Oh boy oh boy, the last few days have been a real rollercoaster; usually my favorite theme park ride, but these emotionally based ones don't give quite the same kind of thrill do they!
Part of the reason I'm writing this post is a personal process to externalize some stuff and wallow in some misery, but I imagine it might also be an interesting read for others.
So there I was, Thursday the 7th of April, feeling fitter and stronger and on the whole just better than I ever have been, confidence booming, my ego verging on obesity, and with 'The Trip', which has made living on the breadline for the last 5 months bearable, approaching so immanently I could smell the wine and sangria! 12 days in Fontainebleau with the Peckmeister and my old crushing partner Kieran, who I haven't had the pleasure of climbing with for too long now, followed by a further 12 in El Chorro with font-power and the fabled 'flow' (see Mason's recent post) and with the all-day fitness that I've been developing over the last few months. Can you sense the anticipation? It was tangible!
I'm at my dads to earn some spending money for The Trip (which I was quite looking forward to btw) and after a few days without climbing my muscles have acquired the hunger; you know when they just feel like they need to squeeeeze something! I'm at Gloucester climbing wall with a couple of Stroudy climbing friends and I'm feeling elastic, electric, flowing and free! I flambe my way (no not a sugary glazing, in this context I can and will use it for the act of being flamboyant) up a few warm up routes, on one of these finding no less than 6 no hands rests up 12 meters of vertical (not because I needed to, just because I could). As I bounce my way up a 7a+ that was set to flow true by none other than Steve McClure I hear my belayer and my friend below commenting on my languid style and the nature and quality of my movement and technique, and I have yet another injection of ego and a burst of excitement about how successful The Trip is setting up to be.
I don't remember why or how I fell off. I assume a foot slip or something; I was hanging on a jug in the 10 meter high roof and was mid-clip when the unexpected plummet began, and it didn't end until I was flat on the floor. Hurtling through the air I had time for thoughts to clarify; they were something along the lines of "goodness, there shouldn't be THIS much slack out" and then a flash of "this is serious!". Cat-like as I may be, physics be physics, and gravity gravity. I crumpled well on landing, but leaning slightly so my left leg took most of the impact, smashing through an inch of mdf which also helped to absorb the shock, thankfully leaving my spine in tact. It's a strange panic when you hurt yourself; first instinct is to get up and walk around, perhaps to establish to yourself that you're ok. I try to get up immediately, heavily winded, and feel my left ankle is stiff and painful, but otherwise I'm unscathed. I gasp that I'm ok to my belayer, who I realize is in shock; frozen and stammering. Over the next few minutes while we wait for the ambulance I reassure her that I'm fine and that it doesn't feel serious, but she's distraught with guilt and just repeating that she has never dropped anyone before in her life. First time for everything eh. We chat idly with the chubby male paramedic until the 2 smokin hot female paramedics arrive with the wheelchair, and after witnessing some cringeworthy flirting from my friend Remmy I smoothly charm my way downstairs and off to the hospital. Yes that's definitely how it was!
Laughing gas is a brilliant drug! There I was hyperventilating away and hysterical over my devastation while the rest of the waiting room sat there miserably with what appeared to be nothing wrong; the irony of which only added to the hysterics of my rushy altered state, until mean old nursey McPhee said I wasn't in enough pain to warrant laughing gas. Bravado gets you nowhere! The X-ray showed a couple of suspected fractures in my ankle so I was popped in a cast and sent on my way, prospects of walking, let alone climbing out the window for the near future, and my much-anticipated Trip well and truly down't shitter.
Needless to say I have had a lot of frustration to vent, and have spent a lot of time staring pensively into space recently. But I'm well on my way to coming to terms with it. Everyone has been very sympathetic. I don't mind this, although I don't like people making a fuss. I know people mean well, but I find little solace in some of the cliches that they offer, as applicable as they may be to my situation, they just seem hard to stomach sometimes. No, not everything happens for a reason. This did not happen for a reason. I'll endeavor to maintain my optimistic outlook and make the most of a shitty situation, but no divine power influenced this for the greater good. It is unfortunate chance that 2 minor and common events; a lapse in concentration and a foot-slip, both coincided to produce a disproportionately serious result.
