[slab_happy]

Thanks for posting this, speaking as someone whose 2023 goals are rapidly evolving into "1. Stay alive" and "2. Stay out of psych hospital", with the proviso that if needed I will sacrifice 2 for 1.

I am pleased to say that I have been absolutely crushing my goals so far this year, maintaining an unbroken record of being alive and not in hospital.

Godawful chronic illness flare-up is improving slowly; mental health is less scary than it was.

Fingers extremely crossed that this trend continues.

Also I quite wanna get Pebble Mill Traverse ticked.

I have not even made it over to Pebble Mill Traverse yet.

[Duma]

Happy with progress so far:

Abroad: couple of trips this year, one just finished.
Spain/Greece:
Climb well, have fun, onsights and quick ticks.

UK places: I've got more weekends free this year so want to make the most of it. Also had weekends in the Lakes and Yorkshire so reckon this is going well enough to be orange
North Wales at least once great weekend in late August
Peak at least twice - once so far
Portland twice - fortnight ago had a couple of days at the cuttings, and this Easter weekend has been excellent fun on the (far superior) West coast.
Ansteys - best sport on the south coast, I don't go nearly often enough.
Trewortha Tor: went once and it rained, but this genuinely looked better than Dartmoor, need to go back in the dry
Uphill Quarry - nipped by after work last month for a shunting session, want to get back to lead Jimi Hendrix.
Torbryan - as above, never been.
Spacehunter at least twice - been up twice since it reopened after summer bans, so so good.
Sunset Buttress - not yet...

Climbs:
Bristol Weed - had a really good initial session on this last September and then injured my elbow. Three sessions this spring, think the sequence is pretty much settled, and very close to in two halves now
Return of the Gunfighter - Brilliant route, best I've done so far in the gorge, and got to be up there with the best in the country (like Tennessee below...).
Just Revenge - the most realistic of my Ansteys wishlist
Tennessee - YYFY! Good session yesterday in decent conditions (relatively), got past the pocket but couldn't get heel up for the top crux. Today was much worse connies but psyche prevailed and both me and Remus got it done. Got to be one of the best at the grade in the country, despite the faff with tides and Smeg.
Ultimate Warrior - have had a pic of this on background rotation for aaaages.

Number chasing:
7c first go - did this in Chulilla a couple of weeks ago, see YYFY thread
3 8's - got to keep up standards
7C again - it's been a while (2019??)
Finish the Cheddar 7a's - 11 to go. 4 to go Done!

[nik at work]

Nice

[monkoffunk]

Going to jump the gun a bit on this, because all hope is lost for any improvements.

Few goals for me this year. Just the overview rather than the means.

Climbing

1. Try 7B, just to make sure I’m aiming high enough long term

The aim here was to make sure I got out and tried something hard for me. I wasn’t close to 7B level. I did try two boulders graded 7B although both are debated. That wasn’t the point though, both are hard for me with opposite styles. Looking forward to trying again next year!

2. Visit Lulworth in summer

I could have made this happen, but I was never going to achieve anything. Most of my year was influenced by injury.

3. Tie on a rope

Same as above. I also found it hard to commit to a open ended day away from the family. A morning bouldering alone is easier to justify.

4. Focus on consistency in training above all

Initially I went from basically nothing back up to climbing 7A+ which was my difficulty pinnacle this year. Consistency was key to this. Unfortunately I wasn’t conditioned enough to tolerate the intensity of the training, hence the injuries. I was really lucky to get the 7A+ when I did as after that I couldn’t really train any more and got weak again.

Life

1. Get off my phone

Its not been consistent. At times better than others. Biggest aim has to not be checking phone around children. Definitely making progress.

2. Sleep habits as ever

I couldn’t point to a time this year when I’ve been consistently happy with this. But I’m reasonably optimistic for the year ahead after taking active steps to help.

3.Maximise family time

I think I’ve done this!

4. Organise career faff better

A nebulous goal in many ways, but without going into boring detail I would say this has been achieved with room for further improvement.


Injuries dominated my climbing year. I can’t be sure but I think they have recovered. Can’t be sure as currently not really stress testing. Goals for this year will somewhat depend on how rehab and reconditioning goes!

[spidermonkey09]

Good idea Monk, following suit.

1) Unjustified. I've linked the headwall from the big undercut but thats the easy bit! Also need to put a new belay in on it, ideally before the spring. New belay went on at the start of the year. I then started trying it in earnest and made good progress. Quickly linked from crux to top and started redpointing as soon as it was dry. Unfortunately just as it started clicking and I was making it through the crux onto the headwall conditions started getting way too hot. I was expending a lot of energy getting through the boulder and then had very little left on the crimps just before the rest. I kept thinking I just needed one cool day with a breeze and I would do it but it didn't come, and I reluctantly binned it off in the May heatwave intending to come back to it in the Autumn. I have barely been back on it since as it hasn't dried at all at the crux. It definitely goes though, and I'll be back on it in the spring.


2) The Groove (again!) did not try - was wet all autumn.

3) Cashmere Cat - good intentions but never went, will rollover to next year!

4) Font 8A? Just started to feel more feasible in the last few months. I still need to actually try one in earnest but no longer feel like its a stretch goal.

5) Get new bathroom in the house. - success

6) Enjoy having a dog but still go climbing; basically make him good to take to the crag. General success - dog is great at some crags and shit at others, but I get round this by simply not taking him to eg Malham.

