Looking back and then ahead

I'll firstly recap what's been going on this week in the murky world of Merseyside climbing....

Sat 25th Apr

A strong car carrying such luminaries as McShane, Farley and to a lesser extent myself, headed off to the sunny S Lakes. As tempting as it was to get dropped off at Trowbarrow, I was keen to check out what Warton Pinnacle had to offer (apart from the epic walk-in).

Upon arriving we were pleased to see dry rock and set to work warming up on these supposed V1 highballs that all felt around HVS 6b! I thoroughly enjoyed shaking like a shitting dog up nearly all of these minor classics much to the mirth of Benedict!

Once the messing was over with, I quickly got to work crushing the kneebar hanging crack thing that is the finish for both Poison and E-Fix. Deciding I would likely deck on an attempted reversal, I opted to shake my way to the top utilising some old skool jamming technique.

Matty D rocked up and joined in the farcical sandbagging and once we felt ready to turn on the power I managed to drag myself up Debaser by the skin of my teeth via a couple of cut loose dynos where I didn't quite catch the holds but held on grimly to avoid a trip to Lancaster A&E.
I expected Matt to follow me up but then I remembered static crimping beasts don't jump and we joined O on Poison.

After about an hour of arsing around we had all fallen off towards the finish and Owen with the kneebar going in, devestating! The conditions were a bit on the tropical side of humid with frequent rain showers and then dead heat to follow... causing my complexion to change from red faced to yellow to a disturbing green before I gave up and just feasted on the mat.

Sun 26th

After a decent night of sleep, I was feeling much better and after a brief trip into town to purchase a thoroughly strong t-shirt, me and Si went to the majestic Pex Hill with Dave. It was great to be back on Pisa Wall just standing on ledges and bearing down on wonderful crimps and 3 finger stacks :)

The warming up was brief and me and dave got the mats spread out underneath Monoblock. The flash attempt was a surprise as I got stood up in the break using the anti-beta but progress was then severly halted using this methodology. After Dave managed to piece things together in his head we realised it was right foot up and not left :P

With this knowledge I got stood up every time and then matched on the high holds. A further go and I had managed to get stood up on a nubbin roughly 1ft above the break and pulled down hard to see how much height I had. I was locked in on straight legs but the pocket/slot seemed far away.. I had a glance down and realised a missed dyno would result in decking out so duly bailed. With the pads adjusted, it wasn't long before I made it back to the same move and this time a rockover slap resulted in a 2 inch miss and a decent bit of airtime.

Attempts were being hindered somewhat by rapscalions throwing stones across the quarry and walking across the top on some sort of rotational shift and combined with more rain showers we sacked it off as it went dark, opting for a swift pint at the Unicorn Inn!

I couldn't believe that I had managed to get stood up, let alone slapping at the pocket as it is not exactly a style of climbing I am well versed in, having trained or climbed primarily in the cave and indoor walls. It is a massive goal and a local testpiece with a bit of history and would be a joy to climb to complete the big 3 on Lady Jane Wall.

Tues 28th

The weather all day was truly horrific but unperturbed, we made the journey to Pantymwyn and lo and behold it was bone dry with good temps! Amazing.

The warmup felt great and I quickly dispatched Be Ruthless first attempt of the session. The sitter took a couple more attempts after dropping the last move twice but once I had it, there was more of a sense of completion. This seemed to get Owen and Chessie Si a bit more psyched and they both crushed the standup within 15 mins of one another.

Andy made what was definitely the most on-off ascent of a problem ever as he cut loose and swung about on Firestarter about 5 times grabbing non holds, compressing nothingness and grasping the top with a bit of a scream and a lot of shaking. Good effort beast!

I briefly tried the moves on the Yellow Finish to Sparks and couldn't really work it out so turned attention to Thug Mentality. After figuring out the finish I pulled on for a redpoint and managed to get through to the 2nd to last move before pumping out and failure. Owen pointed out a better heel placement and after a 10 min rest I shook my way across to get it on the next try giving myself a bit of a calf strain in the process from pulling on that final jug.

We had a small celebratory meal in the Loggerheads pub afterwards and I must say the Sea Bass was divine.

