[tomtom]

2013 totals:
Outdoor: 42   
Indoor:1 
Training 6

Frustrating weather this week.. I've been wanting to get back to Harmers to re-work BabyblocII, but showers - and heavy rain has prevented that from happening.. so...

Monday - en route from Manchester to Hull, I stopped off for a cheeky hour/90 min at Burbage West... Its time to start re-working West Side Story, and the split tip on me LH index finger was looking OK-ish, so I figured I could get at least a few go's on it before things went down hill. Thats pretty much what happened! I felt good on it, but with thin skin on the left tip I didnt really have the confidence to bear down on it - and I came close to reaching previous high points in what was really a series of half arsed efforts... anyway, I managed to stop before putting the tip through again - and trotted down to the Nose, which I retro-flashed in fine style, so I am climbing quite well.. with 15 min left before I had to go, I wandered back to WSS, looked at it and decided not to go any more and had a play on Jasons Mono. I've always thought this was a stupid stupid problem (not done it on previous attempts) but gave it a bit of thought and found that with outside of LF in the big ledge and with the FR on the higher foot hold/flake/block the leap felt far better, and after a few gangly flails it was latched and held, complete with wild swing Its actually quite a nice problem after all! and another 7 to add to the 2013 list (#12 I think...)

Work work work work work.... and Thursday - blagged a morning off and headed over to Plantation. Its been ages since I've been to Plantpot, and theres plenty of unfinished business there. Ego plumped by a few sucessful months I wanted to have another fling at Deliverance - and FINALLY get Green Traverse (no heels variant) done... I had the place to myself - though the snake and bit by the reservoir on the way was full of plane spotters as it (I didnt know) was the Dambusters anniversary/flypast etc... So, pleasant warm ups, feeling good, moving well... to Deliverance. An hour later, sore quads, left shoulder and no cigar. Close again - very close a couple of times (finger tips over the top but not holding..) and its annoying.

It doesnt really feel like a boulder problem to me - more like a jumping exercise.. I basically need to train so I can jump another inch higher (I am already shit at jumping) and whilst its an iconic problem etc... I find it hard to motivate myself to jump off chairs and jump up again (Kinewotists I'm informed thats called..).

Anyway - over to Ol' Green Traverse.. Which I've been trying on and off for the best part of 5 or 6 years I guess... I normally get bits of it done, but never the whole darned thing..

First I tried doing it nicely. It ate a load of skin off my shin.

Then I tried doing it with some technique and a bit of thuggery. It spat me off....

Eventually I tried it with no technique whatsoever, hanging the slopers/holds with smeary tips on the wall, slapping across... and I did it...
(with no heels..)

Excellent - another one ticked off the list - and 7#13....

On friday I went out and drank too much strong lager and got wasted... I did nothing Saturday except be sick and watch war films... So today (Sunday) I dashed out to try and find some dry sandstone... I did! A potter at Helsby in the woods, then back to Harmers (where it was just dry enough) to try BabyBloc II... but I was not even close.. felt clunky and inflexible, no confidence.. such is the way - it might have to wait until cooler times in the Autumn now... Somewhere out there the Lime is starting to call me

[kelvin]

 Cheers for this - nice work on the 7s too.

Mon - Sore (Pembroke wave wipout the week before)
Tue - Physio OUCH
Wed - Different sore
Thu - Getting better
Fri - Beer and a band, home in the early hours...
Sat - ... and straight on it early for the Play-off Final at Wembley. We got hammered.
Sun - Stoney Middleton. Just how polished?!

Saw the physio and seems I took a bit of a beating when that wave wiped me out. Didn't realise at the time. Burst something in me hip, ITB was solid blah blah... oh did it hurt getting it sorted. So still a bit achey climbing today. Tried to lead Aurora, some VS thing but I needed to mantle, which wasn't gonna happen easily with my wrist. Spent ages climbing back and forwards but couldn't commit. Seconded it in the end. The start of the second pitch was hideous. Until I started climbing with my feet an inch at a time and stopped trying to put both hands in the crack.
Belayed Dale up The Scoop but wasn't tempted to second that - beyond my climbing skills at the moment. Then pottered off and had a little boulder.

This limestone thing - it's starting to sink in about climbing with your feet but I'm still not seeing footholds quick enough. Mentally wasn't in the game today... whether that was the beer payback or me being useless, I'm not sure.

