[shark]

11.6-8 Average 160.8 (up 0.2lbs )

M. Gash weather.

T. Blue skies, lower humidity, 3 degrees. Perfect grit day. Went to the Tor. Low expectations and questioning why I was bothering. Felt good on warm up routine. Checked out the cross through move on Bens. Much better on it. Second attempt from pocket and crimp linked all the way through to the end comfortably. Best link since March. Struggled on the throw move only doing it a couple of times but on one of them linked to setting up for cross thru. Tried from pocket and crimp and managed to link through to the finish again. Overall 3 of the 4 hard moves felt a degree easier and endurance has improved. Happy with that. Between goes gave Ethan a belay on Evolution. He’d be all over it if he wasn’t contending with damp holds and a split tip.

W. Didn’t sleep well. Leisurely start. Overcast, cold but high humidity forecast so unsure about conditions would be like. Home FB warmup. Drove out midday. 6 degrees Checked out Blind Date. Jerome there again. Decent breeze swirling around and good conditions except when sun came out. Lots of goes going for or tickling slot. Got better at end with body position so I could place left foot from above rather than stab out for it. This meant I could engage hip better and so able to rock up more solidly. At end held the left slot twice, first time falling going for right slot and next go coming off just before on intermediate pebble due to tiredness. One more go just as started to drizzle and called it a day.

T. AM Felt a bit wrecked. 5 sets of 3 Fast pull ups with +5kg. Chest to bar each time. Followed with a set of chin ups which felt weird as cant remember ever having done them before
PM Max hangs Ergo edge. Good session. Best hangs HC +25kgsx9secs, FC +27.5kgx9secs and drag +30kgsx8sexs. Closing in on January’s freak outlier HC PB (27.5kgx10secs)

F.

S. Late AM Systems board - PE and endurance. Same session as last weekend but off the boil
Eve. Attempted pull-ups with +35kgs but not up to it.
A couple of days off required if I can exercise restraint

S.


Ben is back home and gagging to go bouldering on grit so expect I will be doing more of that for the next few weeks. Pleased with performance on Bens and Blind Date. Been scrutinising some videos of Bens and keen to try out some different manoeuvres on the throw move.

[Duma]

M - work, 12hr shift
T - work, 12hr shift
W - Cheddar, remnant. Wrist Business (7c+) 4th go. Then sorted sequence for the extension - Just Say No. Hopeful this should go soon, but both these routes are just stepping stones to Homegrown really.
T -  TCA hardish bouldering, short session, still feeling yesterday.
F - work, 12hr night shift
S - work, 12hr night shift
S - work, 12hr night shift

Work a real issue this week, 12 hr rota means I can't get anything done on days I work. Weight creeping up too. On upside rekindled psyche for remnant.

70.5kg (but prob worse as scales stopped working fri)

[tommytwotone]

So Shark - on the perfect grit day you went to The Tor, and on the day that had Tor written all over it you went to Burbage?!

Goal: new (to me) Font 7a outdoors

M - nowt
T - Ab Ripper X on lunch (yes, me too). Still couldn't keep up with the pace / volume but reckon I did about 75% of it.
W - nowt
T - lunchtime theraband stretching, followed by fingerboard foot on hangs
F - nowt apart from hulking an Xmas tree about
S - more Xmas tree hulking / chopping with a handsaw. Quite hard work. Potentially a good accidental ancap session.
S - weather looking really marginal but a) needed to get out of the house with kids to give the missus some P and Q and b) was going stir crazy having not left a 5-minute radius of the house for about 2 weeks.

Decided on a jaunt out to West Vale which was cold, damp, muddy, ground soaked, wet streaks down the crag but a fair bit of the traverse-level holds were dry.

A character building day for me and the kids - parked them on the sit start pad and gave them a mince pie while I totally failed to do anything having mis-read the guidebook / where the lines actually go. Still, at least I a) got out and b) pulled on some real rock.

Feeling like a return to the wall might be in order this week. Have heard Last Sun Dance was quiet / filled will well-behaved punters on Sunday so I think I'll head over there this week.

 

[Will Hunt]

Rubbish week.

Tu - Lamp session on The Fonze. Had a few goes not sticking the move to final LH hold before taking the arete. Figured out what I was doing wrong and had a go getting to the arete but pinged off. Finger felt a bit numb. Had a rest and tried again. Finger ripped off at the end as I was about to put my heel up on the right, removing a mammoth amount of skin.




So unless I can climb it taped up then I'm calling it a day. I really can't afford to go back on it and just have the same thing happen again, meaning another 2 weeks of skin woe. Feels very frustrating to have spent most of November having 3 sessions on it and to get fairly close but to ultimately have to sack it after 4 sessions.