Looking ahead

I posted a list of problems last November that were my wishlist to get done at some stage in 2009/10 and with the recent spate of form and decent weather I have made great headway:

1. Jerry's Roof (The pass) yyfy
2. Lou Ferrino (cave) yyfy
3. Trigger Cut (cave) yyfy
4. Jess's Roof (Almscliff)
5. Fallen Idol (roche)
6. Lizard King (The pass) yyfy
7. Be Ruthless (pantymwyn) yyfy
8. Sparks (pantymwyn) yyfy
9. Hurricane (curbar)
10. Pit of Hell (cave)

I would have been made up to get half of them done so to get 6 before the end of April has been great on a personal level. It has really helped climbing with people I look up to as inspirations and the Merseyside scene is pretty damn good at the moment with a lot of mutual support and encouragement going on to get things done. I'd like to say thanks to O and Si for the massive amount of lifts & psyche and the free wine & accomodation respectively! ;)

Looking back at this list, I have definitely changed my goals for 09 to be a bit more ambitious but hopefully still attainable. I'll now try and focus on getting:

1. Monoblock (Pex Hill)
2. Mr Fantastic (Jerry's Roof)
3. Halfway House (Cave)
4. Iron Man (Trowbarrow)
5. Texas Hold em (trowbarrow)

I feel fairly confident apart from number 5 which is gradually turning into a lifetime goal! :o

p.s. Will try and pad this out with a few photos when Si or Andy gets them online!

And the beat goes on

Following on from the previous week of devestational form, the sun was beaming yet again and all was well in the South Lakes...

S Lakes Sat 11th

On Saturday 11th a large posse descended upon G land.

It started off with me and Owen hooking up with Kev at the classy services on the M6 northbound (with an M&S and decent espresso!). We rocked up to Woodwell and happened upon a broken Dolph Lundgren lying spreadeagled across his mat tenderly holding what was left of his shoulders after a morning beating himself up on a fairly wet Kaizen. Mine and Kev's infectious enthusiasm to campus about on crimps led to a fairly inadequate warmup but I was psyched for the Art of Self Destruction so quickly set up camp underneath and started drying.

The grips were wet underneath but I was certainly prepared after raiding the airing cupboard at home and making off with a bag of towels. The vagrant Mills and his westie partner, sir Donnelly arrived eventually and this added psyche and artistic bent must have sparked some creative thoughts... After a couple of unsuccessful slaps at the top jug, I decided to try a mix of both styles, by taking the left toe-hook out and stepping the left foot up on to the flat edge whilst keeping the right foot on the back ledge. I sagged slightly then just pressed hard through the left foot while pulling into a wonderful arc like movement and floated seamlessly into the awaiting jug, perfect! It didn't feel too hard and I have no idea what the grade is... I'm not overly bothered as it is a great move and a S Lakes G classic!

The scene grew stronger as Andi and Nicki turned up and we all decided to move camp to Fairy Steps. Another car carrying Jamie and Cath joined on to the procession exiting the carpark and our 10 strong posse moved on. I wasn't too fussed about climbing much after ticking a longterm goal and was happy to eat, heckle, then eat some more. Matt continued his comeback by getting Aeon in the bag whislt Dolph disappeared up the hill to crush the sitter to Axiom in the midday sun. Bestia.

As people tired, we decided to change the scene again by moving over to Trowbarrow, where Tom and I got reaquainted with the puzzle that is Texas Hold 'em. It is a truly wonderful set of unobvious moves that requires power, brutality, uspidedown shenanigans, flexibility and conditions... most of which were lacking. I managed to ascend the V4 topout in isolation for the first time ever and thought this could well be the day after 5 fruitless sessions! It was not to be as I had a double grease off, resulting in a rather heavy horizontal landing and I had to tap out. This seemed to prove off-putting to Mills, and we joined the others around the block. Owen and Kev were looking at Vitruvian Man whilst Tom, Jamie and Andi played on Pit Problem. Being the twat I am, I booted up and retro flashed both of them, lapping up the boos and cat calls from the crowd! ;)

I failed to make any headway on Iron Man as I was totally spent.

