Inspirational

I'm a grouch, through and through but for some unknown reason, this year, I have been looking forward to Christmas. Although I wouldn't trade our time in the van for anything. After a while when the hours of daylight get shorter and it rains more frequently it can start to be less than comfortable. Christmas was going to be the end point and with that it also represented what we'd grown to miss.
Christmas eve was spent sat across the table from Nat's Dad comparing a range of high quality ports, brandys and finally; single malt. I can certainly think of worse ways of spending an evening. BUT, Christmas day was what I was looking forward to most. Two things in particular; 'Progression' and 'Between the Trees'. Both Natalie and I have been struggling to find direction and psych within our climbing since returning. Being able to travel Europe's best venues, picking of the best quality lines is fantastic. Battling frozen fingers, rain and the associated frustration that I associate with gritstone is less so. These two DVD's were my pre-packaged psych material, and I couldn't wait.

It was a toss up between which would be bunged into the player first, but as we had none climbers present (...and I couldn't be bothered to explain the 'point' of bouldering) big up won the toss.
I'd heard that progression was the newest and by far the best offering from Big Up and I have to say I totally agree. Incredible. Patxi fever seems to have overrun Sheffield since people first viewed the film, the Racist in particular seeming particularly strong and in shape of late. However, it wasn't the total dedication of Patxi that I found the most inspiring.
Since climbing in places like the Verdon I've developed a large amount of respect for people who can perform in a situation with such exposure. It is simply mind blowing to me. That is why Tommy Caldwells 'dose' had me leaning forward in my overly reclined chair, glued to the huge screen. Simply, WOW.
On the trip we barely managed a week of bouldering, Albarracin was fun, Magic wood was at least; new. However, none of it was as awe inspiring as it had once been. Yes the moves are nails and the holds are seemingly none existent, but its all over so fast.
Next up was 'Between the Trees'. Firstly I have to say that on first viewing of L'etranger I wasn't overly interested. Then about a year later I dug it out for a Font trip and watched it over and over again. My ticklist comprised only of problems on that film and I had what I think was my best bouldering trip ever (helped by nigh on perfect conditions day in day out). I still forgot/didn't donate. I don't think its overly fair to post my own review of the film (not that I'd think Keith would care), opinions are very personal and being a little un-psyched by bouldering I would probably be the wrong person to do so anyway (this blog has upset far too many people by accident). Elephunk looked great.
So there it is, on the back of a 6 month trip my goals in climbing seem to once again be shifted. I'm inspired (by the Patxi sequence) to start once again putting in the effort on fingerboards, boards and the rocks in order to achieve what I want but for me that isn't that extra plus, more a handful of problems and routes. I could go on forever chasing that elusive half grade extra and miss out on some of the other parts of the sport that I've barely explored. Hopefully when the weather improves Nat and I can start exploring the grit stone edges together and when it improves further my favourite sport venues in North Yorkshire. Until then I hope to hold on to a small slice of my endurance and that's going to require work.

Where is the f*cking school when you need it?

Merry Christmas

Love Affair

A while ago I read what was basically an attack on the automotive industry about their thirst for power (as in brake horse power) rather than economy. I felt at the time this was rather unfair as in fact, with anybody selling anything, customers dictate what does and doesn't succeed and up until recently in terms of cars that has been safety. Encap ratings being the big thing. This led to each size of car bloating somewhat to make it more pedestrian lemming friendly and to get better ratings of course (great ad material). The problem with this was that the cost of re-engineering engines to match the new cars size and weight was just too great and it was far easier to just re-use old engines with slight tweaks (think 206 and 207). This in turn led to a range of highly underpowered cars that, in reality, offer limited MPG in the real world. Currently the aim of the games is greater MPG, and lower C02. Alfa have been making tremendous engines of late offering a lot of power, with amazing environmental statistics. Add to this the new rule change in Formula 1 meaning refuelling is prohibited and it won't be long before advances in fuel economy leak down to the home market. If you're really concerned about C02 there's another way to go that involves no Cat converter but this poses a bit of a hydrocarbon nightmare I'm told.
And this brings me on to what caught my attention at the time. The fact of the matter is that GOOD economical cars have been out there for a while, people just didn't buy them. My car in fact. A 53 reg Punto HGT JTD (~ 6 years old) of which I've had two, both offered amazing MPG that makes some modern cars look poor. 62 and 58 mpg respectively over their entire lives with us, that includes city driving and the daily slog up to Wakefield.
After returning from 6 months off our beloved blue Italian has been sat in my 'rents garage with no electricity. Its first Italian-ism was waiting for me when I went to recharge it. Whats the answer to the riddle "what do you do with a Punto with a flat battery and a broken bonnet release"... The answer to which is: Fight to remove bonnet release handle as silly Fiat decided to leave the threaded bar too long to fit a socket over and the bracket too small to fit a spanner in, pure genius, they must use special tools over there. Having fought for a while and eventually winning I left it to suckle electricity overnight from the slow trickle charger. It turned over first go in the morning and then chucked out warning lights from Engine Failure to Refuelling Needed. 15 minutes later these had disappeared and I was on my favourite backroad. The snow was falling, the road was wet and coming into my favourite bend on my ex Saturday morning school drive I gave the throttle a blip, the car slid in perfection just hitting the apex and once again... I love my Fiat.

Oh and I climbed indoors the other day, it was average and hurt my hands.

The End

Well, I think its about time that A2I was no more... the readership of this blog is stupidly large, much larger than I intended and that means there's a hell of a lot more chance of me p*ssing someone off who doesn't know me all that well and doesn't realise I'm just having a bad day.

So far I've offended friends, wall owners and most people who decided to have children, my work is done.

I was also rather hoping to become less Addicted to Injury whilst on my travels...

Power blogging

Time is short (although I'm sure Mr Foley would disagree!)...

Tomorrow the van should be done
Tonight Nat ploughed up the middle of the troll wall with ease (impressed me no end)
We have bought everything we think we might need
We still need to get our lives in order (i.e. lots of boring cr*p)
This weekend we are at my folks
Next week we plan the general route!

This weekend at Center Parcs I tried my best to ruin my shoulder playing squash. However, strangely for me (by tonights performance) I'm guessing I didn't quite manage it. Someone did however steal my locked up hire bike.

I got to meet three legends within the last 24 hours, Two halves of an ice cream duo and Bubba from UKB. Nat recognized two of the bunch which is progess.

The van is looking amazing and all of the extras the seller threw in are of greater worth than I expected, especially the quileted window insulation pack.

Right, current task; eat everything in the freezer. MMmmmm

Full steam ahead...