Poked and prodded at finger for the rest of the week. It feels like there's a little blister somewhere deep in the skin but can't be sure. Still a bit too sensitive to get sanding it vigorously.

Su - met up with dunny for a snowy walk to find some new limestone bouldering. The crag we found looked like a choss heap from afar but actually had nice rock. Its short stature, slightly suspect rock (but only insofar as all limestone is suspect on first acquaintance), lack of much obvious difficulty (though there were some decent looking hard things), lack of flat landings, and long walk in mean that it probably won't come to anything. Which is a shame because if almost any of those factors was better then you could probably make something worthwhile of it. The best find of the day was an impressive highball wall of grit that we passed on the way - we discovered when we got home that Sutty did it in the noughties. Drat.

[Yossarian]

Missed a few weeks. Lockdown was spent doing max and density hangs, one arm isometrics, various other strength / core / stretching.

M - 7 mile trail run. Not very fast. Max hangs. Aiming for -8kg but felt a bit tweaky so stopped after -16. 90 / 120deg isometrics. Down to -4kg (PB)

T - KB shoulder press / press-ups on roller / lat raise / ring dips / goblet squat / various core / decent stretching session

W - 7 mile run - felt amazing. Went to the wall PM. Felt like fucking Superman. Most of this year I’ve not managed anything harder than 6C inside (perhaps a couple of vert 7As that I managed to lank) and generally nothing very steep as I’ve felt like a bag of potatoes. First session back and I managed two decent links on a 7C+ on the prow. Extremely syked.

T - Back for more. Skin a bit sore. Had brief go on 7A+ that had felt nails previously. First v low move still awkward but most of the rest of the holds then felt like jugs. Moved on. Various ungraded (hard) wooden problems were set just before lockdown. Decided to try the hardest one. Made some unexpected progress. Felt like fucking Jason Bourne. Stretching and core pm.

F - Run. Lots of snow / slush so cut short to 4 miles.

S - Back to wall. Forearms felt quite tender from previous sessions. Took it quite easy at first, but then got lured in by the 7C+. Got first 3-4 moves fairly wired. Next move on a horrid crimp seemed v hard so spent some time on the last section. Did various things involving pulling and squeezing very hard that I’ve never done before. Felt like fucking Thor. I think this problem is going to be up for a couple more weeks at least, so quite syked to try to finish it.

S - 5 mile walk with kids. Started doing some shoulder press and press-ups but felt a bit knackered so stuck to core and stretching. Replaced Project 8a sticker on fridge with Project 8a/A.

[Bradders]

I'm calling it a day.

Noooooooooo! Will you're in!! You've done the hard bit of the problem several times now, you just need a little bit of luck to get matched on the flake and to have the end wired. I reckon the only reason you won't do it in the next session or two is if you give up.

[tomtom]

Keep going Will - but a flesh wound! Shark. What 3T said... Duma - keep the faith! Yossarian - great week.

A fairly crap/uneventful week here..

Mon: Rest/stretching

Tues: Wilton 3 - working on Rodins Requiem. Found a knee scum that helped (ooooh... kneepad involved in classic Wilton problem controversy :D ). Flu Jab late afternoon.

Weds: Off form - tried some one arm isometric hangs. Did 4 sets with 16kg assist at 90 degrees - lasted 15 seconds... just. 

Thurs: Sneaked a 60 min board session whilst mrsTT took the boy swimming. Wasnt great - wasn't awful...

Fri: Five hours driving to Hull and back to pick up a new work PC and check on a few things. Awful weather for the drive...

Sat: Out at 8:30 with the lad to find some snow. Still plenty left up on the tops near Blackstone. Played with him there for about 20 min until his hands turned to iceblocks and retreated to the car for hot chocolate. Snuck back out to Wilton 3  & Rodins about 12 ish - and it was about the only dry rock around.. progress. Got to matching and holding a key hold (crux) but couldnt move from it. Then knackered. Two small razer like splits on tips (antihydral at fault I think...) almost like paper cuts...

Sun: Filthy mood all day. Got a quick 20 min on the board early evening. New footholds (core 20mm edges) made things less impossible. Felt better.

[spidermonkey09]

Noooooooooo! Will you're in!! You've done the hard bit of the problem several times now, you just need a little bit of luck to get matched on the flake and to have the end wired. I reckon the only reason you won't do it in the next session or two is if you give up.

What Nick said. Don't throw your toys out the pram Will! As to why Simon didn't go out on the grit on Tuesday...

