I've left my part time job in Cotswolds for what will hopefully prove a more enjoyable one working for the new V12 shop in the Liverpool climbing Wall. It should be good to finally have a decent outlet for crushing apparel and equipment without having to make a mission over to Beris!
I've finally got my driving theory test out the way too after having turned up fully psyched only to have forgotten the paper counterpart and told I'd lost £30 and had to rebook it and pay a further £20 if I couldn't find the bit of paper! Luckily it was found and the test was fairly easy when I got in there.
It will be a grim few weeks of having to actually work a lot to afford finishing off the lessons required and getting the practical done, which will no doubt prove tougher than the multiple choice touchscreen.
I've had a few nice trips out on the grit getting some good problems like the Keel, Underhand and Brass Monkeys all ticked off in a session each (having played on them in the past). I don't think I have developed any grit feel as such, just an aptitude for overpowering steep things! I was probably most psyched to tick off an old nemesis from last year in Syrett's Roof which used to feel desperate, then was suddenly piss when I tried it in non greasy conditions :)
This leaves 1 true grit nemesis problem left in the shape of T Crack! I feel I am ok in arm strength/campus wise and generally climb 90% of the time in roofs so really can't understand the problem with this. It's been well over a year since I went on it, so hopefully the next visit will bear fruit and I can get over the road to Robin Hood's for Ben's Wall which looks good and definitely doable.
The cave has been a bit hit and miss over the last month, Cave Life went down really easily from the flake and the wobbly jug but I kept puntering it up with my feet and hands on left wall, so switched attentions back to Pit of Hell. First go back on this and I was yet again dropping the finishing slot.... then gradually going backwards again by not getting the flake right off the pockets and greasing off the wet 3rd pocket and undercut which seems to have developed a permanent river down it.
Today myself and 6 other keen Merseysiders went down on John's advice via Doylo's beta and it was a fairly bad call as after the first hour of climbing around the wet bits it all started to condense out as we were consumed inside a maelstrom of shit!
Thankfully... out of these dark moments comes a beam of radiant light, where I managed to climb from the In Life start all the way across the arch only to miss the toe catch on left wall and fall off! I'd never made it to matched on the wobbly jug before from the In Hell/Life start, so this was kind of a major breakthrough (all the sweeter for having to do it on slippery holds!).
The weather is looking really bad for the next week, so I'm going to put the time in indoors, working some power endurance in the crypt roof, so I'm ready to crush Cave Life/Pit of Hell and then In Life/In Hell will be on.
