[tomtom]

Mon: AM: Rubicon with the lad (nearly 4). First time out bouldering with him in tow properly. Last weeks trip was a look see with him to see whether he liked it - on Monday I went equipped with a pad, groundsheet, his lunch, Lego magazine and some climbing stuff for me. Thankfully no-one at Kudos wall. Rubicon is one of my benchmark crags - I know what I can and can’t do there - and have done the warm ups so many times I can get an idea of my form. Having not been there since lockdown started - I was really keen to see how well I was pulling. Creaky warm up and them moved on to Kudos. Answer is: better. Got further up it than I ever have before - pretty much every time got up to catching the right sidepull, reeling it in, foot swap and foot out right. And one time felt comfy enough to have a tentative slap to the finishing hold (this is all with keeping half an eye on the toddler - and I should have had an extra mat for the final move(S) - but didnt think I’d be trying them). Funny - didnt feel at all easy - just felt like moves I’d done before trying really really hard (full on gurn) were ‘alright’. Anyway - got tired of that - and moved onto the Press. Harder to tell if any progress on that really with post lockdown gains etc.. I suppose I felt better- but by then the lad was getting a wee bit cranky (after 45-50 min) - one thing is for certain, it certainly presses the right buttons for my left arm tennis elbow.

PM - didnt feel exercised enough by earlier so a short 30 min board session mainly on larger holds/smaller feet.

Tues: 1 Arm day. Felt hard work, 2x -10kg, 2x -7kg, 2x -4kg (well creaky) and 4x back up to -10kg.

Weds: Hot day hard work looking after the boy - bad headache all day. Snuck out at 8:30 (still 28 degrees) to Wilton 4 to try some other problems inspired by Teds Vid that came out earlier in the day. Had a nice play for an hour pulling hard - was actually quite cool in that dank corner of the quarry

Thurs: Board day. BASTARD hot up in the attic - but a decent ish session - new sidepull problem, but didnt do it.

Fri: Still hot. One arm day (quick session) 2x -10kg, 2x -7, 2x -4, 2x 0, 2x -7. Hard - but alright.

Sat eve: Board day. Nice and cool. Climbing really well - good warm up - did lots of problems including the one from Thursday. Short session (45-50 min) but very much on point.

Sun: Weather meh. NEEDED to get out of the house so risked Helsby. Gambled right that with the wind direction most of the rain was blowing over the top. Woods and Barrel buttress. Nice little session - repeated most things on the in the woods edge and re-aquatinted myself with Ron B’s Moustache (hard 7B/+) on the Barrel. Rain on and off - but just getting the far edge of the mats wet. Did well - better than before (!) and might have figured out how to do the last hard move. Short ish session again, but Ron B’s is brutal on core, crimps and shoulders.

New things I have done this week: Cooked ratatouille & decent banana bread, dyed my Wife’s hair (successfully apparently!)

[Will Hunt]

Tuesday - Almscliff to try and get some book photos. Rammo. Did the 5 Star Finish to get some photos of it.

Thursday - No partner psyched for Kilnsey: too hot! However Julie was psyched for a run up Strans and Crook Gill. Strans Gill was a dry plod up some nice steps made of beautiful rock, culminating in a 10m or so high wall, the top few metres of which is about Diff.
We went off to Crook which was a totally different experience. A narrow, steep sided, deep gorge with a decent amount of water coming down it. The first waterfall looked impossible from the other side of the plunge pool but it turned out to be pretty easy. The black moss carpeting the walls was so deep and thick that it was actually quite frictional. A series of waterfall climbing sections followed, each one interspersed by a short section of wading or swimming or bridging between the walls of the gorge. The crux waterfall looks totally mad from the other side of the plunge pool. The climbing within it is probably VDiff, but when you're wearing trainers, climbing wet rock, and are struggling to see through the waterfall hitting you in the face, and you're not sure how hard the climbing coming up might be, it all felt pretty exciting. After about 400m of brilliant exploration we emerged at the top and wandered back down to give the midges a good feed while we got changed at the car.

Overall I'd say that was one of the highlights of my climbing in the past year or so. Felt really adventurous and exploratory and fun.

Su - Anston Stones. Tried Resonate and found some good beta that makes the move to the pocket really static. Tried the top move in isolation and never managed it. Shame as I managed to link through to it a couple of times.
Jack the Nipper. Crap. Barely got anywhere.
Freemason. Needs a downgrade. Got through almost all the hard climbing but was too gassed to pull up on the good finishing hold.

