[Duma]

M - day off, am Sirhowy as rope gun and belay bunny for gf, not an auspicious start as much of the crag seeping, I forgot my harness, and there was a heavy shower just after we arrived... thankfully the shower was shortlived, I could make do with a rope harness, and her project was pretty much the only thing dry enough to climb. She dispatched in short order, particularly pleasing to put that one to bed as she dropped it clipping the third last summer, which doesn't leave you far from the deck! Home in time for a  snooze and then TCA in eve, half the new 6A+ to 6C circuit was reset so spent the time going round them, 15 first go, 3 second go, 2 third go. Fun session.
T - nothing, 12hr shift
W - nothing, 12hr shift
T - day off, am TCA, hard boulders 2hrs, spent the time on blues (7A to 7C) upstairs, got up 6. Feeling a little lacking in snap, but good session. Probably stayed too long. Pm UCR, circuits. 6a+, 6c, 7a, 7a, 7a plus half the 6c, 7a.
F - TCA eve, didn't have long but wanted to do something before three days of work induced lack of training. Ended up on moonboard for an hour after warming up, just tried loads of 6Cs and 6C+s. Managed most.
S - nothing, 12hr shift
S - nothing, 12hr shift

70.5kg

[RobK]

For some reason I have just noticed that a couple of times I have started the topic I forgot to increment the number, so I think it should be Power Club 584 this week. I clearly can't be trusted, sorry!

M - Lunch, max hangs as a crag warm up. Not feeling great and sacked it off on the third hang when I couldn't even hit +25kg. Then LPT after work, crag to ourselves and decent conditions. Only time for two redpoints on Mussel Beach. First RP went really well, to the point where I almost didn’t need to rest after the first boulder problem. Uncharacteristically messed up my feet mid crux though and aborted. Unfortunately the second RP was almost a mirror image. Spent a bit of time just repeating the crux foot sequence so it doesn’t happen again. Annoying not to match or push the high point on but some good takeaways including more dialled in beta and knowing I can get through the first boulder pretty fresh.

T - Rest.

W - Max hangs at +25kg. All complete but not with that much comfort room. Still finding it frustrating to have gone backwards so much but there we go. Finished with some weighted shrugs and TRX Ts.

T - Lunch, Crimpd 80% repeaters at +10kg. All complete with a little left in the tank, but probably not enough to hit the +15kg I was at a month ago. Evening, my girlfriend was on a late shift so I decided to go to the Boardroom for the first time in about 6 months. I find this place so frustrating. It’s only a 10 minute drive away and I love the community and general vibe, but the setting is just so bad. Even if it was just a bit below average it would be fine but as it is, it’s more than worth the extra 30+ minutes to go to one of the Hangars or Manchester Depot. Tried to go with an open mind but the boulders were set true to form so I balied to the circuit board and got in a decent 45 minutes of varying pump levels.

F - Rest. Lunch, LI 10/50 hangs. Evening, 60 minute run scoping out the footpaths around a potential new house.

S - Rest. Frustratingly the tides and weather looked good for LPT but the parents were booked in for a visit.

S - Solo morning session at Manchester Depot. Thought I’d be feeling good after two rest days but still not feeling like I was firing on all cylinders. Quite creaky to start with and took a while to warm up. Still, very enjoyable and spent 90 minutes going round the purples with a 3 strikes or out policy. Probably got up about half of them with the other half dropping one of the last moves. Dropped down to reds for the last half an hour when fatigue started to set in. Will probably do some low intensity hangs this evening.

Again, not feeling anywhere close to where I was a month ago for some reason. Currently not that fussed as form can come and go and it’s not always apparent why. It might start to get more frustrating if it carries on for more than a few weeks though! Hoping that weather and tides align over the next couple of weeks as it would be really good to get Mussel Beach done and it doesn’t feel too far away.

