Is it raining, I hadn't noticed...

Bastard weather, bloody bastard weather, bloody bastard twating weather. Arse cakes bum fart pooh.

It is wet, it has been wet, it will always be wet. G helpfully counts the wet and dry days on his blog. Well no need any more just use this:
Wet days - infinite
Dry days - ha-ha-bloody-ha
This is annoying, I have things to do, projects to climb. The list of sport routes was growing at an uncontrollable rate before wet weather put pay to ever ticking anything. Now it's gone into overdrive, I went out with the guru yesterday and everything was wet. I came back with at least 8 new lines I'm desperate to try. That's a whole seasons worth of climbing, and then some. Add in the existing backlog of routes to do and it becomes clear the treadmill is turning significantly faster than I can run.
Frustratingly I have just reached a point where I am confident that the couple of things I am keen to get ticked are now possible for me, of course when they next dry I'll be fat and have no stamina at all (which is an important if small step below practically non-existant stamina, my current level).
Next week looked like it might be promising when I last looked but things are now so very wet I think I may just have to get on the boulders and rekindle my affair with filthy sport next year. Time (and precipitation) will tell.
Anyway all this moisture has meant a session or two on the board. I haven't managed to persuade anyone to come over and play so far and I rapidly become a bit bored of devising problems (I always seem to end up using the same holds just in a slightly different order). Of course this means I end up trying some of the silly party tricks that we climbers are so very fond of.
Last night I managed 3 one-armers on the right and 2 on the left, which is nice.
I also managed to lock a mono (feet on, other hand off, 40 degree board) which I was pleased with. In fact I made some monos and two finger pockets last week and I really enjoy (failing to) pull on them. It's a very different hand position to an edge and feels totally weird (and injury causing) to start with. But now I'm feeling the love (until the injuries start...).

Oh well, I've got to go and stir my lovely homemade soup (sweet potato, carrot and roasted peppers since you asked) a sure sign that winter is coming.

A merry bonfire night to you all.

As one season ends anoother begins.

I have been to Kilnsey a couple of times, but I seem to be getting dragged into progressively harder and harder projects without sticking at anything long enough to tick it. You definitely need a good dose of patience to get things done in the sport climbing game. Still fun though, and plenty of skittles set up for a (hopefully) rapid knock down next year. And there's still a bit more life to be eeked out of the lime yet...

But I also went to Almscliff yesterday and the grit is pretty much in now. G-unit was trying Keel, and making good progress. So I lauched into battle with Real Keel. I very briefly tried this last year and it felt very hard so I was quite surprised to find that getting to the pocket move felt really steady this time round. I had a few flings for the pocket but didn't hit it, however I was getting pretty close so I think this will get done. Dare I say hard for the short? I think I dare.

Also tried Pebble Wall Right Hand, this is definitely harder for the short. G-bob should have done this, in fact fuck it he did do it he just chose to let go. I think he was perhaps a bit distracted by the chap who wandered over to tell us we were try a hard severe without ropes, and it was awesome. It was a chap who was apparently new to climbing and was looking for some top-rope problems, just a shame JB wasn't there to help him out...

This week? A bit of work, a bit of lime and a bit of grit. I am in my transition phase, having gorged my unwieldy caterpillar form on the lime I will now enter the chrysalis and emerge as a beautiful gritstone butterfly. Or some such crap.

Toodle pip.

As I approach 40...

...degrees. The board has received some DIY this week. It now looms at an ominous 40 degrees, which is pretty steep considering lots of the holds were poor as a mere 25. I haven't yet climbed on it but am looking forward to getting spanked shortly.


The side panel needs extending but the gap shows how much steeper the board now is.


I still need to board out the top section.


I haven't climbed at all since last Friday until Thursday when I met the Guru at Kilnsey for another Massala session. I also had a secret plan, which I revealed as soon as we arrived at the crag so not that secret really. My current best onsight/flash performance was 6b, which is a bit lame and probably indicative of the fact that really I have done very little sport climbing, and most of it has been working harder routes. So I planned to try and get my flash grade up to something in the 7's, and there is a short bouldery little 7a+ called Smooth Torquer at the far right end of Kilnsey that seemed like an ideal candidate. And it was, first 7a+ flash, which is nice. Nice route as well, I'd recommend it to any boulderers tempted to try sport climbing it really is bouldering on a rope (are you listening G?).

