Episode 24: Board Meetings | Top 3 Redpoint Tactics
This is our final episode of 2016! It's been an amazing year, and 2017 will only be better. In this Board Meeting, Nate and I discuss strategies and tactics for redpointing. Some you may know, many you may not. Most you've probably forgotten or ignored when you needed them.
I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again. THANK YOU. Thanks to our patrons, our clients, our listeners, the people at the crag who say hello and want to chat about training, and even a big thanks to the naysayers. It's been said that we're killin the game. I choose to believe that we're giving it life.
Oh, and special thanks to Waylon Jennings for his help with this episode. :)
We don't tweet. We scream like eagles.
Like what you hear? Subscribe to The Power Company Podcast on ITunes, Google Play, or Stitcher Radio, and leave a rating and review!
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Kris Hampton 00:01
Hey everybody, what's up, Kris here. Since it's the final episode of 2016, I wanted to take a minute to say a huge thanks. This past year was hugely successful for us. And we wanted to let you know that we're not just sitting around here basking in the glory. I mean, we could, we could reminisce for months on how amazing it's been. But as a team, we're already looking forward, you helped us create momentum that we're gonna carry into 2017 full force, and we're gonna bring some exciting new ideas to fruition. Thanks to our podcast patrons, we've got a couple of new concepts coming. The devil's advocate, and the not so average Joe, not so average, Jane. You'll hear more about those later. We're excited. We've also started developing our live shows. And we've got a couple of those scheduled for 2017. So you'll hear more about that, too. If you've been on a waiting list for a plan, we'll be contacting you soon. Our platform is about to expand. And speaking of which, I'd like to give an official Welcome to our guy, Paul Corsaro, who is the the author of our Kettlebells for Climbers Program. He'll be coaching strength and conditioning through the Power Company app very, very soon. So if you're looking to do some kettlebell work, Paul can work with you from anywhere. And you know, between new Ebooks, new app plans, video analysis, a newsletter and revamped workshops, we've got our hands full, and for that from the whole team, myself, Nate Blake and Paul, we owe you a huge thanks. See you next year.
Kris Hampton 01:42
Kris Hampton 02:13
What's up, everybody? I'm your host, Kris Hampton.
Nate Drolet 02:16
And this is Nate Drolet.
Kris Hampton 02:18
And together we form the Dukes of Hazzard. And even though I really want to be Luke, I'm fairly sure you're Luke. You're much cooler Lule than I am. I can go with Bow. I can take that.
Nate Drolet 02:32
Bow is that what you're thinking?
Kris Hampton 02:34
Uncle Jesse, I can definitely be Uncle Jesse. No question. All right. Dude, what's been going on? It's been a while where you've been?
Nate Drolet 02:47
Oh, been and Smith in Colorado for a little bit. Doing, starting to get back in sport climbing.
Kris Hampton 02:54
I was how Smith?
Kris Hampton 02:55
Heinous. So heinous. Like oh, man, it was a blast, though. Like all the locals were awesome. had a really great time. And I'll be going back next fall for sure.
Kris Hampton 03:06
Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Cuz when I first talked to you, you were like, Dude, this sucks. I'm just getting hammered. I'm leaving right now.
Nate Drolet 03:12
It was awful. Yeah, up until if I didn't have the last day I had last day was like 45 and sunny and perfect.
Kris Hampton 03:19
Oh man.
Nate Drolet 03:19
If it weren't for that. I probably would never go back.
Kris Hampton 03:21
That's good. It's like golf. All you need is one good shot. And then you come back to play even though you suck horribly.
Nate Drolet 03:27
Yeah, that's pretty much exactly how it was. Yeah. So go back to flailing next year.
Kris Hampton 03:30
Awesome.
Nate Drolet 03:31
Yeah, how about you? What you been even up to?
Kris Hampton 03:32
Ah Red River sport climbing and battling heat mostly and battling skin conditions because the only things I have left here that I'm really psyched on and and because I'm trying to get ready for wueco are short bouldery things and they're all condition dependent, because I've done all the other things and I'm just getting beat up. So ,but I'm liking it. I like this beat down. I'm getting ....
Nate Drolet 03:57
Nice kind of goes along with today's topic as well.
Kris Hampton 04:00
It does. We are going to talk about red point tactics today, our top three red point tactics. I don't know who started last. But I'll go ahead and jump in.
Nate Drolet 04:13
Alright.
Kris Hampton 04:14
So my number one is the top down approach. I just don't see people do it enough. And it irks me like crazy. And if you don't know what the top down approach is, that just basically means that you aren't starting from the ground and trying to get a high point every time your some of your attempts. Depending on the route. Sometimes it works best to just try to get a high point. Sometimes the top down approach specifically when there's a crux near the top works really well. And that's start at bolt four and go to the top then start at bolt three and try to go to the top.
Nate Drolet 04:54
Getting big overlaps.
Kris Hampton 04:55
Yeah, exactly. And you can do your high points as well at the same time that way you've got this giant ever growing overlapping section. So I think that's my number one and just irks me when I see people not do it and banging their head against falling at the crux at the top a million times like I did on Swingline for 70 tries
Nate Drolet 05:15
Yeah man. Yeah. Now you see that out here all the time, especially on the entire undertow wall. And by the way, here is at the Red River Gorge.
Kris Hampton 05:23
Yep, we're in Land to the Arches Campground drinking beers. This is the first episode actually, that we haven't been consuming a crazy amount of some sort of liquid that's affecting our health. This is our first beer. My first beer of the night.
Nate Drolet 05:39
Yeah, mine too.
Kris Hampton 05:40
This is your first?
Nate Drolet 05:41
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 05:42
Cool.
Nate Drolet 05:42
We'll go with that.
Kris Hampton 05:43
We're sober. This is our first sober board meeting.
Nate Drolet 05:45
I'll drink to that.
Kris Hampton 05:46
Yeah. So do you employ the top down approach often? Is this something you use?
Nate Drolet 05:53
Yeah, I think it's a really great tactic. Um, you know, it really does depend like, I mean, obviously, you need to go. I think it's always important to have something good flash effort or good onsight effort. And then from there, man, yeah, just work, like work out as much as you can. And that's gonna go with my number one, which is answer all your questions before you go for it.
Kris Hampton 06:17
Yeah, good one.
