brooklyngoilnnp

"Strong is Beautiful" -- Crossfit Slogan

Two years I began doing Crossfit twice a week after reading Mark F. Twight's book Extreme Alpinism. Following Twight's fitness suggestions led me to both his website gymjones.com and to crossfit.com.

Unfortunately due to the lack of a crossfit facility in my area and my own desire to focus solely on climbing I gave up crossfit in a few short months.

More recently I've been reading about the workouts done by Exum Guides at Mtnathlete.com as well as the Alpine Training Center in Boulder.

Seeing all these badass women and men, climbers and tri-athletes, some close friends as well as heros messing it up in crossfit inspired workouts motivated me to check out the newly opened gunxs crossfit (http://gunxcrossfit.typepad.com/) in Gardiner.

I've always had a uneasy relationship with my body and athletics. Being 6 plus feet tall can be a blessing and a curse. School gym coaches were always quick to expect me to succeed in basketball while other kids honed there talents in stand up comedy at the expense of my large frame and big feet. As a teen I rebelled hard and refused to play any sports with the exception being an occasional street hockey game where I skated circles around the competition.

When I discuss crossfit with other climbers many are concerned weight training will bulk you up. However we don't often have the tools or the awareness to know what really goes into bulking up nor do we know if we even have a solid foundation of fitness. It would seem many climbers women and men have uneven muscle development even when we are climbing at a fairly high level on the rock.

Right now I am in transitioning from rock climbing (and rock guiding) looking toward a full 4 plus months of water ice climbing in the catskills, daks, NH and who knows? I am planning on guiding ice full time as well as getting out there as much as possible. My goals in crossfit is conditioning my body to perform at a high level over long days and gaining strength and power. I certainly have a lot of core strength but I feel like I need a base level that can take me through a solid 5 plus days of climbing ice with few rest days.

At gunxscrossfit we got an excellent coach, Peter, with an understated style and great taste in music. During my first workout we rocked out to Springteen and Bob Dylan. Peter's coaching isn't a one shot deal where he tells you what to do and then walks away like some commercial gyms. At crossfit your looking at ongoing hands on training and coach. He's got a great group of runners, climbers, tri-athletes and folks coming too. Everyone is cheering each other on.

I am currently going to crossfit 3 days a week. I am not climbing much these days. The days are shorter and chilly so this is what I am doing to prep for ice season. I've actually thought about going more but we'll have to see. I made it out for a run this week and hope to keep at it. I am thinking I have 8-10 weeks of crossfit training to get ready for the full on ice season. Here's a week of crossfit. I will try to keep up my reports and let you know how its going.

Week 3 of Crossfit

1) Monday
pm - crossfit

2) Wed
am - gunxscrossfit strength workout
pm - ran 4 miles

3) Fri
pm - gunxscrossfit conditioning workout

Some Inspirational Links:

http://gunxcrossfit.typepad.com/

http://mtnathlete.com/

http://www.gymjones.com/

A Brooklyngoil's Gear ~ An Insider Guide to my Gear Obsession

They say "light is right" and "every once counts" and I tend to agree. However light also equals expensive and frequently means less durable. While this may not be a safety issue per se it does mean your gear may not last as long. Dynema slings mean be stronger than nylon but certainly get worn out alot quicker. Ditto for the super thin ropes. and caribiners.

My pack fully loaded with gear and water weights = 20 pounds (25 pound with 2.5 liters of water).All weights are approximates.

This breaks down as the following:

Pack -- Millet Pro lite 35L (size m) (1850grams) -- pack is stripped of all unnecessary do-dads.
hydration system - MSR Dromlite 2.5 liter (5.8 oz)
Harness - Arcteryx M 280 (9.8 oz)
My rack -- weight = 10 pounds

Pro
A mix of BD and DMM nuts 2-10
Set of 4 tri cams
3 master cams (orange, yellow and blue)
2 BD C 3 (red and green)
7 BD C 4 (lil blue to big blue)

Slings
2 4 foot dynema
9 2 foot dynema
5 quickdraws

Carabiners
half BD neutrinos and half BD hotwire (in the winter I switch to all hotwire)

Lockers
1 Petzl Attache (for belay)
5 BD Vaporlock

Cordelettes
2 21 foot 6mm

Assorted other items
BD ATC Guide
2 prussiks
1 Petzl tibloc
1 Petzl spata knife
Metolius nut tool
Petzl chalk bag
Guide book (grey dick)
1 pairs of barracuda rock shoes
Petzl headlamp
small first aid kit
sunblock
extra bars and gu
Helmet -- for the hot weather Petzl Meteor 3 (winter TBD)
Camera

Ropes
1) lead rock -- Sterling Velocity 9.8
2) lead ice -- Sterling Ion 9.5 (and Petzl dragonfly 8.2 half ropes).




Climbing up the Uberfall descent w. Lucy


interview with Donnie Darko and The Box, out this Friday, writer and director Richard Kelly: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42994

Started by alpine climber Jonny Copp, this year's Adventure Film Fest in Boulder, CO. looks very good. http://www.adventurefilm.org/index.aspx

Posted on gunxscrossfit an article linking depression and processed food. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8334353.stm

Some thoughts as we get ready for ice season.

1) Don't sharpen your tools yet. Each year its so much fun to gear up for your first day on ice by going through the ritual of sharpening your crampons and ice tools. This is a great skill and its awesome to practice it to have it dialed. But early season ice is often thin especially in the catskills. Wait to sharpen your tools for your first big project of after you've been out a few times. I

2) transitions are key in the mountains. they enable us to move quicker and safer. Rope management is a critical skill as we transition between pitches or top rope areas. Practice coiling your rope at home so you have this wire when it comes to the outdoors. Expect to always be carrying your rope across your pack in a butterfly coil. Ropes weight a lot too. If your buying a new rope make sure its dry treated and light. Nothing larger than a 9.8. The sterling velocity is a great rope but most brands work well.

3) Train, cross train: The best training for ice climbing is ice climbing but we can't always do that cross train by climbing rock indoor and out door as much as possible this fall. Focus not on the hardest project but mileage for endurance. Climbing with a small pack weighting 8-12 pounds can add to the pump just don't over do it. Hiking stairs with a pack is great too.

4) Get your gear dialed. Get ice clippers (BD or Petzl) and a v thread tool (Grivel or Petzl). Other items you should have in your pack include hand warmers, head lamp, balaclava, neck gaiter and extra gloves, food, water and hard candy. One guide tip I learned from guides buy a pair of cheap work gloves at the local hardware store. they work great for dry-tooling and ice climbing on warmer days.

5) First Aid. Pick up a first aid kit at your local climbing shop. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Add some gloves, advil a few other nic nacs and your ready to get some basic first aid training. A Red Cross First Aid or Wilderness First Aid (WRA) course will give you added confidence. They are offered all over the tri-state area. There is also a Wilderness First Aid course taking place in the Gunks the weekend of Nov. 21-22. I'll be there taking it for my second time. I highly recommend it.



the nightly winter ritual of drying out ice gear.

my new favorite climbing blog: http://themountainworld.blogspot.com/