Good times

Saturday 2nd

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.

Looking back and then ahead

I'll firstly recap what's been going on this week in the murky world of Merseyside climbing....

Sat 25th Apr

A strong car carrying such luminaries as McShane, Farley and to a lesser extent myself, headed off to the sunny S Lakes. As tempting as it was to get dropped off at Trowbarrow, I was keen to check out what Warton Pinnacle had to offer (apart from the epic walk-in).

Upon arriving we were pleased to see dry rock and set to work warming up on these supposed V1 highballs that all felt around HVS 6b! I thoroughly enjoyed shaking like a shitting dog up nearly all of these minor classics much to the mirth of Benedict!

Once the messing was over with, I quickly got to work crushing the kneebar hanging crack thing that is the finish for both Poison and E-Fix. Deciding I would likely deck on an attempted reversal, I opted to shake my way to the top utilising some old skool jamming technique.

Matty D rocked up and joined in the farcical sandbagging and once we felt ready to turn on the power I managed to drag myself up Debaser by the skin of my teeth via a couple of cut loose dynos where I didn't quite catch the holds but held on grimly to avoid a trip to Lancaster A&E.
I expected Matt to follow me up but then I remembered static crimping beasts don't jump and we joined O on Poison.

After about an hour of arsing around we had all fallen off towards the finish and Owen with the kneebar going in, devestating! The conditions were a bit on the tropical side of humid with frequent rain showers and then dead heat to follow... causing my complexion to change from red faced to yellow to a disturbing green before I gave up and just feasted on the mat.

Sun 26th

After a decent night of sleep, I was feeling much better and after a brief trip into town to purchase a thoroughly strong t-shirt, me and Si went to the majestic Pex Hill with Dave. It was great to be back on Pisa Wall just standing on ledges and bearing down on wonderful crimps and 3 finger stacks :)

The warming up was brief and me and dave got the mats spread out underneath Monoblock. The flash attempt was a surprise as I got stood up in the break using the anti-beta but progress was then severly halted using this methodology. After Dave managed to piece things together in his head we realised it was right foot up and not left :P

With this knowledge I got stood up every time and then matched on the high holds. A further go and I had managed to get stood up on a nubbin roughly 1ft above the break and pulled down hard to see how much height I had. I was locked in on straight legs but the pocket/slot seemed far away.. I had a glance down and realised a missed dyno would result in decking out so duly bailed. With the pads adjusted, it wasn't long before I made it back to the same move and this time a rockover slap resulted in a 2 inch miss and a decent bit of airtime.

Attempts were being hindered somewhat by rapscalions throwing stones across the quarry and walking across the top on some sort of rotational shift and combined with more rain showers we sacked it off as it went dark, opting for a swift pint at the Unicorn Inn!

I couldn't believe that I had managed to get stood up, let alone slapping at the pocket as it is not exactly a style of climbing I am well versed in, having trained or climbed primarily in the cave and indoor walls. It is a massive goal and a local testpiece with a bit of history and would be a joy to climb to complete the big 3 on Lady Jane Wall.

Tues 28th

The weather all day was truly horrific but unperturbed, we made the journey to Pantymwyn and lo and behold it was bone dry with good temps! Amazing.

The warmup felt great and I quickly dispatched Be Ruthless first attempt of the session. The sitter took a couple more attempts after dropping the last move twice but once I had it, there was more of a sense of completion. This seemed to get Owen and Chessie Si a bit more psyched and they both crushed the standup within 15 mins of one another.

Andy made what was definitely the most on-off ascent of a problem ever as he cut loose and swung about on Firestarter about 5 times grabbing non holds, compressing nothingness and grasping the top with a bit of a scream and a lot of shaking. Good effort beast!

I briefly tried the moves on the Yellow Finish to Sparks and couldn't really work it out so turned attention to Thug Mentality. After figuring out the finish I pulled on for a redpoint and managed to get through to the 2nd to last move before pumping out and failure. Owen pointed out a better heel placement and after a 10 min rest I shook my way across to get it on the next try giving myself a bit of a calf strain in the process from pulling on that final jug.

We had a small celebratory meal in the Loggerheads pub afterwards and I must say the Sea Bass was divine.

