Angus Kille Climbing

Injury has been a theme of this trip for me. What’s great is that it somehow hasn’t stopped me from getting pumped and fighting on long endurance routes – which happens to be exactly what I wanted from this trip.

A mild nerve compression has meant my right arm gets pumped really quickly (not ideal here in Oliana) and I’ve kind of been dragging it up the route, but getting a really good fight in the process.

I savour the process of working routes more and more these days – you get to see so much progress when you look for it. Not being able to send seems like a very small complaint at the end of a wonderful family trip. We’re heading home now, hopefully these little injuries don’t stick around too long 🙂🤞

Thanks for the first pic, and for the rest 📸

equipment .equipment.uk

I’m pretty blown away by how knackered I’ve been on this trip — turns out there are no rest days with a toddler.

I could write a long list of the fatigue, distractions, logistics, time squeezes, stress, and parenting-related injuries we’ve juggled on this trip alone. But the list of reasons we’re actually *lucky* is almost identical.

As much as we compromise, run ourselves down, and otherwise manage parenting madness, they’re small concessions for getting to hold onto the best bits of our lives at the same time.

I don’t feel warm and fuzzy about fatherhood in the pain-in-the-arse moments — I mostly just think “this is a pain in the arse.” But making a human and raising it is a big, bad-ass, high-stakes experience. There isn’t really an easy way. It’s either hard, or you opt out of that experience.

Climbing isn’t this thing I love that I now *have* to do with a kid in tow. It’s something I *get* to do. With a kid.
It doesn’t look the same, and it’s hard a lot of the time, but we’re playing the big, high-stakes game now. It’s pretty cool.
I’m absolutely wrecked.

Shoutout to , who gave up her body for this project and is still breastfeeding and doing the night shift on top of everything else. I don’t know how she’s doing it, but she almost climbed 8c at the weekend 🤷‍♂️

equipment .equipment.uk

Months of bouldering haven’t set me up that well for 50m sport routes. I’ve been getting pumped going bolt-to-bolt on this route (Fish Eye) – it feels endless. It’s hard to imagine linking all this hard climbing in one massive pitch, but that’s what I love about endurance routes – hundreds of tiny tweaks and efficiencies add up to make it possible.

Travelling, working and projecting with a toddler is kind of madness – we’re always busy and there’s not much rest involved. I’ve had a rest day for every go on this route so far. But even one burn is enough good climbing on good rock to keep me happy

Thanks for the main photo of me going bolt-to-bolt on Fish Eye 8c

equipment .equipment.uk

I’ve noticed I tend to overcook my training a bit. I always err on the side of doing more, squeezing the most out of a session and I always find it hard to turn off the ‘try hard’ on routes and boulders.

This ‘more is better’ approach has definitely helped me in my climbing, and so has that ‘try hard’ I find so easily. But I’ve also got fatigued and overtrained in training periods, and never had much training consistency because I haven’t realised I’ve been overdoing it.

The irony is that I’m constantly talking about this in mental training. It’s really easy for people to push a bit far, thinking that pushing hard is where progress comes from. And it’s super common – if people aren’t avoiding psychological challenges (falling for example) then they’re often pushing too far (gritting their teeth and going for the big fall).

Obviously we get stronger by pushing ourselves. But it’s not as if more is always better. There’s a point in which you get over-tired, over-trained or injured. You’ve got to find the sweet spot of dosage – the optimal challenge level, the optimal stimulus.

Fortunately, when I overdo it in training (or on the rock) I just get in a bit of an energy hole – these photos are from a mega session which I should have just cut short, but had to take a week off instead. The bigger risk is that I push hard like this and get injured.

We pay much less attention to optimal psychological challenge in climbing — but it matters just as much.

Imagine following a physical training plan without tracking sessions, load, or volume. Progress would be inconsistent at best, and injury would be likely. Psychological training works the same way.

When you start paying attention to the dosage your nervous system is getting, progress becomes steadier and more sustainable.

This is a big part of what we do at Strong Mind. We’re launching our full course in about 10 days, and it’s the most complete tool we have for helping climbers build consistency, confidence, and long-term progress.

If you’re curious, send me a message or check out .climbing. Or see our Trustpilot reviews

Thanks for these photos on Twin Cracks V9/7C

Merry Christmas!