I'd like to take a second

To mention how chuffed I am with coming 7th in the recent Sportiva climbing comp.

I might have climbed like crap, but I beat everyone I could have done, and even if I had flashed the 2 problems I think I could have done (did second attempt) I would not have moved up a place.

My competition form was just horrible, I was shakey, poorly prepared and climbed a couple of times with poor beta despite knowing the correct beta... eesh.

Anyways, really good event and I am really happy that I decided to make my way up there in preference to the London Fives tournament.

Secondly, I have revised my aims for the winter season.


Ideally I would like to manage 3 7C in each area we go to.

2 points regarding the counting:

7C+ count as 2 7Cs
Entre Prise counts as a 7C


This might be ridiculous given how lazy I have been recently, but I HAVE FAITH!

I will upload a short video perhaps...or maybe a long one when/if I manage to do all the boulders I hope to.

The Terrace

My distilled water,

Left overnight to produce.

The floor is wet now.

I did a Peak day trip on Sunday, with the sole aim of getting on, and completing, the Terrace.

I did pretty well.

I warmed up on the 'Banana Fingers' wall, flashing through the grades:

6A

6C

6C

7A

I then ran through them again on camera in a single shot.

Omar pussied about and pretended that he couldnt climb.

We then went over to the Terrace and started giving it a go.

Since we arrived at about 12-1ish and warmed up for about an hour or so, this only left about 3 hours before it became dark. With time constraints in place, and psyche running quite high due to the conditions, I set about my project with vim and vigour.

Unfortunately, my vim and vigour were somewhat diminished by the 3.5 hours drive in torrential rain that it had taken to get there, and I wasn't quite at top pulling capacity.

Nevertheless, I crushed hard.

The first move - which had eluded me on the previous trip - felt easy.

The next two moves as well.

Unfortunately, the final slap to the good pocket was feeling a bit harder today.

Stickable,

but harder.

Eventually, I brushed out the holds, sat down at the bottom of the climb and pulled on.

The first slap was fine,
I danced my feet across the non existent smears at the base of the problem, and continued to move my hands up through underclings and crimps until I was underneath the final move to the big pocket.

If I could stick the move to the pocket, I knew I could do it.

Compared to the rest of the problem, the last move is about a 5+.

You paste your left foot on a small nubbin, and lever through off your left hand to grab a huge gritstone sloper. I had done the move multiple times to warm up and even 'showboated' by using alternative beta.

Back underneath the final pocket, crimp in my right hand, small pocket in my left, heel on a marginal hold round the arete. I pasted my right foot on the wall underneath my right hand and sank down to go for the move..........

...

The weather next weekend looks alright...

Reading Revelations

I'm reading Jerry's book right now, and tearing through it.

If Jerry can eat Ketchup sandwiches for weeks on end then I can deal with some hunger.

On a sidenote, this banana, applejuice and blueberry smoothie is ridiculously tasty.

Yeehaaa!

Week 1 (as far as this is concerned)

:::::::::::::::::::: I will be updating this post daily with edits ::::::::::::::::::::

Monday :

Craggy session with Pete again.

I dayflashed past my previous highpoint, and made some sketchy clips.

Sadly I then pumped out had to do it in two.

My second attempt was then awful!

I forgot my sequence, clipped poorly, foot movements were all wrong and in short I jug hauled to the top and gave up.

I'm primarily blaming the temperature in Craggy. 

It is just ridiculous. I dont know how they get the customers.

Indeed, I shall seriously be considering going back to SSP or elsewhere for future lead sessions (much as I enjoy climbing with Pete)

I think I will need to find a new time to go there, because 5 o'clock on Monday evening is apparently the worst time in the world heat wise. That said - I am a fan of super cool temps.

Tuesday :

Early start then drove to Milton Keynes to spend a day (paid) setting in their boulder wall.
8.5 hours later, I started climbing on some of their other boulders.

Basically I'm a little knackered now.

I think we set about 20 boulders, from Font 4 to Font 7B/C(?), and extensively tested the top end problems.
Naturally, this results in a lot of climbing on hard moves.

I stuck around after we finished setting and hang around with some of (what appeared to be) regulars, some of whom were pretty strong. It was nice to try and be a bit more competitive with climbing again in terms of beating other people to doing problems..

My fingers are pretty sore now, I'm looking forward to a day or two off climbing now so I can heal up in time for the Peak.

I will do a light run tomorrow, and maybe do some stretching /core afterwards, I'll listen to 'Answer me this' While I run and it'll be great.

Wednesday :

Very lazy day,
Legs were ruined after the setting yesterday
Did my run for around 20 minutes then came back and had a bath to soothe the muscles.

Considered going to the movies, but couldnt be arsed.
Watched a couple of games from my SC2 league and played some games with friends.

Basically - didnt do a great deal.

Stretching tomorrow, then driving to the Peak District in the evening.

Thursday :

Lazy day in the morning, woke up, had a bit of lunch and then drove to Sheffield.

After about 5 hours in the car (stupid traffic jams) I arrived at the works and tried to call either of the two people I was supposed to be staying with that weekend. Neither of them responded, so I ended up climbing for about an hour on the new Yellow Circuit. No idea what grade they were, but it was a nice level for onsighting at, I ran around and did most of the yellows and then got kicked out of the centre and went to the pub.

Friday :

Got up at about 08:30 and headed out to the grit.

Perfect conditions, breezy, sunny and bitter cold.

Great training for Swizerland really :-)

After running a few laps on the Green traverse to warm up, I headed over to get on Brass Monkeys.
Brass Monkeys has been on my ticklist for quite a while now, ever since I walked over to it on a blazing hot day a few trips back.

