Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bouldering

La Belle Fontaine

vernondalhart — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:27:46 -0800

A friend and I are looking at going to boulder in Fontainebleau, France in the early part of August. We don't have a car. What's our best way to get around? We'll be flying from the UK, with the intent of landing in Paris and taking the train to Fontainebleau. We also plan on camping while we're there, which as near as I can tell leaves us near Milly la Forêt.

It seems that our best options are either renting a car (if we rent one from Hertz at Charles de Gaulle, I think it's around 350 Euro for a week), or renting bicycles, or walking around. As I understand the area to be fairly large, that last option seems to be not the best one.

So what's our best bet? Would it be utterly ridiculous to try and get around completely on foot, or to carry a crash pad and whatever other gear we have on a bicycle? Should we just suck it up and rent a car for the week?

Also, is this completely dumb to do in August? All of the guidebooks and advice that I've seen suggest that it's best in the winter, that the warm summer temperatures make the rocks there... iffy to climb on, other than morning and evening.

Is there anything else that I should know about before going? Any advice about the area? Rocks I Should Not Miss Climbing On?

Exercise a lot, hungry a lot, need to lose weight.

ceberon — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:30:10 -0800

How do I balance exercise caused hunger with losing fat & weight? I'm a 31 year old male. Back in high school I wore a size 34 jeans and weighed somewhere around 185 (6'1"). Soon after I went to college I gained somewhere around 20-30 lbs and went up to a 36 and then 38 jeans.

I've tried to exercise a number of times, and recently moved to Seattle. I'm now hiking, rock climbing (bouldering), and have lost around 25 lbs (back down to around 190 or so would be my guess, but I don't have a scale :) I also was proud to fit into a size 34 jeans for the first time a few weeks ago. I've exercised in the past, but I have never had great success.

Now I know how weight loss works. Eat less than you burn off. The problem that I'm encountering is that working out makes me really really hungry. Like scary "I can eat a cow" hungry.

I'll do a long hike, eating around 800-1k calories while hiking. Then I will eat 4 scrambled eggs. A quart of milk. 2 tuna sandwiches. Another 300 calorie protein bar. Etc etc. I can be stuffed, and 2 hours later my stomach is growling if I've been exercising.

Diet wise, a couple months ago I cut out Coca-cola (used to drink 2-3 per day). I cut out all high fructose corn syrup. I cut out white grains. I cut out eating out for dinner (only eat out for lunch with work). I snack for most meals instead of having a big meal to prevent over eating. I switched to high protein low carb in general (lots of tuna / milk / nuts as I mentioned above)

So it seems I've hit a plateau weight / waist wise. My diet is pretty decent, I exercise a decent amount. I generally nibble for breakfast / dinner, so I only am eating when I'm actually hungry. I think my main problem is the intense hunger I get while working out. Lets say I do a hike which burns 2k calories. I'll easily eat over 2k calories over the next 6 hours. Same with a rock climb. I'll climb for an hour, and then eat quite a few calories afterwards.

Any suggestions / comments? I think part of the problem is that I just had some pretty big gains, and I'm disappointed that the obvious gains seemed to have stopped. I want to jump start my weight loss again, but I'm not sure how to, without starving myself.

Best climbing/bouldering wall in London?

YouRebelScum — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:19:02 -0800

ClimbingFilter: I'm looking for the best wall for bouldering/climbing in London, for preference one with some long traverses for fitness training. While a bigger venue is better, this being London it's probably not possible to ask for something that isn't always full. A smaller venue with fewer holds but where you can actually spend some time on a problem would be better than a bigger venue where you have to queue. Some idea of when's the best time is also good. Location-wise, I'm north east, but I'd be prepared to go out of my way for a decent wall. Any ideas for outside bouldering would be wonderful, but I realise that's a slim chance.

Gimme a boost to get started?

jmgorman — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 09:44:36 -0800

Per this FPP, I think I need to take up climbing. Any suggestions on how a beginner might get started. I guess I should fess up to having lousy upper body strength. I've been working on it, but the fact remains that I have a low center of gravity and big ole legs. What should I start doing to build up my strength or should I just start climbing and let that condition me?