[andy popp]

Friday of last week (24th), the morning after flying home from the US, I went to try one of the two projects I've recently cleaned in the roadside quarry at Harmers, another two excellent highballs in the making. I was pleased to make some progress on the upper half of my preferred one, doing all the moves and started to feel quite optimistic. What happened this week explains why I'm going to start posting here again, which will hopefully keep me a bit focused.

Aims: at least one of the two Harmers projects, perhaps both. Not much of an ambition I know (and I do have some other targets, largely in Cheshire), but realistically climbing is only one part of my life nowadays - and nowhere near the biggest. Its likely to stay that way too. But I'm still motivated to do these projects and will be made up if I can get up them, combined with getting a bit further afield when I can (I've been enjoying making use of r-man's new Lancs guide and was pleased to do Hank's 7A+ before going to the US)

M - Go to Harmers early before work, conditions are excellent and I'm excited to try the start having started to get the upper bits sorted. I get totally shut down and the reason why is obvious: I'm too weak, the sequence is obvious but I simply can't pull hard enough, particularly on a small left-hand crimp. Perhaps not too surprising considering I've barely climbed or trained all winter. Almost as bad, I struggle to make any meaningful links on the upper bit. It's obvious I won't get up this thing without some effort.
T - really for the first time all winter others are keen to use my board and we all reconvene for our once normal Tuesday evening session. I am predictably pretty weak - having your own board makes benchmarking easy. But a good session is had and I finish with some tentative hangs to see where I am on that, as well as holding locked positions on the board. My session fitness is terrible and I hit a wall quite quickly
W - Not as sore as I expected. Perhaps I hadn't tried hard enough? Press-ups and planks in the office at lunchtime.
T - Workshop all day but finger boarding session in the evening, both repeaters and a few max hangs. I definitely need crimp strength for the project.
F - press-ups and planks in the office again.
S - go to Longridge for the first time, with Tomtom. I'm impressed but it is miserable, with a bitter wind blowing squally rain onto us the whole time. I get totally shut down. I'm probably feeling the effects of upping the activity level this week, and it is impossible to get or stay warm, but still ... Anyway, I'm sure I'll be back.
S - going to rest today.

It has rained quite a bit in the last few days so the projects may be too damp for a bit but I'm hoping I'll begin to notice at least some difference next time I get a chance to try again.

[mr chaz]

Decent week, plenty of indoors and a day out midweek

M.
T. Wall session in the afternoon, new reds at BBC
W. Wall session in the evening, finished off red circuit
T. Day out at Churnet. Did a bunch of 7as, decent day though nothing hard was sent.
F. Wall session, spent some time working a few projects.
S.
S.

Heading to the Pass tomorrow for another go on Jerry's Roof, came very close a few months back. My wall sessions have been pretty relaxed lately after a good spell of fingerboarding. Gonna start a couple of weeks back on the campus board (try and get the 1 4 7 - was oh so close!) before starting to work on PE for sport season.

[the_dom]

Not a great week - some good days of climbing, but too much resting, drinking and eating awfully. Still, I was in Font for a good proportion of it, so not to bad a bad week. Basically, I think I was tired from the previous week.

Mon: Rain. Rest day.
Tues: Started off at Roche Aux Sabots, warming up on the brilliant Chapeau Chinois and then put down Jeu du Toit using the 'recommended' sequence. As a note on the grade (call me an anti-J-star), it's not 7A. I've done enough 7As around the world to call it 7A+, easily. Possibly even 7B. Afterwards, we went to Isatis, where I came close to le Cachou, did Abdolobotomy first go and flashed Lapin au Canard. A really good day.
Wed: Exhausted. Went to Isatis so my mate could finish off Lapin.. I tried to warm up on FuryAx and should have done it, but didn't. Then went to Apremont to show my mate l'Egoiste, but by that point I was too tired and grumpy to even bother with it. Given the forecast for the next 2 days, I acknowledge that the climbing portion of my trip was over. Hurrumph. 
Thurs: Rain. Alcohol.
Fri: Started travelling back to Cape Town.
Sat: Got home, went for a surf to wash the travel dust off. Was surprisingly fun and I surfed surprisingly well.
Sun: Morning surf. PM hangboard, pushups and mobility.

Font was briliant. I did 16 7's and, despite feeling really tired towards the middle of the second week (which I think was a result of a lack of climbing in 2014 and 2015), really felt like I improved on almost a daily basis. What a great place. I'm already making tentative plans for a return later in the year.

Looking forward, May is going to be a tough month, climbing-wise - I start a new job (my first in a decade) and I'm going to need to commit real time to it. That said, I have a solid plan based on lots of fingerboarding, kettlebell work and trying to get out on the weekends. I hope it works.