Its full steam ahead in our flat currently as piles of replacement climbing gear appear all over the place. Printed topo's, emails and anything else useful continously spew out of my printer turning our newly converted room into a royal mess.
Nat has been asked (no, made an offer she couldn't refuse) to finish this Friday which just leaves my work and a heap of chores to do before we're clear of everything.
Yesterday evening her crash course in sport climbing had its starting jolt. Team 'hombre' climbed earlier than us but later on James, Nat and I were in the Foundry and it was time for ropes.
It would be a pretty boring blow by blow account but suffice to say it went well with Nat seconding almost everything she was pointed at. She handled the added height of the Troll wall with ease the only thing she seemed to slightly struggle with was remembering to quit.
I was actually quite surprised by my recovery during the session and for a while pondered why I've spent so long chasing power when realistically my body is built for stamina? For my last route of the day I went for something spicy and pink. I fought my way through to the steepness but it was too much for me. Stabbing wildly at a hold I fell into space. Happy that, on the first session on a rope this summer I'm confident to try.
The next step is Nat on the sharp end. I'm concious of rushing her but also concious of time running out. Anybody fancying doing routes over the next few weeks please don't be shy!

Beta and Pain!

The blogging will likely be short for the next few weeks. The To-do list is huge and getting bigger by the hour so I think its going to eat all my free time. I'll pick the van up on Sat from Chester and then set about fixing a few things that I think it needs, then re-MOT it as otherwise it'll run out midway through the trip.

Tonight I bumped into the climbing shire horse that is Uncle, he claimed he was weak. He didn't look it from where I was standing. Tonight was a good night, not only for the banter but tonight was the first session I climbed without tape and left with my skin hurting and nothing else. Ice now, just in case.

I'm currently trying to extract trip beta from as many people as possible, if you've got anything you feel might be useful, please don't be shy!

Going to see a man about a van...

Things move fast in the world of last minute euro-trip planning. I've got a competitive insurance quote, I've located an ideal looking van and I'm off to view it tomorrow...

Ex AA
Pop top
Pro Conversion - fridge, leisure battery, 2 ring burner, captain seat and the rest...
2.5 Tdi 102 bhp

YELLOW!

(probably faster and more economic than a tortoise box)

YYFY

The woman from the PhD she says YES! (yes f*cking yes)!!!

Now, lets get me a van!

Dilemna

Just to disprove Keiths post about life being simple I thought I better put my thoughts in print:

On Friday Nat came home with the news that she's been offered a 6 month sabbatical. Obviously I'm still in the middle of my PhD, we're now homeowners and well there are a lot more factors to consider.
Firstly, this is a great chance to finally take the trip that we missed out on a few years ago. Nats career is going somewhere and the chances of us having spare time that coincides in the future is unlikely. In order to ensure a trip in the future the ideal time would be at the end of my PhD. This would mean her quitting her job, which to be honest wouldn't make financial sense and may leave us in a bit of a pickle. Work is low for her at the minute, dangerously low in fact. Her boss pointed out that she shouldn't sit up and wave to upper management that she doesn't have anything to do for obvious reasons. Taking a break now would secure her job in 6 months time when they DO have contracts starting. Not doing so may lead to something a little more disastrous. Her boss told her that they'd have to be in a bad state to start losing graduates like her. Well, they have 12 projects on, 10 of which are 99% complete and the other two are small. They're at that stage.
Now for my side of things; I don't want to quit my PhD, but then again I don't want to pass on the opportunity of taking a trip as who knows when the chance might arise again. Hopefully my supervisor can sort it so that I can take a 6 month break. If she can't I'll be forced to rethink things. I think I'd feel really bad about letting her down but then again I don't think that in itself is a good enough reason to discount doing so. I could leave with an Mphil and I'd only have wasted 6 months of her and my time.
Financially we're set for the trip, I've got cash from my Beetle turned submarine and the fact that we've only recently realised we are no longer students means we've accidently been saving.
Speaking to various people has been interesting, everyone sits clearly on either one side of the fence or the other. Talking to my parents over the weekend the same is true.

I didn't join the gym this weekend for obvious reasons (I might be off on a trip in less than a month). Instead, I worked my way through an extensive cocktail menu in the sun and then spent Sunday wandering around Cheedale. This evening I had a brief session down at the works which confirmed my suspicions that I'm managing my injury well and as a reward its recovering. Today was the second session without tape and (ignoring the fact that I'm still in easy ville) it was the also the second session during which I felt not real pain.

Breakthrough

Tonight was a definitely a 'breakthrough' session.

The works was very hot, it’s getting to that point of the year when all the glass in the building starts being a problem, this happens twice a year. Once where you freeze your nads off trying to climb, and secondly, where even shirts off for power can't stop the sweat from pouring down your forearms.

Nat and I started on the browns but I quickly became bored, they're a good set. The new pink tufa problem on the comp wall was pretty funky as well; all of the bobbles were a bit of a pain with two fingers taped together so I didn't bother trying too hard. Dave M was down taking the adult improvers class and Nat decided she could probably learn something from him instead of me just telling her to lock it deeper. I climbed on the board with James and Rich but quickly realized that it wasn't big or clever and that really, it’s pointless trying. A quick hang from the Beastmaker confirmed that I should have definitely gone for the 1000 and that I can back 3 and front 3 but mid 2 (and I'm guessing) back 2, are still out.

Tonight I made 3 variable ice packs by filling sandwich bags with washing up liquid and freezing them. They only partially freeze and stay gel-like which is good for using on finger injuries. Plus, as Dan points out on the BM Blog, you don't suffer from bath skin. With my already terrible skin this is a definite bonus.

The fact that Dave thought I seemed to be going well tonight gave me some perspective and is maybe one of the main reasons that I'm being so positive about it. I ticked a few yellows that had been bugging me and came painfully close to another red. It’s a hard one, on the steepest section of the inner 'room'. I think it would have been ticked if I'd dared to slap for the small edge up high. Common sense kicked in as the chance of my fingers opening up on it was quite high, I backed off.

Today Nat and I decided to get our diets back in order. Recently with being quite busy we've been taking the easy option a lot and not cooking as much. Couple that with a lot of birthdays in quick succession and the accompanying meals and we've indulged a bit too much. I haven't changed weight or anything I just don't like it, plus whilst not 100% focused on climbing I can concentrate that side of myself towards leaning out. For no particular reason just that sick self belief that I know I can eat 'clean'.

Work is going well; I'm making breakthroughs there too. I'm back up to 4 working licenses and I've resolved some issues I've been having.

Homeowner

I don't know whether this is worth celebrating or not but last Friday we completed on our flat. It made financial sense given what we now pay is significantly less than the rental price of the same flat.

Works soon, another frustrating session no doubt but all in the name of rehab.

Works?

I was at the works tonight, the session went OK but was quite frustrating. The fingers spent the whole session taped together and I felt little in the way of pain, BUT, I spent most of the session giving up. Half way up things and sometimes before even pulling on. I've become aware that my thoughts at the end of the last session that I might be able to try relatively hard were not accurate. For some reason I can't crimp hard, a bony little problem had my pants down today I just knew it was going to hurt so had to admit defeat. Sessions like this are frustrating but that's the nature of the game I guess when you're injured? Improvement is slow but that's to be expected.
Next time I'm at the supermarket I'm buying a bumper pack of washing up liquid to mix up some Varian ice packs.

