[tomtom]

What a frustrating week of weather its been... and some stupid religious festival occurred too...

(Carrying on from last week - was staying at cottage/house in Staffs Peak)

Mon: Felt like shit in the morning. But decided I needed to get out climbing and the conditions were alright... headed to Newstones/Baldstones. Spent about an hour on S&M progressively getting higher... Couldn’t lay off the high RH pinch properly - and was a bit uncomfortable with the foot lock high up... Went for a wander to Baldstones. Tried clever skin again (but got spat off repeatedly) and even the elephants ear was wet and slimy on top However - the Baldstones traverse was dry and sheltered and in good nic. Took about an hour to work out all the moves and get it in overlapping sections. Had a good rest - then fluffed the easy ish starting part so ran out of gas half way - had to go home. Great traverse though... some very varied moves and I loved the drop down and swivel at the end.

Tu: Had a quick hour to get out (time to crag 10 min) - went back to S&M - which was just dry dodging the showers... had seen alternative beta using undercut above sloppy break, then spanning out up and left. This was gopping - but tried a few times. Did the sit (seemed easy) and then it started to rain properly...

We: Quick hour before Xmas dinner - dashed out - everything gopped out in the clag...

Thu: Pissing down. Took family to roaches. Got cold and wet in 10 min. Went home.

Fri: Drive back home - then to Ilkley and back. Long day, lots of driving. Still Claggy.

Sa: All day pass! Whoop. Fucking piss more like... Spent ages debating where to go... Went to Helsby. Condensed. Barrel - condensed. Went to W3 - drying but still condensed (even the S facing in the wind Square). Went home via the Depot - looked at the number of cars outside and didn’t even stop. Went home and watched half of the Ipcress File. Heard that Nai and Plattsy found dry rock at Church Crag - that was in range if I hadn’t faffed earlier.

Su: Wife gave me a sympathy pass - so sneaked out. Suspected Rubicon might be alright (S wind and weak sun) - it was covered in runoff.. Fuck. Went to Curbar - parking was a fucking joke. Ended up sticking it somewhere just to avoid the bonkers scenes of 10+ Tiguan/V90/Cumquat combinations reversing up and down the hill to get past each other. Trackside looked like a giant turd in the middle of a climbing wall (30 people around it?). Went to Baslow. Got stuck into Heroes and managed Heroine (eventually) and burned myself out trying the proper version.

Projects lined up waiting to be sent - just can’t get the weather......

[Will Hunt]

Sunday. First time putting shoes on since newborn's arrival. Baildon. Moose, Lloyd, and Fiend in attendance. Did Who Are We a couple of times (inc the static way which I've not done before) and then went to find Fiend who was sulking under Hades. We checked Steve's/Suggy's and it was still damp. So headed over to Armageddon and did that. Then found a little roof to play on before home.

For posterity, here is Moose climbing a dyno problem 

[moose]

I have a horrible feeling that footage is not slowed down!  What makes it even more tragic is that it's one of the very, very few outdoor problems I have ever cut loose on... so that's as powerful and dynamic as I have ever got!

[cheque]

 

M- Rest.

T- Fingerboard.

W- Hiking round the Roaches area in the fog. Couldn’t see Ramshaw from the road, let alone Hen Cloud. Probably passed within metres of TomTom without either of us knowing. Got soaked to the skin. Weirdly fun.

T- Rest. Went to a football match.

F- Rest. Drove up to Scotland.

S- Walking round Glasgow. Got Scottish climbing guide. Got psyched.

S- Brisk walk around “Strathclyde Loch”. Went to a football match.

Not an eventful week but got some exercise done.

[shark]

11.4-8 Average 160.6lbs up 2.1lbs

M. Weighed heavy. Weather worse than forecast. Tweaked my back somehow. Unwisely went ahead and did a weighted hangs session - disappointing scores unsurprisingly. Wanted to do more but back not up to it. Bah humbug. Stretching. Had a hot bath

T.

W. Back still sore. Took Ben and dogs to Higgar. Ben did Piss.

T.

F.

S. AM Back a lot better - unweighted hangs up to 30secs on ergo edge so as not to aggravate back. Ben and dogs to Gardoms. Everything wet. Tweaked back again lifting one of the dogs over a stile

S. Up late and hungover. Back still sore. Autobelaying at Foundry furnace helped loosen it up.
Systems board. Benchmark stuff was pretty poor. Did a couple of endurance sets.

Had a great family Christmas. Shame about the weather.

[gollum]

M - After a 23 hour journey home from Vancouver, I reckon sitting around doing very little is a good way to recover.

T - Christmas Eve trip to the Depot before it’s time to get all festive.  Potter around doing the wooden problems and the single yellow that I’m told is soft touch. Good to feel the movements of climbing again after two weeks off. More importantly pleased that my arm doesn’t hurt.

W - Even I don’t train on Christmas Day, although I used to.

T - Boxing Day

F - Went to see Bad Manners in HOLMFIRTH, think that’s plenty of exercise for anyone.

S - Meeting up with friends at the Depot. Quick run around on the blacks that were reset this week and ticking a few more wooden problems. Group lethargy seemed present.

