[Duma]

M - Albarracín, Arrastradero. Much more pleasant temps, but still decent connies. Warned up at Bidedua wall, including said problem. Flashed L'empotrament del Lament 7A after Roz showed the way, then struggled for too long on Inéschakra 7B, managed the moves but couldn't put it together. Flashed the stand on Mantra 6C and pleased to quickly do all the moves on Manuchakra 7C, will be back for this. Over the path, spent a bit more energy dropping Los Titriteros 7A+ at the lip (bit of a theme so far on the big roofs here). Moved on and managed a flash of Profundo 7B, again thanks to Roz for beta. Back across and a couple of classic 6C's, then one from the wishlist, La Lágrima 7A. As good as hoped despite the polished start, and got to repay some of my beta debt.
T - rest. Swim in a (freezing) waterfall.
W - Albarracín, La Fuente. Bit warm and humid to start, then just warm later. Got the amazing mantle of Mantle en el Bolsillo 7A after a bit of a struggle, then resoundingly spanked by La Fuente 7C, yet another reminder that everything looks easier on a video. Redeemed myself with flashes of Pirita Madre and El Chorro, both 7A. Struggled with the mantle of Techos de los Alemanes 7A in the sun, but got there eventually, then easy flash of El Tomasazo 7A, seemed very soft more like 6C? Finished on Fight Club 7B+, too tired at end of the day for realistic send attempts but got all the moves.
T - Albarracín, Arrastradero. Warm up then Rammstein 7B, felt hard initially but OK once fingers had properly warmed up. Then back to Manuchakra 7C, got it pretty much first go from the start after redoing the moves. Pleased with this, great problem despite the polish. Flashed the spiky Hojaldre 7A on thinning skin to finish.
F - Albarracín, La Fuente. Semi rest day, late start to let the dampness of last night dry off. Mostly spotting, but did a couple of 6C's and the rather excellent El Ovni 7A.
S - Albarracín, Arrastradero and Parking. Glorious weather, sunny but crisp. Warm up then much trying and failing on the excellent Grasshopper 7A+. Then back to meet the others, flashed Calibre 25 7A on the way. Over to parking for a chilled final afternoon, got Zooruyo 7A in a couple of gos with Remus' beta, and flashed the very generous La Letrina 7A+(7A/6C+?). Bit more of a struggle on Empotration 7A but ok once managed the first move. Finished the trip and my arms on Sandstone Traverse 7A, flashed by skin of my teeth.
S - travel.

? kg.

Great trip, nice to do another bouldering holiday after a few years sport climbing. Didn't try everything on my list but that's fair enough in a group, and happy to get a bunch done and tick 7C again after a few years.

[shark]

Nice haul Duma


M.  Home warm up. Tor. Nick S already there. Could feel core was down a notch. Managed from pocket and crimp to failing on cross thru 3 or 4 times. Not bad, not good either. Nick got super close on Bens Original.

T.  Ergo edge BW hangs FC, HC and Drag 10,10 and 10 secs and 3 x pull-ups at each grip type. Foot-on one arm undegrcut pulls on edge.  Foot off one arm undercut locks on bar BE . Front lever attempts. Assisted one arm undercut locks on edge with 17.5kg counterweight on pulley.

W.

T. Foundry Furnace. Easy routes on autobelay

F. Tor. Condensed. A couple briefl turned up to look at the crag. Told after it was Stefano Ghisolfi and his girlfriend. Tried to dry holds but lost patience - and confidence. Started up Tin Of but feet pinging off all over the shop. Despondent. Bailed. Dog walk. Home. Ergo Edge. FC, HC and drag +15kg 10, 10 and 7 secs +20kg 8,6 and 7 secs

S

S

Bit of a downer after Spain.

[Wellsy]

Monday. 3 x 20 seconds hangs, 20mm edge, 20kgs added. 2 hours indoor bouldering. Did several wasps at the works and a load of easier volume.

Wednesday - Managed to get a Kilter Session in on Valentines! Did a 7A, and flashed a 7A+ (Swoopin', must be soft). 3 x 20 seconds, 20kgs etc. Pullups, weighted pullups (3x3 @25kgs), ring rows, one armed ring rows, wide pullups, low rows.

