[shark]

11.4-6 average 159.3 up 0.5lbs

M.

T.  PM Bachar ladder. Still can’t do a double. Archer Pull-ups
Eve Max hangs on ergo edge. Initially looked like I was just going to equal Sunday’s session but kept plugging away and scored higher and did a lot more hangs. Best hangs half crimped +22.5kg 9 secs and +25kg 6secs

W.

T. PM Bachar ladder pulls and Archer pull-ups. Some marginal gains and a few more reps than Tuesday. Didn’t feel up to doing max hangs after as planned though.

F. PM Max hangs on ergo edge. Long session. Upped weight to 27.5kg and best hangs managed 5secs half crimp, 5secs for full crimp and 7secs dragged.

S.

S. Tor for 7.30am with Nick. Weather cloudy with a bit of a breeze - reasonable connies. Short FB warm up at home. Two tie ins on Cross N’Angry focused on the crux section (AM headwall). Tried the new and old method of getting and using the pinch. Each had its pros and cons but after dialling in a couple  of aesthetically pleasing body manoeuvres I’m going to stick with the new method. Tips sore at end but felt a needed to do something pumpy so dropped a rope from the top and had a go on the Crucifixion headwall and got suitably pumped. Discovered that an undercut at the start of the top crux had got bigger and destabilised so will reinforce and restore that this week.

Self isolation ended on Saturday and psyched to get out today. Bit concerned I’d not done any climbing for 2 weeks apart from the impromptu soloing at Trowbarrow but climbed fine. Really enjoyed sorting out the micro beta on the crux. Booked to go back Wednesday with Karl and Friday with Nick again.

[User deactivated.]

Shark, that's impressive consistency between max hang grips. Last time I checked each grip at X weight it was something like 10s half crimp, 3s open crimp and 25s full crimp! Strangely my 3 finger drag is about equal to full crimp on a >25mm edge but falls off a cliff <20mm

[RobK]

M - Rest.

T - Dinbren after work. Had planned to go to LPT but after the first day back in the office for 18 months I felt a bit wiped out! Sat in the sun for an hour or so and then decided to have a bash at The Bandits 7b+, one of the mid-grade classics I’ve been leaving for such an occasion. A couple of goes to work out the moves and then one RP as the sun was setting. Came off midway through the low crux via a foot pop. Will go next time, great route.

W - S - Rest. Had my second vaccine, this wiped me out for a couple of days and then had a non-climbing friend visiting for the weekend.

Slightly annoying to not get any time at LPT this week when conditions and tides were nicely lined up.

[shark]

Shark, that's impressive consistency between max hang grips. Last time I checked each grip at X weight it was something like 10s half crimp, 3s open crimp and 25s full crimp! Strangely my 3 finger drag is about equal to full crimp on a >25mm edge but falls off a cliff <20mm

It’s more that I do my weakest grips first so am hammered by the time I get to drags (which are 4 fingered) and they are more dependent on conditions. If I did the drags fresher at the start of the session and in cold conditions I would probably be able to hang with about 10kg more than half or full crimp.

[User deactivated.]

M: max hangs session to get recruited before going out. Very poor performance, failing on a warm up set! Decided to stick to the plan and went to Lound Hill anyway.

Arrived at Lound Hill, pulled on and did colour of the sky (7C+) first go, very easily, after having 2 previous sessions where the top felt desperate on the full link, greasing off the top crimps. Ive recently started using antihydral and its made a massive difference for me.

Did a little eliminate called people under stairs (7A+) 2nd try. Tried mind echo next (7C+). Did all the moves and should link it next visit.



T: Board. Mega strong on all the problems with positive holds, mega weak on friction holds. Tested a max hang on my lattice edge again - weak. Tested on my sharp 6mm edges - beastly. Aha! It seems antihydral is the culprit. So far it seems to work amazingly well on rock so I'll take that trade for poor performance on a lattice edge all day long.

W: Rest. Worked away and hoped to climb at churnet but finished too late! Another time.

