[shark]

11.4-6 average 159.2lbs down 0.8lbs

M. Tor for 7am with Ben Steel. 15 degrees but mainly still and sweaty. Abbed into the airy Crucifixion headwall and worked out a couple more tweaks on the crux. Linked from shake at bottom of pillar to top fairly comfortably which was the link I was after then came down. Next go  jumared to Prow hole then managed to climb to unclipping bolt on middle of the Anger Management headwall. Struggled on the moves past it in the conditions then up to the belay in sections and stripped it. Finished by 10am.

T.

W. PM LLandudno. Hot but low humidity. Fairly still. Fell over walking down to Parisellas and turned my ankle. Karl had forgotten his harness. Fortunately I had a spare. Hobbled into LPT. First go up ankle not too bad wearing Katakis as an experiment. The method I discovered at the end of the last session for the move up at the end of the first traverse worked well and seems reliable. On top traverse and redpoint crux couldn’t seem to get as much out of my feet as usual but hard to tell if it was the heat, the Katakis or my ankle. Joined on it by Zoe Wood and Flo Tillley. Second go up it was painful putting my Whites on and the ankle didn’t like high heel hooking on the first traverse and was visibly swelling. Decided to be sensible. Did the move at the end of the traverse a couple of times and called it a day. Belayed Karl till he was done then we had a drink at the Kings Head

T. Rest day. Ambled into the Diamond. Not been before. Only saw one Kittiwake so reckon there would have been grounds for an early opening. Felt like it was good conditions despite heat.

F. PM Met Ted. Breezy up top but fairly still at LPT. First warm up go on Statement did the move at the end of the traverse straight off despite conditions. Several tie ins from the ground unsuccessfully trying to do first traverse. As it got less greasy I got more tired but at least I got properly stuck into it. Although ankle was still swollen it didn’t hurt which was a relief. At the end I needed to get to the top to strip the route and despite temperature and being knackered was pleased to link the middle of the top traverse to the top skipping the last bolt and placing a rock 3! Ted redpointed Paratrooper last go which apparently all came down to how he seated his pinky in a crimp.

S.

S. Tor at 8am with Ewa. Cloudy and warmer and sweatier than expected. Ankle still a bit swollen. Approached from top again. Took a kneepad this time and found it useful in a couple of places. Went down to the lip of the pillar and would have top roped to the belay if hadn’t had to unclip the dogging bolt on the crux. Also had a brief go on the middle of the AM headwall then came down. STP and Greg C rocked up. Second tie much hotter. Bit the bullet and went from ground almost getting through the Push Up start (7a+ according to STP  ) then dogged my way up to the top of the route and stripped it. Coaxed Ewa onto Indecent and she redpointed it heroically.

Obviously conditions at LPT were poor but I got some value out of the sessions and feel ready at last to seriously attempt redpointing when I next go in a couple of weeks. Cross N’Angry coming together nicely too.


Second tie on Cross’n Angry on monday compressed into 22 secs courtesy of Ben Steel

[yetix]

M rest
T front 2 and mid 2 half crimp max hangs work followed by a short session at griffs on lovine, hot, struggled to match previous high point of getting into the stand but could do all the moves in isolation every go which was better than the previous session.
W rest
T rest
F rest
S griffs again, 5am, best cons I've ever had here but kept fumbling the link moves on lovine, 3.5h in managed to link into the stand and got a new high point. Figured out slightly more powerful but far more reliable beta which makes the foot swap easier which I'd been falling off lots before. Just need to link 3 more moves now. Defo feels harder for me than any other 7C I've been on this year.
S rest

[Wellsy]

Monday: As per last thread, got a send of Apprentice Prow 7A+ (and repeated it afterwards too, vid here; https://www.instagram.com/p/CRhmjP0Ap4V/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link ) and then did the Wookie 7A+ as well as Skirting Board Ladder 6A and Elbow Grease 6B (although seems a little stiff for 6B?) to warm up and then the Crack Problem 6C on Whizz Kid Wall after. Felt very strong and happy with two first of the grades.

