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#675 Wales again.
October 07, 2015, 07:00:10 pm
Wales again.
7 October 2015, 1:07 pm



I went back, the weather was glorious this time, I didn't climb on any mountainy crags and I didn't do any really challenging trad. I did however, do a lot of walking in the Rhinnogs and got my final photo tick...



And finally got involved with some definitive Lleyn guide climbing at the charming Wylfa area (after meeting and chatting with The Crook)...



And did my hardest sport route (and hardest moves) on slate...



And took my best ever photo of a bee...





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#676 Re:  fiendblog
October 08, 2015, 12:08:55 pm
Nice Fiend! Great couple of posts, mucho psyche. Appreciated...

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#677 Re:  fiendblog
October 08, 2015, 12:43:51 pm
Nice, was Scissors good? Any day with the Crook is a good one, first time I met him was on Cilan too.

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#678 Re:  fiendblog
October 08, 2015, 01:00:54 pm
Scissors was cool, really quite pumpy for a jugpull. Tris followed it and kicked a foothold off near the top, falling off and cutting his finger.

I actually met Martin at a boulder traversing crag next to Hyll-Drem when we were hanging out with Terry Taylor. TT was working the traverse and a slow worm fell on his head at one point. Martin smoked incessantly and said that Wylfa West was "quite short" but "good for racking up several routes". Which I suppose it is, depending how much time you need to recover after each top-out. I abbed down past your and Caff's route, it looks evil!

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#679 The Calling
October 14, 2015, 01:00:04 pm
The Calling
14 October 2015, 12:40 pm



From Welsh Grit to Yorkshire Grit, but when will The Calling take place?? I went down this weekend for a pre-season friendly, well I use "friendly" in a loose sense as none of the 100+ climbers I have on two Facebook profiles (most of whom live very near either the grit or myself) nor anyone on UKC/B/A/Z seemed keen to join me for some routes despite it being such a bustly area. So a friendless recce mission it was, although as it turned out Rylstone was heaving with climbers and I probably could have tagged on to an odd numbered group. I didn't, instead I sulked a bit, walked a lot, lost some skin and didn't climb that much. Still it was useful recceing: Rylstone has plenty to go at in fairly decent conditions, Widdop is festering on the North faces but has a few appealing routes on the West faces, Simon's Seat solos are still too hard for me at this stage but should stay in nick for a while.

As for the calling....I'm glad it is in the hands of the frictional guru rather than the slippery paws of the egg-dropping lime thugs. This trip highlighted how difficult and sensitive the call is: The air was hazy but not humid, the wind was fresh but fickle, the rock was cool but not crisp. Lord's Seat was perfect in a perky breeze, Simon's Seat was unclimbable in the shelter and later sun. I reckon you could change 1 technical grade per 45° of relocation around the blocks. So we shall see what happens. I've got a surprising amount of grit psyche so am planning to start on the bleaker moorland crags before the weather gets too grim, then lower the altitude and swing sunwards as the winter draws in...

Here's some pottering and pondering:









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#680 Re:  fiendblog
October 14, 2015, 02:08:49 pm
Nice, love Rylstone, my favourite Yorkshire crag. I was on a solo mission when I did Poetry in Motion, and the jug at the top was full to the lip with water and slime. Challenging

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#681 Re:  fiendblog
October 14, 2015, 02:12:24 pm
Gulp, yeah that would be a bit nervy given that jug is a bit of a life-saver. Really neat moves I thought although the crux took a bit of figuring out. The White Doe pocket was less reassuring to reach. I'm hopefully going to go back with a rope on soon.

Compiler keeps missing out the Youtube videos I post, these are essential to the climbing / blogging experience, so here it is:


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#682 Re:  fiendblog
October 14, 2015, 03:56:01 pm
The White Doe pocket was less reassuring to reach.

One I'm not ashamed to admit is way easier for the ape like.

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#683 Zwei Grosse Weissbiers Bitte!
October 27, 2015, 01:00:06 pm
Zwei Grosse Weissbiers Bitte!
27 October 2015, 10:20 am



Lightning visit to the wonderful Pfalzer Felsenlands to meet PJ who was collecting a caravan from Cologne. Once again a great place to explore, but although being 25°C cooler  than my previous visit, there was almost no breeze so I didn't get to crank as hard as I hoped - feeling semi-strong is of little use when I'm simply sliding off slopers. I need to do some average windspeed research for next time. In the meantime...

Walking in through a forest. Like every single approach there. I don't know why I'm using the guidebook for directions as it's entirely in German and I understand about 10 words, 4 of which are the title of this blog post.

What it's all about. Autumn in the Pfalz could be very good for 'shrooming, maybe.

Triffels. One of the typically impressive bows of rock sailing out into the forest. Atypically this one starts with a rare proper slab with some rare proper slab climbing, with a much harder prow towering above. All of this is commanded from the bridge of the Burg Triffels castle further back along the ridge. Scenic...?  ...yes indeed. This is further around to the left of the previous photo, at the join of the slab and the headwall. Unfortunately I failed on a semi-impressive route on the headwall when I reached a slopey break and could scarcely hang on let along do a massive reach to the next holds. Hmph.