[Muenchener]

STG: Go climbing
MTG (2015): 7b redpoint
            Beastmaker 5A routine: 93.0%
            Muscle, Up
            Sautanz
LTG (<= 5 years): Big alpine rock routes: Totenkirchl West Face (Dülfer),  Marmolada south face (Vinatzer, Messner)

In which bank holiday weather completely puts paid to a planned long weekend in the Frankenjura, and in theory I should have enough experience to accept this philosophically.
 

M: Bike to work 25km
   Knee physio / mobility / core 40 mins: have been neglecting these things lately.
T:
W: Wall,  Thalkirchen. Should have been driving to the Frankenjura this evening. A desultory indoor bouldering session was not a satisfactory substitute.
T:
F: Bank Holiday. Raining. Not going to the wall today, in the hope that it might not rain for a bit tomorrow.
   Knee,  mobility,  kettlebells,  core: one hour.
S: Not actually raining, but still overcast and cold so we didn't think there would be much chance of finding dry rock. In hindsight the afternoon was better so this was probably a mistake. Instead checked out a new local wall at Freimann.
Routes 5b, 5b, 5b, 6a, 6b, 6a, 6b+, 6a+, 7a, coffee, 6a, 6c, 5b, 5b, beer.
Wall was good, as these things go. With a new partner who turns out to be relaxed company and a competent belayer. So could have been a worse day in the circumstances.
S: Rain resumed. Boulderwelt 7b+ circuit project ticked. yyfy I suppose 
   Wet bike ride to & from the wall makes a useful contribution to the general air of fuck-this-ness

[fried]

And you got out before the weekend Dom.

Lucky me, I have a 4-day weekend.

M - Nothing
Tu - Indoors, crap, hot, feeling weaker than usual.
W- nothing
Th- Having jiggled my schedule, I plan to get up at 6am, drop the missus off at work and get out to the forest before the forecasted rain starts around midday. Unfortunately it's raining at 6am, so I go back to sleep. Indoor, better session, back into the groove.

Fr - Non'stop rain
Sa - Non-stop rain. Started a BM session, but kept greasing off, cleaned my board instead.
Su - Rain. Indoors, better again, work a lot of steep stuff that I'm crap at, fall off a lot but feel like I had a workout.

Hope nobody wasted money or time in the forest this weekend.

[jwi]

STG:
Having a good time in Verdon. Don't freak out due to gaz...
Hanging 6mm edge for 10s on my adjustable fingerboard.
Getting back to 20+ pullups.
MTG:
Flashing a few non-vertical white boulderprobs in the gym.
Onsight one 8a or five 7c+'s this year. Preferably both.
Do something fairly challenging on Naranjo in August.
LTG: TBD

M: nada
T: Pull-ups & fingerboards at lunch, bouldering in the gym at night. Hangboard 7mm, 10s x 2. 6 pullups with 3s pause at 5 angles on the way down.
W: zilch
T: Pull-ups & fingerboards at lunch, bouldering in the gym at night. Same performace on fingerboards and pullups as Tues.
F: rien
S: Climbing in Couyrac, St. Antonin, warm and very humid. Steep very nice sustained 6c+ o/s. Nice 7a+ with hard boulder start o/s. Random fairly short route failed o/s at 2nd bolt. HD to top. 1st try, fell on very last move when heel hook slipped. Found out that said route is 8a in guidebook. 2nd try, fell at 3rd bolt. Did it on 4th attempt with no power to spare. The rock felt like soap. Climbed the 7a+ again to take down draws for partner.
S: Nothing

Getting better and better on heel hooks, but they still have a tendency to unexpectedly pop. Haven't really figured out how to improve on this.

Progression:
Weight: 71-72 kg
Estimated pullups: 15-16
10s crimp: 7 mm with some margin
Overhanging white boulderprobs flashed in the gym: 0
8a's onsighted this year: 0*
7c+'s onsighted this year: 2*
------
* I'm taking guidebook grades for everything. For me its impossible to be objective close to my max, I always think everything I manage is soft. Maybe they are.

[mr chaz]

Changed my mind and did got to the wall again today

Decent week, plenty of indoors and a day out midweek

M.
T. Wall session in the afternoon, new reds at BBC
W. Wall session in the evening, finished off red circuit
T. Day out at Churnet. Did a bunch of 7as, decent day though nothing hard was sent.
F. Wall session, spent some time working a few projects.
S.
S. Another light wall session, flashed a few v6s at BC, feeling pretty strong, though trying not to tire myself out for tomorrow

Heading to the Pass tomorrow for another go on Jerry's Roof, came very close a few months back. My wall sessions have been pretty relaxed lately after a good spell of fingerboarding. Gonna start a couple of weeks back on the campus board (try and get the 1 4 7 - was oh so close!) before starting to work on PE for sport season.

[nai]

Goals:

Spring - HFC & Short Chimes (+ Why Me?, Let The Tripe Increase, Stone The Loach)
Summer - Body Machine & Ext, Cornices?
Autumn - Raindogs, Full Chimes.

