Something old, something new...

Yesterday I was working in Huddersfield and it just so happens that with judicious route taking I can drive past Blackstone edge and Buckstones on the way there, and on the way back. Which is nice as both crags have a single piece of unfinished business from last year. I called into Buckstone on the way to Hudds (the walk-in is about 20 seconds) and checked conditions, it was damp in places but drying rapidly in the roaring gale. So I carried on to Hudds with the intention of visiting on the homeward journey.

A few hours later, job done and back to Buckstone. The wind had done a pretty good job, things were perhaps not in primo nick but not bad, not bad at all. Buckstone basically has one block of interest which is an obvious big roof. Last year I climbed a problem out along the right arete of the roof (Pig In A Pokey-7A+) and did a possible new problem along the left arete (Okey Dokey - 7B), I then linked Okey Dokey into Pig in a Pokey Reversed finishing with a right to left traverse under the roof and then up the side wall to give Okey Pokey - 7B+. I also tried the link the other way round (Pig in a Pokey, reverse Okey Dokey, left to right traverse under the roof then finish up the side wall) this however had the better of me last year. The crux move involved a not great right hand and double toe hooks the reaching between your legs to get a poor sidepull all whilst fully inverted under a horizontal roof. Anyway I went back and warmed up by repeating the three problems I'd done so far, then I worked the crux sequence had a rest and went for it. Success, it felt significantly harder than Okey Pokey so I think solid 7C and the name (in keeping with tradition) is Pig in a Dokey.
Anyway if your looking for a roadside venue with a couple of good roof problems and a couple of really rather silly link-ups then Buckstones is the place to be (as long as you can ignore the discarded bottles, graffiti, litter....).
Me on Okey Dokey (from last year)


Nik at Work on the First Ascent of Okey Pokey, Fb7b+, Buckstones from GCW on Vimeo.

Then to Blackstone where there was a "fridge hugger" project from last year. I worked a sequence that I suspect will be impossible for the tall and also managed this. Felt very hard but I was probably a bit tired. Didn't use a single fridge hugging move on the problem but the name has stuck so Fridge Hugger - 7B+ (although it may be harder, or easier)

A good day.

Today there were various plans for the afternoon playdate with G-bob. But in the end the weather dictated Silverdale, which was where I wanted to go to be honest. First venue Trowbarrow and G flung himself with gay abandon at the first move of Vitruvian Man, and his persistence paid off. Whilst he didn't fully stick the move he got about as close as it is possible to get to sticking it without actually sticking it. Good work fella, I think if he keeps his dander up then this will get crushed, beast. I spent my time not really doing anything, nothing dry was grabbing me so I mostly spent my time providing G with an unhelpful commentary....

Anyway we then went to Hyning Wood as I was keen to get on Transgenic. However the start was soaking wet, but looks pretty easy. And the last couple of moves were also gopping, and these don't look so easy. But the middle section was dry(ish, still a bit damp to be honest but pull-on-able) and I was pleased to pretty quickly get a working sequence. I also had a vague play on the last moves, but they were too wet for any meaningful pulling. However I think it's on. A great looking line, just need to get back in the dry.

All in all a nice couple of days and reasonably productive.

Indoors again

Sunday night G came round for a session on the board. It's good to have someone else to climb with on the board as it keeps motivation up. By myself I tend to get a bit bored after 40 minutes or so but with the G there we managed to keep on truckin for almost 2 hours, yee-ha.
Also having someone else devising problems means that I get a bit of variation in style, rather than just getting an enormous tract of problems that are climbed using deep drop-knees. Also, given G's massive reach, there tends to be some dirty long moves, longer than I'd conceive alone.

Anyway it's all good, but I want to get some more outdoor mileage in over the next few weeks before loading up the car. Objectives would be:
- a couple/few ticks in the 7C-8A range
- a 7A+/B flash
- fix the car boot lock
- get a new pair of Verdes and start wearing them in

Also noticed I have the best part of no photos or videos on this blog, which makes for a very boring read for modern man and his miniscule attention span. Moves are afoot to remedy this.

Final BIG news is that I have put a chin up bar in the kitchen at the little ladies request. She is determined to be able to do a chin up before the end of time, good luck to her I say...