7) Set up PhD for the final year push in 2024. Keeping on keeping on. 15 months to go....

[Fiend]

Rollover year with added details:

1. Stay alive and try to find something worth living for. yes, kinda, I'm still here at least
- keep up with self-care and maintenance in various forms. I keep trying
- try to find some greater purpose in life in lieu of climbing prowess guidebook stuff and quarry cleaning cleaning
- just keep moving. a bit but not enough

2. Try to stay active enough not to deteriorate further. no, all physical capacity deteriorating
- try to transmogrify my depression into DMac-style "obsessive exercising depression" instead of "hide under the couch and hope the outside world fucks off" depression. quarry cleaning but to my detriment
- do more regular gym sessions to complement climbing and regain some lost gym prowess. no, nowhere near enough
- keep up with the "less sporadic than previous years" stretching. a bit but not enough

3. Keep pushing to stay in contact with friends, climbing partners, and maintain social life. yes but still challenging
- keep putting myself out there with local climbing groups and wall nights even when it's not promising  yes but still challenging
- be more flexible socially with venues and where and when I go by necessity
- try to become more involved and productive in the community (guidebooks, cleaning, clubs) a bit but to the detriment of climbing
- meet more climbers whom I share other things with esp. music taste and general vibes not really

4. Try to be careful enough to heal elbow a bit more. broadly less but picked up other injuries
- keep up with the steady mid-grade mileage indoors as it seems to be working yes
- add in additional rehab exercises if wrist-curls have plateaued yes
- do not get fucking complacent yes
- introduce something vaguely akin to training (Depot 30 board?) as elbow allows no and was rubbish on almost all attempts

5. See 1. yes, kinda, I'm still here at least
- if it works I might aim for some climbing goals. no



Further commentary about the climbing year saved for later.

[Hoseyb]

For the following year I wish to avoid any unessential injuries,
sore wrist but now rehabbed, a2 pulley rupture back to strength occasionally sore, sore neck being sorted. Not quite a success but manageable. Could do better.

climb with friends and climb some nice boulders in an off piste setting.
More of a success. Some good trips with Dave Fiddler, and mates from work, as well as an impromptu PebbleHelm meet

I'd also like to succeed in climbing the 2 projects I was close to doing this time last year,
I at least visited them, but sadly there is a lot of training to do.
and find another amazing crack boulder to compliment the 2 that fiend found me to convalesce on.
Not yet, although I succeeded on on of Fiend's presents

[Dingdong]

I had this as a goal last year as well but ideally:

- Reduce volume under 7B/+ seems to be working well, if I go out now it will usually be to try stuff at 7C or above and it means I’ve sent a number of harder problems

- Consolidate 7C - 2 questionable ones done according to all my friends (terrace and bullet) but ideally I’d like to reach 10 haven’t quite hit 10 yet but made some great progress, hard to with the weather we’ve had but I’ve done 7 7Cs now

- Climb 1 7C+/8A 2 7C+ done now, be good to keep building on that pyramid

- stay injury free (good luck to me) fixed my A2 sprain on my left middle finger after 7 months of rehab and then got one on my right hand ring finger haha, luckily it’s very mild and warms up fine

- work on my skin tactics and stop getting splits in the same spots. this has improved loads I think due to having less tries on problems and if I do get a hole or split immediately stopping and then trimming it down really well and letting it heal properly so it doesn’t reopen

All in all not a terrible year other than the shite weather. Luckily next year I have a number of trips abroad planned.

[kingholmesy]

Climbing

1. I would be pleased to do any E5 off the list of half a dozen or so South West routes that I always put off trying cos they look too hard and/or scary. Il Duce would be the ultimate, but not sure I will have both the courage and a partner to try it.

Went to try Il Duce but it was wet. Climbed King’s Arete instead which was a decent consolation price. Also took a day off work in October to climb Andromeda Strain which was ace. Nothing else off the list of SW E5s though so this goal will roll over to next year.

2. Climb something decent outside of Devon & Cornwall. Ideally something in the Lllanberis pass, or Gogarth or the Llyn.

Didn’t manage North Wales, but had a good weekend in the peak at the start of the year and a fantastic week in Wadi Rum at the end of the year. This was my first trip abroad in the decade since I’ve had kids - hopefully I can negotiate further trips in the future.

Life

3. Get better at jumps on my recently purchased mountain bike, hopefully without smashing myself to pieces.

I’m still in one piece and am better than I was, but am still pretty timid. Basically stopped going out on the bike once I had booked flights for Wadi Rum as I was too worried about injuring myself and not being able to go on the trip. Need to get back into it, but am pretty focused on climbing at the moment.

4. Get promotion at work.

Promoted to partner at work so definitely green, although it’s always jam tomorrow.

5. Have a family holiday abroad that everyone enjoys.

Had a great week in Morocco in May. Wouldn’t necessarily be my choice lounging by a pool for a week, but the Mrs and kids loved it which is the main thing.

[Andy F]

Keeping it simple and achievable as usual.
Sport: 7b+, anything harder is a bonus (which means I'll end up trying an 8a). Did one 7b+ in spring before a finger injury stopped all hard climbing for 5 months. That healed then a back spasm on my first trip out put me in bed for a week and curtailed any more trips out. Ahh well, there's next year


Bouldering: actually do some, 7A hopefully. See finger injury
Trad: who knows? Hopefully Fiend will drag me to the quarries and I'll lead another route. Let's go E2 this time. Ambitious but possibly achievable. Got some trad done, might have done an E1. My youngest breaking his median epicondyle in a fall at the wall two days into the summer hols meant I didn't get out with him as planned

[duncan]

Climbing

1. I would be pleased to do any E5 off the list of half a dozen or so South West routes that I always put off trying cos they look too hard and/or scary. Il Duce would be the ultimate, but not sure I will have both the courage and a partner to try it.

