[JackAus]

STG: Another V7 and more development.
MTG: DWS Project.
LTG: V11.

M:
T: Rode up to Sydney for the night. Stopped by a small crag called Pearl Bay. All fairly low grade stuff but important thing was flat grassy landings... Flashed most of the crag and also did a V6 (hardest line here) in about 10 minutes. Really didn't feel like 6 to me, felt almost V4. But it was in the shade and quite cool, I'm sure in normal Syd temps its significantly harder (quite slopey).
W:
T: Flat Rock. Abit more local development. Put up 3 new lines; 2 x V2s and a V0. There are harder variants of all but I didn't manage them. Didn't have much time and fresh sandstone ruins my skin!
F:
S:
S: Lot 33. Warmed up doing 2 x V4s then jumped on another V7. I hadn't tried this in almost a year as there is a hold on it that is fairly sharp and, without fail, ruins my finger every single time. It is a very good problem though. Did every move besides 2 (6 of 8 moves), leaving the big RH bump to the cutter down low and the last throw to the top sloper. Just need to commit to them and I should have it. Should go soon!

[Muenchener]

Not much to report. Was supposed to be a rest week before going for some big alpine objectives, but the weather forecast makes them look very unlikely.

STG (Summer): Totenkirchl west face (Dülfer)
MTG (Autumn): 7a redpoint.
LTG (<= 5 years): Big alpine rock routes: Marmolada south face (Vinatzer-Messner)

M-F: visiting family in .uk. This was planned long in advance, but then turned out to be the week of my Dad's funeral so not a lot else got done.
S: Wall, Boulderwelt. Stamina session, couple of dozen problems on the round-about-my-flash-limit circuit (6A-ish). Pretty tiring after the first 15 or so.
   Bike to & from wall 20km.
S: Walk up to the Stripsenjoch hut in the Kaisergebirge. Weather forecast for the coming days is dire, getting on the Dülfer looks like it will be out of the question. There are good shorter routes we might be able to fit in between the thunderstorms.

[duncan]

STG - bouldering for strength or fingerboarding twice a week. Stay uninjured. Lose 2kg.
MTG: E5 onsight, something classic and not dangerous. Get a bit better at Sport Climbing (7b RP)
LTG: Long hard (for me) rock routes in the Alps, Dolomites, Picos and Scotland.

Weight: 73.3kg

M - Bavaria - family stroll.
T - Sneaked off for afternoon at Gößweinstein. Climbed with AJM and Ali. Got to see Sautanz, the first IX in Germany (about 7b+), courtesy of Kurt Albert in 1981. It looking everything you would expect of a hard climb from that era: a crack into vertical crimpy pockety nastiness.


(photo: Heinz Zak, of course)

Climbing mediocrely but onsighted a cruxy F6a+(+) by the skin of my teeth.

W - Die Walkure at Bayreuth. Hojotoho! Hojotoho! For the uninitiated, this is like seeing Sonny Rollins at the Village Vanguard, Public Enemy at Brixton Academy, or Black Sabbath at some dive in Aston. Reviews have damned the production but we all enjoyed it.
T - Fly home. Micro fingerboard session.
F - Westway - 250m easy - aerobic capacity.
S - shoulder stability stuff
S - shoulder stability stuff

Fränkische Schweiz (why is this area known as Frankenjura to climbers?) is a lovely part of the world. I don’t know why it’s not more popular with UK climbers or tourists. Objectively, much of the climbing is short, brutal and often polished (perhaps I’ve just answered my own question..) but the setting is lovely, just the right side of the chocolate-box pretty. It's peaceful and quiet with few tourists or climbers, consequently everyone has been remarkably helpful and friendly. And it's surprisingly cheap. AJM says much the same in his blog.

The rest of non-climbing family enjoyed the ambience and country walks and we'll be back next year assuming we can get tickets for Siegfried or Götterdämmerung.

Plan: ease gently into finger-boarding. Maintain some endurance.

[french erick]

STG/MTG get my finger back into shape. Also understand what led to this injury.

