[shark]

10.11-10.13 Average 152.3 down 1.2lbs

M.Noon. Foundry. Campus board. Various stuff. Close to 1-4-6 both arms on medium rungs. On board tried going from undercut 31 and the poor dark wood pinch to higher hold 30 with features for feet. Got it three times but couldnt hold it. Messed around doing one arm hangs. Found I can now comfortably one arm hang the top deep outermost slots on the BM using thumb on outside. Wasn’t able to do that in the past. Couple of level 2s on steep section of Wave to finish

T.

W.Noon. With much consternation sacked off going to Malham due to the shit weather and went back to Foundry instead. Stole one of Goat’s lovely BM pinches for use as a horn type hold on the Foundry board. Haydn put it on along with a screw on foothold I brought. Alternated between board and campus. Close on 1-5 on medium rungs and did 1-4-6 off right arm. Even better, managed to do throw move from undercut 31 to hold 30 then match rail using features for feet. Yee ha. Tried using new screw on foothold for RF when trying to get horn hold. Then did some bouldering with Keith C and Toby on the Wave

T.

F. Malham. Up with Tom, Ben Moon and Plantpot who was on good form. Drizzly grim weather.
Undecided whether to go on Mescalito or the Oak or both. Decision was made for me as Mescalito was soaking throughout but so was the top half of the Oak.
More positively at 13 degrees, with an on-crag breeze, conditions were approaching mint and surprisingly the undercut by the third bolt of the Oak was dry and stayed dry throughout the day.
F&EE x 2 to warm up.
Warmed up on the moves and experimented again with different right footholds for throw but concluded current one was still best for me and didn’t feel so bunched up today. Short rest then
Go 1 Straight up to third bolt but rushed the set up and overdid the throw with my palm bouncing off the underside of the horn. Belayed Tom then
Go 2 Straight through to the throw and held the horn momentarily. 15 min rest then
Go 3 Again got the horn but not with my thumb wrapped around so was off. Belayed Tom then
Go 4 Ground to horn and clipped 4th bolt. Hallelujah! Short rest
Go 5 Thru to 4th bolt again. Back on track. Belayed Tom again.
Go 6 Tired but got horn again but poorly but managed to adjust twice and pull through again thereby matching all time PB of getting through throw 3x in a session. 15/20 min rest and
Go 7 despite being really tired pulled it off for a 4th time. PB! Was fucked but Tommy persuaded me not to strip it. Belayed him again then
Go 8 with fading light foot greased off by 2nd bolt. Short rest and
Go 9 struggled to keep form and fell going for undercut by 3rd. short hang then did throw and stripped it.
Tommy had a much better session on Overnite than last Sunday. Reckon 2 or 3 more sessions for him to bag it but with him starting Uni next week that might not happen.

S. PM Systems board 20/10 Aerocap. Board gaston practice and exercises.

S.

The plan B strategy of taking a break from the Oak worked out better than I could have possibly hoped for. I’d not hit the benchmarks in the previous sessions but in the past would have kept just turning up. Its been difficult over the last couple of weeks staying off the route and remaining positive especially whilst dieting (which makes me grumpy) and all for uncertain returns.

However, it all proved worthwhile. Returning to it with a fresh mindset, lighter, bit more stamina and a bit more power (hat tip Pete), colder conditions and specific move practice under my belt combined to yield one of my best performances on the route.

The link to the horn is a 10 move 7B+ and getting through the throw move for the horn has been a huge barrier this year which I’ve only managed once. Banging it out 4x in a session from the ground itself was a new all time PB and a great confidence booster which hopefully dials the throw move in for the next few weeks.

Furthermore having 7 quality burns in total was a great level of session endurance. Whilst it would have been better to have been carrying on and going for gold on the top traverse it was nice, for once, not to have the pressure.

Arranged to go back Tues and Fri. Hope it dries out but forecast is iffy to say the least so will probably have to go on other stuff.

[Nibile]

I highly advise that your son sack university to climb his project.

[abarro81]

Arranged to go back Tues and Fri. Hope it dries out but forecast is iffy to say the least so will probably have to go jump around on a board to build power

Fixed for you

[shark]

Arranged to go back Tues and Fri. Hope it dries out but forecast is iffy to say the least so will probably have to go jump around on a board to build power

Fixed for you

As I’ll be at Malham anyway jumping around on the Bat Route or Maximum crux is the next best thing

[tomtom]

Shark - have you been on a moonboard since the advice was offered?