S - Just relaxing.

A week for relaxing and recovering. Done more sleeping this week than I have in years. Will have done me the world of good.

[nai]

STG: Just touch :@~*& rock
Spring 2020 Lime Font 7C.

M - chomping at the bit after two days of Christmas visits, too much driving, sitting, eating etc. 
More to come so warming up by 7:15 then in to the garage.
Not the greatest session, not moving well, power not there. Maybe not surprisong at that time of day

Bit of core
Scap pullups
Squat
OH Squat

T Depot with nipper. A few Purples/Beiges, either 1st/2nd go or move on, and a few attempts at some of the comp problems.
Briefly pulled on the moonboard which was sharp and nasty 2 months ago and is now slick and nasty.
Woody much noicer but shut down on 6B+
Some HI Core - decent levers, possibly a PB

W lovely weather

Th -back to shit weather... nothing I can remember.

F started a garage session in the morning, had Saturday to climb so planned to get it done early and rest up. Felt strong, managed 2 of 6 hard problems in a couple of attempts and was close to 2 others, then Mrs said she was off with the kids at lunchtime rather than evening thus freeing up the afternoon so canned the session there.
PM - drove to Rubicon then Stoney then back home via Curbar. All wet.
Core

S - Would have headed to the Cliff thinking it'd be the best bet but didnt fancy crowds so decided to check out a few venues on the way. First stop Church and amazingly it seemed ok.
First visit kid-in-sweet-shop scenes. What to try?
Pulled on UFG first and skidded straight back off, damp crimp. Fortunately it wasn't all like that and I played on The Shield and Shield RH, initial move on both feeling equally unlikely but progress was better on the Shield  Got the rollover move a few times but the sloper didn;t feel great, maybe it never does, and couldn't quite get feet into the right places for the quicksnatch into the glory slot.  Suffered a bit of the TTs when core went and once I couldn't maintain tension for that move it was all over.  Good to touch rock though.


Home:
Squat
OH Squat
Hamstring ext
DL

S nowt

[duncan]

STG: rehab. elbow, enjoy climbing, fall off something. 
MTG: 7b+
LTG: classic sea-cliff E5 before 7.06.2020.

M - shoulder strength
T - Alien bloc (sorry chaps, I hadn’t realised Eden had opened a branch in Edinburgh, I’ll check it out next visit).  A good session with 6 from the V3-5 set.
W - Shoulder strength, brisk walk on the Pentlands, 7 hour drive home.
T - Flew to Valencia and on to Montanejos. Shoulder strength body weight exercises.
F - Montanejos, sectors Xulo Panders and Sombra de la Bruja. The ‘6a+’ in the latter wouldn’t give you much change from 6c.
S - Montanejos, Caverna Magica. Lovely sunny crag up on a hill.  More old school climbing, bolting and grades. Would be great training for the Verdon.
S - Montanejos, Placas del Sol (self-explanatory). Range of 6a-6b+ leads, slightly more in line with the rest of Spain.

Aches seem well under control, it’s a bit hard to gauge how I’m climbing as the grades need a bit of interpretation but I’m having fun. Feel a bit cautious on lead and could do with taking some falls.

Really enjoying Montanejos. Town has a faded spa air to it, the gorges are quite attractive with a bit of old industrial stuff, the climbing is varied, from bouldering (locals interest) to multipitch quasi-trad. (looks very good). It’s chilly in the depths of the gorge but plenty warm enough on the many sunny crags. The 2007 guidebook is gets you to your route and is quite entertaining: Ernesto López’ character beams out at you. The bolting is safe but sometimes a little spaced. Seems at least as good a venue as the Costa Blanca (including Sella and Calpe) for most Brits. Pedro Pons rates it better than Chulilla, not sure about that though  certainly more varied.

So why is the place deserted? Is it simply the nails grading, typically 2 notches below the rest of Spain?

[andy popp]

I went to Montanejos in the 1980s with Paul Pritchard and Gwion Hughes - we thought it was great, but then again we hadn't really been to any Euro sport crags before. The trip (two weeks, funded solely by my giro) was utterly gonzo - it's a miracle we survived.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - Push ups, ab wheel, weights.
Tue - shoulder complex and loaded carry x12'.
Wed - rest, kind of. Lots of twisty roads, in fact.
Thu - rest.
Fri - rest.
Sat - rest.
Sun - rest.

[yetix]

Forgot to post this whilst I was off. definitely did too many days on whilst I've been off work.

M: Parisellas, sent Left Wall High and Cave Life from the Wobbly Block. Fell off the last hard move of Cave Life Short High 3 times. Fell off the last move of RA from the Wobbly Block.
T: Density hangs 3x30s hangs on a 18mm edge, some lock off work too
W: Stanage, did Not to be Taken Away and then tried Help the Young. Managed to miss the pads and rolled my ankle.
T: Stubbornly wanted to test my ankle out so went to the depot and went round the red circuit, some nice problems on it.
F: Rest, mostly spent icing my v swollen ankle
S: Carrock, nice mileage day going around some lower grade stuff
S: Boulder UK, went around the wall and did all but a couple of the problems V7 and below, also did a few things on the comp wall.