I hadnt tried it before this trip, but I am pleased to say that I managed to do it in a single session to tick not only my first Gritstone 7C, but my first 7C in a session.

Brass Monkeys is definitely a problem that is a bit easier for those with a decent arm span, as the slaps are large to say the least.
After the first two slaps, you are left with a big cutloose and then some easier moves and a topout to contend with. The first time I did the top out from standing, I stood on the lip for about 2 minutes before committing to start stepping up the super green face above.

When I eventually held the cut from the start of the problem, I walked up the top with no hesitation, took in the view, and then rapidly descended to put on my downy.

In the afternoon, I met up with Ben Norman, who is now at uni in Sheffield (the lucky bastard) and went to Burbage to try West Side Story.

While WSS might continue to elude me, I managed to get one move higher than I have done before, and I think that I actually stand a chance of doing it, which in the past has felt a long way off. Psyche is still high for this, the most difficult of the 7B+ boulders in the world.

After we gave up on WSS, we headed over to the other side of the Burbage valley to get on 'The Terrace'. Again, this is the first time I have tried the problem, and boy is it a good'un. As far as I am concerned, I think this will be the next 7C that I try to complete. Only failed to do one move, and that was after an entire days climbing already. Eventually the dusk started to come in and it started to snow so we decided to call it a day.

Saturday :

I tried to do an early start at about 08:00, but when it actually came time to get up and go out, the draw of bed, and the grimy nature of Ben's Student accommodation kept me firmly in bed till about 10ish when we finally made a beeline to the rock.

The plan for the morning was to get on Brad Pitt and the Storm. Unfortunately, both were beyond me once again, and I was forced to retreat to Zippy's Traverse with Laurie. I did it a couple of times in the good conditions, just so I could do it in good style. Happy to lay this one nicely to rest.

After flashing 'The Hourglass' We headed back over to Brass Monkeys, and Ben got on it and sent it fairly quickly and easily.

I was losing skin, power and psyche by this point, so we did a runner back to Ben's house and I drove back to the South.

Unfortunately, I was a bit of a twat, and forgot to charge my batteries before heading up. I also forgot my charger, so when it came to getting footage and photos, I am a little bare on the ground.
I have video of the BM ascent, and some of Green Traverse, but that is all :-/

Sunday :

Today has been very lazy so far, bought some food and done some editing from the weekend for the new video I am making to document the end of this season, and into the coming one.

Tomorrow is Craggy for routes and Tuesday is Craggy to take a family friend's daughter for a climb. Should be interesting.

Last Week:

Monday:

 

Routes session at Craggy, climbed with Polish Pete for the first time.

Good session considering how much of a routes punter I am, I now have a 7b+ project on the front wall to attack. Did a little fingerboarding at the end of the session, but stopped when some bellend came along with his girlfriend and pushed in to use 'the climbing coach' to time his ridiculously punterish hangs on the sinker jugs...

Seriously. 

Tuesday: 

Went to Eton again to play the fives match that was cancelled the week before, started at 7:30ish. We lost quite quickly in a lousy fashion. I took painkillers before the match to combat a slight knee twinge, and ate before I got there. These things combined with the odd court dimensions lead to me being utterly shite and thoroughly disliking the evening.

Wednesday: 

I was supposed to go to Evo, but my knee hurt a bit too much from the night before to justify the drive over.

Instead, I shot some video in the lab and went to the school wall for a light climb and some pullups.

I didnt do a great deal of pullups before my shoulder (also effected by the night before) started making sad noises.

Thursday:

I had to run the Junior House Fives competition, 

came home and edited some of the video from previous days.

Friday: 

Last day of term, busy day of making sure everything was in its place for the holiday.

Came home and edited.

Saturday: 

Blocfest was today. I didn't go.

Instead, I waited for my skin to come back in time for a day trip to the Peak on Sunday.

Sunday:

I did not go to the peak - Omar texted late on Saturday to cancel.

Sigh.

Days Climbing : 1.5

Hangboard sessions : FML 0.5

Yoga : None

Evo Sessions : 0

Power Endurance (routes) : 1 (at least I did something on the list)

I have also been pathetic about the diet, if anything I feel worse now than I did before.

I really wish I had someone to train with/be driven 

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Personal Therapy session below - Stop here if you don't want to hear me talking the problems out of my head.

I feel like I should stop playing fives.

But I enjoy playing fives...

I think that a lot of my psyche comes from feeling good about myself, and lately I feel like I have been doing pretty rubbish at everything I claim to be good at. I think with climbing, I can blame the rock, I can blame conditions, and in the end I can just say that the boulder has beaten me.

There is no shame in being worse than a boulder.

But when I lose in Fives, or football, or Starcraft or whatever sport pits people against one another it seems far more real.

I lost, so someone is better than me.

I know I havent played competitive fives for about a month now, and I am still thrown into a state when I lose against the first pair from the Eton and Windsor team. I'm pretty certain that if anyone told me about the same situation happening to themselves, I would give them a fairly short answer.

I suppose the real reason for feeling down about it, is that I didn't play as well as I have in the past. I struggle to play things 'for fun'.

I was thinking this while I drove back from climbing today. 

I enjoy climbing, 

but I dont climb for fun.

I climb for achievement.

So if I am not climbing well, I have a hard time enjoying it.

What doesnt help is that when I feel a bit crap, I dont care about training.

The diet goes to shit and I stop caring about putting in the reps.

Then my performance wanes and the cycle continues.

I suppose what I need to do, is break the cycle somehow:

If I stop playing fives fixtures and screwing up my shoulders and legs, then I will be able to climb well, and have an uninterrupted training schedule.

