[tomtom]

Power Club 551

Mon: rest

Tues: Rubicon. Warmed up at home. Kudos - even closer than last week. Took the ladder and had a feel of the final hold and found best spot. Caught it a couple of times - didnt latch it properly. Then the sun came around - I went home. Again.

Wed: Board day - really good session. Did most things I've done before. Felt strong. Excellent on Presslica.

Thurs: 1 arm (bent arm) HANG day (not pull ups for once... give those elbows a chance). -8 down to 0 assist no problem. One rep at +2kg! New best.

Friday: Woodhouse Scar with Dolly. It wasnt great conditions - bit muggy - T shirt weather no wind in the trees.. Managed the Sheriff with a left footlock until releasing to go to the arete and up. Felt 7A+ that way - certainly not the guide grade of 7B+. But its a class problem anyway - I really liked it. The other highlight was Radon Arete (superb) but the rest was a bit meh... lots of litter, glass, the odd syringe - it wasnt the best day to visit for sure...


Some funny chat on the vid

Sat: Some more 1 arm hangs (quick session) down to zero.

Sun: Chanced a trip to Higher Chelburn. Spent an hour on Chilli Burn 7C and managed to pull on and make a move - but couldnt get much further (its the crux making it past the first move). Did a 7A with a hand jam (yes thats correct a hand jam) which made it not 7A :D - then R-Man sent me info on a fun looking shelf problem thats not in the guide - and I managed it at the last gasp of the session. The video is a bit of a phone balanced in the shoe special - but the heel is marginal and I had to bone the f*ck out of a small crimp over the lip to get up. Superb.

[Will Hunt]

You're sailing very close to the wind there saying The Sheriff is 7A+!

Who the fuck thinks the sheriff is 7A? A moron with a tiny cock and a smaller IQ yet a big ego is the only explanation.

[tomtom]

You're sailing very close to the wind there saying The Sheriff is 7A+!

Who the fuck thinks the sheriff is 7A? A moron with a tiny cock and a smaller IQ yet a big ego is the only explanation.

It’s the grade you gave it on UKC :p

[dunnyg]

Jacks arete is a good grunt if you are back there, and sherifless is a good challenge. Never seen syringes there before, but i havent been for years, grim!

[Bradders]

Friday: Woodhouse Scar with Dolly. It wasnt great conditions - bit muggy - T shirt weather no wind in the trees.. Managed the Sheriff with a left footlock until releasing to go to the arete and up. Felt 7A+ that way - certainly not the guide grade of 7B+. But its a class problem anyway - I really liked it. The other highlight was Radon Arete (superb) but the rest was a bit meh... lots of litter, glass, the odd syringe - it wasnt the best day to visit for sure...

Woodhouse used to be my local. It's a good one for a cold, windy day to help blow the miscreants away. Never had a real problem other than litter though. Take a bag and fill it up! It all dries very quickly too.

Sheriff is one of those problems where it just gets easier the taller you are. Tough for the short. Although either way it's massively inferior and orders of magnitude easier than Houdini further down, which is a really great problem spoilt only slightly by the landing.

Other than Radon Arete which I agree is great, I'd recommend Tilt (just a really perfect little boulder), Johnny One Time (indoor thuggery into grit arete tech at a good height), Piton Crack (highball and a great line) and Houdini and Ian's Roof (hard horizontal power problems).

[tomtom]

Sorry to sound down on the Scar - i re-read what I wrote and I didn’t mean it to sound quite so negative.. (it doesn’t deserve the meh). I think we both bombed out super keen for a day on the grit and given the connies we should have gone elsewhere...

[moose]

I remember really liking Angel Face - IIRC rock shoes with good toe rubber were essential. Piton Crack was an atmospheric and scary experience - grovelling over the top on damp holds, above insufficient and badly placed mats during a sudden lightning storm!

[Bradders]

Sorry to sound down on the Scar - i re-read what I wrote and I didn’t mean it to sound quite so negative.. (it doesn’t deserve the meh). I think we both bombed out super keen for a day on the grit and given the connies we should have gone elsewhere...

