[tomtom]

is this some sort of test?

Why do you think it's a test?

so you admit that I'm being tested

I knew it

For how long have you thought this was a test?

[lagerstarfish]

since Shark started emailing me with my predicted grades for the season

[Nibile]

is this some sort of test?

Why do you think it's a test?

so you admit that I'm being tested

I knew it

For how long have you thought this was a test?

Alan says hi.

[tomtom]

since Shark started emailing me with my predicted grades for the season

How did you feel about those grades? Do you feel threatened by predictions?

[lagerstarfish]

we're way beyond that sort of test

we know that Slackers is a machine, but we still let him receive wad points

I am an eating machine, but we need to see whether you think I care about conditions

I do care about this compulsion I have to refer to something that Fiend said about food over 8 years ago

[shark]

This is cute

[tomtom]

This is cute

Looks more like granite to me

[Will Hunt]

And we're off to a flying start. Mark Katz did the FA of Gritty Shaker sit start at St Ives last night 
Suggested grade 7C+/8A.

[Nibile]

This is cute

Looks more like granite to me

Yes, sure, granite in Font... It even has sand on the ground.

[36chambers]

And we're off to a flying start.

Was that the Call? 

Had a lamp session at the cliff yesterday and it was good.

[Footwork]

And we're off to a flying start.

Was that the Call? 

Had a lamp session at the cliff yesterday and it was good.

Did the grit even get called last year?

[r-man]

And we're off to a flying start. Mark Katz did the FA of Gritty Shaker sit start at St Ives last night 
Suggested grade 7C+/8A.

That looks good. I'm not sure FA's signal the start of anything though. There have been loads of new 7C-8A+ all through this year in Lancs. Conditions can be good even in summer. Or they can be hot and things still get done. This one from the weekend, an 8A+ at Troy.

[Will Hunt]

You have to admit that it helps if you've got Mike Adams on the case, Robin. Those crap connies didn't stand a chance.

[r-man]

Yeah, that helps too. 

[tomtom]

This is cute

Looks more like granite to me

Yes, sure, granite in Font... It even has sand on the ground.

Not enough litter for Font

[andy_e]

The gritty door is swinging open and shut at the moment. Last Friday at the cliff was ace, then Monday at the cliff was crap. Tuesday at Burbage North was midgy grease hell but half an hour later after sunset Higgar was top notch. Today Brimham was reasonable... I don't think it's time for the call yet (if you believe in that sort of thing).

[Nibile]

Last Friday at the cliff was ace, then Monday at the cliff was crap. Tuesday at Burbage North was midgy grease hell but half an hour later after sunset Higgar was top notch. Today Brimham was reasonable...

Jesuschrist don't you have a job?

[andy_e]

Not until a week on Monday... 

[Nibile]

Lucky mofo.
On a second thought though, I believe I'm lucky not to have any time, otherwise the Great Outdoors© could remind me how crap I am on anything but my own board.
Unjustified self-esteem is useful.

[lagerstarfish]

my wife hasn't asked for the heating to be turned on at our house yet - can't be anywhere near grit time

[andy_e]

Whilst I am having a great time climbing outside loads, I feel blasphemous as I haven't touched a board in over a month. Sinner.

[moose]

The gritty door is swinging open and shut at the moment. Last Friday at the cliff was ace, then Monday at the cliff was crap. Tuesday at Burbage North was midgy grease hell but half an hour later after sunset Higgar was top notch. Today Brimham was reasonable... I don't think it's time for the call yet (if you believe in that sort of thing).

Personally, the definition of the grit season is that period when the vegetation at Caley is low enough that you can navigate to the boulders, but it hasn't yet got too green and wet and cold to climb them.  Last year, it lasted around 3 days.  Not ready yet: last Sunday, getting my mats from the car to the Blockbuster area resembled a mash-up of Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre Wrath of God.  I ended up having to decamp to the more open environs of Scary Canary because the jungle vibe was bringing on too many 'Nam flashbacks.

[36chambers]

The gritty door is swinging open and shut at the moment. Last Friday at the cliff was ace, then Monday at the cliff was crap. Tuesday at Burbage North was midgy grease hell but half an hour later after sunset Higgar was top notch. Today Brimham was reasonable... I don't think it's time for the call yet (if you believe in that sort of thing).

Personally, the definition of the grit season is that period when the vegetation at Caley is low enough that you can navigate to the boulders, but it hasn't yet got too green and wet and cold to climb them.  Last year, it lasted around 3 days.  Not ready yet: last Sunday, getting my mats from the car to the Blockbuster area resembled a mash-up of Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre Wrath of God.  I ended up having to decamp to the more open environs of Scary Canary because the jungle vibe was bringing on too many 'Nam flashbacks.

I was literally (/effectively) about to write the same thing. Grit season, as far as I'm confirm, is solely based on the Fern situation at Caley. The ferns at the cliff look like they are on their last legs but I have not dared yet to make the trip over to Caley just yet.

[cheque]

last Sunday, getting my mats from the car to the Blockbuster area resembled a mash-up of Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre Wrath of God

 

1. Bracken dead
2. Lime wet
3. Midges gone
4. Cold temps
5. A crow is born with the head of quail

[moose]

I kept finding myself marooned on boulders, looking out over a sea of bracken.  Sure that the path I have used for a decade was immediately alongside me, but equally certain that any attempt to use it would lead to a prolonged ordeal of sudden plunges down hidden dips and feet trapped in rabbit holes. 

Ever seen photographs or read accounts of ill-fated arctic sailing expeditions, where ships have been imobilised in ice for years at a time?  The vegetal equivalent is what awaits anyone foolhardy enough to venture upslope at Caley.  If you insist on going, I beseach you, take a knife to cut yourself free from your bouldering mats.  Otherwise, I fear that when the bracken recedes, a ghoulish army of skeletons will be revealed, frozen in attitudes of despair, or perhaps in the act of trying to chew through a trapped leg.

Still....... it's not as bad as Guisecliffe.....