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Fight The Power
30 November 2011, 12:32 pm



I can't fight the power of the weather. As predicted it crapped out spectacularly. Glasgow escaped the worst of the storms but roadside floods are becoming the norm not the exception. Needless to say I've been reduced to training at the admittedly inspiring (if frustrating in my current state) Climbing Academy, and trying to find a balance between pushing myself to slow the decline into weakness, and not injuring myself trying to haul my corpulent carcass in an upwards - or sideways - direction.

I can't fight the power of the screwy chemicals fizzing around in my mind. I've been changing some medications to try to stop the incessant weight gain I've had in recent years (no, not the Glasgow diet, as nice a deep-fried pizza is I haven't had it for months), and the short term side-effects are harsh. Anger, agitation, anxiety are currently characterising my life and inhibiting many activities - and making me feel shit about that inhibition, woohoo, stupid brain! I did have some respite over the weekend, clearing my mind with some relentless hardcore beats in the Industrial Strength Records 20th Anniversary room at Fantazia at the Arches. Dancing to gabber is waaay more productive than trying to run / walk uphill, so evidentally I need to get clubbing more. Both Youtube vids are highlights of the night :).

I can't fight the power of the stupid fucking gayflu cold I've just picked up. Although I guess I might as well get it out of the way at the moment.

Hopefully when the gayflu fucks right off and chemicals settle and the training works enough to at least achieve an equilibrium of fatness and weakness, I'll be able to get on with following some inspiration and rad trips out and about won't just become...



Source:  fiendblog

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Walking Corpse.
5 December 2011, 12:34 pm



^^^ this has been me in the last few days. The gayflu has been especially gay and seasoned with lashings of a mild throat infection (feeling a bit like the Brutal Truth vocalist sounds) for the optimum blend of crappness. I've turned down wall sessions and good forecasts in the County and have been set back a good week in general logistic progress, so I feel like a walking corpse mentally too, BLUURRRGGGGHHHHH. Hopefully I'm getting over the worst and will be able to get back into things with renewed energy soon.



Source:  fiendblog

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Misanthrope Mission 4.
19 December 2011, 11:23 am



35 days since I last got out. Yes the weather and my gayflu (still persisting, on 2nd course of antibiotics now) have been that bad. Jesus. This mission took some effort, I really didn't feel great trying to wake up early and get going for it. So it was a late start, a LOT of driving and a bare minimum of climbing. But still good - back in touch with the purpose of winter and my purpose in life.

The forecast was good all over the County, so after much East vs. West deliberation, I decided to take advantage of the dry West and give Queen's another go. It was very crisp and bone dry....and completely snowed under there. Hmmm. I'm not having much luck with Queens! Onwards to Shaftoe which has everything facing in every direction and that worked pretty well as the sunny stuff was warm and dry and the shady stuff was cold and frozen and when the sun went down there was stuff that was cold and dry yay for friction. Before that I pottered about and recced Shaftoe South and came to the following conclusions:

Cafe Noir - worth a lead! Good line and obvious gear in a flake.

Antler And Deck - looks good and quite feasible, need mats and spotter.

Butch Cassidy - ditto.

Little and Often - crude but okay but top was iced up.

Pocket Rocket - looks crude and bland and too hard.

The cave stuff - very trad looking, best for summer power training.

Duvel - too small.

12 6c - too small and wrong on topo (shown perched over 10m drop!)

Slim Shady SS - looks good, bigger than it seems and perfect landing.

After that faffing and not climbing much I ended up in the Central Area to try to maximise the conditions on some of the sloping walls. Buford T Justice (not Belford, oops), I very nearly flashed by sheer determination but muffed my foot on the last move. Boo. I then ended up working it with the camera battery in my pants to keep it warm. That helped as I did it in the end. Despite being an eliminate it's a cool problem with some miserly slopers! Moved onto Smooth Wall, after a few goes this seemed impossible - similarly poor slimpers but this time with a bulge in the way. But! Lo and behold I worked out a foot placement and suddenly it seemed very feasible - this was exciting. Unfortunately despite getting super-close, I had to keep waiting for my skin to cool down in between attempts, and while I had the patience for that, the daylight didn't and buggered off leaving me to walk out in the pitch dark. But not before I saw a mouse scuttle across the frozen marsh beneath the wall (presumably very cold) and an owl swooping around (possibly solved the mouses coldness permanently).

So yeah. Another day with an epicly b0rked driving:sending ratio, but cool to get out at last!!



Source:  fiendblog

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Festive fun.
27 December 2011, 8:56 pm



Balls to Christmas, but at least en-route South to meet with friends, family, and food, I got to briefly indulge in the fourth festive F - fun climbing. Northumberland was, as usual, the only dry place and the obvious choice. Bleak grey weather made everywhere much of a muchness, so I decided to explore esoteric Edlingham, a useful recce if nothing else. In the end I only recced the Homo Horizontalis and Whale buttresses, which was enough. The latter was dry but a bit "under-appreciated". I got to work with chalk dusting and gentle brushing and the holds started feeling good. Just as I got it clean enough, it started raining. Woo-fcuking-hoo. Homo Horizontalis turned into Homo Coweringus Shelteringus and luckily it passed. A quick romp up the Harpoon problem, a quick fiddle on the harder wall next to it, and that was enough.

