[Duma]

M - parenting.
T - parenting.
W - parenting.
T - parenting. Eve drive to Portland
F - Portland, Wallsend South. Trad Free World 6b and Jewel of the Isle 6b+, then managed a skin of the teeth OS of Halfway to Heaven 7b, amazing quality and really good fight too. Stalker Zone 6a+, then decent OS go on Reverence 7a+. Dropped it high up due to choosing the wrong option, but another brilliant route, and was in decent condition despite the UKC comments. Ace day.
S - Portland, Coastguard South. Smeggy to start until the sun came round. Pork Pie Smoothie 6b and The Crimpawocky 6c, then got the clips in Tennessee 7c. Moves all felt ok, and only normal levels of smeg, which improved through the afternoon. Only time/energy for one RP, but psyched to get past the pocket for the first time. Fell trying to get my heel up for the top crux. Pleased enough to plan to try again tomorrow, despite a less sunny forecast.
S - Portland, Coastguard South.Boggle Dog and Squidge 5, And Bully Boy 4, then flash of Right of Nuclear Fusion 7a+. Felt steady, and excellent route, really needs a proper name. Remus then got clips in Tennessee, conditions significantly worse than yesterday, lack of sun really hampers you on this route. My RP I almost slipped off a crimp on the lower wall and had to freestyle a little, thankfully good rests just above. The big undercut that marks the start of the meat of the route was pretty slippery, and the jug you span to felt less secure than Saturday too. Above this was fine though and I managed to fight through the pocket section to the jug again. Slight change in foot beta allowed much easier heel placement, and I was in! Really chuffed, and Remus got it a couple of hours later as the tide was coming back in too. Brilliant day, brilliant weekend

?kg

[duncan]

That sounds great Duma, Tennessee looks amazing.

M - Drove to Barcelona to collect The Editor. Shoulder and elbow conditioning: handstands and so on.
T - A bunch of easy stuff at the Arboli crags. Fall practice for me and belay practice for The Editor.
W - Back on La Muerte del Sponsor. TRed from the hands-off to the good rest below the top a couple of times. Checked the crux moves: still OK on these.
T - Relative rest day: hiked up to Montsant and did a few of the easy routes at Racó de Missa (an impressive crag if you’ve not been - pockets for miles - and a glorious outlook). More fall/belay practice.
F - Put the clips in La Muerte from the top. Felt a bit tired but warmed-up doing the top and the crux a couple of times. Redpoint was going well until I dry-fired off the little crimp on the crux. Gave myself a blood-blister on the tip of my middle finger and painful DIP and PIP joints on index and ring fingers in the process. Sun was on the route by the time I had recomposed myself and fingers felt on the point of further injury so bagged it.
S - Fingers felt battered. Did some easy routes at Can Marges in the afternoon but any lingering thoughts of another go on the proj. that evening were swiftly banished.
S - Journey home. Shoulder and elbow conditioning: handstands and so on.

Great trip to Siurana. Good company both old and new. Ate and drank exceedingly well. The scenery is still wonderful, albeit worryingly dry: there has been effectively no rain for 2 years according to the vintner we talked with. Sirunella and Négociée - good and shady crags - were moderately busy but it never felt crowded.

Started with a very tweaky elbow and wasn’t sure how much climbing I’d be doing so I was very happy to be trying a 7b+ and getting close by the end even if I didn't seal the deal. I'm definitely capable of climbing it if I can get the planets to align. Now I have a perfect excuse to go back. Lack of fitness and a belayer who hadn’t previously used a grigri meant sessions had to be short and I didn't get many redpoint goes. Enjoyed trying something a bit harder than my usual onsight/quick RP 7a/7a+. Also good training for Pembroke, High Tor and Uphill Quarry!

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.

Ha! Fortunately they didn't have anything in my size that fitted my feet (Sportivas or Tenayas don’t). Magos felt promising and I might have been tempted had they had size 44s. The price though...

My fingers need a few days rest before resuming try-hard with them. Will continue the fall practice which has definitely  helped. Will be single-parenting for the next month so quite limited in what I can do outside. Hope to get away for a couple of day-trips then go big again outside in mid-May. Might have another go to see if the lad is interested in climbing, he’s heavy enough to belay me now. 