Shiny!

Well my birthday present arrived today... just as i was going out!

Here it is:





I've just spent a while getting it set up how I like it and removing all the manufacturers crap.

Today on the tram I watched as a disabled man in an electric wheel chair drove over the foot of a blind man and then remark that it was his fault for not getting out of the way! Jeez, the guy is stood still and f*cking blind, I couldn't believe it. Is it naive of me to think that wheelchair bloke might be more sympathetic towards another disabled person than the average joe? What a twat.

Testing Testing 1,2,3...

Tonight I needed to go to the works to offload my bags full of resin, it seemed sensible that as I was going to the climbing wall I might as well punter about and see where I'm at. After all, if the worst comes to the worst, the works is always a good place for a bit (a lot?) of a natter (in fact I think it does this best).
Over the last few days I've been unable to think about a much else apart from climbing. I've been reminiscing about days spent at Kilnsey, minor epics when I dare to do trad and my long nights spent beavering away on a cellar boards. Walking into my building this morning (ok, afternoon, late afternoon) I was thinking about pullups and getting psyched out of my mind.
I can only take this as a good thing, climbing isn't lost for me I've just hit another set back and although there have been many, a lot of them haven't actually been climbing related. After reading Keith's latest blog post the other night I got mildly depressed and started missing progress. I was feeling that for the best part of two years, there has been none at all but in reality that's not true. This christmas in Font I climbed the best I've ever climbed, not grade wise, thats irrelevant in this instance. I was moving well on he rock and getting up things that really didn't 'suit' what people generally think of as the type of things that fit me well. Maybe thats why Noir desir still remains one of my proudest moments to date in climbing, it showed that progress, a slight tipping of the scales as Keith put it, towards redressing the balance between all of my hard hours of training and my often neglected technique.
Recently in Albarracin I climbed well, I wasn't floundering and I generally felt like I was reading things well. My base level is significantly higher than it was two years ago and I'm less narrowly focussed towards one type of problem; basic and crimpy.
With Bonjoy this winter, I got involved with a route that if the grade sticks will be my hardest trad lead to date, my ascent wasn't ground breaking but its something that I'm very pleased with. The whole freezing affair was great fun with the BOY.
All in all I can't argue with that... Ok so I haven't been travelling the world, I missed my Europe trip and have yet another injury, but progress is there, lurking in the background. I just needed to learn that progression isn't necessarily always done at your top end. Bringing up your base level or attacking weaknesses are equally as valid and in the future they will move that glass cieling just a smidgin higher.
The climbing psych wasn't as high when I finally got to the works tonight, resin just isn't that appealing when you've just had a trip, add to that hordes of people and a fair dose of heat and I was feeling less positive.
Being sensible, I warmed up on greens but rapidly became bored. Stu suggested buddy taping as cross loading the sheath is apparently what causes the pain. He was right. I climbed like that for the rest of the night with a good deal less hassle than before. Its not perfect and there are certain things that two fingers taped together prevent but the session was in the end, a good one. I ticked the hard stuff on the comp wall, did a fair few yellows and even cheekily (when Dr Pinch had left) ascended the mother board.
I'm going to manage this injury properly, climbing may have to take a back seat but its not geting kicked into touch. Not this time!

D.I.Y. Finished

4 days of hard work, a lot of sawing, even more painting and the spare room is complete.

Behold my spangly new monitor!

D.I.Y.

The board is dead! Two days to build, another to put the holds on yet only 4 hours to completely remove it. Just because a board will physically fit in a flat, don't imagine that it won't get in the way. The rest of the place rapidly turned into a dumping ground, it had to go! (Plus everything we recently signed to do with the Mortgage suggested a big heap of wood in your flat was a No-No).

So, after re-hurting myself I'm taking it easy for a while, I thought I might be able to go to Swiss with Dob and the rest of them but unfortunately not. A little gutting I have to be honest.
As the spare room is now empty and I'm not doing much in terms of exercise, Nat and I have seized the opportunity to actually make the board room into a useful room. The amount of effort required to do so is ridiculous and I'm not looking forward to it. However, not having a spare moment to think at the minute makes the whole non-climbing thing unimportant.

Last Friday Nat had a bombshell dropped on her by her boss "Sooo Natalie, how do you fancy working from Libya"... Nice! Now she's actually been given the information about the job it doesn't seem bad but seeing as though Friday was my birthday and her boss wanted an answer on the Monday we weren't too pleased.

Options

or


or


Has time spent in the gym doing weights furthered the imbalance between my fingers and my upper body? We all know tendons take much longer to strengthen and heal yet almost every injury phase I find myself keeping myself in shape in some form of gym. I do love climbing, bit I seem incapable of being content without something to throw my energy into 100%, (un)fortunately that has never been work.

Addicted to Injury

Tonight I hit an all time motivational low. Warming up at the works my finger/hand hurt on almost every hold type. Crimp, open, pinch, sloper you name it, it didn't feel quite right. Further down the line even jugs weren't even playing ball. After a short time it improved and some major motivation was coming my way from a number of psyched individuals (of varying strength), so I tried to make the most of my evening.
I ended up on the 6b ish thing with white/blue/red holds. It isn't hard. We did it one way, then we tried it using another sequence. Left foot high, hit the pinch with my left hand. BANG! OW! OW! I swear my feet didn't even touch the floor before I was headed in the direction of the loo's. The pain subsided after a few minutes of cold water but we all know that pain like that just isn't good.
I'm absolutely sick of injury upon injury. It seems regardless of what approach I take my body plays along for a few months, leading me into a position of false hope before some part of it fails. This time I haven't even been training or trying hard indoors whatsoever. That doesn't work either. I'm really struggling with the fact that it seems IMPOSSIBLE for me to get back to the level of strength, fitness and motivation that I had just two years ago. OK, so I've got a fairly high base level and I can probably punter my way at a totally respectable grade in my current state but thats not something I want to do.
I've got unfinished business with HFC and Entree, both of which I feel I would destroy given a few months without a niggle. Staminaband? Staminahumps etc. are all out due to this one and will have to wait, realistically until next season. That's if I ever dare pull onto the latter again.
Last summer I took a long break from climbing... I don't want to do this regularly but it seems to me as if there's no other option.

Aplogies for the fact that I'm almost drowning in self pity. Injuries suck!

Mixologist

As my finger isn't in the best of states, my hand has developed leprosy and the tor isn't seeming overly tempting I doubt I'll do much climbing this weekend.

However, I WILL do a lot of drinking... On the way home from Spain I got psyched to get strong, train hard, put the hours in etc. then I remembered my current injury, got slightly upset and bought a tonne of Rum in duty free.

Thus, I type this with a rather camp (but oh so nice) Raspberry Mojito in my hand.



Here's to injures, present and past!

A (wo)man a van a plan...