[tomtom]

Mon:
Lees Bottom with Nai. Condensed.
Down to Blackwell that wasnt. Nai played on Rman and Davids problems left of PiB, I arsed about on Jerrys then had a go on Red or Dead. hard. Cant press out my right shoulder for the move up left to the big hole. Pah.
Went back to LB and gave Chiggas some double fan treatment. It gradually came back into condition and eventually I did the top 2/3 (from the lower throw to the slot) and sorted my feet for the top part. But very very frustratingly just couldnt get the first move stuck. Kept mis firing and eventially my left shoulder felt very tired. Arse.

Tu:
Work. Then went to Mad Volume in Hull and had a 'power hour' on the board (they've an LED beastmaker woody). 10 min warm up - 40 min on the board - 10 min stretch down. Didnt manage to do a single problem but worked myself really hard. I think this is pretty close to the power training talked about in prev week. Excellent little session - lovely wall.

Thu:
The boy in now in Nursery for 4 days - so I had a thursday free to climb!! Weather wasnt great - but there was wind. Went to Blackwell - and it was fairly condensed. Not impossible, but I really only wanted to try Ovine and those slopey crimps in sub primo connies were not worth it.
So went to Rubicon... Was really nice conditions - cool, bit of sun - stiff breeze - rock was great. Had a play on Kudos - got to my prev high point (swapping feet and toe out right) on second burn (with out heel) but then went downhill. Rather unoptimistically went over to the press - expecting to go home soon. But then really surprised myself by pulling into the position from the deck. No french start. It felt good.... I could then pull on and hold the position for a count of five.... then when tried the slap to the crimp kept peeling off. Eventually figured I need to really engage my left shoulder to pull into the rock and then it kind of clicked (as in worked rather than my shoulder fucked up!). Slapped over and into (didnt hold) the crimp. Then gassed out. Progress! Game on!

Sa: Terrible weather here in Manc. Wife was meeting up with friends in Southport so rather than 2.5 hours on the train for her I stuck the pads in the car and gave her a lift. Intended to check out Parbold - but it seemed pointless given the weather - so headed for Denham in the knowledge that Boulder UK was 5 min away if it was shit.
Denham disappointed. OK - its a good chunk of quarry. But - aside from it still raining and all being piss wet - the problem I was interested in (undercut?) had a lake underneath it - and where there was a little dry mound underneath the start - this was occupied by a tuft of grass and multiple piles of dog shit. I went to BUK. Which was in mid 2 year party (since open - not a 2yo's party) and comp scene - but enjoyed a circuit on the V4's which were crimpy. Excellent. I was way way off form though..

Feeling pretty done in at the moment. Fingers a bit achy and generally feel like I've had a big week. Hoping something is dry tomorrow....

[nai]

Hoping something is dry tomorrow....

[shark]

Shark - have you been on a moonboard since the advice was offered?

No. It was more expedient to go on the campus board and the Foundry woodie instead.

However, I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it at the Foundry or School this winter though.

[nai]

Goals: Moonbord 7A, Font 7C,  Lime Font 7C (have specific goals but too many to list)
M
warmed up then headed to Lees Bottom to meet tomtom, wasn't optimistic and it was just the wrong side of servicable although I did think it might improve throughout the day as humidity dropped.
Went to Blackwelldale and knocked off Fudge and Don't Jump as a crag warm up, Tom wasn't impressed by the lowball nature of these problems, which is rich considering some of the stuff he big-ups in Lancashire Fudge is alright, considering it finishes a foot off the floor, it is what it is. 7A tick as a warmup, job's a goodun

Played onTop Shop over at roadside but it was about 10c warmer and 100% more humid than Sean's side. Holds immediately started to wreck skin and feet were skidding off randomly. I did manage the match move I'd been struggling with last time using a completely different method, obviously had a complete brain fug previously.
Tom was about to give up but convinced him to have a last-chance-saloon look at Lees Bottom (expecting the week's forecast to scupper it for the year). It had improved a bit so set the fans to work. I played on the RH exit from under the roof but the sequence that felt feasible in good connies the previous week now felt very unlikley (maybe a bit morpho )
Core back home

T leg day and double core

W
board power, 2 moves, only one shit foothold allowed, no twisting, etc. Fun
3 sets one arm scap pullups -8kg - generally managed about 4/5 on left and 5/6 on right
TRX - 2 sets each IYT and reverses

