Oldering (Chris’ Christmas Indulgence) (Patreon)

Tis the season for self indulgence and what better place to indulge yourself than on a Patreon?

Since you all are forced to hear periodic updates on middle aged bouldering in audio format, I thought it only fair to assault you with video evidence that this is not all in my mind.

The way it works, for those of you unfamiliar, is that you have starting holds (marked by colored tapes) and a finishing hold (marked by the same color tape). Your goal is to climb up using the holds indicated for that route. In the gyms I use in Japan these are mostly colour coded (e.g. you can use all the white holds). The routes themselves are graded by difficulty, usually indicated by the colour of the tape (not the colour of the holds).

In most countries they use a difficulty rating based on V1-15 but in Japan it follows a different system going from Q8-Q1 then 1st - 3rd Dan. This should be familiar to people who have trained Judo or Karate. I’m currently at around Q3 level, by Japan conversion I think this is V2-3 but Japan is a bit harsh in its grades. In any case, still a long way to go! I started in May this year so have been training for just over half a year now.

I find it a very enjoyable physical and mental workout (each route is like a puzzle) and it provides a break from rumination and stress. I’m 42 now and see lots of people in the gyms who are in their 60s, and some who might be older, who are climbing much better than me, so I feel like this is the kind of sport/activity that you can participate in long term. My kids also really enjoy it, so it’s a good family activity.

I realise this is an indulgent, off topic post but this is something I really enjoy and that I think contributes to the ‘balance’ necessary to not be worn down by all the guru stuff that we regularly dig into. It might not be to everyone’s tastes but it suits my personality very well and has replaced the ‘mental break’ space that martial art training used to occupy for me. I’d still like to train grappling but it’s a lot harder to schedule than bouldering and I have some niggling injuries i need to be careful of.

Anyway, the routes in the video are all from the past few months and are pretty representative of my current level. I’m happy with my progress but also realise I have a lot more to work on to get to 1Q! I know some of you here are a lot more experienced than me and no I’ve never tried top-rope or outdoor stuff. Maybe one day but for now I’m content on indoor stuff with nice soft mats!

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