Testing the waters

With the dreaded feeling of Sunday's Louis session being a big fluke, I returned to the cave via new Bizzle picking up Monsieur psyche and Hatch of Hatchatrocity fame up along the way.

We got there for a casual 2.15pm and warmed up feeling a bit shoddy whilst Hatch went in search of some big game hunting atop of the Orme.

I did the post crux to finish feeling sketchy as anything but it took only a mere 3 attempts to stick the crux again and climb to the finish.

I then set about just going for the redpoints but something would always go a tiny bit wrong, mostly matching the left undercut poorly, which meant a lot of energy sapping adjustments before I could position the feet and make an attempt at the crux slap to the lip.

I had 5 tries always hitting the lip but not having the beans to keep my right foot on. A brief rest and then the litmus test of seeing if the crux still felt possible with some fatigue. To my relief, I managed to catch it 2nd go and get to the finish yet again.

I went for a final attempt to see if I could go one better than last time, but I had ran out of steam and had to concede defeat for the day. It felt hard on the back and arms and I clearly could have done with more than 1 day of rest since my last session on it.

Mike managed to look really weak on hatchatrocity and ferrino, then with a bit of goading, he joined me on Louis and absolutely rinsed the start getting a French blow in on the 2nd move before getting confused with the crux, which he realised would involve some dynamic effort on his part.

We left just as the light faded and went back to the Hangar to join Matty D, Youngy and Laura in trying the black comp set from Friday. I was completely spent after managing 28.5 of them.

Looking forwards...

I had a brief chat with Dan and he agreed it would be a good tactic to try and link matching in to the undercuts, through the crux and to the finish, rather going for the redpoint every time, as I can do it fine in separate halves but have yet to stick the crux from the start.

Regardless of if I succeed or not this year, I am feeling a massive surge of motivation just at the right time and I know for sure, that I am capable of climbing something difficult at long last. Time to knuckle down and put the effort in and not accept underachievement... aka climbing for joy! In the words of a wise man, "success is temporary, failure is forever".

Lack of structure can lead to surprising results

No signs of improvement...

Since my last semi depressed blog entry there has been no real structure to my climbing or training and I have mainly just pottered at the hangar for the last few months after getting a years pass. There have been a few days out in Wales with little achieved bar a good session at tremeirchion with Alec getting 36 chambers and 22 chambers done. It took a return visit to the GOP to finish off a mere 7B+ called Smoke a bloke and I figured it was best to write off this year early having ticked a meagre 2 new 8th grade problems (both in the cave and long, so they don't really count for much).

A chilled end to 2013

I took last week off from climbing and had a lovely trip to Shropshire to visit Laura's parents and go to the German night market in Birmingham which featured great food, ale and live music. Me and Laura then went on to Carden park Spa in Cheshire for a decadent overnight stay of spa treatments, sauna, jacuzzi, fine dining, luxurious accommodation and a nice walk in the woods near to Beeston and bulkley.

We popped to Cheshire oaks to make inroads into the Christmas shopping when I received a somber text from Ian that the shop had been broken into and lots of gear had been taken. Gaz cleared the rest out back to beris and I popped over the next day to help take a new stock take and get some web based work for the meantime.

So after 7 rest days I arrived at Fatnecks ysgo bash. It was treacherous reaching the boulders and surprisingly dry for the first 2 hours or so before the squall came and engulfed us. We beat a retreat and went the pub. Day 2 was a write off with regular blasts of rain coming from sea mist/wind/the heavens.

Parisellas saves the day

Determined to climb on some dry rock, Mark and myself shunned the beacon and headed to Parisellas to find it in mint condition! After a brief warmup I thought it would be fun to see how much harder Louis Armstrong felt after basically no effort to get stronger in the last 9 months.

It took only 3 attempts on the crux move to stick on to it and breeze to the finish. I was rather surprised and decided the start will feel brutal still surely...

