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David Mason

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Sweden
7 June 2014, 9:40 am

It is about a month since I arrived home from Sweden. It was probably my most successful climbing trip to date. I managed to climb fourteen out of the seventeen days I was there and in that time managed 33 boulders of 7C and harder including two first ascents and three 8A flashes.

I had booked the trip to climb one problem; The Hourglass. This stunning piece of rock has been on my ‘to-do’ list since Stefan Rasmussen made the first ascent in April 2010. The line, the rock quality and the movement are all phenomenal making it, in my opinion, one of the finest boulder problems in the world.

Although I accrued a good tick list whilst in Sweden the aspect I was most proud of was my mental ability to actually climb The Hourglass. I had booked this trip for the sole purpose of climbing this boulder and this meant I had put a certain pressure on myself. This was not only an internal objective but an external one too, if anyone asked what I was keen for in Sweden I was honest. I wanted to apply a little pressure and see how I coped with this, after all it is normally the mental side of climbing where I am found wanting.

In the end it took three sessions. Session one was awful; it was too warm and I was tired from travelling, in fact it was so awful I didn’t even manage all the moves. Not a great start. I took some time and got some other great problems under my belt. My second session manifested itself in a funny way. It got to six o’clock on a rest day, the wind had begun to blow and the stifling temperatures of the day had begun to recede. I got excited and went to have a play. The session went better than expected and I, surprisingly, got really close on a couple of occasions. I knew that the weather looked perfect in two days time and so I packed up my stuff, content with the progress I had made. Sure enough, upon awakening two days later a chilly breeze was blowing, the temperature read seven degrees and the sky was a blanket of cloud. It was time for session three! Fingerboard warm up complete I put my shoes on and taped my tips. I climbed the stand start and then had a go from the bottom; I felt good and the rock felt grippy but I came up short on the fourth move, a deadpoint to a small right hand crimp. I didn’t feel tired, I had just been unlucky and so tore the tape off my tips, chalked my hands and got straight back on. I would love to say it felt easy and all went smoothly but that would be a lie. I tried hard, dug deep and made the odd grunt in the taming of The Hourglass but rolling onto the boulder at the top felt great. Elation, relief and complete and utter happiness coursed through me. I normally choke when pressure is applied even when I know I am capable. So often I fall short but this time something was different.

With the pressure off and the weather looking good the rest of the trip just got better and better until the rain came with four days to go. Normally this rain would leave us housebound but I was motivated and still had a bit of unfinished business. I was amazed what I achieved, with a bit of hard work and a lot of paper towel, over these four days and this started me thinking about why I had chosen to get out in the rain while everyone else stayed at home in the warmth. This, however, is another story for another time….

Thanks to Stefan and Sanna Rasmussen for putting me up, putting up with me and showing me around the wonderful bouldering areas that surround Vastervik.

The video below shows my ascent of The Hourglass plus other classics from the area.

Soulfly 8A+ at Fruberget. Photo: Stefan Rasmussen.

Rhythm 7C+ at Jarnforsen. Photo: Stefan Rasmussen.

Les Pacte des Loupe 7C+ at Soldstrom. Photo: Stefan Rasmussen.

Furb 8A+ at Knutby. Photo: Stefan Rasmussen.

Fysiologi 7C+ at Fruberget. Photo: Stefan Rasmussen.

Getting the first ascent of Grumpy Mule 7C+ at Marstrand. Photo: Stefan Rasmussen.

Getting the second ascent of Hulken 8A+ at Stavsjo. Photo: Stefan Rasmussen.

Lavazza 7C at Marstrand. Photo: Stefan Rasmussen.

Getting the second ascent of Freedom of Speech 8A+ at Roversblocket. Photo: Stefan Rasmussen.

The Hourglass 8B at Bjornblocket. Photo: Stefan Rasmussen.