Yesterday I was stuck in Warwick listening to a bunch of 4th years who'd misunderstood their brief and thus their work was fairly useless in terms of development (maybe refinement is a better word) of a piece of code. It was a long day, I left at 6 and returned home at 9. Unfortunately, it was all a waste of time.
Currently my hand is suffering from a weird reaction to something. Either it was Sundays mussels, Mondays heavily nutty curry or the leather cream I used to try and undo the damage the hot spell is having on the Punto's steering wheel. Whatever it is I want it to go away so I can feel confident that dipping my hand into a bucket of chalk isn't going to cause lots of irritation. I think my injury could do with some more progressive loading and this isn't helping!

Onto the main point;
Two years ago when I happened to hit the mats in an unfortunate position, messing myself up, one of the first things to pass through my mind was the fact that my end of uni summer climbing tour wasn't going to happen. In fact, I believe it was the first thing I said to Nat when she got over to me. I was devastated about that. Even more so when the day came to sell the van which I had hunted high and low for.
This trip, we bumped into a number of people we knew from Sheffield all of whom were travelling around in vans and having the time of their life. Finally Nat realised what she'd missed out on and maybe this was the first admission of how much she's really been enjoying climbing since starting. So, she hatched a plan.
In our industry Chartership matters. Once you have this qualification you're employable and people want you. Currently she's being offered great opportunities left right and centre, one of which is to co-author some major design standards that will be highly influential for the foreseeable future. Funnily enough this also involves my PhD supervisor who is also keen to persuade Nat that a part-time PhD would be great. Chartership isn't far off for her and at this point (2 years or so) she plans to ask for a sabbatical, if its not granted she's going to quit.
Its really reassuring when she turned round to me and explained her mighty plan as to be brutally honest I wasn't seeing it happening she's just been doing too well...

Albarracin

Sunday was set aside completely for packing. As ryanair were robbing us for actually wanting to take something with us we'd jammed the pad into our only check in bag and had the hand luggage to cover all of our boots, chalk, camera and clothes. Due to this, packing was short and left us with nothing to do on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Not for long however as we quickly decided to get horrendously drunk with cocktails on Devonshire green. I awoke about 4 hours from the time at which we had to leave, swimming. I drunk gallons of water before settling back for a few hours more kip. On awakening the water was switched to coffee. I felt OK to drive but it was close and TBH I regretted stepping foot out of the house the day before. East Midlands airport is ridiculously handy for Sheffield residents, just over an hours drive away. At the carpark company the bloke on reception took 45 minutes to check our car in which was an absolute joke. The amount of coffee in my blood made me very anxious to get on with it and I probably ended up being very rude.
On arrival in Spain we bussed it to the hire car company (Centauro Uno) who were absolutely excellent given my claims history, the fact I'm under 25 and the clincher I don't own a credit card. The car? well that was less excellent. A Pug 207 1.4 petrol. Now this was the first LH drive car I've ever driven. Plus I've had a sporty diesel for the last 3 years. The drive was less than smooth, painfully slow and the heavy frenchman drunk a tonne of fuel. Having said that, 2 hours from the Airpot to Albarracin isn't bad, if you go there try EMA to Valencia. We got sorted in our bungalow at the campsite and quickly realised that we'd forgotten our down jackets. No worries, one fluorescent site jacket later and we were ready to go out exploring.
The rest of the evening (6pm onwards) was spent runnng around Techos 1 & 2 psyched out of our minds at all the good looking lines. Sensibly boots had been left in the car.

Nat past Loskot

We wandered out past area Loskot and the view was pretty stunning. I recognized Klem's traverse and chalked it down as one to get on.
Monday - Tune up day. I started the day sensibly and took it steadily throughout but another wander to see the view left me below Klem's. Now before I go further this traverse is actually in a banned area between Jan and Aug, I'd left the guide in the car and managed to miss that fact until later on in the week. Whoops and sorry. I got involved with the traverse which starts on two or three juggy holes and then breaks leftwards on holds that look similar to Jerry's Traverse but there's no nasty top bit to stop you crimping. RESULT! After getting my foot stuck in a heel toe lock at the start I sacked it off and romped along the juggy crimps until the last 'Dyno', in reality its a big slap. I slapped, hit the hold but my bottom hand didn't feel right. I sat down for 5 mins and rested again. Back to the same point I slapped further left (ignoring the idiot line) held the hole, but something wasn't right, my right hand felt bad. Do I carry on for the tick or drop off? Day one, hour 3? I dropped off to see my RH index finger had split along the first joint. NNFN!

Klem's Traverse

So at the end of the day I had finished Klem's without doing the 6b top out and sensibly, I sat the rest of the day out. I was a little disapointed with the problem in all honesty. I'd wanted to do it since seeing a picture a while ago thinking it looked hard but played to my strengths. The reality is that it was a mid grade problem that played to my strengths. In the evening we explored the windy streets of Albarracin, which is packed with nice inexpensive restraunts and quaint bars and shops.

Albarracin Town

Tuesday was spent exploring Techos 1 & 2. These areas are great but you'll find that a lot of lines are flawed in one way or another. Namely the rock is soft at the top of the climp or low down on the climb, some end in the middle of nowhere and some have suffered due to loss of holds. Despite this there are a huge amount of quality, bulletproof lines such as:

Supermafos Macho

Lanky people miss out the crux but despite this its still a great problem up a gently overhaning wall. I got stuck on top of the boulder and tried to kill myself my topping out over the next roof (which was loose) before realising that an easy lip traverse gets you back to tera firma safely. The 6b to the left was Nat's main tick (below) and yet again she impressed me no end in powering up it with relative ease.

Supermafos Tacho

I ran around Techos 1 and 2 on the first few days like a kid at Christmas, ticking pretty much everything I wanted to try. Like a bow, Le Campana and many others which I can't remember the name off hand. The one problem I wanted to try, Cosmos, was still there tempting me despite my injury. As I walked over to it I quickly noticed that the lefthand hold you slap from isn't a crimp as I'd been told, its a pocket. A quick go at the first move out to this hold definately reminded me that pockets were OUT! Darn. Instead I pulled on after this move, crimping hard in the pocket wanting to see how hard the next move is. First slap I missed completely, kick Nat in the legs and end up crumpled on the floor. Next go the same. Next go the same. Then BANG! I hit the jug and once again pain was felt, this time in my palm. The jug you slap for on Cosmos is sharp and had taken a chunk out of my palm. I quested leftwards to the easy top out and dropped off, money in the bank. For people wondering, (dylan) its not 8a+ but neither (dobbin) is its 7C as you have been told.
More laying in the sun was had throughout the week whilst avoiding the midday heat (climbing wise). We wandered around the banned areas and I was quite aggrieved to be missing out on these. The problems at penninsula look stunning in the flesh, ok on dosage they don't look amazing but standing looking at the long steep roofs I can't think of anywhere that offers such a range of independant climbs up ground such as this.

