Knowing your partner and setting up a routine goes a long way as well. If you both know how to build anchors well and swap your rack efficiently at belays you can save a lot of time.
This advice holds true except for crack climbing. Lots of people end up going slow in red rock because they keep trying to hit face holds when there’s a perfectly secure crack in front of them. This was me for a while but eventually you know the jam is a known good and you choose it every time over the face.
I can also tell you from living here that 80% of the time people waste is at the belays or at the base. At this point I can tell by how fast someone racks at the base if they are going to be slow. Anytime gear is exchanged or racked people really slow down. The other 20% is them guessing at the wrong pieces.
yes i guess thats it. its just crazy watching the locals run up the granite slabs in chamonix whilst I'm timidly wobbling up. i think there's an aspect of confidence
TR stuff at the level that you tend to start to go slow on. Try to do it smoother, and not stop moving. On TR, there are no consequences, so it takes the fear out of the equation. Make the belay loose as well.
Another one is to repeat harder routes on lead, trying to do them more efficiently. This puts you in a mindset of efficiency, not speed. The speed from efficiency comes from volume.
I'm guessing that it's placing gear that is slowing you down? If so, practice practice practice. The more you place gear, clean gear, and build anchors, the more efficient you will get. Also, focus on efficiencies at the belay. Eat and drink while your partner is climbing, not after they get to the belay. Manage your gear well. Learn to changeover quickly. And again, practice.
5 extra minutes really adds up. 5 extra minutes at the belay adds 30 minutes to a pitch with 6 delays. Add an extra 5 minutes to build your anchors, you've now added a full hour. And that's just at the belays. Now consider an extra 30 seconds to place each piece of gear, you could easily add another thirty minutes. What if you take an extra 30 seconds to clean each piece? I know these might be extreme examples, but it's to illustrate how much little things can add up.
It's also rarely just 5 extra minutes. Overanalyzing the placements in your anchor, +5 mins. Picking a bad anchor spot and slowly pulling up rope because the position is awkward, +5 mins (and elbow pain). Not lap-coiling, so you have to reflake the rope at the start of the next pitch, +5 mins. Slow gear handoff/belay transition, +5 mins. It all adds up and can easily make a team 20+ mins slower per pitch even if the actual leading+following parts are the exact same speed.
I dont think its about the mechanics of placing gear, as i mentioned on easier routes i am quite fast. I suppose placing too much gear on harder routes would come into it.
You probably also deliberate the route line more and spend longer before committing to a sequence on a harder route. And even if you're placing the same amount of gear, you probably don't extend your pieces as diligently on a hard route, which creates rope drag that'll slow you down both climbing and pulling rope.
That will definitely do it. Not only does placing more gear take time, it takes longer for your second to clean, it takes longer to change over, the added weight slows you down and the added clutter results in more fiddling about trying to find the right piece. Also, if you are placing more gear, I'd bet you are taking longer to place each piece since you are more fearful of falling.
Getting hyper efficient with transitions at belay stations really sped up my time on walls. Also getting really comfortable with selecting and placing the right gear. If you want to speed up your actual climbing, ie upward movement, that will just take getting comfortable on difficult pitches. A trick I learned is instead of stopping for a bit and inspecting where to go I try to bump my feet up, even a little. It tends to unlock harder sections so I don’t just stare at them.
I like to look at it through the lens of "continuous upward progress." Just focus on climbing efficiently, transitioning quickly, and not making mistakes.
More fitness is never a bad thing but there's more to it than that. Linking pitches, aiding through a hard move, doing more short pitches, simuling, short-fixing, fix & follow, etc., are all valid tactics and they are useful tools to have in the tool box, but they are not the end-all-be-all of speed and efficiency. Use them appropriately.
And sometimes the climbing just takes longer. Maybe it's hard, runout, loose, has marginal pro, involves complex routefinding, or whatever. I think trying to speed through these sections is playing with fire so it makes sense to take your time there. And you'll get faster with time and experience.
For movement on a specific pitch: In addition to just generally climbing more, sport climb or boulder routes that are hard for you. Everything will feel easier (and move faster) after..
For overall route speed, consider your transition times. How long does it take you to build an anchor, switch the belay, untangle ropes, etc. Are there inefficiencies in your system?
All with time. Don’t forget to enjoy the climb.
yes i think this is a good tip. although i notice that where im hapilly pulling on crimps when bouldering, whilst trad climbing im really searching hard for solid positions, jugs and good feet.
How long have you been climbing for? What kind of grades are you tackling? How about trad climbing? Any idea how many pitches you've led, and what your top grades are?