Went to try Il Duce but it was wet. Climbed King’s Arete instead which was a decent consolation price. Also took a day off work in October to climb Andromeda Strain which was ace. Nothing else off the list of SW E5s though so this goal will roll over to next year.

That's got to be a green hasn't it? Andromeda Strain looks lethal and surely E5! 

It took me three goes to get Il Duce not soaking wet and/or with waves crashing up the corner. Keep trying. I'll try to get down to N. Cornwall myself in 2024.



1. Try hard. Fall off a trad. route, or entertain onlookers [© reeve, an excellent measure]. Fall off sport routes lots of times.
Trying hard fairly often, a good number of sport falls, >150 practice falls. Did not have a real trad. battle. though rather embarrassingly fell off Thin Wall Special an E1 I'd done several times before.

2. Put some time into a good 7b/+.  Possibles include, in roughly increasing order of unlikelihood, Living Dead, Empire..., Road Rage, Paradise Lost, Cave Route RH.
Seven sessions on La Muerte del Sponsor and one and a half on The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Got close on the former. Quite enjoyed the process but still can't beat an onsight fight in my view. To be continued.

3. Get on a classic seacliff E5. 
Not felt close to doing harder trad. and didn't even try.

4. Rematch with Supersonic.
Not yet but revisited High Tor and felt comfortable there.

5. Climb at four from: Scottish Highlands, Islands, Fairhead, Lundy, Llŷn, and the north Cornwall coast.
Eleven glorious days at Fairhead, a couple of days in Cornwall, didn't make it to Scotland once.

6. Do something fairly long, somewhat hard, and mostly free.
Verdon. H’s first trip there and a fine time was had. I’m not completely sure if La demande counts as it is not very hard nor that long and a repeat from 43 years ago but I’m taking it!

7. Climb in places new to me, including somewhere in the excellent Northern Rock guidebook. Gordale or Malham would be great (not completely new but I’ve only been once, in the previous century, for the trad. of course).
So far this year I’ve done the complete opposite and climbed at Uphill, Brean, Portland, Pembroke, Siurana, Fairhead and The Verdon. All in the comfortably familiar box.

8. Climb with some new people. New indoor partners would be good too, if anyone goes to the Westway or Castle get in touch.
Have made an effort and filled out my dance card somewhat, climbing with more than ten new people indoors and outdoors even including some new-to-me people at the Westway. This is an achievement for someone so naturally antisocial.


A decent go at these aims and writing them down in public definitely encouraged 1. 2. and 8. 

Despite a good start at Pembroke and Fairhead, I did not kick on with the trad. As usual, coordinating fitness, partners and family is big part of the challenge. And the weather seemed shit in the latter half of the year. There is a fear of failure too: I'm not going to get up things if I don't even try them. I've just got to get on these routes and not worry so much about "losing the onsight".

[AJM]

1. Return to full body functionality. Rehab my hamstring, regain the ability to heel hook, sort my shoulder out, try to work on flexibility too (part of hamstring rehab too)

My hamstring was fine by the spring, but my shoulder has been a grumbling problem that has taken out much of another year. Making some progress now, but definitely not as planned...

2. Get out of Dorset a bit more. Aside from actual holidays, I didn’t get away much last year, got into a bit of a rut of local things. Even if it’s just short weekends to Dartmoor or day trips to Avon or Wye, every little helps. I’d also like to sort out some cool holiday trips as well.

Definite highlights here, we had a great trip to Pedriza in the spring, some trips to other places (a good day at shorncliff for example), a half term trip to Wales in glorious weather and a holiday to Scotland in the summer. Retrenched a bit later in the year, but I'll give it a green on the grounds there aren't going to be many others

3. Work out a sustainable balance of family and more focused climbing. MiniAJM seems to be really enjoying toproping and MrsAJM has got back into climbing a bit more recently. But at the same time almost all the local trad and much of the better sport is in fairly child unfriendly locations or needs child unfriendly time windows (eg Portland west coast evenings), so working out a way to do some more focused days or evenings and some family days and getting a sensible mix.

pluses and minuses here. Climbing with family would potentially be a green, the kids have enjoyed climbing, we have even managed to do some trad just the 4 of us (Jetty crag and also on Haytor). A consequence of other things going on though is that I've not really managed to sort the climbing excl family at all - once or twice but nothing you could say is a sustainable framework.

4.I said it last year, but I’d like to get more trad done - even if it’s just easier starred stuff - although preferably back into the E grades.

I did manage more trad - days at shorncliff and Symonds yat, a bit in Wales, Haytor, Scotland etc. Got a number of HVSs done (some technically repeats from a decade back) and perhaps a nominal E1. Hardest stuff probably Red Rose Speedway, Vandal and Ann and Looning the Tube. But as with other things I started well and by and large tailed off as the year went on. Greeny-orange.

5.More dws. I’d like to build the CV at Portland, Swanage and/or Devon, and I’d like to get to the point where I’m falling off the top of Mark of the Beast like all my mates rather than wussing out of the scary bit at the bottom. Or ticking it, obviously.

Rubbish year for dws. After that good run of weather in May and early June everything just failed to come together and I barely got out at all.