Ha no worries. It has its downsides. Although if you want the real Halifax experience go to the Jobseekers Party Bloc. Down wind from a sewage works and you'll have had a good session if you leave with all 4 wheels on your car

[shark]

11.1 - 11.2 Average 156.9 (up 1.1lbs )

M . AM FB warm up.
PM Malham with Buster and Steve. Met Squawk there. Cooler at 11degrees but no wind so still not perfect but the best I’ve had it so far this year at least to begin with. F&EE x2. First go up Oak sticked past throw and linked traverse to top. Second go up played on lower moves and took 3 goes to do throw move as right hand kept firing off intermediate pinch and had to alter to a narrower pinch to
make it work. First redpoint climbed well but distracted when Lloyd strayed yelling beta. Did some power shouts to shut him out and nearly held the horn. 30 min rest then second redpoint held the horn for first time this year from ground and made the moves right and up and nearly pulled up to the rest except my right fingers weren’t deep enough in undercut and shot out. Third redpoint. Hand slippage at start, tried again and pinky flicked out of undercut by third bolt and was off. Hmmmm. Went for a walk and clag had come in. Back on catwalk and reports of worsening conditions. Fourth redpoint rock felt soft and hard work climbing but got up to initiating throw and hand shot off intermediate. Last go tried throw to top did throw and clip but foot slid off nubbin moving right. Did in sections to the top with Steve complaining he couldn’t hold on trying Tremelo (having just done a new 8c+/9a)

T. PM Foundry. Shortish power hit. Campus board. One arm hangs. Oak move on board. Did the pink problem that I struggled on ten days before ago. Felt a bit less strong than doing similar stuff on two weeks before but had the benefit of a rest day then

W.

T. AM FB warm up.
PM. Malham with Andy and Steve. Met Simon D at crag. Ambient temperature good but no breeze to speak of and full sun when we got there and too hot to climb. Squawk had retroed Rodneys Route below catwalk at 6b do we all did that. Then did F&EE. First tie in pulled thru and did the traverse to the top. Next go was going to dog a bit more but decided to have a redpoint and climbed well straight through to undercut by third but felt like I was going to get a flash pump. Next two goes didn’t get as making feet errors and not getting enough purchase through feet. Felt unmotivated. Felt annoyed at myself for being unmotivated. Went for a walk. Conditions had cooled more when I went back down. Two decent redpoints - first touching the horn and the second having my hand on it in the right place but didn’t grasp it. Another walk then another go from the ground but tired and failed to pull through on undercut by third bolt. Final go dogged up and managed to do final traverse to top with some effort.

F. With poor forecast for weekend popped out late morning to Stanage Popular with the dogs and soloed 8 routes between VS and E1 for some psyche repair

S.

S. Lunch. Weather surprisingly looked ok. Headed out with Ewa. Tor was absolutely rammed. Went to Crag X instead. Still dry and deserted. No wind but cool. Good connies. Warm up then on to JR. Two goes from the ground both getting to final holds but like 3 weeks ago still not being able to make my old foot beta work and swinging off. Reworked it off the ladder with a controlled feet-off stab with my right foot and then got it next go from the ground 😀 Then had two goes on Moffatrocity getting my foot onto the JR ledge on the second attempt. Tired after that


Despite Monday’s progress my enthusiasm for the Oak has wilted. More keen for Moffatrocity as I write. May go back to Malham Thursday.

[Coops_13]

M: Shoulder mobility exercises. Legs. Leg press, Squat, Leg extension, Leg curl. Bike 10 mins - 3.31 miles. Lower body stretching

T: Core - Crimpd floor core

W: Spot Denver. Strength repeaters, 3 sets (took it a bit lighter). 18mm, 5 on 3 off X5. BW, +5lb, +10lb. Climbed a lot of boulders including a v good hard problem (maybe V7 or in two parts and finishing off another problem (V6ish) that I couldn't do last time. Finished up on the Kilter board doing 4 V5s, 2 V4s, 1 V3.

T: Shoulder mobility exercises. 100 press-ups, 3 sets shoulder press

S: RMNP. Big day at upper, probably last day of the season. Up to Skipper D for mates to finish it off (did it last year) then back down to the bottom of Upper to do Windy in the Basket V7. So so good, video below including mates struggling to get the pad over the death pit for the crux throw (caught on a log in the landing). Tried a boulder on the back then back up to middle of upper to try Battlebug, no luck on the sweaty top-out. Mega day


S: Hike with pup and friends. 4.4 miles, 1000ft ascent

Elbow feeling better and fingers starting to work. Wrist feeling good. Gonna watch rest days and make sure I keep improving. Off to Joe's for a long weekend in a couple of weeks and trying to get another trip booked in. Pscyhe is high

[gollum]

W/C 28/9/2020

M - Caley, chest, rehab, abs
T - Repeaters, shoulders, abs, rehab
W - Depot purples, back, abs, rehab
T - Arms, abs, rehab
F - Northumberland in van, rehab
S - Northumberland in soggy can, rehab
S - Heading home, rehab