Lessons in lank

Went to West View the other evening with G-unit. The session started well but I got weirdly pumped quite early and powered out big time. I'm thinking a bit of stamina work might be no bad thing. I guess this lack of stamina is inevitable as I tend to just try and do the hardest moves I can on the board, and most problems are only three or four moves long. Pretty much pure power stuff. Which is great bcause that's kind of the problems I aspire to do in the immediate future. But if I can only have a couple of goes at a problem before being burled out for the day then success is going to be hard to come by. Hey-ho.

Then today I went to Bridies with G. And, well, I'm trying not to write this, but, well dammit it's true, he lanked everything. I got totally shut down. We tried Jerry's and I couldn't reach the higher pinch, just the lower one that was awful and I couldn't use and blah blah blah. G failed to finish the deed but he got to the last move and looks steady away, he'll get it once he's overcome his usual fear of success. Then we tried Nine, which is reachy and I couldn't do it, G pathed it sideways with cheese. Then we tried something else, it was reachy, I couldn't even climb to the starting holds. G released his inner tiger and scrabbled his way upwards to victory.

Me and Kebs are going to have to have some serious words...

To fail to prepare is to prepare for failure.

It is now just under five weeks until I head South to the land of good coffee, exceptional pastries and climbing glory. Which realistically means I have four weeks of training time and then a week of generally trying not to get injured.

The problem is I'm nowhere near where I wanted to be at this time. I was hoping to be at the point where I'd ticked some more hard (for me) problems and could then spend four weeks just consolidating the burl and picking on specific highlighted weaknesse (this all sounds far more scientific and organised than the reality of what would have happened but hey-ho). Instead I feel like I've hardly climbed anything since the new year. In reality this isn't true, I've done several 7's including a 7C in a few goes which I would never have expected to have done last year. I think the problem is I've set my expectations to high and am disappointed when I fail to crush things that I think I should. It's easy to forget that 7A is hard, lots of people never climb 7A. So if you've recently done one give yourself a pat on the back regardless of what grade you normally climb.

So anyway this expectation has had a very negative effect on my motivation. To be honest this little Font aim (and the various other aims that have gone on as stages in the ultimate aims development) is the first time that I have ever focussed on a grade based goal. I've always previously had aspirations (as we all do) but they have been less well formed and specific. I'm not used to being so targetted in my approach and I have let it take over and remove some of the fun for me. And for me fun is everything for climbing. When I say fun I don't mean the "ooo aren't I happy and smiling so this is great" fun I mean in a broader sense, perhaps satisfaction would be a better word.

So my satisfaction has been reduced, not because I was climbing badly. Far from it, I am on the best form I've had for the last well... several years. But because I felt I was failing to achieve my expectations. I fell into the trap I've been wary of from day one. What a fool.

Anyway I am unlikely to tick any of my BIG 4 problems in Font. I'm still going there with the same list, and I'm still going to try and crush them. However whilst I'm not approaching this in a negative fashion, I am perhaps being more realistic. The ultimate goal was always going to be longer term than this years trip to Font and I think over the last couple of weeks I sort of lost sight of that. Enough of my warbling, the upshot of all of this is that now I am super psyched to climb, I had a good session on the board last night and I'm keen for more.

Bring it on...