The view past area Loskot




The view from Penninsula (Bird Ban)

The next days were spent exploring the more roadside areas. Parking (covered in sh*t), Aeroline and Techos don Pepos. I think a blow by blow account of each individual tick might get bloody boring so I'll spare you.
In summary, Aeroline is like a small inclosure of gritstone classics
Techos don Pepos is another bulletproof roof in which a classic 7a takes the main line (of the same name).
A group of Bleausards were attacking this as I entered the area (like a sandstone version of the sheep pen) and I was soon invited to get involved. On my flash go I ended up eyeing up the final hold, unfortunately Mr French pointed out the handy nothing hold instead of the 'git big' jug next to it. After this I struggled to get to the same point again until finally I got my sh*t together and powered through. Later whilst resting I realised why the problem felt so hard. I wasn't on the correct line. The actual problem went down without a fuss.

Bug Train

Arasteredo is another larger area at which we spent a couple of days. I'm getting tired of typing now so basically its quite good with the problems being less on boulders and more on sandstone buttresses. Here's Nat on a poblem that she came really close to ticking but to no avail.

Nat's Project

At this area there is a proud line that I think everyone who's tried deliverance will love. Mardi Gras (7b+ I think?) the rock is the same shape as deliverance but the holds are numerous small crimps and poor smears. This leads to an all out leap to the top. The problem wasn't my cup of tea so I didn't really bother, the lines on the same boulder all between 6-7 are extremely worthwile and the highball 7a+ behind the boulder was like a board problem at the school although it was terrifying above my one, old and ruined Metolius pad.

Esperanza

At the same area the above problem is a classic 7a arete. It starts via a long slap from good positve holds. I seemed to be the only person to think that shouldering and locking the press was a good idea. After this you end up quite high with poor slopers having to get your foot up unervingly high.
Two people wrecked themselves on this problem whilst I was watching, one snapped something in his knee and clawed himself onto the boulder thus requiring a rope rescue. The other fell and hit the only hole in the mat badly twisting (nearly breaking) her ankle. Gulp. When it came to my turn I wasn't letting go.

Some 6b+ at Arastaredo

I range of easier steepish thuggy problems are also available close by.
Sol and Macia are two areas that I haven't mentioned. Sol features briefly in Dosage V with Jason Kehl demonstrating an Uber classic 7b, this has broken but is still climamble via a different sequence.

'Funky Chicken'

The Spansih guy pictured above is crazy. He overheard someone saying Funky Chicken and for the rest of the day screamed Fucking Chicken at anyone he saw climbing. They do smoke an awful lot of weed!
Sorry for the post slowly dying into boring tattle, I can't really write "I did this", "I tried that" as on this trip I didn't go with a ticklist, I just ran around crazily ticking everything and anything I could get my hands on. If I bothered with 8a.nu anymore there'd be far too many entries to deal with.
If you're thinking of going to Albarracin, I'd suggest you do. The climbing isn't hugely extensive (i.e. its not FONT) but it is great and it offers you climbing unlike any I've experience before. If you climb well on boards, like crimpy holds and don't mind scrabbling over a slopey top now and again this is the place for you. The food is good, the wine is cheap, the climate is good (and all the problems are shaded). What more could you want?

Solid grades perhaps?

Albarracin Albarracin Albarracin

Tomorrow!

We just had a minor credit card / car hire issue but its sorted now.
Went to the tor last night, felt really off it which was disappointing. The finger feels weak. Earlier on I went a drooled over shiny bikes.

Haha Ryanair

Ryanair want about the same as its cost for Nat and I to fly to Spain for taking 'sporting goods' i.e. a pad. Well, I'm tight so not a chance. Instead I've just managed to disassemble a pad and cram it into a normal looking bag! Victory is mine and the Sellars school of packing is now a total necessity.

Works

A phone call from Tideswell suggested that I give the tor a miss last night. Instead, unwillingly I might add, I climbed at the works. The finger felt fine ish but then again I avoided using it. Most of the comp wall problems went down with me having to use front 2 in quite a few holds to avoid risking further injury. I've still got the yellow problem through the roof to do, I simply can't read (nor climb) volumes. To be honest the current set of comp problems seem exactly the opposite of the last set, maybe a little too opposite? However, despite this, the red circuit is great! I managed to do my undercut board problem as well. Its not hard but I am injured.

Plus, of course, BRUCE is amazing! A remake of the Cordless T-shirt is long overdue.



Afterwards Nat, James, Dense and I went to Zeugma's to top up on protein. Mmmm.

Northern Soul...

The destinations were completely dictated by the weather. Hepburn on Fri morning then when the rain was due, off to Kyloe in for Nat to attempt a crushing of Bad Finger and Bad Company (unfortunately neither of which happened).
In the morning Northern Soul was the only thing of interest. Climbing it without weighting my left hand much at all made it a little more tricky than I expect it really is. Nonetheless a great problem at an ok crag. Sequence:





At Kyloe in Nat got stuck into her stuff while I worked away at a bogey problem of mine; Yorkshireman SS. Its one of those problems that despite spending a small age at Kyloe In, I could never really figure it out. Following the Earl's sequence one day left me sure that I'd never do it. Well helpful local lad A was giving out beta left right and centre and it wasn't long before I was at the top of the crack eyeing up the pocket. Slapping to a two finger pocket whilst injured? Err No. I tried the flip LH round and go with RH beta but its never worked for me on the standup. Therefore, I stopped. Completely made up with progress on this problem. Then a dog stole my chalk bag:




In the evening Laterooms had done well and landed us a far too swanky hotel. So swanky in fact that it had a dress code. The evening meal was simply the best I've ever had. It blew everything else I've ever eaten completely out of the water.
On Sat we headed to Shaftoe for Nat to try Soft Center. Despite piling everything we owned onto the mat's as well as doubling everything over she could barely reach the break. Hmmm. I eyed up blood sport. Its a good line but massively morpho. After this the sun came out and did its worst. We laid around for a while before deciding to call it quits. Sunday was spent with the family.
Monday; Slipstones.



It was hot but not too hot. I showed Nat around the crag and we picked off everything easy in sight. After stopping for lunch it was obvious that the temps had risen and the rock was baking. Again, we decided to cut our losses and head home. Skin still in tact and both looking forward to Spain in a weeks time!

Twatter

Again, I don't have Twatter but if I did:

• Paul is wondering (after flicking through the Northumberland guidebook) why Sheffield seemed so appealing?
• Paul is seriously abusing the recommended dose of Arnica capsules
• Paul's finger isn't feeling too bad today, maybe due to the above
• Paul will continue abusing the Arnica capsules, even if it is just for psychological benefits
• Paul seriously misses the gym
• @Dobbin - you're gay
• Maybe I secretly desire to have a Twatter account?
  

