[slackline]

Hotline to Bouldering Progress
6 June 2012, 8:38 am

Dalriada. something I had been meaning to try for ages....

 

2nd Onsight logged Monday 4th June 

[SA Chris]

Such an inspiring line. Well done

[comPiler]

Dalriada Onsight
7 June 2012, 8:00 am

Dalriada on the Cobbler seemed to creep firmly into mind over the last week.  I heard on the grapevine that Gordon Lennox had made an onsight ascent, the first, I know of, to have be claimed.  Tim Rankin had also made an ascent.  I knew there would be chalk on it.  I also knew of 4 other ground up ascents including a flash from Ally Coull.  Why had I waited so long to try it?  "B" had posed that very same question only a few days before my trip up to the Kennedy Boulder.

I suggested to Cobes that we hide from the Jubilee up the Cobbler.  I had once been told by Niall McNair that the rock up the Cobbler takes a lot of getting used to and that it is worth taking some time to get your Cobbler apprenticeship before attempting the hard things.  I had only been up once before with my Dad back in 1998.  I thought the advice was worth heeding.

I set off up Club Crack E2 with an unexplained bout of Raynaud's setting in.  My numb hands meant I had a hard and very frightening time.  If this was what an E2 was like, then Dalriada must be insane!

Long after we came down from the route, the sensation had returned and the sun was warm.

Dalriada from below. It's Steep!

I knew there must be some chalk still on Dalriada though I could not see it from the ground.  The thread was enticing.  I was sure I could get that far.  I could see the good gear placements above that, and the rest described in the guide.  The description really didn't make it sound that bad, 7b climbing.  I had onsighted 8b once.  Why not go for it?

There was fixed gear to clip and I could see places where other gear must go.  I had also just bought a whole rack of BD Cams too from Crag X, they are amazing, and made me feel more confident.  It was on.

Shiny new cams.  Thanks CragX

Progressing up I told myself that both Daves, Macleod and Birkett, thought the route E6.  I have onsighted quite a few of those.  Given the pegs had probably deteriorated maybe it was creeping towards E7 but the gear in between them was good, the fall would be big but not deadly.  Yet I never felt like I would fall.  The holds were huge.

I reached the stance below the final headwall without much of a pump.  The position was out there but comfortable.  I had plenty of time to consider that from here it was just likely to be the protection of the pegs at the lip to the top.  Pulling round the angle change I was off my arms but the character of the rock had changed too.  The scallops and scoops all looked like holds but most were slopers at best and generally not holds at all.  Any chalk up there had washed away.  It was all up to me.  I committed to a crimp and what looked like a break.  It was nothing.  My body arced backwards.  Somehow I recruited every fibre in my body and dropped down on to small scoop and pulled it back in.  I scuttled down to the safety of a big crimp rail near the last peg.  I was flummoxed.  After 10 lonely minutes getting an exceedingly dry mouth, I finally saw a way through and pulled out my first E7 onsight.  If it is E7.

Cobes semaphores news of the ascent back to Glasgow from the summit.

My belief in pegs is very minimal given my experience the last time I went for an E7 onsight (as seen in ).  Yet there are so many on Dalriada and the gear in between is so good.  Without any pegs it may well be E8 (I am stunned it ever got this grade), or at least what I imagine E8 may feel like.  Undoubtedly in the 10 years since the Daves' ascents the pegs will have deteriorated in the Scotch mist.  The route is out-there and intimidating.  I'd like to think it was E7 for the position and the uncertainty of the gear but the climbing just isn't that hard.  French 7b would seem more in keeping with an E6.  I guess I will have to try a few more E7s to decide!  Did someone say "Trad Revival 2012"?

Source: Alan Cassidy (& others) Climbing

[Adam Lincoln]

Whats the route where the peg breaks Alan?

[Beegsyboy]

Yes, yes at Creag Dubh I think.

Good to hear Thermostatics clean, went up a couple of weeks ago and thought it looked cool. Beautiful spot, and good escape now the midgies are out!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Fiend]

I committed to a crimp and what looked like a break.  It was nothing.  My body arced backwards.  Somehow I recruited every fibre in my body and dropped down on to small scoop and pulled it back in.  I scuttled down to the safety of a big crimp rail near the last peg.  I was flummoxed.  After 10 lonely minutes getting an exceedingly dry mouth

Good stuff 

[Fultonius]

Nice also to hear Club Crack still puts up a fight - I thought it was a rather desperate E2 when I did it!

One day I'd love to try Dalriada!

[SA Chris]

7b climbing, as an 8a climber you should piss it Fultonius

[Fultonius]

7b climbing, as an 8a climber you should piss it Fultonius

What? Shit, is that how it works? What the hell have I been doing struggling on all the E3s for when I should have been cruising E7.