[Duma]

For some reason I have just noticed that a couple of times I have started the topic I forgot to increment the number, so I think it should be Power Club 584 this week. I clearly can't be trusted, sorry!

Haha!
can't be that important or someone would have noticed!
I've changed the title of this week, But think a mod would need to do the others. Shark?

[Fiend]

S - Solo morning session at Manchester Depot.

#metoo

When I went to the Boardroom, literally years ago now (1.5 years), I found the setting to be very enjoyable in the V4-6 range and indeed that was the main reason I went over.

[shark]

For some reason I have just noticed that a couple of times I have started the topic I forgot to increment the number, so I think it should be Power Club 584 this week. I clearly can't be trusted, sorry!

Haha!
can't be that important or someone would have noticed!
I've changed the title of this week, But think a mod would need to do the others. Shark?

 

[gollum]

W/C 17/5/21

M - Pulls, abs/core, Pudsey, small edges, stretching, cardio, yoga
T - Chest and compression, campus, repeaters, Kilter board, yoga and stretching, abs, cardio
W - Yoga, abs/core, stretching, Easy bouldering, deadlifts and pulls, more stretching, cardio
T - Cardio, yoga and stretching, abs, chest and compression, low intensity edge pulls
F - Ancillary muscles, yoga and stretching, Bog Depot for volume, campus, repeaters, cardio, abs
S - Cardio, abs, legs, stretching and yoga
S - Pudsey, cardio, abs, yoga and stretching

Still in the groove and enjoying doing what I’m doing.

M - Drop van off for MOT and then gym for pulls. Start with lat pull downs for 4x6, follow this with three sets on the pegboard, which felt hard at first but once I got a bit more determined, it became less of a battle. Velocity pull ups for 3x3, followed by single arm locks.
Next move on to abs and core with 5 minute plank followed by levers, weighted hollow bodies and hyperextensions.
Go to Pudsey for a social climb. Warm up with upper body routine, scapular exercises and some 6mm edge hangs.
Just have a good fun session, nothing too hard but concentrating on trying to climb smoothly and place feet well.
Cardio when I get home for an hour on the bike.
Stretching for calves and sciatic nerve followed by yoga for hamstrings.
50 rollouts to complete the days exercise.

T - Start with bench press for singles up to 100, shoulder feels a bit tweaky so don’t push on. Next is 3x3 prone ring Ts, Ys and Is. Finishing weights section with floor compressions.
Move on to the campus board. Trying to concentrate on technique again, keeping moves relatively short. Move on to pinch/compression hangs for 3x10 seconds and 1x15 seconds.
Repeaters on the Beastmaker 1000 for a change with shorter rests, which seems to be quite a lot easier.
Some projecting on the Kilter board but get a bit battered by it to be honest and shoulder us definitely playing up a bit, so stop early. Hoping shoulder is just a bit bruised from jab the other day as does feel like precisely that spot.
Yoga for hips which is very invigorating. Stretching for splits.
Follow this with some abs work of planks, floor routine and rollouts.
Half an hour on the bike.

W - Yoga for shoulders to start the day and I certainly don’t have any problems with range of movement.
Five minute plank, levers, weighted hollow bodies and hyperextensions followed by abs rollouts.
Go to Manchester, with the plan to have a light session and protect my shoulder. Start with scapular exercises and upper body stretches and some two arm locks, which are fine and tend to suggest shoulder is actually pretty much alright, although try a set of off set pulls and they hurt on left so give them a miss. Do my 6x30 density hangs to encourage me to stay on easy problems. New blacks so decide I should do no more than 20, although end up doing 25, as that is all that are set when I finish. Ensure I don’t over extend left arm which keeps the shoulder comfortable throughout, happy with the session.
Gym on the way home. Deadlifts up to a steady 140. Weighted pull downs for 3x5 with a fairly low weight to keep it comfortable. Also do some close grip pull downs. It seems pretty much anything at or below bodyweight is fine, whilst anything much above is a bit uncomfortable. Seems easily manageable though.
Home for pancake stretching and half an hour of cardio.