Practising Pfalz hanging belays. Soon after this we decided to give up on using the giant archaic ringbolts and just use the protection above. Actually pebbles were pleasingly common on this trip, along with....

...beetles. A fuckload of beetles, every day. Most of them seemed to aim unerringly for the approach tracks and bag-dumping basecamps, so I spend as much time rescuing the cute wee buggers as I did climbing. Although there was some good climbing...

One of many excellent grade 7s, which as usual features multiple and varied cruxes with good rests in between. This was at Burghaldefels, before sliding off a heinous slab on pebbles that I was far too sweaty to hold onto and left black with damp, but also before doing another excellent 7 that finished surfing along the crest of a concave wave overhanging 5m at the top of the crag. Once we walked out of the forest we realised it had been drizzling steadily most of the afternoon so no wonder the conditions were a bit flange.

More pebbles, more excellent 7s, more cool crags. This is the crux of Geierwally on the Ostwand of Geierkopf und Geierschnabel, and involved an off balance slap off a pebble and hidden smear to a sloper. Sweaty as usual but holdable. And in case you're wondering what sort of rock feature this took place on....

...yup, that one. Can you see why I like this place??

Walking around again. Forest, lots of forest. Very vibey place. If you like forest.

Zwei grosse Weissbier bitte! How every day finished: Walk out in the dusk avoiding wolves and trolls, go back to the Buttelwoog campsite, crank the caravan's heater to max, go to the campsite bar, order Wiessbier und Schnitzel or similar, eat with gusto, head back to the now-sweltering caravan, chill out and crash out. A nice routine although not one for watching the waistline, not least because of the universally gentle crag approaches. I'm not sure how much of the good fitness work from Wales I've undone with these decadent dinners, but I'll need to hit the training harder again...



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#684 Correlation is not Causation.
November 17, 2015, 01:00:13 pm
Correlation is not Causation.
17 November 2015, 12:04 pm



So they say. I am rather suspicious of the correlation between me enthusiastically exhorting to my climbing friends "This autumn and winter I want to climb lots of gritstone", and the weather getting incomprehensibly and relentlessly fucking atrocious. It happens most recent years, but this year has been by far the worst. We have now hit DAY 14 of rain in Glasgow, easily beating the 11 days of rain record when I moved up in 2009 (this is likely to reach 17 according to the forecast), and from all reports the grit and even the county sandstone have been little better. Apparently, scientifically, this is correlation and coincidence, not causation. My ARSE. Posting specific climbing desires angers the Weather Gods and they crush such dreams under their merciless storm fists.

So calling of the grit is wisely still up in the air, getting wet along with anything else out there. Calling of the plastic it is for the moment, andI've been training surprisingly enjoyably. Day 14 of rain may be a significantly repugnant record, Day 7 of training at TCA (spread over a few weeks) without getting pissed off, demoralised, weaker, injured, or having no skin left, is a more consolidatory record. I've tended to accept that coming out of a summer where I ended up climbing pretty damn well, I will be rubbish and weak indoors. Embracing this, I've been pottering around on weak problems for weak people, not worrying about pushing too hard, and generally felt okay. My main goals have been simple: Do fun problems so I enjoy training, and don't push too long so I trash my skin and soft tissue. Lower expectations, higher exceedence, and I've ended up feeling a bit of progression after a few sessions.

Now then, Calling Of The Spanish Limestone, anyone????



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#685 Near hits.
November 18, 2015, 01:00:16 am
Near hits.
17 November 2015, 8:30 pm



I'm all too familiar with the concept with near misses. While I may not have them a lot - preferring to fail by wimping out due to dismaying cowardice, rather than pushing to nearer my limit - occasionally I try really hard, get really close, and only THEN fuck it up spectacularly. And the nearness of the miss provides even more angst than the other failures and thus lingers longer in the memory. Lying awake at night, still not quite believing that you didn't do something you so nearly did... "If I'd just caught the right bit of the hold"...."If I'd just got my foot a fraction higher"...."If I'd just held the barndoor a second longer". It's quite surreal, you can almost believe you DID do it, because you so almost did. And then you wake up from the daydream and FFS no you failed even though it was that close.

The other day I had a near hit, and that was *very* confusing. This was back in Pfalz, when there was dry weather and where there was dry rock, on a route called Man Spricht Teutsch at (wait for it) Schindharder Kuckucksfelsen. Yes really, that crag. This was graded 8-/8 and as such is the hardest route I've done in the Pfalz, the challenge highlight of the trip, and a very good multi-crux epic up an impressive wall. It wasn't, however, my favourite climb of the trip, not even the top 3, despite it's quality. Why not, when I usually relish tackling such challenges and succeeding on them??