Falls: 135
Try-hards: 8
New climbing partners: 3

[monkoffunk]

Nice work on Tennessee, have raved about it before and sure I will again. Did you learn anything more about when to try it other than sunny afternoons?




Physio + yoga every day

M - Repeaters half crimp, 7 on 13 off. Testing if recovered enough from Hand, Foot, Mouth that my nails won’t fall off (they didn’t).
T - Strength conditioning; shoulders, antagonists, core mostly.
W - Few body weight hangs to test front and back 3. Repeaters, half crimp 7,13. Not as good as Monday. One nail lifting slightly due to skin.
T - Strength/conditioning. Similar to Tuesday, but lower weights due to aches in upper back. More like a warm up + to work out the aches.
F - Was going to do something fingers related in evening, maybe few careful pull ups to see how the elbow is doing, but felt shit all day with new cold. Rest instead, try recover for next week. Skin falling off index finger tip.
S - Long day at work.
S - Long day at work. Progressively losing skin. Now pretty sure form other areas of flaky skin that the HFM blisters combined with tough callous overlying was responsible.

Skin care focus this week before hopefully going out and destroying it this week. Too bad to glue back on, think careful taping will be the way forward.

[remus]

Nice work on Tennessee, have raved about it before and sure I will again. Did you learn anything more about when to try it other than sunny afternoons?

Mostly gleaned off Duma, but: sunny afternoon, low tide from about 2pm onwards, low swell and an easterly wind all seem to help. If you could get a good westerly on the crag with minimal swell/spray I imagine that'd also work well, but obviously they're somewhat connected.

[shark]

Nice write up Duma and Duncan. Always up for High Tor when you are ready Duncan. Totems for rent at special price

M. Lovely day Walk with Poppy and dogs around Higgar/Millstone

T Lovely day. FB warm
Up. Tor with Nick. TR on Tin Of. First tie in did with a couple of falls. Clean on next two tie ins. Two further goes failing part way up

W. Car serviced

T Car broke down in Tideswell. Nick
Picked me up. TR on Tin Of. First tie in warmed up to part way. Next 4 tie ins did it clean without drama 😀 Might have had a shot at a 5th but Nick had finished and I had a sick car to attend to. 4 hours farting about in Tideswell before heading back to Sheffield on recovery truck

F Mark H had expressed a desire to get back into trad climbing. Went to Millstone. Lovely day Joined by Nic K and Neil B. Felt like the old gits at the crag. Led Great Portland St with Nic and he then retired due to a bad back. Then led Great North Road which is always a pleasure. Neil then retired. Can’t remember his excuse. Mark then led me up Lyon’s Corner House. Pint in the Norfolk Arms after.

S Sniffly mild cold. Lovely day. Got lawnmower going first time this year. Mowed lawn.

S Cold spread to lungs a bit. Walk at Redmires. Easter egg hunt. Chocolate consumption. All kids with us. Victorious at chess

Backed out of return visit to High Tor as not feeling well and forecast wasn’t good (though looks ok out the window). Tor again tomorrow and Thursday. Starting to think about trips abroad

[Coops_13]

M: Board Session. One-arm hangs to -30lb. Took a while to warm wrist up then sent some good problems on the new tayormadeholds. Wenge wood is slick! Set a new project that used a combination of HWH, BM, TMH Wenge, TMH Purple Heart, Granite and Sandstone - almost sent. Finished with weighted pull-ups 45lb X5, 90lb X2 *3.

T: Hollow Body Holds. Max 60s.

W: Hollow Body Holds. Max 57s. Leg press up to 220lb X5 *3. Shoulder press, chest press, lateral raise, diagonal raise, bicep curls *3. 1.5 mile walk round ATL concourse T

T: Mega board session. Sent last session's project early on then managed to do a lot more really good boulders. My mate set some bangers

F: Hollow Body Holds. Max 57s. 2.9mile walk. Bulgarian split squats 65lb X5 *5. Bench press, 165lb X5, 185lb X3 (>BW), 200lb X1

S: Weekend trip north with wife and dog. Went to Red Feather Lakes. Targeted The Vibrator V7, struggled to pull off the floor then realized the starting sloper was under snow. Went to the Dust Bowl to find a new fence blocking off access… Drove to Vedauwoo to find road closures preventing access...

