[Jr_Bullit]

Mornin!

I was wondering if any of y'all have visited/spent time at Cascade Crags up in Everett. I was thinking about going bouldering tonight there, but wanted to know how busy I can expect a Friday afternoon/evening to be.

Is the bouldering there decent? Hard to tell from the online pictures

Thanks!

Jr

 

[HippieKai]

i know a dude that works there and he thinks it's nice, but he may have a biased opinion

 

[toughguymagee]

Its a pretty decent bouldering gym. I dont know how many people to expect there on a Friday night, but you should have a good training session there.

 

[Jr_Bullit]

Originally posted by toughguymagee
Its a pretty decent bouldering gym. I dont know how many people to expect there on a Friday night, but you should have a good training session there.

Hah! Training...pffft... I'm still working on V.0/1 sometimes a 2 level...

But either way...my skills need some work!

 

[bikeguy100k]

Go to Stone Gardens in Ballard. It's way better! And, there are many V0/1's for you to send!

It can be a zoo some nights. I go once a week or so and it's never busy on the Mon-Wed nights I can get free. This will soon change though, so look out 5.11a! :devil:

 

[Jr_Bullit]

Originally posted by bikeguy100k
Go to Stone Gardens in Ballard. It's way better! And, there are many V0/1's for you to send!

It can be a zoo some nights. I go once a week or so and it's never busy on the Mon-Wed nights I can get free. This will soon change though, so look out 5.11a! :devil:

Actually, even though I've heard of Stone Gardens, I had tons of fun at the nearby gym . I'm pretty much only bouldering as I go by myself to the gym. If I climb it's usually with Steve, though he's encouraging me to get my belaying practice in as much as possible The Grigri spoils us so!

I'll check out Stone Gardens too, but for my purposes which is to work on technique and strength when not outdoors with Steve, I think Cascade Crags has more than enough!

 

[Five]

GriGri's are awesome.

 

[toughguymagee]

Originally posted by bikeguy100k
so look out 5.11a! :devil:

The best outdoor route that i ever climbed was a 5.11b. That was a long time ago when I was climbing 3-5 days a week and was not fat.

I have been thinking about getting back into climbing to build strength for riding. I have a Metolius Simularor http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/simulator.htm at home but have yet to install it.

 

[Jr_Bullit]

Originally posted by toughguymagee
The best outdoor route that i ever climbed was a 5.11b. That was a long time ago when I was climbing 3-5 days a week and was not fat.

I have been thinking about getting back into climbing to build strength for riding. I have a Metolius Simularor http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/simulator.htm at home but have yet to install it.

They had one of those things at the gym up in Canada....looks more like work rather than fun . I'd rather boulder for an afternoon and work on my strength that way, then practice finger hangs ...

But then again...I'm awful at it, so all I'm doing with climbing is fun...hehe

 

[bikeguy100k]

Originally posted by toughguymagee
The best outdoor route that i ever climbed was a 5.11b. That was a long time ago when I was climbing 3-5 days a week and was not fat.

I have been thinking about getting back into climbing to build strength for riding. I have a Metolius Simularor http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/simulator.htm at home but have yet to install it.

My best onsight was 11a and my best redpoint was 11b. Nowadays I can climb solidly in the low 10's, although I'm not in shape for climbing. I will be hitting the gym more because I was really at my best when I was climbing a lot.

The thing I really enjoyed about climbing was the perfect blend of physical and mental activity. I truly saw no reason I couldn't climb into the 13a-b range.

I may get a hang noard in the future, but I have to be careful with my tendons. I got tendonitis in my elbows and had to take about 6 or more weeks off. I would still climb, but would only do low angle walls that I could palm the wall and just use my feet. Talk about making one use their feet better!

As for climbing to make riding better? I was definitely much stronger when I got into DH riding after climbing. We should meet up at the gym sometime! Two old, fat guys flailing their way up the walls! Talk about amusing! :devil:

 

[Honeywell]

How's the fake ice climbing wall there? Looks like it could be fun.

 

[Jr_Bullit]

Originally posted by Honeywell
How's the fake ice climbing wall there? Looks like it could be fun.

Y'know...I didn't even go into that part of the gym. A friend invited me to go once...but seeing as I have no desire to go hacking massive picks into real ice any time soon...I'll stick to the stuff that seems more...well...applicable I'll have to check that out one of these days.

(That and I'm having way too much fun just hanging upside down from holds )

 

[toughguymagee]

Originally posted by bikeguy100k
I may get a hang noard in the future, but I have to be careful with my tendons. I got tendonitis in my elbows and had to take about 6 or more weeks off. I would still climb, but would only do low angle walls that I could palm the wall and just use my feet. Talk about making one use their feet better!

As for climbing to make riding better? I was definitely much stronger when I got into DH riding after climbing. We should meet up at the gym sometime! Two old, fat guys flailing their way up the walls! Talk about amusing! :devil:

Yeah, you have to build the connective tissue slowly. It grows slowly and once injured, it heals even more slowly. I am game for doing some bouldering. I dont even know if my shoes or harness fit anymore; might need to go buy new stuff.

 

[ggrubb]

I climbed the wall on one of the Royal Carribean ships. Actually I made it about 10 feet up, and then they hauled me the rest of the way up yelling encouraging things. Sometimes it just pays to sit, drink and watch others.

 

[Jr_Bullit]

Originally posted by ggrubb
I climbed the wall on one of the Royal Carribean ships. Actually I made it about 10 feet up, and then they hauled me the rest of the way up yelling encouraging things. Sometimes it just pays to sit, drink and watch others.

That sounds like me the first few times Steve took me climbing!!!

After a few scared half-climbs though I started to pull my own weight Now I'm just trying to work on strength and technique when we're not outdoors, because the fear part is just going to take me a while to shake .

 

[moondog]

Stone Gardens is a great gym, especially for bouldering (which is my personal favorite form of climbing). As far as climbing gyms go though, I think they are only worth going to if it's local. Not that I go anymore. Seems like I'm looking to biking more to get my adrenaline fix lately. I really enjoyed climbing when I was doing it more, but that's probably because I was good at it. I wish I was as good at biking!

If you haven't done much or any lead climbing I would say push yourself to get to that point. The sport completely changes when you get on the sharp end of the rope!

 

[Jr_Bullit]

Originally posted by moondog
Stone Gardens is a great gym, especially for bouldering (which is my personal favorite form of climbing). As far as climbing gyms go though, I think they are only worth going to if it's local. Not that I go anymore. Seems like I'm looking to biking more to get my adrenaline fix lately. I really enjoyed climbing when I was doing it more, but that's probably because I was good at it. I wish I was as good at biking!

If you haven't done much or any lead climbing I would say push yourself to get to that point. The sport completely changes when you get on the sharp end of the rope!

Yeah - for gyms I'm probably gonna stay local. Gas is too spendy right now for doing more than that!

Steve ropeguns for me for now, I lead belay him when we're outdoors, but I'm not ready to lead my own route. When it's time, I will - have no doubt! Right now though, I'm still learning to "trust" the system. It seems like there are so many options for types of climbs once you get to a certain level - sport climbing, trad climbing, etc etc that I really wanna push until I get to the point that I'm not the reason we're holding back and climbing only in certain areas .