T: rings and core stuff

F: Red Devil (7C) at Nearcliff. Arrived well recruited, pulled on and nearly did it first go again! Did the crux lock move off the pocket to the first slopey edge, bumped to the better edge above and puntered off before the relatively easy finish. 2nd go i caught the pocket awkwardly, yarded off it anyway and tore a massive hole in the side of my finger (thankfully not where I've been applying antihydral). Tried taping up but my shitty Amazon no brand tape kept sliding around in the pocket. Decided to leave it.

Did a few eliminates on the left side of the hueco to finish.

S: rest

S: rings / general strength stuff


General climbing mood: after having a mental wobble during projecting, earlier in the year, I took a full 2 months off rock climbing to recoup and train. I've eased back into it with my first ever season of lime bouldering and have enjoyed it massively, managing to go through the process on a few mini projects (taking up to 3 sessions) whilst remaining unstressed. I'd like to think I've found a bit of balance in my mindset/approach: caring, but not caring too much. The proof will be in the pudding when I try something really hard for me again. There's just a couple of things I want to finish on Eastern lime over the next month and then I'll start thinking grit again. Chiasmata is looking like my first target as I love a good squeeze and, if successful, it would be my first of the grade.

[Wood FT]

Nice one Liam! I don’t think the video conveys how high that boulder is. Good effort. What was your pad set-up?

[Coops_13]

M: 100 press-ups. Density pickups up to 40lb. Legs. Leg press, calf raise, knee extension, hamsrting curl. Squat 165lb X5 *5sets. Lower body stretching

T: Guanella Pass - Luck Dragon boulder. First time here, amazing boulder with lines V8 to V11. Felt much harder than I was expecting, definitely not a V8 climber at the moment Middle LH A2 started hurting (May 2019 injury) from one of the crux open hand moves so stopped (seems OK). On was back stopped at Aspen Arete V5 which I did four times as a consolation / cool down. Tried the sit but it looks like a hold has broken.


W: Density pickups up to 45lb. Crimpd Posterior Chain mobility. Chest and Shoulders. Bench press 165lb X5 *5sets. Shoulder press and bicep curl *3sets. Incline press *3sets. Cable chest flys *3sets

T: Crimpd Hip Mobility. Ab wheel X50

F: Crimpd upper body mobility

S: Lower Chaos, RMNP. Warmed up, went to look at Wyoming Chinese V7 but way too crimpy. Did Revenge V6, a dabby but very good compression boulder. Spotted mate on Tommy's Arete for a couple of hours. Mate came off the top unexpectedly onto me. Grazes and bruises to elbow, back and head - could have been worse. Had a play on some other things but tired so headed out


S: Crimpd forearm conditioning, stabilizer conditioning, shoulder press and press-ups. Hip mobility

[duncan]

M - Fingers, aerocap. session: 20mm edge, 15kg load, alternating arms, for 8 minutes x 3 sets. Shoulder conditioning: IsYsTs, supported handstands, planks, lock-offs.
T - 14km walk.
W - 14km walk, shoulder conditioning.
T - Cheedale Cornice with H. Bumped into Steve-the-pro, another blast from the past, the Cornice seems to be the venue of choice for the mature sport climber! Good spot and great partner but I wasn’t feeling it mentally and really struggled. It was a long drive home.
F - Picnic and Wagner, a glorious event but I was still feeling a bit down. Shoulder conditioning.
S - Fingers: attempted max. hangs but had no oomph and my shoulder was sore. Shoulder conditioning.
S - 10km walk. Shoulder conditioning.

Not a great week. Up in Edinburgh from Wednesday and hope to do some proper climbing which should raise the spirits. Have arranged to see a shoulder person to see if I can be doing anything else about it. Have also ordered a new pair of glasses to try to help with my declining ability to see small footholds.

[Wellsy]

Monday: Light session of indoor circuit climbing, technique focus

Tuesday: Rest, other than a light few K jogging

Wednesday: Board session, wasn't that productive tbh. Felt slow and heavy, not fast and light. Weights after, benched 70kgs for 5 reps in 5 sets, a PB! Then did some RDLs, building up to 90kgs in sets of 6.