Weird week with yet more shite weather.

M - rest.

T - made last minute decision to go to Baslow for lamp session. Rushed max hangs session over lunch break which was better than expected tbh. Managed 3 full sets but performance dropped sharply thereafter. Got stuck in horrific traffic on way to Baslow so took ages to get there and was a bit stressed out. Despite being cold when I left it felt warm and still underneath Flatworld. Had intended to try the LH version but couldn't even pull on so decided to have a look at the sit start. instead. Had a play on the moves and made quick progress. Got through the start from the deck twice and dropped the hard move on Flatworld each time. Thought I might be in but then conditions went to shit and I couldn't do the start anymore. Definitely a goer but I would want a lot of pads down there as the pull on for the sit feels impossible without at least a couple of pads to sit on, or I suppose I could do a sort of crouch start?

W - rest.

T - wall. They have a winter league so decided to have a look at that. Flashed the first 17 of 25, definitely more luck than skill, before getting shut down on a dyno. Fun session doing some blob jumping.

F - rest.

S - planned to go to Burbage but rapidly became clear on arrival in the Peak this was a non-starter. Went for a walk from Redmires via Stanage and Burbage which was quite a bit longer than anticipated. Nice to be outside though.

S - sacked off going outside in favour of another indoor session. Did a few more on the comp circuit but the dyno remains unticked. Will give the last few a go later in the week.

Rubbish weather. By my count thats three weekends in a row the Peak has been shit. I hate the winter. Being able to go to the wall helps though. Thumb is still hurting a month after spiking it which is really irritating. Registered at a GP this week so might see if they know whats going on in there.

[duncan]

Well done those keeping at it, the weather and lockdown hasn't helped. Another twofer from me as there didn’t seem much to report in the first week. 

M - Short run, short fingerboard for elbow rehab.
T - Shoulder conditioning routine (IsYsTs, side planks, handstands).
W - Brief fingerboard for elbows, shoulders, 10km walk.
T - Short run, shoulders.
F - Brief fingerboard for rehab.
S - Shoulders.
S - Shoulders.
M - Shoulders.
T - Brief fingerboard.
W - 10km walk, shoulders.
T - 10km walk.
F - Met up with csl at Winspit. Rained for much of the journey down and it was windy, grey, damp and miserable at 10am in the Worth carpark.  Wandered down more in hope than expectation but the rock was dry and not too cold out of the wind. Warmed up on some of the easier routes on the south face and the excellent Unseen Ripples.  Conor onsighted Peppercorn Rate and I had a go. Didn’t try very hard or get very far onsight but worked out the moves quickly enough. In between belays on Avenging the Haleswell the sun came out and I managed to do Peppercorn. Enjoyed this, just my style (quite a trad. feel), and nearly three stars (after applying the Limestone Quarry adjustment). By the end of the day the weather was lovely, crisp and sunny. The crag was deserted all day: the Brean Down contagion not seemingly affecting the south coast.
S - 15km walk
S - Short run + 10km walk.

No climbing for a month due to lock-down. I’m fat and training has been very limited by a sore elbow so happy to still have a 7 in me. Ten years ago when I was taking work a bit more seriously I didn't manage more than 6b+ all year.

STG: sort out elbow. Feels like the year is winding down (checks aims for 2020) but it would be fun to try a new venue or two before it’s all over.

[cheque]

By my count thats three weekends in a row the Peak has been shit.

Sunday 22nd was great unless you were too far north. Last two have been so bad that it’s easy to forget though!

(checks aims for 2020)

  I think we all get a pass for this year.

[teestub]

Noooooooooo! Will you're in!! You've done the hard bit of the problem several times now, you just need a little bit of luck to get matched on the flake and to have the end wired. I reckon the only reason you won't do it in the next session or two is if you give up.

What Bradders said. Also bet it was well humid and still there on Tuesday so you did well in non primo cons

[shark]

So Shark - on the perfect grit day you went to The Tor, and on the day that had Tor written all over it you went to Burbage?!

Guilty as charged. Worked out OK though

[duncan]

(checks aims for 2020)

  I think we all get a pass for this year.

That really needed some irony indicator!  (Trying to go to some new places was one of the better ideas from the start of the year)

[Footwork]

Noooooooooo! Will you're in!! You've done the hard bit of the problem several times now, you just need a little bit of luck to get matched on the flake and to have the end wired. I reckon the only reason you won't do it in the next session or two is if you give up.

What Bradders said. Also bet it was well humid and still there on Tuesday so you did well in non primo cons

He's already declared it easier than Red Baron Roof and 7c/ 7c+ . I'd just give up climbing if I was him 

[dunnyg]

I am loving the downgrades without having done it. It marks a new step up for the resident downgrader.

