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!