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comPiler:
The Dyno Wing
4 June 2011, 9:24 pm

I was out at Burbage South a while back doing some private offwidth coaching with someone (yes, I know - who'd pay for that you ask??!) and spotted a rather intriguing problem. Down on the normal boulder circuit is a rather nice flared crack which can be climbed as a simple 2 move problem, which teaches the art of double fist stacking. A good problem in itself - but as soon as you see the boulder opposite, the running jump into the crack reveals itself... well, it did to me!

The Dyno Wing is a tricky nut to crack for sure. It requires a certain belief that you won't rip your entire tricep off and also that chicken wings really are as good as a belay. I really had to convince (or is that fool?) myself of this whilst staring at the jump, but if you go and have a go you might get a nice surprise. Think of it as the next step up from Giggling Crack.

Think like Johnny, land like Johnny, feel like Johnny.........



Source: Wide Boyz Blog

Fiend:
Demented  :2thumbsup:

comPiler:
Super Jam
11 June 2011, 8:33 pm

With a trip down to Cornwall planned, most people would be thinking of beautiful granite slabs and walls to climb. However the only route that I desperately wanted to do, was the route, which if asked to be climbed, most people would say they’d rather go and stand at the very North end of Sennen on a wavy day and wait for the tide to come in; strange one really! This little number; Super jam, is probably relatively unheard of maybe due to the fact that it is only E5, the fact that you probably never see anybody on it or possibly because there are harder graded routes of this style in the country such as Ray’s Roof and Gobbler’s Roof. (I’d only heard about and seen it when I saw some photos from the BMC international meet).

 

Being only E5 I couldn’t believe how flared the final section of crack looked. No wonder nobody went up there out of option, it looked horrendous; but that’s what I liked about it and went up optimistic that I could onsight it.

The start is simple, reaching off big undercuts to bomber hand jams. From these I flicked my feet above my head into the flared pod and engaged some stacks, just one shuffle leads you to the lip turn where you somehow have to get your whole body from completely inverted to the correct way up in the space of about a metre. I spent about 10/15minutes on the onsight wondering what to do; right foot in, left foot in, wide ponying, trout tickling, invert torpedo. I actually managed to get the good hold and pull round the corner on it, but my right foot had got into the most ridiculous position it cammed in so hard I couldn’t get it out. I looked back into the crack and actually wondered whether it was still attached to my leg.





After some more ground up battles, a sore right ankle, 2 tape rolls later and a bored Katy on belay I decided to pull on and check the foot placements. 30 seconds later the sequence was solved. The route was stripped and 30 minutes later lead, to what became a much more enjoyable experience as the sensation of nausea, full body pump and tomato heads is a natural and pleasant feeling for me now.



 

This route emphasized even more then ever to me that grades of offwidths just mean absolutely nothing at all. Most are harsh or sandbags, simply because not many people climb them and the people that do climb them, know its all about the effort that is put in on these puppies that counts. Whether it is VS or E7, you’re usually just more relieved that it’s your second that has to go through what you just did rather then being happy with what you actually climbed! (I had to ab because nobody wanted to follow)

In comparison, I thought that Super Jam was similar in style but harder then Ray’s Roof with a broader array of offwidth skills required.So, does that mean Jardine’s original grade of E4 for Ray’s was actually correct or Super Jam is a super sandbag?

Or does it mean you should get over to Staffordshire and get the tick before some offwidth gangstas come over from America and say it really is 5.11?

It probably just means to never trust the grade and instead trust the width…(whatever that means?!?!?)

Thanks very much to Pete Saunders for this last photo “Resting on Super Jam". © PETE SAUNDERS

Pete

Source: Wide Boyz Blog

comPiler:
Luck, Injury and Peak Performance
20 June 2011, 11:20 pm

How the relationship between injury, luck and performance plays out over the course of a few months can be totally random - the line that we tread along these is so very thin at times. I've always liked the golfer, Gary Player's quote:

"The more I practice, the luckier I get"

I'm not sure that this works always though, if I take the last month of my life into consideration. It's seemed more like "the more I train, the unluckier I get." This is probably completely untrue, but it certainly has seemed that way. Or maybe I'm just getting paranoid about the ensuing trip to the US and not blowing out on some ridiculous bodily malfunction.

 

Unlucky once.....

First injury to crop up was a chronic heel injury that once put me out of climbing for 2 years. It's never come back (touch wood) until this month! 2 back-to-back sessions of heel-toe bathanging hanging with sit ups, resulted in hideously painful heels again. I thought it was due to the excessive "invert time" intially, but in fact it turns out that these new offwidthing shoes that 5.10 have sent through the post are rather aggressive on the heels. It's all ok though.... a week of iced peas and flip flops have brought me back.

Photo: Pete on the weighted hangs

Unlucky twice.....

Secondly, I was trying some double fist stacking laps down in the cellar and boosh, I'm out of the crack, on my back and nowhere near the mattress. Cue swollen elbow and no armbars, deadbars or dyno wings for a while. How do I miss 3 matresses and a million boulder pads?!

Photo: No more Deadbarring for a few weeks!

Unlucky thrice....

The third instance really was a killer for me. A real moment of "have I blown the next 6 months of climbing for myself here?"Pete and I decided to take part in the Edale Fell Race a couple of weeks ago. Pete, because he's a local lad and he's done it every year (why??!) and me, because I'm an idiot. The race went pretty well to begin with, considering that we're complete fell racing punters - note that Pete wears headphones whilst competing (wtf?!) and I considered doing it in a hoodie as it was cold. We hit the top plateau over Kinder somewhere around 40th position and sustained the level of exhaustion until the drop back into Edale. At this point Pete started to run down the track like a madman and I followed like an old man. At the final steep section of wet slope I slipped over a couple times (my road running trainers didn't seem to be very adept at wet grass) and on one particularly hard fall I thought to myself "careful here old man, this just isn't worth it. Take it easy." Of course, I got up and instantly fell over again.... POP. Oh shit, the knee had gone.

Photo: Team Wide Boyz not having a clue....

Well, what am I moaning about? I had to not work or climb for a week, see some consultants and physios in the hospital (they gave me some fairly reassuring news) and get to know my pack of iced peas very well again. Apparently it's my ITB, the tear is only minor in all liklihood and the pain is only temporary. Problem? Nah.... not any more!

So it's back to the training once more. Psyche is running high and I'm can't wait for another beasting. Pete's coming round on Thursday for a massive cellar session. Bring on the pain.

Photo: Self-talk and motivation at your finger tips

In fact, it's only midnight - time for a quick session now.

Source: Wide Boyz Blog

grimer:
Am I right in thinking that Tom's cellar doesn't have an overhanging wall of crimps, a beastmaker or a campus board? Just a few planks at various distances from each other?  ;D

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