Source: David Mason

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Progression
28 June 2014, 6:38 am

Earlier this year I spent seven weeks in the United States and whilst I didn’t set the world alight with 8C ticks I did notice improvement in my own personal climbing. Over the period I managed 36 climbs of V10 and harder including a rare (ish) repeat of Li, a short power based problem established by bouldering legend Frederic Nicole in 1997. At the time I was reasonably happy with my trip, the weather didn’t always play ball and yet I made the most of what we had. I braved -10° Celsius and, in contrast, sweated it out in the baking desert heat to achieve a tick that a week later I would probably have forgotten. So why do we do it? Is it all worth it?

The answer of course is YES! I love it, thrive off it and am constantly amazed by what our bodies and minds are capable of when we really dig deep and push that bit further than normal.

It has taken me nearly two months to write this blog. I didn’t want to write an ego filled “I did this or I did that”. Instead I wanted to write something reflective and thought provoking and to be honest I didn’t have a clue what that might be! Then a few weeks ago it dawned on me that what I had experienced in the States, and more specifically in Hueco, was progression. Something I think all athletes and especially climbers find hard to measure and yet it is so important in order to continue with our fight to improve and to find the motivation to aid this fight.

The Oxford dictionary defines progression as-

‘A movement or development toward a destination or a more advanced state, especially gradually or in stages.’

It is something that everyone loves to see and feel whatever their hobby or passion and in most of these pursuits it is what keeps us working hard and striving forward in the hope of improving and pushing our personal limits.

What I want to explore is how we view this progression of ourselves, what markers do we place to keep us on the straight and narrow and how does this progression aid our motivation and development for the future.

It was five years since I had been in Hueco, five years since I had dislocated my shoulder and five years worth of training, personal growth, development and maturation. It was here that my progression became clear and this experience has driven me forward and motivated my training, climbing and life decisions since.

So what did I experience in Hueco Tanks that is so radically different to going on other trips? Well, in short, just how much better I had become over the five years. Holds that, previously, I hadn’t been able to use felt big, moves that I hadn’t been able to conceive felt easy and foot holds seemed ten a penny; there obviously weren’t anymore but I could use more of what was available. Now I hear you say that of course after five years I should be better, I should find things easier than before, and I fully agree. The key however was experiencing this in such an obvious and validating way. If I visit a crag five times a year, every year then obvious gains and progression are hard to monitor but this gap of five years really demonstrated to me that I had improved and that all the hard work I put in is worthwhile.

Progression is something that, like many, I constantly question. Is all the training and hard work paying off? Am I doing the right thing for me? Well the answer seemed to be yes and that is very comforting indeed. This doesn’t mean that I have a formula of how to improve and I must always stick to this, in fact I have changed my training so much over the past five years that pinning down what actually works and doesn’t work is very hard. The answer to this improvement lies in that last sentence in the word ‘changed’. By constantly changing my training, increasing the intensity, working on new areas of strength, skill and technique I have been shocking my body into adapting to newer, higher levels. The question here is whether I can continue with these changes by finding ways to shock the system and not let my body grow stagnant?

So where has this realisation of progression taken me and where will it take me in the future? The most important part of this realisation is the perception of my own climbing and the belief I now have in myself. I have always tended to be very positive about others climbing and their potential but that does not translate to my own performance. I have a fairly negative image of my climbing and am constantly disappointed with my efforts and performance when on the rock and especially in competition. If I am truly honest, I stopped competing because I couldn’t hack the disappointment of not excelling and the way it affected my self-image. I felt that I could control this more in an outdoor environment and to an extent I can but there are still moments, more often than I care to admit, where everything builds up and I explode! The realisation of this progression has boosted my self-confidence. I no longer look at climbs and get intimidated, instead I believe I am strong enough, believe I am good enough and this belief serves as a powerful ally when performing at your limit. However this belief is not infallible, I still get angry, frustrated and disappointed but I can now rationalise these feelings and use them as fuel to improve. And yes I still I have bad days, everyone does, and yes I still moan about these days but I know that it is all just a cycle. The good days wouldn’t feel half as good as they do without the bad ones, after all the struggle makes the success all the sweeter.

As for the future part of the question, the answer is I am not sure. What I do know is that I am enjoying my climbing and therefore my life, because the two are inexplicably linked, much more. Hopefully the future will involve pushing my limits much further, testing my abilities on the hardest and most quality lines around the world and even coming off on top sometimes!