M 3rd rest day, feeling restless and ready to go tomorrow.  Eve - mate bails with an injury.

T - Wake up feeling wrecked (despite 3 rest days, wtf?), bad mood. Decide to head to Rubicon to see if I can still do Kudos. Do it in a few goes, feels easier than last year. Need to save skin so go home to train.

AnCap 2x5 reps 50s on, 2:00 rest. Strong on 1st set, faded last 3 reps 2nd set.

w rest

Th - Rubicon, HFC. Confident it would go but no cigar. Worked the top and it felt fine.  First two redpoint attempts super sketchy remembering subtleties; third ok; shouldacouldawoulda done it fourth try but denied by a hand pinging off when feeling fairly fresh at the crimps; fifth was more in hope that expectation, made break ok but lost concentration and forgot to use the slot moving out of it.  Best session on it by far though, three times to the crimps, only been further once in 6 or more sessions, feels a lot closer than last year, just two more moves.....


F - Tired and very sore skin (so had to stick to wood) but Sat was a family day so had to spur myself into action...
2x10 mins Aero,
foot on campusing 2 x 8 (1:40 on/off). Failed late on in reps 6,7,8 2nd set.

S rest

Sun -
2x10 mins Aero,
AnPow Boulder-With-Rests 4 sets x 4 problems, quick rest between reps, 10 mins between sets.  felt like a 4x4, maybe not intense enough.
Foot on campusing x8 (1:40 on, 1:20 rest), just about completed.

[Schnell]

Amazing how internationally consistent the rain appears to be this lovely bank holiday weekend... it's pissing here in Dublin too

STG: rehab injuries and attain some modicum of form for a sport climbing trip to Tarn in June
MTG: continue rehabbing injuries for the forseeable

M. indoor session with finger feeling tweaky. get pissed off and decide to be ultra conservative with rehab from now on. this means all training is going to be either warming up on jugs, campussing/FB on slopers and mid2 openhanding or easy aerocap.
T. easy aerocap session, no tweaks.
W. start getting apprehensive about the miserable forecast for the weekend.
T. indoor session, same as monday. no tweaks.
F. rain begins, all long weekend plans get called off.
S. cycle to the wall in heavy rain, decent session with lots of aerocap inc. three laps on 7a+ circuit
S. swim in the morning and then do some work, some bank holiday weekend.

Good week until the washout. It does look like I'll get out tomorrow though which is some consolation. Overall the strict regimen is benefitting the fingers, just have to continue until France in June. This may be more challenging when climbing outside, just have to keep the discipline.

[Sasquatch]

STG: Maintain Psych, and drop weight. Either local boulder or route projects depending on weather.
MTG: Bolt new route projects, have a couple of promising walls to recon.  1-4-7 & 1-arm pullup
LTG: To Bolt...

M- Boulder outside for a very short session at a super close boulder 14 problems up to 7C in 45min, then home for a MAW session.  Good session - 3x250, 2x252.   Fingers a bit slick, but not too bad.   
T-Nothing
W-run-3mi
T-MAW session - very bad session, could match Mondays, so went to bigger hold and heavier weight to work on should strength. 
F- Run 5mi - too much drinking and up way too late.  Make decision as a result of this night to lay off booze for next several weeks, maybe the next couple of months. 
S-Loads of Physical Labor.  Building new planter boxes for garden.  Lots of hefting 6 x 6 x 8ft timber for planters.
S- MAW - SOLID new PB.  5 x 257lbs Previous best day was 3x255.  Other strength work, iron crosses, levers, 1-arm pullups(also a PB - 3x3 at 161lbs).  Also getting really close to a solid front lever.  Can hold horizontal for about 1-2 seconds then hips sag about 3-4 inches and can hold for another 5-6 seconds. Plus loads of shoveling for planter boxes.  Big and Awesome day!!! 

Bummed not to be able to really get outside since we've had great weather, but happy with training progress, and hopeful that I'll get a chance soon enough.

[T_B]

85.7Kg

M -
T - School lunch. Mainly 50 degree. Tried pink problem with foothold I'd missed. Got closer.
W -
T - Foundry lunch. Circuits. 4 x 20 moves with 1 min rest, 10 mins, then 3 x 30 moves with 1min30 secs rest.
f - Foundry lunch. 40 mins laddering.
S -
S - Decided to wait until evening then wasn't sure where to go. In the end went to Rubicon and it was dry and breezy. Warmed up and re-familiarised myself with Press Low Left. Pretty poor performance. Generally felt like I couldn't crimp so sacked it off and went to meet Dave at Minus 10. Messed around on various eliminates as you do and did Not Ned's problem, though later realised we'd not done the correct finishing move.

Been somewhat full-on at work, so happy to tick over during the week. First proper lime session - need to get back on the F/board and force myself to crimp.

