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URBAN CLIMBER MAGAZINE - WORKSHOP
It's time to get crafty! UC's workshop is chock full of tips and projects to make you a stronger boulderer, smarter road tripper, a pro photog ...
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 Workshop #41 - Start the Send Train
So it’s that time again. Another weekend warrior sesh on the ol’ project, eh? Projecting hard routes can start to feel like you never left work. Throwing yourself at the same moves over and over again can fatigue the mind and body, causing a serious lack of gusto and putting a damper on your weekend retreats. If you’re ready to mark that route off your list of things to do, check out some Beta from a few top climbers.  Workshop #40 - Tools of the Trade
Ever wonder what goes into making the photos you see covering the pages of every magazine? Well, look no further. Cory Richards, a Boulder-based adventure photographer, recently packed his bags for a trip to Nepal to shoot and climb. What you see is what he took with him, all with handy descriptions, so you, too, can understand the gear that gives these photographers their edge when they push the shutter button each and every day.  Workshop #38 - Meals on Wheels
Cooking on the road can be a chore, but after a hard day of climbing you need to eat big and eat quick; a PB & J just won’t cut it. As plush as your truck’s tailgate may be, it’s no kitchen. After traveling around for years in my van, I’ve compiled and developed a handful of go-to recipes — they’re quick, simple, and healthy. These vegan meals are my favorites, not only for their health benefits, but also because they can easily be adjusted for larger groups...  WORKSHOP - #36 - CRAG COFFEE
GETTING A GOOD BREW — ANY PLACE, ANY TIME // Before heading out for a cold-weather climbing session, I always brew a thermos of hot coffee. For one thing, coffee (or any hot beverage for that matter) helps you feel warm. And of course, there’s the caffeine — about 100 mg per cup, give or take — which has been shown to increase alertness and improve athletic performance. (So great are the benefi ts that some scientific studies have even suggested banning caffeine use in competitions.)  WORKSHOP - #35 - LIVIN' THE DREAM
TRAVEL TIPS FOR THE MODERN-DAY DIRTBAG // I’ve been on the road for almost a year now — just me, my crash pad, a climbing rack, and two bicycles strapped to my grey Chevy Cavalier. I’m touring the western United States and climbing in epic zones like Red Rock, Nevada, and Joshua Tree and Yosemite, California. I haven’t had a proper “home base” since January (it’s October as I write this), and that’s fine with me. It’s a carefree lifestyle, but not all of my road trips have been so comfortable.  WORKSHOP - #34 - OUT OF THE BOX
VISUALIZING YOUR WAY TO BETTER MOVEMENT // If you’ve ever set routes in a gym or on your home wall, or even just made up a boulder problem by pointing out holds during a session with friends, you’ll know that creating interesting moves can be a challenge. Often, moves that seemed really cool as you turned the wrench or pointed to that next crimp ended up being repetitive or uninspiring when actually climbed.  WORKSHOP - #33 - TREADWALL TRAINING 101
You’re snowed in, rained out, or your local gym lacks the vertical real estate to get you into route shape. Or maybe you just can’t fi nd a partner willing to belay you on those marathon lap sessions….There are plenty of reasons to turn to a treadwall to train. These endlessly rotating climbing surfaces can give you the type of mileage formerly only available in Yosemite.  WORKSHOP - #31 - ACCESS-ORIZE
Simple ways to keep your crag open - Yo, they’re closing your crag! OK, not really — but they could. Who are they? They’re the landowners; the land managers; or the local, state, or federal government . . . any of a thousand people who have more say than you in the matter of climbing at your favorite crag. And why are they closing your crag? There are a thousand possible reasons — a new law on the books, liability fears, even someone with a bone to pick — but the only factor you have even the slightest bit of control over is you, which means you have to take a little responsibility for your actions at the crag.  WORKSHOP - #30 - GLASS CLASS
Six pro shooters drop photo knowledge for your domepiece - A lot of new shooters fail to "shoot through the play," as we call it in sports photography. You'll see someone snap a photo, get up, and stare at the back of his camera. Meanwhile, the climber goes flying off the climb and does three flips but the photographer misses the shot because he doesn't have his camera up.  WORKSHOP - #27 - VISUALIZATION
