Good Monday night session at BKB, working both lead climbs and bouldering. Still a little beat from the weekend at the Gunks, but felt like we put in good work.

lead: 5.9, 5.10, 5.11(f)
boulder: V1, V2, V3, V4, V5(f)

The 11 went up and under a small roof to the top of the arch, the moves felt there but our endurance is still lacking - could go with more juice. The lead head is slowly coming back, which helps. Bouldering felt good afterwards, being already warmed up. G knocked off the V5, which involved a move from two vertical pinches to a high horizontal sloper pinch, followed by a subsequent identical higher hold.

Fast start, slow end

Headed to BKB with Ryan, met Marco and Ragan there. We started strong in the small alcove towards the front where there is an overhanging section. I did V0, V2, V3, V4, V5+. The 2 was a fun overhanging (green) climb going across the little cave with good hands and feet. The 3, 4, and 5+ were hard, each in different ways. The (orange) 3 has a difficult finish going left to right on a small foot which is a bit far to really rock your weight over. The 4 involves mostly small hands. The 5+ is the yellow I tried last week, after a few fails trying to use the last hand hold before the top, I decided to just gun for the end. It worked on the second try, its more a mental thing than a physical challenge.

Ryan got stuck on the tricky 3 and spent a long time working it. Ragan and Marco worked some 0s and 1s; except for that green 2 that Marco spent a fair amount of time on. By the end he clearly had made progress, but was running out of juice. Ragan is learning to swing sideways and twist her shoulders; however she showed us she probably has the most hand strength of any of us on a sideways start with a flagged foot: impressive.

We then went in the back where these guys worked the 2 red that involves laybacks. I tried many things but couldn't come close on any of them.

We finished with some deadhangs and pullup training.

BKB with Ryan Sunday morning, both of us lagging. Not bad, but need to work on grip and lockoff strength. Squatting more - as always - will help.

1xV0, 1xV1, 1xV2
5xV3

"Cold is fine, but not wet" KL

Good session tonight, although a bit erratic: some problems seemed impossible, others went down pretty well.

We started in the steep room: V1+, V2, V3. Then we worked a V4 unsuccessfully. After that a crimpy V5. And we finished with a V6 we could not do, but it was very interesting: crimpy first move, then hook, long extension, swing feet, hard cross, a couple more moves, and then a power move to a handle...

We finished in the back. V4, V3, V2+V1, finished with a crimpy and explosive V5 up an arete.

K and I also did some burpees in between. I did 60, taking my total for the day to 80. I think K did about 50.

G and I were both pretty beat, lack of sleep in common, when we hit BKB with Ryan. G was definitely climbing better than me, climbing a few additional V3s and making short work of a crimpy, slightly overhung V5 at the end.

V1, V3(f), V3, V4(f), V4, V5(f)

Just felt a little run down, crimp strength a little weak. I also need to work on my heel hooking strength, it's a real problem when a move requires pulling up and over.

Canuck shuckin' walls

Brand new walls up in the front of BKB, textured lower half and plain wood (maple?) upper half. Ryan had it rough with the new surfacing, skinned elbows aplenty tonight.

Other than the new mats (!!), the most obvious difference is that all the topouts are bomber now - no more slopey garbage as you slap tenuously 16 feet off the deck. The other changes, in height and curvature, were really too subtle for me to notice while climbing. Not a lot of routes back up yet, but the ones we climbed tonight were good.

V0, V1, V2, V3
V4, V4, V5(f), V5(f), V3

Not bad, could have worked more on the 5s, but a super crimpy 4 made me take it easy. Not bad though...

By the lavender lake

Pre-brunch climbing at BKB, which is currently in the middle of installing new walls - and more importantly, new mats, in the front. The new walls are going to be birch - will have to see how the climbing feels without textured walls.

Climbing felt overall pretty good today, didn't work super hard but put in a bunch of climbs:

V0, V1, V2, V3, V2, V3, V3, V4, V3

Lavender lake, by the way, is apparently an old ironic nickname for the Gowanus Canal, which runs by a few short blocks away from BKB. It's also the name of a new bar where we had brunch, conveniently located between the gym and the closest F stop. Maybe a new place for post session drinks, if we're not feeling poutine?

Late trip to a crowded BKB with Ryan, pretty tired from the return to the gym this week. We stayed mostly in the front, on the short wall next to the tiny cave. Getting back in the groove, for the most part the moves felt steady, controlled, and comfortable.

