Glassy grips/Soft core

Today was the 4th session on Louis Armstrong this year and as with the previous one around 3 weeks ago, it was pretty much abject failure.

To my utter amazement, the first left hand undercut was dry for the first time this year. This led to being able to climb through from the start to slapping the lip 5 times but with a core resembling a bowl of poorly set jelly, I was nowhere near to holding the move.

For the 2nd session in a row, I didn't even do the crux move to finish link, which had become doable every session for the last 10 or more (sometimes 2-3 times in a row).

Although the undercut was finally dry, the rock was so cold, it was glassy and made the feet slide about a bit as well as making skin feel damp from the contrast in temperature between lime and skin. Poor excuses no doubt, but it definitely felt like a few degrees warmer would make things easier (especially being able to rest longer and keep blood in feet and fingers!).

If I'm going to get near to an ascent, I'll have to stop messing around indoors climbing problems and do some core work again... as it has been a long time and it was definitely found to be wanting today.

In better news

Laura and I are getting closer to organising our wedding venue and reception for this summer and it should be amazing if the weather helps out a bit!

I was chuffed that Si agreed to be the best man for the occasion and we all had a great time down on the Lleyn last weekend for Si's birthday bash, with lots of new problems ticked as well as the odd cheeky F.A.

I'm looking forward to getting Si over for some days out scaling and fishing on the coast as well as the other Merseyside lids, once they've finished exploring the esoteria of dubious quality to be found in Lancashire.

Lacking in inspiration

Much like this blog, my mind has been lacking in inspiration for the last few weeks.

I've been working all of the hours under the sun (or lack of) in Llanberis as it's the busiest time of the year for us. The one week of perfect cold and sunny weather passed by outside as I was in every day until after 6 and the motivation to get out with lamps into the hills in the dark was lacking!

This has led to being a bit knackered, not helped by the dog waking me up barking around 4.30-5.30am most days, and I've managed to pick up a grim cold which currently lingers at just over a week.

A rare day out

I attempted to get outside a last Sunday with Paul and Matty D. The warm ups on roadside face felt ok but then I got utterly spanked by the Sting and ripped a fingertip wide open. A bit of taping to stem the tide and we headed over to Gallt yr Ogof.

Split fingertip aside, I got back on problems I thought should go down with 6 years more climbing under the belt (and a bit of improvement in strength/movement skills) but every single problem on this boulder is still hideously desperate! I failed miserably on regeneration and smackhead, so didn't even bother looking at Sway On. (Paul later linked a video which helped lift the gloom of abject failure, showing I was starting on the wrong holds/in the wrong place, making them harder than necessary, so I'll return again in 6 years time)

Indoor stasis

Although getting outside has been a bit tougher, I've managed to retain a tiny bit of motivation for indoors, as the setting down at the Indy wall is excellent. Although I don't feel like I have gotten any stronger, the lure of not getting too far behind in the aggregate and trying to hang on to the coat-tails of Pete Robins and Ducko has kept me going back and trying hard to drag my out of shape withered corpse up some of the harder stuff.

I'll hopefully post about amazing days out on the next blog and be a bit less depressive. I had a laugh with Matt the other day about moving closer to decent climbing and sacking off climbing, much like in his Sheffield days, but it won't come to that... There is still some unfinished business in a certain polished limestone cave :)

Post Summer Scaling Adventures

I've managed to get outside a couple of times in the last 2 weeks just before the turd weather arrived.

Crafnant

Mills & Jack @ Chez Hudssion

A couple of weekends ago, Millso and 8c Jee were over in N Wales, so we got together and hit up Crafnant along with O and Alec.

We were blessed with dry weather and grips, with the lightest of breezes making it bearable and friction-filled-fun!

We started off climbing out of a dank hole, which featured a funky right hand dish and pop to sloper move, then moved over to Grasswind, where Jee and I managed to scramble our way up to the top. The face on go again move is really good.

Some lanky ginge topping out Asswind

After this, it was a short hop, contouring across the sketchy slope to arrive at the main boulder.

Return of The Upton Crimp!

Jee managed a rapid ascent of Wonderwall and I bailed off the top-out after a scream of fearful desperation in failing to turn my right palm as the sun beat down on the slippery top! I slid off into the hands of ace spotter/groper T Mills esq. and survived.

