[Nike Air]

garage so did
T - Tanygrisiau bouldering with a friend, new venue for me. Stunning day for it, 17 degrees and no clouds with a nice breeze. Started on the Tempest 7A. Bit more highball than anything I have done recently so bottled the flash. Did it next go. Stunning line, not really that hard, definitely a case of getting the grade for the height. Moved on the Flick of the Wrist 7C/+. Loved this, a really cool board style problem. Sussed the first move quickly but we were stopped in our tracks by the second ‘flick’ move. Tried various methods with varying degrees of success. Best being a slap of the hold but nowhere near enough control to hold it. Called it quits and moved on to some of the upper boulders. Jack proceeded to rip the crucial hold off Break on Through and I got whipped by the start of Cashmere. On the drive home I thought of another method of trying the flick move. Can’t work out how keen I am to go back. Realistically I will need to invest another session or two at least into it, but it’s a 90 minute drive and it’s almost rope season. We’ll see.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNDkWrdj4mm/

Whats the deal with traveling into Wales from England (or the other way round) to go climbing now?

[RobK]

@Nike Air, technically not allowed until April 12th. Obviously I would never admit to or advocate any rule breaking but let's just say I live within 100 metres of the border and may or may not occasionally get confused about which side I live on 

[tomtom]

I’m out of power club. 👋

I got fed up a couple of weeks ago reading about people clearly travelling long distances to climb and seeing as that seems to be the accepted practice here (judging by lack of any dissent) I ducked out then for a bit. Why look if it makes me cross?

But with the relaxation of the rules on the 29th March I thought it would be safe to dip back in again - having logged stuff here for ten years it’s a bit of my life I guess. But it seems that the relaxation seems to mean people are happier to travel even longer distances (when there are plenty of places to climb much closer) - and seemingly not give a toss gabout posting it.

So cheerio power club.

Btw - since I stopped posting all my injuries and niggles have gone! N=1 etc... 😁

[webbo]

This^ .

[webbo]

M - Crimpd 80% repeaters at +14kg. All complete and felt good. Continue to up the weight next time. Was going to do some TRX afterwards but too nice an evening to spend any more time in the garage so did 5 x 1 minute plank, 10 press ups, 10 leg raises in the garden instead.

T - Tanygrisiau bouldering with a friend, new venue for me. Stunning day for it, 17 degrees and no clouds with a nice breeze. Started on the Tempest 7A. Bit more highball than anything I have done recently so bottled the flash. Did it next go. Stunning line, not really that hard, definitely a case of getting the grade for the height. Moved on the Flick of the Wrist 7C/+. Loved this, a really cool board style problem. Sussed the first move quickly but we were stopped in our tracks by the second ‘flick’ move. Tried various methods with varying degrees of success. Best being a slap of the hold but nowhere near enough control to hold it. Called it quits and moved on to some of the upper boulders. Jack proceeded to rip the crucial hold off Break on Through and I got whipped by the start of Cashmere. On the drive home I thought of another method of trying the flick move. Can’t work out how keen I am to go back. Realistically I will need to invest another session or two at least into it, but it’s a 90 minute drive and it’s almost rope season. We’ll see.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNDkWrdj4mm/

W - Power hour (and a bit) on the board. Trying an old project and also made up a Flick of the Wrist replica. Well, not a true replica but inspired by it. Decided that it’s not worth going back until I can do this board problem! Then maybe worth a try.

T - Half a max hangs session at +29kg as a warm up. All good. Then headed out for an evening session at Kitty’s Crag at Bickerton. A great little lesser known venue. Trying Ramp Up 7B+ which is just a mega line. Couldn’t commit to a move which required a heel above my head without a spot though. Keen to go back with company.

