Now I know this sounds
ridiculous, but
as a form of training it works.
In fact it is probably better to do blind
bouldering than blind climbing.
The idea is that you get onto the
climbing wall or boulder or cliff, take a deep
breath and close your eyes.
Before you begin look at a likely route
that you want to climb and while
on the rock with your eyes closed attempt
to remember where the holds were.
You will probably fall off quite a lot to begin with
but this technique teaches you two invaluable skills.
Firstly it increases your
kinesthetic awareness of your body. I would say
that you become at least ten times as aware of
how the slightest changes in balance affect your
ability to move on the rock.
The second thing that it helps with is visualization.
Visualization is where you internalise the climb
and try to imagine climbing it. This is
of incredible benefit because after you climb for a while
you build up an internal library of techniques
and sequences of moves. Visualisation allows access to that library
when it is required and climbing with your eyes closed
absolutely forces you to use that library.
more fun than slapping yourself with butter, rolling around
in flour and baking yourself in an oven for twenty minutes.