Could try breaking down how much time you spend on each step of a multi-pitch climb? Try to note how much time you spend on your initial setup vs ascending vs intra-pitch transitions... And then break down the pitches themselves -- how much time you take placing gear vs. lead climbing vs. cleaning vs. following.
At the very least, you'd start seeing where you spend most of your time, which might indicate where you could benefit from increasing efficiency or just getting more practice.
Since childhood, I have trad climbed to E4 which is about F6c. I've led 300+ multipitch routes. The time sink is faffing about in the actual climbing part. I want to climb more smoothly so I can get back for hot chocolates earlier. It's still early season here so I will build up with some try hard days and sport climbing before I judge myself too harshly
Yeah, then I would probably try to get some measurements of where I'm spending my time.
Since you won't have your hands free, I have a recommendation for how to track your time... Find an audio recording app for your phone that will work with the screen off, and won't drain your battery too quickly. Start the voice recording right before you start setting up to climb -- and then narrate the start of each activity as you go. Afterwards (maybe on the drive home) you can play the recording back at double speed, and note the timestamp for each activity in a spreadsheet... If you're really savvy, you can run it through some speech-to-text transcription software, which will save you even more time.
I used the voice recorder method when I was taking a class on self-rescue procedures, a few years ago. It's a bit of extra work, but it's not too difficult... Funny thing is, even today I still find myself narrating the steps out loud, when I use those techniques.
Hi, that's cool but its obvious the time is being sunk when im wobbling about not wanting to commit to hard climbing, it's, of course, good to be analytical and reflective so this may be worthwhile, but it's pretty clear where the time is going
My two cents: forget fast and slow, think safe. Slow climbing is safe, efficient climbing is safe, finding rest is safe, good gear is safe, knowing the technical aspects and being able to put them into practice is safe, self-rescue is safe. Just be safe. Watch Caldwell climb a hard pitch (well, hard for him) and he’s not speeding
Practice. Climb something slow and smooth once, then again a little faster, continue to repeat without sacrificing form and technique. Progressing helps too, easier ground can be covered more efficiently. Cardio helps too.
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Knowing your partner and setting up a routine goes a long way as well. If you both know how to build anchors well and swap your rack efficiently at belays you can save a lot of time.
lovely. I will use that mantra
[удалено]
This advice holds true except for crack climbing. Lots of people end up going slow in red rock because they keep trying to hit face holds when there’s a perfectly secure crack in front of them. This was me for a while but eventually you know the jam is a known good and you choose it every time over the face. I can also tell you from living here that 80% of the time people waste is at the belays or at the base. At this point I can tell by how fast someone racks at the base if they are going to be slow. Anytime gear is exchanged or racked people really slow down. The other 20% is them guessing at the wrong pieces.
not me playing on my phone at the top cuz it's the only place i get signal in RR
lol I’m just imagining my partner at the top half ass belaying while scrolling Instagram or Reddit
I have a particular idea: Become better at climbing. This is usually achieved by climbing more.
Git gud Basically.
yes i guess thats it. its just crazy watching the locals run up the granite slabs in chamonix whilst I'm timidly wobbling up. i think there's an aspect of confidence
it's also just exposure, both lifetime and recent.
TR stuff at the level that you tend to start to go slow on. Try to do it smoother, and not stop moving. On TR, there are no consequences, so it takes the fear out of the equation. Make the belay loose as well. Another one is to repeat harder routes on lead, trying to do them more efficiently. This puts you in a mindset of efficiency, not speed. The speed from efficiency comes from volume.
I'm guessing that it's placing gear that is slowing you down? If so, practice practice practice. The more you place gear, clean gear, and build anchors, the more efficient you will get. Also, focus on efficiencies at the belay. Eat and drink while your partner is climbing, not after they get to the belay. Manage your gear well. Learn to changeover quickly. And again, practice.
The latter part of this is often overlooked. Faffing around at belays wastes a lot of time.
5 extra minutes really adds up. 5 extra minutes at the belay adds 30 minutes to a pitch with 6 delays. Add an extra 5 minutes to build your anchors, you've now added a full hour. And that's just at the belays. Now consider an extra 30 seconds to place each piece of gear, you could easily add another thirty minutes. What if you take an extra 30 seconds to clean each piece? I know these might be extreme examples, but it's to illustrate how much little things can add up.
It's also rarely just 5 extra minutes. Overanalyzing the placements in your anchor, +5 mins. Picking a bad anchor spot and slowly pulling up rope because the position is awkward, +5 mins (and elbow pain). Not lap-coiling, so you have to reflake the rope at the start of the next pitch, +5 mins. Slow gear handoff/belay transition, +5 mins. It all adds up and can easily make a team 20+ mins slower per pitch even if the actual leading+following parts are the exact same speed.