T - Decide to have a day off from actual climbing, but will still do everything else that isn’t upward movement.
Start with an hour of cardio on the bike, then on to yoga for my back and shoulders, which feels pretty good. Then it’s stretching for splits, which, as usual, feels grim.
For abs do 10x1 minute planks, followed by hollow bodies, side links and 60 easy rollouts.
Training for chest and compression, again being conservative. Start with press-ups, getting deeper on each set, which feel fine. Move on to 3x5 prone TRX Ts, Ys and Is. Then do superset me Ts, Ws and Is with a band.
Do some low intensity edge pulls for 5x5 minutes. A very low intensity exercise, but an awful lot of it, which seems to test even my boredom threshold, but feels rewarding and good for active rest.

F - Shoulders, arms and wrists in the gym early doors.
Next do my yoga for twists, wrists and feet, which helps with some tightness I’ve got around my shoulders.
Go to Big Depot. Start with upper body stretching and scapular exercises to warm up. Good session; manage to do all the blacks, reds, woods and purples, which feels like a good amount of volume.
Campus board to follow to see how it feels when tired and it’s okay. Do some jumping and catching and then finish with a set of repeaters. Fresher at the end than I might have expected and shoulder has been fine throughout.
Half an hour on the bike and 100 chilled rollouts when I get home.

S - Steady day. Half an hour of cardio late morning, followed by hard rollouts for 25 reps.
In the gym deadlift to start up to a steady 150, stopping whilst still strong. Next is single arm deads using a Rolling Thunder grip; up to 60 with RH but only 55 with LH. This feels like a good new exercise. Next is squats for 3x6 at 50. Next is a set of front squats followed by 4x6 leg press. Finish with calf raises for 4x10.
Once home, do stretching for splits and yoga for fingers.

S - Depot at Pudsey for social climbing. Warm up with upper body stretching and scapular exercises. Potter about doing stuff I’ve done before and chatting. Nice and relaxing.
Bike for half an hour for cardio.
Easy rollouts and yoga for abs. Finish off with stretching for pancake.

Despite a bit of worry about a dodgy shoulder mid-week, it seems okay and another good week, although probably lowered the difficulty a touch, but not the volume. Very happy where I am at the moment.

[shark]

11.4-6 Average 159.4 down 0.9lbs

M. AM Torrential rain. Lunch Set of recruitment and speed pulls PM/Eve Tor. Nice weather. Confident of building on Fridays progress. Reverse happened. I don’t understand. Stunning evening driving back compensated

T. PM Systems board. Protracted big session. Treated it like a crag day with long rests between goes. Warm up. 8 move Gaston sequence x2 then 6 attempts at Oak PE/AnCap 28 move circuit with 7th attempt failed on crimpy start. Set of 20/10’s timing 2secs per move - managed 91 moves. Then 2 sets of 20/10s untimed per move.Completed one set (120 moves) and ran out of steam at move 72 on second set.

W.

T.

F. Rainy, grim all day. PM Set of recruitment and speed pulls. PM/Eve Tor. Surprisingly good conditions. Didn’t start well swinging of THFML and missing the mats. No harm done. After doing it then did cross through into THFML then 6 attempts from throw. 1st to setting for kick, 2nd to tickling pinch, 3rd Throw at third attempt to holding pinch but not well enough to reach through to rib. 4th Throw to failing in kick 5th 3 fails on throw Dog walk 6th Throw to failing getting foot on pinch then did start to failing on throw. Decent session - mainly for the volume of decent goes.

S. PM Systems board. Warm up. 8 move Gaston sequence x3. 5 attempts at Oak PE/Ancap circuit. Didn’t do as well as on Tuesday. Went for second jab 💉

S.

Bit under the weather today from second jab but already feeling better. If the forecast holds will stay over in Llandudno this week.

