Sat at the bottom of the commercial climbing wall of life

Went to the Climbing Works last night with Dylan and Lucy. I tend to avoid the place on the main because whenever I go in I get mithered to fix the latest IT disaster. Did some circuit problems which I found hard to be honest. Feel like I'm good at pulling on small holds but yarding between ok ones on a long steep board is alien. Got shut down by the comp wall, managing a couple of 7a's, but needing more than one go on both and flashing a 7b - which had crimps on it. Blimey. I'm not too worried to be honest, I feel like I'm doing allright outside and I'd rather have the bias that way round.

As always, after tea time the place fills up, and this is another reason I'm not a regular - its lovely to see people but I cant help myself gabbing and end up standing round for hours on end talking shite - and thus, not climbing. Good to catch up with some folk though, and I suppose were I more regular I would see them more often and have less to catch up on. OOOOOh its a hard life.

How psyched would you be to hear that Dave Graham had done Hubble? I would be psyched out of my mind. In fact, i might drive to the tor, jug up Rev and wait in case he decides to pop by. You never know who might turn up....

Finally, the weather looks much better this afternoon, and I am going climbing! I would have loved to have gone on Zeke, but I suspect I shall struggle to muster enthusiasm from any quarter, such is the problem with having projects to do, no quality control and being a devotee of a particular venue when everyone else has sense/moved on.

Staring at the finishing hold on the mystical board of life!

So much of climbing is linked to energy levels. Monday is a funny day because you are tired after the shock of going back to work after two days off, but rested because the sleep deficit hasnt built up yet. Which almost always means I start strong but wilt after about an hour.

 

It's a treat to be back on a good board again - I've missed it. Boards are the answer. Well, not completely the answer, but a board is a better training medium than a climbing wall. But for Dylan's board I think I would have to look at building one. But, so much of climbing well on a board depends on the combined energy of the people in the room. Its tough to get yourself going on your own sometimes.

 

I would so love some frame of reference to be honest. I feel like we are doing some hard moves on that board, but without anything to compare to I'm not sure. Talking to Paul, the place the school boards now live is some sort of dumping ground in which they plan to clear a space for us to use for a few months, but I guess people will be reticient to spend time, energy and money putting it back up if its only temporary. I would love to pull back on that board to know where I'm at.

 

So, a good session - Dylan, Garry, Paul Bennett and Joe Brown. Feel positive about my chances on Wednesday - remember, approach with confidence but show humility. 

Heed young punk!

I would like to warn against making false judgements on your relative standing within the climbing community. Its demoralising when you think you are at a certain level to realise that actually, where you thought you were is further down than you realised because you discluded a whole breadth of people. So really, what it is you are realising is that you aint as good as you thought you were. Remember, the people you know are not all the people.

However, irrespective of your abilities I should also like to use this platform to extol the virtues of social ettiquete. This is the imprecise science which should be applied in your dealings with others, and yet all too often is ignored. You may be an 8b uber wad (and if so well done), but a little humility goes a long way. Although you should approach the crag with inner feelings of confidence, outwardly visible over confidence leads others to think you a cock. Even if you arrive at the crag, announce you are gonna do the hardest problem and then do actually do it, spraying about it first leaves other people with the impression that you are a cock. Theres self assured-ness and arrogance - the two are different.

Additionally, stating the grade of every problem you've ever done after describing it suggests your motivations for pulling on holds are kudos rather than joy. This is a shame and stamps another nail in the you are a cock coffin. ANYWAY. On to happier things :

