[shark]

11.1-3 Average 155.9 down 0.2lbs on last week

M. Morning. Was awake from 5am uncharacteristically. Steve texted and we headed out at 8.30am. 13deg Cool, low humidity and bit of a breeze. Warm up inc THFML. Go 1 foot slip at start and failed to get to kneebar Go2 climbed well and touched high crimp on THFML Go 3 Bit hesitant on karate kick and touched niche but didn’t connect. Walk with dogs and re-warm up Go 4 same as for go 3. Go 5 got to kneebar but wilted on set up for karate kick Go6 failed to get kneebar and THFML straight after. Good volume even if didn’t do quite as well as Friday.

T. Tor 9.30. Nice fresh conditions till sun came round. Warm up then had a dogging session on the crux of Revelations. Not been on it before but been meaning to have a play on it for years. Awkward to dog, awkward to climb, dripped on from seepage, hard to keep feet dry when on the ground which is every time you come off. Always thought the Slot/pocket would suit me and was more positive than I thought it would be. Nearly got heel toe in from start. Worth persisting - early days - looking at vids after should have tried getting left foot up on rib before putting heel toe in. Afterwards had a few minutes play on the move Im falling off on Bens. Tried another boot on left to see if I good jam it in. Couldnt. However, discovered if I angled my foot inwards and down it drags better against the the sharp ridge on the top of the foothold reducing chance of it firing off when I get the high edge on THFML. Cool bit of micro beta Did the move several times in succession. Declined top rope on Tin Of as sun coming round

W.

T.

F.Tor to try Bens. Fresh conditions and confident of success. Good warm up. First go climbed through the start like a dream - no cut loose, never done it so well - relaxed on rest then on kick out to niche knocked my foot against the rib and came off. Go 2 Got to touching niche. Longer rest. Warm up again Go 3 Bit distracted but got through to touching niche with left foot. Took dogs for a walk. Warmup again Go 4 Got to kneebar without cutting loose left foot connected with niche but then somehow lost tension and came off. Took 45 mins off started to warm up but Rab hobbled up in his pot so nattered with him for a while till he went for a walk. Warmed up again Go 5 nearly wilted on cut loose but with a massive effort got leg up into kneebar but was spent. Arrived at 9.30 and nearly 4pm when left. Was psyched about how I climbed on first go and getting through from start to kneebar 5x in a session was some kind of PB.

S. PM Systems Board. Warm and muggy. Was strong on benchmark big undercut move. Less good on crusher crimps but was warm. Did standard AeroCap 20/10s. Completed first set and stopped at move 100 on second set as terminal pump started to develop

S AM “Father it’s been 15 days since my last fb session”. Not fresh and slightly hungover. Experiment with longer duration hangs on the ergo edge to mix things up. Going to see if it provides a good base for max hangs over next few weeks

Feel like I’m back in the zone and on it. Was unlucky not to get Bens this week. Pain tolerance and fitness improving. Briefly felt like a good climber a couple of times. Just going to have to keep training to stay strong and light and keep turning up and applying myself until it goes down. A useful by product is getting fit in the process.

[Duma]

Sounds like a good week Shark, and positive attitude too.

Goals: Uninjured, 70kg, 8A in UK, Rocklands in June.

M - hartland, trench first, I've done most stuff here but repeated a bunch of nice easier things and did the sit to Trench Eliminate (did the obvious problem at the right sort of grade though it doesn't seem to correspond to the ukc description). Also, has anyone done the problem between this and Jas' Wall? Apparently 6B+ from high undercuts to the top via a lh crimp - the undercuts are obvious, but I'm pretty sure there's no way to the top at that grade! Then over to St Catherines Point to check out The End Is Nigh/The Revolution Is Coming. Pretty underwhelmed tbh, they were both soaking despite perfect connies everywhere else and a wind through the cave, the landing is both bad and tricky to pad out, and would require a bit of work to fill in the rock pool, and it looks to have a couple of nasty sharp holds. Maybe the moves are great but I couldn't muster the psyche for more than a desultory couple of goes at the starting moves. Sacked it for a pint in the wreckers instead.