V0, V2, V3, V3, V4, V4+

Couldn't stick the last move on the V4+ at the top of the high nose, but I think it's just a matter of positioning my feet properly and going for it.

Nice and easy

With G out of town, Ryan and I took a measured approach to a Tuesday night session at BKB. I swore that I would climb V3 and under - didn't quite work out that way, since we spent a large part of the time working a V4 up the high wall in front. Still a nice laid-back evening getting back in shape.

None of the moves were that difficult in isolation, it just took a while for me to link up the moves at the end, which were reachy and tenuous and felt like a long way off the deck. Started with a dynamic step up to a good two hand sidepull match, then a step across right involving two crimp gaston sidepulls, eventually working up high on rounded large pinches. The finishing moves, which stymied me for a while, involve a big right hand move up, a right high step, and a cross to the rounded topout finish. Sketchy hold at the highest bouldering point in the gym.

KL: V0, V2, V2, 2xV3, V4, V3, V2

Ryan's looking stronger and stronger, finished most of the V3s and a good bit of the V4.

Midday trip to BKB with Ryan on a hot and humid Memorial Day. Partially crowded but the A/C was finally turned on. Felt reasonably strong today, took it nice and easy and worked mostly on V4s. Ryan's climbing is coming along though he still has a tendency to go off the wrong foot.

V0, V1, V2

V4, V3, 3xV4

Inspired by the smell from the grills set up outside CF South Brooklyn next door, we followed up with the $6 burger-and-fries special at Ryan's favorite new village hangout. Mmmmmm...

Earlyish session at BKB with G and E and the Webb brothers, who brought a gift from the wilds up north I had never heard of: HP sauce (apparently a Commonwealth staple). First time climbing for Ryan's brother, who acquitted himself well for a big dude. Definitely the most rocker guy in the gym, with the rings and bracelets he couldn't/wouldn't take off plus beard and mane.

E sent her first V3, which just required a little thinking about body position and balance at the top - all her moves were dialed at the bottom. G and I worked up to a really fun V6 in the back that starts out moving around a vertical corner with balance, extended leg counterweighting, and hand smears. Using the arete and more hand smears, eventually you work your feet up high and throw for a jug; the finish is steep and a large move or two (and heelhook) to the right. It helped that some guys who knew the beta were working it, but I'd like to think we would have eventually figured it out.

front: V1, V2, V3, V4(f), V4
the beast: V5(f), V6

Sometimes, you just have to make the big throw (hey E... YOLO).

Lazy sunday

Quiet morning at BKB with Ryan on a super sunny Sunday morning. Took it easy today, lots of lazing about between climbs but felt pretty strong - all V4s were onsights.

the beast: V1, V2, V3, V4 , V5(f)
steep wall: V4, V4, V4

Finally replaced my chalk bag too...

Falling!

Easy Sunday morning climbing with Ryan at BKB. We mostly worked V3s, and Ryan is progressing really well. Went V0, V1, 5xV3, 3xV4 (mostly fail). Worked the hard V4 in the cave that G and I worked before, requires a toe hook to get situated under the lip and tough moves on the face - reached the double pinches on the face but couldn't make the tough big throw from there.

Still getting the endurance and grip back, but the climbing form feels good.

Upwards and onwards

Starting to see some good progress in the local climbing crew. Went to BKB with G, Ryan, Jess, and Hanneke, and everybody seemed to be climbing hard. Ryan was working V2-3 and Jess V3-4, and I saw Hanneke on V4-4+, including some roof problems on the beast.

With G, we climbed a bunch of stuff (more attempts then send on my part):

V1, V2, V3, V4
3xV6
2xV4

G was on fire, sending 2 out of the 3 6s we worked on. The moves felt there for me, just couldn't quite stick them. We spent the end of the evening in the cave working a couple of 4s, one that went down easy and one that definitely didn't. Productive to work on body control, tough.

Should be consistently sending (if not onsighting) V4, going to target work towards V5s.

Five for fighting

Went with a small crew to a very crowded BKB: G, Ryan, Jess, new import Axelle, and me. Fought our way through the crowds to warmup V0-V3, then worked a bunch of 4s and 5s (2xV4, 2xV5, 2xV4). V4s felt pretty good, and the V5s are getting to the realm of reasonable projects - the ratings are still pretty much all over the place, though. Ryan is coming along well and showing no ill effects of a layoff from climbing, and Axelle was climbing well (sport climbing prowess generalizes well).

