[shark]

11.4-5

M.
T.PM Up with Mina Andy and Nathan. Good conditions. After 18 days away from the route I had no idea how I would get on. Warmed up by leading Appetite and then TRing Consenting or Free and EE or both - cant remember. Warm up go I pulled on from the ground and pissed the bottom moves - felt amazing  First redpoint got to the horn but didn't hold it. Faded on subsequent goes which had me worried about my session fitness. Did some ok links though. Mina got really high several times on the Oak
W.
T.
F. Up with Andy Cave, Mina, Ben Moon and Ryan Pasquill Late departure again to arrive in the afternoon to get best conditions. Felt light, was light. Led Appetite (appropriately) and Tred Consenting. Mina got the Oak first redpoint. Joyful scenes - good vibes all round. My go got the horn (yay) Launched right and got the sidepull badly (dragging the edge badly rather than curling my tips in) couldn't adjust so did the foot moves anyway and slapped for the sloper unsuccessfully. This matched my all-time highpoint of previous years. Went for a walk. 2nd redpoint felt not so strong but still matched the previous go.  3rd go lot more tired but still got to go for the horn from the ground unfortunately jabbing my fingers into the underside of it rather than curling them round the side. Last go attempted throw to top but fell off on top traverse as usual. Amazing day - was buzzing. Got home at 10.30pm Had talked to Arran 'beefcake' Deakin during the day who scared me about muscle loss when dieting so did a midnight session of assisted one-arm pullups, dumbell complex, bicep curls, a deadlift (125kg Fiend) and 10 pullups followed by two poached eggs.
S.
S.

Been watching weight all week. Only drank one can of beer and that was more to help sleep. Friday's session whilst not getting a highpoint represented my best ever session as I got to that point twice in a row. Back tomorrow and thursday. Assuming I don't regress then the next clip and top leftwards traverse beckon..   

[davej]

Good progress hope you get it tomorrow

[shark]

Cheers. Would be sweet if I did, especially on my birthday, but unlikely. A new high point would be a good enough present.

[the_dom]

Cheers. Would be sweet if I did, especially on my birthday, but unlikely. A new high point would be a good enough present.

Birthday psyche! Do it!

[the_dom]

Mon: AM Weights - 10 x (25 kb swings and 4 TGUs with a 24 kg kettlebell), PM run the 1.4kms to gym, do a set of intervals on the treadmill, then run home again.

Tues: AM one arm hang board session (really solid session, btw), followed by 40 minute trail run in the PM

Wed: AM hangboard. Get on plane to Paris via Dubai in the PM. Psyched.

Thurs: Arrive in Paris. Get into tiny rental car and spend the next hour feeling nervous about my ability to drive on the other side of the road, but make it eventually. Too tired to even bother to climb.

Fri: I’m in Font. So. Much. Psyche. Wait until climbing shop opens so that I can buy a mat, then pack the car and head to Isatis / Cuisiniere. Decent, albeit slightly humid conditions. Head into Isatis and start to warm up only to struggle massively with the rounded, belief-based topouts. Guess Rocklands and Cape Town can only prepare you so much. Struggle with a few red circuit problems before doing a couple and starting to feel more comfortable. Flash Surplomb Statique, which I’ve always wanted to do, and then it’s 6Cish lower start. Put some effort into Surplomb Gauche but conditions mean that the topout is a nightmare and sack it in to go to Hautes Plaines. Fall off Mur Lombard (realised later that I was doing it wrong) then wander up to Ah Plus Facile / Lapin ou Canard. Ah Plus Facile looks a goer and I put it down 2nd go from the start once I contrive a sequence for the end. Boom. First 7 of the trip. YYFY. Then to El Poussah. Try this for ages. Come up with three or four different power-/lank-based sequences, none of which work perfectly until I settle on ‘Jump-put toe on-go-again’ and get it eventually. YYFY Real Thing tick. Wander on. Have a look at La Cachou, which looks brilliant. Do most of the moves quickly. One to come back to. Decide to try Abdolobotomy to finish up but it feels nails (realised later I was trying it completely wrong). Skin isn’t happy with me, so I go home and have a celebratory Affligem.

