[shark]

11.6 (today)

M.
T.  PM. Cheddar. Got let down so went with family. Hot and humid. Climbed at Remnant. When sun went off tried to onsight Its a Kind of Magic 7a+ but went wrong way at bulge and dogged to top. Tommy was persuaded to give it a go and flashed it on top rope  . I redpointed it after.
W.
T. PM Bude with family. Found some overhanging rock on Crooklets beach and did some deadhanging, undercutting and assisted one armers.
F.
S.
S. Tor. Better conditions but still not perfect. Couple of goes on AM and dogged up Indecent. Had a play on Weedkiller.

Pleasant bucolic week in South West. Ate and drank too much. Need to up game to get in shape for Oak in September.

[Muenchener]

STG: Ailefroide/Ecrins. Granite slab 6b Yes; Visite Obligatoire or Madier on Aiguille du Dibona   No: decided driving round to the other side of the range wasn't worth it when we were only out for a week. Another time
MTG (2013): Frankenjura VII onsight; Alpine multipitch VI; Welsh trad E2
   Redpoint UIAA VIII-, then 7a, then 5.12a. This should allow for a satisfying amount of Big Grade progression in a relatively short period of time
LTG (<= 5 years): Big alpine rock routes: Totenkirchl west face (Dülfer), Marmolada south face (Vinatzer-Messner)

Two weeks worth this week; was on holiday

M:
T:
W: 
T: Wall, Thalkirchen. Endurance training session: circuits & feet-on campusing. Tried 3 x 3 x 45s on, 30s off with 5 minutes between sets.
F: yoga
S: Big Drive Munich -> Ailefroide
S: Ailefroide: granite friction warm up on single pitch stuff up to 6a on Secteur Etoiles

M: Ailefroide: attempted a 6-pitch 6a, Explosion du Calcaneum, but backed off two pitches from the top due to clouds making thundery noises. These turned out not to amount to anything, but better an overcautious alpinist than a dead one. The route as far as we got was brilliant and the rest looked equally good.
T: Ailefroide: wanted to do Orage d'Etoiles, a 10-pitch classic 6a, but had great difficulty finding the start. This turned out to be because we were at entirely the wrong crag, in a newly developed sector that wasn't in my guidebook. On which we made our way up half a dozen very pleasant 6a-ish pitches until we ran out of rock, then abbed off.
W: Ailefroide: forecast was for thunder showers, so we bouldered in the morning then went down the hill to a quartzite sport crag at Prelles near Briançon. My mate loved it, I hated it at first but warmed to it gradually and the last route we did, Energie Positive at 6b, was (a) his first ever 6b flash and (b) one of the best sport routes I've ever done
T: Ailfroide: Snoopy Directe, 9-pitch 6b. Really good and the only actual multipitch success of the week.
F: Ailefroide: we wanted to do something higher up in the mountains so tried Soleil Trompeur, a 6a on the Grande Sagne high up in the Ecrins. Fantastic surroundings but the usual sad story: tired from the previous day, started too late, too slow. Ran out of time & energy, abbed off after about 10 pitches with five still to go. Next time, get up earlier and/or climb faster
S: Ailefroide: even more tired. Leisurely extended brunch on the campsite waiting for the sport climbing in Secteur La Gorge to go into the shade, then spent the afternoon there belaying my mate and flailing feebly on steep things.
S: Big Drive Ailefroide -> Munich

[webbo]

Mon. Nothing.
Tue. Board managed a project which I've had about 5 sessions on, the repeated afew things.
Wed. Nothing.
Thu. Board just working through the list of problems, did another 10.
Fri. Nothing.
Sat. Bike 86.11 miles 4 hrs 55 mins 17.48 mph.
Sun. Out for lunch with the missus. Board late afternoon, mirror session 16 problems x 2 added afew harder problems.
Didn't do much cycling earlier in the week due to lack of skin on my groin.

[kelvin]

Crap week.

Mon - Hardest fingerboard session I've done.

Thu - Dislocate a finger.

Sat - 2nd Cemetary Gates to a third of the way. DOH! Finger just not up to it and lower off.

Sun - Dinorwig. Led some VS 4c thing to save the weekend.

Gutted about the finger. Had decided on Tuesday to get on Cenetaph Corner, I was super psyched and then Thursday it was all over. Mate did Left Wall, the Corner and CG... I just got more and more peed off. So injury prone.

