Alpine Logistics

Ever got the feeling that ‘this just isn’t my style’ when every move on every climb at a crag requires a super-human effort? That was the case for me at Donnas…famous for being hard-core, pumpy and a place where few female climbers have done their best performances. This is ironic because ‘donna’ in Italian means woman!

Unfortunately for me this is the closest crag to home. I once described it to a non-climber friend of mine that climbing there, for me, is like going to work…more of a chore than anything else…strange for someone whose life normally revolves around rock climbing.

This year however the tables have turned; for the first time in 7 years climbing I’ve ‘trained’ for climbing. This winter I learnt to boulder, dyno, pull up weights and lunge my way up and down a campus board. The result?

This week-end, after a long period of avoidance, it was time to face my fears. We were tired of roaring up and down the motorway to the coast and in this season the mountain routes are still frigid; so, as we wanted to climb, we went to Donnas.

This crag has two warm ups, three 7a’s and all the rest are 7b or harder. The whole crag overhangs and the routes are characterised by long reaches, dynos and a very physical style of climbing; all of which have never been my forte.

Today however I managed to get to the end of the warm ups without feeling pumped and after a few tries bagged a 7b. Result! Now I can’t wait to go back and try out my new found muscles on the rest of the climbs.

Moral of the story…training’s hard work but it’s worth it!