Accepting Weakness

I don't want to start off with a long rant/moan about how shit I am... so I'll begin with a roundup of the last 6 months.

I've had a fun time climbing this year and visited many new venues as well as the familiar old places both at home and abroad. There hasn't really been a great focus on achieving anything or breaking into a new level of personal performance and nearly all my time has been spent just trying to tick off lots of problems.

Trips Abroad

July and September were the most productive months where I went on a 2 week trip to Magic Wood with Ged, Mike and Shauna and a later 1 month trip with Laura to Chironico, Cresciano, Magic and Font. The first trip was a case of trying lots of things but not getting up anything until the last day of the trip where I managed to finish off Voigas and then did Right Hand of Darkness in about 15 minutes effort. The highlight of this trip was finishing off Piranja, a nemesis of mine that had been repelling attempts since 2007!

Left Hand of Darkness

The second trip with Laura was a more relaxed affair as the first week was spent in hot temps pottering about Chironico and Cresciano, chilling in the van near the river at Schattental and then on the more luxurious campsite complete with swimming pool :) I rediscovered my love of Ice Cream in Bellinzona and we then moved on to Magic Wood.

The weather in the first week was good but we struggled to get much done. It wasn't until week 2 where I decided to start trying a muerte on Left Hand of Darkness, a problem I kept getting to the end of and punting up. It wasn't until session 5 on it, that I discovered a subtle trick to the left foot toe scum which allowed me to get the go again move and complete the problem complete with damp topout in the rain. Sadly the weather stayed both wet and humid and we left for font.

We lucked out with the weather in font and managed to climb every day.. good for me but not so much for Laura after she split several tips on some of those glassy patina edges which I always avoid. It was good to check out a few new venues and get a load of new 7s done. I especially enjoyed the steep stuff (surprise!) with the highlights being Gargantoit assis, Satan m'Habite assis and Symbiose.

Gargantwat

I've got most of the problems above on my youtbue channel, so go have a look if it is o any interest! I apologise for the minimum level of editing that has gone into these efforts. I still quite enjoy watching things unedited without a soundtrack on and abhor the pointless driving to the crag/putting on shoes/slo-mo blowing chalk clouds scenes, that can be found in so much climbing media today!

Crouch Punting

Back in the UK

I have had maybe 3-4 trips to the cave all year, the last of which was way back in April and haven't really had the motivation to go back, which is strange seeing as my number 1 goal for the year was to put time in on Louis Armstrong.

I had a decent first half to the year of attempting shorter blocs in the Lakes in order to gain strength that may come in use on LA for later in the year but I never really followed it up. It was a combination of not being ready to dedicate the amount of time which would likely be required to bring success and being more keen to get out and get some new stuff done which was satisying up to a point but has left me feeling pretty weak and a million miles away from achieving the 8B pipe dream.

The straw(s) that broke the camels back was the last month of failing on multiple 7A's outside on the shitstone and getting beaten in a round at the hangar by someone I would consider to be very weak!

Winter Training



Albert Beckles best watch out!

Today I took it back to the good old days of 2007/8 and began super basic strength training of slow pull and lowers, 1 arm pullups, 1 arm lockoffs, pressups, leg raises..etc.

I'm going to mix it up with some heavy low rep weights and systems style steep board training and aim for 4 sessions a week to 1 outdoor day. If I can keep this up over 4-6 weeks, I'll hopefully start to see strength gains and move on to campussing and project specificity in training on undercuts with poor feet on the 45 and barrel cave.
Hopefully I can snap out of this lull and get on track to boulder hard in the UK instead of swanning off to Switzerland to get ticks!

The love of my life (on the left I think! ;))

A Final Thanks

To Laura for being the most patient girlfriend in the world. I know I'm hard work most of the time with my obsessive climbing habits and I will aim to be less selfish in future! Sorry for being a pleb xx

Swizzy, again!

