[Will Hunt]

M - The long awaited alignment of the planets. A summer's evening with sunshine, a ready drone cameraman, and models to climb routes all came together. Trotted up to Rylstone and got some great photos for the guide of Monument Crack and Dental Slab. Did Monument Crack and pottered about on some easy boulders in the dusk before stumbling down in the dark to the cars.

F - Gigg North. The Bowl. Dogged up Divine Brown to put the draws in. Top crux felt disappointingly difficult with slightly slippy holds in the warm, muggy air. Came down and belayed before stripping to just a pair of shorts and despatching.

I can't really get to grips with the grades here. The top crux really doesn't feel any harder than the top of Boulevard to me. In fact, it feels less droppable. You have to get the lip with the left hand while holding the dreaded Eye of Satan, but once the heel is up on the lip it's all over. The bottom wall feels like it should add significant difficulty, being of a more sustained nature than Sunset, but although the climbing gets steeper as you go up, the holds are never small and get bigger and bigger.
On paper its a first 7c+, but I'm sure it must be at least bottom of the grade. Onwards and upwards!

[moose]

I can't really get to grips with the grades here. The top crux really doesn't feel any harder than the top of Boulevard to me.

The three routes I've done there had an inverse grade vs hassle relationship.  Divine Brown - 2nd go (the first go, I set off with a click-stick, didn't even try to tick it  - I reckon I might have flashed it if my partner had gone first and put the clips in and gathered beta); Sunset Boulevard (3rd go - with the first being another start-with-clipstick write-off); Illywacker - two sessions!   Every go on Illywacker, I'd damn near have an aneurysm getting to the knee-bar rest, and then despair when I realised my feet were level with my belayer's head!

[teestub]

At least your guide hasn’t gone to print yet, so you can downgrade it in there.

[JohnM]

Weight 147lbs

M - Cycling on the flat ~20km

T - Climbing at Nasenwand, Zillertal. Did a really fun 7c+/8a second go and then greased off the top of a 7c on slopey side pulls in rising heat and humidity. My climbing partner had one of the worst non-climbing falls I have seen. On the way down the edge of the path gave way and she fell off the path onto her back with a full rucksack. This was initially comedic, but she then proceeded to roll slowly and then went of a rock drop and rapidly started to accelerate. She was like a rag doll going down the hill. She eventually came to a stop on one of the switchbacks below. I feared the worst but unbelievably she was intact and had only sprained her ankle. Despite weighing her down the backpack seemed to protected her back and head. Very scary stuff but lucky in the end!

W - Nowt/preparing for a two day mountain bike packing tour.

T - MTB packing tour day 1 - Tough day with two big climbs over mountain passes with an extra 12kg on the bike. Unfortunately, I didn't drink enough on the first climb and got dehydrated. Spent the next few hours with a pounding headache and was close to vomiting. Considered quitting after stopping to lie on the ground beside the road. Luckily, I started to feel better on the last climb as was able to make it down to Ehrwald and my campsite for the night. 110km with 3232m elevation gain.

F - MTB packing tour day 2 - It was raining in the morning and the forecast was terrible. I decided to cut my tour short and skip a loop that took in Reutte and a crossing of the German border. One hard climb out of Ehrwald and then an amazing downhill into the beautiful Gaistal and back to my starting point. 35km with 902m elevation gain.

S - Trail running tour taking in one of the Stubaital "7 summits", Hoher Burgstall. Was an nice tour apart from the actual summit which was crawling with shitty people. The lift system means it is relatively accessible and there were queues of people in a variety of inappropriate mountain outfits, with the summit littered with masks, cigarette butts and beer cans. My legs went ok for about 25km and then ceased to function. 36km with 2164m elevation gain.

S - Climbing at Sparchen, a go to wet weather venue. Tried an 8a that goes up an awesome overhanging buttress above a long 5c slab. Got through the crux in the middle on my second try but then completely melted off the slopey side pull section at the top. Then could barely link the moves bolt to bolt to retrieve my quickdraws. Way too hot and humid.

