Jumbo Pumping Hate 8b+ by Bill Ramsey (59)

Bill Ramsey (59), a professor in philosphy, has done Jumbo Pumping Hate 8b+ in Clark Mountain put up by Randy Leavitt. (c) Max Fox "I like what Randy Leavitt said: "Don't let your mind get old because your body will follow." While your various strengths and capacities diminish with age, your ability to try hard doesn't. Rest more and warm-up more, but when it's game time, try really hard." How many sessions did it take and did you do any specific training? I’m not sure how many sessions, but I worked on it for about three seasons. I tried recreating the crux dyno in my garage to train on, and that probably helped. I also made a point of training while projecting to avoid project-atrophy. Sometimes that would involve taking a few days off to train, sometimes it would involve training before or after a day at the cliff. How is your approach towards doing hard routes now compared to 10, 20 and 30 years ago? It’s the same, only I probably put less pressure on myself now. I want to send, but just having a good day up there with friends, where I feel good about my effort is also gratifying. What is it mentally, taking about motivation, that keeps you pushing so hard? I think the hype about always being positive is mostly BS. It’s better to be a realistic optimist – being honest and realistic about your chances, about what needs improving, but trying hard when you have a shot. Some days are going to really suck and you just need to take those in stride. You also need mini-goals (high-points, or low-points, linkage goals) and strategic objectives every day. And no matter how well you think you know a route, there is always more to learn. Even if a slight tweak in beta that only saves .5% of energy, if you find 4 of those you are climbing 2% stronger, which can be huge.