[duncan]

STG: Rehab. wrist, enjoy climbing.
MTG: a classic sea cliff E5 this summer (now includes September).
LTG: 5.13 at 60; a LH&F BHAG

M - Fingerboard max. hangs.
T - Shoulder strength on the rings.
W - Westway bouldering, to purple ‘V3/4’ and not all slabs! This is numerically the hardest I’ve pulled for a few weeks and proof the wrist has pretty much recovered.
T - Escaped 37C London and headed for the 30C cool of the Wye valley with the lad. Camped at Beeches Farm (well recommended, good value and sublime views). Headed for Wintour’s Leap for the lad’s first taste of roped climbing outdoors. Scrambled down the ‘Easy Way’ which is a bit intimidating at the top as it looks as if you’re heading straight down a steep cliff, then did Central Rib (VDiff, bits of Severe).This worked really well as it can be done in 5 short pitches so I could see what was happening the whole time. Anchors are fixed (trees mostly) so belays don’t need a lot of complex disentangling which seems like an obvious place for mistakes to happen. Both of us had a splendid time.
F - 10k walk to Tintern and along Offa’s Dike. Back to London for Ridiculous Social Obligation.
S - Westway bouldering, with the lad. Tried a crimpy black (‘V7/8’) in the Oven and could hang on the holds although any upward motion seemed quite challenging.  Will be interesting to work this over a few weeks rather than just giving it the usual two or three goes and see if I can make any progress. 
S - Shoulder strength, hip stretches.

Great to share climbing with the lad, who got the whole ‘try hard and have a bit of an adventure’ thing and embraced the mud, brambles, rain and choss inherent in Wye Valley climbing. He was keen to repeat the route the following day, Dad was very proud. It will be several years before I can expect an actual belay rather than a client belay (soloing with rope-drag) so we’ll mostly stick to single-pitch top-roping and bouldering but it will be fun to do the occasional longer route together if he stays interested.

I got the wrist X-Ray report in the post this week which reported an avulsion fracture - effectively a complete ligament tear - which strangely was not mentioned in the consultation. No big deal compared to a Scaphoid fracture but I might have gone a bit easier had I known.

Plan: family fun in Font.

[shark]

Thanks Duncan

11.3-6 didn’t weigh in enough to get an average but well up on last week

M.

T.Had agreed to dawn raid on High Tor to beat the forecast heat however Nick sniffed the Churnet air at 5.45am and declared it fresh reckoning Tor would be ok. He was right. 11.5 degrees when parked at 7am though progressively worsened through morning. In a quandary as to whether to just go on Bens but as it seemed glassy stuck to normal routine. 2 goes as usual for me on Anger Management this time trying to link from middle of headwall to top at Nicks suggestion - did as far as failing on final boulder problem move though touching jug on second go. Core seems to fail me every time in getting feet up although feels casual on dog. Lots of leg raises required. Warm on Bens. Two good goes. Got through almost into second kneebar whilst Nick still there but left fingers in sharp undercut sidepull crimp thing uncurled. Same thing almost happened again but with Ethan’s encouragement held it together just but didn’t get much back in second kneebar and fudged with a massive effort to get to the high edge on THFML but swung off. Spent after that

Evening. Hot and very tempted to have a cold beer instead. Some pull-ups and leg raises and weighted deadhangs on ergo edge with up to +37.5kg. Leg raises. Felt virtuous. Beer earned
 
W.

T.

F. Tor for 7am again. Hot but breeze made it tolerable. Aimed for link on AM not quite managed. Go 1 Fell going for jug on final move again. Go 2 broke a key foothold on headwall disaster - more below. Went on Bens but holds at back soapy. Couldn’t get to first knee with pinch as it was. Packed up

PM Longer duration weighted deadhangs on ergo edge. Good session which cheered me up immensely 5x12sec half crimped with +30kg. Leg raises

Eve Drove to Calais. With delays to ferries at Dover took 12 hours to get from Sheffield to Formula one in Calais at 4am

S 8hour drive to Morzine. Rainy. Went out for a lovely meal when we got there

S Lie in. Raining. Forecast good for tomorrow onwards though

Breaking the foothold on Anger Management was the icing on the cake in a week of other knock backs. It was about the size of a 50p coin and looked sculpted into the rock - the sort of hold that you’d never imagine coming off. You press down and stand up on it really hard with a poor sharp flake for your left hand to go for a high Gaston with your right hand. Without it, this will be the new crux.

