[Murph]

Aims for 2016
.....
Success will be signified by getting properly light (BMI of 20)
This would have meant getting under 58kgs. I failed. But by 62kgs, the lightest of my adult life, everyone was telling me I had nothing left to lose. In hindsight they were right.
...
as a means to an end of climbing several 7Bs
Climbed more 7s in September than during the rest of my life. Three of them were 7B. Admittedly, this was also cos I found lime relatively easy. Was still struggling with grit. 
...
and maybe even harder.
Missed the boat on this. Put everything (apart from being smart about it) into a 7C/+ that I was sure would go "next time" until I had to call time on it and move on. It's a certainty that different tactics would likely have resulted in a bunch more 7B/+ and probably harder but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[Nibile]

Bunch of fucking slackers, there's more than a week left of the year! I'm hoping to get more sessions in before the end of the year than in the last couple of months.

<peers out of the window at horizontal rain, and checks forecast>...

Nice and warm in my training room. So my new 2016 goal is a one armer with a 2kg weight belt. 3-2-1...

And Nope.

Roll that over to 2017 then.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You could even drop 2kg in body weight in that time...

I think you're slightly missing the point here Chambers...
 

[shark]

1.   Oak. Be in shape for final summit push in the Spring
Was in reasonable shape but didn’t reach the summit either then or the autumn

2.   Open accounts on Bat Route and/or Mecca (sorry)
No point trying when still stuck on the Oak

3.   Get weight down to sub 11 from end of Jan onwards / cut down on booze
Took a while to shift the weight but ended up being sub11 for a reasonable proportion of the year and some periods of minimal alcohol

4.   Read a novel a month – regain reading habit
Fail. Managed most of Mervyn Kings End of Alchemy but hardly qualifies as a novel

5.   Watch a classic film with my eldest once a month
Tick. This has been great though I did feel slightly betrayed when he watched two parts of the Godfather without me. 

6.   For Tommy to redpoint Raindogs
Chain grabbed in May YYFY. Unfortunately he lost his mojo after that

7.   Ambitious family trip in Summer again (Squamish again or South Africa or the States)
Cant remember why this didn’t happen. Had a lot to do with Sonias new job I think. We did go to the Briancon area for a fortnight though

8.   3x1 week away (non-family) climbing trips (Chulilla, Fairhead, Pembroke and two more)
Managed Chulilla in Jan. My best 5 days onsight performance ever. Also got out to Fairhead for the first time with Conners and had a week bouldering in Wales with Tommy.   

9.   Tick off at least 3 outstanding projects: Anger Management, Jericho Road, Rattle and Hump, eatswood Reverse, Brad Pit, Blind Date, Kudos, Bens Roof 
Only one – ER. Came very close on JR and closish on BD. The others I didn’t really try.

10. Increase absolute crimp and drag strength by 5kg
Don't know - not been doing max hangs for a while

11. Onsight attempt Reproduction at High Tor
FAIL Did quite a bit of trad staring with the Fairhead trip and then taking advantage of the Chee Tor revival. Managed to do Roadrunner on the hottest day of the year. Lost confidence late summer and my trad climbing ended in ignominy failing on E3’s in North Wales.

12. Put up a new hard sport and trad route
Tick. Both good and big routes on High Tor. Got new route fervour bad for a few weeks. Dementia E56a,6a,5b with Bonjoy and Big Cigar 7c with Conners.

All told not a bad year seeing as I didn't do the Oak.

[Oldmanmatt]

Bunch of fucking slackers, there's more than a week left of the year! I'm hoping to get more sessions in before the end of the year than in the last couple of months.

<peers out of the window at horizontal rain, and checks forecast>...

Nice and warm in my training room. So my new 2016 goal is a one armer with a 2kg weight belt. 3-2-1...

And Nope.

Roll that over to 2017 then.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You could even drop 2kg in body weight in that time...

I think you're slightly missing the point here Chambers...
 

