I’m sat here picking my scabs from last weekend. This, sprisingly, means that it went very well. Ratho on Thurs night was followed by 3 days of maximum effort in some wonderful weather and by the time it was all over I was completely exhausted.
In Ratho I got a chance to try out a pair of Schmoolz which was a massive amount of fun, a different kind of pump from normal and they really force you to move very differently than you would indoors, with that different kind of fear that you only get from marginal placements. Hopefully I’ll pick a pair up soon for a more varied time at the wall! I also flashed the hardest thing I ever have indoors which was a big psyche boost for the rest of the weekend! Getting back climbing has been great, the obvious progress each session is jolly satisfying.
Friday morning and it was time to see if there was any concurrent improvement in the trad climbing I headed to Wolfcrag with Duncan to attempt an E4 that he thought looked pretty sweet. Having warmed up on some cool bouldering and then warmed through with some attempts at the traverse I had a rest and tied in. The initial boulder problem was really sandy but once I got going it went surprisingly well. The super sandy texture of the rock wasn’t very confidence inspiring and after blasting the middle section I hung out at a semi rest for a long time before getting on with the crux. A lot of searching for the right crimp to get through to the top burnt me right out and I whipped onto the pieces by my feet with only one of them pulling. Frustrated and flamed I hung for a good while before getting back up there and finding a much bigger hold straight away – so close!
Saturday and we headed for Northumberland and a delightfully sunny and surprisingly quiet Bowden Doors. Lots of fun getting into the feel of the sandstone again and back into the bouldering swing. Managed to get back up to my all time limit which is incredible given the amount of time off and the training belt I’m currently sporting round the mid section. Re=flashing the Lightbulb was some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time. A big night of wine and fine dining in Newcastle with friends and Sunday rolled around.
Back to Bowden we went for some more of the same. One of our party had never climbed before yet to prove just how much fun we had, she went out on Monday and bought herself some shoes! Good news. I finished the weekend off with a run at Overhanging Crack, the county testpiece at the grade and notoriously brutal. Feeling tired at the base I knew that if I could get up in a delapidated state then I was climbing well. However I had to get a little scrappy at the fists section and as such went into the top section wrong side in, so instead of having the ledges and slopers to help me through the offwidth I had a slightly impending wall to struggle against. Between the blood, slipping and girly screaming I seemed to gather a small crowd and after about 5 minutes in the top two metres managed to grovel to the top ledge feeling completely drained but recieved a warm ripple of applause, which was nice.
So that was that and it was all jolly wonderful and work is always a bit of a let down after such a wonderful time off!
In other news you may notice that there are some more upcoming trips listed on the left side of the page, keep your eye on the details for these as I’m very very excited about them! The teams are forming up and other exciting should follow!
Finally if you’re in London on the 17th May do come to the talk I’m doing as part of a charity event. It’s in the Leicester Square cinema so should be impressive to see the photos that huge if nothing else! Check the Left sidebar on the homepage for more info!