Nate Drolet 06:18
And this one applies to bouldering. I'd say for bouldering. And it's a little bit easier than with sport climbing. Because bouldering you can I mean, you can pull off the ground almost anywhere on a boulder.
Kris Hampton 06:28
Right, right.
Nate Drolet 06:29
But I can't tell you how often I see it. Somebody's pulling on a boulder. I'll be like, Okay, so how are you going to do the crux move, like, all figured out when I get there? Yeah, that's like, wait, you like, you need to be able to pull on and like not have... You don't need to be thinking like, you should not be thinking about what you're doing. You should just be like, I'm going to breathe. And I'm going to try hard, like nothing else should be going through your mind really. You shouldn't be like, well, I'll see what feels good when I get there and we'll figure it out.
Kris Hampton 06:53
Yeah. Does that go for flash attempts as well? Or is this?
Nate Drolet 06:59
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 06:59
Do you see this with redpointing also?
Nate Drolet 07:02
Oh, for especially...
Kris Hampton 07:03
And boulders?
Nate Drolet 07:04
Especially redpointing.
Kris Hampton 07:05
Okay.
Nate Drolet 07:06
Well, cuz a lot of times, like, you know, when you work out a move right off the ground, like, well, I can jump through this move. Or I can do a really hard static move and my foot stays. I can't tell which one's harder because you don't have any pump or anything. You're just pulling on and trying it. So you...
Kris Hampton 07:21
I'll just see how I feel?
Nate Drolet 07:22
Exactly, yeah. But if you know, if you're not committing for either, then you're not going to your chances of doing it are really low. Like you're better off saying, Well, I'm just going to jump for it. Or I'm just going to try and keep the foot. Pick one. Whichever one makes the most sense. Whichever one you got tells you is right and just commit 100% you're gonna have a better chance and if you half ass it either way.
Kris Hampton 07:42
Yep. Have a plan for sure.
Nate Drolet 07:44
Yeah, I mean, I think the same thing goes for flashing, you know, inspect the top out of a boulder. Like, look at everything. Look from all angles, look into all the holes. Make sure everything's brushed, clean, primed. And this is redpoint tactics. But I mean, yeah, even for flashing like, there's a lot you can put into it to really make sure make sure your pads are in a good place.
Kris Hampton 08:05
Yeah, no doubt.
Nate Drolet 08:06
You should be no hesitation in what you do.
Kris Hampton 08:08
Yeah, and talk it over with their spotters, talk it over with your belayer whatever it is,
Nate Drolet 08:12
Yeah, a huge one for sport climbing. And this was I was talking with someone about this just this morning. Because we were talking about Kaleidoscope here at the Red. And talking about how I was not comfortable climbing the last bit of it until I finally went to the anchors. So when I was working, and I was always one hanging, I was like falling off the crux and I was going to the top.
Kris Hampton 08:35
Yep.
Nate Drolet 08:35
Well thing is whenever I'd fall in the cracks and go to the top. From there, I was always fresh enough I could clip the last bolt.
Nate Drolet 08:40
Right.
Nate Drolet 08:40
Which most people end up skipping it bolts in a weird spot, and to stop and clips just really hard. And so I was always just like practicing clipping it and going. And I knew in my head that when I got there on point, I was not going to be able to skip it and not think about it. Like it just wasn't gonna happen, wasn't gonna happen. So finally I went up had one hung it felt the crux and then went up, skipped the bolt, went to the anchors, and then let go from there.
Kris Hampton 09:07
Took the fall.
Nate Drolet 09:08
Yeah, I took the biggest possible fall imaginable.
Kris Hampton 09:11
Yep.
Nate Drolet 09:12
On that route.
Kris Hampton 09:12
Answered the question of what was going to happen.
Nate Drolet 09:13
Yeah. Like that. Was it like...
Kris Hampton 09:15
I did the same thing with the Madness.
Nate Drolet 09:17
Yes. Yeah. And so from there, man, I'm, I think I did it in the next row or two. And you know, it's funny, because I hadn't even gotten to that. I hadn't reached that point yet in the route. But suddenly, this question was gone. It wasn't, "Oh, will I commit when I get there? I don't know." It's like a little spooky. I mean, because it kind of is. Yeah, there was no hesitation anymore. I was like, well, I'm ready to do it. And interestingly enough, that bolt that I fell on, pulled out a week later.
Kris Hampton 09:42
Oh, back then.
Nate Drolet 09:43
Yeah. Someone went to the anchors had skipped the last bolt like I had when they took the rope going taut.
Kris Hampton 09:49
Yeah, pulled it out.
Nate Drolet 09:50
Pop that bolt out.
Kris Hampton 09:51
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 09:51
Yeah. That was fun to learn about.
Kris Hampton 09:53
Loosened itself up.
Nate Drolet 09:54
Yeah. You know, man, awesome.
Kris Hampton 09:56
Welcome to the Red.
Kris Hampton 09:57
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, just answering all the questions, making sure you know what you're doing, like so you can just pull on and try hard not have to have all these different questions going through your head.
Kris Hampton 10:09
Yep. And that sort of leads me right into my number two, which is review sections, even even the moderate ones, even the easy sections. Don't just climb through, click the next bolt. When you're, you know, when you're working the route, you're going bolt bolt or section, a section or whatever. If you're fresh to working it. Don't just climb through and assume you know it. What just was best.
Nate Drolet 10:34
Especially if you're in the Red, because...
Kris Hampton 10:35
Especially if you're in the Red.
Kris Hampton 10:36
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 10:36
Everything's easy. If your bolt of bolting.
Kris Hampton 10:37
You're like, oh, that was nice. It was all the V0. Yeah. And suddenly, all those jugs feel heinous.
Kris Hampton 10:43
Yeah, no doubt. And I've been telling, like I've been climbing with Annalissa is my main climbing partner. And she has a tough time with the unknown, like our first time up bolt bolt. And she, what I've been telling her is fight that first time, like, expect that you're gonna fight expect that it's gonna feel hard. climb through it, clip the bolt, then you get to lower back down and figure it out on top rope. There's no reason to figure it out. As you go get scared fall off, jump off. If you can do it, just do it. And then you can come back down review the section. And oftentimes I see people skip over the parts that that I could see they were climbing a little tentative, or it was a little funky, or they did something strange. But they made it through. And then they never review that section again.
