Torvercrowding

Back at the Tor last night. Loads of people out - I counted 9 or 10 all stood round Powerband at one point, thats not including all the people on ropes in the middle and to the left hand side - bonkers. Why has the slimestone become so popular? in previous years it was scorned and people would roll their eyes when I said I was going to the Tor, but this year its overrun.

 

Pretty damp unfortunately last night. All pockets and lines of weakness showing signs of wetness. Sardine and co are ever dry. Conditions not good at all. As I arrived Rae had just succeeded on Powerband - which is a great effort. Brother Ross was trying Hot Flushings and there were a couple of guys on Sardine. Put my comfy boots on and did some warming up. Everything a bit claggy, but not horrendous. Did weedkiller trav in the absence of my usual warm up circuit and shuffled down to Powerband. Jon arrives, as does Andy Cave. Shoot the breeze with those two before having an 'English' go on powerband - i.e. complete and total control all the way to the last move and then step off. Rubbish. Clean up Staminaband and get involved. Make it to the pillar but feel good! finger slips on the twisty undercut thing and I'm off - but have hope as must have taken all the holds right or something and it might be on! set the stopwatch and wander off to pester people.

 

Jon assembles a bunch of pads beneath Pump up the power and is game for the boulder tick. Suprisingly, this seems like a good idea! Rob Napier and Not-Dan-Varian turn up (on UKB I for some reason thought that North-Country-Boy was Dan Varian and awarded wad points for Zeke in an afternoon etc, its not Dan Varian after all, its Dan somethingelse), as does Ben Bransby. A massively strong Aussie crew turn up and are keen to get involved with various Right hand end problems. Scouse D is trying Powerhumps, i have a go and it feels ok. Get all interested in PUTP and have a couple of goes. Can't seat the left hand crimp properly so I dont succeed (neither does anyone else) but at least the fall is ok. My channel surfing onto PUTP affects Jon and he gets all interested in Staminaband. Has a couple of goes before getting that look in his eye and really bloody trying - makes it through the start well, shakes out on the powerband slots, comfortably does the moves up into the middle hard section and manages to get another shake on the crossover to the pinch bit, jumps down to the low hold but looks to be struggling, matches and has a mini shake. He sorts his feet (as only Jon can) and moves into the PUTP start jug, has a bigger shake here before busting out left to the pocket, walks his feet over and HE'S GOT HIS HAND DOWN! EFFORT! Good work Jon.

 

Robin '20 years of Beta' Barker shows me a new way to do the foot sequence in the undercut section, this saves me three foot moves, but sadly, I have already shot me bolt for the night and its not to be. Go and have a look at Ben's Roof (as a warm down? what?) and get out to the edge of the roof a couple of times but have nothing left and cant continue. Decide to go on Weedkiller (honestly - just go home!) but cant even do that. My ever decreasing rest interval is nothing to do with it at all. Home in the light and nursing a massive split.

 

Peak limestone drizzle tale

The weather in the Peak district has been clement over the bank holiday. This is something of a tradition for the UK and this bank holiday did not break it. It was also a good five degrees cooler than it has been over the weekend. In fact, it was actually quite reasonable conditions for climbing on Peak lime. I climbed saturday morning at the tor where I made some progress on Staminaband. Have basically decided to go back to the egyptian beta and its working much better. I cant decide whether to rest on the starting powerband slots or not. Chatted with Robin Barker about this and he says if you are fit then rest, if not then push on. But I think I need to have a bit of a shake and some chalk - its just that those slots have a sharp edge on them and they cut you, especially if you are shuffling around in them. Anyway, four goes to the middle of PB which is good. Perhaps the next stage is to climb PB from the undercuts?

 

Saturday afternoon she and I had a nice walk into town, punctuated by coffee and cakes on the way. Popped back home to collect the car and went to see 'Black snake moan' at the cinema. This is not a great film, dont rush out to see it - the title isnt quite as descriptive of the content as you might think, although Christina Ricci does spend a large amount of the film wearing just her underpants and chained to a radiator. About 6/10.