6.I’d like to try hard on some sport again, be that some good onsight attempts (low 7s?) or some redpointing (high 7s?)

I've not done much sport at all this year. I did a soft 7b at llanymynech, but that may have been the only 7 of the year?

A lot of stuff going on this year. Moved job at the end of the year which puts a move to Bristol on the cards some point soon, which will be disruptive but also create more opportunities for future.

[slab_happy]

Congratulations to everyone for whom "stay alive" was a 2023 goal and who has made it this far! We did it!

[csl]

First year with a young child so keeping it simple

Fingerboard > 100 times
Climb indoors > 50 times
Climb outdoors > 10 times

- Fingerboard 30/100 - guessing a bit here, definitely failed on this one. Was perhaps a stretch given I didn’t have a fingerboard up for most of the year.
- Indoors 50/50 - managed to average nearly 1 visit a week to the wall - doing more on a rope really helped with psyche this year.
- Outdoors 16/10 - even with the horrendous weather since October, still managed to get out a bit more than expected - mainly thanks to top-rope soloing and an unexpected month or so of freedom in the summer.

I also made some other goals part way through the year when psyche returned, but didn’t post them up here.

E4 onsight - done

Onsighted the headwall pitch of cream. Proud of this off the back of zero trad.

8a inside or out - not done.

I did climb an 8a indoors (and onsighted another) but both were very soft. I came within a whisker of climbing an indoor 8a+ which felt legitimately hard and I put 5 sessions into - so would have counted that. Didn’t try any outdoors apart from a half-assed go on Adrenochrome.

1x route off the life list - done

managed 4. Darius, Cream, A38 and Mark of the Beast

[slab_happy]

Congratulations to everyone for whom "stay alive" was a 2023 goal and who has made it this far! We did it!

Assuming we make it to the end of the week, anyway.

[Duma]

Some great years all!

[RobK]

At least 3 of the following existing projects. These range from having had a brief play, to having had 4-5 sessions on and repeatedly falling at the chains. *Cough* Biological *Cough*.
Canyonlands, Devil's Gorge
Nanabozho, Llanddulas
Broken Dreams, Dinbren
Bad Bad Boy, LPT
Biological Need, Kinsey
Herbie, Malham
Canyonlands, Broken Dreams and BBB. Didn't get to Yorkshire at all this year.

At least 1 of the harder routes I've had my eye on. This list may evolve if other stuff takes my eye.
Hades, Devil's Gorge
Statement of Youth, LPT
Insomnia, Dinbren
Had a quick play on Hades and Insomnia but decided to prioritise training for RRG in the autumn which was my original planned window for this.

Beat last year's record of 5 trad routes.
12!

20 boulders 7A+ and above.
Headed out to the Orme today to get the 20th done.

A decent year all in all but looking forward to trying some harder stuff next year.

[Ross Barker]

- Sort out the current dodgy A2 and then stay uninjured. I'll do that by exercising self discipline to drop the intensity when the volume increases, rather than just recklessly going all out all the time.
Big flop. Sustained loads of finger injuries/reinjuried on my left hand this year, ring thrice, index once, and middle once which I'm currently progressing. Some of them were reasonably minor, so I had to throw in a short-lived left shoulder injury to keep things interesting. I think it's due to creeping up session volume (particularly hard board stuff) when it just wasn't necessary, and it simply had a great risk of overuse. Right side is strong as fuck and uninjured though!

- Do more DWS. Did it for the first time last year and had great time despite being rather shit at doing more than 5 moves!
Half flop. I did technically do more than last year, but didn't try anything hard as I had a terrifying experience in early July which knocked my headgame, and then that scorcher weekend in September I had a knackered shoulder! Ah well, next year is another chance, with lessons learned.

- Do some training for DWS, or at least something a bit transferable like sport or long boulder linkups. Not because I want to send hard, but because being able to better manage the pump would probably get me more value out of it.
Nah. This might've been an optimistic one, but I don't enjoy sport/trad/being pumped enough to actually do this. I don't think it's necessary for enjoying it anyway, just means I'll get burnt off by sport climbers!

- Consider day trip-able DWS options around North Wales (driving from Shropshire):
*Nant Gwrtheyrn and maybe more Lleyn potential
*Various Orme bits
*Penmon and maybe more Anglesey potential
Sort of success. Penmon now seems to lack access and didn't make it to Anglesey at all. Gwrtheyrn was great but has challenging conditions. Orme was scoped out, seems reliable conditions-wise but never climbed on due to failing headgame. Heel Hook Look area looks good but shallow, so you'll want good tides for the top bits of any routes to be safe. Pigeons Cave area looks good and possibly better water but the exit wasn't obvious from where we were stood so I'd want to have that figured out (any beta?) before getting on anything. There are some staples on top which might be handy for an ab rope.

- Rigpa, but subject to pad logistics and finger health.
One good session between finger injuries, but that's all folks!

- Visit some of the "grand full day out" list:
*St Bees
*Sampson's Stones
*Cwm y Foel
*Rhinogau in general
*Howshaw/Back Tor
*Simon's/Lord's Seat
*Great Wolfrey
*Anafon
Not a single one! Had a big day up at the far top end of the Wavelength boulders which hit the experience, bouldering until dusk, sprinting to the car and grabbing a curry before the local house shut for the night.