[emoji16]

I don't get it though. 3 sets of 3 one arm pull ups on each arm? No problem (well, bit ropy on the third set). Add a 2kg weight, can't even f'ing start!
My year is ruined! Destroyed!


All posts either sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek or mildly mocking-in-a-friendly-way unless otherwise stated. I always forget to put those smiley things...

[fried]

I accept defeat, horrible conditions for me at the moment, don't think much is going to change before Saturday

1. Go to Railay and get strong on limestone. (No, stayed 5 days, missus didn't like it, food not good enough, once again proving family holidays and climbing don't mix)
2. BM my way through February. (No, terrible weather meant I just climbed indoors)
3. Tick off some of my ever growing project list...Travaux forcé and Gigi being the ones I want the most. (Some 5C/6A stuff, but nothing harder, bad year for getting on rock, nexy year for Travaux forcé and Gigi, certainly possible)

4. Stay uninjured. (No, at least 2 months lost with severe sprained ankle, still some random twangs)

[Luke Owens]

Balance family life and climbing with our 2nd child due in April - A big tick for this one, little 'un was born at the end of March and I managed my hardest ticks of any year. Even managed a Peak camping/climbing trip for a week in July when she was 4 months old with minimal stress.

Boulder:

1. 7A on Grit - Did a soft 6C+, didn't really try any 7A's on the grit.

2. Something harder than 7A anywhere -Did quite a few 7A's and did 2 7A+'s and a 7B (long trav)


Routes:

1. Left Wall Traverse (The Cave) - Tick

2. Flowers are for the Dead (Dinbren) - Tick

3. Try an 8a (Elite Syncopations - Dinbren) - Didn't try any 8a's.

4. Boat People (Diamond) - Switched this to trying another 7c on the Diamond, multiple sessions and got painfully close. Obvious lack of fitness.

5. Little Orme Project - Had one go on it then ended up bolting 4 other new routes, 2 of which I did and 3 of which are now goals for 2017.

[remus]

• Get stuck in to a proper project
• ...but get it done within the year (preferably without too much weeping at the bottom of the crag, sacrificing of first born children etc.)
• Trips to font, buoux, fairhead, mallorca, chorro
• Try to keep the font ticklist under control (preferably by ticking off large parts of it)
• Get scared on some DWS (preferably towards the top of adrenochrome)
• Cutlass
• Wizard of Oz, if I can get keen enough for another go

Partial success on the project front. Put up some good esoteric boulder problems. Total fail on the route front. Couple of exploratory burns on things but no commitment.

Managed some good trips this year, including font, fairhead, mallorca, siurana and some good stuff in the UK.

Font ticklist saw minimal movement.

Got scared on some DWS, especially in Mallorca. No adrenochrome/cutlass glory but did have a good trip to mallorca, including 2ng go ascent of ejector seat and an onsight of vadage. Didnt make it to berry head this year, so total fail on wizard of oz. One day...

Bonus points: purchased van, finished desk job, plans in progress for euro roadtrip, started seeing a lovely lady ( ), moved to sheffield with aforementioned lovely lady.

[JohnM]

1.  Climb Bat Route and/or Indian Summer.
Tick. Really pleased to finished these two routes off!
2.  Boulder >= 7C+
Didn't happen in the end. Had 6 sessions on a 5 move 8A near Barcelona, close but no cigar. Also got close to a 7C+ in Targassonne. One for next year.
3.  Climb a trad route on the trad route bucket list.
I did The Whipping Post at Reecastle and The Last Temptation at Thorn Crag which were routes I'd always wanted to do but probably not quite bucket list. I tried to do Point Blank ground up but conditions were shit and I ended up have a torrid time and took some big whippers.
4.  DWS something good.
I did do some good easy DWS but by good I also meant something relatively hard as well such as Adrenochrome.
5.  Climb something big in Europe (Dolomites/Naranja de Bulnes).
My mate Stevo and I tried to free El Pilar De Cantabrico on the west face of Naranjo de Bulnes over two days with a night on a portaledge. We freed a lot of it but we were slow on the second day and went off route on the easier top pitches so we ended up making an abseil retreat in the dark without summiting which was disappointing but overall it was an amazing experience.
6.  Climb a classic Euro sport route (hopefully Tom et je ris).
I didn't try Tom et Je Ris in the end. I had one session on Mind Control which was amazing but I never went back. I did some nice routes like La Femme Blanche at Ceuse and Zona Zero at Siurana but didn't manage anything that hard in Europe this year.
7.  Go self employed.
I am currently self unemployed but setting up a ltd company in the next few weeks and will try and get some work as a consultant through that.
8.  Move to Spain.
I moved to Spain in September but back in the UK now to set up my company and try and get some work. It was great living in Barcelona but its not cheap so I need to get some income now.