Ha!

I suppose I have onsighted one Fr7b. It was short, covered in chalk and bouldery and in Spain. Qualifications complete ;-)

[comPiler]

Not the Big Trad Man
9 June 2012, 7:41 am

Doing Dalriada has me psyched to get my trad-climbing game up.  What else are you going to do in Scotland where the lack of good, dry, midge free, high 8 sport routes are countable on the thumbs of one hand?!

With a day off and a forecast that looked doomed to failure, Cobes, B and I went to Glen Nevis.  We were late in arriving as they still haven't done anything to improve the A82 on Loch Lomond.

As a 3 is always inconvenient when tradding, I left the guys to enjoy a few classics that I had done many years ago with my dad,  Plague of Blazes E2 and Travellin Man E3 on Gorge Crag.  Thinking myself to be the next best thing in trad climbing since Dave MacLeod I headed up to Wave Buttress, where the guys wanted to go to next, and dropped a rope down Jodicus Direct which a couple of years ago Dave had climbed headpoint without the peg at E7.

First trip down the route on the Gri-Gri and I found the little sideways RP that protects the crux and a really good RP which could potentially be placed mid-crux if you could hold on to place it.  The crux moves were delicate with small holds that I couldn't quite get my sausages in to.  Yet I could still do it if I trusted my feet well.

Reaching the bottom, I climbed straight back up on the Gri-Gri, placing all the pieces.  Well that was easy enough!  I abbed back down.  Certainly when you saw all the gear in place the hard moves were protected and even if you couldn't get the mid-crux runner in the sideways RP at your feet would probably hold.  At worst it was down to a cluster of good cams.  Nothing too dangerous.  Just a big ride down a slabby wall.

I went up again.  Cleaned the gear out and waited at the bottom.  The guys arrived.  The wind dropped.  The midges arrived.  The air temperature increased.  I wanted to do it though. I got on lead.  Hot and bothered by the time I reached the first low RPs I climbed back down.  I needed to wait for better conditions.

The shadow came round again and a gust picked up from the summit of a neighbouring Munro.  I went again and climbed comfortably enough to the cams.  I paused a long time.  I could feel the hormones pulsing through my body.  Not endorphins, not adrenaline, this wasn't a buzz.  It was pure cortisol.  Fear and stress.  I stood for ages rationalising it all in my head.  I tugged the cams umpteen times. Bomber. I controlled the fear, pressed on up.  Into the crux I paused and successfully placed the RP well, clipped it, then somehow reversed to the comfort of the stance.  I got all my strength back.

Well this was it, the crux was protected after all.  I felt strong. I could do this thing no problem.  Yet the fear was hanging over me.  It glued me to the foot ledge until my legs went numb and I couldn't feel my toes.  I had better do something.

I climbed back up facing fear directly in the eyes.  With precision I got the hand holds well and I crushed them.  I got my foot up.  I just had to trust it, get the other up and all would be well.  The runner was at my chest.

I SAID "TAKE". FEAR TAKES THE WIN.

I tortured myself about wimping out all the way home.



Source: Alan Cassidy (& others) Climbing

[comPiler]

The Trad Headspace
10 June 2012, 1:21 pm

I firmly believe that my trad head is poor because I don't fall off.  I don't mean that in an "I'm so good I never fall off" kind of way, I mean that I never, or rarely, get into a position where I am likely to fall off on a trad route.  Now some might say that is a good thing but if you never take the falls, you'll never truly believe in the gear.  Or I won't anyway.  I can grasp when a placement is theoretically good but I have not taken a leader fall onto gear in such a long time that my instincts make me fear it.

My sport climbing onsight grade has far exceeded my trad grade. The suggestion that simply getting on more trad climbs building a base, though an important element, I don't think cuts it.  I believe that I could go out and (with the caveat of route choice) climb a whole season on E5s and possibly E6s without falling off once.

Considering the sport grade on most E5s; 6c-7a+ perhaps, I would be horrified if I fell off with bolts.  Unless it was some weird slab, or über-lichenous I could safely say I would onsight close to 99% at this level on bolts.  If my life depended on it, I could probably solo at that level without too much of a problem.  So getting on E5's with bad gear falls into the latter category, in my mind I'm soloing but I know I'll make it and those with good gear just feel like an easy sport route.  Within the E6 category, the story is obviously different but even at the upper end, I'd fancy my chances against a lot of sport 7c's.  With careful route choice the success odds are still upwards of 70 percent I reckon.  Dalraida is case in point, long, very steep, 7b climbing was home territory and so I never actually felt out my comfort zone.