Well in this case, it was very, very nearly not succeeding. I got through a tricky bit, then cranked and slapped through the apparent crux, rested my way up an easier headwall, wary of the final bulge that of course turned out to be the real hard bit. Sweating and cranking through sloping pockets, high foot rockover with the rope in the way, slap into a dish, start falling off, micro-thought about grabbing the draw, slap past it regardless, somehow fall on and stay on and get to the obligatory single ring bolt lower off. So close yet....so near?? I did it, yes, woohoo, etc. Except the nearness had me not quite believing I did. I stumbled around for a bit before being able to belay, almost believing I didn't do it, because I so almost didn't. And whilst I relish the challenge and the fight, it was too close for comfort to fully enjoy. Not that I want comfort, but maybe a bit less luck involved... Still I guess it makes up for some near misses.



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#686 New Year 2016
January 04, 2016, 07:00:17 pm
New Year 2016
4 January 2016, 2:41 pm



New Year's Goals / Resolutions:

1. Go climbing as much as possible outside of Scotland and outside of the UK.

That's it.

Nothing else to blog about as the weather has been permanently wet for over 2 months now. I've been doing a lot of training indoors, at the gym, and micro-runs when it's been merely damp. Despite this I'd put on 4kg weight before Xmas (after losing 2kg in Wales), and am now the heaviest I've ever been despite training 5+ days a week, the tightness of my harness yesterday indicates this is more fat than muscle. I'm not sure about my actual indoor climbing benchmarking though, I think it is maybe 1 grade below previous for bouldering and 2 grades below for routes (the latter might be being out of practice though).



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#687 Ashes to Ashes.
January 29, 2016, 01:00:07 pm
Ashes to Ashes.
29 January 2016, 12:52 pm



I went to Simon Davidson's funeral yesterday. It's very strange when people ask "how was it?", as if there is any sensible or appropriate answer to that question. "Yes, it was great, top funeral, would heartily recommend". Hmmm. I guess it was good insofar as saying goodbye and mourning the dead can be good. A lot of people came and several of them offered very appropriate and heartfelt tributes to his life - the introduction about his climbing skills in face of the inherent risk in the mountains was particularly well put. It was poignant for me personally seeing his coffin arrive in his latest dodgy van (a transporter, last seen when he and I were sitting together in the VW dealer in Llandudno Junction, discussing the imminent Ł800 repair bill), and his rope brought along (I was quite familiar being tied into that rope).

Simon wasn't a close friend, and it was more shocking then upsetting to hear he'd died, but we did do quite a lot of climbing together including several memorable trips, and looking over these has made me grateful and appreciative of what we did together...

An early visit to Weem where I started to master the walk-in and got to grips with the excellent slabs...

A great visit to Skye on his birthday doing some superb sea-cliff routes...

A long day out seeking some dry Northumberlad rock in an otherwise dismal summer...

A lovely long weekend on Mull with lots of varied climbing and superb scenery...

An excellent Jubilee weekend which was rescued from an earlier van disaster and turned into a great trip...

The usual semi-local dicking around at Balgone Heughs , North Aberdeen and Weem again...

A memorable big walk-in big crack attack day out at Binnean Shuas (last paragraph)...

A superb day doing my best routes at the mighty Creag Dubh (and a quick hit to Gairloch after)...

And finally the last summer in Wales, we had a few great days spread out at Gogarth (he came to North Stack, lead some easier routes, belayed me on the route of my life The Long Run, and we celebrated with a curry in Bangor afterwards), The Moelwyns with Coel, and an action packed evening visit to Pen Trwyn after the van debacle. And finally the obligatory Pizza And Pint in Llanberis before I left.

 RIP Simon, cheers for all the days out.



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#688 Re:  fiendblog
January 29, 2016, 09:46:10 pm
I never met him, but lots of my mates seem to have shared a route/DT comp/random day etc. with him. Always diffucult to go to the funeral in these situations. Somehow it's worse not knowing the circumstances - makes it harder to do the usual self-delusional "I would have done it differently" thing that many of us do.

Another life lived well, but cut short.

 

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#689 Sharkathlete
February 04, 2016, 01:00:17 am
Sharkathlete
3 February 2016, 8:44 pm



So apparently the month of January for a UKB-following punter goes a bit like this:

1 - 0

2 - indoor bouldering + short run

3 - indoor routes + short run

4 - 1.5 hours gym

5 - indoor bouldering

6 - 0

7 - indoor bouldering + short run

8 - 2 hours gym

9 - indoor bouldering

10 - 1.5 hours gym

11 - 20 min run

12 - 0

13 - indoor bouldering + 1 hour / 4 miles walk

14 - indoor routes + 35 mins / 2 mile walk

15 - 0

16 - 1.45 hours gym

17 - indoor auto-belay and bouldering

18 - 1.45 hours gym

19 - indoor bouldering

20 - 2.5 hours gym

21 - indoor routes

22 - 20 mins run

23 - 1+ hours gym

24 - indoor routes

25 - indoor routes

26 - 2 hours gym

27 - indoor routes

28 - 0

29 - 1+ hours gym

30 - 1 hour sport climbing

31 - several hours sport climbing + 2 x 20 mins tiring walking

Yup it's the sharkathon, in which the aim is to do at least 30 mins of exercise everyday, cut down on the booze, and ideally eat a bit healthier too. A well-meaning post-Xmas boost sort of thing. I'm taking the tick for it, for the few days I missed, there were enough double days to compensate. And yes I'm counting 20 min runs with DVTs as 30+ mins (conservative, they're actually more equivalent to 40 mins previously).

