Font + Cod & Pollock Fingers!!!

Firstly Font:
We left Sheffield late ish on wednesday night, drove down to watford in time to be plied with alcohol and food by Nat's family before heading on in the morning (thur) to dover and then across to dunkerque.
We should have been able to climb on thur however the parisiens had unkindly blocked paris ring road and it took a bloody age to get to font. We stayed at the maisonbleau which is right near buthiers (SW font). It was amazing, especially due to the great deal that Neil did for us. Thanks for that.
It rained that night and I was feeling a bit annoyed on friday morning after all its a long drive if it rains constantly, anyway the skys were blue so we headed out to check out project no1. Atomic playboy, this tackles a thin seem on a gently overhanging wall traversing r-l then up. The feet are huge and as it's 8a+ you can all guess what the hand holds are like. Anyway the curved top of the boulder hadn't fought the rain and the water was running down the line of holds. Bollocks.
We headed over to elephant and pootled about on bits and bobs to get used to Font again. Nat doing markedly better than last time on her very first problem which was impressive even if she seems to be less than happy with her rapid rate of improvement (I don't think she understands quite how long climbing actually takes to establish yourself at a reasonable level). After elephant we went the Cuvier Rampart for me to get spanked by c'etait demain and to watch Pete and Doyle get spanked by the watchtower. They left for cell block forumla 1 we stayed later.
Sat was the best conditions I have ever experienced in font, blue skies, it was cold (frost on the car), we headed to isatis mainly for Natalie, we arrived to see pete dispatch Sur-prises first go of this session. Nat and I warmed up while Mawson tried that crimpy 7b+, pete offered a hold cleaning service from a nearby (flimsy) sappling, he was high, hilarious to watch. Nat did a few more good things including a few reds before we ended up at El Poussif El Poussah, I pulled on el poussah and dispatched it swiftly (its always been a battle), it's so much nicer when its cold, I then settled a long standing battle with El Poussif (pic to follow, the only one due to shitty camera syndrome). Neil turned up afer bottling the last move of l'arrache couer and with directions from Pete dispatched El Poussah the crazy french way with your toe above your head, that sequence is the epitomy of weird climbing gayness.
I then went up to try Dolce vita beta and stopped to look at l'arrache couer, my god is it high but what a line. Dolce vita didn't go but I did get close crimping ripples that i'm sure are for your thumbs. Did another 7b up here and a couple of easy 7a+'s (read soft). We then sacked it to cuisinere.
After re-warming up I got involved with karma, suprised myself by holding the sloper 1st got and moving my heel on, this happened a few times but the heel just wouldn't sit in the right place, I then tried jumping crossed over and bearly quadrospazzed myself, tiring I decided to quit. More mileage with nat and then the day ended (it was nearly dark) with pete hurling himself around on double entorse, he got it. Doyle and I got involved with a 7a+ nearby, it was sharp and unpleasant and a heel we discounted could of saved us both some pain (and potentially some cod finger)....

and so to the other item in the title, my (now renamed) collateral ligament sprain aka pollock finger remains, my right hand ring finger has picked up a more traditional feeling of cod finger. Bollocks, I am so fed up of being injured.

The next day it rained, so we left. Watching pete pour pints over himself on the ferry was very entertaining.

Better late than never!

Well I havent posted in ages as i'm useless, i'm getting quite psyched for my phd stuff which is good news as I am going to be doing it for roughly 3 more years. I managed to output a colourful animation after about a weeks worth of effort on a 2d simulation, all of my main work will be 3d and requires stupid processing power. Douglas (one of the other blokes in the office) currently has the computer I will be using, it is UBER powerful.

It's too long ago to remember specifics about my climbing/training. Basically last week I did stuey first go on the monday, did it again on the wed and the thursday. I did the same with my circuit and ticked off snot earlier this week (putting on dragons made it a lot easier rather than floppy anasazi's). I was psyched to get out today as the weather looks top but instead Nat and I did loads of stuff that really needed sorting. She's taken 3 days off around next weekend and we're off to Font. I am absoloutely psyched out of my mind as my finger feels ok (touch wood) and I think i'm almost as strong as i've ever been! The list of things I want to tick is fairly long and far too hard, i'll be happy to tick just one off.
Nat and I have been questing around to try and find some fem boots for her that fit better than jackie's second hand stinky wasabi's to no avail, the only boots that seem to fit are rockette's and I don't really think they'll be at all useful for the level she's currently at.
I'm going to point her at the Marie Rose and see how she does.
I might go out tomorrow, I need to open my account on inertia real trav in a proper way last time it was just way too hot and I knew that before even putting on my boots, however its worth popping over there just for the roads (not the A5 and the donut van that hides around bends!!!), Top Gear missed that road i'm afraid.
Bad news about foley, I hope he has a speedy recovery...
Oh - and thanks to dobbin I have now found THE BLOG OF NED, and confirmed that keith's blog IS keiths blog (incidentally keith, doyle and mawson might also be out in font next weekend)...

Dobbin if you're reading this, the crux crimp on Basic Knitwear is deteriorating fast! I taped over it but it needs some TLC, i'll probably not be up there in a while...Maybe a decent scew on replacement to use for your foot? what'ya reckon?

Lot's more climbing!!!

I can't really remember what I did last week in terms of training, all I remember is that I rather foolishly decided not to tape on wednesday as my finger was feeling fine. The session went really well. I remembered some absoloute classics. Ben you have to get on these which I later added to the guide. The next day my finger rebelled and I sat there nursing it slightly pissed off.
Nat has started hassling me to take her out on the grit as she enjoyed font so much, and the previous weekend so when Saturday came we got up early and headed for the Burbage South boulders hoping that our early start would prevent us meeting hoards of university beginners. We parked at the fox house to get a little wet and see a hanging mist in the valley. Higgar wasn't visible. A quick phonecall to lee found the lazy git asleep, dobbin was up but still in Sheffield (thanks for your later text about conditions out near stoney). The stone wall that you cross on the way to BBG south was dry ish so we decided to wander in. The cioch is an amazing bit of rock and it looked as if someone had recently been on captain invincible, a seriously good line (and hard apparently).
As we got to the boulders the mist blew away and the sun came out. Nat and I climbed to mid afternoon. She did really well at BBG, it has got to be one of the best places to take someone to learn how to smear etc on grit (indeed perfect for my lack of footwork skill). I did a nice little problem (1 move(r)) called tiger which hurt my finger. I tried a problem on the other side which jump starts, put my right leg against the wall, pushed hard, collapse on mate cradling my leg. OUCH so it can't do that anymore...It wasn't long before we were getting hungry so we set off for the little john in hathersage for a stupidly large lunch.
On Sunday we went to the roaches (rumours have it that it's also good for beginners), the spring boulders we're surrounded by marsh land so we sacked that idea off and went to the boulders nearer the lower tier. Both of us did a few easy things before Nat's sking gave in. Rather than persist we headed back to Sheffield in time to catch her folks on the way past for lunch.
A really good weekend and this whole getting your girlfriend to climb thing seems to be paying off with me spending more time on rock over the last two weeks than I can remember (when not on holiday).
I'm currently doing some CFD stuff which is pretty challenging and trying to decide whether my finger is ready for the board. I think so but I cannot be bothered to walk!