Nate Drolet 11:11
It was good enough.
Kris Hampton 11:40
Yeah. And then they get there the next time thinking they remember what to do. And they just blocked it all out of their mind. And they're like, What the fuck, I don't remember this part. And they fall off.
Nate Drolet 11:49
Yeah, same thing happens. I know me and a lot of other people onsighting as well. You go from just charge through a section. And in your mind, you're like, oh, that wasn't that bad. But you were trying really hard. Like, you're very focused. And so when you go to try and repeat it, you fall in a section you never fell in.
Kris Hampton 12:03
Yeah totallty.
Nate Drolet 12:04
Because it's not like you went. But it's very rare for someone to, you know, if you onsight, let's say to the ninth bolt. Few people are lowering back down to the fourth bolt be like, well, that move was a little tenuous, I'm not sure. I like no, I fell on this move. I'm gonna rehearse this. And then I'm gonna go to the anchors. I'm about to crush a second go and then a fall at the fourth bolt. And then...
Kris Hampton 12:24
I actually have a third go rule with onsights.
Nate Drolet 12:27
You can onsight up to your third go? I like this rule.
Kris Hampton 12:30
Totally, totally, I can onsight for as long as I choose to. Until I say I'm making redpoint attempts. No. If I try to onsight something and I fall off, I don't try to do a second go. I then use it the next time at that crag as a bolt to bolt warm up. And then I do it. And that's my warm up for the day.
Nate Drolet 12:52
Yeah, I think that's a good method.
Kris Hampton 12:53
So that way, I'm not like freaking out about the possible second go. And then I'm not doing it six try because I think I almost on sided, I should be able to do a second try.
Nate Drolet 13:03
Mm hmm.
Kris Hampton 13:04
So I take all that out of the equation.
Nate Drolet 13:07
Yeah. You also take out your two point bonus on 8a.
Kris Hampton 13:10
Yeah. But you know.
Nate Drolet 13:11
It's okay. You're in the over 40 category.
Kris Hampton 13:13
It's true it's easy up there.
Nate Drolet 13:16
Low hanging fruit. Yeah, so actually, I have something to add to that it was on my list. And I took it out. But one of my absolute favorite tactics, and this goes predominantly for big endurance pitches. But it also works really well with bouldery routes that have easier sections, like what you're saying. And once you so what I'll do is, once I'm done giving something great up redpoint efforts, like let's say I can try something three times in a day, and then I've got no chance of sending it. What I'll do is I'll get on a fourth or sometimes if I know I'm going to, like if i'm up for a weekend. And I'm going to not be climbing outside for you know, the next five days. I may even give it five goes. Because my fourth or fifth go. I can't do anything but the most effective beta.
Kris Hampton 14:01
Right, right, right, you're gonna learn new things that you didn't know you knew.
Nate Drolet 14:05
Yeah, like, cuz, you know, when you're fresh, you can kind of power through
Kris Hampton 14:09
Totally.
Nate Drolet 14:10
All the lower stuff, like everything that's a little bit easy for you, you can just kind of thug through and you don't really need to place your feet perfectly or everything be well balanced.
Kris Hampton 14:19
Yep.
Nate Drolet 14:20
So you end up kind of burning off a lot of energy that you don't even realize because I mean, they're easy moves. But yeah, so and we were talking about this today. So what you might do, let's say if you're on a route that has a really hard opening boulder problem for you, and has a really hard boulder at the very end. And there's a bunch of like pumping, intermediate climbing in the middle. You know, maybe skip that opening boulder problem, if it's your fourth or fifth go because it's just going to wreck you or your skin can't handle it or whatever. And now that you're tired, just take the time and be patient really work out that middle section. So when you come back fresh, you know, you'll be fresh enough to do that b, and you'll have that whole middle section dialed in.
Kris Hampton 14:55
Yep.
Nate Drolet 14:56
So yeah, that to me, I think is a really good redpoint tactic.
Kris Hampton 14:59
Yeah, totally. And I think like places like the Red or long routes. I think when you try to climb your project fatigued, you learned that you can catch little shakes in places that you never thought you could, you know?
Nate Drolet 15:13
When you suddenly need them.
Kris Hampton 15:14
Yeah. So I think that's a that's a good tactic to use.
Nate Drolet 15:18
Yeah, no, I absolutely agree.
Kris Hampton 15:22
Is you're number two or my number two. Y
Nate Drolet 15:24
That was yours yeah.
Kris Hampton 15:26
Oh, no, wait, I have to tell you a story because it kind of is in line with this. This review section. Is this the story?
Nate Drolet 15:32
Is this the story you're not supposed to tell?
Kris Hampton 15:33
This is the story I'm not supposed to tell? But I'm gonna tell it to you. No one's gonna hear this.
Nate Drolet 15:37
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 15:38
So Annalissa was working on Buddha Hole, which is 11d. And she hadn't climbed a route this hard and quite a while. And she's intimidated by long, steep routes, this one's long, steep route. She's also intimidated by getting in and out of Huecos. And you get in and out of a couple of huecos on this.
Nate Drolet 16:00
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 16:01
So the intimidation factor is really high. She's going up it bolt bolt. She gets to a spot where she's staring a bolt. It's right in her face just staring at it. You know, she's on good holds. She yells down. I can't clip from here. I'm like, well, then don't try to clip from there. You know, make a move. I can't rest here. Okay, then don't rest there. Make a move. You know, there's there's jugs above you move to the jugs. She says I'm off. Like, nope, you're still there. I'm off now. And she jumps off. You know? And I was like, okay, we need a plan. Like you need to go up there. Recognize that those holds aren't the ones you're going to clip from and move to the next holds clip from there. Like, that's, that's what needs to happen on redpoint. That's what needs to happen now. So she gets psyched up. She gets back on she climbs back to those same two holds hesitates for a second and I'm waiting for her to make the move. And she like speed ninja tries to clip and I'm not ready for this clip, right? I'm like waiting for the move. So I she feels tension. Like she gets a little bit of a short rope. And she yells at me. Don't sabotage my clip. And everybody at the crag was just like whoa. But it was a great moment because then I was like you're sabotaging yourself babe. Nothing to do with me. But I wasn't supposed to tell you that. So don't tell anybody.
Nate Drolet 17:44
I won't.
Kris Hampton 17:44
Yeah. Total secret.. All right, you're number two. All right.
