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 fiendblog (Read 379491 times)

fatneck

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#1000 Re:  fiendblog
September 22, 2021, 08:20:34 am
I to have had a total break from climbing over the summer. It's becoming a bit of a pattern and I'm learning to not stress too much about it. It's a busy family time and I find myself more drawn to dawn fishing sessions that sweating my bollocks off trying to climb.

Glad to hear some motivation returning Ste  :great:

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#1001 Re:  fiendblog
September 22, 2021, 10:07:28 am
I’ve found it a real struggle this summer trying to climb hard in crappy conditions constantly reminding myself it’s all good prep for when the temps drop which is all true but has kicked a lot of the joy out of my motivation. Resolved next summer to do fun stuff and keep the flame alive.

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#1002 Re:  fiendblog
September 22, 2021, 10:48:19 am
For my shuffles the conditions have perhaps been less off-putting, except I guess dealing with tidal issues / sea-grease, or conversely blazing sun-traps (lol, just re-reading, that's pretty much the same as you, Shark!), the weather certainly has been generally quite benevolent overall for a British summer. The mini-heatwaves are certainly quite off-putting though and I definitely try to take a clear step back during those, don't push things, don't stress about plans nor projects, and just try to keep moving and keep pushing my muscles a bit.

Banging ones head against a wall, whether it's rock conditions or mental conditions, does get draining and can overshadow the fun. It's important to step back and take it easy sometimes - BUT it can be very hard to find the balance, especially with strong desires, between that and also keeping some focus and determination. It's almost as if pushing yourself, and dealing with the mental side of that, is quite complicated  :blink:

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#1003 Re:  fiendblog
September 22, 2021, 12:40:53 pm
It’s been the consistently high humidity that’s been a pain - especially for a dragger.

Next summer will make more of an effort to make better crag choices though that will probably mean going abroad. The Briancon area is good in summer. I’m told Verdon is too - though that seems unlikely.

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#1004 Re:  fiendblog
September 22, 2021, 01:44:27 pm
Verdon wouldn't be my first choice, unless you are happy chasing shade in the sheltered crags.

 

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#1005 Re:  fiendblog
September 22, 2021, 01:50:19 pm
Would highly recommend the Briancon area. Went last summer and it was amazing. Gutted to not be able to get there this year due to not being able to get my vaccines sorted in time.

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#1006 Re:  fiendblog
September 22, 2021, 01:55:04 pm
Unless you get lucky, Verdon in summer will likely make UK conditions of the past 5 months look amazing. (Which I'd say they have been. Dry, not super hot, lots of wind from the east for Kilnsey... not sure you can get much better in the UK.

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#1007 Re:  fiendblog
September 22, 2021, 02:19:02 pm
I’ve found it a real struggle this summer trying to climb hard in crappy conditions constantly reminding myself it’s all good prep for when the temps drop which is all true but has kicked a lot of the joy out of my motivation. Resolved next summer to do fun stuff and keep the flame alive.

Dws!

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#1008 Re:  fiendblog
September 22, 2021, 02:23:22 pm
I’ve found it a real struggle this summer trying to climb hard in crappy conditions constantly reminding myself it’s all good prep for when the temps drop which is all true but has kicked a lot of the joy out of my motivation. Resolved next summer to do fun stuff and keep the flame alive.

Dws!

Preach it brother.

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#1009 Re:  fiendblog
September 22, 2021, 04:07:37 pm
I will have to join the sceptics for Verdon in the Summer.

My friend who lives just next to Verdon Gorge just spent three months in Germany and Sweden to escape the summer conditions at home...

I'd say that June is still OK if you are willing to risk getting caught in thunderstorms.

I guess Ramirole is better in Summer than most other times of the year due to the fact that it might actually be dry then. I would very much doubt it is good though.

Summer areas that I know of:

Céüse. Has been good the last two years due to travel restrictions keeping some of the worst behaving climbers away. Fully expect it to be as unfriendly as ever from next year on. Not actually that good conditions, and very short days, except for the Grande Face and Nitshapa sectors.

Briançon. Highest chance of actually good conditions. The climbing is not world class, but maybe world class in the subset of summer destinations.

Non-French Alps. Meh cragging but excellent mountainclimbing. Lots of rain. Really expensive, especially Switzerland.

Norway. Good conditions fairly likely but not completely guaranteed. Very far away. As expensive as Switzerland.