I will do what I can to prevent this experience having too much of a negative effect on my future climbing. I'm going to train hard for my physical maintenance over the recovery period, and I feel I am mentally robust enough and have processed the experience well enough to cope with the psychological implications. I'm no more likely to be dropped in future than I was before this incident. I will certainly be a devout and attentive belayer in future. I will probably be more verbal and open about the trust between climber and belayer for my personal reassurance, but that can only be a good thing. I don't hold resentment towards the girl who dropped me, even though I had only just met her and it would be easy to pass blame and judgement, it's not in my nature, and it is unfortunate for her as well as me that the outcome of her distraction was as it was. Approaching these issues with mindfulness and detachment feels important to me, so they don't play over in my mind and become mental blocks in future.
Of all the cliches however, I have definitely benefited from some. The silver linings; my self-development in ways that I would otherwise neglect due to my obsession for climbing; woodwork, reading, music, cooking etc as well as continuing to train hard on the fingerboard I'm carving (I would never prioritize training over climbing even though I know it can give greater improvements in strength, but now I am forced to do so).
Also looking for the light at the end of the tunnel; I will still be able to go on a wild climbing trip once I'm recovered. The girl who was belaying has offered to pay for my flights to be transferred so I will now be going for a month or more to visit Majorca for DWS, Albaraccin and Font for bouldering and apparently there's some good sport climbing in France and Spain worth checking out...
Thirdly, I have taken refuge in remembering that it is always darkest before dawn. I'd say this has been one of the most distressing events of my life. My feathers aren't easily ruffled and I rarely get stressed about things, so I'm sadistically enjoying a bit of wallowing and strong emotion, safe in the knowledge that it will pass soon enough with a bit of adjusting.
Then I look at the lessons to learn. There is not much I can take from the event itself; just the importance of attentive belaying. But from the experience of being injured I can learn empathy. I have never really been injured before. It sucks. And for someone who is so used to being agile and mobile it is a real eye opener to appreciate those who have difficulty moving or dependancy on others. It really sucks.
And finally... Life Goes On.
Good splurge. Good effort if you got all the way through that!
Monday, 11 April 2011
Friday, 1 April 2011
There's always more toothpaste in the tube!
Over the last few weeks I have been living a slightly more conventional life; having to fit my climbing in around work and weather (although I've still been sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs). But I've enjoyed the sense of urgency you get from this, nipping out after work to make the most of our recently extended evenings, and have managed to get some absolutely cracking routes done!
With the ambient warmth of last week George and I ventured to the south side of the pass to Clogwyn y Gafr, a compact little crag with line after line of superb quality. This is where I did my first E3, Satsuma Special a couple of years ago, which I later discovered gets E4 with the demise of a peg that once protected the bold headwall. A brilliant bit of climbing regardless of it's bold nature! But this visit we were not looking to push our boundaries into grades beyond ourselves, the trad season still being so young. So we each bagged a slightly damp crag-classic; the eye-catching crack line of Pulsar E3, ranging from finger locks to arm bars and some powerful slopey laybacking to evade the saturated algae on the lead by George, and then I udged, palmed and slithered my way up the equally attractive corner of Sacred Idol E3, made even better with the holds in the corner being elimiated by seepage and slime, making for magnificent multi-dimensional climbing in all planes of movement between the side-walls.
A few solid days of menial work does wonders for the psyche! So later that week I headed out with Matt Burdekin for what turned out to be a bit more of an intense session than the above! We got up to the Grochan, one of my favourite crags, for convenience as well as for the quality routes. The only drawback was that I had done almost all the routes there. Just the exciting cracked headwall of Quantum Jump E5 still awaited my presence on it. This is the route I witnessed George deck on a while back due to a mean little notch cutting his rope on the lob, so it has been a bit of an elephant in the room for a few of us ever since. Whether I was to be successful or not, the elephant had outstayed his welcome, and Burdy's relaxed 'have a bash' attitude really helped relieve some of the pressure surrounding the idea of getting on it.
