You know those goes on your projects when you are crushing and you know you are going to do it? They are great aren't they. I had one on this awesome problem I have been trying in November, but I didn't do it. I hit the lip instead of the jug and that was that, shit weather and wet days off work took over. Five months of weather watching and waiting later, I got back up there a few weeks back. I was quite pleased as the problem was still doable it hadn't all gone away. Yesterday I went back up, first go was good, second go I hit the jug, and in my surprise let go. Third, fourth and fifth goes were too close together and shit. Frustration set in as the sun came round blinding me on the last move, a move which is either difficult or I am doing wrong or the crimp is just a bit too small for my 80kg's. I have crawled up this wall working the sequence as you cant try the top without climbing the bottom and skin can quickly become an issue. 5 sessions were spent trying to go left instead of right, and progress has generally been slow.
So the sixth go... I squeaked my shoes and put my left shoe on first in a superstitious manner. Chalked up to my elbows, cleaned the holds, waited for a big cloud bank to roll in covering the sun there was a good wind blowing straight onto the face. Everything ready off I go, first second and third moves perfect, really pulling hard feel fucking bionic, then the key move. Right hand goes again to a 2 finger edge, (if you get this well you can set up really well on the crimp for the top move...) I hit it and curl my thumb over, yes yes fucking RAH etc. Drop in to the left hand crimp before moving feet and going for the last crimp before the jug. Absolute fucking control, piss, feet up and get the crimp again set up perfect left foot in and up... Right foothold snaps off and I land on the ground again.
Go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect 200 pounds. Gutted.
Friday, 13 April 2012
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Tripping all over
Years ago my mate Rhys was in Sheffield Uni, on Friday nights I would head over from Wales to go and climb for the weekend. Usually I would arrive before him and his house mates were back from the pub, so I would let myself in through some window or another. Generally I would let myself in find his stash roll a fat one put Rampage on and read either Rock Stars or The Power of Climbing. There was one photo in Rock Stars that I loved, it was of Fred Nicole on Dance De Balrogs. At that point I decided that one day I would go and see this block in Switzerland. Time Passed and I started to go on more trips including many to Switzerland but I never made it to Branson. The list of things I wanted to see or try got shorter, some of them got done, a lot of them did for me.
A couple of years ago I suddenlly realised that contary to what I had always thought there is more to life than slopers, and love had a part to play in my world. A chance to be happy presented itself and from the botom of a pint glass I decided that this time I would not be as foolish as I had been in the past, fear of losing my options would not stop me from being happy. So this has a few repercussions the main one being the creation of my very own baby mutant. This is great and I am super keen for the summer when he/she should arrive. It does however mean that I wont be able to galavant around sleeping in woods and try problems for the next few years.
So while last trip plan was formed the goal was obvious, and plans were put in place to go and pay homage to this block where so much history had been made. A few people told me it was shit and a few more told me there was amazing climbing all over the valley, initially in my head I planned to go alone and siege the line, then I got in touch with Ug and he was keen, Jack and James were also keen so the team was set, so off we went. I wasn't really sure I was up to climbing hard having trained hard last year the season in Wales had been shit, almost no good weather on my days off, and any strength I had gained was rapidly disappearing. So a back up plan of having a nice time and ticking was formed, we arrived at Ugs. The following morning already nursing a hangover, he pointed out it was hot, and we were heading to a valley 1000 meters lower reality started to set in, this was not going to be the trip I had planned....
First up he took us to a crag called Ravio (or something like that) we got stuck in and tried this ace roof that was good and quite tricky. Nobody did it but I was pretty close before the team got bored and we decided to come back another day. Down the winding road to Vernayz, which was a great crag, after some warm ups, we did 7a+ which was amazing, its the sort of feature you get on amazing 8a's but easy. By this point I was preety desperate to see Dance so we decided to head up there for the evening. After a very tight squeeze through the town itself we arrived and I ran off to touch the holds. They were shiny and warm. Nice.
The following morning arrived and started same as the last, after taking the edge off the day we wandered down to the boulder it was hard and it was hot. After spending 8 dayas trying Emotional in adverse weather last trip my heart wasnt in it, and it would have taken a lot of manuvering and sulking to get the team to stay up there as opposed to the much more extensive areas around the valley. So I accepted defet and after doing a lot of the moves, but failing to link anything we set off back down to the valley.