It is but a mere week until the bags are packed and I sack off these disappointing shores for pastures green and sunny. Last years trip to magic wood with Sam and Laura was a great laugh and it was good to make new friends, meeting up with operation beastmaker and andy and watching people push hard to break new grade boundaries. I haven't really got in a great amount of outdoor volume leading up to this latest trip but managed a few decent ticks just before the weather went totally west. South Lakes hits I made a few short trips to the south lakes with Laura, youngy and hoppo, meeting up with Paul craven a few times. With the superb craven beta machine I rattled off a lot of the class 7c's such as turbulence, paroxysm, Ronald Raygun, griddle groove and finished off with a great session getting backhand roof and the flying finish variant done one after another. Jay's birthday A few of us from the hangar had a lovely 2 day trip up to the lakes where we stopped off at a damp and humid kentmere to be eaten alive and for me to do a bit of bodywork alteration on white beauty courtesy of a poorly placed wall! After getting chased off by midges and horrible yellow flies, we fled over the very entertaining hard knott pass and past eskdale to st bees south. We did some class highballs and techy slabs and followed it up with a trip to st bees north. I finally laid clash of the titans to rest in a couple of goes using a ridiculously high foothold to pull on. I then ran over to dark side of the moon and got it done just before it became engulfed by the sea. I was stumped by the finish on captain pugwash but after viewing the vid of ned, realised my right foot was in the wrong place when I had the left heel on over my arm. One to go back for. I then had a go on kiss kiss bang bang and managed to nearly pop a tendon! This took a week of rest and some careful rehab sessions to feel ok. The indoor grind I've been purely indoor climbing for the last 2 weeks and hope to get out this coming weekend to get some sort of feel for moving on rock before we head over to Switzerland. It's going to be a hard task keeping up with shauna and mike psyche if he pulls his finger out and starts to achieve numbers worthy of those fingers!

Trips Up North

Over the last few weeks I've been fortunate enough to get weekends free of work and made the most of it with 2 trips up North.

Shelterstone & Bowderstone

I went to the Bowderstone a few months earlier to try and climb XXXX on the back of this amazing supersized pebble but came away empty handed not quite managing to hold the final dynamic leap to the lip. With batteries recharged, a dry forecast and plenty of motivation to start getting things done on the ever evolving goals for 2012 list, we sped up North stopping off at Trowbarrow to break up the journey and for Laura to try Shallow Grave.

Needless to say, this slightly leaning wall of crimps proved to be within her skillset with a brief warmup, a few false starts, moans and then an impressively static lock to the high finishing jug!

Upon reaching the Shelterstone we met Tom 'the nicest man in climbing' Sugden and keen to do something new, he pointed me at Vitruvian Man RH. Instead of my desperate face-on, no toe hook method, I gave the toehook a shot and the move went down first go! Surprised... I kind of forgot what I was doing and fell off. Attempt 2 saw it go down for a nice bonus tick.

I had watched a couple of videos of Iron Man and realised my old beta was whack. I got into the starting holds of Vitruvian first attempt but managed to punter the footswap to get the toe hook in and fell here twice before calling a stop to it to save some gas.

This early halt to action seemed to help the next day as I warmed up repeating a few things on the ladder face feeling very fresh, whilst Laura ran between Picnic, Statstick and the Crack Superdirect not being sure which she was closest to doing.

I warmed up on the moves on XXXX and then dropped the lip twice on redpoint due to messing about with my feet and hence losing the flow I needed to set up and hit the jump with more power and efficiency.

I had a good rest and then pulled on as a group of tourists brandishing cameras and no doubt armed with 'witty' 1 liners closed in from the side about to walk right under me, Laura gave them a death glance of which I was totally unawares as I was already completely absorbed in the amazing reachy sequence. This time everything just seemed to stick and needed little readjustment. I caught the lip a bit lower than I had been hoping for but a trademark yelp seemed to both help stay in contact and squeeze the core into action. I went into autopilot again, rotating to get the toe hooks on and bounce the hand on to what is a massive hold and effectively the problem in the bag! I took my time topping out making sure not to be a total punter and had finally done something worth writing about this year!

Northumberland

I went up a couple of weekends ago with Mark and Helen and despite mixed weather we had a great few days ticking through lots of volume and exploring some new venues.

