A picture says a thousand words

Craggy 8a!

Dem Photos

I dont agree with the grades!

The new boulder set is in, and I am apparently much stronger than ever before. 

I struggle to find this true since I havent really been training on boulders for a good while now.

For what it's worth, my personal grades:

1. *Green 6b+ (6B)
2. *Red 6c (7A)
3. Grey 7a, tough but good. (7A)
4. Blue 7a, could make a nice 6b+ if you stick a foot hold on the big move, it is literally the only hard bit (6C)
5. Red and White 6c/+, the egyptian is good beta. I actually like the last move. (7A)
6. *White 6c, Sweet problem! (6C)
7. Red, Didnt try, but looks brutal. 8B+? (7C+)
8. *Grey 6c/+ (7A)
9. *Blue 6B+ first two moves are rough. Rest is easy. (6C)

* flashed, Grades on Board

Anyways:

I now only have two boulders to do for the rest of the month, the green 7B and the red 8B+

And the red is obscene, like crazy obscene.

I cant do 6 of the moves on it, and the 4 that I can do are pretty tough to begin with...you have to do them to move into the crux...

Id quite like to head in tomorrow to get on the 8a again, but I'm not sure I will be able to find myself a belayer. The regular crew are heading over to Spain on monday so none of them will be climbing tomorrow. 

Selfish.

In other news, I made this image of Alissa's face stuck on a llama's body a while back, 

So for christmas she kindly made some Tshirts for us all to wear...

I was talking with Carly earlier this week, and I remembered an event in Thailand that I had completely forgotten about from my previous reports. In the absence of any interesting news, here it is:

__________________________________________________________ 

I was bored senseless from 3 weeks of sitting around, and the internet in the room wasn't working for the bazillionth time on the trip. In an effort to provide some 'excitement' to my life, I decided to go to the local 'Australian' themed sports bar and pillage their WiFi for a while.

Upon arriving, I ordered my Chang beer, and settled in to watch some Cricket. I can't remember who was playing. It might have been England vs India? Who knows. Anyways. I'm sat there with my Chang, minding my own business in the busy bar, when two people come up and ask to sit on the opposite side of the table. I dont really care - head in phone, trying to find some beta on the climbing area I wanted to have a look at the next day - I nod them to sit down and carry on looking at my phone.

After a minute of them talking about their food, I cant help but look up and recommend the incredible roast dinner deal they were about to miss out on, not to mention the huge jug of beer that came with it.

They thank me, introduce themselves and we start having a conversation.

It's amazing what being unbelievably bored can do for my sociability. 

Turns out they were a couple from Manchester, who were taking advantage of their summer holiday to travel round Thailand for a few weeks. Nothing particularly special. They ask me about my trip, and I explain that I have been sitting on the same island for about 3 weeks so far and could do with some interest.

The woman practically jumps up, her boyfriend looks at her with surprise, and then a look of dawning realisation crossed his face and he just looks away. 

"WE HAVE A CAT THAT POOS IN A TOILET"

right...  

"why does it do that?" I ask, somewhat bemused by the crazed woman I had chanced upon.

"IT HAS AIDS"

oh.

I am unsure how to respond to this comment.

Is this a sad thing?

I dont know. She appears to be well over it, indeed she was practically screaming it at me with wild excitement spread over her face. I think I probably should have been a little afraid. 

Instead I asked for proof. I mean, I'm not going to take this sort of claim at face value. 

Not remotely abashed, she whips out her phone, loads up the video that she was carrying around with her, and hands it to me.

Yup.

That was a cat shitting in a toilet.

Apparently this is a bit of a thing that people do?

Craggy 8a again!

Hot shit!

Holidays started on Wednesday this week and I am psyched!

Not really sure what I am going to be doing with my time yet, few offers of time are coming in - Font, North Wales, Peak, elsewhere!

Not much going down since last week, except to say - I am certain that the 8a at Craggy will go.
Holy shit.
Really, Awesome.

Just something I drew,
The Squid of Dreams.

Made all the links on it today, climbed it in two links pretty easily, found some better beta for the top and made all the clips! Oh my gosh. So psyched!

Might even go in tomorrow just to have another go on it.

Pete wants to go to have a look at Parthian on Sunday, not sure now.
I love projects!

Hot Shit! Two posts in a month!

Am I going soft?

No.

Just back on it, accidentally opened the page and figured I might as well write about it.

I'm going to intersperse this post with some photos from the weekend in the Peak.

For the first time ever tonight, I got on a Craggy 8a, and not only that - I did all the moves!
Not all in one go, but still!
Hoooooooly crap.

I typed that and realised what that really means to me.

It might even be only a year ago now, but I remember coming into Craggy and seeing Scott, Seb and Graeme all working on the Lead wall, training in weight vests, and generally trying all the really hard stuff (anything 7a and above). I was still pretty much only bouldering at the time (what with being a giant wimp about failing on the ropes) but watching them try all that hard shit was super inspirational at the time.

I remember Scott trying an 8a on the wall, and telling me to give it a go, and at the time I thought he was taking the piss.

Maybe he was.

Looking up at it, the whole thing seemed ridiculous. I couldnt even do the moves, let alone doing more than one at a time with clips in between! Well whatever, today I climbed on one, and not only that - I did all the moves at the end of the session.

Was I wrong before about how hard they were? I mean, the one today felt easy...
Has the training just skyrocketed my grade from 7a to around 8a?
Who knows...

Anyways, I am well psyched to get back on it!

Big Thanks to Carly for the belay shizzle - looks like Brean on Wednesday!
First 8a on the table?