Inspiration and goal setting

After last summer's trip to Magic Wood with Andy and Mark I got back home really excited to push on a bit and get strong/start climbing harder.

I look at 8a.nu and see other people climbing multiple 8th grade problems as if they are nothing! I wonder how to get to this level of ability, to get things done in short time and wish for this to happen to my climbing!

The problem is training hard enough/knowing what specifically to train and still getting things ticked whilst attempting to head up the exponentially steep hill called grade progression.

I've had a pretty poor year so far and managed maybe 1 problem I consider 'hard' (for me at least). Injuries have been commonplace and I don't even feel like I have trained enough to improve. My only level of benchmarking is doing laps of things in the cave and getting closer on my year goal of font 8a+.

I had probably my best session in a long time on Tuesday dropping the last hold on In Hell 3 times in a row and once not being able to hang the slot long enough to match. I don't know whether I am actually improving or just super conditioned to this set of moves. I fear becoming a one trick pony and getting shut down hard in Magic Wood come September. I feel like I don't deserve to get things done if I aren't cranking out laps on the 50 deg board and sweating/fingerboarding till failure..etc but I seem to break down and require a lot of rest if I attempt this.

I think I read somewhere on fit club from Simon questioning if the best policy is to beat things into submission or take time off and rest/regroup. I am always unsure of this. Should I just train hard and treat outdoor days leading up to a trip as active rest days and ignore feeling weak and not getting things done hoping to hit peak strength come trip time. Or should I always take double rest days and try climbing all out 99% of the time??

Anyway, I apologise for the above incoherent ramblings.

I watched Core again last night and really enjoyed watching the Italian bouldering which brought back good memories from the brief trip to Sassofortino and Amiata that me and Tom enjoyed a couple years ago. It's a beautifully made film and I appreciate how he has used the shorts of Shawn Rabatou to give some structure to the film as he picks the different items out of the claw machine representative of the segments. I know a lot of people aren't fans of the Fryburger's methods but I enjoyed this as much as Pure, which I put on straight afterward to watch the Swiss bouldering.

With renewed enthusiasm, the swiss hitlist was re-wrote and I think if I can get a couple of 8th grade problems (chiefly Octopussy and Astronautenfieber) done I would be made up. I'd love to get something like Jack's broken heart, Electric Boogie or Voigas done but am scared to set goals too high and waste energy failing when I would have more chance on something easier. I guess the best way to look at it, is that it's all training for the cave anyway ;)

Roped shenanigans and the Ondra Show

I've felt pretty uninspired of late, so not felt an urge to post an update on things.

A couple of posts back I mentioned that I had read a couple of books (9 out of 10..etc) and got motivated to try something new that I was crap at, so bought the various paraphernalia required to sport climb and got involved.

26th&27th June

A couple of weeks back, I had a great trip to Yorkshire with Dave Pin, Holger, Fiona and Aefe. We spent a day at Yew Cogar which was a fantastic piece of rock featuring wonderful tufa features and routes that were not too long to be doable without resting on a rope!

The highlight was definitely puntering my way up Cruisin for a Bruisin on about the 4th redpoint of the day screaming for the last couple of moves as the I caught the holds the wrong way and generally fought like I have never had to before. It all looked a bit pathetic after Dave had cruised it and then done a casual lap of the 7C to the left.



The walkout looked epic as we set off back up the massive hill but with heads down and stomping, it didn't end us.

On the way to the free camping spot we dropped in at what appeared to be a nice, quiet village pub. Holger had his reservations after popping his head in through the front door but Dave insisted that "you never get a bad pint in Yorkshire".

We tentatively entered the front door and walked up to what appeared to be a bar/reception desk with a peculiar looking man behind it. Dave erred in asking whether it was a pub to which the landlord replied "do you think it looks like a pub?". He then said he had some ales and we asked what he had;

Barman: "well what do you want"
Dave: "Well what have you got"
Barman: "Well what do you want"
A perplexed Dave: "Well that kind of depends on what you have got?!"

We noticed a lack of taps on the bar and the guy insisted he had a barrel of Timothy Taylors under the counter but asked that we don't watch while he prepares them.



We laugh nervously and try and look elsewhere as Holger sneaks outside clearly ill at ease. The guy sprays the pints into the glasses direct from the barrel using a hose and then asks "how much would a round like this cost in Liverpool?". Dave replies "£3.50 and 2 bags of crisps". The guy seems to have no idea of prices, so we hand him a tenner and shift uneasily past the stuffed fox and back outside.

