I can only express my deepest apologies for keeping you waiting for so long.
However, as Michael Jackson once said, 'This is it'
Right - Last time I posted one here was just before leaving to go to Fontainebleau.
I had just about recovered from the A2 Pulley injury
I was just trying to get back fitness and whatnot.
Due to this I had no idea what I should try to attempt over in France, and set no real targets for the trip. I tried a few problems and my hand seemed to be holding up ok, so I moved onto tentatively trying some harder stuff. Everything seemed to work out alright and I managed to tick:
Insistance 7a Rataplat 7b L'Oblique 7a Le Lepreux direct 7a Envie d'Ange7a Retrofiction 7a Jo Dalton 7a+ Entorse 7a+
It isnt a bad list, and it is equal to my list last year(slightly better grades actually). I think this should be taken as a positive because of the length of time I took out before the trip and the injury I was still carrying out there.
Unfortunately in the last few days of the trip I managed to screw my hand over again.
A 2 finger pocket on the top of the classic highball - Big Jim 6c strained my hand and after seeing a physio at the World cup I apparently have a strained Tendon. This is another month or so out again... I seem to have spent about a third of this year out with injury so far so this is just lame.
You can see some of my favourite pictures from my trip at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53094&id=1614090061&l=e11dd7ba44
Onto the second bit of 'news':
I went to the World cup this weekend and won! (but I'll get to that in a bit)
On Saturday we watched the qualifiers and went to Curbar for the afternoon.
Ondra and Fischhuber both looked very impressive during this session. The problems were set quite easy though and many people succeeded on most of the problems.
On Sunday we watched the Semi finals and Quarter Finals.
Unfortunately Kili went out in the Semis due to some tough setting and the rules of qualification, needless to say he looked a little unhappy with the state of affairs. Ondra however cruised through with ease and rocked up in the finals looking impressive.
In the finals Hori from Japan (#3) failed to do anything and ended up in last place which showed how tough the competition was this round. We then watched the other 5 competitors come out and achieve varying levels of success. Last of all came Ondra. The kid really is a machine, some of the moves he made were simply out of this world. On problems that the other climbers seemed completely stumped on, he walked up and every so often looked a little confused by the harder moves. On the first 3 problems he put in a quick onsight in the first minute and I think he did the last problem in 2/3 attempts to win overall.
Very, Very impressive.
Now onto the important victory of the weekend. Mine.
We stayed at the Alpkit Shakeout campsite on friday and saturday and enjoyed it thoroughly.
On Saturday evening we were entertained by the marvellous Bell Hagg Orkestar who's myspace account does no justice to the performance they put on. Gypsy madness to dance to. Brilliant.
Anyways- The theme was 80's rockmasters so I donned a bad wig, bad lycra, bad moustache and quality aviators for my entry. Of course, since no one else entered I won the contest with ease :-D
The next day I picked up my prize of a new head torch and a new drybag from the alpkit store at Cliffhanger. Unfortunately I don't know of any photographs from the evening so you will have to imagine the quality of the costume for yourselves.
Anyways, I think this is the end of my post for now.
Another month out now, maybe I will be able to climb again before the end of summer...targets are looking unlikely right now...
It isnt a bad list, and it is equal to my list last year(slightly better grades actually). I think this should be taken as a positive because of the length of time I took out before the trip and the injury I was still carrying out there.
Unfortunately in the last few days of the trip I managed to screw my hand over again.
A 2 finger pocket on the top of the classic highball - Big Jim 6c strained my hand and after seeing a physio at the World cup I apparently have a strained Tendon. This is another month or so out again... I seem to have spent about a third of this year out with injury so far so this is just lame.
You can see some of my favourite pictures from my trip at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53094&id=1614090061&l=e11dd7ba44
Onto the second bit of 'news':
I went to the World cup this weekend and won! (but I'll get to that in a bit)
On Saturday we watched the qualifiers and went to Curbar for the afternoon.
Ondra and Fischhuber both looked very impressive during this session. The problems were set quite easy though and many people succeeded on most of the problems.
On Sunday we watched the Semi finals and Quarter Finals.
Unfortunately Kili went out in the Semis due to some tough setting and the rules of qualification, needless to say he looked a little unhappy with the state of affairs. Ondra however cruised through with ease and rocked up in the finals looking impressive.
In the finals Hori from Japan (#3) failed to do anything and ended up in last place which showed how tough the competition was this round. We then watched the other 5 competitors come out and achieve varying levels of success. Last of all came Ondra. The kid really is a machine, some of the moves he made were simply out of this world. On problems that the other climbers seemed completely stumped on, he walked up and every so often looked a little confused by the harder moves. On the first 3 problems he put in a quick onsight in the first minute and I think he did the last problem in 2/3 attempts to win overall.
Very, Very impressive.
Now onto the important victory of the weekend. Mine.
We stayed at the Alpkit Shakeout campsite on friday and saturday and enjoyed it thoroughly.
On Saturday evening we were entertained by the marvellous Bell Hagg Orkestar who's myspace account does no justice to the performance they put on. Gypsy madness to dance to. Brilliant.
Anyways- The theme was 80's rockmasters so I donned a bad wig, bad lycra, bad moustache and quality aviators for my entry. Of course, since no one else entered I won the contest with ease :-D
The next day I picked up my prize of a new head torch and a new drybag from the alpkit store at Cliffhanger. Unfortunately I don't know of any photographs from the evening so you will have to imagine the quality of the costume for yourselves.
Anyways, I think this is the end of my post for now.
Another month out now, maybe I will be able to climb again before the end of summer...targets are looking unlikely right now...
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