The trip highlight was definitely climbing A Northern Soul at Hepburn. It really is a king line by UK standards and would not be out of place in Cuvier Rempart. The rock is immaculate, the line both aesthetic and obvious, with the crux at the top and a nice flat landing far below!

I didn't manage or attempt anything hard all trip but it was nice to be out getting a lot of mileage in and a few fun problems at the same time such as Thundering Apoplexy at Back Bowden and The Flying Scotsman at Kyloe In.

Sorry for a lack of photos, there are a couple on Youngy's blog I think. I can however, promise a bit of footage covering both trips as well as some South Lakes action which will all be bunged on to an early summer puntering video in the near future.

Getting Specific

Recent Trips
I planned to go back to the Bowderstone to get XXXX done about 2 weeks ago and instead wound up with man flu for about 8 days, having to get cover in work for the majority of that time.

Fri 13th
After a couple of getting back into the swing of things sessions down at the Hangar I visited the cave with Hoppo. I had gone pretty far backwards on Pilgrim from getting to near the end of R.A. from not even getting into it. This was a combination of shit skin and weakness but mainly the latter. I turned my attention to Louis Armstrong and immediately started to enjoy myself having to try hard on every move instead of failing due to the pump. I can't remember the last time I tried really really hard on an individual move... it has been too long! The highlight of the day was not getting a new problem done but almost sticking the crux slap on LA, having hit the lip and kept my feet on for maybe 0.5 seconds. This was minute progress but progress all the same.

Sun 15th
A few days later and I found myself in the pass with Laura, Millso and Hoppo. We had just been to the Braichmelyn boulder and climbed a few horrendously painful problems which resulted in a split left index. Realising Diesel Power was in the best condition I had ever seen and with the persuasive psyche of Mr T Mills... the opportunity was too good to pass up to see if I could get anywhere on it.

With fresh beta to try, I finally linked the first couple of moves together and worked out a sequence for the end but I just couldn't work out the go-again right hand move at all. I could hit the hold but instantly collapse on to the mats with a throbbingly painful left index finger bearing down with all my might on that horrible flat crimp. I tried many foot placements but they all felt pretty off balance and I never once held the move.

I could easily blame poor skin/fatigue and climbing on tape but I think after this session and the cave one a couple of days earlier, I am lacking in several areas.

I need more body tension on steep ground, a stronger core/back/fingers/arms. Pretty much everything! I haven't trained properly in a very long time, spending time flitting between short problems below my limit both indoors and out and infrequently redpointing long power endurance lines with no really hard moves.

Mon 16th
Today I decided to try something different and went the gym with Hoppo. We worked on sets of bicep curls till failure - aimed at improving on undercuts for LA. We later moved on to deadlifts aimed at improving body strength for both LA and DP. I'm going to make an effort to try and train these weaknesses for the next few weeks and see if I can make any progress on the two aforementioned problems that have spanked me so hard.

Fookin roastin Lerd!

It has been quite a rare treat having an entirely rain free week and weekend and I was lucky to be able to get out on rock for 3 of those days.

Local Puntering

I popped out early in the week to meet up with some lads from the Hangar and whilst waiting for them to turn up I quickly climbed all the up lines on the Bluebell Wall bar Faint lightning crack which took a few tries cleaning as I went! I didn't bother with the pumpy looking sandbag traverse of the whole wall at British 6a(chin).

Moving across to Granny's rock, things were a bit more urban, having to scour the floor inch by inch to discover the source of the ghastly odours that were assaulting my nose! Tip toeing past the multitude of dog shit brought me to the base of the wall where I carefully laid a pad underneath the classic 1 move 7C of 'V Poor'. The pull on holds are probably the worst combination of holds I have ever managed to pull on to and progress was measured in milliseconds of time hung as opposed to inches gained. I eventually had 1 decent effort as I started to scum my left foot up and slap a couple inches below the break jug. My skin was trashed, so I went over to have a look at the Haston Dyno but after getting a couple of moves in my hands were firing off big holds. The wall was still very damp in comparison to the rest of the Breck, so I made my excuses and bailed to work a bit late!

