[andy_e]

I feel like we're getting close to the end of an era!

[nik at work]

This is Farnell on grooved arete squared. Go on shark, I'm syked out of my tiny mind.

[T_B]

You're waiting until Tuesday... WTF?! 2 days rest, no eating and BOOM I reckon.

[Nibile]

Come on!!!

[moose]

Aye, you don't want to unleash a "commentator's curse" but it looks so close; close enough that I am hoping Simon has booked counseling to ease him through the "what the hell do I do with my life now" post-success phase.  Or maybe, a glutinous trip through the restaurants and vineyards of France - like how squaddies use a few weeks of largin' it in Cyprus to "decompress" after tours.

Funny how developments seem to me coming along so fast after so long.  It gives me renewed hope for the projects that I am still plugging away at, but only out of a sense of inertia - as I have frankly given up any hope after months of stalled progress (unless I find that Simon's recent developments are due to an embrace of EPO!).

[shark]

Thanks guys. I can take a lot of comfort from the consistency of having got to the top traverse twice on each of the last 4 sessions. Conditions yesterday were much better than the previous 3 sessions. Bit worried that I might have a downturn having only been on the Oak on a day on / two days off basis and may get stale. To do some system shocking I did some deadlifts last night (1pm !) and going to do a bit of campusing and bouldering later today and a fingerboard session on Saturday morning then rest up till tuesday

So is that 2 moves from the jug?

1 move.

Just needed for my right foot to stay on then stand up and flag with my left to make a long stretch left for a sidehold jug

This is Farnell on grooved arete squared. Go on shark, I'm syked out of my tiny mind.

 

You're waiting until Tuesday... WTF?! 2 days rest, no eating and BOOM I reckon.

Brothers 50th in Devon at the weekend and an important client meeting on Monday.Although enforced, I actually think it is good to have a slightly longer break to try and get a little snap 

(unless I find that Simon's recent developments are due to an embrace of EPO!).

  I think that being about half a stone lighter has given me the edge. It certainly feels like cheating. Dense would agree

[dave]

Good tactics, if you smash it at this light weight then that's a good steppingstone to doing it properly at your normal weight. BOOM. clinical.

[shark]

Good tactics, if you smash it at this light weight then that's a good steppingstone to doing it properly at your normal weight.

This is my new normal. Got a taste for it and I ain't ever going back.

Well not until christmas anyway

[dave]

They all say that....

[abarro81]

Damn, sure look different on it to a couple of years ago or whenever it was I last belayed you on it! The power of dieting

[iain]

Better conditions and got stupidly close today. Back around on tuesday ...

 

[davej]

Damn, sure look diffe The power of dieting

good name for a book!
Good luck Shark don't fall off after the jug!

[Doylo]

Is the world about to stop spinning on its axis?

[duncan]

Right, Dolomites trip report.

TL:DR, The temps were waaaay down on what they should have been, almost 15 degrees colder. After one attempt we decided that any north faces, including the Hasse were a no go so the rest of the week was spent in the sun as much as possible, mostly doing easier stuff to keep moving.

Fri/Sat: Travel and sitting out the rain/snow waiting for the sunny forecast weather.

Sun: Drive up to the Tre Cime road head only to discover it closed due to snowfall and watch a snowplow head past us to clear. Whilst it was very pretty (can't seem to embed photos any more), it meant a change of plan.
Wound up heading to do Ottovolante which was a great route (thanks Duncan) but we bailed on pitch 8 because despite having on every warm layer I owned we were freezing and the effort of climbing whilst cold got to be too much.

Mon: Got on Roberta 89 which was good fun. Not the fastest ascent ever, and managed to route read fail on the crux, but the time allowed the seepage on the last 2 pitches to dry off. Thought the starting 6a/+ slab was the hardest climbing we did on the whole thing, can't see me ever heading to the Wendenstock.

