[comPiler]

Desired Days...
19 April 2012, 10:40 am



North West trips

Lewis - 6 days

Dalbeg - 1 day

Mangestra - 1 day

Painted Wall - 1 day

Other areas - 3 days

Skye - 5 days

Neist - 2 days

Rubha Hunish - 1 day

Elgol - 1 day

Staffin Slip - 1 day

Wester Ross - 5 days

Gruinard - 1 day

Tollie Crag - 1 day

Diabeg - 1 day

Tollaidh/Stone Valley - 1 day

Reiff - 1 day

Caithness - 1 day

Sarclett/Mid-Clyth - 1 day

Glen Nevis - 3 days

Wave Buttress/Meadow - 1 day

High Crag - 1 day

Road/Scimitar - 1 day

Creag Dubh - 2 days

Great Wall - 1 day

Barrier Wall / Waterfall - 1 day

TOTAL: 22 days (in an entire spring/summer/autumn)

Other trips:

Other venues - 3 days

Cummingston - 1 day

Rosehearty - 1 day

Pass Of Ballater - 1 day

Aberdeen area - 6 days

Whisky Cliff - 1 day

Berrymuir - 1 day

Johnsheugh - 1 day

Floor's Craig - 1 day

Red Tower - 1 day

Other venues - 1 day

Local - 4 days

Glen Lednock - 2 days

Glen Croe - 1 day

Roslin Glen - 1 day

TOTAL: 13 days (when it's raining in the North West)

...

35 days...

...



Source:  fiendblog

[comPiler]

Random thoughts.
24 April 2012, 4:23 pm



It is raining and my mind is wandering. I can't train in the rain hardcore because my elbow is definitely fucked. Exactly the same as 2008 except this time it's my right elbow. I guess that means my left elbow has healed up pretty well since 2008, as this time I'm sure the injury is just general over-training (TCA + beastmaker campussing + cold days out on nasty reachy shite like Ley quarry), rather than a specific move on a specific arm. Which shows some promise if I can stick to the long term theraputic regime of regular gentle climbing, avoiding aggravation, massage, ice/heat, and eccentric wrist curls. Ideally the regular gentle climbing would be lots of trad days out....did I mention it was raining??

So wandering on to some thoughts...

1. Went to Ratho last weekend. Hadn't been for a month. Stamina sucked but not too bad. Falling practise felt surprisingly easy despite not having done any in the meantime. This is good. Hopefully I can train my mind hardcore (.....ish!!).

2. I really wish I'd been aware of the retrospectively bloody obvious idea that I can do single day trips to Glen Nevis and Creag Dubh in the last two years. I went up a few weeks ago, the plan was to solo some easy-but-bold routes, I got scared and did fuck all apart from the ace V4/5 wall on the boulders. That was scarey enough. The point being I felt like I had loads of time at the crags despite being sandwiched in between long journeys....and could have easily done plenty of trad. So....why the fuck not?? I've always had this idea that I've got to get a couple of days in to justify the drive, but fuck it, this is Scotland, you just have to drive as the weather and crags demand it. So that's the plan this summer. Assuming there will never be 3 consecutive dry days in Fort William (as per last summer), I'll do it in 3 single day trips!! The price to pay....fuck loads of petrol money :S. But what other luxuries should I spend money on?? Drum and bass CDs....err....hmm.

3. I need to remember the importance of sea-cliff conditions and in particular sea-grease. Not sure why this has occured to me. Oh yeah, I've been thinking about future challenges on both the invariably pokey Aberdeen sea-cliffs, and other greater sea-cliff venues in general. Lots of harder routes inspire me and the rock and vibes are often as good as the approaches are gentle. But the prescence of ace rock can't guarantee the abscence of a filmy coating of sea-skank... And I need to remember that and adapt my challenges to suit. And take loads of chalk.