Weekend of Sun

Me and Laura had a lazy Saturday morning and headed up the Lakes a bit late to avoid the queues of northbound traffic.

We went to Langdale where we both ticked a nice crimpy v7 traverse on the lower block. We then moved around the corner and I managed to flash the burly slap to lip and mantle problem. I was and still am utterly confused by the Triple Dyno. I jumped off the low crimp rail to the ledge and thought yeah stout V2. Laura did this also. I then had about 5-6 attempts jumping from the same low crimp rail to the distant nose which is supposed to by v5?! I've done many easier v8+ dyno's so don't really get it as jumping to the top of the wall from the same start would be more v13 than v8! Confused, we moved back to the top boulder and Laura flashed the crack, the overhang, the sloping arete and eventually got the pocket problem with a bit more of an effort. A good little ticklist!

I did the sitter to the overhang in a couple of goes using a burly right shoulder and walk feet high method. It doesn't say on the topos but I assumed the sidepull in the crack to the right was out near the start? I tried Stefan Grossman but it was truly pointless in such direct sun and heat. I couldn't get near to getting my let foot on to the far hold past the wall but could do the sitter moves into the holds. Most frustrating!

We had a good meal in Ambleside with a few glasses of red and stayed over in a layby near to the Bowderstone.

Needless to say it was pretty fucking roasting at the Bowderstone in the sun. We warmed up on the Ramp and then the sloping lip just around the corner. I continued the warmup with Crack Direct and Superdirect/Power Pinch/Picnic Sarcastic which all went down ok with a few gurns and worryingly greasy pulls.

Laura didn't really have a project in mind so just attempted a few of the things above making ok progress on Crack Superdirect but struggling to hold on in the sun.

I put forward the idea to bail to the South Lakes and do easy shit but with a pep talk off Ms Hudson, I managed to find motivation to try XXXX.

The moves felt desperate on the warmup goes until I realised I was holding the left hand wrong and it started to click into place. To cut it short I failed but made progress from last time as I had more than enough reach on 1 go only to catch my left knee in the roof and get knocked off course! A go later and my fingertips were actually on the hold but my right hand ripped out the sharp roof jug. I ran out of steam and skin and had to call it quits.

The day was not over however as we popped into the S Lakes to check out Hutton Crag thanks to Grimer's inspiring photo of someone on Cyclops in Boulder Britain.

It was a lovely little venue and we ticked off pretty much everything in the low roofs to the far right and finished off with me sketching up Cyclops and then after a bit of a fight The Scoop. It was so nice and peaceful soloing easy stuff in the sun after the early afternoon of brutal pulling in the heat!

Not to be deterred, I am determined to get back and finish of XXXX asap as it feels so close and just requires a few more stars to align such as colder temps and non ruined skin from climbing on rough granite the day before :)

Here is a gallery of failure...

Font & Later wanderings

I came back from font about 1 week ago and it was a great trip with just me and Laura representing the scouse contingent in the wonderful forest of bleau.

FONT

I went without a ticklist for the first time in a long time and it panned out rather nicely visiting some new areas as well as places I wouldn't have bothered with otherwise.

The trip highlights included a couple of days at J.A. Martin ticking off some classic 6's and 7's such as l'Etrave, Oeil de cymbale and Vandale and a long day early in the trip where we met up with Steve, Roger and Pete at Rocher Fin, crushed a load of good 7's and then went to Potala to carry on the spree with a last go ascent of Etrange Etrave, a burly little roof into a wild slap and nice techy finish.

Laura struggled on some of the reachy and steep 7's but made short work of Science Friction and la Nescafe when we did another double venue day (which was meant to be a day of rest but I got drawn in to trying Noir Desir and Big Golden with a bit of progress on the former but no send due to weakness/thin skin/sweaty rock).

The penultimate day was quite successful as I banged out a load of volume at Manoury with a fast ascent of Rababoum and a flash of Oasis and a nice high grease off, off of Irreversible. I went and tried Angle Parfait and got shut down hard. Psyche was a bit lacking with the rude Frenchman trying it being less than welcoming. I returned to Manoury and got up a few more quality 7's including the brilliant Movement Activated. Our time in the small 2 person chalet/upmarket shed had come to an end but Roo let us stay over at the House for a night which was really kind of him and certainly more comfortable than a cold night in white beauty.