First go on the start and I got into the crux and hit the lip. I had another go on the start and got to the crux again only to mess around with the left undercut and tire myself out so holding the lip felt hard again.

I thought it would be good to see if the crux was still super low percentage, so pulled on again... And crushed the move, carrying on to the finish again.

It makes little sense to me, that I have my best ever session on Louis after no real training effort or progression in my outdoor climbing for what seems like a long time. Maybe there was something magical in that performance enhancing pre massage salt & oil scrub at Carden Park, or it could have been my body reacting to a punishing few sets of bicep busting preacher curls in the gym last week with some kind of super hypertrophy as the undercut moves felt piss compared to last time in the cave.

To see if it was some strange fluke, I'll be popping back down tomorrow to do battle once again and see if I can force this gangly, weak carcass into achieving what I was beginning to feel way beyond it.

Going backwards and Knowing when to train

Due to the weather sucking and having not climbed since my last session on Diesel Power, I decided to try another early session, this time at the cave.

I got there for 9.15am and managed to climb until 12 before shooting back to work.

I think I can safely say it will be the last time I'll bother trying to climb at/past my limits in the morning. It took at least 2 hours for my body to wake up as I was getting shut down on the start of Louis hard. My left heel would keep popping off the R.A. Flake and when I did get the undercut, it felt desperate getting the right hand one.

The end felt shaky but I could still do that bit ok. It was however, slightly depressing that I could no longer stick the crux slap in isolation. It felt like a big step back from last time. Despondent, I sat outside in the sun and read for a bit. This seemed to help, as slightly rejuvenated, I managed to finally climb through the start again, get set up on the undercuts and slapped the lip. Sticking the crux from the start still feels really hard, so I don't know how enthusiastic to get just yet!

I'd love to climb this problem so much and scream the cave down but I don't know if I am over reaching myself and would be better off training indoors for a period of time. I dont even know what to train as its hard to create a replica problem. If I manage to climb it, it will be down to luck and persistence as opposed to any ability/strength. I see so many videos of others making things look piss and always executing and imagine they have put a lot more effort in to getting strong and capable of crushing the big numbers. I would be by far the weakest person to climb 8B if I ever manage to get Louis done.

I guess it's hard to find motivation sometimes when you feel like you are going backwards and forever plateaud but I'll keep plugging away at it and quit the whining for now.

Forever Punting, Never Executing.

Since August I have been on a trip to Magic Wood and out in N Wales a few times.

Magic Wood

The trip to Switzerland was fun in terms of gorging on pastries, refreshing dips in the river, reading and sunbathing but the climbing was frustrating with high temps and humidity. I basically did nothing other than a couple of 7Cs which i got on as consolation ticks after getting Dark Sakai in overlapping halves in the first 2 days and thinking it was on... only to have a combination of poor temps and thin/split skin for the whole week.

Wales

Back in the UK the weather had cooled slightly and I had a great session on Louis Armstrong managing the crux slap twice in a row and keeping my feet on both times. I could climb into the slap and hit the lip every go from the start and just required a bit more power to stick the move on link. It's wired from here to the finish, so maybe it could be achievable by the end of the year?

In order to build some momentum towards the goal of Louis, I was keen to try and tick off some shorter problems in the hills. The obvious one to start with was Diesel Power as it has a great walk in, similar to that of Sellas.  I had tried the first move briefly a year or so ago with some weird heel/toe beta and found it hard. After watching a couple of videos, I went with the left foot, face on method and managed to stick it this way. I managed all the moves in the first session back on it, including a rather fun jump move to the lip as opposed to the walking your feet leftwards to the lip method.

Here is the method:

I returned 3 weeks later and climbed into falling off the match move again and again, until I changed from dragging to crimping on my right hand and locking as hard as possible. I managed to drop the last move a couple of times and my skin was about to split, so decided to come back in better conditions. They arrived a week later (last Tuesday) as I could pull on and do the last move with ease every time but on the link I dropped it 6-7 times until I split my left middle on the horrid crimp.

