The Road to V5

Aaaaaaaa.

I started 2024 just about being able to climb V3 graded routes at a few gyms around London but I wanted to do better and get to climbing V4s consistently.

Actually, let me correct myself there.

I started 2024 with a sprained ankle and a lot of sitting around watching my friends climb, looking like a sad little puppy. Just needed a cone to complete the look.

After six weeks or so I was back on the wall and climbing, and I was thrilled to find that I could still remember techniques and skills! However my strength and stamina had dropped pretty fast. I started showing up to the wall a second team each week just to focus on climbing on the kilter board, to try and build up finger tendon strength and general confidence on overhangs. It started making a huge difference pretty quickly. :)

If you’ve never used one before, a kilter board is a climbing wall filled with a grid of standard holds that are the same between gyms. You can control it with an app on your phone which causes the holds to light up in various colours:

• Green are start hand holds
• Yellow are foot holds
• Blue are hand or foot holds (unless the route says not to put your feet on)
• Purple are the final hand hold(s)

You tilt the board to the angle you want (40º is where I’m at right now), pick a route from the massive list of user-uploaded problems, and give it a go. The holds are really tough on your fingers and it helps you build up better body tension on overhangs as well as confidence and technique, really really quickly. It also is really really hard. I fall off really often but it’s part of the process!

Combining this, encouragement from friends, a new pair of shoes, and a stronger willingness to fall off and make mistakes, has helped me finally get to climbing V4s consistently by the end of the year :D

Not too much to share but I was really proud of it! Now I’m recovering from surgery, I have to wait at least six weeks to get back on the wall and I already miss it so much. Damn I love climbing.