Found a route I want to do tho - Goose Creature E3 6a in Dinorwig. Dale left a top rope on it for me and despite the finger, I was comfy to the highest bolt at the crux. It goes really thin there but I know I'm not miles away. Just need more flexability and maybe some rockover strength for standing up from deep. First time I'd been on english 6a. Nice to have a goal now.

[kelvin]

Next time, get up earlier and/or climb faster

The alpinist's misery and joy 

[Eddies]

Monday: REST
Tuesday: F-Board Session – 3 Sets of 3-stage Encores with L-Sits on the big slots, flowed by 3 Sets on the small crimps.
Wednesday: F-Board Session – Repeaters (3 sets of 6reps @ 7secs on/3secs off using 5 different grips and finishing each set with 3-reps of assisted one-armer 90deg max hangs for each arm using the 20mm edge - 2.5min rests between reps, 5 min rests between sets)
Thursday: Chapel sesh –Circuits
Friday: REST
Saturday: REST
Sunday: Chapel sesh – Classics

[T_B]

STG - To be fit enough to do some DWS in August
LTG - lose 3Kg (from 88 - 85Kg) and get in bouldering shape for trips to N'umberland in September and Font in October

85.5Kg

M - 20 minute fitness ball core sess
T - The Tor. Had meant to just boulder but super condensed so ended up doing Green Alternative, a short and basic 7c+. Mingin.
W - Lunch. Campus board. Still not able to do 1-4-7. Felt strong on deadhangs tho and introduced 2-finger smallish pockets - so weak on pockets. 3 x assisted 1 armers.
T - Circuits. Nearly did harder one, just managed 2 x easy one. Stronger but less fit than 2 weeks ago?
F - 20 minute fitness ball core sess
S - Had 3 hours to climb with the missus as her folks took the kids. The car broke down en route to Rubicon. Bit gutted 
S - Works - back on circuit board for the first time in 4 weeks. Did the Brown 7c+/8a. Progress 

Good to get pumped a few times this week. Mixing it up again next week again.

[Muenchener]

MTG (2013): ... Alpine multipitch VI

Kinda sorta. Did a VI+ overhanging corner pitch in the Ecrins that had some bolts in it, but it had some cams in it too by the time I'd finished with it. Didn't actually finish the route though. Not sure if I'll have another shot at alpine multipitch this summer; a long weekend in the Dolomites might still be possible at some point.

[Luke Owens]

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: My birthday - Went climbing all day with my girlfriend. Had planned to go to Kilnsey but weather turned, ended up at Llanddulas.

Continuing my steep route/problems campaign I did a long steep F6c+ "Vegas Nights" first go after putting the clips in. Massively pumped at the top and almost fell off clipping the chains!

Headed down to LPT, no one was there! Quickly realised why when I tried to on-sight Pink Pinky F7a. It was really greasy, awful conditions. I fell off the bottom but got all the moves wired for next time.

Wednesday - Rest (No skin left!)

Thursday - Pinfold with Ally. Put clips in on Through the Grapevine F7b, a direct start on a F7a I did last year. Worked out the lower steep crux, had a redpoint but hadn't worked out the first move properly. Got it 2nd go, probably the quickest I've ever done a F7b but I had done the top half last year - Psyched!

Friday - Rest

Saturday - Deadhangs - Progress on all grip types again, can now hang 3 finger open hand on the 30mm edges for 22 secs.

Did 3 sets on, 3 finger open, slopers, 4 finger half crimp, middle 2, front 2 and back 2.

Also did 4 x 30 reps of free weight shrugs with 13kg in each hand.

Sunday - Devil's Gorge - Strong scene down there with ropes up on 4 routes! Busiest I've seen it.

Steep route campaign continues and got on a mega steep F7b "Broccoli and Ice-cream". Lower crux has a hard V4-ish boulder problem to a good rest then the upper section is really steep on massive jugs, really awesome!

Lower crux felt a lot easier than when I tried it a couple of months ago. First time on top section and dogged up it doing all the moves with relative ease. Psyched for it, going to head back this week.

Did some core and more shrugs when I got home.

Great week for me, enjoying throwing myself at stuff I'm not used too!

[krymson]

Monday - Bouldering Gym, sticking to open hand to rehabilitate a strained pulley. Had to adjust climbing style a bit but did well!

Tuesday - Steep lead Wall - after climbing here twice last week, was able to improve even further this time - found a lot of creative heel hooks to rest at.  After reading SCC and noting Douglas hunters point that most climbers spend way too little time on the ground thinking about the climb before getting on, i spent more time reading and planning. I also worked on pacing and ability to push through the pump and fight to the end. I learned the immense value of toe hooks on roofs(saves your core!) .It all led to impressive progress on 12a and 12b routes, though no full sends yet.