Monday: Crack climbing session, first time managing 2 full returns in a row in OW roof cracks.
Tuesday: an-cap reps 1:30.
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: strength work on bouldering problems...all going well with finding new problems to do until thwang went my R ring finger A4 pulley.
Friday to today: icing, Ibuprofen and rest
Today: went for a 25miles ride on my fixie around my area (quite a few up and downs).

Will make even more of a point to write on here doing core work and may be weights for the next 2 weeks, as I find it soul destroying and usually don't stick to it. Might try jamming climbing later if finger allows...but normal climbing is out for at least a month

[tomtom]

M:

Tu: Tor Tuesday... There were lots of folk up at the Tor this week - and it was a good session.... Shark was growling at final part of Bens (Too Hard for Mark Leach), and there were three or four other friendly folk I dont know (Mark was one?) all working stuff in and around the Cave... I warmed up and had a couple of pre-go's on Weedkiller - but ran out of beans at the same spot as last week. On one go that seemed to be going very well I cruised the first sequence and then dropped the big hold at the end having got my hand in it.... Shark was quite upset about this - and after voicing his annoyance at my failure he had to go for a 5 min walk to walk off my disappointment I was quite pleased as it felt like a good attempt! Galpoinos turned up - as my stamina was fading and I alternated between looking at Pinches wall things with Galpinos and showing Shark how to do the end of Bens I left with the 'hard to pick up a cup of coffee' arm feeling...

W:

Th: Found out that a friend had died in a climbing accident at Tremadog on Tuesday evening. A sobering day - and sad thoughts since... RIP Keith.

Fri: TorTimeTwo. No one at Tor club on Friday... So I warmed up by cruising the end of THFML a few times and set to work on Weedkiller again... I have now worked out that my arms last for 45 seconds on this... and there was no real improvement from Tuesday. I got bored. But worked out some micro micro beta to help with the efficiency of getting the heel placement right (which felt like a small step). Went and played on that 7A to the right of Pinches (Little extra direct for the Torevangelists) that Galpinos had showed me on Tues.. worked all the moves - nice snatchy stuff (god whats become of me..) and I think it might go next time if I try it when fresher...

Sa: Decided to time my endurance on the beastmaker... I can hang the big slots for guess how long...? 45 secs... exactly my timing on the Weedkiller... so I need to squeeze out an extra 20 secs and it'll all be over. MrsTT often hopes the same.

Su: A late afternoon trip to the wall at Puerto-de-la-Stock. Beasted myself for 90 min or so - working easy probs on the 45 comp wall area going up and down (and lasting about 45 secs....) other stuff blah blah boring wall stuff.. blah blah...

So partial progress.... at least I know what my weakness is and can start the wonderful endurance training to gain an extra 20 secs :D

[shark]

11.7-8

M.
T. AM Tor. Warm. Felt grumpy and unpsyched. Mark (threenine) there and tomtom arrived. Tried to wire Mark's non-cut-loose sequence for the finish but struggled - toe hooking still not up to scratch. Tomtom failed to fully appreciate the benefit of working the finish to make it less powerful. He also fell off holding the jug of Weedkiller. Even so he was still less annoying than others present. Eve. Deadhangs.
W.
T.AM Low psyche. Couldn't face going to the Tor so didn't.
F.
S.
S. Nice day. BBQ at sister-in-laws
S. AM Looked out the window. Couldn't face going to the Tor so went back to bed. PM Wave. Warm and sweaty and unpsyched. Gratifyingly did better than ever on the green black spots. Eve Fingerboard. Bit below par on the crimps which isn't surprising as I crimped hard at the Foundry but a good result on the drags (3x10 secs at 25kg on the 16mm edge)

Think I need to tie on to get some psyche back. Thinking of Malham on Tuesday with Tom if anyone is interested.

[cheque]

STG- Normal middle fingers.
2014 goals- 20 14 E-points, back to 7th grade in sport and bouldering.
LTG- 8a sport.

M- Rest.

T- Rest.