Sat: Decide to try to find Rocher des Souris and Yogi. Eventually find Yogi. It looks ok, but I decide to go to 95.2 to warm up. Find Retour Au Sources, which I wanted to check out. It looks excellent, so I warm up and then batter myself on it until I give up because it’s too warm and it’s quite committing without a spot. Try Tentation assis a little - do all the moves but it’s too warm. Feel dispirited and wander down to la Pieds dans la Lune, which feels like it’s in a fridge. Do it in a few goes and then do the 6C next to it. What good problems. YYFY. On the walk out notice Pince-Toit. Decide to give it a go despite my skin saying No. Flail a bit. It’s hard. Finally figure a way to do the move. Flail some more and get angry. Finally do the move and finish it up. Double YYFY. Skin is battered.

Sun: Fingers are beyond torched. Rest day. Went for a long walk around Isatis, Cuisiniere, Franchard Hermitage and Sablons - ended up walking 12-odd kilometres.

[tomtom]

Good effort Shark. Keep up the psyche...

Hard week this week....

M: Up at 4:45 to get a 7am flight to Vienna for conference. Took 1:20 to get through immigration and security to make my connection at Brussels. Ran to plane (which they held for me). Conference shizzle and early ish (11) night..

T: Up for 7:30 am meeting.. more conference shizzle - went to the 'Boulder Bar' in Vienna for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Managed a 6b... wondered if they might have been using UK tech grades! Great wall though... clean, nice probs - and (listen UK wall owners) glass wall between wall and coffee shop/till/chilling area (so not a dust bowl). Also covered outside area (good idea). Out till 1am with more socialising..

W: Conference blah.. bed at 11...

Thu: More conference blah.. meant to try and go to wall again in afternoon but was shattered..

Fr: Up at 4:30am to get 6:55am flight.. Same shit with Brussels airport. A word of advice. Never ever ever ever get a flight that connects at Brussels. Its shit. And it only has one runway - so in and out seems always delayed. Get back for noon, one hour later I'm driving MrsTT up to the Lakes for my parents Golden Wedding aniversary shindig.. Gentle beers and early (ish) night.

Sa: 3-4 hours walking with Family - managed to sneak away for a cheeky hour at Carrock. Didnt warm up properly (not enough time) got frustrated with undercut arete (how did it top out!!) - then had a great play on Punks Life, but bottled making the dyno due to mat/ankle/breakage fears.. but - saw the numbers, could pull on properly (couldnt before) and should be one to work next time. Finally did 3 V3's on a slab and got a bit of ego back... Celebration meal in the evening - bed at 12:30

Su: 3-4 hours walk around Derwent Water. Got away at 3 - managed to persuade MrsTT I could stop at Carrock for 20 min (I negotiated hard...). So for anyone else who as at Carrock on Sunday afternoon - I was the bloke in the black golf, who sped in - ran up the hill - then ran back 20 min later and zoomed off :D But got undercut arete after figuring out how to blindly move my feet to the right position... Looking forward to a night in my own bed tonight... But got to get up early tomorrow again...

Overall - good to keep 'in' despite heavy work/social/family situations - feeling strong and Carrock didnt shut me down as much as it has in the past (it could be that I am getting better....)

[petejh]

Go Shark!

STG: Melanchollie (in May) or The Brute (in August)
MTG: Onsight attempts on The Hurting, Cathedral, Banana Wall, Anubis (next winter)
LTG: 8c (within three years)
Ultimate goal: undecided

Power Phase, week 3

M.
T. Campus sesh at Mill. Didn't repeat last session's 1-5-7, managed 1-5-6 on small rungs and double dynos 1357 on small rungs among various other easier stuff.
W.
T. Core & mobility workout.
F. Warm-up bouldering at Beacon: V1-V5 x 2, worked some harder probs for a few goes each. Over to the Mill for campus session: managed 1-4-7 on small rungs, 1-3-5-7- double dynos on small rungs, powered out on drop down/ups.
S.
S. Bouldering at The Gop for first time. Did Dick Stinks 6C+, Blokesmoker 7A+ and Smoke a Bloke 7B+.  Worked Push the Button, meaty.
Great crag for front-on power! Shoulder press and press-ups at home.

1 week 'till Mel.

[nai]

Come on Shark.

Goals:

Spring - HFC & Short Chimes (+ Why Me?, Let The Tripe Increase, Stone The Loach)
Summer - Body Machine & Ext, Cornices?
Autumn - Raindogs, Full Chimes.

Odd week, felt really tired since return from Font.