All in all a pretty good year climbing-wise, probably my best ever. Despite moving to Spain at the end of the year I started to run out of momentum and my motivation to try hard or train started to wane. This has reached a low point over the festive period and I haven't really done much at all but it is probably for the best and it is good to take a rest. Now I need to think of some goals for 2017 and start training again! A bit tricky at the moment as I don't know where I am going to living/working. 

[Monolith]

1. Achieve some sort of back fix
2. Resume climbing
3. Enter 3 Lake District fell race classics
4. Bottle a cask for the Islay Festival

Looking forward to meeting/catching up with plenty of you at Fatneck's do by the sound of things. Best of luck with your 2016 goals beastios!

1. You know what, it ain't half bad compared to what it was. An MRI and private consultation with a spine specialist aided in my knowledge of the problem. I'll take that tick.

2. I only climbed once this year and I think I climbed a few boulder problems at Ysgo (was it your birthday Si?). Really fun but seem to have lost climbing psyche at the moment.

3. Only classic was the Langdale Horseshoe which was an amazing (if very crampy) day out. Last time I fail to run for several months before doing such a race!

4. Time didn't permit but have a new cask waiting in the wings ready for 2017. Also have a project I've had to be silent on throughout the year. Not for much longer though and have co-organised www.spiritsfestival.co.uk as part of a new company set up. Stay tuned for tickets!

In summary, a good year and got really in to road cycling.

[duncan]

5.  Climb something big in Europe (Dolomites/Naranja de Bulnes).
My mate Stevo and I tried to free El Pilar De Cantabrico on the west face of Naranjo de Bulnes over two days with a night on a portaledge. We freed a lot of it but we were slow on the second day and went off route on the easier top pitches so we ended up making an abseil retreat in the dark without summiting which was disappointing but overall it was an amazing experience.

This looks great from a safe distance. One for the blog?

[Turboman]

Run Edale Skyline race - March Ticked and barely run since.
Ski Haute Route - April Ticked. Weather closed in for final day preventing run into Zermat but still a big sucess in my book.
Redpoint 8b by end of year ideally Bricktop and Butterflies. A quick 8a but realised I was well off the mark for 8b. Motivation was much more for trad....
Any onsighting and trad will be a bonus. Tick. Spent summer trad climbing and onsighting sport in Cheedale. Keen for more trad next year. Good year!

[Footwork]

1. Fix/ rehab shoulder. Shoulder impingement which has put bouldering on hold for the foreseeable future. Came out of nowhere and can't climb without pain
2. Pass my LPC
3. Go winter climbing
4. Take more photographs and try and get some wildlife shots
5. Easy climbing somewhere abroad like the Dolomites (never been) or the Alps again.
6. Keep blogging

Will change/ update if shoulder makes a miraculous recovery over the next few months

Can't complain too much about the shoulder as almost climbed my first 8A the other day. I do have some chronic pain sadly and it's definitely not the same / can't climb more than two days on properly and now and again just hurts. But I have managed to get some decent strength back and for now it's not exactly holding me back. Missing the raw board powa but who needs that anyway.

Smashed the LPC. 4 months in to new job and all is well.

Had some amazing days in the lakes and scotland with great company. I love winter climbing. It terrifies me also so I don't care about performance but just staying alive which makes every day a great day.

Not really taken any decent photo's and no wildlife shots.

