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Crag Day — Onsight Mileage

EnduranceEnduranceMedium240 minnone

2 easy routes well within your comfort zone, climbed slowly. Outdoor rock recruits differently than plastic — give your fingers and head time to arrive.

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Full session

  1. 1. Warm-up (30-45 min) 2 easy routes well within your comfort zone, climbed slowly. Outdoor rock recruits differently than plastic — give your fingers and head time to arrive.
  2. 2. The day's diet: 6-10 unfamiliar routes Most of the day lives 2-4 grades below your redpoint max — hard enough to demand attention, easy enough to keep moving all day. Sprinkle 1-2 routes near your onsight limit when you feel sharp. New-to-you lines only; that's the entire point of the day.
  3. 3. The reading ritual (every route, before pulling on) 2-3 minutes from the ground: trace the line, spot probable cruxes and rests, guess the hold types from the rock's shape and chalk, plan the first clips. Then climb committed to your read, adjusting as the rock teaches you. Reading is the skill that makes outdoor grades feel honest — and it only trains on unfamiliar rock.
  4. 4. Debrief in one sentence per route Where was your read right, where wrong? Log each ascent with its honest style (onsight/flash/attempt) as you go — the pyramid you're building today is the base under every future project.
  5. 5. Pace the day Rest ~15 min between routes, eat and drink every couple of hours, and keep one route's worth of energy in reserve for the walk-off. Volume days end well when they end slightly early.
  6. 6. Stop rules Sharp pain = done. Two routes in a row where your feet start skating from fatigue = the mileage is banked, stop adding. Conditions turning (wet rock, heat) = the rock decides, not the plan.

Source and safety note

Based on: Eric Hörst, Onsight tactics + volume mileage on unfamiliar terrain — Training for Climbing (3rd ed.)

Training information only. Not medical advice. Stop if pain, numbness, dizziness, or unusual symptoms show up.