A good week with lots packed in. I enjoyed my first bike packing tour and was happy with my setup. The only things I failed on were hydration and forgetting earplugs for the campsite! Whilst not getting a lot of climbs ticked I am enjoying the climbing and feel pretty solid in the fingers and shoulders but struggling with the heat and humidity. I just want to make sure I am in good shape for the autumn for when the temps come down so need to get back on the finger board etc. This week is looking hot so hopefully two early mornings out, one bouldering and one to do the Austria Fastest Known Time (FKT) route for July.

[shark]

11.6-7 Average 161.0 (up 0.1lbs)

M. Morning. Woke up at 5am and didn’t properly get back to sleep. Tor with Tom and Poppy. Coolish but holds didnt feel grippy. Tried R&H. No progress. Frustrating. Possibly edge off from previous days efforts at Anston
Evening. Density hangs on Ergo Edge. Did a couple more than normal. Feel like I’m consolidating at this level on these and the max hangs.

T.

W. AM Tor with Tom to meet Nick. 3 goes up Anger Mgt. Bit greasy. Struggled on the move where I broke the foothold off. Third tie was boxed and fell off the awkward Prow move for the first time in as long as I can remember. I’ve let the endurance slip far too much
Eve. Forgot to train

T. Drove down to Devon with Poppy and Sonia to see parents and for a change of scenery

F. PM Torbryan. Bit warm and humid. Busy there but folk good to share routes. First time Sonia had belayed in about 10years. Did the 6b+ (hard) and 6c on right. Both great . Tried the 7a+ and pumped out at third bolt. Dogged up it then redpointed. Haydn showed up bizarrely. Finished by bolt to bolting up Thread Flintstone 7b which I’ve ticked before

S

S PM Ansteys. Squally on drive. Warm but breezy and occasional rain. Wanted to have a work out on Empire but was occupied. Put a rope up what I thought was Avenged but later worked out it was Just Revenge 7c+. I’d dogged this in the distant past. Three tie ins and decent progress. Great route. Felt like it would go in a couple more sessions if I came back down. Ended up climbing with a friendly local James K who has just moved to near my parents which could make future sorties possible.

[csl]

Goals:
- Stick to regular training: doing ok
- Do as much climbing outside in July/August as physically possible

Two week update:

Have managed:
 - 4 sessions of max hangs - dropped the weight slightly to focus on form. Was doing the Crimpd 1-arm workout with a total hang weight of ~63kg. Feeling ok, but left wrist & shoulder feel slightly tweaky. Will re-test next weekend to see if my 6 week block had any impact at all.

- 4x AeroCap on FB - feet on a set of scales and pulling ~35kg for repeaters. Started to feel ok!

- 2x PE on FB - feet on a set of scales and pulling ~50kg for repeaters. Wow, this is hell, I keep having to apologise to my wife for grunting in the background of her work calls

- 1x at the climbing wall. Pottered around, but ended up flashing a lot of stuff up to V5 and wasn't too clunky. Skin didn't feel like it would last long though.

- 1x outside. Met Duncan down on Portland and went to Sweet Smell of Success and Trad Free World areas of Wallsend. Various stuff around 6a-b, all feeling quite tiring. Great to be out, and good to visit some of the best areas on Portland again. Hopefully a few more days out and I'll begin to feel a little more normal.

Plans for climbing outside are slightly on hold this week, driving to France for a funeral today. Back on Wednesday night/Thursday morning so should be able to get out again on Friday.

[Nutty]

Mon: Rest.

Tues: Fingers felt a bit creaky so went for a ~7km run. Post-run stretching.

Wed: Fingerboard and misc. exercises. One arm hangs @80% bodyweight, 15mm edge. Hangs of ~10 seconds. Had dropped the edge size from 20mm and this felt much harder.

Thurs: ~8.5km run. Post-run stretching.

Fri: Ancap-style session on the board + 35 pull-ups and stretching.

Sat: Rest.