Whilst taking a long rest and waiting for the sun to go behind the hills, Jee did a tour of the boulder ticking off Riley's, Cruella and Special K before departing with Ruby.

O, Alec and Tom all made good progress on Cruella but had to give in with sore skin and dodgy knees/joints. I managed to drag my arse up Wonderwall next go, after a 30 min rest and no rewarm up, which was savage on the fingers and I felt wrecked on the top! We were a right old bunch of semi injured semi veterans.


Maes Newyddion

Louis Start

I was blessed with a dry day off work last Friday and managed to sneak up Maes Newyddion late morning, making the now very familiar treck up the winding road to arrive out of breath as always.

I was determined to crush Grey House into atoms and not have to face that walk again and set about warming up on budha roof until I could feel the blood return to my fingertips from pulling on the sharpness.

To cut a long story short I had lots of shit attempts, then 3 good ones on the house, swinging out and back in only to fall off and finally clung on after about 15 attempts... miraculously without splitting any fingers open (just a hole in my right palm from the top!).

The undercut resting station

I thought it might be 8A after my previous visit but slightly better conditions made it feel more like stout 7C+. I think Buddha Roof in comparison may only be hard 7C but who knows?

I sadly didn't get any footage as I have been a bit lazy in not searching for my dodgy old predator vision camcorder since moving over to Wales. I'll make sure to dust it off and start recording Louis sessions in case I fluke it. I've put some pics up on here so you can see my sneaky weak mans methods!

Comps

Spicy Times

With the inclement weather arriving, I've had a go at the Indy and Beacon winter comps. The setting at both has been good and doing this amount of volume (30-40 problems a session) should be good fitness training for when it stops raining and I can get outside. I've got 1 problem left to do at each but don't fancy I'll finish the Blue 8A/+ at the Indy unless the weather stays shit and I'm forced indoors!







Some House View Pics

I've just realised there has been a lack of new house photos on the blog so far. So here are the views from our living room/kitchen/balcony areas :)

The Conwy Estuary and a distant West Shore

Looking out over the river and into the hills

A sunny back garden!

Conwy Castle from the kitchen window :)

A great summer

Little Lamb near Aber Falls

Since I last posted back in April, Laura and myself were fortunate enough to move into the house we were waiting on and have been doing little bits and pieces to it since to try and make it feel like our own home.


The never ending summer of June/July meant lots of time spent in the garden and sneaky sessions down the Orme and occasionally into the hills. A lot of ice cream has been eaten and the only time I had to go indoors was to pop back over to Liverpool for the BOSS comps which went ok considering I'm old and decrepit. I was very grateful to Pete staying in South Africa long enough for me to turn up and look strong in a weakened field! ;)

Tricky hanging Arete at Cae Du

Commuting to Llanberis from Glan Conwy isn't as bad as I expected (due to zero traffic and motorways, it is a nice chilled start to the day), and I got in a few decent after work sessions which culminated in finally clawing my way up Diesel Power. I thought Corridors of power, the most in vogue 8A in N Wales would go down in similar fashion but it merely resulted in split tips and holes in my palms! I'm hoping to finish it off this weekend as the weather has picked up over the last 2 days and the temps are slowly dropping.

There can be only one (1KG egg)

I've had a dabble on Louis a few times but need to get on it when it's colder to stand a chance as I tend to slide around on the undercuts too much at the moment, making the setup not ideal for the crux. Oh to be strong!

9/10/14
Updated with some pics! :)

Giant Egg & Belgian beer, the diet of champions

Dolphins off the coast @ Cae Du

A lovely day out to Bodnant Gardens with Laura

North Wales boyo

There has been a fair bit of upheaval since my last post in early January.

I've moved over to North Wales with Laura as we were both offered full time work and thought it would be a good change of scene, being closer to the sea, hills and fresh air!

We are currently living above the veterinary surgery awaiting a completion date on a house we made an offer for way back in early Feb. Sadly, the finishing line still isn't in sight due to the chain of pensioners not being in any hurry to move or respond to their solicitors information requests.