Good evening out, need to make it back more regularly. Need to finally go get some new shoes, as I'm pretty sure I had my big toe directly on plastic the last few routes.

Brooklyn lead

Finally got G his lead certification at BKB, followed it up with some TR work for Ryan and some good leading work for me and Guillaume. Ryan is making noticeable improvement in his climbing, mostly with body positioning and balance. I'm still not entirely comfortable with the way lead routes are set at BKB, but it's good practice to suss out nonobvious sequences and clipping.

On lead: 5.10, 5.9, 5.10
TR: 5.10

The first 10 was long and fun, though it took me a few hangs to figure it out. It starts out steep and up one wall through an overhang, follows under a roof, requires you to swing your feet and downclimb to reset vertically on a free-hanging pillar, then moves up to chains. Fun and juggy. The 9 was tricky, going up an overhanging corner with kinda odd moves (last move is dynamic to the anchors off a crappy R hand gaston in a finger pocket).

I led a 10 on the free-hanging pillar, which was a little weird at the start but thoughtful and fun climbing the rest of the way. G, on the other hand, picked an awful 10 to lead. Vertical up to a high roof, but with spaced out bolts - the kicker is a dyno up to the roof to get to the 3rd clip, with fall potential through the lead line. He was game enough to hit it the second time after just missing the latch the first time around. Ballsy effort, but I didn't like the looks of it at all (good call too, because I didn't even make the first bolt on TR).

If the weather holds, we'll hit the Gunks this weekend - maybe head over to Millbrook for a little adventure...

G is for *Gold Star*

Finally did some roped routes at BKB again, haven't done anything but boulder there since they opened up. Ryan worked on some routes from 5.7-5.9, G and I focused on 5.10-5.11. Stuck to TR, as they were still way too busy to do lead belay certification.

boulder: V0, 2xV1, 2xV2, V3
TR: 3x5.10, 1x5.11

Despite his recent tendinitis (and Ultimate Warrior tape job), G was killing it tonight. The 11 in particular (steep start, big moves) had me flummoxed, but he had no problems linking all the moves to the anchors. Good work too on a few 10s on the free-hanging pillar (fun ape-like starts).

Lies, damned lies, and bouldering grades

Thursday night session at BKB with Ryan and G, felt like we climbed hard but not particularly well.

Started off in the back room V1, V2+, V3, and I have to admit that both the 2+ and the 3 seemed hard for the grade (or we were particularly weaker than our expectations). The 2+ was odd stemming across a shallow corner; G did it as a mantle off a left hand but with my tweaky shoulder I had to just slap out right and hope for the best. The 3 was even rougher, with the final move being a hard left hand crossover way high over a tiny right hand crimp - pretty rough landing against the wall if you pitched off.

We followed it with a sequence-dependent jugfest V4 on the roof beast in the back. Watched multiple people pitch off the crux move to turn the roof - right hand on a large sloper/pinch, feet under the roof, left hand up to a small jug - before we figured out the right way to latch the feet. Not bad once you have the right beta.

Finished working a bunch of V5s, to no real good end other than putting the moves in. Need to work on my heel hooking strength - maybe more hamstring work? Ran laps a the steep wall V1 to end it (K: 2.25, G: 2.75).

I swear it gets more crowded every single time we go to BKB. Last night, it was literally 2-3 people deep at almost every wall in the gym.

G and I spent most of the night on V4-V5 (V0, V1, V2, V3, V4, 2xV5, V4 then various problems V3-5). Actually felt pretty good tonight, didn't really get pumped - correlates with me starting conditioning again, but that was only this week and I think G and Ryan felt that way too. Maybe it was so crowded we were just taking longer between climbs.

Should be noted that none of us could figure out one of the V2 problems, though certainly not for lack of trying.

Early morning session at BKB with Maggie and Ryan. Worked a lot of V0 and V1s while M was practicing technique, though I did find the occasional V5 to flail on. M is improving quickly, will try some easy toprope soon. Bouldering is not the ideal way to get started with smooth efficient technique...

I'm realizing that when I don't focus on the most efficient way to do each move - especially on easier problems - I often brute-force a move or two each time. Trying to think each move through is helping.