Leo Houlding's attitude towards saving routes until they're within your ability comes to mind. It's those hard-fought onsight attempts at your limit that are really the most rewarding, whether you're successful or not. Recently I belayed Alex on Great Wall E4 at Craig-y-Forwyn; a revered and historical route that I know he really wanted to onsight; the Alex vs. flash-pump battle that ensued was a pleasure to witness, and his hard-fought success on reaching the top was enjoyed by all (except the miserable git of a land-owner). So I approached Quantum Jump with the acknowledgment that I might fall, but with the determination not to! A few times I was close to coming off, a foot pop here, a barndoor there, and a desperately deep pump on the last few moves, but I just kept on pulling; there's always more toothpaste in the tube! How close I was to coming off only added to the exhilaration of success! Up at the belay an old climber called across his sincere congratulations, saying that he had seen many attempts and few successes from young ambitious lads on that route. I would definitely class myself as a young ambitious lad, and thankfully that day I was also a successful one!
I now have a weekend in Pembroke to get some beasty trad onsighting done, before I head off on my fright-free European adventure of bouldering and sport climbing. I'm super psyched to get out there and get crushing, but I will also be looking ahead in anticipation of getting back on the trad that this brilliant rocky little island offers.
Video of Leo Houlding just missing out on the onsight of Balance it is, E7 6c at Burbage South. Can't wait to have a crack at this, I just need to be a bit fitter and in a bit better shape!
(the audio and video are way off sync for some reason, but you get the idea)
With the ambient warmth of last week George and I ventured to the south side of the pass to Clogwyn y Gafr, a compact little crag with line after line of superb quality. This is where I did my first E3, Satsuma Special a couple of years ago, which I later discovered gets E4 with the demise of a peg that once protected the bold headwall. A brilliant bit of climbing regardless of it's bold nature! But this visit we were not looking to push our boundaries into grades beyond ourselves, the trad season still being so young. So we each bagged a slightly damp crag-classic; the eye-catching crack line of Pulsar E3, ranging from finger locks to arm bars and some powerful slopey laybacking to evade the saturated algae on the lead by George, and then I udged, palmed and slithered my way up the equally attractive corner of Sacred Idol E3, made even better with the holds in the corner being elimiated by seepage and slime, making for magnificent multi-dimensional climbing in all planes of movement between the side-walls.
A few solid days of menial work does wonders for the psyche! So later that week I headed out with Matt Burdekin for what turned out to be a bit more of an intense session than the above! We got up to the Grochan, one of my favourite crags, for convenience as well as for the quality routes. The only drawback was that I had done almost all the routes there. Just the exciting cracked headwall of Quantum Jump E5 still awaited my presence on it. This is the route I witnessed George deck on a while back due to a mean little notch cutting his rope on the lob, so it has been a bit of an elephant in the room for a few of us ever since. Whether I was to be successful or not, the elephant had outstayed his welcome, and Burdy's relaxed 'have a bash' attitude really helped relieve some of the pressure surrounding the idea of getting on it.
Leo Houlding's attitude towards saving routes until they're within your ability comes to mind. It's those hard-fought onsight attempts at your limit that are really the most rewarding, whether you're successful or not. Recently I belayed Alex on Great Wall E4 at Craig-y-Forwyn; a revered and historical route that I know he really wanted to onsight; the Alex vs. flash-pump battle that ensued was a pleasure to witness, and his hard-fought success on reaching the top was enjoyed by all (except the miserable git of a land-owner). So I approached Quantum Jump with the acknowledgment that I might fall, but with the determination not to! A few times I was close to coming off, a foot pop here, a barndoor there, and a desperately deep pump on the last few moves, but I just kept on pulling; there's always more toothpaste in the tube! How close I was to coming off only added to the exhilaration of success! Up at the belay an old climber called across his sincere congratulations, saying that he had seen many attempts and few successes from young ambitious lads on that route. I would definitely class myself as a young ambitious lad, and thankfully that day I was also a successful one!
I now have a weekend in Pembroke to get some beasty trad onsighting done, before I head off on my fright-free European adventure of bouldering and sport climbing. I'm super psyched to get out there and get crushing, but I will also be looking ahead in anticipation of getting back on the trad that this brilliant rocky little island offers.
Video of Leo Houlding just missing out on the onsight of Balance it is, E7 6c at Burbage South. Can't wait to have a crack at this, I just need to be a bit fitter and in a bit better shape!
(the audio and video are way off sync for some reason, but you get the idea)
Friday, 25 March 2011
Yaaaaaaay Hoh!