Tuesday: Rest day

Wednesday: Session at the works but fingers felt a little stiff and achey, it was really hot and I wasn't in good condition so just did some light stuff and board work and then some weighted pull-ups (5 sets of 5 at 20kgs added weight) and bench press (5 sets of 5 at 65kgs).

Thursday: Rested

Friday: Went to Anston again, but for a very short session just repeating some previous stuff on Frodo while my friend worked his project there. Scoped out Colt but it was getting dark.

Saturday: Friend wanted to go to Anston again so went and tried Colt 7A+. Worked out all the moves, definitely feels tough! From a little dirty beta hunting like the scum I am, I found some videos where people go to the higher left hand hold on the good edge with the heel-toe cam still in; I definitely can't do that, simply not long enough, so I spent a while working out a sequence where I can cut loose with the heel-toe while using a cheeky little hidden right hand crimp under the roof before then slapping up with the left to the aforementioned good before moving the feet left and dyno-ing to the jug. Got bitten to fuck by little insect bastards but was worth the effort that went in.

Sunday: Rested

Feeling: Positive and strong. Using a lot of the good weather to get on like but imagine that will turn soon so will get back to training hard indoors. Climbing outdoors has identified a few weaknesses to work on which is good. Keen to keep on getting stronger and stronger as much as I can. Very psyched.

[Bradders]

M - Kilnsey. Absolutely boiling. Warm up laps of Directissima, and Face Value on top rope. Then third session on Subculture. First go up bolt to bolt putting draws in, did all the sequences comfortably. First RP dropped the move to the break by the second bolt. Had 2 mins rest and went again, this time making it to move 16/17 of the hard bit (left up to undercut). Jugs await when you do the 17th move. New high point! Next go made it to move 14 but stopped as I was sweating off and skin felt bad. Linked to the top traverse after a short rest. Finished off attempting a lap on Slab Culture. Unfortunately due to a mix up someone had stripped most of my draws out. A few weeks ago when I did Slab for the first time I was reliant on a kneebar to get a good rest before traversing into Subculture. This time, although I pulled through the hard 2nd move, I felt much more able to recover on the jugs without the knee, and made it to the last bolt before stopping, having pumped out a bit whilst putting in one of the clips.

Tu - rest

W - AM fingerboard, weird session. On 26mm edge, 8x 10s with 3 min rests. Last hang of warm up did 10s +32kg, then first rep of session proper did 10s +35kg, but then literally couldn't get off the ground for second rep! Dropped it down to +30kg for the rest of the session and did it okay. Afterwards did an hour and a bit on the board. Really good session, felt strong and snappy. Bunch of mediums first go, including some that often take at least a few goes. Finished with 5 easier problems with 3.3kg weight belt.

Th - conditioning. Isometric dumbbell holds, leg lifts, rotator cuff work, etc.

F - 5km run, 27 mins

Sa - Chee Dale Cornice. Had an absolute shambles warm up go on Une Crime Passionel. Foot slipped off by the second bolt and then my head just completely went, felt absolutely terrified and like I was going to fall off and die. Clip sticked up most of it. Decided not to try again. Utter choss. Redeemed myself by flashing Up the River Without a Paddle. Then had a go up Old Man River working the moves, before surprising myself by dispatching it next go. No time for anything else. These ticks mean I've achieved one of my 2021 aims, doing over 30 new routes!

Su - fingerboard pick ups, 6x 10s of false grip, 20mm edge front 2 and 20mm edge middle 2 with 2 seconds in reserve. Then conditioning; Arnold press, rotator cuff work, isometric dumbbell holds and hamstring work.