[dave]

...did Not Ned's problem, though later realised we'd not done the correct finishing move.

Balls.

[petejh]

STG: Melanchollie (in May) or The Brute (in August)
MTG: Onsight attempts on The Hurting, Cathedral, Banana Wall, Anubis (next winter)
LTG: 8c (within three years)
Ultimate goal: undecided

Power-endurance phase, week 2

M. Foot-on campus sesh at Mill. 1min on 2min off x 6.
T.
W.
T. Foot-on campus sesh at Mill. 1min on 1min.45secs off x 8. Core workout and back mobility.
F.
S.
S. Cancelled day at LPT due to rain.


Rain stopped play on weekend. Going to LPT today and tomorrow. Foot-on workout's going nicely, another 2 of those and I'll be at peak.

[shark]

STG:
Having a good time in Verdon. Don't freak out due to gaz...

Who, or what is gaz ?

[jwi]

Expo is gaz(euse) in french

[tomtom]

STG - some 7B's on lime..
70kg +- 0.5

M:
T: Crag X on the way from Hull > Manc. Met up with Plattsy. Great session - worked out the nitty gritty on Zippys and got to matching the high sloper on Jericho (once - with alot of shouting).
W: Gentle play with assisted one armers..
Th: Back to Crag X. Zippys now in two overlapping sections (just need to be fresh on it), but couldnt quite get to high point on Jericho. So much stronger on it, but just can't quite seem to get my body position right for the match. It'll come... Wandered down to see Nai and Haydn playing with ropes at Rubicon afterwards..
F: Played with some assisted one armers more seriously..
Sa: Grr.. the day the weather was 'supposed' to be good. Rubbish. Had to call off at the last min a Blackstones visit - and in the end went to Craig y Longridge with Andy Popp instead. It was grim. Cold, windy, light rain (that dried about as fast as it fell) made for an uncomfortable experience - and probably didnt help conditions. We were both shut down by a 6C+ 'crimp ladder' (forgotten name) and I enjoyed getting stuck into Big Marine. Had problems sticking the slopey hold to match/go for the slot with the right. Looking (since) at videos looks like a high left foot would help...
Su: rest. eat to much etc...

[shark]

11.2-4

Last went to Burns Unit at Northern General on Weds and they sent me packing with a bag of medical sundries as only my front two fingers need dressing now. Sonia has been skilful at changing the dressing each day but ignores my suggestion of dressing up in a nurse's uniform. Hand is healing well but the the backs of the mid two fingers is still gammy so maybe another week of dresssings. Kept stretches up and range of movement is pretty good. Next back at Burns Unit on Wednesday.

Done a bit of wine guzzling this week. Not missed the climbing too much and not done any training since the 20th but starting to think how to get back in the saddle. Might start with some easy fingerboarding this week to wake fingers. When bandage is off I'll start back at High Tor to get trad head back, maybe a bit of Stanage soloing to rekindle the fire and resume on Anger Management 8a+ at Tor. Will need to avoid things with slots like Weedkiller as backs of fingers will be tender for a while.         

[Luke Owens]

STG: Melanchollie (in May) or The Brute (in August)
MTG: Onsight attempts on The Hurting, Cathedral, Banana Wall, Anubis (next winter)
LTG: 8c (within three years)
Ultimate goal: undecided

Power-endurance phase, week 2

M. Foot-on campus sesh at Mill. 1min on 2min off x 6.
T.
W.
T. Foot-on campus sesh at Mill. 1min on 1min.45secs off x 8. Core workout and back mobility.
F.
S.
S. Cancelled day at LPT due to rain.


Rain stopped play on weekend. Going to LPT today and tomorrow. Foot-on workout's going nicely, another 2 of those and I'll be at peak.

I heard conditions were good at LPT yesterday afternoon/eve? Good luck on the proj today!

[Luke Owens]

M: Rest

T: Llanymynech - Back on Nomad Wall, had a no warm up redpoint putting the clips in on "Nomad" (7a+) felt pretty good and made it through the top crux and got flashed pumped into oblivion on the final couple of moves to easy ground, took a good whipper.

Thought I'd ruined the session getting so boxed but had another go, got 1/3 of the way up the wall and got into this really good mind state I don't think I've been in before on a route, felt really relaxed, confident and happy. This helped me not over grip and climb really fluidly/dynamic, and got me to the chains with no pump! Really surprised and happy.

W: Llanymynech - Back on Nomad Wall, had a no warm up onsight attempt on "The Screaming Skull" (7b). Got half way through the midheight crux and went for a non-hold which was about an inch left of a good edge, another massive whipper. I didn't get pumped either so wasn't too annoyed. Climbed the rest of it and worked out better beta for crux.

