[petejh]

Hard week mentally. Feel a bit demotivated on Bat Route which is a pain after getting so close. With weather looking warm I feel like continuing with warm weather/bad condition sessions may be counterproductive. I want to do it massively but continued failure on the bulge might not be the best idea. As a result might commit to training for a month and climb elsewhere unless conditions look good at Malham, maybe with the odd session chucked in to keep it fresh in my mind. Tactics advice welcome from those who have tried to have summer projects at Malham!

I hear you. These conditions are poor for climbing at your limit and difficult to know what to do. A break from the route and other crags will be good for body and soul I think. Analyse what very specific aspects you can train that will help the most for when you go back to it. Mentally rehearse it in the meantime too.

Advice from the master there spidermonkey. See you back here in eleven years 

[moose]

Hard week mentally. Feel a bit demotivated on Bat Route which is a pain after getting so close. With weather looking warm I feel like continuing with warm weather/bad condition sessions may be counterproductive. I want to do it massively but continued failure on the bulge might not be the best idea. As a result might commit to training for a month and climb elsewhere unless conditions look good at Malham, maybe with the odd session chucked in to keep it fresh in my mind. Tactics advice welcome from those who have tried to have summer projects at Malham!

I hear you. These conditions are poor for climbing at your limit and difficult to know what to do. A break from the route and other crags will be good for body and soul I think. Analyse what very specific aspects you can train that will help the most for when you go back to it. Mentally rehearse it in the meantime too.

I've always avoided Summer projects at Malham (climbing in the middle of a giant solar collector during July... what's not to like?!).  But I do like a proper project, and I have spent long spells contending with crappy conditions (usually Kilnsey humidity). 

I reckon for a while, it can be worth battling on, the "it's all money in the bank philosophy".  Even during the worst of conditions, convincing myself it's worth getting the sequences more engrained in the muscle memory, even when the holds feel like bars of soap and you can't link more than four moves.  Just. Keep. Turning. Up.  Sometimes, you are lucky and there is a bon-con window, or it's one of those mysterious low gravity days when you scrape your way up when circumstances should preclude it.

But, when you feel yourself getting mentally frayed, it can be good to take a break.  Football managers love to speak of engendering a "siege mentality" with their squad.  Results or often good at first, but it envariably turns sour.  Players are initially unified but in time they are dismayed by the seemingly endless grind and lack of progress, and then turn on the manager.  So, to preclude unrest in my own mental dressing room, when I realise that a personal siege is heading towards the psyche equivalent of cannibalism and treachery, I make myself take a break. 

After a while, trying to convince yourself of marginal gains and the satisfaction of beta refinement can ring hollow.  Then, I find it's best to just try to tick something, just to remind myself what it feels like to "win".  Usually, I look for a 2-3* route, somewhere with good conditions, that looks likely to take 3-4 sessions. 

It's perhaps a shallow motivation, but I find that when conditions return I feel more optimistic and can better envisage the possibility of clipping the chains.  And, even if it doesn't result in the greater goal, at the bare minimum I will (hopefully) have done a really good route.  Often my highlights of the year have been those supposed filler-ins, done as a relief from a siege or poor conditions (in recent years, China Crisis, Divine Brown, Pierrepoint, Defcon etc).   

[tommytwotone]

Focus and ground yourself before you do.

And make sure you spin up a new pseudonym to post with.

[spidermonkey09]

Advice from the master there spidermonkey. See you back here in eleven years 

Christ, I hope not!

Despite the clear irony, think that's good advice, cheers Shark/ Moose. I'm definitely less psyched on it than I have been in the past few weeks so it seems now might be a good time. Hopefully going to Gordale tomorrow where I would like to think conditions will be a bit better, so will pick something to try there; Cement Garden, Defcon, Pierrepoint all options. In conjunction with some training I should be ready to give it another go when conditions improve. Even if I don't it would be good to get a few ticks in!

[monkoffunk]

STG - Wrist Business
Maintain weight ~74kg - dig out scales.
MTG - Sport projects.
Zinc Oxide Mountain, etc.
Portland Font 7A+/B from unfinished list, autumn.
LTG - 7C

M - Long day. Nothing.

T - Red spider. Failed some comp problem. Back to the grim reds. Did one bit that’s it.

W - Rest.