Sun: Aerocap on fingerboard with foot on a step. Struggled with this.

Reasonable week. Good to get some runs in as well as climbing-specific stuff. Not enjoying doing aerocap on the fingerboard, I like doing my other training but don't look forward to these sessions - maybe this will improve when I get in the groove of it a bit more and see some improvement.

Will have to get the climbing-specific training in early this week as going to the in-laws at the weekend.

[Bradders]

M - lovely afternoon and just fancied a potter so went to Earl. Did Trick Arete, Hanging Flake, Sloping Beauty, Handy Andy's, Andy Brown's Wall and The Gimp. All done before but all very satisfying to circuit.

T - board volume session. Felt like best I've had on this circuit, having done it 4 or 5 times now. Failed on the very last moves of two of the harder problems, second time round.

W - rest, 4km walk

T - two arm 5s max hangs, upped volume a bit doing 6 sets at max this time. Also lots of pull ups and another 4km walk.

F - tried to go to Lees Bottom with Yetix but it was rammed when we arrived early evening. Bailed to Nuda's Tartan which we had to ourselves. Managed Dave's Roof in a few goes, then flashed The Meltdown having soaked up some beta, before working out and doing Nuda's Tartan in a couple of goes. Really enjoyed the latter, fun roof climbing, very atypical for Peak lime. Tried Tarantula briefly and did all but one of the moves, one to go back for.

S - rest

S - morning 6.5km walk, then went up to the Bowderstone, again with Yetix. First time here since April '19. Lots of showers and very drippy from the top but ladder face otherwise all dry. Warmed up on a fingerboard then did Picnic, Picnic Sit and Inaudible, latter 2nd go which I was pleased with. Tried Impropa and got to the last move a couple of times but dropped off due to water dripping on my face/eyes/hands. Spent rest of the session trying the sit. I think I worked out how I'll do the first move, and touched the hold a few times but didn't engage. I did manage the link from after the first move up to the last move and then at the end of the session, once it had stopped raining, managed the stand which felt easy when I did it.

[tomtom]

F - tried to go to Lees Bottom with Yetix but it was rammed when we arrived early evening.

I’ve plenty of unfinished business at LB but completely put off trying there by all the Social media posts from there... don’t get it. I expect it had less people there last year than last week!

[yetix]

just in vogue I guess

[Fiend]

It's the Horseshoe of bouldering - bunch of strong indoor lads trying to find something even more awful than the average wall whilst they've been shut.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - weights, pull ups.
Tue - rest.
Wed - weights.
Thu - BM 10/10 x6x6. 2 sets with 2 kg. Weights. Rings finisher. Abs Tabata.
Fri - 23 minutes of loaded carries.
Sat - TB DL 40 kg 15x6. Finally.
Sun - Rest.

[gollum]

M - Morning at Caley. Back on Scoop Arête and Thug Arête and frustratingly close to both but have no idea of sequence we were using a few weeks ago, so go from scratch. May be a tad too warm.

T - Nip down to Stoney Midfleton and yep it’s still a scruffy hole, but one that I love. Achieve very little at Minus Ten. Pop in to Holmfirth on the way home as I end up so close to it. On way back to main road, seem to be going down narrower and narrower lanes. Armed with the Peak Bouldering Plus guide from years ago, find lots of good interesting lines.

W -  Brimham. Warm and humid and the creatures were biting. Did some old classics on Joker’s Wall, which are always entertaining.

T - Almscliffe in the afternoon with friends. Potter around on Low Man for a while dodging showers before repeating Teflon and a couple of variants again. Then go up and do the Crucifix in what might be the first time in over 25 years and then up the arête. I think I’m probably building up to having a go at Pebble Wall but I always found it intimidating when it was part of my circuit, so reckon it’ll be a while.

F - Back to Almscliffe. A bit of shower dodging but a good day. Teflon, variants on it and eliminates under the crucifix all being on the menu for today.

S - Nothing, although do finally go back into a pub and I can recommend Heiden Bridge for pubs who seem to have got solid risk management measures in place.