Had a fading light redpoint and stupidly forgot my headtorch, did the crux easy and pulled up some slack to clip and realised I forgot to extend the draw I had planned to extend, punter! Dropped the rope and carried on going and got pumped trying to figure out where to clip from and fell off. Got back on, climbed to the top and did the top 15m on top rope in the dark about 5 times without rest as punishment training.

T: Rest

F: Rest

S: Forced rest due to the weather, had planned to go out, couldn't face training at home and re-planned to get out on Sunday.

S: Woke up to rubbish weather despite better forecast. Managed to get out later and went back to Llanymynech. The Screaming Skull was wet so got on "Strawberry Tubin" (7b). Was pretty wet but managed to onsight all the moves going bolt to bolt and drying it as I went. Got it wired and pulled the rope for a redpoint and it threw it down and soaked the route. Demoralising wet clipstick ascent to get the clips out.

Did 35 mins Aerocap when I got home while being annoyed at the weather.

Stamina is improving and feeling a lot fitter this week. Although I didn't tick the 2 7b's due to lack of light/weather I'm confident they should go next session.

Goal is still fitness for Diamond (August) / Ceuse (September)

[petejh]

I heard conditions were good at LPT yesterday afternoon/eve? Good luck on the proj today!

That doesn't surprise me much. I would have gone but my partner bailed due to the preceding downpour.

Nomad wall sounds well-good, never managed to get on any of those routes.

[JackAus]

STG: More V7s. Sub 75kg.
MTG: V8. Fear Factory List. 5/10 done.
LTG: V11.

Still pretty wet everywhere... Most of the week, still pissing it down.

M: Lindfield. Bunch of new stuff and 25 problems in about 90min.
T: Frontline. Rubbish session. Fell off a warm up and cut wrist and leg open. Lots of blood. Only did 2 new (for me) problems and neither hard.
W: Rest. Start of the rain.
T: St Leonards. No work, big session. Warm ups to V5ish then made harder problems. Finish with alot of campussing and fingerboarding. 1-5 on crimps, 1-3-5-7-9 on crimps, nearly 1-4-7 on jugs, 1-5-7 on jugs. 1 arm stuff on edge, now good upward movement. Lots of front levers and core exercises.
F: Sunnyside. No work, pissing with rain but its a big cave. Still, horrible spoogy conditions. Started working Combat Wombat (easiest thing here at V11) like a 7m roof climb. So sequency. Done most of the moves on it, avoiding all knee bars. Would take some serious working. Don't know that I'm *that* inspired.
S: Rain, rain, rain. Fucking pissed off at it now. St Leonards. Not a massive session but did usual, made my own problems then moved to campus board and finger board. Pretty decent campus session besides my skin hurting from Sunnyside.
S: Still raining. St Peters. Last minute decision to head across the other side of Sydney. Not a massive session but good to climb different stuff. Still ended up making my own problems though. Not found any setting in Aus that I like yet. Finished up with front levers, peg board, campus board. Did 1 arm campus on juggy sloper rungs. Been trying this for a while at St Leonards, much harder there for some reason.

Sick and tired of all this rain. May is at least looking drier and cooler. Need to get back on rock...

[webbo]

Mon. Board struggled due to being tired from the WE. Got a workout.
Tue. Out for a meal,wife's birthday.
Wed. Bike 1 hour half mile intervals slightly downhill did 5,I thought I was going chuck at one point.
Thu. Board repeating stuff that I'd done as projects flashed some fail on others. Not bad session.
Fri. Nothing.
Sat bike went for a ride the stop to watch The Tour du Yorkshire, then rode some more 72.16 miles 4hrs 20 mins riding time.
Sun. Board hardship mirror session, pleased with this given my long ride yesterday. Later when it dried up. Interval session 20 secs on 40 secs off x 5 3 sets.
I feel I'm slowly getting back to where I was before Christmas on my board. It still feels steeper than it used to be.

[shurt]

Well as its Monday night I'll include today as it seems a nonsense to not - it features actual climbing outdoors which is no bad thing.

STG: finish Still Waters at Cheddar (can do all moves as of 2 wks ago) or any 7b for that matter
MTG: finish Bullworker at Brean Down after falling off top move 3 times in December
LTG: E6, 8a route, surpass previous best of V7

M: 3 sets on fingerboard, 5 mins rest in between
T: worked till middle of night
W: 3 sets on fingerboard, 5 mins rest in between
T: 2 x 20 press ups, 2 x 10 pull ups, minimal rest in between PU's
F: 6 x 20 bench presses of son (2 and a bit stone) over the course of the day which he seemed to enjoy, 2 x 20 press ups
S: rested back hurt
S: rested back hurt. partner cracked it, felt bit better.
M: got out to Cheddar in PM before the rain and ended up at The Remnant as north side banned for Bank Holiday. Did the warm ups (6b and 6b+) which are total sand bags. At least 1 or 2 grades out. Then thought would try Skullduggery (7b) which I'd had a brief top rope on a couple of years back. Got all the clips in and worked out the moves which took a little while then lowered and managed to do the meat of the crux section in one go. Had a good rest then got within a few moves of the top which was really pleasing. Had a shorter rest then a terrible go, felt knackered, it was home time.