 

Sunday morning we were up early to take her to a farmers market in Ashton. She had a stall to man and I was going to head to Longridge, but the constant rain threatened to be seeping through and I headed back into the Peak. On the way I decided not to go to the tor and to head to Rubicon for a change, plus - as mentioned above, it was much cooler. Only takes 40 minutes from Ashton. Arrived at pretty much dead on 10am and set up camp under the three easy traverses. Did obligatory warm up circuit and moved camp to Kudos - what a treat to be back! conditions on the rock quite good, but almost torrential rain in the dale. Did the press, did the kneeling start, had a coffee and then did bigger splash (thats the stand up on Tsunami right?). Cleaned all the holds and started trying from the sloper - had decided that I was going to try to see if this gay heel hook beta could work for me - perhaps I could get an ascent if its easier - its not - again, could be that I needed to get it wired, but it doesnt work for me! Anyway, after some getting it dialled and brushing and so on I am slapping the finishing jug from the sloper. Pleased. Decide to try the start but the sloper seems to get greasy and not take well to my need to adjust on it. Psyched to get back to it, but given that was an unusually cold day and it was still a bit on the warm side then it might not happen until September.

 

Should have trained in the rings last night but she wasnt Gyming so I had a nice rest! Found ourselves at the cinema to watch 'This is england' which is brilliant. 8.5/10. This week I am going to run tonight, will be at the Tor tomorrow, works thursday and then probably out saturday AM again.

 

Hot hands

I felt tired after Wednesday nights exertions at the Tor and hadn't really recovered by Thursday lunchtime. I think when its hot you have to try much harder. You feel more tired from doing the same moves and the holds feel worse. Additionally, my skin goes soft when its hot and rolls off small holds. This is what stopped me on Yorkshire 8B at WCJ Cornice last year. My feet were hot and swollen, making my boots hurt (and of course, because its hotter, the shoe is softer and that rolls off a small edge too) and I couldnt make the holds work. I think thats what I shall claim for my inability on SB on Wednesday, its not that I can't do it - honest!!!

 

So anyway, I rolled up at the works at lunchtime and did some easy problems that felt very hard. Bought some hand ruining superchalk (does anyone else suffer massively if they use superchalk? it absolutely nails my skin. So much that I now make a hybrid supermoonchalkmegamix from moon chalk and superchalk - about 60(moon)% 40(super)%) but the oppressive heat made it hard to operate even with artificial drying aids. Opened all the windows and got the fans on but it was hideous. Felt knackered and rubbish. Did some work and eventually admitted defeat about 1430.

 

Perc was rambling on about their being some horrific video on UKB that I should moderate. Its a video of someone having the Paul B accident off Helicopter at Font. Its hideous. I felt quite sickened after seeing it and started thinking how grim to be so injured and out for so long. Apparently, the mates of the guy in the video were so shaken that they all froze and left it to this scottish girl to sort. She dealt with it and looked after the dude until the ambulance arrived then promptly fainted and woke up in a pool of sick. Good effort (seriously) to her for keeping it down during the trauma - being sick after the event is fine and completely understandable, being sick with the casualty would be baaaad karma. When I went on a first aid course thats one of the things they tell you - keep the casualty calm - they are going into shock (deep shock with such a horrific break) and they don't need you blethering on about how bad it is/looks. Nasty stuff. Why do people want to watch such filth? had to take my mind off it by watching TC do laps on Superman2. Thats kinda filthy too mind. I like that filth though.

 

Anyway, out tomorrow, not decided where yet. Depends if Ed will be joining me....

 

 

Traverse the tor

Spent last night shuffling sideways at the tor. Almost no going up took place from me at all. Arrived at 1700 to find an empty crag. The car had been reporting temps of up to 22.5degrees on the way out (but they are always optimistic those car thermometer things, too cold in winter, too hot in summer - usually by about 2 degrees) and it felt sweltering at the crag. Bit of a breeze intermittently made an effort to cool things down, but really, it wasnt until later when the conditions got better. Warmed up with some bimbling under Sardine et al and then shuffled my shanty town of possesions down to Powerband. Did the last move on its own, climbed into it from a few moves back, then had a go from the start, from the position it felt like it was going to be allright, but when I took my right hand off to go down I sagged off the hold and that was that. I dont think I am trying very hard, I am trying to do it all perfectly, reading too much in to my feelings on the moves - just bloody well go for it!