4. http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/c.php?i=32205 This report from Southern Man is quite inspiring, on the subject of having an epicly screwed up driving-climbing ratio but it still being worth it to follow inspirations. Not that I'd do some rambly mountaineering choss like Direct Nose Route, but as per the Nevis/Dubh daytrip idea, I think I need to start putting more effort in to going further afield for shorter times....it might not be as neat nor as economical as getting everything done in a harmonious long weekend, but eventually it will add up and get more inspiring routes and venues ticked off. Which = awesomeness.

Meh. Still raining. Laterz.



Source:  fiendblog

[comPiler]

Lines Of Lust
25 April 2012, 1:19 pm



Inspiration + desire + challenge + exploration + variety...

Lewis:

Dalbeg:

Tweetie Pie Slalom  E5 6a ***

Limpet Crack  E3 5c ***

Neptune  E2 5c ***

Blessed Are The Weak  E5 6a ***

Various routes

Mangestra:

The Prozac Link  E4 5c ***

Various routes

Skye:

Neist:

Supercharger  E3 5c **

Wish You Were Here  E2 5b ***

Have A Nice Day  E3 6a **

Golden Shower  E4 5c ***

American Vampire  E4 6a ***

Fight Club  E3 6a ***

Rubha Hunish:

Whispering Crack E3 5c ***

Northern Exposure E2 5b ***

Elgol:

Digitalis E3 5c ***

Mother's Pride E4 5c ***

Staffin Slip:

Various routes.

Caithness:

Sarclet:

Occam's Razor E4 6a ***

A Paddler's Tale E3/4 5c ***

Reiff:

Headstrong E4 5c **

Wyatt Earp E3 6a ***

Crack Of Desire E3 6a ***

Various routes

Wester Ross:

Tollie Crags:

Each Uisge Direct  E4 6a ***

Murray's Arete  E3/4 5c *

The Shimmer  E4 6a **

Loch Tollaidh Crags:

Flag Iris  E4 5c **

Various routes.

Stone Valley Crags:

Demon Razor  E3 5c *

Flashing Blade  E3 6a **

Gruinard Crags:

How The West Was Won  E3 5c **

Stand And Deliver  E4 6a **

Diabeg:

Edgewood Whimper  E4 5c **

Porpoise Pun  E3 5c **

Wall Of Flame  E4 6a ***

Instant Muscle  E4 6a **

Rough Justice  E2 5c *

Glen Nevis:

On Some Beach  E5 6a ***

Freddie Across The Mersey  E5 6a **

Crackattack  E3 5c ***

Mutant  E4 5c **

Triode  E5 6a **

Risque Grapefruit  E4 5c **

Fingertip Finale  E4 5c *

Precious Cargo  E5 6a *

Creag Dubh:

Colder Than A Hooker's Heart  E5 5c **

Harder Than Your Husband  E5 6a **

The Final Solution  E5 6a **

Acapulco  E4 5c ***

Bratach Uaine  E4 6a ***

Case Dismissed  E3 6a ***

Ayatollah  E4 6a ***

North East:

Moray Coast:

The Prow  E5 6a **

The Essential  E3 5c ***

Senakot Rose  E4 6a **

Old Fashioned Waltz  E3 5c *

Aberdeen Coast:

Red Army Blues  E4 6a **

Downies' Syndrome E4 6a **

Sair Fecht  E3 6a **

The Pugilist  E4 6a ***

Johnsheugh routes

Various other routes

Pass Of Ballater:

Peel's Wall  E4 6a ***

Smith's Arete  E5 6a ***

Central Highlands:

Glen Lednock:

No Place For A Wendy  E2 5b ***

Pole-Axed  E4 6a **

Gabrielle  E4 6a *

Diamond Cutter  E3 6a ***

Glen Croe:

Edge Of Insanity  E4 5c **

Short Sharp Shock  E4 6a **

 ...so much of it, and so little dry weather.

This is is partly to remind myself and partly to keep aware what I need to train for.