Nate Drolet 17:49
It is. Got a whole list. I'm trying to figure out which one I like best. Be careful about going all in too early.
Kris Hampton 18:01
Mm hmm. For sure.
Nate Drolet 18:03
I see this all the time. You know, people are like, you know what? I'm going to go send.
Kris Hampton 18:08
I'm ready.
Nate Drolet 18:09
Yeah, I'm gonna go send my big project this year. It's you know, it's November in Chattanooga. It's only 85 degrees.
Kris Hampton 18:17
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 18:17
I'm gonna work it out now. Come March. I'm gonna have it dialed in. I'm gonna send it and then yeah, like, what ends up happening a lot of times you'll see people and this happens with routes this happens with absolutely everything. People start projecting and then it just kind of start getting weak because that's all they're trying.
Kris Hampton 18:36
Yep.
Nate Drolet 18:36
And I mean, a single router a single boulder especially you can only handle trying it so many times. Like you were climbing on Castle is Fallen today.
Kris Hampton 18:46
Yep.
Nate Drolet 18:46
Very shoulder intensive route.
Kris Hampton 18:48
Yep.
Nate Drolet 18:49
I mean, if that if that was your full time project. Like let's say, you're like, Okay, I'm gonna go one on one off. I'm just going to try castle has fallen until I do it. You would explode your shoulder?
Kris Hampton 18:58
For sure.
Nate Drolet 18:59
Yeah, it would be horrible.
Kris Hampton 19:01
Yep. And your skins getting hit in the same places?
Nate Drolet 19:03
Yeah, exactly. And not only that, like, I think trying a big project too early in the season just stunts your growth for the entire season. Like you have to build up momentum. I know you're a really big fan of early season mini projects.
Kris Hampton 19:18
Yep. Yep.
Nate Drolet 19:19
Do you have any favorite preference for how to go about those?
Kris Hampton 19:23
Yeah, I really like to have an anti-style project. little mini project early in the season. Just because it seems to set me up nicely to not pay so much attention to the grades, like, beat myself up on a 12d or 13a that I should be able to do first or second try, you know, but it takes me 8 tries or 10 tries, because it's something that's totally foreign to me. And then I get to learn some cool things. You know, and I've got I've got my head in the right place.
Nate Drolet 20:01
Yeah. Got some momentum going.
Kris Hampton 20:02
Yeah. Yeah.
Nate Drolet 20:03
What Will Anglin might refer to as a vegetable rock climb.
Kris Hampton 20:06
Vegetable rock climb?
Nate Drolet 20:07
Yeah, he likes to call the boulders that just stomp him vegetable boulders.
Kris Hampton 20:11
I see.
Nate Drolet 20:11
Yeah. You know getting its vegetables in.
Kris Hampton 20:13
Gotta get the vegetables.
Nate Drolet 20:14
I prefer donut rock climbs
Kris Hampton 20:17
I prefer donut everything.
Nate Drolet 20:19
Yes. Fact.
Kris Hampton 20:19
Good job Will Anglin and that's a that's a good way to categorize those.
Nate Drolet 20:23
Shout out Tension rockclimbing
Kris Hampton 20:28
Tension wood climbing actually
Nate Drolet 20:30
Is it really tension wood?
Kris Hampton 20:32
It's Tension Climbing.
Nate Drolet 20:33
Okay.
Kris Hampton 20:34
But but it's all wood stuff.
Nate Drolet 20:35
Yeah. Um. Yeah, not only that. I mean, like we were saying injury prevention. Like I think if you can look at it, if you have an injury, and you can say this is the exact hold. This is the exact move. Like the one thing that did you in like that hurt you? You fucked up. Like, I mean, I can tell you like from experience. There is a there is a pocket of Wild Iris. That I'm just like, yep, that one that like has affected my life for the last three years.
Kris Hampton 21:05
Yeah. Going back to that pocket in the spring.
Kris Hampton 21:07
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 21:08
Yeah. And it's like, you know, they're different. Like, and this happens to everyone. Like, I'd be like, Oh, that one heel hook. I've never once been surprised by these injuries. And I had a buddy even tell me this because I remember he was trying a boulder that was like, three finger openhand and ended popping his ring finger on it, like a flexor unit strain. And I asked him I was like, Man, that really sucks. You know, like, like them, you know how you dealing with? He's like, I wasn't surprised. Like, it hurt as I was going into it. And I remember when I pulled on that I was just hoping it would hold together.
Kris Hampton 21:39
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 21:40
And what's funny is that's exactly what I was thinking. As I was pulling on that route. I was just like, man, I hope, Yeah, on Atomic Stetson. Like, God, I hope this just holds it together for one more pitch. And I was just, I was being greedy, because I was my last day in Wild Iris. And you know, I wanted to finish up a rock climb. And it's still your last day. And while that was still my last day in Wild Iris. Yeah that a stayed true. But yeah, like, I mean, that's just it. Like, I fucked up. Like, I knew it was happening. And I feel like a lot of these injuries that people have, like, they know what's going on. Like, I was climbing in Joe's Valley, and I ran into a girl who was trying Resident Evil it's got a hard heel hook move. And I was like, oh, how's it going? She was like, Oh, it's a little rough. Because I can only try it like 5 10 times a day. And then I can't climb for the rest of the day. Because like my whole leg hurts so much.
Kris Hampton 22:29
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 22:29
I was like, Oh, that's like, that's not that's not good. Like, you know, I just want to be like, why don't you try anything else? Like, you know, go instead of just projecting this one V10.? Like go...
Kris Hampton 22:39
Right.
Nate Drolet 22:39
I don't know. Yeah, go for the next like, I think, I think she'd been trying it for like, two or three years. Just go do a bunch of V8s V9s and stuff like that. And you'll come back and like, be healthier and be able to crush it.
Kris Hampton 22:50
Yep.
Nate Drolet 22:51
Yeah, stuff like that. You know, that shouldn't happen. And so I think that is one of the downsides of and I think there is a time for going all in on redpoint.
Kris Hampton 22:59
Oh, yeah, definitely.
Nate Drolet 23:00
You know, there's time it's like, okay, seasons here. Like, I'm good. I'm prime, like, head down focus. Like, let's make this happen.