I suppose in summation of the last five years and indeed this piece of writing, I would say that hard work pays off. I have trained hard, put in the time and battled both mentally and physically. This effort has paid off with a realisation of my progression and with this realisation my performance has improved but more importantly my self-image and belief of what I can achieve has increased. I guess it shows however much training we do we all know that the battle is won, or lost, in the head.



Source: David Mason

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Rocklands 2014: Projecting
12 August 2014, 11:18 am

Why do we climb? What is it about this past time that gets us hooked? Is it the great outdoors or the travel to new, exotic places? The buzz we get from reaching the top or the endorphin rush from pushing our body to the limit? Some may desire the ability to go into the unknown and succeed on their first attempt, while others prefer re-visiting the known on countless occasions until it succumbs to their dogged and relentless pursuit for evolution.

The answer, of course, is whatever you wish it to be. In fact it might be an accumulation of all of the above that keeps you climbing, but the area I want to explore is the last point in the above paragraph. That drive to improve and torment, to push yourself ever harder on that “project” you have been trying for two days, two weeks, two months or even two years. So, what is your timeline when talking about “projecting”? Some may feel that having to come back more than once to a climb is projecting, whilst others may try for years and even resort to building a replica for strength training and muscle memory. Again the answer is ambiguous; it’s at the owner’s discretion.

For me, as I think for most, projecting is a long-term attribute, which can range from a number of sessions to a number of years spent trying that elusive route or boulder. As with all areas of climbing, projecting is a skill and one that must be tinkered with constantly or it will poison our mind with the seed of self-doubt. Projecting is a skill that I do not possess in my repertoire, or at least I didn’t possess until quite recently. I would say I have never spent longer than six or seven sessions on a problem, to some this may seem ridiculous while to others it may be a mere drop in the ocean. However, the sessions have never been regular or successive; they have been sporadic, strung out and fitted in to suit my daily life and how I am feeling at the time. I tend to work better with quick ticks to build my confidence and sooth my ego but unfortunately this only works when you first visit an area. If you return time and again to an area then eventually you are going to have to dive head first into the “projecting” pool, and this is what I have just done!

El Corazon, 8B. Photo: Jeremy Huckins I have been to Rocklands twice before and therefore have exhausted the place of what I could climb relatively quickly. This year I had a list of four climbs I really wanted to try. They weren’t any harder, in grade terms, than what I have climbed before but each climb had something about it, something that I found difficult, and something that meant hard work was in order if I were to achieve success.

They were-

1. Ray of Light 8B

2. The Power of One 8B

3. King of Limbs 8B+

4. El Corazon 8B

And how did they go-

1. I had a brief session at the start of the trip but never returned.

2. I managed it first go on my fifth session.

3. I had 4-5 sessions; managed all the moves and got very close on the link.

4. I managed it first go on my second session this year but had tried it briefly on a previous trip.

However what I climbed is not the important part, the important part is the progress I made when I had a number of sessions in close succession. This is where I hear you all say: “of course you make progress with successive sessions that are in close proximity to one another” and when I say it to myself it makes complete sense but I don’t think I had honestly thought about it before.

On my first sessions on both ‘The Power of One’ and ‘King of Limbs’ I couldn’t do all the moves and I left feeling that they were beyond me. However on returning a day or two later the moves were completed and it was onto linking them together. Both climbs had gone from feeling unlikely to totally in the realms of possibility. I hadn’t gotten any stronger, or fitter but my muscles had remembered what it was I was asking of them and they were nice enough to comply. After that a little progress was made each session until ‘The Power of One’ was complete and ‘King of Limbs’ was no longer possible due to my shoulder.

The Power of One, 8B. Photo: Killko Caballero Although I was over the moon with my sends, what really inspired me was what I had learnt and with this knowledge bottled it’s onto the next project….. and ‘King of Limbs’ will just have to wait till next year!