Looking ahead

I posted a list of problems last November that were my wishlist to get done at some stage in 2009/10 and with the recent spate of form and decent weather I have made great headway:

1. Jerry's Roof (The pass) yyfy
2. Lou Ferrino (cave) yyfy
3. Trigger Cut (cave) yyfy
4. Jess's Roof (Almscliff)
5. Fallen Idol (roche)
6. Lizard King (The pass) yyfy
7. Be Ruthless (pantymwyn) yyfy
8. Sparks (pantymwyn) yyfy
9. Hurricane (curbar)
10. Pit of Hell (cave)

I would have been made up to get half of them done so to get 6 before the end of April has been great on a personal level. It has really helped climbing with people I look up to as inspirations and the Merseyside scene is pretty damn good at the moment with a lot of mutual support and encouragement going on to get things done. I'd like to say thanks to O and Si for the massive amount of lifts & psyche and the free wine & accomodation respectively! ;)

Looking back at this list, I have definitely changed my goals for 09 to be a bit more ambitious but hopefully still attainable. I'll now try and focus on getting:

1. Monoblock (Pex Hill)
2. Mr Fantastic (Jerry's Roof)
3. Halfway House (Cave)
4. Iron Man (Trowbarrow)
5. Texas Hold em (trowbarrow)

I feel fairly confident apart from number 5 which is gradually turning into a lifetime goal! :o

p.s. Will try and pad this out with a few photos when Si or Andy gets them online!

And the beat goes on

Following on from the previous week of devestational form, the sun was beaming yet again and all was well in the South Lakes...

S Lakes Sat 11th

On Saturday 11th a large posse descended upon G land.

It started off with me and Owen hooking up with Kev at the classy services on the M6 northbound (with an M&S and decent espresso!). We rocked up to Woodwell and happened upon a broken Dolph Lundgren lying spreadeagled across his mat tenderly holding what was left of his shoulders after a morning beating himself up on a fairly wet Kaizen. Mine and Kev's infectious enthusiasm to campus about on crimps led to a fairly inadequate warmup but I was psyched for the Art of Self Destruction so quickly set up camp underneath and started drying.

The grips were wet underneath but I was certainly prepared after raiding the airing cupboard at home and making off with a bag of towels. The vagrant Mills and his westie partner, sir Donnelly arrived eventually and this added psyche and artistic bent must have sparked some creative thoughts... After a couple of unsuccessful slaps at the top jug, I decided to try a mix of both styles, by taking the left toe-hook out and stepping the left foot up on to the flat edge whilst keeping the right foot on the back ledge. I sagged slightly then just pressed hard through the left foot while pulling into a wonderful arc like movement and floated seamlessly into the awaiting jug, perfect! It didn't feel too hard and I have no idea what the grade is... I'm not overly bothered as it is a great move and a S Lakes G classic!

The scene grew stronger as Andi and Nicki turned up and we all decided to move camp to Fairy Steps. Another car carrying Jamie and Cath joined on to the procession exiting the carpark and our 10 strong posse moved on. I wasn't too fussed about climbing much after ticking a longterm goal and was happy to eat, heckle, then eat some more. Matt continued his comeback by getting Aeon in the bag whislt Dolph disappeared up the hill to crush the sitter to Axiom in the midday sun. Bestia.

As people tired, we decided to change the scene again by moving over to Trowbarrow, where Tom and I got reaquainted with the puzzle that is Texas Hold 'em. It is a truly wonderful set of unobvious moves that requires power, brutality, uspidedown shenanigans, flexibility and conditions... most of which were lacking. I managed to ascend the V4 topout in isolation for the first time ever and thought this could well be the day after 5 fruitless sessions! It was not to be as I had a double grease off, resulting in a rather heavy horizontal landing and I had to tap out. This seemed to prove off-putting to Mills, and we joined the others around the block. Owen and Kev were looking at Vitruvian Man whilst Tom, Jamie and Andi played on Pit Problem. Being the twat I am, I booted up and retro flashed both of them, lapping up the boos and cat calls from the crowd! ;)

I failed to make any headway on Iron Man as I was totally spent.

