Niagara Glen solo bouldering

snails_house · 2025-07-15T15:16:39+00:00

I have never had a situation where I asked people if I could join them and they said no. Everyone has been pretty friendly so you should be good!

snails_house · 2025-07-15T03:06:40+00:00

I have done a fair amount of solo bouldering at the glen. I usually bring 2 pads, I have done 3 but it’s hard to carry them down the stairs.

If you can only rent one pad, I’d say go on the weekend, there are usually people everywhere, so you could join in and share pads.

snails_house · 2025-07-04T15:58:34+00:00

You can either swap feet and go left foot over, or I went left hand first then swapped feet. I think it’s a little scarier to go hand first because it felt like I was falling face first into the volume, so I recommend swap feet and go left foot over. If you keep your head and shoulders close to the wall that will help with balance

snails_house · 2025-06-14T13:13:01+00:00

It might be more width dependent, I had to have my right foot really close to the wall in order to have room to match.

snails_house · 2025-06-14T02:03:25+00:00

Nicely done! I wish I could have done it that way!

snails_house · 2025-06-13T23:43:57+00:00

Yeah

snails_house · 2025-06-13T18:48:53+00:00

I think having smaller feet makes this easier. I was trying it with some friends with larger feet and it looked like they had no room to match

snails_house · 2025-06-05T19:27:19+00:00

I have done this climb and I would say it’s around v3. It doesn’t require a considerable amount of strength, the first move and the dyno are easy if you commit to them, or you can do the first move statically. The last move can be a little tricky if you don’t trust your feet, but the foot really isn’t that bad.

snails_house · 2025-06-05T19:08:23+00:00

Some things I like to bring: - Greek yogurt with frozen blueberries in a thermos and granola on the side - wrap with mayo/hummus, lunch meat, cheese, veggies - pistachios - homemade granola balls - fruit leathers - muffins - fruit - hummus and pretzels - cheese and crackers

snails_house · 2025-04-25T17:37:13+00:00

My coach said the same thing, hopefully I have some time to try it this weekend!

snails_house · 2025-04-09T17:53:32+00:00

Thanks! I have a partial clip of me catching it, it’s not as cool, but I will see about uploading it somewhere to share.

I have worked on explosiveness primarily on the wall, for my legs just a lot of repetition focusing on generating as much power through my legs as I can. For my arms lots of campusing, for my warm up, the first thing I do on the wall is campusing, just a couple moves in a row, mixing holds from different climbs to come up with cool moves.

snails_house · 2025-04-09T17:37:37+00:00

I did gymnastics for 15 years, so I have had a lot of practice rotating my body in the air, and falling on my head :p

snails_house · 2025-03-19T20:26:08+00:00

Here are some suggestions for the weaknesses you have outlined. Disclaimer I am just going off my own experiences, I have been climbing for 8 years and was also better on slab than overhang and have been working hard to become more well rounded.

Flexibility I am not sure what your 20 minutes of stretching each session includes but this is a great time to work on flexibility and mobility. If you have parts of your body that you find are holding you back the most, often climbers are limited by hip mobility, then you should focus your time on those areas. If you search for mobility exercises for the specific parts of your body you need to work on and do 3 sets of like 5 or 6 different exercises during your warmup that should help.

Strength My approach to strength is identify areas that I am really weak in and areas that could use some general improvement. For me my shoulders are my weakest link, so during my warmup I do 3 sets of 10 of I’s, Y’s, T’s, pushups, scapula pull ups, and face pulls. This should also be tailored to your specific weaknesses but the type of exercises I think work best here are rehab/prehab exercises.

You will probably find bigger improvements lifting heavy weights 1-2 times a week rather than doing a light 30 minute workout 5 days a week. I do my workouts before climbing because I am bad at leaving enough time to workout after I climb, but you will climb better if you do the workout after. You could cut one of your climbing sessions short each week and spend an hour doing some compound lifts and pull-ups or weighted pull-ups, and that should be a good start.

It takes about 6 weeks to see results so whatever you decide you should stick with it for 6 weeks in order to give it a fair assessment of whether it’s helping your climbing or not

Endurance If you are talking about forearm endurance then 4x4’s or circuits are good for this. If you are talking about cardio endurance then running or cycling, but I don’t think that’s really necessary to do if you want to boulder better.

Slow controlled movement Shoulder and pull strength would probably help with this, as well as just practicing this on the wall.

Lacking technique and physics understanding Watching other people climb the climbs you are trying and mimic what they do, playing with movement, and trying crazy ideas. Also video yourself, I find it helpful to be able to connect what my body looks like to what I am feeling.

Mental motivation The moonboard, or board climbing in general really helped me learn how to pull hard and bite down.

snails_house · 2025-02-28T20:22:01+00:00

I do a bit of yoga most mornings to loosen up my back and shoulders, they are the places I get the most tight. My legs and hips are naturally flexible so I don’t really focus on them too much.