Finally got round to doing the project at Tremadog! Now named 'The Philtrum'; anatomically the groove under your nose, metaphorically the groove under everyones nose; an overlooked line on the Vector buttress! Now the ivy has been stripped the line is quite striking, clearly visible from the Grim Wall abseil. I've spoken to a couple of North Wales activists who knew of the line but had never bothered to clean it or give it a proper look, and I have the ivy to thank for masking its quality until now.
I did discover an old peg on the route (I hope it doesn't turn out that its already been climbed and just not documented) but I suppose I'm not too bothered... I'm just psyched that my inclination to explore paid off with the re-discovery of this line; regardless of whether it's already been climbed or not it is now a magnificent route with sustained and varied climbing from beginning to end, ready to be enjoyed by anyone who has or think they have the minerals to do it.
The Lowdown.
After failing to link it on top-rope during my first play on it back in January I knew I needed to get fitter and stronger, but was also worried that some wad might notice it and nip up it before me. But with some decent recent form I felt confident, and on the day of the ascent I clocked a better sequence and got it linked clean after a couple of attempts. Psyched to go for a lead! Headpointing is so vastly different from onsighting. You fly through the moves with conviction, and to me they always feel easier on the lead than on top-rope, when your muscles are primed with the adrenaline and you're switched on and focused on your sequence, but also in that zoned in/out state where movement becomes very intuitive.
Anyway, I got to the ok rest above the roof no sweat, just a mild pump which I knew I could recover from and now the climbing was less steep & pumpy and more delicate & flowing, with inspiring gear right by me to spur me upwards. Flying through the groove sequence I arrived all of a sudden at the sloping shelf, but as I scuffled my heel on I felt in an odd position, unable to go with my right hand like I had been in practice. Winging it, with the peg and a small cam a few feet below me, I turned my right down to a palm, rocked on my heel and crept my left awkwardly across my bunched body and up the wall to the flatty with a Stevey Mac "Yeaaaaaay Hoh" woop of success and a flood of satisfaction and contentment, which, contrary to a previous post, I fully allowed myself to be for the rest of the day; sated as can be. Cheers to Duncan for the belay on the ascent, and Jono for the belay back in January.
What a Feeling!
Also here are links to the UKC logbook and forum for the route.
I did discover an old peg on the route (I hope it doesn't turn out that its already been climbed and just not documented) but I suppose I'm not too bothered... I'm just psyched that my inclination to explore paid off with the re-discovery of this line; regardless of whether it's already been climbed or not it is now a magnificent route with sustained and varied climbing from beginning to end, ready to be enjoyed by anyone who has or think they have the minerals to do it.
The Lowdown.
After failing to link it on top-rope during my first play on it back in January I knew I needed to get fitter and stronger, but was also worried that some wad might notice it and nip up it before me. But with some decent recent form I felt confident, and on the day of the ascent I clocked a better sequence and got it linked clean after a couple of attempts. Psyched to go for a lead! Headpointing is so vastly different from onsighting. You fly through the moves with conviction, and to me they always feel easier on the lead than on top-rope, when your muscles are primed with the adrenaline and you're switched on and focused on your sequence, but also in that zoned in/out state where movement becomes very intuitive.
Anyway, I got to the ok rest above the roof no sweat, just a mild pump which I knew I could recover from and now the climbing was less steep & pumpy and more delicate & flowing, with inspiring gear right by me to spur me upwards. Flying through the groove sequence I arrived all of a sudden at the sloping shelf, but as I scuffled my heel on I felt in an odd position, unable to go with my right hand like I had been in practice. Winging it, with the peg and a small cam a few feet below me, I turned my right down to a palm, rocked on my heel and crept my left awkwardly across my bunched body and up the wall to the flatty with a Stevey Mac "Yeaaaaaay Hoh" woop of success and a flood of satisfaction and contentment, which, contrary to a previous post, I fully allowed myself to be for the rest of the day; sated as can be. Cheers to Duncan for the belay on the ascent, and Jono for the belay back in January.
What a Feeling!
Also here are links to the UKC logbook and forum for the route.
