Getting Reaquainted

It seemed like an age since I had last ventured to the Cave but having a day off and the offer of an early lift off Mark was too good to refuse!

I've climbed solely indoors of late after returning from Switzerland, working on indoor circuiting and doing a lot of core exercises from the T Randall 20 min floor + 5 min bar routine.

It was nice and peaceful when we arrived and the sun was making it rather pleasant to warm up. There was just one other guy there who had been biviing up on top of the hill and climbing multiple days on in the cave (good effort!).

As part of the regular warmup circuit, I was relieved to find R.A. still steady!

The goal for the day was to see how far back I had gone on In Life after having fell from left wall around November last year.

On the first try, I was amazed to find myself with left hand on the not so wobbly jug/crimp and matching in on to a rather good edge facing the wrong way. As I took out my right toe hook, I went flying off leftwards into the dirt unable to control the swing! I thought it may just be rustiness, so I tried the toe hook removal once more and the same thing happened even though I squeezed as hard as I could. Were all those months of effort now a waste?!

A bit disturbed I went and sat in the sun for a bit in the directors chair and had a chill.

A banana and a moment of inspiration as I recalled a video of Danny going right hand up to the start of R.A. instead of my old left-left again method.

I went back down and climbed through from the back this time getting my left hand on the bottom of the glued jug and getting the splits/right toe hook on. I twisted over and got the top bit with my right hand and rotated right underneath it, feeling a lot more in balance. I relaxed then removed the right toe dragging it into the roof and it killed the swing enough to hold on. I slapped up to catch the intermediate with my right then put my right toe back on and went again for the R.A. start only to slide just off the edge of it.

After a bit of rest I managed to work out about 3 different foot positions for going again to the start of R.A. and tried them all after climbing from the In Life start but kept on just failing on that same move after having powered out a bit earlier than usual.

Instead of being a bit disheartened at going this far back on the full link, I was quite motivated by doing some new moves and knowing I'll definitely be able to get through it next session when fresh and get on to those lovely slopers over the other side of the arch. It's also quite good in that it should remain 8A+ and not get the downgrade, now that it's a fair bit harder to get through. I'm sure the fitness will return in there so the strong period lasts 3 hours instead of 1 and a half and the core work I have been doing should also help for getting the feet across on to left wall when that time comes again.

Looking to this weekend... I'm desperate to get back to the cave asap to put the time in on In Life but being part of the local Climbing Hangar Team probably means I need to show up and enter the Best Of the West comp (seems a bit pointless when half the British Team are coming to win the money but I guess it can be a steep learning curve!)

Sweltering Swizzie

It's taken a few days to find the motivation to do a trip report as I'm still stuck in the after holiday blues period.

The trip was a bit of a mixed bag with some good problems going down fast whilst others proved to be elusive due to a combination of fatigue/greasy conditions/weakness.

Sun 3rd

The trip started off well with myself and Sean getting a first day sub 15 min tick of Grotte des soupirs (for which I had built a training problem in the crypt at awesome walls that turned out to be far far harder than the actual thing!). It took just as long to do the 7a Vol au Vent next to it.

Mon 4th

The others arrived at our luxurious super villain hideout which overlooked the whole of Bellinzona, up behind the small village of Carasso. It was an epic drive up a winding hill then a walk through a forest including a river crossing to reach the accomodation.

We had another late start and went back to Christianoff. I puntered about on Franks Wild Years with hoppo before realising I was too weak to match the greasy undercut in 25 degree heat so quickly switched focus to XP. I had a tough time on the start until Owen said to start matched on the right undercut instead of trying to pull on wide on both undercuts. It went down a couple of goes later! Me and Mick took about 4 goes to do Harry Spotter which was a cool deadpoint to a crimp off poor footholds and myself, Mark and Sean bailed early down to the cafe only to realise everywhere was closed on a Monday, so headed back the ranch for beer!

Mick stayed out a little longer and managed to crush an 8A+/8B Un ange avec des cornes to the right of La Proue for a decent start to his trip!

Tues 5th

With sweltering temps in Cresciano we headed higher up to Chironico only to find it in direct sunlight and steaming hot.