The next day I visited my old haunt of the Climbing Works. It's getting very grubby but the atmosphere is good, the amount of problems is vast, they keep tweaking it and the comp wall structure is ever-fluctuating. I had a pretty good session there, which made Christmas sedentation more tolerable. I think the latter has outstayed it's welcome with me so I need to get back gymming/training/climbing ASAP.



Source:  fiendblog

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Annus Demi-Horribilis.
31 December 2011, 11:58 am



Or should that be Anus Demi-Horribilis??

This year has been a year of two halves for me:

Part 1:

Malta - great

Later winter bouldering at Ruthven Boulder, Loch Sloy, Clashfarquar etc - very nice and satisfying

Pedriza - great

Long weekend in Mull - superb, best Scottish trip all year

Long weekend in Gairloch - very good

Long weekends in Caithness and Stranraer - good

Sweden - super-awesome

Brief trip to Creag Dubh and Camel - good

Generally maintaining an enjoyable E3 standard every trip out - pleasing

Losing a few pounds in Sweden - reassuring

Part 2:

Terrible weather all summer - suckage

No trips to Lewis / Skye / Ardnamurchan / Glen Nevis - suckage

No Indian Summer respite - suckage

A couple of decent trips to Aberdeen and local crags - pretty good

2 weeks of dry weather in November - some respite for bouldering

Increasing weight gain - very demoralising

Decreasing fitness - very demoralising

TCA opening - great training and a useful mercy

Exploring the County bouldering - good

Hard work changing medication to reduce weight gain - just plain hard

Persistent man-flu / throat/chest infection - suckage

It's pretty simple:

Good weather and trips away = good health and good spirits = right.

Terrible weather and less climbing = bad health and bad spirits = wrong.

Incidentally, my other interests have been pretty fun this year - have painted some cool figures, listened to some great drum'n'bass / hardcore / metal, and played a lot of good PC games - all of which is nice and passes the time during the incessant rain / rest days, but as fun as all those things are, they play supporting roles, not the main performance.

I've realised that the regular climbing lifestyle is not just important to me as it's the biggest inspiration to me, it's essential to me as an active lifestyle that balances out my mental and physical health issues. I am who I am and that is what's right for me.



Source:  fiendblog

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Tunes of 2011.
1 January 2012, 7:40 pm



...available on good old physical media at your chosen outlet.

Origin - Evolution Of Extinction (Entity CD)

Track of the year from album of the year by metal band of the year - the epitomy of their precise, complex, well-crafted and utterly brutal style.

Cern, Dose, & Teknik - Huntsville (Commercial Suicide Compilation CD)

Drum and bass - music that keeps on giving....and keeps spreading in ever-more diverse areas. Sticking with straight up modern techstep, this track was a real eye-opener for it's unbelievably filthy sound. Less future funk and more steampunk funk.

Donny - Something Terrible (Riot & Revolt CD)

The harder side of DnB has diversified too with the hardcore/breakcore/idm/dnb crossover being increasingly fertile ground. It often gets too mashed up for me, but when the artists blend the toughness with a straight up dnb groove, you get properly good tracks like this one.

All Shall Perish - The Past Will Haunt Us Both (This Is Where It Ends CD)

A return to form for All Shall Perish and a beautiful death metal love ballad. Which vile twats say heavy music can't have any soul or emotion??

Gridlok - Enemies Of The State (Commercial Suicide Compilation CD)

I'm not the biggest fan of the choppy offbeat steppy style of DNB, not of Gridlok's overly-bleepy production. But sometimes two wrongs make an irrefutable right in this brilliant epic industrial dnb soundtrack.

Eye-D & DJ Hidden - Battlefield (Peer-2-Peer Pressure CD)

A great, refined and interesting CD by perhaps the foremost purveyors of the gabber/dnb crossover. They bring dnb influences into awesome hardcore tracks like Hell's Basement, and hardcore influences into this very well-named piece of headbanging dnb artillery.

Bonus!!

Fuck it, can't resist including one more...

Seba - It Ain't The Weather (Commercial Suicide Compilation CD)

As diverse and and as interesting as DNB gets, sometimes you just can't beat a straight up deep dark roller. And this is a great one from the usually mellow and choppy man Seba.

And!!

In case anyone was wondering, albums of the year 2011:

Ray Keith & Bladerunner - Dub Dread 4

Origin - Entity

Eye-D & DJ Hidden - Peer 2 Peer Pressure

All Shall Perish - This Is Where It Ends

DJ Asmatik - Homicide Voltaire

Dyprax & Unexist - Disorder In Italy

DJ Distance - Dubstep All Stars 8

Torsten Kanzler & Sven Wittekind - Basstech 1

Raiden - Beton Arme

Ill Skillz - Nectar And Ambrosia

+

Any DJ mix by S.P.Y.

Go forth and sate your ears' need for awesomeness!



Source:  fiendblog

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Radical Changes.
2 January 2012, 9:14 am



Or, radical reversion to what is right.

