How to Climb V7+ (ish): How I Did It and What Is Practical
- Kevin Dumapit
- Mar 30, 2015
- 3 min read
For many people, climbing harder is inevitable. The need to climb harder is in all of us. We are hungry for harder and more technically demanding climbs, whether our bodies are ready for them or not. I think we are all guilty of hopping on something that we know is
burly, techy or has enough panache where we go "WTF was that." So how did I progress? How did I somehow manage to climb V7 in the gym and more importantly: Outside.
You may be thinking that there is a big secret to climbing V7 or any hard grade for that matter. I hate to break it to you but, there really isn't. You just have to keep up with it. Keep climbing and do things related to climbing.
So how did I ACTUALLY do it...well... I would just get on climbs that had elements I sucked at: Slopers, overhung and pinches. Mind you, these weren't even crazy hard climbs, maybe v5 and under. Once I had the beta dialed down on any of these climbs, I'd add weight, take holds away or work on different foot placements and see if I could still get up the climb. I varied up what I did to gain more experience and technique. For example, manipulating the toe on certain footholds made a huge difference as the direction of your toe on the hold would weight differently. Sometimes, the slightest angle of the toe into the hold made the biggest difference. Your shoes have sharp / flexible toes for a damn reason.
Another element that I believed helped me out when sending harder climbs was realizing that my muscles were developing a lot faster than my tendons. That's right. Your tendons develop 10x slower than your muscles due to a lack of bloodflow to them. So if you ever get on a hard climb wondering why the hell you can't do it, it might not be a matter of muscular strength, but a matter of tensile strength. So what does that actually mean? It means: take your damn time on the easier V5 and climb that sucker until it feels like a V0. What you are doing is allowing your tendons to catch up to your muscular strength (trust me, you are prob strong enough to climb 3 grades harder...but your fingers aren't).
A question that may come to mind is: did I ACTUALLY train? Personally, I don't think really did or took it that seriously. I just did shit until I could hold onto something or complete a move I kept trying. Time was my ally. Not that training wouldn't help because it can. But if I were to say I trained this was it: I went to the rock gym consistently over a few months period, the same time each day, try some decently hard climbs then try the really hard climb I couldn't do and see where I ended up at the end of the month.
It is hard to gauge progress in a gym because climbs change every 2-3 months or so (sometimes longer). But here is some food for thought: if you want to climb V7 or any hard grade, just go pick one outside and just do it damn it. It has been there for thousands of years and I doubt it is going anywhere. The pictures you see above are the Buddha which is a v7 in New Paltz, NY. It took me 3 years to get when I first sent it (The top pic was me almost failing but got the repeat. The second pic was my attempt at Illustrious Buddha V8).
Lastly, the best thing I could tell you about climbing is: enjoy the ride. Why? Because once you send that project of yours, you are already going to think about the next (and probably) harder one. So enjoy the blood and sweat, getting your ass kicked and the lessons you learn along the way.
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