Direct Hit

Yesterday I sent my hardest route ever, Direct Hit (14a), at the Hood on Mt. Charleston.  I only had 3 weeks to complete it this year since I'll be away again all summer in Alaska and Ohio, which happens to be the main climbing season on Mt. Charleston.  With this limited time frame in mind, I trained harder than I ever have up in Alaska and, I believe, made significant strength gains.

Not only am I psyched that I don't have to think about this route all summer long (!) but also that, even without access to a climbing wall, I was able to see gains in my climbing using just basic free weights and a hangboard.  I think this could be especially useful for you, Ian, since you have limited time and access to facilities during the week.  It's also much more efficient (and cheaper!) than a session at the climbing gym.  Including the warm-up, my entire workout takes only an hour and a half.  It could even be shortened to an hour and still be 90% effective, I think.  The basic workout consists of 1 day hangboard/1 day free weights/1 day rest - then repeat for 3-4 weeks.

I don't have any great shots but a friend took some cell phone shots of me when I was getting close on Sunday, and another buddy, who was belaying, got a couple shots of me on the actual send yesterday. (Sending, or redpointing, is just climbing from the bottom to the top without resting on the rope or falling.)

This is one of the route's few resting spots, 3/4 of the way up the route.  About 15' of runout 12c/d slab climbing guard the anchors.

This is a shot my belayer took yesterday of me at the rest hold on the actual send.

The view from The Hood-not a bad spot to spend some time.