Fingers crossed that it won't be too much longer as there is only so long that you can function with the use of a microwave and takeaways alone!

In other news, my left knee is healing up really well. Thanks to Laura pushing me a bit; A combination of ignoring the tame physio rehab and doing more intensive exercise (more advanced than the pensioners handout I was given) as well as cycling on the turbo trainer has seen it strengthen well and regain a good range of motion.

I've been back on rock several times over the last week in the pass, maes Newyddion, Craig y llyn and of course the hallowed cave.

I was still a bit wary of cranking hard on the left knee during the first few sessions back on rock... but after doing the finish section of Louis last Week, I gave the heel move at the start a go and to my utter relief everything was perfectly fine. If anything, it felt easier than before the injury and I'll hopefully be able to make use of the marginal strength gains from the couple of months deadhanging, pull-ups and campussing.

Aside from the climbing goal for this year being back on track, it has been an amazing season to be a Liverpool fan and I pray that we can finish it off with a long awaited premiership title!

A Liverpool title and a 3rd victory for Woolton wanderers in the UKB fantasy football league would put the icing on the cake after a successful knee rehab and relocation to N Wales :D

Inspired

I'm currently sat on the couch after a gourmet meal at the ivory, enjoying a rather delectable 04 Rioja that Laura's parents got me for Christmas. I was saving bottles such as this for performance related prizes in 2014 but seeing as I currently have no idea whether I will be able to function near to 100% in the next few months, I thought what the hell!

I have spannered my left knee and to cut a long story short, the x-ray was clear and it is still swelled and not functioning 3 weeks later. The MRI I got a referral for today won't be until 25th Feb (the week after fish heads stag do in Font).

I had a look at going private today and got the eye watering quote of 3.2 grand. Not the kind of money I can fritter away on bionic knee operations!

Rather than becoming demotivated I have found being crocked a great motivator for getting down to the wall 4-5 times a week and doing intensive amounts of pull-ups, chin-ups, weighted hangs, 1 arm hangs, pressups..etc and I'm starting to see some gains already: I.e. Getting bigger if not necessarily better at climbing! The new goal by Font is to tip the scales at 73kg+ and not have the appearance of a skinny fingered, malnourished, hollow eyed aspirational crusher!

Watching World's strongest man always gets me more motivated than watching most climbing media and I have had a few sessions back down the gym too, obviously having to steer well clear of the deadlift and squat but getting back into the pressing exercises and the lat pull downs.

Sadly I am never going to be 6"8 and 180kg, so I'll have to stick with the climbing for now.

You can keep Sharma and Ondra and marvel at Brian Shaw crushing a 442.5kg deadlift:

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.

Accepting Weakness

I don't want to start off with a long rant/moan about how shit I am... so I'll begin with a roundup of the last 6 months.

I've had a fun time climbing this year and visited many new venues as well as the familiar old places both at home and abroad. There hasn't really been a great focus on achieving anything or breaking into a new level of personal performance and nearly all my time has been spent just trying to tick off lots of problems.

Trips Abroad

July and September were the most productive months where I went on a 2 week trip to Magic Wood with Ged, Mike and Shauna and a later 1 month trip with Laura to Chironico, Cresciano, Magic and Font. The first trip was a case of trying lots of things but not getting up anything until the last day of the trip where I managed to finish off Voigas and then did Right Hand of Darkness in about 15 minutes effort. The highlight of this trip was finishing off Piranja, a nemesis of mine that had been repelling attempts since 2007!

Left Hand of Darkness

The second trip with Laura was a more relaxed affair as the first week was spent in hot temps pottering about Chironico and Cresciano, chilling in the van near the river at Schattental and then on the more luxurious campsite complete with swimming pool :) I rediscovered my love of Ice Cream in Bellinzona and we then moved on to Magic Wood.

The weather in the first week was good but we struggled to get much done. It wasn't until week 2 where I decided to start trying a muerte on Left Hand of Darkness, a problem I kept getting to the end of and punting up. It wasn't until session 5 on it, that I discovered a subtle trick to the left foot toe scum which allowed me to get the go again move and complete the problem complete with damp topout in the rain. Sadly the weather stayed both wet and humid and we left for font.