F - A quick afternoon hit at Earl Crag. Will Hunt  and Dave Warburton there when I arrived. Watched Will giving it full commitment on My Left Nut, good effort. Had a brief token warm up on Dyno Wall 5+, cool problem! Decided to try Handy Andy 7A+. Glad Will said this was a bit of a sandbag as I got a proper schooling. Welcome back to the grit! High point was pulling on from the block and hitting the next left hand crimp without much control. Surprised as I thought it would suit me. Was going through skin quickly so moved on to Andy Brown’s Wall 7B. Really enjoyed this and got it done pretty quickly once I had committed to the top slap. Not sure how this is a grade harder than Handy Andy, maybe a height thing. Went through a tip

S - Duck Boulders with an old school friend and a couple of others. First time climbing on the moors. Great little venue with a dense collection of mainly lower grade problems. Really nice hard sandstone too, not really like anything else I’ve climbed on. Did various things with the highlight probably being Duck-billed Platypus 7A, a very nice rising arete with a cool variety of slopers and crimps.

S - Rest. Much needed for the skin.

Good week with lots of time on rock. Maybe more of a training week upcoming looking at the weather. Can’t quite believe it’s meant to be 4 degrees tomorrow.

Are you taking the piss here Wales to North Yorkshire with all places in between.

[RobK]

I’m out of power club. 👋

Sorry to hear this. As a relative newcomer, and no doubt one of the people you refer to, I will happily bow out of affairs if it's going to cause upset amongst the regulars. I have enjoyed writing up my weeks and will continue to enjoy reading about others' exploits. I'm not going to get into the rights and wrongs of things here. I will just say that I admittedly had a fairly extreme week travel-wise this week. There were other primary reasons driving this not climbing related. I just happened to tie my climbing plans in around this.

Edit: I would happily remove my post this week as I realise it might (and has) caused some upset. In hindsight maybe not the wisest of write ups. Seems to be a time limit on editing posts though - mods feel free to take it down.

[Will Hunt]

Did I miss something? There are no limits to travel for exercise?

[moose]

I don't get too fussed about the distance people are travelling.  Although, as someone who kept pretty local before 29/3, I did get irked by people I know hopping from Wales, to the Lakes, to Yorkshire, day after day.  It's more the car sharing and pad parties of people who don't live together I find a bit irksome (especially when groups of them crowd me out from problems I had been quietly sieging, far from the madding crowd!).

[Bradders]

Did I miss something? There are no limits to travel for exercise?

Was going to say the same...the guidance post 29th March says absolutely nothing about staying local. It mentions reducing travel if you can I suppose but I thought the debate about whether solo bouldering was a transmission risk had been settled a long time ago, and the risk increase of driving 60mins versus 30mins is utterly insignificant?

Earlier today I walked past a house in my neighbourhood holding a large children's party complete with bouncy castle. In that context I refuse to feel guilty about driving literally anywhere to go climbing.

Honestly, it seems like some people would rather just stay in lockdown forever more.

[Fiend]

Did I miss something? There are no limits to travel for exercise?

The motorway gantry signs - or at least the few I've seen on my meticulously restrictive sojourns to errr Hobson Moor and New Mills Torrs - say "Minimise Travel". So I presume we all must COMPLY with that 

[teestub]

Whats the deal with traveling into Wales from England (or the other way round) to go climbing now?

12th April the Welsh border opens for non essential entry from England https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/full-new-rules-wales-april-20299432

[Fiend]

Still gonna get shanked by the nash tho.

[NaoB]

I'm pretty sure that's written into law, not just guidance. Correct me if I'm wrong? Can't wait to be allowed back though, really missing Wales.

[lagerstarfish]

Did I miss something? There are no limits to travel for exercise?

no formal limits, but keeping travel distances limited to the bare minimum is the right thing to do 

*edit*

(1) WTF am I doing posting in power club?
(2) why are we understanding things differently?

[spidermonkey09]

RobK, please keep posting, you've done nothing wrong!

TT, I am genuinely sorry you feel this way and wish you would continue posting, but I fail to see your objection to people following the law, exercising outside and following the government's call to socialise in groups of 6 outside rather than inside. You may disagree with all of this but I don't think it's on to imply that people who have driven to go climbing are somehow morally deficient.

