[Fultonius]

Howdy all, just back from Dumby and that's my week done.

28 Mar 2023

General boulder for 1 hr.

Circuits an cap test ala JWI. Target:  7a of  30 moves with 8 mins rest x 6.

Actual:  -  7a o/s 35moves; 7a 36 moves; 7b 45 moves (easy for grade, 7a+ really); 6c+ (hard 7a) 40 moves; 7a (hard, same as lap 1) dropped tricky move at 14, pulled back on and did 2nd half. White 7a, 29/36 moves, fully powered out.

Core tired, poor footwork by the end but pretty happy with where I'm at endurance wise.

30 Mar 2023

Fingerboard and campus warm up. Tested added weight on 10mm edge as a mate had been talking about 12mm edges. Managed 15kg for 7secs and 17.5kg for 4.5s.

Projecting a 7B white I'd been close on - success!

Struggled on a pink (vert, but needing pull hard on edges with opposing feet). Struggled on other pink that was steep on good holds - definitely a weakness for me.

How do you get stronger on good sized holds on steep ground? (duh, get on a  45...)

31 Mar 2023

No hangs. (feet on, finger conditioning)

2 Apr 2023

Dumby bouldering session. Bit humid and cold, almost no-one there to start.

Usual warm up. Worked on Bust my Chops LH (7A) for a while, got most moves but struggled on crux (holding sloper and bumping foot).
Got slap happy 7A after a few goes. Hung some holds on In Bloom.

Made some progress on totality (7B+). Held "drop" move with LH and made next move to crimp for the first time. 3 more moves to figure out and then it's linking - potential for my first "straight up" 7B+ (well, it does move a bit left, then right, but it's not a traverse really, not like consolidated).

Finished off working Nemsis SS which I'd never even heard of before, only 6B but still packs a punch! Got it done after more goes than it should have with a couple of lads from Edinburgh. Good pysche down there today.

[Duma]

Sounds like a good Sunday Fultonius, nice way to end the week. Mine never really got started:

M - TCA, should have rested but was my only chance to see some mates for a year. Few of the new blacks, but too tired from the weekend to get much out of it
T - forgot to take shoes to work so lunchtime session canned. Out with work in eve.
W - tired
T - tired
F - really busy stressful day at work, tired
S - parenting, tired
S - parenting, had opportunity to nip to wall in the afternoon but exhausted.
71 kg

Shit week, poor sleep and work got in the way to start, then been wiped out from work and a bit of a chesty cough.

[duncan]

Hang in there Duma, a challenge getting anything done in those circumstances.

M - Sirunella Centre. Warm! Needless to say the only people at the crag were Brits. and Scandinavians. Led Fil i prim and Gruyère, both of which I’d done before but are very good. Relocated to Sirunella East and did the excellent La marca del sorru, like a Pembroke E2 but with rather less gear. H got on Reloaded, the excellent-looking slabby 8a.
T - Rest day. Shoulder and elbow conditioning: handstands and so on. Wandered around the valley checking out possible harder routes to project.
W - Grau dels Masets to have a look at La muerte del sponsor. Clipsticked up it, managing the lower crux first go. Did most of the rest of the moves, or at least felt the holds, other than getting into the groove at the top which is tricky to work. Both the penultimate bolt and the belay are off to the right and you either take a whipper on lead or hurtle round the sharp arete on top tope. H had another session on Reloaded in the evening.
T - La muerte del sponsor again, figured out the final ‘boulder problem’. Checked the crux: still fine. Crag was too warm and elbows a bit too sore so didn’t spend quite as long working it as I’d have liked. Belayed H on another Reloaded session.
F - Rest day. Hiked to the swimming hole.
S - Early start to get the conditions on Grau dels Masets. Worked the mid part of the route which I hadn’t paid enough attention to on the first day. Went for the red point but foot pinged off on the crux. Too hot and a bit too tired for another go. H went back to Reloaded and redpointed it second go, surprisingly his first 8a. Made my trip, absolutely brilliant to see.
S - Drove to Barcelona to drop H off at the airport. Rest day. Shoulders conditioning.

Gradually ramping up the intensity, which the elbows are tolerating. I've been to Siurana many times and usually this is the point when I try onsighting a 7a or 7a+. It’s been fun getting on something a bit harder. La muerte del sponsor is superb and right up my street: not steep, technical crimping punctuated by stopping places. Pembroke E6?  It would also be my first 7b+ which is proving to be a bit of a psychological burden, pre-redpoint nerves are a new thing for me.  I’ve got six more days but my cheerleader has gone home and my shoes are tired. Tempted to buy a new pair but have about 15 others at home and have you seen the prices in Goma 2?? Can’t complain too much, Siurana is still great.