Thursday: rest

Friday: Anston Stones. Went to Woody's Rock so my friend could try Grape Crusher again, he did it first go! I got on The Unnamed 7A and after about an hour of trying managed to get it done (mostly spent trying to get the first two moves done). Very pleased. Felt a bit boxed after so didn't do The Wall 6C but just observed my mate get up it, good day around.

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: indoor board session, much better this time. Followed it by weights (benched 60kgs 5x5, 3 sets of 6 barbell rows at 50kgs, three sets of 8 barbell curls at 25kgs).

All in all a good week plenty of time spent climbing and getting strength up, new 7A which I'm very pleased with, and feeling quite psyched.

[Duma]

Well done on Colour of the Sky Liam.

M - TCA, bouldering. Ventured upstairs for the first time in a couple of months, did a black and 2 blues before getting distracted by forerunning stuff on the comp wall. Overall a bunch of high 6's and maybe a low 7 or two. Then nightshift.
T - nothing, nights
W - nothing, nights
T - nothing, nights
F - nothing, recover from nights
S - nothing, drive to Cornwall
S - nothing, family hols in Cornwall

70.5kg

Another meh week.

[User deactivated.]

Nice one Liam! I don’t think the video conveys how high that boulder is. Good effort. What was your pad set-up?

I had one pad on the ledge and another below it on the slope. The landing looks pretty terrible, but it's not that bad if you are ok with falling from a decent height. Once you get through the roof, falls clear the ledge and you just fall further to the pad below.

One tip is to try and land facing downhill, as facing uphill closes up the ankle joint too much when you squat on impact, and then sent me rolling off the pad a few times after ejecting from high up!

It seems mind echo is a slightly worse landing. It's lower but I tend to land half on/off the ledge.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - gym.
Tue - gym, EMOM 30' snatch DL x2, DL x2 90 kg. With olympic bumper plates concentric phase only. In scorching heat, best session ever, I'm the greatest.
Wed - 38° again. Clean, COT. What a difference it makes: easily worked my way up to match my previous PB of 80 kg. The future is open. I am the greatest. Lots of singles at 70 kg. Bliss.
Thu - gym.
Fri - 3' boxing bag, 30" rest, + 1' rope, 1' rest, x6.
Sat - DL 100 kg 2x30 EMOM. 32° phew.
Sun - dumbbell press and high pulls x5 EMOM 20'.
Good week with temps up to 39°.

[Will Hunt]

M - AM surf lesson at Surf Snowdonia. Never done this before. Pretty psyched to get stood up on the second attempt. 18 waves in total. I think I managed to stand up 50/50 at the start of the session but got washed over by the last 3 waves - I think my arms were too tired to paddle hard enough to catch the wave. Would love to have a go in the sea at some point but, alas, I live 2 hours from the coast and have no gear whatsoever.
Called in at Rhiw Goch on the way home. Felt fairly beaten by the previous day's body boarding and the morning surf but managed to flash Gap of Rohan and the stand to Ride the Wild Smurf. Then did White Rider after a few goes. Tried Moria but struggled with the finish and packed it in after about 4 goes.

W - Very wet day. Snuck to Hylldrem before dinner and did a couple of laps on the three main up-problems and the one of the traverse. Seems like a great, reliable eliminates venue but there's no topo anywhere?

Th - Managed a couple of hours at Tremadog and did Leg Slip at Bwlch y Moch.

F - Beach. Had a go at body boarding but crap connies with a howling onshore wind.
After dinner went for a look at the "boulder" that father-in-law had found near the cottage. A bit crap, what with the deep mine entrance at the base, and some chossy footledges to avoid, but some nice steep moves. Sit start to a layaway, reach left to hug the boulder, bump right hand in, heel on first layaway and then go over the mossy top (crux). 6C.

S - driving home.

[JohnM]

M - Short MTB in a monsoon 9km 267m. Shoulder stability + core. Finger boarding + hangs + 10kg on BM lower outer edges.