In the latter part of 2011 I realised my life has gone off track. See over to the left where it says "Aiming to live a lifestyle of climbing and travelling"?? A matter of necessity as well as inspiration - I think it's pretty good and harmonious that necessity and inspiration align. But I have partly been working indirectly to that path, partly tried to stick to it in difficult circumstances, and partly strayed from it. So I need to realign those straying parts to that path, for my own sanity as well as pleasure. To this aim, I have some Scottish plans...

1. Steadily up my levels of general activity and fitness training until they become habitual.

2. Keep in touch with partners and keep organised AND try to be part of an active positive scene, not just climbing but general fitness.

3. Get to somewhere interesting in late Jan (Morocco? Gibraltar?) and early April (Pfalz? Annot?).

4. Week long trip to Lewis, several days sea-cliffing in Skye, long weekend in Ardnamurchan.

5. Explore more bouldering over winter, esp: Glen Nevis, Torridon/Reiff, Skye, Carrock Fell, Queen's Crag, Shaftoe, Rothley, Simonside

6. Climb a few E5s and maybe a few F7a+s if I get my fitness back

7. Keep fit at gym, pool, and wall.

8. Lose 1 stone via the above.

...and the same general climbing lifestyle guidelines as last year...

1. Keep in touch with climbing partners regularly, promptly, and positively.

2. Prioritise plans for the most inspiring areas with like-minded partners.

3. Plan more proactively but flexibly in advance rather and last minute.

4. Get started on days out earlier to make best use of time.

5. Keep fitness training and make it a regular habit.

6. Keep eating a decent diet with small portions, less junk, more water.

7. Train stamina, finger strength, finger power, dynamism and endurance at walls.

8. Falling practise, falling practise, falling practise, falling practise.

9. Work on route reading and gear placing outdoors.

10. Stack odds in my favour with suitable weather conditions.

...the main but slight change being focusing on habits and lifestyle as much as specific factors / plans. I have a path, I need to follow it.



Source:  fiendblog

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Misanthrope Mission #5
4 January 2012, 9:49 pm



I keep trying to not go to Shaftoe. As good as it is for bouldering - I think the best pure bouldering in the County, Bowden being fragile and limited, and Kyloe lacking in a variety of lines and mostly popular because of it's rain shelter - I do want to keep exploring. But somehow I end up back there again. This time the forecast was wind and the plan was Rothley, as although it's mostly exposed, there are some more sheltered bits and the NW-facing crag would probably benefit from some fresh air. The weather from Glasgow improved all the way down until Otterburn whereupon it turned into horizontal sleet. Nice. Thankfully a bit further it seemed to be more intermittent, but a quick drive past Rothley (almost ending up off the road scoping the crag), confirmed it had copped most of that weather. So back to sunny Shaftoe...

I worked South to Central and in the grand tradition of things ticked an entire problem. Yes, a whole one, all by myself (well, it IS a Misanthrope Mission...). Well. A whole problem if you're following the true line of least resistance and natural starting holds, as per the video above. Apparently some people start it a move lower and climb into the good starting holds for a V6 eliminate, but balls to that. Of more interest is a left-hand finish climbing the arete, this looks rather appealing but without any details of difficulties, I didn't want to waste skin trying it, yet. Instead I stomped over to Central and wasted skin trying Smooth Wall again. This time I know all the numbers AND the conditions are suitable baltic, but a slight dampness on the upper holds and a general seizing up of my body in the arctic breeze has me snatching defeat from the jaws of truce. A quick look at Western Edges problems and it is far too cold even by my standards so the long drive home again, thank fuck for awesome drum and bass and metal CDs :).



Source:  fiendblog

[lagerstarfish]

6. Keep eating a decent diet with small portions, less junk

simple - just don't go large...



that'll be £132.87 nutritional consultancy fee (after your Life Coach frequent flier discount)

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Random Bollox.
20 January 2012, 10:55 am



Not much has been happening recently.

There was a brief period of great weather which I completely missed because I was busy with stuff. Suckage.

I had a good session at Ratho where I did okay despite not having done routes for ages - although I was demoralised that I'm now such a hideous bloater I struggled to fit into my indoor harness :(.

I had a good session at TCA where I polished off several good and mis-graded problems on the comp wall. Curiously my progress over the previous session was more due to technique rather than strength, but I found I was able to keep cranking over a long-ish session, which was nice :).

I then had most of a week off climbing and exercise. Terrible. I can't afford to do that AT ALL. Came back to a session at the revamped and average-but-considerably-less-terrible-than-before GCC, and was weak, tired, and cross. Gym the next day helped a bit. I HAVE to keep moving.

Thankfully there is some movement planned: On Saturday morning Tris and I are flying to Malaga to go climbing at San Bartolo, funky looking sandstone near Gibraltar. Not a major destination but it looks nice for a few days and I really need to get away!! I need inspiration, activity, climbing mileage, and hopefully some dry fucking weather!! So, yay.

Oh and I got a cool new breakage drum'n'bass CD recently:

Nice variety of chopped up beats on this. I wasn't so taken at first, but have been playing it a lot. Ruff!