TBH this month wasn't exceptional for me this winter, I've been doing plenty of training, the week before Xmas was back2back indoor wall + run days with long gym sessions (pre-empting festive food and also training for my brother and I's traditional Xmas run - it worked, I did new PBs of 2.5 miles continuously twice this time!). But the sharkathon did encourage me to be a bit more consistent and aware of my exercise. I found that anything after a inactive day felt desperate, whilst most things after a lighter gym or wall session felt good (and obviously doms / sore fingers after a heavier session). By the end I managed to beat or equal all my gym / weights PBs, and do indoor routes and bouldering close to normal.

Weight-wise I started *before* Xmas at a repugnant 79-ish kg and was so appalled that I haven't dared look since then. I think the sharkathon definitely required a lot of burying-head-in-sand denial of current circumstances and lack of any short term gains whatsoever in the blissful hope that it will all be useful in the future, whenever that might be.

As a bonus I've got quite into 0,0% beers as a way to maximise the refreshment vs. indulgence balance. Most are too bland or too sweetly malted, but San Miguel 0,0 and Erdinger Wiessbeir low alcohol are good, whilst my favourite Sainsbury's Czech 0.5% clocks in at 87 calories / 500ml bottle compared to 5 times that amount for many normal lagers which is pretty reassuring.



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#690 Chulilla
February 07, 2016, 01:00:10 pm
Chulilla
7 February 2016, 10:38 am



I went to the seemingly incredibly fashionable Chulilla recently. The UKB OAP massive were raving about it and even the Glasgow Grumpy Geriatric sport climbers have dragged themselves away from Upper Cave to go. That all seemed to happen before or over the festive period so it was pretty quiet when we went out. There's plenty of hype around: 40m mega-pitches, "sport climbing for trad climbers" with endless shake-outs and mini-cruxes, UK-style face climbing, people's best onsights etc etc. It's probably all true, I enjoyed it a lot anyway. All I can add is that it's all rather scenic too and the sinuous sheer-sided gorge is quite a dramatic surprise in otherwise unassuming countryside.

The weather looked like this:  And the wildlife looked like this:

Pro-tips (in addition to the common knowledge online):

  • To get to El Oasis and other nearby sectors, drive around to the dam. It adds 5 mins driving and saves 10+ mins tiring walking. However the upper walk is worth doing just once for the scenic bridges.
  • Don't head down the horrible gully at the town parking to "short cut" to the river below Lamentaciones. Head into town and turn right at the shop to gain the zig-zags.
  • Take heed of sunny vs shady sectors:  El Oasis is perma-shady in winter, Muro des Lamentaciones gets evening shade, La Pared De Enfrente gets it sooner. Your toes will thank you for any shade.
  • Most mid-grade routes aren't steep enough to stay dry if it rains, BUT Sector Cuevas opposite Lamentaciones has decent mid 6s upwards beneath huge roofs.
  • Take a bail biner if you have any doubts about doing / working a route. 30m is a long way to stick-clip up.
  • Take a decent tarp, most crag bases are dusty.
  • A 70m rope will do most mid-grade routes (including all but one listed), harder routes and a few exceptions will require 80m.
  • El Altico is a nice base, comfy beds and sociable vibe. Could be grim if busy but dorms are pretty small, although kitchen is too. Half board gets you a nice evening feed with red wine but breakfasts are minimal.
  • The guide is still trapped between OOP and the unpromising "coming soon", but the topos at: http://chulillaclimbing.com/crags/ are good enough, and El Altico has a full routes folder to browse.

Routes list / recommendations:

Sector Cuevas & Sector Penata:

La Caida Del Melon F6c - okay, bouldery start (soft).

Sindrome De Corbadia F6c+ - good and burly, neat line, bulge sates underused biceps.

Maquillaje Mental F6b+ - very nice, bloc start and endless pleasant steep slab. Shiney 35m lower off after best climbing.

(Amor Loco P1 F6b - described as a "satchel of wank", polished burly start (not F6a))

Crisis P1 F6b - good, interesting, start is a bit slopey and tricky

Smigol P1 F6c - great, cool veiny rock and continually interesting right to the chain.

Muro des Lamentaciones:

El Muro des Lamentaciones F7a - amazing, steep start then endless enthralling voyage up steep flakey slabs (soft).

Contacto En El Space F6c - great, very direct route, same steep start then continuously interesting but never desperate (not F6c+)

Yorkshire Pudding F6b - decent, varied, sting in the tail.

(Blue Agave F7a - good, mostly steady apart from one slopey pod section and awkward clip, avoid in warm)

El Ramallito F6c - good, steady then steepens up nicely for a great finish.

