[Aussiegav]

Catch up on last 2 weeks.
Spent my 50th on the Friday 26 May in Asturias. Love that place.

Power Club

Monday -
Rest

Tuesday
Fingerboard session

Body weight + 2.5kg repeaters. 7:3ratio. 3hangs/set. 4 sets. 1min rest between sets.

Wednesday
Peloton ride

Thursday
Rest



Friday
Rode to Stansted Airport overnight and got there for 2.30am.

Day 1
Placas de la Cueva del Mar.

D- Ruta 6a+. Onsight
A ya Encina 6b. Flash top rope
Las Fesorias de Ruben nos hacen much bien 6c flash.

Unknown 6b+/c Onsight left most line on the slab sector to the left. Brilliant route. Definitely 5 ⭐️

Saturday Day 2
Muro Techo
 Hot & sunny. Crag was in the shade but it was hot. 
Warmed up on top rope of a 6b, El Costa De La Vida.  Took some rests. Absolutely amazing climb. But it was not the best conditions with these temps to try and lead. I would have liked a second lap on top rope, but we only had one rope so I cleaned the route. Would like to come back and Redpoint it.
Unknown. 6a+. Onsight
Empatica. 6b Onsight attempt. Came off at 5th bolt. Worked the sequences out. Redpoint next go. The sun hit the crag and it got hot, around 27degrees. Packed up and left. 
Sat out side at Richie’s and watched a storm come in. 

Afternoon went crag developing. Just off the Senda Del Osa. Vertical gardening. Potential for a dozen routes from grade 5 to very hard. 

Sunday Day 3.

El Trasgu - A really impressive, newly opened crag with a bunch of very good routes and perhaps especially attractive are the long hard, tufa routes in the central section. it's a great morning venue as there's no sun until 3pm.
Access was along the Senda del Oso through the tunnels then a very steep walk-in up scree and then into the bush. It’s a really tiring walk, around 35minutes. 25 minutes was up steep terrain. Once at the crag, the wall was amazing & well worth the walk. 
The easiest routes were, Nuevo Dia 6b+ & Rospala. 6c. After the walk in I was tired before even climbing.
Nuevo Dia was a big steep climb up a tufa. I’ve never climbed on a tufas before. The starting moves were desperate. It felt move like 7a to get past the first two bolts. I basically got shut down and couldn’t do much of the climb. It’s a very different way of climbing. Hard to see the holds and they all face weird directions.
I got to near the top but then gave up. Battered and bleeding, I lowered off.
I videoed someone trying to Onsight at 7a. He nearly did it. Then I tried Rospala on a top rope, got to the 3rd last move and got the sequence wrong. Needed my right hand in the two finger pocket to pull to the top of the tufa to jugs and the finish. Very pleased and disappointed in equal measure. By now the sun was on the wall and we left. Definitely one to go back for. I really enjoyed this climb. 
Walked back down the steep track and then had two beers and chips at the bar in Teverga.
Great day.

Day 4. Monday
Morning session before the sun at El Rincon. A new sector up the hill from Depuradora.
Feeling a little tired mentally this morning. So went for some mileage. Managed 5 routes in about 2 hours. Slab sector on the left
, Liquidator V+, La Sombra del viento. 6b (I thought it was 6a+, there’s 2 tough pulls on  small holds, but the rest of the route was around 6a.)
On to the large sector to the right.
Abrazador del árbol. 6a. Translation is Tree hugger due to pulling on a tree at one point of the climb.
Hombre torcido (pitch 1). 6b+. This a big pitch with 3 cruxes, 35m.  Slabby start with an interesting crux pulling over the bulge, then coming out of the tiny cave into the grooove and then final crux climbing on slopes to gain the finishing jug. I was on this for 25mins.

Stairway to heaven. 6a. Similar to the other 6a, up a slab on big holds and flakes but the at the top there’s a really puzzling section to get past the last bolt before the belay. Had me stumped for a while. Managed to solve it and clip the belay. I really enjoyed this, surprising finish and felt it was 6a+.
By then the sun hit the wall and we left in the blazing sun. 

Being lazy in the hot sun for the afternoon. Sat with the dog, Chase, and then watched a thunderstorm hit the mountains across the valley. Took Chase for a walk and then came back to being lazy in the sun.
Finished the day with dinner on the verandah with wraps and a Spanish cake for my birthday 🎂

Day 5. Tuesday
Last day, woke to low grey clouds. But then sunny came out. Planned to go back to Muro Techo, but then changed plans once we got in the car and went to Rio. A new area I’d not been to before. Plan was to do a 6c, Hocus-Pocus, on the last session of the trip.
Went up on top rope for a warm up. Did all the moves with some rests on bolts. Then did it clean on a topper. Had a 40min rest and then Redpointed it. Job done, trip done.
Came home, ate, showered and then packed. Feeling very tired now I know I’m going home.


Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday rest

Sunday
Depot. Climbed most the red circuit. About 15-20 problems in total.

What an amazing week of climbing. Highly recommend Teverga to anyone wanting quality limestone sport climbing

[Wellsy]

Monday - Crossfit Murph, easy climbing before inevitable doms

Tuesday - rested, awful doms

Wednesday - easy climbing, squatted up to 90kgs for 5. Doms.

Thursday - Morning swim. light pulling training session. Still doms.

Friday - rested.

Saturday - Anston. Repeated loads of easy stuff many times. Banged my head against Nazgul LH 7B for a couple of hours. Despondency set in. Went for a swim

Sunday - tried some harder stuff inside and found all of them had irritatingly been set with a crux final move. Nearly did a couple. Heavy singles after. Failed 110kg backsquat. Was close, next time, etc etc etc. Evening swim.

Psyche: variable. Strength levels: okay. Weight: 77.3kgs.

[Coops_13]

M: Squamish. Straight to Gibbs' Cave V8. Found it really hard to get the beta right and lost a lot of skin in the process. Also struggled to trust my knee which felt a bit tweaky. After several goes falling off the top, managed to pull it out of the bag. Went to look at Golden Boy V7 but couldn't figure it out. Sit down to Holm Boy V6 went quickly then Minor Threat V6 did not - v hard but psyched to get it done. Finished by sending Swank Stretch V5 rapidly.

T: Hike up the Chief. 3.4 miles, 1820ft ascent

W: Squamish. Up to Mantra V8 to finish it off, sketchy fall off the top but psyched to put it down. V8s in Squamish feeling hard… Failed on a V7 due to trashed skin so finished the day flashing Super Daddy Long Limbs V6 and Sloppy Poppyy V4.

T: Rest day up to Whistler

F: Too tired for the two V7s I had my eye on so settled on Sunshine and Lollipops V6. After a sketchy time trying to top out with no spot and too few pads, was pleased to pull it off unhurt. Finished the day with a tour of some top 100 easier flashes. Easy in an Easy Chair V4, Superfly V4, Summer Vacation V0, Fried Ant V0 and Titanic V3.

S: Space Monkey V5 before the plane home, mega. Trip vid to come...

S: 45 mins peloton

[Duma]

Happy birthday Gav, sounds like an amazing trip!

[SA Chris]

Did you do any of the slab routes at the top of the Chief? Fun padding.

We took a rest day, mountain biked in Whistler, and needed a rest day.

[Duma]

b]M[/b] - Lakes, Dunnerdale. Lovely spot but the least inspiring boulders on this trip. The hillside has grown a lot since the guide making it a bit trickier finding stuff, and lots of ticks about. Still got a few good problems in up to 6C+, esp enjoyed The Grinder 6C. Climbing was overshadowed by the amazing swimming spot at Birks Bridge afterwards though. Long drive home in eve.
T -
W -
T - 
F - eve drive to Pembroke.
S - day parenting on beach, lots of swimming and walking
S - as above but less. Drive home.

72kg

[Coops_13]

Did you do any of the slab routes at the top of the Chief? Fun padding.

We took a rest day, mountain biked in Whistler, and needed a rest day.

we did not but I feel ya, even one day on, one day off did not allow for proper recovery here

[SA Chris]

We were mostly doing trad routes, long ones on the Chief and shorter ones on crags in and around the area. I found high volumes of moderate to hard onsighting on granite pretty taxing (esp on skin), most long trips have been bouldering or sport before. Luckily it was September and the weather enforced a few rest days.
 

[Coops_13]

Yeah skin was definitely the main limiting factor for me. I (surprisingly) saw no rain all week!

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - good mornings 5x5 100 kg 5x5 90 kg with pause. Push press. Squat.
Tue -  BM pockets, good. Double volume AM session.
Wed - some weights. Back work.
Thu - board climbing, singles, links, static. Tiring. 22°...
Fri - DL from blocks doubles x10 130 kg. Heavy. Then a few lighter sets. Bentover rows, bar work. I thought I earned a couple od Perfect Martinis.
Sat - thruster, high pulls. Tired.
Sun - clean and press. Bar work.

[SA Chris]

Yeah skin was definitely the main limiting factor for me. I (surprisingly) saw no rain all week!