St Bees, the patron saint of Cumbria

Went to St Bees today with the G and Bammers. First time for all of us so excitement and psyche was high. Well it was for G and I, Bammers was just a bit fed up of sharing the boot with a bouldering mat for 3 hours....
Anyway we got there, down the slippery slope of dooooooom, G celebrated our safe descent by flinging himself headfirst down a rocky gully, good skill. I went for a more traditional celebration of a sit down and a coffee, I'm proper old skool me. We decided to warm up on Headbanger. First attempt I missed the slappy first move, second attempt I got to the (easy) top-out then turned into a moron who had never climbed before, didn't know what he was doing up here and frankly didn't like it, dropped off, had a word with myself, third go crushed. Gets 7B in the guide, I'd probably go for 7A+ personally. But then G failed to make anything even vaguely ressembling progress and he can crush things, sometimes, honest, I've seen it with my own eyes and everything. To be fair G did seem to struggle with positioning his right foot correctly in a heel-toe-y type situation for the first move. He claims this is because he's tall, but maybe he's just shit? Who's to know.... No, I'm sure it's just he's tall.
Anyway the G wanted to get on Clash of the Titans. I didn't. I thought it looked hard and reachy in photos and video clips, and in the flesh I thought it looked... well even harder and reachier. I vaguely waved my hands at the starting holds before say "no not for me, but you try it as much as you like G, I'll just watch these chaps trying Undercooke, my that's a good looking problem". A couple of moments later we moved on...
Undercooke is ace, took two goes to crush this one but this time G put in his angry eyes and joined the party in a footless sty-leeeeee, go beast. I think this felt very similar to Headbanger so would think 7A+ ish. However it did seem very reachy so a less midget scaled person may find it easier, I think it gets 7A in the guide, but everybody knows that there all written by giant men.
After that we did a 7A prow/arete thing that would have been easy if you didn't have to work so hard keeping your back from dabbing the adjacent block. Then we did Fishermans Dyno (nice), I fell of the top of Hueco Crack Sitter (twice) and we both failed to do an arete.
All in all a nice venue and a nice day. I'd go back, even though it's a long way.

(P.S. St Bees isn't really the patron saint of Cumbria, she's the patron saint of monocles, stoats and sideburns)

Drizzlebarrow

An afternoon at Trowbarrow with G-unit in the drizzle, what fun.
On the way up I stopped off at Hyning Wood to have a gander at Transgenic, it was damp/wet but looks like a cracking line so I'm keen to get on it (add it to the list, which is getting silly long now). Anyway then on to Trowbarrow, G was already there as was Jordan of Buys. Having never met him before he came across as a thoroughly splendid chap. Another brilliant climber who also happens to be a very good egg, I love that about climbing.

Anyway I tried Pit problem as did G. We both failed, G at least managed to look like he was making movement upwards towards the next hold. I on the other hand managed to pull off the ground, not move at all, then fall back to the ground. Wank, wank, wank, I hate this problem. Some people seem to like it but I have to say I think it is a stupid contrived shit problem which climbs really badly. There I've said it. I'm not trying it again.......probably.

Anyway the we moved on to Vitruvian, or rather G did. I've already done it so I had a few goes but lacked that extra psyche that comes from doing something for the first time. Jordan was trying Iron Man, and was using a very different sequence to me. Basically he was going much further left than me, then back right to get into the start of Vitruvian. Whereas I went pretty much straight up into Vitruvian. It was interesting to see this as I had never even considered trying it the way he was. I guess that's the risk of working a problem in a vacuum.

Anyway G was getting closer on the move on Vitruvian, even if he doesn't think so. If he keeps working it I'm sure he'll stick it, just get the muscle engrams programmed and blah blah blah.

Then I tried Ned's Problem,which is awesome. It does the start of Iron Man (which is really nice climbing), then does a really nice sequence to the top holds on Pit Problem (which is really nice climbing) and then does the top bit of Pit Problem (which is the only bit of Pit Problem worth climbing and is really nice climbing). So all in all really nice climbing. Anyway I tried the middle move in isolation, then Jordan flashed it, then I tried it from the start and fluffed the last move, then did it. It was drizzling so the finish rocking onto the slab felt interesting... Anyway it's a really nice problem, highly recommended if your in the area and want a 7B tick. It was nice to do it quickly too, just a couple of goes.

Then it started raining more earnestly and G was getting no further on VM so the tiime had come to move on. A speculative trip to Woodwell found Not Bad Dave SDS to be damp, but we tried it anyway. The first few moves felt pretty steady to me, then there are a couple of hard slappy moves that I didn't stick, then the top which seemed fine (I only had one go at it and missed a slap for a hold but it was quite damp and yadda yadda...). I think in the dry and fresh the couple of middle moves should go down. Just need to heel the heel right up and applique le boeuf, n'est pas? And another one joins the list, and another on joins, and another one joins, and another one joins the list...

Off to St Bee's (probably) on Sunday, so I'll doubtless return with an even longer to-do-list. Toodle-pip old beans.

