Me and Owen returned to Warton along with smooth Pete D and there was no messing about this time with a rapid crush of Poison (after failing twice and moaning about general weakness for half an hour ;)) Owen wasn't having his best day ever but Pete was going well and almost climbed Debaser on a couple of tries, which definitely looks a stiffer proposition for gentlemen of less blessed stature.
Whilst O and Pete worked away I played with the dog for a couple hours whilst grazing my way through a veritable feast I had prepared at the Ivory that even surpassed M&S's finest service station selections!
We hit the cafe and fueled up on caffeine and cake, followed by the highlight of the day managing to have a shit in an actual toilet and not deep in the undergrowth of the S Lakes! With this loss of several pounds we headed straight to Trowbarrow and did a bit of running about mixed with some star jumps to try and wake up again.
I thought I was on for the Iron Man twice only to grease off the holds with everything in place for the slap right and quickly changed plans, heading around back and failing 3 times whilst my fingers crept over the top lip on Texas hold em. We had to shoot and I was yet again left feeling shut down and demoralised by going to the stone late in the day.
Monday 4th
We awoke to grim skies and blanket rain but with assurances from the ever positive Si, we managed to rouse Matt from his post party time coma and I jumped in the Blue Motion for the ride over to the Gorge.
A couple of attempts on Holger's ridiculously long traverse weren't getting much further than the finish of Thug Mentality/start of Mental extension so I decided to finally try and flash Chessie Si's Faith Healer problem to the left of Be Ruthless. I had been trying to put it off for the last few visits citing fatigue and such but now was the time...
I chalked up, pulled on and after hitting the grim fingerstack, I messed about with my feet for a while, only to cross over and cut loose, freestyle the moves and then I was in position for the last move crux. I gave it a good throw but failed to get the top of the hold, pinching it with all my weakness until it could no longer be pinched... plummeting downward to land on the mats dejected.
A couple more tries and it was done but it didn't half hurt the skin. We bailed not long after and I don't really care much for returning anytime soon!
Saturday 9th
Me, O and Stu hit the Cave and it was great to be back after what felt like an age. Stu's mate Toby and his strong crew from Sheffield were there keen on becoming involved with the majestic cave and all her trickery. I had intended to rock up and crush Halfway house and then go eat donuts all day on the pier but after a few attempts I realised I was going to get the shut down as the humidity rose steadily during the cloud cover and rain spells.
Opting to make the most of it I threw myself into trying to climb everything in 2 halves and pull on to other things to give beta to those in trouble! It proved a good workout and I felt on the verge of passing out or vomiting several times. A good beating was being delivered upon me and I enjoyed every minute of it. I had a random urge to try Pit of Hell again after a long time away from it and to my amazement I managed to get the wobbly jug first try and then continue into RA... Score! I didn't shake out and just tried to blast through only to fail miserably when matched on the pockets sizing up the flake. If only I had been rested and not been a muppet.
That kind of finished me off and we took a trip down to the pier, discovering on the way that we only had enough money for 6 donuts and 1 espresso between the 3 of us. So we had 2 each and a rough 3rd of an espresso utilising each angle of the cup's rim to avoid the bad aids :P
We finished off with a nice session on the box retroing some stuff and amazingly I managed to get Chocolate Wall first go.. I don't know how but it just happened and didn't feel too bad apart from the desperate match and scream to get the jug and match tentatively! I was massively impressed by Alex from Sheff getting 10+ new problems of 7A and above in his first cave/box session! Machine.
Sunday 10th
I was quite excited to check out a new place being developed by Andy Popp and Ben F for the new Merseyside/Cheshire guide that is in the pipeline, as I had been told of wondrous technical walls, aretes and ribs with a lack of holds and a grading system that would make the Step Wall and Crypt appear very much Swiss!
The plans were changed and I ended up at Pex with Ben not expecting it to be dry, but lo and behold it was pretty mint.
We warmed up on Pisa Wall with Ben shaking his head at my highly unorthodox versions of certain problems ;) I could not contain my psyche for very long and we were straight over to Lady Jane padding up the landing under Monoblock. I had a couple of decent attempts standing up and slapping at the good slot but didn't really feel like I could give 100% until we had a couple more mats. Then Dave, Si and Stu rocked up with the goods.
I kept getting high up to the same move every time getting my fingers in or below or above and not quite timing it. We wandered around a bit getting people to try other things and I was made up for Stu finally getting Hart's Arete done after plenty of sessions! Effort. It is still Si's ultimate nemesis and not really suited to a man of his flexibility and stumpy handedness ;)
Dave climbed Philarmonic which looked great... only for me to call him out for illegal hold useage which was swiftly confirmed by a a member of the Pex Hill Ethics Commitee (Ben)! He was a bit irked but manfully stepped up and reclimbed it topping out in an acceptable manner, although it looked a tad harsh at the supposed v4 grade!
I had almost given up for the day with thin skin and a few cuts from greasing off violently on the high RH crimp but as the sky went dark and a breeze picked up I got pysched for another try. The first go resulted in an early off balance failure due to being a bit too keen to get the crush on. I rechalked and felt really calm knowing it could go.
The moves felt easy as I just stood up hardly even using the thin rh sidepull. The lh crimp felt huge up high as did the 2 finger rh one. I did the necessary foot faggotry to stand up above the break and then lunged at the slot up and left getting it perfectly in the middle and calling upon the power of auto crimp I stayed in! There was no question of finishing at the break as I pressed then pressed again straight through to the break skipping the intermediate. The top break was pretty dusty and I regretted having no chalkbag. I shook my way along into the beehive and made a fairly scary backhand into the suspect flake up high standing up in the hive and making use of the tree branch on offer over the grassy top.
I've never felt so happy to do a problem and was shaking with adrenaline for a good minute after. Something I didn't really expect to be capable of had gone down in relatively no time and all from just having a positive approach and state of mind that has been key to this years progress.
I'm quite keen to go back now to finish off the other comparatively easier lines on the Lady Jane Wall, where plenty more brilliant lines and spicy top outs await.
