Robbie's Coaching

Last night was me, Jamie and Abi's coaching session with Robbie. We were all pretty psyched for this because we know his sessions are usually "a muerte!" and that we manage our best grades whilst climbing with him. This was probably my best session with Robbie as I think he managed to get me up climbs I otherwise wouldn't of even thought of trying.

We started of by being given routes Robbie wanted us to try and onsight. Jamie and Abi had the purple n the old comp wall and I had the yellow. As this was an onsight attempt Jamie had to stay in the bouldering room whilst Abi climbed, this gave us the chance to get warmed up and psyched for the onsight attempts. After we were warmed up it was Jamie's turn to try the purple, which was graded at 6c. It looked like it had some really tricky moves in it and a very powerful roof. Although none of this affected Jamie and he breezed the onsight.

It was then my turn to try the Yellow 7a+, if I managed it, it would be my best onsight grade at ratho. Robbie went over different onsight techniques like making sure my shoes were tight and that my figure of eight knot was right so that whilst climbing I would know nothing was wrong. We then went over route-mapping and I took a while to look over the route. I managed the first few clips well then I found a good rest before moving onto what looked like the crux of the climb. I moved through it trying to believe in myself that i was capable of doing it, finding rests where possible. I got past this part and all that lay ahead of me after this was the roof and up to the finish. I got onto the roof and rested on the jugs before reaching above and onto the sloper above it. As soon as i grabbed the sloper I freaked out and couldn't move off of it, not knowning what the next hold was like. I thought about clipping off the sloper but by this time I was pumped and had to ask Robbie to take. This was really annoying, being so close to the end then messing up because of what was going on in my head. Robbie talked to me about this and after I felt like I was ready for my next onsight attempt, the blue 7b+ on the old comp wall.

I stayed warm whilst the others tried their next onsight attempts and route-mapped the blue. When it was ready to try it I went over everything in my head, shoes, chalk, knot and looked at how I would clip the first few clips. I then started and found the first few clips okay. The next part was on a slight slope and this was the part I wanted to get past. It wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be and I got passed this part and onto the crimps above it. I then moved up a few clips above and moved out to small undercut with my left hand. I gripped it then my left foot popped and I came off. I was gutted, this was the best I had felt on anything graded above 7b and my foot had popped. I was completely un-psyched after this but after another talk with Robbie I was thinking about trying it again later on in the night.

Near the end of the session I decided to try the blue again since i was back into the right frame of mind. I got the same part again quite easily this time and moved out to the undercut making sure this time that my foot was firmly on the wall. I moved past this and onto the crimps on the arete. When I grabbed this I wasn't sure where to go and didn't want to move off it. My arms soon got pumped and again my head was running through lots of thought that could happen if I missed this next hold. I fell off here. Again my head had stopped me from going "a muerte" This is something I am going to have to work on as Im sure I can improve once getting over this.

This was a really productive session, nearly getting my best onsight at Ratho and doing well on a 7b+. I am now looking forward to the second heat of the YCS on Saturday and our next training session.