Back to the coal face.

A combination of illness, visiting friends and Spud and the D-unit falling foul of infection meant that I haven't climbed for two weeks. Certainly the longest non-climbing stint I've had over the last twelve months by a significant margin. There weren't even any sessions on the board and even my (admittedly very minimal and ill researched) stretching regime fell by the wayside. But today was a day of freedom, the family had been boxed up and posted off to the in-laws and I was feeling, well average.
First thing this morning was spent trying to establish where, if anywhere, had escaped the rain, mist and melt water. Enquiries were not yielding te positive responses I so craved, but amongst this there was one beacon of hope. A turd of grit that appears to occupy a climatic bubble. Of course it could only be Almscliff. Now this place takes a lot of stick from lots of people but for me it is a great bouldering crag. If anyone else can name me a crag of similar proportions containing so many great lines at so many grades. It covers the full spectrum from the very easy through to the nigh on impossible. That in itself would be enough to cement it's classic status. But it goes one better than that, it is (and this is purely my opinion and I have on stats to back this up) the grit crag with the most reliable conditions. In fact I would imagine that it is THE most conditions reliable crag in the country with a decent spectrum of problem types and grades. In fact I'm not surprised it's popular, I'm surprised it's not more popular.
Anyhoos enough bigging up the Cliff, and on to the climbing. My Ciff aims list consists of Keelhaul and Jess's Roof. However when I got there they were both wet (typical, I write a rant about the dryness of Almscliff on a day when it's wet), also it was windy so I felt cold and yet it was also quite warm so the friction felt poor. I decided to have a dabble at Streaky's on the Egg block. Bad move. I should have found some shelter, drank my coffee and told the dog a story. Instead I got tired and demotivated trying a damp-ish problem in poor conditions with my mats getting blown every which way. Arse. Anyway then Guru and Sam turned up and conditions started to improve. We headed up to DWR and I got stuck into DWR-LH. Conditions were OK, but not great but I ended up with a workable sequence that I think should go fairly quickly next time (in better conditions), it's a pretty basic sequence and not at all elegant but it works so tra-la-laa. Then I got tired and powered out so left the party to head home for pizza. As I departed I noticed that the Keel block was dry, and well populated with climbers, bum. Oh well, in reality leaping on an 8A project after a two week lay-off and illness probably wouldn't have been desperately productive so not to worry. Hopefully get more done this week, and maybe even tick something. Quite psyched about plans to head over to Wales but we'll see what the weather holds....

Anyway I've decided to unveil the top tier of my Font ticklist. This is basically 4 problems that I'm really up for trying. This list does not discount other problems, it may be that I'll try these, get shut down and move on to others on a more exhaustive list (or, hope of hopes I'll crush the 4 then move on to the 8B list). There is also a lower tier list which is of (generally) easier problems, but which is vast. And I'm not going to be typing that out anytime soon. I've picked th 4 problems which have really grabbed my interest, they may not be the best for me or the classics or soft or hard or whatever. They are just problems that appeal to me for reasons that are numerous and doubtless undefineable. Anyway this is they:
1) Noir Desir (7C) - Rempart
2) Beaux Quartiers (8A) - Bouligny
3) Toit De Greau (8A) - Greau
4) Fata Morgana (8A) - Long Vaux

There's a few things to note. First off, one of them isn't 8A. But I really want to do it, it looks amazing. And anyway even though this whole thing was about doing an 8A it really isn't about that it's about setting an objective which focuses my aims within bouldering. 8A is just a convenient marker, in much the same way as picking a specific problem would be convenient, but ultimately limiting. Anyway this isn't a job, I can move my goalposts will-nilly. These are 4 problems that satisfy the main thrust of my objective. In that they are steep (so not something I would previously have tried, let alone succeeded on) they are in Font (which is important) and they are harder than I have climbed in Font in recent years.
Am I setting myself up for a fall by naming these problems? No, I don't think so. I'm just letting the two or three people who read this know which problems are top of hit list. Should I fail to manage any of them I'm not going to die of shame or lose sponsirship or have my child taken off me by social services. I'll just come home and get back to work.
There's always next year....