[moose]

La muerte del sponsor is superb and right up my street: not steep, technical crimping punctuated by stopping places. Pembroke E6?  It would also be my first 7b+ which is proving to be a bit of a psychological burden,

I remember loving that route (if finding it mildly terrifying) during a trip to Siurana when gale force winds made it nasty to climb anywhere else.  Such a great feature - up the centre of a high and proud face. Unfortunately, I have no great beta / tactics advice - my UKC logbook entry was "2nd go... only just. Sustained technical difficulties - hard crimpy start and a wild finish. Bolt positioning was a bit perturbing"  - which suggests just going for it is the best bet.

[duncan]

La muerte del sponsor is superb and right up my street: not steep, technical crimping punctuated by stopping places. Pembroke E6?  It would also be my first 7b+ which is proving to be a bit of a psychological burden,

I remember loving that route (if finding it mildly terrifying) during a trip to Siurana when gale force winds made it nasty to climb anywhere else.  Such a great feature - up the centre of a high and proud face. Unfortunately, I have no great beta / tactics advice - my UKC logbook entry was "2nd go... only just. Sustained technical difficulties - hard crimpy start and a wild finish. Bolt positioning was a bit perturbing"  - which suggests just going for it is the best bet.

That’s just how I found it, including the bolt spacing! I’m at the ‘just going for it’ stage I think; after a rest, recruiting a good belayer, and possibly considering my shoes. 

[mr chaz]

Power Club:
M.
T.
W. Evening board session - going well, arm seems to be improving
T.
F.
S. Snuck in an hour's session on the board between hosting and parenting duties. Worked on a new squeezy project which will be good and hard.
S.

[Will Hunt]

T - Moonboard. Finished off a new set I'd tried the previous week. I thought it had quite a tricky move on it and it look me longer than the other crimpy 7A stuff I've done on here. Stubbs went along the next day and pissed it second go. C'est la vie. Also did Limp Rabit (with a less-than-kosher top match). Got close on Ladder Ish - one for next time.

T - Anston Stones. Tried Resonate and, again, could reliably get the pocket (a very high foot up and out right makes this move near static) but I just can't do anything with the two undercuts and the LH one is savage on the skin. Went and sat under Bullet and didn't really get anywhere. Maybe just a bit condensed under there? It rained very heavily so I continued plugging away under the roof and tired myself out. When the rain stopped the crag was still bone dry so had a go at Chucklevision. Did just about all of the sit bit first go and then worked out the top. Not enough left to string it together. Fun problem though, another for next time.

Su - Glorious day at Lad Stones. Started off on Earth's Cauldron, then flashed Shyla Stylez. Tried Traci Lords via the rollover beta and got the good hold each time but not quite well enough to match and top out. Only felt very slightly harder than Shyla. It seems defunct as a stand start problem now, amounting to little more than bad beta for the LH problem. Moved on. Had a few goes at Underground Butler but the RH crimp was eating skin. Moved onto the other side and did Hades Lair first go, then Warstarter. Flashed Warstarter but for the first move which is shared with Hades. Should have tried Warstarter first! Felt quite a bit easier than 7B+ but did use non-standard beta, skipping the high far-right hold and going straight for the crimp below the top. Then did the LH start to Hades Lair which was also good.
Then went to the pub. Beautiful.


I really need to lay off the crimping for a week or two to let my fingers settle down. I think a trip into the Woods to brush rocks is in order.

[SA Chris]

back on the wagon. Won't go into full detail on previous 2 weeks, but a bit of an emotional rollercoaster trip to NE Australia. Managed 3 sessions at the (reasonably) newly opened (and thankfully air-conditioned) Urban Rock Townsville. Great setting, but all board surfaces varnished and slick which made for limited smearing options. Strange choice. A bit of bouldering on the stunning beaches of Magnetic Island, very sharp granite so short sessions and limited by tides and what had a sandy landing. Did a bit of running (25 very slow and hot km in total) and spent so much time in the pool i nearly grew webbed feet.

Anyhoo, back to NE Scotland

M- 7.5 km run.
T - kettlebells
W - 4km run (piss wet, poor route choice in road shoes slipped in mud)
T - nothing
F - nothing
S - climb at TE. Mostly belaying duties, then bouldering on the new stuff set since I was away. Climbed pretty well, got some of the better probs done, but some shitty setting right now. Finished off (I know you shouldnl't) with easy campus session, first since finger started going to shit back in October. It seems to have held up well, dare I say it's officially fully healed (wee bit swollen still).