I returned 3 days later (last Friday) with a gaskins o clock start due to it looking like the only good weather window for a while and had 1 good go before splitting the left index and middle wide open. Frustrated, I packed up and got off annoyed at how my shit skin had been the limiting factor as temps were perfect on Friday morning at 9-11am. I wish for once I could learn the art of executing and stop being a total fucking punter on a problem that doesn't feel that hard anymore and was meant to be a quick tick to build some momentum for the autumn/winter!

Here is a video of Friday's effort just before the bloodshed:



Pilgrim video

After my last post there was a bit of banter about dodgy matching... So I went back the following Friday and did another first go of the session lap!

Sadly the camera is being a chode at the moment and only records in a strange night vision green tinge. Hopefully the match time will be accepted by the cave elders.

Tuesday 30th June

I had a quick solo session at the cave after my voluntary RSPCA work earlier in the day.

After a decent warm up, I was keen to get back on Bonnie but the high humidity and grease shut me down on the bit I thought would be easy and I got a bit despondent. I shifted the pads under Louis Armstrong and with a bit of motivation started to feel awake again. I managed to climb into the undercuts from the start a couple of times and did the post crux section to the finish first try.

Determined to make the most of the sweaty conditions, I decided to just work the crux slap with proper rests and got very very close to holding it on 3/10 attempts after a couple of warming up/recruitment goes. I have only ever held it once, so feeling so close several times is minor progress considering the heat.

I think I'll get straight on Louis again next week if I am on my own and leave Bonnie until I can get someone else keen on it.

Après training

I woke up too early today and have already ran out of things to do before work, so what better a time to write down some goings on and tales of achievement!

I've spent the first half of this year getting out to lots of new venues thanks to a remarkable run of good weather that coincided with the end of my 12 week training Period. Some times things do go according to plan.

May

I went to new venues(!) and ticked off some great problems such as Baby Buddha roof, Limehouse and Flick of the Wrist. I also ventured back to the cave of justice after a long break, feeling well and truly rejuvenated. Quick ticks of Left Wall high, Hatch Life and Hatchatrocity followed and I felt stronger than ever on Louis Armstrong getting the start wired into the slap and the finish from the lip sorted again.

June

I enjoyed a nice trip to Cyprus with Laura which involved little in the way of training apart from a days play in the amazing and extortionately priced Paphos waterpark!

Just before Cyprus, another 2 new venues and another 2 great problems were ticked off in the shape of Nazgul's traverse at Rhiw Goch and Cosmic Wheels up on the Mallory Boulder. I can't wait for it to get a bit cooler and get back for Lightweight and Will at the respective venues.

July

A quiet start to the month just climbing indoors to get back some strength and it was back to redpoint last move failure in the cave. I had 3-4 sessions dropping the end of Pilgrim battling sweaty conditions as we went through a miraculous 3 week+ heat wave (Which may last a bit longer still?!).

Yesterday things seemed to settle well and it wasnt as oppressively hot as on the previous few trips down to N Wales. A stress free drive down the A55 and we were once again on the wonderful sunny Orme. Instead of climbing in the midday heat, we ventured down to Sea View Walls. Laura and I did the good warmups to the right and then the main event of Flashpoint was padded out. Mike was ever the gentleman and allowed me to try first, which put the pressure on to give it a decent attempt. Luckily I had screwed on my strong arms this day and before I knew what was going on, I was carefully mantling the lip up out of the gloom and into glorious sunshine. A bonefide 3* welsh classic. Mike came up with an alternative beast method and quickly followed me up. I shook my way up from the sitter pumped out of my mind by the extra 3 hand movements and Mike then made it look piss again :)

The uphill scramble in the heat nearly finished us off but by the time we reached the cars, we were ready for a bit more action. A quick lap over the top of the Orme and back around through the toll and we were back once again sat in the dirt at the back of a dusty cave.