- Do some exploratory/development days.
I did have a couple, so green may be fair but after the weather went to shit in June I only ever tried established routes like a classic boulder consumer, so orange feels more appropriate. Enjoyed little visits to Bryn Castell and Craig y Wrysgan though.

- Visit some of the "why haven't I been here yet" list:
*Pac-Man Boulders
*Cwm Glas Bach
*Carreg y Foel Gron
*Llyn Celyn
*Wimberry
*Wolf Edge
*Secret Garden
Only visited Cwm Glas Bach, and that wasn't particularly comprehensive anyway. I did go to a fair few new places this year which weren't on the list, so I'm not too disappointed with orange.

- Revisit some of the "got all or most of the moves done so could be a goer" problems:
*The Mentalist
*Lizard King
*Harvey Oswald SDS
*Cosmic Wheels
*Hannibal
*Severus Snape
*Brass Monkeys
*Cruella
*Grasswind
*Bad Moon Rising
*The Captain
*Old King Cascade
*Suavito
*Cholesterol Traverse
*Beef Growler
Fuck it, I'll give myself green for this one. In a year where I've been working around injury so much, and considering how much I normally like to go to new venues rather than the same ones anyway, I think I've done rather well to round off two pretty hard things. Harvey SDS will have to wait further, but it dries dead quickly and is super accessible. Bit minging on the skin though...

It's been an interesting year indeed...

[kingholmesy]

That's got to be a green hasn't it? Andromeda Strain looks lethal and surely E5! 

It took me three goes to get Il Duce not soaking wet and/or with waves crashing up the corner. Keep trying. I'll try to get down to N. Cornwall myself in 2024.

Andromeda Strain was less scary than expected. Some big runouts above iffy gear, but relatively easy climbing. Great positions and moves up that huge slab too - recommended.

I’ve been to try Il Duce three times already now! Fell off on my first visit and had to retreat, and was soaking wet on my second and third visits. I’ll keep persevering!

BTW - did we meet in passing at Bosi this summer? I was down there soloing with a friend and I think it might have been you that sent some photos to me via WhatsApp afterwards?

[Stabbsy]

Bit of a shambles of a year! Post-Covid symptoms for the first two months (unpleasant, but not too bad in comparison to what came next), a few decent months of recovering and getting some fitness back then 6 months of post-viral symptoms that seemed to be set off by a cold. Terrible sleep, rundown, persistent headaches and debilitating tiredness in response to exercise. Started to ease after 3 months and climbing is almost back to normal now, running still below par but at least it's improving.

Climbing :-

• 1. Do more stuff on a rope. 2021 2022 isn't a high bar to beat, but would be good to get back to enjoying routes. Ideally come back from a day on the ropes feeling more physically tired than mentally (a sign of how much by head game has disappeared over the last 3/4 years of minimal route climbing). About the same as last year.
• 2. Commit to some hard(er) boulder problems - failed at this in recent years so need to make more effort before the wet Autumn weather writes the season off and I scuttle back indoors. I'll put a number on it to try and make it more specific - 10 problems F7B and above. Tried nothing hard, see above.
• 3. Have a weekend away somewhere - I was promised one for last year's birthday that never happened, just need to make some work headspace and get something booked in. Make the effort to meet up with friends more, rather than going solo all the time. Weekend in the County in November. No ticks of note but great to be there. Also made more effort to climb with a few folk locally.
• 4. Some arbitrary numbers - 20 new problems F7A and above, 5 new (to me) crags. Very few new 7s, about 5 I think, but did manage the 5 new crags - Grasshopper Ridge and Farley Woods in the Churnet, Church Crag, Carrhead Rocks, Back Bowden, White Edge.

Running :-

• 1. 2 PBs on the road - still feel like my 10k time lags behind the rest of my PBs by about 30/45 seconds, so keen to right that wrong. Also another HM effort. 10-mile PB would be a gimme if ever entered another! See above, only races I did were on the fells in the few months of not being f**ked.
• 2. Train a bit more specifically for the fells in the spring and see what happens in English Champs and club champs races from May onwards Won vets' prizes at a few local races in May, felt ready to push on with some targets in the second half of the year and then spent 6 months in a deep, dark hole (metaphorically speaking).
• 3. Some arbitrary numbers - 50+ Oxstones runs to/from home, 30+ different trig points. Hit the Oxstones target (53 currently), nowhere near on the trigs (20) due to 4-5 months of doing very little.

Life :-

• 1. Finish off house projects - just the kitchen to go once the decking/garden get done in the new year. Decking done, calamitous roof failure meant the kitchen got postponed as we needed a new roof.
• 2. Make more time to spend with my wife and without the kids. Do something nice for her 40th.Post-viral symptoms over the summer meant I didn't have the energy to do much. We did manage a spa day for my wife's birthday and have been making the effort to get out for meals without the kids, despite it being awkward at times.

[andy moles]

Only one significant update on my six month review...

Having always been an opportunistic all-rounder with an allergy to structured training, I'm going to try setting a few more specific goals this year. Not with the aim of setting loads of new PBs, but just to see what it's like and whether having more focus keeps me more consistently motivated.

Climbing specific
Finish local E8 proj
Succeeded in April, 3rd ascent of The Rising Son. Enjoyed this more than any route project I've done, and won't be disappointed if it's the highpoint of my headpointing career - suited me perfectly, both in style of climbing and in being so close to my house.

At least one boulder problem =>7C
Got to the arete on Jerry's Roof on second or third session, but tweaked a finger in the process (god knows how, I'd warmed up and it's not fingery). Otherwise I think I'd quite likely have done it by now, so I'm optimistic for the autumn. Got it done in the autumn as hoped, just before I went to Antarctica and all climbing ceased.

