Scraping by and staying motivated

I've had a pretty uneventful last few weeks since we were at the Orme for Chezzie Si's birthday.

I am still trying to recover financially after returning from Italy and paying 2 months of overdue rent and bills..which has meant a lot of time spent at awful walls climbing centre slaving away for 3 weeks straight just to clear my negative bank balance and buy enough food to get back to something approaching a normal diet! (I had been living off beans and economy weetabix for a week, before pay day came).

I have resigned myself to not getting a summer holiday this year and am focussing my attention on saving up enough money to go to font again in October with the Liverpool crowd. To co-incide with this situation, the guru's training plan could not have been timed any better, so I began last Sunday with basic strength tests and Monday on the actual training. It is based on a 9 week cycle and largely indoors which will fit in well with my need to work a lot at the wall.

The highlights of the week were definitely my rest days sitting off with Stu (our new squatter) and eating steaks and cakes all day long to try and overload on calories and put a bit of fat back on after the awful week of near starvation that preceded this week! I also watched First ascent and thought it was brilliant (apart from Timmy O'Neill), getting me psyched to move over to Squamish or Yosemite for a few months to try some hard wall and crack climbs. I am most definitely green with envy of Esther at work going over to the States for a few weeks!

For now though I look forward to more sessions on the fingerboard and 45 board and will continue to stick religiously to the guru's plans. I am intrigued to see what it may do to my climbing by the end of it (and more importantly if I will be in crushing mode come font time).

A Minor Success

Last weekend I went to the Orme for Chester Si's birthday climbing trip.

On Saturday morning we travelled to Parisella's Cave and Rock Atrocity finally got crushed in 3 attempts. A celebratory meal of coffee and doughnuts on the pier shortly followed. It was truly immense! After that, we spent a chilled afternoon in Split Infinity and went to watch the Holland v Russia match in the Heights in Llanberis, it was full of blurts and scallies but at least the football was good!

Due to the horrific weather storms, we managed to sort out a bunkhouse in Nant Peris for £10 a night so we at least got a decent nights sleep and dreamt of dry weather in the mountains. When we awoke it was looking heavy again in the pass, with low grey cloud and very strong winds, so we sacked it again to the Orme and it was a beautiful thing, bathed in light with a nice breeze.

Split infinity got another visitation with Ben trying Organ Grinder and me and Si working Bell Pig (oh how frustrating catching the sidepull is..) before we ventured up to Norman's Wisdom to try out the problems up there. Ardvaark and Norman Direct were really good at 7A and 7A/+ but Snout (7B+/C) proved a bit trickier and I'll need to go back after not climbing 5 days on, to see if it feels any more amenable.

Back in the 'Pool

Well it's been a whirlwind tour of Italy over the last 2 weeks and although the weather was largely wet, it meant that me and Tom got to visit a lot of places including non-climbing related historical sites of interest and fantastic cuisine.

We spent a good few days in Florence hanging out with the 'Guru' Roberto, who gave us a great tour of the city as well as the climbing gym. Lorenzo's other friends Sabrina and Geovanni from Project O, took us out in the evenings for meals and drinks and we were both really grateful for them helping us to get out at night and see some nice spots around the city.

Upon leaving Florence, we travelled to Siena, the town in which Lore grew up in and spent a day wandering around getting lost and discovering all of the City bit by bit until hooking up with Lore and Valentina for another great meal in the evening. This was followed by a bizaare Irish folk music evening that was at an open air venue near to a University building (I think?). I loved Florence as a city but the calm feeling I got wandering around Siena was much more preferable and I think it's a beautiful place to visit. There is a strong medieval vibe to Siena thanks to the architecture and narrow streets.The Central square is visually fantastic, with an amusing Polish clown keeping the general public entertained, with some classic tricks on unknowning passers by!

After a couple of days in Siena, we went back to Follonica and had a small meal to prepare for the next day of crushing. The weather forecast was grim but the sun was shining brightly above as we set off in Lore's van of psyche to Mount Amiata. As we ascended up the slopes of the Mountain we soon realised it was going to be a complete washout yet again, so we drove over the mountain whilst Lore pointed out the many undeveloped boulders up in the woods (some looked stunning). We hooked up with a couple of Cheech and Chong lookalikes who were meant to be providing us with the key to an elitist hardcore training board hidden in Amiata but alas they were too mashed to remember where it was. Luckily, another guy 20 minutes drive away had one that worked and we released the pent up rage and psyche on these steep boards of ply.