S Lakes Mon 13th

To make the most of the wonderful Easter weekend a return to the S Lakes was in order. Whilst Owen sat under Aeon, Si, Tom and myself went to find some esoteric gems. We came across a couple of classic G sandbags. The V1 shut down the whole team until I unleashed overpower upon it and climbed it the v6 way. Feeling pathetic, we moved on a little further and foundThe Trick thanks to bushman Si's navigational prowess (I feel a leading role on 'I'm a gritstone punter, get me out of here!' could be on the cards). I declared the Trick to look piss in my usual overconfident lack of wisdom and failed to flash it. I decided to dispense with any form of trickery and just did a satisfying dyno to the jug which worked. The muddy topout proved tricksome but it was in the satch so to speak. I added the sitter in a couple of goes which is of truly questionable quality. Si did a controversial righthand version using jugs and Tom got some time in on the rock, obviously not ascending anything but looking strong in the process!

We got back over in time for us to shout O along an ascent of Aeon which is rapidly becoming a Merseyside posse warmup problem.

Everyone disappeared whilst me and Millso stayed behind for him to try Aeon. After Mike telling me I should flash the Aeon Prow, I brushed the holds, had a feel, then pulled on slapping out to the poor pinch on the apex and then building my feet up, I gave it all I had and unexpectedly had my fingers over the top only to fail to hold on. There went the flash and I could feel a great deal of pain in the right fingers. The amount of boning required on the sharp sidepull/crimp is horrifying. I made a decision to make sure I got it done and sacrificed my chances on Iron Man. I got it in about 5 attempts but split a tip quite deep in the process.


Sat 18th

Me and Matt went back yet again to Fairy Steps and met up with Paul Craven who was really nice to climb with. We gave him the numbers on things and watched him crush. Matt got close on the Aeon Reverse and I finally managed to get Aeon Crack at stiff V4! Remind me never to go to Yosemite to attempt anything other than bouldering. We had a look at Axiom and Walk Away in the ridiculous heat and then moved on to Trowbarrow.

I quickly worked out my definite sequence to Iron Man and climbed into the start of Vitruvian only to keep greasing off both holds as it was baking hot. Deciding to come away with at least 1 new problem for the day, I worked out a brilliant right heel hook requiring flexible hips to make the last move of Ned's problem static to the lip with the left hand and eliminating the swing :) With this in the bag, we bailed back to the Pool!


Tues 21st - Return to the Mwyn!

I was all psyched up for Trowbarrow yesterday only for owen to change the destination to the Gorge so we could meet up with Chessie Si. Walking down there brought back fond memories of climbing Under the Bridge last year. Once we were down by the entrance, we could see that it was in awesome condition and this triggered psyche mode.

We warmed up with some bad sequences on Firestarter to dismay Paul from the wall.. who escaped to do routes with Lee Proctor around the corner and me and O got down to business time.

Owen achieved first with a rapid 2nd ascent of Si's problem the Faith Healer. I managed to drop the last move on Sparks 3 times before getting angry, going topless and crushing it to pieces. Joyous! Problem 1 was in the bag and I went over to Be Ruthless to unleash the fury. I failed many times and eventually climbed the last section using 3 methods all of which I couldn't actually do when climbed into from the start. The frustration was palpable and then Owen had a bit of a breakthrough making the last move more accessible. With a decent rest and renewed vigour, I climbed all the way into this move, made it and then had a mind blank, dropped off in pain and called it quits. It will get done next session without any trouble at all and the sitter likewise.

It was great to go back to the Gorge and get back on these problems after both of us having improved quite significantly since last year. We may be back this weekend to finish off Be Ruthless and I can try and flash Faith Healer to wind up Si! :)

Rich vein of Form/Luck

Since getting Trigger Cut in the bag I have been managing to maintain what for me is good form. The trips have been plentiful and I feel that doing as Mike and Tony said (just get out climbing and forget training), has been the best bit of advice I have ever had (bar the Guru's training programme ;))

S Lakes
In the South Lakes I managed to tick off Vitruvian Man which I really had my heart set on and on a beautiful sunny day out with Matt we also met my climbing hero Johnny G and got Aeon in a session. I got fairly close in a few goes on Art of Self Destruction before it went too dark to see but know I can get this quickly if I get another chance this year.

Wales trip
A little more recently, I took advantage of the Easter break and went camping in Nant Peris for a few days, which in fact turned out to be one night camping, then 3 nights of relative luxury staying in the Vagabonds club hut and round Jamie's in Bangor.
My goal was to climb Jerry's Roof having never really bothered with it before, due to it looking like an epic endurance route. I felt terrible on day 1 so pottered around the Barrel and meadow boulders with Jamie and had a fairly good time. The next day was a long day of working out the best sequence but I felt really run down and decided to make Saturday an easy day of sleeping and reading...