T - TCA eve, quick hours hit as out to dinner later. Did as many yellows as possible, 14 plus falling of the hard one in the roof a few times.

W - 30PU, 20VSit, 10SU, 15PINCU. 30 min hilly run. UCR to forerun circuits, 1x6a 1x7a 1x7a+.

T - 30PU, 20VSit, 10SU, 15PINCU. Cheddar with Rhos, back on RHM. Boiling in the sun. Warmed up putting clips in, then first attempt fucked up first clip so wasted a bit of energy on the undercut, but still managed to get through the crux, clip and get into last tricky move, but RH was boxed from earlier fannying about on the undercut and pinged off. Next go was perfect, really smooth all the way to short easy move to jug pocket which is the very last non trivial move - somehow managed to fumble it! Fun ride from there as it's a way above the last bolt which I extend a bit anyway to facilitate the clip. Skin was thinning rapidly in the heat and needed to be back for the school run so bit of pressure for the final go, thankfully went fine, still a fight but hadn't started to fade and had enough in the tank to readjust to make sure of the last move to the pocket this time! Well chuffed with this, good power endurance test for me, and I think longest (~12 goes) I've spent on a route since my first 8a in 2003.

F - 30PU, 20VSit, 10SU, 15PINCU. TCA 90 mins, mothership had been reset so steep stuff - did all but one, maybe 3 in the low 7's. The final problem is an epic from one side of the wall to the other, will be very hard to link but fun to try in sections.

S -

S -

Av 70. 7 kg.

Started off a bit disappointed with my performances at Hartland, but the glorious weather meant it was a lovely couple of days away anyway, and happy to put Right Hand Man to bed on Thursday.

[monkoffunk]

STG - More volume: Climb 10 routes 7a-7c+ by end June (2/10)
Maintain weight ~74kg
MTG - Complete as much from ever growing Font tick list as can. (They might be one problem....)
Portland Font 7A+/B from unfinished list, autumn
LTG - 7C

M - Rest.

T - Portland. First bouldering in ages. Thought might be pre font test. Tried Ladies Night first. Could barely hold positions couple of years ago and couldn’t pull off the floor. Arrived too late in the day really, before long sun on the slopers and straight into my eyes. Managed to pull off the ground though! With more time, lower temps and better skin I reckon I’d stand a chance.

Stupid decision to walk through boulder field in shorts to Cavity Search the next problem in the shade on the list. Legs cut to ribbons. Took a wrong turn through a thicket at one point, almost got wedged. Probably would never have found the body. A little annoyed at self by time reached CS. Made worse by extreme incompetence on that boulder. Bit of a nemesis for me.

Fucked off to Neddyfeilds in late afternoon. Pete’s Rib Sit as a 7A consolation tick (copies Sam Parsons beta move for move shamelessly). Then sensibly tried some stupid thin crimpy nonsense, an eliminate called Local People. Close enough to encourage me to repeatedly shed more skin without the actual tick. I am a total punter.

W - Rest

T - Rest. Drove from Portsmouth to Font after work.

F - Woke up I n the forest. Pretty hot. Decided to go check out Beatle Juice, the only really decent problem I tried last time in the trip of mostly wet rock spent in cafes. End of day last year, thought would probably find it really easy fresh. Found it really hard and after about 4 hours (mostly spent on big rest blocks) I called it a day. Still, figured out the least powerful beta, improving the method roughly at the same rate I ran out of power.

S - Back to Beatle Juice in the early cool. Got to top second go, within about 20 mins of arriving. First 7A+ for me in the forest!

Tried Excalibur for a bit because conditions alright and it was there, but sadly requires more rock climbing ability than I have, so sacked it. Plus I left my coffee at the gite so had very little cause to remain.

Failed at a few things in various places in the afternoon before doing La Marie Rose just before it tipped it down and I got totally drenched. First tried that in 2010, and again in 2015. Good to do.

S - Despite short trip should have taken a rest day. Only managed a 6B or something, failed to do L'Hélicoptère a lot. Felt quite close though, imagine I’ll do it one day.