Th nowt

Fri - Crag F - Flashed a couple of L3 (yellows and pinks) on Wave as a warm up for the Moonboard. Went in at 6A+ thinking I'd have an extended warm up before getting serious.  Was immediately thinking this can't be right, must be a sandbag, thought I'd got benchmarks checked. Oh, I have..... Oh.... erm..
Managed one third attempt, after working the top.
Maybe I'm not warmed up enough, I'll go back on the Wave. Another L3 flash. Well, erm. Kitten power.
App set to 6B/+, did a couple in overlapping halves but didn't want to burn out trying the same moves over and over so moved on.
6C/+ - managed a few individual moves
7A - hahahaha
back to 6B, almost did one of Ben's benches but was powering down by now.
Lunch
2x campus ladder to almost-failure into 5x fast pullups
Decent core session

Sat - nipper wanted to go to the Works, so we did. Managed a few pullons the MudderBored1k. Thought this might be better for me at the moment than the Moonboard, I found it a lot a lot easier but was making up my own sequences sick might be why. Should stick at what I suck at for now but probably good to use occasionally for making long basic moves on the big pinches and decent crimps.  MB itself had a group under it so will save trying that for a midweek lunchtime when it'll be quiet.
Few HI core exercises but powered down quickly

S tiny bit of core with daughter who'd desperately wanted to climb roof problems on Saturday but just couldn't get her feet up onto holds.

[spidermonkey09]

Great session Simon! Stay strong and fit and I'm sure there will be a window. FWIW, I know you've been on it but I don't think the Bat Route crux is powerful really; not dynamic at all the way I did it. Maximum/any of those short power routes probably better? Start of magnetic might be a good one to mess around on.

M - rest.
T - Depot. Relentlessly heckled from start to finish (deservedly).
W - Heckling continued via Rob Greenwood and a spoof ukc ascent report. Nightmare. Evening spent packing. Stressful.
T - last day at work for a few months. Hallelujah!
F - rainy walk in Dovedale, pub and a curry. Result.
S - family do in Kent. Long drive.
S - Van sorting and general admin.

Ferry to France tomorrow; first stop Rodellar. Psyched!

[shark]

Start of magnetic might be a good one to mess around on.

That’s how it all starts....

[andy_e]

T - Depot. Relentlessly heckled from start to finish (deservedly).
W - Heckling continued via Rob Greenwood and a spoof ukc ascent report. Nightmare.

Absolutely devastated not to have been able to heckle you in person before your trip. That UKC article was a highlight of my week. Hope you have a great trip, you lucky, weak nobody.

[Adam Lincoln]

Ferry to France tomorrow; first stop Rodellar. Psyched!

Just booked mine for 22nd October. See you there. Hopefully it will have cooled down by the time I get there! Should be there evening of the 23rd. Stay in touch.

[petejh]

Get the fuck in Simon 

Just concentrate on training the short power and don't tire yourself out before redpoint days. You've got the fitness, and the top traverse will keep you fit. Be clipping that lower-off soon I reckon.

[highrepute]

Great post Simon. Nothing like half the route being wet to take the pressure off. Fingers crossed you get a window and climb like the pressure is off in that window!

Well done cracking on with the power sessions. Sounds ideal to me. Your campusing is as good as mine.

Carrying on from last week. It is true that some think WSS is 7c, Johnny Brown for example(?) Also it proves you've got great footwork. Which is way harder to sort out than a little power deficiency. Don't listen to the haters!

Standard week these days for me...

T. Fell off bike while setting off. Landed on the bike. Very bruised ribs.

W. Made it to the works for an hour. Thoroughly shut down on a toe hookey one on the skips. Bad at toe hooks? Flashed an orange.

Sat. Half hour on the finger board with added weight. Second session with weight, tuning in to how to try hard again.

It's a weird one for me at the moment. What I'd like is to be coming into winter strong enough to climb voyager. However, at the moment the above week, with 1hr30 of climbing, is pretty typical and is way less climbing than I've always done before. Despite this I've had a really strong summer. Every trip out I've been surprised to find I'm still going strong; ticked my hardest route and bouldered at a reasonable level. What I have been is consistent; even when it was really hard to do so I've kept up one session a week. And I think I've got good at having short but effective sessions. So maybe I've built on last year enough to go in stronger... I guess I'll know when I get back on it.

[James Malloch]

The link to the horn is a 10 move 7B+ and getting through the throw move for the horn has been a huge barrier this year which I’ve only managed once. Banging it out 4x in a session from the ground itself was a new all time PB and a great confidence booster which hopefully dials the throw move in for the next few weeks.

Good stuff!! Must be really satisfying! How were you feeling upon reaching the 4th bolt? I'm guessing that's where the route was wet from?