Kris Hampton 23:07
Yeah, I think it's easy. I see this happen a lot around here. For people to be like, the weather is amazing. It's time to go jump on the project. And really, what just happened? Is it dropped from 95 to 80. You know, it's still not good weather.
Nate Drolet 23:23
But I'm still wearing my puffy.
Kris Hampton 23:26
It just feels good. Yeah. But it's still not great for the for the climb, you know, and it puts your head in a bad place. I think when you're going in the moves feel extra hard, everything feels slimy, or too cold still, or whatever. You know, if it's, if it's not the prime time to be performing, it puts your head in this space of everything feels bad, and I'm failing.
Nate Drolet 23:49
Yeah. And the thing is, you can almost always, this is actually one of my other ones, but I think I have like five you can. You can always play conditions. There are always climbs that are better than like, if I was like, I'm just gonna only gonna try this one rock climb. That would limit me on what I can what I can try, like, you know, if it's really hot, I should go to something that's overhanging that gets all the shade maybe in a really windy spot. You know, pick stuff like that, like, yeah, play the conditions to where you're always climbing where it's best. I mean, that's like, that's the whole point of people who go and travel all the time.
Kris Hampton 24:23
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 24:24
You want to go chase good conditions.
Kris Hampton 24:26
Yeah. Awesome.
Nate Drolet 24:28
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 24:29
Break.
Nate Drolet 24:30
Yes.
Kris Hampton 24:32
What's up everybody? Kris here. Sorry to interrupt. I'll keep this brief. Since this podcast thing became officially official. I've gotten a bunch of messages from you guys asking how you can help out and make sure that it keeps going. Well, now we've got away our new Patreon page, which you can find at patreon.com/powercompanypodcast is set up so that you can become patrons of the podcast. We want to keep this thing sponsor free. You know, we want to keep it mostly commercial free, except for our own commercials like this one, of course. So the way it's set up is that you can donate monthly $1 a month, $5 a month all the way up to $25 a month, and you get rewards in return for that, for instance, for the $5 a month, you get our Google Voice number, which means you can call leave us a voicemail message. And we'll play it on the podcast and try to answer any questions that you have. So we're trying to give back to you guys and again, trying to keep this thing sponsor free. So help us out patreon.com/powercompanypodcast, or you can go to powercompanyclimbing.com and click on the podcast tab. Thanks a lot back to the show.
Kris Hampton 25:46
Okay, and we're back. Is it me? It's me,
Nate Drolet 25:50
It is you.
Kris Hampton 25:52
My number three is about warming up for a redpoint.
Nate Drolet 25:57
Oh, okay.
Kris Hampton 25:57
I really like the bolt to bolt on your project warm up, doesn't work for everything. If there's like a stupid hard boulder problem at the bottom, pull through the damn thing. Whatever you don't have to, and it's not your first warm up necessarily, you know, you get warmed up.
Nate Drolet 26:13
For sure.
Kris Hampton 26:14
But especially in a really involved project. It's pretty nice to refresh your memory, especially if you're a weekend warrior. You aren't on it, you know, every other day, refresh your memory, dial some things and get confident, you know, be totally okay with saying take that way all the moves feel good again, it's all good in your head. It's not just the last memory of you failing, you know, at the end of the day, and you just get psyched to try it again.
Nate Drolet 26:46
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 26:46
It always feels better to me when I warm up bolt to bolt on the project.
Nate Drolet 26:50
Yeah, no, I think that makes sense. I mean, it's really fresh in your mind.
Kris Hampton 26:54
And same with boulders, like, you know?
Nate Drolet 26:57
Oh, do all these individually?
Kris Hampton 26:58
There hopefully aren't bolts on your boulders. But yeah, yeah, just do some of the moves. You know, warm up to the harder moves.
Nate Drolet 27:06
Yeah, I think that's a great way to go about it. One of my favorite tactics, as well. And this gets a little bit more in the nitty gritty of tactics. But I think that's all right. This one's from Matt Hughes. And whenever you're climbing, Matt Hughes, shout out Matt Hughes, aka the golden boy. This was on for the route Golden Boy. It's a big power endurance line here in the Red. Absolutely stunning. And the things is you want it to be fairly cold for that route? They're all kind of sloppy edges.
Kris Hampton 27:37
Yep.
Nate Drolet 27:37
But because there aren't great rests, you can numb out really easily on it.
Kris Hampton 27:41
Fast. Yeah
Nate Drolet 27:42
So what I learned from Matt, and I've used this plenty of times, is he would go up to the fourth bolt on that thing. So tie in, go to the fourth bolt lower, and then pull his rope rest, like five minutes or so and then go from there. And so what they'll do is, you know, they get him. It's like a pre warm up.
Kris Hampton 27:58
Yep.
Nate Drolet 27:59
But not only that, something else I realized is that would get like the first four bolts you now it's as fresh as it's ever going to be because you were just off on it.
Kris Hampton 28:07
Yep.
Nate Drolet 28:07
That was all very relatively easy climbing. But uh, yeah, so then when you would pull back on those first four bolts you had as dialed as they would ever be. It was amazing. Like, you could just sprint right through them. And suddenly it seemed like it shortened the route significantly.
Kris Hampton 28:22
Yep. Yep. My friend Justin used exactly that tactic on Darth Maul. Oh, nice. And it worked really well.
Nate Drolet 28:29
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 28:29
He'd just climb up. He'd feel like he got recruited for that style of climbing you know, and lower off with time the rest five minutes. And go.
Nate Drolet 28:39
Man, I think that's a great way to go. Yeah, and it works really well for routes that have nice easy intro. Maybe if you just gave a long delay to someone or anything like that. Or Yeah, if you're just dealing with numbing out and numbing out sucks like when you're...
Kris Hampton 28:53
Yeah it does.
Nate Drolet 28:53
When you're projecting something and you're like I'm only falling because I'm cold like I don't like yes this is a difficult rock climb. But I am not pumped like I should not be falling I am just you know I've got bricks for hands
Kris Hampton 29:05
Yep.
Nate Drolet 29:05
Yeah
Kris Hampton 29:06
that that that wall especially that Golden Boy is on is a is a tough wall to gauge for that because I remember I would get on it on days when it felt like it was a little colder than before and I would numb out and then the minute the sun hits the wall It's like the routes impossible.
Nate Drolet 29:27
Yeah.
