UKH

Good climbers make hard climbs look easy. At least they do on Youtube. I've just watched 'Consumed' on Youtube. I cant believe how good some of the climbers are. So just for research purposes I feel like putting a top rope on something like Gaia at Black Rocks to see just how hard it really is. It is about a million grades harder than I have ever climbed but they make it look doable. I know I probably wont even make it to the overhang but wonder if anyone has ever tried something way too hard just to try and understand how hard ,hard actually is!

Do it all the time....mostly fail, sometimes manage to top something.

What most people see is the end result of endless training, day in day out for years and years.

In terms of grit....im rubbish on it and there's no amount of training that'll make me better, other than climbing more grit i suppose.

I have occasionally looked at some really hard boulder problems in the Peak - especially the vertical ones, and they look utterly impossible, and that is speaking as a one time climber!

Chris

Watched Johnny Dawes cruise up Technical Master (f6B) in his Reebok(?) trainers in Stone Monkey - several years later I was thrashing around at the foot of it wondering how to even get off the ground.

As Denzel says, it's lots and lots of training and practice (plus natural talent/potential). 

I often think similar when watching a good guitarist, they make it seem so smooth and calm, almost as if it's in slow-motion sometimes. I guess the difference with playing guitar is that you can usually make quite a bit of progress towards your goal whereas with climbing, no matter how much training, you are limited by your body-type, physiology etc.

I think the analogy with guitarists is quite good. I remember standing on top of a pile of stones at the bottom of Green Death at Millstone as a teenager in 70's. My mind couldn't even understand what I was looking at in terms of climbing. It's still the same.

Fixed.

Most musicians are limited by physical/neural combinations, as well as their aural capabilities.

@Slackboot - go for it, but you won't be popular if you snap off any crucial holds/pebbles!

I dont think I will do it. I dont think I would get off the ground.

I think you can make a similar analogy with almost anything - it's actually a pretty good definition of skill that a skilled person is someone who can perform a difficult task and make it look easy.

I've seen it a lot since I've been dabbling in a bit of kayaking - in a sport where you're trying to react to rapidly changing conditions, events etc., part of the problem for a beginner or improver is that you just can't keep up and react fast enough - then you watch someone really skilled and they just seem to have all the time in the world.

I remember once, when doing a major photoshoot on Sron Ulladale for my first book, with Johnny Dawes, Ben Moon and Paul Pritchard, that there was a big boulder not far from where we were camping. They were doing several boulder problems and Johnny, particularly, made them look so easy that I was tempted to have a go, but didn't want to show myself up. Then it was time for supper, and they went off down to the boat hut that we used and I said I wanted to get something from my tent. I went back to the boulder and had a go. I couldn't do a single move. I couldn't get both feet off the ground, on some, neither ...

A small amount of Gritstone bouldering is the easiest way to find out what the definition of hard really is... Try any F7A boulder and that will still be easier than Gaia 

What a brilliant climber Johnny Dawes is.