Today was such a fun climb. Even though I like bouldering more than top-roping these days, this session was notable because I on-sighted a 5.11a and flashed a V6. I’m pretty sure this was the first time I’ve on-sighted a 5.11a!
I’m a bit skeptical the V6 was truly a V6 (it had two big moves involved on a hanging incline), but I’ll take it.
One of the things I started thinking about in this session was how I’d convert over my point system to top-rope grades. After asking a few of my climbing friends, here is what we came up with in terms of a conversion table:
| Boulder Grade | Top-Rope/Sport Equivalent |
| V0 | 5.8 – 5.9 |
| V1 | 5.9 – 5.10a |
| V2 | 5.10a – 5.10c |
| V3 | 5.10c -5.10d |
| V4 | 5.11a |
| V5 | 5.11b |
| V6 | 5.11c |
What I quickly learned is that there is a lot of contention on these sorts of tables, and it makes sense since setting can be so subjective. That being said, I’m settling on using this conversion table for now because I can confidently say I typically on-sight/flash V4s and the 5.11a today didn’t necessarily feel too extreme so much as I didn’t have the same level of endurance I once had for top-roping. So the table makes sense to me since I can’t regularly send V5s right now, and I think my upper limit for top-roping is probably around a 5.11b right now.
Since top-roping and sport climbing routes typically take longer than bouldering problems (both due to distance as well as to tie in, etc.), I’m going to apply a 2X multiple on each of those climbs for point totals.
Anyways, here are my stats for the day. If it was a top-rope route, I’ll put the results in parentheses:
| Warmup | 10 pull-ups | |
| Training | ||
| Grade | Outcome | Points |
| V0 (5.8 – 5.9) | (✓) | 1 |
| V1 (5.9 – 5.10a) | 0 | |
| V2 (5.10a – 5.10c) | (✓✓✓✓) | 16 |
| V3 (5.10c -5.10d) | ✓✓ | 6 |
| V4 (5.11a) | (✓) | 8 |
| V5 (5.11b) | 0 | |
| V6 (5.11c) | ✓ | 6 |
| TOTAL | 37 | |
| Cooldown | 1 peg board (all the way up and then down) | |
| Recap | 9 sends, 0 failures |
Today I completed one 5.8, one 5.10a, three 5.10bs, and a 5.11a.
I also did a full peg board rep to the top and then back down. Two things to note about this session: I wasn’t able to get to ten routes or a full cooldown in since I was climbing with a friend and FA Avondale was closing. I forgot how much longer sessions get when you top-rope.
2018 YTD
- 126 sends (+9)
- 36 failures (+0)
- 325 pull-ups (+10)
- 115 pushups
- 66 biceps
- 12 triceps
- 70 forearms
- 30 shoulders
- 30 squats
- 1 peg board (+1)
- 345 ab reps
My next climbing sessions is definitely going to be a lighter one. Closing out on a peg board climb was brutal. That being said, January 2018 was a big one for me — I logged twelve sessions in the month, sent my first 5.11a, a V6 and surpassed 100 sends for the year!
