Physio trip

After having a horrible re-occurance of my back spasm whilst serving a customer on Sunday, I made the effort to get Tuesday evening off and I went to see the recently installed Tuesday night physio Hannah down at the Hangar. Luckily she was able to help me out with some stretching/ROM exercises focussing on getting my lower back working again and then strengthened.

I've been given homework to do 3-4 times daily to help speed up the process and have also purchased a rather fetching hot water bottle from the evil Tesco empire to help warm the old lower back up before I do any gentle stretching. I road tested it before whilst driving to the Hangar this afternoon and it was pretty damn amazing!

Hopefully with careful dedication to these specific exercises, things will be on the mend by next Tuesday and I can maybe have my upper back looked at which was been dodgy (bit of a locked up and tender bruised feeling either side of my spine) for the last 2 months. She didn't want to touch that for now as the lower back isn't yet strong enough for my upper back to receive some un-knotting, it is unsuprisingly a bit of a mess from years of training and never having anything done to ease it up!

I then have a 5 day window from Thursday till Monday to get out and do some rock scaling with my good friend mr Skyner Weeks. We are both quite keen to do a bit of grit volume at the moment so we will probably hit both the Peak and Yorkshire. There are lots of high classics I am keen on but these will likely have to be postponed till normal back strength/mobility is restored. Fingers crossed for a cold and dry October :)

You know you're getting old when...

You hike uphill for 20 mins, warm up at the crag on some easy solo's and then pull your back whilst pulling on the loops of your sending shoes!

It seems I only blog about injuries and rehab these days and sure to form after vastly improving on the shoulder front, my lower back went yesterday in the most frustrating of ways. Right at the start of the session after driving up there solo and hauling 4 pads up to Warton.

Monday 26th

I went up to the South lakes with Mike and Sam on a Woodwell mission. Sadly it was pretty minging at O'ert Road and Tom's roof but pulling on with a towel and skipping holds allowed us to warm up on Angel Deelite. Mike did it after a bit of trouble with the top section and Sam didn't quite manage it. I worked on the Flying Finish going rightwards from the flat jug but couldn't work it out. I tried spanning across the lip but it felt wrong and then attempted it using the undercut on Backhand Roof, a left heel to hand and then throwing wildly over the top for a distant hold but kept spinning off with the angle feeling weird.

We moved over to Tom's and there wasn't much dry for Mike and Sam to try but I hadn't attempted the Footless Marathon before today, so thought it would be a fun thing to do, which wasn't quite true as it was sharp and wet but I got through it and just about held on to the last big slap for the flash.

We headed to where we knew would be dry and the Shelterstone face didn't let us down. Mike and Sam took turns trying the Pit Problem and I almost did The Buccaneer in a couple of tries only to hold the swing and then fall off matching the lip. About 45 mins of sweating off, swearing and nearly giving up ... I managed to hold the swing again and made no mistakes on the 4b top out!

Thursday 29th

After a trip up to Warton the day before with Laura and J Railton. I headed back up the M6 on my billy no mates in White Beauty. Rather than leave Ebenezer Goode till another time with yesterday's afternoon heat being draining, I got there a little earlier before the sun could come around on to the buttress.

As you may have read at the beginning of this post, I hauled up several mats and arrived feeling good. A few Solo's and a strained back later. I was prone on the mat trying to stretch it out and it didn't feel too bad immediately, just a bit stiff. I was a bit angry at the prospect of the petrol cost and pad hauling being all for nothing, so did the clever thing and got on my project anyway to show it who's boss!

It wasn't looking good 2 goes later as I felt a bit achey and had fired off the lip dish twice. The next go I somehow scraped through panting and grunting to the sidepull at the end but couldnt summon the energy to get the kneebar in and slid off. I knew it would go in colder temps and the sun was starting to shine on the hold so I swore a bit, brushed the holds and gave it my all.

I battled through to the same position and managed to get the kneebar in just as my fingers were uncurling from the painful handswap hold. I shook like a shitting dog laybacking the crack without being able to feel much through the pump and was mightily relieved to reach the break and lean into the corner to take a 2 minute rest before topping out!

I hobbled back down gingerly and dragged myself and pads back down the hill feeling every single step shooting up my back.

The drive home was uncomfortable and I could barely move when arriving back in Merseyside!