 

Anyway, I have done the powerband, and the only reason I want to get it wired and be able to do it on every visit is for Staminaband and so I can get another step on the ladder to being a Tor wad! Sadly, I think theres quite a long way to go. So, Stamina band. Pulled on, down to the pocket, sort the feet, bump the sloper, then the jug thing, undercut, stuff the feet and I am off. Realise I havent mentally reconciled my foot sequence and am climbing it like a gibbon. Decide what I am doing and get back on, get into the start of PB but it feels much harder than it did last week - this is a cause for concern. Rupert turns up. He has a different foot sequence, avoiding the egyptian. Now, I can pretty much always do the start with the egyptian but it feels like a lot of work, and when I am falling off in PB I feel as if I have nothing left, so any beta that straightens out the sequence has to be a good thing. Thing is, that whilst you dont have to put the egyptian in with Ru's foot beta, it makes the transition to Powerband move harder. But, perhaps I just need to get it wired. If I learn a more efficient sequence then I will have more in the tank at the end. Anyway, next liason with the problem is going to be Saturday AM.

 

James turns up and bares the 8b physique (to be honest, I think he might need an upgrade. I have seen some 8b climbers and he is more buff - 8c Foley), and we clip up Rooster Booster. I went on this about 12 years ago and thought it was desperate, but I was crap and it was too hard for me. James went first, spending quite a lot of time working a sequence and getting all the moves dialled. He makes it look hard, but he covers the ground and looks as if with a bit of refinement he could get it done. I feel tired, and a bit scared. He comes down, I tie on and wobble up sardine missing out all the good holds and getting a flash pump. I clip three bolts and have a rest. Strangely, dont feel in the least bit scared. Spend about 10 mins making a meal of the middle section and ultimately have quite a lot of fun getting to the end. Not too hard, but theres a pocket I can only use as a mono! everyone else can get two fingers in, so I need to work something out for that bit. But, the best news is that I didnt get the fear. I was fully happy to go out on the end of a rope and wasnt crippled by worrying about falling off. Perhaps this will be a better year than it has been already!

 

All in, a good night - didnt climb great but good to see people and put in a bit of work on something new. Talking of something new, I read with interest that my coach and mentor has succeeded on the Room project at Squamish. When they were going he had said there was something he wanted to do and that it was an amazing line. Then when they were there he said that he was getting really close but seemed to have a bit of a cold which he needed to shake. Anyway, I read (on the moonblog - sniff) that he has succeeded. Good work TC, a great effort. Sure theres plenty more for him to do and clean up for when I go!

 

Fatty Ned - the great white hope of British Rock Climbing

Just been to make a cup of tea and for some reason started thinking about comments that someone (Ben Moon?) made years ago about young guns - to the effect that there was noone coming up, no younger generation of climbers pushing it - just him and Jerry on their ivory tower at the cream of the crop. If I was Ben Moon (I am in my dreams) I reckon I would probably have thought this was true, although after that statement, the likes of Cameron and Smith, Sellars et al all started doing rather well. Anyway, going off on a tangent again - my thoughts at the tea machine were that perhaps we are about to enter a golden age of British rock climbing? There are loads of young guns about at the moment, some of them with great potential - young Feehally (19) is certainly one of them, he is well strong, keen and dead dead young. My point being, if he is this good now, he will be unstoppable in years to come!

 

So, here it is then, the point of this post - a list of young guns coming through...

Paul B - when fixed, but only 24 and already done 8b!

Ryan Pasquill - waddage.

Tyler Landman - a right tool when I met him, but am assured he isn't now. About 12 but has climbed 8b(+?)

Ned "14st of shoulder" Feehally - 8a+ at 19, 8a and 18, grade extrapolation = 8c @ 22 and Font 9A by 24!!!!!

James Pearsons - loads of stuff, still under 25

Keith "Arms like a shirehorse" Bradbury - 24 (?) 8a+ already and if he stops training and goes climbing potential for so much more.

Dan Varian - North country waddage. Zeke in an afternoon. Nice guy too.

This is by no means definitive. There's loads of people I dont know who would make it on from Wales probably, but anyway - its good that these young punks are going to do some hard stuff (hopefully).

 

Anyway, following this mornings post, Ned texted and said that he isnt 12st after all, he is 11.5. Such a fat knacker. I honestly dont know why I associate with these fat laden amateurs.

 

Phwoaaarrrg! am listening to Richie on John Peel from god knows when and its all just got militant!

 

The lord of the rings

Man, I love training in the rings! its the knowledge! a lot of the time with climbing you stop because you cant technically do a move or you get a power fade on, its not often that you work a muscle group so hard that you ache from the effort. Its the endorphins apparently that make you buzz off hard physical effort, and its a good feeling!