From here on in drinking and smoking ruled. Apart looking for Fionney buried chest deep in snow, scorching in the sun at a crag we thought was La Balmaz, walking miles with a topo looking for Master of Pouges but it turned out it was the wrong crag. Having a half hearted battle against the slime on Satan 8a+ in the big roof at Vernayz, I don't remember much. And I certainly cant piece it together in any sort of coherent order. Fortunately one night I did a problem called Tommorow comes knocking which at 7c was the line that saved me from coming home without a 7c or above for the first time since Font in 1998 or so. So there it is a massivley unsuccesful climbing trip for the second time this year. Roll on family holidays in Fontainbleau.
A couple of years ago I suddenlly realised that contary to what I had always thought there is more to life than slopers, and love had a part to play in my world. A chance to be happy presented itself and from the botom of a pint glass I decided that this time I would not be as foolish as I had been in the past, fear of losing my options would not stop me from being happy. So this has a few repercussions the main one being the creation of my very own baby mutant. This is great and I am super keen for the summer when he/she should arrive. It does however mean that I wont be able to galavant around sleeping in woods and try problems for the next few years.
So while last trip plan was formed the goal was obvious, and plans were put in place to go and pay homage to this block where so much history had been made. A few people told me it was shit and a few more told me there was amazing climbing all over the valley, initially in my head I planned to go alone and siege the line, then I got in touch with Ug and he was keen, Jack and James were also keen so the team was set, so off we went. I wasn't really sure I was up to climbing hard having trained hard last year the season in Wales had been shit, almost no good weather on my days off, and any strength I had gained was rapidly disappearing. So a back up plan of having a nice time and ticking was formed, we arrived at Ugs. The following morning already nursing a hangover, he pointed out it was hot, and we were heading to a valley 1000 meters lower reality started to set in, this was not going to be the trip I had planned....
First up he took us to a crag called Ravio (or something like that) we got stuck in and tried this ace roof that was good and quite tricky. Nobody did it but I was pretty close before the team got bored and we decided to come back another day. Down the winding road to Vernayz, which was a great crag, after some warm ups, we did 7a+ which was amazing, its the sort of feature you get on amazing 8a's but easy. By this point I was preety desperate to see Dance so we decided to head up there for the evening. After a very tight squeeze through the town itself we arrived and I ran off to touch the holds. They were shiny and warm. Nice.
The following morning arrived and started same as the last, after taking the edge off the day we wandered down to the boulder it was hard and it was hot. After spending 8 dayas trying Emotional in adverse weather last trip my heart wasnt in it, and it would have taken a lot of manuvering and sulking to get the team to stay up there as opposed to the much more extensive areas around the valley. So I accepted defet and after doing a lot of the moves, but failing to link anything we set off back down to the valley.
From here on in drinking and smoking ruled. Apart looking for Fionney buried chest deep in snow, scorching in the sun at a crag we thought was La Balmaz, walking miles with a topo looking for Master of Pouges but it turned out it was the wrong crag. Having a half hearted battle against the slime on Satan 8a+ in the big roof at Vernayz, I don't remember much. And I certainly cant piece it together in any sort of coherent order. Fortunately one night I did a problem called Tommorow comes knocking which at 7c was the line that saved me from coming home without a 7c or above for the first time since Font in 1998 or so. So there it is a massivley unsuccesful climbing trip for the second time this year. Roll on family holidays in Fontainbleau.
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| The Ravioli Roof |
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| 7c+ at Vernayaz |
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| Its a hard life |
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| Dance de Balrogs |
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| Cool 7b+ at not Balmaz |
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| Sleeping with one eye open |
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| After 30 goes we checked the topo, 6a I hope we were doing it wrong. Vernayaz. |
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| James on Mrs Dick 7b |
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| Jack on Something Somewhere |
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| Jack on a classic 7a+ |
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| The local |
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| Mill training coming in handy |
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| The Dru from Ugs Balcony |
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| Awesome 7a+ at Vernayaz |
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| Tommorow comes knocking 7c |
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Down and up in Crafnant and the Ogwen
This week I went back to a old time line I wanted to do. It doesn't get much more roadside than this, as you drive down the Ogwen from Bethesda to Capel there is a big lip on the right. I first looked at it when I was doing a delivery in the Holland Arms van, so at the latest that is 2003. It took a few years to make any headway on it. Mainly as we only ever seemed to try it when the weather was dubious or we had been on the razz and failed to walk any further. There are 2 or 3 happy sessions on it that I remember then one shit one unfortunately it was the shit one that I remember most as this is when I did it. This hasn't happened to me before that I remember, normally its great to succeed but this week I just could not give a fuck. I think its because:
- I only went as far as the groove, climbed up till I was stood up and got a jug and then jumped down again.
- The full line carries on up the lip and onto the slab, I know it does and I didn't climb it.
So there we go, a shit day with success, weird huh?
