The other weekend I fell off more than usual.  I’ll have a go at harder problems every time I go bouldering as a way of trying to improve my climbing.  About a third of the time I complete the problem, another third of the time I fall off every time, and the remaining third I’m just baffled about how to actually do the climb.  However, this time, I fell just off again and again.

I’d decided to go bouldering at the Pinnacle Boulders at Froggart Edge because it has a mix of easier problems (described as ideal “starting points for the beginner” in the Rockfax Peak Bouldering guide), and problems at the high end of what I can climb on gritstone.  I thought that I could warm up and practice movement on the easier problems, and then progressively push my grade on the harder problems.

The first part of this plan worked.  I had fun climbing some interesting and easy problems.  Then I switched on the harder problems, and began to fall off.  For example, I came off the problem The Northerner (V2 5c) repeatedly.  I kept going because it’s a stimulating problem, and I felt I was close to completing the crux move.  But, in the end, I decided to climb something else because too much of my fingertips was getting left behind each time I slipped off.

I managed to avoid becoming frustrated at all this falling off by continuing to remind myself that I was probably learning something each time I failed.  I also reminded myself that I had managed to get up one problem I found challenging – Starter Motor (V1 5b).  This helped me to enjoy myself, and so come away at the end of the day tired, scraped and sweaty, but still satisfied.