Bohuslän. See Norway, but slightly cheaper. Single pitch trad. Some sportclimbing

South Africa. Good conditions fairly likely not completely guaranteed. Very far away. The sport climbing is a bit meh... but loads to see outside of climbing. Cheap when you are there.


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#1010 Re:  fiendblog
September 22, 2021, 04:27:52 pm
Shark if you're as rubbish at DWS as me, count me in for a DWS trip for the sheer horror of it (unlike these trendy yoofs like WFT and Remus smashing it out large on some banging sunbronzed DWS-fest). Also Bohuslan, always.

SA Chris

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#1011 Re:  fiendblog
September 23, 2021, 12:18:20 am
Come to Scotland, home of perma cool connies and even colder DWS.

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#1012 fiendblogMini-Adventures #4
September 25, 2021, 01:00:23 pm
Mini-Adventures #4

 
(Ab)normal service resumes??  They're getting mini-er and slightly less adventurous, but no less fun-spirited...



Fear Test, Rhoscolyn. A well-named wee route combining boldness with steepness, although thankfully not exactly at the same time. Hidden out of view just below me is an "alarmingly steep groove" that only partially lives up to that promise, having neither a good crack at the back nor enough angularity for good bridging at the front. It does have good holds which is quite welcome when fiddling in spaced and obtuse cams. Once this is dealt with, it is a matter of some elation popping through the steepest bulge out onto the biggest jugs and romping to the top. 

8b+ Reeve was trying to persuade me that this was a good option to warm-up and get inspired for Big Sunday E5 6a just to the left, equally alarming in angle but woefully lacking in any form of groove-based respite. Funnily enough 7b+ Fiend politely declined (okay, there was no politeness actually involved....).




Grazed And Confused, The Range. This is one of the mini-adventures of the year. One star, a completely wrong topo of an adjacent route, a hopeless description, and good potential to be lowered into the sea if you muff the crux. I was extremely close to backing off when the the last two factors saw me in a stable position but struggling to decide between a highly off-putting hard and protectionless roof above me or a highly offputting cramped traverse to swing blindly out in space to the right of me. Reeve was disarmingly cheery and encouraging on belay whilst I was sweating and stalling. Eventually the swing right was right and led to more comprehensible terrain and a feeling of "I'm not quite sure how I committed through that and ended up here but I'm bloody glad I did"

This route had it all packed into a compact size: interesting line, variety of climbing, essential Gogarth "hanging slabs" and "shuffling between roofs", funky rock, good gear where needed, the lurking zawn below... 

The correct description: 
From the palatial ledges, step down and traverse right on an easy slab until it is possible to pull up a blocky feature to beneath the main roof. Make an increasingly cramped traverse right and a committing swing around the corner to pull up onto easier ground on the grey corrugated slab. Climb through the weakness in the overlap above to finish up the yellow slab.



The Range at sunset - obviously the fantastic light came out just after all the climbing was finished!! This is mostly looking towards Emmenthal Zawn, Wensleydale Walls, and The Fortress on the right. Lurking out of shot are Housetrap Zawn, The Old Steam Piano, Curious Yellow, Daichotomous etc etc.



Cilan Head, looking North from Mur Y Fulfran. Cilan Main is partly tucked out of view just behind the brighter white patch that's just right of centre. Zawn Two is the shaded buttress nearer by with the diagonal top. This was taken from the very amenable (tidal considerations aside - yes it really is that bad for swell!) MYF - Cilan Lite at it's litest!


Cantre'r Gwaelod, Mur Y Fulfran. Silence Of The Clams climbs the chimney to the left, I'm Not Swimming Now climbs the stepped corner to the right. This is a rather fine route for anyone who is a fan of cranking through slabby bulges, as it mostly involves cranking through slabby bulges. This, and a couple of other cool little routes that we did, was disarmingly normal and conventional, despite the feeling of general wildness and "not like anywhere else" that the area has. Given the suntrap location there might be more mini-adventures here this autumn who knoweth....