Source:  fiendblog

[Ian T]

Well what can I say, I did 6 of your Skye routes this weekend. Must have got lucky with the weather I guess...

Fight Club was a bit sweaty and nearer E4. Add Inanimate Objects Fight Back to your list, it's one of the best pitches at Neist.

[Fiend]

You could say... come and live in the North West so you can go climbing there loads. Maybe.

IOFB is also a brilliant name. Thanks for the tip on Fight Club, it did look hard from below.

Why wasn't I in Skye last weekend? I had Sheffield friends up in Northumberland and wanted to meet up with them for the social and to reaffirm climbing partnerships. I can't remember the forecast but can't remember it looking guaranteed amazing enough to both sack off meeting my friends AND to justify the 5 hours drive compared to 3 from Ullapool.




Edit: On my blog I posted the grades (but not starts) in very small font, that doesn't show on here. Hmph.

[Fiend]

Also these routes are mostly major challenges for me, especially with my current fitness. I need to stack the odds in my favour with both conditions and preparation - I am trying to get to a state of readiness where I can just nip up for the weekend and rattle them off, but it can be hard.

[Ian T]

I'm only teasing, but my point is, you keep saying on your blog that it's raining, but that's not so. It's that the forecast isn't good enough to justify the journey. Which is fine, but don't keep saying it's raining.

[robertostallioni]

[Fiend]

I thought the journey/weather factor was implicit enough! It's generally dire in Glasgow but there's no problem getting to Dumby....if I wanted to, but I'd much rather go to the North West because I love the climbing and the area.

Since it seems you don't like me complaining about the weather (which is just me calling it how I see it....exactly the same as I post happy and excited blogs whenever I get out into those great climbing areas), do you have any advice that can help me with getting the most out of climbing in the North West??

Obviously MingTFU and readily doing a 10 hour round trip (which I always seem to be the driver for) for a weekend is one thing and now the days are a bit longer I'm prepared to do that. Training lots and always feeling ready to tackle my NW inspirations is another thing, again I'm trying to do that although it's hard. Back up plans of Caithness / Moray etc are fine too (albeit not right now!).

Anything else??

[SA Chris]

Phone service provided by North West Outdoors for up to the minute weather reports? Although I've noticed that sunny skies over Loch Broom don't always equate to nice weather on the other side of An teallach!

[Ian T]

I'll be sending you some nice happy suggestions and beta when I get the chance.

[comPiler]

Pondering on purchases...
26 April 2012, 2:45 pm



Maybe time to upgrade a bit...

• 8 x Alpha Light 12cm Quickdraws
• 2 x Alpha Light 25cm Quickdraws
• 4 x Alpha Light Krabs for long extenders
• 2 x 60cm 12mm slings
• 3 x Camalot C3 Cams
• 12 x Alpha Light Krabs for cams
• 2 x Shadow Screwgates
• 1 x Boa Screwgate
• 1 x Sentinel Screwgate

Almost all of that is to replace my current older, heavier gear, to make my gear lighter = less weight in rucksack = easier to do walk-ins = more energy at crag = bigger numbers = more fun.

Except for the C3 cams, these are to replace my 9 year old size 0 and 00 Camalots which are getting fairly trashed (average 2-3 lobes on each has had a snapped and repaired trigger wire!), and to give me more options at smaller sizes.

I was considering getting a few Oval krabs for racking wires, but they tend to be bulky and heavy, so for the moment I will stick with the notchless Black Diamond Positrons from my current quickdraws, as the notchless wiregates seem to be a bit angular shaped to be worth buying as racking krabs - unless anyone has any suggestions.

At some point I might get 2 x Omega Link cams, to give me more options for longer and variable protection routes. Obviously these are pretty heavy and would negate some of the weight loss above but they are the only additions I think would be truly useful. I'd also consider Wild Country Superlight Rocks to replace my second set of smaller Wallnuts but I'm not sure they'd be that much better.