Thursday - Hang Cleans up to 80kgs. Nice to progress these slowly. Front Squats too.

Friday - Two hours indoor bouldering on the new Yellow circuit. Did 15 or so, flashed many. Felt good, trust in slopey feet and commitment was there. They seem hard for the circuit, would like to do them all. 3 x 12 dumbbell bench @ 20kgs, 3 x 8 dumbbell overhead press @ 12.5kgs

Saturday- rested

Sunday - Weightlifting, Hang Snatched up to 42.5kgs (I know what a monster lol), Front Squat Doubles, Push Press @ 50kgs, rows. Kilter Session, did various things inc. 7A and 7A+. Felt good on those. 45 mins hot yoga.

[monkoffunk]

M - Gym a.m. Weighed pull ups up to 10kg today. Feels good, going to stick here for a bit. Deadlifts 70kg, want to make sure form ok before going heavier. 5k run evening.
T - Set of 7,13 repeaters. Yoga
W - Project. 45 board. 6A+ ish level. All quite big holds.
T - Nothing.
F - Yoga. V. small amount of elbow physio strength stuff.
S - Yoga. Quick board session before the night shift. 6As/6A+ level, felt good, did one failed on wed.
S - Yoga. Elbow physio strength. Little time so not much rest. Grip reverse bicep curls, shoulder external rotations, push ups. 3 sets each.

[mr chaz]

Power Club:

M.
T. Shed session - warm up on fingerboard, 3 x max hangs on lattice edge - 12kg. 1 hour on the woodie.
W.
T. Shed session - same as above, whilst also having a little reset of the some of the bigger holds on there.
F.
S. 5hrs DIY at brothers house, frickin snore
S. Facilitating my toddlers bustling social life

[Duncan Disorderly]

Back on the waggon - club.

Been absent for a few weeks due to low psyche and busyness (and Sharkathon )...

Still plugging away, not stopped or got anymore injuries - currently doing dry February, it's shit  !

Am also a year older and now a fully paid up member of Grey Power too! Raaagghhh!!!

M: Rest (good start - did climb Friday, Saturday and Sunday so it's fair)... Bit of stretching.
T: Autobelays @ AW - Worked new F7c - Had done all the moves in isolation on Sunday but struggled with the Autobelay (and wasn't sure I'd not cheated a little) so this time took a Petzl connect and rinsed them all - tough cookie! Managed to definitely do all moves and have moved on to doing links - 1st 3rd done now... Probably a good late winter Proj as it's really sustained - not sure I'll ever actually do it but will enjoy trying!
W: 4x4 on Autobelays - Up to F6b+
T: Rest
F: AW with GF - Routes up to F7a...
S: Walk up Kinder in't rain.
S: Big Depot - First time... What a difference from the old Leeds Wall! Hadn't been for about 15+ years... Great use of space, good setting and nice vibes! Lots of F6a-F6b's to warmup then F6c, F6c, F6c+, F7a (lob), F7a+ (multilob), F6c+ (autobelay)... Few low 6's to cool down - Tired!

The Psyche is returning - the sun is coming out and I'm thinking of dry rock, oh yes!!

[Aussiegav]

Nice trip Duma.
I enjoy reading the trip reports. Poor Shark with the post trip blues…


Anyway, on to Power Club

A bit of a weird week, not really sure sure why I’m logging my activity for.

Monday -
Finger board at home
18mm edge. Finger Strength Assessment
Half crimp BW 85kg + 20 kg

30min Peloton Tabata ride

Tuesday
Linked boulders. First 1/3 of the purple circuit.
4 reps. 3 sets.

Wednesday

Weight training at Virgin with the family

Thursday
Boulder Mileage session at the Depot.
rumbled through around 23 problems on the red circuit. Flashed around 20 of them.

Friday
Rest

Saturday
Linked boulders session on circa 20 move circuits. All on hardwood circuit board at the Depot
Molly H traverse 7a
Molly & Benji traverse
Half a pumper.


