[SA Chris]

A few folk on here based around the Inverness area, I'm sure a 6 pack or a promise of bottle of fine single malt might pry their pads out their hands for a few days. If the weather continues you have some options for grand days out in the hills in the FW area walking / scrambling / very easy soloing

http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/fortwilliam/aonacheagach.shtml

http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/fortwilliam/carnmordeargarete.shtml

http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13758

http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/c.php?i=563

Instantly come to mind.

[petejh]

......

Shark if you will indulge me, about what Font grade are we talking for the crux/es on The Oak (which I gather you've had a dabble on at Malham)?

Be interested to hear Shark's comparison - my guess would be about long 7B to the horn (shake); 6A+ or 6B to start of top traverse (shake); 7A top traverse.

[filz]

We went to the gym but it was closed

The nightmare of nightmares.

Indeed.. I need to find a place where to mount a finger board for the rainy days.

[tk421a]

Thanks Chris, I've picked up the Scottish ridges guide which had the best descriptions of stuff around there. Great guide. Every other guide is either climbing, starting at Mod and doesn't include scrambles, or scrambling, not including easy climbs.

[the_dom]

A week of excess - but the best kind..

Mon: Drove to Bolzano and spent a couple of hours wandering it before eating the largest Eisbein I've ever seen.
Tues: Spent 4 hours bouldering at the Salewa Cube while waiting for my "fiance" to arrive. Great session. Collected fiance and drove to Meran.
Thurs: Awesome AM run in Meran on the Tappeinerweg followed by much beer drinking at the pre-wedding party at the brewery.
Wed: Hangover. Drove to Völs am Schlern - one of the most beautiful places I've been. Snuck in a boulder in Bolzano in the PM, despite the hangover.
Fri: Got married  Amazing day. 7 Course dinner and more wine that we could drink at the reception. Biased, I know, but the best wedding I've ever been to. Said goodbye to everyone at 2am, after having gotten up at 6am the previous day and been going non-stop all day.
Sat: Honeymoon. Off to Vienna early. Lots of train, but hungover and exhausted so read lots and drank beer. Wandered Vienna in the evening - one of my favourite cities, would move there in a heartbeat if it wasn't so far from good bouldering.
Sun: AM run in Vienna, then train to Prague. Wandered Prague a bit then had some time to go to the Boulder Bar. As per the name, I bouldered, then drank some beer. Happily managed to do, 2nd go, on of their hardest graded problems (it may have been soft  ). More Prague wandering followed. Walked a total of 12km, not including the 50 minute run in Vienna. Big day out.

[Muenchener]

Sounds like a pretty good week all in all. Congratulations.

[tk421a]

Congrats!

[fried]

A week of excess - but the best kind..

 

[Nibile]

 

[shark]

......

Shark if you will indulge me, about what Font grade are we talking for the crux/es on The Oak (which I gather you've had a dabble on at Malham)?

Be interested to hear Shark's comparison - my guess would be about long 7B to the horn (shake); 6A+ or 6B to start of top traverse (shake); 7A top traverse.

Your grading sounds a little harsh.

Saltbeef reckons 7B+ from ground to horn which surprised me but I don't know - it seems to long to grade as a boulder problem. I always thought setting up and doing throw is 7A+ Would have thought 6C/6C+ to top traverse and maybe 7A+ across the top traverse.

Dave - these are not School/CragX/Tor grades

[dave]

Right then, if you'll indulge me further, from a quick scan of your powerclub entries over the last 6 months it looks like when you are doing bouldering the problems you're finding significant to mention (I'll assume these are the hardest or up there towards the hardest) are mainly in the 6c+ to 7a+ range, with some sieging of eatswood reverse. Granted I've not read them all, but if this is a fair reflection then raise your hand now. If I've missed any problems of 7b, 7b+ or 7c in the last 6 months speak up

[tomtom]

Are those French or Font grades there Dave?

[rodma]

Three in one for me.

can't remember exact dates/events but this is roughly it.