No, what I really need to do is actually fall off stuff!  Crazy as that might sound, I need to go for routes that will be hard for me, get out of my comfort zone and into positions where to cry "take" is not an option.  I'm not getting into death defying stuff here, there are loads of fall-offable hard E6's and E7's.  I need to take a few wingers onto gear that I know is good and put theory into practice.  Obviously if I were to get a few onsights in the process that would be a good thing!

Having had the frustrating day in Glen Nevis it was good to be able to get back on the horse straight away, with one of Scotland's true trad gurus too, Niall McNair.  We set off for Iron Crag in the Lakes, home to host of E6s, E7s and one of the UKs most deadly trad routes If 6 was 9, E9.  Niall had been trying to climb an E7 called Iron Man ground up and had fully embraced the falling off thing.

There was a lot of seepage and a few showers and when I went for an attempt on Western Union E6 which shared half of Niall's route the flash pump and the wet holds put me off.  I said "TAKE" again. I threw my helmet on the floor and had a tantrum about being a pussy.  After Niall's second attempt ended in another fall from the last move I felt like I really should have another go.  This time the confidence was there.  I climbed up beyond Niall's gear, through the wetness and into the independent top half.  It all went rather smoothly and was definitely comfortable stuff.  

Niall sent on his third attempt, adjusting the top sequence made it all look rather easy.  The seepage down Pheonix of Obsidian appeared to have regressed enough to climb it.  Despite nearly saying take on the first hard section I fought the urge and climbed up into the roof.  From here the crux traverse left was wet.  I had a nut and a cam and it was a long way to the last piece.  They had to hold if the wetness beat me.  After an attempt at the traverse, and frustrated by the wetness I shouted for beta from Niall.  With confidence that there was something good coming up I went for it and succeeded on my second (guidebook) E7 of the week.  Niall won't give me the E7 tick, but I felt like I had had much more of the E7 experience than on Dalriada.  I'd be interested to hear the grade consensus from the experienced trad heads out there.

So no falls yet.  Looks like I will have to return to Iron Crag for Iron Man, which looks to have much greater potential for a big ride!

Source: Alan Cassidy (& others) Climbing

[Fiend]

Excellent blogging, really interested to hear it....same was happening to me 3 grades lower!

[comPiler]

It's been a while...
7 September 2012, 10:18 am

It has been a while since I last blogged. I was reminded of this last night. I guess I just haven't had a whole lot to share with the world beyond the random words and phrases I tweet from time to time.

The last couple of months have been all about; getting married (best day of my life), going to 2 other weddings, covering as much of Rob's job as I could whilst he was away, expanding the TCA Glasgow Youth Squad and getting ready to go on Honeymoon. Yay!

Mr & Mrs. Typically wet July in Scotland. (Photo: Cody Cox)

Climbing wise I have been quite focused with my training. Mornings are me time. I spend an hour or two most mornings before work on the campus boards and fingerboards of TCA. I find it easier to train the basic stuff early in the day, the co-ordination of the motor systems seem to require a bit longer to wake up. I still find it difficult to train in the evenings mid-week with other commitments but knowing that I have at least done my morning workout keeps me sane.  I have been working to a program with a clearly defined progression and I must say ticking off the daily objectives can turn the most monotonous hangs into a motivating battle.

The goals are to have a successful trip around the Eastern States, tick a few 5.13s (maybe a 14 or two?) and enjoy climbing on rock which has not happened nearly enough in 2012. Yes, I say this in every blog but it has been a while! (Future essay: How much actually is enough? Discuss.)

Coming back to the UK in Autumn I hope to progress the bouldering a bit further (weather permitting). I have really got more into my bouldering this summer and have started to build up a better base of Font 7s on other rock types. I hope this will form a base from which to head up the grades a bit further and finally master the mystery to me that is Font 8A away from Dumby.

Below are a couple of videos of a couple of things I hauled myself up during the sunniest day I have managed to grab outdoors this year so far.



Source: Alan Cassidy (& others) Climbing

[comPiler]

The End?
10 October 2012, 8:35 pm

This is the end of my Blogspot.

It has been an emotional experience blogging on here. Often times I have doubted whether my blog was worth keeping. Whether I was interesting enough to read? A good enough climber? A good enough writer? Too self interested? Not self confident enough? Etc etc...

I do however know the stats and know that many people do actually check in at my blog.  Those people need not worry. I am still blogging, but like Des Lynam, Eamon Holmes and Natasha Kaplinsky before me, I have changed channels.  You can still read my self-interested, banal, climbing banter over at www.alancassidyclimbing.wordpress.com .

:-)

Source: Alan Cassidy (& others) Climbing

[Nibile]

See you there!