S Lakes Mon 13th

To make the most of the wonderful Easter weekend a return to the S Lakes was in order. Whilst Owen sat under Aeon, Si, Tom and myself went to find some esoteric gems. We came across a couple of classic G sandbags. The V1 shut down the whole team until I unleashed overpower upon it and climbed it the v6 way. Feeling pathetic, we moved on a little further and foundThe Trick thanks to bushman Si's navigational prowess (I feel a leading role on 'I'm a gritstone punter, get me out of here!' could be on the cards). I declared the Trick to look piss in my usual overconfident lack of wisdom and failed to flash it. I decided to dispense with any form of trickery and just did a satisfying dyno to the jug which worked. The muddy topout proved tricksome but it was in the satch so to speak. I added the sitter in a couple of goes which is of truly questionable quality. Si did a controversial righthand version using jugs and Tom got some time in on the rock, obviously not ascending anything but looking strong in the process!

We got back over in time for us to shout O along an ascent of Aeon which is rapidly becoming a Merseyside posse warmup problem.

Everyone disappeared whilst me and Millso stayed behind for him to try Aeon. After Mike telling me I should flash the Aeon Prow, I brushed the holds, had a feel, then pulled on slapping out to the poor pinch on the apex and then building my feet up, I gave it all I had and unexpectedly had my fingers over the top only to fail to hold on. There went the flash and I could feel a great deal of pain in the right fingers. The amount of boning required on the sharp sidepull/crimp is horrifying. I made a decision to make sure I got it done and sacrificed my chances on Iron Man. I got it in about 5 attempts but split a tip quite deep in the process.


Sat 18th

Me and Matt went back yet again to Fairy Steps and met up with Paul Craven who was really nice to climb with. We gave him the numbers on things and watched him crush. Matt got close on the Aeon Reverse and I finally managed to get Aeon Crack at stiff V4! Remind me never to go to Yosemite to attempt anything other than bouldering. We had a look at Axiom and Walk Away in the ridiculous heat and then moved on to Trowbarrow.

I quickly worked out my definite sequence to Iron Man and climbed into the start of Vitruvian only to keep greasing off both holds as it was baking hot. Deciding to come away with at least 1 new problem for the day, I worked out a brilliant right heel hook requiring flexible hips to make the last move of Ned's problem static to the lip with the left hand and eliminating the swing :) With this in the bag, we bailed back to the Pool!


Tues 21st - Return to the Mwyn!

I was all psyched up for Trowbarrow yesterday only for owen to change the destination to the Gorge so we could meet up with Chessie Si. Walking down there brought back fond memories of climbing Under the Bridge last year. Once we were down by the entrance, we could see that it was in awesome condition and this triggered psyche mode.

We warmed up with some bad sequences on Firestarter to dismay Paul from the wall.. who escaped to do routes with Lee Proctor around the corner and me and O got down to business time.

Owen achieved first with a rapid 2nd ascent of Si's problem the Faith Healer. I managed to drop the last move on Sparks 3 times before getting angry, going topless and crushing it to pieces. Joyous! Problem 1 was in the bag and I went over to Be Ruthless to unleash the fury. I failed many times and eventually climbed the last section using 3 methods all of which I couldn't actually do when climbed into from the start. The frustration was palpable and then Owen had a bit of a breakthrough making the last move more accessible. With a decent rest and renewed vigour, I climbed all the way into this move, made it and then had a mind blank, dropped off in pain and called it quits. It will get done next session without any trouble at all and the sitter likewise.

It was great to go back to the Gorge and get back on these problems after both of us having improved quite significantly since last year. We may be back this weekend to finish off Be Ruthless and I can try and flash Faith Healer to wind up Si! :)

Rich vein of Form/Luck

Since getting Trigger Cut in the bag I have been managing to maintain what for me is good form. The trips have been plentiful and I feel that doing as Mike and Tony said (just get out climbing and forget training), has been the best bit of advice I have ever had (bar the Guru's training programme ;))

S Lakes
In the South Lakes I managed to tick off Vitruvian Man which I really had my heart set on and on a beautiful sunny day out with Matt we also met my climbing hero Johnny G and got Aeon in a session. I got fairly close in a few goes on Art of Self Destruction before it went too dark to see but know I can get this quickly if I get another chance this year.

Wales trip
A little more recently, I took advantage of the Easter break and went camping in Nant Peris for a few days, which in fact turned out to be one night camping, then 3 nights of relative luxury staying in the Vagabonds club hut and round Jamie's in Bangor.
My goal was to climb Jerry's Roof having never really bothered with it before, due to it looking like an epic endurance route. I felt terrible on day 1 so pottered around the Barrel and meadow boulders with Jamie and had a fairly good time. The next day was a long day of working out the best sequence but I felt really run down and decided to make Saturday an easy day of sleeping and reading...