Week 1
M: work, pack, sleep
T: Redeye to CDG followed by taxi to gite at le vadoue, followed by brief session with family at Rocher Guichot
W: Cuisiniere: humid but dry. i do moutton a six, mrs rodma moutton a cinq
T: wettington, go for a walk
F: nowhere near dry, go for another walk
S: whole family heads to isatis car park, mrs rodma takes the in-laws to haute plains, i head for la chose; it's damp. i then head to la mouche to work the moves and do it relatively quickly. mrs rodma joins me to work it a bit. we head back via le memel for a try or two.
S: can't remember, think it was bad again

Week 2:
M: go for a walk
T: head to mont pivot; not child friendly enough, so head to roche aux oiseaux and get shut down on stuff, so head to rocher guichot to try coup de force. manage it using some german lots' beta for the start only to find i skipped the first hard section.
W: inlawas help us have a day to ourselves, so we go to coup de force (my poor recommendation for mrs rodma), then welcome to TJ (so wet it won't dry this trip), then on to la mouche and le memel; mrs rodma really close on memel.
T: cuisiniere with the whole family. i warm up there, then head to god save my finger; my fingers are nowhere near strong enough for this. then head back to cuisiniere to try karma; it's so damn humid i can't even hold the jug. head along to isatis to fall off vin aigre, then back to guichot to do coup de force if at all possible. it's so humid by this point that i can't hold the juggy sloper in the roof, but find an easyish way of skipping it so get some success.

F: mission around again with the inlaws looking after the wee guy, it's now getting stupidly humid and we end up at drei zinnen trying some stuff. getting tired now.
S: out of the gite early and head to sabot for some blue probs before heading to camp (grez) nice and early since really bad weather is forecast; it doesn't come today and we end up having a sunny afternoon and evening at camp. thunder overnight.
S: get up early and head for the ferry leaving behind terrible weather. get on the boat in amsterdam.


Week 3
M: drive home from newcastle and sort stuff out
T: evening easy campus and wall
W: rest
T: just doing problems at the wall
F: mrs rodma has sorted everything out so we head off in the van after work. feels amazing doing this. night heater gets its first use.
S: tired today from the wee guy having broken sleep. head to bowden. manage to dispatch lippy whilst wee guy is asleep. first hard problem since turning 40 YYFY.

head to campsite for a relax and a barbeque
S: much better night's sleep means everyone is in better spirits. head to back bowden to inflict the wee guy's tantrum on a group. I just do some easy warm ups then try and keep the wee guy entertained (and off the mats!!!) which at times is a struggle. head back up the road feeling awesome for having made a weekend out of it.


A good few weeks really. tough font trip with weather, wee guy not really sleeping in the gite (way too echoey and lack of acoustic separation), but he settled by the end of it and slept really well in the van on the last night.

[webbo]

Mon. Walked to next village to visit friends with missus and grandson.
Tue. Board repeated some problems that I did just before I injured myself. They didn't seem to hard.
Wed. Nothing.
Thu. Board did an old problem that I can't always do and repeated some newer stuff.
Fri. Bike intervals one hour.
Sat. Board struggling did some repeaters to finish. Bike intervals one hour.
Sun. Bike 72.38 miles 4 hrs 34 mins.

[the_dom]

S: tired today from the wee guy having broken sleep. head to bowden. manage to dispatch lippy whilst wee guy is asleep. first hard problem since turning 40 YYFY.

As a newly-married, close to forty year old, this is inspiring. Well done.

And thanks to everyone for the congrats - if I had known being married was this fun, I wouldn't have waited this long..

[shark]

Right then, if you'll indulge me further, from a quick scan of your powerclub entries over the last 6 months it looks like when you are doing bouldering the problems you're finding significant to mention (I'll assume these are the hardest or up there towards the hardest) are mainly in the 6c+ to 7a+ range, with some sieging of eatswood reverse. Granted I've not read them all, but if this is a fair reflection then raise your hand now. If I've missed any problems of 7b, 7b+ or 7c in the last 6 months speak up

Hand is down although have attempted harder stuff ie Brad Pit, Blind Date, Jericho Road, Ben's Roof. Also been doing ground to horn on the Oak which is apparently 7B+ 

[Three Nine]

I always think lip traverses look total shite, but that lippy thing looks well good

[dave]

Right then, if you'll indulge me further, from a quick scan of your powerclub entries over the last 6 months it looks like when you are doing bouldering the problems you're finding significant to mention (I'll assume these are the hardest or up there towards the hardest) are mainly in the 6c+ to 7a+ range, with some sieging of eatswood reverse. Granted I've not read them all, but if this is a fair reflection then raise your hand now. If I've missed any problems of 7b, 7b+ or 7c in the last 6 months speak up

Hand is down although have attempted harder stuff ie Brad Pit, Blind Date, Jericho Road, Ben's Roof

OK that's interesting, it's not surprising then that the Oak is causing some problems.  What is the max bouldering level of other successful Oak ascensionists, at a guess?