[Duma]

Nice work Wellsy, and Yetix sounds like you're really close to Lovine now

M - nothing, recover from nights.
T - Witches Point, bit smeggy but in the shade all day so good choice. OS the classics Hanging by a Thread (6c) and Staple Diet (7b), dropped flash of This God is Mine (7b+) 2 moves from easier ground, did it next go. Swim after. Great day
W - partner for evening session bailed. Again. He was ill but wish people would give more notice. Went back to Witches to sunbathe and explore, tide was in so could do some of the easy stuff on the temple bay side as DWS. Lots of fun climbing straight out of the sea, sore toes from the spiky limestone though.
T - nothing, 12hr shift
F - nothing, 12hr shift
S - canoe down Wye, 17 miles. Knackered.
S - Gilwern East, never been before, lovely spot despite not much tricky stuff, and much better than its neighbour Gilwern Main/North.. still knackered from canoeing, but had a fun day, some quality easier things on lovely rock, and managed to flash The Imp (7b on UKC, but 7a is fair) plus Firepower (7a+) 2nd go.

71kg

[RobK]

M - Rest.

T - Morning: tried to beat the heat with a max hangs session but was way off the pace so cut it short after three hangs. Going to blame conditions, time of day and fingerboard sesh on Sunday. Evening: Llanddulas again. Was thinking about getting back on Nanabozho but in the end decided to leave it until things cool down a bit. Managed to get most draws in Mudjekeewis with the clippy so decided I didn’t need to bother with a warm up and went straight for a RP. Got to the high jug rail flash-pumped out my mind, couldn’t get anything back, and slid off! It went next go more comfortably although still a pumpy little number. Slightly worryingly this is probably the hardest route I’ve ticked this year. Some suggestions that it could be 7c but just high 7b+ in my book, could be a height thing though. Finished with a play on Sticky Fingers 7b+ which was horrid. Won’t be getting back on that in a hurry.

W - Half day off work so headed to LPT for the afternoon. 3 RPs on Mussel Beach. First go it hadn’t been in the shade that long and I greased off the crimp pre-crux. Second go I just climbed badly and came off in a similar place. Had a play though and found some sneaky new beta for the crux moves to the pillar. Third go I put these into practice with mixed results. The first piece of new beta using a toe hook to gain the pillar was great. The latter to match it was also good but then put me in a position which I couldn’t move from and I came flying off. Still, a marginal new high point and some good new beta, I’ll mark that down as a successful session. I feel much more confident about making it through the crux in the near future now. Finished with a flash attempt on the The Refrain 7b. Greased off the entry to the crux. Really struggling with thin, sweaty skin.

T - Rest and trying to grow skin.

F - Back to LPT, similar conditions for Wednesday. Don’t think I had recovered as much as I thought. Had three RPs on Mussel Beach all falling in roughly the same place at the pillar. I’m hoping better conditions and being more rested will make the difference, otherwise I’m a bit stumped.

S - Two hour run in the Clwyd. Warm.

S - Couldn't find a Gorge partner so ended up at a hot Dinbren. One dog up I Punched Judy First to get the draws in and then dispatched relatively easily next go. As seems to be the general consensus I thought it felt about right at 7b+ and not particularly low in the grade as per Rockfax. Finished with a bit of a play on some other low 7s that people had draws in.

A good week in terms of time and rock and a couple of ticks which is always nice but frustrating to not make any progress on MB. I knew on Friday that I should have waited till Saturday for LPT. It looked cooler and I needed the rest but I was impatient. Oh well, lesson (probably not) learned. If I don’t get a new high point in the next session or two with better conditions or more rest it might be time to make the tough decision to leave it for the season. Hoping to get back to the Gorge soon too. Shame the forecast is so rubbish for this week.

[JohnM]

M - Rest

T - 5km hike. 50 pullups.

W - Shoulder stability + core. Repeaters on Lattice edge.

T - Not much

F - Repeaters on BM lower outer edges. Pull ups + weighted up to 20kg.

S - 15km hike up to the glacier.