[tomtom]

Sounds like a grand day that Will.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - tired, easy session. Ab wheel with pause, push ups, pull ups.
Tue - rest.
Wed - board, warm up then circuit 1-23. Need new shoes. Pull ups 30" finisher 4x15, TB DL 30" finisher, clean and press 30" finisher. Torrid.
Thu - boxing bag.
Fri - rest, knee surgery.
Sat - weights.
Sun - pull ups 5x19 + 10 x1.

[tomtom]

Knee surgery Nibs - did it go well?

[JohnM]

Weight: 145lbs

M: Nothing

T: Swimming in a lake.

W: Nothing

T: Austria (Tirol) June FKT route attempt. A hard route this month as it was short and had all the elevation compressed into the first few kilometres. I shouldn't have drunk and eaten curry the night before and eaten curry for lunch before the run! Still made a decent fist of it and got a time of 1hr51m but was annoyed as it is quite compressed around this time and few minutes faster and I could have broken into the top 10. I was thinking of having another try tomorrow on the last day of the month but it has been raining for 2 days so will be a mud bath. Looks like another British guy will win this month with an unbelievable time of 1hr21m. I am not sure anyone round here can come close to this guy up to the marathon distance! 15km 1100m elevation gain.

F: Checking out one of the so say hardest stages of the MTB bike packing tour I have planned. I did it as a there and back avoiding most of the flat tarmac sections. Going the opposite way on the first climb was tough and I had to push a lot. However, the rest was all rideable with amazing scenery. I have not done much riding in the last few years but the physical effort did not feel very demanding which was good. Although it will be a different story when the bike is fully loaded for bike packing. 35km 1100m elevation gain.

S: Not a lot. Received delivery of my Iron Gym pull bar (which I intend to use to mount a couple of fingerboards) so I did various random pull up sets on that. Took me a while to trust it as the door frame is not very deep. Also did some hamstring exercises and stretches as I think tight hamstrings is causing a knee problem I have atm.

S: Trail running. Even after a rest day I had very fatigued legs but the tour was of the nicest ones I have done so that made up for it. 24km 1268m elevation gain.

The plan this week was to have a week off climbing and I was successful! However, the plan was also to do loads of therabanding, foam rolling and shoulder stability stuff which was a fail. I also boozed way too much. This week I will try and do a couple of training sessions (max. hangs and a PE session) and try and get out on the rock at least once. It is either heavily raining or hot and humid as hell at the moment though so trying hard stuff is probably futile. I would like to get on the 8c one more time to try a few things but then I will drop the grade and do some alpine stuff and MTBing.   

[Nibile]

Hey Tomtom!
Yes, thanks, it did go well, there was a broken piece of the meniscus wedged in between the bones.
Unfortunately they also found out some more cartilages problems and a broken cruciatus ligament, but apparently nothing too serious.
No more ass to grass squat obviously!
 

Heavy lifting was over in any case even before, now I prefer to sweat my way through 60% load finishers!
They really work! 

[shark]

11.6-7 Average  161.3 (down 0.6lbs)

M.

T. Morning. AM Weighted deadhang warm up. Bit off the pace. Crag X with Tom not as early as we would like due to a lost van key. Just us to start then joined by one other later. Midweek privilege. Seemed ok with a bit of a breeze but holds a bit greasy. Tried to repeat JR but struggling to hold the rail and weirdly to het the heel toe to sit in. Didn’t do it though tickled the slot once. At least I can get the rail every time now which is some solace. Tommy also struggling a bit on Moffatrocity. Got hot. Did some pulls on bachar ladder when I got home. Not too shoddy surprisingly. Probably due an easy week or deload week as Tommy calls it

W.

T. Morning. Where to go on the hottest day of the year? Morning session at High Tor of course. Dropped Tommy at eatswood on way there. Had crag to myself. Hadn’t self belayed for a while and my set up could have been better if I’d remembered what I’d done in the past properly. Felt scared. Did Robert Brown and top pitch of Lyme Cryme. Found it tough going. Shelved more ambitious stuff. Baby steps. Even taking into account the fear and awkward shunting of the gri-gri I was shocked at how unfit I am. Picked up Tom. Some random climber had parked in the lay-by at approach to the crag.  Had a word...

