Same thing every year: after the summer heat, temperatures are dropping down!
Besides finding here a good reason to get back to your climbing gym, you also have a good one to work on you outdoor projects!
Indeed, coldness is the ally of climbers in terms of performance, with the famous 'sticky' phenomenon, that is to say, an absence of perspiration on your fingers pulp and optimal conditions of adhesion to the rock!
Of course, it is also synonymous with pain, even suffering for some of us. So let's take a quick look at some tips to help you suffer less and climb harder:
- In winter as in summer, think as much to hydrate yourself. To do so, while warming you up efficiently, bring your hot water with you for a tea or an instant soup.
- Wear several layers and clothing suitable for belaying or easy to remove when climbing. Remember that to gain efficiency, air must flow between layers: prefer loose clothes, and if you find the good old wool of your aunt, it's time to bring it out, most of the thermal losses happening around your head (for multipitch routes, opt for a flat model fitting underneath your helmet).
- Carry dry food or energy bars, especially if you are going on a journey of multipitch route or with a long walk.
- When you are not climbing, keep your booties warm in your jacket or sit on it.
- Remember that after the painful nail and the return of the blood in the tips of the fingers, you are quiet for a moment!
Another good news is that the cliffs where you suffered the heat wave this summer now become perfectly adapted to these new seasonal conditions: choose beautiful south faces not exposed to the wind.
Multipitch-route climbers, remember that the daytime is getting shorter as the winter comes: more than ever, bring your headlamp with you any time, with fully charged batteries of course!
We wish you beautiful winter climbs!