We warmed up and found partial shade under the Soucoupe roof. I kept failing on the end of Vitruvian Man and then Polish Dave got psyched and flashed it. Mick battled his way up and we moved on.

After spending a while trying to use heel locks on Autopilot, I gave up and dynoed through holding the spectacular swing. Mick did it static and we moved back into the sun to Le Vent Nous Portera. After a bit of bloodshed from the quartz jug, Mick finished it off and I failed to hold the swing back in before calling it a day.

Thurs 7th

We had a well needed rest day on Wednesday and then hit Magic Wood due to the rising temps back in Ticino.

The Woods were full of underground beasts and sponsored wads here for a play before the Milan bouldering world cup.

We pottered about and I took hoppo to Man of Cow. We both failed on this until I remembered how to do the crux and I cleaned the top out for attempts on Master of Cow. I had about 5 redpoints to the crux move but kept failing so we moved on.

Youngy and Hoppo had a mare on some soft touches I showed them so we went to find some gifts! ;)

Youngy crushed Fliegen Erlaubt after a flap on the top and Hoppo got a swift flash ascent.

There was just enough time for a trip down to the river before darkness descended. I had been unable to try Cote de Seshuan last time out due to it having a stream down it but it was prime this time. I worked out the moves for 10 minutes then with energy dwindling pulled it out the bag first go from the start, getting to the rest position and chalking up before holding on to the scary dyno at the end! What a great problem.

Sat 9th

The previous day had proved very unproductive back in Magic Wood doing Octopussy in 2 halves but failing to link. Whilst the others rested I went to Schattental with Lorenzo and Christiano who had come up to stay with us for 2 days. It was 3rd day on but I felt quite psyched climbing with 2 powerhouses and had to represent for Merseyside!

I warmed up with a flash of Chad's bulge which was very pleasant and got the head right for the big slab. We got spanked on some 6c in the heat and got very dehydrated having only 1 litre of water between 3 of us as the other 2 had forgotten to bring any.

Lore and Christiano did a cool looking traverse in the shaded corridor before me and Lore did a short steep 7a+ to the left.

The sun had passed a little further by 2pm, so we moved around to Powerstrips. I thought it looked very flashable so got the psyche levels back up with a re-warm up lap of chad's.

The first move was a pleasant one out to a good blocky sidepull and then the dance began trying to find a good position for the left foot to bring the left hand across the line of many holds. After a foot pop, I swung back in and relocated one that felt ok. I snatched in and caught the crimp perfectly. I pasted the left foot back on lower then launched straight for the good hold at the top and somehow held on! The rest proved an enjoyable stroll up the gigantic slab and only my 2nd 7c flash. Need to do this more often as it saves so much energy! Lore crushed the same sequence but static with some strong locking and then had some fun on the top! ;)

We finished off on a hard 7a up the top end of the boulderfield and went over to Paese for Lore and Christinao to do a nice looking traverse called Bella Gnocca.

The day ended on a perfect note with a cold beer and amazing kebab meal in Biasca before we headed back the house for more beer and wine!

Sun 10th

I felt totally ruined 4th day on having elected to climb at Magic as we weren't going to be going again this trip. I fell off Master of Cow about 7 times at the crux and then once having got through it, with arms melting and hands greasing off. I had to thank Dylan for saving me and also apologise for inadvertently kicking him in the face mid bail.

Not everyone was to be shut down as Mick crushed Sofa Surfer Direct for what was the 4th or so ascent of another 8B.

Polish Dave also made an impressive fast ascent of Octopussy and an animalstic flash of Supernova in near darkness!

Weds 13th

I decided to sack off climbing for 2 days to let my skin and arms recover after getting slowly worse at rock climbing and having a rather poor list of ascents for over a weeks worth of effort.

I felt super energised on my birthday climbing day and got up crazily early, having breakfast and a shower before anyone bar Owen had arisen.

We started off at Nivo Basso and Alta. The warmups were really nice wall climbs with Opus Day being very good indeed.

I then moved on to problem 1 of the hitlist, a short unaesthetic crimpy wall called Kiss Me. I struggled initially till Mike pointed out an obvious toe hook and it went down with a bit of tree dabbing as I tried to flag through, so I did another lap dab free and moved on.