 

I suppose though, that this means that you dont need to work those muscles so hard to climb well? if they dont ache as result of doing what it is you are training for, then they aren't needed and you dont need to make them ache through training? Typing and reading that sentence back I think I just missed the point. The idea of training is isolation - of working one group of muscles to failure so that they supercompensate and other stimulus that uses that group finds them stronger when they need to recruit.

 

On a lesser note, when its hot and sweaty, training in the rings gives you a good work out when it would be too hot to pull hard on small holds.

 

Beefcake doctor Rick Moranis lookalike Follicle was off tending the incontinent and couldnt make it last night, so young gun Feehally was recruited. He is STRONG! and another beefcake! I weighed myself and was suprised following a weekend of eating rubbish, to find that I was light - 10.5st. Ned is 12st! its all those massive shoulders though as theres no fat on him. This got me thinking about the age old dilemma of light vs heavy but energy. I'll not spell it out, as anyone with half a brain and a desire to hang off small holds will have thought about it themselves. Concluded that there is no rule of thumb. You must find for yourself a weight that you feel spritely at and yet have enough beans to crank without a massive power fade. Anyway, waif or beefcake aside - we both climbed like un sac de merde. Roll on Wednesday.

 

There was much sighing in the car on the way home last night. Thankfully these sighs were not born out of frustration or as result of a wet weekend in the lakes, they were sighs of satisfaction from three tired but happy bodies on the way home following a good weekend.

After work on thursday I collected Chris from the official chairmans residence and we filled the car with camping paraphernalia. Blazed a trail to Stockport where we met with Eastern European wrestling champ Ianovitch Culstar who had arranged a gourmet meal of sauteed pommes de terre and poisson. Following a tour of the Culshaw residence we left Manchester at 1900. It only took 1hr45 to get to the campsite, so the tents were pitched in the last vestiges of light before sacking it to the pub.

Friday morning we woke to horizontal death rain and there were no signs of improvement from the sky above. Drove to Ambleside for a mooch around, and almost as soon as we arrived the sun came out.

Ate and caned it back to Langdale to get out on the hills. The weather remained clear so we headed out up stickle ghyll. Steep, steep, steep - top! takes about an hour to complete what is ultimately a two mile stairmaster. At the apparent top lies Stickle tarn, a glacial corrie flanked on either side by hills and walled at the back by an 800 foot grey green cliff known as Pavey Ark. The crag rises out the back of the tarn like a foreboding grey presence and is slashed from right to left by a ramp which is called Jakes Rake. On clapping eyes on the feature the other two elected to take the footpath up the side. I couldnt miss the opportunity and with a bit of trepidation jogged off round the lake on my own. A bit of scrambling leads to the base of a deep groove which runs up the middle of the cliff, its more a very extreme walk than a climb but the exposure in the middle is considerable! This is a picture from Jacks rake next to a rowan tree which clings to the cliffside at about half way up (stickle tarn in the background) :

Anyway, met the others at the top and pressed on to the Pike of Stickle and ultimately home down the Mickleden Valley. Total time about 4.5 hours. Brilliant day out, walked straight back to the old dungeon ghyll hotel (ODG) which is 5 mins walk from our campsite. Couple of pints then back to camp for beautiful curry prepared by the marvellous miss barber, then back to the ODG for beer.

Saturday it was changeable weather again. Soon as we got in the car it cleared up but we'd decided to go to Keswick. I went to the climbing wall whilst those two ended up watching the football in Keswick labour club with a man dressed as Borat! Back home to Langdale for tea and beer in the ODG - very drunk.

Finally, Sunday packed up camp and headed to grizedale forest center where we hired bikes and set out on the 'deadly' North face trail.

Far from being deadly it was pretty good fun and we blazed round in an hour and half without incident. Quality entertainment. Finished the weekend in a pub in Hawkshead for a sunday lunch and then a quick trot back to Manchester/Sheffield. Funny how a weekend away exponentially extends the length of your weekend...

Plans for this week - Tonight, board - campus, rings, Wednesday - tor/staminaband. Ned isnt about so no Zeke yet, Think follicle said he was keen mind, so that might mean rooster booster... Then Thursday back to the works and Friday off ready for sat Tor again... Hopefully!