The Preparation Trap
Getting ready to start building to prepare for initiating beginning to ramp up to...
Getting Ready, Forever.
The two were in the gym almost every day. Some days they lifted weights. Some days they did pull-ups hanging from ice tools. Sometimes, they’d consult their phones, then it was a marathon session of step-ups with loaded packs wearing brand-new mountaineering boots. Their dedication to the preparation was impressive…and totally out of line with their dedication to the craft.
I have seen this play out multiple times in the nearly 25 years we’ve had the gym. A young climber will get excited about the idea of being an alpinist and will fall into a trap of physical preparation. It’s not really clear where the disconnect comes, but what happens over and over is that this person becomes incredibly physically fit for gym workouts and never applies it in a performance environment. When it comes down to actually driving to the trailhead and throwing a heavy pack on your back and launching into the mountains, your dream or your gear or your gym workout are not enough.
Vern Gambetta emphasized the difference between training time and “go time,” and the people that do go to the mountains know that when we get out there, it’s not usually our fitness that makes us fail. Instead, it is the difference between our expectations of what the mountains will be like and what we find when we are out there. For some it is the wind, the dry air, the hunger, or just the distance back to safety. Whether it’s your lungs or legs or your anxiety that gives you pause, the fact that something came up that shut you down means your preparation wasn’t correct.
I think we’ve oversold the value of gym prep for mountain environments. Go hard in the gym so you’re ready for the world. But the physical is just a part. It seems like hundreds of people read Kiss or Kill, started doing squats and hill laps, and never got past the flash point.
It’s not Twight’s fault. I think it’s an overall belief that being physically “fit” automatically entitles us to success the performance environment. Even obsession over gear, topos, trip reports, and weather are not enough. The map, as we know, is not the territory.
It’s easy to get confused when you look from the outside. Elite alpinist doing hard shit in the gym. Elite alpinist with expensive gear. What we don’t get to see is their hours of thinking about the mountains. The many dozens of days that are spent out there with no fanfare, no social posts. The many days where no photos were taken. The touch that comes from living among the peaks.
Every time you’re out in the hills is developmental, whether you notice it or not. And this time is essential to long-term success.
The method that works for preparation is a simple process:
Go experience the environment.
Notice where you struggled and consider solutions to those struggles.
Go home and address these as best you can.
Return to the environment and repeat.
Were your legs trashed after that day? Make them stronger. Were you terrified? Do something about it. But don’t just go to the gym and try to be an animal and hope it will make you comfortable in the cold.
If you read the canon of Twight’s work, you’ll quickly realize there is very little about being physically stronger, and an incredible amount about facing the reality of what’s out there. A look at Dani Arnold’s career will show you literally hundreds of non-noteworthy days in the mountains, lots of dealing with thwarted plans, and relatively little gym time in-between. There are climbers who don’t train at all, but face the monster of the mountains and have hugely successful careers. There are none who only occasionally leave the gym and perform at a world standard.
This is true whether you’re a boulderer who spends unlimited time on the Moon Board, a trail runner who can’t manage to leave the treadmill, or a rock climber who hits the gym three times a week, but dreams of El Cap.
Train, yes, but also get out there.
The pair of dedicated gym alpinists quit coming in as frequently. Then they quit coming at all. Maybe 8 months later, I ran into one of them and asked about his alpine season. “I didn’t really have time to go,” was all he said.
Step one is not to start training. Step one is to go out and see what you’re training for.