M - 10 mins Aero
       brief boulder session, 2x max efforts
       for some reason decide to try some AnCap, 10 x 50s work, 2:00 rest,  failed 9&10 late on.  Powered out, felt like a good workout
       10 mins Aero

T - pretty tired from Monday, tried to get warm for an on-the-minute/foot on campus session but was struggling so settled for a moderate circuit - 34 moves, 1:30 work, 3:00 rest. Logged a few fails reps 6,7,8 but got back on and completed the circuit.
 
     Foot on campusing - 1:40 work, 3:00 rest.  Hoped to manage at least 4 but blew up 2/3rds into rep 3, completely boxed.

w - rest

Th - Embankment, not my first choice but my mate had a shoulder injury so needed somewhere for mileage.  Great start to the sport season as I had to dog the easiest route on the crag, the 6b warm up but got it second go (on a top rope). Then got straight on the hardest route on the crag, Stone The Loach. Had three good working goes and sorted out good sequences and clips for each section.  Decided to have a fourth burn telling my mate I'd try to link it in two, although we all know it was really a redpoint attempt, right?  Unfortunately I'd changed from my new super-stiff pinks to my old, soft greens thinking they'd be less clumpy and I'd have more feel. Unfortunately the lack of stiffness told, the route felt totally different, I came up short on a couple of stretchy moves and suffered a footslip mid crux.  After that I seemed to lose all power and had a battle to top out and retrieve draws. So from hoping to work it in two, I managed it in about 22. Good session though, wasn't totally scared to fall like first few sessions of previous years, bodes well.

F - 2x10 mins Aero
     warm up
     10x Ancap circuit, failed reps 7-10 between move 12 & 16 so nothing like as good as Monday, still felt like a good workout though
     2x120 mins Aero

S - rest

S - 1 hour max effort bouldering.
      2x5 AnCap circuit, made it much harder and was struggling after 5 reps so split into 2 sets and increased rest time to 2:30. Failed moves 14&13 last two reps so pretty good intensity.

Good week of training just not sure it's the right training.  My target routes for Spring are all bouldery or extended bouldering with shakeouts so thought I'd maybe be best prioritising AnCap (with continued bouldering and Aero) for the next three weeks then start PE training in the hope of some Cornice and body machine action come June/July.  Any thoughts on this, I'm a bit stumped as to what would be best?

[Duma]

Go shark!
Out of interest, how much does "throw to top" overlap with "ground to horn"? (my only knowledge of the oak is via power club)

[cheque]

You can do it Shark.

STG- Finish film without getting irretrievably crap at climbing.

MTG- New grades this year.

LTG- Austrian Oak.

M- Rest.

T- Black Rocks. More litter picking including Sand Gully, the one I was not looking forward to. It was as grim as expected, but I did it. Very satisfying. Lots of soloing afterwards, including three routes I hadn't done before.

W- Rest.
 
T- Black Rocks. I had plans to clean an obscure E1 slab on one of the outlying buttresses then solo it but an abseil revealed it needed way more cleaning than I thought and is totally eliminate. Quite humid conditions and a very sheltered location meant I got bitten a bit as well- I never get bitten at BR but I guess this is due to the main crag's relatively open aspect. Sacked it off to the main crag and did a new (to me) route, a bit more soloing and some more litter picking.

F- Rest.

S- Black Rocks. So busy both at the top of the crag (a reminder of exactly how the litter builds up...) and the bottom, with climbers, Mountain Rescue trainees and outdoor instructors taking kids "weasling". Filming so lots of heavy uphill carrying and scrambling about. Two vital routes "in the can"- only two and a few other bits and bobs remain to be filmed now. 

S- Walk to local "country park" (landscaped colliery tips) with girlfriend. Obesity-fighting outdoor training equipment appears at intervals along the trail so semi-competitive pull-ups, sit-ups, pull-downs etc. with her. Imagine her delight when I find a concrete boulder and proceed to climb eliminates on it with tiny barely-attended children decking out attempting to copy me. There was a zipline too. 

Very enjoyable week. A dry British April really is a lovely thing to experience.

[Muenchener]

matched my all-time highpoint of previous years.

Mon: AM Weights - 10 x (25 kb swings and 4 TGUs with a 24 kg kettlebell)

[shark]

Update. In an act of stupendous dumbfuckery I set fire to my hand. The pain is excruciating but comes and goes in waves. i am typing with my left hand. JUst back from AandE. Thanks for the encourgement guys but im out of action for a couple of weeks I guess. Signing off - more pills await 

[petejh]

  That's not how you do fat-burning!