The Vags had other plans and I was rudely awoken early doors and taken to Tremadog to crush some Severes. We did one severe and then they tried to sandbag me a bit on some E1 called Barbarian. It was great fun and I think I'll maybe get out and do a few more soon as it is quite relaxing.
We had a great communal meal in the evening and I managed to get 3rds before the pans were empty. Result. There was also a really nice slideshow afterwards with some ice and ropes, guns and polar bears...etc

I awoke Sunday feeling amazing and went up to the Cromlechs with J to warm up briefly before heading straight to Jerry's. I pulled on the start of the tourist tick feeling light and just seemingly floated across doing the crux static and then finishing off with relative ease. I was kind of surprised but a bit underwhelmed as it is not the original line. I had a bit of lunch and pulled on to the arete and just spanned straight across skipping the slopey shelf, the heel-toe cammed in and I could come straight across, up into the crux only to fall off from not resting properly.. Punter!
A decent rest later and I was back at the crux swinging about but held on just enough to get my feet back in contact. The slap to the arete felt sketchy but I fought my way to the finishing jugs and rocked out over the top after a bit of indecision. What a great line!

I had a trip to the Mill with Jamie the next day and felt terrible, so just did some core work and a bit of sloper deadhanging. With the weather crapping out I went back to the 'Pool a bit early and had a welcome rest day on Tuesday.

Return to Jerry's
I headed back the pass yesterday with Andi E, Sam D, Nicki and Stu in a packed car and we wasted an hour or so in Llanberis with Stu and Andi trying on several pair of shoes they had no intentions of purchasing, so I went off to use the toilet and buy some cakes and we eventually made it up into the pass for around 2 maybe.

We warmed up at the roadside face and after showing Sam the Sting we decided to see if we could pull off the deck on Arachnaphobia. We both managed to pull on and slap at a pinch but progress was halted here. V8 chinny reckon.

We were both psyched to try Mr Fantastic, so we headed over only to find about 20 people in the queue trying to get a ticket for Jerry's :o Sam being the polite and patient person he is kinda took over the scene giving beta out and greasing it all up! ;)

I went straight in for the redpoint from the left arete and somehow found myself matched on the bus stop holds and with the heel-toe lock still in! I worked it out and had my feet on only for my right foot to pop off the dink before I could make the throw out to the edge. I was fairly pumped but had finally climbed through the crux after 2 sessions. It is really high up on my longterm wishlist and it would be amazing to climb it this year. I feel capable but need to hit it with fresh arms and skin with everything going smoothly to stand a chance. Kook pointed out a link to us to have a go on reversing the Mr Fantastic crux from Bus Stop into Jerry's then finishing up JR. It was perfect for me being both shouldery and reachy and with a bit of screaming I managed to get it in the bag in about 10 mins or so. It is a nice link and definitely felt harder than Bus Stop or Jerry's Roof so probably bottom end 7C+.

We finished off with a little trip over to Caseg Fraith and I spent a few minutes losing a lot of skin and getting nowhere on 'Repeat after Me'. Utterly deserperate it seemed. It has M Adams written all over it being similar to Speedway but probably easier.
We played on some highball slabs above the Fraith and Andi managed to shave a bit of his chin off sliding down from high up. Shortly afterwards, I bottomed out into the swamp missing the mats on my go. I was quite relieved it was boggy or I'd probably have my ankles in casts by now!
On the way back to Beris, Sam finished off the link I had done earlier and we went for pizza and a pint which is absolutely amazing and highly recommended. Saw a few familiar faces in there including a still psyched Johnny Dawes who I was giving some pointers to on the steep stuff earlier. He had left his thermarest and nalgene bottle at the roof and I was kinda gutted to have to hand them back over (the offer of a free meal for picking it up came a bit late as we had just eaten!).

Looking ahead
Easter weekend is looming and Kev is coming up from Wales to stay at Owen's so we are all looking forward to plenty of trips out over the next few days. I'm resting up in the chateau d'Ivoire with some vino and chocolate in preparation. I'm keen to get back on Art Of Self Destruction (weather permitting) and I was made up for Owen finally achieving the feat after 4 years of battling with shit weather and seepage to get it sent! :)