Feel like there is some good progress although annoyed I didn't get the route cracked today. I've only ever done 1 7b previously so getting that close was great...   

[kelvin]

Need to up the cardio in readiness for Salbit Sudgrat this summer.

Mon - Rest
Tue - Big Rock. Chucked myself at the V4-6 circuit and one problem in particular, that works some weaknesses and seems relevant to limestone. Did lots of V0/1 when resting. Worked a sequence out for the first five hand movements and nailed it to there once but faded rapidly after that. Great session.
Wed - Pinnacle. Ropes. Did various amounts of laps on stuff from 5+ to 6b. Tired.
Thu - Yoga. Rolled the hell out of my legs.
Fri - Messed about on the fingerboard, mostly pullups and lock offs. Felt stronger.
Sat - Anston Stones. First time there and loved it, will definitely go back. Worked stuff up to 7A. In the evening went to Broomgrove wall in Shef with Dave T - proper crimpy. Didn't stay long but nice to see what others train on.
Sun - Run/walked along Stanage Edge, there and back from North Lees campsite. Plenty of people bouldering around 4pm but I was too knackered to walk back up.

Maximum effort on Tue and Sat, mileage on Wed. Lot's of stretching and rolling going on, which is helping the legs slowly. The run was a pretty poor effort but it felt so good to be out there again. A few twinges from the medial but nothing too bad. Did throw a heel hook with it in the woods but instantly thought better of it - no where need ready for that nonsense yet, if ever. A really good week as it happens.

[TobyD]

11.2-4
 resume on Anger Management 8a+ at Tor.

I'm keen to get on this and will soon have lots of mid week time.

[TobyD]

M- 30 minute fast run.
T- wave session
W- some wave problems and 8x 14 move circuit
T - 35 minute run
F - 35 minute run
S - Malham, tried overnight
S - campussing and works circuit board; then it stopped raining and did about 25 or 30 miles on the bike in the afternoon...
M - supposed easy trad day; which seemed to involve english 6b moves and getting pumped a lot. Awesome.

[shark]

When bandage is off I'll start back at High Tor to get trad head back   

If that's preparation for July over here can I suggest no tradding that involves excessive fiddling in wires or use of double ropes. Lots of running up cracks on single ropes, ideally with just a rack of Camalots, would be good.

As with slots I can't until the backs of my fingers are healed properly. Face climbing for me in the meantime.

[Muenchener]

no tradding that involves excessive fiddling in wires or use of double ropes.

There are other kinds of tradding? 

[cheque]

Is there anywhere in the world where it's not raining?!

Good to hear you're on the mend Shark. 

I've thrown in Bank Holiday Monday as usual.

STG- Finish film (now have a deadline) without becoming irretrievably crap at climbing.

MTG- Do 24HHH in September without dying. New grades would be great too, but realistically I'd be happy with getting back to my personal bests (7a, 7A & E2) in any discipline after a long period of injury and underapplication.

LTG- Hard impressive badass routes.

M- Rest.

T- Rest.

W- Black Rocks filming. Did a little bit of climbing beforehand but curtailed it after I opened up the cut on my thumb and it bled everywhere. 

T- Rest.

F- Rest.

S- Black Rocks AM- did some soloing then attempted to film but rain stopped play. Then went to Raven Tor (when was the last time someone combined these two venues in a day?!) where I was shut down on every boulder problem I tried! I am so weak. Fun though, although I'm a lot more psyched for the routes than the bouldering. Hopefully get back here more during summer- happy to offer my services as belay slave in order to get back into it.

S- Rest. Sore!

M- Black Rocks. Filmed the final route for my film!

Yesterday I found out that I'd been selected to compete in "24 hours of Horseshoe Hell" (nothing to do with BMC voluntary work- it's an event where you climb sport routes for 24 hours straight in Arkansas). That should provide a suitable contrast to a year at Black Rocks! I'm nowhere near fit enough for this so I seriously need to start training for it!

I have just over 6 weeks to get my film edited, which will hopefully allow me to start training/  get out climbing as well, then 14 more weeks (the last of which will be spent in Arkansas itself) before the event.

It's generally steep sandstone with a lot of roofs, the rules of the comp state that you have to do at least one route per hour and there are thankfully lot of easy (sub 5.10) routes. Obviously half of them will have to be climbed by headtorch. Any advice UKB members can give me on how to train for this would be greatly appreciated as while the climbing is right up my street, there are lots of factors outside of my comfort zone!  -  I'm looking to get through it rather than than rack up a big points score.

[fatneck]

Nice one chaps and good to see Mr Popp psyched!