We lucked out with the weather in font and managed to climb every day.. good for me but not so much for Laura after she split several tips on some of those glassy patina edges which I always avoid. It was good to check out a few new venues and get a load of new 7s done. I especially enjoyed the steep stuff (surprise!) with the highlights being Gargantoit assis, Satan m'Habite assis and Symbiose.

Gargantwat

I've got most of the problems above on my youtbue channel, so go have a look if it is o any interest! I apologise for the minimum level of editing that has gone into these efforts. I still quite enjoy watching things unedited without a soundtrack on and abhor the pointless driving to the crag/putting on shoes/slo-mo blowing chalk clouds scenes, that can be found in so much climbing media today!

Crouch Punting

Back in the UK

I have had maybe 3-4 trips to the cave all year, the last of which was way back in April and haven't really had the motivation to go back, which is strange seeing as my number 1 goal for the year was to put time in on Louis Armstrong.

I had a decent first half to the year of attempting shorter blocs in the Lakes in order to gain strength that may come in use on LA for later in the year but I never really followed it up. It was a combination of not being ready to dedicate the amount of time which would likely be required to bring success and being more keen to get out and get some new stuff done which was satisying up to a point but has left me feeling pretty weak and a million miles away from achieving the 8B pipe dream.

The straw(s) that broke the camels back was the last month of failing on multiple 7A's outside on the shitstone and getting beaten in a round at the hangar by someone I would consider to be very weak!

Winter Training



Albert Beckles best watch out!

Today I took it back to the good old days of 2007/8 and began super basic strength training of slow pull and lowers, 1 arm pullups, 1 arm lockoffs, pressups, leg raises..etc.

I'm going to mix it up with some heavy low rep weights and systems style steep board training and aim for 4 sessions a week to 1 outdoor day. If I can keep this up over 4-6 weeks, I'll hopefully start to see strength gains and move on to campussing and project specificity in training on undercuts with poor feet on the 45 and barrel cave.
Hopefully I can snap out of this lull and get on track to boulder hard in the UK instead of swanning off to Switzerland to get ticks!

The love of my life (on the left I think! ;))

A Final Thanks

To Laura for being the most patient girlfriend in the world. I know I'm hard work most of the time with my obsessive climbing habits and I will aim to be less selfish in future! Sorry for being a pleb xx

Swizzy, again!

It is but a mere week until the bags are packed and I sack off these disappointing shores for pastures green and sunny. Last years trip to magic wood with Sam and Laura was a great laugh and it was good to make new friends, meeting up with operation beastmaker and andy and watching people push hard to break new grade boundaries. I haven't really got in a great amount of outdoor volume leading up to this latest trip but managed a few decent ticks just before the weather went totally west. South Lakes hits I made a few short trips to the south lakes with Laura, youngy and hoppo, meeting up with Paul craven a few times. With the superb craven beta machine I rattled off a lot of the class 7c's such as turbulence, paroxysm, Ronald Raygun, griddle groove and finished off with a great session getting backhand roof and the flying finish variant done one after another. Jay's birthday A few of us from the hangar had a lovely 2 day trip up to the lakes where we stopped off at a damp and humid kentmere to be eaten alive and for me to do a bit of bodywork alteration on white beauty courtesy of a poorly placed wall! After getting chased off by midges and horrible yellow flies, we fled over the very entertaining hard knott pass and past eskdale to st bees south. We did some class highballs and techy slabs and followed it up with a trip to st bees north. I finally laid clash of the titans to rest in a couple of goes using a ridiculously high foothold to pull on. I then ran over to dark side of the moon and got it done just before it became engulfed by the sea. I was stumped by the finish on captain pugwash but after viewing the vid of ned, realised my right foot was in the wrong place when I had the left heel on over my arm. One to go back for. I then had a go on kiss kiss bang bang and managed to nearly pop a tendon! This took a week of rest and some careful rehab sessions to feel ok. The indoor grind I've been purely indoor climbing for the last 2 weeks and hope to get out this coming weekend to get some sort of feel for moving on rock before we head over to Switzerland. It's going to be a hard task keeping up with shauna and mike psyche if he pulls his finger out and starts to achieve numbers worthy of those fingers!