The pint's were clearly not TT's and were a pretty potent homebrew that had no doubt been maturing in that barrel for many a year!

We hit Kilnsey the next day and I managed to get up a few more things such as Sidekick, Nerve Ending and after Dave had cleaned it up and crushed it, I failed on the end of Fit of Peak.

We then went to a pub with a big screen along with Pete Robins and Rach who we met at Kilnsey earlier and watched as Holger's home nation made us look like schoolboys. it was quite funny to watch Holger cheer each goal and then sink back down into his chair as the locals looked to be ready to lynch the imposter!



29th June

I returned to Kilnsey with Hoppo, The Pinnmeister, John M and Holger feeling a bit weak in comparison.

The warm up was a few pullups down the far end of the crag and a lucky first redpoint ascent of Fit of Peak for my goal of the year of sport 7b+ (soft 7c YYFY?!). Hoppo should have done it but didn't quite manage, so we moved leftwards and I got on Comedy. The flash attempt was over a bit abruptly when I rather lazily put the right toehook in under the big undercuts and didn't really place it, so I span off when reaching for the holds near the 2nd clip.

With this amazing attempt out of the way, I managed to get up to the cigar move on the 2nd try and run out of gas. Short rest, then piss the move and get to the top ok. No hard moves but strangely it felt hard to me!

I had a couple more goes but fell off that same move both times after clipping the 4th. It should hopefully go down next visit and I may have even developed the fitness to do an extra move by then.

3rd&4th July

I went with the Hoppo family scal and Youngy to go and watch the biggest beast in the world (+ others). We managed to do fairly well getting free camping and the Hoppo's even better by sneaking in to the event through various rivers/bushes without paying in. I figured it better to just pay the £5 entry and not feel paranoid all day about being ejected!

The qualifiers went well for the Brits and 7 made it through to the semi's. Me, Youngy and Sean were torn between watching the Kilian/Ondra show and watching the women's problem 5 with the crowd pleasing splits move finale!

The Semi final was good to watch and Ondra didn't dissapoint... his gangly frame, long neck, crazy hair and awkward appearance were everything we had hoped to see and then he totally destroyed everything.

We whooped with delight as he let out a magnificent ostrich like power scream and booked his place in the final. Kilian was anything but on form. He struggled and declared the problems shit before walking off a couple of them with over a minute still left on the clock. I had been hoping to watch the final face off but it wasn't to be.

During the interval, I was persuaded to enter into the dyno comp which all seemed a bit pointless seeing as Skyler had turned up but it turned out to be quite fun and I was amazed at how far away the hold is when pulling on to the start! I made it through to about the last 6 at 2.45 (thanks to Lily for lending the chalk) and couldn't imagine how to get the extra 40cm of jump! We then watched him crush a casual 2.80 with a dodgy arm to take home his cheque which I imagine barely covered the flight back home.

The final was the ondra show as he dispatched the first 3 problems with ease. The only blip came on the final problem as the crowd went a bit quiet after 2 failed attempts. He sorted the move and cruised to the top to secure another victory and we went wild :D

last week

Inspired by the events of the weekend, I had a couple of indoor bouldering sessions on Monday and Wednesday. Monday was a quick crush of the new step wall set flashing all but 2 and then getting them on lock down. The arm felt a bit sore the next day so I didn't risk the routes with Matt and Tom and chose to sink some beers whilst watching the first WC semi.

I went to Rockover Climbing with Sean and Mike psyche on Weds and was really impressed by the new centre. The comp wall was nice and wide with plenty of light and no risk of kids running past underneath!

Sadly, The power was well and truly not on as I got spanked on most of the comp wall ascending maybe 6 out of 15 I tried. i think it's a combination of the crazy humidity on those crimps, weak arms and a lack of technique but it has let me know what needs working on before Switzerland in September. When we moved over to the steep roof corner things were a lot better as I could climb the green and yellows again with it being more cave/crypt-like in style! Note to self: Stick to roofs as walls and barrel walls are desperate.

I worked all weekend and enjoyed a diet of pizza, burgers, beer and more beer watching the 3rd place play off and the final which was a bit flat. Really glad to have watched Spain win after the Dutch played a rather cynical game and gutted how I dropped away in the UKB fantasy football league falling from a solid top 2 place a couple weeks ago to 6th... I will never disregard Diego Forlorn ever again!

(Cheers to Dave Pinnington photography for the above images!)