W- Rest

T- Pembroke. Beautiful weather, perfect conditions really. Introduced my mate to sea-cliff climbing- he loved it and is proving to be a great trad partner. Did four routes between us- mine were Riders on the Storm and the Arrow, the latter of which I did as the sun set.  Truly great day.

F- Dry but cloudy and humid- really greasy conditions. We were also knackered from the previous day and very slow: after dislodging a big quantity of rock on an abseil at Crickmail my mate had one of those gripped epic sea-cliff leads: another right of passage  . Did some greasy route at Saddle Head before the traditional march to the pub for last food orders.

S- North Pembroke. Did Armorican at Craig Caerfai.  Then went to Porth Clais to do the bold arete thing there. Just as we were about to ab in the heavens opened. We sheltered for 45 minutes then had to face it that it wasn't stopping. In the meantime the now raging sea had caught our ab rope in now-underwater boulders- more learning for my mate as he volunteered (honest) to be the one to ab down, cut it loose and prusik back up. It didn't stop raining 'til the next morning, my tent porch collapsed and my shoes got soaked.

S- Did one easy route above a raging sea then drove back.

I love Pembroke so much. Great to go down with a psyched partner- Thuesday was one of the most enjoyable days climbing I've ever had. It's a shame the weather crapped out but we'll hopefully be back for a weekend in September.

I now realise that I'd expected to go down, have a bit of a fight with myself to get on challengingish routes then come back with a bit of a "thank God that's done, back to making my film and easy grit solos" feeling. Instead I found an enthusiasm and confidence for trad that I lost for two years ago, directly after having a bad fall. I didn't climb much that properly pushed myself down there- only the Arrow felt like it might not be in the bag for the whole route, but that was the one I enjoyed most. I've got the desire to get on routes and have a proper fight with them, confident that it's a scrap I'm equipped to win. Honestly I'm still not comfortable with the idea of possibly falling on trad (which is the reason I never try E2s even though there are probably loads I could do) but falling practice is going to be the first step in trying to overcome this.

[Luke Owens]

Had a great week this week. Only 2 sessions but 2 sessions that I enjoyed so much they will stay with me for a long time!

Felt like I had bags of endurance on the routes I did this week and felt like I could hang on forever, not sure what's going on but I'm enjoying it! Got a similar experiance towards the end of last year when I was doing mileage at the wall.

M: Rest

T: Rest

W: Llanymynech - First time on "Red Wall", always been intimidated by this 30m slightly overhanging wall and always wanted to climb on it. Didn't think my fitness would be up to much so opted for the easiest route on the wall first, a 6c.

On-sighted it and was really happy with how it went, didn't get pumped at all. Checked the guide properly and it turned out I'd onsighted a 7a "Lobster on the Loose"! Couldn't believe it, onsighting 7a has been a big goal of mine for awhile but to do it by accident was bizarre!

Onsighted the actual 6c "Crab Stick" next and again felt pretty easy.

Finished off the session with 3 laps on a 35m 6b.

T: Rest

F: Rest

S: Llanymynech Red Wall - Riding on the psyche from Wednesday I was hoping for a good session, turned out it was!

Onsighted 2 6c+'s "The Deep & "I Saw Three Ships". Again, felt like I could hang on forever (?!). The 2nd route really threw me out of my comfort zone, the upper 3rd gets steep (My antistyle) and more run out, but still I managed to not get that pumped at all.

I had a real awesome experience latching a jug and almost cutting loose near the top not knowing where my next bolt was, the last one was a good 4 meters below!

This meant just as much to me as the 7a onsight from the other day due to the steepy style thing.

S: Rest

I'd recommend Red Wall at Llanymynech to anyone, the routes I've done so far are by far some of the best I've ever done anywhere (I never thought I'd ever be raving about a quarry!). It's completely different to the vert, slabby style routes round the corner from it and the routes get progressively steeper towards the top. It doesn't look like the climbing would be that good from the the deck apart from the massive length but the climbing is fantastic, unique and varied.