Nos Sobran Potxolos F7a - good, nice line, short with a fiercely crimpy crux.

Zikrutina Mientras Puedas F7a - decent, bouldery to start then nice short wall above (not F7a+).

(La Costa Nostra F6b+ - nice line, popular, described as good, techy and rounded)

El Oasis & Las Chorerras :

Top Of The Rock F7a - very cool, nice line, 3 boulder cruxes with good rests, steady if you focus (steady).

Richi F6c - decent but a bit unbalanced, grim start then more fun climbing (not F6b+, F6c for start).

(Nazgul F6c - very much the same)

(Olog-Hai F6c+ - good, cranky start into varied climbing and easier finish up nice wall)

Chamarilero F6c+ - very pleasant, steady start then escalates to techy finish past micro-tufa.

Orgia Sado En El Internado F7a? - good, several hard and very fingery cruxes up smooth walls, fierce (probably not F6c+, harder than F7as here)

Magnetorresistor F6b+ - good, worthy warm-up once past the "uk-style" slopey flakes low down, finish is very nice.

Plan Z F7a - very cool, lovely tufa wall, steady with thoughtful weaving moves and a great finish (soft).

Gargola P1 F6b - short but well worthwhile, thoughtful groove moves and not tiring.

Cantina Marina F7a - excellent, bouldery goey start leads to good moves leads to endless F6b into pure Kalymnos finish at 40m (soft, maybe F6c+).



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#691 Moving Metal
February 11, 2016, 07:00:06 pm
Moving Metal
11 February 2016, 1:40 pm



No, not that sort of metal, although you can't beat a good bit of Bolt Thrower for motivation, so here is some:



Instead DO YOU EVEN LIFT BRO. I do a bit of lifting at the gym, because I have to go to the gym a fair bit due to the meticulously and precisely awful weather and the restricted exercise options I have. I lift weights very unseriously - it's just one part of general gymwork including warming up, doing climbing complementary exercises (pull-ups, lying body weight rows, inverted sit-ups, leg raises, leg presses), antagonistic exercises (ring press-ups, tricep presses, dips), stretching, shoulder stabilising (arm cycling), CV (recumbent cycling, rowing), and general conditioning (light compound lifts, renegade rows). I'm training for climbing and general strength fitness, not to be . On the other hand pushing really hard for short bursts is much more fun than the rest of the gym bollox and provides more motivation to keep going.

Current PBs:

160kg deadlift (2xBW) - done with wrist-straps last winter, done with liquid chalk this winter. That's the only two times, and it's hard enough. Can do 140kg without chalk, just.

100kg squat - done a few years ago and I thought it was going to snap me in half. Now quite regular and almost comfortable, but 100 is such a neat number I'm loathe to try any more.

80kg benchpress (BW) - a recent PB and really happy with this cos it's BW and a neat number. I felt I'd plateaued on 75 for a while, 77.5 seemed intangible and 80 unfeasible so it's nice to get it.

45kg bar shoulder press - possibly rubbish due to chronic shoulder impingement? Not really tried it much, will aim for 50 next.

20kg/arm military shoulder press - quite happy with this.

20kg/arm bicep curl - happy with this too, done it both simultaneously and alternate arms.

18 pull-ups - up from 17 last year and done with only barely passable style but at least not Crossfit pussy-up non-style. Now this is an interesting one as it's the most climbing-related and also the only one which is clearly worse than in previous decades - albeit with good reason. When I was at my lightest in 2006/7, I could do 20 pull-ups reasonably regularly. The current 18 felt like it's only going to be sporadically repeatable, but I reckon 16 would be reasonably regular. So now I'm nearly 20% heavier and can do 20% less pull-ups. Hmmmm. I guess I can take that as a draw??

I do need to add a few things to this:

Max weighted pull-ups - cos that's what it's all about!

Max weighted dips - another neat bw + x one to try.

Now you might be saying "this is why you're pushing 80kg Fiend, it's too much muscle mass". Except I actually do very little of these weights, going for heavier lifts once or twice a week, and I don't do much of similar exercises in a session. They're are done in small set/rep combos of 5, 5, 5/3, 3, 2/1. I.e. warming up generally with 2x5, then heavier with 2x3-ish, then going for a 1 or 2 rep max. This is in accordance with the general wisdom (from gym staff, many sites online, UKB advice from regular lifters) to do small sessions of high weights and low reps to train pure strength with less muscle gain, compared to 10-15 rep sets for muscle gain (conversely I've watched a few bodybuilder training videos to confirm I'm doing the opposite of bodybuilding). Finally I really doubt that having 2" extra around my waist and 1" extra around my thighs according to my indoor climbing harness is due to massive muscle gains from 40 heavy squats / 30 deadlifts + 60 leg raises per week. Having said that, if anyone can provide any wisdom to show how I could tweak my sessions to avoid muscle mass gain / encourage fat loss, I'd be interested.

In the meantime I'm off to find a way to see how I can add at least 20kg for pull-ups...