[Will Hunt]

keeping travel distances limited to the bare minimum is the right thing to do 

Could you/anyone say why?

(1) WTF am I doing posting in power club?

I stumbled in a year or two ago and haven't found my way out. Help.

[lagerstarfish]

keeping travel distances limited to the bare minimum is the right thing to do 

Could you/anyone say why?

spread diseases less

government advice to minimise travel as much as possible

because it's the right thing to do in the current circumstances (this isn't saying anything to explain, but it just came out)

[lagerstarfish]

If you are going to travel outside of "local" for climbing then just be honest why you are doing it.

"covid is a scam"
"I am more important"
"the week and infirm have had their vax"
"I am travelling alone and will not get out of my car unless it is to climb alone"
"It's not actually illegal, so I can do it"
"try and stop me"
"I'm a friend of XXX, so you can suck my dick"

*there may be plenty of decent explanations that I have not listed here - I'm just not feeling very tolerant right now

[spidermonkey09]

"the week and infirm have had their vax"
"I am travelling alone and will not get out of my car unless it is to climb alone"
"It's not actually illegal, so I can do it"

*there may be plenty of decent explanations that I have not listed here

I would clearly use the correct phrase of "elderly and clinically vulnerable" but I see absolutely nothing wrong with any of the three above as rationales to go climbing. The situation is markedly different to a year ago; this time last year I thought completely differently.

You disagree, that's fine, but let's acknowledge this is something on which reasonable people can disagree rather than presenting your moral maximalist position as the only sensible one. I respect and understand yours and TTs view but have come to a different conclusion.

[Will Hunt]

spread diseases less

This is something I can really get behind. It's not an objective that will be aided by limiting your travel for socially distanced outdoor exercise though.

Also what Jim said. The coronavirus is not going to go away. At some point people need to learn to live again.

I consider myself very lucky that I achieve fulfilment by doing stuff that isn't COVID risky. I was walking out of a slightly esoteric crag recently when I saw a man with a bouldering pad walking out ahead of me. I greeted them and, as we were talking, they said "this is just a necessity really. Normally I just like indoor bouldering".
Imagine being that fucking guy.

[lagerstarfish]

I’m out of power club. 👋

Sorry to hear this. As a relative newcomer, and no doubt one of the people you refer to, I will happily bow out of affairs if it's going to cause upset amongst the regulars. I have enjoyed writing up my weeks and will continue to enjoy reading about others' exploits. I'm not going to get into the rights and wrongs of things here. I will just say that I admittedly had a fairly extreme week travel-wise this week. There were other primary reasons driving this not climbing related. I just happened to tie my climbing plans in around this.

Edit: I would happily remove my post this week as I realise it might (and has) caused some upset. In hindsight maybe not the wisest of write ups. Seems to be a time limit on editing posts though - mods feel free to take it down.

Good, honest post 👍

[lagerstarfish]

"the week and infirm have had their vax"
"I am travelling alone and will not get out of my car unless it is to climb alone"
"It's not actually illegal, so I can do it"

*there may be plenty of decent explanations that I have not listed here

I would clearly use the correct phrase of "elderly and clinically vulnerable" but I see absolutely nothing wrong with any of the three above as rationales to go climbing. The situation is markedly different to a year ago; this time last year I thought completely differently.

You disagree, that's fine, but let's acknowledge this is something on which reasonable people can disagree rather than presenting your moral maximalist position as the only sensible one. I respect and understand yours and TTs view but have come to a different conclusion.

I'm cool with that

[User deactivated.]

Earlier today I walked past a house in my neighbourhood holding a large children's party complete with bouncy castle. In that context I refuse to feel guilty about driving literally anywhere to go climbing.

The 2 houses at either side of mine have families with kids of a similar age. We tried our best to keep them separate when the 1st lockdown came in - impossible. Short of locking them in the house forever there was no way of keeping them out of each others back gardens. And what would be the point when they have been going to school/nursery together for most of that time anyway? There's been 7 kids jumping on a bouncy castle all weekend so it's probably looked not too dissimilar to what you saw. That doesn't make it right but what can ya do? All 3 families have generally observed the rules otherwise and no one got covid.