Source: Mini-Adventures #4

Yossarian

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#1013 Re: fiendblogMini-Adventures #4
September 25, 2021, 02:21:40 pm

</div><b>Fear Test, Rhoscolyn. </b>A well-named wee route combining boldness with steepness, although thankfully not exactly at the same time. Hidden out of view just below me is an "alarmingly steep groove" that only partially lives up to that promise, having neither a good crack at the back nor enough angularity for good bridging at the front. It does have good holds which is quite welcome when fiddling in spaced and obtuse cams. Once this is dealt with, it is a matter of some elation popping through the steepest bulge out onto the biggest jugs and romping to the top. <div><br />
</div><div>8b+ Reeve was trying to persuade me that this was a good option to warm-up and get inspired for Big Sunday E5 6a just to the left, equally alarming in angle but woefully lacking in any form of groove-based respite. Funnily enough 7b+ Fiend politely declined (okay, there was no politeness actually involved....).<div><br />

That looks totally awesome! Have just stuck a Post-It into my as yet unchristened North Wales Rock...

Fiend

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#1014 Re:  fiendblog
September 25, 2021, 05:07:20 pm
It's only a minor wee 1 star route (especially compared to the splendour at the Rhoscolyn main cliffs) but it is good fun and characterful. There's a nice little HVS 4c to warm up on too if needed.

shark

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#1015 Re:  fiendblog
September 26, 2021, 08:34:41 am
I will have to join the sceptics for Verdon in the Summer.

My friend who lives just next to Verdon Gorge just spent three months in Germany and Sweden to escape the summer conditions at home...

I'd say that June is still OK if you are willing to risk getting caught in thunderstorms.

I guess Ramirole is better in Summer than most other times of the year due to the fact that it might actually be dry then. I would very much doubt it is good though.

Summer areas that I know of:

Céüse. Has been good the last two years due to travel restrictions keeping some of the worst behaving climbers away. Fully expect it to be as unfriendly as ever from next year on. Not actually that good conditions, and very short days, except for the Grande Face and Nitshapa sectors.

Briançon. Highest chance of actually good conditions. The climbing is not world class, but maybe world class in the subset of summer destinations.

Non-French Alps. Meh cragging but excellent mountainclimbing. Lots of rain. Really expensive, especially Switzerland.

Norway. Good conditions fairly likely but not completely guaranteed. Very far away. As expensive as Switzerland.

Bohuslän. See Norway, but slightly cheaper. Single pitch trad. Some sportclimbing

South Africa. Good conditions fairly likely not completely guaranteed. Very far away. The sport climbing is a bit meh... but loads to see outside of climbing. Cheap when you are there.

Hi Jonas

Sorry missed this before. Great advice as always.

Briancon has worked well for me before on family trips and like you say nothing world class but lots of excellent crags to choose from. Suspect it will be just myself and Sonia this time round as the kids will be 18-23 and will have the novelty of going in a camper van this time. Maybe do a road trip with Sonia and I hook up with others when she flies home.

Didn’t get on with the style of climbing or the walk in for Ceuse when I went 20 years ago. If it didn’t rain in Norway so much I don’t think I’d go anywhere else. Had two very memorable long trips when at Uni in the summer but it also involved extended periods of non-stop rain. Bohuslan and South Africa trad sound fantastic. Friends have raved about the quality. Definitely on the to do list when an opportunity arises.

shark

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#1016 Re:  fiendblog
September 26, 2021, 08:40:53 am
Shark if you're as rubbish at DWS as me, count me in for a DWS trip for the sheer horror of it (unlike these trendy yoofs like WFT and Remus smashing it out large on some banging sunbronzed DWS-fest). Also Bohuslan, always.

Yes. Scares the shit out of me too. Would really like to do Oz Traverse at Berry Head. Guess should explore Pembroke at some point. Saw Hickish at the Tor on Thursday and sounds like he’s spent a good portion of his summer there. Bohuslan - yess!!!! Let’s get planning some stuff together

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#1017 Re:  fiendblog
September 26, 2021, 10:57:02 am
Oz Traverse at Berry Head is brill.

Having been out on the kayak, swimming and climbing on the cliffs near Carn Gowla at 8am this morning I was pleasantly surprised how warm the water is - a few more weeks left for DWS yet I reckon.

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#1018 fiendblogSolace??
October 26, 2021, 01:00:28 pm
Solace??

 
So. I lost my confidence, I lost my motivation for organising away trips, I got depressed.

I came up with a cunning plan to deal with this: 

I delayed the climbing that I was struggling with, I put on hold the more complex trad challenges, relinquished them to next spring, and started to think about preparing for that in advance.

I gave myself a focus for training, taking a slightly longer term view to try to address my genuine need to have a bit more in reserve physically to tackle those challenges, and anticipating winter to be a good time for that.