T - Cheddar. Trying Wrist Business. Two halves and beta refined. Felt like good training.

F - Pre nights. Rest.

S - Pre nights. Red spider. Comp problems. Hot. Skin failing so went to pull on some wooden holds. Feel weak compared to few months back; think it’s the heat.

S - Pre nights. Rest.

Still treading water with other life stuff going on.

[highrepute]

Monday          1:50 hour board session.   I was completely exhausted at the start as I didn’t get much sleep. Got quite psyched towards the end on a new problem I made, but I couldn’t quite finish it off.
Tues              Rest

Wed              Bouldering on limestone
Went to Rubicon to touch the holds on a potential new project called Tsunami. The problem looked great, and I’m really excited to get on it. I warm up, but then the top section gets completely sun-blasted. So instead I vaguely try the bottom moves. It’s way too hot to even sit around, so we move onto crag X instead.
Brilliant conditions at Crag X. I feel strong on Jericho road, but then I notice a pulley tweak in my right middle finger which is getting worse. So, I back off half crimping on my right hand, and instead make up a ridiculous drag variate of Jericho road; I call it “Jericho path”. You skip the first sidepull on the right and you can only drag with the right hand the whole way up (I didn’t manage it). Also got on Zippy's traverse/moffatrocity section which was good fun. I tried to drag and campus my way through it with poor technique.
Despite not having sent anything, it was a good day out. I also felt strong even without half crimping which felt nice.

Thurs              Bouldering on limestone
Drove out to crag X armed with information on most of the routes. Again, my right middle finger felt a bit miffed, so I was only dragging on it. The session went similarly to Wed at the start, but then I had a quick go on The Thing which felt like it would be a fun side-project, but I didn’t try it much. After that I got on Jericho road eliminate sit start and I found a new hold out to the right (it was a dusty but not obviously eliminated from the problem) using this hold I made surprisingly quick work of the bottom section. But then I tried it without the hold, and surprise, surprise it was more challenging (but in my honest opinion it climbed worse). Spent the rest of the session pulling hard on the real version of the eliminate and eventually managed to get all the moves done.
Pretty chuffed, felt strong and my finger didn’t seem to get any worse (mainly because I was just pinching and dragging the shit out of everything.)

Fri                Tennis    (Played a bit longer than normal, great fun as always. A threat to my climbing career…)
Sat                Went down to the BBCs and had a watch.
Went home and did a 40-minute training session. On the 30-degree board I practiced 1-arm-hangs on each arm, followed by pullups then a 7-minute rest. Did 5 of these, and then had a pretty serious core session. Was pretty tired.
Afterwards I had a surprising inciting moment of psyche with my mate (who’s staying over) we decide it would be best to get up at 5am the go to Wimberry Crag, despite the fact I’ve been getting up at 12 on most days. We pack the car, psyche is high.


Sun                After a solid 3 hours of sleep I get out of bed at 5.05am, we leave at 5:20 and it takes us an hour to get to there. We walk up to the crag. The conditions aren’t great, but psyche is high. However, the wind is non-existent, and it soon becomes apparent midges will be a problem. It isn’t long before they’re swarming us. We go on up to a different boulder, but it just starts all over again. We head back to the carpark at 7:30am and see some other victims heading up, but they’re too far away for us to warn them. We sit in the car and realise conditions are poor everywhere. 1 hour and a game of eye-spy later we notice a slight breeze. We head back up to the crag at 8:50am. Conditions are still bad and the 7a Fish Arete seems untouchable. Reuben gets a 7b done, but I can’t get any power through my leg due to inflexibility (standard excuse) so I can’t get it done. I mess around on a sun-bathed pumpy 7a and realise my forearms have had it.
At 12 we head back down to the bottom to meet some mates. I realised I haven’t sent a single thing this week, despite having spent around 13 hours climbing outdoors. So, I throw myself at a 6b+, and forget about dragging everything because I feel like I actually need to climb something. Luckily it goes down in 4 quick goes, but I cut my knuckles up in the process. I leave Reuben behind and rush off home at 1.
I’m completely exhausted and almost pass out at an evening meal.

Enjoyed reading that.

The wimberry at 5am was very funny. Reminds me of when we got to the wimberry carpark at 7am, but it was the middle of winter  and -6 degrees, no midges that day! Prob best to stay off the grit until it cools down.