Source: David Mason

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King of Limbs
11 June 2015, 4:31 pm

I haven’t blogged for a long time; this wasn’t down to bone idleness or not having anything worthy to report, it’s just that I wasn’t inspired to write. Every time I sat down and attempted to put pen to pad, or keys to screen nothing would come out.

However it’s a rainy day in Rocklands today there seems no better time than now to collect my thoughts of the last 6 months.

I returned from a tumultuous trip to the US just before Christmas. Why tumultuous you may ask? The answer to this is probably a long one but to cut it short lets say mixed motivation, poor weather and popping knees. On the plus side the finger injury I had prior to the trip disappeared, I got to hang out with some great friends and I climbed Wet Dream (V12) in Red Rocks. The number isn’t earth shattering but this had been on my radar since I saw a video of Ethan Pringle making the first ascent in 2004. It is one of the finest boulders I have ever climbed. Interesting movement on immaculate rock, requiring a strong body and mind.

Upon returning to Sheffield I planned to campus and fingerboard to regain that finger and arm strength I had lost from being injured, alongside this I wanted to get out on the grit as much as was humanly possible! These two objectives balanced nicely; I could get out on rock and then go to the wall and train. The grit isn’t the most physically demanding of rock types but it does eat skin for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The wood of the campus- and fingerboard is friendlier than the resin holds at the wall. A match made in heaven!

Within a month I was feeling the strongest I had for a long time; training goals had been smashed and I had been out on the grit more than I can remember. I had been making the most of any break in the weather to get out and I felt like I was being rewarded for this persistence. On the 28th January I abandoned the van and trudged with two pads through knee-deep snow to Stanage Plantation. I had tried The Ace (8B) on two prior occasions that month and both times had been agonisingly close to success. This Monday morning was my third day on and it would be my fourth session within the three days but conditions were good and I was psyched. It didn’t go easily but an hour after arriving I was standing on top of perhaps the most iconic boulder problem in the UK with the whole of Stanage Plantation to myself; it was a perfect moment! Sharing success with friends is great but those solitary moments of struggle, fight, pride and elation are just as important to me.

Evening light on The Joker at Stanage Plantation. Photo by Archie Cameron-Blackie. This is already longer than planned so lets fast-forward through a frenzied few months of sessions on the grit, trips to Wales and the Lake District and more training than I care to remember. Countless days of multiple sessions; indoors and outdoors, core and climbing, campus- and fingerboarding, pull-ups and press-ups, TRX and rings, stretching and yoga. For 10 weeks leading up to my trip to South Africa I worked tirelessly to be in the best shape possible. There were moments of despair, anguish and pain but there was light at the end of the tunnel and I was feeling bigger, stronger and faster all the time.

So, why all the training? This would be my fourth trip to Rocklands and although it may sound ridiculous I was travelling 2000 miles for one boulder problem! I will pre-empt your exacerbated sighs and groans of disbelief but we all know the obsessive nature of rock climbing and what ridiculous things it makes us do. Now, yes there are many more boulders that I have to climb in Rocklands but in truth I don’t think I would have come back this year if it weren’t for King of Limbs. I had been close last year before hurting my shoulder on El Corazon (8B) and for some reason this boulder really appeals to me. It isn’t a sawing line, in fact it’s in a dark cave, but the holds and the movement epitomise what bouldering is to me. Short and powerful, it requires fingers of steel, core of steel and shoulders; you guessed it, of steel! I grip the holds so tightly that realistically my skin can only bare an hour or two of torture on the climb; it really is bouldering in a nutshell.

King of Limbs was discovered and put up by a good friend of mine in 2011. Micky, at the time, was one of the strongest boulderers in the UK and probably not far off the top echelon in the world. That trip he got the 3rd ascent of Golden Shadow and Black Eagle both of which were considered 8B+. He then set about exploring so that he could leave a piece of the North-East in the Western Cape! Some how he came upon the King of Limbs cave and that was that. He extended his trip so that he could make the first ascent of this test-piece and stuck his nose out by murmuring an 8B+/C grade. I think he actually said it was far harder than both Golden Shadow and Black Eagle in his opinion and the Internet jumped on the 8B+/C grade.