Then I went to Crafnant, where Jack got the First ascent of his problem the Ratt Roof, I was glad that he made it after 2 years of injury or rain, he had spent a good few hours cleaning this on the first visit up there and I was encoraged by the fact that sometimes people will still stay off lines that others have put the time into.
Photo - Si Panton
Spiderman Turned up and did Special K, Grasswinds and Cruela, he agreed with me that Special K was the hardest. Guess he must be shit too, although he did say he wouldn't use knees as they might tear his suit, I offered to lend him the knee pad but he muttered about a point of aid and refused to talk to me after that. Although upon my return I would have to admit it is easier than I thought, especially with the extra foothold that has been cleaned at the start.
Monday, 27 February 2012
Trigger Happy
Trigger happy, that’s me. Once again the cave has sucked me in for the week. Its got to the point when I went there even though it was nice enough to climb in the hills… I have snuck up on her she hasn’t noticed its me so far and accidentally she’s letting me get to the top. I think yesterday its possible she noticed as I fell into one of her traps, expectation. She swiftly deployed a kick and I found myself unable to do the moves, worse still she greased up one of her holds and deposited me on my arse from a great height causing a rather sore cheek. I am deciding whether to turn the other cheek or to avoid her for a bit till she calms down.
Before that though I had a strange experience, sat in V12 it seemed a fools errand to go at all. The temperature was rising clouds were hugging the earth and driving down in the drizzle the Orme was covered in a claggy grey hat. As I turned down past the theatre it was blue sky and windy on the right hand side, strange days indeed. Instead of the gopping condensation I feared I found lovely cool breezy dry rock, further proof that prediction of condition is difficult best. The objective was Daisy from Concrete, an unrepeated Davies link. I had tried this in soapy condition after doing Halfway last week. Part of the attraction the cave is it does tempt you into believing you can add a different section, swapping starts and finishes, and keep on adding to it till you end up with something great. Although when you start to look to deeply at this it all seems a bit pointless, best not to dwell on it after all there is very little point to much of life, and I only make myself sad thinking about that. Anyway, first redpoint saw me drop the move to the little jug, I hit it a bit too far left and carried on swinging when I was supposed to stop. A rest and the next 2 redpoints were worse, this is when the pointlessness creeps into my brain, 4th go I felt great till a foot pop on the move before the little jug. Doylo’s words “if you ain't done it in 3 goes you wont do it” came into my head now. Some more resting and psyching up, 5th go dropped the first move which made a change to dropping the end, and 6th go made it through catching the little jug, and shockingly swinging off on the final jug. Gutted, sure that by now I had blown my wad I moved on and worked on the start of Crucial Times for an hour. I rested up for half an hour before trying it once again, mainly as a training exercise, but I did it instead, which was nice.
Next on the list was Broken Heart into Trigger Cut, after coming close on Friday I was shit on Sunday and did it on Monday. Brilliant. So this all brings me to the thorny issue of grades for these things, with Halfway Doylo had already done it so that was relatively simple for me. Daisy I think is hard 8a maybe 8a+, certainly a bit harder than Halfway, and Broken Trigger is the hardest of the three for me, soft 8a+ with the knees? Maybe or maybe I am wrong and they are all piss, who knows? Certainly not me.
Before that though I had a strange experience, sat in V12 it seemed a fools errand to go at all. The temperature was rising clouds were hugging the earth and driving down in the drizzle the Orme was covered in a claggy grey hat. As I turned down past the theatre it was blue sky and windy on the right hand side, strange days indeed. Instead of the gopping condensation I feared I found lovely cool breezy dry rock, further proof that prediction of condition is difficult best. The objective was Daisy from Concrete, an unrepeated Davies link. I had tried this in soapy condition after doing Halfway last week. Part of the attraction the cave is it does tempt you into believing you can add a different section, swapping starts and finishes, and keep on adding to it till you end up with something great. Although when you start to look to deeply at this it all seems a bit pointless, best not to dwell on it after all there is very little point to much of life, and I only make myself sad thinking about that. Anyway, first redpoint saw me drop the move to the little jug, I hit it a bit too far left and carried on swinging when I was supposed to stop. A rest and the next 2 redpoints were worse, this is when the pointlessness creeps into my brain, 4th go I felt great till a foot pop on the move before the little jug. Doylo’s words “if you ain't done it in 3 goes you wont do it” came into my head now. Some more resting and psyching up, 5th go dropped the first move which made a change to dropping the end, and 6th go made it through catching the little jug, and shockingly swinging off on the final jug. Gutted, sure that by now I had blown my wad I moved on and worked on the start of Crucial Times for an hour. I rested up for half an hour before trying it once again, mainly as a training exercise, but I did it instead, which was nice.