S: Hollow Body Holds. Max 55s. More road closures prevented exploring of Medicine Bow National Forest. Long drive home then 3.5 mile walk round the neighbourhood

[Fultonius]

Low output week for me, picked up a cold on Sunday and felt a bit under the weather Mon-Thursday. Friday was a bit better and went sport climbing in Arrochar. mainly a volume day:

6a+, 6b+, 6c, 6b+, 6c, 7a, 7a+/b. first 5 o/s then the 7a I kind of onsighted, but kicked off a big foothold (5kg lump) and narrowly missed my belayer who "took" in reaction to me kicking rocks at him, so I had a wee sit on the rope and then did the second half. The 7a+ was a full-bore try hard effort (with beta) but I fluffed the crux as my heel popped. Sustained route, with couple of tricky cruxes and no majorly good rests. Both forearms felt a bit strained after the double onsights and 170m if climbing so I was done for the day.

Saturday was coughing all day, then went out for my 40th episode 1 (having multiple mini events to cover all bases). Sunday... but hungover and still coughing. 7km gentle stroll.

[Duma]

W. Car serviced

T Car broke down

Maybe try a different garage :-D

Did you learn anything more about when to try it other than sunny afternoons?

First things first, I reckon with low swell, it's accessible from 3hrs before to 4hrs after low tide (I took times from BBC). Obvs that window would narrow if there was a bigger swell running.
It got the sun from about 1pm, and sun made a big difference, I had hoped the lack of wind and swell would mean Sunday would be okay despite cloud, since there's been a few sunny days before, but this didn't seem to be the case.
It's also easy to just pull up the draws to the 8th clip, and from there to the top doesn't suffer nearly as much from smeg, so easy enough to get clips in while waiting for conditions to improve.

[monkoffunk]

Awesome, thanks both!

[Will Hunt]

M - evening at Wuin Rank Boods with designs on cleaning up the Mohican Area. Broke my bow saw trying to chop up a dead tree that was hanging down the crag. Abbed the Mohican slab and brushed the 2 6Bs on there then did. Lovely stuff.
Then glanced at the wall to the left with its arete which I've been eyeing. It appeared impossible, being slightly overhanging and with no apparent holds on the left wall. A phenomenally unlikely jump would seem to be the only option.
I walked round to the top to remove the moss near the top of the wall. And there, right fucking there, a three(?) finger edge, gloriously positive and composed of virginal white gritstone. Back down at the bottom I toyed with how to get onto the wall. Holding the arete and thumb-squeezing a perfectly placed pebble was key, and it should be possible to hop the right foot on and, by pressing into the right thumb, not barn door backwards. A couple of goes later it worked. Holy mackerel! A thumb undersprag into a ripple allowed the feet to udge up and set up for the distant crimp. A few goes later I tickled it. Jesus fucking Christ, it goes! I then started to use a pebble intermediate and variously didn't get to it or slipped off it a few times, then realised what I was doing wrong and, a few goes later stuck the edge. Turned it to a crimp and patted up the arete before flicking and chucking through to the top, which thankfully was positive enough not to need to be dry after I'd cleared the bracken off it. Beautiful, simply beautiful. I'm still jizzing about it a week later. It's so rare to come across something like this that only just works. It is serendipity, it is providence, it is destiny. Absolutely made up.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqlsNjCjRdk/


Returned to the Woods the following evening armed with an axe to finish off The War of Dead Pine. Had a choice in the shop between the little hatchet and the big felling axe and thought I would look less frightful walking through the woods alone with a small axe. What a fucking error. It took ages. Get big axes, people.

Took the rest of the week off to rest a finger that's been complaining.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - landmine: shoulder push, core side to side swings. Phew. Farmer's 8' 100 kg. Bar work, feeling good.
Tue - board climbing on current project. Slow but eventually got there, linked the first 9 moves, then the central section a few times. It's very very hard.
Wed - clean 5x5 90%; clean and push 5x5 80%. Bar work. Beautiful.
Thu - board climbing, very good: start to 10 twice, did it in two halves twice. Then links on second half.
Fri - boxing bag. Tired.
Sat - regular weights.
Sun - cold and tired after rainy ride. Goblet squat and push.