[fried]

Bad climbing week and I'm only posting out of a sense of obligation.

Monday - Friday - Too much work, come home too tired to even do a BM session.

Saturday - Sunday - Painting the living room. Try a BM session, do 2 sets but my fingers are  too stiff.

That's it.

[cheque]

M- Rest.
T- Core
W- Colehill Quarry. Everything I wanted to do was wet in some way. Picked one but bailed as it turned out to be a an over- optimistic choice. Still, got some mileage on easy dry routes, although this did involve climbing the worst route I've ever done.
T- Beastmaker repeaters. Quite dissapointing performance on standard 6:4 repeaters (I can only assume this was affected by Tuesday's exertions- although I didn't feel depleted at all) ended up doing three sets of 2:8 repeaters on the ~8mm edges- 2 seconds is virtually max for me on these so there must be some training value in this. 
F- Rest. Sore forearms!
S- Some core.
S- Trad at Stanage Plantation/ Popular: classic sunny May Sunday: families, Europeans in yellow trousers, university groups etc. I used to hate this type of day but it seemed kind of jolly and we managed to weave our way around the circus, join in gangbanging some classics and also doing some surprisingly good routes we would have never even glanced at on a quiet day. First E1 of the year. Got sunburnt and dehydrated. 

[shark]

11.7-8

M. PM Three finger weighted deadhangs. Pinch training. Made gains.
T.
W. AM. Raven Tor. Drizzly. Couldnt face tying in. Played on Perverse Reverse - felt stronger on the the moves. Also tried various finishes to weedkiller and closish to doing it footless. At end worked First moves Perverse Reverse footless and in isolation managged into sidepull/boss and also boss to juggy slot. Getting stronger. Fun session. Had a look at a Freda's buttress. Psyched that Zippy tried my route.
T. 
F.  PM Three finger weighted deadhangs. Pinch training. More gains.
S.  AM. Tor again. Morning. 8am start except I was 10mins late. Cold. 3 goes on AM. Last go did clip to break twice in a row. Got crowded and tips were so sore so left at lunchtime
S.  Eve. Snuck in an hour of soloing at Stanage between drop off and pickup of pool party at Hathersage
 
Still not overly psyched but keeping my hand in.

Finally finished reworking the Raven Tor script and sent it back. Nightmare. Cheers abbarro and kingy for help on it.

[tommytwotone]

LTG: Font 7b
STG: Operation Offwidth - do all of the "Dirty Dozen" up to E1 in the new Yorkshire Guide plus selected other filthy cracks.

M - Gym session after work
T - Played snooker after work, did OK for first time in ages including a 14 break
W - Afternoon at York races and much 
T - Not feeling too great, went to see The Specials in Sheffield in the evening
F - Nowt, totally shattered from previous couple of days
S - Nowt
S - off to slightly damp Brimham for some thrutching and scrittling. Led Jabberwok Variation and seconded Desparation Crack, the latter including first proper use of chicken wings.

[Luke Owens]

Monday - Ysbyty Alltwen Boulders - Almost roadside venue near Tremadog. Great spot, 5 minutes from family caravan!
Did a handfull of easy problems 2 V0+'s, 1 V1 and 3 V2's. Tried a really steep V4 but couldn't manage it. Need to make sure I keep up the core training!

Tuesday - Rest

Wednesday - Rest (Planned to go out but bailed due to weather)

Thursday - Drove to the Eglwyseg to get back on 7b Proj at Dinbren. Heavens opened and a lightning storm appeared... Went indoors to Plas Power instead... Annoying.

10 Routes from 6a - 6b+ all first go. Bouldered to finish and repeated a V5/6 I set last year and had a few tired goes on a V6/7.

Friday - Rest

Saturday - Visiting family

Sunday - LPT and Mayfair wall - LPT is now my favorite crag. So inspiring, great climbing and an awesome spot. Top's off weather too!

Did the classic 3 star 6c "Under the Boardwalk". The top slopers were greasy in sun but managed it first redpoint. Best route of the grade I've ever done.

Completely not what I'm used to, very pumpy and steep i'm forcing myself onto these type of routes as I want to get better at steep stuff.

As we arrived at LPT late tied was coming in so got on Mayfair wall. Went straight for it on another great F6c "Contusion" placing the clips but pumped off on the lower bulge. Got back on and climbed to the top crux and buggered the sequence. Worked it all out and rested.