If I stop giving a shit about what I think other people think I should be able to do on a fingerboard, and instead just do my best, then I will actually be able to work up to what other people think I should be able to do (which I dont care about - remember?...confusing that...)

I think I should read Macleod's book again, I think he covers this stupid mental game in some detail.

Giving up the Ego will be hard. 

Tired of being a Lardarse - Introducing the Targets!

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

I'm not really sure on the difference between 'Attainable' and 'Realistic' but what can you do?

Woah,
I'm shocked.
I'm 80kg again!


80 freaking kg!
That is waaaaaay too heavy.


I was 75kg just before going to Rocklands!

Basically I am starting to feel like a bit of a lardarse.
I mean, I am technically down on my weight from a year or two ago, but I was really starting to see some gains from climbing.

What is interesting to note, is that my hardest boulder ascent and my hardest route ascent have actually both come at this increased weight.

I dont really know what to think about this coincidence, but I think I can confidently say that if I was lighter I would see benefits in my climbing.


This is Target Number One!

I will return to 75kg before our trip in December.

This means losing about 2.5kg a month over October and November.

In real terms:

2.5kg = 2.5 x 7700cal

=19250cal over 2 months

2 months = 8 weeks = 56 days

19250÷56 = 343cal/day

If I need 2000 cals to maintain my weight each day then somewhere near 1700 calories will work out well with extra cardio.

Simple.

Target number 2 is related to my climbing performance.

Initially, I was pretty psyched on the competition scene this season, but after spending a bit of time outside, I am suddenly a bit more interested in doing well on the rock.

I mean, I will still go to the competitions, but I think that at the moment I am going to prioritise the winter season on the grit.

Last weekend I managed to do Zippy's traverse - Tough 7B in a short session in sub-optimal conditions (still pretty good conditions.

I then failed on Brad Pit and The Storm.

I think that I am not unreasonable in proposing that I should attempt to do:

At least one 7C on each of Grit, Fontainerock, and Gneiss 

over the winter season

I think this is an achievable goal, especially given that I seem capable of 7B in a session.

I need to choose appropriate problems,

I think The Terrace at Burbage is a good choice for the grit

Dr Crimp on the gneiss would be a good tick, but perhaps not quite my style. 

I think 'Birds' is a better shout.

In Fontainebleau I really haven't got a project in mind.

Bigboss, Fourmis Rouges, Eclipse, or Deux faux plis en plats reéls come to mind

I suppose that will come down to who else wants to get on these things.

I will do at least one fingerboard session a week

Mainly focussed on locking off on small holds. I imagine that once I lose some weight, and gain some more strength then I will be able to do one arm lockoffs on some of the beastmaker holds, which will no doubt lead to even quicker gains!

I will do at least one yoga session a week

We have a really good sequence of yoga at the school wall which is pretty killer, we did a couple of reps of it a week or two ago but haven't done any since, probably because no one wants to. I will force myself to, it will help with stretching and core strength.

I will try to get to Evolution climbing centre on Wednesday Evenings

I have been finding it a bit hard to train at the school/craggy, and I think that if I can get down to Evo - home of the super strong - I will be able to get at least one solid training session a week.

I will try to do one session of cardio a week.

Be this a run, fives game, swim, cycle, gym. Whatever, this is an important part of the weight loss program and therefore (unwillingly) needs to be done.

I will try to fit in a session of power endurance training

In reality this just means doing some hard route climbing somewhere, although it can also mean some on the minute training for boulders. Ideally it will involve some tough onsight sport climbing indoors.

I cant think of anything else to say right now, and it is pretty late so I am going to go to bed.

G'night all.

Let the starvation commence!

Dandelion Mind

I saw the video of David Jones climbing Dandelion Mind (V14) on UKC today



and the name of the problem caught my imagination.

I understand it is the name of Bill Bailey's newest DVD offering, but nevertheless I decided to write something about it.

Unfortunately, I couldn't decide what it meant most, so now you have to suffer through two bad poems instead of just one!

___________________________________

We used to be so happy,
we lived without a care.
But what has happened since that time
has left my heart stripped bare

My dandelion mind,
began to fall away
what once was full, and round and whole
somehow went astray.

Your bitter words blow through me now,
and chill me to the core.
I wish my head would fill again,
and guard my heart once more.

____________________________

My dandelion mind
is flighty, bright and free
the thoughts that float around my head
remind me of a bee.

A bee that flies through summer fields,
of grasses gold and green,
of flowers yellow, blue and red
as if they're in a dream.

A dream that lasts from day to day,
filling life with glee,
I'm really quite delighted that my mind belongs to me.

_____________________________________

In other news, I went to Cheddar yesterday with Anthony and did my first ever 7c route!

I had previously tried it back in May with Tris but, despite getting the moves, I knew I would never be able to link them together.

Clearly there has been some sort of improvement, because I dogged up, cleaned the route, rested, then sent it within a few redpoints. It felt quite easy really, a little pumped at the end but otherwise pretty relaxed.

The fact that I was then hopelessly by the 7b across the road clearly doesn't mean anything...

Pessimism, Optimism, Self Worth

So I started reading Lore's Blog yesterday and I am psyched on writing again.

I'm psyched on training again.

I just read my last post, about having crappy sessions on the fingerboard and giving up and going for a run.

And I thought to myself - 'that is fucking depressing'
 Which is how I was feeling when that happened.

I think Lore gets the same sort of experiences, but looks at them, and approaches them in a different way.
 Feeling down and bummed out is a weakness in itself, and it is something that can be beaten and worked out of the body and mind.

I think I have been pussying out of acually improving for a while now, and while the gains have been coming, they could becoming much faster.
I am going to sit down and work out exactly what I want to achieve by winter, how I intend to achieve it, and then set about doing that.