I wisely dosed up on various creams and pills and went to a BBQ at a friends where copious amounts of red wine and food seemed to ease the pain. It was a lot better this morning once I got moving and had a hot shower but has started to feel bad in the shop bending up and down to get shoes for customers!

A cocktail of Naproxen, Diclofenac, Ibuprofen gel and Paracetemol should hopefully help... I can't wait to see the physio next Tuesday!

Some welcome News

The reason for being a little quiet of late is down to another shoulder injury!

Fortunately it hasn't been anywhere near as bad as the ones that I had to fix for 2-3 months at the end of last year/start of this.

I spent a few days resting and then got straight on to the usual routine of assisted movement, stretching and then gradual strengthening with the theraband whilst trying not to get too down about all the oh so near projects that would have to wait a bit longer than anticipated.

Looking at my activity diary, it was quite clear I had been overloading a bit in terms of climbing/weights at the gym but I am pretty certain I caused it during the comp on the grim corner mantle presses. I quite enjoy comps now and again but this is about the 3rd time I've picked up an injury in the last year directly from comp style pressing.

Once fixed, it's tempting to pack it in and stick to climbing on more basic stuff which doesn't involve contortionism, relates more directly to what I want to do outside and is less likely to cause further anguish!

Rehab Day 1

After about 8 days of rest/theraband I had a great day out in Wales with Laura and a poorly Dexter the dog who nearly spewed all over the floor in V12! We started off at RAC bumping into Shauna and Skyner Weeks.

It was the ideal place to do a bit of volume as well as ticking off guidebook gaps in my lifelong quest to tick the North Wales Bouldering guide (Sadly minus roadrunner cave!).

The highlight was managing to drag my unfit corpse across the Pump Traverse sans cracks at the mighty grade of 7a. Laura flashed a load of the easy minor classics and we drove over to the pass.

Rather than get bored on the roadside face, I suggested we go check out the highball stuff at Pont Y Cromlech where I had ticked off the Seam and a quality V2 a few years back.

Laura made a casual flash of The Seam and then flashed all of the other stuf up to V3. I ticked off the up lines apart from the high and scary V4(E2?) rounded arete, where I found myself stood up on the undercut and unable to reach the hanging crack high up. The fall trajectory would have been super sketchy with the 3 small pads, so I bailed off left and saved it for a big balls day!

We finished off at the roadside where we met Rich and Bertie and Laura agonisingly dropped the top of Johnny's problem from the sitter several times, before we went to Pizza and a Pint which seems to have an exponential price creep of late!

Indoor Rock Scaling and Cake!

Since that day out I've just been circuiting indoors at the Hangar and only tested the creaking joints on some slightly harder stuff yesterday, including winning a brownie for getting the first ascent of the grim vertical traverse (problem 21) on the blue 4-6 circuit.



Next week brings 3 days off work and hopefully a chance to get out on some real stones if I can find a willing crew to share the petty costs! I'm really keen to go try and finish off XXXX at the Bowderstone and Ferrino with no pockets in the cave but they could both prove a tad ambitious/burly in terms of rehab problems!

Ater all this chatting shit, I re-read the title of this blog and realised I didn't actually expand upon it!

The welcome news (with my usual situation of a new injury being just around the next pressy corner) is that the Hangar has drafted in a physio who will be down there every Tuesday evening to help cure us of our ailments and hopefully put us on the road to normal human posture! I am obviously excited by this and looking forward to getting a sports massage having had a perma stiff back for quite some time. It may be £20 well spent which would otherwise be splashed out on 2 bottles of red from my current local shop of choice.

Lakes Trip and The Hangar Comp

It's been a busy couple of weeks since I last bothered to post, maybe longer?!

On the August Bank Holiday weekend, I took a break from weights training to embark on a learning to climb again trip with Laura, Mark, the Hoppo crew and two strong geezers from Stockport.

Fri 26th

Wales looked well dodgy as did venues further south, so we headed north to St Bees. Without having booked anything, we eventually found a quiet campsite about 20 minutes drive from St Bees village that had plenty of space as well as a very unique bathroom/shower setup built into quaint sheds about the size of kids playhouses.

Friday was spent at St Bees South and having never been before, we opted to walk along the coastline and check out area A en-route to the better stuff. It looked pretty poor, so we went straight across to the Kraken area.

