competition climbing

8/3/2019 Competition Climbing

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COMPETITION CLIMBING

By Malcolm Kent

For some the idea of mixed climbing competitions or climbing competitions in general is a taboo

subject. In the area of mixed ice climbing, I say to these cynics... get over yourselves! Quite simply

put. The best climbers in the world from Haston to Gadd to Berger to Anthamatten to Bendler have

all got stuck into big comps. So if you are willing to give them a crack and better still you are

motivated to try and do really well in a competition, then the following 'brain dump' will be of use to

you (I hope!).

I'm not sitting here as the worlds best competition climber and if I was the world champion I'd

probably not have the time or conviction to bother writing a piece like this. Instead I'm someone

that has plenty of competition experience, someone that has made all the mistakes and someonethat has now finally learned what is needed to get the best performance. I have watched the best in

the world during their training and preparation and during their performances in the competitions.

I've observed amazing climbers performing really poorly in comps and lesser climbers who have

climbed out of their skins when it really mattered. And the following is my way of summarising what

I've learned from these experiences as concisely as possible.

Of course the competition doesn't just start when you rock up at the venue. It starts at a mental

level from the time the idea of the comp gets into your head. I spoke to Will Gadd on the subject

recently and he talked a lot about smoothing out the jump between training and competition day.

And because I believe him, I would advocate this as the overriding rule number one of performing

well. Simply.... train like you want to compete and compete like you have trained. But let's get away

from the philosophy side and throw down some specifics instead.

Leading up to the competition:

Do your homework. Figure out what the comp format will be, what surface the routes will be set on,

how many qualifying routes there will be, how many people will qualify for the finals etc. Get hold of

schedule as early as possible and look out for the isolation periods and the breaks between routes.

Even better nowadays with current technology, google and youtube any videos and photos you canfind of the comp from previous years. It's all about mental preparation and keeping your mind clear

on comp day. To achieve this you need to avoid being distracted by things you hadn't anticipated.

Keeping you focused only on performing.

During your training in the run up to the comp, start putting yourself under more pressure. Try to

climb problems and circuits within set time limits and then make the time limits gradually shorter.

Practise onsighting by setting new circuits each time. Better still get a friend to set you new circuits

when you train and get them to push you to your maximum level. Mentally it is good to start

building up a routine at least 2 weeks before the event as well. This routine should start as soon as

you arrive. Through your stretching, warm-up and into your hardest circuit.


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When you're under serious time pressure, you have to just go for it and let your training and your

subconscious guide you through. Any hesitation and any doubt, will hold you back. It's better to go

all out and have a shot at winning than to cruise carefully and ensure a mediocre result. Even if the

all out approach has risks of falling off or getting pumped early. This is not easily mastered and

probably requires some competition experience first. There are plenty of Bruce Lee texts and a great

book by Arno Ilgner called 'The rock warriors way' that explain this fine balance between arousal and

anxiety. Somewhere in this balance is the perfect mindset.

Whether your comp has an isolation period or not, your build up should start with the same routine

that you have used in your training. This will get you perfectly warmed up but also relax and tune in

the mind. Sometimes if the climbing starts early in the morning, I go for a 20min run after waking up.

This relaxes the early morning tension you get from sleeping and an added bonus is that you get

your heart rate up and so better prepare your body for the work it will do later.

If your competition climbing involves a route preview, you must prepare for it. Have a helmet, a tool,pen, paper and binoculars ready to go. When at the route, try the first holds initially from the

ground, then visualise the moves to the top. Look for any crux holds or sequences. Draw the basics

of the route on your paper, noting the longer moves. Then before leaving, run through the moves of

the route in fast forward from start to finish. Of course you will ultimately never remember every

individual hold when you come to climb, but having a rough idea about the tough sections or the

difficult clips will help a lot. The key with this is, get a visual picture in your mind, but keep it rough,

so that you are still able to be flexible to react to changes on the route if they happen.

In the last ten to twenty minutes before climbing I always try to keep myself subtly occupied. Always

focusing on tasks and never getting distracted or even worse starting to think about what might

happen on the route and what ranking I might get. Two things are givens: it's too late to change

anything now and you can't affect how anyone else does, because that's in their hands. A few

minutes before heading to the route it's good to run through the visual picture from the route

preview one final time. And when you are doing it, imagine how it will feel, imagine yourself

climbing well through the cruxes and imagine it all at the realistic speed.

When it's game time:

So you walk out to the route, warmed up, focused and ready to climb. Now you just have to ignore

all distractions and do things at your own speed. Place your tools, tie in and throw away your jacket.

Circle your arms, flex your fingers and take a nice full breath. And then set about giving a textbook

demonstration of how the route should be climbed! During the climbing it is good to be doing the

following.

Climbing faster through the easier sections to allow more time later on.

Trusting your judgement and subconscious to make the right instinctive decisions about moves.

Maintaining a rhythm and flow through the moves utilising natural momentum as much as possible.There is a great section on this in Dave Macleod's book '9 out 10 climbers....'.


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Setting up for the big moves before you get there and ensuring that you send them first go.

Breathing rhythmically through the route and continually shaking out as you would in training.

And if you hear a shout of 1min left, don't panic but still react and speed yourself up in a composed

way.

Overall I'd liken the successful competition mindset to being fired up and aggressive but having that

feeling well under control. It's as if you have excess energy and you want to burst out and do some

one arm pull-ups, but instead you keep the animal locked up, only releasing it in doses when a hard

move presents itself on the route. Meanwhile for the rest of the route you remain calm, relaxed and

composed, like a robotic machine. In this way mind and body will be a tight unit, working together

effectively, with neither one of them getting ahead of the other.

Overall in the bigger picture, expect a bunch of crappy results and expect the inevitable low that

follows a poor result. Jerry Moffat wrote a really inspiring section about his early days in comps in his

book 'Revelations'. He didn't given in and learned the art of competitions so that he too could excel

at them. And he showed that when it all clicks, you will get on a role and keep doing well over and

over.

I could discuss what to eat and drink for a competition but this exercise would be pointless as

everyone is different in this way. For some, it has to be a can of red bull beforehand. For others just

coffee and water is enough. Whatever you do, it's always best to get it into your routine first during

training and maximise whatever works best for you when you are preparing for the comp. I'm yet to

see anyone climb at their best after 10 shots of Jaegermeister!

Markus visualising the sequence on a route.
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The competitors. All shapes, sizes and countries.

Time to climb and put it all into action.

And whens it's all over, make sure you can still laugh.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op3TnbF3I_0/S3g9mEj8CpI/AAAAAAAACFE/m8Rw13WbW7g/s1600-h/Untitled+3.jpghttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op3TnbF3I_0/S3g9tG7ZAsI/AAAAAAAACFM/1vmX_1DZeK0/s1600-h/Untitled+5.jpghttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op3TnbF3I_0/S3g9f1LAuxI/AAAAAAAACE8/ApGwauqt8KU/s1600-h/Untitled+2.jpg


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Beware the photographers. They can make you look great or equally rubbish.
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