Monday, 21 March 2011
Set me free from the shackles
I'm writing this post in anticipation of liberation from my blossoming 'career' as a waiter. I've got the hunger for climbing; hungrier than when I had all the time in the world and none of the urgency. Keen to make the most of every moment of free time that I get I nipped on the bus to Llanberis after an early finish, intent on a bit of soloing and a reccy at the routes up at Drws-y-Gwynt and over by Owain's Arete (I fancy a look at that if anyone's keen?). But to my disappointment I bumped into George, and had to settle for some trad on the Grochan and what felt like the first proper trad 6b action of the season (grit doesn't count), Ulrich gliding his way up the aptly named Pump and myself floating up the groove of Pus (feel free to ponder as to whether that's sarcasm or not). And it being pay day and all I went and indulged in some Pete's Eats grub and the Llamff after-party at the Fricsan, big in the game!
But after working full-time now for just a week I am even more content in being time-rich money-poor for the foreseeable future, and I'm stumped as to why people choose to devote their lives to working in pursuit of material wealth. Give me a bit of pocket money, a rack and ropes, food in my belly and feathers under my head and I will be content for at least a couple of weeks, before I decide I need to go to DWSing in Majorca and can't afford the flights. Can't wait for that trip in September!
But in the meantime I have some serious earning to do; my 10 days in Font and 14 in El Choro aren't gona pay for themselves! But that will be when pay day really comes for me. The day I get handed the wad of cash is almost trivial; only appreciated when the time comes to send the likes of Carnage/Eclipse/Noir Desir/any or all of the Big 4, or going for the flash attempt of Lourdes (might aswell have a bash, I'll hopefully be quite fit by then!)
But that's 3 and a half weeks into the future, and I'm stuck here in the present, travelling into the future at a meager 24 hours per day, which is much too slow to go doing breakless 9 hour shifts. I guess I'll just have to do what everyone else does for a bit; wait patiently and stop complaining. And get as fit and strong as possible while I wait.
But after working full-time now for just a week I am even more content in being time-rich money-poor for the foreseeable future, and I'm stumped as to why people choose to devote their lives to working in pursuit of material wealth. Give me a bit of pocket money, a rack and ropes, food in my belly and feathers under my head and I will be content for at least a couple of weeks, before I decide I need to go to DWSing in Majorca and can't afford the flights. Can't wait for that trip in September!
But in the meantime I have some serious earning to do; my 10 days in Font and 14 in El Choro aren't gona pay for themselves! But that will be when pay day really comes for me. The day I get handed the wad of cash is almost trivial; only appreciated when the time comes to send the likes of Carnage/Eclipse/Noir Desir/any or all of the Big 4, or going for the flash attempt of Lourdes (might aswell have a bash, I'll hopefully be quite fit by then!)
But that's 3 and a half weeks into the future, and I'm stuck here in the present, travelling into the future at a meager 24 hours per day, which is much too slow to go doing breakless 9 hour shifts. I guess I'll just have to do what everyone else does for a bit; wait patiently and stop complaining. And get as fit and strong as possible while I wait.
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Public transport, retro-flashing and day-long fitness
You might think not having a car can be a bit of a shite sometimes, and I suppose it is, but I haven't let it stop me getting out, with Gwynedd County having the 26th best public transport service in Wales! (I'd also add that 63% of my statistics have been made up). From the hub that is Bangor you can get a train or bus to Holyhead for North Stack, a bus to Llanberis for slate or an easy hitch to the Pass, or Bethesda for an easy hitch to Ogwen (both prime hitching routes on roads that only lead to one place), and Gerlan for Caseg boulders (about £2 return!). The other day Duncan even got a bus all the way to Tremadog (you can get to Aberystwyth on this for £5.40, and then your halfway to Pembroke!), and my personal favorite, and a regular pilgrimage last year; the trusty Number 5 to Llandudno for the Orme. This is a safe bet be it rain or shine; it offers wet-weather bouldering in Parisella's and a host of top-class limestone sport and trad routes! With all the students balls-deep in academia this week no lifts had arisen, so for the first time in 2011 I made the familiar pad-laden trudge to the bus stop to meet Tim 'Pectoralis Major' Peck. Public Transport rocks!