T - AM: NG PE session on Lattice rung (4 sets, -13km). PM: Campus drills, 8c replica boulders (crux 2 x 3 from stand, crux 1 x 1 from stand). Bicep curls + bench press.

W - Trail running 20km +1527m. Got heat stroke within the first hour crossing the valley and starting to climb. Got a headache that got worse after I got back and turned into a migraine and nausea. Ended up puking late at night but felt better afterwards and eventually got some sleep.

T - General finger boarding + BM lower outer edges + 10kg. Aborted PE session on finger board as it was way too hot and humid and there was no friction.

F - Rest

S - Climbing at Unterwelt, a good summer spot, for the first time. Was told I would still need a down jacket even in summer but it was shorts and t-shirt weather all day. Lovely spot buried deep in the forest high up on the side of a nice valley. Felt great warming up on the finger board but then got really pumped on the "warm up" 7a+. Tried an 8a which was basically 4 or 5 moves on a hanging rail above a 5b slab. Still pretty cool but I was pathetically weak and couldn't do the boulder up there. Salvaged the day by doing the best looking line, a 7c+ with a hanging corner and big move to the top of the crag. I still nearly manged to drop the top jug which felt like a bar of soap. Finished by "doing" the classic 7a Prince of Darkness but I was unable to clip the chain off the jugs I was sliding off from at the top!

S - Trail run/high mountain tour. Early wake up (3:30am) but we were on top of the first peak for a magnificent sun rise over the alps and then a long day crossing loads of mountain ridges and peaks with some running, scrambling and via ferrati(?). Got back down to 34 degrees in the valley bottom and melted!

Decent week but my shoulders felt cranky from the training earlier in the week and then I really struggled with bouldery routes at Unterwelt. Hopefully I don't really suck at bouldering as much as I felt at the time and it was just down to my shoulders being tired and the conditions.   

[yetix]

M
T lad stones
W some board and some dabbling on rock
T
F Forest Rock. Managed to do enchantress, tried anti hero briefly but was too tired
S
S Lees Bottom. Spent 3h on Under the greenwood tree, consistently falling off the move to the final slot. Eventually tore a hold in my finger from the 2f pocket. Friend was on Far From the Madding Crowd so decided to have a dabble on this with him despite feeling pretty tired and not really thinking I'd ever get on with this problem. Quickly managed to get the first 2 of the 3 move crux sequence dialed to the extent that I was doing them most goes, but kept just not quite engaging on the foot swap for the set up for the final move. Psyched for a rematch ASAP.

[tommytwotone]

Goal - new (to me) Font 7a

M: Nowt
T: Changed 4 wheels on car on lunch in warm weather. Pretty decent workout. Last Sun Dance sesh after work, but of a waste - caught them on a problem changeover day so there was a big unset section, and everything else left was stuff I'd tried by dismissed. Made a bit of progress on a V6 roof problem I wouldn't normally go near so putting that down as "working my weaknesses".
W: Nowt
T: Got bike out for first time in ages, went for a "run round the block" that turned into a hilly 5 miler round the village.
F: Dropped car off at garage in the morning, then jogged back (uphill) the 2.5 miles home
S: Rode back to garage on bike, then a chilled day as other half and kids left me at home while they went out. Changed wheels back over and generally pottered.
S: Shipley Glen afternoon with kids - they spent ages on and around the kids' circuit above Manson's Must etc, then I went down to pick off a few of the Alternative Circuit things I still had to do. Did Wood's Arete no bother, but then had a right scare on Raspberry (a few decent 5+ locks on jugs through a steep roof, above an awful landing), when I got to the top and couldn't fathom the topout. Proceeded to realise my predicament and then reverse said decent locks all the way back to the safety of my pad!

[SA Chris]

M - AM surf lesson at Surf Snowdonia. Never done this before. Pretty psyched to get stood up on the second attempt. 18 waves in total. I think I managed to stand up 50/50 at the start of the session but got washed over by the last 3 waves - I think my arms were too tired to paddle hard enough to catch the wave. Would love to have a go in the sea at some point but, alas, I live 2 hours from the coast and have no gear whatsoever.

