TBP 245: Five Principles of Climbing Trip Prep with Matt Pincus

Are you planning a climbing trip sometime this winter? Next spring? Any time in the future? Are you wondering what to do to prepare for that trip, whether it’s a month-long European extravaganza or a 5-day trip to Wild Iris? Well, Matt Pincus works with his coaching clients on this all the time, and he’s successfully prepared for many climbing trips himself.

So in this episode, Matt is going to lay out the main principles of preparing for a trip (training, mental prep, etc). He made a handy dandy outline for the episode, so I’m just going to copy and paste it here for you. This is everything we talked about in this episode.

Matt will be doing a few more episodes on specific climbing areas to help you have a successful trip. Most likely he’ll be talking about Hueco Tanks, the Red River Gorge, and Wild Iris to start.

Outline of Episode

Start with broader thinking/considerations and zoom in

Where are you in your year?

• Are you fit and in season or will you be coming off a training block?
• Is this a period of transition?
  • Changing climbing styles: i.e. sport to bouldering
  • Indoors to outdoors

1. What kind of trip are you going on?

• Onsighting vs redpointing? Quick sends/volume vs projecting? 
• Are you trying to break into a new grade/climb at your limit or climb a lot of different routes/boulders at a lower intensity and experience a lot of a new area/areas?

How long is the trip and what is your planned climbing schedule?

• 1 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off, ect?
• What your planned climbing schedule is should be reflected in your training. 
• A long trip where you can climb yourself into form versus one where you need to hit the ground running?

Area-specific characteristics

• Injury concerns with a climbing style – what do I need to work on to ensure I stay healthy? 
• Climbing area characteristics: this is where most people start
  • General angle
  • Common length of routes/boulders
  • Predominant hold type

Specific goal climbs 

• Do you have a singular or couple of main climbs in mind? If not, that’s ok and stay general.
  • Stand out or extreme holds/positions?
  • Time under tension demands?

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