The Vags had other plans and I was rudely awoken early doors and taken to Tremadog to crush some Severes. We did one severe and then they tried to sandbag me a bit on some E1 called Barbarian. It was great fun and I think I'll maybe get out and do a few more soon as it is quite relaxing.
We had a great communal meal in the evening and I managed to get 3rds before the pans were empty. Result. There was also a really nice slideshow afterwards with some ice and ropes, guns and polar bears...etc

I awoke Sunday feeling amazing and went up to the Cromlechs with J to warm up briefly before heading straight to Jerry's. I pulled on the start of the tourist tick feeling light and just seemingly floated across doing the crux static and then finishing off with relative ease. I was kind of surprised but a bit underwhelmed as it is not the original line. I had a bit of lunch and pulled on to the arete and just spanned straight across skipping the slopey shelf, the heel-toe cammed in and I could come straight across, up into the crux only to fall off from not resting properly.. Punter!
A decent rest later and I was back at the crux swinging about but held on just enough to get my feet back in contact. The slap to the arete felt sketchy but I fought my way to the finishing jugs and rocked out over the top after a bit of indecision. What a great line!

I had a trip to the Mill with Jamie the next day and felt terrible, so just did some core work and a bit of sloper deadhanging. With the weather crapping out I went back to the 'Pool a bit early and had a welcome rest day on Tuesday.

Return to Jerry's
I headed back the pass yesterday with Andi E, Sam D, Nicki and Stu in a packed car and we wasted an hour or so in Llanberis with Stu and Andi trying on several pair of shoes they had no intentions of purchasing, so I went off to use the toilet and buy some cakes and we eventually made it up into the pass for around 2 maybe.

We warmed up at the roadside face and after showing Sam the Sting we decided to see if we could pull off the deck on Arachnaphobia. We both managed to pull on and slap at a pinch but progress was halted here. V8 chinny reckon.

We were both psyched to try Mr Fantastic, so we headed over only to find about 20 people in the queue trying to get a ticket for Jerry's :o Sam being the polite and patient person he is kinda took over the scene giving beta out and greasing it all up! ;)

I went straight in for the redpoint from the left arete and somehow found myself matched on the bus stop holds and with the heel-toe lock still in! I worked it out and had my feet on only for my right foot to pop off the dink before I could make the throw out to the edge. I was fairly pumped but had finally climbed through the crux after 2 sessions. It is really high up on my longterm wishlist and it would be amazing to climb it this year. I feel capable but need to hit it with fresh arms and skin with everything going smoothly to stand a chance. Kook pointed out a link to us to have a go on reversing the Mr Fantastic crux from Bus Stop into Jerry's then finishing up JR. It was perfect for me being both shouldery and reachy and with a bit of screaming I managed to get it in the bag in about 10 mins or so. It is a nice link and definitely felt harder than Bus Stop or Jerry's Roof so probably bottom end 7C+.

We finished off with a little trip over to Caseg Fraith and I spent a few minutes losing a lot of skin and getting nowhere on 'Repeat after Me'. Utterly deserperate it seemed. It has M Adams written all over it being similar to Speedway but probably easier.
We played on some highball slabs above the Fraith and Andi managed to shave a bit of his chin off sliding down from high up. Shortly afterwards, I bottomed out into the swamp missing the mats on my go. I was quite relieved it was boggy or I'd probably have my ankles in casts by now!
On the way back to Beris, Sam finished off the link I had done earlier and we went for pizza and a pint which is absolutely amazing and highly recommended. Saw a few familiar faces in there including a still psyched Johnny Dawes who I was giving some pointers to on the steep stuff earlier. He had left his thermarest and nalgene bottle at the roof and I was kinda gutted to have to hand them back over (the offer of a free meal for picking it up came a bit late as we had just eaten!).