Thanks Lore.


Yesterday evening was a prime example of how I should improve.
I competed in the opening round of the Craggy winter boulder league.

I climbed alrightish, I flashed 10 boulders and did another 2 second attempt, but I was pumped and weak by the last ones. I think this is in equal measure a case of comeptition technique, competition training and just getting stronger.

I could definitely have won, but I didn't. I even gave up before the end of the comp because I wanted to mooch around and talk with friends.

About 10 minutes from the end though, I realised I still had the chance to win and it really put the fire back under my arse. I ran to get my shoes, brushed one problem that I had failed to do first time and given up on, then flashed it with ease.

I was then 4 points behind with one feasible problem to go.

I had already failed on it once before, so I had 7 points available, then 4.

If I climbed it second attempt, I would win.
If I climbed it third attempt, I would draw.

I failed to climb it.

I was too pumped and weak to do it, even though I knew I could.

I hate that.
I really hate that.

This afternoon, I am heading down to the fingerboard to do pullups.

On small rungs.


I'll write again when I work out my training goals and plan.

Running

Just ran a 22.XX.XXX 5km and I think I can go faster with a little work and a warmup/stretching

I had a crappy session earlier on the wall and on the fingerboard.

My skin feels rubbish.

Urrph.

Competition at Sutton on Thursday, so tomorrow is a rest day in preparation (might do some core)

U25 Fives Nationals

This weekend was the Under 25s Fives Nationals, held at Highgate school in North London, and I was present!

I applied as a free agent of sorts and was paired up on the day with another player.

Fortunately, I was to play with a pretty good player called Joe Marks. Joe used to be a top player at Highgate school, and was fairly similar in standard to myself. This is important in fives, as a weaker player can definitely be taken advantage of in a competitive game.

This effect was actually observed in one of our group fixtures, where we faced off against one of the best players in the uk, paired with a good (but significantly less talented) player. By working on this weakness, we came out on top with some good play. Eventually winning our group.

I had been playing some fives earlier in the week (actually quite a lot  due to school training and then match practice with the brigands) and my shoulder was still in a bad way by the time I turned up on saturday morning. After the group stage, it was definitely starting to protest the continued usage.
Undeterred, I went to get lunch. While we were out, I picked up some painkillers and by the time we started again, they had begun to kick in. Unfortunately, I wasnt cutting with my usual power and spin, so we were rather less effective than usual when defending points.
I feel as though we would have done better if that was not the case, but we did fairly well given the circumstances.
The first game after the group stages were against some Welsh players, who were pretty decent players. Fortunately, they made more mistakes than us over the course of the game, and we accelerated away from them towards the end when we worked out how to best win points.

This put us through to the Semi Finals against a couple of my friends - the Bhattacharya brothers.
I have lost to Abs and Aroop before, but we were playing pretty well throughout the day, and despite my shoulder frustrations, I thought we had a good chance of making it to the final.
We lost the first game 12-9 due to some poor shot selection at the end of the game, but felt that we could win the following two if we put our minds to it.
The next game went much better, with a quick win 12-7.
Unfortunately it all went a bit pear shaped in the final game, with a lot of time spent swapping serves at 8-8. Finally Abs and Aroop won out with some quick points, to pull ahead and win the final set and proceed to the final.

I dont think it would have made a great deal of difference who would have made it to the final, as Laurie Brock and AJ were imperious in their tournament victory, winning easily in 3 games.

I expected my shoulder to feel horrendous this morning, but I think I must have looked after it well after I took the pain killers, because it actually feels less stiff now than it did on Saturday.

On an unrelated note
My hand still feels a bit crap after a climbing session at the start of next week, I havent climbed since about tuesday, so hopefully itll heal up soonish so I can get back to doing some training.

Cheers all.
Archie

The Rocklands Post

Rocklands 2012 writeup,

It has been a while coming, and that is due in large part to most of my time being spent either at work, climbing, training or editing the photos and video from the trip.

Naturally this means that I have a lot of media from the trip, some of which I consider to be quite good, some of which less so.

Now to start this off I’ll begin by saying that the area we were based in is absolutely stunning in terms of scenery, not to mention the quality of the climbing. However, it is only natural to encounter some small (and large) problems when engaging in a long trip (especially to a place as large and sparse as South Africa), but we’ll come to those in a moment.

I didn’t really do a great deal of research into the areas and the climbs that were out there, except for a slight perception of soft grades from quite a few people who have gone already (as you may have seen Michelle Caminati is one of the chief proponents of this point of view, and if you look at his 8a.nu scorecard, you will see this in action)

Anyway, I went out with the intention of doing only 3 specific climbs, two of which were at my current grade cap and the other was well beyond. Fortunately, after a huge amount of effort, I managed to do all three of them before the end of the trip. Which has left me a bit mentally drained for these last few weeks.

The list consisted of:

Pinotage (7B+)

The Rhino (7B+)

And Caroline (7C+)

Everything else was just a bonus after that, although I did manage to find some real gems while I was climbing with the rest of the group.

I don’t really know how to go about writing up the trip, and I perhaps should have tried to write some blog posts while I was actually out there instead of trying to write an overview right now. But now I have a great deal to write about, and I don’t want it all to get too long and boring.

So instead, I will let some of my photos along with captions and the trip videos do the talking.

My first picture is actually of a climb I failed to complete, but I think it does a really nice job of summing up our day to day activity out in SA. We would wake up, dirtbag it out to the crag at whatever time, and climb up way above the plain to climb in the shadows and sit in the sun.
And that is what we did for about 4 weeks.

