With all this white shit taking a firm grip of the Eastern edges and the S Lakes being particularly sketchy, we have been continuing our visits to the majestic Orme that rarely ceases to give a productive session.
Thursday 25th Nov
Myself, Sean, Mark and Joe hit the Orme and it was suprisingly warmer than Monday's session. A lot of stuff was wet so the warmup was a bit trickier this time, with Rockatrocity being problem number 2 or 3! I did Cave Life short and was then ready to get on Oppotrocity again. The shoulders needed a couple of stretches over to the 2nd pocket to get warm and as soon as I got the backhand to the flake I took it down. Not sure if it's 8a but it's harder than RA and quite well suited being shouldery moves involving lots of foot clamping/toe hooking.
I managed to fall off with a foot on left wall from the start of In Life a couple of times then tried the arch moves in the opposite direction to keep warm. I wasn't getting very far on this, so decided to just try something harder again!
So I got on Louis Armstrong...
I couldn't work out the first move but got close going right hand out to a small sloping edge and tried to drop in the left hand clamping the feet in various positions. The crux slap felt impossible without just stepping on to the ground as the foot position didn't feel at all obvious (from getting home later I realised both Danny and nacho step their right foot out wide and use the hips a lot to generate some momentum) I could do the drop in match on the undercuts and climbed the problem to the finish from holding the slap out position (doing the left hand drop in and then to the finish). It was good fun to do some new moves and now that I know how fierce the first and crux move are, I can try and do some training before the next visit. If I can do it within the next 3 years I'll be happy! Maybe it can be done in less time if I really want it enough to train specifically?
I 'warmed down' trying the Greenheart connection from the Lou F press off the ramp and managed to do the undercut match twice in near darkness, with the right foot staying on becoming very low percentage! I nearly got across to the break only to fire out the gopping fingerjug on BH. Keen to put more time in on this section next year once other business is taken care of.
We got back to the wall in the evening and instead of a relaxing cuppa, we got stuck in and had a further 2 hour climb on the 45 board getting burned off by Shauna. She was looking scarily strong and crushing moves I was struggling to do. I'll have to get back on them when fresh and see how much work needs doing!
Thursday 2nd Dec
The forecast was grim for a lot of the North and East, so we went up high and into the icy winds on top of the Little Orme to seek out classic Welsh desperation. We were not to be disappointed with the fairly hardcore buttress of Caveman.
No number of starjumps, sprints or hand gripper exercise could summon blood to my extremeties, so I gave up and booted up into a super tight pair of freezing dragons (which were my comfy shoe for the day).
We did what we thought was Floppy's reach, realised it went right then did the proper version, which features quite a nice move through a pinch.
The next warmup problem was Patch's problem, a v6 that felt a little stiff for the grade where you cross to a lovely 3 finger pocket, then lock miles to deadpoint a dish and try and cram 3 fingers in to this, get the right toe on a smear, grab a sidepull, then slap to victory. It took about 2 or 3 goes to work out the foot positioning and I did it with a big drop knee that would have dismayed Dave 'Face on climbing' Pinnington!
We got shutdown on the 2 v7's to the right, so just moved over to Caveman.
After all of us struggling on the start moves, John pulled it out the bag and repeated it. I was ready to give up after getting shut down by the frostnip taking hold of my feet but manned up, went for a run around the top and the blood came back!
After just about latching the first move to the backhand, I locked with all that I had and grasped the sidepull, then sketched to the finish which was all captured in glorious technicolour.
Hoppo looked like he might die if we didn't leave, so we escaped out the wind and drove to Tremeirchion.
Thursday 25th Nov
Myself, Sean, Mark and Joe hit the Orme and it was suprisingly warmer than Monday's session. A lot of stuff was wet so the warmup was a bit trickier this time, with Rockatrocity being problem number 2 or 3! I did Cave Life short and was then ready to get on Oppotrocity again. The shoulders needed a couple of stretches over to the 2nd pocket to get warm and as soon as I got the backhand to the flake I took it down. Not sure if it's 8a but it's harder than RA and quite well suited being shouldery moves involving lots of foot clamping/toe hooking.
I managed to fall off with a foot on left wall from the start of In Life a couple of times then tried the arch moves in the opposite direction to keep warm. I wasn't getting very far on this, so decided to just try something harder again!