Wednesday, Thursday - ate something bad and fell ill for two days. Wrote some smack about Megowad and got my 1st negative karma 

Friday - Bouldering gym - Being sick gave pulleys a chance to heal. Climbed with a group of friends, much less "efficient" than climbing by yourself or with 1 friend but had a lot of fun.
Saturday - Bouldering gym - repeated previous climbs in better style, however found that my bottleneck on many hard climbs now is not my fingers or movement but lock off strength. Time to hit the campus board
Sunday - day of rest.

[cheque]

M- Rest
T- Rest
W- Pleasley Vale. Jugged up and down a rope loads testing my new photography setup then did some traversing and soloing.
T- Rest
F- Rest
S- Pembroke Range West. Did some easy (up to HVS) routes that would be famous if they were in Range East. The best was spoilt a little by being told it was really loose by the guy who'd done it before me. It wasn't and I can only assume he was trying to put me off so his mate would be able to do it instead. 
S- Range West again. Tide, rough sea then rain prevented me getting on anything I wanted to do. Did some easy, crap non-tidal routes. Should have chosen to go to Range East instead.

Bitterly disappointed not to got anything even remotely hard done in Pembroke- feels like a total comedown after last year's trip and a wasted opportunity given that it's my favourite place to push it on trad. Every year the gulf between my trad partner and I grows further- I'm not satisfied unless I climb challenging routes, want to go on trips for as long as possible and it's a big frustration for me that my hardest ever leads are so far below what I consider myself capable of. He's the opposite on all these points (which is fair enough of course) and I'm seriously considering sacking trad off altogether 'til I can find someone I'm better matched to.

Range West is incredible though- it's the fourth time I've been and I appreciate it even more now there's a usable guide. Hopefully the frustration of barely getting warmed up all trip will fade and I'll just be left with the memories of properly exploring such a cool place.

[Dolly]

M - Nothing. Knackered from working all weekend
T - Foundry board at lunchtime. Got tired quickly enjoyed doing some proper pulling again
W - Pilates. Nails. Took my obliques 4 days to stop aching
T - Shed in the evening.
F -
S - Nettle Buttress for a play on Toys for the Boys. In hindsight should have gone on something easier or with bigger holds. Trying to get anywhere on a route with slopey crimps when its hot and humid was a bit daft. Great rock though and route feels ace for the few moves I did.
S - Gym for some aerobic stuff


Ate too much and did too little exercise for the 2 weeks I was working away. Feel like I'm playing catch up a bit

[iain]

Infinite Gravity season is fast approaching, time to get stuck into some proper training. After too many years of relying on my fingerboard for this I now live 2 miles from the Works 

STG: Infinite Gravity before Sept>mid-October or the weather crapping out, whichever is first.
Get down to 62kg by 7th Sept, 64.5 this morning.

Been on holiday around Orkney/Durness/Gairloch the last 2 weeks with some amazing weather, it was actually too hot. Managed to squeeze in enough bouldering/circuits to keep things ticking over, including an hour at Torridon although I just could not man up for the top out of Squelch.

Aims this week:
2 short max hangs sessions
1 bouldering session
2 PE/circuit sessions
1 outdoor day, redpointing or trad onsighting

After moving and having all the new amazing climbing on my doorstep it seems a little weird having my focus back at swanage and being psyched about having a proper climbing wall nearby, but I really want IG or to at least have a committed failure.

[Duma]

S/MTG - keep niggles in check, run regularly, get out more. If I do any hard stuff that'll be nice too.
LTG - 8A, 68kg

M - TCA for quick hour before evening shift - pootled about on easy milage on the 5 - 6A's
T -
W -
T -
F - TCA eve, didn't manage to get up out but felt like a decent session trying hard things - some improved links. Then nights.
S - nights.
S - TCA for brief session before last night shift - similar to Fri - felt productive despite lack of tops. Trying hard stuff, spent a while on the woody.

69kg.

[tomtom]

I'm way overdue - and didn't post last week... so this one is a long one I'm afraid...

2013 totals:
Outdoor: 70   
Indoor: 3 
Training: 6
New Grade 7's 18

Mon 15th: Went back to Newbiggin after liking the place on the Saturday before, but failing on Whiteout Roof (when Andy P succeeded)... How on earth this is 7A+ without the starting bloc I dont know - thats mega hard... I noted that GCW and Nic had given it 7A with the bloc and this seemed fair.