I hope I can climb tomorrow, home Tuesday.

[yetix]

M: rest
T: recruitment hangs.
W: sent Paul O'Grady SS first go from the bottom. Feeling psyched! Went to the Cromlech after and did all the moves of Ultimate Retro Party, but didn't fancy wildly slapping with my left hand until my fingers a little better.
T: Gym bench press 3x3 at 70kg, ring chest flies, shoulder press 3x8 at 35kg
F: recruitment hangs
S: Sheep pen with my other half. Sent Klems Arete, repeated Kingdom of Rain, Dog Shooter, Gnasher and probably some other things, really like the circuit up there. Managed to fall off topping out of Toe Dragon into Kingdom of Rain which was a shame. Will have to go back to finish this off soon I guess!
S: Ran 5k

Fingers feel strong in a static half crimp position, which is serious progress given I go to Rocklands in 2 weeks!

Had a job interview on Thursday which went well and I've been offered the role. Psyched as they've offered me a reasonable pay increase and will let me continue to work a 4 day week like my current job at the UoM which will mean I can keep getting out lots!

[joeisidle]

M - Tired, gentle upper body stretching
T - Tired again, gentle upper body stretching
W - Outdoor session after work at Ramshaw for the first time in the year or so. Repeat some nice circuit climbs, fail on Elastic Wall but do the RH cheat start to it and still enjoy the last move on it. Theraband afterwards
T - Shoulder exercises, pushups, theraband and gentle recovery climb of V1-2 stuff at Stoke AW
F - Shoulder exercises, pushups at lunchtime, then session at Nth Cloud and Skyline in the evening. Do Swivel Finger + ss for the first time, lovely problem. Go over to the Real Thin but wuss out of trying it by myself due to uneven landing. Move on to the Skyline and redo some of the lower grade slabs there. Repeat Leek Hills then have another go at the Shepherd for the first time in ages. Finally work out how to set up for the left foot rock up for the first time ever despite years of going to this buttress and finish it off. Theraband at the crag looking over at the sun setting in Cheshire and head home feeling content.
S - Travel to Yorkshire to see friends, head to Lower Gorple and do a few 5+ warm ups before getting rained off. Booze and curry in evening.
S - Shoulder exercises and pushups. Promise myself I'll go on a board tomorrow.   

[tomtom]

Nearly there Sharkus...

Tues: anston. Frustrating.



Fri. Blackstone. Fridge Hugger session. Made good progress. Chuffed.

Sun: Blackstone. fridge Hugger redpoint session. Further refinement of microbeta (good). After about an hour dropped the top (6A part) when my poorly weighted foot came off. Came close a couple more times then tired and eventually core failed. Very frustrating....

[tommytwotone]

Goal - the opportunity + ability to execute on the last new (to me) 7a for the year.


M: gym on lunch. All HIIT-y classes booked to did row into TRX shoulder routine into military press into deadlift, which I haven't touched in ages. Bodyweight felt OK so gradually ramped up and actually got 100kg lifted. Bit of a surprise.
T: nowt
W: nowt
T: HIIT class on lunch. Hard, sweaty, but fun.
F: nowt
S: travel to Wales with seemingly 50% of the country
S: drop in on PeteJH to borrow a pad  , then family day of ice creams, beaches etc. Snuck in a portable fingerboard session after kids in bed.


In Wales for the week. Have climbing kit and partner amenable to rock related outings. Planning Cromlech hit en famille, and potentially some local stuff on me tod in the evenings.

[moose]

Tues: anston. Frustrating.

Was that on Nazgul LH? Even without a split-tip that is such a frustrating problem; I've had sessions of falling off going for the lip, often with a pin-wheeling tumble down the hill.   Still, if it's any consolation, I used a modified version of the beta you sent me to do it on Saturday: a morning of failures, a slight tweak to how I held the pinch - and then it went and felt about V4! So, no matter how frustrating it might feel, the next go might be the one.

[tomtom]

Tues: anston. Frustrating.