All that’s left of the foothold is a tiny edge with the only alternatives being smears. Any solution will involve pulling harder on the poor flake which is more obviously fragile and is not possible to reinforce so if the foothold isn’t reinstated then the flake is at risk of snapping too. Nick will have a boulder on it and consider the options next week whilst I’m away.

Best crag near to Morzine looks to be Foron which sounds steep and pocketed which is my nemesis so will calibrate expectations accordingly. Ben is uncharacteristically psyched for having a go at sport climbing so will be interesting to see how that works out.

Gutted not to to tick Bens before going away. Despite early starts enjoyed regular Tor sessions with Nick over last 5 weeks and saw decent incremental improvements on AM and Bens. Also psyched by how finger strength is developing.

Done 44 FB sessions this year so far which is far more than any previous year. Could be that main extra something that gets me up the Oak in the Autumn. Got a portable board with me for apres climbing hangs.

[Duma]

Goals - fix elbow, Chullila in Oct

M-S in Cornwall at folks with daughter, glorious week most of which spent in the sea. Sounds like it was the place to be last week as temps never got above the mid twenties. Forgot to take weights so rehab stopped, back on it this week and going to start some gentle climbing

70.8kg this morning so at least weight hasn't suffered too much in the last few weeks.

[Will Hunt]

Tuesday - Crummackdale. Quick hit to get an action shot for the guide. Climbed Venus which was decent. Steady climbing on lovely rock with mixed gear quality. Got to the end and was just moving up on good holds when the flake I was holding peeled fully away from the wall. Managed to put it back before disaster. Not sure what the little offset micro under me would have done 
Just time to top rope Olympus at the end which must be one of the best HVSs in Yorkshire, if not the UK!

[gollum]

 M - Lunchtime 5k run at a steady pace on treadmill. Testing the Achilles and seems to be holding up nicely.
Go to Depot after work. Start with some scapular work and then on to some campus board work. Do all my benchmarks okay and feeling like the movement is flowing better and less forced. Then move on to repeaters on BM 2000. Add 12.5k for first set with four fingers and this feels well within myself so need to up that in future weeks. Go on to be solid across all my grips and progression on front two with small pocket and slopey two finger pocket combo. Feels like my fingers are improving and can certainly feel my forearms at the end. Have a long rest and then finish up doing a few of my easier problems on the 50 board which feel better than they should after a fingerboard session and at these temperatures, although don’t attempt anything that I find hard in normal circumstances. Save energy for tomorrow I reckon.

T - Big Push day and going for it. Start with triples on the flat bench and manage 3 pretty solidly. Then move on to power presses off the safety bars for single reps. Solid at 100 but fail twice at 105. This is the most unforgiving of exercises as there is no elastic response from the muscle at all, you just push as hard as you can, which today was clearly not hard enough. Then move on to barbell shoulder press for four reps working up to 50k. Not the heaviest weight but I’ve always had relatively weak shoulders and my left had been plagued by injury over the last two years. Reps were slow and solid, so I will definitely take that. Finish the session with some dips, slow eccentric and explosive in the concentric coupled with some skull crushers to the bar. All feels easy up to rep 4 and then becomes a battle. Push muscles feel like they’ve worked hard today, so gets the day off to a great start.
Steady stretch and rehab at lunchtime.
Another Depot session after work. Very warm temps and high humidity doesn’t bode well. Campus to start. Warm up and then working on getting 1-4-7 consistently. I am so close every time but only manage to actually do it once. I think I need to put some effort into this as think it’s entraining the movement that is letting me down at the moment as when I land it, it feels very easy indeed. Must try harder.
Then do some Max hangs on BM2K centre hold. First set is body weight for 10 seconds from lowers by plus 3k for 5 seconds for a couple of sets and the +5k for the same.....oddly. I clearly wasn’t trying hard enough on the 3k sets. This is about 109% of 10 second hang weight so happy enough with that. Then finish off with 3 sets with 5k counterweight for 10-12 seconds. Mixing up Max hangs and repeaters should hopefully get my fingers stronger in the long term.
50 board feels too much like hard work so spend some time messing about on the 30 with much more success and lots of fun.