But I get your point and feel the same way about climbing being OK when I drive there via Hyde Park and it looks like Glastonbury. I'm not judging them either though, if I were a healthy, 20 year old student who'd been tricked into renting accommodation for a year to undertake a 9 grand online course I'd be doing the same thing.

Of course this was all an entirely fictitious story for any readers in law enforcement.

[AJM]

RobK, please keep posting, you've done nothing wrong!

TT, I am genuinely sorry you feel this way and wish you would continue posting, but I fail to see your objection to people following the law, exercising outside and following the government's call to socialise in groups of 6 outside rather than inside. You may disagree with all of this but I don't think it's on to imply that people who have driven to go climbing are somehow morally deficient.

Without wishing to get too drawn into the rest of the argument, isn't this whole "sometimes I forget what side of the border I live on" thing actually breaking a law, rather than ignoring some guidance and "doing nothing wrong"? That's certainly the implication from some of the other posts, and your argument in the second part reads as "you might not like the law but that's what it is".....

[Duma]

What spidermonkey09 said. Some of the responses on here make me pretty sad.

[spidermonkey09]

AJM: tbh I read it more as a tongue in cheek post, but equally, if RobK broke the law by climbing in Wales for an afternoon I don't really care at this stage of things. I would have cared a year ago (I remember being outraged at that dude sleeping at Raven Tor) but things have changed so markedly I don't get exercised about it anymore. I have definitely broken the law as well as the guidance at points over the least year, as I'm sure we all have.

RobK has also said that there were other primary reasons for his travel, which are none of anyone else's business. I don't think it's necessary to explain one's life story in order to take part in power club 

Anyway this feels a bit like picking on Rob, my objection to which was why i posted in the first place! The wider question is whether people are justified in disapproving of people travelling large but lawful distances to go climbing.

[kac]

Some of the responses make me sad too. Id like to see tomtom and Rob still keep posting. I think most people get there is a difference between the law and guidance and im fine with spidermonkeys position. However people generally  following the guidance is a good thing and to be dismissive of how those who are following the guidance will feel about reading about people driving all over the place is a shame. Perhaps there would be more balance for tomtom if people like me posted about how little they have done!

[RobK]

AJM - if I'm being totally honest I don't actually know if this is guidance or law. I do know that I am allowed to, and do, cross the border multiple times a week to go food shopping, go to my local DIY store and local takeaway.

Interestingly, on the topic of Welsh/English restrictions, from April 12th a person living in Wales will not be allowed to go to their local wall/gym which won't be open until early May at the earliest. However they will be allowed to drive to say London and go indoor climbing there.

[AJM]

AJM - if I'm being totally honest I don't actually know if this is guidance or law. I do know that I am allowed to, and do, cross the border multiple times a week to go food shopping, go to my local DIY store and local takeaway.

In Travel & Transport in the FAQs, exercise isn't listed as an exemption nor as a "if there's no reasonably practical alternative".
https://gov.wales/current-restrictions-frequently-asked-questions#section-67271

The BMC site says similar.
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/wales-lockdown-easing

However, you'd have to go back to the legislation to be sure, and since the Welsh border is ~2hrs from me I'm not sure I'm interested enough in the answer to find out!

[petejh]

AJM - if I'm being totally honest I don't actually know if this is guidance or law. I do know that I am allowed to, and do, cross the border multiple times a week to go food shopping, go to my local DIY store and local takeaway.

Interestingly, on the topic of Welsh/English restrictions, from April 12th a person living in Wales will not be allowed to go to their local wall/gym which won't be open until early May at the earliest. However they will be allowed to drive to say London and go indoor climbing there.

Boardroom must be tearing their hair out in frustration! While the one in Ellesmere port will do well from N.Wales climbers.