Older and Boulder

Last year I set myself some goals.

In no particular order,

1. Climb at least one indoor boulder 7a or harder

2. Finish in the top 50% of males in at least one round of the TCA winter series Comps.

3. Three or more outdoor bouldering trips to three different places.

So, how did I do?

Well, I didn’t manage to send an indoor 7a. I was very close to it, but it didn’t quite happen. There are probably a couple of reasons. Firstly, the elbow issue took longer to resolve than I had hoped. The good news is that it’s now pretty much resolved. Second, I picked up a finger injury in march or so, and that set me back a bit too. I also tend to only climb in the same two bouldering centres, and there’s a general feeling that the change of setting team has meant that boulder are graded slightly less ‘generously’ than before, but that might be an excuse. That one is moving into a 2025 goal.

Second goal… Top 50% finish in male category in TCA winter series? Mission accomplished, back to back comps in fact, so i’m pretty happy with that as a sign of progress, and i contonue to enjoy these informal comps, and the wider SNBL competition scene too.

I also failed on my final goal of 3 outdoor trips, which is ridiculous considering how close I live to Dumbarton Rock. We did get outdoors once last summer and loved it, althoguh I was surprised by how quickly my skin gave up compared to climbing indoors.

Anyway, 33% success rate, with two goals moving into next year, and me having to spend some time having a think about how to tweak my competition goal.