F. Manual work. Felt fucked

S. Manual work. Felt fucked

S. Bit rainy. At Crag X by 8.30 with Tommy. His choice. Connies! Cool, fresh, breezy. Wunderbar!. James and Toby turned up. Good to see James get the Hulk. Three good goes on JR for me crossing thru to slot and getting far big crimp but losing tension on one of the final foot moves. Took a 45 min rest and went back to car to get warm! Big last go and almost got it failing to hold final flake coming in with LH. Tommy made good progress on Moff getting to final rail 3 or 4 times.

Easier 4th week. Back around again. Will resume some weight lifting over next 3 weeks. Should get my average below 11 and a half stone this week which is a milestone I have struggled at in the past. Still no post lockdown ticks. Keep showing up. Keep trying hard. Try not to get depressed by moronic behaviour.

[Nutty]

Basically a rest week due to various niggles and strains.

Mon-Tues: Rest. Icing and massaging left upper-arm.
Wed: Mini-reset of the board. Took off a few holds that I never used, replaced with some more useful crimps. Added a couple of footholds and seven new hardwood holds to fill in gaps.
Thur: Board session in the garden in the morning. Good session trying problems with the new holds while the board was in the shade. Left arm felt ok afterwards.
Fri-Sun: Rest.

Very slack last week. Psyched to get on the board more this week with the new holds.

[Bradders]

M - power 40 mins on the board. First time on it in 2 weeks. Felt really good. Did some of my harder mediums first go easily. Straight after went to Shipley Glen and did a circuit of about 30 problems, mostly 4s and 5s but a couple of 6As and a 6C traverse.

T - Kilnsey for my first outdoor sport ever. Did a brief boulder warm up then my friend kindly put the clips in on Smooth Torquer, and with some beta I managed to flash it. Quite pleased with this. Otherwise I think had two tie ins on WYSIWYG and made it to about half height first go, figured out the moves to the jug rest, but then couldn't quite sort out the sequence to get to the final jug flake.

W - rest, some stretching

T - morning session, warmed up on the board then did a benchmarking one arm hangs session. Lots of hangs at different weights, basically managed a little better than on my last session a couple of weeks ago, particularly open handed. Also did a load of sets of Is and Ts on the rings.

F - rest

S - back to Kilnsey. Warmed up on the board first again, and again felt really good. Got soaked walking in. Belayed my mate as he put the clips in on Achilles Heel. Tried to go for the flash myself but the start unnerved me and decided to avoid getting fully flash pumped by stopping halfway and just bolt-to-bolted the rest. Mate then led it and I followed suit. Pleased with how non-pumped I was at the top. Belayed my mate on Truth Drug, then I went back on WYSIWYG. Put the clips in myself for the first time, and worked the top until I finally found a good sequence which felt easy, but requires some bravery. Discovered I really don't like standing on small/polished feet when close to or above the last clip...just feels really sketchy. Took a couple of reassuring falls above my bolt though. I think I had one redpoint go and got to half height again but realised after I'd been holding a hold completely wrong. Went up to the jug rest, then to the top from there before stripping it (again, totally new experience, total ball-ache).

S - morning stretching, 6km afternoon walk (got soaked), followed immediately by 4km run (in 20 mins, very pleased with this pace) some more stretching and 100 press ups

[spidermonkey09]

stripping it (again, totally new experience, total ball-ache).

  Good to see you clipping bolts Nick. Is this an attempt to avoid the frustrations of summer bouldering in the heat? Wait til you have to take the clips out of a big roof!

M - rest.

T - Back up to Upper Two Tier. Did Brown Paper Bag first go after sticking the clips in. Solid 7c as far as I'm concerned. Tried to go up the 7b Reward but found it totally nails and really grim so stripped it. Looking at the guide once back on the ground and I was forced to admit I had actually been trying an old Simon Nadin 7c+  Decided to have a speedy dog up A Vision of Loveliness at the end of the day, which may be covered in glue but has three star moves on it. Definitely worth another look.

W - rest.

T - Back to Two Tier. Really hot even in the shade. Had a couple of goes up Vision but the crimps felt really bad in the ambient heat and it was hurting my skin to decided against another go up. Managed to flash the 7b with a large amount of luck going over the roof.

F - rest.

S - rest.