Me and Sean went off and found The Pocket Problem, a cool looking overhanging board which looked piss and very flashable. After brushing the holds I pulled on and moved up into the good left slot only for a foot to pop and I was back on the ground, what a punt! After having a word I pulled back on, got the slot again and jumped out right to the arete which is a great move. I worked the right thumb in to the slot and pinched the hell out of it. Once my body was right underneath I brought the left hand into the other pocket before rocking out a good rail and topping it out.

Sean didn't like the pockets so we moved uphill to the Alphane Moon. This looked great with a bit of a scary match move over a block. It did look very doable so again we opted for the flash attempt. I got through the first sections feeling strong and got out to the greasy left hand hold but was way too sweaty to match in. After chalking up I pulled on matched and did the last 2 moves ok but decided it wasn't going to happen today in the heat, so we moved back downhill to Ping Pong Boulder. I struggled to work out an efficient sequence and managed to bruise my left elbow falling on to the sketchy block to the left of the line. Luckily a wandering Beast from the East popped up with extra mats and a camera in hand. With the extra spotter and matting I found the motivation and sketched up it with a bit of grunting! 3rd 7C in the bag and it wasn't even lunch time :)

We watched the others for a bit then Youngy drove me back over to Le Vent Nous Portera. I warmed up on the top out moves and swung about a bit then had two goes slapping out to the lip but kept getting blinded by the direct sun. Mark helpfully stood in line with the holds with a pad aloft to block it out and on the 3rd go I got the hold perfectly, sorted the feet and launched to the quartz jug, my feet swung out violently and I held on for dear life giving it everything I had left. I held the swing back in and casually matched before rocking out to glory. It was proving a good day with the earlier session and now a Nicole classic in the bag!

Me and Mark went over to Souvenir roof so he could try the 7a on the right and I got drawn into trying the first moves of Souvenir which felt ok but I found it hard to get past the sloper on the lip as my left leg was too long to tension the bicycle.

We shot off before it went dark and went to Grotto Del Nando's for a birthday pizza and beers.

Mick, Owen and Dave turned up fashionably late as Mick had decided to stay out and spot Dave on Boogalagga only to boot up and then climb it within 2 hours... 3 8B's in 2 weeks in the heat!

Fri 15th

After realising the benefits of rest days on a trip, I took Thursday off and put all my eggs in 1 basket to achieve on the last day. As with the last trip to Switzerland, the last day pressure to achieve proved a strong motivator.

We warmed up in area Paese and after almost deciding to just circuit in the heat, I went over with Sean to Souvenir Roof. This time Dave was on hand to dispense some alternate beta. I spent about an hour working different sequences until I found one which worked. A couple of false starts and I had began to give up hope as it was scorching hot and my skin was thinning.

I took a proper rest and gave it one last go where everything just clicked and I hit the holds and positions perfectly. It felt super solid and I only began to panic when I was reaching through to the good hold above the slopers on the lip, I let out a scream and got it right in the middle and pulled through with a wave of relief.

Before finishing we went over to Dr Med Dent which I got close to flashing only to slide off the greasy lip. The reserves were depleted and I had another 2 failures before drinking a coolpresso, eating a banana and having another 'last go for sure'. With a bit of sugar and plenty of liquid chalk I pulled it out the bag. It was a nice problem to end the trip on as the walk out was very short and we were soon back at base beer in hand!

It all proved too much for Beastio aka UKB's most puntered so he spent the last week sleeping on a pad (apart from rising like Lazarus to flash Powerstrips and go back to his sickbed!)

Back in the Pool

Upon getting back after a fairly long drive, I had the shortest of rest periods before beginning team training with Ged and the others at the Climbing Hangar. I turned up too early and got psyched to train on the board so had a 2 hour woody session before doing the intensive 1 hour session with the others. I felt totally ruined on Tuesday morning but after sleeping in late I had to do the 20 minute continuous Randall core workout straight out of bed before eating as I was off to work!

I think relative failure in achieving what I set out to do on our trip has proved a good motivational tool as I awoke this morning still aching but psyched for more, so fitted in another intense core/pullups session before opening the shop.

There is a comp at the hangar at the end of April and I am in pretty poor shape indoors, so need to pack the volume in to a short space of time in the hope of making some gains before then. The short term goal is not be a total punt come the day!