Mon - Bus. Avoided Pilates due to dodgy shoulder.
Tue - Walked to and from work. Nothing else. Shoulder still sore.
Wed - Bus to but walked from work. Light weights session in work gym, shoulder feeling better!
Thurs - Bus. Pilates with different teacher, he's a beats and I am fully buggered. Shoulder holds up ok but back to soreness levels of Monday. Kind of decided it's not serious..
Fri - Bus. Nothing else.
Sat - Travel to Conwy to pick Crouchy up fro his stage do, make him wear suitable scouse attire and hit the Cave. I manage to retro the Pillar traverse and did a few other eliminates but not being that psyched on the Cave any more, I decided to try and remain fresh for the srest of the weekend.
Sun - Porth Nefoedd by 11am - claggy start but came good. Did plenty of climbing but somewhat the worse for wear. Early night!!
Mon - glorious weather all day at Trwyn Talfarach. By the far the easiest approach of the three main Lleyn coastal venues but also by far the worst landing. Got spanked by Ministry for Silly Hats and failed to retro Cream Seam but did My Big Pogo which was my main aim for the day. The left arete of Wal yr Olygfa is oustanding and sports a nice grassy landing. Must do problem.... Also caught three small Pollack!

Lazy week in terms of walking to work and any training but great weekend at my favourite bouldering venues, quads are wrecked from balancing around on boulders and grassy descents from hell. Finished off with a take out at al fresco at Chez Richie's classy pad with stonking views. Blog with photos will follow!

[Dolly]

Strange week as I couldn't do any bouldering because of my back


M 8 easy routes toproped at the gym before Pilates
T Beastmaker and Frenchies on the lapis balls at The Foundry
W Toproped 10 easy routes at The Foundry
T Beastmaker
F 10/11 routes toproped at Foundry
S Easy bike ride
S slept

[nai]

M. Foot-on campus sesh at Mill. 1min on 2min off x 6.
T.
W.
T. Foot-on campus sesh at Mill. 1min on 1min.45secs off x 8.

Foot-on workout's going nicely, another 2 of those and I'll be at peak.

what size rungs do you use for this?

[petejh]

Short answer -
The small metolius, 22cm spacing.

Long answer -
It depends on where on the PE scale I want to target. (I had a brief dabble with the Ancap/anpow/aerocap/aeropow framework and went back to thinking in terms of PE, on a scale of short duration high-intensity to longer longer-duration lower intensity but still anerobic.)
If I wanted to train my anerobic endurance for a long pumpy route I'd probbly start off on the medium rungs for 3 - 5 mins and progress to the small rungs as fitness improved. But I'm targeting Melanchollie fitness - which is 11 hard moves/50 seconds, brief rest, followed by 9 hard moves/50 seconds (followed by finish of Bad Bad Boy).

[nai]

Cheers, long answer ties in with my thinking, I have medium-size Metolius rungs on my board but have been considering smaller holds, I reckon what I do on it is more at the endurance end of PE whereas for Peak Lime I generally need to be working at the power end.  The board only gets used for foot-on work so I was considering a set of system crimps, just not sure how small to go - 15mm or 20mm.

[petejh]

Says here the metolius small are 19mm:


At the Mill there's a set of super small rungs around 10mm or a bit less. They're good for 1 or 2-move power but not for foot-on becaues they trash your tips after around 10 consecutive moves!

[nai]

I was thinking of these, they'll never get used as campus rungs so should be fine.

http://crusherholds.co.uk/wooden-climbing-holds/crusher-system-hold-crimp1

[T_B]

Moon are bringing out some campus rungs. Not sure when, but the ones at the schoolroom, which are the prototypes, are very nice. Feel like they have a slightly more aggressive radius to the Metolius ones.

[shark]

I was thinking of these, they'll never get used as campus rungs so should be fine.

http://crusherholds.co.uk/wooden-climbing-holds/crusher-system-hold-crimp1

I have some of these and they feel good - pop in and try them out.

[petejh]

I reckon those 15mm crusher crimps will be spot on for intense foot-on.

For me the perfect training set-up for progression, both campussing and foot-on PE, would be 25mm, 19mm and 15mm rungs. The metolius smalls are starting to feel just a little bit too large for short duration PE, but the 10mm's are too small for foot-on.

[abarro81]

I hope Ben's not planning on using that new one as the model for the commercial one. Whatever he changed compared to the others on there has made the slots horrible! I do like having the slots as slightly more positive than the rungs though as it gives opportunity for minor adjustments in difficulty when doing foot on stuff, and its nice to have to be a little more accurate when using the slots.

[dave]

I find the slots a bit annoying, as I was hitting rungs openhanded, and finding my thumb was hitting into the slot, which is either A cheating or B risking tearing my thumbs off. Strikes me as an innovation that campus rung doesn't need, its perfect as it is. Although I know that is not music to the ears of someone trying to differentiate their version of a very simple product in a crowded marketplace.