I reckon you'd want to be knocking off 7a+s easily enough that when you hit the 7a+ bit at the top of the Oak you're so far within your comfort zone that it's not a problem. Bearing in mind you'll be doing that 7a+ after having done a longish 7b/+ to get there, and that 7b/+ is a level that you're not really climbing at on boulder problems either.

Are you planning on doing much limestone bouldering over the summer while malham is like climbing on a parabolic mirror? Surely the Oak is looking good for autumn if you crack on this summer to the level where you're doing LOTS of limestone 7a+s, being able to flash some straightforward 7a+s and then have a few harder/longer 7b/+/c s that you've done once or twice (or almost). Basically raise your bouldering level by a good margin. Loads of stuff on peak lime to get you there.

[monkoffunk]

Basically raise your bouldering level by a good margin. Loads of stuff on peak lime to get you there.

Shame no one ever thought of that before.

[dave]

Basically raise your bouldering level by a good margin. Loads of stuff on peak lime to get you there.

Shame no one ever thought of that before.

It's crazy but it just might work.

[tomtom]

I think we should compile a ticklist of peak like 7A and 7A+'s for Shark to train on. Tbh, there aren't that many so it should be quite easy..

And a week before Oak season starts send him up to Conies dale for an ego boost

[rodma]

I always think lip traverses look total shite, but that lippy thing looks well good

It's alright as these things go ( except for getting really pumped). It's the easiest way from the back of the roof to the top of the boulder unless you're a mantling beast, so it is a logical line.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

[petejh]

Right then, if you'll indulge me further, from a quick scan of your powerclub entries over the last 6 months it looks like when you are doing bouldering the problems you're finding significant to mention (I'll assume these are the hardest or up there towards the hardest) are mainly in the 6c+ to 7a+ range, with some sieging of eatswood reverse. Granted I've not read them all, but if this is a fair reflection then raise your hand now. If I've missed any problems of 7b, 7b+ or 7c in the last 6 months speak up

Hand is down although have attempted harder stuff ie Brad Pit, Blind Date, Jericho Road, Ben's Roof

OK that's interesting, it's not surprising then that the Oak is causing some problems.  What is the max bouldering level of other successful Oak ascensionists, at a guess?

I reckon you'd want to be knocking off 7a+s easily enough that when you hit the 7a+ bit at the top of the Oak you're so far within your comfort zone that it's not a problem. Bearing in mind you'll be doing that 7a+ after having done a longish 7b/+ to get there, and that 7b/+ is a level that you're not really climbing at on boulder problems either.

Are you planning on doing much limestone bouldering over the summer while malham is like climbing on a parabolic mirror? Surely the Oak is looking good for autumn if you crack on this summer to the level where you're doing LOTS of limestone 7a+s, being able to flash some straightforward 7a+s and then have a few harder/longer 7b/+/c s that you've done once or twice (or almost). Basically raise your bouldering level by a good margin. Loads of stuff on peak lime to get you there.

Dave you're spot on of course. I'd say to have a reasonable chance of doing the Oak you'd want to be bouldering limestone 7b (7B, V8..) in a session or three.

But Shark won't follow this advice because he's absorbed the belief, possibly from hanging out too much with old-school Malham uber wads, that he can refine his method to the nth degree until, by some magic trick of physics, a subtle hip adjustment here combines with some gritstone traversing-inspired fitness to allow a naturally weak 40-something 7a+ (7A+, V7..) gritstone boulderer to haul his feeble body up terrain it's completely unsuited for.

It's a bit like trying to teach your grand-dad Adobe Illustrator.


(I still hope you do it Simon)

[SA Chris]

Basically raise your bouldering level by a good margin. Loads of stuff on peak lime to get you there.

Shame no one ever thought of that before.

It's crazy but it just might work.

We'll have none of the sense talking nonsense here.

[SA Chris]

S: tired today from the wee guy having broken sleep. head to bowden. manage to dispatch lippy whilst wee guy is asleep. first hard problem since turning 40 YYFY.

Pinnacle of achievement there.