Source:  fiendblog

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Gibbage 1 & 2.
22 January 2012, 8:44 pm



Gibbage because we are climbing near Gibraltar. Not on Gibraltar, it's full of monkeys and probably tourists too. According to the woman in the hostel we're staying in, we should be tourists too, day-tripping to Morocco, visiting quaint towns in the mountai......FUCK THAT SHIT WE'RE HERE TO CLIMB.

Yesterday was travelling day. Up at 5 to get an early flight to Malaga. Really that should have demanded an early night but I stayed up playing Skyrim (level 64 h2h/magic Orc, 530,000 gold, 186 dungeons cleared, I hope no-one cares about that) and then faffing around printing out info for crags near Malaga to get something done before heading to Algeciras base camp in the evening. The latter turned out to be useful as Mijas was an idea stop-off: 10 mins off the motorway, roadside cragging, sun and shade and a good variety of the usual Euro-lime bollox. 5 leads each certainly made good use of the afternoon. However the lack of sleep and food hit me like a ton of turd and I ended up feeling exhausted to the point of feverish. Add in an extra 1 hour 20 minute nightmare just trying to find the hostel, and epic faffage with parking and organisation and I was so relieved to pass out into sleep.

That sleep worked and I was ressurrected this morning feeling pretty perky. So it was on with the main mission, exploring the sandstone crags of San Bartolo, starting with the distinctly funky Sector Mosaico - a clean sheer wall of prehistoric scales that looks desperate but has several amenable lines starting at F6a+. We started on a F6a+ and it rocked, lovely juggy edgy sandstone. And thusly I continued to lead 6 routes in total, nothing hugely challenging yet (just getting warmed up ;)), via some fun dog action, a nice chorizo sandwich, a surprising power-nap, and enough sun (and maybe sunburn) to recharge the solar cells nicely. Tonight I do NOT feel like death, but the bed is still oh-so-appealing ;)

A fun dog.

An insolent oaf.

Source:  fiendblog

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Gibbage 3.
23 January 2012, 8:29 pm



Today was pretty cool. We got hold of the local guide and went back to San Bartolo to climb on the shady side. Naturally it stayed cloudy all day. The shady side is infinitely less popular than Sector Mosaico and the nearby Sector 2-Bolt Bumblebollox, but probably better overall - more variety of rock and climbing styles and plentiful interesting routes, albeit lacking the showcase funk of Mosaico itself. We explored around and both got a fair bit done throughout the sectors, this time to the sound of chainsaws not cowbells. As much as I like extreme noise I think I prefer the cowbells as a climbing soundtrack.

My fingers were a getting a bit tender from the sandstone but I had some inspirations to follow so warmed up steadily on nice easy routes, and eventually, after a "Power Manchego" lunch, got to tackle my main goal for the day, . I hadn't watched the video, just skipped to see if the wall looked decent, so it was a nice flash with a clearly defined sequence (pretty different to the video of course, not least because a flake has come off before the span rightwards, leaving a harder and cooler sideways drop move). I enjoyed that and still had enough beans to tackle a couple more uphill routes, before being tired enough to fall off easy slabs to finish ;)

Tomorrow might be back on the lime to give our fingertips a rest. It's all good.

An exceptionally fine braided curler.

A local wench trying to seduce us en-route back to our car.

Source:  fiendblog

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Gibbage 4.
24 January 2012, 8:04 pm



Today was a semi-rest day. Rest day = bollox day. Well this one was. Just how it went really. Drove back to San Bartolo to collect my missing downie (doh!). Then back in the opposite direction, initially the plan was to burn up the peage back to Mijas for a small bit of convenience ticking on limestone pockets whilst letting the fingertips relax a bit. But we decided to explore inland....to just explore. A bit of mountain scenery, a bit of sunshine, a bit of limestone. A fucking LOT of endless hairpin mountain roads, the real thrill coming when the petrol light came on with 30km to go till the next town and the hairpins kept going on and on. By a combination of pootling uphill in 5th and freewheeling round blind bends, we made it to the crag and collapsed into much needed lunch.

A few routes were a suitable agenda for the evening, but by the time I warmed up badly and mooched around, I managed to fail on my main desired route of the day. Sure bad bolting was the main issue but even without that I was struggling a bit. Okay it's supposed to be a rest day but even rest days can still have climbing radness, whether it's easy adventures or diverse exploration or just a couple of tricky routes in a generally chilled out day. The 5 hours of driving was anything but chilled out though, so tomorrow it's less miles and more Mosaico ;).

Load of cock.

Tris gave this horse a pear, and it gave us an enthusiastic blast of pear breath after it had chorfled it down.

Source:  fiendblog

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Gibbage 5.
25 January 2012, 8:36 pm



Aka the day that was forecast for cloud and was glorious sunshine instead. But first, what the fuck is up with me: I come away to get some good climbing action and escape the endless sodden damp of Glasgow and the persist rundownness I've been feeling this winter. So I'm out here - plenty of activity, plenty of rest, loads of fresh air each day (sea air no less), loads of sleep each night, lots of mandarins and pears (when I can stop Tris feeding them to horses). And what do I get?? A mouthful of ulcers, glands like a second bawbag, and now a proper sodding cold!! What the fucking fuck?? IT MAKE NO SENSE!!