Time to work one-armers

[joel182]

Update. In an act of stupendous dumbfuckery I set fire to my hand. The pain is excruciating but comes and goes in waves. i am typing with my left hand. JUst back from AandE. Thanks for the encourgement guys but im out of action for a couple of weeks I guess. Signing off - more pills await 

That sounds miserable - hope it's not too bad, and that you have a speedy recovery!

[sdm]

M: Woody Session, core workout on rings
T: Yoga
W: Projecting V6+s - ticked a knacky slabby problem at ~V6 (which now feels about V3 to repeat now I know all of the body positions) and a lip traverse in to a crimpy vertical problem that felt about V5.
Th: Rest
F: Fun session of eliminates and made up problems - one nice one at about V6. Repeated some woody problems, then core on rings (8,8,10 on dips). Pleased with the dips given that I could only do 3, 2 and 2 while shaking all over the place a few weeks ago when the rings arrived. Will hopefully get up to 3 sets of 10 next week, then I'll start adding weight.
S: 2.5km run to test the toe. Mild discomfort but OK. Light deadlifts, reminding myself of form. 1 set of 5 reps each at 37kg, 42kg, 47kg, 52kg, 57kg, all felt fine. Bouldering - one new V6, repeated a bunch of V5-6s which felt surprisingly easy. ARC training - half hour on, 10 minutes rest, half hour on.

S: Masson Lees Nuda's Tartan. After failing miserably/chickening out last week on the first sport session for ages, we had planned to head to Masson Lees to do some sport and take some fall practice. On the drive over, the plan somehow changed to checking out Nuda's Tartan first just to see if it was in condition. Conditions were perfect and thoughts of sport climbing were soon forgotten.

'Warmed up' on Slap Happy (6B+). Greased off a jug on the very first move of the day and gave myself a big blood blister* on my finger. Failed to get anywhere near the problem and began to wonder whether our choice of crag was maybe a bit optimistic.

Moved on to The Scenic Route (7A). Took a couple of goes to a) follow the correct line and b) work out the moves then it went pretty quickly.

Then moved on to the Meltdown (7B). Took a bit longer to work out the sequence but it turns out there aren't really any hard moves. One tensiony move early on, then just lots of easy but enjoyable moves on positive holds. Once I had worked out all the moves, it went first go and I felt like there was still more left in the tank. First 7B YYFY! It suits my style and is probably a bit soft(?) but I'll take it. Some of the 7B+s look like they could be workable next time too.

Feeling a bit tired, we moved over to Rheinstor to finish off the day with some easy trad. Seconded Crepuscule (VS 5b)which was enjoyable and the start was reassuringly easy, which was nice having had to work to work quite hard for the boulder problem last year. Then led Loki (HVS 5a) which was a really enjoyable finish to a great day. I might yet get in to this limestone trad. Even the weather was perfect, with the forecast rain holding out until we were packing up to go home.

2015 Goals:
Bouldering Pyramid:
7B: 1/1 - The Meltdown
7A+: 0/3
7A: 4/9 - The Scenic Route
6C/6C+: 4/27 - 0/13 slabs/aretes
Sport: Do more sport, get in to redpointing properly - failed miserably

So that is the top of the pyramid complete with 8 months to spare! I guess I could have aimed a bit higher. Plenty left to fill out lower down the pyramid though and I need to get on more hard slabs, aretes and vertical climbs rather than keep sticking to my strengths.


*Any advice on whether to drain a blood blister or to just tape over it? It is between the first and second knuckle on my index finger so I suspect it will burst anyway at the wall tomorrow so I'm guessing draining it is best.

[Dolly]

Havent posted for a bit. Work, holidays etc
Have done some weights, sessions at the Foundry and the shed, routes at the gym, run a bit and trained in the gym and went to a yoga class. Even learned how to deadlift properly at the gym.
Went to Wales where it was too hot to climb apart from one day when I went to Clwt y Fiaren which must be one of the best bouldering locations in the country with a spectacular view over Hells Mouth.