The last day of the trip was spent at a surprisingly damp Franchard Cuisiniere (as it hadn't rained for 2 days). We found the warmups a bit taxing but I soon snapped awake with a satisfying flash of le Magnifique. We moved down the hill and got stuck into the techy slab arete of Retrofriction. I recalled Jennings getting up it a few years ago and I managed it 2nd try using a lanky flexible persons method. Laura made good progress trying several methods before getting slightly irate and we wandered back over the hill so I could have a go of Pensees Caches. With the rare experience of having no beta I had several goes with whack sequences involving non existent holds and poor foothold spotting. I eventually twigged to jump my right foot up high and into the pocket and it went down that go! Roo then appeared and told me what I had just taken 20 minutes to work out :(

We all walked down and past the classic pathside arete of tranche de l'art. I managed to fall off like a true footwork punter then snaked up it 2nd try. Laura managed to get to the good holds, rock over her foot and then amazingly fall off the 3+ top out! It was a bit devastating to watch but can be put down to sheer fatigue/lack of basic brain function! ;)

I walked past Beatlejuce and found some scandinavians had already padded it out. I offered an additional pad and recalled trying the crux about 4+ years ago with Millso. Several years of climbing in the crypt and Parisellas had finally paid off and I felt overly strong as I cruised along for the amnesia retro flash ;)

UK

After getting back from font I just pottered indoors last week getting a bit of crypt time in before popping to the Orme with Laura and Hoppo yesterday.

We warmed up in a ridiculously busy cave and me and Laura felt terrible on Pilgrim and RWT-Bust Lip respectively, so we moved next door to a peaceful Shit Infinity. I decided to finally pull my finger out and try Bellpig for more than 10 minutes and after dropping the end once, I fought my way with wet hands all the way to glory and the end of a 5 year battle! laura floated elegantly up both The Argument and Pillar Finish but somehow failed to do the v3 traverse.

Hoppo came running around from next door, covered in mud (as he had just taken a show stopping slide across the wet grass) to announce he had crushed Broken Heart, a fine effort!

Moving back around the corner and it was still heaving, so we sacked it off and went up the hill to Breck Road. I had done the problems on the right a few years ago with Mills and Huthwaite but hadn't tried the trickier lines to the left.

We rewarmed up going from right to left and it was nice to flash Texas Karaoke and The Breck Road. The first go on Swing of Fire went as expected flying on to the pads but I switched hand positions for attempt 2 and with a bit of a scream held it and campussed up left to what I assumed was a jug only to get it badly... and unable to match, I dropped off. Attempt 3 felt a lot easier to hold and this time I campussed up to the rh crimp, got my toe on and got the good bit of the finishing hold before a bomber heel allowed the match. A nice way to finish the day.

I later presented Hoppo with his no1 chest trophy for achievement earlier in the day before we bailed back to Liverpool, tired and in need of a decent sleep after 4 days on!

Renewed Psyche

It has been a wet old time since I returned from Australia but thanks to the recent visit of a man from Italy chiselled from pure 100% psyche, I have managed to get back to the cave and recommenced battle on several fronts.

Monday 20th Feb

I decided to test the waters after not much recent climbing and managed to surprise myself by firing off laps of Rockatrocity, lou Ferrino (with wet holds) and also the starts of Pilgrim into RA and In Hell into RA. It seems taking time out to rest can help rather than hinder and strength seems to return rather rapidly.

I felt a bit tired on Pilgrim so didn't go for any serious attempts and opted for just pulling on to moves trying to remember stuff.

Luckily for me, local strongman Nodder has rediscovered his cave mojo and was on hand to give me some amazing new beta for Halfway House and I can now get into the start of Trigger Cut a lot more consistently. Coupled with the revelation that is the 5.10 stealth kneebar pad, Halfway House has gone back on to the agenda for this year!