Another fine example of the scenery that we climbed with every day, the rock has this incredible orange colour to it that just looks super inspiring when you are searching for new problems. The friction on the holds is generally pretty good considering the heat, this is because they tend to be quite incut, which makes for quite indoorsy problems with many sequences.

One day when it was bitterly cold and windy in the pass, we made our way down to 'The Rhino' for a few attempts before heading home. I got some perfect beta from a couple of cool sheffielders, shared some pads and I actually climbed it second attempt!

This was an incredible 7B+ arete called Zanzibar that I did fairly quickly (Caminati called it a 6C but hey ho...it probably was a bit easy) After I did it, I got into photo mode and got shooting. Just before the sun went over the hill on the other side of the valley, I managed to take this picture.

Sassies climbing area is a 45 minute hike up a sandy hill, but when you get up there you are greeted by some of the best problems in the Rocklands. One of them was this one - Pinotage.
I had to spend 3 sessions on this in the end, the first was with the strong German troupe of climbers with Julianne Wurm and Jan Hojer. Naturally they both pissed it and I was left flailing around as the sun crept round the arete.
The second session was a bit shorter still, as we had one of those problems I mentioned in the opening paragraphs. One of the larger types...largely involving Doug and an epic trip to the hospital.

Doug fell from quite high, maybe 6 or 7 meters, onto a distinct lack of padding and an unfortunate spotter. After a 4 hour rescue operation (remember the 45 minute hike uphill?) during which Doug was put at ease with a whole one ibuprofen and one paracetamol. When he reached the hospital (after a 2 hour 4x4 ride down the hike. Followed by a half hour ride in the back of an ambulance aka. converted van) he was given some of the worst pain killers known to mankind.
The upshot of this experience is that I have learnt not to break my leg when I am halfway up a South African hill.

Finally, Caroline. This was a huge step up for me, and it took a huge effort to achieve it.
Over about 6 or 7 sessions, I worked out beta, reworked beta, gave up permanently, tried it again, found new beta, reconciled beta with existing beta, made some links, made some attempts, caught the penultimate hold, got a giant split on my tip.

Gave up,

Waited,

Healed,

Drove 3 hours,
Warmed up,
Sent.

I was so happy, I felt like there was an overarching story to the trip that was at risk of going unfinished, and after falling so close to the end - a week earlier - and getting the split that I thought was going to end my trip, I was starting to get a little vexed.

I wasnt sure whether the call to get up early, and drive for 3 hours to potentially fail again was a good idea. But when I caught the top hold and scrambled over the top, any thought of the drive in, or drive back or petrol costs, or time invested were instantly replaced with a combination of happiness and relief at having finally clawed my way up a piece of South African rock.

After this, my psyche left.
Gone.
All gone.


I had drained myself of mental energy, and I didn't even know it could happen.

The next few days seemed to fly past, I wasnt really climbing much, just mooching and occasionally pawing ineffectually at the rock. On the last day of the trip we drove the 3 hour trip to Rocklands one last time to say goodbye and pick up a friend.

I managed to find a bit of last day psyche inspired by Dave Graham's incredible energy and did a bunch of classics before attempting the highball 7C arete - 'Tomorrow I will be gone'.
Unfortunately it was too hot for it, and I didnt have enough pads, or spotters and the psyche wasnt quite right. But next time we go, I am heading straight to that boulder because it is a beaut.

As you may be able to tell from the previous sentence, I thoroughly intend to return in the future.

The climbing was incredible, the people were not completely unbearable, and the scenery and food were superb.

I'd be interested in going elsewhere as well, but Rocklands is definitely towards the top of my list.

Anthony - we should have a chat about that bigwall idea of yours.

Rocklands 2012 from Archie CB on Vimeo.


Finally, this is the video I put together for the trip.
Some people have said nice things about it, some people have said that they dont like the typeface and that a couple of sequences are a bit long. I dont know because I have seen it all too many times now. If you have any comments, please do tell me, because I would love to make a better film in the future.

Cheers everyone!

You know how you sometimes want to listen to really bad music?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7mPqycQ0tQ

yeah.

Just a quick note to say that Caroline is ON!

I did all the moves a few days ago, and I can do all the moves easily now,. The problem is linking it!

I can get up to the last right hand hold relatively consistently, and I can do it from there every time when I am fresh.  It is just a case of sticking it well with all my fingers on the hold, unfortunately I havent managed to do this yet.

I think I am up to about 5/6 sessions on it now, which is by far and a way the longest I have ever spent on a project before, I have to move down to Cape Town to today as my time in the Rocklands house has run out.

Fortunately I am staying with Arjan de Kock, and he is regularly driving up to RL to climb on his own projects, so I will hitch a lift with him until I manage to do it.

I had a session on it yesterday with Dave Graham looking on, felt super strong, but it just wasnt working out for me. I then went up and gave him a spot on a crazy new 8a(?) boulder he found and did. Check out 'The Island' Website for a video in the future perhaps.

It is all rainy today, so no climbing for anyone it seems, not that I mind too much, I probably need another rest day to let my skin get back to a decent thickness for Caroline, because those holds are damned sharp if you catch them wrong. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference whether you have taped up or not, so that might work just fine.

Toodles.

Ticklist of my hardest stuff so far:

A Question of Balance	Roadside	7B
Poison Dwarf	Close Plateau	7B
Mud Puddles	8 Day Rain	7B
Crazy Leg	8 Day Rain	7B
Stinky Pants	Fields of Joy	7B
When the Day Breaks	Roadcrew	7B
Des Claques Pour Nini	Riverside	7B
Humility	8 Day Rain	7B
The Secret to Olive's Preserve Cupboard	Roadside	7B
Roadside Slab	Roadside	7B
The Soul Train	Fields of Joy	7B+
The Rhino	The Rhino Boulders	7B+
Zanzibar	Hidden Boulders	7B+
Pinotage	Sassies	7B+
Cedar Spine	Cedar Spine Gully	7C

I have 2 more 7C lined up and ready to go, should take only a few attempts on each.