These are very carefully considered purchases to enhance my climbing and help compensate for the issues that inhibit it. Maybe time to stop pondering and actually purchase...

 

Source:  fiendblog

[csl]

I've got superlight rocks as doubles for my smaller wires, I'd recommend them. Often go places walnuts won't. And i wouldn't bother with ovals for racking, easy to get confused which way up they are. I always find old solid gate d shape crabs the best for racking, in fact i'd recommend crabs with a notch, can loose wires off a notch less one pretty easy.

[Fiend]

Yeah fair point about the Superlights. I don't find myself that stuck for wires with 2 x 1-6 wallnuts, tiny hexes and a full set of peenuts and rps, but I can see their benefits, especially the squarer profile. Will start to monitor my wire placing and see if they could be beneficial.

My wires are on notched gate krabs at the mo, I have occasional problems with wires getting snagged on the gate so I think notchless will suit me better. Might see if there are super light notchless Ds available (i.e. not Alphas).

[SA Chris]

What size omegas are you considering? Worth looking at the metolius supercams if you want something to cover a wide range. We've got a big one if you want to borrow it for a play next time you are up here.

[Fiend]

Small purple and medium red. I used them in Sweden and found them pretty useful. I think the principle is sound that on most non-Utah routes, you don't need many extra cams, but you could need any size. Also they are totally fun to play with when you're bored waiting for partner to rack up etc

[SA Chris]

Yeah, that was why I got the supercam; should I ever accidentally stray onto a wide crack (i never intentionally go near them!) it's good to have something covering a really wide range to fire in.  Especially hand in long mountain routes where you don't want o have to lug a couple of big cams along. Plus they are fun to play with!

[Ian T]

Looks pretty primo for this weekend. Crags are all pretty dry. It is cold but anything south facing should be fine.

[SA Chris]

Wellies or Waders for walk ins though!

[Fiend]

Thanks Ian, have been glued to the Ullapool/Portree forecasts. And thank fuck have got someone to meet up with.

Wellies never leave the car....although with walking poles I seem to be able to spring over bog patches okay

[comPiler]

Weak in Wester Ross
2 May 2012, 9:06 pm



First things first: The new blogspot site / post composition is utterly fucking rubbish. Very user-unfriendly, obscure menus, normal post options made inconvenient, switching between compose mode and HTML mode is broken (randomly adds loads of line breaks in some cases), compose mode with photos produces a load of bloated HTML that takes ages to edit. Just like Metoffice's truly appalling disaster of a new "site" and Facebook's ridiculously bad Turdline farce, this is another site with a redesign specifically to make things harder and annoying for users. Take note Blogspot - you normally provide a good service, but you fucked up this time. Please stop it.

Anyway this is a blog mostly about climbing (and occasionally trying to educate people with properly good dance / metal music), and I did some climbing recently. 2 days in glorious sunshine at Loch Tollaidh and Diabeg. Always a pleasure to visit those areas, even if Diabeg is a bit of a polished trade crag - which I nimbly avoided by doing some lesser-known classics. Unfortunately I also nimbly avoided any semblence of progression or challenge or getting on and putting some effort into things. I just didn't have any OOOMPH. There might be a few reasons: tired from early start and long drive, tired from rubbish nights sleep and general worries, lack of power training due to elbow, general weakness due to elbow, lack of warming up on suitably ooomphy routes. But really there was also a tedious lack of determination and ooomphing the fuck up. At the end of the day I had plenty of fun and it was a NICE weekend (the highlight being Phil's choice of an exceptionally good local game terrine for a picnic lunch), but I felt I missed out on giving more effort to the climbing and reaping the rewards.

