minerals and crystals which give the rock a varied surface, but it also can do a number on your fingers and hands depending on which boulder you get on. Also, something unique about the schist is the way the rock forms, as described further down in the same article

One of the most fascinating aspects of Wissahickon geology is the wide variety in rock form and substance that can be seen within a short distance. Some rocks have been folded as though they were made of putty while others have been cracked into huge blocks during long periods of compression. A few feet away from rocks that can be scratched with a fingernail can be found rocky ledges so hard they can barely be marked with a steel nail. Weathering may leave one exposure smooth and rounded while nearby the rocks may be towering and flat,craggy or rough. One can't help but wonder about the tumultuous forces within the earth's crust producing this great variety.

Yes, "one can't help but wonder". If you are, however, interested in reading more about the subject of Wissahickon Schist and the features there, Sarah West has an essay available online called "Gems of the Wissahickon".

Seriously, though, I'll take it. I'd boulder again at Livsey when the mood strikes. The area is good for one of those days when you wanna climb, but you also kind of just feel like hanging out outside somewhere and you don't want to get too serious about life.

As for right now, though, I'm feeling pretty serious about life, and I'm waiting for my friend Bryce to pick me up for a trip to the Gunks. I'm really excited. I have to say, while I don't like saying bad things about the city I'm living in, it's really nice to get to somewhere with real rock formations.

On the Subject of Getting Stronger...

I've been trying my hardest to get more girls into bouldering at my gym. And you know, as I'm finding out, a lot of girls want to boulder. I think it's just hard to throw yourself into those first two or three months of feeling like a spaz on the bouldering wall in front of a lot of strong dudes, or to have any idea how to climb the unforgiving diabase boulders in the PA/NJ area as a beginner, as a woman without a lot of upper-body and/or hand strength.

At the same time, I dislike the "girl climber" mentality of "it's OK, you don't have to go for it" or "it's OK, that move will only go if you're way burly" and the like. A good friend of mine prefers to climb with men because she finds this quitter-attitude with the women in her immediate climbing community off-putting and uninspiring. I can understand her choice completely; I've been climbing (bouldering primarily, it's my climbing of choice) with mostly dudes too for similiar reasons.

However, I find it frustrating to only boulder with men. I guess because of testosterone, men get stronger more quickly than women. And, more often than not, they don't have a great understanding of their contact strength, arm strength, and pure power in general, and then the old "dude beta" vs "girl beta" discussion ensues, and I'm usually left feeling like I'm either making excuses as to why I can't pull a move or that I just need to get stronger because I'm the weakest climber in the bunch. Not to say that these feelings don't inspire me to get stronger--they totally do.

But it's freaking fun to boulder with girls that can work the same problems as you. It's an awesome feeling to be the only person in a group of climbers that can understand why this one girl can't start a problem the same way everyone else can and then give her the right beta. I'm a new climber myself, and I often wish there were other girl climbers around me that climbed the upper-single digits or double-digits so I could learn technique from watching them climb.

But hey, you play the hand you're dealt. So I started this Women's Bouldering Clinic at my gym. I'm going to post more about the series as more classes take place, but so far it's been fun. I mean, the point is ultimately for more women to boulder together; if I can teach beginner boulderers about lock-offs and problem-reading and all that other stuff and they can actually apply it, that's great too. It's been a great experience so far. I had a student send me a message on Facebook telling me she got further on a VO in our steep ass cave because of what we went over in class. I had another student, who also happens to be a friend of mine, tell me that she is stoked on bouldering again (she had the lucky opportunity to boulder with friends at Joshua Tree six years ago when she lived in CA) and overall, my girls seemed excited to come back to class this week to practice technique.

So, we'll see what happens...

Spring Training

It's the end of April and it's 80 degrees in Philadelphia. Seriously, too much too soon. My forearms are stuck to my desk as I type. My dogs are panting helplessly, stretched out on the bedroom floor, and there's not even kind of a breeze coming in my bedroom window. I can't figure out how to turn on my ceiling fan. I've been carrying out an argument with myself for the past half an hour as to whether or not I should cut all of my hair short; who needs the extra brain insulation, right?? And, most of all, I'm still planning on going to my gym to seriously start my new "Spring" training schedule.

I seriously envy the climbers who aren't stuck in an atmospherically suffering city. I envy those with boulders just a short ride away, I envy those with gyms with new holds that aren't covered in ten years of hand slime and shoe rubber, impossible to use well once the humidity rises and the heat rolls in. Christ, the humidity.

Climbing at my local gym (and I mean really local, it's like a 15 minute walk from my building) is like climbing in an old, stuffy salt depository, down by the river, one with no breathable air and no insulation, with birds living in the rafters. Oh wait, that is my gym.

And man, all of us members have been complaining about this forever--our gym is really difficult to train in. My boyfriend and I, in our spare time, have been getting our loft ready to build our own woody/training wall because training at our gym can be very frustrating.

Regardless, I'm starting today.

For the past month, I've been on a diet to shed some pounds so I can lift myself up and through my climbs more efficiently. The whole weight loss game, I feel, can be a dangerous ground to tread on, so I'm trying to take a good approach. In addition to getting a membership to an actual gym (yes, I pay two membership fees, it's crazy but hey, I cut costs in other areas so I can be happy...is that so bad?) I follow a pretty strict calorie-counting diet. However, every third week, I let myself have a week of not following the diet too closely. I know, it sounds like I'm inconsistent; in reality, I'm a 5'6, 132-lb female who climbs 4 times a week. To be honest, I'm afraid that if I lose weight too quickly, I'll lose the muscle I'm gaining. So far, over three weeks, I've lost 2.5 pounds. I really only want to lose seven pounds total, so I think I'm doing alright.

So, tonight, I'm going to re-start the climbing gym training I started in January before I injured my shoulder. Hard bouldering for 2 hours after a good 30-minute warm up, with 30 minutes of 15-30 move sequences (depending on what wall I'm on), taking short rests in between. Then I finish the session with three sets of sit-ups, three sets of slow push-ups, and good stretching. And then I'll see where it goes from there.

Oh yeah, and WATER.

I'm trying to rope my buddy Katie Levy into doing this training thing with me. We have a lot of conversations about our climbing moods and, like most climbers, we feel like shit when we aren't climbing strong. Our boyfriends flash our projects (which isn't their fault) and it makes us feel weak. This topic deserves it's own separate blog post, but thinking back to when Katie first told me that she feels the same frustration I do by being out-climbed by her significant other, I knew that she was exactly the person I should train with. I'm also a little jealous of the training-buddy relationship that Flannery Shay-Nemirow and Sarah Marvez have.

So it's a back-on-the-diet week, I'm counting my calories, I'm trying to get stoked on training while sweating sitting in one spot. I'm listening to my neighbors giggling in their lawn chairs on their roof deck while they smoke cigarettes and drink some kinda vacation mixers on a Monday afternoon. I guess everyone has their summer-day priorities.