W - Very warm by 0630. Pull day. Start with deadlifts and go up to 152.5 for final set which feels steady enough and another step towards 160 and maybe 170 again. Then do some rows, shrugs and lower back work for balancer and stability. Back on OAP for first time in a while and R solid with +10k, while left is pretty solid at body weight.
Stretch and rehab at lunchtime.
Physio in the evening for some Achilles work. Seems to be getting there and she is happy enough for me to slowly increase my miles.

T - Taking it steady due to the heat. Easy run and stretching at lunchtime. Nothing too taxing but good to have some movement going again.
Evening at the Depot with friends steady time repeating reds and woods for fun and easy ticks plus doing some of the few that I’ve not done before which was satisfying. Just left with two woods to do now, neither of which I’ve put much effort into, although I think I may have to to get them done.

F- Still really warm. Nip to Big Depot at lunchtime for a quick session of repeaters. Nothing spectacular, just ticking away solidly at my standard hangs.

S - Push day. Big heavy (for me) day. Bench flat for 100k for doubles, do the same for declines and then triples in the incline up to 85 on a couple of different angles. 50reps if clean and press to finish off the lifting session. Achilles rehab before going home. Can definitely feel the effort. Can afford to just work a bit harder on days I don’t plan to climb at all.
Treadmill run in the afternoon. Ease the pace back so I can test the Achilles going a bit further. 10 miles whilst watching Riding Giants, a truly inspiring surf film. Body holds up well and feel really good.

S - Pull day. Start with deadlifts and go to 155k. Feel like this may not be far from my limit at the moment as was a bit shakey at the top. Then rows, shrugs and Roman chair. Finish up with some OAP. Solid with 10k on RH and solid at Bodyweight on LH. Also manage one finger on right, which is much less sketchy than last time.
Nice steady run for an hour at an easy pace. Need to build the distance for ultra in November but feels like it’s all going in right direction again and injuries are okay as long as I take things steadily. Go to Depot as Mrs B is out racing. Start with a campus session. Hit all my benchmarks very solidly on all hold sizes. Stop while I’m feeling strong. Then do one of comp problems that I hadn’t done and as is often the case, it felt steady when I did it and was just my style. Some repeaters to finish. All nice and solid.

A week with some positives and some challenges but most of all been quite a fun week and psyche remains high.

[IanP]

Best crag near to Morzine looks to be Foron which sounds steep and pocketed which is my nemesis so will calibrate expectations accordingly. Ben is uncharacteristically psyched for having a go at sport climbing so will be interesting to see how that works out.

Left Morzine just before the rain came!   Illness, high temps and other activities meant only got a few days climbing, visiting Foron and Le Cruz a couple of time each.   

Climbing at Foron is great, steep (/very steep) and mainly on pockets - the 6c's are steep and the classic 7a overhangs about 5m in 18m.  Also bit runout in places, though safe given the clean fallout zone. In the shade until 2pm ish and often gets a breeze, bring a duvet if temps in Morzine are below 25.  Only downside (other than steepness factor, not my best style and definitely a new experience for Amy!) is that the crag base is not great, steep scree mixed with small ledges for the main sectors so not the most comfortable place to belay/hang out.   

Other place we climbed was Le Cruz, about 40 mins from Morzine back down past Taninges.  Smallish crag in terms of number of routes (about 40), but we really enjoyed it, though it is a little dusty in places even though main routes were all chalked.  2 main sectors, rh one in shade until 12:30 has routes up to about 20m between 6a to 7b, classic 7a up the middle is great, techy slopey start followed by steep finish. Lh sector is an impressive wall in shade until 2ish with routes between 25m to 30m, 7a to 8a+, mainly face climbing on gently overhanging smooth rock on mix of edges,  slopers and the odd pocket.  Great (hard) 7a on rhs with techy face to physical overhanging corner/crack, 7b to its left is excellent wall climbing with fingery crux early on and sharing the same final steep final moves (also has a 7b+ extension).   Didn't get on the harder routes but look good, particularly an excellent looking 7c in the middle.   Nice crag environment in the trees and the walk in (15 mins) takes you past a lovely picnic spot by the river.