A few hours later and we were thoroughly beasted, returning back to Bruno's restaurant and dining on fine seafood once again whilst he looked on admiringly at our ability to crush all of the food with ease! The last day was spent swimming and sunbathing near the pool and before we knew it we were on the train back to Pisa. The journey was not quite over as we realised there were no more trains to the Aeroporto, so we ventured into Pisa Central and happened upon a cabbie who relayed the bad news about the airport being closed until 5am. We bought some beers from the bar and headed off towards the airport on foot, not looking forward to a night of dossing in front of the Airport doors... but our luck was about to change! We bumped into a couple of Students fom Pisa and they said we could crash round theirs on the floor until 5ish but before we got any sleep, Martina and Petra gave us the tour of Pisa City and the notorious tower that is a lot more piccolo than I was expecting! The street art was really good, so I have posted many images on a facebook gallery, with just the 1 large picture on here. We managed about one hour of sleep before having to get up and head to the Airport and then it was followed by a stress free flight back to sunny Merseyside.

The trip has been fantastic and I am really grateful to Lore and Valentina for letting us stay so long in their several homes dotted around the West Coast of Italy! The climbing was great fun when we managed to get outside and the indoor sessions with Lore and the Guru were amazing for the psyche and future training plans. I'd like to thank Sabrina and Geovanni for the cool t-shirt and hospitality whilst we were in Florence and also the Austrian girls for saving us spending a night sleeping on the streets! Adopo.

Bouldering, bouldering, bouldering

Saturday - Amiatta

After the great meal we had a good our first taste of the bouldering. Lore took us to a very beautiful location called Amiatta, where the climbing is powerful and short with the sharpest rock I have ever pulled down on. After a tour of the routes (which looked amazing), we went down the hill and did a circuit of great warm up problems before heading back to the van and driving to the real action!

In the second location, we got some fantastic wall and arete climbs and I managed to get a possible new problem sent from a sit start via some very sharp holds and long reaches (maybe a little bit morpho ;)) and we had comedy scenes with Tom heel hooking his shoe off and me attempting to put it back on whilst he clung to the rock for the flash!

Down the hill, we all sent some hard problems on a hueco style roof before Lore took us to one of the best pieces of rock i have seen abroad, which contains 3 main lines a 7B+, 7c and his 8a roof problem which was beyond impressive and certainly very hard for the grade seeing as every move was nails! Lore was pulling down hard and was looking strong on his 8a+/b project line (the first of the Mohicans direct).

Sunday - Sasso

The next day, we were taken to an even more special place, Sassofortino which was totally serene, with scattered blocks hidden deep in the woods with the rock very similar to Magic Woods. After another warmup we went to the Lourdes roof and I was amazed at how pure the line was, utterly stunning to look at and the moves were fantastic. I managed to just about get up the easiest of the lines on the roof with a fight to top out and Lore also crushed Lourdes to the finish on the retro flash! Mightily impressive as his wrist was giving him quite a bit of pain. I was really psyched for Lourdes but wanted to go and check out Spigolo calibani that Keith had recommended to tom to go and try.

The line of Spigolo is beautiful and what was even better were the superb moves all the way to the top, it had everything, with heels, compression, crimping and jumping with an airy finish onto a damp slabby top! We worked the moves on it and quickly linked most of it but sadly the air was really humid and the rock greasy as anything I have encountered. I managed to do it in 2 overlapping halves but on the final attempt at linking I had to give in to bad skin and pain, with every finger on my left hand covered in tape to avoid going through more tips than the 2 I did on day 1. Giving up on this we spotted Tom on an even sharper problem to the right that also had a really nice line and great crimpy moves but thin skin and agony won the battle and we had to concede defeat.

In the evening, we went swimming in the outdoor pool and it was slightly cold. We did a few laps and I nearly died from the cardio! The meal afterwards was really nice with some pizza and local cheeses, ham and honey brought over by Lore and Valetina's friends. Good times!

