Rest Day Activities

As much as we’d like to, very few people can climb hard for even five days in a row without suddenly being unable to send V3 (or V1 if you’re me). If you’re climbing outside on a week-plus-long trip or just psyched on a project near home, your skin is likely destroyed after a few days and shortly after that half the muscles in your arms refuse to work for the first two hours you are out of bed each morning. And sometimes you just need a mental break from your project. Here are some rest day ideas to let your body repair while on an extended outdoor trip or to distract yourself from trying to climb in the gym seven days a week.

Drive to your next climbing destination. Instead of obsessively squeezing finger strengtheners or attempting dumbbell bicep curls in the car between climbing destinations, give your body a rest.  You want to maximize your climbing time when you’re in a new destination for only a week, so don’t tire yourself out on the car ride there. Instead, use the time to listen to podcasts (check out the Enormocast or Training Beta) or read Rock and Ice articles to get you psyched for new projects while giving your body a rest.

Go for a hike. Too antsy to sit still and run through the crux moves of your project over and over in your mind? Get in some cardio to help with carrying heavy ropes/racks/mondo crash pads while letting your shredded fingertips heal. You don’t have to hike for 20 miles, unless attempting Sufferfest III with Wright and Honnold, but a few miles to a pretty waterfall or the top of a local mountain will make you feel accomplished without flailing on crimps with mummy-taped fingers and screaming tendons.  

Try some yoga. How many of us stretch regularly? Breath through our cruxes? Feel completely focused on each climb we try? Stretch out your aching muscles while calming and focusing your mind for your project. You also get a fun mat that can be used for napping on afterward.

Bake and eat your favorite foods. Normally you’re rushing to the crag, throwing a sandwich and some trail mix or, more boring, three cardboard-esque nutrition bars into your bag for a day of hard climbing. Take this opportunity to cook your favorite foods and enjoy them warm from the oven instead of out of a Tupperware container from your backpack.

Look for more rocks. There’s no sense in wasting time on your climbing days getting lost trying to find a cliff or boulder when you could be climbing it. Look for projects on your rest day so you can hike to them easily on your next climbing day. Better yet, look for new routes and start cleaning.

Explore tourist destinations near the crag. If you’re on a road trip, take a rest day or two to explore the local tourist attractions. Make sure to sample coffee and ice cream from every local shop to know where to come back on your next trip.

Find cute puppies. Pet them. It’s good for your mental health and will make the puppies’ day. Don’t neglect seasoned crag dogs though; they enjoy love too.

Sleep all day. Sometimes you need a full rest day. Sleep in. Eat breakfast in bed. Go back to sleep. Enjoy doing nothing. Wake up early and send the next day. 

Unplanned Climbing

I wasn’t supposed to climb that day. I needed to run to Walmart, CVS and buy pasta in bulk from BJ’s before picking up my sister from school. I needed to start packing to move back to UNH for my summer research internship that would start in a few days. I didn’t have time to drive an hour to Rumney, get on two routes and then drive an hour back. Also, it was forecast to rain.

“Shoot, I don’t think I can make it. Are you free tomorrow?” I texted Jared.

“No, tomorrow I have to be an adult and go to work,” he replied.

I told him I couldn’t go, and started to grab my wallet to run errands, immediately became anxious that I wouldn’t get to climb enough before starting my 40 hour a week job and texted Jared back: “I have three hours. Do you still want to climb?”

Jared, being ever-psyched, did.

An hour later I was in the small parking lot at Rumney. It was misting when Jared arrived seven minutes later.

“Got your rope?” he asked. “I don’t feel like carrying mine.”

“It’s already packed,” I answered, swinging my backpack onto my shoulders and setting off up the trail to Main Cliff.

Jared sent me up a weird 5.8 that I accidentally linked up to a 5.10d at the top to warm up and then hung the draws on 5.10a classic Underdog for me in his approach shoes. He’d forgotten his climbing shoes in his car.

The rain picked up, as did the wind, covering the normally dry-in-the-rain cliff with a fine layer of mist as I belayed Jared up another climb.

“You leading this?” Jared asked, untying after sending easily.

“Sure I answered,” unfamiliar with the climb but trusting that Jared wouldn’t put me on anything too difficult. I’d been sport climbing a few times before and knew there were a few 5.10s on Main Cliff, so I just assumed I was being sent up one of those.

A third of the way up, and just as Jared’s friend Mike walked up, I began flailing. My feet kept sliding off the wet face I was half-smearing on. After several falls I called down to the guys for some beta.

“Just use the good foot,” Jared said.

“What foot? I’d love to use that big thing way at the bottom but it looks pretty slopy,” I answered, pointing to the slanting rail.

“That’s the one,” said Jared. “You just have to trust it.”

Magically, my rubber stuck to the slimy rock, and I pulled my up to the anchors, falling several more times.

Back on the ground, I met Mike, a bit embarrassed to have him see me butcher a 5.10 so badly, even in the rain.