2nd go came off the lower bulge again, worked a different sequence using a heel hook and a deep lock off to the jug. Nice!

3rd go crushed it! Such a great day. Really happy with doing both these routes even though they're 2 whole letter grades below my max redpoint grade. I'm out of my comfort zone on steep routes and I like it!

Need to make sure I'm keeping up the Core and Feet on Campus workouts this week. They are working for sure!

[Dolly]

M The Wave. 6.8k run through a wood with bluebells -felt all Spring like
T The Wave again. More success. Have managed to lose some weight which I think is paying dividends
W Short slow run
T Shed. In the knowledge that I can't stay on the brown stuff for much longer did 2 problems each with 7 hand moves. Does that count as power endurance ?
F
S Trailblazer run in Clumber Park. Lovely run through the woods. Most enjoyable 10k run I've done.
S Quick sess on the loaf boulder below Curbar. Too hot really. Very scrittly. Fell off and hurt my finger.


I think its probably time for the white stuff now...

[Bonjoy]

Sorry Dolly, some stuff I cleaned thoroughly, some stuff I cleaned enough to climb, the pre-existing stuff I didn't clean much at all. Generally the harder ones will be the cleanest. What spat you off?

[Muenchener]

STG: Anything from this list of Frankenjura classics
MTG (2013): Frankenjura VII onsight; Alpine multipitch VI; Welsh trad E2
   Redpoint UIAA VIII-, then 7a, then 5.12a. This should allow for a satisfying amount of Big Grade progression in a relatively short period of time
LTG (<= 5 years): Big alpine rock routes: Totenkirchl west face (Dülfer), Marmolada south face (Vinatzer-Messner)

M:
T: Bike to work ca 24km
W: Wall, Thalkirchen. Routes 5b 5c 6b 6a+ 6a+ 5c 6a 6b. Worst wall session for ages: no motivation, no endurance, 6a was hard. Falling practice felt like the most/only worthwhile part of the evening
T: Alpine approach training: 30 mins step-ups w/15kg rucksack
F:
S: Sport climbing, Zellerwand. I have gone from occasionally onsighting  6b this time last year, to consistently failing to redpoint 6b in a day this time this year. Moaning about it and getting despondent won't change it.
S:

[Dolly]

No worries mate - not your fault.
It was the 6b+ at the far right hand end - I fell off on the bigger holds at the lip. I'd cleaned it up a bit, well brushed it with my toothbrush, but it was very scrittly. Just too hot really.
Great moves coming out from under the roof to the left hand drag before locking up to the break.

[Sasquatch]

STG - Fully Rehab Finger
MTG - Long List of local stuff, #1 is the Fairangel Arete Project
LTG - Mandala...

M - FB/Run, Pullups, ATB's, and Levers.  Finger felt GREAT.  Best in months....
T - Lunch run, then Boulder at Wall, Didn't feel particularly strong, but climbed reasonably well and did pretty good moderate volume.
W - Nice lunchtime run
Th - FB, finger still feeling really good.
F - Boulder at wall. Felt REALLY strong....  Walked stuff that had been feeling really hard. 
S - IT SNOWED - WTF    Roped stuff at wall inside.  Bad attitude, but climbed well.  first 8a OS, and it may actually be that grade.
Su - Run 6mi intervals

The big goal for the week was to continue training despite massive personal stuff.  Wed Night I did a presentation at the local mountaineering club, Thursday was In-laws family dinner, Friday was my Daughters Birthday party, Saturday was a friends Asian Dinner night, and Sunday was my Mom's Birthday dinner.  Way too much food and drink, but pretty happy with the week overall. 

Another busy week coming up.  Trying to paint the house next weekend, so I'll be prepping all week.

[Duma]

S/MTG - keep niggles in check, run regularly, get out more. If I do any hard stuff that'll be nice too.
LTG - 8A, 68kg

M -
T -
W - TCA eve, new blues, bunch more, felt pretty good but hard to tell with it being a new circuit and very warm. flashed something apparently 7A+/B
T - nipped in for an hour before evening shift, then got out of work early so went back for third session in 24 hrs - still feeling ok, and managed to finish a couple more, incl a lovely bit of 3D, out facing roof fun at 7B/+ ish
F -
S -
S -

70-71kg. definitely going in the wrong direction, need to address this.