After a warmup on some great technical walls, we moved over and all climbed the missing corner block which featured big pockets and a great kneebar move. The Kraken could wait no longer and after watching Michael have an attempted pull on, I patted some chalk on the holds and flashed the normal version, before he swiftly followed. Mark then cruised along it after getting untangled from his long legs underneath the rock. I climbed the Kraken LH straight after which shared the same start and then a nice delicate rockover left onto and up the slab.

We moved round the corner and I flashed the sitter to Black Hole using a very sketchy high left heel to get to the good pocket. Michael repeated this by simply campussing about 4 moves in a row!

We decided to get off early and get an ice cream, when I realised I hadn't tried Killer Bee. The others sighed, so I threw down 2 pads and had a great flash attempt pulling on, getting a left knee scum and slapping up again LH only to overshoot the small crimp and slide over it. I wasn't to be denied and on the 2nd go I caught the crimp and then slapped through to the top. It's a great couple of moves but probably a bit on the soft side?

Sat 27th

The day dawned beautifully sunny and we made an early start over to St Bees North via Morrisons.

After getting lost looking for the easy route down so as not to make Ma Hoppo flip her lid... Ian found the path and we all rushed down and across the boulders, which took a bit of time but was preferable to the death descents.

We warmed up around the Apiary area with the lids making short work of Headbanger. Despite it being in the shade, myself, James, Tom and Michael all got shut down on Clash of the Titans. This must be the hardest 7A+ I have ever tried bar the infamous one at Franchard Sablons. As that is the 3rd time I've been and left empty handed.

Thoroughly warmed up, myself, James and Tom all got up Chipper's Wall but only after sacrificing a pad to the water pond to the left to avoid twisted ankles.

James crushed the grim mono crossover problem of Dan's around the corner Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and I did the direct on the left. We then both tried and failed spectacularly on Power of RAA but felt it might be a tad easier not in direct sun and +20deg heat. My best effort was getting up the layback bit and left hand on the very thin scoop gaston trying to move my feet up and right on to poor smears. Keen to go back for this.

Everyone shifted down to Fisherman's as Ma Hoppo sunbathed and Ian did a spot of fishing.

A few of us flashed the basic jump and campus problem of Parky 93 and James did the very tricky arete problem. Laura crushed the dirty crimp problems on the wall around the corner and I got Fruits de Mer ticked in a couple of goes from a hanging start eliminating the block underneath but unsure if this is the correct method?

As the sun disappeared and a massive wall of rain headed towards us, we knew it was time to bail.

I got a bit of running beta off Tom and after a couple of warm up goes, I got hold of the crimps on Lateral Mindset and made the massive slap up to the sloping ledge above. It was great to do such an amazingly unlikely problem which I had written off as not possible a few years ago.

Me and Mark cajoled Laura into having another go on Fishermans dyno after a slight tantrum/hissy fit had shocked us a bit! :P Luckily she persevered and managed to make the heel stay on long enough to grab the high jugs and it was in the bag.

Unfortunately as we topped out at the lighthouse area, the Wall of rain caught up with us and we were drenched from head to toe by the time we reached the farm!

Another night of good food and plenty of ale in the pub made up for this :)

Sun 28th

The weather was about to turn so we headed across the Lakes for a brew and cake in Keswick before heading down Borrowdale to the mighty Bowderstone.

Most of the guys hadn't been so I gave a bit of a tour and managed to upset some others who were already there who left shortly after our arrival. I guess they were expecting solitude on a bank hol?

There was a lot of attempting but not much achieving as we kept getting spells of rain soaking the lip holds on a few things.

Laura managed a great 2nd go ascent of The Crack Direct and Youngy likewise. James ticked through everything I showed him including Impropa Opera 2nd go and managed to drop the last move of Grand Opera on the flash purely down to wet holds!

We both got Slapstick done the dyno way which was also has a great crossunder move after sticking the initial sloper.

As the weather got worse, we stopped climbing and then had our overdue BBQ under cover after being denied it at St Bees. We finished off the day in the pub down the road and camped overnight hoping for better weather.

Mon 29th

James and Tom had to get off early, so the 4 remaining decided to have one more quick session at the Stone.