Unrelenting rain on the journey didn't bode well for routes, but when we rocked up at the cave the sun was out and conditions felt prime! Warming up in Split Infinity my muscles felt supercharged, retro-flashing Lickety Split and knocking out a quick send of Bellpig (V9), which I was close to last session but with fresh arms today it went 3rd go. Moving into the 'proper cave' I was feeling electric, with a routine retro flash of Clever Beaver and a surprise retro flash of Rockatrocity, feeling really comfortable on the moves even though I only had a pad for the starting moves, and then sticking the first move on Trigger Cut (V11) for the first time!
Time for lunch and some idle spectating of Jim McCormack crushing Tomorrow People F7c. With as much beta as a man of his stature could give me I threw myself at the flash attempt, fighting my way up through the bouldery crux, but with just one more hard pull from the awesome up-side-down-knee-bar rest my arms refused to pull and I had no choice but to slump onto the rope, totally boxed but psyched that I had got so close on the first steep sport route of the year.
After a bit of a rest and a pear (the fruit that gets things sent!) I casually pulled onto left wall to finish off the session, but ended up getting to the LW high/low fork feeling fresh, so thought I'd give the LWH a shot. At the sideways-heel-on-the-flake rest I was in disbelief; how had I recovered so well from my recent and deep-set pump?! Just the heinous V6 finish to go now! The final left drop-knee move felt glorious; retro-flashing 2 V9s and ticking a new V9 3rd go, with a lot of climbing in between. The last few weeks of long-day 'training' (just doing lots of climbing in a day) has paid dividends, no doubt about it! I foresee this being pretty beneficial come Font and El Chorro, where you have a limited time to do a lot of stuff. To add to this, my skin regeneration also seems really good, partly due to the sheer volume of recent climbing, and also due to lots of washing up.
So here's a link to a fantastic little bouldering film by Mark Reeves, Amateur Hardcore, which features loads of classics at a range of North Wales bouldering venues, great for some beta-snatching and psyche.
And here is a nice little video by Mason of him doing Left Wall High last year. It's said to be about F8a+, quite power-endurancey with around 25 hand moves and a fair bit of foot trickery, one of the classic true lines of the cave!
Unrelenting rain on the journey didn't bode well for routes, but when we rocked up at the cave the sun was out and conditions felt prime! Warming up in Split Infinity my muscles felt supercharged, retro-flashing Lickety Split and knocking out a quick send of Bellpig (V9), which I was close to last session but with fresh arms today it went 3rd go. Moving into the 'proper cave' I was feeling electric, with a routine retro flash of Clever Beaver and a surprise retro flash of Rockatrocity, feeling really comfortable on the moves even though I only had a pad for the starting moves, and then sticking the first move on Trigger Cut (V11) for the first time!
Time for lunch and some idle spectating of Jim McCormack crushing Tomorrow People F7c. With as much beta as a man of his stature could give me I threw myself at the flash attempt, fighting my way up through the bouldery crux, but with just one more hard pull from the awesome up-side-down-knee-bar rest my arms refused to pull and I had no choice but to slump onto the rope, totally boxed but psyched that I had got so close on the first steep sport route of the year.
After a bit of a rest and a pear (the fruit that gets things sent!) I casually pulled onto left wall to finish off the session, but ended up getting to the LW high/low fork feeling fresh, so thought I'd give the LWH a shot. At the sideways-heel-on-the-flake rest I was in disbelief; how had I recovered so well from my recent and deep-set pump?! Just the heinous V6 finish to go now! The final left drop-knee move felt glorious; retro-flashing 2 V9s and ticking a new V9 3rd go, with a lot of climbing in between. The last few weeks of long-day 'training' (just doing lots of climbing in a day) has paid dividends, no doubt about it! I foresee this being pretty beneficial come Font and El Chorro, where you have a limited time to do a lot of stuff. To add to this, my skin regeneration also seems really good, partly due to the sheer volume of recent climbing, and also due to lots of washing up.
So here's a link to a fantastic little bouldering film by Mark Reeves, Amateur Hardcore, which features loads of classics at a range of North Wales bouldering venues, great for some beta-snatching and psyche.
And here is a nice little video by Mason of him doing Left Wall High last year. It's said to be about F8a+, quite power-endurancey with around 25 hand moves and a fair bit of foot trickery, one of the classic true lines of the cave!
Monday, 14 March 2011
If you believe you can do it, and you crank like a demon!