[Aussiegav]

Happy Easter folks

Monday -
Hit a plateau on fingerboarding. Not getting any gains. So changer to doing Body weight repeaters
4 sets of 3 with 1min rests.   These were really hard on the last set.
3x 7sec 8mm micros. Isometric pulls full crimp

Tuesday
Depot after work. Felt fatigued and fingers felt meh. New set of purples were up. 4x 20min project session 10min rest between sets. The first problem I just scraped up on the 19th min through pure determination.
Realising my fingers were tired, I looked for the problems with bigger holds.
2nd problem, punted the final move. Did next go. 3rd problem, did second go. 4th problem I couldn’t do.
Despite the tired fingers, pleased with the session. May need to review the schedule if this is the effect of the body weight repeaters do the next day.


Wednesday
Rest

Thursday
Rest


Friday
Rest

Saturday
Went out to Wharncliffe with the youngest. He toproped a route. It was a lovely day out. The landings there are terrible, rock quality good.

Sunday

Horseshoe Quarry with Steve & Cristal in the afternoon.
Warmed up on School’s Out. 6a+. Such a good route after the ledge. Pulled off a large hold on the lower section.

Jericho Road. 6b+. Steve put the draws in. A bouldery start and then engaging climbing to the top. A few good rests were appreciated. Very happy with the try hard commitment I put in. Was really pumped near the end of the route. Got the flash. 

The Leading Way. 6b+.
Still tired from the last route & seeing Steve have some trouble on the start, I opted for the top rope.  Very bouldery start, found a good heel up high on the left which got me to the jug.  Quite sustained from there to the top. A few minor resting positions. One to come back to. 

I was really tired and stopped there.

[mr chaz]

Power Club:

M.
T.
W. Evening board session, managed warmup plus 30 mins bouldering before I split a tip, damn!
T.
F. Center Parcs for wholesome family fun
S. ''
S. ''

[Duncan Disorderly]

Font Club...

Missed a week - didn't do much, rested an rehabbed elbow, drove to Font with Jus and both our daughters and Sunday was wet.

M: Pettit Bois - Cold! Had a look at La Balaine but wasn't feeling it, did a bunch of blues and reds. Rocher Greau - Got lost looking for Patience Yago, found The Kingdom of the Fairies 6c (https://bleau.info/pyrenees/304844.html) got stood up on the good hold (just before the pop on the vid) but both me and Jus got spooked by the friable holds so bailed - shame really as is a nice bit of esoterica....
T: Reconassaince, met Fiend - did a few bits (no guide) but nowt for kids so went to Cuvier Est, reds and tried summat hard that I didn't do... Saw Tommy C and Alex H, they say Hi  Kids crushed! Jus dragged me to Cuvier Main, SHIT THE BED!!! Never seen it so rammed, the area around Carnage was like Glastonbury (or maybe Boomtown sans Ketamine), hoards for Brittish student types with speakers waffling on about sending and other such bollocks... Never has my psyche drained so quickly and completely!!
W: JA Martin - Now that's more like it! Pure quality! No crowds, perfect problems, ace view... Kids loved it, did loads of circuit problems and Le Testicule for Fiend...
T: Rainy morning, found Patience Yago, gutted we didn't get on it, looks mint - next time for sure! Apremont - Tried Medallie en Chocolate - Close but no cigar (not enough spring!)... Bunch of circuit problems... Kids crushed!
F: Apremont Oust - Tried to do the whole red circuit but got shut down early on so cherry picked a load; fair few 6's on that circuit, even managed some.... Met Wellsey 
S: Drive to Blighty...
S: Horeshoe with Jus - Saw Gav Warmed up on F6a+, then did the F6b to the right - Elbow was screaming from deep locks while clipping so opted to TR the F7a right again after Jus's lead - went pretty easily, probably should have led it but have done it before so meh...

Great trip - didn't do owt hard but that was never the plan... Kids loved it, weather was perfect (for the most part) and company was on point! What's not to love! Elbow isn't happy - booked to see a physio and am now fully committed to getting fit and light for Verdon in June - Great!