After a hard 4th-day-on warmup, Michael got agonisingly close to Impropa, dropping the last hold a few times.

A guy from down South was trying the low left sitter into Phantom and gave me a great piece of beta for the last move on Grand Opera. With this new knowledge of dropping the left foot off to make the last move, I managed it in a couple of goes. Another down in the quest to tick the Operas!

I had a long rest and then tried my main aim on the Stone, XXXX. I quickly worked out where to put the feet for the moves and then had a couple of good goes at linking the whole thing. I had 1 good attempt with fingers on the lip but not quite enough to hang on and bump! The goes got gradually worse slapping further away from this high point but I was getting into this slap move every go. Hopefully I can get a trip back up there sooner rather than later if the shocking weather abates.

Me and Michael got back to Liverpool still motivated and after a subway, crushed a load of the new pink v6-11 set that Shauna and Ged had been setting before total collapse occured.

End of Summer Hangar Comp

After Mike psyche couldn't turn up due to work commitments, I was installed as the favourite to win, which is never a good thing!

On turning up in the afternoon, my nerves were made all the worse by seeing Nathan Phillips had turned up and been entered into the mens to make it more competitive in the U18's.

I made sure to use some tactics learned on previous comps. I went round and checked out the problems and then warmed up fast on some intermediate ones and got the big pumpy roof out the way early on as to avoid failure later.

I got on the greasy sloping horrors earlier than usual before they got too grim and managed to get through to 26/30 flashes by 5.30. The last 4 all looked hard so I chose the one I thought looked the most basic and flashable! I'd seen Nathan come off it earlier as well as James the beast so knew it could be tricky. I opted to swap Velcros for Dragons and it paid off as everything felt precise and I hit the holds perfectly to setup for the crux. I jumped over off the small crimp and caught the middle of the pinch, twisting into the move and making the hold better. I let out a bit of a scream and managed to just hold on before jumping over again to the top hold.

I knew I was in with a chance of doing well now and had 3 left to go. I watched Nath dispatch the desperate looking groove into dyno problem which nobody else had got close to. I tried it shortly after and after getting bunched into a ridiculously small space, I made a pitiful attempt to grab the hold on the face before flying past.

I knew I wouldn't get up it this way and thought Nath would surely crush the other one I had done next go. Luckily for me he fell off twice more meaning a max of 1 point if he got it in 4+ goes. I decided to try something a bit different and got back on the groove start. I wound up and made a massive backwards leap towards the face hold and got all fingertips on the edge of the hold before continuing backwards and nearly into the assembled crowd.

A short rest and I knew it had to go down if I was to get near to winning. This time I managed to generate a bit more power from the chicken legs and got right on it, holding the violent outswing and then campussing up to the next rail. I got a high foot and then just about made the slap over the top lip to match a relieved man.

I got absolutely shut down on the hard slab managing to get hold of the penultimate hold but not move my feet any further. Nathan got super close hitting the top hold but not sticking it a couple of times and I was grateful Ged had put such a shit hold on!

The last problem was a steep roof with a lot of burl, toe hooks, greasy slopers and endurance. Nobody got close on their 3 point scoring goes. I took a half hour rest and then went back to try and just get a single point incase it was necessary and dropped the very last hold. I was knackered but had still won by a slim 3 point margin!

In the women's event, Becky from our comp team came in 1st, followed by Laura who was having a bit of an off day :(

In the Juniors, Hoppo had tied with Sheepy and they had to do a horrific timed climb off on the orange linkup. Hoppo had no chance as he is a stocky chest and Sheepy is a whippet-like route climber and he won by a comfortable 10+ seconds.

Mon 5th Sep

Myself, Hoppo, Mike psyche and Millso went to the cave.

Conditions weren't too bad and we met Dan Turner in there along with a non ginger Freeman brother!

He had just done Cave Life and was currently having fits trying to do Pit of Hell, finding Rockatrocity a bit hard going, with a grasp for sequences as bad as Mills and Mike.

I greased off on Cave Life Short and knew this wouldn't be a good day to try In Life, so switched attention to trying some moves. I quickly did the sequence for Ferrino sans pockets from the rail on Lou F and was suddenly full of psyche realising I could now do the end every go from the pinch and rail.