Can you tell me about the Jericho eliminate? I've never fully understood what's going on there.

[Goat]

Monday          1:50 hour board session.   I was completely exhausted at the start as I didn’t get much sleep. Got quite psyched towards the end on a new problem I made, but I couldn’t quite finish it off.
Tues              Rest

Wed              Bouldering on limestone
Went to Rubicon to touch the holds on a potential new project called Tsunami. The problem looked great, and I’m really excited to get on it. I warm up, but then the top section gets completely sun-blasted. So instead I vaguely try the bottom moves. It’s way too hot to even sit around, so we move onto crag X instead.
Brilliant conditions at Crag X. I feel strong on Jericho road, but then I notice a pulley tweak in my right middle finger which is getting worse. So, I back off half crimping on my right hand, and instead make up a ridiculous drag variate of Jericho road; I call it “Jericho path”. You skip the first sidepull on the right and you can only drag with the right hand the whole way up (I didn’t manage it). Also got on Zippy's traverse/moffatrocity section which was good fun. I tried to drag and campus my way through it with poor technique.
Despite not having sent anything, it was a good day out. I also felt strong even without half crimping which felt nice.

Thurs              Bouldering on limestone
Drove out to crag X armed with information on most of the routes. Again, my right middle finger felt a bit miffed, so I was only dragging on it. The session went similarly to Wed at the start, but then I had a quick go on The Thing which felt like it would be a fun side-project, but I didn’t try it much. After that I got on Jericho road eliminate sit start and I found a new hold out to the right (it was a dusty but not obviously eliminated from the problem) using this hold I made surprisingly quick work of the bottom section. But then I tried it without the hold, and surprise, surprise it was more challenging (but in my honest opinion it climbed worse). Spent the rest of the session pulling hard on the real version of the eliminate and eventually managed to get all the moves done.
Pretty chuffed, felt strong and my finger didn’t seem to get any worse (mainly because I was just pinching and dragging the shit out of everything.)

Fri                Tennis    (Played a bit longer than normal, great fun as always. A threat to my climbing career…)
Sat                Went down to the BBCs and had a watch.
Went home and did a 40-minute training session. On the 30-degree board I practiced 1-arm-hangs on each arm, followed by pullups then a 7-minute rest. Did 5 of these, and then had a pretty serious core session. Was pretty tired.
Afterwards I had a surprising inciting moment of psyche with my mate (who’s staying over) we decide it would be best to get up at 5am the go to Wimberry Crag, despite the fact I’ve been getting up at 12 on most days. We pack the car, psyche is high.


Sun                After a solid 3 hours of sleep I get out of bed at 5.05am, we leave at 5:20 and it takes us an hour to get to there. We walk up to the crag. The conditions aren’t great, but psyche is high. However, the wind is non-existent, and it soon becomes apparent midges will be a problem. It isn’t long before they’re swarming us. We go on up to a different boulder, but it just starts all over again. We head back to the carpark at 7:30am and see some other victims heading up, but they’re too far away for us to warn them. We sit in the car and realise conditions are poor everywhere. 1 hour and a game of eye-spy later we notice a slight breeze. We head back up to the crag at 8:50am. Conditions are still bad and the 7a Fish Arete seems untouchable. Reuben gets a 7b done, but I can’t get any power through my leg due to inflexibility (standard excuse) so I can’t get it done. I mess around on a sun-bathed pumpy 7a and realise my forearms have had it.
At 12 we head back down to the bottom to meet some mates. I realised I haven’t sent a single thing this week, despite having spent around 13 hours climbing outdoors. So, I throw myself at a 6b+, and forget about dragging everything because I feel like I actually need to climb something. Luckily it goes down in 4 quick goes, but I cut my knuckles up in the process. I leave Reuben behind and rush off home at 1.
I’m completely exhausted and almost pass out at an evening meal.

Enjoyed reading that.

The wimberry at 5am was very funny. Reminds me of when we got to the wimberry carpark at 7am, but it was the middle of winter  and -6 degrees, no midges that day! Prob best to stay off the grit until it cools down.

Can you tell me about the Jericho eliminate? I've never fully understood what's going on there.

Yeah, sure, it’s annoying and complicated, but I’ll do my best. I assume these are the completely rigorous rules, so sticking to all of them would certainly be a 7c, and would get you the full tick.