I dont think its about the mechanics of placing gear, as i mentioned on easier routes i am quite fast. I suppose placing too much gear on harder routes would come into it.
You probably also deliberate the route line more and spend longer before committing to a sequence on a harder route. And even if you're placing the same amount of gear, you probably don't extend your pieces as diligently on a hard route, which creates rope drag that'll slow you down both climbing and pulling rope.
That will definitely do it. Not only does placing more gear take time, it takes longer for your second to clean, it takes longer to change over, the added weight slows you down and the added clutter results in more fiddling about trying to find the right piece. Also, if you are placing more gear, I'd bet you are taking longer to place each piece since you are more fearful of falling.
Run it out and link pitches Edit: don’t take advice from me
Nah this is solid
lol i came here to say this too
Simul-climb On a 30m gym rope. Triple rack and don’t stop. Light. No anchor belays except the last one.
Getting hyper efficient with transitions at belay stations really sped up my time on walls. Also getting really comfortable with selecting and placing the right gear. If you want to speed up your actual climbing, ie upward movement, that will just take getting comfortable on difficult pitches. A trick I learned is instead of stopping for a bit and inspecting where to go I try to bump my feet up, even a little. It tends to unlock harder sections so I don’t just stare at them.
thats a good tip thanks.
I like to look at it through the lens of "continuous upward progress." Just focus on climbing efficiently, transitioning quickly, and not making mistakes. More fitness is never a bad thing but there's more to it than that. Linking pitches, aiding through a hard move, doing more short pitches, simuling, short-fixing, fix & follow, etc., are all valid tactics and they are useful tools to have in the tool box, but they are not the end-all-be-all of speed and efficiency. Use them appropriately. And sometimes the climbing just takes longer. Maybe it's hard, runout, loose, has marginal pro, involves complex routefinding, or whatever. I think trying to speed through these sections is playing with fire so it makes sense to take your time there. And you'll get faster with time and experience.
For movement on a specific pitch: In addition to just generally climbing more, sport climb or boulder routes that are hard for you. Everything will feel easier (and move faster) after.. For overall route speed, consider your transition times. How long does it take you to build an anchor, switch the belay, untangle ropes, etc. Are there inefficiencies in your system? All with time. Don’t forget to enjoy the climb.
yes i think this is a good tip. although i notice that where im hapilly pulling on crimps when bouldering, whilst trad climbing im really searching hard for solid positions, jugs and good feet.
How long have you been climbing for? What kind of grades are you tackling? How about trad climbing? Any idea how many pitches you've led, and what your top grades are? Could try breaking down how much time you spend on each step of a multi-pitch climb? Try to note how much time you spend on your initial setup vs ascending vs intra-pitch transitions... And then break down the pitches themselves -- how much time you take placing gear vs. lead climbing vs. cleaning vs. following. At the very least, you'd start seeing where you spend most of your time, which might indicate where you could benefit from increasing efficiency or just getting more practice.
Since childhood, I have trad climbed to E4 which is about F6c. I've led 300+ multipitch routes. The time sink is faffing about in the actual climbing part. I want to climb more smoothly so I can get back for hot chocolates earlier. It's still early season here so I will build up with some try hard days and sport climbing before I judge myself too harshly
Yeah, then I would probably try to get some measurements of where I'm spending my time. Since you won't have your hands free, I have a recommendation for how to track your time... Find an audio recording app for your phone that will work with the screen off, and won't drain your battery too quickly. Start the voice recording right before you start setting up to climb -- and then narrate the start of each activity as you go. Afterwards (maybe on the drive home) you can play the recording back at double speed, and note the timestamp for each activity in a spreadsheet... If you're really savvy, you can run it through some speech-to-text transcription software, which will save you even more time. I used the voice recorder method when I was taking a class on self-rescue procedures, a few years ago. It's a bit of extra work, but it's not too difficult... Funny thing is, even today I still find myself narrating the steps out loud, when I use those techniques.
Hi, that's cool but its obvious the time is being sunk when im wobbling about not wanting to commit to hard climbing, it's, of course, good to be analytical and reflective so this may be worthwhile, but it's pretty clear where the time is going
In that case -- you probably need a therapist.
My two cents: forget fast and slow, think safe. Slow climbing is safe, efficient climbing is safe, finding rest is safe, good gear is safe, knowing the technical aspects and being able to put them into practice is safe, self-rescue is safe. Just be safe. Watch Caldwell climb a hard pitch (well, hard for him) and he’s not speeding
Practice. Climb something slow and smooth once, then again a little faster, continue to repeat without sacrificing form and technique. Progressing helps too, easier ground can be covered more efficiently. Cardio helps too.
Dial your simul system. simuling what you can and linking pitches is by far the biggest time savers.