 

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#692 Comfort Zonas
February 24, 2016, 01:00:13 pm
Comfort Zonas
24 February 2016, 10:10 am



So I went to Chulilla and punted around as usual. Actually despite having trained stamina over the course of exactly 1 week prior to the trip, I got it back quickly and did okay. I climbed 7 F7as, so I'm taking the F49g tick for that :). Most of these went smoothly, all that Culillan sport climbing for trad climbers bollox - I'm not bad at downclimbing to rests and shaking out into boredom. Numbers, schmumbers, whatever, they were all ace climbs so fuck you very much, ego. The point of all this is that Julie pointed out "You're doing these quite comfortably..." - I'd fallen off two 7as one due to heat and slopiness the other due to laziness - "...you should be trying harder things". She has a point, not because of the ever off-putting "should", but because I WANT to be climbing harder sport, I haven't pushed myself so much in that area and I'm enjoying doing harder moves on lead, slapping for holds and feeling able to go for it and risk falling off - sounds quite sport-suitable eh??

So on the last day I did. Despite it being 6th-ish day on I was still feeling good (El Altico's light dinners, wee drams of red wine and comfy beds no doubt), and went for a "mild at the grade" F7a+ - vertical face climbing with cranky positive moves between shakes, all in cool dry conditions, should be perfect for me. Needless to say I came nowhere near it, during the end of the crux sequence I just managed to clip a bolt before fingers uncurled in extremis. There was a slight user error that I'd climbed through the crux past the bolt and had to pause awkwardly to clip it, but pulling back on revealed sketchy and slopey moves to the top, I'd have had to be very lucky to have done it. Julie pissed it on top-rope despite being apparently too tired to climb anything. Whatever the strong midget.

Which made me think of my track record of F7a+s:

Success:

Axe Grinder, Creag Nan Cadhag - skin of teeth bouldering with bellowed encouragement from Tat himself. I was very pleased. Felt like a step up.

The One And Only, Brin - this might have gone down to hard 7a, whatever, tell that to someone who gives a shit. I was fully slapping for holds well above the bolt as I couldn't clip the one next to me. Soft but the experience was good.

Failure:

Puss 26, South Africa - I think this is the name, it was at some tufa-y limestone crag and it's the one I'm most gutted about as it was an amazing route up steep tufas and an animal related name. Far too pumped and maybe not confident enough.

Aphrodite, Kalymnos - too hard a bloc crux, not much to say really.

Alexis Zorbas, Kalymnos - sheer crozzly cranking and not a Kaly soft touch (which I generally didn't do there). Ridiculously close, fell re-adjusting on the pocket after the crux. Cue much swearing and tantrum. Thanks JadeL for collecting my shoes after. This one should have gone.

The Seer, Moy Rock - attempted after warming up on Hoy's South Face route a few days before. Fell off with fingers and feet tied in knots on small pebbles. Could have gone, but quite chancy.

Persistence Of Vision, Dumbarton - put off for years until I was climbing well. No chance really, it's just very tricky and fall-offable. Funny that, at Dumby...

High Pitched Scream, Weem - put off for years until I was climbing well. The guidebook description and occasional downgrade are both goatshit, it is nails. If I'd spent a month training specifically on the GCC and Ratho steep walls I might have stood a chance, maybe.

Sulaco, Pena Roja - see above.

Conclusion:

Okay I don't know what to conclude from that. Don't try Scottish ones as they are nails apart from the only 1 or 2 I've done are Scottish?? It all feels a bit like my approach to indoor problems and routes, the line between "finding this hard but can flash it" and "no fucking chance" seems a very slim one. I can usually do stuff in 1, 3, or 70 attempts. The edge of my comfort zone is a funny old place, I wonder if I need a passport and do they use Euros on the other side or just accept your soul as currency??



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SA Chris

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#693 Re:  fiendblog
February 24, 2016, 01:25:33 pm
You mean Paws at Oudtshoorn? Only limestone crag I know of in SA.

If so it gets 7b in the topo!

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#694 Re:  fiendblog
February 24, 2016, 07:40:19 pm
Paws, that's the one!! Good knowledge sir. A better cat related name than Puss anyway. I think it was 26 in the book but the 22 and 24 I did to warm-up were soft so I thought it was feasible. It was very close and with my current more comitted attitude I'd probably have got it (even though I was fit and fucking slim waaaay back then)

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#695 Re:  fiendblog
February 25, 2016, 08:19:08 am
It is 26, which is on the cusp of 7a+/7b. I've not done it, but I most 26s usual end up on the 7b side (although my single 26 redpoint is probably only 7a+ :( )

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#696 0,0
March 01, 2016, 01:00:09 pm
0,0
1 March 2016, 10:33 am



For a change, not BIG NUMBERS (these days unfortunately they tend to be either the weights I lift or the weight I to carry around, rather than ego-hollowing climbing grades), but SMALL NUMBERS. As part of a general procedure to try to reduce the afore-mentioned and ever-increasing carry-on weight, I have got into zero / low-alcohol beers (low as in 0.5% max, not that weird 2% piss that some crap lager brands are doing). I like the taste and crisp refreshingness of beer and have 0,0 interest in the alcoholic effect. I also have 0,0 interest in the 500 calories per bottle a typical beer might have, and while the low alcohol beers never taste as good as their fuller fruitier counterparts (but not bad for a quick post-wall guzzle), they don't taste 5 times worse for those missing calories - my favourite Sainsbury's Czech clocks in at 86 calories for a large bottle. So they are a worthwhile addition to my beverage arsenal (along with the ever-favourite diet soda water...), and they might be for yours too. Here's my findings so far:

Good:

Sainsbury's Czech 0.5%

Good crisp taste and very low calorie

Erdinger Wiessbier 0.5%

Nice taste with mild wheatiness.