There is a good scene of strong young punks at the moment. Its quite something to behold. I went climbing with some of these spunking young cocks on Saturday. We went to Anston Stones, which is one of these worksop area crags Mick 'The daddy of striking cheekbones' Adams has developed. On first impressions it looks quite good - a wavelet of limestone tucked besides a train track, but there are few holds in the roof and only a couple of lines that actually cross it, those that do require a fair span to make the distance. We start the festivities on a 7c to the far right. The climbing isnt great to be honest - a sort of slightly unpleasant slap required to gain a jug at the top. Its the only hard move but requires lunging nastily out over a spikey boulder. I have the willies and dont seal the deal. Team big numbers set up camp under a hard problem next to the entrance gully, starting in good undercuts a long reach back left leads to a pinchy edge and then a hard tension match into an undercut beside it, I dont manage this move at all, although I do only have one go, I dont think its a move I would do easily so I dont even bother. Ned, Tom Newman and Dave Mason all look pretty fruity on this problem - I am impressed by their strength, tenacity and body tension, but then in comes Dan Varian! A.N.O.T.H.E.R L.E.V.E.L! I've never actually seen him try hard and try hard he did - with a bit of scuttling he dispatches. It looks desperate. The midges come out and it goes dark and so we sack it off.

I start Sunday with a quick pootle down Stoney. I would have loved to have gone on the grit, but it had obviously leathered it down overnight and I didnt think anything would be dry. At stoney I managed to do Sean's problem which is good. Popped up to Tom's roof and didnt really do anything.

This week, tonight at the board, wednesday out - dont know where. Thursday lunchtime stealth session, then it looks like Saturday morning becomes saturday daytime club! only have to be home mid afternoon.

So Solid

Well its been a horrible week for me. From Monday to Wednesday I was basically flat out with hideous stomach cramps and the shits. That got better through weds and by Thurs I could spend extended periods upright, which may not sound great but certainly felt it. I had a solid poo last night - albeit a very small one, and now I think I am constipated! Sigh.

 

Cinema tonight, lie in tomorrow - climb tomorrow aft/sunday AM.

Queens crag itis

So, when I last wrote everything was allright. I was lying on a sofa watching telly and excited about the prospect of going to Queens crag the next day. Although, with hindsight, I think I was starting to feel a bit more achey and tired then than I should have done by rights. By tea time I was starting to be very gaseous and getting stomach cramps, which evolved into the shits through the night - bad but made worse by the toilet block being a walk away, and requiring one to be dressed. Anyway, I felt rubbish. Sunday started out fine. Not a cloud to be seen and really cold. Got some immodium and felt pretty normal again. We drove to Queens :

and, as you can see, it was gorgeous. Everything felt different from last time, it felt closer, although I suppose a lot of that is knowing where you are headed, but, i think I must have been iller than I thought last time.

I managed to bring them to the edge atop queen kong, which is the most impressive thing there, and adds to the wow factor on arrival. We checked out some other stuff but started the day on the power is on block just down from the edge. Again, here highlighting just how bad I must have been then - this felt steady away. I got to the crimp before the second boulder but the holds up there were wet and the easy top bit was impossible.

We moved to Worldline. I romp along it and again - it all feels easy. Ed and Dylan are clearly nervous about the flash but I try to impart as much beta as possible and ensure all the holds are clean. Ed dispatches :

Dylan also flashes the problem and concious of time we move beneath queen kong. I didnt even try it last time, this time between us we do fairly well working a sequence but noone completes the deal.

I'll hurry up typing now as I feel sick. We quest along the edge to the Magician's nephew, which I will remind the forgetful reader, I actually failed on last time I was here. Theres a committing move I wouldnt commit to, but actually its pretty steady. We all romp up it and then head back out to the car.

at which point I begin to feel really sick. I hold it all back until getting home and then just crash. Feeling utterly utterly rubbish. Took yesterday and today off work.

Full photoset here

Lip liner

We knew it was going to rain today, so we made sure we were up and out early. Record in fact, 9am. Drove to kyloe and walked up to the crag in growing drizzle. Forgotten just how good a crag kyloe is, although sharp is certainly a word I could use to describe the holds. I should come here more, it really is great. After a warm up we move to Cubbys lip, and still the crag belongs to us. After a lot of general flailing we've seen the way and its on. Twice I get established in the finishing crack but am unable to move down to the jugs! Dammit! Work that but but skin is too sore and have to admit defeat.

A load of people turn up and we chat and exchange beta. Two sound lads from the climb Newcastle thing show us how it goes down - if only they could have arrived earlier! They pronounce less than ideal conditions which makes us feel better about the situation. We walk back out and slump at the Bunkhouse. I don't know what happened then as it hasn't happened yet. I love the county, its brilliant. Shame its so far away.

