Churnet and Cave

Had a few hours down the Churnet after work on saturday with Phil, felt pretty good. We did a few of the newer problems, Johnny Utah and Bhodi, both 7a+... although probably pretty soft as i flashed them both.
We then both jumped on simple simon again, Phil repeating it his beastly campus way, and i actually figured out the best foot sequence for me... hopefully meaning that thorns is on!
We then both did the crack, 7a and tried the imaginatively named eliminate "no crack" 7b+ which is pretty funky. Phil then pretty much dispatched warchild in a session, dropping the last move. Monster.

Good little session and the first time i'd been out with Phil in over a month!


Monday we shot to the cave where i had my worst ever climbing sesh! Felt fucked in the morning.... think i was just overtired from little rest. Actually felt like i couldn't be bothered which is a rare one.
I did all the lou ferrino moves, first time i've been on this... seems very long! Gav did the clever cleaver sitter, 7c, looked good on rock attrocity and did the greek up at pill box... a pretty good day for him!

We then went for some fish and chips on the beach and i flicked the fuck it switch and stuffed my face and got battered in the evening. GOOD SHIT!

summer nights

Shot down to rubicon after work last night with Gav, conditions were delightful! After a glorious sunny day being stuck at work it was pretty nice to catch the last of the rays in the evening.

Should have done tsunami-ish.... hit the jug first go then deteriorated from there. Darkness then stopped play. Gay.



Met eddy at ravens tor for some puntering around with head torches, its a funky crag, keen to have a few sessions here.

Camped out with a fire and few beers then in for work this morning utilising the new work shower, absolute belter!

Day Off!

Monday was my first day off in over a week so a day at rubicon was on the cards! No successes were had but it was nice to be out.

Manged a cool eliminate problem that Phil had shown me at the warm up area, couldn't touch it last time so must have gotten stronger. Did a millers tail, a bigger tail and bigger splash direct a few times to get the fingers going then set out on trying tsunami.... soon slacked this off (foot beta needed i think) and tried the non- eliminate tsunami-ish, 7c+... got very close and was slightly annoyed i didn't do it!
I had quite a few attempts so soon began to feel tired, pulling on the sharp crimp hammered my skin to. Pretty psyched to almost do it in a session though, fingers crossed it will go soon!
Gav had a bash at the 7b+/7c rail start, the heel to toe change proved tricky for him.

A bit of puntering around then home. Car issues meant sitting around in cressbrook for a few hours though. not cool.

the churnet.....early doors

Had another early blast this morning... got to churnet for half 8ish with Gav and met Dom up there shortly after. The plan was to do thumbs and then try warchild. I couldn't repeat simple simon which was very frustrating and meant that thumbs was off the cards for the day. boooooo. Dom repeated simple simon all to easily....

Dom and I then both had a good bash at warchild, my it is slopey! No successes but progress was made, Dom in particular looked strong on it. A quick sprint over to Bizarre (which i repeated 2nd go :)) to show the beta to Dom and then to work where i ate far too much porridge! ooops.

Felt pretty shit which was annoying, few days rest now as i'm feeling TRASHED from a pretty heavy week, psyched for a day off on monday and a day of rock!

ROCK

Had the first taste of rock in quite a while this morning, absolute winner! The recent good weather allowed a dawn raid to the roaches before work.

Getting our asses out of bed for a half 7 set off wasn't as hard as expected, it could become a regular pre-work event if this weather holds.

We (me and Gav Nixon) got to the roaches for 8 30ish and headed over to the 5 clouds. I was keen to get on Tetris for the first time, I had heard its wicked problem. After an inadequate warm up i started having a bash at the moves, felt pretty tricky. Did all the moves but one but time and the bitter temperature were an issue. I opted to just try the stand up, the imaginatively named "Hard Arete," which goes at 7a+, this went after a few goes.

We then sprinted to the lower tier to have a go at mushin'. After hearing some good beta from Phil and Dom (Brannigan) i was pretty psyched. A few goes saw me getting the toe hook to work and pulling up to tickling the stacked mono, a very cool set of moves.
Finally I had a quick run down to three pocket slab and the green traverse to remind myself how good they were! Leaving the sun and heading to work was tough.

Felt fairly strong but a little clumsy and not quite "with it" on the rock after so much plastic pulling and training, was very nice to get out again though.... things are looking up!

new to the game...

So this is my first post... a lot of people seem to be blogging so i thought I'd jump on the band wagon!

A Quick Run Down

The past few months have seen a few successes in the ole' bouldering. Breaking into the 7c's, doing a few of the parisella's classics and ticking off a few quality grit problems are all stand outs. A pretty successful November trip to font saw a lot of climbing done, especially by Phil (Rose) who ripped the place a new hole.

Me on Brad Pitt, Stanage and Phil on Eclipse, Fontainebleau

The combination of bad weather, university commitments and landing myself a job at the new Stoke V12 shop have meant I haven't been able to get out as much as I would like... I haven't even seen rock for 2 weeks! :( :( :(

A car is potentially on the cards with the pennies from the new job which will mean being able to get out with no reliance on lifts... a first for me!!

Me and Emily (the girlfriend) are off to font mid May which is giving the training a bit of an aim.... pretty psyched for this, getting out after exams and a car!

My V12 boss (Dave "Fat Dave Graham" Deary) is clipping bolts in El Chorro for a few weeks which means a pretty solid 2 week stint at work for me. The aim is some hardcore training before/after shifts, this is being partially thwarted by my occasional heavy food binges though! :S. Currently biking to and from work which mounts up to about 18 miles a day... all in all i should be fit by font and the summer!!!