As a slight aside, I popped out locally recently with new local Jade and fleetingly visiting old skool gnarler Duncan (who has been climbing for nearly as long as I've been alive, maybe there is hope for me yet!). Limited to local, we cruised to Craigmore and took advantage of the fresh breeze brushing through the shrouding trees. Just a couple of routes each, but it was an interesting experience on Spinal Wall -  I had scrubbed the breaks on this a few years ago and never got back to lead it. However now someone has thoroughly cleaned it, in a "wirebrushing the entire sheet of rock" sort of way. Fair enough as it should get a lot more attention and is possibly the most substantial lead up to and including it's grade at the crag. I had vague recollections of lots of little cam and finger breaks....obviously too vague as they all seemed to be thin, flared, and rounded!! Thus requiring some care with the cams and some tenacity with the fingers.

In other news my elbow is still properly fucking tweaked. I am trying to maintain a good balance of climbing and resting and theraputic exercises, although annoyingly taping across the injury site seems to be mashing up the other side of my arm with the tape cutting in :S. The weekend away was okay, the cold cranking at Craigmore was much less okay. Ugggg.

Spinal Wall gurn

Spinal Wall grunt

Flake Crack

Source:  fiendblog

[comPiler]

Going Nowhere in Glen Nevis
6 May 2012, 11:42 am



A flying visit to Glen Nevis, testing out my single day trip theory. It worked fine time-wise: I had a reasonable and non-Alpine start (although the weather had some Alpine potential....snow storms at Crianlarich, but glorious from Glen Coe onwards....and then exactly the reverse on the way back), climbed on 3 different buttresses across the Spectrum of Polldubh (Road > Scimitar > Nameless), recced a few other buttresses, was back in the car at 7 and back to Glasgow in daylight. Thus one can easily fit in plenty of climbing....or plenty of dicking around being a punter, if one is so inclined.

I am NOT that way inclined but it is the situation I find myself in. I have strong and genuine desires to push myself on some challenging and exciting routes, and once again I feel a world away from the physical and mental state to do so. This time, despite a winter building up finger strength, a reasonable transition into stamina training, plenty of trad mileage recently, a good top-up session purely for finger stamina this week, and a relaxing active rest Friday, I failed utterly on having enough finger stamina to do an easy but bold route. I lowered off (skyhooks!) and was disappointed not with failing to do the route, but just being so physically weak and pumped.

On the plus side, I did one pleasant warm-up route, and one very good steady route on Nameless (Diode, a brilliant hidden classic), usefully recced some other routes, and now have the opportunity to ponder on why I am climbing so mediocrely and what I can do about it. What springs to mind is:

1. Relative lack of climbing specific training: Although I have been gymming and walling okay, I have been taking it a bit easy due to my elbow, and think I have lost some pure climbing strength/endurance/stamina.

...Last week's TCA finger circuit session felt okay on my elbow and seemed to be a good training balance, so I will do more of that, more regularly, to keep my fingers strong whilst hopefully avoiding overtaxing my elbow.

2. Reduction of Citalopram dose and possible increase in anxiety: Not sure if this is a factor but it could well be affecting my confidence overall.

...I will keep up with the falling practise down the wall, and also maybe outside IF I fail on a safe route I can practise jumping off onto gear (not skyhooks!). Regular climbing mileage might help too.

3. Other distractions: Maybe!

...Am working on sorting those out, and in the meantime, easing the pressure on myself to progress and keeping my hand it should set up a good basis for pushing myself later on.

I think in general getting some mileage in should be pretty useful and pleasurable at the moment, and luckily there are still plenty of places for me to explore and enjoy - Reiff, Skye, Sheigra area, even back to Glen Nevis and Ardnamurchan - without restricting myself to major challenge inspirations. So that might be the best plan for now, while keeping aware of when I feel ready to push a bit harder.



Source:  fiendblog

[comPiler]

B0rked Bouldering.
11 May 2012, 8:40 pm



Apparently my bouldering hitlist for this winter was:

Pump Up The Jam, various - Skye - never got there

Razorback, Romancing The Stone, various - Reiff - nope, had a look, was cold and windy and Razorback looked horribly reachy dyno bollox.