Queens tomorrow.

Another Rubicon hopeful

Climbing as an activity lends itself to fabricated ascents. You may be on your own, there may be no witnesses and so you ask to be taken at your word. The idealist reading this will bristle at this statement - why can we not give everyone the benefit of the doubt? because people lie!

In theory it totally doesnt matter what other people say and do. If they're not talking about you or hurting anyone, then why should you care? you shouldn't of course. So why does it matter if someone embellishes their own acheivements? again, it shouldnt - they're only kidding themselves, so dont sweat it. But it does matter. When you put a lot of time and love into an activity its more than just an arbitary pastime - you've become more involved, and so if you think someone's making stuff up then it irks - why should I bother training and trying and failing and being honest about my failure when i could just say I did it too? Its a hollow victory saying you did summat you didn't - you know you didnt really do it. Although I do wonder if some people convince themselves...

The benefit of the doubt is afforded people based on what you've seen them doing. For instance, having climbed with Paul Bennett and having seen him do some very hard problems at the board (sometimes with weight on), its reasonable to assume that at the very least he is extremely strong and I have no trouble believing he is capable of doing some very hard routes/problems. I've never had the pleasure of climbing with Paul on a slab, so I dont know that he is an equally skilled technician, but - he is a good climber. If he said he'd done a new 8b somewhere (for instance) I wouldnt struggle with that.

People have bad days, go through rubbish patches - may even be particularly good at one facet and not another, which is why a value judgement about someone else's abilities should not be formed on a single experience. As another example, I can remember Rupert Davies and Rocket man Rob Smith actually rolling about laughing at my laybacking technique. If you saw Adam on the Kudos wall you would still see a very talented climber at work but you wouldnt get the best impression of his skills.

Dont be reading this thinking I am talking about Scott Mclellan - I'm being general, although that is what got me thinking about it. I shouldn't have said he didn't based on climbing with him once, and the internet is no place to debate these things, plus, he's said he's several witnesses - even mentioned one of their names, it sounds awful to be needing to know who someones witnesses were, but when you've come from behind to the very very front people are gonna want to know how you got there and that you actually did. Anyway, thats enough of that - don't tell fibs kids.

It rained and rained and rained yesterday. I drove to the Tor to meet Ed and Dan. The rocks were pretty much dry, but the floor was v.wet. Staminaband undercuts dry, pocket 4 in powerband a bit spoogy but climbable. Junior Fred Nicole was camped out there, Debbie birch traversing about, Stone, Jon Cook, Sharples and Simon of the unknown sirname. It was really cold - dare I say baltic? I dare - it was. Ed wanted to go on Dangerous Brothers and I on Beluga so without even putting my boots on we zipped around to the mighty Con. Remember the wellies? thankfully still in the car. The crag is completely flooded again and they were necessary to make an approach. When I walked in it was about 4 or 5 inches deep, when we walked out about 8!

Who would ever have thought that two essential items for climbing at Rubicon would be wellies and pallets? Ed and I create a platform just out of the water for him to start from and I come on belay in wellies. He climbs up to the crux and looks to be a bit uncertain, but takes the holds and pulls them down, he's got the jug! amazing! he clips and rumbles up to the top but hasnt got a krab for the belay so jumps off in celebration. THis is not like us - we dont just get on and do stuff, usually theres at least three hours of fannying about before such things happen. We head back to the Rubicon island beneath the Sissy and Zeke. I dont feel massively excited about getting on Zeke - the last time I tried I couldnt hold any of the holds or positions and thought it was fully desperate. I knew I could do beluga and wanted the success rather than a working out the moves session. But, in the final analysis I had more than that on Zeke and have lit a new fire of desire. So, this time after some of the aforementioned fannying I basically did it in two sections. Its gone from being totally implausible to being on. I dont know where I will clip from but I'll work something out.

We leave and I pop to the climbing works to see Ed Robinson. Its rammed.