Tenacity No. 2 pointed out that the best thing he ever did for his climbing was taking up surfing, hence not climbing as much and having something to do when injured. He also runs. I'm in awe of how the hell he fits it in. I'm not interested in surfing, well, not in this country! BUT and I think it is a big BUT, I think I could enjoy morbidly torturing myself on a road bike slogging my way around the Peak, my main concerns are that:

A) Someone WILL run me over
B) It's darn expensive
C) Someone will steal whatever I buy
D) I'll spend less time working than I currently do (which I cannot afford)

The cheaper option of running is out due to the impact on my sparrow leg. I could kill the gym cravings and the expense of the bike with one stone but I've never been one to sit on an aerobic machine indoors it just seems silly (well during the summer anyway).

The weekend plans remain unchanged but instead of me dictating where we go I've let Nat (with some nudging I admit) pick the destinations, that way I can just bimble around on anything that looks easy enough not to injure me further. Outdoors, I think its a lot harder to warm up effectively and control what you pull on. Holds are uneven, things are deceptively hard etc. hence I'll have to be extra careful.

Foley, I gave you the low down earlier, I'll be watching out to see what sauce is in your shaker!

Anyway that'll do, thoughts on a postcard...

Tor-ment?

I've been to the tor a handful of times since my injury. Not to climb, simply to drive, spot and then drive some more. Nat's been trying too hard for mark leach and she's nearly done it, but the last move is seemingly a bit of a bogey move for her.
Last time (mon) we arrived to find the crag deserted apart from Tenacity No.2 sat underneath Ben's roof. He swore he was struggling and proceeded to prove that on the hard release move. By the time it was getting dark he threw together a link from move 2 until the end and cursed not doing the start.
Nat's attempts progressively got worse as the light faded which ended up in a tantrum and a quiet drive home.
Tonight we both went to the works, about 7 days to the hour from my injury. I managed to limit myself to the green circuit (many thanks to Ed who stopped me from entertaining the idea that I could do locks on the campus board as long as I was fully crimped!). The injury didn't feel too bad during the evening but then again everytime a hold required mid 2 I found some other way of using it to avoid weighting the finger. During the course of the evening it twinged once or twice when dragging some of the smaller holds, but nothing earth shattering. Arnica, Glucosamine and Chondroitin, Ibuprofen and a bag of frozen peas later there doesn't seem to be any more pain than before the evening commenced. Hopefully it will stay that way.

Thur night we're off to my folks.
Fri - the county
Sat - the county
Sun - back to my folks
Mon - Slipstones, possibly?

I'd be psyched, but i'm injured so it'll be frustrating and really hard work to keep myself off things that I've been wanting to try (/finish off) for ages!

NNFN!

Went to the tor...

warmed up thoroughly, but all of my goals were wet so I went on 'Powerhumps' with the hope of getting it so wired that 'Staminahumps' is a real possibility.

First try goes badly, I hit the crimp wrong. No worries, it happens.

I pull back on, hit the second open and carry on to the jug, easy.

Drop off from the jug in absolute agony.

Uncurling my fingers hurt like hell, I couldn't load it. I can't load it. Its f*cked!

NNFN!

3 weeks 'til trip time...

Tor-bound

When Nat gets home from work we'll be jumping in the car ASAP and nipping to the tor, fingers crossed for ok conditions, as well as no traffic.

If we run out of light, Wed I'll be buying a lantern!

Whilst I may berate myself for not approaching my sessions very sensibly lately, at least I can say that these days I am definately making a lot more effort to get out instead of taking the easy option...

Amateur

Having not had much enthusiasm to train recently everything has become a bit slack. I haven't been indoors much and when I have, I haven't really tried all that hard, preferring to sag back to Terre Firma than actually pull hard. Team this with my amateurish attitude to skin from the previous weekend and you have the perfect recipe for a disappointing day at the Tor. Yesterday, weepy, hurty bruised skin stopped me from feeling particularly good on anything. I couldn't manage the move on Ben's roof where you (or I) take my feet off and plonk them on the sidewall (I was cruising on this just a few weekends ago), this left me feeling frustrated with myself. I've got a trip coming up in less than a month, I don't want to have peaked too early or waste it by not being on form or worse; because I haven't given it my all before I leave! Maybe I just wasn't on it, maybe it was too warm, whatever it was it certainly wasn't great.
When we then decided to leave (5.30 ish) it was evident that I'd made another amateurish mistake, the conditions had improved massively just in time for the so-called 'hour of power'. We arrived in the heat of the day, with bad skin, and yet persevered? Foolish behaviour, which I won't be repeating anytime soon.

Next weekend we are away so I'm going to pack in the training this week as much as possible. Tomorrow night Nat and I will try and squeeze in an evening tor session. My lock felt particularly weak yesterday and it's about time I did another Beastmaker phase. NO MORE BEER...or tequila...

A few things crossed my mind yesterday (whilst being grouchy of course);

• Kids and climbing are all well and good but when they have little or no understanding of crag etiquette and their guardian would prefer to get stuck into Staminaband rather than to stop them chanting (loudly) behind someone climbing then the two simply don't go together.
• People who walk over and try whatever you're trying for the sake of it are annoying, especially when their kids are running around being a pain.
• IF there isn't enough room for you to get in between me and the bit of rock I'm about to pull on to, suppose there may just be a reason. Especially if your kids are running around being a pain.
• Climbing or more to the point BOULDERING is far too accessible.
• Sheffield will be getting a real treat in under a month when UKB's latest pair of buildering fanatics head our way, supposedly climbing full-time no doubt not living in a woodshed.

Deck!

Things have changed and it might be possible for me to get out on Saturday morning, because of this last night (despite being absolutely disinterested with plastic) I eventually arrived at the Foundry.
I climbed well but a bit half heartedy. The current set of problems IMO are a bit poor. Many of them are tweaked older problems or have the same start as before etc. Its like doing the same problems over and over and gets boring. The new white thing was good but went down fairly quickly, the only other struggle was the wasp. It turned out I was missing a feature out but TBH its better and more basic (and harder) without.
Later I ended the session on the board, I did a few of my old things, a few of Carl's and fell off on Leo's. I was pretty chuffed to do the moves on Pinch 3 mind you, which is something that seemed so unfeasible just 6 months or so ago. Strong Ed arrived later on but by then I was too tired to try hard on his pinching problems.
Midway through the session I was stood beneath the wave chatting to Bentlegs about various stuff. We both fell silent after hearing an almighty thud from the lead wall. Everybody knows what that sound means and to be facing out from the wave whilst it happened wasn't nice. God knows what caused it but from about 6 clips up on the wall just left of the main overhang some poor sod had decked, completely. His belayer was hysterical and in absolute bits. He, thankfully got up unscathed, a real tribute to the matting that is underneath these walls!
Rae Cowie (sp?) casually walked past me later on that evening and (in a very dry tone) said "you should learn to land like that"... and then later on "at least he didn't scream like you". It made me chuckle but morbidely curious about what she knew. Turned out she was the only person to see me screw myself up and not only had it nearly made her sick on the spot it had stayed with her...sorry about that.