Sleep, Surf, Seafood

We've been here 2 days and it has been fucking Ottimo! Sleeping in till midday and then living a life of decadence and relaxation.

After a hardcore power session on Lore's board of justice, the psyche is high for the trips to Amiata and/or sassofortino.

I've never known such hospitality and have enjoyed attempting to learn Italian along with Tom, with the help of Valentina, whilst Lore is at work busy reading the Bible (aka North Wales Bouldering!).

Today was a rest day, so we went to the beach and started to work on our sun-tans as well as hacky sack skills before Magic Wood. After a couple of cans we thougt we had best burn the extra calories off and hiked back to the Villa. Twenty minutes later Lore rocked up and we were travelling back to la Spiaggia, armed with sickeningly strong shorts and a board adorned in the colours of the best football team in Europe!

I had never surfed before and Tom had about 4 sessions of experience, so we did not hold high expectations. The sea was nice and not too aggressive, whilst being far from placid. After becoming acclimatised to the 'fucking freddo' temperature of the Sea we got fully stuck in, with both of us managing to stand for more than a second or so and catching some sort of wave (with some expert coaching from Lore the resident Guru!). My horrendous cardio system was fully overloaded and whilst getting stood up was not too bad, the art of not swallowing gallons of Sea water may take some time to master.

We finished off with a team photo adorned in garish Primark shorts and made haste to the best restaurant I have ever been to. Lore was pretty much related to everone we met and the service and food was simply amazing. Octopus in Humous, mussels and espresso mussels (miniature with a very strong taste). followed by a platter of every fish in the Mediterranean with 3 bottles of locally sourced wine. Just as we thought it was over, they bring in 3 incredible deserts and some imported vintage Scottish whisky! I think this meal would have cost about a months wages for me back in Britain and I think me and Tom both felt privileged to be so welcome here.

Tonight we will sleep well for sure.

Great Weekend away

Well I've just had one of the best weekends away in a while over in North Wales from Friday till Monday.

Friday

Me and Rog set off from the pool on Friday morning and popped down to Gogarth. I'd never experienced sea cliff climbing before or even used twin ropes, so it could have been a baptism of fire at Castel Helen, but mercifully the weather was great and the sea calm. We mutilated 2 VS routes Pel and Lighthouse direct with some interesting offline route finding by Rog and some tricky elimnate style climbing by myself, thinking certain holds couldn't possibly be in! Rog somehow managed to drop a set of my small wires into the nether and said he might have to hand his MIA back in for that show of ineptitude!
It was a great day out, and we rounded it off by popping into the pass to meet Christine, Rog and her went off to Carrag Wastad to do some route and I puntered about at the Cromlechs ticking off easy gaps in the problems list in the back.

Saturday

I managed to hitch a lift up to the pass from Nant peris campsite and met up with Ben and the Shire Horse at the Roadside. We did a good warmup circuit where I flashed a new V7 James Pond RH and then went over the road and did some brilliant easy highballs on Pont Y Gromlech including the Seam which was classic. Continuing on we went over and did NASA and then uphill to the Lizard King block, which looks stunning. I got the beta off Ben and tried to flash Emyr's Arete the V7 on the right and blew off the sharp left sidepull when going for a small positive edge, nasty! I chalked up and got it done next go, cool problem. Ben then did the scary and rarely clean line of Envy V6 about 80ft to the right.
Ben had to get off to soem party, so me and Si missioned down the hill over to Jerry's Roof and I decided to try Bus stop again as I was feeling quite good the last 2 sessions on it. It was well windy so Si stood on the edge of the pad and I pulled on, I stuck the first move perfectly and then just kinda flowed through the rest topping out with ease! My first font 7C and hopefully not the last! I almost feel ready to try some of Lorenzo's brutal problems in Italy in the next 2 weeks, but probably need to do a bit more training. It was nice that it felt like a path when sent which means I am hopefully capable of climbing harder this year, we will see!
I celebrated with a nice fry up at Pete's Eats and then got dropped off at Llyn Peris Lake by Si to check out Fish Skin Wall (one of the finest V7's in the pass). It took a phone call to Ben to get a location and a few minutes later I was stood beneath this fine looking wall full of edges and layaways. It took about 20 minutes to work out what I was doing and when it did go down it felt like the polar opposite of what I had done that day, technique, balance and footwork.