Today was a sweet day! At first I was feeling a little hard-done-by because I had a job interview at Tesco (it went very well thanks) while everyone else ventured off into the sunny and crisp springtime conditions with high hopes to do daring deeds. Still keen to get something out of the day I hitched my way to the Quarries with this guy, who happened to be a friend of John Redheads (he gave me some interesting advice, something about letting go of the competitive side of climbing and being a part of the moment and climb to be free... or something along those lines). So, keen to merge with the Earth's energy, and equipped with my faithful shunt I went to find some people to burn off, but I didn't find anyone so had a bash at the Medium on seamstress slab instead.
Abbing down, it was obvious where the crux was. The bit with no holds on. But after some toil, a little rest and some cheeky inspiration I stumbled across the solution to the stopper move; my foot popped but I boned them crimps like I did yo' mama, and found my leg had swung into a really unlikely flagging position, finally in balance to do the obligatory no-handed one-legged-squat rockover on an annoying foothold to reach the 'cornflakes' and beyond. So I lead that with a belay and some helpful support from Tombo and Jezer (cheers guys! And super effort from Tom to lead Slug Club Special and Kubla Kahn back to back). Then I headed down with Al n Laura to the Pass and boshed out the tourist start to Jerry's Roof. It was nice to do it in front of the post-work WAD crew, consisting of Caff, Ioan, Jim and some other crusher doin Mr. Fantastic (cheers to you guys too for encouragement).
It feels like I might have gone up to the next plateau on the proverbial graph. It's hard to guage performance sometimes - there's a lot of variability if your going on what grade your climbing, and I imagine muscle memory plays a big part if you're repeating problems you've done before. But intrinsically I can tell that I'm stronger, more controlled in my movement, and my body feels good n tensiony. I still can't do a full one-armer though, so bst gt 2 d indy.
For lunch today I had pitta and humus, a pear, a penguin and 500ml bottle of lucozade. I think that helped.
Abbing down, it was obvious where the crux was. The bit with no holds on. But after some toil, a little rest and some cheeky inspiration I stumbled across the solution to the stopper move; my foot popped but I boned them crimps like I did yo' mama, and found my leg had swung into a really unlikely flagging position, finally in balance to do the obligatory no-handed one-legged-squat rockover on an annoying foothold to reach the 'cornflakes' and beyond. So I lead that with a belay and some helpful support from Tombo and Jezer (cheers guys! And super effort from Tom to lead Slug Club Special and Kubla Kahn back to back). Then I headed down with Al n Laura to the Pass and boshed out the tourist start to Jerry's Roof. It was nice to do it in front of the post-work WAD crew, consisting of Caff, Ioan, Jim and some other crusher doin Mr. Fantastic (cheers to you guys too for encouragement).
It feels like I might have gone up to the next plateau on the proverbial graph. It's hard to guage performance sometimes - there's a lot of variability if your going on what grade your climbing, and I imagine muscle memory plays a big part if you're repeating problems you've done before. But intrinsically I can tell that I'm stronger, more controlled in my movement, and my body feels good n tensiony. I still can't do a full one-armer though, so bst gt 2 d indy.
For lunch today I had pitta and humus, a pear, a penguin and 500ml bottle of lucozade. I think that helped.
Saturday, 12 March 2011
A little something I was thinkin about.
Everytime I arrive in the Peak District I am awestruck by the nature and quality of natural Grit formations. I am also blown away by how thoughtful the quarrymen were; surely when quarrying away they had more important things to think about than ensuring they left all these perfect slabs and walls for future climbers; a brilliant stroke of foresight on their part.
The way that grit climbs also gives a very specific and unusual style. It's certainly not for everyone; I know a lot of people who have a really hard time on it. But I love it. It suits my morphological, psychological and technique...ological assets perfectly; often bold, balancey and precarious, it demands trust in your footwork, and subtlety and awareness in adjusting your centre of gravity. Often large areas of rock will only have just enough features to get up it, no more and no less. The lines it can produce range from thin and necky slabs to plum-vertical walls, striking cracks, soaring aretes, and its fair share of savage thrutchy chimneys and offwidths. Steve and I also noticed throughout the course of my trip to the Peak that I did a remarkable number of high-foot/rock-over moves (not just on the slabs either). Having strong legs and good flexibility proved to be one the most prominent and beneficial maneuvers in the grit-climbing repertoire, allowing me and Steve to climb at a similar standard, even though he is a powerful wildebeast and I'm a lanky cheese string in comparison!