I had 4 redpoints and managed to latch the penultimate sloper hold before the finish slot but not quite good enough to move off. It's definitely a realistic goal for next visit conditions permitting.

We met Doyle (who had plenty of filth to spout!) and Tommy who decided to get off and do some more routes rather than join the pebblewrestlers.

We got back to the Hangar for 7pm and I ate 5 chickenwings and a bag of potato wedges from the ASDA hot counter, before embarking on a very poor comp style session on the yellows followed by core which nearly ended me.

Branching Out

After a semi successful trip to Switzerland bagging a couple of 8A's and a few 7C/+ it has been a bit of a mundane return to climbing back in the UK.

A mixture of heat and rain has killed the psyche for hard bouldering and I have found my interest waning of late.

I've had no regular pattern of training or climbing outdoors and it really has been all a bit of an effort. I've not been to team training for a few weeks and just pottered indoors and out achieving nothing harder than 7B since getting back over a month ago, the highlight being Rigpa over at a sweltering Nescliffe.

Rather than battle through shit conditions I decided to be lazy and have enjoyed several games of golf with Mark at Allerton and Fiddler's Ferry, trying to regain some old skills and put to use the slight extra bulk gained through bouldering the last 5 years or so in hitting the ball an extra 30 yards per club!

As well as the golf, I've been out fishing a couple of times with the esteemed TC Mills over on the barren shores of New Brighton. I was promised epic catches of Ray but so far we have managed a few whiting and a plaice (and thankfully no blanks so far :))

I have to say I'm highly excited about the new premiership season kicking off and seeing how Liverpool get on with so many new underwhelming signings. The psyche is high too, to try and usurp Ian Thomas at number 1 in the UKB league after him beating me down into 2nd place for the last 2 seasons!

As well as the golf/fishing/football I went down to a proper back street weights gym in Garston with Hoppo and had a great time this morning trying to see how many machines we could max out. I managed to max out 4 then we had a good free weights session followed by some weighted pullups and boxing. I felt destroyed after and am keen to make it a regular feature 1-2 times a week to help with overall strength conditioning whilst the weather is turd and for £3 a session it's way cheaper than most activities.

On a more climbing related note...

I went to the cave for the first time in ages on Monday and had a half decent return getting to cutting loose on the slopers on In Life before slowly sliding off them and then nearly climbing Left Wall high at the end of our 5 hour session after never being close ever! I hate that shuffle so much but figured if I get it wired it opens up High Life and In Heaven for later in the year once In Life is put to bed!

I'm nowhere near strong enough to link Louis Armstrong after being so slack of late but am keen to get back on it later in the year once I've tested out a weights&strength training phase to feel stronger on the undercuts!

Overload!

It's been another busy week of trips and comps as I gear up towards Magic Wood on Saturday.

Fri 10th June

Me and Laura went up to Thorn Crag for an evening session as the weather turned from sketchy to beautiful afternoon sun.

The walk in was a bit epic and easily took the 30 mins predicted in the topo but I did manage it in a oner without having to sit down, which was the first goal of the day achieved but not before a well camoflaged grouse had flewn out of a bush about half a metre from me and made me shit my pants!

We warmed up at the pathside boulders and despite being a bit sweaty we both managed to flash the aretes and the classic groove of Burnt Heather. Around on the side and I sketched my way up both and for my next trick and fix my sink on the flash. Both are undoubtedly a bit easier if your not a midget.

Laura got really close on 'and for my next trick' but was struggling to switch hands to launch for the top. She had a rest from it and we went over to look at Bad Moon Rising. It was a great looking line with a bit of a suspect flake to pull on with and plenty of potential blocks to land on!

After having a quick look at the 7a to the right and getting completely shut down I moved the pads leftwards to Bad Moon Rising and got the psyche on. First try and I got up to the high right hand sloper eyeing up the massive left hand pinch but couldn't quite figure how to connect it without an obvious left heel hook in sight. Before I could make a decision, the hand fired off and I was back on the mats but not down the hillside.

A bit more chalking and then back to the same spot, I just got a high right toe, swung the left foot back and then used the ninja leg flick to launch left and snatch the massive pinch and squeeze together with a bit of a grunt and legs flailing everywhere. The top out was a bit spicier than expected but no knees were brought into action.

