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.

The people have spoken...

... so I'll keep it brief.

Went Kilnsey.
Wet.
Went to Whitehouses.
Worked Growled.
Went home.

With:
Bammers
Guru
Tanners

Is that succinct enough for ya?
:o)

Water water everywhere and not a rock to climb.

I don't think I've got breaking news here when I say it's been a bit on the rainy side of late. However yesterday morning the Guru and I were engaged in an interweb debate about whether to venture out. I think we were both keen, but also neither of us wanted to drag the other out for a washout day, this was compounded by the fact that we were both carrying (very minor) injuries.
Anyhoo, after a bit of too-ing and fro-ing a Kilnsey based plan was hatched. I was not overly confident given recent cragside reports but the Guru assured me "Comedy never gets wet". He also advised me to bring wellies, good knowledge the stream was like a grade 5 white water rapid (or something...), the dog was almost lost in the crossing.
Anyway up the hill slightly late as usual to meet the reliably on time Guru who is grim of face. Everything is wet, even Comedy. There is a slight ray of hope though, the 7a+ at the left end of the crag is dry, as is Metal Mickey and Metal Guru. So we "warm up" on the 7a+, the Guru eases his way up, climbing smoothly, considering his moves, pausing for efficient rest and making steady relentless progress, he fairly effortlessly makes the lower-off. He even has the courtesy to pretrend that he found it tricky whilst I lower him. My turn. I'm a bit cold, can't feel my hands, overgrip everything and essentially bolt to bolt it before lowering off below the top too demotivated to make the last push up the easy finish. I don't think I've quite got this sport climbing warm-up thing down pat just yet... Kindly to the end the Guru claims that he wants to top-rope it again as a warm down so it's actually a good thing that I lowered off... Too kind sir, too kind.
Anyway on to Metal Mickey which we have both tried briefly before. This time conditions felt good and pretty soon we both had what we feel are workable sequences. But we also had very sore skin and no time, so a quick gear removal, pack up and we were off.
I think Metal Mickey is just about the perfect route for me. It is very bouldery, essentially it is two boulder problems on top of one another, but it is not so short as to feel like you're just putting on a rope to get a route tick rather than a bouldering tick. I.e. it is a proper route. Also it appears to stay pretty dry come what may, and that can only be a good thing given the current situation...
So I set out at the start of the Lime season wanting to do an 8a, and I haven't (failed again, spotting a pattern?). However I think I probably could have done an 8a I just didn't devote much time to the ones I tried, I guess they failed to inspire, and routes I have spent time on are a notch or two tougher. Right now I'd happily forgo a relatively quick tick of an 8a (assuming I could get one) for a more prolonged effort on the two routes that have grabbed me. They being Metal Mickey and Grooved Arete. Of these two I'm pretty much certain that the higher grade route (Metal Mickey, 8b) will be the eaier to complete as it suits me and I'm motivated to do it. I am equally motivated to do Grooved Arete but I feel that this will be harder for me (featuring as it does the ever elusive endurance) even though it gets 8a+. As ever grades are just a guide, climb what motivates and inspires.

Finaly I apologise for recent posts, they have been long, wordy and seriously lacking in the multi-media department. I shall endevour to rectify the multi-media aspect. The wordiness is because I want to explain a bit more beyond simply where I went and what I did, I've got a log book for that, but try to explain a bit of the why also. If it's boring don't read it (does anybody anyway) or post a comment telling me to shut up.

Right I'm off to concoct a negotiating strategy that will give me a pass out over the weekend, I may be some time...

Bridestones Revisited

I've never really got on with Bridestones. I can see the appeal and understand when people say "it's one of the top bouldering crags in Yorkshire" and such like but.... well we just don't quite see eye to eye. Which is a shame as I only live five minutes from it. Anyway over the years I have spent some time there and ticked my way through several of the problems but never really had a huge burning desire to go there on a quest for crush, it always seemed a bit low-key, picnics and family days, throwing balls for the dog and lounging with occasional forays onto the rock. But today I was keen to climb but pressed for time. All of my BIG THINGS TO DO are at least an hour away so they were off the menu, what to do?
But then inspiration struck, there is a problem at Bridies called The Worm and it's always been a bit of a weird 'un. The thing is it's a traverse which then finishes up and up problem, but there has been a bit of a lack of clarity over which up problem it finished up. There is an arete problem it could finish up, and then another problem a bit further round which it could also finish up.
Now I always thought that it finished up the bit further round problem and would marvel at the slopey scallops that you'd have to pull on to do this, it looked lovely but hard. Then I saw a video on Yorkshiregirt.com here and this finished up the arete, which made the given grade seem, well, generous. Various debates were had with various people with varying levels of knowledge and the upshot was? Well it was all a bit unresolved...
Anyway Yorkshiregrit.com changed the grade of the problem to 7b (from 7c) and the world kept turning. However I noticed this morning that some had posted a comment stating that the finish I originally thought was right had been done and the feeling was 7c+ would be appropriate.
Well given a short window of opportunity and a new piece of information about a local curiousity what else was I to do? Me and Bammers loaded up the van and chugged up the hill, a quick tromp across the moor and we assumed the position at the tilted pinnacle.
It took me a while to work a sequence for the end, I wasn't wrong those scallops were slopey and you need to go a long way the the last hold (well the last hold before the awkward, fluffable but relatively easy finish). But after a hours contemplation/attempts a sequence was in place. It all felt pretty steady apart from the last move which is (I may have mentioned this already) HUGE. Then I started to work the first bit of the traverse, this was worked out more quickly but was trickier than I was anticipating, hmmmmm. I also noticed that there was a footblock on the arete that was pretty loose so I decided that in the interest of Bridies conservation (the place is already trashed, no reason to make it worse) then the footblock would have to be eliminated. A quick sequence re-work and that was fine (and not really any harder). Now for the link. I was a bit concerned about this because the start was a bit more climby than I'd anticipated and the last move crux could spit me off all day long if it chose to do so. Oh well, on we go. First attempt I got round the arete but didn't get the next hold at the right angle, was set up all wrong for the next move so stepped off. Second go got to the last move and greased off a sloper with my right hand, then sun had come out from the cloud cover and was burning into the sloper, eeeK! Third go and it all went smooth, solid 7c+ this way I think.
I then did it the other way finishing up the arete, which was a complete scrittle-fest but much easier, 7b seems fair.
Anyway apologies for all this grade talk, I know some people don't like it but it is kind of essential to the story in this case.
So in summary:
The Worm - 7C+
Traverse the face of the tilted pinnacle starting at the crack, stay low round the arete and finish up Ear'oule via a long move. Excellent

The Shortened Worm - 7B
Traverse the face of the tilted Pinnacle starting at the crack, finish up the arete. OK if you like that sort of thing, where that sort of thing is a scrittly escape from the main difficulties of the problem.

Over and out.