[webbo]

Mon. Board worked and did a project, failed on its mirror image. repeated last weeks problems.
Tue. Nothing.
Wed. Board worked and did mirror image of mondays problem. Did a few easier things to finish.
Thu. Nothing.
Fri. Nothing.
Sat. Leeds wall on way to visit mother. 21 problems including a v6. Felt a bit hungover.
Sun. Very hungover. Board did 8 problems and each ones mirror image twice. Bike 55 miles in 3hhrs 1 min 18.5mph. Felt hard given it was 25 miles in to a head woind.
Achilles still sore, still have wear a climbing shoes with the back cut. Cough seems to have gone. 

[Dolly]

Have you tried wearing compression socks Webbo ?
I could barely run cos of my achillles, then got some cheap ones from Decathlon and they made a massive instant difference

[Ti_pin_man]

Aims: still trying to focus on core strength and inital finger strength and get to 7a this year.
44 years old, climbing for 8 months - 2 or 3 times a week (varies).

M - 2.5 hours climbing inc. 4 sets of 7 second deadhangs on wide board with 2 min recovery gaps and 4 sets of leg pull ups
T - cycled 10 miles
W - M - 2.5 hours climbing inc. 4 sets of 7 second deadhangs on wide board with 2 min recovery gaps and 4 sets of leg pull ups.  Used campus board and began doing curcuit routes on it to build core strength, managed to get around easy curcuit 1.5 times and half of medium curcuit.  Must try harder.
T - cycled 10 miles
F - nowt
S - 3 hours climbing, peaking at 6b's
S - 15 mins fo climbing whilst doing photos at the climbing centre

Feeling a bit frustrated that I'm not progressing, but we probably all feel that way at times.  Good thing is I kicking the ass of the guys I climb with on a weekend, so maybe I am progressing

Next week, more steep campusing focus.

[cheque]

Feeling a bit frustrated that I'm not progressing, but we probably all feel that way at times.

If you've been climbing for 8 months and you're doing 6b (not sure if you mean font or sport, but either way you're going well) then you've nothing to be frustrated about. 7a this year (within 15 months of starting climbing?!) is a big expectation and the bottom line with training finger strength is that it takes time.

You'll inevitably get better if you climb and train this much so I'd just enjoy burning your mates off and visiting new crags and leave the frustration for down the line when you may have a realistic reason for it. 

[Ti_pin_man]

thanks for the love cheque. 

I meant font grades and I like to push the goal.  If I do I'll be made up but if I dont it doesnt matter cos I'm having great fun. 

Sadly its all indoors at the moment, I've done some outdoor stuff but not much around here. 

This thread is ace for me to keep track on where I'm going each week and to see what others are doing and maybe pick up tips. 

[webbo]

Have you tried wearing compression socks Webbo ?
I could barely run cos of my achillles, then got some cheap ones from Decathlon and they made a massive instant difference

The problem seems to be as a result of the pressure of the heel cup on my tendon. Socks would make my shoes tighter.
I have had a couple of massages from the osteopath which have helped and stretching seems to easing it.
I think I either banged it or it was due to a pair of new down turned shoes.

[fried]

thanks for the love cheque. 

I meant font grades and I like to push the goal.  If I do I'll be made up but if I dont it doesnt matter cos I'm having great fun. 

Sadly its all indoors at the moment, I've done some outdoor stuff but not much around here. 

This thread is ace for me to keep track on where I'm going each week and to see what others are doing and maybe pick up tips.

I started a bit earlier than you and it took me about 4 years to get to 6B, although 10 years of hard drinking, eating and sitting in a chair didn't help.

The best advice I can give is - Don't get injured. Every year I've climlbed something would happen that would put me back to square one.

My goal is 7A by 50, I'll race you if you like. I've got 8 years but you've only got 7 months 

[Eddies]

Monday: REST
Tuesday: Raven Tor in the rain (First visit of the season) Sent Rattle and Hump (hard way), worked Powerband
Wednesday: REST
Thursday: Room Routine (3 sets of: 30x pushups, 10x pullups, 10x18kg bicep curls on each arm. 3min rests between sets) and CWP hangboard session – max hangs without assistance!
Friday: HOLIDAY
Saturday: HOLIDAY
Sunday: HOLIDAY