Reasonably good week, jetlag considered.

[Dingdong]

M - Rest
T - Rest
W -Lattice Assessment 1 - made some good gains in a couple area
T - Rest
F - Lattice Assesment 2 and 3 combined - critical force improved and flexibility improved a fair bit since my last testing back in October. Good to see all the flexibility and yoga paying off, can definitely feel it when climbing too.
S - chill session out at mother cap and secret garden trying a few bits
S - back on Priestmaker 1000, 3rd session on it and all the moves done and dropped the end section, probably didn’t help climbing the day before. Gonna try and be more tactical this week before I try it again by resting a good couple days before I get back on it.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - garage session, clean singles up to 95% then clean and press (push) 5x10 66/64 kg. Brutal. Bar work, amazing sensations, the mysteries of aging.
Tue - BM 20" session, pockets and back3. Goblet squat and push, back work.
Wed - bentover rows, high pulls, bar work.
Thu - walked alot. Thruster.
Fri - boxing bag.
Sat - good mornings 5x5 100 kg, 5x5 90 kg. Shrugs.
Sun - goblet squat and press. Micro session after a day of twisty roads. It's all in the mind.

[jwi]

La muerte del sponsor is superb and right up my street: not steep, technical crimping punctuated by stopping places. Pembroke E6?


.... have you seen the prices in Goma 2?? Can’t complain too much, Siurana is still great.

Top tip: It is possible to scramble down from the rim to a ledge next to muerte del sponsor, which is a great spot to take photos: https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=212982

And the prices in Goma are like 50% above Spanish prices ... It is funny that it is possible to run a shop that caters exclusively to Scandinavian, Japanese and American clients in a small village in Tarragona.

[shark]

Thanks Fultonius

M.

T. Benchmarking session on Metolius campus rung. HC BW 10secs +5kg 10 secs +10kg 10 secs +15kg 10secs +20kgs 10secs +25kgs   10secs  +30kg 9secs +32.5kgs 4 secs clothed weight when doing hang 166.6lbs (75.5kg)

W.

T. Drive back from Devon

F. Pissing down. Ergo Edge set of recruitment pulls. Foundry. Set of speed pulls on BM middle low edge. Campus board. Worked a pink on the Wave.

S. Systems board. Stronger on benchmarks. Pleased to tick throw move with just three fingers in undercut and using crusher crimp. Sacked off 20/10’s as felt tired and finger joints achy and tips thin. Eve Drinking a stunning selection of wines at Graeme’s

S. Slightly hungover. Helping out on CC aspirants meet. Climbed with Pete from Leeds at Stanage left hand. Rock felt a bit skiddy and slipped off Traversties HVS which I’ve soloed a few times including last year. Also had a foot slip leading Hearsay Crack E1 5a before I’d placed any gear. Think the lichen had retained moisture. Followed a few other decent routes. Beautiful afternoon.


Nice to be back in Sheffield and start to reclaim my life though will be doing monthly visits down to Devon.

Lacking motivation still so have initiated project “Keep turning up” and hope the psyche returns.

Climbing badly and knocking on the door of 12 stone and no doubt fitness and general strength will be terrible but taking some comfort from my max finger strength scores.

My best scores in the deadhang session on Tuesday of +30kg 9secs +32.5kgs 4 is a 7.5kg improvement on my woeful session on Christmas Eve and also an improvement on my all time PB of +30kg 7secs +32.5kgs 6secs in May 2021 as I was about 7lbs lighter then. Will do some sessions on the Ergo edge to see if I can score some PB’s on that too assuming I can the little book where I record the sessions.

Well overweight but not going to try to diet until I’m motivated to do so.

[Coops_13]

M: Hollow Body Holds. Max 55s.1.75 mile walk with dog

T: Board session. Warmed up with one-arm max-ish hangss up to -25lb on BM 2K middle rung. Good session with three multi-session projects going down including the board's first V8! Took a gnarly fall off the top onto my arse which resulting in moving the hold I dry-fired off lower down

W: Hollow Body Holds. Max 55s. 10 mins skipping. Chest press, Diagonal raise, Svend press *3sets

T: Squat rack, bar, plates etc. arrived - spent time erecting. Tried some front lever pulls and surprised myself by holding a straddle front lever for a few seconds!

S: Clear Creek Canyon. Fifth session on Return of the Mossman V9. Tweaked beta and tried a new way before reverting back to old beta. Lost psyche and struggled but managed to psyche myself up again and sent it! Most time I've ever put into a boulder and probably the first proper V9 since Supernova in 2018. Psyched!