Since then it has had a good few ascents and with beta refinements people have said it could be 8B.

So, where am I? Training: tick, reason: tick, history: tick.

In 2013 I had one very brief session on King of Limbs and in conclusion I was a country mile off the strength required for this boulder.

In 2014 it was one of four boulders I wanted to climb on my trip. I had three sessions before hurting my shoulder and it felt doable but looking back I am not sure I was strong enough. I probably only did the crux move once in each session and linking the first three moves; realistically I wasn’t even close.

To put in context how difficult King of Limbs is for me I think it is worth mentioning that in these two trips I ticked 24 problems of 8A and harder including seven 8B’s.

So, how did 2015 pan out? I had planned two weeks in Rocklands to complete King of Limbs and then I was to spend three weeks exploring the boulders around Cape Town. Unfortunately huge fires over the summer left most areas in Cape Town closed for re-growth of vegetation. My flights were already booked and so it seemed that I would have five weeks to try to climb King of Limbs. This lowered the pressure a bit and meant I could take my time and not rush the process. King of Limbs is gnarly on the skin and body so ample rest between sessions is needed.

After arriving in South Africa to a rain enforced rest day I first headed up to King of Limbs on Thursday 4th June. After warming up I re-acquainted myself with the ending and then got stuck in. I managed the crux iron cross move five out of six times. I was stronger; it had been worth all the hard work! The first move seems to be inconsequential to most but to me it is awkward and getting it wrong sets you up poorly for the crux. I didn’t do this move and so leaving after my first session there was mixed emotions.

Two days later I was back. I just couldn’t commit my skin to trying hard on anything else until King of Limbs was complete. After watching a few videos I had a new idea for the first move. It instantly turned the problem on its head. The body position and movement suited me and although I still find it a difficult move it no longer felt awkward and I was excited for every attempt. Skin was thin and goes were limited but in this session I actually stuck the iron cross from the start only for my foot to pop. Normally in this situation I would be full of rage and anger but I wasn’t, yes, I was frustrated but I was also happy. I knew I could do it and I still had four weeks left.

King of Limbs in Rocklands, South Africa. The plan was to take two rest days for my skin to recover and then head up on a one-off cold day mid week. Unfortunately this freak cold day turned into a rainy day and I didn’t want to have three days off. This balance of skin maintenance and the need to climb was becoming stressful. After one rest day and with rain forecast for the day after I decided to head up to King of Limbs for 3-5 goes; this was how many attempts I deemed my skin could manage.

It was the hottest day so far but there was a wind blowing into the mouth of the cave. Four goes in and I had come close to sticking the crux from the start, my skin was wearing thin and the nerves were mounting. It wasn’t that I wanted the process to be over; I loved the physicality of this boulder but the skin management and amount of rest I had to take was frustrating, after all I was here to climb.

And that’s when it happened, as if by magic, on that fifth and last go I stuck the crux, the foot didn’t pop, I latched the next move by the skin of my teeth and then went into autopilot. The last few moves are definitely droppable but it all came together rather splendidly in the end!

The iron cross on King of Limbs. That brings us to the present, rainy day, the day that I was supposed to be going to try King of Limbs. Thankfully I went yesterday!

And now what you have all been waiting for, or maybe not. THE GRADE. So here are the facts;


* Counting the first aborted attempt in 2013 it took me seven sessions; this is the longest I have tried any boulder for.
* I used very similar beta to the first ascent i.e. very basic!
* It is harder than any other boulder problem I had ever climbed and I think it suits me reasonably well.
* In my opinion it’s either my first 8B+, which would be lovely or top-end 8B. I haven’t decided whether to be conservative or take the glory yet! Whatever grade it is the process of climbing King of Limbs has been a fulfilling and rewarding one. From seeing it conceived in 2011, getting totally shut down in 2013, nearly tasting success in 2014 (or so I thought) and finally to putting time, money and hard work into climbing it in 2015 it has been an enriching experience that I will always cherish and remember.

Source: David Mason

Three Nine:
Ok so you climbed some poxy bit of rock.

What i'd be proud of is that back musculature  :wub:

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