5 sport routes in the 7c-8a range
If I can count Rising Son I might still have a slim chance, but this is looking very unlikely. Not getting away for a trip in January as planned didn't help, and the sore finger doesn't help either. I also just can't bring myself to focus on sport projects in North Wales in summer (neither slate nor the coastal limestone suit or inspire me), or to have projects that aren't close to home (unless I'm on a committed sport trip, which I tend to do only in the winter). I've defaulted to doing the sort of thing I'm naturally drawn to instead and I've been enjoying it, which I guess is ultimately better than ticking a set goal anyway. No change here, did almost no sport climbing this year.

Maintain some condition through the winter season (i.e. wall or board twice a week, assuming opportunities to climb outside don't happen)
Very pleased to have kept this up, by setting a fairly low but realistic target to fit around tiring work.

Sailing trip to Norway (subsidiary aim to climb one or two new routes)
Wap-waa. After a rewarding but challenging test week in the Small Isles, I/we essentially chickened out of crossing the North Sea and spending three weeks on a small boat. Psyched for more island-hopping boat adventures in future though.

Non-climbing specific
Stretch upper body every time I go climbing
Have lapsed a little at times but not doing too badly

Stretch lower body every day (will not count this a fail if it's not literally every day, but aim to get close)
As above, need to get back to standards of the first three months when I was doing really well

[Duncan Disorderly]

Looking at the deluge outside I doubt there's owt else going on this year so let's ave a look!

Climbing
More F7b's than last year - maybe even one onsight!

Seemed to not find as many F7b's that piqued my interest or I had a chance to get on but did manage a cheeky onsight of Arvanitakis Extension in Leonidio so gonna take the green tick - Had intended to RP but the GF struggled on the warmup so I was aware that I probably only had the one go - was right up my street and felt at the low end of the grade but I'll take it. I did manage to pull off a pretty large rock after the crux which was scary as fuck but still managed to pull it out of the bag - Great!

F7b+
Get on F7c - F8a project

Managed to do Zephyr F7c 1st RP and got on and did all the moves on Myself not a Fish F7c+/F8a - YYFY! Did also snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on Vertigo, another F7c that I couldn't have been closer to without doing so will be going back for that.

Moonboard 7A

2 7A's and a 7A+ - Not benchmarks though so I'll take the green tick with a hint of shame (probably 6C+)

At least one big trad day

2 Hard Rock ticks at 2 new crags - The Grooves on Cyrn Las and White Slab on Cloggy - 2 of the best days of my life!

Verdon again

Bought flights and ended up binning them as the forecast was atrocious - went to North Wales instead and had one of the best 4 days climbing in years (See above + LPT and Slate - Got spanked!)

Kalymnos again

Tick - Had a month there this year! 2 weeks with the GF, a week on me tod and a week with Energizer bunny and both our daughters - Ace!

Go climb somewhere abroad that I've never been

Leonidio in Feb - Tick!

Other Sports
Surf every month of 2023

Big fail - Jan to March was sweet as I surfed loads then it all went south - time and commitments meant that swell and availibility never coincided... Arse!

Do a bit of fell running

A bit - not much tho, would have liked to do more!

Life
Rebuild relationship with wayward son - hopefully see him get at least a couple of GCSE's

Work in progress but definitely moving in the right direction - He got 4 GCSE's so big YYFY!

Take daughter somewhere awesome and keep encouraging her climbing (gently...)

Yep! Font and Kalymnos

Manage long-term injuries so they continue to not cause issues

Yea - got a new case of golfers but the preexisting ones (shoulder, tennis and hips) are all proper bo!

Good slew of greens again this year - actually managed to get on hard stuff and somehow actually did some of it! Pretty pleased looking back! Life goals weren't too shabby either - time to put together 2024's list now!

[seankenny]

Get better from long covid, ie be able to function like a regular human being. This looks like being able to work, walk around, do some sort of exercise at any level. If I can get that done consistently then obviously I’ll be doing some sort of climbing, I will be happy with anything at the moment even just going to the wall.

If I make it to this point any time over the next year then I can think seriously about more tailored goals, let’s see where I’m at in six months.

Get better from long covid - Have continued to improve throughout the year, except for getting reinfected with covid in September, which put me back, but doesn't seem to have done too much extra short term damage. I have a bunch of drugs from the consultant now and an actual diagnosis, which I don't feel covers everything but it's a start. Still not well, but way better than I was.

Be able to function like a regular human being - Hmmmm no not really, though now I'm very rarely in the vegetative state I endured in the early part of the year. I've been out to eat loads of times this year (couldn't do that in 2022), have met up with friends a bit, have been able to listen to music again.

Work - I wish! Health still too all over the place, concentration improving but still not great.

Walk around - slowly improving. Over the winter I went into central London a couple of times but needed a full on rest day after, in the autum I've done similar but with just a quiet day following. Managed a hospital appointment followed by a visit to the shops afterwards, all in the same morning - unimaginable earlier on in the year. I've stopped shuffling and am back to normal walking.

Do some sort of exercise - I went to the climbing wall for the first time in two years!  Major YYFY for me obviously, I cautiously think that short bursts of effort followed by laying around don't exacerbate things too much. Have stretched every day since March 2022. I'm still pacing myself very carefully.