S - Nothing

As walls and gyms reopen tomorrow, I am ready to go back to lifting heavy things. Been outside lots and rediscovered my love for it, will definitely have options now on rainy days rather than sulking round the house.

[tomtom]

Power Club:

Mon > Sat. Family holiday scenes in North Norfolk. Decent weather - beach every day. Swam 3-4 times, beach every day. Ate a bit too much (put on 1kg) but relaxed a great deal. Lots of sand shovelling on the beach - and cranked out some assisted one armers on the garden pergola (!?).

Sun: Buckstones (nont Sarahs) - wanted to see how my new arms were on a Pig in a Pokey (for those that don’t know it - a. 2-3m blunt nose that’s fairly straightforward up to a swing toes onto lip, grab edge by toes, swing around and campus for good holds and top - 1-4.5 campus apparently). Well after a load of faffing and a couple of fleeting showers I managed (for the first time) the toes/swing around move and in isolation the campus (yay!). But failed at the campus on the final I’ll have a go link. Though my over-riding memory of that attempt was a little girl peering over the top and saying ‘look daddy - its spiderman’ :D

Very pleased though - clear improvements from last time, locking off and spinning round on a large edge felt easy rather than saggingly hard this time. Went to above the road and after a bit of faff (and just as a shower blew in) got “the Langster” a soft but fun 7A.



Back at it this week!

[Yossarian]

S PM Ansteys. Squally on drive. Warm but breezy and occasional rain. Wanted to have a work out on Empire but was occupied. Put a rope up what I thought was Avenged but later worked out it was Just Revenge 7c+. I’d dogged this in the distant past. Three tie ins and decent progress. Great route. Felt like it would go in a couple more sessions if I came back down. Ended up climbing with a friendly local James K who has just moved to near my parents which could make future sorties possible.

If you're thinking of heading back down in September / October definitely let me know. I'm miles off fitness at the moment, but would like to get back on various things there.

[shark]

S PM Ansteys. Squally on drive. Warm but breezy and occasional rain. Wanted to have a work out on Empire but was occupied. Put a rope up what I thought was Avenged but later worked out it was Just Revenge 7c+. I’d dogged this in the distant past. Three tie ins and decent progress. Great route. Felt like it would go in a couple more sessions if I came back down. Ended up climbing with a friendly local James K who has just moved to near my parents which could make future sorties possible.

If you're thinking of heading back down in September / October definitely let me know. I'm miles off fitness at the moment, but would like to get back on various things there.

Sounds good depending how Malham season is going.

[Yossarian]

M - Churnet with 8-year-old. Started off at Cottage Rocks which was v kid friendly. The 6s I did would've probably felt easy last autumn, but current not inconsiderable bulk is like having a heavy rucksack on. The Wafer sit felt harder than Pocket Wall, and I had to try quite hard on everything. Moved on to Gentlemen's Rock. Couldn't quite hold the top of The Nose and in the process trashed skin. Had some ok goes on High Speed Imp Act. Mainly hampered by being v fat, but most things we tried were my favoured style, so keen for many more return trips as I slim down. Managed to slice finger open with penknife before departure, and then M6 pile-up meant it took 6 hours to get home.
T - Stretching PM then Bowles. Skin pretty fucked, but good crowd around Fandango area and made some progress on various things. Only just failed to do Digitalis on a rope a few times, which was much better than I was expecting.
W - Stretching plus press-ups / shoulder press / ring dips (barely managed), plus a bit of core.
T - Harrison's north boulder with daughter. Both failed to finish things from previous week, but definite improvement.
F - Harrison's routes. Fairly unspectacular. Excessive vodka and Russian food consumption in the evening.
S - 30 miles MTB on the South Downs Way in the rain. Good fun - calorific expenditure probably cancelled out by fried chicken consumption later in the day.
S - Lazy day and overeating.

A decent week slightly undone by boozy face-stuffing at the weekend. Weight down to around 102kg.