Was that on Nazgul LH? Even without a split-tip that is such a frustrating problem; I've had sessions of falling off going for the lip, often with a pin-wheeling tumble down the hill.   Still, if it's any consolation, I used a modified version of the beta you sent me to do it on Saturday: a morning of failures, a slight tweak to how I held the pinch - and then it went and felt about V4! So, no matter how frustrating it might feel, the next go might be the one.

Yup it was. Well done! Was the tweak on the pinch with the thumb poisitioned so the hand is rotated a little more anti clockwise?

Then LH up to the roof slot - both feet up and launch?

[moose]

Yup - I used the thumb-catch at 6o'clock rather than the one at 8 o'clock and got it a couple of goes later.  It makes the pinch a  bit more awkward to gain, but it feels more positive for the final move.  I don't use the LH slot though - I can't get my fingers into it - I use the small triangular pinch just to its right as a LH intermediate instead.  My full sequence (copied from my spreadsheet of beta.. yes I am that sad) is:

Sit start, matched at base of niche; LH to spike; RF heel-hook in base of niche; level up on heel and RH to right-most of pair of lumpy holds above the centre of niche; match LH to blocky hold alongside RH (right end of most is most positive); RH to funky pinch (use the thumb-catch at 6 o'clock - initially feels more awkward than the one at 8 o'clock but is more positive for last move ); LF on spike, keeping RF at base of niche, and LH to high triangular pinch in roof (located to the RHS of a slot); rock up onto the LF (don't both trying to put the RF on anything - let it flag / hang) and LH go-again to double pocket on lip; match and chin-up to the top jug. 

[tomtom]

Thanks moose. In the closing 20 min of my session I was experimenting and used the pinch like that - 6pm thumb. And it feels quite a bit worse when below but works better when above/next to it.

I’ll try the roof pinch - it’s always felt a bit too vague to be of use...

[nai]

M  - Tequila session 4. Hauled up mostly B2B trying a few moves, refresher on the crux and lower wall.  Rested 45 minutes then redpointed it.  Couldn't quite believe how quickly it came together.
OS'd White Gold, the 7a on the left side.
Core back home
A very very good day

T - nowt

W - Back to Chee Tor to try Boo. A totally different experience: cruxy, sharp, insecure and reachy. Guess I'll give it another go try and work the top out but I'm not mega inspired by first acquaintance.
Max hangs test back home - 64kg hung (F3 low edges) which is better than last week but still 4kg short of PB a month or so back. Happier with that score though, I'm definitely off that peak I hit in March/April.
Core
Ys & Ts & reverses

Th nowt

Fri - Tor, good connies, should have been on Anger Management but convinced myself it was wet and as Nick was on a short route he wouldn't want me faffing for ages going so high then working out a hard crux, etc, etc  i.e. I bottled it.  Got back on The Flushings, greased off first RP attempt but did it without much fuss next time.  Simon described it as perfunctory and when I looked that up it felt about right.
Couple of laps of Tin Of.
Core

S -

S - short window got shorter when delayed getting out, conditions were crap so came home and did a few hard problems on the board then some core.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - speed bag, boxing bag.
Tue - rest.
Wed - board climbing, set and climbed two problems. Not bad at all.
Thu - fast bag warm up; yoke complex 5x6; farmer's at 70% 30" x10.
Fri - fast bag practice and heavy bag.
Sat - 15' of ab wheel and high pulls EMOM. Fast and furious.
Sun - rest.

[tomtom]

👏👏👏 Nai

[gollum]

M - Lunchtime treadmill 5k. Good to just run a consistent pace with no thought involved.
Evening at the Depot. Warm up with a bit of campusing which feels almost there but just not quite. Then on to working projects which is fairly successful. Throw in the odd wood problem while resting to keep the limbs moving.

T - Push day. Benching off the safety bars to start. Working on sets of three up to 90k and then standard bench for three up to 95k. Shoulder presses for 4 reps up to 50k which is good as that has been my rehab target for a while and have always been a bit weak in my shoulder press.

W - A bit of stretching and core.