[yetix]

M Campusing. Mostly as was stressed by work. 12 sets at 1-4-6/7, not great but not terrible, just lacking a little snap I think, some easy gains to be made here if needed at any point I guess.
T rest
W 3x7/53 front 3 hangs. Bowderstone, oddly hot. did picnic x2, did Impropa opera stand 2 or 3 times but couldn't do the sit moves into it (repeatedly came off on the 3rd move with my right hand greasing off). Tried into darkness a couple of times and felt slightly close but think I need to be super fresh for the crux move from the ground. Couple of goes at final curtain but too gassed for it. Did slapstick the non eliminate way and statstick at the end.
T 12x7/53 front 3, plus some wrist rehab work
F rest
S 6x7/53 front 3 hangs. Back to the Bowderstone for a short session. Planned to do some easier stuff and get the stand to IO more dialed but felt pretty confident doing it first go so went from the sit. Managed to get to the last/2nd to last move 3 times but couldn't quite get it over the line. Think next time I'll try it without tape on my left ring finger and risk a split as I'm fairly confident that's the level of difference at this point. Skin on my other hand is thin too so will likely need a week away... Annoying as I can do the sit moves every go at this point but just can't seem to commit to the final move from the ground.
S 3x7/53 front 3 hangs. Parisellas Cave. Fairly tired, tried Hatch Life x5 times best go I came off 1 move away from the flake (6C section...) pretty happy with this given I was fairly tired from the stone the day before.

Slowly getting closer on things now I think just need to keep turning up. Doing alot more volume on the front 3 stuff and wrist stuff atm (and stretching for some nerve stuff) and it seems to be working generally

[User deactivated.]

W - Max hangs at +25kg. All complete but not with that much comfort room. Still finding it frustrating to have gone backwards so much but there we go. Finished with some weighted shrugs and TRX Ts.

I've had periods of going backwards on max hangs several times and have concluded it's always due to one of the following:

1. not prioritising it any more, which is to say reducing the frequency that I do them
2. increasing outdoor climbing / other stuff on top of a training routine which was already flirting with overtraining.

both result in a slight decrease in performance initially, followed by a period of further decreasing performance due to:

1. telling myself it's not important anyway and focusing more on climbing, so fingerboarding is further neglected and continues to reduce slightly. I think this is fine.
2. getting frustrated at reduced performance and doubling down with more volume and/or pushing every set to failure in an attempt to match previous best efforts. This results in more severe overtraining and is only really cured with a deload week then starting back light and building up again (usually with great results and a new best within a month or so!)

[Duncan Disorderly]

STG: Another F7b
MTG: F7c
LTG: F8a

M: Routes @ AW - Planned mileage up to F6c, ended up on an F7c+! TR'd it and realised that I could actually do all but one of the moves! Interesting......
T: Routes @ Horsethieves with the GF - Lovely evening pottering up F5's & 6's, only folk at the crag too!
W: Rest
T: Rest - Shoulder stuff - been really neglecting this!
F: Routes @ AW - Back on the F7c+ - Dialed ALL the moves this time  Really pleased and good to find some well-set, interesting climbing (unlike the recent spate of sandbags and poor setting that's been plaguing the wall IMO)... Going to work on this for a bit as it's right up my street, grade, hold and angle-wise (i.e. more like Peak lime than Euro roofs), and shares a line with some easier routes that KT is keen to work on....
S: Nowt
S: Nowt

Good to find something indoors to get me teeth into - Family stuff on the weekend and shite weather limited this week but put in the effort when I did climb so guess it all balances out.

This week: More!!

[Will Hunt]

M - site visit in Wharfedale which finished in the afternoon. Popped to Kilnsey hoping to find a belay and, who should be under Directissima but our very own Orc Lord. He and his mate very graciously let me join in. Had planned to go on Sticky Wicket but Fiend had the clips in Metal Guru. A shocking flash go which I'm blaming on not being warmed up. Dogged to the ledge and lowered. Second go up I did some more respectable links and went up the top bit. Lots of swearing at Fiend for not putting a draw in the top bolt, which I thought he'd done on purpose to sandbag me!
Later went to a mate's house for a board session. Could barely pull on. Fortunately I had my Kilnsey visit to blame for that.