Sunday
Virgin Gym. Strength training
Chest flyes 3x8 12kg
Preacher curls single arm. 3x8 12kg.  Right Elbow doesn’t like these.
Box jumps
4x4 pistol squats

Unsure what will be happening after tomorrow regarding physical activity.
I’m having my elbow operation tomorrow.


I’ve not found anything online about climbers recovering after an osteoarthritic elbow cleanup surgery.

So if there’s interest from folk here, I could be persuaded to provide a blog on here. I’ve bumped into a few climbers who’ve got limited range of movement in their elbow. Maybe they can learn through my experience.

[webbo]

I had some loose bodies removed and a supposed clean of my left elbow in 2011. I’d broken it in 1981 and it gradually made more and more noise and would occasionally lock.
I was using the turbo trainer after 2 days, finger boarding and light weights after 10 days and back climbing after 4 weeks.
Which is probably why it cracks like a gun shot and locks at the present.🤣

[duncan]

That sounds like a pretty good trip Duma.

Good luck with the elbow tidying-up operation Gav. I don't know anyone who has had this done, I'd be interested to hear how you fare.

M - Portland with csl: falling off Nightmare Scenario (see last week).

T - Got the all clear to travel and climb from the Docs.    Prescribed various medications and more tests booked. Travel insurance just doubled in price and has a bunch more exclusions .

W - Brief fingerboard session. Flying visit to Manchester to be a physiotherapist and see Laufey. The Lad is a big fan but too young for her London concerts. It was a lovely event, the audience - mainly teenage girls - sang along beautifully with every song, Laufey seemed delighted with her reception and The Lad loved his first proper gig. It's always great to see someone early in their career whilst they are still playing small-ish venues. I found it slightly odd that he - and the audience in general - should be so enthusiastic about music that could have been written in 1950. Lyrics are very 2020s though: Billie Holiday “my man done me wrong”, Laufey “he started to bug me so I kicked him into touch straightaway”.

T - Back to London. Shoulder conditioning including pull-ups.

F - Fingerboard: brief session.

S - Shoulder conditioning including pull-ups.
 
S - Travel to Cornudella. Hip flexibility and leg conditioning: sumo squats, single leg squats, active hip flexion and abduction for mobility, frog stretch, hops.


This week was mainly about getting the all-clear to travel and avoiding injury, both of which I have managed.

Plan: ease joints, skin and mind into climbing outside; reacquaint myself with La Muerte del Sponsor to judge if this is a realistic prospect.

[Fiend]

Next week STG: Don't be a knob - no more than usual. Indoor volume - enough overall. Look after shoulder - some, could do more. More stretching - yes, plenty. Ponder TGUs before avoiding them - yes to pondering, but completely failed to avoid them.
The usual STG: Stay focused and don't make silly mistakes - hmmm, quite a mistake of pad positioning. Do something challenging and inspiring on a rope, or above a pad - yes, especially in the circumstances. Keep in regular contact with suitable friends and partners - mostly, not so much meeting up, but touching base. Falling practise if I do routes indoors or out - no. Look after injuries - reasonable, TE still doesn't like rehab exercises, and have gained some impact injuries, gym x 1 - yes and was decent, elbow rehab x 2 (maybe) - just once but felt enough, shoulder rehab x 2 - probably, I guess TGUs count, stretching x 3 - 4!!.

M - 1 hour walking. Misc scrittle groping.

T -  Gym. A fair bit of weakweights(tm). Started with a set of 10 TGUs (5 each side) and cursed slab_happy on every single one. Shoulders felt immediately tired, but after a rest, did consistently slightly better on single arm pulldowns, overhead press, and bench press than before... Elbow rehab. Shoulder rehab. 45 mins stretching, felt good doing this.

W - Indoor climbing @ Summit Up. 8 x V3-4 boulders, 5 x F6c-7a top-rope routes. With a new climber so no opportunity for leading / falling practise. Shoulders and upper body turned out to be a bit stiff after the gym so wasn't too frustrated with a very light session.