Anyway I'm fatter than I was and this is what I did this week
M Pilates
T Foundry I was weak and it was hot
W Gym core and weights
T Shed. Brilliant as ever
F Rode into work.
S 25 minute run
S Did 2 new problems and had a great day at some secret crag

[TobyD]

Update. In an act of stupendous dumbfuckery I set fire to my hand. The pain is excruciating but comes and goes in waves. i am typing with my left hand. JUst back from AandE. Thanks for the encourgement guys but im out of action for a couple of weeks I guess. Signing off - more pills await 

commiserations. what in the world were you doing which resulted in setting fire to your hand?

[JackAus]

STG: More V7s. Sub 75kg.
MTG: V8. Fear Factory List. 5/10 done.
LTG: V11.

M: Fear Factory. Just a quick circuit up to V5 before it got dark. Didn't want to bust out a rope to clean more high stuff.
T: Rest.
W: St Leonards. New set. Did everything besides the hardest problem. All pretty easy. Made my own problems after. Prob around the V6 mark.
T: St Leonards. Warmed up doing all of the new set (besides hardest), then continued making my own problems. Much rather doing that.
F: Rest.
S: Frontline. Humid as fuck. 2xV1s to warm up, then did 4 new (for me) V5s. All of them classics. Almost got another at end of the day but it was dark and I couldn't even see the hold I was trying to dyno to. Had a couple goes on Paratroopin, I really don't know why its so popular. Had a go at the low start to one of the 5s, it gets V9 but feels like V7 to me. Didn't feel that far off. Could prob go with abit of trying. Bleeding tips by the end.
S: Pearl Bay. Ruined skin, spotted a noob mate on a soft as V6 that I've done before. Ticked a V4 I hadn't tried before, which means (besides a V8 eliminate), that I've ticked everything that I want to at the crag.

[Sasquatch]

STG: Maintain Psych, and drop weight(Weight to 175 this week - big improvement) Either local boulder or route projects depending on weather.(weather not so good)
MTG: Bolt new route projects, have a couple of promising walls to recon.  1-4-7 & 1-arm pullup
LTG: To Bolt....
 
I may have to rethink my STG and MTG's. 

M - roped session at lunch.  4 good sets of lapping 7b and 7c. 
T - Bike w Mrs. Squatch
W - Double session day PE at lunch good session 4 x 30-40 moves all on v5-v7.  Then after work bouldering session.  OS v6,v6,v9, 2nd go v7, and v8.  Apparently the v9 has been shutting down everyone else....
T - rest. dinner w friends.
F - Boulder for a bit at lunch.  Feel pretty worked tired from Wed. OS new stuff at wall up to v7, then do a couple of linked boulder circuits of 30-40 moves on all v5-v6 problems.  Date night w/ Mrs. Squatch
S - 2 hr fun Mtn bike w Mrs. Squatch, family dinner night.
S - Planned day out was not on due to no sitter for daughter.  new plan- head down to the wall and then to local boulder to play outside.  Down the wall did 5 x 3 lap route sets.   First set was 6cish x3. set 2- 7bish x3, set 3 - 7cish x3, set 4 - 7c+ x4, set 5 - 7c x3.  Felt really worked at end.  Headed to local boulder to play on easy stuff, but got rained out.  Worked 1-arm pullups and managed to do 3x3 at -20lbs left and at -25lbs right.  Felt solid and should drop weight for next session. 

Overall a better week than I expected.  If I had both the time to get outside and any local routes to work on that required endurance, I'd be set.  As it is, all of my local projects are extended boulder problems so I think it's back to str/power training.  There are no endurance projects locally that I haven't done, or that I know of.  There's one I need to check out, but I think it's quite bouldery from what I've heard. Hence the need to rethink the STG and MTG.  one promising wall was a no go.  Second haven't been able to check out.  I'm hopeful both the 1-arm PU and 1-4-7 will go down in June at this point.

[Pako]