Various - Reiff In The Woods - nope, had a look, failed on everything but got close to the cool roadside wall, never got back though.

The Ship Boulder - Torridon  - never got there

Blankety Blank - Torridon - never got there

Various - Cammachmore - never got there

Big Lebowski, The Dude - Ruthven Boulder - never got there

Brin Done Before - Brin Rock - never got there

Deep Breath Arete, Hamish, various - Glen Nevis - nope, DBA was uninspiring lip traverse with bad landing, Hamish looked stupidly sandbaggy, did lots on the other side of river.

Pyramid Lip - Glen Ogle - never got there

??? - Loch Sloy - never got there

Swap Meet, Ace Of Spades, various - Glen Croe - nope, had a brief look but only did easy stuff.

The Bottler - Loch Lomond - never got there

Nameless Pimp Toy - Stronlachlar - never got there

The Chop - Weem - never got there

Various Corrie Boulders - Arran - never got there

Suck My Woolie, Snow White - Garheugh - never got there

Wow! 0% success... Epic mega-fail. Or mega epic-fail. I have even impressed myself this time, with my ability to not only avoid getting up any of these problems, but to avoid getting on them and even getting anywhere near the location. I did have good days at Shaftoe, Queens, Carrock Fell, and Glen Nevis Southside though. Just strange how I managed to avoid all the things I intended to do!

Given the weather - hardly the tropical trad weather window May mostly brings - it is still quite possible that there will be good conditions for some of these. But of course I'm too injured for most if not all of them, although a select few might be attemptable with care....I shall see...



Source:  fiendblog

[comPiler]

Nice Neist.
21 May 2012, 5:23 pm



Finally got back to Skye this weekend, after only a year and half of trying to get back since September 2010. Finally got back to Neist, which is still awesome. I love many things about Neist....it's the furthest Westerly point you can drive to in Scotland, it has a proper end-of-the-earth feel, the backdrop of imposing choss cliffs is dramatic.....but the highlight is the view out to sea, a simply stunning panorama of the Outer Hebrides as far as the eye can behold...30 miles away and stretching for over 100 miles. And then beneath all of this you've got a ring of dolerite crags and sea-cliffs, tapering around the headland to the Neist lighthouse, only interrupted by the prominent pinnacle of An T'Aigeach...

http://hqworld.net/gallery/data/media/137/neist_point_lighthouse__isle_of_skye__inner_hebrides__scotland.jpg

(copy and paste to address bar)

...on which I finally got to climb Supercharger - this happens to be the route up the front of the pinnacle, but in a rarity for me, the actual route is secondary to the summit tick. Many tourists gain the tick by a casual stroll, we did that, abseiled straight down, and regained it via a variety of good climbing, bad climbing, imposing sections, easy rambling, grassy grappling, and occasional perched blocks. A satisfying adventure that went pleasingly smoothly.

On the second day we stuck to the strictly "good climbing" style and went down to the classic-cluttered Financial Sector, full of sheer single pitches that always give....good value ;). Having done some of the harder climbs there, I mostly bimbled through the day, aided and abetted by now being a team of 3, and a shoddy night's sleep in the cold tent. The one remaining challenge had bad rock at the top, so I left that alone and stuck with some steadier but good climbs - all enjoyable though.

So another weekend of pottering and treading water, but a more satisfying one than some due to the excellent and long-desired location. Glasgow to Neist makes a mightily long weekend of driving, but being familiar with the areas did allow us to get climbing pretty swiftly. It's tiring overall but if that's what it takes to make use of these distant areas, sobeit.

I still need to work on pushing and progressing my climbing. The current mileage will no doubt help....and hopefully the inspiration of exciting venues can summon the determination to be truer to my climbing desires.



Source:  fiendblog

[Ian T]

Nice one Fiend, but you could of saved all that petrol money by just going to Auchinstarry