W - evening Kilnsey session. Put the clips in Sticky Wicket and felt a bit flash pumped/under-warmed. Had a burn and fell in about the same place as last time. Another burn or two took place with much the same result. Shocker! Not quite sure what to blame this on other than improper warm up and not giving the route much respect and figuring out the best sequence.

Su - Malham. A couple of times up Rose Coronary and once up Puddlejumper to warm up. Then upstairs to try and get on Herbie which was busy. Ended up on Main Overhang, which I'd played on last year. Had 3 tie ins on this and things started to come together. Did a link at the end from the flake to the flatty (well, strictly speaking I fell off the move to the flatty but this was a sequence error), albeit the mid-crux bolt was pre-clipped. Feels promising but I know from a friend's experience on it that it feels piss until you start to try and put it all together!

[Nibile]

Power Club
Mon - easy upper back. Boxing bag six rounds, hill sprints.
Tue - rest.
Wed - Weights. Very tired.
Thu - tired, post vaccine session. PE low 30/5 x6 just barely. PE low 1/40" x3 with margin. Short rest, 1/50" x2. Weights.
Fri - rest.
Sat - weights.
Sun - pull ups 30" finisher 4x14 yes! Clean and press 30" finisher 3x10 40 kg yes!

[cheque]

…went up the top bit. Lots of swearing at Fiend for not putting a draw in the top bolt, which I thought he'd done on purpose to sandbag me!

Please tell me there’s video of this. 

[SA Chris]

Laid off climbing to give elbow a break

M - 10km run - decent pace, stunning run past Dunnottar Castle
T - some stretching, foam roller and theraband.
W - not much
T - run just over 11 km in 55 mins. Pushed ankle and it held up.
F - not much. work trip up to Peterhead.
S - spent day fixing rubber trim on van, knackering. %km run. Tried interval session, but not having it.
S - early morning down to Floors Craig bouldering. Worked on hard moves at the end of the traverse a and a few other things. Elbow felt OK, but back started hurting, probably from van work. Lots of stretching and back massage machine.

[duncan]

M - Fingerboard: 95% hangs (85kg) for 8 secs. Shoulder conditioning: IsYsTs on the rings, supported handstands, side planks. Walked 11km.
T - Shoulders as above. Lightly weighted pull-ups. Walked 10km.
W - Bouldering Stronghold. A try harder things session. Flashed one of the whites (V4/5) then spent the rest of the session trying various V4s and V5s multiple times and not getting anywhere with any of them. I am weirdly crap at projecting/good at onsighting. Short fingerboard session at the end. Walked 10km.
T - Shoulders as above. Box-steps for an hour. Walked 10km. Car acquired two screws in a tyre.
F - Shoulders as above. Chasing around N. London for a car tyre, eventually leaving at 5.45 resulting in an epic drive to Somerset in the rain.
S - Dartmoor with Andy, Hazel and Alain: good company. Biting north-westerly wind and showery to start with. Started at Hound Tor, warmed up slowly, backing-off 5c wall. Got into the swing on The Horn then the clouds cleared and we put the rope on for a very traditional Prowler (HVS) and fun Suspension Flake (VS). Scrapped my way up Little Prow (E1) which has a lot of climbing in 25’. Relocated to Haytor for Aviation (E1). Absolutely loved this, great climbing and the right amount of challenge relative to my current fitness and confidence. Hanging on the chickenhead belay, cold despite wearing all my layers, managing the ropes to avoid them getting snagged in the high wind, it felt like I was somewhere much bigger. As the forecast was for rain the following morning we decided to sacrifice the last skin and energy and moved on to Bonehill. A crag too far for me but I did a couple of easy things. 
S - Battered. Drove back to London. Short walk. Gentle shoulder conditioning.