T - Max pulls at Bodyweight for 2 sets and then between 2 and 4k counterweight for the other sets. A bit heavy so think that BW is actually a new max.
Then a Board session followed by getting proper destroyed trying and failing on the new Depot yellows.

F - More stretching and core.

S - and again. Go through to Liverpool as somehow hadn’t ticked the “post my race number to me” box like a muppet and had to go to pick it up or not do the run.

S - Liverpool Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon. Think this is my first road race in 32 years and found the start and the finish extremely stressful, the bit in the middle I loved.

The dog has been out and about this week, so maybe not the most productive but will crack on into next week and get more done.

[SA Chris]

M - 6 km run at lunchtime.
T - nowt
W - half day, weather shite, with promise of better westwards. Still raining at venue 1, so headed for a looksee at venue 2, last visited about 15 years ago. Approach has been fucked by forestry trucks, but persevered through mud and puddles, and found the boulder overgrown with moss, clearly not visited for years. Ah well, let it go back to nature. OK wall session.
T - nature walk in morning with schoolkids. Good fun.
F - nothing.
S - walk. Running clinic continued in afternoon. Knackering
S - weather terrible. DIY day, play on park.

[Steve R]

Aims: uninjured, 70kg, all the 8's

M - rest
T- wall. board, good session.
W -rest
T- wall. board, not bad.
F- rest
S- Ingleby Incline bouldering.  had a look at Circle my Demise. really struggled to get the holds to settle and need tent pegs to hold mats on steep landing, also need more than one pad ideally - motivation for it diminished quickly.  Tried and did the particularly fine sleepy hollow sit start and did all moves on a potentially new thing.  so still a couple of things to return for.
S- Wall, good session.  Weather improved to give a nice evening, ~40min light run 

Finger; marked improvement this week - starting to crimp stuff on board and outside with no tenderness afterward so really happy with that. Weight; same @ ~76kg, had hoped contributing here might make it easy but looks like will still have to actually put some effort in.  Generally things still moving in the right direction.

[spidermonkey09]

Nice one Nai!

M - max hangs on the campus rung. Got up to 22kg which I was pretty pleased with.

T - Depot, mainly to buy tape and chalk. Did some foot on campusing and got savage blisters in the creases of my index fingers, presumably due to roasting temperatures. Pretty annoying and very painful.

W - rest.

T - Malham after work. 3 good goes up. High point on boulder first go up preparing for throw to tooth. Slightly less good second go but tried link from kneebars and got halfway through crimpy crux at the top. Last go pulled through roof and tried link from bird hole to top. Pissed this link to the top rest, got cocky and proceeded to drop the cross through move to the jug  Pretty annoyed as the link was there for the taking but a good reminder to keep working on it and concentrate. Great to watch Sam and Jack rinse the route; good for psych!

F - rest.

S - Moved house. Didn't want to sit inside looking at boxes so went to Malham. Two goes up on the boulder, both solid but nothing to write home about. Annoyingly felt strong on first go but fumbled third undercut. Sat in kneebars for approx 7 minutes after second go before climbing easily to bird hole and lowered off as was back the next day. Also belayed Matt on his successful ascent of Something for Nothing.

S - back to the crag. Matched high point from the deck first go up. Second go useless on boulder but sat in kneebars for 10 mins and linked to shit undercut rest. Also worked on tricky crossover move at top. Good fitness at the end of a heavy few days.

Too much this week really but would have been bored sat inside. Getting pretty close to getting through bulge now and confident of climbing on afterwards to a good height. Hopefully back on Thursday, might take a few rest days to let my skin recover though!

[duncan]

Well done nai!

STG: Don’t get injured. Get on some E3s and E4s. ✅
MTG: a classic sea cliff E5 this summer.
LTG: 5.13 at 60; a LH&F BHAG.