[abarro81]

Yeah, can be annoying for thumbs when open. I'd have one set of of the smalls with slots, then a set of normals and a set of jugs if I were in charge. Don't like the larger moon ones  compared to big slopey jugs like at foundry or works.

[nai]

I was thinking of these, they'll never get used as campus rungs so should be fine.

http://crusherholds.co.uk/wooden-climbing-holds/crusher-system-hold-crimp1

I have some of these and they feel good - pop in and try them out.

Cheers but ordered some already.

[nik at work]

STG - Gotham extension, post on power club next week before Tuesday...
MTG - Trad projects, 8c (Make It Funky, Mini Sukarra), also an 8A or above
LTG - 9a
BHAG - Bruderliebe

M - Outside after an epic jugging up the rope fail where I expended pretty much 100% of my energy reserves I had a play on the headwall of the extension. Just had a quick dabble, it's all there and probably about 7a+ ish. Then lowered down. Doug then did his project which has been a pretty epic siege by his standards, well syked for him and he cruised it. Beast. I had a lead but fell off the last move boxed, still wasted from my poor rope ascending technique and also totally not dialled (and it's 8a...).
T - nothing
W - Go Karting in the rain, no training value (other than having to be tough and hardy in adverse weather conditions) but great fun.
T - bike ride with #1 son, ice cream included.
F - Batcave again, ab in and put qd's in the headwall. Then decide to have a burn from the ground. Surprise myself by doing Gotham straight off putting the clips in, then making it through the capping roof and onto the final headwall of the extension first climb of the evening, not a bad warm up. Frustratingly I think I could have done the route but the rope drag became epic so I couldn't climb on. Rope drag was so bad that lowering involved Doug having to pull the rope through the belay device and then watch the slack slowly disapear. Then Doug had a play on Gotham. Then I had another burn with a refined clipping strategy and... I got to the same point and rope drag was ridiculous again, grrrrrrr... The Doug had another burn on Gotham, he got it in 2 sections but without the bouldery start (he pulled past the first few moves). Think the extension is going to work out at 8a+/baby 8b.

S - Rain and DIY
S - Less rain more DIY

A slightly odd week. Not much climbing and no real training, but a pretty successful evening at the Batcave on Friday. In retrospect I should have realised the rope issue before it happened and sorted a solution. I'm going to have to use a two rope strategy and drop a rope at the top of Gotham. After Friday I was pretty happy thinking that it will go down quickly but after Saturdays rain the crag will ressemble a waterfall and I'm now frustrated that I didn't sort things out so that I could have done the route on the day. Hey ho, as is often the case it's not exactly the climbing that is the limiting factor, but some other surronding issue (rope work, weather etc).

[lagerstarfish]

11.2-4

Last went to Burns Unit at Northern General on Weds and they sent me packing with a bag of medical sundries as only my front two fingers need dressing now. Sonia has been skilful at changing the dressing each day but ignores my suggestion of dressing up in a nurse's uniform. Hand is healing well but the the backs of the mid two fingers is still gammy so maybe another week of dresssings. Kept stretches up and range of movement is pretty good. Next back at Burns Unit on Wednesday.

Done a bit of wine guzzling this week. Not missed the climbing too much and not done any training since the 20th but starting to think how to get back in the saddle. Might start with some easy fingerboarding this week to wake fingers. When bandage is off I'll start back at High Tor to get trad head back, maybe a bit of Stanage soloing to rekindle the fire and resume on Anger Management 8a+ at Tor. Will need to avoid things with slots like Weedkiller as backs of fingers will be tender for a while.       

[dave]

Yeah, can be annoying for thumbs when open. I'd have one set of of the smalls with slots, then a set of normals and a set of jugs if I were in charge. Don't like the larger moon ones  compared to big slopey jugs like at foundry or works.

To be honest I'd just be happy to have the old original schoolroom ones back up as they seemed spot on.

[iain]

Even slower off the mark this week than Nik.

STG: rehab shoulder
MTG: Hasse Brandler and Infinite Gravity in the Autumn

M: Shoulder rehab
T: Works circuits. On a harder circuit than previously but did a bit too much, shoulder felt tender after.
W: Shoulder rehab
T: Foundry routes. Thought fitness might be woeful but it hasn't completely disappeared after not doing any stamina for almost 2 months, stuff up to 6c clean. Probably overdid the shoulder again though.
F: Shoulder rehab
S: rest
S: Shoulder rehab
M: First time ever on mountain bike trails, brilliant fun. I'd might do more, but need to work on excitement to skill balance, I can see me hurting myself.

Felt like I pushed the shoulder a bit too hard both times climbing last week. Took it easy and no harm done but need to be careful.

Boulderwelt 7b+ circuit project ticked. yyfy I suppose

Understand the lack of outdoors frustration but that's a definite yyfy!