Looking ahead
Easter weekend is looming and Kev is coming up from Wales to stay at Owen's so we are all looking forward to plenty of trips out over the next few days. I'm resting up in the chateau d'Ivoire with some vino and chocolate in preparation. I'm keen to get back on Art Of Self Destruction (weather permitting) and I was made up for Owen finally achieving the feat after 4 years of battling with shit weather and seepage to get it sent! :)

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

Portland trip and a return to the Orme

I've had a great last couple of weeks that began the weekend before last with me sitting at home with my hand in a bucket of ice on Thursday speaking to O about being unsure as to whether to go with him and Mike to Portland! After a brief chat I decided to go along for the craic and to maybe take some photos.

Friday 20th
The weather in Portland was fantastic when we drove down to the isle and after dropping the gear at the plush bunkhouse (a former masonic lodge that had power showers en suite in every room!) we headed the New Cuttings and Mike obviously dispatched Guy Fawkes in horrendous conditions. I was getting the full shutdown with the tweaky wrist injury trying to warm up on hard v5/6's but seemed to get on ok with Stomping with Bez direct start, apart from greasing all over the crimps when spanning out right to the rib. Mike was doing ok but fighting conditions on the woeful line of LH crimps on My Chemical Romance and decided to leave it till the next day. We realised after we packed up and crawled up the small hill/terrace that we couldn't see more than 30ft as we had been climbing in a heavy mist..nice

Saturday 21st
The next day dawned sunny and hot, tops off weather on the boulderfield was the action and what a pleasant surprise. I didn't even know there was a boulderfield when I agreed to go down (assuming it was just vertical wall climbing) and was relieved to get on some compression and non tweaky slopers! The problems are of the highest quality with many hidden gems dotted around. We were impressed by Lightning Strike and Liquid Sunshine in particular. There was so much to get on, everyone managed to tick over 20 problems and felt destroyed by the end. Mike obviously still had some gas left in the tank as he went up to the Crag and got MCR crushed in a few attempts! Machine.

Sunday 22nd
Sunday was a more slow paced day with a return to the boulderfield and an aching team finding the warmup hard going. I was chuffed to get the flash on Hope Slide, what a fantastic couple of moves and definitely worth the near bushwack to the Jungle boulder. After that we hit the Cavity Search Roof and after some vision on the shared start I quickly got the 3 main lines and we went over to tick the tank block. After that it was straight to find a hidden gem in Collo Della Terra, i offereed to go first instead of sharking the beta and did a dynamic right hand finish on the flash which was ok but maybe not the problem! After realising I had just dfone the V6 RH line, I got back on it and got the flash on the main event snatching out left to a series of rough but positive crimps and a lovely bit of Right heel action allows access to the big slopey jug up and right on the arete. What a problem to finish on :)
We finished the weekend with an amazing Cream Tea and a long drive back up North. I'll definitely be going back to get on the meatier problems when not hampered with injury.

Return to the Awful
On returning I felt pretty broken so had 3 days off and then a short session on Thursday to see how the hand was (pretty bad still!). By Friday night I was about to sack the Orme with Matt but decided to go and maybe try left wall traverse as I could probably handle that and have never got round to really trying it.

Saturday 28th
When we got there, the amazingly sticky feeling of the cave told me it would be too good an opportunity to waste and we ran up to Clutch and back, then up the hill above the cave and back down. A thorough theraband routine and warmup ensued for at least 20 minutes and I felt amazing.

Decided to have a warmup go on Lou Ferrino in the warmup shoes and without brushing anything and I suddenly found myself with my Left hand in the last pocket and right hand going over to the finish slot only to shake off sapped of energy and with a bit of a flash pump! Shit, should I have tried harder? Had I wasted the chance of the day! A couple more goes didn't go down so well as we tried to get a little video..etc but I can't seem to climb anything when I know it's being filmed so asked for nothing to be videod. Sam Hamer arrived and had a really good go using some west sequence that looked so unefficient and powerful that it got me psyched to try a bit harder and I flowed through the next try feeling about 125% stronger! The press out to the pocket just happened, my feet cut loose but got put straight back on and I sketched my way to the match and let out a little shout of sheer relief and joy.

It's been great to get Lou done without resorting to any real training other than getting out climbing a lot and resting loads! It shows that I can get up things when things conspire to go right like avoiding getting injured and the weather being ok. I can't wait to get back and start playing on Trigger Cut and get the main 3 things I wanted to do done in there :)

Roll on March!

Good Temps and Progress on one Front!

