Adrian Nelhams: Red-Pointing

Friday 17 February 2012

Red-Pointing

Red-Pointing on bolts

Definition –

A Red-Point ascent is one where you climb the route from bottom to top cleanly without any artificial rests such as sitting on the rope, but the quickdraws are already pre clipped into the bolts & you will have worked & practiced every move on the route beforehand.

Some thoughts on Red-Pointing -

Choose a route harder than your on sight grade but realistic in the time you have to complete the route. If you’re away on holiday, then you may have a number of days to work the route to finally Red-Point it, so you may choose a route 2 or even 3 grades harder than your on sight grade. If you’ve only got a day then you may choose a route just a grade harder than your on sight grade.

Once you’ve chosen your route, warm up by clipping climbing the route in short sections bolt to bolt resting at each bolt. Try & do this using as little energy as possible, warming up at the same time. The best way to do this is by making just enough moves up to each bolt then clipping the bolt with the quickdraw as soon as possible. Keep hold of the quickdraw pulling most of your weight onto it & then with the other hand, clip the rope into the other end of the quickdraw. Immediately get your partner to take in the rope tight so that you can sit on the rope & rest. Repeat this process all the way to the top of the route. It’s a great way to warm up & also get the clips in.

Now after some rest & if it isn’t super steep & overhanging, top-rope the route in short sections working the moves between each bolt. If you’re at a crux try it a few times then pull on the quickdraw or rope to get past it & onto other moves & sections higher up.

Take your time & work the route slowly without getting totally pumped taking plenty of rest between each top-rope try.

Once you’ve worked out all the moves between the bolts & have them wired, you can then move onto the most important part of the process which is the Links.

Now split the route into roughly 4 sections (around 3 or 4 bolts in length)

Link all the moves together in the first section including & most importantly how you’d clip each bolt, making a clean ascent of this section, then rest.

Now do the same climbing the second section cleanly including how you’d clip the bolts in that section.

Now lower down & rest, then pull up on the rope to get to your high point half way up the route & repeat the process of linking up the top two sections of the route.

The Links is just such an important part of working the route & learning ALL the moves including clipping the bolts & moving through to the next section.

After more rest, pull your rope down, tie in & lead the route in two sections firstly by leading to half height, rest & then continue to the top.

This process will have worked all the moves, sequences & how, when & what holds to clip the bolts from. It’s also built up familiarity & a mental strength to you being able to climb the route.