Anyway I can't complain too much because today rocked: We headed back to mmmMosaico to enjoy plenty of cooling shade from the forecast clouds, of which there was none. So it was climbing in the (minor) heat before lunch on some rather good routes, and climbing in the dusk after a somewhat snotty siesta on some just as good routes, and then climbing in the dark on some cool wee slabs that rounded things off nicely. The highlight of the day was my hardest route of the trip when I sent Senda Del Tiempo on the main Mosaico wall. This took all the tactics and waning stamina I had, and was satisfying partly due to the challenge and getting in the zone where I really had to deal with it, but mostly because it was an objectively great route: sustained, consistent, well-balanced, some respite that the most improbable points, and a delicate finish. Which was nice ;).

A slight misnomer today - for a change!

I tried to clean this bossly beetle, but he just squeaked furiously at me.

Guess who is having their rump firmly scratched...

Source:  fiendblog

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Gibbage 6.
26 January 2012, 6:00 pm



The final day in a tidying up loose ends and finishing stuff off sort of way. The forecast was for cloud, it was glorious again, despite storm clouds over the hills providing a scenic backdrop. I still felt like utter shit with my gayflu. Bored of that. But there was plenty to get on with. We "warmed up" sliding off heinous micro-slabs: F6c and F7b that were more like that in British tech grades. The rock was cool but the sun was warm and needless to say our toll in skin and rubber was not repaid.

Thence it was on to the shady side, requiring a retreat and re-stomp to the opposite sector of the hillside. I'm noticing that after several days doing short uphill walk-ins and plenty of other exercise, my legs are still completely and utterly fucked and as usual I feel no progress in fitness at all. Cocktwats. Anyway the shady sector was shady although kinda sweaty. Managed a couple of routes including a pretty challenging one. Finally it was over to a different sandstone crag, El Bujeo, for a breezy and scenic evening, and a few more good and varied routes and a slightly frustrating "slip-off-the-first" move attempt of a stiffer proposition. A pretty good day despite feeling rougher than an East End Glaswegian's face.

This brings things to 34 routes I think. Not bad for a short week :). Plenty of fun on the sandstone, a few good challenges tackled (better than I thought!) and a few near misses to learn from. Tomorrow we fly back to dismal Scotland where I plan to hibernate for a while...

Africa in the morning.

Horses in the afternoon.

Gibraltar in the evening.

Source:  fiendblog

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Gibbage summary.
29 January 2012, 4:39 pm



Still got the gayflu. It's normal OMG-I'm-going-to-die-this-is-so-epicly-gay manflu. So if I survive it should be over soon. I wanted to go training today but it's enforced rest time so a good time to reflect on the purpose of training i.e. cool little (or preferably a lot bigger!) trips away like the recent one.

Okay, San Bartolo. Not a major destination but what it lacks in sport climbing spectacularness, it makes up for in nice sandstone rock and good varied routes especially in the lower & middle grades - it lived up to people describing it suchlike, and worked nicely for us. Well worth a look for a long weekend or short week. Fly into Malaga, stop off at Mijas, stay in Tarifa or Algeciras, get the guide from the wee shop in Tarifa, errr that's it really. Ask if you want more info.

My climbing....went better than expected this trip! Quite a nice surprise, given how the odds have been stacked against me, and my bare minimum of training was two sessions at Ratho - although since the sandstone is more technical / powerful than sustained, I guess the TCA sessions have helped. I hoped, as always, for a good trip tackling some good challenges, but also prepared myself for inescapable punterism and was happily resigned to lots of nice mileage climbs as easing towards the routes season, if it had to come to that. But it didn't really. I got some nice mileage, but also tackled some good challenges, and most of the puntering was a cautious necessity to let skin and muscles recover to avoid spoiling those challenges.

Things that went well or I did well:

+ Good tactics with warming up / climbing / resting / skin care.

+ Strength seems fine.

+ Technique and route reading okay, probably from T'County trips.

+ Stamina better than expected, shows potential.

+ Fairly confident committing to moves with bolt near.

+ Aches and niggles (fingers and elbows) felt a lot better after more climbing in the sun!

Things that sucked or I need to improve:

- Still fat, will be a hard fucking battle to improve.

- Legs still fucked, will be a hard/impossible fucking battle to improve.

- Big coward above bolts, need to work on falling practise soon.

- Not enough foot power through small footholds, need to focus on that.

- A bit casual with a couple of harder climbs, need to be more focused.

Overall I think I am the right track and have potential to climb at least decently this year....I just have to keep climbing, keep active, and keep training.



Source:  fiendblog

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Training and mileage.
31 January 2012, 6:54 pm



^^^ This track is included solely because it is awesome and sometimes the path to awesomeness has to be paved with training.