S - Back to the Cornice to see how it was getting on. Seemed surprisingly ok although a lot of holds had a spoogy feel to them. Really cold at the crag. Got back on RnP and failed quite badly. Crap on the boulder which was disappointing. I think if I was climbing on a board I'd be finding this a lot easier but I just lose some sort of 'bounce' when I'm not trying it regularly. Oh well. Put a new bolt in which was fun; glad I've learned how to do this.

Weird week where I didn't actually get a lot done. Hoping to go back to the Cornice this week if it stays dry and I can keep banging my head against the RnP start. Hopefully something will click and I'll get through it again and finish the job this time. Might try a few other things on the side to stop me going mad. I feel like I should have done it by now but as it is my complete anti-style and clearly harder for the short (those who aren't Jim Pope anyway) perhaps I should cut myself some more slack.

[SA Chris]

Overall I'd say that was one of the highlights of my climbing in the past year or so. Felt really adventurous and exploratory and fun.

I still need to do The Chasm and Clachaig Gully for my Classic Rock routes ticks, if ever you fancy trip...

[teestub]

T - Kilnsey for my first outdoor sport ever.

I can’t tell you how let down I am by you 😂

[Bradders]

stripping it (again, totally new experience, total ball-ache).

  Good to see you clipping bolts Nick. Is this an attempt to avoid the frustrations of summer bouldering in the heat? Wait til you have to take the clips out of a big roof!

Petty much yeah, although I've told myself every year I should give it a try and never have before so nice to finally get round to it.

T - Kilnsey for my first outdoor sport ever.

I can’t tell you how let down I am by you 😂

Sorry Tim  if it helps, dangling halfway up WYSIWYG on Saturday, getting ready to set off on the top section, a little voice in the back of my head said "I fucking hate this"  not sure it'll last.

[mr chaz]

Goals: i) End lockdown fitter ii) Maintain current finger strength iii) get out and enjoy some climbing

M - F. Absolutely nowt, way too hot, fingerboard was left to fry in the sun all week.
S. 15 min HIIT and a rainy BBQ with some friends.
S. Had plans to climb, rained off. Psyched myself up and managed a 6km run between downpours (never ran pre-lockdown, well not since kicking a football about at school). It was pretty slow, and its not very far, but its twice the distance I've ever run before and it felt great! Unproductive week, salvaged something at the end though I suppose. Frustrating weather at the moment 

[Coops_13]

Power Club

Fri - rest, knee surgery.
Sat - weights.
Sun - pull ups 5x19 + 10 x1.

knee surgery -> weights -> pull-ups  good effort not letting a little invasive procedure affect your training and your psyche   

[spidermonkey09]

stripping it (again, totally new experience, total ball-ache).

  Good to see you clipping bolts Nick. Is this an attempt to avoid the frustrations of summer bouldering in the heat? Wait til you have to take the clips out of a big roof!

Petty much yeah, although I've told myself every year I should give it a try and never have before so nice to finally get round to it.

T - Kilnsey for my first outdoor sport ever.

I can’t tell you how let down I am by you 😂

Sorry Tim  if it helps, dangling halfway up WYSIWYG on Saturday, getting ready to set off on the top section, a little voice in the back of my head said "I fucking hate this"  not sure it'll last.

Id have thought you'd enjoy the steeper offerings at Kilnsey more with your board strength. Something like Full Tilt, I bet you'd really enjoy that if you got into it a bit more. Comedy is also an obvious one that youd probably be able to campus!

[Will Hunt]

T. Morning session at High Tor of course. Hadn’t self belayed for a while and my set up could have been better if I’d remembered what I’d done in the past properly. Felt scared. Did Robert Brown and top pitch of Lyme Cryme. Found it tough going. Shelved more ambitious stuff. Baby steps. Even taking into account the fear and awkward shunting of the gri-gri I was shocked at how unfit I am.

Please could you elaborate on what system you were using here? Rig a belay at the top and ab in, then climb a few moves and pull rope up through the Grigri? Sounds scary.

[gollum]

M - Day at Brimham, go up to Hare Head and do pretty much everything on the Dolphin Roof. On checking realise used wrong holds on one of the eliminates, so worth a trip back.

T - Early 10k before it gets too hot and then have lots of domestic stuff to do.

W - Nip up to West Chevin early doors. Shaded, coolest part of the day but still bloody hot. Play around on Eat the Light wall, which is fun and definite progress from last time we were here.
10k on the treadmill later, dripping with sweat within minutes.

