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.
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:
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:
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...
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...
1 comment:
oh for Jerry's sake....
...and then?
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