S: Hollow Body Holds. Max 57s. Bulgarian split squats 65lb X5 *5. Bench press, 165lb X5, 175lb X3. RDLs 175lb X5 *3. Shoulder press and diagonal raise. 1.85mile walk. Yard work

[edshakey]

S. Slightly hungover. Helping out on CC aspirants meet. Climbed with Pete from Leeds at Stanage left hand. Rock felt a bit skiddy and slipped off Traversties HVS which I’ve soloed a few times including last year. Also had a foot slip leading Hearsay Crack E1 5a before I’d placed any gear. Think the lichen had retained moisture. Followed a few other decent routes. Beautiful afternoon.

I thought I spotted you there! Tbh I only knew your face from that Gaskins interview, so wasn't completely sure, but it all makes sense now. I think I led October Slab while you guys were on something like Kelly's Eliminate. Stunning weather, just a shame my time out with injury has meant the return to trad was slightly more humbling than expected  hopefully can get fit again soon, when the psych and knee allow

[Aussiegav]

Power Club

Monday -
3x hangs. BW (89kg) plus 15kg Half crimp
3x hangs. BW plus 20kg. Open hand
3x 7sec 8mm micros. Isometric pulls full crimp

Tuesday
Rest day


Wednesday
Rest

Thursday
Depot after dinner. 4min blocks with 4 min rest on purples. Managed just 1 from 7 problems. Felt weak and tired.


Friday
Rest

Saturday
Did a lower body mobility session while youngest played footy on the Astro turf. Been working this for the last few weeks while watching him play. My goal is to be able to sprint again, and not blow a hamstring or breakdown. I sprinted a lot in my late teens/ early twenties. Managed sub11 for the hundred. Then moved to climbing as I realised that was as good as I’ll get.
So I’d like to get that strength and functionality of my body again. Be happy to run sub11 for 50m!!! Lol.

Was pleased I could complete my old warm up routine with out injury and managed run throughs over 20m. Starting at 5% to probably 60-70%. Stopped while the going was good.

After lunch I went to the Depot.
3x 20min project on purples
Felt good on the warm up. 
Project 1. Wrist felt fine so I went to the problem I struggled with a few weeks back with the wristy under cling. I did it first go.
Project 2. Groove line next to the pull up bar. I fell from the last move 3 times.  didn't do it in the remaining 18 odd mins.
Project 3. Involved two big flakes. I fell on the last move on this on Thursday night in the 4 min session. I did that first go, came back to project 2. Rested 8 minutes and did it next go.
The third 20 min set I spent trying a few problems. Including a couple yellows. The gap between purple & yellow seems quite a bit.


Sunday


Went out to find blue 44 & blue 48 in Froggatt woods. Got lost, saw two massive deer.  Lovely experience, but definitely want to find these two problems in a more efficient way

[monkoffunk]

I’ve had a bit of a break here with exams, children and injuries but this year I’ve managed to find a bit of a groove and figure I might make a bit of a comeback. Climbing still sporadic, but aiming to make the most of what I can do, and hopefully be in reasonable shape when I have more time in the future.

I have maybe been a bit overenthusiastic in the last three months on a baseline of practically nothing, so I have a slight Golfer’s elbow. However, last week was mostly rest anyway because I got Foot, Hand and Mouth disease (joys of parenting) so I definitely couldn’t hang off my fingers anyway.

M - Physio.
T - Physio. Fingers repeaters 7on 13 of 2 sets 10 reps each. Push ups.
W - Physio. Push ups.
T - Physio.
F - Physio. Push ups.
S - Physio.
S - Physio.

Focusing on physio and maybe more gradual return to training.

[Bradders]

T - Anston Stones. Tried Resonate and, again, could reliably get the pocket (a very high foot up and out right makes this move near static) but I just can't do anything with the two undercuts and the LH one is savage on the skin.

Was just thinking about this for some reason. If it helps, the last move is the crux and I remember doing it first in isolation, pulling on off stacked pads, to get a feel for it. It's a fair old way from a bunched position. I also don't remember the left hand pocket being particularly skin intensive, so again maybe worth working out how to hold it?

[Yossarian]

Missed a few weeks. The fortnight before this was mostly (almost entirely) spent working on board stuff. Not really getting lots of projects finished, but (peculiarly, after getting a really nasty cold / bug and generally constantly coughing and spluttering) I had two sessions where I felt the strongest I've ever been, both in terms of fingers (pulling on v small holds with bad feet) and more general strength (locking / reaching). My tension also felt miles better (eg foot swaps where I seemed to be able to float and take one foot off and put the other on, without it being a desperate struggle to stop myself swinging out. However, the recent board obsession has distracted me from stretching / mobility, which in retrospect has been a bit of a silly omission...