Goals by end of year:
One arm a campus rung
Climb proper v10 outdoors

M - Rest day. Did a one arm with 2kg assist but was a bit tired and it felt super desperate
T - Rest day
W - Went to Toohey forest, climbed my first v7 and second outdoor boulder. It only consists of one hard move from double half pad underclings in a roof, and the rest is v2/3. Still bloody happy about that. After doing that I checked out a v7 with about 5 hard moves on a less steep wall, worked out some of my own beta using an undercling that for some reason wasn't too chalked up, and got all but one of the moves, and the last move would have gone if not for skin I reckon. Skin was wrecked by that point, climbing on wooden holds does not prepare the skin at all for sandstone filled with pebbles. Went to urban climb after, did some v5s and did the 2 hard moves on a nice v7 in a short time for me, quite happy with that. Also did some nice hard moves on a v8 on the 45. Started trying some footless slab after fingers hurt, then feet started hurting so I went home. Great day.
T - Rest day. I read some very interesting interviews with Dmitry Sharafutdinov though, I would link them but they are in Russian. Basically, for 90% of his time between comp seasons, the guy trains non-climbing stuff like one armers, pullups and grip strength, then when comps come around he spends lots of time trying to flash problems. He says that he can do one arms with 12kg of extra and has done 103 pullups in his lead climbing days. Beast. I got inspired by him and went out to try do some max pullups, which I haven't done for months. Only got to 15 deadhang to chest to bar pullups though, would have expected more by now due to my one arm training. I have also decided to try start running to lose some weight to get beneath 60kg, does anyone run here? I have tried a couple time but my endurance is absolute rubbish, starting just seems so intimidating.
F - Rest day. New record with one armers, did a one arm with 2kg assist then felt very fresh so tried for a second one, got to half way. Reset the woody with loads of new wood holds, she is looking good.
S - Good woody session, making up some new projects.
S - Good woody session

Overall a good week due to outdoor stuff happening, but some hangboarding would have been good. Also just got a letter saying that I have a package at the post office, I can but hope that it is the set of Stonesmith holds I ordered.

[T_B]

85.9Kg

M - School lunch. Light session, failed on move 6 of pink.
T -
W - Foundry lunch. Circuit board. 3 x 30 move circuit, 10 mins rest, then failed on move 25 of 3rd rep.
T - Turningstone Edge. I'd tried River of Life (7C+) three years ago and got nowhere really. Armed with more video beta, this session still almost ended up the same. I did the starting and finishing moves quite quickly, but couldn't get the foothold and body position for the 3 left hand slaps. Finally it came together with some cunning micro-beta which involved left foot cutting loose on final slap, but putting right toe in and holding the cut loose with that. Such a great move! Had two goes from start falling off going with right hand into slot and both toes in. Basically comes down to core at this point.
F -
S -
S - School p.m. bit of a tough session after a busy family weekend away eating/drinking lots. Went on the 50 degree and got spanked. Did some hanging off a bar with my toes.

Massively psyched about RoL and heading back Tues with Dave P hopefully. I'd be happy to switch to lime if I managed to get it together for this problem, though skin might be an issue.

[Muenchener]

STG: Try my mate's 7a+ proj in Ötztal next weekend
MTG (2015): 7b redpoint
            Beastmaker 5A routine: 93.0%
            Muscle-Up
            Sautanz
LTG (<= 5 years): Big alpine rock routes: Totenkirchl West Face (Dülfer), Marmolada south face (Vinatzer-Messner)

M:
T: Beastmaker weighted max hangs on medium edge.
W:
T: Beastmaker 5A. Made an effort to attempt the full number of reps, even if some of them weren't quite the full seven seconds. Those I did miss were more due to skin soreness / tape issues than inability to grip.
F: Alpine approach training: 3 x 40 stories stair climbing w/rucksack
S: Shopping for new bike. Undecided whether to get a decent mountainbike that I can use for everything, or something cheap and basic but reasonably light for city commuting and worry about the mountains some other time. (Mountain bike would be mainly for long crag approaches rather than mtb-ing per se)
S: Climbing, Schönhofen. Out with a mate who is recovering from ankle surgery, so nothing too ambitious / no heavy projecting. Quickly realised that I have some re-adaptation to real rock to do having been out so little since January. Started doing it.

[kelvin]

Bloody hell Shark - was just about to add to the group psyche for this week and then I read that  Hope you heal well.