Okay:

Bavaria 0,0 Wheat beer

Much nicer than the normal Bav, quite wheaty

San Miguel 0,0

A classic, not much taste but palatable

Estrella Free Damm

A classic name, another light but okay one

Morrisons Saint Urquel

Quite light but not bad

Goat piss:

Bavaria 0,0

Too sweet and malty

Cobra 0%

Too sweet and malty

Becks Blue

No taste as you'd expect from a big brand

Need to test Brewdog's Nanny State which I'm sure will be good...



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#697 Re:  fiendblog
March 01, 2016, 10:25:55 pm
Good post Fiend.  I'll second the top two choices.  I have a few bottles in my fridge of both and will quite happily down a couple watching the footie at home.  They taste close enough to the real thing, the Erdinger especially and more pleasant than drinking a pint of soda water or sweetened diet drinks.

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#698 Albarracin.
March 03, 2016, 01:00:10 pm
Albarracin.
3 March 2016, 11:11 am







Warning:
Contains 19 minutes of straight-up footage of 25 classic 6B-6C problems in reasonable definition (might load slowly) with a mellow dubstep soundtrack.

Not much to add. The village is very pretty, the weather was amazing apart from the last night/morning when it snowed and made an epic/scary rush to the airport. The boulders are plentiful despite the bird-banned sections, there are enough typical Spaniards with adventure mullets and dreadlocked dogs on string, but not as much crag crap everywhere as people said.

I didn't do anything super-hard (for me) on this trip, but I was pleased to get a lot of 6Cs flashed or quickly - there was too much choice to spend ages sieging stuff on a first visit. I'd happily go back for general exploration when the bird bans are off, or a more focused trip working some cool 7As I dabbled on.



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#699 What you asked for...
March 15, 2016, 01:00:21 am
What you asked for...
14 March 2016, 7:03 pm



...an indepth description of all current drum and bass sub-genres, of course :). "It's just a load of clanking and banging" "It all sounds the same" etc etc YAWN. Basically drum and bass (evolving from jungle) has been around for 20+ years and has split into many different forms from stuff you could play to your gran to stuff you'd get arrested for if you played it to your gran. So someone needs to sort it all out and make a presentable list for the general public, and here it is.

This list assumes the reader knows the basic form of drum and bass i.e. complex breakbeats at a 170-ish bpm tempo (rather than straight repetitive drums like techno) combined with a prominent looped bassline. I've tried to use commonly accepted genre terms although there is much variation, many grey areas, and many artists dabbling in a lot of sub-genres (e.g. my knowledge of the minimal / halfstep / drumstep genres is vague, some artist examples are guesswork). I've also included tangential genres that are not true dnb, and some older no-longer-used genres for reference and context.

Abstract - a less rhythmically smooth form of dnb where the beats and sound effects can seem more jarring with a less obvious, but still usually present, groove, and a neutral vibe, somewhere between breakage and minimal. E.g. Clarity, Overlook, Blocks & Escher

Atmospheric - spacey effects and sparse haunting melodies, often with crisp jungle style breakbeats and mellow bass. E.g. DJ Fox, Acid Lab, Pixel

Breakage - very breakbeat-orientated often with sparse effects and variable bass. Often uses the classic amen breakbeat or more complicated breaks. E.g. Equinox, Paradox, Bizzy B

Breakcore - harder and often much faster tangent of drum and bass, with emphasis on breakbeats sometimes mixed with irreverent samples and heavy metal effects. Similar in intensity to skullstep but usually less industrial-sounding. E.g. Shitmat, Bong-Ra

Clownstep - derogatory term for modern jump-up/wobble when it was first introduced, particularly when said genres have very simplistic childlike basslines. E.g. DJ Clipz, Twisted Individual, Generation Dub

Crossbreed - tangential blend between harder drum and bass and gabber, usually at the standard 174bpm tempo, but with the drums switching between drum and bass breakbeats and straight gabber kickdrums, and aggressive vibes. E.g. Outside Agency, Hellfish, Thrasher

Dark - emphasises dark sounds and atmospheres, often with a deep droning bassline such as the "reece" bass. Breakbeats and melodies are more variable but generally support the dark atmosphere. E.g. Paragon, Cern, Stranjah