Tues: Rest, ish. Did the VF Punta Anna, doing a 4 hour circuit of the good stuff and reversing an easy VF back to the car. Beautiful day. (The top of the VF is in the foreground)

Wed: Dawn start for the Via Cassin on the Piccolisima. The smallest tower but at least we got to climb something around the Tre Cime. A good day in the mountains, just enough sun to keep things bearable and an audience to applaud as we abbed/walked off 

Thurs: Back to Piz Ciavazes to do a route called Abram in the rockfax but not listed anywhere online by the same name. It was 12 pitch VII although most of the climbing was stepping up easy ground and I got a bit bored with that.
Managed to top out just before the hail thunderstorm started, as if we weren't cold enough.

Fri: Dedicated local research into cake/coffee stops. Still not sure we've found the best one.

Sat: Last day route choice limited by snow/rain from previous days meant back to Piz Ciavazes. My lack of sleep caught up with me (4hrs av. a night up till now), so my inner coward said hello whilst I struggled through 1st pitch of a sport route in the cold. Bailed and got on Via Irma which had good crux pitches and was just about all I could cope with on the day.

Despite getting a bit down about having the plans scuppered by the freak weather after thinking about it all summer we had a fun trip. I'll need to figure out when to go back for round 2.

Sounds like a typical first trip to this kind of place. I've had a lots of these. However much research you do, and I do a lot, there is no substitute for being there to find out how things really work. You'll now have answered most of your questions about gear and tactics. 

Shame about the weather but I guess that's always a risk in mountainous areas. Glad you enjoyed Ottovolante but I might have looked for something south facing given the connies!

[nai]

I think that being about half a stone lighter has given me the edge.

See the gains you got from leaving vertical video in the past, now it's time to leave imperial measures back there too.  Use kilograms and you can stop thinking that you're half of something lighter, you can be three whole units lighter. Three!  See the difference being just half a unit lighter has made, imagine what it would be like being three units lighter.

[Sasquatch]

(unless I find that Simon's recent developments are due to an embrace of EPO!).

I think that being about half a stone lighter has given me the edge. It certainly feels like cheating. Dense would agree

It's the bouldering, not the diet

[kelvin]

and an audience to applaud as we abbed/walked off 

Just like topping out at Liwedd 

Sounds a great trip, never been yet and this year, everyone seems to have gone. The appetite is wetted.

[moose]

I think that being about half a stone lighter has given me the edge.

See the gains you got from leaving vertical video in the past, now it's time to leave imperial measures back there too.  Use kilograms and you can stop thinking that you're half of something lighter, you can be three whole units lighter. Three!  See the difference being just half a unit lighter has made, imagine what it would be like being three units lighter.

I think that as Simon is a gem of a guy, and ticking Austrian Oak is so precious to him, that carats would be most appropriate measure - be inspired by being nearly 16,000 units lighter (incidentally, the "hobbit" is a unit of measure once used in Wales, unfortunately it is not used to enumerate shortness, hairy feet, or predilection for sheep but was a mass equivalent to 4 pecks or 2.5 bushels).

[tomtom]

'Kinell - has everyone on this forum done an E or two?

What's happened to the usual goading, pisstaking and sarcastic comments?

Simon [emoji173]️[emoji173]️

[dave]

Yeah come on Shark, you fucking punter, maybe hang a bucket of water at the belay and set fire to your hand again,  might make you climb with more of a sense of urgency. ;-)

(that OK for you Tom?)

[kelvin]

John Dunne had technique. Shark has... nothing. For breakfast, lunch and dinner.

[nik at work]

Running late this week

Goals unchanged...

M-F - three bM sessions, seem to have picked up a right forearm strain which is hindering middle finger slightly and ring finger more than slightly but less than massively.
S - Outside for an hour, just top-roped some routes for training.
S - BM session.

Forearm strain has pissed me off, nothing else to say. On with the Shark love in...

[petejh]

'Kinell - has everyone on this forum done an E or two?

What's happened to the usual goading, pisstaking and sarcastic comments?

Simon [emoji173]️[emoji173]️

I think 6 years of having the piss taken is plenty long enough

[Muenchener]

This is Farnell on grooved arete squared. Go on shark, I'm syked out of my tiny mind.

This is ukb's Dawn Wall

[nai]

'Kinell - has everyone on this forum done an E or two?

What's happened to the usual goading, pisstaking and sarcastic comments?

Simon [emoji173]️[emoji173]️

I think 6 years of having the piss taken is plenty long enough

8 1/2

3rd post:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=238610