Rope Drills 

Rope Onsights

setup: 4-6 min per climb, same time for route preview, 1 attempt per route

• focus on routes that are complex or confusing. Look for large features/ fiberglass, volumes, etc

• Climbs should be a bit below project level (unless specifically trying to be hard). Ideally, cover grades or don’t let athletes look.

• The climber should lower immediately after fall to simulate pressure of one attempt in a comp

• Focus:

  • using route preview time effectively. Translating preview into an effective climb-specific warm-up.

  • committing on the first go.

  • managing nerves and expectations to give 100%

• Questions to ask after preview:

  • what part of the climb seems like the crux and why?

  • what moves do you specifically want to warm up for?

  • Is there a consistent theme or feeling to the climb? Ie, balancey and technical? Steep and powerful? Tracking? Jib finding?

Rope protecting

setup: 3-5 falls per climb, focus on refining beta and understanding why they fell each time.

• These climbs should be challenging and help climbers get comfortable climbing at their limit on a rope.

• They can come back to the same climbs for this and work on learning from their past mistakes and working through the pump.

• Goals:

  • get outside comfort zone on climbs at one’s limit

  • work on commitment on moves that are hard, large, scary etc

  • build strength overall from working on hard climbs

  • link difficult sections of climbs

    Questions to ask? 

    1. what did you learn from previous goes?

    2. what are the cruxes?

    3. what is your focus going into this project?

    4. Are there links youd like to make during this session?
       

Rope Doubles/Triples

setup: repeat a climb 2-3 times, with minimal rest between each lap.

• Climbs should be pumpy but not extremely hard.

  • doubles -2 below flash grade

  • triples -3 below flash grade

• Pull the rope quickly and re-flake fast to limit time spent on the ground. athlete can traverse or hang on the wall while their belayer prepares for the next lap.

• The focus is on climbing through the pump, resting and recovering on the wall, and clipping efficiently

  • Although the climber will be more pumped with each subsequent lap they should also have learned the climb and be able to refine beta

    Questions to ask:

    • any spots on the wall you found to rest after the first lap?

    • how was your resting and breathing on the wall?

    • Did you bail when you got pumped or did you climb through it?

Single-foot rope climbing

Setup: can be applied to almost any drill. Ideally, choose one foot to use consistently throughout the whole climb. Can use open feet if needed.

• climb should be fairly easy, approximately -4 below flash

• climber should ideally keep the same foot on throughout the climb for added difficulty, but if necessary the athlete can switch feet or use open feet (any feet on the wall, not just those from their climb)

• The goal of this drill is for athletes to work on generating from and through awkward positions where they do not have optimal feet/ body positions. Climbers will also get pumped quicker and have to relax/ make good decisions even while pumped.

  Questions to ask:

  • how can you use flags, and heels to create stable body positions on the wall?

  • how can use generate without push feet?

Dyno/commitment on a rope 

Setup: choose and easy climb with lots of jugs

• climb up to the 3rd or 4th bolt, a height that you feel very comfortable

• select jugs just out of comfortable reach and dyno/double clutch to them

• The goal of this activity is to work on commiting especially on lead. It is ok to jump even if the hold is not that far away.

• Questions to ask:

  • Did you hesitate on the jumps?

  • Do you feel more comfortable? jumping when you are not far above your bolt?

Rope up/down/up

Setup: Choose 2 climbs that are next to each other, up Hard, down medium, up hard, 6 total up/down/ups

• for example, up 5.11+, down 5.11-, back up the 5.11+

• Complete 3 total up/down/ups, rest 5-10 min between each one

• These should be hard, make modifications to climbs as needed to fit the goal of the drill

• The focus here is to climb difficult stuff when tired and work on downclimbing, downclimbing requires that athletes ahve good shoulder strength and foot tension.

• Also, athletes can greatly benefit from down-climbing as it challenges them in eccentric movements which strengthens their muscles in different ways and help them develop more foot tension and trust as they must weight their feet well while down-climbing. 

• Athletes should leave the last two draws clipped for safety when down-climbing.

Rope Made up climbs 

• choose a part of the wall with high density (a part of the wall with a lot of climbs on the same anchor)

• Look for areas of the wall that have comp-style holds, (fiberglass, lots of jibs or hold stacks, larger features)

  • Eliminating holds from an easier climb can be a great way to start making up climbs.

• This is a great opportunity to give them complex and risky climbs

  • don’t be afraid to give your athletes big moves, this is a great opportunity to make them jump and commit

  • don’t be afraid of abstract holds or to give options, this gives them a great opportunity to practice sequencing and fighting through confusing sequences.

• try not to give them jugs/ good rest positions, instead force them to find the more cryptic rests.

Speed rope climbing

• This drill can be applied to many other drills and is about time management and committing to beta. You could have an athlete do a speed onsight, speed doubles etc

• depending on the difficulty of the climb you can choose 2-4 minutes as the climb time.

• Athletes should strategize before they get on the wall how to use their time well.

  • for example, they can sequence which sections have better more incut holds and can therefore be climbed very quickly with less hesitation. Other sections of the climb with more sloppy/ directional holds may require that the athletes slow down slightly to accommodate the change in style.

  • the goal of this drill is for athletes to commit to beta quickly without making many readjustments or hesitating on their movements.

    • Having only one attempt on routes in comps can leave athletes feeling very hesitant to commit to beta however if the move is large or a dead point they need to commit in order to do the move successfully. This drill helps athletes get out of their heads and climb with a bit more confidence.