Trips Up North

Over the last few weeks I've been fortunate enough to get weekends free of work and made the most of it with 2 trips up North.

Shelterstone & Bowderstone

I went to the Bowderstone a few months earlier to try and climb XXXX on the back of this amazing supersized pebble but came away empty handed not quite managing to hold the final dynamic leap to the lip. With batteries recharged, a dry forecast and plenty of motivation to start getting things done on the ever evolving goals for 2012 list, we sped up North stopping off at Trowbarrow to break up the journey and for Laura to try Shallow Grave.

Needless to say, this slightly leaning wall of crimps proved to be within her skillset with a brief warmup, a few false starts, moans and then an impressively static lock to the high finishing jug!

Upon reaching the Shelterstone we met Tom 'the nicest man in climbing' Sugden and keen to do something new, he pointed me at Vitruvian Man RH. Instead of my desperate face-on, no toe hook method, I gave the toehook a shot and the move went down first go! Surprised... I kind of forgot what I was doing and fell off. Attempt 2 saw it go down for a nice bonus tick.

I had watched a couple of videos of Iron Man and realised my old beta was whack. I got into the starting holds of Vitruvian first attempt but managed to punter the footswap to get the toe hook in and fell here twice before calling a stop to it to save some gas.

This early halt to action seemed to help the next day as I warmed up repeating a few things on the ladder face feeling very fresh, whilst Laura ran between Picnic, Statstick and the Crack Superdirect not being sure which she was closest to doing.

I warmed up on the moves on XXXX and then dropped the lip twice on redpoint due to messing about with my feet and hence losing the flow I needed to set up and hit the jump with more power and efficiency.

I had a good rest and then pulled on as a group of tourists brandishing cameras and no doubt armed with 'witty' 1 liners closed in from the side about to walk right under me, Laura gave them a death glance of which I was totally unawares as I was already completely absorbed in the amazing reachy sequence. This time everything just seemed to stick and needed little readjustment. I caught the lip a bit lower than I had been hoping for but a trademark yelp seemed to both help stay in contact and squeeze the core into action. I went into autopilot again, rotating to get the toe hooks on and bounce the hand on to what is a massive hold and effectively the problem in the bag! I took my time topping out making sure not to be a total punter and had finally done something worth writing about this year!

Northumberland

I went up a couple of weekends ago with Mark and Helen and despite mixed weather we had a great few days ticking through lots of volume and exploring some new venues.

The trip highlight was definitely climbing A Northern Soul at Hepburn. It really is a king line by UK standards and would not be out of place in Cuvier Rempart. The rock is immaculate, the line both aesthetic and obvious, with the crux at the top and a nice flat landing far below!

I didn't manage or attempt anything hard all trip but it was nice to be out getting a lot of mileage in and a few fun problems at the same time such as Thundering Apoplexy at Back Bowden and The Flying Scotsman at Kyloe In.

Sorry for a lack of photos, there are a couple on Youngy's blog I think. I can however, promise a bit of footage covering both trips as well as some South Lakes action which will all be bunged on to an early summer puntering video in the near future.

Getting Specific

Recent Trips
I planned to go back to the Bowderstone to get XXXX done about 2 weeks ago and instead wound up with man flu for about 8 days, having to get cover in work for the majority of that time.

Fri 13th
After a couple of getting back into the swing of things sessions down at the Hangar I visited the cave with Hoppo. I had gone pretty far backwards on Pilgrim from getting to near the end of R.A. from not even getting into it. This was a combination of shit skin and weakness but mainly the latter. I turned my attention to Louis Armstrong and immediately started to enjoy myself having to try hard on every move instead of failing due to the pump. I can't remember the last time I tried really really hard on an individual move... it has been too long! The highlight of the day was not getting a new problem done but almost sticking the crux slap on LA, having hit the lip and kept my feet on for maybe 0.5 seconds. This was minute progress but progress all the same.

Sun 15th
A few days later and I found myself in the pass with Laura, Millso and Hoppo. We had just been to the Braichmelyn boulder and climbed a few horrendously painful problems which resulted in a split left index. Realising Diesel Power was in the best condition I had ever seen and with the persuasive psyche of Mr T Mills... the opportunity was too good to pass up to see if I could get anywhere on it.