[spidermonkey09]

Roasting week resulted in little activity.

M - rest.

T - volcanic max hangs. was crap, but at least I had loads of excuses.

W -  rest.

T - Gordale. Tried Defcon a few times in greenhouse conditions. Came together quite quickly; got through the crux second go up but fell off shortly after. Feels quite steady; much as I'd like it to be 8a it probably isn't.

F - rest.

S - Malham. Pouring with rain so broke my own rule about only going in good conditions as I just wanted to go climbing. Hit crimp again from deck but dropped it. Getting a bit pissed off with dropping that move. Shit conditions ensured no progress elsewhere.

S - rest.

Max hangs tonight and will go to the wall this week. Need to get stronger biceps to help with the move I keep dropping; basic bicep curls might be the way. Out Thursday and Sunday; maybe Gordale to start with and Malham if conditions allow.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - fingers session n. 1, it mixes the garage and BM sessions and it goes like this: garage, 15 mm edge, one arm at 90%, 3 hangs per arm; 9 mm edge, back3 and front3, 3 hangs each, all hangs half crimped. BM, open hand, back2 on big slots, mid 2 on small slots, front2 on small rungs, 10" hangs, 3 hangs each. Then gym work, weights, abs.
Tue - fingers session n. 2, system. Edges, pinches, underclings, max effort footless and feet on, low volume.
Wed - gym training, weights.
Thu - gym training, pull ups, weights.
Fri - boxing bag, pull ups, weights, thruster Tabata, abs Tabata.
Sat - weights, pull ups, overhead carry.
Sun - thruster Tabata, gentle uphill sprints. Knee sore afterwards, I am an idiot.

I really hope that I haven't done anything serious to my knee. Glad about fingers.

[Nibile]

@Duncan: power IS fun.

[cheque]

Rehab Diaries Week Forty-nine

STG- Sub-HVS *** Peak Trad list (12/27 remain), onsighting HVS/ low 6s by end of September.

M- High Tor to do Skylight. Me and my mate did this in 2011, I led the first pitch and he led the second. When you take into account that the route as a whole is a pretty tough VS but the first pitch is about 15m of chossy VDiff you'll understand why I don't count it as "ticked" for my list. So we went back to do it in reverse.

It was hot and sunny so High Tor was a stupid choice, particularly when you factor in that the crux of the route, early in the second pitch, is a preposterously polished layback crack. I'm not a fan of laybacking at the best of times and it felt impossible even by the other methods, wide bridging  and, the one I chose to attempt, jamming up the corner 'til you can slap right for a jug I'd forgotten about and scrabble and slap 'til your feet are on something other than vertical glass. It was horribly sweaty and by the time I'd finally located the jug I'd used up too much energy for the last part of that sentence and took a very short fall . Once I'd pulled the rope and had a rest I was ready again but my mate was chatting some bullshit about it going dark at 9:20 so we just bailed. Not a confidence-building evening.

T- Rest.

W- Decided to do some pullups. Did two and my right shoulder (deltoid really) felt weird so sacked it.

T- Gym. Bike. This was the stupidly hot day but the air conditioned gym was much cooler than outside so not such a daft idea. Same 30-minute intervals as usual, same one-level increase as usual.

F- Felt like I wanted to spend a bit of time in the Peak before the grim weekend weather so went to a deserted (even the carpark was virtually empty) Lawrencefield. Incredibly still and quiet- could hear the dragonflies buzzing over the pool and little bubbles popping from underwater fish or frogs or something. Soloed a hot, greasy and soily Pulpit Groove and decided not to follow it up with the other easy one that comes in from the right 'cos I didn't really enjoy it.

S&S- Family stuff/ eating/ shopping (got a new expensive rucksack  ) and, on Sunday evening, finally recorded the audio commentary for Stonnis that I've been meaning to do for literally years. Great to see it again (not a bad film really!) but a very sobering experience watching my pre-injury self confidently soloing. 