No climbing abroad this year. Didn't fancy taking a risk with the shoulder being dodgy and potentially ruining the trip.

Still need to blog more but struggle to find the time at the minute. I still love writing but just too tired when I get home from work. Need to find a way to improve on this. Write during lunch breaks?

It's been a long, stressful and pretty good year. The shoulder pushed me back into trad and winter climbing which I realised I had missed. I also took the opportunity for less intensive sport climbing which I really enjoyed and plan to hit hard next year.   

[kingholmesy]

OK here goes:

1. Usual goal of staying injury free and climbing lots while not neglecting family life too much.

You'll have to ask my wife if I managed not to neglect the family too much, but I'm going to put this in green.

2. Climb lots of E4s and E5s.  Five E5s onsight would be good (I've never managed more than a couple per year previously).  If things are going well maybe try and onsight E6?

I almost put this in green.  My most E5s of any year to date - 4 o/s, 2 with some practice or pre-inspection, and 3 dogged.  Also did a bunch of E4s and flashed one E6 (with lots of beta).  Tried another E6 onsight but failed miserably.

3. La Creme (7c+) at Ansteys.  Got really close this year then it got too warm.

Really pleased with this.

4. Visit a new area.  Swanage and/or Pembroke hopefully.  Loads of stuff I'd like to do at both.

Total fail on this - didn't manage any weekends away, but did have lots of good days out locally (which maybe helped achieved balance with family life - see 1 above!).

A good year overall.

[Richie Crouch]

1. Isles of Wonder
2. Pool of Bethesda
3. Get a new extension & bathroom
4. Sort out the main bedroom
5. Grow some decent crops (weather permitting!)

1. Went up to it once a few weeks ago massively out of shape for climbing and after a break. Unsurprisingly it was an abysmal attempt.

2. Didn't even pull on

3. Fail as we discovered the lack of foundations meant a full rebuild needed on the current extensions before the bathroom can be updated.. Need to save up the extra pennies

4. Great success. Fully re plastered all bedrooms, hallways, stairs and new paint job, carpets, radiators, curtains throughout + new super king bed and mattress. A lot warmer and more pleasant to live in

5. Sacked it off and put new manure in to turn over for next year.

Basically achieved fuck all apart from finishing off some decent 7C+' at the start of the year. Pottered through the middle of the year, then lost interest in climbing. Rediscovered the iron and golf though

[Duncan campbell]

Right then!

Trad

Get more solid at E5.

Did a reasonable number last year but a lot were soft and I had to try pretty hard on all of them! Once again just need to keep getting on them when I'm psyched and remember it's the onsight as a process not a prize that's important.

Have loads of amazing looking routes I'm keen for all over at this grade so that's good!

Another 6 climbed clean (mostly onsight but g-upped John Wayne) including at least one toughie (Mean Steak @Stennis head)

Failed on a few others also including taking some big whippers whilst going for it. Busting my elbow and not climbing for the whole of March set me back fitness wise as this is usually an important month for getting fit for me.

Did way more E4s than I ever have - around 15.

Finish off Almscliff big 3! Maybe mince up a grit E4 whilst tied on? - haven't even tied on on grit this year I don't think

Depending on how the E5s go this year I guess if it feels right I'd like to try and climb an E6 onsight or groundup (obvs) however if this is red at the end of the year that will be totally fine as E6 is a grade for the big boys and I'm only small...

Busting my elbow at the end of Feb put me out for a month and cost me an important part of my fitness training. Was a bit of a optimistic goal tbh

Sport

Consolidate 7b onsights - have now onsighted 4 so it would be good to get more under the belt! Flashed my hardest one to date which gets 7b+ in some places but again elbow put me back from where I should have been.