With fresh beta to try, I finally linked the first couple of moves together and worked out a sequence for the end but I just couldn't work out the go-again right hand move at all. I could hit the hold but instantly collapse on to the mats with a throbbingly painful left index finger bearing down with all my might on that horrible flat crimp. I tried many foot placements but they all felt pretty off balance and I never once held the move.

I could easily blame poor skin/fatigue and climbing on tape but I think after this session and the cave one a couple of days earlier, I am lacking in several areas.

I need more body tension on steep ground, a stronger core/back/fingers/arms. Pretty much everything! I haven't trained properly in a very long time, spending time flitting between short problems below my limit both indoors and out and infrequently redpointing long power endurance lines with no really hard moves.

Mon 16th
Today I decided to try something different and went the gym with Hoppo. We worked on sets of bicep curls till failure - aimed at improving on undercuts for LA. We later moved on to deadlifts aimed at improving body strength for both LA and DP. I'm going to make an effort to try and train these weaknesses for the next few weeks and see if I can make any progress on the two aforementioned problems that have spanked me so hard.

Fookin roastin Lerd!

It has been quite a rare treat having an entirely rain free week and weekend and I was lucky to be able to get out on rock for 3 of those days.

Local Puntering

I popped out early in the week to meet up with some lads from the Hangar and whilst waiting for them to turn up I quickly climbed all the up lines on the Bluebell Wall bar Faint lightning crack which took a few tries cleaning as I went! I didn't bother with the pumpy looking sandbag traverse of the whole wall at British 6a(chin).

Moving across to Granny's rock, things were a bit more urban, having to scour the floor inch by inch to discover the source of the ghastly odours that were assaulting my nose! Tip toeing past the multitude of dog shit brought me to the base of the wall where I carefully laid a pad underneath the classic 1 move 7C of 'V Poor'. The pull on holds are probably the worst combination of holds I have ever managed to pull on to and progress was measured in milliseconds of time hung as opposed to inches gained. I eventually had 1 decent effort as I started to scum my left foot up and slap a couple inches below the break jug. My skin was trashed, so I went over to have a look at the Haston Dyno but after getting a couple of moves in my hands were firing off big holds. The wall was still very damp in comparison to the rest of the Breck, so I made my excuses and bailed to work a bit late!

Weekend of Sun

Me and Laura had a lazy Saturday morning and headed up the Lakes a bit late to avoid the queues of northbound traffic.

We went to Langdale where we both ticked a nice crimpy v7 traverse on the lower block. We then moved around the corner and I managed to flash the burly slap to lip and mantle problem. I was and still am utterly confused by the Triple Dyno. I jumped off the low crimp rail to the ledge and thought yeah stout V2. Laura did this also. I then had about 5-6 attempts jumping from the same low crimp rail to the distant nose which is supposed to by v5?! I've done many easier v8+ dyno's so don't really get it as jumping to the top of the wall from the same start would be more v13 than v8! Confused, we moved back to the top boulder and Laura flashed the crack, the overhang, the sloping arete and eventually got the pocket problem with a bit more of an effort. A good little ticklist!

I did the sitter to the overhang in a couple of goes using a burly right shoulder and walk feet high method. It doesn't say on the topos but I assumed the sidepull in the crack to the right was out near the start? I tried Stefan Grossman but it was truly pointless in such direct sun and heat. I couldn't get near to getting my let foot on to the far hold past the wall but could do the sitter moves into the holds. Most frustrating!

We had a good meal in Ambleside with a few glasses of red and stayed over in a layby near to the Bowderstone.

Needless to say it was pretty fucking roasting at the Bowderstone in the sun. We warmed up on the Ramp and then the sloping lip just around the corner. I continued the warmup with Crack Direct and Superdirect/Power Pinch/Picnic Sarcastic which all went down ok with a few gurns and worryingly greasy pulls.

Laura didn't really have a project in mind so just attempted a few of the things above making ok progress on Crack Superdirect but struggling to hold on in the sun.

I put forward the idea to bail to the South Lakes and do easy shit but with a pep talk off Ms Hudson, I managed to find motivation to try XXXX.

