Thursday 14 February 2013

Tuesday 5 February 2013

A short layoff

After this almost unnoticeable pause between posts I feel it is correct to start with a  followup to the last one.

I failed to achieve my aims.

I managed to do 3 7C in the peak this season,
I managed to do 2 7C in Ticino
I failed to do anything of note in font...

Font is rough man. Every 7C I have tried there I have been shut down pretty hard.

Big Boss
Tristesse
Noir Desire
Fourmis Rouge

Now that I try to write a list, I suppose I havent actually tried that many...

Still...

Swizzy wasnt too great either.
I succeded on Dr Crimp which has been a long term 'project' of sorts.I think I did all the moves on it (bar the start) on the first trip we took, but I couldnt for the life of me do the start.
The next trip was a write off due to fingers.
This trip, I had the strength but not the beta. After an hour or so of being clueless I finally worked out the moves and started going for some attempts. Unfortunately I ran out of juice and had to finish it off on another day (following it up with another 7B+ before heading back to our gite).

I also managed to do a two move problem that I had spotted last trip and mentally labelled as a potential first 7C. This trip I felt that it was a 'must do' problem given my year's ticklist. Unfortunately I seemed to be completely unable to do the first move and had to session it for a matter of hours until I managed to do it.
The first time I did the move, I was so surprised to find that I wasnt falling that I lost my form and failed to do the second move. The second time I stuck it I did the top move easily and mantled out with a great deal of satisfaction.

Jack did that problem in 2 goes, and looked a bit bewildered. FWIW I thought that it was fucking nails, and one of the hardest moves that I have done ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ who knows...

Regarding the peak - I managed to do Brad Pit!

An impromptu trip a couple of months ago yeilded some positive rewards despite the rain, my 4 hours of sleep and not planning to even go to the plantation.

After an unsuccessful trip to Gardom's to try Marks roof (flashed the 6C+ thing to the left) we decided to cut our losses and get a coffee and some dusk bouldering up at Stanage. After walking in our stuff and warming up my fingers a little bit, I went to go and have a look at the handholds on BP. Naturally, given that it had been raining quite a bit, they were still pretty damp and no one had bothered to take the time to clean/chalk them that day. Nevertheless, there was a bit of a breeze blowing through so I decided that I couldnt do any worse than brushing the holds off and drying them out with my shirt.

I chalked up and did it.

First attempt of the day.

It is weird how these things happen. I felt like crap, I wasnt warmed up, it had been a couple of weeks since the last attempt, I had been climbing for an hour or so already that morning...

Well whatever.

Sadly, I didnt take any footage of it because I didnt think I was going to do it...and lord knows I have more than enough footage of me failing to do it...

If I find the time on another trip, I may go back up to get it on video/get some nice pics.

Otherwise though, I'm pretty happy with the grit season. 
I did:

The Terrace
Brass Monkeys and
Brad Pit

Which I consider to be the three super classic 7C's in the peak. I'm looking forward to the next trip now.

Finally, upon my realisation that there is only one month to go till CWIF, training is kicking into high gear again. I will still be doing routes on Wednesday (as I feel that last year a degree of fitness is what let me down) but I plan to do at least 2 tough boulder days a week. I feel like I should try and visit some more walls and try to simulate the comp by attempting 30 boulders in a time limit.

I'll upload a video of that Swizzy 7C in a while - perhaps this evening.