Tyler Thompson Hiked My Project, And He’ll Hike Yours, Too

18.07.2023 22:12

Paulin, Ari

There’s something special about watching climbers who are stronger than you—they make big, powerful moves look static; they move instinctually, gliding from sequence to sequence like water. And when you get the chance to see them on your project… that’s when you really learn what it is that you haven’t yet earned—or that’s what I found myself thinking after talking Tyler Thompson into trying a route that I’ve been working on for the better part of the last year. He asked me for a spray down, but the truth was he figured the sequences out as quickly as I could dish ‘em.

I first met Thompson a year ago. Same place (Rifle), different route. He’s wiry and unassuming. The 21-year-old just oozes strength. He’ll flash moves using bad feet and even worse kneebar technique. But he can crimp, and lockoff, and has an impressive knack for dialing things in quickly. It took him just four days to send Joe Kinder’s Bone Tomahawk (5.14d), and just a couple of weeks to send Life of Villains, another Kinder 5.14d. Both ascents came shortly after his first 5.15a, Full Metal Brisket, in the New River Gorge. And yesterday, faster than I could finish typing this out, he ticked Planet Garbage (5.14d), in Rifle, also after just four sessions.

Although his breakout success may feel sudden, Thompson’s progression has been anything but. He joined a youth team at age 11, and though he “wasn’t very good,” at competitions, he saw steady progress. He was second from last in Divisionals as a first-year competitor in Youth B, and though he made Nationals when he was a first year A, he came, according to his memory, a lowly 56th. But by the time he was a Junior competitor, he was making finals.

Talk to Thompson long enough and you’ll realize that his true super power is his attention to detail, especially as it applies to a complicated system. He tends to obsess over drills and consistency. “I was never outstanding at anything when I was younger,” he says. “But I would always get really psyched on specific things.” When he was 14, that specific thing was campus boarding, which he did weekly. Next it was hangboarding. Later, it was the deadlift or bench press. It makes sense that the third-year James Madison University student chose to major in physics, which, he says, provides answers to “the most interesting things you could think about.”

Having grown up in Warrenton, Virginia, Thompson spent his time between the gym and making the four-hour trek west to the New. He still makes that drive, though it’s an hour shorter from campus, plus an hour-long commute to Rocky Top Climbing in Charlottesville, where he trains and also works as a setter.

After watching him barely flinch on my project, I sat down with Thompson to learn more about what makes him tick, how exactly he trains, and what his plans are for the future. I have a feeling that this is just the beginning.

Our interview has been edited for length and clarity.

(Photo: Hans (@hansacho on IG))

The Interview

Climbing: When you sent Full Metal Brisket, I noticed you had skipped 5.14d. Was that intentional?

Thompson: We just don’t have a cool one in the New. There’s a 14d next to Full Metal, but it just has two moves that are hard. But Full Metal Brisket is so sick. It’s way taller—it’s basically a 5.13b to a rest to a 17-move boulder. There’s interesting holds on it; there’s a funky undercling pinch, and there are 45-degree slopers you have to grab at the end of the roof and do this bike-maneuver. You do a lot of funky stuff.

Climbing: How long did you work on it?

Thompson: On and off over two years. The first time I tried it, it was still a project. I just went up and did a couple moves and was like, Wow, these holds are really bad. [Laughs] But when Jonathan [Siegrist] did it and I saw the beta, I went up it again, I was like, Okay, I can kind of fathom these positions. So I tried it for two or three days that season in between trying other things. I tried it again a day last spring and was like, Oh, I can kind of imagine this. And that was when Dylan [Barks] came out and tried it with me, which got me super psyched, and we figured out all the moves. Dylan was close—I wasn’t nearly as close as him. And then I came out here [to Rifle], and I climbed a couple of 14+ routes. [Thompson climbed The Crew (which had also been my longtime project) and Waka Flocka Flame—both 5.14c—over the course of his two-week trip.] That was when I was like, Okay, I need to go back and try that route. So all last fall, once the conditions were good, I was on it every weekend.

Climbing: When did you start setting?

Thompson: I’ve been setting at various gyms over the course of the past five years, but I started at Rocky Top three years ago, maybe two months into my Freshman year. It’s awesome. It definitely helps with training.

Climbing: It seems like a lot, to have school and setting and to stay on top of training and trips outside. Does it feel like a lot?

Thompson: Yeah… kinda. But I have to go to the gym. I’m a total freak about it, and I don’t care how much schoolwork I have due tomorrow at noon, I need to go to the gym. I have to go and get my session in and then come home. My sleep has suffered. But I don’t think my training has suffered that much.

Climbing: Do you have a set training schedule?

Thompson: Pretty much. But I don’t have a written out protocol or anything. I do everything based on how I feel, but I’m very consistent. And I have a similar structure that I’m always following with my training. I typically climb six days a week. A lot of it’s outside, depending on the semester. So some semesters, I’m training four or five nights a week and I climb outside two nights a week. This past semester I had Friday classes off, so I was only training two to three nights a week, and then I would climb three days a week outside, which was awesome. I climbed so much more this semester than I ever have. And actually, the day that I sent Full Metal, I had skipped class. It was a Tuesday in the middle of the semester, and I’d been looking at the weather all week. I had gotten really close on Full Metal in the fall, but then in mid December, it got too cold. So all through December and January, I was a freak about checking the weather. I checked it twice a day. And so, that Tuesday was a day I’d planned to take off a full week leading up to it. The weather was perfect; it was the first good day of the season.