Next on the list was Broken Heart into Trigger Cut, after coming close on Friday I was shit on Sunday and did it on Monday. Brilliant. So this all brings me to the thorny issue of grades for these things, with Halfway Doylo had already done it so that was relatively simple for me. Daisy I think is hard 8a maybe 8a+, certainly a bit harder than Halfway, and Broken Trigger is the hardest of the three for me, soft 8a+ with the knees? Maybe or maybe I am wrong and they are all piss, who knows? Certainly not me.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Halfway House
My blissful resurgence in love for the cave is continuing. This week I managed to do Halfway House, which is nice, even if as the name suggests it is a mere stepping stone to greater things. An immediate shift to the bottom of Lou Ferrino sees where this will end up, however the seepage in there at present makes it all a bit hard. Maybe in the summer... For the time being its great, you don't often get to the top of a new problem in here, in fact a day where you do a move for the first time is good never mind a problem.
I also revisited Clyde for the first time in a long time. It feels like maybe the cave will let me have this one soon, as long as I am a good boy and behave myself. The gathering of Karma has begun with simple offerings to the crag gods. The removal of litter from the cave, people can say what they like about it not being climbers that dump shit here, all I can say is its mainly old rags, chalk balls and finger tape so obviously its the local piss heads.
I also revisited Clyde for the first time in a long time. It feels like maybe the cave will let me have this one soon, as long as I am a good boy and behave myself. The gathering of Karma has begun with simple offerings to the crag gods. The removal of litter from the cave, people can say what they like about it not being climbers that dump shit here, all I can say is its mainly old rags, chalk balls and finger tape so obviously its the local piss heads.
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Cave + Hills = Happy
Days off dawned bright and sunny once more and finally Wales seems to be having a season. I had rested for four whole days, and as normal I was shit first day on. Normally this level of punter-dom would have annoyed me, this week I decided not to care. Recently I have realised its going climbing I love, not sitting stressing about the hardest thing I can possibly do. Obviously these little battles and sieges are a big part of working towards your limits and surpassing these is massively satisfying, but and its a big but, single minded determination is sharp on both sides, for me its good to relax and smell the roses sometimes. So I headed out and put some effort into a project, used the best of my skin and energy before heading up to meet a team at the Mallory boulder. After an amusing chat with an elderly lady about carrying mats all the way up the hill just to boulder, quote of the day:
I reached the bloc just as Si and Doylo were leaving the cars, which meant I could hang around and watch this sweaty mess storm through the heather cursing the walk. After some attempts on Cosmic Wheels a great 7c/+ that I first climbed in 2002ish, and a few throws on Will, Huffys great 8a (I think it is anyway)
Huffy on the first ascent. I completed my aforementioned relaxing with a lovely Stella and a Stella view.
Horror struck deep into my bones, here I was in this place once again, after a few years of avoidance it keeps on coming back to this climb inside or climb in the cave. On arrival it was fairly dismal, but with much repeating of "oh yes sticky damp" the team got stuck in, Jack surprised himself by almost doing Left wall High and Lou Ferrino, Joe got stuck in with redpoints on Lou Ferrino, finally free of the hernia that has stopped him trying for a while. I amused myself by going from the start of Left wall to the start of Rockattrocity, which I instantly claimed was a problem in its own right that should be known as Pil 7c/+, Pete arrived and got rid of the /+ for me. After this I dropped the last move of Halfway House due to it being sopping wet. It appears that Cave Psyche is back for both Jack and I, and instantly we went back the next day, after dropping the last moves 3 more times in fairly horrific conditions I decided it wasn't a random fluke which made me happy.
"we just landed on the floor, mind you I suppose we occasionally broke our ankles"
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Huffy on the first ascent. I completed my aforementioned relaxing with a lovely Stella and a Stella view. After a few beers at the crag I retreated home and had a few more before hitting the heights for a few more and great plans were made for the following day, there was no one who wouldn't be out and no where that we couldn't go. Suffice to say my recent sobriety saw me hammered, and at 8 am I checked to see if it was dry it wasn't and I felt like shit, so back to bed to try again in a couple of hours. After a bacon butty, coffee and some ibuprofen I was back to a slightly less sweaty mess, with a sinking heart and a banging head I was put in Joe's van and taken to the Cave,
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| Louis Armstrong 8b |
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| Lou Ferrino 7c+ |
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| Hold drying on Trigger Cut |
All in all a great set of days off, the cave is back on my agenda, and it feels like this year I might even get one of the bigger lines done, I did get keen last week when I wrote that list. Hopefully this time I will focus and follow through with one link rather than flutter about before doing another Lou Ferrino eliminate. Still they are good.
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