The gayflu abated enough for me to go back down to TCA. I was hoping to finish off a couple of comp wall problems before they get reset this weekend. But after warming up (always so tedious in a cold wall!) and giving it a go I was just feeling weak and tired. Hmmmm. But didn't I just have a good week's mileage and then a nice rest weekend?? Oh, no, wait, was it fuck a rest weekend. An ill weekend and a recovering weekend. So I sacked it off and did almost all the new reds before they tweak them to make an easier circuit. I haven't actually had a hard training session for a few weeks, I definitely want to get back on that style of training, but I have to easy myself back into it via mileage.

One good thing though: I have had a lot of bollox training sessions because of how screwy my body (and sometimes mind!) is, and it's often been fairly demoralising with only brief glimpses of progression. But this last trip did reassure me that despite all the bollox and demoralisation, the training does seem to be doing something - slowly clawing my way back towards a previous physical level, or at the very least halting the decline! And at the end of the day, that's what matters - the training is for SOMETHING, awesome experiences on the rock, so if I feel I'm touching on that then I'm inclined to battle through.

On a related subject of fitness and progress and the ups and downs of the physical side of climbing, I was chatting to Alan C down at TCA after reading about his struggles in the last year, and in terms of fitness he highlighted the difference between training days / bouldering days, and full days out on rock and on routes. This is something I've noticed - full days out with lots of routes, even if they are not very hard, is simply better EXERCISE than training sessions or bouldering. So far, so obvious. But in terms of bouldering days - a sensible choice in winter - I have been avoiding mileage in favour of projects. Projects are rewarding and train some areas of climbing, but skin and muscle tends to give way before energy and fitness does. Thus not good exercise! So I think it will be a good idea to mix it up and be flexible in my bouldering trips - if a project isn't going well that day, just getting plenty of mileage in will do me good overall. The same with the wall too...



Source:  fiendblog

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Misanthrope Mission #6
2 February 2012, 11:46 am



There's a brief period of amazing winter conditions in Scotland at the moment. It's due to end this weekend, but luckily I managed to get up to Glen Nevis this week. Cold and crisp and sunny the whole way up - even some routes in Glen Coe looked climbable, if cold! Perfect for the rough rock and sinuous slopers of Glen Nevis South Side, perfect for getting back on my new project, and rattling some other things off.

The videos above sum it up I think. Black Orc was the main mission objective, it was a relief to get it done as it's been nagging at me since I first saw it - obvious, natural, good climbing to a barbaric top-out. It felt hard enough to me! The funny thing about this area is that even easy-looking lines mysteriously turn out to be a lot harder when you actually attempt them. One of my easy warm-ups required a few goes working it, another easy warm-up turned into another long-term project. Perhaps it is because the rock is nicely slopey and frictional, so feels good in good conditions, but also quite bulging and rounded, so a surprising amount of power can be needed... Either way it is very good winter bouldering! And as a bonus the weir was curiously low for this time of year - although crossing it at dusk was exciting as the riverside rocks were coated in sheet ice from the spray. Needless to say I survived, but my fingertips and elbows are still recovering from the session.

As for the newness of these problems - it is quite simple, they have not been listed anywhere I can find and show no evidence of being climbed. The Glen Nevis definitive bouldering guide lists hundreds of problems including several around these boulders, but the developers seemed to have no concept of sit-starts nor aretes/prows ;). And Dave Mac....checking his blog and Youtube videos, he is rightly concerned with bigger and harder things. Most of these new lines required cleaning: Squirrel Groove & Black Orc had clumped moss at the start and I snapped off a flake where the RH crimp now is. Bear Rib and Finch Arete had thick moss on crucial holds, compared to Finch Attack and Bear Island (the latter only listed in GNB, but a very nice problem) which had old brushed holds. Flying Fiend had no chalk under the roof (it now has my wee dabs from November despite the storms) compared to Flying Roof to the right. Etc etc. I'll post full details of these soon as there really is a great circuit there now.



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Southside DAWG, keeping it REAL.
4 February 2012, 12:38 pm



Whatever. I've heard American gangsta-speak used in bouldering winds up po-faced miserable Brits, so that's as good a reason as any. Anyway...

~¤§¤~

New problems on Glen Nevis Southside:

(NB Blogspot might do that shit-awful slideshow thing - to see fullsize map, right click and open in new window).

Described from NE to SW, from the Weir Crossing. New problems in bold, established problems in not-bold.

Tim's Arete

(aka Evening Boulder aka Finch Boulder)

Squirrel Groove V2 5c *** (FA Hazel Robson Nov 2011)

SS tiny corner to crimps, gain slim groove on left and pull onto slab via ripples.

Black Orc V6 6b *** (FA Fiend Feb 2012)

SS tiny corner to crimps, gain bulging nose, palm to apex and barbaric topout.

Bear Island V3 5c

Bear Rib - V3 5c *  (FA Fiend Feb 2012)

SS just right of Bear Island, pull up to arete pinch and hidden crimp, gain top on left and rock rightwards.

Finch Arete - V1 5b *  (FA Fiend Feb 2012)

Obvious arete L of Finch Attack from a standing start.