[Will Hunt]

It seems like a senseless waste of a grit season to spend it repeating the same act of self destruction. It would be nice to do some moves that aren't the start of The Fonze.

He's already declared it easier than Red Baron Roof and 7c/ 7c+ . I'd just give up climbing if I was him 

 

[teestub]

He's already declared it easier than Red Baron Roof and 7c/ 7c+ . I'd just give up climbing if I was him 

In that case he should deffo give up on Fonze and move onto the next thing to downgrade.

[shark]

I am loving the downgrades without having done it. It marks a new step up for the resident downgrader.

Scarcely. He downgraded Keen Roof and not even been to the crag

[webbo]

Doesn’t the Fonz traverse the break at the back of the roof to get where Will is starting

[Footwork]

I am loving the downgrades without having done it. It marks a new step up for the resident downgrader.

Scarcely. He downgraded Keen Roof and not even been to the crag

I think we all know which way the wind is blowing for Keen Roof 

[JohnM]

Weight - 10st7lbs

M - Shoulder stability + core. Assisted one armers. Trail running 12km with 549m elevation gain. PB on my local training run.

T - Nothing I think.

W - Warm-up at home and then drive to the nemesis project. It was snowing a bit when we arrived and really cold and humid/in the clouds. There was a dead horse lying beneath the route but I decided to flog it anyway! Terrible conditions and I could barely hang the holds, gave up and went home in less than an hour.

T - Trail run in the snow. 15.5km with 614m elevation gain.

F - Weighted pull ups. After a solid session the week before I didn't feel good this time. I had to jerk loads to get my chin above the bar. Ending up tweaking my trap.

S - Terrible weather. 10km on the flat. Back on my sub 40 minute 10km campaign. Managed somewhere between 42-43 minutes which I was quite pleased with considering I was a bit hungover, had some gut complaints and heavy wet sleet was blowing into my face for the second half!

S - Finger boarding. Back 3 and back 2, middle 2, slopers on the Beastmaker and pulley assisted one arm hangs on the middle rung. Then rotator cuff/sub-scapularis weights. Not a bad little session in the end.

A very low motivation week for climbing especially considering that I still wasn't able to put my project to bed and the weather has crapped out. I don't have much motivation to train as I don't have anything in the near future to train for but I can just about manage short strength based sessions. Slipping into Xmas drinking and eating too much way too early this year as well! At least the running was good this week. I seem to be nearly back up to full speed after 2 months of sluggishness.

[36chambers]

Doesn’t the Fonz traverse the break at the back of the roof to get where Will is starting

That's interesting. I'm pretty sure the TC Dunning book says that, but I haven't seen it mention in any other guide, or anywhere else. I don't think YG vol. 1 does much to clarify this either.

If I remember correctly, the back wall traverse finishing up Happy Days gets 7B which would mean that starting there for The Fonze would stack up to an identical difficulty as Mr C ~8A+ (since Ian's Traverse is 7B).

[webbo]

Mr C was still 8A+ when Ian’s traverse was graded 7C. I haven’t got the Cameron duff guide anymore but I’m sure that describes it starting along the back wall traverse.
Ian/Gollum  might know as he was probably there went it was first done.

[gollum]

Mr C was still 8A+ when Ian’s traverse was graded 7C. I haven’t got the Cameron duff guide anymore but I’m sure that describes it starting along the back wall traverse.
Ian/Gollum  might know as he was probably there went it was first done.

That’s how I remember it. Out from the back wall.

I remember having a very odd sequence at the end, taking a pinch and then catching the top of the start hold on the arête, but I am short, and compared to Red Baron Roof, I remember doing something similar there.

I also was pretty sure that the Fonze started on the back wall traverse, I have no idea whether it’s harder or easier than Ian’s Traverse but do think it’s very different in style.

Anything I can’t remember I make no apology for as it’s nearly 20 years ago.

[Stabbsy]

Mr C was still 8A+ when Ian’s traverse was graded 7C. I haven’t got the Cameron duff guide anymore but I’m sure that describes it starting along the back wall traverse.
Ian/Gollum  might know as he was probably there went it was first done.

Cameron Duff guide is a bit unclear - it's still a project in there and describes it as "a desperate continuation from the corner". The topo shows it starting on the lip, so I'd guess it means starting from the groove that Happy Days goes up. I've also got a kind of addendum to the Cameron Duff guide that has the Fonze as one of the updates - that describes it starting from the Happy Days niche as well. All that said, I'd defer to Ian's expertise.