The moves felt desperate on the warmup goes until I realised I was holding the left hand wrong and it started to click into place. To cut it short I failed but made progress from last time as I had more than enough reach on 1 go only to catch my left knee in the roof and get knocked off course! A go later and my fingertips were actually on the hold but my right hand ripped out the sharp roof jug. I ran out of steam and skin and had to call it quits.

The day was not over however as we popped into the S Lakes to check out Hutton Crag thanks to Grimer's inspiring photo of someone on Cyclops in Boulder Britain.

It was a lovely little venue and we ticked off pretty much everything in the low roofs to the far right and finished off with me sketching up Cyclops and then after a bit of a fight The Scoop. It was so nice and peaceful soloing easy stuff in the sun after the early afternoon of brutal pulling in the heat!

Not to be deterred, I am determined to get back and finish of XXXX asap as it feels so close and just requires a few more stars to align such as colder temps and non ruined skin from climbing on rough granite the day before :)

Here is a gallery of failure...

Font & Later wanderings

I came back from font about 1 week ago and it was a great trip with just me and Laura representing the scouse contingent in the wonderful forest of bleau.

FONT

I went without a ticklist for the first time in a long time and it panned out rather nicely visiting some new areas as well as places I wouldn't have bothered with otherwise.

The trip highlights included a couple of days at J.A. Martin ticking off some classic 6's and 7's such as l'Etrave, Oeil de cymbale and Vandale and a long day early in the trip where we met up with Steve, Roger and Pete at Rocher Fin, crushed a load of good 7's and then went to Potala to carry on the spree with a last go ascent of Etrange Etrave, a burly little roof into a wild slap and nice techy finish.

Laura struggled on some of the reachy and steep 7's but made short work of Science Friction and la Nescafe when we did another double venue day (which was meant to be a day of rest but I got drawn in to trying Noir Desir and Big Golden with a bit of progress on the former but no send due to weakness/thin skin/sweaty rock).

The penultimate day was quite successful as I banged out a load of volume at Manoury with a fast ascent of Rababoum and a flash of Oasis and a nice high grease off, off of Irreversible. I went and tried Angle Parfait and got shut down hard. Psyche was a bit lacking with the rude Frenchman trying it being less than welcoming. I returned to Manoury and got up a few more quality 7's including the brilliant Movement Activated. Our time in the small 2 person chalet/upmarket shed had come to an end but Roo let us stay over at the House for a night which was really kind of him and certainly more comfortable than a cold night in white beauty.

The last day of the trip was spent at a surprisingly damp Franchard Cuisiniere (as it hadn't rained for 2 days). We found the warmups a bit taxing but I soon snapped awake with a satisfying flash of le Magnifique. We moved down the hill and got stuck into the techy slab arete of Retrofriction. I recalled Jennings getting up it a few years ago and I managed it 2nd try using a lanky flexible persons method. Laura made good progress trying several methods before getting slightly irate and we wandered back over the hill so I could have a go of Pensees Caches. With the rare experience of having no beta I had several goes with whack sequences involving non existent holds and poor foothold spotting. I eventually twigged to jump my right foot up high and into the pocket and it went down that go! Roo then appeared and told me what I had just taken 20 minutes to work out :(

We all walked down and past the classic pathside arete of tranche de l'art. I managed to fall off like a true footwork punter then snaked up it 2nd try. Laura managed to get to the good holds, rock over her foot and then amazingly fall off the 3+ top out! It was a bit devastating to watch but can be put down to sheer fatigue/lack of basic brain function! ;)

I walked past Beatlejuce and found some scandinavians had already padded it out. I offered an additional pad and recalled trying the crux about 4+ years ago with Millso. Several years of climbing in the crypt and Parisellas had finally paid off and I felt overly strong as I cruised along for the amnesia retro flash ;)

UK

After getting back from font I just pottered indoors last week getting a bit of crypt time in before popping to the Orme with Laura and Hoppo yesterday.

We warmed up in a ridiculously busy cave and me and Laura felt terrible on Pilgrim and RWT-Bust Lip respectively, so we moved next door to a peaceful Shit Infinity. I decided to finally pull my finger out and try Bellpig for more than 10 minutes and after dropping the end once, I fought my way with wet hands all the way to glory and the end of a 5 year battle! laura floated elegantly up both The Argument and Pillar Finish but somehow failed to do the v3 traverse.