So I got on Louis Armstrong...
I couldn't work out the first move but got close going right hand out to a small sloping edge and tried to drop in the left hand clamping the feet in various positions. The crux slap felt impossible without just stepping on to the ground as the foot position didn't feel at all obvious (from getting home later I realised both Danny and nacho step their right foot out wide and use the hips a lot to generate some momentum) I could do the drop in match on the undercuts and climbed the problem to the finish from holding the slap out position (doing the left hand drop in and then to the finish). It was good fun to do some new moves and now that I know how fierce the first and crux move are, I can try and do some training before the next visit. If I can do it within the next 3 years I'll be happy! Maybe it can be done in less time if I really want it enough to train specifically?
I 'warmed down' trying the Greenheart connection from the Lou F press off the ramp and managed to do the undercut match twice in near darkness, with the right foot staying on becoming very low percentage! I nearly got across to the break only to fire out the gopping fingerjug on BH. Keen to put more time in on this section next year once other business is taken care of.
We got back to the wall in the evening and instead of a relaxing cuppa, we got stuck in and had a further 2 hour climb on the 45 board getting burned off by Shauna. She was looking scarily strong and crushing moves I was struggling to do. I'll have to get back on them when fresh and see how much work needs doing!
Thursday 2nd Dec
The forecast was grim for a lot of the North and East, so we went up high and into the icy winds on top of the Little Orme to seek out classic Welsh desperation. We were not to be disappointed with the fairly hardcore buttress of Caveman.
No number of starjumps, sprints or hand gripper exercise could summon blood to my extremeties, so I gave up and booted up into a super tight pair of freezing dragons (which were my comfy shoe for the day).
We did what we thought was Floppy's reach, realised it went right then did the proper version, which features quite a nice move through a pinch.
The next warmup problem was Patch's problem, a v6 that felt a little stiff for the grade where you cross to a lovely 3 finger pocket, then lock miles to deadpoint a dish and try and cram 3 fingers in to this, get the right toe on a smear, grab a sidepull, then slap to victory. It took about 2 or 3 goes to work out the foot positioning and I did it with a big drop knee that would have dismayed Dave 'Face on climbing' Pinnington!
We got shutdown on the 2 v7's to the right, so just moved over to Caveman.
After all of us struggling on the start moves, John pulled it out the bag and repeated it. I was ready to give up after getting shut down by the frostnip taking hold of my feet but manned up, went for a run around the top and the blood came back!
After just about latching the first move to the backhand, I locked with all that I had and grasped the sidepull, then sketched to the finish which was all captured in glorious technicolour.
Hoppo looked like he might die if we didn't leave, so we escaped out the wind and drove to Tremeirchion.
Photo courtesy of Chris Doyle
I'd never been to Tremeirchion before and the magnificent wave of high quality lime looked amazing from the layby. It was like a little bit of swiss surrounded by blanket white snow. The uphill approach was nowhere near as arduous as the one to Caveman but was fairly hard-going up the steep hill wading through knee deep snow.
The re-warm up was on a cool v5 to the left which started low on big jugs and bust up to sidepulls/pinches and laybacked some good holds to a highish finish.
I struggled to see the holds at first on 36 chambers but after John had pointed them out and given me a bit of a sequence, I gave it a very psyched crush attempt. Crossing over to the pinch involved boning a sharp index finger crimp and then tensioning past it until it became more positive as I stuck my right foot across and locked it in. I managed to feel in balance for a second and locked to the right hand crimp which was thankfully positive. The left toe was bumped up and I slapped up to what I thought was the sloper only to go too far high and left and slid off. I jumped up and down to get a view from the floor and realised going slightly right was key so had a rest and tried again.
The 2nd go started like the first, getting through the pinch and snatching the crimp. I popped to the sloper and this time it was miles better. I realised the drop in was now the crux and squeezed juice from the rock as I grabbed it with my left cutting loose and holding on with a bit of a scream! I got the toe on to where John had pointed out and set up for the high jug edge... made a throw upwards with my right and dragged over the edge of it back down to the mats! Devastated.
Sadly, that was as good as it got with arms and skin all failing at the same time as the sharp right start hold took its toll and the pinch felt glassier as temps dropped. Definitely one I will be back for as well as the aesthetic looking grooveline to the right.
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