Sunday 1st Feb

Well it has been freezing cold the last 2 weeks. Me, O and Mike decided to make the most of good temps and a -10 windchill to get out in the pass and Ogwen recently, for a day of circuiting and cleaning up some old bugbears/nemesi'.

The day started off with a short hike down the road and a river crossing that saw Owen up to his ankles in freezing cold river water within 3 minutes of leaving the car... harsh but funny!

We warmed up on the dash block and made quick flashes of the supposed v6 dash traverse (maybe 4 at a push!), I was testing out some new 5.10 5X's and was most impressed with how comfortable they felt after only breaking them in at the wall a couple days beforehand. We warmed up further on Fear of a Slopey Planet and before sending it for the first time, O managed to jump off the block straight through some frozen turf and down into the mud to coat his Dragons in a nice layer of brown insulation! The man has consistency ;)

Over to an embarassing long term project of mine (on a par with Foam Party before it was recently vanquished), and Mike managed an impressive onsight of Boysen's Roof SS utilising his massive wingspan to reach a good RH hold from sitting. I had tried this sticking hands in crack only for about 3 sessions and had no success, as soon as I tried this other method I nearly got the retro flash but failed high up on easy ground with a foot pop. I put the Solutions on and got it next go.

We went over the road to Jerry's Wall and I finally managed the standup (got shut down when I came up here last year on a solo mission). I think the confidence of having a spotter and not being able to feel the sharpness of what I was crimping were big factors! The sitter was in the bag shortly after, before we became hypothermic (we had to keep rotating the person who stood on the pad to prevent it blowing away down the pass, with one person cowering behind the boulder to thaw out again!)

After a short trip into Beris for Owen to buy dry socks and some hot food, we made a short drive to Ogwen and up to Gallt Yr Ogof. I was keen for smackhead and quickly became dismayed at its difficulty at v8. Mike pointed out a quality dyno to the right (which is the standup to Smackhead RH). It took a while to work out what hand to go with and I eventually held on going lefthand to top of the block in a full cut loose... what an amazing move.

As me and Owen cowered out of the wind next to Smackhead, we heard an almighty scream as Mike celebrated topping out Sway On with no witnesses! ;) Owen was getting close to the dyno but soon had to leave as Hoobie had been vomiting from the sheer cold and had begun to dig himself a grave to crawl into and die in! I managed to do Smackhead in 2 halves twice but kept struggling to link the right foot step through into last move. I can't wait to go back and finish it off as it is a great set of moves.

Saturday 7th Feb

Back to my favourite venue on Earth and I was once again reaquainted with the current bane of my climbing existence in Lou Ferrino. Thankfully it was a better session than last time. First go and I was matched on the ramp pressing out to the first drilled pocket when my I stabbed high with my hand above and missed it! The next 2 attempts reached the same stage but were a bit sloppy with a couple cut loose moments and having to readjust on several holds. I was just happy to be feeling strong and locked into the problem again at last, as I could repeatedly link it in 2 overlaps. The cave soon got too busy for my liking and I hated the feeling of being watched by 20+ people waiting for me to fail and get out of their way!

Me and O escaped to the box and were soon joined by Ted who is a thoroughly nice guy and helped point out some problems to go at including Jack Daniels Connection which took me a fair few goes to work out how to hold the RH as you throw/lock to the shield hold. It did succumb to persistence and I was chuffed to have finally done a new problem at the pillbox... they only get harder from here on in! D:

Ted looked in great form crushing the sitter to Last Rites with complete ease and not long after he linked Jack Daniels into Aint no Party... a mighty fine spell of crimping!

Sunday 8th Feb

To cap off a prouctive weekend, I met up with Dave, Holger and Pete Chadwick at the Venue we are building in Liverpool. I posted a few photos a while back of the current board which was very small and obviously limited training wise.

Well... we finally got things moving again after Pete and Holger sorted out a load of wood to build some framework and the 4 of us got a whole new board put up by the afternoon. It is another thing of beauty, not quite as wide as the Dispensary board but the same in height and without a kickboard to utilise its full length and make the climbing start as soon as you pull on! :) I think it is roughly 12ft wide by 13ft high and somewhere between 45 and 50 degrees. All we need now is a ton of holds and bolts.

I'm off down there today to start crafting some wooden ones to save on the expenditure!