A crucial “how-to-climb” Pointer You Probably Haven’t Thought Of

What’s the thing that challenged you the most when you started [TAG-TEC]rock climbing[/TAG-TEC]? I bet it was finger strength – definitely. And possibly your initial fear of heights. Or so you thought.

What you may or may not have realized as you advanced in your skills is that [TAG-SELF]rock climbing[/TAG-SELF] is so much about BALANCE. It’s a balancing act. You were probably told very early on that it’s all about placing your bodyweight on your legs.

CLIMB WITH YOUR LEGS, darn it!

…shouted your coach, if you had one of those better coaches called “close friends”. But what is placing body weight on your legs and turning your feet for proper placement? It’s all balancing, baby! Sure, if you’ve gotten far enough in climbing, you may have realized this.

The thing is, when I started climbing, I never understood guys telling me that it’s all about balance and so, so much less about finger- and arm strength. But if you’re a newbie at this wonderful sport, pay close attention to the effect that every small move has on your balance. That is, the way it becomes more or less difficult to stay on the wall depending on the angle you place your feet or turn your shoulders or move your hips…

If you’re a beginner, balancing is probably more important than you think, and you can never get good enough at it.

If you want to improve in rock climbing, one thing that can help you is fine tuning your balance. Here are some good resources…

• indoorclimbing.com
  
• A book for sale, but you’ll find a cool excercise on this page – Rock Climbing: Mastering the Basic Skills
  
• or check out the book (most of it anyway) for free on Google Books
• some funny looking, but definitely helpful excercieses for balancing

Do this kind of stuff even if you”re into alpine climbing, mountaineering doing relatively easier stuff. It’ll help tremendously, believe me.

Eventually, this is where you want to get…

watch?v=H4ENUH1WlYo

Is this stuff helpful? If you’re a more experienced climber: how did you get good at balancing?

Tags: Climbing, mountaineering, Rock Climbing

Your “mandatory” Matterhorn climb

OK, of course, it’s not mandatory. But one thing’s for sure. If you’ve gotten your hands dirty with mountaineering and were under the impression that “OK, I want this stuff,” then sooner or later you’ll want to nail one of the most emblematic peaks on the Planet: the big, bad Matterhorn. Am I right?

Seriously. No matter if you’re a young titan or a 40-ish dude with a small beer-belly who started climbing a bit too late, you probably want this mountain – or have it already – on your list. (Or you ,may have scaled it already.)

Pretty high up on the Hörligrat

If you’re a Brit or a Euro, don’t think you’re the only one crazy about this peak. Check out the “toplist” on the most visited climbing social site on the web, summitpost.org. Here you’ll see that on the list of “most searched for mountains”, the Matterhorn comes in at no. 2 outside the American contintent (the most popular is Mt. Blanc). And it’s the sixth most popular peak all-in-all on Summitpost.

Thus ariseth the question: what do you need to climb the Matterhorn? More »

Tags: Climbing, Hörnligrat, matterhorn, mountain, mountain guide, mountaineering, Pollux

Georgia Adventure Travel – What’s Up in Tbilisi These Days?

OK, this is the first real blogpost on this blog, fellas. These days, I can’t help thinking about one of my favorite cities on the planet I’ve visited so far: Tbilisi, [TAG-TEC]Georgia[/TAG-TEC]. I had made the trip about a year ago, looking to summit – just a 3 hour “hold on to your asses” busride from the capital.

Tbilisi took me totally unexpected with its culture, art scene and the atmosphere in general. You’ll be surprised at the number of modern art galleries you’ll find downtown with really awesome works. And the post on Sheila’s blog highlighted the sulphur underground baths – a really cool experience, even for someone coming from Budapest. Which is probably the world capital for not only porn, but yes, BATHS.

You would probably have trouble flying into Tbilisi nowadays, as Putin and his clan bombed – among other places – the airport. But life is back to normal now, or so the news inform.

A word of caution: if traveling to the Caucasus, forget the 2004 Lonely Planet book. If you’ve bought it already, use it to heat your stove. It’s totally outdated. They’re working on a new edition – this Austrian dude we met in Kazbegi (the village under the mighty Kazbek) even stayed with one of the authors at a hostel. But that edition isn’t out yet. If you’re looking for a good guidebook for the region, try a Bradt Guide.

Oh, the food is awesome – try some Khinkhali and rinse it with local Vodka!

Tags: Caucasus, cool cities, Georgia, Kazbek, mountain travel, Tbilisi