Not a good week for climbing really and Monday's failure, although explicable by the awful connies was a bit of a wake-up call in terms of how I've been on the slide physically this summer- too much easy climbing and sugary food to congratulate myself, not enough structured rehab and training or trying particularly hard . Not sure when I did my little deltoid tweak but it's hopefully not going to be so bad- normally a sign of not stretching my lats enough when I get these.

[shark]

Illness, high temps and other activities meant only got a few days climbing, visiting Foron and Le Cruz a couple of time each.   

Bummer.

Went to Foron today. As anticipated got spanked just about managing to redpoint a 7a at second attempt. Nice spot. Steep walk in. Enough there to keep us occupied I think.

[Goat]

STG- Effectively combat injuries
MTG- Have fun by getting stronger

Mon-    1 hour session. 1 arm hangs (32 mins) , short core session, and one armer practice.
Forearms feel pretty well worked from the one arm hangs. I also did some very brief 2 finger hangs to see how my fingers feel.

Tues-    Feel tenderness and some paint in right middle finger when gripping things- a minor pulley strain. Plus my forearms feel like they’re been pumped full of battery acid, and I’ve hardly even done much…

Wed-    Tennis- I think this is the cause of my pulley injury. Looking at my racket grip it appears that the majority of the force is being applied through my right middle finger. So it would seem that playing tennis on my days off and crimping hardish on my right hand has lead me to ruin..

Thurs-       Rest- Forearms still feel a bit pumped.. wtf am I an old man or something? A bit concerning… Also my finger is still quite bad.
Fri, Sat-     Resting due to traveling. I did some occasional massaging on my right middle finger.
Sun-         Tenderness in the finger appears to have more or less gone, and I don’t get pain from massaging it.

Pretty crappy week, no climbing done (not even board sessions). Not good.

[tomtom]

I had a right old week....

M: Chance to hit the rock on my Manc > Hull commute. Went to Rubicon - good conditions. Warmed up - felt alright. Got on Kudos, Heel up, cranked on it - felt really strong and twang something went in my knee. Same as I did on Beta Blocker last year... but not so bad (I could walk)... Left the crag. Knee felt kind of tender but OK. Anyway - Kudos is dead to me.

Whilst driving decided to go to Anston... so went there. Greasy on Frodo area... got pissed off working Nazgul LH although my knee felt alright. Generally felt unstatisfied with what I tried to do - and unsatiated for want of a better word.

That Eve went to Mad Volume wall in Hull. Excellent 2 hour session - bumped in to SteveR again. Nice problems there. Puntered around but enjoyed it.

Tu: Work

We: Stopped at Church crag on the way from Hull > Manc. It had thrown it down the night before (thunderstorms) and it was a bit condensed. Got the fan to work.... a few insects about, so deeted up. And basically after about 10 min got midged off the place. Deet - nor fan would get rid of them, if anything they seemed attracted to the repellant!! FFS...!!!!

Stopped at the Depot on the way back home. Had a decent enough session....

Thu: Day looking after the toddler. Potty training day 1. Hottest day of the year... went to my parents in Kendal and sat in the garden most of the day whilst the lad played in water/hose etc.. and could wee anywhere without making a mess...

Fri: Trip to Dublin and back for a conference. Plane delayed by an hour so was a bit late but it was OK. The plane felt like everyone was heading for a loveisland audition... 2 stag and 2 hen do's on board. Flight back was more normal..

Sa: Wife in London, potty training solo mission day 3.... success

Su: Fucking rain rain rain rain. I stuck an empty tupperware pot on the garden table and it collected 10cm of rain during the day... gave up on going outside and went to the depot in the afternoon. Was busy but alright. Noted 4 FIEND wall conduct violations.

[IanP]

Bummer.

Went to Foron today. As anticipated got spanked just about managing to redpoint a 7a at second attempt. Nice spot. Steep walk in. Enough there to keep us occupied I think.

Good holiday was had anyway.  Which 7a?  I tried one of the ones on the first sector and thought it was desperate, didn't try to redpoint!  Went up to the next sector and it worked as good warm up for an onsight on L'Ascenseur which is superb.

