[Wellsy]

Sick gains Remus, good effort

[remus]

Thanks both, it was a solo session so good to share the psyche 

[spidermonkey09]

Those spiritual floaty board sessions are ridiculous. I have no idea how I've done some stuff on the board, I sometimes try it a few days later and cant touch it. I'm convinced I've done my hardest problems on a board!

[DAVETHOMAS90]

Love it Remus.

Love the detail too, and can really visualise the moves.
Great psyche   

[Paul B]

I remember thinking, right, let's stop messing around and just squeeze the shit out of it.

If only you could bottle that feeling  .

[Oldmanmatt]

Because we don’t have a “Well, isn’t that nice!” thread…

Thirty years ago, there were no walls or training facilities in the Portsmouth area, so when the weather denied us our Wednesday afternoon, mad dash, pilgrimage to Swanage or Portland, or even the Pompey sea walls; we’d cram as many of us in Steve’s knackered Vauxhall and race to Guildford, the nearest wall. Most of those trips meant arriving back on base in the wee hours, to grab four hours before turn to and a following day of misery, half asleep in a classroom.

So, we managed to persuade the CO to let us build a a training wall in a casement of one of the old, derelict, Napoleonic, forts, inside the base. We called it “The Wall in the Hole”. That experience led directly to Rueben and Steve going on to build Alien Rock, in Edinburgh and much later, my premature attempt to retire by building my own wall in Torquay.


This week, having finally returned to uniform, I went back to that base, for the first time in 25 years. The wall is still there (bits of it, at least) and somebody is obviously still training in there. Amazingly, the signs we made, out of scrap wood, whilst impaired by polyester resin fumes, are still in the window and on the door.









How it looked bitd:



Bolt ons we’re hard to come by, then, so we usually just moulded our own onto the ply:



Maturity wasn’t really a thing then:

[Fiend]

 

[dontfollowme]

Brilliant

[danm]

So good!

This has taken me back to a summer over 30 years ago now, before I went off to Uni. My stepdad was setting up an outdoor centre near Epping Forest for inner city kids etc. I helped his YTS trainees build a wall on the end of a barn, the gable end had 2 top rope lines  rigged off scaffolding with a small platform for abseiling, but for me and the others who were just discovering climbing for ourselves, the real meat was the traverse wall. We carved every hold out of wood as bolts-ons either didn't exist or were unknown to us. I used all my savings to buy a chalkbag and some Scarpa Rockmaster boots, and spent every dry evening and lunchtime working the traverse until I could lap it. Happy days!

[Duma]

Ha! Pretty sure I remember that hold (trips over from Southampton in the late 90s)

[DAVETHOMAS90]

Hey, you look good in uniform OMM 

You could build a board in one of the damage control simulators at Excellent, to vary the steepness. Or maybe on the outside so it doesn't get wet..

[petejh]

Great stuff!

Scary that even now, 20 years later, I can visualise the inside layout of that standard-issue military locker in your third pic.

[Oldmanmatt]

Great stuff!

Scary that even now, 20 years later, I can visualise the inside layout of that standard-issue military locker in your third pic.

Yup.
And the little lockable shelf/cubby, that represented the entirety of your privacy, except during rounds, every week, or when the Reggies (MPs) we’re in the block, or when your Div Chief wanted to look, or when you left your keys visible, or any other time, really.

I’m in Excellent from Sunday, doing damage control/FF/SS/Getting gassed/Jumping in the sea improperly dressed etc.

Duma, what brought you to the grottiest of Gosport grots?

[DAVETHOMAS90]

Excellent indeed Matt.

Can we have some photos of you improperly dressed too? 

[SA Chris]

to Guildford, the nearest wall.

Was our regular thursday night trip when i lived in Surrey in 1989. Remember getting through the roof of the widest part of the "lobster pot" was the big challenge.

[Oldmanmatt]

Excellent indeed Matt.

Can we have some photos of you improperly dressed too? 

We’re not allowed to jump in the water!
Apparently, there was a fatality, after a certain sailor (civilian MOD employee) managed to lie about his age, FOR 15  YEARS!
Rather than 60 years old, he was in fact, 75 and suffered a heart attack on dropping into the Solent (8⁰C) from the 3mtr board and we’re now all banned from actually doing the Sea Survival course until better “safeguards” are in place.

The story of how he faked his age, to avoid mandatory retirement, is quite impressive, mind you. An amazing achievement in the 21st century.

[Oldmanmatt]

to Guildford, the nearest wall.

Was our regular thursday night trip when i lived in Surrey in 1989. Remember getting through the roof of the widest part of the "lobster pot" was the big challenge.

It would have been ‘89 when I started frequenting it. I remember very little though.

[SA Chris]

I may have a photo somewhere.

[DAVETHOMAS90]

I'd always thought that Gasherbrumgrove meant "Shining Wall" (it actually means Beautiful Mountain). Regardless, I thought I'd managed to return from the west face of IV unscathed. Managed to keep my toes.

#nodeathzonerequired



..chilblains are a thing. Haven't put rock boots on since.

Sorry, they're disgusting.

[moose]

I empathise - in recent weeks, I've been seriously tempted to buy some ludicrously oversize rock shoes that I can wear with chilblains.

[Fultonius]

I empathise - in recent weeks, I've been seriously tempted to buy some ludicrously oversize rock shoes that I can wear with chilblains.

So, chillblains. An historic relic that has resurfaced due to the old 'rona. I wonder if they were *always*some kind of circulation damage caused by some other corona type virus in the past?

[James Malloch]

After injuring my A2 three months ago, today I managed my “if I do this I’ll have a good session at Kilnsey” warm up on the board for the first time since then 😁

[BID]

Finally did Bumlog Millionaire. Only took 20 hours total. Soft 7A 
Over to you Wellsy :D

[Wellsy]

Well done!

 

[Fiend]

C'mon Wellsy you can't be at 20 hours quite yet....