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Alex Barrows Climbing

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comPiler:
Lights, Camera, Action
13 May 2012, 5:36 pm

Pulley rehab continues, meaning a rare dose of grit for this lime lover. I've been surprised by how much I've enjoyed it, and it's been nice to climb again at the likes of Stanage and Curbar - places I used to go to a lot when I was at uni but have ignored for the last couple of years in favour of limestone crimping. Getting back to that part of the peak has reminded me how much I like it too, stirring up memories of when I first arrived in Sheffield. Those first few months of impatient excitement, blown away that I could bike to Rivelin for a solo circuit and be back in time for afternoon labs; that I could take a 15 minute bus journey from my halls of residence and find myself at burbage south; that on my way to lectures I would spot the likes of Ben Bransby or Steve McClure walking down the street; that I was finally in England's preeminent climbing city after a year stuck in Oxford. It was all so exciting, a world of climbing opportunity, the promised land. God I love climbing. Nowadays I take it for granted too much, and it's good to be reminded sometimes of just how lucky we Sheffield residents are to have all this on our doorstep.

I've got a camera again for the first time in a while too - just a cheap one, hopefully I wont break it as quickly as I did my previous ones! It means my first entry into the wonderful world of climbing videos, though my framing of shots from a tripod needs some work:

I managed to land right on my tail bone on that fall, a day and a half later and I still can't lie on my back in bed without it hurting!

Source: Alex Barrows Climbing

comPiler:
Nearly There...
13 June 2012, 12:51 pm

It's been a while since I last posted anything, largely since due to the injured finger's slow (but steady) progress back to health. A quick multimedia round-up of the last month or so, in rough chronological order:

Grit with Guy and Chris:

from Guy Van Greuning on Vimeo.

More gritstone pulley rehab on The Buckstone Dyno:





A few weeks ago Mark 'Danger' Tomlinson and I hit Dorset for 5 days  of sun (and toproping 6cs in my case). Through judicious use of sending  Mark up things first, I managed to flash a couple of 7cs which avoided  left hand crimps and did a 7c+ 2nd go. Despite the lack of hard climbing it was nice to hang out by the sea and potter on easy things for a few days.

[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Mark abbing into Promenade[/td][/tr][/table]

[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]DWS active rest[/td][/tr][/table]

My finger now seems to be improving a lot, and through sticking to pockets and fat pinches indoors I'm back  to training properly. I think I've learnt a lot from this injury, and hopefully this will mean I don't make the same mistakes next time:

- The motherboard at the climbing works should be the venue of choice if you have pulley injury due to the amount of pockets and wide pinches on offer

- Despite being easier climbing, circuits are more dangerous than bouldering as far as aggravating a tweaky finger goes: you use the same holds repeatedly, you use more holds (so it's harder to come up with a whole circuit which doesn't tweak at all), and most of all you get pumped and try hard thus torquing into holds and putting a lot of strange forces through your fingers

- There are actually quite a lot of good problems out there than don't involves crimps for one of your hands. Put the work into thinking of these and try to channel your psyche appropriately, rather than endlessly wondering when you'll be able to get back to your previous objectives. This mindset is much easier mentally and less risky for the injury as you wont be tempted back to what hurt it in the first place so soon.

- Ice, ice baby. Plus stretching the fingers.

This last weekend saw my return to (pockety) limestone bouldering, with an unsuccessful hungover day with Toby at Anston on Saturday and a more successful day with Guy at Nuda's on the Sunday:

from Guy Van Greuning on Vimeo.

This is actually a really good problem, especially if - like me - you're a fan of funky toe hook sequences. Nicely different from the usual peak lime too. Yesterday a few of us headed over to Churnet to check out somewhere different, with the highlight of the session being burning Bob 'tactics' Hickish off on a campus move on a rather tough 7B. Lordy that '8c' of his in Dorset must be easy.



Source: Alex Barrows Climbing

comPiler:
Back in the Game
20 June 2012, 8:02 pm

With an abysmal forecast for the weekend and temperatures on the up there was only one option for outdoor climbing this week: an early morning session. My alarm went off at 6.45, but unlike when it goes off an hour or two later for me to head into uni, this time there was no snooze button. I had unfinished business with Ebola, and short and basic 7C at Anston Stones. In theory this problem should suit me - big moves between good holds on slightly overhanging ground, just my sort of thing. For some reason, however, it doesn't. I find it nails. If you gave it hard 7C+ I wouldn't feel guilty taking the tick. The problem revolves around a hard move off a 2 or 3 finger pockets to a sharp edge and holding a tricky swing, and it's a move that never feels easy for me, even in isolation.

After a slightly slower than expected journey (since I'd forgotten about morning traffic), I arrived at the crag to thankfully find reasonably cool rock and quickly got warmed up before it got too hot. Trying out the moves again I felt good, and with a slight tweak in grip position on the pocket giving me a much needed boost on the crux move I managed to dispatch the problem unexpectedly quickly.

Next up was Quarantine, a crimpy traverse of the buttress given 8A. Given that my finger has only just recovered from its pulley injury I was just intending to try a few of the moves to work back into crimping again (I'd worked out a sequence during a session on it in winter and tried briefly again on the weekend). The sequences went easier than expected and - as ever - psyche soon forced prudence out of my mind leaving me chalking up for a go at the link. Fortunately I got away with it and the finger held firm, allowing me to scuttle my way across to the finishing holds.

All that was left to do was to down a celebratory protein shake before rushing back to uni to get some work done, followed by the obligatory evening training session on the new Foundry campus board.

I've made a little video of these problems, hope you like it:

from Alex Barrows on Vimeo.



Source: Alex Barrows Climbing

Richie Crouch:
Nice one Alex. Glad to see it is not just me who found Ebola desperate... Felt a lot harder than all the other 7C's there which is why I logged it as low end 7c+! ;)

dave:
If you guys know 7c+s that are only as hard as ebola then fuck I must be going to the wrong crags.

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