Tues 16th: Harmers - went along to help/spot/moral support Andy Popp who was trying his new project there.. had a few tries myself - nice moves!

Thurs 18th: Farleton - more failed attempts on the Coil (getting quite frustrated with it now!) and typically found some new beta for placing my feet for the dyno/lunge just as my body decided to give up! It always seems that way eh! It was getting hot towards 1pm - and running away from the sun I moved further along to try the 7B problem Panda - thats the start for the 7C+ Pandamonium.. This felt good - long lunges to crap holds - typical lime fare it would seem!

Sat: Woodwell: It was hot, it was the weekend, lets try out somewhere new.. So I met up with Andy again at Woodwell. First time either of us had climbed there. I felt flattened by the place! I had eyed up Crucifix Kiss as a 7A+ to try.. and ended up flopping around on the starting moves (which are the problem Closer 6C+) ~ before we moved further down the crag where Andy spent alot of time and effort trying a 6C that defeated both of us. Its an interesting place Woodwell - it reminded me of Parasillas - quite a few eliminate lines and some of the climbing style felt the same. Big moves on often large but smooth holds. I felt utterly trolleyed when we left.. Good to meet Rodma there too

Mon: Woodwell again. Theres a pattern forming here! get spanked by the new crag on the Saturday - head back on the monday. I was very psyched up to get back on Closer - it felt like I had just started off wrong on it then run out of steam. But I was completely shut down.. man its hard, I found I just could not do the first couple of moves fine with my body position all bent up I just couldnt seem to get going right. Dispondently I was going backwards after an hour so moved along to scope out Rigba (which also felt nails in my pre-worn state!). Its a great spot though...



Wed: Blackstone. Back to Black(stone) edge... More attempts on Ape Hour... too hot even though it was evening and I gave up. Its a really really odd problem. It reminds me of Jasons Mono at BBG west - but feels much more marginal. Its an odd mixture of boning down on smallish holds, and using small smears to launch for a good edge - but once that edge is got you have to control things well... It was really too hot, and I gave up after an hour as I was starting to lose too much skin.

Fri: Woodwell (again) success on Closer \o/ (just!) I note this gets 7A on UKC's poll.. I'd go with that grade (but have not for my 7's tally..). Could be a morph thing. Closer: I hate it - I love it


Sunday: Blackstone (again). The weather was really bad on Sunday - and I didnt want to drive into the peak to chase some fast drying grit - and suspected the peak lime would be either minging, busy or both...

I got really really close to Ape hour three times. Once I held the top, boned down on the RH crimp and my RH skittered off and I dropped it. It then looked like it was going to rain hard - so I had 3 or 4 tries in the 2 min I had left... I mused to myself this must be what its like being in a climbing comp! It then pissed down hard - and I had to hide under a boulder as it thundered (no lightening near) which given the exposure you have had Blackstone was a little disconcerting... I sat the storm out, and 20 min later the rock was dry!! so back on it again and another couple of very close attempts - but after 15 min it started raining a little again - the rain radar said loads was coming in so I bailed...

Close and Closer (on Ape hour)


Good weeks in many ways. Really chuffed with Closer - if felt like a reet tussle and I was very happy it went. And despite the weather, I've got out 8 times in 2 weeks....

[fried]

Monday-Thursday - nothing
Friday - Rocher canon with family. Did whites, some yellows. hot. Very hot.
Saturday- Apremont bizons - white kids.
Sunday - Beauvais, good choice, a little damp at the start but everyone found stuff to do. White for the kids and yellow/ orange for the taller.

All good fun

[nai]

M - Harpur Hill sport - 6a, 6a+, 6b, 6c, 6b+ all onsight (how most of this crud is deemed worthy of 2 stars is beyond me, still it sells guidebooks I suppose)

T - AM - board, open hand bouldering
     Eve - finger board, max hangs

W - board, 10x easy problems 5 mins rest

Th - board, bouldering

F - drive to Lakes

S - 5am - Bowderstone, was rubbish (had planned to go Sunday after 2 days rest but hand was forced by forecast)
     AM - 7km hilly run behind the kids on bikes (including lots of pushing them uphills)

S - rest

[Ti_pin_man]

M - nowt
T - nowt
W - nowt
T - nowt
F - nowt
S - nowt
S - nowt

had my daughter all week and had a fab week but zero mclimbing