Lots of action

It has been great weather for the last week or so and plenty of trips outside:

Sat 14th - Brimham

An early start for Owen, Ben and myself (team strong)... led to us arriving a lot earlier than team chong (Si, Paul, Hitman) who were still relaxing in Mersyside as we were entering the ghetto of Harrogate.

Upon arrival I was most impressed with the warmup problems of Pommel, Black Dog arete..etc and swiftly ticked a nice contrived line from sitting in a pit and shortly after added the classic lie down start.. what a stellar line trying to avoid the wedged block and holds out right! :P Jokes aside it climbed very well and we moved on to the grim anchor problem. Owen pointed out the grip sequence and I dispatched without losing too much skin on the top!

An epic trek across the moors landed us under Crimpy Roof and I was obviously instantly psyched for some overhanging crimp action. The Crimpy Roof 7b/+ looked ripe for the flash treatment but upon latching the edge of the jug on top my right hand greased violently off the crimp and it was bloodshed. A lot of wiping and taping, ensured I was able to get it done 2nd go and we turned attention to Dave Cowls 'To me to You' which looked fantastic. Owen figured out most of the moves including a nice burly campus compression to campus slap finish!
I Figured out my non-6ft 5inch frame beta and put it in the memory banks for a further visit as today was aimed at volume (I have enough projects on the Lime!).

A steady stream of venues were visited such as the Jokers Wall and No Red Tape with the amazing rockover problem being the highlight. As we got drained, a quick visit to Titfield Thundferbolt was in order, I had neither the skin nor the energy but hoped to glimpse some beta off a local. Someone was stood under it but refused to pull on for all the 10 minutes we were there...strange but at least Ben quickly got Whisky Galore using some camp rockover-thumb press-standing on your feet-style climbing ;)

After a quick brew at the tourist cafe, we popped over to the Niche and found the Hitman in his hustling routine making the desperate appear trivial. Me and O obviously went straight for the dyno as it looked immense and doable. Owen got a lot closer to holding the swing than myself and I think with fresh arms and skin we will get it done in short time, really cool jump to an aesthetic pinchy shelf! I went over to try Fantasy League as a warm down and after getting up on both aretes with a right heel on, I hit the energy wall and slid down on to the mats into a heap and gave up the game. Hitman got a bit closer but popped off as he slapped high up into the scrittly sandy arete. It's a nice problem but could probably do with being a bit less chossy.

Sunday 15th - Ogwen hit

I went out with a strong team of Yoofs from Merseyside as well as Fatneck who was making it 2 days out climbing in a row for the first time in ageeeees. We started off at the Caseg Fraith and I got stuck into the retro flash of the crag only to fail miserably on Boneyard and Skunk X. I felt likle shit from Saturday still and had horrificly poor skin, so decided to hike up to Animal Magnetism and see if it was worth the while. After a hideous treck, we arrived at the roof and were psyched with what we saw. Me and Dan started working out what to do whilst the others got on the stuff round the back (a very nice couple of problems). I managed to climb the problem from the pinch and first RH hold to the finish first try but when I rested and tried it from the pull-on I was dismayed by my total inability to move to the pinch without collapsing in a heap. It felt like my body positioning and strength were totally pathetic. Wondered whether the first LH hold had maybe gotten smaller and left it.

We had a tea break then headed over to the Milestone area where with 8 pads and 3 spotters I managed to shake my way up Monkey See arete, what a fucking amazing line with a high crux! Just Saturn left to do now for the trio of highballs (which incidently looks way harder than just 1 grade above the others?). We moved over to Marilyn Monroe area and after failing on the campus method on Einstein, I remembered hearing of a feet first ascent. A couple of goes and it was done! What a brilliant and unique style of problem. I would recommend it to anyone long of leg and strong of toe :)

The Pit boulder saw the others having a play and little Mike going into crush mode to get the Pit Start and his 2nd v5 of the day and outdoors... strong!

Tuesday 17th - Cave Time

On the way to the cave I was moaning to O and Pete about how shit I felt and that I might try and lay the nemesis of Left Wall Low to rest and maybe try the sitter to the Beavers.

After a pit stop and a lot of caffeine and chocolate i was firing on all cylinders and did my new regime of a bit of running and theraband before pulling on some big grips. The arms felt in good condition although the skin was still sore from the weekend. I pulled on to Trigger Cut and cruised through to the slap to the rail and almost held it. Good shit. Next try I held the rail for the first time ever and managed to get through to the very last move only to kick my feet against the wall in several places and run too low on energy to grab the last jug. devestation!

I had a banana, some water and had a word with myself, got back up there and then overslapped jabbing my fingers into the rock above the jug to fail again. I was beginning to well and truly punter it up from a winning position.... determined not to make it another Rockatrocity type siege, I unleashed the fury and was more solid than ever on the next try, gaining the 2nd to last hold for the 3rd time in a row. I was about to try and get a right heel on ( what the fuck!) when I heard Owen shouting for me to campus... the words slowly filtered through and I took my feet out, swung my hips left and back right again to stick the hardest jug to jug 1ft campus move I have ever done screaming to hold on. YYFY!

I staggered about for a while waiting for the adrenaline to fade away and enjoyed a small feast on my mat whilst watching smooth Pete crush Left Wall to make it a 2 out of 3 Team Merseyside projecting success. We only had Owen left to get Left Wall High done for the high fives, but he somehow managed to fall off the very last move as we willed him to just dyno 2 handed to the jug ledge at the end. He will get it done next time for sure and I am now psyched at the prospect of yet another new project... Halfway House appeals as well as Beaver Cleaver Direct (which I had a short play on late into the darkness) and Crucial Times as an ambitious one.

The lamplight session ended with my now traditional failure on Left Wall Low to the amusement of all present. I'll get it some day...maybe