[Schnell]

STG: a) retain sanity and finish thesis for end of august. b) keep training and don't get injured/keep rehabbing finger niggles
MTG: 7b(+) onsight in italy in september.

STG a) not going so well last week and started to impinge on b). I was very fatigued by the end of the week and had to skip climbing on sat afternoon. Got reasonable sessions in on tues, thurs and sun though.

M. off work in the evening so active recovery/easy mileage at the wall.
T. indoor training, current goal is 1-3-5 on small campus rungs which I can hit off my left arm most goes but struggle on the right. going for 1-4-6 on the big ball yokes which is miles better off right arm. Interesting imbalances going on. I seem to have better finger strength on my left but better burl/power on the right.
W.
T. training again. terrible on campus and FB, so gave up and did so foot on campusing/ancap
F. more active recovery, turned out to be too much cos sat dawned feeling
S.  and fatigued. got some work done and then did some intense sitting, tea drinking and eating
S. feeling better, training session on the campus and fb, plus did some reasonably difficult new problems

Going to continue trying to manage stress and minimise fatigue this week by not working too hard and doing short training sessions. Good start on Mon morning on UKB

[webbo]

 Mon. Bike 1 hour intervals
Tue to Fri nothing.
Sat. Bike 64 miles at 18 mph.
Sun. Dumbbell then dead hangs did 3 repeaters.
Struggling to motivate myself, foot still painful. Physio suggested I see orthopaedic consultant appointment next week. So hopefully I might get some clarity on what is wrong with it.

[the_dom]

Not the best week ever. Finger is still not 100%, but tried to get some mileage on it.

Mon: Easy mileage day at the climbing gym - 20 or 30 easy to mid-6s and one or two slightly harder problems.

Tues: Quite a long core session at home followed by intervals on the treadmill.

Wed: Another easy mileage day at the climbing gym - the same 20 or 30 easy to mid-6s and slightly harder problems.

Thurs: Climbing gym again - started trying to harder problems. Finger was a little iffy. Followed with a quick home plyo session (clap pushups and tuck jumps) and one-legged pistols.

Fri: Another long home core session, this time incorporating plyo exercises. Quite broken.

Sat: Rest. Wanted to surf, but no swell. My fiance took me to one of SAs finest restaurants for a 3 course birthday dinner and I drank too much red wine. And beer. 

Sun: Not psyched on climbing. No swell. Blah. Snuck out for what I thought would be a foolish swell check mission and ended up getting really fun shoulder high wedges on the longboard with no-one else out at the local beachie. Managed to eat it onto a draining, rock-strewn beach though and put a couple of dings in myself, and a significant one in my longboard, but was still a good little surf and just what I needed.

[T_B]

85.7Kg

M -  Fingerboard - front 3 x 6 7 secs x 2, back 3 failed on 3, 15mm edge open x 6 twice, failed immediately half-crimped. 4 min rests. 1 x 10 pull ups.
T -
W - School p.m. 6 or 7 problems on the moon board inc Silver tabs. Then 4 x easiest on 50 deg, 4 mins rest, then 4 x easy banisters, 5 mins rest, then 4 x 38flag easy way. Rest between reps = to time on problem (last wk I was resting twice duration i.e. too long). Definitely felt like I was powering out - good exercise!
T - Cornice p.m. Clarion Call, then o/sed Old Man River (bit grim flash pump). Worked Jug Jockey (tried this one evening 3 years ago), had time for one proper rp but fell having got edge around roof
F - Lunch - medium intensity AeroCap (tired)
S - Lakes en famille
S - Lakes en famille

Bit disappointed not to do Jug Jockey but got pumped/powered out at the lip faffing with a twisted draw and didn't quite have enough to get through the crux. Had another quick go but 5 mins rest wasn't gonna do it.