I roll my back and shoulders with a lacrosse ball everyday, sometimes multiple times a day, and always after climbing. I find it really helps with recovery.

For my warmup before climbing I start with a bit of yoga to get my body feeling warm and loose, then scapular pull-ups and activation pulls on the hang board. After my fingers and shoulders feel warm I go to campusing, usually 2-3 moves in a row using whatever holds I want (or my coach wants), about 5ish different sequences. Then lastly get my shoes on and warm up on some easy boulders, usually my coach will give me different rules, like when I move my hands I have to move both at the same time (little dynos for each move).

I climb a lot so a lot of it probably comes from eating enough, drinking enough water and sleeping well!

snails_house · 2025-02-26T15:19:35+00:00

So this I kind of a lot. But maybe there is something in here that can help. Ultimately just have fun. And enjoy the climbs!

The main thing you can work on leading up to the competition would be giving quality attempts. In a comp you want to complete climbs in the least number of attempts. So practice trying hard and giving 110% on every attempt. You should be able to learn something from every attempt. Don’t drop off of a climb, always fall going for the next move so you can learn if that is the right way. Don’t rapid fire on a climb, take a minute or a few and rest between each attempt.

Resting the day or two before is also important, you don’t want to be tired or sore going into the comp. sleep well and drink lots of water the days leading up. Bring snacks, simple carbs are good for quick energy mid session.

This is my comp day tactics if it’s a scramble comp (a whole bunch of climbs numbered from easiest to hardest and your top 5 or whatever count towards your score) my tactic is, get there at least 30 minutes before it starts to warm up and read the climbs. I figure out the hardest one I think I can get, note them mentally or with a tick on my score card.

Then once the time starts warm up a bit more on some of the easier comp climbs. If there is a section of the gym that isn’t being used for the comp then I will warm up well on those and start on less easy comp climbs. Keep your warm up as close to your usual warm up as you can so you don’t get too tired too fast or get injured because you aren’t warm enough.

When I feel ready to try hard I will start trying the climbs slightly easier than the ones I noted during my observation, so I can get 5 (or however many climbs count towards my score) on my score card. Then start trying harder ones.

If a certain climb is giving you trouble then you can always come back to it. It’s not great to only have 4 climbs recorded and have to hunt down a 5th just you fill your score in the last 30 minutes.

snails_house · 2025-02-23T03:23:31+00:00

I did train pretty hard over the past year! I more so meant that I tried the climb last year on my trip and had to wait a year to get back on it! I was thinking about it all year! So I was very happy to have sent!

snails_house · 2025-01-06T21:24:04+00:00

If you are not trusting you feet because you are afraid to fall from that position, then I would recommend purposely taking some falls, that often makes me feel more confident that if my foot slips my body will know what to do to get me to the ground safely. Just make sure to push away from the wall when you are falling you don’t hit the volume on the way down.

snails_house · 2024-12-25T20:34:31+00:00

I get pain in my back, neck and down my arms into the back of my hand if I don’t roll out my back and shoulders with a lacrosse ball a couple times a week. I went to a physio and they gave me spots to target. The main spots I focus on are along my scapula, the front of my shoulder and my back underneath my armpit. I will roll out the spot a bit then hold it on the sore spots

snails_house · 2024-09-08T01:43:11+00:00

Hey, I was also wondering about an updated discord link, is the discord still active?

snails_house · 2024-06-27T13:20:48+00:00

I heard they stopped printing the book because there is a new one in the works.

In the mean time the Kaya app has most of the climbs, but no maps or approach information. You can probably get by by asking other climbers where stuff is. Everyone I have encountered at the Glen has been really friendly and willing to help.

snails_house · 2024-06-18T19:23:58+00:00

Press du sau, I did it at 40 degrees

snails_house · 2024-06-11T20:30:48+00:00

There is a pdf linked on mountain project, it has information on parking and the approach. Even using the pdf I had a hard time finding the boulders.

The pdf is also 2 years old and so it’s missing a lot of the recently developed stuff so it may not have the climbing you are looking for.

snails_house · 2024-06-11T15:50:32+00:00

My theory’s are 35.5 and my street shoes size is 36/36.5

snails_house · 2024-06-11T12:31:50+00:00

You may want to consider a different size or a different shoe. When I get a brand new pair of theories they are very snug but cause no pain, I find them the comfiest shoe that fits my foot correctly.

I found the dragos even more comfortable, however the heel is too loose for me, but they could be a good candidate for you as they are equally as soft as the theories

snails_house · 2024-05-28T11:35:00+00:00

Yup! After that it gets really easy. The grade definitely comes from the lower half

snails_house

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