[Nutty]

Mon: Board session. 10 warm-up problems followed by attempts at harder stuff. OK session, no progress on any of the problems I tried, but wasn't expecting any after a couple of weeks off the board. Opened up a small split in the DIP joint crease of my left ring finger. Pullups and stretching.
Tues: Rest.
Wed: Fingerboard. Taped up the split and did 5 x ~10sec one-armhangs per arm at 90% bodyweight on 25mm edge. Felt strong on my right arm on these now that my little finger niggle seems to be resolved.
Thurs-Sun: Nothing.

Week started well but lost all motivation later in the week with the incessant rain and dark evenings.

[SA Chris]

F - Northumberland in van, rehab
S - Northumberland in soggy can, rehab

That bad?

[gollum]

F - Northumberland in van, rehab
S - Northumberland in soggy can, rehab

That bad?

It was great, but Biblical rain put paid to pretty much everything apart from watching the Challenge Cup semifinal in the van.

Beautiful part of the world though and hamstring feeling much better so rehab working.

[tomtom]

There were several times during lockdown - where spending a weekend in a van watching TV whilst it pissed down outside would have been a very welcome change :D

[tommytwotone]

LTG: do another Font 7a

M: Nowt
T: Evening session, went to Last Sun Dance, new place in Leeds. Had expected it to be a bit hipster parkour-a-thon, but was pleasantly surprised. Really nice space / place to be. Good range of surfaces / angles and some very different holds and setting...some of it a bit humbling. Only bad thing is the use of V-Grades but the seems to be the way nowadays.
W: Nowt
T: Nowt
F: Big Depot in evening with the eldest. She finally got her head sorted and went all the way to the top of a route, then did it 5 times more, then asked to boulder. She promptly dispatched most of the kids' problems, and I got a good workout doing a few V3-5 things round where she was.
S: Nowt
S: Freeklime in Huddz with both kids. Good session - they have a good kids' area. Youngest (3) got to the top of the bouldering, his technique is really good. Eldest did all the stuff in the kids' area and then did a "proper" V1-2 in the main wall. I mainly pottered about, but got to pull hard on a few of the V5-6 things, but didn't actually do any of them.

Glad the kids' psyche is still going. Nice to check out the new wall in Leeds too. Mad to think that there are now 6 walls within a 20 minute drive of my house.

[spidermonkey09]

Bring back Gollum's detailed descriptions of daily torture rather than this joyless stripped back affair...

M - rest. Felt fucked after holiday and the drive back. Being back at work was depressing.

T - Fingerboard, max hangs. Pleasingly solid at 5kg assist after a week off. I have done 4 in a row at this weight I think so time to drop it which will doubtless be totally desperate. Also down to bodyweight on left arm 3 finger drag, right arm still stuck at 1.25kg assist though.

W - rest.

T - Wall. Board session. Ended up doing a load of mileage which was good, 6B felt like the living end after 2 hours. Tried the mirrored version of a 7A+ I did in the winter, got close but the last move is a low percentage jump to a small crimp beneath a bigger crimp, creating a kind of slot, so you have to be really accurate. Good session though, definitely getting stronger.

F - rest.

S - up to Malham as girlfriend on nights. Utterly appalling weather but crag was in surprisingly good nick. Unsurprisingly busy considering it was the only dry rock in the country. Got on Overnite and was really impressed at how good it was. Sorted sequences bolt to bolt and found the holds on the start. Quite good conditions.

S - Malham again. Sunny morning which kept the seepage at bay to start with. Good session on Overnite, got through the start last go of the day but was too knackered to make an impression in the headwall. In with a shout next weekend. Great scene with Eder, Luke Dawson, Josh Ibbertson and Jon Freeman all on Rainshadow. High gravity though as Scott fell out of the final undercuts on Connect again. James Ibbotson pulled my gear out of Bat Route (which I had only left in on his request last autumn!) and it was in a shocking state; corroded biners and incredibly brittle tape.  A good reminder of the folly of leaving draws in full stop I suppose, but especially when you aren't actively trying the route and checking them regularly.

[cheque]

...pulled my gear out of Bat Route (which I had only left in on his request last autumn!) and it was in a shocking state; corroded biners and incredibly brittle tape.

Is that really shocking? Sounds about right for a full year hanging on a seepy crag in Britain to me, especially given that last autumn/ winter was the something like the wettest on record.