Kris Hampton 29:27
I couldn't do any of the moves. You know nothing. There's nothing in cut on the entire route. You know, just all these slopey openhanded holds so.
Nate Drolet 29:35
Yeah, really find grit and sandstone too. Yep. That's perfect rock. But yeah, it's a little too warm. It just feels impossible. So it's, it's tough. But that's one of my favorite tactics that I've kept around since. Since that.
Kris Hampton 29:48
Yeah. Cool. Good job, Matt.
Nate Drolet 29:51
Yeah. All right. So my next one is this is kind of a kickoff but continue keeping base fitness and base strength while you're redpointing.
Kris Hampton 30:05
Okay.
Nate Drolet 30:05
Like just just because you're in the season doesn't mean okay, we're all done training like...
Kris Hampton 30:10
Yep, totally, you know, there needs to be maintenance going on.
Nate Drolet 30:12
Exactly. Keep a little maintenance going, do a little bit of light fingerboarding do some core, you know, get keep everything going on. Like, that's the best way to elongate your entire season. That way, you're not just you have a quick peak and then you just start like, yeah...
Kris Hampton 30:26
Particularly for extended campaigns.
Nate Drolet 30:28
Yes.
Kris Hampton 30:29
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 30:30
Exactly. Yeah, I think that's really important. That gets overlooked a lot. I mean, which it makes sense. Like, when it's good outside, I'm here to rock climb, like I'm.
Kris Hampton 30:39
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 30:40
You know I don't...
Kris Hampton 30:41
That doesn't mean keep training. Don't don't be super hardcore in the gym. But keep that stuff up. And I go two different ways on this actually. I go, depending on the person, depending on the route they're projecting, sometimes I like to and what they what their schedule is like. So for weekend warriors, I oftentimes like to have them do one session early in the week for the energy system that's taxed by that route. Since the Red oftentimes, early in the week, I'll have them do a power endurance workout.
Nate Drolet 31:18
Like a Tuesday or something.
Nate Drolet 31:19
God
Kris Hampton 31:19
Yep. And then later in the week, either rest entirely, or do just like a, you know, fingerboard session, if it's super light, core session, something like that. For people who are more full time climbers, I generally have them working on whatever energy systems aren't being taxed by that route. So if they're in the Red River Gorge, they should be hang boarding, you know, doing something for their fingers. You know, if they're in Smith, they probably don't need to be hang boarding
Kris Hampton 31:20
And they should be working on something else. Yeah.
Nate Drolet 31:58
Climbing steep stuff.
Kris Hampton 32:00
Yeah. Big power moves on good holds. So you can remember that not all rock climbing hurts.
Nate Drolet 32:07
Oh man that place something else. People are crazy to just talking with him. I felt like I was in a backwards world. Crazy, like, one of my favorite things was talking with someone. And she was just like, yeah, you know, big overhangs, or I find them kind of intimidating. Like you when you're climbing. When you fall and you fall into space and you fall away from the wall. To me, it's very comforting when I take a big whip and the walls just right in front of me, going by me. And to me, I like I'm getting anxiety. She's saying this. I'm like, No, I don't like oh, yeah, like, oh, there's nothing more comforting than when my foot picks and I'm like, I see a bolt like, blazing right past my face, like an inch in front of me. That's just, I fall asleep to that.
Kris Hampton 32:47
That's terrifying.
Nate Drolet 32:47
Yeah, I was just, it was really cool to see or to like, talk. Talk with all those people there. Yeah. And just everything you could. You could flip everything that anyone would say about the Red and how they climbed. And that would be Smith just I'm pretty much universally.
Kris Hampton 33:04
Yeah
Nate Drolet 33:05
It was awesome. It was so fun. Like, yeah, it was completely different experience.
Kris Hampton 33:09
Crazy.
Nate Drolet 33:11
Was that mine or yours? That was mine.
Kris Hampton 33:14
That was yours. Yeah.
Kris Hampton 33:15
Yeah. I've got another one too. All right. Give it to us.
Nate Drolet 33:21
Are we not taking turns?
Kris Hampton 33:23
I think that was three. That was it.
Nate Drolet 33:25
Okay, yeah, I'll go with another one. Do some rapid fire ones. All right.
Kris Hampton 33:29
How about that?
Nate Drolet 33:29
And I feel very strongly..
Kris Hampton 33:29
I'm new to them interested in hearing this. I'm not doing a very good job of this right now.
Nate Drolet 33:30
I got one more first. And that is learn how to stack your projects in order. So okay, this is for people who are climbing two three days on kind of thing.
Kris Hampton 33:40
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 33:49
Yeah. And I think it's super, it's really important. It's something that people kind of miss out on. And this can be for different reasons. It could be both energy systems and skin or conditions. conditions. I mean, it depends what the weather's doing. Yeah. But specifically, I think more in terms of like energy systems, whether it's like a power route, power endurance, endurance route, like, stuff like that, or how skin intensive it is. So for boulders, we'll start with boulders. I always prefer, like day one, just the crimpiest, nastiest line I can find. Like, just because I'm going to rough my skin, like my skin's good from a rest day or however many rest days or whatever.
Kris Hampton 34:29
So you're not saying you purposely search out the crimpy as nasty as line?
Nate Drolet 34:32
Whichever one I'm interested in. I kind of do though. I feel like I'm not that great at them. So I like to kind of always have one going.
Kris Hampton 34:39
Okay.
Nate Drolet 34:40
So like having a really nasty crimp project that's just gonna, like mess my skin up. And then, you know, if that's all you ever tried, then you wouldn't be climbing much it would really suck, your fingers were hurt and like your skin would hurt. So then I'll have like a big slopey compression problem or just something was really comfortable holds.
Kris Hampton 34:57
Yes.
Nate Drolet 34:58
That way I can count like and then if you even want to go three days on pick something and just like a big power endurance rock line like you're in Hueco, maybe it would look like I don't know you do like Better Eat your Wheaties on day one. And then maybe like, which is like a really crunchy V8 fairly sharp. And then day two would be something like Ehe Egg like roof compression, all big good holds heel hooks very body intensive. And then day three might be I don't know, Baby Martini or something like it's all jugs, but it's like a 25 foot roof.
Kris Hampton 35:30
Gotcha.
Nate Drolet 35:30
Something along those lines where you can keep adding a lot of days. And it depends, you know, if you're on a 10 day climbing trip, I don't want to be going like one on one off, like.