The way that slate climbs also gives a very a specific and unusual style. Again, it's not for everyone; I know a lot of people who have a really hard time on it. But again, I love it. It too suits my morphological, psychological and techniqueological assets; bold, balancey and precarious, demanding trust in your footwork (just on tiny edges instead of tenuous smears), subtlety and awareness in adjusting your center of gravity. You see where this is going...? For some reason when I think of slate I always think of desperate thin slabs and nothing else, and I all too easily forget the top quality routes it has in it's other slightly unique styles. It has the infamous thin slabs, but again like grit it has the plum-vertical walls, striking cracks, soaring aretes and even the odd savage thrutchy chimney-grooves like Gin Palace and the Quarryman. Steve and I first noticed my extensive use of high-foot/rock-over moves on slate, before we noticed it in my grit climbing too. Having strong legs and good flexibility has proved to be the most prominent and beneficial maneuvers in the slate-climbing repertoire; just need to work on my pain-tolerance now.
I find it quite unusual to think about grit and slate, rough and smooth, rounded and sharp, both yielding such similar climbing styles with such high contrast in geology and form, but those two paragraphs match up nicely, and only leads me to conclude that if Steve and I had his powerful upper body and my stretchy strong lower body, plus a decent ape index, and a massive knob while we're wishing, and my face (obv), then not only would I/he/we look like a freakish ape man, we'd also be crushing French 9a slabs in no time.
So, we all better get stretching, squatting and slacklining as part of our training to become heros/wads/beasts/extreme punters/crushers or whatever you aspire to be, it will do us favors no end!
The way that grit climbs also gives a very specific and unusual style. It's certainly not for everyone; I know a lot of people who have a really hard time on it. But I love it. It suits my morphological, psychological and technique...ological assets perfectly; often bold, balancey and precarious, it demands trust in your footwork, and subtlety and awareness in adjusting your centre of gravity. Often large areas of rock will only have just enough features to get up it, no more and no less. The lines it can produce range from thin and necky slabs to plum-vertical walls, striking cracks, soaring aretes, and its fair share of savage thrutchy chimneys and offwidths. Steve and I also noticed throughout the course of my trip to the Peak that I did a remarkable number of high-foot/rock-over moves (not just on the slabs either). Having strong legs and good flexibility proved to be one the most prominent and beneficial maneuvers in the grit-climbing repertoire, allowing me and Steve to climb at a similar standard, even though he is a powerful wildebeast and I'm a lanky cheese string in comparison!
The way that slate climbs also gives a very a specific and unusual style. Again, it's not for everyone; I know a lot of people who have a really hard time on it. But again, I love it. It too suits my morphological, psychological and techniqueological assets; bold, balancey and precarious, demanding trust in your footwork (just on tiny edges instead of tenuous smears), subtlety and awareness in adjusting your center of gravity. You see where this is going...? For some reason when I think of slate I always think of desperate thin slabs and nothing else, and I all too easily forget the top quality routes it has in it's other slightly unique styles. It has the infamous thin slabs, but again like grit it has the plum-vertical walls, striking cracks, soaring aretes and even the odd savage thrutchy chimney-grooves like Gin Palace and the Quarryman. Steve and I first noticed my extensive use of high-foot/rock-over moves on slate, before we noticed it in my grit climbing too. Having strong legs and good flexibility has proved to be the most prominent and beneficial maneuvers in the slate-climbing repertoire; just need to work on my pain-tolerance now.
I find it quite unusual to think about grit and slate, rough and smooth, rounded and sharp, both yielding such similar climbing styles with such high contrast in geology and form, but those two paragraphs match up nicely, and only leads me to conclude that if Steve and I had his powerful upper body and my stretchy strong lower body, plus a decent ape index, and a massive knob while we're wishing, and my face (obv), then not only would I/he/we look like a freakish ape man, we'd also be crushing French 9a slabs in no time.
So, we all better get stretching, squatting and slacklining as part of our training to become heros/wads/beasts/extreme punters/crushers or whatever you aspire to be, it will do us favors no end!
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