Anyway that was a decent warm up so now it was time to get cold again whilst the Guru had a session on Massala. The I had a little play on the middle bit, which was feeling very steady despite my cold fingers, and then on to the first move. The basic idea was to approach it as a boulder problem, but with a harness on and rope tied on. Should I (or the Guru) hang the hold then the other person would quickly attach the pre-threaded Gri-gri and off you go. I was almost confident but it wasn't to be, the left hand sloper you dyno/slap off was a bit warm and it felt wierd having harness/rope on so my balance felt a bit out. Anyway neither me or the Guru managed to hang the hold and we got side-tracked on another bit of rock. But just before rushing off I decided to have one last throw, and promptly dropped it again. The Guru was the obliged to have a final pop, and landed the hold. Only to realise he didn;t have a chalk bag or a quickdraw for the first clip. We sort of sorted that out then off he went but the faffing had done him in. Oh well next time.

Went to the Cliff with G today, conditions were actually pretty ming. I almost broke my back greasing off Patta's Arete (which incidentally isn't as good a problem as is made out IMHO), G almost did Pebble Wall RH, I mean really very nearly almost. Next time, with slightly better conditions I'm sure he'll crush it. Feels a bit reachy for me though. Then we had a play on Fieldside which seemed really hard, I did all the moves but linking it wasn't going to happen today. I think it probably feels significantly more steady when the holds aren't damp under touch. Then we moved over to Caley, we had a brief attempt at Horn LH which also felt uber-damp, so I binned it to save skin for tomorrow (Kilnsey, get me a full on sport climber now) whilst G continued to cover himself in glory by cruching The Horn (having giving Horn LH up as a bad job). He then ruined the aura of climbing prowess that surrounded him by flailing pathetically on Mr Smooth. I had to head home then and now I'm contemplating a spot of DIY to fully complete the board steepening (apart from lashing on a load of new holds on the new top section). Gonna get strong or broken in the next few months methinks...

Grit, what grit?

I'm still in sport mode, which surprises me. I've really enjoyed sport climbing over the summer, which I wasn't expecting. Especially given the fact that I have had less success than I was hoping for. I'm still strangely motivated to clip the bolts and work the moves.

Anyway over the last few days I have done the following:
Went to Longridge where I helicoptered off the last move of Big Marine and landed on my head. Maybe I should have just kept hold of the finishing jug? Bruised my wrists a bit but no lasting damage, it would seem my head is a pretty good thing to land on, certainly a better shock absorber than my knees. Also tried a new line which I think will probably end up as a dirty hard one mover (7c+/8a).

Went to Trollers Gill again. Failed again on the Guru's new route, it has one move that is very hard for me. But did tweak the sequence slightly which whilst it doesn't make the move any easier I think it increases it's percentage (if that makes any sense, probably not). Also did Spent Youth, I tried for the flash but got my feet all a bit confused. Then bolt-to-bolt to the top and a quick check of a couple of moves as I was lowered down then redpointed it first attempt. A nice route which I was pleased to get ticked pretty quickly.

Went to Kilnsey with the Guru, we were planning on scoping Yew Cogar but weather issues meant we opted for Kilnsey instead. We both worked our way up Massala Martyr from one move in and I've got a workable sequence up to the fourth bolt, Guru has a sequence to the top. The route is essentially three boulder problems then an easy finish however a hold has broken on the third boulder problem (above the fourth bolt) so current thinking seems to be 8a+ to the fourth bolt and 8b to the belay. After working the route we tried bouldering out the first move. This is the hardest move on the route and I was very clode to hanging it (it's a dyno). I think maybe next time it will go, and I'm sure if I do the move I can get to the fourth bolt. Which would be 8a+. Now OK it would be a bit wanky, only doing half the route and then claiming a tick, but it is still a quality bit of climbing to the fouth bolt and it is a obvious stopping point at a good hold in a break. So I'm not just picking some arbritary point to let go and claim a grade (well OK I sort of am but what the hey, it's only climbing). Anyway very keen to get back on this. Then went to a top secret Yorkshire Limestone bouldering venue, I'd tell you more but it's kind of an exclusive venue. You know only hard problems, access is not clear etc etc so to preserve access for me and my mates it seems best to keep schtum. I'm sure you'll all understand...