A good week. Great to be trad. climbing again and feel so much more confident on the sharp end with this style. Aches and pains are well under control. General fitness for big days is still a long way off.

Plan: at least one try hard bouldering (or red pointing) session and one big volume day each week. Continue to build general fitness.

[Coops_13]

M: Density pickups 20mm 40s 40lb *4 HC. Legs. Leg press, calf raise, knee extension, hamstring curl. X15 *3sets. Squats up to 185lb (BW) X5 *3sets. Heavy core *3sets (weighted cable ab crunch, woodcutter). Lower body stretching

T: DBC. TA Max Hangs - 20 mm, 7s hangsup to +40lb * 3sets. 10lb increase since last week! 6 M-, 10 M, 3 M+.

W: Density pickups 20mm 40s 40lb *4 HC. Chest. Bench press up to 185lb (BW) X3 *3sets. Pectoral fly and cable chest pulls *3sets. Shoulder press, bicep curl *3sets.

T: DBC. Repeaters - 20 mm, 5s on, 5s off X5. Down to -25lb *3sets. 1 M-, 2 M, 6 M+, 1 H-. First H-, psyched! EMOM pull-ups X7

F: Density pickups 20mm 40s 40lb *4 HC.

S: Short hike with pup near Evergreen

S: Wild Basin, RMNP. First day in the alpine this year! Summer TH closed so added 1.1 miles each way but pleasant hike. Boulders damp when we arrived but quickly dried. Warmed up and repeated Mini Dagger but with L exit this time (V5/6) then went to look at Black Tie Affair (V6). Turned out the low down bit that looked good was piss and the top-out that was not good was the crux. Couldn't trust finger on one move so bailed. Went to try Left V7 and pieced together top then decided bottom was too fingery for me atm. Quickly did the V7 cop-out exit of Hamburglar and then thought I'd try to repeat the full line. Went first go. V psyched. First (soft) V8 since pulley rupture just under 4 months ago! Swung by Thug Roof on the way home and retroflashed Darma Bums V5 to finish. Good day getting back in to it

[Bradders]

M - evening conditioning, bit of core, Turkish get ups, hamstring exercises and scapula / rotator cuff work.

T - AM; fingerboard 4x 6s full crimp 10mm edges with 1min rests. Upped weight added to +15kg which was still fairly steady. Then 6x 10s half crimp Lattice edge with 2 min rests. In a weird state of flux with this where +30kg feels a bit too hard, but +25kg too easy. Ended up doing half and half basically and just about did all reps.

T - PM; board session working weaknesses. Clearly a bit off the pace; couldn't do one of my usual pokier warm ups. Cracked on anyway. Added weight on my crossovers problem and did all the moves but struggled linking. Wide positions / shoulder engagement problem was better, dropping a hard move near the top each time. Swapped out two holds on my undercuts problem which made it easier and actually meant I could link more than two moves together but still felt hard. Finished with 5x 1 min on 2 mins off foot on campus ladders.

W - afternoon session at Chee Dale Two Tier with Fiend. Drove down through fairly torrential rain for much of the way from Leeds but arrived to sunshine and a beautiful day. Had previously had a quick, end of session go on Blockhead, so was keen to try it again. Warmed up going bolt-to-bolt. Moves felt okay. Four redpoints. Got to second crux every go but couldn't quite do that move on the link. Went to the top after a short rest on the rope every time. It's more of a boulder problem on a rope given the second crux is move 11 of only 15 or so plus clips. Third go was best, hit the hold but didn't stick it beyond a millisecond of inertia. It was full sun and sunbathing weather by that point. After falling off again fourth go I actually found a different way of doing the crux move which is maybe a bit more powerful but involves less faff and is much quicker. Tried hard on it which was cool. Stripped it and then just about managed to onsight Rising Sap, which included what felt like a desperately balancey crux where I was certain I was off but somehow stayed on.