Visualization, or developing mental imagery of your climbing, is a powerful tool that can significantly affect climbing performance. Seeing yourself perform at a desired level or executing moves in your mind convinces the body that movements are possible, if not likely. When attempting to climb a route or bolder problem for the first time, visualization depends on the ability to sequence the moves of a climb.  WORKSHOP - #26 - HANG TIME
Fingerboard Basics, with Ben Moon - Fingerboards (AKA hangboards) are simple training devices: long, flat pieces of plastic or wood covered with hand holds (crimps, pockets, slopers, pinches, jugs) and bolted above a door or to a freestanding support. To train, climbers hang from fingerboards, with the ultimate goal of increasing maximum finger strength.  WORKSHOP - #25 - The Art of the second go
Words by Chris Lindner - If you haven’t figured it out by now, you’ll soon realize that sending routes near your limit is more about not messing up than anything else. Once you do the crux sequence wrong, your chances of sending drop drastically. And your original “all-out-onsight-burn” plan will end with you hanging at the second bolt, screaming, “Damn, this thing is hard!”  WORKSHOP - #24 - Flapper City
Just one more go – I know I can do this. Crimp, relax, cross through, pinch, wind up – c’mon... THROW! Got it! Nope, I’m off! Nooo! A huge, bloody flapper! Sound familiar? Most of us routinely wrestle with flappers, which occur when the top layers of your skin (there are five total) are pulled away from the bottom layers by a shearing force. Skin’s designed to do this as a way to limit damage when it snags.  WORKSHOP - #23 - Tails of the Bizzler
Despite what you might read in Juggs, humans aren’t actually endowed with tails. We do have a coccyx — the lower four vertebrae of our spinal column — but it’s just an attachment point for muscle, not a tool for motion and balance. However, if you watch a spider monkey, you’ll see that his tail is an integral part of his tree climbing, twining around branches so he can unweight the other limbs.  WORKSHOP - #22 - CRACK ATTACK
Horizontal cracks are a beautifully painful thing. It’s hardly natural to stick your hand in a rigid gap and hang your bodyweight on it. They’ll rip the skin off the back of your hands, torture rarely used muscles, and make your feet scream in agony. But after all is said and done, and your pus and blood oozing gobies have healed, you’ll have added another trick to your climbing arsenal (and one you’ll be glad to have someday, too).  WORKSHOP - #20 > Reaching the Point: Acupuncture for Climbing Injuries
Has your enthusiasm for climbing ever been dampened by a nagging injury? Have you wondered what you can do to recover besides ice and anti-inflammatories? Acupuncture may be the key to getting you back on those handholds. Acupuncture can speed up the body’s own healing processes and effectively treat both acute traumas and chronic overuse injuries.  WORKSHOP - #21 > Creating a Positive Feedback Loop
Words by Arno Ilgner - Recently I was teaching a class at the Obed climbing area in Tennessee. Despite the rain, the very steep Tierrany Wall was dry. Still, Michael King, one of my students, was feeling “cloudy” and unsure during his onsight attempt of a challenging route called Huecool Junior. He wanted to say “take” or grab a draw to escape the stress. So how can a climber like Mike let go of their doubts and stay committed? There are many factors that affect commitment; however, boiled down to the basics, it requires creating a positive feed back loop between body and mind. Let’s look deeper.  WORKSHOP - #19 - Yoga for the Slacking Climber
For the climber who is not fortunate enough to live out of her car at the base of endless rock faces and boulders, one might wonder what can be done to keep those uniquely trained climbing muscles in shape during the off season (or when you are simply stuck in NYC for too long). The answer is yoga. Many climbers can benefit by using it as a way to keep their body and mind in shape when they are away from the walls.  WORKSHOP - #18 - One man's key to sending
Climbing outside is about searching the depths of one’s deepest, most inner being and reconnecting with the Earth. It’s about making love to nature on a spiritual level, leaving behind all the suffocations of man's self-created materialistic existence and pursuing the quintessential being of our species. The primordial portal to this intangible realm of introspection begins with the rock.  WORKSHOP - #17 - Every Movement is a Lesson
As routesetters, we often get diverse reactions to our work. Climbers will love our route. Climbers will hate it. Some will think the moves are reachy. Others will think the moves are scrunchy. Climbers will say it was boring, or the crux sequence seemed out of place, or the holds were greasy, or it hurt their fingers or, rarely, that it flowed with perfection. |
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