Twitter

I don't have twitter so unfortunately I can't let you know instantly when my bowels decide to move however;

Paul

• Has just realised he has been climbing for 5 days out of 8 (all on rock)
• Has been climbing absolutely sh*t indoors for the last few weeks
• Thinks, maybe the two are linked?

I forgot to post about the weekend before last.
It was something like this:

Sat: Go to the tor with Nat, start trying Staminaband. Make great progress and find myself two moves from the end. Fall off a few times then it got busy. Realise that I linked from the u/cuts to the end. That means I've actually got around to trying and ticking powerband.
Sun: Caley, too warm for Zoo york. Rumble around with some elder waddage and generally have a great time. Nat waltzed up otley wall amongst other things. Flash New Jerusalem and realise its not only morpho but soft as anything in its current condition.

Welsh Rampage (...of sorts)

Ok so here's the full story:

Thurs:
The morning came and I still hadn't sorted out when or if I was still going to Wales for a few days to stay with Doyle. Having just booked a holiday to Albarraccin in the coming months I'm really feeling the pressure of getting everything done before I go so that the meeting (3 days after) goes smoothly. The main problem is that everything I do uses CFD and long iterative processes, it can't be hurried and small mistakes usually cost a large amount of time which right now I simply can't afford. I'd tried all week to meet with my supervisor to sort out some issues I was having but she didn't seem to have any time, that was until the Welsh idea formed in my mind and then she set about offering meeting times that would ruin going away at all. A few emails later I had managed to sidestep some difficult questions, so I scrabbled to get some chores done before jumping on a train to the Orme. As you will remember the weather was great and the 3 hour train journey went by quickly as I settled down to start reading Revelations. What could be more poetic than heading to LPT to try Liquid Ambar reading that book? Doyle picked me up from the station and told me we were going to the cave. Oh. I got sucked into Sams finish, a none too exciting bit problem on the RHS and set about systematically ruining my skin. Doyle made plenty of remarks about my amateurish approach but this problem got under my skin. Finally I was bleeding, failing after all the hard climbing and admitted defeat. I was quick to point out that if I stop at the first signs of skin damage I wouldn't get up anything!

Fri:
Doyle disappeared to get his window fixed whilst I slept in. After that it was a rushed warmup in the cave followed by a rushed look at LA. LPT is a phenomenal crag and it hit me just how long it had been since I'd pulled on here. Some freind of Doyle's (female) was being a rude pain in the arse and giving me hassle about various stuff. It was annoying. Doyle was made up to do one of the lower hard moves and then as the session progressed the crux move followed by what will probably prove to be the redpoint crux, a huge span from an undercut, bypassed by Moon using a dirty crimpy and simpson by some really nice pinches. When I was my turn I was a bit surprised to find a poor glue job on route, the moves felt ultra-spanned for me and I got my arse well and truly spanked. The top move (the long one) looked feasible for me off the poor crimp but the lower move before this just seemed out of my league. I returned to the floor with a badly strained bicep.
As the tide crept in we retreated to Pill Box Wall, tape covered the majority of three fingers and prevented me from trying anything too hard. Instead I ticked off the mid 7 classics one by one. They're really good! The session was kept short so that I could salvage the rest of the weekend.
Nat arrived late after getting completely lost and a hellish drive from Wakefield. M62 -> A55 on a friday night. We spent friday night at the heights which I can only describe as a shithole straight out of the league of gentlemen.

Sat:
The pass, Wavelength as suggested by Doyle. We picked off the obvious boulders as we set off up the hill, Utopia, Pieshop, Wavelength, Boysen's Groove.

The Shelf (V2)

The wavelength boulders were king of them all offering some really superb climbing for both Nat and I. Tape wasn't helping again but everything I tried got ticked fairly quickly.
We ended the day by walking over to the barrel. A quick flash of the minimum and then lots of catching up with people I hadn't seen in a long time (backing off Dinas Mot due to low cloud). Newman appeared and we chatted some more before collapsing back to Pete's for some food.

Sun:
We quested back to 'the Meadow' which we had missed the previous day. I wanted the lotus but it simply wasn't happening. I did all of the moves fairly quickly but my skin was really letting me down on the crux. Oh well, one for another trip. There are few nice problems around up there, Lordy Lordy stands out and also Killer Weed (Mark Katz on Stick it!). We then tried a highball slab which unsurprisingly shot me down (it was the wind I tell you!). Lunch time. After lunch we blasted over to Ogwen. I say blasted but in reality I was stuck behind some p*nis doing 20mph through the pass and veering wildly over to the wrong side of the road to stop me overtaking. When the road straightened out towards Ogwen he purposefully slowed down and then accelerated hard onto the straight well past 60. I think he was surprised to see the little blue thing hanging onto his tail up until the point where he exceeded the limit. Prick.
A quick stomp up to sheep pen and it was time for me to get all confused by little groover. It seemed really hard until I cracked it at which point I was starting to realise the sheer volume packed into the last few days. Nat was done, completely knackered. So, it was down to me; Jerry's was next on the list. I took off the tape and sat down, aiming to give it my all but as I began to take my weight on the crimps they hurt like hell. Tape please! I hit the press well and first go, locked in deep near my chest and stared upwards. Not a chance in hell! No flick nothing. I pull on from standing and still, there was no hope. On someone (Nodders perhaps?) recommendation I went to try the pinch.

The Pinch (V7)

This went down instantly but I couldn't help doing it both ways and then again and again for photos. Back in the sheep pen it was really time to pack up but it all looked so good. I knew I'd need to rest for a few days after this trip so couldn't really help myself. Dog Shooter, Kingdom of Rain, Gnasher all went without a glitch. Before people had left I'd been told that traversing into them (Ding Dong's?) made for some nice problem so with the same list in mind I started again. DS went well. KoR was going well until the last move. I had the undercut and my feet in the same place but I just didn't have the power to slap for the top. My RH went back to undercut, my LH went onto the intermediate and I dug really deep slapping wildly for the top anywhere I could reach. My legs helicoptered well over Nat's (wrong) spotting position and somehow I controlled it and pulled myself over the top. Leave it there? Nope. I waited a grand total of 2mins before settling back at the start of the trav this time with Gnasher in my sights, I made some stupid mistakes on the traverse and decided to rest properly. After a whopping 4 mins I tried again; I made it past the akward heel around about KoR and onto the holds that form the obvious link between the problems but there was no way I could continue. My hands were sore and all power had long since faded away. I sagged onto the mat and rolled down the various gaps coming to a halt underneath Dog Shooter. Nat began packing up. Stupidly I repositioned my mat underneath Jerry's. Tops of for power I tried it from standing.

Jerry's Problem (V10)

I could pull on, take the intermediate and almost control the swing enough to get my foot up onto the starting ledge, from this position the top was easy. All that remains is to see whether or not fresh (and with skin) I can link those two positions.
After this I finally admitted I was ruined and we slid our way back down to the blue machine. A great weekend away once again... I haven't climbed since, I am destroyed.