Flash 7b+ - should be in with a shot of this during my spring sport trip as I'll have actually been training fitness and tied on in the lead up.Went for the onsight of one and fell on the crux. RP next go. Flashed a tough 7b that gets 7b+ in places but it's not

Consolidate at 7c and do some 7c+s herbie at malham should go down early next year I think.Did another 7c and finally managed Herbie after taking a number of sessions to get back to previous highpoint - didn't do loads of sport climbing this year

Red point 8a - fuck it may as well be bold and stick me neck out! (Plus as GuyVG has slapped his way up one I better try and catch him!) Guess something on malhams upper tier or the cornice (unleashing) or aberration at 2 tier ( had a session on this last year and it doesn't feel too bad). Tried a couple but way too bouldery and didn't put any time into them

Achieving/striving for these goals will give me a good physical buffer for my trad goals which are the important ones.

Bouldering

The last few months of last year were a total shit show but I'd love to do things like West Side, Spare Rib, My apple, finish off narcissus, etc. So I guess quantifiably that means climb 7B.

 Climbed Andle Stone Wall, McNab (soft!), and Dancing Queen (now gets 7B - soft?). Giving myself a green for this as bouldering is a relatively weak area for me and I feel like I had been stagnating at 7A for years whereas this winter I have actually managed some harder things. Also last session on West Side I held the third sidepull multiple times!!

Keep enjoying it!

Cba with life ones...

Not much green but actually a great year -  climbed some great and tricky E5s, loads of amazing E4s and of varying styles too. Defo a bit more consolidation done - can't expect to be an E5 hero over night.

Climbing herbie as my first 7c+ was great.

Have done some great Boulder problems this year!

Plus had my first taste of Alpine climbing - psyched for more!!

Think my year would have looked very differently had I not fallen badly from the top of Th Great Flake at Caley and bashed my arm on my leg as I landed. Ended up really badly bruising it and not being able to climb for a month and having to have a load of physio to get it moving at full range again!

[36chambers]

1. 8A - tick!
2. 8A - tick!
3. 8A

Preferably at least one not at Almscliff. Or at the very least, not on DWR.

Half way update. Made an excellent start to the year by ticking Dialectics, Exorcist Long, and Exorcist Short (YYFY). All 8A, all on DWR... I'm obviously only taking two ticks.

That leaves me with 5 months to get myself ready to crush Zoo York come winter. Allez.

I've only tried 3 other 8A's this year (The Fonze, Keelhaul and Zoo York) and have sorted beta, done all the moves and made good links on all of them. Haven't been on Keelhaul since the lamp ban, as I was only trying it for convenience. 2 sessions on the Fonze during summer and it felt like a Goa, keen to return. 4 sessions on Zoo York, in okay conditions, and almost linked the crux from the start. Hopefully, once I shake off the christmas podge, I'll be able to put one of them to bed and I will have achieved my ultimate long term goal of 3 8A's and I'll be able to move on and find another sport.

[Nibile]

lost interest in climbing. Rediscovered the iron and golf though

[cheque]

Make a film that's as well received as Stonnis.

Well, I spent pretty much the whole year on this in one way or another and haven't finished it yet, but I have shot all the climbing and I know how most of it will turn out, even if I do still have a massive amount of work to go.

To be honest, it became obvious that the goal of finishing it in a year was overoptimistic as early as April. I probably shouldn't have taken on such an ambitious task on my own, while working my full-time job and with very little funding but I survived and I'm pretty confident that the film will be finished by the end of April 2017. Whether it will be well received is another matter!

I was hoping to have a little trailer thing ready to post on this thread but it's not ready yet. Hopefully the next few weeks.



That's the big one. Hopefully it won't get in the way of the following goals:



It totally did get in the way of the following goals.

7b/ 7b+ sport.

I had a kind of cosy idea that I'd shoot at the weekends then get sport climbing done on weeknights. In reality uploading footage, charging batteries, sorting out camping and filming kit, finding willing people to film and getting over the weekend's exhaustion meant that I barely climbed all summer. I only went sport climbing once all year.

Back to the 7s in bouldering.

This was meant to happen this autumn/ winter I think. I got really weak, stiff and out-of-practice and haven't bouldered harder than 6B in 2016.

