Getting Specific

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fookin roastin Lerd!

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

Local Puntering

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

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

Weekend of Sun

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is a gallery of failure...

Font & Later wanderings

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

FONT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

UK

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

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

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

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

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

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

Renewed Psyche

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

Monday 20th Feb

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

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

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

Wednesday 22nd Feb

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

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

Sat 25th Feb

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

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

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

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

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

A new year.

I decided to be fashionably late with this years first blog (due to the fact there has been nothing of note to report). I had a couple of good trips to font at the end of 2011 whilst staying at The House which Andy and Roo have done a good job with. The first trip was with mark, psyche, Peter, Shauna, James, Alex and Chris but unfortunately we experienced very damp and humid conditions which made for a frustrating few days out (especially so for Chris who was hobbling around after an altercation on a parisian ring road).

Despite the shit conditions it was nice to finish off some old nemesis' in the form of eclipse and l'arrache coeur and also a brilliant and slightly worrying highball in Cuvier, the name of which escapes me!

The second trip over there was more enjoyable as it was just me and Laura and we had the whole gite to ourselves with it being mid December, where the weather is a bit of a lottery. It did prove to be overcast, damp and a bit showery but we still climbed for 4 days out of 5, the best day being the one which looked the least promising, -1 degrees but absolutely perfect!

The highlights of trip 2 were Laura walking up duroxmanie before a Huthwaite style top out and a rapid spotter less ascent of some 6c+ slab with 1 little pad far below. I finally found friction and got 2 of the big 4 with the big boss in a couple of tries this trip and likewise fourmis rouges which felt like climbing with Velcro on my hands! Fantastic stuff.

Instead of my usual early trip abroad to go climbing, I am currently across the world in Melbourne staying at an old friends. It has been a bit of a winter break from climbing with a couple of trips to the local wall in a whole month. I've enjoyed going swimming quite a few times in 50m pools which were a bit of a killer, right down to the 15m one in the apartment I am in. I've not swam regularly since I was in a team at the age of 10 and I think it is something I could get into doing again of a morning.

I'm here for 1 more day before visiting holger in the blue mountains for the last few days of my trip and hopefully we will get out on some real rock , so I can wake the corpse up from this binge of beer, cocktails, coffee and many bbq's.

I am looking forward to getting back and seeing Laura again and cracking on with this years goals of unfinished business. Then it is time to get strong as hell for Louis Armstrong. I am sure Lore's visit will give me the necessary inspiration :)

Anticipation off the scale!

It's less than 24 hours until we will be heading down the motorway en route to the magical world of fontaineberry. The anticipation of climbing on cold, crisp and dry wonderful sloping grips is high!

I had a couple of days out this week to tune up, with a trip to the Roaches on Monday and a cave session yesterday.

Monday 14th

I headed over to the Roaches with Pete and Tom from the Hangar. The skies were grey when we arrived but crucially the green looking rock was bone dry. We pottered around the lower tier boulders and I enjoyed repeating the classics with the only downside being scraping my face up the wall getting a bit too close in on the undercuts dyno! It was dispached a couple goes later and I got stretch and mantle first try of the day, what an ace problem.

After doing the Ascent of Man start, we popped up the steps and I got the guys to do the brilliant Joe's Arete. Some geezer was on the block behind doing the cool looking Nadin's traverse, I whored the beta then flashed it. Pete got real close but kept losing it just before the right flake sidepulls.

We wandered up over the hill on a bit of a mision but found our way to Staffs Flyer. I'd wanted to get up here for so long with it being one of the classic peak roof problems. The ground was proper gopping, but we fashioned a rock patio of sorts and I layed down a survival bag upon which, the PoD pad was sacrificed! It looked like it could be spicy for 6b but after pulling on and crossing to the good crimp, I found I could build my feet high and lock static to the hold over the lip, I matched this then cut my feet and campussed up to the top. What a splendid problem!

Tom got it shortly after with a more dynamic sequence and I did the arete on the block to the right, another good problem.

It was getting very grim in the cold mist, so we returned to the Joe's arete area and I did the flakes and nose problems on the big block. I felt too tired to try Higginsons's roof traverse, so opted to go look at Mean Ol' Bastard. I found the pull on weird and then it was really hard to get my foot in the hole after getting the gaston. As soon as I realised I could lock into it and match the opposing gaston the problem went down in 2 goes. I briefly tried Apocalypse now but couldn't reach the top, it felt ridiculous for 7a+ so we bailed to the pub and had a well earned pint!

