Smells Like Teen Spirit...

You sure everyone said they were here...!?

Anyone who knows me or has seen the picture of me in my first post (you know the one of the handsome guy), may have realised (I have been told I look older) I'm a teenager (However normally I'm told I look younger), and recently I have been pondering why I know so few teenagers older than 16 down at my local centre.

Up to the age of 16, there are plenty of young climbers because climbing centres run clubs, but after this age many tend to drop off the radar. But why? (Clearly not because they are spending hours looking at funny cat pictures.)

The Adam Ondra Phenomena

Adam on Le Planta De Shiva
one of the five 9b routes he has done

Adam Ondra is undoubtedly one of the worlds top climbers and arguably the best, but why? How has the 19 year old made it to the top of the climbing world?

So for those of you who don't know who Ondra is, let me give you a quick bio:

Born in the Czech Republic (Brno to be precise) on February 5th 1993, he began climbing at 6 and managed to lead 6a in the same year, then by the age of 8 he had successfully on sighted 7b+. The grades keep going up until he hits fame in the magazines in 2005 at the age of 12 for on sighting 8b. Ondra climbs his first 9a in 2006 and in March 2011 he became the second person ever to on sight 8c+ (Kidetasunaren balio erantsia) just under a month after leading 9b (La Capella) and has since on sighted a further 6 8c+'s. For those of you interested in bouldering he put 2 8c's(V16) under his belt in November 2011 (Big Paw and From Dirt Grow the Flowers).

His competition career has been pretty much the same story of success and he has won a number of events and is the first person to have won both the IFSC Bouldering World Cup and the IFSC Lead World Cup.

If you want a more detailed bio I'd recommend reading his Wikipedia page, his unofficial website or watching the Wizard's Apprentice.

Monkey Sells Rock Climbing (Part 1)

£10 a rock climb, get 'em while they're ripe!

This article was going to be along the lines of "Is Rock Climbing Right For Me?" But let's be honest here, when was the last time one of your friends said, "I was thinking about doing rock climbing, what do you reckon?"

... I'll tell you when. NEVER!

Admit it, the conversation usually goes more like this:

"Sorry, I can't come with you to the Pencil History Museum this weekend. I'm doing something more worthwhile - like rock climbing. You should come along!"

"Rock climbing? But I'd never have imagined you as a climber! Alas, such exciting sport is out of my grasp, my arms are simply too feeble for something like that."

Monkey is a Pervert

Caught black and white handed.

If you don't already know, I have a large stash of personal videos that I share on the internet.

What you probably didn't know (but possibly suspected) is that I also like to explore other people's stashes as well.

So what is it with my obsession of Rock Climbing videos?

Do I particularly like staring at my own arse for prolonged periods?

Do I frequently compare mine to other people's?

Monkey talks about Lead Climbing

Yep, not scary at all.

Let's get this straight, I'm a pussy. Lead fall practice is something I still suck at doing. I hate the rollercoaster rush, even if I feel obliged to jump on them to prove my manliness.

Almost every one will tell you that you need to practice enough falls to get the fear out of you. Get to the top of the wall, don't clip in at the screwgate and just jump.

When you fall enough times, you'll learn to trust the rope and the safety etc. You want to know your belay slave partner is good at their job as well to be confident with your falls.

I call bullshit on that theory.

Monkey thinks with his brain

So that's where all the climbers went.

Winter is a funny season. You've got the annual winter-clean for your bank account Christmas, snow, daylight saving, scarfs, Darwinian punishment for clubbers who don't believe in cloak rooms, and excessive consumption of food & drinks with people you see once a year. Happy days.

I have no data to validate this, but I'm confident staff at RedPoint would confirm that client level tends to dip with the temperature during the festive period.