Try harder (i.e. above E1) trad routes

I led two E1s and failed on another and I failed to second the few E2s I tried. Despite spending all summer at the seaside, the only trad climbing I did was on grit.



Stop eating so much fucking chocolate.

Not easy to quantify this as I didn't record how much I ate last year. This year I ate sugary stuff on just over two thirds of the days though, which I think is an improvement, although I'm almost as heavy now (disclaimer- not really very heavy) as I was post-Christmas last year.

Chucking this one from 2012 in to get some green in here-

Move to Sheffield

YYFY 

Despite failing on all my goals I've had a great and mental year. Good effort to everyone who did well. Each year this thread gets more entertaining the more UKB members I get to know in real life. Hopefully I'll meet more of y'all in 2017. Happy New Year everyone! 

[user deactivated]

Really looking forward to seeing the film Mike!

[ashtond6]

I think my aims are a bit unrealistic, so I'm including two tiers on the sport climbing:

RP 7c - pretty unlikely so...

RP 7b+ - I'd be really happy with this

A good amount of 7A's (5-15?) 7A+ would be an overachievement I think 

Be strict with my antags & control my chronic issues



If my emphasis shifts back to trad climbing - onsight/flash E4s

Very frustrating year, however looking back I still improved.

Blew my finger working on my first 7c in may,
Jan now and it's still not right

However onsighted a number of E4s, 2 7bs and lots of 7as
Also nearly did a 7B+

I'd probably prefer 7b onsight over 7c RPs so that is good
However all these came before May!

[JackAus]

1. DWS Project.
Fucking done! End of March.

2. Get fitter and leaner.
Fitter yes, leaner no. Managed to get reasonably injured this year (1st was 2 days after doing dws proj, 2nd was in June)

3. Rocket Man.
Didn't try it much due to fingers...

4. V9s.
Close on a couple but again, fingers....

Seems like a shit year from that but besides the fingers, I still had a good year. Only 1 short Gramps trip (will be more this year) and a great trip to Castle Hill (aiming to go back in September).

[rodma]

My expectations have been revised downwards following the poor finish to last year.

Try and do a few 8A graded probs in UK
Try and do one 8A+ uk (poss working class ss)
Aim for 8A+ in font

That is all

Wow

Proper fail.

2 8th grade problems in the uk and that's all.

Had a good year in general ways though, got head-hunted, moved to suburbia, built a board, hair didn't recede much further.

No excuses, must do better climbing this year!!

[i_a_coops]

Big
Write a thesis.Well I've written about half a thesis...
Large fast and light tradventures.Sort of did some multipitch tradventuring in Wales after several sets of more adventurous summer plans didn't work out
Don't get eaten by a polar bear.Enormous success
Stay in touch with other human beings.Been a really good year for this

Medium
Tabou ZiziToo hard.
Finish off arbitrary '8a in every style/rock type challenge'. Still to go: crack, trad, granite. Nearly did an 8a crack in minging greasy conditions but never finished it off. If designer danger slate routes with occasional skyhooks but mainly bolts count as 'trad', then yes! Didn't climb on granite  
Put lots of pockets on a board. Put them on, but didn't use them as much as I'd have liked and the board is no more
Try some 8b/cs, ideally on pockets.I even did one, despite it not being on pockets
Prioritise doing awesome first ascents over mileage.Tick, did my projects at Cheddar and Long Quarry Point, and a multipitch linkup on the slate with a bit of new climbing on it. 
Lots of DWS in Pembroke. none
Do more surfing, fell running, winter climbing, ski touring, and music.Only really did music but I'm putting this in green because I've done a LOT of music and I'm utterly loving it

Little
Cultivate my bonsai mountainsI lost the box I was going to keep them in
Stop driving to climbing walls.Started off well but slacked a bit whenever I got really busy or the weather got particularly grim.
Font 8A.Fuck it, I'm counting it even if it was basically a route and I did every move off a kneebar
Go bouldering in Devon & Cornwall. nope
Ecstasy and the No Footholds Traverse at Iffley.Tragically I've not even been to Iffley