Just thought I'd post a little mini-story to demonstrate how getting stuck in a rut can be really bad for your climbing...

I was out last week on a climb that I'd been meaning to do for ages but, for one reason or another, never got round to - Superdirect, on Milestone Buttress.

It was a challenge, and I'd worn an old pair of climbing shoes that turned out to feel a bit insecure, so that didn't help. Anyway, I was on the top (crux) pitch and feeling very pleased with myself because I'd just done the tricky traverse and I was now looking at a short steep crack and the top. But that short steep crack had me flumoxed! I had positioned myself in what I thought was a good place and kept attempting the moves up to the top, again and again and again - always not quite making it and having to step back down. After a while I was pretty tired! But here's the funny bit. Just as I was about to get to the end of my stamina I realised what I'd been doing. I'd been trying to do exactly the same thing over and over again even though it wasn't working - doh!! So I changed my perspective. I faced the other way, swapped hands, stepped up on the other foot, found a different jam higher up, and, ta-da, there's the top!

So, if you ever find yourself in that position - stuck and not seeing a way out - just look at it differently. Climb about a bit. Look the other way. Swap sides. Anything to give you a different way of solving the problem.

Happy climbing!