Being the idiot I am, I joined in a max intensity 'trying problems beyond your limit' session at the Hangar and found a few spicy pink problems to work on over the next couple of sessions. We finished off with 10 mins of core thanks to Laura's request and I went Ma Hoppo's for an amazing curry.

Friday 17th

Me, Laura and J headed over for a late session at the cave and found it to be fairly busy with strong Dan (a recently arrived local who has moved over from Leeds) there trying Louis Armstrong and looking pretty strong on those undercuts as well as Rich, Duncan and Alex (whom i mistook for Bertie from Beris in my fatigued state!).

I felt shattered warming up on right wall traverse but after a few more problems things felt better. My first go on Pilgrim was ok just failing to get my foot across to the spike. I rested up and then watched Laura almost crush the Right wall reverse into bust lip, falling off going into the last sidepull before the finishing jug!

Go 2 on Pilgrim was an improvement, getting to two pockets and throwing for the flake on R.A. I hoped I could get a bit further today than last session as it now felt steady to there but I was lacking a bit of endurance/strength maybe.

After a proper rest, go number 3 felt much better, I cruised through to the pockets without any mishaps and had something left going for the flake. Sadly I caught it terribly with two fingertips but clung on with a scream, I got my right foot through and left across into the first pocket, I matched the flake block and tried bumping my left hand on properly. My fingers were killing being half on-half off so I just threw out to the sidepull anyway and held on, I stepped my left foot through but the pain on the left fingers was too great and I had to let go.

It was a bit gutting to drop it there as I was quite confident of getting to the last move if I caught the flake but I forgot how much it hurts to not get it properly. It was marked progress from my last session on it, so hopefully it will go soon.

We finished the day off with another Hangar session going around the circuit set for the military comp on Wednesday and the recovery meal of Large fries with large lamb&chicken kebab from the Nile was immense! It will no doubt help me put on a layer of fat to survive a chilly font trip.

It would be nice to get a few things ticked off this trip as I feel in decent shape and have few injuries to speak of. The video camera shutter is currently not opening but hopefully this can be remedied with a stick to hold it open and we can get enough footage to make a short film of all our puntering :)

A rare day of success!

Cave in the afternoon

On a whim, I decided to go to the cave Friday day time before the Stoke bouldering competition even though the forecast was for humidity, rain and no wind.

My psyche clearly rubbed off on Laura who decided to come along for moral support after finishing uni early.

We found the cave quite greasy but fairly busy with a small group of die hard locals and visitors playing on various things.

After warming up slowly I had a decent first go on In Life getting to the two slopers and taking my feet off very easily totally killing any swing but locking off too hard and not being able to rotate my feet round! I hung this position for several seconds before letting go bemused.

After a couple of close attempts Laura managed to get into the high sidepull and then to the glorious high finishing jug on Bust Lip for her first non slab/vert 7A+ tick! It was great to see her trying hard and being seemingly unaware of the possibility of a foot lock staying in above head height should she have failed to grasp the sidepull :)

The second redpoint on In Life saw me grasp the pinch on Left wall but then fall trying to go through to the fingerjug with the holds not feeling very dry. I feared the worst so had a longer rest than usual and fanned air on to them as well as chalk.

Laura tried to get Parisella's original done but couldn't quite hold the foot swing from releasing the heel-toe. Her efforts inspired me to pull my finger out and on the 3rd redpoint I managed to fall into the fingerjug screaming and slap out to the sloper. I scrambled across to the low flake almost falling at every move as my fingers unravelled and arms lost all feeling but thankfully the sanctity of the kneebar rest came just in time!

I didn't hang about too long and got the job done not feeling too bad on the end section and letting out a sigh of relief that I wouldn't have to crawl into the dirt any longer! Joy.

The sending spree gathered momentum and shortly after, Ducko breezed across Rockatrocity making the end look piss and not suffering the fate of many others on that horrid last hand move :)

Comp in the evening

We went directly from the cave to Stoke wall to see Youngy and have a play at the winter bouldering league. I always love going to new indoor walls almost as much as new outdoor venues as change is always a good thing and keeps things interesting.

After feeling pretty heavy on the warm ups I gradually got into things and had managed to flash 21/25 by about 8.30. With an hour left to try the last 4 I had to start resting for long periods of time just to summon the energy to pull on and make more than a couple of moves! I clawed my way to a couple of the bonus holds but fell off a couple I am sure would have been flashed had it not been such a long double day session.

The atmosphere at the comp was really nice and the locals friendly. There was a good bit of banter with the fellow comp hustlers from Stockport and even though I had puntered up at the end, I managed to sneak victory by about 10 points from one of the Stockport crew.

Needless to say after a victory beer, I slept like a corpse!