It’s an eliminate sit-start to Jericho road.
You start on a good pinch for your right (which sticks out of the wall) and use wherever with your left. (I found a good pinch to use.)
The big sloping break (which is the starting hold for Jericho road) is eliminated entirely for your hands. However it is in for your feet, and I use it for a heel-toe.
The first side-pull 3-finger jug on Jericho road is also eliminated.

(newer/not-100%-certain rules)
Apparently, you aren’t allowed to use the chossy first layer of rock for your feet, but as soon as the rock gets a bit more solid you can use it (about 30cm or less off the ground). In my honest opinion I don’t think this rule makes all that much difference to the problem. Because what you end up doing is putting a high foot out left, which takes most of you weight while you flag your right foot.
1)   The committee concluded that the quite juggy, horizontal crimp out far left and above the break is also eliminated (but not 100% on this one)
2)   Oh and my new found side-pull (out far right) which is below the bottom of the sloping jug break is now eliminated too.

So, you pull off the ground roll over to a side-pull with your left. Make a really burly move to another side pull above the break. Sort your feet out, then rock over into the positive disk (on Jericho road) with your left. Then finish up Jericho road.
Following all the rules I think would be tough 7c. But not following rules 1 and 2 would probably make it around 7b+.

[tomtom]

From the Bosigran info thread.

On the Monday, we went to meet up with my sister in law and young family who were (coinicdenctally) at St Ives... Beach family/toddler scenes - but having four parents and two little ones meant I was able to sneak off to Clodgy for a couple of hours in the afternoon...

I think there should be some new Olympic sport - similar in set up to the modern pentathlon etc.. where you have to (A) carry loads of shit down to the beach (most of which isnt used) rammed into a bouldering mat and under every arm (B) Sprint 1-2km cross country to get to a bouldering spot - with pads (C) Climb f*cking as hard as you can in the 45-60 min you have left (D) run back again (E) sucessfuly negotiate ice cream stall and return to beach...

Anyway, Clodgy was great - quite the contrast from the Granite!!!! slick and black... 20 degrees+ and sun didnt help! Give having only one pad, the orientation and the sun after warming up I got stuck into Boomerang. Didnt get very far :D but after 45 min or so worked out the top out and all the second half moves. First move felt HARD!

Next day - we had a day at Gwynver. Great beach (although the only Dog beach in the area it would seem... anyway) I was 'given' an hour to go and boulder. Which meant - 10 min run to the end, quick boulder, 10 min run back. I loved the rock at Gwynver. Grimer moans about it a bit in Boulder Britain, but I had no problems finding things. Tide was in-ish so headed to the problems on the point. That 4/5 flake crack is just superb climbing.. that alone is worth the run in and back... I then started on the crimpy wall around the corner (very limited time) and failed on the easier stuff on the left - then managed the 7A on the RH (closest to beach) end using some hard crimping and a lank move. Great sketchy finish - and I then nearly fell off the edge when a nearby bloke fishing (that I hadnt spotted) started having a chat with me :D That wall of 5 or 6 wall problems from 6B+ to 7A+ is superb. Great location - good landing and little rails and crimpy crystal edges... Cheshire Sandstone (pex/harmers) afficaionados take note - your skills will not go wasted there..

Thursday - back to St Ives (family beach/Tate etc..) much busier - but managed to negotiate another 90 min away and went back (haing watched a couple of vids) to get Boomerang done. hahhahaha as if Enjoyed working it though and got all the moves overlapping except the first throw... just couldnt hang onto those crimps/flakes long ennought to launch. Good times.

Friday night/ Sat AM Drive back to Manchester.

Sat PM. Make a 3rd birthday cake (Fire Engine)

Sun: 10am 3yo birthday party. Good  - went really well. I managed 5 min on the bouncy castle whilst they were all playing pass the parcel. Eve was rewarded by a late pass and headed to Helsby. Went straight to the Barrel and managed a further move on Ron B's Moustache that I'd not done before - and did the one before static too. Coming together...

A good week - amazed I managed to get out 5 times during a family holiday (albeit snatched short oppotunities). Loved the granite and the brutality of the clodgy rock (made peak lime feel grippy). Hard switching styles - I was over compensating for my feet on the granite - but really enjoyed it.