Laura didn't quite fancy it, so we moved back down to the pathside boulders and she had another good go on 'for my next trick', hitting the lip of the top but not getting enough on it and the next go brought 2 split tips and no joy!

As we hadn't got there till about 6pm, we moved on rapidly to the Seaview area. I dispensed with a warmup and got straight on the Mothership Reconnection asking for a couple of photos as a spot wouldn't be necessary. Well this proved to be wrong as when I was reaching left hand to the top, the right hand fired off and I sailed past the only pad and landed on my right arse cheek on the edge of the block with all of my weight! Thankful not to break any bones, I had a minute to get my breath back and then got up it without any troubles after chalking it up a bit more. Such a good problem and worth the walk alone.

We finished off circuiting the easier problems around the block as Laura terrified me with some not so steady topping out skills and we watched the sun go down out in the direction of the sea.

Papa John's pizza and getting to sleep at 1.30 strangely proved to be ideal preparation for the next day.

Sat 11th June

After waking up feeling like a bit comatose... a shower, porridge and coffee woke me up a treat and I rushed over to the Hangar as she went off for family duties.

Me, psyche and Little Hoppo hit the road and rocked up at City Bloc in record time as the roads were quite clear.

We entered the Open comp which was 40 qualifiers to try and be one of 4 finalists for the evenings event.

After getting beaten by both of my team mates in the previous couple of comps after massive underachievement, I had a score to settle and started off well. I ticked through the first 32 problems not feeling the affects of the previous evenings climbing and a late night too much until disaster struck and I puntered off a yellow on a vertical wall featuring a really shit greasy volume. I managed to hold on to it 2nd go but knew it could be a costly mistake. I didn't expect to feature anywhere today and the lack of pressure probably helped as I flashed the first 3 greens I tried and then came to the last two. I almost stuck the double dyno one out to the lip but couldn't quite manage to hold the swing back in. I would have expected to get this within 3 tries so was a bit disappointed. I was too out of steam on the last green on the woody and powered out on the salmon in the roof after a good 2nd try. I was so spent, I didn't even try the last salmon on the sloping crimps and just handed in the card to go for a sleep upstairs.

When they announced the finalists, I missed out on being joint 4th by 3 points (the ones I dropped on that yellow) so came in 7th as 3 people shared 4th place. I didn't get beaten by any punters, so that was a relief but could have done better.

Mon 13th June

This day proved to be fantastic in terms of endurance.

Myself, the esteemed T Mills, Irish Pete, Mike psyche and Motormouth Sam all hit the Cave to make the most of the sunny weather.

I got reacquainted on the warmups and managed to repeat Beaver Cleaver Direct 2nd go after Sam started to have a play on it. I used his new hand beta which was cross handed and going off the good bit instead of the shit Pinch I had used previously. This felt way easier than a couple years ago, so I got on the sitter straight away with a new tick seemingly guaranteed.

About 45 mins of failure to hold the lip and I was getting a bit disheartened so decided to try something else.

Sam stuck with that, whilst Mills got involved with Rockatrocity and Psyche was on Broken Heart. Pete managed to drop the end of Parisella's original a few times including some spicy falls but no broken bones.

I decided to try Louis Armstrong as I hadn't been on it for a while and wanted to see if it felt any nearer to realistic than last time.

I had a couple of really good slaps to the lip, dragging my feet a bit on the mats but much closer to holding than previously, slowing the swing down a lot. I could still pull on at this point and finish the rock climb every go which was encouraging.

The start had proved to feel even harder than the crux slap on my previous tries but first go of the day: I went out to the shit crimp/drag, got a heel on the RA flake and clamped the right foot under and reached past my head to the shothole undercut totally static! I was shocked to find that I was still on the rock and managed to walk my feet up and get out to the big RH undercut before flicking into the left one to match. I caught this poorly and then fell off. Breakthrough!

After a short rest I then did the move again in even more control and it felt easy. I got out to the undercuts, this time getting the left one better and getting my right foot out to generate hip movement for the slap to the rail. I had a poor slap and was stood on the ground before getting close to holding it but it was a great progression. Chalking up, I could still climb it to the finish.

I was so psyched to get the first bit figured out as Danny/Nacho's crossover method was way too hard for me and now it's a matter or recruiting the crux slap and putting some time in on undercut burl.