I wouldn't say I'm particularly consistent in anything except for stretching and meditation (which I also do daily, recommend it, again I'm basically microdosing but it's good), but my overall level is both way better than it was at the start of 2023 and still a long way off normal. My mental health has been pretty decent apart from a very dark few days in late summer, but they soon passed, for sure I get frustrated and angry at the state of the world (particularly with respect to long covid funding, don't get me started), but on the other hand, who doesn't get frustrated and cross? As per so many posteres on the "best of 2023" thread, thank fuck for my partner who has basically kept me alive. And thanks to all the friends who make the effort to keep in contact or make the trek to meet up near me.

[Bradders]

Climbing
- Limit projecting to 2 or 3 c. 4 week periods in the year -
- Outside of those periods no more than 2 sessions on anything - yeah did both of these, helped that I had the >7B grade chasing goal I think to focus on quicker ticks most of the time, whilst projecting was entirely focused on one problem which remains outstanding! Did a few things in 3/4 sessions which is always a nice zone to be in, albeit most of these were on trips and I don't really count 3 sessions in the space of a week as a project. Also felt like I did fairly well at despatching things, with quite a lot of problems done in a session but towards the end of the session which is always satisfying knowing you don't then have to go back. Helped a lot getting Ben's Groove Sit done in only 2 sessions this year (much more on that in the Best of thread)...
- Long trips to Ireland and Switzerland - spent a month in the Ring of Kerry in Ireland, living close to family whilst I worked remotely and climbed as often as possible. It worked brilliantly, my wife got to spend lots of quality time with her Grandma, my daughter loved getting to know her Great Grandma, and I managed to get out loads and loved the climbing plus didn't completely stuff it at work. There's not actually that much bouldering despite some promising previous reports on here, but what there is is very good, with some truly exceptional rock. The weather was great and I was especially lucky to get in touch with some locals who kindly gave me a tour of a newly discovered area.

Followed that with a month long holiday in Zillertal, Austria! It was brilliant as a family holiday, unfortunately I let high expectations reduce my enjoyment of the climbing early on, but thankfully pulled it round after the first week or so.
- Climb indoors more whilst training, not just on the boards - yep have made a good consistent effort with this whenever I've gone to a wall.
- Warm up on my home board before going out, particularly for projecting - sometimes
- 100 sessions on rock - I'm on 93. Pretty pleased with that. It's not the most efficient thing sometimes but I genuinely think there's no substitute for keeping you moving well than getting on rock regularly. Really thought I'd make the 100 this year but I didn't get out as often as hoped in Austria and then the awful July weather put me even further behind.
- When trying crux moves / sequences, when you stick it climb all the way to the top. Do this at least once a session.
- If you try a move and nearly stick it but fall off, either pull straight back on (if possible) and try to do the next move, or visualise sticking the move and continuing climbing. - done both of these pretty consistently. Absolutely no idea if it helps or not!
- Climb with other people more regularly - this was going brilliantly until I spent two months abroad climbing entirely by myself. Haven't really rectified it since either tbh, but would very much like to.

Grade Chasing
- >50 7B and up - 56
- >15 7C and up - 21
- 8A - 4 - very chuffed with all three of these. I felt like I massively regressed in my climbing during and after the pandemic. With my daughter then arriving everything is harder, so I'm very proud to have been able to recover some ground and essentially get back to where I was in 2019. Gives me real hope for the future.
- 100 Vpoints in a day at Almscliff or Caley - had one attempt at Almscliff on a warm day at the end of August but spent ages on a few things and finished on 74. Went back on a mild blustery day at the end of September and managed 92 in 2.5 hours, which I'm happy with. I'd highly recommend it as a fun thing to do. Every time you do something first go you get a little buzz of elation. I think Almscliff particularly works beautifully for it too as the layout lends itself to the circuit; starting naturally at the area around Morrell's which is a perfect warm up, yet includes Problem Rib which is always incredibly droppable. Move on to the burly steepness at the front of the Virgin and Keel boulders (I didn't actually do the Keel though). A little respite can be found easing up The Matterhorn before more burl on the Egg, after which you arrive at Patta's Arete hoping it doesn't take too much skin! At this point, especially if you're on a clock, it feels like you're never going to make it, but thankfully heading up to Demon Wall gives such a highly concentrated sequence of thoroughly repeatable (as long as Pebble Wall doesn't shut you down) V5-7s that you can make all the time back. I was really hoping to finish with Syrett's Roof so as to top out the crag having done exactly 100 points, but I forgot to do Que Fastido down the bottom and the wind was absolutely howling at the top so the pads wouldn't stay down for more than a second, hence stopping at 92. If anyone's interested happy to share the problem list. Caley next!

Life
- Move house - put our house on the market whilst we were away in May and June. Eventually took it off in September having had one viewing in total. Just not the right time.
- Keep exploring potential to move abroad for an extended period - very much in the 'too hard to even think about' pile atm
- Eat lots of vegetables - ups and downs

Training
- Stick to plan / don't get distracted by going outside - for the most part, although distracted in April trying to get my grit project finished before going away. Meant I never even went to try the problem I was most keen for in Zillertal as I just didn't feel confident. Shall have to go back!
- Do my ex-projects warm up circuit; x4 problems which I've done before but took me ages. One go on each at the start of a session. Current PB is doing 2 of them and dropping last or penultimate moves on the other 2. - best day was doing 3 out of 4 and getting close on the other. Not bad. Have since moved on to some other things.

[Ed booth]

HNY all!