I have also done all the moves on a few more 7C and all the moves on Witness the Sickness, No late Tenders and Caroline.

Given the time I have left though, I don't think I will be able to get them in the remaining sessions this trip, but I have no doubt that I will be returning next year so I will train hard and do them then.

Update Post

Hi all.

I'm sorry to say that I haven't written any more rubbish story for you, so you'll have to make do with me bragging about my awesome climbing trip.

There is lots of good footage, and many good pictures.
Unfortunately, given that the internet here is awful, and my computer is even worse, they will have to wait till I am in Cape Town until anything might be done about that situation.

I managed to get out to the Rhino Boulder yesterday afternoon after walking past it multiple times on the way to other areas. The conditions had set themselves up to be less than perfect, with clouds rolling through the pass and spots of rain throughout the day that had forced us to bail off of various other things in the area.
It was also damned cold because of the wind.

Fortunately, the wind dried off the rock and conditions were super grippy, every one of the holds on the Rhino is very skin friendly and it was a pleasure to climb.
When I showed up, we met two friends there,one of whom was trying it. She had worked out the beta during her previous sessions on the problem and kindly gave me all the minutia of foot and hand movements that would have doubtless taken me quite a lot of time to figure out.

My first attempt ended about halfway through during a tricky heel-->toe footswap and I landed on the ground with my hands freezing cold and lacking any feeling.
I rested a while and plotted some beta to make that move a little easier.

On my second attempt, everything went about the same. But at the point I had fallen off before, I clamped a bit harder and managed to power on through the moves to arrive at the top in a bit of a knackered state.

Given that the weather was super cold, and I never expected to do it so quickly, there are no photos or video. The other members of the trip will no doubt like to give it a go though, and I will get some neat footage and pictures when the skies are a little bluer and the weather a little warmer.

I also managed to do Cedar Spine on my second session of the trip 2 evenings ago. After padding out the landing pretty comprehensively, and working out the ground moves again, I found myself at the airy crimp move up top and just gave it some beans to reach the good flat holds up top.

I was speaking to some Scottish chaps yesterday and they said that when they were trying the problem, 2 people consecutively sprained their ankles and one guy is sitting in the Pakhuis campground with a cast on his foot from that problem. I'm glad I didnt find this out before I did it, because otherwise I might not have managed to commit to the move and complete the problem.

Ticklist so far:

	Number	Cumulative
6A	0	30
6A+	1	30
6B	2	29
6B+	5	27
6C	3	22
6C+	2	19
7A	5	17
7A+	2	12
7B	7	10
7B+	2	3
7C	1	1
7C+	0	0
8A	0	0

Problem	Area	Grade	Date
The Golden Rail	8 Day Rain	6C	18/07/2012
The Golden Child	8 Day Rain	6B+	18/07/2012
The Beckoning	8 Day Rain	6B+	18/07/2012
The Beckoning Sit Start	8 Day Rain	7A	18/07/2012
Vertige	Roadside	6B+	19/07/2012
A Question of Balance	Roadside	7B	19/07/2012
Sun Run	Roadside	6C+	19/07/2012
CAROLINE	Roadside	(7C+)	19/07/2012
Kiesl	Fields of Joy	7A	21/07/2012
Dirty Lies	Fields of Joy	7A+	21/07/2012
The Soul Train	Fields of Joy	7B+	21/07/2012
RSA	Close Plateau	6B	22/07/2012
Girl on our mind	Close Plateau	6B+	22/07/2012
Poison Dwarf	Close Plateau	7B	22/07/2012
Witness the Sickness	Close Plateau	(8A)	22/07/2012
REST DAY	LAMBERTS BAY		23/07/2012
Gegen Den Winds	Fields of Joy	7A+	24/07/2012
FAILED TO DO ANYTHING	Riverside		25/07/2012
REST DAY	8 Day Rain		26/07/2012
Hueco Face	8 Day Rain	6B+	27/07/2012
Whirlpool Arete	8 Day Rain	6A+	27/07/2012
Mud Puddles	8 Day Rain	7B	27/07/2012
Crazy Leg	8 Day Rain	7B	27/07/2012
Maties	Sassies	7A	29/07/2012
Great Escape	Sassies	6C+	29/07/2012
Nothing	8 Day Rain		30/07/2012
Sale in Execution	Fields of Joy	6C	31/07/2012
Stinky Pants	Fields of Joy	7B	31/07/2012
Maniac	Fields of Joy	(7B)	31/07/2012
When the Day Breaks	Roadcrew	7B	01/08/2012
Hill Start	Roadcrew	7A	01/08/2012
Cedar Spine	Cedar Spine Gully	(7C)	01/08/2012
Riverside Slab	Riverside	6B	03/08/2012
Alligator	Riverside	6C	03/08/2012
Des Claques Pour Nini	Riverside	7B	03/08/2012
Cedar Spine	Cedar Spine Gully	7C	04/08/2012
CAROLINE	Roadside	(7C+)	04/08/2012
Le Bowling Ball	Fortress	7A	04/08/2012
The Rhino	The Rhino Boulders	7B+	05/08/2012

Cheerios all, 8 day rain later methinks, unless we head to Pakhuis Campground again.

Update Post

Hi all.

I'm sorry to say that I haven't written any more rubbish story for you, so you'll have to make do with me bragging about my awesome climbing trip.