To finish off I managed a lap of RA, Lou F and Cave Life short before we headed the Hangar.

Despite the long cave session, myself, Mike and Sam had a go at the new White circuit which is a much fiercer beast than the last, set by the king of crimp Nige Callendar.

It is a testament to training lots of circuits/pyramids of problems that I could still climb 8 of these and almost another 4-5 after 8 hours of climbing.

I finished off with Laura, Becki and Olivia with a 20 min core session whilst Farnell ran about doing hundreds of problems around the centre looking quite sprightly for a crippled vet! ;)

The morning after

I woke up this morning feeling like I had been hit by a bus with what feels like deep fatigue and bruising within my arms. Hopefully it will have subsided by tomorrow afternoon and I can get another productive session in at the cave or the Hangar with Mills.

A brief update

I've had nothing much to report over the last few weeks but did manage to get to do some outdoor rock climbing as well as another comp experience under the belt.

Elephantitus

Me and little Hoppo chugged over at a steady pace to find Llanberis in sunshine. We got a brew then hit the road. The cromlech boulders were parked out, so we sacked warming up and went straight through rain at pen-y-pass to overcast dryness and a stiff breeze down at Llyn Gwynant.

It wasn't much fun carrying 4 pads between us but made it worthwhile once there with the dodgy rocks on the floor.

The warmup consisted of an arduous walk in, followed by some starjumps and some pullups on jugs and crimps.

We had a small camera with us to try get some footage together to make some Team Hangar short clips to appease the sponsor and fought our way into some crippling toedowns.

I did a couple of laps on Elephantitus to warmup and give Hoppo the sequence and he got it done relatively fast, having to cut loose to hold on to the sloper move.

I managed a smooth lap of Going down on an elephant and then Hoppo came very close, falling off at the sloper crux of elephantitus 3 times!

The goal for the day was to get Tusk done as I had seen Sorle piss it on a facebook vid recently. I initially found the crimp very painful and the left heel hard to lock in and weight but eventually it all came together with the changing of Hornets for my ever reliable Team shoes!

When it went it felt utter piss for the grade but it had felt nails until that moment. I thought I may as well have a burn on Cross Therapy as the videos of Sorle walking it and Danny mauling it were quite inspiring.

It went fairly well cruising through the start and also the crossunder and campus drop down move. I got into Tusk and had the heel in, left hand guppy... coil up to throw.. then the heel ripped out.

I was quite psyched by the first attempt so rested up whilst Mike carried on trying GDOAE. He got about 10 attempts into the space of 15 mins and it was time to go again..

I got through to the exact same place feeling even better than on the first go, the guppy felt good and the heel solid. This time I coiled and threw over left hand to the pinch catching it in the right spot and celebrated a bit prematurely in my head only for the heel to peel off as I started to engage the thumb.

We sacked it off and went to Jerrys Roof to try and get Jerry's and Bus Stop on the camera but the batteries died and we were a bit knackered from all the walking about, so the day was cut short to pick up stock in Beris and go for pizza and a pint.

Roc Bloc

After looking at the list of people entered, the goal was to try and get in the top 20, maybe 15 at a push and I managed an ok 15th place despite falling off 2 I definitely should have flashed (then failed to even complete).

The field was deep and packed full of beastliness with Dave Barrans not even making the final 6!

For my fellow Hangar Team, Sean did really well getting 12th place and Mike psyche came in 14th after some point scoring error where we all thought he had come 10th but it wasn't to be.

Little Hoppo walked the boys 11-15 category looking about twice the size of all his rivals and his age was questioned by a rather suspicious announcer. He's looking stacked for a kidda... going to be scary in a couple of years!

Becki and Laura both did well getting into the final 12 in the womens and it goes without saying that Shauna crushed in the women's being pushed very close by Mina.

The comp was pretty fun with a nice variety of things to be getting on with but the heat was unbelievable (people were outside in the sunny 25 deg heat cooling down!).

As at the depot comp last December I managed to get another shoulder area injury but this time on the right hand side. Not quite sure what it is yet, but it feels like I pulled my tricep/lat/back of shoulder right across when on the green roof problem in the shady cave corner. I carried on after and still did another few problems but it hurt yesterday and is marginally better today.

Going to be super careful and not mess it up before a return to Magic Wood on June 18th :)