S - Climbing at Winkeln, a cool spot hidden deep in the forest on perfect gneiss boulders. Unfortunately, it was like the rain forest in there and I felt wet with the humidity without moving. Warmed up on a cool 7b+ (2nd go). Then moved onto a 7c. Some banter started up as one of the lads had done the 7c second go the other week and it was stated that anything less than an onsight would be unacceptable. Maybe this kind of banter is unacceptable nowadays and we have destroyed his self-esteem and he will struggle to form meaningful relationships in the future idk. Anyway, luckily I managed to onsight the 7c and moved onto the neighbouring 7c+. This boiled down to a cool boulder move on pinches and a heel hook and laying one on for a jug. Had a couple of good goes but couldn't get enough out of the pinches in the humidity. Finished by failing on a desperate 7b arete. Good day out trying lots. Still got no juice for climbing though. I can run a 100km but after a few climbing moves I am breathing out my arse!

[Liamhutch89]

Haven't kept a diary but trained on 3 or 4 days and climbed on rock once at Nearcliff Wood. Managed to do white rabbit RH (7B+) and Dawid's eliminate (7B+), which only eliminates the arete and climbs really well. Very good rock on that left hand side of the hueco boulder.

[Nibile]

Power Club
Mon - regular weights.
Tue - rest.
Wed - regular weights.
Thu - regular weights.
Fri - light weights.
Sat - regular weights.
Sun - very light boxing bag.

[Coops_13]

M: Density pickups up to 40lb. Leg press, hamstring curl, knee extensions *3sets. Squats up to 165lb (I think). Bench press up to 165lb (I think). Shoulder press, bicep curl *3sets

T: Density pickups up to 40lb. DBC. TA HC 20mm up to +45lb. Did 12 M, 1 M+ after. Weighted pull-ups +70lb X3 *3sets. Some ring and bar muscle-ups and dips to finish

W: Core + Front Lever Work. Density pickups up to 40lb.

T-: Out with (non-Covid) virus

S: TA HC 20mm up to +40lb.

[RobK]

T. Rest day. Ambled into the Diamond. Not been before. Only saw one Kittiwake so reckon there would have been grounds for an early opening. Felt like it was good conditions despite heat.

Even years when the ban is lifted early I like to leave it a few weeks, the crag is pretty minging when the birds have just departed! And if they're not on the crag, they tend to hang around for a little bit and the beach is a bit of a bird shit bomb site. Hoping to get Gorge/LPT stuff finished off before Diamond season because I'm pretty psyched for it this year.

[Will Hunt]

Tu - Witches Quarry with The Fiend. Lovely and sunny. Cruised up some pleasant VS and HVS bangers. Fiend, in a bid to demonstrate the structural integrity of his dog spike, screwed it into the ground and gave himself a hernia yarding on it. It bent like limp spaghetti but didn't break. He wandered off to look for a route muttering something about "worth every penny".
The nasty E2 5b that our Orc Lord suggested spat him off resulting in just a small deckout - in the shadow of Pendle Hill, a blood sacrifice was inevitable.

F - Managed to squeeze in an afternoon at Kilnsey. A not very retro flash Quiet Flight Direct putting the draws in (I'd got to the last hard move a few years before on an onsight go, and this time I'd done the last two moves as part of the warm up on Allakazam). Then over to belay on Dead Calm and finished off with a 1st-go-repeat of WYSIWYG. And they say it's 7b+! Pah!
Drove to Cheshire.

S - grandmother's 86th garden party. 10km run in the early morning through maize fields and along prickly footpaths by the River Dee. Must remember never ever to run ever again. Knees in absolute tatters afterwards.

S - 20km cycle on Dad's old mountain bike. Must remember to take the road bike next time.


It's been a couple of weeks off doing anything remotely difficult so I was relieved to be able to put in a reasonable performance at Kilnsey off the couch.

[Fiend]

It was a prolapse not a hernia, and my heel is still bruised a week later. I need a minder of chaperone ffs.