Climbing: Did you feel nervous?

Thompson: Not really. I had put in like 25 to 30 sessions on it. And I had fallen on the last move so many times. So it was kind of like, I’m gonna go on Tuesday and will try to highpoint if I can, or match my high point. And I like just going out. I can be content just to give my project hell. And that’s that.

Tyler Thompson on the Hurricave’s ‘Life of Villians.’

Climbing: What does a typical day outside look like for you?

Thompson: Maybe four to five pitches when I’m projecting something. Or six or seven if I’m just sampling.

Climbing: What about a training day?

Thompson: [Laughs] I mean, how nitty-gritty do you want to get?

Climbing: Give me the nitty-gritty.

Thompson: I usually train in a three- to four-day cycle. I definitely prioritize strength and power. I might change this up soon, but my endurance has always come naturally from trying a route itself. So I’m always just trying to be able to do harder moves. I’ll typically alternate between power and power endurance, and usually I’ll do three or four days of that in a row. So I might do power, power endurance, power, and then a chill endurance and lifting day. And then I’ll rest on the fifth day.

For my power days, since I can set my own projects, I like to set really hard boulders in the gym. I always like to project something super hard. Sometimes I’ll set something really power endurancy and specific to a route that I’m trying, like I could set a 20-move cave boulder on pinches and that could be the main part of my days. I might spend like an hour and a half resting 10 minutes in between burns on this really hard boulder. I like to warm up with a hangboard workout or a campus board workout. And then I like to repeat hard boulders that are a little easier—ones that I’ve done, and usually I can do like five or six hard boulders. I like to MoonBoard, too, on those days. And then I’ll lift—one day where I’m targeting back and core, and another day where I’m targeting obliques, legs, and some antagonist stuff in the forearms. I change it up, but sometimes I’ll have a lift that I’m psyched on, like a bent-over row. I was psyched on those for three months. Weighted pull-ups are another main one. But then I might change my forearm workout from reverse bicep curls to reverse forearm curls. It just depends on how I’m feeling. All that could be three to four hours in the gym, sometimes even longer, just kind of depending on how the day goes.

Climbing: And what about a power endurance day?

Thompson: It’s probably a similar length, but instead of a hangboard or campus workout to start, I’ll do like a power endurance campus board workout where I’m doing non-ideal rests and different grip types. And then I’ll go to repeating boulders, again, which will be hard boulders, but just a notch easier from the power day. And I like to do doubles or triples laps—usually I’ll just pick like three hard boulders, do them in order. And then I rest 10 minutes, do them in a different order, rest another 10 minutes, and so on. So I like to do drills like that for power endurance, but it depends on the day. Other days I might put on a weight vest and do some campus boarding. Or put on some ankle weights and MoonBoard, doing a bunch of repeats.

Climbing: Which workout would you say has benefited your climbing the most?

Thompson: That’s so hard because it would just depend on what I’m psyched on. Eight months ago, it was the deadlift, and I would have told you that my deadlift totally transformed my climbing. And then before that it was the bench press. I love bench pressing. But more recently, it’s been bent-over rows, which have helped my pulling so much. I get really psyched on exercises that are new, but that target the same groups. I’ve always done lat exercises, but I’d never done a bent-over row, and when I introduced this new stimulus, I saw immediate gains. I always think that’s so cool. I like to alternate the bent-over rows with either weighted pull ups or one-arm pull ups. My one-arm pull ups got so much better after eight months of the other pulling stuff.

Climbing: Tell me about Bone Tomahawk.

Thompson: It’s a really cool line. It’s steep, really power-endurancy and gymnastic climbing. The holds are all pretty good. I went out there for the first time just after I’d climbed Life of Villains, so I had some momentum. First session, I had a really good day on the route. I had some good beta, and on my third go I fell on the last redpoint crux and one-hung the route. I sent it on my fourth day.

Climbing: That was quick.

Thompson: I think it suited me really well. That route is so sick; I was just so happy to do it.

Climbing: Is there something specific you can point to that you think has enabled you to send hard routes so quickly?

Thompson: I’ve spent a lot of time climbing outside. And I climb a lot of different pitches and just on different types of rocks. And, I don’t know, I do feel like learning things quickly is probably one of my strengths as a climber.

Climbing: What’s next for you, besides my project?

Thompson: I’d like to do Planet Garbage. [He sent it on July 17th.]

Climbing: And what’s the next 5.15 you plan on getting on?

Thompson: Oh I have no clue. I don’t really have opportunities to travel very much. My climbing is fully funded by my route-setting career. And with being a full time student, it’s hard for me to travel. But I would love to go try La Rambla this winter. That’s like my dream at the moment. And I have some projects in the New that I want to do. I did a first ascent last spring that I’m super proud of [the FA was Superluminal, an old project, 5.14c by Thompson’s reckoning, at The Cirque] and it has a potential extension that I think is going to be next level. It might be a little too next level for me right now, but it’s definitely something that I’m psyched on.