Kris Hampton 35:39
Right.
Nate Drolet 35:40
You know, do whatever it takes to get things done. But I like rock climbing.
Kris Hampton 35:44
Yeah, so sort of similar how you would stack a training session up if you were going to be training multiple things in one session.
Nate Drolet 35:51
Mm hmm.
Kris Hampton 35:52
You know, you want to start with your technical crimpy strength and power oriented.
Nate Drolet 35:59
I don't think I said technique. We dont' talk about that here. We talk about training and getting strong.
Kris Hampton 36:10
I'm just gonna let that sit there for now. So you start with strength, power. Then you move on to power endurance and endurance?
Nate Drolet 36:21
Yeah. So here's what's interesting. And here's a throw a wrench in all the things. So let's say we're talking about routes. I don't find that always, like, perfectly applies the whole strength, power, power, endurance, endurance, even though that's what we always talk about. You know, that's what everyone always says that's the correct order.
Kris Hampton 36:39
Yeah. And this is what I need to hear because this is where I'm sucking right now.
Nate Drolet 36:42
So Jerry Moffett in his book Revelations, which, if you've never read it, anyone out there, it's awesome. He talks about being in Bouxe down in Southern France. And he's trying these two routes from I believe the Ministro brothers, I can't remember the two names of them right now. But one's a big endurance pitch and one's in bouldery route.
Kris Hampton 37:02
Yep.
Nate Drolet 37:02
And he said, he felt like he could try the really hard endurance route. And then go try the really bouldery one. And that was perfect. That worked really well. But if you did it not opposite order. It was horrible. He just failed.
Kris Hampton 37:15
Okay.
Nate Drolet 37:15
Which is strange, because that's like, that goes completely in the face of what everyone says.
Kris Hampton 37:19
Have you tried that?
Nate Drolet 37:22
Yes, but here, I can't do like. So when I think big endurance routes. It's like Omaha. Transworld.
Kris Hampton 37:27
Right.
Nate Drolet 37:27
And man, I can't move after those. So I always say like, I mean, but those are very, like, steep core intensive, and they just sap me.
Kris Hampton 37:34
Yep
Nate Drolet 37:34
You're just on the wall forever. So I would always save. I'm a big fan of I would do power endurance for, like all my first day. Because for me, I just have to be the freshest for power endurance routes. And then I can do route bouldering, like very difficult bouldery routes for me both difficult on my second day on, and that seemed to work really well. And then if I was going to go three days on, I would have like a big endurance project, just something I was mindless jug bashing.
Kris Hampton 37:59
Right.
Nate Drolet 38:00
And normally with those, it would kind of be more for fitness. I rarely would redpoint on my third day on. But typically, once I had cleaned up the first two day projects, I could just take a rest day and I would just go do really well on my big endurance projects. Yeah, but that. So that's one thing that I think people should all play with, like, kind of see what works for you. Because, you know, maybe some people might be better off having their first day be a really easy endurance day. And like when we do high low stuff, like I definitely like I do really well with my first day being easy stuff. So maybe some people might do really well.
Kris Hampton 38:35
It's true. Yeah, I hadn't thought about that. I'm the same way I tend to perform better. After I've done a low day.
Nate Drolet 38:43
Yeah. So Which is, yeah, it kind of makes sense. Like, sometimes when you come off a rest day you feel a little bit rusty, or you're just like how you know? Yeah, I don't know, it takes you a minute to get back in the groove of things. So for me, if I really want to try hard, I'll go out I'll climb just really easy the day before maybe like just stretch and relax afterwards. And then my next day, that's the strongest I'll ever be. I'm always stronger second day on after an easy day, then I'll ever be fresh after a rest day. Okay, so I think it's it's worth people kind of playing around with, you know, and try and keep somewhat keep track of things and see what works and what doesn't.
Kris Hampton 39:20
Yeah, yeah. And I think that's important. Keep track of what works for you.
Nate Drolet 39:24
Yes.
Kris Hampton 39:25
Yep. Totally. All right. That's a good one. Want to do some? Just some quickies?
Nate Drolet 39:31
Oh, yeah, some full shenanigan tactics.
Kris Hampton 39:34
I got one for the tradies. We don't talk to you guys enough. Treat the routes like a sparkline. Like, stop romanticizing it. It's not you know, you're not Ron Kauk whether you want to be or not. You're not the 70s and yeah, unless you're Ron Kauk if you're Ron Kauk thanks for listening and we appreciate you. But, but yeah, don't romanticize it. It doesn't have to be this grand adventure when it's a single pitch track climb. You can try much harder trade routes if you treat it like a sport climb. If you're willing to go up a sport climb four or five times before you send it be willing to go up a trad climb four or five times before you send it and tick mark where you're putting your gear and where the jams are. If you can't recognize them. Treat it like sport climb.
Nate Drolet 40:26
And when you're done, brush those ticks off.
Kris Hampton 40:27
Yeah, brush the ticks off.
Nate Drolet 40:29
Because you're on trad climb and I'm sure I'll hear about it from the trad climbers. It's not how it used to be Kris.
Kris Hampton 40:37
Well, you know that is how it used to be it was just a well kept secret.
Nate Drolet 40:45
What do I got?
Kris Hampton 40:47
This rapid fire.
Nate Drolet 40:48
Take care of your skin. Jesus Christ.
Kris Hampton 40:51
Jesus Christ?
Nate Drolet 40:52
Oh, yeah. Jesus Christ took care of his skin. No.
Kris Hampton 40:54
I brought up Ron Kuak. You brought up Jesus Christ.
Nate Drolet 40:57
One upmanship. Right there. Man, this is such an easy win. Like.
Kris Hampton 41:03
I agree.
Nate Drolet 41:04
To quote Brian Anthenuise skin is a currency with which you buy sends.
Kris Hampton 41:09
Oh, sick.
Nate Drolet 41:10
Yeah, cuz he was making fun of someone cuz there was a guy who had just crushed a fairly difficult boulder and as he was topping it out, he was looking at his skin. He's like, oh, god dammit, I split my tips. And this is terrible. And my skin is all bad. Brian is just like you just sent you're not allowed to be mad. Like you use skin to buy boulders. That's how this works.
Kris Hampton 41:28
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 41:28
Yeah, exactly. And that's..