[duncan]

M - Walked 10km.
T - Attempted to go to the Westway for some laps on the autobelays. Gave up due to confusing and misleading booking system.
Fingerboard: attempted max. hangs session but not feeling much oomph so didn’t add any weight. Hopefully good for something. Weighted pull-ups (+15kg).
W - Walked 12km.
T - Attempted to warm up for a fingerboard session but lacking in oomph again so stopped. Weighted pull-ups (+20kg).
F - Shoulder stuff: IYTs on the rings, supported handstands, side-planks.
S - Drove to Wasdale, met up with H, toiled up to the Scafell East Buttress bivi spot with excessive gear, food, and water (but still faster than the three peakers). Slept badly.
S - After a relaxed start, I got on Ichabod. My first climbing guidebook was the Constable Lake District select from 1976 which featured a photo tersely captioned “Hard climbing on Ichabod”. I was a budding Severe leader at the time, this was clearly the living end, way above anything I’d ever manage. It was great to finally get to grips with it. Then we climbed Leverage, also excellent, and finished the day off with Central Buttress in the evening light. We did the original flake pitch, E1-ish in its current form, and the Nazgul top pitch. Magnificent.
Bonus Monday  - Slept badly again and felt battered after the previous two days' activities. Did Mickledoor Grooves, only two pitches but one of the best mountain VSs anywhere. Belayed H on Shadowfax which looks excellent and right up my street. Clean and chalked folks... One for a return trip? Back down to Wasdale and on to London. Had planned to stop in Manchester but the airBnB (aka my brother) didn’t confirm until I was well past Birmingham...

Crap week feeling mentally fragile more than rescued by a couple of days for the ages in the Lakes. Great company, great place, great climbs, glorious weather. Why have I never climbed on Scafell before!? The 7 hour drive to Wasdale could have something to do with it...

Not sure why I felt completely out of gas in the early part of the week; might take a few easy days.

[teestub]

Not sure why I felt completely out of gas in the early part of the week; might take a few easy days.

It was Mediterranean in Yorkshire so I can only assume it was fully tropical in the capital. Really high temps definitely affect my ability to try hard, not just due to conditions. I guess you may have an air conditioned dojo!

[Fiend]

Not sure why I felt completely out of gas in the early part of the week; might take a few easy days.

It was Mediterranean in Yorkshire so I can only assume it was fully tropical in the capital. Really high temps definitely affect my ability to try hard, not just due to conditions. I guess you may have an air conditioned dojo!

On Thursday afternoon it was actually warmer in Stockport (29'c) than in Chelsea (27'c) and indeed central Africa (20'c and occasional rain). Of course either of the former two temperatures are stupid and debilitating IMO. It was a dire week for trying to get anything done.

[Wellsy]

Not sure why I felt completely out of gas in the early part of the week; might take a few easy days.

It was Mediterranean in Yorkshire so I can only assume it was fully tropical in the capital. Really high temps definitely affect my ability to try hard, not just due to conditions. I guess you may have an air conditioned dojo!

On Thursday afternoon it was actually warmer in Stockport (29'c) than in Chelsea (27'c) and indeed central Africa (20'c and occasional rain). Of course either of the former two temperatures are stupid and debilitating IMO. It was a dire week for trying to get anything done.

Was it though 

(Let me have this)

[Fiend]

Yeah you did great ofc. I'm sure other people did too, it does depend on heat tolerance etc. I have none.

[Wellsy]

Yeah you did great ofc. I'm sure other people did too, it does depend on heat tolerance etc. I have none.

Tbh it was wank. Too much heat just fucks you up if you aren't used to it. Tops off for power becomes tops off for basic fucking survival

[Bradders]

Not sure why I felt completely out of gas in the early part of the week; might take a few easy days.

It was Mediterranean in Yorkshire so I can only assume it was fully tropical in the capital. Really high temps definitely affect my ability to try hard, not just due to conditions. I guess you may have an air conditioned dojo!

On Thursday afternoon it was actually warmer in Stockport (29'c) than in Chelsea (27'c) and indeed central Africa (20'c and occasional rain). Of course either of the former two temperatures are stupid and debilitating IMO. It was a dire week for trying to get anything done.

Was it though 

(Let me have this)

Or you're actually nowhere near your limit.... 

