Wednesday 6 February 2008

Filters and fool rooms

I like to think of myself as being fairly open minded and kinda aware of whats possible... but of course we are all the results of our lifes up to this point and as such have been programmed into various levels of responses, expectations, perceptions, ambitions etc... this is a fairly long way of talking about one of my "definitions", if you will being shattered and the alteration of one of my mental filters. When people talk about their home wall or training board i have come to picture some sort of lovingly crafted piece of steepness stuck in some garage, shed or spare room and sparsely dotted with a variety of home-made and free holds that can paint a picture of the ergonomic developments of climbing hold manufacture through the ages (or inversly the ammount of indoor induced tendon injuries! think of all the old, circa late 80's, sharp pockets and crimpers!). Plywood kickboards dirtied by 1000's of foot placements over the years etc... But not this! No way would i consider THIS a home wall! Now way a private wall! It's bigger than most IBL venues fer christs sake!! A friend emailed me this link to a video of a strong local couples home training facility, built in their barn. I was stunned and it has altered my perceptions of what can be done. Oh... and it explains how they climb so hard! Alison alone has ticked numerous 8a's or maybe even harder!

Check this out!

2 comments:

Neal said...

Holy s^&%!!!! that's huge!
Although, wait till you see the photos of the new cave in Dublin, it's not much smaller....

One 50 degree board, one 30 degree, one 20-60 degree (curved wood) board. Opposite wall will have a big 10 degree and some vertical (4.5 meters high). And to top it off.....once we get around to it (later addition), there'll be a 4 meter roof.
I'm expecting to get my ass kicked from day one :) Now understand (part of) the reasons for hanging around Dublin?!

Unknown said...

I can't wait to see it... will ye let visitors in? :)