We only bouldered for 1 day - wife is not much of a boulderer. I can't remember everything , but definitely did Easy... (overrated?) Superfly and a few others, and eventually ran out of skin attempting some "classic" lip traverse (Cannibal, Carnivore? something like that).

[duncan]

Happy birthday Gav.

Rest day here so belatedly catching up with PC.

M - Drove to Stranraer, ferry to Larne, drove to Fairhead. As usual underestimated how big southern Scotland is. Glorious drive on the A2 along the north east coast of Ulster to Fairhead.
T - An Bealach Rúnda (E1). Classic Fairhead: cracks of all widths, a bit green, great north facing ambience. Then relocated to The Prow and followed Simon up Embankment (E2) which I’d bailed off on a previous trip.
W - Binnagapple: Hurricane (E2), glorious jamming and pretty straightforward if you’re comfortable with this style, followed by Sandpiper (E2) which was a lot more technical and I found harder.
T - Raglan Road (E3). Lacked ooomph - a combination of hip issues and lack of trad. fitness - and happy to let Simon lead this. The first (6a, it isn’t) pitch wasn’t too bad; the second 5c offwidth a right struggle but succumbed to a mantle onto a fist jam sort of move. The kind of thing you do on a top rope.
F - Rest day. Belaying at The Prow.
S - Rathlan Wall area. Was planning to try The Hustler but this had a team on it so got on Conchubair instead. I’d done this 4 years ago, it’s always a mistake going back! Felt much harder than in 2019. Grey Man’s Path for a popular The Burner (E1).  This was a bit easier but even seconding the top pitch all felt rather up hill.
S - Binnagapple. Simon had a rest day so climbing with Kel. She lead Vital Spark (E2), a newish find. Very good in its current state, potentially a classic with a little more mileage. I did the excellent Toby Jug (E1), generally feeling a bit more with it. Saw a pod of dolphins cruise past heading towards Scotland.
 

Fairhead is as good as ever and the weather has been amazing. Staying in shark’s luxury van is strongly recommend. The meet has been fun.

I don’t feel very fit or flow-y: my last visit here came after several trips to Pembroke earlier in the year and two weeks in the US including an ascent of Scenic Cruise which was great training (or vice versa!). This year I’ve done three days at Pembroke in February and … that’s it. Perhaps it’s not surprising it’s taking a bit of time to get back into the swing.

The weather continues to be amazing and we’ve got another five days here.
 

[shark]

M. Travel in mobile home to Ireland via Stranraer. Lovely drive up the coast from Larne

T. Bumped into John Garside and Pete Chadwick at the top of the cliff. Did xxxx E1,5a,5b,5a which was great and then we wandered over to the Prow and led Embankment E2 5c which seemed very hard for the grade though that may have been because I missed some placements

W. Bingaplole and Pete, John and Eddie were there. Did the amazing Hurricane E2 (soft) 5b, 5b which had a first pitch which was like 3 Bond Street’s. I led the top pitch which was nearly as good. Then Duncan did Sandpiper which was a muchh tougher   E2.

T. Thought I’d step it up a bit and try an E3 and Raglan Road seemed a good choice with a crux 6a first pitch and a 5c top pitch strayed into a notorious E2 Offwidth and had Duncan’s name all over it. Te bottom pitch looked intimidating up a soaring groove but had helpful edges all over it and the crux described as lunging from a finger jam was nothing of the sort and just steady wall climbing. Duncan arrived at the belay and declared himself knackered so I had a go at the next pitch and got completely baffled by the crux offwidth of the E2 and ended up aiding past it. To rub salt into the wound Duncan followed it fine. Not falling for that one again

F. Duncan just on belay duty so went to the Prow. Did Midnight Cruiser a lovely E1 to start with and then Marconi E3 next to it which followed a groove and had a neat back and foot manoeuvre on the crux. Sun was fully on the crag by the time I got on GBH a very cruxy E36a. Slithered off the height crux and came down and pulled the ropes. Second attempt ended up the same. Had a couple of dogs then escaped up the route to its left. A route for a cooler day

S. Intention was to try the Hustler but there was a team on it so went on Conchubar E2 next to it. Duncan had done it before and led the first pitch which was quite green and unsettling. I did the sensational top pitch ok but was feeling drained. Finished the day by flogging over to the other end of the cliff to do Burn Up E1. I got the top pitch which was very good but my feet were really sore and I didn’t have the right sized gear to protect it enough as I would have liked to.

S. Day of rest

Stunning weather throughout and obviously wanting to make the most of it has been tiring work with the routes generally long, physical and sustained and I seem to have dug myself into a bit of hole. Good social scene with the Fairheadmeet.