[shark]

Yes it was on the first sector: Le Voleur De Bagdad

[IanP]

Yes it was on the first sector: Le Voleur De Bagdad

That's the one, bloody hard!  The sector further up is steeper and has better holds (on the routes I did anyway), really good.

[AJM]

Illness, high temps and other activities meant only got a few days climbing, visiting Foron and Le Cruz a couple of time each.   

Bummer.

Went to Foron today. As anticipated got spanked just about managing to redpoint a 7a at second attempt. Nice spot. Steep walk in. Enough there to keep us occupied I think.

No personal experience, but some decent length and multi star 7s on Suet and Chapelle Saint Gras looked like other things of interest when I clicked through the guide...

[Coops_13]

M:

T: Guanella Pass. Started work early as working to Philly hours so was able to get out early and make it up to Guanella Pass. Nice roadside alpine bouldering at c.10,500ft. Warmed up on some nice boulders up to V4 and then got on Compression Matters V7. Awkward start moves lead to nice top moves. Took a while and had a big battle at top - feeling v weak but psyched I managed to do it. First boulder harder than V5 since moving to US and since injury. Was too knackered after that for anything else - session fitness is poor. Video posted on NQBV

W: Apartment Gym. 20 mins cardio on the bike. Back and lower body stretches. Bench press on smith machine up to 175lb

T:
F:

S: Lower Chaos, RMNP. Swift hike up in 30 mins. Warmed up then got on Autobot V5. Took a while but finally did it. Moved onto Mikaila V7. Really nice one-mover, very psyched to do this as it required pulling hard on my finger. Went over to Tommy's Arete but skin too thin to do it. Sprinted back down as a storm rolled in making it to car just in time. Mint. Video below:


S: Hiking up Cupid Peak 13,116ft and Grizzly Peak 13,333ft. Brilliant day out

[duncan]

@Duncan: power IS fun.

Absolutely, I was confident I could rely on you. And the gaining of power (or the ability to keep going after 18 hours) is fun.   

[shark]

@Duncan: power IS fun.

Absolutely, I was confident I could rely on you. And the gaining of power (or the ability to keep going after 18 hours) is fun.

I think it is in Savage Arena where Boardman and Tasker agree they will do the fun stuff when they got old; the tragedy being that they never got old.

I get satisfaction from pushing myself hard and getting small gains though a lot of the time it feels like, and probably reads like 

[moose]

I get satisfaction from pushing myself hard and getting small gains though a lot of the time it feels like, and probably reads like 

I'm increasingly thinking of my seige habit as being akin to Stockholm Syndrome, especially once I'm past the stage when I've devised my beta and made good links.  After that, all that's left to do is send, no more "cheap" minor milestones to take pride in. 

Eventually, I suspect I revert to a willing hostage's mentality and almost don't want to be released.  There's a comfort in being able to turn up to the crag, knowing exactly what I'll be doing, and within a narrow range, knowing exactly how the day will turn-out (narrow failure, perhaps at best, having experimented with a different smear). 

I've been fine with that for years but this Spring entirely lost my mojo - no routes felt worth the emotional investment - and I have spent most of my recent climbing days bouldering.... only to find myself mentally gearing up to seige far-flung 2 metre high lumps of limestone!

[shark]

There's a comfort in being able to turn up to the crag, knowing exactly what I'll be doing, and within a narrow range, knowing exactly how the day will turn-out (narrow failure, perhaps at best, having experiemented with a different smear).

So true

[teestub]

There's a comfort in being able to turn up to the crag, knowing exactly what I'll be doing, and within a narrow range, knowing exactly how the day will turn-out (narrow failure, perhaps at best, having experiemented with a different smear).

So true

Wow!

[moose]

I didn't start climbing until I was 27, so never had any ambitions of being any good.  Now I am into my 40s, I am reasonably content to just fill time; not being in the house (and not drinking!) is a small victory. 

The problem is that there is a normally hidden corner of my psyche that is goal driven and ferocious.  It's the part that takes over midway through RP attempts, and shifts me from fatalistic, just happy to be here, to almost psychopathically determined... it really does spoil a pleasant day out for the rest of me.

[abarro81]

Perhaps the thread should be renamed "depressing as fuck club"?