Mon - Rest up. Walked 6/7 miles in Barcelona the day before and the left knee/leg is pooped. That'll teach me to fall off. Tons of stretching and anti-flamms.
Tue - Montserrat south side. I think Collbato? Anyways, flashed some slabs up to 6a. Grades felt about right. Climbing with locals who played drums and a digerdoo within minutes of getting there. Good scene. Even some barefoot climbing.
Wed - Montserrat again, not sure where but old bolts and grading. Climbed up to V+ but it was interesting! 8m to first 'bolt', the next at 10m and then a runout for 6m... some of which could be pulled out by hand, all about 2 inches long and footholds were breaking off as you stood on them. Saw two big rings at the top about a foot apart and thought "thank the gods" but when I got there one of them was no use whatsoever. Haha. Lots of monos on V/V+.
Thu - Bailed on Suirana due to storms and it rained even on the coast, so rested up the knee.
Fri - Montserrat south. Newish bolting but warned by locals that the grades were solid. Worked a 6a all day, the hardest sports thing I've ever tried to climb by a long way but managed to go bolt to bolt after a few hours, then with one fall just before I headed to the airport. Some great climbs there, including a 5b that had fantastic moves the whole way. It'd have been 6a/+ most places I guess.
Sat - Masson Lees for the first time. Only the second time on limestone since last May, ticked a 6b first lead after a quick look on top rope, got on a 6c. I think I like limestone.
Sun - High Neb for the first time. Vdiff to E1. Had a great day, just sociable as mate's Mrs doesn't climb too hard. Mate went on Quietus but just not got the knee for heel hooking at the moment. Seems important on grit roofs. Nice to be on solid rock after Montserrat. Happily ran everything out, which I was pleased with after the falls two weeks ago.

Great week, really was. Lots of pain from the leg meant too many pills for my liking but the bruising has pretty much gone now. Pleased to have ticked another 6b easily and the thing I'm most happy with was the lack of pump all week. Apart from grit laybacks, I don't think I pulled overly hard more than twice - the two sessions with John Kettle really have made a huge difference.

Need to think about working some harder limestone routes this summer, had one 10 minute go on the 6c and the only move I couldn't do was the crux.

Nice to be in Spain climbing with locals too, need to sort my Spanish out but made some good contacts - roll on October!

[Schnell]

STG: rehab next in series of endless finger injuries, don't lose psyche
MTG: train for possible sport climbing trip in June, keep working on shoulder stability

M. indoor session, first time this year that I felt hot and sweaty at the wall. Summer is coming. I did some desultory bouldering focusing on technique (initiating movement with the hips), a bit of campusing on big slopey rungs and tried to work out a FB routine that gets around my assortment of finger injuries.
T. indoor endurance session planned but had neither time nor psyche in the end, did an enduro FB routine at home instead
W.
T.  indoors again, similar short sesh to monday, enjoyable but didn't do anything hard
F.
S. outdoors pottering doing some toproping and easy soloing. lovely day out in the sun despite not doing anything new or hard.
S.

The feeling of frustration at picking up yet another finger injury hasn't worn off. I should be training hard at the endurance and getting psyched for sport climbing in june but instead I keep trying to boulder or do strength training and getting annoyed at the injury. All the same, the weather is great and there's prospects of a few weekend trad trips on the horizon so I'm fairly happy to keep pottering about for the meantime.

[iain]

Update. In an act of stupendous dumbfuckery I set fire to my hand. The pain is excruciating but comes and goes in waves. i am typing with my left hand. JUst back from AandE. Thanks for the encourgement guys but im out of action for a couple of weeks I guess. Signing off - more pills await 

Hope you're able to do something to keep you ticking over till the hand heals, progress on the oak sounded 

(I do secretly want to know what counts as stupendous dumbfuckery)


Right, back on it. Having recovered what little sense of humour I possess I've actually been able to climb the last week.

STG: Let shoulder heal.

S - Works for a tentative bimble, I manage to get a fun hour on the easiest circuits before shoulder complains.
M - Shoulder rehab
T - Plantation, mainly on the business boulder slab but shoulder felt confident pulling from certain directions so tried and did Steep Traverse which felt ok except for the move to the dish/pocket. Probably a bit harder than I should've done.
W - Shoulder rehab
T - Burbage south boulders, again mostly slabs but shoulder coped with a steeper un-named 6B. Had been there the previous week watching friends try Goliath without laybacking it, (post session consensus was they should have just laybacked it, ) and shoulder was hugely improved from then.
F - Shoulder rehab
S - Rest
S - Baslow for some more slabs, high and scary ones (for me anyway) which I need to do more of just because I'm so rubbish at them. Then down to the walnut doing Nutjob, Chunky Nut and The Walnut which all felt ok. Also dug into the start of Whip Me but shoulder started to complain.

A good week, shoulder seems to be healing well and given the problems other people have I can't complain. At certain angles shoulder can mostly pull at full strength so I will attempt to start working the fingers again, even if it's extended bouts of doorframe aerocap. Autumn goals mean I really should be on a training cycle already.