There is lots of good footage, and many good pictures.
Unfortunately, given that the internet here is awful, and my computer is even worse, they will have to wait till I am in Cape Town until anything might be done about that situation.

I managed to get out to the Rhino Boulder yesterday afternoon after walking past it multiple times on the way to other areas. The conditions had set themselves up to be less than perfect, with clouds rolling through the pass and spots of rain throughout the day that had forced us to bail off of various other things in the area.
It was also damned cold because of the wind.

Fortunately, the wind dried off the rock and conditions were super grippy, every one of the holds on the Rhino is very skin friendly and it was a pleasure to climb.
When I showed up, we met two friends there,one of whom was trying it. She had worked out the beta during her previous sessions on the problem and kindly gave me all the minutia of foot and hand movements that would have doubtless taken me quite a lot of time to figure out.

My first attempt ended about halfway through during a tricky heel-->toe footswap and I landed on the ground with my hands freezing cold and lacking any feeling.
I rested a while and plotted some beta to make that move a little easier.

On my second attempt, everything went about the same. But at the point I had fallen off before, I clamped a bit harder and managed to power on through the moves to arrive at the top in a bit of a knackered state.

Given that the weather was super cold, and I never expected to do it so quickly, there are no photos or video. The other members of the trip will no doubt like to give it a go though, and I will get some neat footage and pictures when the skies are a little bluer and the weather a little warmer.

I also managed to do Cedar Spine on my second session of the trip 2 evenings ago. After padding out the landing pretty comprehensively, and working out the ground moves again, I found myself at the airy crimp move up top and just gave it some beans to reach the good flat holds up top.

I was speaking to some Scottish chaps yesterday and they said that when they were trying the problem, 2 people consecutively sprained their ankles and one guy is sitting in the Pakhuis campground with a cast on his foot from that problem. I'm glad I didnt find this out before I did it, because otherwise I might not have managed to commit to the move and complete the problem.

Ticklist so far:

	Number	Cumulative
6A	0	30
6A+	1	30
6B	2	29
6B+	5	27
6C	3	22
6C+	2	19
7A	5	17
7A+	2	12
7B	7	10
7B+	2	3
7C	1	1
7C+	0	0
8A	0	0

Problem	Area	Grade	Date
The Golden Rail	8 Day Rain	6C	18/07/2012
The Golden Child	8 Day Rain	6B+	18/07/2012
The Beckoning	8 Day Rain	6B+	18/07/2012
The Beckoning Sit Start	8 Day Rain	7A	18/07/2012
Vertige	Roadside	6B+	19/07/2012
A Question of Balance	Roadside	7B	19/07/2012
Sun Run	Roadside	6C+	19/07/2012
CAROLINE	Roadside	(7C+)	19/07/2012
Kiesl	Fields of Joy	7A	21/07/2012
Dirty Lies	Fields of Joy	7A+	21/07/2012
The Soul Train	Fields of Joy	7B+	21/07/2012
RSA	Close Plateau	6B	22/07/2012
Girl on our mind	Close Plateau	6B+	22/07/2012
Poison Dwarf	Close Plateau	7B	22/07/2012
Witness the Sickness	Close Plateau	(8A)	22/07/2012
REST DAY	LAMBERTS BAY		23/07/2012
Gegen Den Winds	Fields of Joy	7A+	24/07/2012
FAILED TO DO ANYTHING	Riverside		25/07/2012
REST DAY	8 Day Rain		26/07/2012
Hueco Face	8 Day Rain	6B+	27/07/2012
Whirlpool Arete	8 Day Rain	6A+	27/07/2012
Mud Puddles	8 Day Rain	7B	27/07/2012
Crazy Leg	8 Day Rain	7B	27/07/2012
Maties	Sassies	7A	29/07/2012
Great Escape	Sassies	6C+	29/07/2012
Nothing	8 Day Rain		30/07/2012
Sale in Execution	Fields of Joy	6C	31/07/2012
Stinky Pants	Fields of Joy	7B	31/07/2012
Maniac	Fields of Joy	(7B)	31/07/2012
When the Day Breaks	Roadcrew	7B	01/08/2012
Hill Start	Roadcrew	7A	01/08/2012
Cedar Spine	Cedar Spine Gully	(7C)	01/08/2012
Riverside Slab	Riverside	6B	03/08/2012
Alligator	Riverside	6C	03/08/2012
Des Claques Pour Nini	Riverside	7B	03/08/2012
Cedar Spine	Cedar Spine Gully	7C	04/08/2012
CAROLINE	Roadside	(7C+)	04/08/2012
Le Bowling Ball	Fortress	7A	04/08/2012
The Rhino	The Rhino Boulders	7B+	05/08/2012

Cheerios all, 8 day rain later methinks, unless we head to Pakhuis Campground again.

   Bentbeak the bird flew over the prehistory of the world.

   He flew over wide stretches of land and water, verdant fields of green and yellow grass that swayed back and forth in a light breeze. It flew over vast expanses of water, ducking low to glide over the waves and enjoy the company of its own reflection.

It flew over the deserts and the badlands where nothing grew for miles.

And finally it flew over the volcano.

   The bird had no way of knowing that it was flying over the volcano, since it gave no external signs, except for a slightly higher land temperature than might have been expected for that time of year. Unfortunately for the bird, it was not attuned to imperceptible temperature errors, and it was also unaware of the increasing pressure buildup beneath the surface.

   The surface of the planet began to split and crack, giant trees fell headlong into the cavernous holes and returned as wisps of smoke a few seconds later. Any animals ill-fated enough to be on the ground attempted to leave, but many plunged headfirst into the holes to join the trees.