CLIMBING:
-Planning on training through Jan and Feb and into March with the aim of hitting Malham in the Spring. Would love to finish off Predator and really want to climb Bat Route. Plan to go on other routes there too to help build fitness and dial into the style again. Had a nice session in the Autumn reacquainting with Bat Route, and it definitely feels doable. Just needs time on it. May get a Euro trip in here somewhere for some fitness and Vit D but work changes mean I can't commit as don't know when I'm on leave yet. Got 2 Winter/Spring Euro trips in which watch great to get back into climbing after 2022 on the bike. Never got up to Malham this year. Partners never really aligned to make the big 6+hrs round trip worthwhile to get projecting.
- Insomnia as a local sport proj. Found how to make the heel beta work in Spring '22 so this should be doable. Had a couple of sessions on it. Didn't do the bottom crux of Broken Dreams. Had one frustrating attempt, and then pulled on from after the move, and set off for a link and did it, so its totally on. Think I mildly tweaked my finger though so didn't get back on it this year.
-Get back to doing more Fr8a's and above. Think I only did 1 ? in 2022. basically cycled most of the year and got weak for climbing. Aim for >10 Tick. Think I did 12, got very close to doing a few more in few goes and didn't go back. Sometimes good training when you don't tick. I felt like I did the Thumb 3 times one day in the summer. Great route that one, keen for the rematch.
-Whilst training this next few months will try to get out locally and want to finish off Sub-Moron (Tom Newman's Fb8a at Grinshill) and maybe the odd day out elsewhere to keep the motivation up. Roof of Baby Buddha, Wonderwall, The Big Smile are all things I need and want to finish off. Did Roof of Baby Buddha and SubMoron-Shropshire Lass and SubMoron-In His Head links. Didn't get back to the others.
- Would love to get to Glen Nevis. Loads of trad I want to do there but would love to get on Stolen. Didn't get there.
-Hopefully carry some form and fitness out of the Spring and just enjoy some good climbing around the country through the summer. I've got loads of trad and sport routes that have been on my wish list for the past few years now. With the kids I've had to manage my expectations better so I will be grateful for just doing anything really, I just want to feel like I've pushed myself. Dream Topping would be a good early one as my Bro wants to do Strawberries. 39 Slaps and Trumpet Blowers on Scimitar.  Tried both whilst trying to get used to new TAz Lov. Made good links on Dream Topping. Led it on pre placed kit in 3 sections. To top of Strawbs crack. Then to the good wire halfway up DT, then to the top. Was honestly a bit wigged out to give full beans for a proper attempt, quite intimidating up there, and the weight of not doing much climbing and trad since pre Covid years definetly hasn't helped. Only tried Trumpet Blowers on Taz but super keen to get this finished off in 2024.
-Finish some things on the Slate like Quarryman Groove and Wall Within and Wish You Were Here (Very nearly did this in a sesh in '22 but fell on last tricky move with foot slip, went back week later and it was soaked!). Went on The Medium and nearly did it. Top roped it clean after few tries which was happy with but then fell off on lead tickling the hold, and a few other crap goes. Went back few days later and it was really warm and got on worse. Have a pair of sanded edge shoes at the ready, so now it's on the list of y unfished slate projects.
- I would like to try Unchi Maka on the Sialouze in the French Alps if I can create an opportunity to get out there at the right time with somebody psyched. Would need to have good overall all day crag fitness and be feeling psyched/not afraid for pushing it on a big scary wall out of comfort zone. Didn't go there, think the mentioned lack of volume and trad momentum for not being gripped would have held me back on this this year. Hopefully going to try in summer 2024.
-Couple of routes that I never got back on after getting very close to doing in a session are Supercool and Nemesis so be good to finish these off. Didn't get to them. I did possiby have similar level to when I nearly did Nemesis so thats a positive, but when a few of us were going to head across, the cons report said the cornice was gopping and think that was the Cornice story for much of '23.
-If I get to Pembroke and am feeling fit and have any trad momentum would be keen to try From A Distance and Big in America and more routes in the Leap. Didn't go. And similarly wouldn't have been ready.

LIFE:
-Got a 2 and a 4 year old so I'm always trying to get the balance right of doing my bit at home to maximise time away from the family, and juggling it all with work and being knackered. This has improved loads through 2022.
Generally can climb in Wales most weekdays and also do a longer day away. be good to do some more multi dayers to places like Scotland.
Changing into new role at work so hopeful  will have a bit more mental energy to expend on the climbing.-Not committing to any biking this year. I'm sure I'll possibly get out on some rides when the weather is nice, but don't want inflexible legs and bulky thighs so going to keep it causal. Tick to all of the above. Kids getting easier all the time. Job getting better. All gains for the energy pot for climbing.
- Have done a few park runs this winter. Got PB of 17.40 so far (its got a hill in you go up twice). Will try to keep getting this down towards sub 17, (done sub 17 on flat easy treadmill), but only going to train generally by using treadmill in work time. may also do local road 10km. Didn't do any running until the Autumn. Have recently done a 17.36 on treadmill, did 16.58 on same treadmill around time i got the SY parkrun 17.40 so not a million miles off. Didn't realise how much the '22 Cycling aero engine played into running fitness last winter.

Overall happy with getting climbing form back slowly. More trad and general volume required, and also a bit more snap on the board. And need to get the conversion rate up next year, never really got that momentum of getting stuff across the line this year despite getting close on loads of cool stuff. Great fun though so all good.