(which is a good thing!)

[duncan]

My first climbing guidebook was the Constable Lake District select from 1976 which featured a photo tersely captioned “Hard climbing on Ichabod”. I was a budding Severe leader at the time, this was clearly the living end, way above anything I’d ever manage.

This is also in Hard Rock. A crap bum-shot but inspiring for me.

Not sure why I felt completely out of gas in the early part of the week; might take a few easy days.

It was Mediterranean in Yorkshire so I can only assume it was fully tropical in the capital. Really high temps definitely affect my ability to try hard, not just due to conditions. I guess you may have an air conditioned dojo!

Good point! My "dojo" was thrown up as cheaply as possible to house 19th century Irish navvies. The builders didn't have a quasi-Mediterranean climate in mind - and probably wouldn't have cared even if they could have foreseen climate change.

[shark]

Even years when the ban is lifted early I like to leave it a few weeks, the crag is pretty minging when the birds have just departed! And if they're not on the crag, they tend to hang around for a little bit and the beach is a bit of a bird shit bomb site. Hoping to get Gorge/LPT stuff finished off before Diamond season because I'm pretty psyched for it this year.

Restriction now off. Beach looked clean to me

[Duncan Disorderly]

Not as late as last week....

M: Routes @ Blacknor North - Lovely flowstone stuff up to F6b until the sun hit and I felt like my brain was going to melt...
T: Melting!
W: Melting!
T: Routes @ AW - Fucking joke! F6b felt like the living end!
F: Camping with kids.
S: Cycling and a few easies @ Intake with kids.
S: Took kids in a Canadian canoe onto Carsington Water, had no idea that this isn't actually allowed and you have to pay a fee and can then only paddle on a tiny part of the reservoir - Got unceremoniously told to bugger off by a guy in a speedboat (!!) so paddled slowly back to the van and did some more cycling...

In hindsight Portland last week was probably a bad idea but after 3 aborted trips because of shite weather aborting again because of the heat seemed daft... Still had a nice time but wasn't the expected tick/mileage fest we'd hoped for!  Pretty gutted about the boating going awry with the kids as would have been ace... Probably should have looked it all up but I kinda just figured that it wouldn't be an issue what with there being a bloody sailing club on the water... Guess there's just more bureaucracy with boating than climbing 

Off to Cloggy in a few weeks with a mate for a good few days so going to work on stamina and small feet and should probably go place some gear on summat...

[cheque]

Took kids in a Canadian canoe onto Carsington Water, had no idea that this isn't actually allowed and you have to pay a fee and can then only paddle on a tiny part of the reservoir - Got unceremoniously told to bugger off by a guy in a speedboat (!!)

  Reading little comedy snippets of people’s lives is the best bit of Power Club for me. How far out into the reservoir we’re you?

[SA Chris]

Missed a week or two but anyway, something to report.

Hols in East Lothian

S - family cycle from Gullane to N Berwick (lunch and random bump into Robbie Philips) and walk up n Berwick Law 21km total. Hot and busy.
M - Hot day, visit stunning Seacliff Beach. - Morning 2.5km on Paddleboard, clear water loads of small fish. Afternoon - another 2,5km paddle around the Gegan to Tantallon Castle. Fox Lake obstacle course over water late afternoon, brilliant fun.
T - Dalkeith Country Park with kids - walk and then adventure playground fun. Evening on Gullane Beach - play on boulders in trainers.
W - Belhaven. Clifftop walk then 4km on Paddleboard
T - Eden Rock Edinburgh. - bit warm, but just worked my way round blue circuit 'til skin and shoulders went. 1 km run to Nandos.
F - Yellowcraigs Beach.  3km paddle - went to look at the amazing houses. Ran back -13km over Archerfield GC, then through grounds of The Renaissance Golf Club and through the shabby slum dwellings of the area https://www.kingscairnatarcherfield.com/
S - drove to Comrie. 11k walk to wrong side of Deil's Caldron, found a great swimming spot instead.