M - Red eye from Seattle to Denver. Callisthenics in Denver airport. Snow storm meant we spent 7 hours on runway with repeated attempts at de-icing the wings. I was convinced we were going to have an extra night in the US but we eventually got going. Free Solo was one of the inflight movies, less scary than the take off.
T - Flight continued. Stretches.
W - Brief fingerboard ‘max’ hangs. Shoulder strength.
T - Shoulder strength. Free Solo on the TV. Inspired by this managed 5 pull-ups! Haven’t been this strong for decades.
F - Westway bouldering to ~V3. Shoulder strength.
S - Shoulder strength. Drive to S. Wales.
S - Shipwreck Cove with Wil.  Warmed-up then got on Mutiny Crack (E4). This was a fun tussle, making good use of recent jamming practice. Might be E3 if you trust cams in shaley breaks (I didn’t).
M - Bank holiday bonus. St Govan’s with Chris (and a cast of 1000s). In my defence there was a lunchtime high tide and I was with an unfamiliar partner (who was great). We climbed a bunch of HVS and E1 classics and I led No Man’s Land (E4). This was steep but mostly positive climbing and very enjoyable. Drove home.

Good week with the trad. climbing coming along nicely and a strength high point.

Plan: keep the fitness ticking over, Fairhead meet next weekend. Beyond psyched for this, though current forecast is for rain every day.

[cheque]

Effort Nai & Duma! 

Rehab Diaries Week Forty

STG- Sub-HVS *** Peak Trad list (18 17/26 remain), onsighting HVS/ low 6s by end of September.

M- Intake Quarry. Dreadful venue but one that my mate has decided is good, mainly because it’s 15 minutes from his house  . I’ve been dragging him to everywhere I choose for months and there aren’t many places for me to climb sport onsight locally so I didn’t resist.

Anyway, first time I’d climbed sport onsight since the day of my accident. First route (5+) I was very shaky and hesitant on, but mostly as the rock quality was very dubious. Second route (6a) I went up first but couldn’t commit at the crux so handed the lead over. After my mate had done it I led it fine and enjoyed it but had a bit of a moment threading the chains. Third route I onsighted a 6a and it felt good. Led another 5+ then did a 6a with one “take” at the end of the evening.

T- Rest.

W- Filming. Short evening session which was just as well as I felt very tired.

T&F- Rest.

S- Shining Clough w/ girlfriend. Anyone who’s been here (and if you haven’t and like trad then you should go because it’s a unique place with more than it’s fair share of the best grit routes in the Peak) will know about the walk-in. If you do it right it’s about 45 minutes divided into 15 minutes of walking along a tarmac road (which actually goes most of the way to the crag but is banned and has a gamekeeper’s house right in the middle of it making the ban non-negotiable), 15 minutes of uphill through fields and along a riverbank & 15 minutes of following a very narrow path up & across otherwise untracked moorland to reach the crag.

So OK in theory (particularly if a period of disability & subsequent rehab has given you a perverse love of hiking & carrying ) but in practise it’s very hard to locate the moorland path after crossing the river meaning the final third is often way longer than need be, involving repeatedly and unexpectedly disappearing into neck-deep bilberry-filled trenches between hidden boulders- I’ve been up there twice before but somehow never been up or down via the easiest way.

So... not wanting to subject my other half to semi-lost heather-bashing I discovered that you can approach via the very straightforward-sounding path to nearby Deer Knowl crag (yes, it sounds like a safari park & no, no-one ever climbs there) and stroll round the plateau edge to Shining Clough. Sadly it turns out that the easy path to Deer Knowl is a dirty communist lie (actually a mistake carried over from a previous edition of the guide) and there is no track that “leads steeply to the foot of the crag” in “a brisk 45 minutes”, but instead a near-vertical heather-bash of exactly the type that I didn’t want to put Rache through (but worse!) and we were commited to it by the time we realised. We were both wearing shorts too. 

To her immense credit she took her anger out on the foliage rather than me (what a keeper  ) and after 2 hours(!) we got to the crag and I led Via Principia, the final route on my list below VS and arguably the finest Severe on Peak grit, just before it started raining . We went down via the conventional way though and I now know how to get back up efficiently in future.

S- Clothes and make-up shopping in Manchester with no complaining whatsoever.