For some reason unbenownst to me, I had brought inappropriate H&M low slung hipster shorts that were a bit tight on the thighs and could have proved a crucial error if Laura hadn't pulled some stretchy ladies prana shorts out of the bag. I stripped down to me bills, leaving my teams on and the breeze between my legs felt exquisite. Realising I wouldn't be able to hold chalk patches on my sweaty thighs, I squeezed into the ladies shorts and they were the perfect fit!

I set off on Pilgrim without a rewarm-up and felt fresh as a daisy by the time I got into Rockatrocity. A quick chalk and shake and it was business time. I caught the flake like a spacker but managed to take my hand off and grab it properly once matched. I climbed on fast forward to the end and crucially grabbed the finish slot in the right place. A quick leg clamp and a desperate match followed which finally felt acceptable! Relief.

Needless to say, inspired by seeing a lanky punter achieve, Mike Psyche walked along it, got the finish hold and then hung on 1 arm for a good 10 seconds waving to the crowds and hustling before a match ;)

The highlight of July however, was going to Laura's graduation day last Tuesday, which was blessed with perfect sunshine. I was so proud to see her finish off her 5 years of proper hard work and come out of it with a 1st, a distinction and a short term contract to get her started! :)

4 Weeks in

Anti Punt Training

I think I stated something about training properly at the end of my last post?

I am glad to say it has been a fairly well structured start to 2013 and I have just begun week 5 of a 12 week cycle of training that I made up whilst momentarily unoccupied in the shop.

The first 4 weeks involved Basic strength training:

- 1-2 days a week in the gym doing Lat pull downs/seated rows/Dumbell bench press/1 leg squat/Bicep Curl and Deadlift, always followed by a 10 min core routine.
- 1-2 days a week of weighted pullups on medium and small edges using a sandbag and weightbelt respectively. This was usually followed by weighted full lock offs on a bar and 90 deg locks on the good BM2k slots.
- 1 day of climbing on the board each week, working on decent holds and hard moves using screw ons for feet... I did crack however and with a good forecast, I headed off for a 2 day trip to the Lakes with Youngy.

A Brief Foray to the Lakes

 We spent a damp day at Carrock Fell sketching across a wet boulder field and performing horrific wet slab top outs whilst achieving a few 6C to 7As. The highlight for Mark and Sam was undoubtedly my firing horizontally off Badger Attack off the lip jugs whilst bringing my right hand through and hitting every bit of rock available!

After a night of a few sneaky real ales from Booths, a good sleep and a hearty 3 course breakfast, we made our way to the Bowderstone and found it in good nick! I warmed up on the usual and then got involved in trying Special Cases.

It took a fair while to work out how to get through the bunched up starting positions and I eventually worked out a nice sequence involving a kneebar to get both of the crimpy sidepulls, then some nifty footwork to get out and set up for the slap. Unortunately the lip was a bit too damp to hold on to and I failed to get my right heel next to my hand (even in isolation) as the rock would turn black where my hand was, slowly sliding off every time. I hope it was a dampness/skin issue and that it doesnt usually feel this glassy or it may take a few more sessions than envisaged!

Happy with the progress, I walked around the corner and watched Youngy float up Picnic Sarcastic... followed by the sitter at the first attempt. He almost got Power Pinch too only to find the top holds too wet to match.

Back to the schedule

This week and the next 3 I'll be hitting the weighted deadhang scene in a semi Lopez style of short hang times, heavy weights and long rests. I'll supplement it with some core and pressups and try to sneak in a gym session once a week as I really enjoy the marked and measurable progress in pushing and pulling weight around.

I've got a trip to a Hotel and Spa retreat with Laura booked in for the start of Feb and am keen to get my body as wrecked as possible to earn the pampering! With no climbing holidays on the horizon, I'll continue to see this training plan through to the end and see if it will translate on the stone once things warms up a bit.