T - AM; conditioning, weighted wide pull ups, prone rings Ts, shoulder press & hammer bicep curls.

F - AM; board session. Deeply average. Lots of failing on problems and moves I can normally do okay on. Clearly fatigued but not surprising given 7th day on. Did about an hour anyway. Moved on to my long (12 move) boulder session. Made it harder by swapping out another jug for an edge. Did about half the reps, making it most of the way through on others. Finished with 3x 5 mins on, 3 mins off on a circuit of mini jugs.

S - on a spa weekend with Mrs Bradders. Had a massage which was sorely needed, and an hour in the pool wherein I got a bit over-excited, did lots of lengths, and ended up with blocked ears due to water getting in. Ate lots of nice food and had my first beer in about 6 months.

S - rest, shattered. Had to have a nap mid-afternoon which is fairly unheard of for me.

On a de-load week now, which feels very much needed!

[JohnM]

M - Stretching, foam rolling, Swiss balling, shoulder mobility etc

T - Trail run 10.23km 333m

W - Shoulder stability + core. Finger boarding - left hand wrist/ring finger flexor injury has deteriorated a bit. Struggled to hold back two or middle two pockets.

T - Bicep curls, hammer curls, wrist curls, finger curls. Trail run 16.5km 582m.

F - Drove to Burgundy.

S - Climbing in the Côte de Beaune region. Beautiful lush valley with vineyards everywhere and a nice crag reminiscent of a large Dinbren with bits of Cheedale Cornice thrown in. After reading the topo I was immediately drawn to try the first 8a of the region. This was very Power Planetesque with some really cool moves. Warmed up bolt to bolt and then climbed almost all the way to the top on my first try. However, somehow I managed to completely punt the 6a section at the top (I still don't know how)! After that we were blasted by a strong wind and intermittent hail showers for the rest of the day. Either because of this, lack of food or tiredness, my body completely shut down and I was shivering and never managed to get to the top of the route again. Oh well, nice to discover another hidden gem crag in France and we will be back for sure.

S - Road run 10km.

[spidermonkey09]

M - Boulder UK. Impressive wall. Mostly went round in circles on the circuit board. Got nicely boxed.

T - rest

W - rest

T - Kilnsey. Afternoon session despite the awful weather. Some the grimmest conditions at the crag I can remember; freezing wind and swirling rain. Dogged up 50 for 5 to get going; a freezing experience. Put the clips in Comedy and had a go. Despite numbing out at bolt 2 I scraped to the jugs and the essentially hands off kneebar, where I warmed up a bit and clawed to the top. After a reasonable rest I decided to do some training on 50. Managed to recover on some non holds and got to final sequence, felt boxed but had a go anyway and somehow latched the last slot. The first time I'd managed it after several goes over several years. Good session despite the weather.

F - watched it rain all day.

S - A very soggy Malham. At least the sun was out. Took it pretty easy, did Wasted Youth which was fun (hard!). Belayed Will as he did Connect 4.

S - Some umming and ahhing but opted for Malham again as Matt was insistent it was too cold/wet for Kilnsey. I was reluctant but he definitely made the right call; it was absolutely freezing in the wind. Went upstairs and tried L'Obsession again. Felt awful on the dogging go and wasn't enjoying the grim sharp start. Taped finger which allowed me to bone the holds without fear of circumcising my fingers and somehow got to the jug at the 3rd clip. I have no idea how I managed to link it to the chain, but I did, using a load of holds I hadn't planned on using and motivated mostly by an unwillingness to do the start again! Finished doing Last Waltz, which was really good. Proof we had gone to the right crag when we went downstairs and found Tim Palmer on the catwalk 

Made the best of a pretty crap weather week really. Looking forward to some better weather on the horizon and the crags drying out a bit, fingers crossed.