Fatneck's Birthday Bash 2010

Sat 30th Jan

We had a good laugh this weekend with around 20 people cramming into some vehicles and hitting the Ysgo hard. Sadly we went from blue skies and sunshine into a tempest of freak weather.

It was snowing at Sea level covering the boulders and then melting instantly to make it a bit tricky to climb anything. This happened on and off for a few hours while we chilled and finally got some climbing in with about 2 hours of daylight left.

Dolph was working the Fred Nicole project which looked ok from a distance but clearly brick hard when you actually feel the holds and positions that are required to link said holds!

Me and the Maskell beast were a bit gutted about Tide of Dreams being soaking wet and off the menu as we didn't have much else to get on with.

There were some good ascents of problems with Smooth Pete crushing Perrins Blind crack from a sitter and Ben show ponying his way up Incredible shaking man with immaculate technique ;)

It was nice to repeat these sitters and also Truth sds. It was great to see Jamie and Gruff there and especially to see Jamie utterly piss Truth (the first time I have ever seen him complete a boulder problem, clearly the Mill training is paying off!)

An old nemesis was also retro flashed, the spectacular Really Cool Toys from a shitter. What a line.

Sat Evening

We went the Chippy in Abersoch and had what can only be described as whales in batter on a sea of chips. it was nice and greasy and helpd absorb the pints from next door.

Back to the bunkhouse and it mostly involved eating chocolate, drinking vino and playing with Lego as well as crushing Fatneck's crossword (despite having to correct some atrocious spelling errors from previous attemptees).

Sun 31st Jan

We got up very hungover on the whole and watched it rain and hail for a good couple of hours. Most of them decided to risk the ysgo whilst team psyche went to check Elephantitus. As we drove through thick blizzards it was clearly not going to be an option (at the risk of benightment), so we continued to Llandudno.

We got some smacky food at the Asda as well as strong £8 lumberjack coats and went for some scran at a local cafe that had horrible 70's faded pink wallpaper with flowers on. It was all very league of gentlemen inside and it was a relief to make it out to the cave and back to sanity.

I kept going white but decided to punish the body more and climb it out the system. The warmup went well and before I knew it, I was eyeing up the finishing hold on In Hell only for my left hand to slide off wet after picking up a loadon the wet undercut pinch. Gutted but also amazed I fell to my knees and dry heaved a bit before calming down.

I'm psyched out my mind that In Hell is already a possible next sessioner (avoiding being 2nd day on with shit skin and a hangover and it could go well!)

At Last!

This week has been the highlight of 2010 so far with Monday's cave session ending in success on Pit of Hell after so many failures to get both hands matched on that uneven slot.

Sunday 24th Jan

The weather was dire and looked ripe for condensation on the coast, so myself, Mark and the Gibbon headed to Tom Sugden's City Block in Leeds. First impressions are that it is a bit underwhelming when compared to walking into the Depot but after an hour of circuiting we found the problems were excellent. The setting is equal to that of anywhere I have been and will definitely be going back.

Next visit I will avoid trying to do all of the greys, yellows, greens..etc before attempting the Salmon World Cup problems as I found them utterly desperate after doing ~50 problems beforehand!

Monday 25th

Ken rang me up on Sunday evening and was psyched to get out. I had intended to rest feeling a bit tired from The City Block day but thought I may as well go the cave with him and potter about.

To my surprise I managed Pit of Hell relatively quickly and had plenty of energy in the tank at the end which is no doubt a result of doing many, many failed laps.

I had said at the start of the year I would only treat myself to my wine rack for each 8a tick, but rather than getting stuck in when home, I decided to put it on ice until Tuesday eve.

Tuesday 26th

I went back to the cave the next day with Dave Pinnington (aka Smiley Dave) and we had a decent workout, as the cave was in even better nick than Monday.

Dave got to the end of Pit of Hell but didn't quite manage the match due to him losing his finishing sequence a few times (something I sorted out only on the last go of my previous session!).

I thought it would probably be wise to look for a distraction from anything heading into rockatrocity...

I had a couple of brief attempts on Cave Life but found that my skin was too thin when matched and getting my feet across. My hands just kept making the holds go black and I kept sliding off in frustration. Third day on Crouch skin is probably up there with the worst in terms of butter production!

Seeing as everything else was pretty much out, it was back to sitting in the dirt at the In Hell/Life start. I have managed to get through to the RA start a couple of times before but never found it particularly easy. Being tired after no rest for 2 days previous, I didn't expect much and was quite relieved to find it ok, doing 3 laps into RA one after the other with short rest times. I was worried about getting a bit weak lately by just doing laps on a long problem and no real strength training.

If I can get it in the bag this year it would amazing and hopefully it won't suffer the downgrade anytime soon. It would be great to go up another grade on last year but also finish this line of resitance out from the back of the cave and improve as a climber so I can get on things in Magic Wood this summer and not feel unworthy of trying them.

Next weekend

This weekend coming should be a good laugh as there is a 20 strong crowd of Merseysiders and friends heading to the Ysgo for Si's annual birthday bash. I went a couple of weeks ago with Ben and Ken, so ticked off what I wanted to get done already, meaning this should be quite relaxed unless the temps are good and I get psyched to try Tide of Dreams. Hopefully Dolph can provide the beta first hand and my skin will withstand more than a couple of goes!

Cold Snap

I'm sure everyone else has been enjoying getting out a lot over the winter period... apart from the fact it has to be cave based or at the Churnet to find rock with dry finishing holds!


Jumping about at the Churnizzle!

It may be a new year but the goals remain pretty much the same... get strong as hell and try and finish of things below my limit that are taking an age to box off.

Pit of Hell has been dragging on to the point that it is boring to climb it and drop the last move 15+ times in a week, so a break may be needed to try some other things and then go back to it once the temperature gauge changes back in to positive numbers!


A bit of failure is good for the soul??

http://www.vimeo.com/8413501 is an amusing little number of one of the closer attempts going dismayingly wrong .

I've updated my goals/aims for the year and they largely reside in a certain polished limestone roof which is fortunate with our less than stable climate.

Things I am psyched for this year are:

- Sorting a car
- Going to Fatneck's Birthday Bash at the end of Jan
- Visiting Tan Y Grisiau
- Going to Font in March
- Going to Switzerland/Italy in Summer
- Fluking an 8A+ anywhere would be nice (more likely in Switzerland!)
- Ticking half the Hit List!

Hope anyone reading this diatribe had a good Christmas period and saw in the new Year without as viscious a hangover as I took to the cave on Friday. Whiteying in the car under a pile of duvet jackets whilst others crush on cold, dry lime is not my idea of fun.

p.s. Went to the Depot again today, what a fucking amazing place. I can't fault it other than the fact it took 2 hours to get blood circulating in my feet today! Keen to go back and crush a certain orange problem that was crypt-like perfection on every move.