I dialled my climbing back to something that was manageable but enjoyable and could contribute to progression: Logistically easy but physically challenging, mostly bouldering, often starting exploring Welsh limestone.

In short I sought solace in enjoying the physical aspect of climbing, whilst relaxing a bit and being patient and preparative.

...

Then I went bouldering on the top of the Little Orme on a bitterly windy day. One of the craglets had the cold wind raking along it and I had to wear a duvet jacket just to try to start climbing.  That was the sheltered crag - at the exposed one I could barely stand up to look at the lines and had to walk back at a 30' angle so I didn't get blown back to Manc. Back at the former I was looking for an autumn project to push myself on, and decided the best course of action was to warm up by vigorously brushing some holds (this did deceptively raise my core temperature), not tape my niggling elbow, and start working a 45' overhanging beyond-my-limit project move-by-move... 

Maybe I didn't notice how badly I'd aggravated my golfer's elbow because everything had gone numb?? Whichever way, I am a fucking idiot.

Solace - gone. Training plans - gone. Relaxation - gone.

Depression - back, with reinforcements and heavier anti-Fiend weapons.

The overall plan for this time had been: Get fitter, get stronger, get more powerful, get more confident physically, get better prepared for next trad season.

Now the imminent future is: Get less fit (and heavier?), get weaker, get less powerful, get more timid and much less confident physically, feel increasingly distant from any trad season.

...

What I'm doing of course is rehab (with good advice from Process), gentle climbing (at least gritstone bumblecircuits are quite pleasant, and indoor walls have plenty of slabs and non-pulling nonsense on them these days), keeping active by going out exploring, going to the gym, and focusing on the minimal things I can train: core, and especially flexibility. Interestingly since I've been doing less proper climbing and more of the latter, I've got all sorts of pains around my hips, buttocks, groin, knees etc. Nothing too inhibitive but extra physical niggles that actually I don't really need.

I still have the same cunning Plan B mentioned at the start of this post, but it's all pretty much delayed until I've healed my elbow to a manageable state. Thus any updates around here are going to be pretty sporadic, unless I find any ethics to rant about. Anyone seen any peg-bolted lower-offs recently??

Anyway here's a couple of things from the recent but very distant-seeming time when I only had mental inhibitions:

A nice little boulder problem.

A fairly mediocre video mostly due to the light and angles and forgetting my camera and using my phone fingertaped to a tripod, but it was only a few days before I properly aggravated my elbow and it does show I was pretty confident with both cranking up things and jumping off things (even though some of those drop-off landings felt as hard as the climber is heavy!!).



Source: Solace??

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#1019 Re:  fiendblog
October 26, 2021, 01:42:41 pm
 That's shite matt.

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#1020 Re:  fiendblog
October 26, 2021, 01:56:58 pm
The video?? I know, that's why I didn't even put it in the Non-quality thread...

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#1021 Re:  fiendblog
October 26, 2021, 02:09:55 pm
Hope the elbow heals up quick dude

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#1022 Re:  fiendblog
October 26, 2021, 04:15:17 pm
Have you tried Tyler Twists Fiend? I had elbow problems for years, did these and normal climbing and it healed up in three weeks. Whenever i get a bit twingey i do a few more after climbing and it seems to sort it all out. Obviously that's just personal experience but worth a go if you haven't already tried them.


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#1023 Re:  fiendblog
October 26, 2021, 05:42:23 pm
Cheers for the suggestion, that seems to be the same motion as standard eccentric wrist curls. Process has got me doing something a bit more specific for my situation but it's pretty similar rehab. My problem was being "a bit twingey" and in addition to doing a little bit of stuff to clear it up, I did an exceptionally unsuitable bouldering session that was the polar opposite of clearing it up  ::)

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#1024 Re:  fiendblog
October 27, 2021, 08:54:00 am
Och Mat that Blows :'(
I feel for you i really do, i am aware of the long term health issues you battle through{which for those who understand make your climbing. Determination and focus all the more impressive} i get them too and as always they have a domino effect on mental health.
My latest was this- https://www.spinepainbegone.com/contents/back-pain-conditions/annular-tear and it has taken 2 years to nearly recover from it {just age and blasting my body over the years}

OK so here is the positives.....im Not going to lecture you on plans and strategies as i suspect you know them all and have implemented them at some point.

You are Not alone so keep pushing through bud and we will cheer you on as you work your way back  :2thumbsup:

 

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