M - Rocher Canon. Quite damp after lots of rain the previous day, but things in the sun were drying out. Son delighted in telling us that it took us less than 4 minutes to get there from our gite. Spent the first chunk of the day finding fun things for the kids to get their teeth into. Had a quick look at Magifix (plus the sit) and Magimix. Top was a bit wet so intended to come back to this. Briefly looked at Pot de Terre - the initial bit of the sit version seemed ok, but couldn't get my head around the long LH move up on the original version. Gave up quite quickly. Then spent fucking ages trying to top out Les Calins de Kim. When I last tried it I wasn't in great shape and kept struggling to get through the bottom bit. This time that was all fine, but the bit where everyone seems to get a LF on the slopey edge on the arete and then cruise the mantle completely stumped me. I think my hips are prob far too tight still, and because I'm tall and still weigh too much, I think rather than shifting my weight over and slinking to victory, I was just pushing myself back and making things harder. Then went to have a look at Transat. This looked great, and (importantly) the topout was fine. However, none of it felt particularly easy. I'm not great at heels, esp smeary ones, and it was all on the right heel (mine is full of metalwork and gets quite hurt) so didn't get very far, but lots of syke.

T - Roche aux Sabots. Plan was for daughter and I to try to tick various things we'd left on the previous trip, inc Graviton and Jet Set, and then move on to Oiseaux. But I ended up having a bit of a non-climbing related meltdown (exacerbated by the place being quite busy / a gaggle of performatively pleased with themselves Brits bellowing Ancient Greek anecdotes which played complete havoc with my morose "life really is fucking shit" inner dialogue) and then it started raining. Gave up and retreated to the gite.

W - Rocher Canon. Decided that this was our happy place (daughter's favourite from previous trips), I was being less of a morose dickhead, so agreed to spend the rest of the trip here. Kids did various things, had a quick look at L'Espace (assis) but couldn't get my head around it. Then spent some time on L'Œil de Çiva (because it was near Transat). Completely surprised myself by doing quite a lot of it (trying fucking hard obvs). Was semi syked to continue, but the top was really dirty and tbh it's not an amazing line so eventually moved on. Spent some more time on Transat, which still felt hard but quite a lot less so than Monday. Ended up doing it in two halves, but still struggled to stay on for the move where the LH goes up around the arete to the holds on the lip. Pretty syked.

T - Rocher Canon. Went for a bit of an explore. Sun and showers. Did nearly all of Jour de Pluie (raccourci) in a couple of goes, had a sit down preparing to try to finish it and then it pissed it down. Spent ages trying to dry the top out, but combination of more showers and the top being quite green and shady meant it didn't really work. Did the original LH start too without too much trouble - another thing to come back for. Looked at Chute and Reve de Pierre but didn't really try for long as would rather have someone other than two small kids to spot me. Then spent the rest of the afternoon trying Levitation and Si C'est un Homme (the latter more out of curiosity). Tried to flash the 7A version of the former, triggering quite severe elbow pain in the process. Both kids tried valiantly too (inc 8yo son, who seems to rapidly becoming a bit of a beast). Daughter and I got quite interested by the latter - I think she wanted to tell her mates she'd been on an 8A - and the last bit seemed vaguely doable, though the start was v hard. Pretty destroyed by the end of the day.

F - Rocher Canon. Raining when we left, so we sat in the car park knowing we had about 5 hours till we had to drive back. Eventually it stopped, and there was enough sun for things to dry a bit. Kids still full of energy and got quite a lot done. I had a few goes on Transat again but elbows were painful and it all felt a bit too much. Drove home.

S - Back to the wall. Wasn't planning to do very much. Sensibly avoided the board, but got sucked into some fun new problems on the prow and actually did ok considering I felt like I'd been run over.

S - Spent most of the day on the sofa.

Great trip. Kind of ended up being very much what I'd originally envisaged - figuring out how we all felt and what sort of stuff we might manage given a bit more time / more reliable conditions. For the first time in years (if ever) I actually tried some things reasonably hard that actually felt like I could climb them / climb them quite quickly, vs having unrealistic ideas way above my pay grade. This trip was also organisationally so easy (not camping) and living in the SE means it really isn't very difficult to get out to Font more often. We've pencilled in a week at the start of simmer, plus something longer in August, and maybe another trip at October half term. My plan is to carry on with most of the training I've been doing, but make a serious effort to address various mobility issues as well. And I think losing another 10-15kg should also help. Good times...

T - Rocher Canon.