M-  Patchy weather forecast so went to gym for first weights session since mid-March. Did standing-on-Bosu-ball-holding-24kg-kettlebells, wrist curls, deadlift, leg-press, pull-ups & squats. “Scores” were a bit worse than last time (I made the mistake of not looking at my previous performance in my training diary before I left- would probably have dug in and equalled them on some exercises if I’d known) on everything but the leg press which I’m way stronger than before on.  Holding the kettlebells I had better form though (holding them completely away from my sides rather than them touching my legs a bit) so I’m probably stronger in my shoulders too.

Good eight days. The “onsighting low 6s” bit of my goal seems all but in the bag which is great. Interesting to have a weights session after switching to the BST part (ie. training outdoors rather than indoors) of my rehab schedule. Not sure when I’ll have another one though but to be honest I’ll worry about how much I can deadlift when the weather’s cold again.

[xelaxela]

Power Club

Goals: Remain Uninjured , 62kg, back to bouldering 7C regularly in UK
Currently: Still OK, 74.8kg, 6C regularly (7A indoors)

This week was a planned rest week so not much went on
M - Rest
T - Rest
W - Craig-y-Longridge again - Not much done just went with mates and hung around really
T - Rest
F - Rest
S - Rest
S - Rest

[Yossarian]

Goals: 80kg / 7s and 7S

M - Wall. Bit fatigued from Dorset the day before. Fairly unstructured problem session. Fun.
T - Repeater / max hang session. Decent.
W - Wall. Tried 45 board, but felt rusty and a bit tired. Moved on to circuit board. Harder things all felt quite cruxy and not helped by the heat. Ended up doing the 6b+ 10 times and then a mini foot-on-campus session.
T
F - Harrisons. Bit of soloing and then had a shunt session on Baskerville. Lovely 6a and underrated because the slabby crux at the top usually suffers from being caked on muck from seepage above. Cleaned it off and took about 5-6 goes till feet finally stayed stuck in place. Did Philippa to finish.
S - Wall. Good fun session working things on the new prow set. Tiring.
S - Attempted mini max hang session first thing, but fingers said no.

Off to the Peak later this week with 8 year old for a few days of easy grit / shunting / bouldering. Syke is high...

[Nibile]

Goals: 62kg,
Currently: 74.8kg

Just out of curiosity, and to put things into perspective, could I ask how tall are you?

[Will Hunt]

No climbing during the week. Had Friday off and we went to the Lakes for pre-stag do climbing. Did Troutdale Pinnacle as a three and then just had time for one more pitch of HVS on the glamorous Car Park Crag which was actually very good.

Saturday - Sergeant Crag Slabs. We dressed our dear leader in his fiancee's clothing and 6 of us walked in. Did a couple of nice HVSs in a fine drizzle. Hilariously we were chastised by a lady who was climbing there. I had apparently nearly ruined her day by clipping into the (huge) equalising ring on the top abseil while belaying. Somehow she managed to ab off without incident. The 6 of us climbed as two teams of three and when there were about 4 of us at the top she tutted that there were "about 15,000 people up here". She then complained loudly that people were no longer au fait with crag etiquette, to which her partner offered "we were all beginners once". Within our party, most people had been climbing trad for around 15 years. One of us was the daughter of Chris Parkin so I assume she's been climbing since she could walk. Among our CVs are ascents of The Nose, routes up to 8a and E7, new routes up to E5, Scottish winter climbing, ice routes, bouldering up to 7C+, writing for guidebooks etc. Hardly the stuff of legend, but it'd be nice to know when we might stop being beginners. She left soon after, presumably to find that mythical crag in Borrowdale with an easy approach and loads of accessibly graded 2 and 3 star slab pitches that wouldn't have anyone else climbing on it on a bank holiday weekend.

Sunday - RAIN! We managed to nip to the Honister boulders in the evening and did stuff up to 6C+.

Monday - A VD in light drizzle on Quayfoot Buttress then stuff up to 7B on the Bowderstone.

[shark]

Also belayed Matt on his successful ascent of Something for Nothing.

Matt who?