Wednesday 22nd Feb

I returned on a day of utterly shocking conditions with the Italian Stallion on board and we found the Cave to be a gopping mess. I couldn't recall attempting to climb in worse conditions but after a lot of towelling and chalking, we managed to salvage rockatrocity and commenced lap training! Lore crushed the wobbly block moves and linked to the last move on R.A. only to fire off the finish slot locking to the wrong place and missing it. I attempted Pilgrim on condensed slopers and realised it would be a fruitless task today. I turned my attention to R.A. and just did laps on it until I could no longer pull on. It was quite satisfying to be able to pull on pumped and still climb R.A. which bodes well for Pilgrim when good conditions return.

We had a great meal later that evening with Tom, Hayley and Laura back in Liverpool and a pint in the Phil to finish off a productive day.

Sat 25th Feb

The weather was pretty glorious outside but instead of making the most of decent grit conditions, I had a lie in and went to the last round of the AWCC Stoke Winter league with Youngy and Hoppo. I had managed to scrape a victory in round 1 after a heavy cave session so felt confident of taking home the top prize after 2 rest days.

It started off well with me and Hoppo getting round rapidly whilst it was quiet and flashing the first 16 or so problems. I then managed to grease off a couple of not so hard ones and started to fret, so left them alone and went upstairs to the steeper stuff. Back on more familiar terrain, I flashed 6 of the 7 up there. On more of a roll, I finished off everything downstairs, cursing my overly sweaty skin which caused so many mistakes earlier on.

When the dust had settled I had taken 2nd place on the day but crucially finished 1st overall ahead of the Stockport lads and got my hands on a nice 100 quid voucher to spend in my own shop courtesy of Mammut! :) Hoppo did well and came 2nd in the U18's from only 1 round!

We had a few burgers and beers/wines to celebrate then headed back late.

Since Saturday I have just been in the shop every day with a couple of pre-work sessions at the wall to keep my fingers ticking over before font on Saturday. I'm hoping it's as nice there as it is in Liverpool today with a cool breeze and the sun beaming down. I've got no real goals in mind for the trip other than checking out some new areas and making sure Laura has a good time too after her week of exam stress!

A new year.

I decided to be fashionably late with this years first blog (due to the fact there has been nothing of note to report). I had a couple of good trips to font at the end of 2011 whilst staying at The House which Andy and Roo have done a good job with. The first trip was with mark, psyche, Peter, Shauna, James, Alex and Chris but unfortunately we experienced very damp and humid conditions which made for a frustrating few days out (especially so for Chris who was hobbling around after an altercation on a parisian ring road).

Despite the shit conditions it was nice to finish off some old nemesis' in the form of eclipse and l'arrache coeur and also a brilliant and slightly worrying highball in Cuvier, the name of which escapes me!

The second trip over there was more enjoyable as it was just me and Laura and we had the whole gite to ourselves with it being mid December, where the weather is a bit of a lottery. It did prove to be overcast, damp and a bit showery but we still climbed for 4 days out of 5, the best day being the one which looked the least promising, -1 degrees but absolutely perfect!

The highlights of trip 2 were Laura walking up duroxmanie before a Huthwaite style top out and a rapid spotter less ascent of some 6c+ slab with 1 little pad far below. I finally found friction and got 2 of the big 4 with the big boss in a couple of tries this trip and likewise fourmis rouges which felt like climbing with Velcro on my hands! Fantastic stuff.

Instead of my usual early trip abroad to go climbing, I am currently across the world in Melbourne staying at an old friends. It has been a bit of a winter break from climbing with a couple of trips to the local wall in a whole month. I've enjoyed going swimming quite a few times in 50m pools which were a bit of a killer, right down to the 15m one in the apartment I am in. I've not swam regularly since I was in a team at the age of 10 and I think it is something I could get into doing again of a morning.

I'm here for 1 more day before visiting holger in the blue mountains for the last few days of my trip and hopefully we will get out on some real rock , so I can wake the corpse up from this binge of beer, cocktails, coffee and many bbq's.

I am looking forward to getting back and seeing Laura again and cracking on with this years goals of unfinished business. Then it is time to get strong as hell for Louis Armstrong. I am sure Lore's visit will give me the necessary inspiration :)