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So last summer I was in Thailand with my girl. I was kinda antsy to go climbing so in Chiang Mai I rented a bicycle and went to a gym. When I got there I was greeted by a tiny gym, half open air, half not. With the summer showers it was a really cool place to climb.

After saying hi to the guy at the counter and renting a pair of shoes I started my warm up and did some easy routes. After 3 or 4 routes the guy came up to me, looking strict. He said "you're new, right?" I said yeah I am. Feeling a bit nervous because I thought I committed some huge faux pas in Thai climbing culture or something. The guy says "Well we have a rule here..."

Gulp

"...new guy picks the music", and with a huge grin he hands me a portable speaker.

Made me love the community even more! Played some bangers and climbed some walls. When I left I hander the speaker to another guy who looked new.

Dear fellow beanie owners,

I've been on a strict training plan for about 6 months now: Monday: legs/core Tuesday: bouldering Wednesday: rest Thursday: bouldering Friday: legs/core Saturday: pull Sunday: push

I also check in with my sports dietician between every training block to make sure my nutrition is adapted to my training. But there are many days (about 40%) where I feel tired and weak, and not really able to push myself. As a result I have significantly scaled down my training (the plan you see here is the lighter version, I used to have pull and push after the bouldering, as well as a bouldering session on Saturdays) but it doesn't seem like it has helped much.

Recently a fellow climber told me she uses creatine very effectively to speed up her recovery. On paper it sounds great for me, but I'm terrified of gaining a lot of weight because of the water retention side effect. I have very weak and fragile fingers, (which is also why I had to ditch one of my beloved bouldering sessions), and although this might be a completely biased retrospect, I already feel like the 10kg of muscles I gained since the start of the year have really made me feel a lot heavier on the wall.

So, what are your two cents on creatine, and do you think it might be useful for me?

My gym just switched from the 2016 to 2017 recently and there is a dramatic difference in grades to me. It's not just stylistic because even the crimp ladders (which is the most similar to 2016) are ridiculously hard. Even just the one movers like Undisclosed Desire on the 2016 is as big of a move as Juggy One Mover on the 2017 with a four grade difference between the two. Am I just tripping or does anyone else share this sentiment?

Ayo,

This feels like a longshot but does anyone know what climb this is on the Decoy Board at my gym?

It was already selected when I arrived the other day so I gave it a crack. I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've actually sent anything on the board so I'd be keen to know what it was.

I have been using Boulder Denim as my go to daily wear/climbing jeans since they sponsored Louis several years ago. My current pair is wearing out and when I went to get a new pair the only sizes for men appear to be 28' and 40' waists. I tried to email their general inquiry email and got a bounce back (they also haven't done a newsletter since 2022).

They appear to be dead but I haven't been able to find any news online and their site is still up, albeit with no stock. I was wondering if anyone has any more info on what happened to them.

On another note, I now need to find new jeans. Does anyone have any brand suggestions for jeans (for men) that have some stretch? I know there are some climbing specific pants out there (Rungne comes to mind), but I have always liked the option to have pants I can wear out and about without an outfit change. Any suggestions would be more than welcome!

Hi everybody, my GF and I are planning a trip to Colorado to the San Luis valley area for a two week camping trip. We will be looking to do some bouldering and I'm looking for recommendations on good areas around San Luis to climb!

Thanks in advance!

I've been lifting for about a year and have gotten a good physique, now if I stopped lifting on only climbed 3 times a week for about 2 hours would I loose muscle mass?? Thanks