Deep - roughly between dark drum and bass and liquid funk, having some of the dark-ish atmospheres of dark, but with the smoother musical melodies of liquid funk (or the spacey atmospheres of atmospheric but with simpler beats). E.g. Response, Seba, Klute

Drumstep - slowed down tangential drum and bass similar to Minimal / Halfstep but with more prominent, if slower, beats, not necessarily at a dnb tempo. E.g. Om Unit, Amit

"Electrofunk" - my own term for the lighter and most funky neurofunk, usually distinctly less intense than neurofunk with quirky, sometimes "clicky" beats and a strong upbeat groove. E.g. Mefjus, Rockwell, Noisia, Lynx

Halfstep - minimal style of drum and bass, very similar to normal minimal but with distinctly stripped down beats at 1/2 or 1/3 of the 174bpm norm. E.g. Loxy And Resound, Kid Drama

Hard - harder end of pure drum and bass before it gets as industrial and mashed up as skullstep. Both beats and basslines are loud and occasionally distorted, and might have complex but conventional amen breakbeats. E.g. Technical Itch, Raiden, Dom & Roland

(Hardstep - depreciated term used in the 1990s to distinguish early harder drum and bass (preceding techstep / neurofunk / rolling) from prominent jungle / ragga jungle.)

(Intelligent - depreciated term used in the 1990s to distinguish early mellow drum and bass (preceding atmospheric / liquid) from jungle / hardstep.)

Jump-up (old) - semi-depreciated form of drum and bass that was very prominent in the 1990s with Mickey Finn, Aphrodite, Hype etc, featuring funky basslines and hip-hop samples and vibes. Rarely made any more but some artists favour the sound over modern jump-up. E.g. Bladerunner, SR & Digbee, Serial Killaz

Jump-up (new) - evolution of jump-up drum and bass following on from the clownstep era, with very brash, squeaky sound effects that often overwhelm traditional jump-up basslines. Breakbeats are sometimes simple but sometimes quite abstract similar to drumstep. E.g. Magistrate, Konichi, DJ Hazard

Jungle - modern interpretation of the classic mid-90s jungle sound, usually with similar reggae/dub influences and emphasis on breakbeats, but with higher quality modern production values. E.g. Digital, Spirit, Skitty

Liquid Funk (or just Liquid) - a very musical form of drum and bass with prominent melodies, recognisable instrumentation and a generally uplifting and accessible atmosphere, but less brash and "cheesy" than and Pop And Bass. E.g. High Contrast, Calibre, Dramatic & DB Audio

Minimal - stripped down drum and bass with sparse drums and subtle effects, but still with prominent, often smooth bass. E.g. D-Bridge, Stray, Sabre

Neurofunk - more cheerful, funky form of techstep, with similar strong beats and a sci-fi atmosphere but more prominent distorted but funky melodies, often with a "squelchy" sound. E.g. Agressor Bunx, Black Sun Empire, Maldini & Vegas

Old school - see Jump-up (old), also would refer to most standard older dnb / jungle.

Pop And Bass - tangential blend of drum and bass tempos, breakbeats and bass, with pop melodies, vocals and effects, usually relatively lightweight and radio-friendly even if made by normal dnb producers. E.g. DJ Fresh, Chase & Status, Sigma

Ragga Jungle - MC-driven jungle with prominent ragga vocals. Often defined by the vocalists involved while the music is usually an older-sounding mixture of jump-up and jungle with reggae influences. E.g. Top Cat, The Ragga Twins

Rolling - very standard, almost default, form of drum and bass with the emphasis on a distinct, funky, hypnotic bassline and a straightforward two step beat. E.g. S.P.Y., Need For Mirrors, Jubei, Genotype, Break

Ruff - see Hard / Breakage

Skullstep - an esoteric term for the hardest form of pure drum and bass, with hard loud beats that might be simple or more usually very mashed up (but still at 174bpm), and industrial sound effects E.g. Limewax, Cooh, Donny

Techstep - techno-influenced form of drum and bass with variable breakbeats and basslines but a strong emphasis on techno sound effects and a sci-fi atmosphere. Often fairly hard-hitting and less melodious, but not as noisy / industrial as skull-step / hard dnb E.g. Fierce, Zero Method, The Sect

Trance 'n' bass - rarely used but still suitable term for dnb with strong trance melodies and effects over normal dnb rhythms, somewhere between techstep and liquid funk, and quite uplifting but less cheesey that pop 'n' bass. E.g. John B (who coined the phrase), Ill Skillz

(Two-Step - depreciated term used in the 1990s to distinguish drum and bass with a simpler "two-step" breakbeat from dnb / jungle with a more complex amen breakbeat.)

Wobble - see Jump-Up (new)

Upfront - see Jump-Up (new)

Vocal - a generalised genre where the emphasis is on vocals (studio-recorded rather than live MCing) with drum and bass of whatever genre (usually rolling / deep / dark) playing a supporting role. Vocals are usually either rapping style or sung lyrical style and the artists are usually in collaboration with normal dnb producers.E.g. Robert Manos, DRS, MC Fats

...

As usual any questions or comments, send 'em in.



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