Monday, June 05, 2006

Post-Mountain Improvement

At the climbing wall on Friday night, I noticed a marked improvement in my lead climbing since Toubkal. I don't know if it's down to confidence, technique or fitness, but it was quite noticeable. My usual nerves were almost absent, and easily conquered - I was leading 4c routes without any real trouble, and when I did get stuck, I just calmly stood there and worked it out, without getting knackered while I did so.

I think it's more down to confidence than anything else - having got through our unsuccessful summit attempt when we ended on the wrong route, and had to solo climb our way out of it feeling very exposed, even on a not-too-steep face, then a 20m wall with a rope didn't seem like a big deal at all, however much more steep it may have been.

I've also seen several other people around t'intarweb report increased aerobic fitness after spending time at altitude then returning to normal oxygen levels, but apparently it returns back to normal after about ten days, unfortunately. Bugger....

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