[Will Hunt]

Tuesday - Back at the Depot for the first time of the season. Warmed up and climbed on the 30 board.

Will be trying to have a session on my board sometime this week in addition to a trip to the Depot.

[shark]

Good stuff!! Must be really satisfying! How were you feeling upon reaching the 4th bolt? I'm guessing that's where the route was wet from?

Hi James, I felt fine - certainly fresh enough to get to the next shake and clip and start the top traverse if it had been dry. The first move off the horn involves striding across to stand on a polished nubbin that is hard enough to stand on at the best of times but had a foot wide wet streak running down it and the sloper you windmill over to was also wet.

[cheque]

Nice work Shark.

Rehab Diaries Week Fifty-eight

STG- Sub-HVS *** Peak Trad list (6/27 remain), onsighting HVS/ low 6s by end of September 2019.

M- Stanage Popular. Climbing with a friend who moved to Australia around the same time I moved to Sheffield so lots to talk about and this took precedent over the climbing- had planned to lead the HVS finish to Cave Innominate but when we got to that bit an unattended dog was joyfully spreading shit around the whole Cave Gully area so after a short look at the start we decided to move away from the stench. With hindsight I should have been “I need to onsight an HVS today and I know I can do it” so found another candidate but instead I just did some VSs. Led 5 in total, 2 that were new to me.

T- Rest.

W- Only chance of climbing was with a mate who was working on the Manchester side so headed out in that direction on the off chance. Everything was damp so it didn’t happen but I amused myself by checking out lots of crags. Went to Hobson Moor Quarry, John Henry Quarry, Broadbottom Quarry, Bradshaw Quarry and Coombes Edge. All stunning venues that made me wish I lived in Glossop rather than Sheffield. 

T- Foundry. First time at the climbing wall since mid-June. Climbed with my 5kg weight belt on the autobelays and surprised myself by starting by onsighting four routes in a row without a rest, the latter two of which were both 6b, which is the hardest grade I’d climbed with the weight belt before. Big tangible fitness gain.  Tried various harder stuff with and without the belt for the rest of the session- getting most of the way up routes of most grades on first tries which is another improvement.

F- Rest.

S- Miserable weekend forecast led me to try Parkrun with my other half- apart from a few short recent attempts I haven’t run at all since my accident so this was an interesting experiement. R suggested Bakewell as it’s flat. My target was to try not to have to stop and, assuming I could do that, not come last.

Started at the very back of the “grid” but immediately overtook all the people who weren’t even running and felt pretty good- almost immediately realised that I could run the whole thing from a fitness perspective, it was just down to whether my hip started hurting really badly or similar. It’s a “there and back” and at the point where we turned around I reckoned that I could speed up a bit and still finish. ~1k later I realised that while I’d overtaken plenty of people no-one had overtaken me and that my new aim was not to be overtaken. Did it.  Finished in 27:48 which I’m really pretty proud of- I’ve only ever done one Parkrun before (the only other timed run I’ve ever done) and my time was within 2 minutes of that!

S- Rest. Increasing hamstring and quad soreness throughout the day. Hip not too bad though.

Sunday was 18 months since my accident and was the point that my physio said I couldn’t expect further nerve recovery after. I had this week  off work and was hoping to make big satisfying progress on my goals before this but things did not turn out like that with the weather  -it actually turned out to be more like an abrupt start to another winter training phase. Really pleased to have run so well though and hopefully I’ll make a bit more goal-progress before the end of the year.

[James Malloch]

Good stuff!! Must be really satisfying! How were you feeling upon reaching the 4th bolt? I'm guessing that's where the route was wet from?

Hi James, I felt fine - certainly fresh enough to get to the next shake and clip and start the top traverse if it had been dry. The first move off the horn involves striding across to stand on a polished nubbin that is hard enough to stand on at the best of times but had a foot wide wet streak running down it and the sloper you windmill over to was also wet.

Sounds really positive! I like reading all the PC posts and following how people are getting on - best of luck!! 

[galpinos]

LTGs: F7C, E5, F8a
Winter Goals: Multiple F7Bs, a 7B+, get down to 80kg
Currently 85kg

M – Rest
T – Bouldering at Depot, fingery problems on the 30. Repeatedly failed on the fingery purple with tricky last move. Lost 30 psyche and wandered round aimlessly trying and failing on stuff
W – Rest
T – Bouldering at Depot, fingery problems on the 30. Managed to link 4 moves on the 7A proj and tick the fingery purple with a tricky last move (hips in). Bonzer session
F – AeroCap @ -40kg, Max Hangs @ +17kg
S – Rest
S – AeroCap @ -40kg, Max Hangs Testing - Decent gains which shows I didn't try hard enough the first time I did it. Need to up the max hang weight though!