I must apologise for the horrendous spelling and grammar in this post. I rushed it and I simply don't have the time to read over it and sort out all my hurriedly typed mistakes.

Testing - failing

Tues: Works, got sucked into the comp wall and quickly realised that I was still absolutely ruined from the weekend. Left with my tail between my legs, very sore knees and a new found respect (of sorts) for comp wads.

Thurs: Home board, it held but flexes a lot in one place where we had to cut the panels to 2ft x 4ft (to fit in the punto). It's hard, maybe a little too hard and the footholds are uber shit despite being resin.

Weekend plans: Unconfirmed, Caley is tempting but so too is the lime. Sat morning poor weather, Sunday is looking like the better day. I'm exhausted from a rather full on week of pulling my finger out and presentations left right and center. Pill box wall is also strangely tempting.

Injuries: I have a crush mid way up my middle finger on my LH. I'm sure its from that brown pocket problem at the works. It's not stopping me but I've learnt to be wary of niggles like this.
My weird hand strain is still here from Christmas but is less of an issue.

Welsh Weekend Round-up

Friday night we quested off to Pete's eats in Llanberris, the drive was arduous as the Welsh deem it acceptable to knock a 3 lane road down to 1 with little forewarning. This leads to RTA's left right and center and one hell of a traffic jam. We arrived late, 9.30 ish I think. A quick and rather poor Chinese takeaway and we settled into the comforts offered by the cold twin room.

Saturday morning I usually wake up, look at the clock, roll over and go back to sleep until well into the afternoon, but not this weekend! Oh no! Psych was flowing and after devouring a large breakfast in the cafe we once again jumped into the eye-talian stallion and headed for the coast. Porth Ysgo here we come! I've wanted to visit for ages, Stick it! made both the setting and the problems look stunning. On arrival (after another massive traffic jam) I was less than impressed. The boulders weren't very high, they all felt slightly 'tacky' and the classic lines all seemed to appear a lot less appealing than they were on my TV just the week before.

Nonetheless we walked to the far end of the crag and worked our way back. Stick it! offering the main tick list, Jawbreaker, Popcorn Party etc.

Popcorn Party, V6

One line that looked great in the guide was "tide of dreams". I got involved and quickly joined the V4 (sorry about the stupid grades but I simply cannot convert them in my head). Another bloke wandered over and made a big deal out of showing me that a low low low undercut was wet. It wasn't subtle. So despite starting on my rather short ass I still wasn't quite low enough. Oh well. Next...

Fast Cars, V5

We both got stuck in but Nat didn't seem to be enjoying herself much and I wasn't being drawn towards anything in particular. Incredible shaking man was sodden and I couldn't even find an axle that wasn't partly buried. As we approached Area 1, we both decided that we'd prefer to chance the pass being in condition and promptly jumped back in the blue beast.

It wasn't. Driving rain was the weathers weapon of choice and everything looked soaked, apart from (of course) jerry's roof area. I'd wanted to try this for god knows how long and again the psych flowed. I knew already that the tick would be evasive due to the slab running with water but nonetheless its all money in the bank. I made sure to start in the correct place and promptly was back on my ass after placing my feet rather poorly on the polish. Next go I fell at the crux hitting the hold in completely the wrong place. Next go I did the same. After actually looking at the hold and getting it right I nailed this move and carried on to the lip. RH on the slab, bump LH, bump RH... oh its now soaked, never mind!
Next on the list was Mr Fantastic another classic Stick it! tick. I pulled on at the crux with my hands spread widely and to my surprise bowled over rightwards, caught the pinch and flicked into what I now know is Bus Stop. I was a little shocked as my right shoulder is a weakness of mine and I expected to be spat off violently. For my next goes I did the sensible thing and worked backwards from the crux. Ah.. I couldn't do the catch from that high hold, darn. A large pinch is just below the positive slot like hold on Jerry's and I once again did the crux from this, much easier. Dropping from the jerry's hold to this pinch is a violent affair but very doable and I now had a sequence which breaks the crux into two separate movements, firstly a dropdown and secondly a press. I rested, rested some more and got involved. My sequence involves using really quite small footholds that are badly polished so a fair few goes ended with my feet 'clicking' off at the wrong moment and hitting the floor but one go they stuck just as I needed:

Mr Fantastic, V12

The photo sequence shows my vastly inefficient and overpowered sequence (watch the video of Ty on this for a comparison). I managed to link from the start of Jerry's into the point at which Mr Fan hits the lip. My last ditch attempts to claw my way over the top didn't yield any success whatsoever.
Now I can't take the tick obviously but I'm quite pleased, in fact I'd go so far as to say that on Sat night I was climbing the best I have since that nasty day a few years ago.

Sunday morning I awoke a lot more sore than the day before. The breakfast didn't soothe my aching shoulders but it didn't matter much because as I finished shovelling hash browns into my mouth a sleety snow fell in the town. Nat and I made the decision to explore the slate quarries:

Dinorwic Quarries

Doylo called later that morning and offered a tour of the mill. I was psyched but felt like I might not climb my best as I was still aching. The mill is great, seriously great, and confirms my thoughts on the merits of the various types of boards that now exist. The session went well with Doylo crushing a long term project and Nat powering up the board after pretending to be much weaker than she is. That very tanned man was in route mode and taking an age to ascend each problem but somehow he just wouldn't let go!
Sunshine shone through the dilapidated mill taunting our premature decision to go indoors. At that point my session ended. On the way back home Doylo offered a tour of the Orme which ended up being a quick tour of Parisella's cave before he went to Angel Bay. I think the expectation on arrival was for me to be in awe of the cave and psyched out of my mind. I wasn't. I also wasn't going to get rushed into trying Rock Atrocity and so set about getting spanked by Trigger cut, Louis Armstrong and then destroying myself on the right hand end of the cave, trying helplessly to avoid all the hooking beta I'd been offered. Doyle and Linc both left. I managed to get slightly more psyched to try trigger cut and finally worked out how to hit the ear correctly and twist my body into a position that I could slap to the shothole from. Nat offered one of her best spotting mishaps and this attempt ended with a face full of dirt and her pulling on my sleeve.
Just as thoughts of leaving the cave entered my mind I remembered just how long it had taken me to get around to visiting. I WANTED to try Rock Atrocity, furthermore I really WANTED to have a damn good go at flashing it, but in my current state of destruction I wasn't so sure if it was feasible. The holds looked like my kind of thing but Chris had warned me that I might have to jump for the glued on flake. I eyed it up for ages, would I or wouldn't I? was I too tired? was my skin too sore? could I seriously expect anything more out of the weekend than what I'd already achieved?
Blog posts, lectures and forum posts ran through my mind and the answer was obvious, with Jerry fever sweeping the climbing populous there was only one question that really needed answering; WWJD?. So, without further ado I nestled my fingers into the starting jug of RA and pulled on...