T - Indoor board session @ Depot 30. 4 x V2 (warm-up twice + mirrors), 4 x V3 (2 + mirrors), 2 x V4 (1 + mirror), 1 x V5 in 4 goes, attempted mirror but slightly harder on right arm, 1 x V5 in 3 goes, attempted mirror but risky for TE, some attempts on another V5 and V6, but got fatigued - still felt tired after Tue's gym. Warm up included a set of 10 TGUs (5 each side), less cursing slab_happy, but still a bit. Full stretching session.

F - Rest. Felt it was sensible after board fatigue. Full stretching session.

S - Indoor bouldering @ RockOver Bolton. 5 x V1-3, 10 x V2-4, 10 x V3-5, 5 x V4-6 - almost all flash, grades recalibrated to represent that the circuits are now about half a grade over-graded (apparently done deliberately by management, I hope they stop it and revert to some sort of sense). Steady mileage session, everything felt fine, especially skin. Full stretching session under their space heater which was nice. No dogs to cuddle tho.

S - Leg day. 1:20 hours walking, including a gruelling uphill. Touched some scrittle, 4 problems 6B-7A, relatively quickly. Took a hard fall off one problem, whacked my arse on a pointy rock, and was in a fair bit of pain, but it doesn't seem like a functional injury yet as I did some more climbing and hobbled back down.


Pretty decent week overall. Good to make some incremental strength-loss-slowing at the gym, good to have a nice mileage session, good to do some proper scrittle bothering on an otherwise unpromising Sunday. Have mostly looked after myself and today the arse is just throbbing and aching a little bit....as is the impact site from yesterday 


Next week STG: Look after arse (and knock-on effects down the leg chain). Keep up with physical self-care. Indoor volume. Maybe increase things a LITTLE bit if body feels okay.
The usual STG: Stay focused and don't make silly mistakes. Do something challenging and inspiring on a rope, or above a pad. Keep in regular contact with suitable friends and partners. Falling practise if I do routes indoors or out. Look after injuries, gym x 1, elbow rehab x 2 (maybe), shoulder rehab x 2, stretching x 3.

[Duma]

Hope the op goes well tomorrow Gav!

[stone]

Bit of a downer after Spain.

I know it's hardly Spain but I've had some really nice afternoons on the maglime recently. Honestly, last Friday at Anston and today on Beef Buttress were joyous.  It is striking how often the Worksop forecast is much better than the Tideswell forecast. Have you climbed the maglime out?

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - tired. 2x AM session. Bentover rows. Lattice edge mixed grips low volume.
Tue - board climbing, bah. Back work.
Wed - shoulder static holds, farmer's.
Thu - gave blood, 2x AM session.
Fri - 4x AM session, very short on time.
Sat - stairs and loaded carries.
Sun - moved 2 tons of wood. It took a few goes. Weights.

[Duma]

moved 2 tons of wood. It took a few goes.

Loool!

[Will Hunt]

S - Leg day. 1:20 hours walking, including a gruelling uphill. Touched some scrittle, 4 problems 6B-7A

Please could we have the crag and problem names rather than this outdoor-fingerboardingesque description.

[Yossarian]

Been meaning to rejoin PC for a while but syke has been fluctuating...

M - Fingers. Ash 20mm edge to (75kg x 5) x 5 (this has gone up quite a lot this year so far), then various stuff / volume at the wall with the kids.
T
W - Wall. Whole session (2hr+) on the board. Felt pretty good, inc some best goes (for a while) on harder things.
T
F
S - Wall. Great session on new set. No board, and no strength stuff.

Really struggling with being consistent this year. Have had a couple of weeks where I've done everything on my plan and it's felt great, then I have a shit week (mainly worrying about whether the past 18 months of work was a massive waste of time) and I skip sessions / lose interest. Booked Font for the last week of March which has helped (eg if you measure syke by trip-related phone tabs, mine have jumped to nearly 500). Lost around 5-6kg this year which sounds good, but that was almost exactly the weight I put on in the run up to and over xmas. Anyway, I should probably stop complaining now. Really want to make some progress on some of the harder things I tried last year (in particular Envie d'Ailes at Elephant) so going to try to get a bit skinnier and press on with a bit more enthusiasm...