Finch Attack V4 6a

Punch And Judy Man V8 6c

Tim's Arete V5 6b

Wee Wall V1 5c  (FA Fiend Feb 2012)

On right of high face, link good shelf to good shelf via a crimp, escape R.

unnamed 3b

unnamed 3c

unnamed 3a

The Rocking Stone

Unnamed 5a

Unnamed SS V2 5c (FA Hazel Robson Nov 2011)

SS as below but gain groove instead.

Thousand Year Egg V4 6b ** (FA Fiend Nov 2011)

SS on big sidepull, pull up to distant ripple then to higher seam on faint nose, rock onto ripple (no crimp in groove).

Rocking Stone Slab V2 5c

Squirrel Rib RHS V3 6a (FA Fiend Nov 2011)

SS RHS of arete with RH sidepull, slap up arete and stand delicately up using micro-ripple on slab.

Squirrel Rib LHS V2 6a * (FA Hazel Robson Nov 2011)

LHS of arete using good sidepull for left and slopey arete for right to good finishing holds.

Mole stones:

First Stone

unnamed 4c

The Art Of Shredding V2 6a *  (FA Fiend Feb 2012)

SS down and left using arete and crimp, grind up blunt rib.

unnamed 5a

unnamed 5a

Flying Roof / Boothill Roof

(huge roof hidden behind Slug)

Flying Fiend V4 6a ** (FA Fiend Nov 2011)

Left side of roof. SS at obvious flat holds, pull up and use roof crimps to gain lip, swing rightwards to rockover finish.

Flying Roof V5 6c

Sheep Skull V2 5c

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A few things to note:

• The weir crossing (wellies needed) makes it a 5 minute walk. If it is too high then the alternative is 20 mins up from Whale Rock parking.
• Most landings are flat and very good! A few are boggy but only a couple are rocky.
• There are LOADS of very easy / trivial problems, all described in Glen Nevis bouldering.
• The rock is great and super-rough in places. Much more like gabbro than the flakey horrors of Dunkeld.
• I'm not sure how quick it dries - it doesn't get any sun in winter, but it's quite open and there isn't any drainage.

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Carrock Crush.
10 February 2012, 9:34 pm



In reality another Misanthrope Mission, but technically not as I actually invited a couple of homies down but they couldn't make it. I'm just as happy pootling around on my own, it allows me to get more focused too.

I've had a love/hate relationship with Carrock Fell. It's a great venue with plentiful inspiring problems, but I've had a couple of visits where I've seen a cool, breezy forecast, and been fully syked for the rough gabbro circuits, but it's turned out surprisingly muggy (the background of my blog title is taken from a hazy Carrock day) and I've got my arse kicked by the finger-shredding crimpy walls. I've never felt I've got to grips with the boulders, until the other day...

THIS time the conditions would have to be in my favour: Arriving at midday, it's glorious sun slowly slinking off the hillside, -1°C, and a steady South Easterly breeze. Perfect. I stomped up the hillside to the Mile High Wall. Rockfax says to avoid the bracken and "stick to the rocks" which I did. Pretty soon I skidded off icey rock and down into a jagged pit, only being stopped by being wedged between my mats and my shin on a rough boulder. Once at Mile High Wall however, the vibes were spot on. And then things pretty much proceeded as in the video above - I did some great problems although I didn't flash as many as I wanted (more on this later). I also tried a few other things (finger-shredding crimpy walls) and recced some cool problems for another time.

Just a classic bouldering day out :D.



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Fluffing Flashes.
14 February 2012, 9:00 am



Flashing....yeah the police have given me a formal caution and I'm not allowed within 100 yds of any Glasgow school.

I like flashing boulder problems. I like working them and unlocking them and solving their intricacies and going from not being able to do a single move to doing the entire problem. But I also like flashing problems. I like how the focus shifts from working the problem to working it out in advance. All the tactics and tricks and planning and plotting. And the actual attempt, the challenge of quick thinking, adaptability, execution, and above all, determination. Fighting when the moves are not exectuted optimally, fighting to stay on because there's just no point in letting go. Not a masochistic battle, but a pleasurable one.

So. Carrock. I had an inkling I could flash Sing A Rainbow. Why? Steep prow, a couple of crimps, amazing conditions. That suits me well. Not too fiddly, sequences that can be assessed from the ground. And I didn't do it. Nor did I flash anything else that day. But they were all close and I want to learn from that....

I Can, I Can't - could have flashed, but didn't because: Just slid off the cut-loose move as I got my toe back on. 2nd and 3rd successful go I used exactly the same method just hung on! A little bit more fight and better preparation brushing the hold and I think this would have been fine.

Sing A Rainbow - could have flashed, but didn't because: Wrongly judged that I had to get my right hand higher at the start, but once in that position I couldn't move to get the left-hand crimp. In fact reaching off the low right-hand pinch is very easy and I should have had a quick look at that option before moving my right hand. I ended up working the problem, because the off-balance slap higher up is quite unnerving with a weird swing/fall potential, BUT on a flash attempt I think I'd have had the sheer battle to go for it.

Undercut Arete - could have flashed, but didn't because: I choose the wrong starting method. Both the "feet miles away on the back wall" and "footless hang into heelhook" methods seemed quite unlikely with my bloated body, but I flipped a coin and tried feet on first. Feet promptly off and arse back on ground. I then tried the hang method and really surprised myself by crunching up into the heelhook. If I'd tried that first go it would have gone.