[tomtom]

Also down to bodyweight on left arm 3 finger drag, right arm still stuck at 1.25kg assist though.

I've found that some of this (with me) and super small assist weights is that you lose any pull (on the arm if a dangling cord) and this upsets the balance of the hang (if that makes sense). So I've started doing my hangs in jeans, hoody and trainers - that I know weigh 3kg more than my regular climbing/training shorts and T shirt - so for a 2kg assist I have a 5kg weight on the rope - which feels more comfortable. if that makes sense...

I know that kind of defeats the point of being able to hang on one arm without the other helping the balance/swing etc.. but it has got me through the 'transition to zero' etc.. etc..

[Will Hunt]

M - Evening cycle for 1.5 hours.

Th - Ilkley High Crag lamp session. Nice climbs on excellent rock. The leaning arete of Leftism (6B+) was a highlight. Found a much easier sequence on the notorious Rhythm and Stealth which completely bypassed the hard move to and the hard move off the MingSlope. Also did a nice variation on Phat Planet to avoid using a shameful chip.

F - BD core workout

Sa - Family shiz

Su - Malham. Heaving. Couldn't decide what to get on but was going upstairs as Dave was on Main Overhang. Was going to get on Free and Easy but I'm slightly spooked by all the in situ draws and tat of unknown age and provenance. Belayed Dave on Main Overhang and thought it looked fun so had a top rope on it then dogged up it on lead. Feels like a goer but didn't link through the entirety of the crux sequence (I think my best effort at this involved grabbing the draw after the crux moves instead of doing a couple of hand moves to grab the flatty at the end of the sequence).
Keen to come back.

Getting spooked by the in-situs on Free and Easy doesn't seem quite so unreasonable in light of Jim's post. Why doesn't it get stripped?! The krab that's hanging off some static has left a scratch mark from where it's been swinging in the wind that can seen from the approach!

Did a little warm up before each trip out. Nothing structured, just some hangs and pulls on the fingerboard while I was milling around packing the bag. Not sure how much of a difference it made but suspect I'll really feel the benefit in winter when projecting.

[spidermonkey09]

Is that really shocking? Sounds about right for a full year hanging on a seepy crag in Britain to me, especially given that last autumn/ winter was the something like the wettest on record.

No, not in the sense of it being a surprise, more the actually seeing it! I had only remembered they were still in there a few weeks ago and immediately thought they should come out. The combination of solar oven and seep factory is very bad for quickdraws!

[spidermonkey09]

Getting spooked by the in-situs on Free and Easy doesn't seem quite so unreasonable in light of Jim's post. Why doesn't it get stripped?! The krab that's hanging off some static has left a scratch mark from where it's been swinging in the wind that can seen from the approach!

That kit is totally shit I agree. The scratch mark is mostly caused by the rope coming tight and dragging the draw/static back towards the ledge when people are working it/falling off though.

I would say strip it of metal and leave the static as it would be useful when doing Totally Free. The roof on Uneasy Peace is also full of bad kit I gather. When I get around to trying the full link I plan to replace everything on it but if you get there first...

[shark]

Did a little warm up before each trip out. Nothing structured, just some hangs and pulls on the fingerboard while I was milling around packing the bag. Not sure how much of a difference it made but suspect I'll really feel the benefit in winter when projecting.

That sounds a bit lame. I do the normal routine that gets me fully recruited so I’d be ready to my hardest hangs when I stop. Presumably you have a  routine to warm and build up to attempting your hardest board problems. Try that next time. That’s an order 

[RobK]

Fingerboard, max hangs. Pleasingly solid at 5kg assist after a week off. I have done 4 in a row at this weight I think so time to drop it which will doubtless be totally desperate. Also down to bodyweight on left arm 3 finger drag, right arm still stuck at 1.25kg assist though.

Sorry, by this, do you mean you're stronger on your three finger drag hangs than presumably four finger half crimps? Is this the same for a lot of people? Interested as I am significantly weaker on my three finger drag and wonder if it's something I should be working on.

[spidermonkey09]

Sorry, by this, do you mean you're stronger on your three finger drag hangs than presumably four finger half crimps? Is this the same for a lot of people? Interested as I am significantly weaker on my three finger drag and wonder if it's something I should be working on.

Yep, approx 5kg stronger currently! I don't really train 3FD beyond a few hangs at the end of the max hangs session but tend to drag holds where i can which might contribute to it? At least one other person I know is stronger on 3FD than 1/2 crimp but not sure how prevalent it is.