[french erick]

Not the best week ever. Finger is still not 100%, but tried to get some mileage on it.
Mon: Easy mileage day at the climbing gym - 20 or 30 easy to mid-6s and one or two slightly harder problems.
Tues: Quite a long core session at home followed by intervals on the treadmill.
Wed: Another easy mileage day at the climbing gym - the same 20 or 30 easy to mid-6s and slightly harder problems.
Thurs: Climbing gym again - started trying to harder problems. Finger was a little iffy. Followed with a quick home plyo session (clap pushups and tuck jumps) and one-legged pistols.
Fri: Another long home core session, this time incorporating plyo exercises. Quite broken.

Sorry about the board.
What king of core session do you do? I am on a look out for a routine I can sustain-my back gets painful before my abs due to a long term injury that'll never go away.

[the_dom]

What king of core session do you do? I am on a look out for a routine I can sustain-my back gets painful before my abs due to a long term injury that'll never go away.

Nothing overly complicated and it's not climbing specific, but it's something I do when I'm not feeling motivated to do anything else (plus I can do it in front of a surf / climbing movie for psyche)

I set a timer with one minute intervals and 10 seconds set-up time between them and then do the following, starting each exercise on the minute:

• Air squats - I normally do 15
• Pushups - again, normally 15
• V-sit, holding for the whole minute
• Front plank, holding for the whole minute - I do these in an extended pushup position, so my hands are about a foot and a half in front of my shoulders rather than directly under them
• Superman, holding for the whole minute
• Side plank, holding for the whole minute - I do these with a straight arm, rather than resting on my elbow, but I don't lock out the elbow so that the bicep and shoulder really feel it
• Side plank on the other side, holding for the whole minute
• Crunches / situps - I normally do 20

I've just added tuck jumps (sets of 10) and clap pushups (also sets of 10) for a small plyo element.

I try to do four sets of the whole thing (with an extra set of air squats and pushups at the end), without any rest other than the setup time and the time remaining in the minute after finishing the air-squats, pushups and situps/crunches.

[Sasquatch]

STG - 5 local FA's 7C+ and harder (2 done)
MTG - Local 8B boulder?
LTG - Mandala in November

This was a vacation week of fun in Squamish.  Stayed in Squamish w Habrich at his awesome new B&B.  Highly recommend it for anyone headed down.  We all loved it and he was a fantastic host. 

M- Rest
T- Travel all day 3.5hr flight and 4.5 hour drive. Got in and went straight away to boulder but it was crazy humid and slick. Total fail day....
W- 6+ hour epic bike/walk from the top of whistler. I do not bike down black diamond without walking some, and on double black I walk ALOT.
Th- Great day out bouldering.   Started the day w/ Habrich at Shots Fired-v4, then on to Ramen-Raw-v7 flash, Then to Resurrection-v9 Flash (My first established v9 flash!!!), then to Be on Four-v7 highball, Backseat-v10, Mantra-v8, The Bulb-v8, King Kong-v10.  One of my best days bouldering ever-if not my best. Ended with late night Music festival opening night.
F- Bike in AM, a bit of bouldering on easy stuff, then to Music Fest for about 8 hours. 
S- Another good day, but conditions started to get worse, Flashed The Fuzz-v7, The Rookie-v8, and came off the last move of the Reckoning-v10 on my flash go due to bad beta.....  Never got back to that point though. 
S- More biking, and a bit of easy TR'ing in the sun, then another afternoon/evening of music festival!

All told I climbed 6 out of 7 days, biked 5 out of 7, and did 4 days of music festival.  Taking a few days of rest and then back into FB training and the STG and MTG's. 

[csl]

August Goals

Stick to training plan - struggling to keep up with it.
Outside x4
Onsight more E5
Sport - RP something reasonably hard - another session on Tennessee

Mon Rest
Tue - Bouldering Volume - 60 problems V3-6. Pullups 3x10, 3x3 offset on each arm.
Wed - nowt
Thu - Campus. 4 attempts at 1-4-7, close.
1-4-6 x 3 each arm
1-3-6 x3 each arm
1-3-4-3-4-3-4-3-4-3-blah to failure. x2 each arm.
Fri - nowt
Sat - nowt
Sun - nowt

This week was never going to be great, life got in the way.