Sunday

The weather was looking grim but I headed back up to the boulders on the bus and went to Jerrys Roof again, managed to get Bus Stop again first try of the day then put my mat under Jerry's Roof. Sadly the wind ripped my pad from under the roof and sent it about 100ft down the road! I gave chase and went off to the roadside to seek shelter. James Pond roof was still dry underneath so I worked the sit start and got it in a few goes at about V8ish, worthwhile! Bored of this venue, I checked out Fear of a Slopey Planet down at Ettws and got it in a few tries once I corrected my appauling top out sequence. Tried Boysen's Roof Sitter and got thoroughly shut down for a second session! I need to get some beta on this nemesis.

Monday

On the wind down day, it was blowing a storm again so me, Dave and Si H met up around the Sleep Deprivation roof and worked some of the links. I finally got Sleep light sent avoiding the rock by sacking off the use of pads and pulling a front lever over the lip. With this in the bag and psyche rising again, I got on the Roof crack that I had always avoided for some reason. It got done in 2 halves fairly quickly and then got sent about 20 mins later. Me, Roger and Kris went back to Beris and had a coffee before we had to head back to Liverpool and start packing for Italy!

I am so psyched for the trip with Tom to visit Lorenzo and can't wait to get fat on red wine, pizza, pasta, surfing and sunbathing! (+ maybe some crushing? YES.)

Limestone season

With the recent heatwaves, me and Tom have been getting out on the hallowed lime as much as possible and enjoying the near crushing that each session seems to be bringing. I can't wait till it all starts clicking and things get sent, but in the meantime much strength is being gained from repeated redpoint attempts on Rock Atrocity and Bus Stop for myself and the former for Tom.



The Bank holiday weekend began well with a trip to the Cave. I had a best ever session on Attrocity getting to the final pinch 5 times and dropping the finishing slot 2 times! The problem is starting to feel easy until that elusive final move. We finished off the day with a chilled session at Pigeons Cave boulders.

Monday was good with a trip to The Wavelength where I managed a few new problems; Gav's Sitter, Boysen's Groove sitter and a desperate sandbag V4 called Paul's Bulge on the back of the Grooves boulder! The weather was scorching and we all got nicely burnt/tanned.

During the week it was back to indoors to earn some money for Italy in a couple weeks time. I sneaked in a 2nd routes session of the month and despite my pathetic endurance managed to onsight a 7a, onsight another 7a till the last move and did a 7b with 2 falls. Thats 3 routes sessions in roughly 2 years and I think this time I'll have to try keep it up for a month or so to see if I can reap the benefits of extra gas in the tank when back in the Cave.

In the last 3 days I've enjoyed a trip out to Angel Bay with Si, Ben and Andy where I intended to just rest and take photos but got psyched and swiftly dispatched Mussel Bound and after a lot of drying, chalking and cursing... Spectrum via wet holds and a big campus, it was a productive active rest day.

Yesterday was a late start in the pass with Dave and Tom to warm up and crush under Jerry's roof. We met the Cattells there for a warmup and a play on the Sleep Deprivation roof eliminates. The heat and humidity were crazy so not much got done, including watching Danny nearly pass out trying to pull on to Arachnophobia... surely the hardest V8 in the world?



We walked down the road and Dave had a play on Jerry's roof whilst I got my sequence wired for Bus Stop, bar the first move, topping it out twice from the 2nd move. About 20 people suddenly arrived and started jumping all over the problems so we sacked it down to pete's Eats and had a chill.
We drove back up about 8.30 and it was nicely empty. The lanterns got fired up and crushing commenced, warming up on some footless moves before Dave got real close on Jerry's falling off the last hard move. He will get it soon for sure when he can see where his feet are going! I managed to finally work out where to put my feet on Bus Stop and crushed the first move a few times before linking it to the lip and losing my tension through tiredness but I have now done it comfortably in 2 halves and fatigued. I can't wait to return and finally climb something hard that I know I am capable of.