Mixed week with ill youngest, cracked tooth for me and lack off opportunity to climb outside. Weekends booked up for the foreseeable too (mum’s hip replacement, friend dying) so trying to focus on finger and indoor gainz that will hopefully translate when I actually get outside……

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - bodyweight training at beach-side gym in Antibes. Tried and successfully did my first ever dragon flag. Cool excercise.
Tue - rest.
Wed - rest.
Thu - rest.
Fri - military press, high pulls, lat pull down, bodyweight squat. Explosive pull ups x3 + lock off-front lever combo x3, x5. Pulley with bar, biceps, abs. Good to be back.
Sat - system, PE high, this beauty here x4. Rings, bar work, abs, traps.
Sun - woke up with neck as stiff as a steel beam. Did fast and heavy bag practice.

[SA Chris]

STG - build bouldering strength again.
MTG - GO33 ultra early Nov.
LTG - Winter comps and projects.

M- Nae much
T - ditto
W - instead of 12- 15km run and then straight to bouldering wall like the last few Wednesday evenings, did lunchtime fast 8.5km then longer bouldering session. Knee felt good, which is promising. Strangely felt tired and lethargic, whereas after the long runs i seem to boulder really well. Shoulder felt sore, tight and tweaky.
T - nowt. rested.
F - intention to get an early surf in, but avoided as shoulder would have got utterly screwed. Sprts massage in the morning, she totally went to town on my shoulder. My god the pain. Felt terrible afterwards, but loads better now.
S - cub camp, weather shit, got them on a long hike. Shared with a fucking snorer, no sleep.
S - cub camp weather better. All went home intact and happy though, so a win.

[Yossarian]

M - Wall. Immediately post Devon weekend so opted for fun problem sesh rather than training. Good progress on wave and wineglass sets. Quite a bit of discomfort in LH middle two - previously suspected synovitis I think - which meant various crimpy things were out. Bit of circuit board at the end. Decided afterwards that training might actually be more fun than unstructured dicking around.
T - Fingers still painful so decided to start phase of pull-ups. Weighted up to 5x with +24kg (@87.9kg), plus some assisted one armers. Did a few KB shoulder press, shoulder rehab exercises then iced fingers.
W
T - Wall. Good board session. More progress on what has become long term project, and then started work on new side pull / compression problem. Got tired quite fast. Some circuit board too, though when trying some harder things I realised that I’d be better to start here when fresh to make better progress. 2x 10min AeroCap to finish.
F - Ditto Tuesday, but did 5x5 at +26kg. More shoulder rehab and iced fingers.
S - Wall. Great board session. Did project to final hold a few times, but couldn’t quite hold it. One move further on compression problem. Finished off with new slab set and ploughed through most of it apart from the 3-4 hardest things.
S

Enjoying pull-ups of various kinds and want to press on with this, plus reintroduce some fingerboarding when fingers feel up to it. Generally feeling in good shape, so very keen to get out on some rock as soon as I can locate something dry. Aiming for a day shunting Road Rage at Portland to figure out if it now feels sufficiently doable for a return trip avec belayer. Also hoping for Churnet or grit day soon if the weather suits.

[duncan]

STG: continue shoulder rehab. Try some vertical 7as.
MTG: 7b+ by the end of the year.
LTG: tbc

M - Fingerboard inc.14mm edge. Pull-ups.
T - Westway routes, mainly Aerocap/ volume but sneaked in a couple of 6cs.
W - Shoulder strength.
T - Shoulder strength. Hip and knee strength. Westway bouldering to ‘V2’. Shoulder sore and stopped early.
F - Hip stretches.
S - Portland with csl and Mike Highbury. Chose Godnor to avoid the wind and the hordes at The Cuttings. As a bonus, it's one of the Portland crags that feels a bit like a proper seacliff. Mostly easy metres monitoring the shoulder but sneaked in a 6c. Rain imposed 5pm curfew and co-drivers meant a comparatively relaxed journey. A good day with good company. Unfortunately I twatted my (tennis) elbow on a sharp lump of rock and it is now gone from grumbling quietly to being a bit more intrusive. 
S - Hip stretches.

Feels like I’m moving well and fingers seem to be getting stronger.  I’d like to be trying harder, just need a shoulder to settle. Will take a few days off this week to let the various aches and pains settle a bit. Weekend tbc.