Death of a problem, or is it...

Went to Silverdale with G-unit yestermorn. Conditions were poor but we were worse. Not a good session nuff said.

Then G met Tanman at Denham where the bronzed adonis was keen to get Snatch done. He's been close previously so was hopeful that it would go down this session. Sadly on a "feeling good" go he pulled off a left hand crimp. Aaaargh.

When I heard of these events last night I was in part saddened that this problem had been so short lived, partially confident that a new sequence would be workable and a little bit confused about which hold had snapped. The more I considered this breakage the more convinced I was that the hold I used for my left couldn't snap off, well it could but it's a wierd scallopy thing rather than a thin crimp so unlikely to snap. At last curiousity got the better of me and with the aid of an extended lunch hour I quested off to Denham. As I arrived I could clearly see the problem was well chalked and....


My left hand hold was still on the wall, yay! It would seem Tanman had been using a slightly higher crimp for his left hand to set up for the move to the jug, a hold that I didn't use. So whilst the rockface isn't in the same condition as for the first ascent the sequence of handholds is. In fact Bronze-a-saurus did me a favour by snapping off the higher hold he has prevented cheaty easy sequences being utilised :o)

Anyway I'm happy that the problem still stands and maybe a repeat will happen, get to it Tanners...

Busy doing nothing, working the whole route through...

It's been a while, lets not dwell on exactly how long. A period of time has passed. And how have I filled this time? Am I set to unleash a ticklist of such proportions as to inspire and impress the reader in equal measure? Not so much. A blow by blow account of my activities over this passed time would test both my memory and a readers patience so in short I have tried some and ticked naught.
How sad, what a waste of my time. Well no because today I had something of a revelation. The scales fell from my eyes and the truth was (in part) revealed. I'll let you in on a secret that has only just become apparent to me. When climbing a sport route you can fall off from above a bolt and not die in a horrible and painful fashion, in point of fact it is even possible to fall from above a bolt and not even hurt yourself.
Not much of a revelation? Well from the comfort of your (and indeed my) armchair no it isn't. However on the sharp end all scientific bumpff regarding loading forces and breaking strains becomes a bit academic, after all you are about to test these theoretical limitations in a manner which would be very much final should the lab technician have sneezed whilst placing that crucial decimal point...
Anyway for me falling onto bolts has been, well it hasn't been truth be told. But today I took a whipper (of about a foot) after climbing above a bolt. Progress.
So now I'm keen for Grooved Arete at Kilnsey, Chimes at the Tor, Caviar at Rubicon and something at Malham. If I could get two of these four ticked this year (hell even one) I'd be Mr Happy.
Off bouldering tomorrow in Silverdale, which is nice...