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.