Purple Slab - could have flashed, but didn't because: Tried the wrong method first go, second go my lower foot slipped. This is a bit more on/off and outside my control, but I could have ignore the right-hand method and then put my foot on with more care. I think I was a bit casual at this late stage in the day.

So what I've learnt from that:

1. Prepare better including brushing and chalking.

2. Fight a bit harder!

3. When anticipating sequences, give myself some options to consider and execute if needed.

4. Choose my sequence carefully.

5. Keep trying, because I'm pretty damn close to some good flashes.



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Queen's Quadruple Quest.
21 February 2012, 2:17 pm



Quest 1: Nice day. Walked into the crag. It rained.

Quest 2: Dry sunny day with snow on the ground. Walked into the crag. It was coated in snow.

Quest 3: Sunny breezy day. Showers just past. Walls soaked. Didn't even walk into the crag.

Quest 4:

Ohhhh YEAH. Amazing conditions. Lovely day to be bouldering, right on the cusp where unbeatable conditions turn into unsurvivable cold. Tris and I survived 5 hours although it was touch and go at the end. A quick half of Twice Brewed bitter at the Twice Brewed Inn (shown on the bouldering guide map as "Once Brewed", I was really not sure about drinking Twice Brewed at Once Brewed, or vice versa) kept morale enough to finish the 250 mile round trip.

Despite the conditions, this turned into more of an easy mileage day. A nice warm-up circuit, a couple of good middling problems spoilt by weirdo landings, and some fun problems later on seen in the video, including this Queen Line:

I did want to push myself on harder things at Queens, but there just seemed to be niggling little issues on the day:

Victory Arete SS - top-out felt too dodgy with smeary feet and a nasty blade of rock to skid onto. Even after flashing both stand-up versions to the top it just seemed unjustifiable and couldn't be arsed trying the sitter to not top that out either. Could have tried harder to pad the blade I guess.

West Wall - not sure about line, we tried an easy line but backed off the top-out again because of bad fall potential not difficulty.

Mxymatosis - not sure about finish, saw a climber climb to the top but the direct finish was too dirty. Again dodgy fall for that sort of nonsense.

Border Reiver - had a brief look at the end of the day but needed more time, more cleaning, and more attention given it's highball nature.

Left Hand Leap - kept trying the wrong method, got suckered in by a fruity pinch on the very arete but that's not the actual line, which goes up the righthand face. There's even a photo in the guide! Not that that's always to be relied on...

So dodgy lines and dodgy landings were the main deal! I'd go back for all of those with better preparation and knowledge. On my own, I'd probably be most tempted by working Worldline, probably waaaaay beyond me but could be interesting. Loads more easy stuff to warm-up on too.

An easy day on Sunday left my body feeling good on Monday, so I focused on a harder session at TCA, and felt quite good. Hurrah.



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[sjw]

saw a climber climb to the top...

Nice to meet you and your friend at Queen's. Great photos/film/effort on Magician's Nephew! I'll ask about those lines next time I'm at the wall and let you know if I get info.

[Fiend]

Hi  Thanks for the spot / encouragement / pads. It was a mighty fine day!

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Make Your Transition
24 February 2012, 2:34 pm



It's coming to that time of year when the bleak cold wetness of the Scottish winter gives way to the miserable mild wetness of the Scottish spring. Unlike the changing of the seasons everywhere else on Planet Earth, this does precisely fuck all for the chances of being able to climb upon rock, apart from the random single month of dry spring/summer/autumn weather, whenever that might choose to occur. What it does mean that on the stolen days between the sodden downpours, the lukewarm temperatures might be enough to tolerate route climbing rather than bouldering. This brings great joy to my trad climbers heart, or it would if there was the slightest chance of getting the 15 or so trad days I'm really syked for done this season. Bitter about the endless battle against the elements? Me? Really?

Anyway in the meantime there is the transitionary period when it's not quite warm enough for 30m of sustained gneiss, but too warm for 3m of slopey sandstone. This is where many subtle things may happen - route training begins, sun-trap outcrops can be savoured (if they set their traps well enough), Aberdeen sea-cliffs may be assaulted before the birds do the same, and short technical bold and bouldery routes provide the transition between bouldering and tradding. Living in Scotland these are a rarity but there are some to be sought out and explored, and I am quite syked for the idea! The idea includes these ideas flitting around my head:

Glen Nevis: Fingertip Finale, Precious Cargo, Sweet Little Mystery, Where The Mood Takes Me - soloey little things on subtle schist.

Pass Of Ballater: Peel's Wall, Smith's Arete - bold classics on suntrap granite.

Glen Croe - Edge Of Insanity - more bold schist.

Bowdens: On The Verge, The Gauleiter, Poseidon Adventure, The Trial - a great diversity of gritstone-style sandstone routes.

Goat Crag: Underpass, The Hard Shoulder - similar hidden gems.

Where else? Post some ideas for me.... Obviously there's local stuff from Quadrocks to Limekilns, but more exploratory ones are more welcome.



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