T - Treadmill 10k

F - Round Sheffield run. A lovely few hours out on good trails and much less rubbish on the route than I reckon I’d see on a similar route at home. Fun in the sun.

S - Bit of core and stability.

S - As above.

Only a couple of days getting out but was really enjoyable and things all good at the moment.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Fri - rest, knee surgery.
Sat - weights.
Sun - pull ups 5x19 + 10 x1.

knee surgery -> weights -> pull-ups  good effort not letting a little invasive procedure affect your training and your psyche   

Sometimes it's easier to just keep going than to stop and start again...
Cheers!

[Bradders]

stripping it (again, totally new experience, total ball-ache).

  Good to see you clipping bolts Nick. Is this an attempt to avoid the frustrations of summer bouldering in the heat? Wait til you have to take the clips out of a big roof!

Petty much yeah, although I've told myself every year I should give it a try and never have before so nice to finally get round to it.

T - Kilnsey for my first outdoor sport ever.

I can’t tell you how let down I am by you 😂

Sorry Tim  if it helps, dangling halfway up WYSIWYG on Saturday, getting ready to set off on the top section, a little voice in the back of my head said "I fucking hate this"  not sure it'll last.

Id have thought you'd enjoy the steeper offerings at Kilnsey more with your board strength. Something like Full Tilt, I bet you'd really enjoy that if you got into it a bit more. Comedy is also an obvious one that youd probably be able to campus!

Haha lots of people have said Comedy to me. I'm being a bit cocky though and going to try and get my eye in on other things, get comfy on a rope etc., then try and flash it.

Otherwise just going with what others are psyched for tbh no idea what's what yet.

[tomtom]

Hey Tomtom!
Yes, thanks, it did go well, there was a broken piece of the meniscus wedged in between the bones.
Unfortunately they also found out some more cartilages problems and a broken cruciatus ligament, but apparently nothing too serious.
No more ass to grass squat obviously!
 

Heavy lifting was over in any case even before, now I prefer to sweat my way through 60% load finishers!
They really work!

Glad the procedure went well - and they were able to do some tidying up whilst there 👍👍

[shark]

Please could you elaborate on what system you were using here? Rig a belay at the top and ab in, then climb a few moves and pull rope up through the Grigri? Sounds scary.

Pretty much.

I weighted the rope at the bottom with a semi-full rucksac but still too heavy as it turned out. As a fail safe I clove hitched krabs to the rope every so often in case the gri-gri didn’t engage as I used a skinny rope and old style gri-gri so it would run better.

Next time I’ll rig the gri-gri so it stays more upright so the rope runs better which I’ve done in the past. Or use a shunt again though Johnny Browns comments about shunts on the self-belay thread put me off.

[teestub]

Id have thought you'd enjoy the steeper offerings at Kilnsey more with your board strength. Something like Full Tilt, I bet you'd really enjoy that if you got into it a bit more. Comedy is also an obvious one that youd probably be able to campus!

My best sport grade is 7a+ so I’d be some way off that! Believe it or not I have tried over the years to enjoy sport climbing.

[duncan]

Simon, I didn’t get the point about the High Tor parking. Hope to visit fairly soon, what’s the deal at the moment?

Nibs.: good luck, there’s a great chance you’ll do well with that attitude. Cruciate ligaments are over-rated! I’ve managed without one for 11 years and slogged up and down plenty of big lumps of rock in that time.

M -  Fingerboard finger rehab.: 7s hangs.
T -
W - Cycled to Paddington, train to Worcester. First time on public transport since early March, a half deserted main train station and I had the entire carriage to myself. It all felt very weird. Collected a car and drove home. Fingerboard finger rehab.: 7s hangs.
T -
F - Drove to Portland (Neddyfields) with Sean. Led 10 of the easiest routes imaginable. Mainly it was great to get out of London, see the sea and move on rock, and gas about climbing.
S -
S - Fingerboard finger rehab.: 10s hangs. Left hand is getting stronger but I am still favouring the right considerably more. 10km stroll around the Chilterns with the family.

Every day: shoulder strength (side planks, handstands, lock-offs); walking and shuffling 6-8km.

Almost too much excitement for one week. New car! First climbing in 5 months! Car buying wasn’t quite as scary and painful as I expected and neither was climbing. I can’t say pull-ups and fingerboarding have made me feel like a beast but neither do I feel like I’ve had half a year off.

Plan: get outside again as soon as I can.