[Fultonius]

I'll condense this week seeing as it was basically an extended session testing crit force...

Since the knee is tweaked, I thought I'd do some early summer benchmarking tests to see where my systems are at, and doing some basic upper body stuff.

50% MVC repeaters to failure - set my timer to 40 reps (I only managed 28 last time) and based on my MVC-7 going up to 111.6kg from 105kg, I now needed to remove 23kg instead of the 27kg of the previous test (also lost 2kg ish).

Despite the fact I had a few "dodgy" reps, where I maybe pulled back on a second late due to needing to chalk, and the chalk bag being in a poor place, I did try to compensate. VERY surprisingly I made it past 28, then past 35 and just kept going to 40 reps at which point I stopped as I had no more set on my timer....  Massive improvement.

60% MVC was 20 reps, up from 18 last time and with 5kg less removed.

70% was 12 reps (down from 14)

80% was 7, (down from 9)

Given I've been working consistently on base endurance and not a lot of power endurance, I'm quite pleased with my aerobic endurance gains. My critical force is now 46kg (41% of max, and 58% of BW) which is a big jump from the 32kg I tested at before.

I did try re-testing my 50% later in the week, but had a bad time (maybe tired, warm and humid) and only hit 27 reps... Shows how much variability there is!

The knee has been feeling surprisingly ok around the house, so I decided to see how it felt on Saturday with a short walk to a loch for a swim, swam about 800m and it felt fine. This spurred me on to have a tentative sport session. Went to Brin as, despite the forecast for roasting temps and full sun, it was cloudy. Repeated a couple of 6cs I'd done back in April which felt cruisy. Moved to The Camel when it got too hot to climb, on the way up met a guy who said "have you got belay jackets and climbing troos"? The Camel wind tunnel and shade was in full effect, effin freezing!

Anyway, got on The Stone of Destiny, 6c+ which didn't take much much out my aerobic zone (done before) and then had a good onsight go on Paralysis by Analysis, a solid 7a+ (many votes on UKC of 7a+/easy7b). At one point I didn't get a perfect sequence and could tell I was spending too long on small holds, but the fitness and new-found ability to keep pulling when pumped got me to the rest. The upper wall had a few surprises, but I got to the finish without feeling like I'd totally maxed out) which Is quite pleasing for a known stamina fest 26m route. With a bit better movement and some proper hard try effort, I could see me doing a fair bit harder! Knee seemed ok.

[Fultonius]

then Marconi E3 next to it which followed a groove and had a neat back and foot manoeuvre on the crux. Sun was fully on the crag by the time I got on GBH a very cruxy E36a. Slithered off the height crux and came down and pulled the ropes. Second attempt ended up the same. Had a couple of dogs then escaped up the route to its left. A route for a cooler day

I fell off Marconi (poor footwork and it was a bit damp) but got GBH -  I think the overly de(pre?)scriptive route description in the guide is unnecessary and actually sets you up poorly for the crux on GBH... Better to stick to proper crack feet and none of this high-kickin nonsense!  Pokey wee routes on the prow!

[Duncan Disorderly]

Missed a week (again)..

HB Gav...

Week 698
M: Sheaf Bloc - Rinsed F7b traverse, good benchmarking.
T: Yoga
W: 4x4 Session @ AW - F6b - F6c.
T: Rest
F: Yomp up Win Hill with daughter - ran down... Ace!
S: Surfing @ Cayton
S: Rest

Week 699
M: Routes @ Smalldale - Arrived late, did a couple of F6a - F6a+ routes with the GF...
T: Nowt
W: AW with daughter - Resting for Verdon so didn't climb mich past a bit of traversing.
T: Supposed to fly to Nice for a few days of Verdon action but forcast was utterly shite... Mate was unwell too, decided to bail and stick in the UK as everywhere looked glorious!
F: Drive to The Wales - Parked up at Bus Stop, got on Beltane (F7b+)... Dogged up then had a burn on TR, worked out all moves but mate got so badly midged we had to bail....
S: Pen Trwyn - Warmed up on Beaverbrook (F6c) then did Excusrsion Direct (F6c+), wandered down to LPT, Got spooked at the bottom (and the top) of Jacuzzi Jive (F7a) as felt if I fluffed either I'd hit something so binned it, really sore skin! Quick TR of Face Race (F7a+) - Worked all the moves but too sore skin to RP.
S: Cyrn Las - 3 fantastic pitches of  E1 5b on The Grooves... Didn't jam a single move on my lead so probably made it loads harder....

Great N Wales action - gutted not to be in the Verdon but in this weather Wales is pretty hard to beat - Cloggy next!