Hoppo came running around from next door, covered in mud (as he had just taken a show stopping slide across the wet grass) to announce he had crushed Broken Heart, a fine effort!

Moving back around the corner and it was still heaving, so we sacked it off and went up the hill to Breck Road. I had done the problems on the right a few years ago with Mills and Huthwaite but hadn't tried the trickier lines to the left.

We rewarmed up going from right to left and it was nice to flash Texas Karaoke and The Breck Road. The first go on Swing of Fire went as expected flying on to the pads but I switched hand positions for attempt 2 and with a bit of a scream held it and campussed up left to what I assumed was a jug only to get it badly... and unable to match, I dropped off. Attempt 3 felt a lot easier to hold and this time I campussed up to the rh crimp, got my toe on and got the good bit of the finishing hold before a bomber heel allowed the match. A nice way to finish the day.

I later presented Hoppo with his no1 chest trophy for achievement earlier in the day before we bailed back to Liverpool, tired and in need of a decent sleep after 4 days on!

Renewed Psyche

It has been a wet old time since I returned from Australia but thanks to the recent visit of a man from Italy chiselled from pure 100% psyche, I have managed to get back to the cave and recommenced battle on several fronts.

Monday 20th Feb

I decided to test the waters after not much recent climbing and managed to surprise myself by firing off laps of Rockatrocity, lou Ferrino (with wet holds) and also the starts of Pilgrim into RA and In Hell into RA. It seems taking time out to rest can help rather than hinder and strength seems to return rather rapidly.

I felt a bit tired on Pilgrim so didn't go for any serious attempts and opted for just pulling on to moves trying to remember stuff.

Luckily for me, local strongman Nodder has rediscovered his cave mojo and was on hand to give me some amazing new beta for Halfway House and I can now get into the start of Trigger Cut a lot more consistently. Coupled with the revelation that is the 5.10 stealth kneebar pad, Halfway House has gone back on to the agenda for this year!

Wednesday 22nd Feb

I returned on a day of utterly shocking conditions with the Italian Stallion on board and we found the Cave to be a gopping mess. I couldn't recall attempting to climb in worse conditions but after a lot of towelling and chalking, we managed to salvage rockatrocity and commenced lap training! Lore crushed the wobbly block moves and linked to the last move on R.A. only to fire off the finish slot locking to the wrong place and missing it. I attempted Pilgrim on condensed slopers and realised it would be a fruitless task today. I turned my attention to R.A. and just did laps on it until I could no longer pull on. It was quite satisfying to be able to pull on pumped and still climb R.A. which bodes well for Pilgrim when good conditions return.

We had a great meal later that evening with Tom, Hayley and Laura back in Liverpool and a pint in the Phil to finish off a productive day.

Sat 25th Feb

The weather was pretty glorious outside but instead of making the most of decent grit conditions, I had a lie in and went to the last round of the AWCC Stoke Winter league with Youngy and Hoppo. I had managed to scrape a victory in round 1 after a heavy cave session so felt confident of taking home the top prize after 2 rest days.

It started off well with me and Hoppo getting round rapidly whilst it was quiet and flashing the first 16 or so problems. I then managed to grease off a couple of not so hard ones and started to fret, so left them alone and went upstairs to the steeper stuff. Back on more familiar terrain, I flashed 6 of the 7 up there. On more of a roll, I finished off everything downstairs, cursing my overly sweaty skin which caused so many mistakes earlier on.

When the dust had settled I had taken 2nd place on the day but crucially finished 1st overall ahead of the Stockport lads and got my hands on a nice 100 quid voucher to spend in my own shop courtesy of Mammut! :) Hoppo did well and came 2nd in the U18's from only 1 round!

We had a few burgers and beers/wines to celebrate then headed back late.

Since Saturday I have just been in the shop every day with a couple of pre-work sessions at the wall to keep my fingers ticking over before font on Saturday. I'm hoping it's as nice there as it is in Liverpool today with a cool breeze and the sun beaming down. I've got no real goals in mind for the trip other than checking out some new areas and making sure Laura has a good time too after her week of exam stress!