Equivalent of indoor toproping vs surfing in the sea being mountain trad

One day there might be an artificial wave pool next to every indoor ski slope. Wonder which uses more energy?? 

[Will Hunt]

M - AM surf lesson at Surf Snowdonia. Never done this before. Pretty psyched to get stood up on the second attempt. 18 waves in total. I think I managed to stand up 50/50 at the start of the session but got washed over by the last 3 waves - I think my arms were too tired to paddle hard enough to catch the wave. Would love to have a go in the sea at some point but, alas, I live 2 hours from the coast and have no gear whatsoever.

Equivalent of indoor toproping vs surfing in the sea being mountain trad

Don't worry, I'm under no illusions about how tame and controlled it is. The big foam board helps as well. But one has to dip one's toe in the water somewhere.

[SA Chris]

Totally. It's a good place to pick up a few skills before being exposed to the harsh realities of trying to surf in the sea. I've never been in one of these artificial wave pools yet, but wouldn't turn down a shot once there is one closer to home (Edinburgh has one planned I believe).

[Bradders]

Easier week for me this week.

M - Malham with Ted and Tim P. Not a great session having been away from the polish for a while. Took two goes to repeat Consenting, and then had a poor dog up Seventh Aardvark, and a half decent redpoint powering out near the top.

Tu / W - rest

Th - Kilnsey, warm up lap on Allakazam. Put clips in Subculture. First redpoint I did the crux move, 14/17 of the hard bit, but incredibly a bit of skin on my left hand had hooked onto the rock, which prevented my bumping it higher to slot a toe hook in! Ended up with it not high enough, and it just slid out when I moved my feet over to go for move 16. Matched my high point at least. Second redpoint I just missed the edge on the crux. Same on the third, went to the top in a oner from move 16 and stripped it. Feel like I'm just being stopped by one low percentage move on this thing, which means I've just got to keep turning up!

F - rest

Sa - wrist strengthening exercises and a short fingerboard session, 4x 10s +35kg on 26mm edge with 3 min rests.

Su - quick 2.5km run then had my wedding reception! Lovely day. Bit tipsy but called it sensibly early.

[Wellsy]

Congrats on the wedding innit

[Duncan Disorderly]

Biffing club...

M: Nowt
T: Routes @ AW up to 6c+ - Feeling steady onsighting around this level... Psyched for Cloggy classics up to E4!
W: Kids
T: Kids
F: Short session with the GF @ Horse Thieves - Nice quiet evening, a good set of routes up to F6b.. GF led a couple too which was good... Came home and decided to see what the score was with Kalymnos flights as we've been thinking about it for a while... Shit the bed!! The exact dates we were thinking of for a price we couldn't say no to... So we didn't! YYFY!!!
S: Weather crapped out for Cloggy trip - utterly gutted! NNFN!! Ripped down a fence in the garden and started putting up a trellis but absolutely detest DIY when I should be climbing so fucked it all off and went to the pub! 3 glorious pints!
S: Forecast much improved - Decided on High Tor. Brilliant! Did Delicatessen as our first route, ace! Bit crowded on the stance but top-notch climbing in an awesome position. I then agreed to let Jus have the lead on Darius if I could have Flaky Wall... Brilliant climbing even on the second... His route reading went a bit awry at the top so we did the Andromeda finish which is cool as I can probably still do the original onsight one day Topped out just as the heavens opened which was a bit of a shame (and a blessing as there was a party below us that got well and truly soaked) but I was pretty frazzled by then anyways (I'll put it down to the lack of any real Trad action this year and Saturday's pints  ) and don't know if I'd have had the beans for Flaky Wall anyways (still my lead tho  )... Finished off with a pint and pizza, top day!

Top week all told - Gutted not to get to Cloggy and not much training but feeling fit and it was really great to get back to Hight Tor, ace crag! Booking Kalymnos flights seems like a bit of a gamble still but for the price even if it goes to shit it'll not be the end of the world... And we've got a trip to look forward to! Ace!