Stepping it up

In the slow build up to another font trip, I have been keen to get out to new venues to try and diversify my climbing from doing redpoints on In Hell.

Sunday 14th

Went over to the Wirral and met Andy and Becki at Green Lane (aka Hell), and we shot off towards what looked the best option in a sunny Llanberis pass. The sky was bright blue and the sun was wonderful. As we neared the A55 exit, it had already clouded over and the rain was getting steadier.

We got to Llanberis and it was grimness. A quick brew in Petes and we headed into the pass to check things out. There was a team huddled under Jerrys Roof and nobody else at Roadside. The rain was only light, so we got a bit of a warmup on the roadside face with only myself enjoying the wet topout practice that required a cool head.

Rather than ring Doyle and beg for entry to the Mill, we decided to go check out Elephantitus Cave. It was a bit brighter over the other side of Pen Y pass and by the time we had walked in to the cave it had stopped raining and brightened up a little.

A bit of brushing and hold fondling and I was pretty psyched. The first moves on Elephantitus were a joy rolling into big pinches and then the slightly unnerving throw to the sloper off the matching crimps. Luckily my hand stuck and the heel-toe stayed in, matching was ok and I just about caught the break above to get the flash in the bag.

Andy had a good go at the flash but didn't enjoy the crimps too much as he had ben out at Wimberry with Fatneck on Saturday and had no tips! Becki did most of the moves but struggled on the reach out left as well as the slap to the sloper. It was good to see her actually climbing and looking vaguely psyched for a change!

Next up was Going down on an Elephant which looked nice and basic. I thought I could get the flash in the bag, so didn't really worry too much about the sequence. I pulled on and crossed over to the flatty edge, got the lock on and matched the right foot into the starting hold whilst flagging past with the left. Looking up and left I realised I was miles away from the pinch/sidepull on Elephantitus and was stuck under my right arm! I held the lock for what seemed an eternity and finally tried to jump sideways only to land flat on my side! Fail.

Slightly bemused, it was time to look properly. Becki pointed out the obvious ticked intermediate 2 finger crimp and this proved to be the key. Next go and I was across up into the slap to the sloper only to change my Elephantitus beta and use the low pinch to go for the sloper instead of the crimps I had used 5 minutes ago. This ended in a horizontal deck out banging my right heel hard on a rock and getting a bruised arse! I fueled up on some banana and got it done next go without any problems.

I started to look at Tusk and then the heavens opened causing all of the lip to rapidly turn into a small waterfall as the rain came down the slab above. We bailed to V12 for a coffee and then on to a nice pub on Ollies recommendation (just at the turnoff towards the Beacon). Going against my performance related alcohol plan for 2010 I treated myself to a pint (the usual requirement being a new 7C). I thought I could earn it on Tuesday instead!

Tuesday 16th

After resetting and testing the step wall at work, I was a bit knackered 3rd day on. The weather dictated the cave as the only option and I wasn't my usual psyched self. As we got nearer to the Orme, the Sky was blue and the sun shone down. It was glorious!

The warm up felt ok as it was nowhere near as bitter as it had been over Christmas and January. We met Dave Pinnington and Andy Farnell in there and everyone seemed keen to crush something. I couldn't face redpointing In Hell in a fatigued state so chose to try something new which would allow more excuse for failure and keep it fun. Dave was workiing Broken Heart, so I joined him and Pete Chadwick on this. It took a couple of tries of the heel-toe to make it work and when it finally did I managed to fluke my way through to the rail and across into Clever Beaver only to fall off coming into the undercut after catching the sloper. Total power out but quite pleased at getting that far.

A bit of a rest and another go. I got to the break and for some reason decided to go for the shorter link into Beaver Cleaver forgetting that it is pretty desperate and failed to even catch the initial throw for the lip!

Pretty knackered by now, I thought it would be good to try and punish the body, so got the mats under In Hell and started to warm up again as it had gone freezing and the fingers and toes were suffering. A couple of false starts remembering body positions and I got across part 1 into RA flake, across the pockets and stepped off feeling boxed, with numb fingers.

Rather than be dismayed at failing, I decided to try repeat Trigger Cut. The first moves were still ok thankfully but I failed to feel good on the slap to the shothole once again! It's a bit of a puzzle really as it felt ok last year when I got it done but have never been able to hold since. It must be a subtle body position that I have not yet remembered and needs addressing if I am to try and get Halfway House done. Speaking of which...

I decided to try and link in having only done it once in the past by fluke. Rather than just press the left toe in and bring the right foot around straight into the heel, I managed to climb off the Lou F ramp into the TC start holds, keep the left foot on the Lou F ramp and bring the right foot out and toe hook the Greenheart undercut. Releasing the left foot and pulling in felt ok and I got the left foot up onto the start foothold of TC. The right heel went up and the left foot flagged. The Trigger in my hand... then nothing left in the tank!

It was a great way to end the session climbing as far as I had before into TC from both hands on the Louey ramp in a state of knackeredness. I don't think it will be an issue to get into the slap for the shothole move from the start after a good rest day but that move is going to need sorting out soon (without resorting to kneebars!) before I can consider it as being a realistic goal.

I think I am addicted to the cave and can only hope it translates a bit to font for things like Eclipse, Biceps Mou, Aerodynamite..etc