Smile, you never know who's watching.

This week I have been mostly failing...

Sunday I went to Widdop with Lard to meet up with G-unit and Ginnster. I was hoping to crush Fight on Black, an ascent was looooong overdue. Unfortunately Lard was suffering an advanced case of Plague and decided he wanted to go home, so we left without even pulling on anything. Strangely Lard made a full recovery for sn afternoon at the park, hmmmm....

Monday work.

Tuesday work then G-bob attended crush school on the board. A pretty good session, only let down by G's shocking footwork. Have a word with yourself lankster.

Wednesday work then the Sexpest paid a visit to dabble on the board. Another good session, but my skin was getting sore by now and my finger joints were feeling creaky, old man!

Thursday went to Trollers Gill with Guru. We did a shocking route to warm up (the right arete of the big central crack), yeuck. Then Guru had a project to play on so we both dabbled with this, it is a steady start and finish but has a couple of stiff pulls in the middle. After a bit of working a sequence was devised and Guru dispatched it first redpoint, nice. I worked it again but was really struggling with one move which felt very reachy. I thought it was nails at the time and would be full on 8a but Guru felt 7c+ probably more accurate. On consideration I agree, allowing for my condition on Thursday (tired, sore, painful skin) I think a fresh attempt will yield more success.

So the training Tuesday and Wednesday (coupled with doing pretty heavy physical work this week) scuppered my chances of success on Thursday. Which is a shame, but should hopefully yield results on a more long term basis (i.e. I'll have more crush).

It's funny isn't it?

Monday I think I went somewhere and did something but can't for the life of me remember what.

Tuesday went to a pleasant(ish) quarry with G-bob. Did a coule of problems but whilst the quarry was pleasant of outlook it was limited of potential.

Wednesday went to Earl with G-bob, I will say no more than this.

Thursday went to Kilnsey with Guru. Tried bouldering out the start of Massala Martyr, I' quite keen to get a rope on this. Then had a few redpoints on Comedy before dispatching after tweaking my clipping strategy. Happy days.

On the importance of angles

On Thursday I headed back the Kilnsey with the Guru. This time it was somewhat drier so game on, it was however very hot so Metal Mickey was not really on the cards. Time for something different. Warm up first. I managed my first route at Kilnsey and my first sport flash, yay, however this was just the a 6b (can't remember the name) so perhaps not greatly impressive...
Then, as is traditional, I tried and failed on a 7a+. At least this time I managed to get a decent way up it before resorting to bolt-to-bolt.
Anyway then it was Comedy for me and Pantomime for the Guru. Guru was up first and on-sighted Pantomime in good style, it looked tricky from the ground but I am assured that once you start climbing the moves just fall into place, hmmmm we'll see.
Anyway then on to Comedy. I have previously had an attempt on this route. It turned into a bit of a farce though involving belaying difficulties and dog rescue which meant I had to be lowered of from half-height to rescue Bammers. Anyway this time I went up to half-height jug, had a rest, bolt-to-bolted the top then lowered off. I had another rest whilst Guru onsighted something else (that looked desperate) then I had a redpoint and fell off the move to the cigar hold. I wasn't pumped but the left hand sidepull that you go off to get the cigar hold was damp and felt very glassy and my hand just slid out of it. Anyway I then trundled up to the top and stripped it. Time was short so I couldn't get another RP in. Guru tried for a fourth onsight of the day but it wasn't to be (very close though). I definitely have a lot to learn still...
Friday evening I went to the Depot with everybody else, mosh pit. It was a good evening and I now realise I need to steepen up my board big time. The Beastmaker board at the Depot is bonza, and whilst it is perhaps too steep for my current abilities it is certainly indicative of the direction I should move the board in. My board is currently at the 25-30 degree sort of angle, which was ideal for me when I first built it, but now I think I need proper steepness to (try) and develop the sort of dirty filthy burl that was in evidence on Friday evening. Time to break out the power tools and hit 45 I think...

And just for you Jon.