   The surrounding airspace took on the aroma of a poorly tended barbeque, singed meat rising through the air and mingling with the clouds that had formed from the rivers and streams that, until recently, had been flowing peaceably across the plains.

  

   The bird was oblivious to these changes.

   He often found it hard to concentrate on what he was doing, and right now he was quite interested in the sudden appearance of the new clouds that were blocking his vision.

   Two years ago he had been flying through one of the greater mountain ranges on his way to a party, when he was distracted by an attractively fish shaped cloud. He had promptly flown into a mountain and bent his beak, which had resulted in a great deal of teasing when he finally arrived. Ever since that day, his nose hadn’t worked properly, and right now he was starting to pay the ultimate price for his navigational mishap.

   If he had smelt the burning flesh below, he might have ducked below the cloud line and found the time to escape. Instead, he flew on, oblivious to the danger below.

   When the lava hit him he was surprised, naturally. The presence of superheated rock in an area you wouldn’t expect it is certainly something to be surprised at. But his real surprise, looking back on it, was the speed of it. It was travelling, and it didn’t seem to be slowing down. The volcano below, was forcing the lava above onwards in an explosion of such violence that the planet shrank as its insides flew upwards in one long stream of molten granite.

   Eventually, the pillar reached the upper atmosphere and started to cool. The liquid re-solidifying into a giant cylinder that soared on through the upper atmosphere, buoyed by the momentum it received from below. Just as it was clearing the gravitational pull of the planet…it stopped.

   The volcano was done. The planet’s core was dry, and the event was over except for the tower. The base was still liquid, while the upper part was sticking out into space. Slowly- gravity started to notice and the pillar began to descend, cracking and splitting along its length. The space pillar freed itself from its earthbound relative and soared majestically into orbit, the splinters from the schism fell like mighty bolts into the earth. Jagged and heavy, they fell into the ground and sank, only to be covered by the setting lava from the end of the eruption. Some fell wide over the surface, many miles from the epicentre, causing fiery arcs to spread across the sky.

   The tower stood for a second, unsure of which way to fall. The wind swirled around it buffeting it one way then the other, all the while, the lava on the ground continued to set. Eventually it stood, as a giant totem, lording over the landscape and casting a monstrous shadow well beyond the horizon.

   The planet sighed, and over the following millenia tried to adjust to the new space within. Many of the giant fissures widened as the core contracted, and when the planet cooled enough for the rains to fall, they became the new seas and rivers. Thousands of islands now populated the area around the tower, some large, some small, some that glittered like diamond and some that seemed to suck in the light from the sun. The planet had taken the lives from most of its inhabitants, and in return it had spilt its bounteous resources of the clean across the surface.

Oh yeah - I'm in South Africa too...

Climbed a few things, nothing nails hard yet.

	Number	Cumulative
6A	0	18
6A+	1	18
6B	1	17
6B+	5	16
6C	1	11
6C+	1	10
7A	2	9
7A+	2	7
7B	4	5
7B+	1	1
7C	0	0
7C+	0	0
8A	0	0

There are probably some 7Bs that should be on that list that arent, havent kept it thoroughly up to date.

It is baking hot today, so we are sitting in Clanwilliam eating toasties and drinking milkshakes.
Good times, might sunbathe later. So hot.

Jack - I had a professional accountant include a bit of code on my spreadsheet to measure the number of flashes of each grade I have. If you manage to work it out for yourself, have a pat on the back.

I'll write again if I manage to do any 7C boulders, loads in the pipeline, not many achieved though.

YEEEHAAAA!

A Bouldering Perspective

You find something really hard,

you think it might go,

you try it,

you fall,
you try it,
you fall.

You work out some new beta,

you go for it,
you fall.
You try again,

you get closer,

you try a bit harder.

You try till your skin is on fire,
you try till your muscles roar,
you try till your muscles whine,

and still -
you try a bit harder,

you fail.

You take a rest.

You return,

you sit,
you think,
you meditate,
you visualise.
You grab those start holds - and you dont let go,
you get the crux holds - and you dont let go

you get that finishing hold - and you dont let go,
and it feels so good,

so hard,

so earned.

Last night at SSP I stuck, and sent an INCREDIBLE problem that I thought I wouldn't be able to do.

I dont know how hard the starting dyno move is, but suffice to say, pretty damn hard.

Certainly the hardest dyno I have ever held.

I have tried that move for about 3 sessions now, and been pretty shut down each time.

This time though, I found the beta!

I found the beta and went for it.

Those holds were so bad though, and the right hand one was sharp and frictiony, it hurt my fingers!

But I kept trying, and right up till the point that I stuck the swing, I thought it would have to wait for another day. 

This would have ruined my 1 Orange a session record for the centre.

I couldnt have that.

So I tried really hard.

Like, really, really hard.

And I stuck that move, and blasted through the rest of the problem (maybe V7 in its own right?)

I grabbed that final hold and the endorphines hit!

People who have climbed with me will know that I get pretty grumpy when things arent going right, but when I hit that final hold it just felt so damn good.

I would spend an entire week in a mood, if it meant that at the end I would feel like that.

It was really what I think the boulder game is all about. 

The problem I have now though, is what to do with my time.

My hands and body are taking a bit of a beating with 2 months of good climbing under my belt so:

Should I go to the peak this weekend and get that 7C+?

Should I put in a serious effort on one of the remaining Oranges at SSP?

Should I rest for 2 weeks before we leave?

Gah.

I think I know that 2 weeks rest would be awesome for my body, but I am feeling in such a good state right now, that I want to maximise results.

Sigh.

Resting is such hard work!

ACB