calog

There used to be something we called the 'January two week weather window', only the month could've been dropped as it kept moving about. But now I feel like weather patterns are so out of kilter that I dont know if we still get that and as to when, well - its anybody's guess. This week has certainly had potential, although, its felt like perhaps its condensing - things in the shade stay wet, and flat surfaces feel damp.

There's been little to write about of late, as I've been indoors, scuttling around on the board and whilst some wild new shapes have been created and radical moves thrown down, this doesnt make for interesting reading. Had been supposed to go to the cave yesterday, but with people posting on the interweb that they had ended up at the wall the day before, and Doyle not having eyewitness accounts, we sacked it. To Caley.

It felt like a treat not to have to sit through the a55 boredom. The excited babbling on the way there, the broken mono-syllabic muttering on the way back. Brown rocks instead of white, slabs and aretes instead of ribs and rooves. Finesse instead of Force!

Gritstone was a harsh skin wake up call - blimey! And it was brutally cold, but totally dry and possibly the best nic I have had Caley in. Tops of boulders had not frost, but a cold suggestion of moisture, so topping out was fine - you didnt need to resort to Bradbury tactics, but felt a bit spicy. Thankfully, topping out wasnt going to be a problem.

As is the law, we started out down at Fingerknacker crack and Rabbit Paw wall. What a charming rock climb. As Ned pointed out - its jugs up a wall - whats not to like? We moved straight up to the main event and found some other cave regulars up there. Bendy busted out Ben's Groove, Ned followed - Me and Jim floundered. Jim and Ned tried Secret Seventh, Ned did it. Ben and Ned start working the BG sitter. I move to Zoo York. I feel stronger and more capable than last year. The moves feel harder, but I am doing them and keeping going rather than being in extremis on every one.

You know when you are trying something and it goes from you doing some moves to actually having the concept of doing it? when you can actually concieve of doing that day? well that happened yesterday. Two or three times I climbed from the ground up into the top cut loose and either fell trying to get the heel in place, or fluffed the cut - whatever, anyway, got hugely excited about the prospect of doing it and am keen to get back. By god its sharp though!

Felt like a wonderful afternoon, and one with the promise of actually acheiving something. The crag hitched up its skirts and I saw the promised land. I didnt manage to get there, but I got an idea about how it looks - and I liked it! I enjoyed myself so much I wondered how I could do it more often, but when thinking about that this morning I realised that precisely the reason it felt so special was that it was a treat and that I dont get to do it all the time.