Kris Hampton 41:29
Yeah, shout out, Brian. That's brilliant.
Nate Drolet 41:32
Oh, and that's just it like. But with that, if you don't have good skin, you cannot purchase such bould... these boulders.
Kris Hampton 41:41
It's true. It's very true. I've been. I was in like a, a tizzy. We'll call it we'll call it a tizzy.
Nate Drolet 41:50
Okay
Kris Hampton 41:51
Last week over skin. Because I've never experienced this road warrior skin. You know, I generally have a week to grow that shit back before I go rock climbing again.
Nate Drolet 42:03
Yeah. And perks of being a weekend warrior must be nice.
Kris Hampton 42:06
Exactly. And now I don't have that luxury. So I'm spending a lot of skin. And I was freaking out. And I was talking to my friend Nico, and he suggested Rhinoskin. So I reached out to those guys. And, and I'm testing it right now. And it seems to be working great. Like I had, I had a really great day with good skin on on my little bouldery project that I'm working on. That has heinous crimps that I couldn't hold because my fingers were crying every time I touch them. And it feels great now so yeah, so so far, Rhinoskin is a good thing. And yeah, take care your skin. I agree.
Nate Drolet 42:49
Nice. Yeah, I've been dabbling a bit with Rhino skin. I've used antihydral for quite a long time. And I'm a huge believer in keeping your skin just dry.
Kris Hampton 43:00
Yeah, that's why I was freaking out because I left my antihydral in Wyoming. Oh, man. And I'm like, do I have to really go on this foosball website and buy it and have it shipped to the middle of Kentucky.
Nate Drolet 43:12
From Germany.
Kris Hampton 43:12
From Germany so that I can try my project again? Like I'm just not willing to go that far. I'm not that hardcore yet.
Nate Drolet 43:20
Yes. Also, for anyone interested antihydral is the active ingredient. I think it's pronounced methamphetamine. But it's 16%. And a lot of people are terrified. Because
Kris Hampton 43:29
Yeah.
Nate Drolet 43:31
If you have dry skin already, yeah. It can be quite aggressive. Like you don't put it in the seams between your fingers because it'll crack your skin. And I have really wet skin. So I mean, I could shower and that stuff, and I'm good to go.
Kris Hampton 43:43
Yeah
Nate Drolet 43:44
But Rhinoskin has two different ones. And for what it's worth.
Kris Hampton 43:48
I think they have 3 now.
Nate Drolet 43:49
Okay, three, for what it's worth. I don't get Rhino skin for free. Anything I actually like, yeah, I've purchased it. And I'm a fan of what they use. But...
Kris Hampton 43:56
They did send me some for free but, but we are not in any way sponsored by Rhinoskin.
Nate Drolet 44:00
Yes.
Kris Hampton 44:01
We're just digging it.
Nate Drolet 44:01
Put that out there. Yeah, everyone out and Smith uses it. And those people grab heinous old, but as antihydral 16%. And then I believe Rhinoskin just came out with one that matches that. But they also have one called dry and that's 8% and they have a perform, which is 4%. And the nice thing about those is because they're a lower percentage, you can just put it on your whole hand you don't have to worry as much about your seam splitting, stuff like that. And I've used it for a couple weeks now and I've been a pretty big fan. All update whenever we have our next rapid fire tactics meeting, or the I keep your skin taken care of because the thing is, whenever your skin gets thin, like it starts seeping and like sweating more, and tears up faster. So just in your day early, you know tape whenever your skin gets looks like it's about to get bad. Don't wait until it's terrible.
Kris Hampton 44:49
Yep.
Nate Drolet 44:49
Yeah, you know, just take care of it.
Kris Hampton 44:52
Yeah, okay, we're sucking at this rapid fire thing. So next brush, the damn holds. Yes. Whenever you're hanging on the rope every time you're hanging out on the rope brush, the damn holds even the jugs, brush the jugs. Nobody loves the jugs.
Nate Drolet 45:07
My God.
Kris Hampton 45:08
They don't brush the damn jugs. I can't tell you how many times because I'm an excessive brusher I brush all the damn time. And in fact, I need a new brush because mine's wrecked. And I can't tell you how often the easy sections get no love. They're just caked in chalk. But it all needs love. So give it love it's community service ya'll.
Kris Hampton 45:31
Yeah. Well, it's funny is like you end up spending the most time on jugs when you're shaking out on a rest see someone on a route for 30 minutes. 25 minutes they're hanging out on the jugs. And all the brushes brushes the cruxs holds.
Kris Hampton 45:42
Yeah. So that includes everybody if you're on 5.10 5.11 5.13 5.15 brush the damn holds. Okay, next.
Nate Drolet 45:51
Yeah. My next one cruxin in out here.
Kris Hampton 46:00
You've been stumped. I got one. Don't be afraid to stick clip or clip up.
Nate Drolet 46:03
That's a good one that may have been what I was about to use.
Kris Hampton 46:06
Okay, well, we'll just pretend that was in your voice. I'll change it. So...
Nate Drolet 46:09
Also rodeo clip while you're on route.
Kris Hampton 46:11
Yeah, rodeo clip on route.
Nate Drolet 46:11
That works really well go in direct rodeo clip. Oh, I'm just gonna say that. Go indirect. Whenever you fall for route shit, like save your belayers back like no one wants to sit here and just like and your rope. Not only that, I mean, yeah. Like, whenever you fall, heat up a carabiner. You know how you cut a rope. You run it over a hot blade. That's the best way to like, if you fall on a carabiner in the Red. It's a hot blade. That's exactly what it is. you're stretching out this rope. You're elongating it like you're taking out all the elasticity. And whenever you're sitting on it's just like stay stretched out. Does that mean you fall on it again and no longer has any stretch or give you're just damaging it? So yeah, go indirect. Save your bealyer save your rope.
Kris Hampton 46:49
Oh shit. That's a good one. Okay, I think that's probably all we got.
Nate Drolet 46:53
I think so.
Kris Hampton 46:55
You can catch us on the Instagrams, the Facebook's. And in Hazzard, you can find us in hazard.
Nate Drolet 47:02
MySpace, our zenga page.
Kris Hampton 47:06
I had to delete my MySpace eventually. But you cannot find us on Twitter. Because we don't tweet. We scream like eagles.