“What was the name of that route?” I asked Jared.

“Know Ethics. It’s a 5.11a,” he replied. I immediately felt a little better. I’d never tried an 11 before, though I'd watched my friends project 5.12s. “I didn’t tell you the grade because I wanted you to lead it,” Jared explained. I just smiled back. He was probably right.

Like me, Mike hadn’t planned on climbing that day either, but after hearing Jared was going out he decided to stop by. He ran up one route quickly before we all packed up to leave.

On our way out, Mike asked when I was thinking of climbing next. I told him I’d hoped to get out the next day, though I didn’t have plans with anyone yet.

“Want to try some multi-pitch?” he asked. “I have the day off.”

“Yes,” I said before thinking. I’d never tried trad, having climbed outside for less than a year, mostly bouldering and having gone sport climbing only a handful of times. I’d never even seen someone place a piece before, but I planned to meet Mike in Lincoln the next day.

* * *

Less than 24 hours later, I started up Cannon cliff, following Mike up Lakeview, a slabby 5.6 classic. I knew nothing. I didn’t bring a helmet; since, one I didn’t own one, and two I didn’t know I should be protecting my head from potential rock fall. I left a few nuts, unable to free them without the nut tool Mike had forgotten at home, but all in all everything went smoothly. It was sunny with a light breeze, the climbing was mostly easy slab with one hard, vertical move on the last pitch. The traverse was less spicy than Mike had predicted, and I made it off in time to speed two hours back home to again pick my sister up from school.

It wasn’t until the drive home that I realized how crazy the situation had been. I’d trusted my life in the hands and gear of someone who I’d known for less than an hour and a half. Even crazier, was the fact that Mike was nice enough to take me up Cannon, knowing I had no trad experience and having only seen me flail my way up part of one 5.11a—the first 5.11 I’d ever tried—the day before. “She seems to have a cool head,” was all Mike had said when Jared told him of my lack of experience.

I’ve been lucky to have friends and friends of friends who have been willing to take me climbing even though they send routes and problems several grades harder than me. They have taught me to keep my foot out from behind the rope, to avoid back-clipping and which direction I should clip draws while traversing. I’ve also learned that no matter how tired I am, what errands I have to run or whatever else I originally planned to do for a day, if I have the chance to climb and I can somehow work everything else I have to do around it, I will drop whatever I’m doing and get on some rocks. I’ve never regretted a day I went climbing.

The Art of Climbing Slowly

Like downclimbing, climbing slowly takes much skill and practice; however, once mastered, this art can enhance your climbing experience greatly. All genres of climbing can be slowed down, from taking as long as possible to set up for a one-move bouldering dyno to taking your time to place each piece on a multi-pitch trad route.

Why climbing slowly is awesome:

1. You get to enjoy each movement, sometimes setting up for it multiple times, making a few half-hearted efforts to get yourself psyched and then going for the move full-value when you’re ready.
2. Each climb can take up to 7½ times longer, which can mean up to 7½ times more enjoyment for those who think problems and routes are over too soon.
3. You have time to take advantage of every rest position on every hold available, which will prevent you from getting pumped. You can now shake out and reposition on the same hold several times, even resting each finger individually. 
4. You can complete lengthy conversations while sending.
5. You can find, try out and then reject every alternate hand and foothold before deciding with confidence that the most chalked holds are indeed the ones to use.
6. You have more time to complain to anyone who will listen about the trickiness of the climb, any and all loose rock you encounter, vegetation, and how sharp, slopy, sandy and/or non-existent each hold is.
7. You can make each movement as perfect as possible, decreasing your energy expenditure.
8. You will use the most amount of chalk possible.

Now that you understand the benefits of moving at a snail-like pace, here are some quick tips to help you slow down:

1. Take advantage of every rest you encounter, even if you rested the movement before. Try counting to ten each time you rest to really slow yourself down.
2. Shake out on every hold possible.
3. Always chalk up twice.
4. Talk to your belayer/spotter about how you feel or would like to change about the climb before you make each movement.
5. Try out every crystal that might be a hand or foothold before making difficult movements.
6. Try to sit down whenever possible. If you spot a good sitting ledge halfway up a route, put a juice box in your chalk bag to enjoy mid-climb.
7. Place twice the amount of gear you think you’ll need. Also test out multiple pieces each time you place.
8. Downclimb to rest below bulges several times before committing to pulling over them.
9. Pretend to move from good rests my chalking up, shuffling your feet, feeling the next holds and then returning to rest position to repeat the process at least once more before committing to continuing to the next rest.
10. Climb above the chains to “top out” routes and gain an extra two movements.

Remember: Sending is everything, and climbing slowly will allow you all the time you need for an onsight.

No Excuses: Go Climbing

There are many excuses for not climbing. Do not give in. Here are solutions for a few common "I can't climb today" excuses that will get you off the couch and onto some rocks: