Well its been a while since I last posted, life seems to have rather gotten in the way recently. Not much action outside what with a combination of being ill, work and family life, most of my climbing has been of the indoor variety. That said the indoor stuff seems to be going well, I managed to finish in a reasonable 9th place in the winter bouldering league which I was pretty pleased with considering my goal was top 20.
I have been trying out a new training plan over the past few weeks which seems to be going well though I do feel shattered all the time, I hope that when it comes to me having a few days proper rest I'll come bouncing back feeling strong. The plan is pretty simple, continue with a twice weekly core and fingerboard work out and combine with stamina and strength training on alternating weeks.
This week has been a stamina week and the aim of each session is to increase the number of problems completed in a 45 min time frame, so far 100 problems is the record, grades up to about V4 and angles must at least be vertical (no slabs). One more session on stamina on saturday (I want to complete 300 problems in the session) and then its on to trying low volume hard (ish) problems around the V6 - V7+ mark. Will update once I've completed that!
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Sunday, 7 April 2013
Easter Holidays Action
After a couple of weeks of being ill/in recovery I felt strong(ish) but a lot lighter when I got back to the Depot for my final attempt at the problems in the March round of The Depots winter series. Topping out on all but 3 of the problems I was very pleased with a score card of 240 and my best round so far. The winter series at the Climbing Depot in Leeds has provided a good reintroduction into climbing for me after a long absence. The quality of the problems has improved with each round, and after a really hard year last year, the fantastic, friendly atmosphere from the staff and competitors has really helped me rekindle my passion for the climbing world. I was aiming for a top 20 finish and so far I've managed to get myself into 14th place, very very pleased with this and with one round left to go and 190 points from 19 problems on my first session it looks like I should be able to at least maintain that place.
Bouldering outdoors this Easter has also proven to be fruitful, good sessions at Dunnerdale and Fisherground have produced some results I'm very pleased with, and though I've not managed to tick anything from my list for the year I have bagged some quality problems that probably should have been on the list in the first place. These include Phil's Traverse and The Lipster at Fisherground going at F6b+ and 6b respectively, both are "must do" problems if you're ever in the area.
On the Dunnerdale boulders I managed what are set to be some super classic problems at the first group of boulders, Dark Nations (F6c+) and Myths and Legends (F6c)... I also put up what I hope to be a first ascent of "Goodnight Mr Hawkes" (est F6b+) in memory of a friend lost whilst climbing last summer so I'm just awaiting approval from Mr Lakesbloc (Greg Chapman) for this problem. The potential for this area is huge, I'm really looking forward to visiting the other two areas at the Dunnerdale boulders which are tipped as being even better with stand out problems on the "Cool Logic" and "Laser Quest" boulders.
On the Dunnerdale boulders I managed what are set to be some super classic problems at the first group of boulders, Dark Nations (F6c+) and Myths and Legends (F6c)... I also put up what I hope to be a first ascent of "Goodnight Mr Hawkes" (est F6b+) in memory of a friend lost whilst climbing last summer so I'm just awaiting approval from Mr Lakesbloc (Greg Chapman) for this problem. The potential for this area is huge, I'm really looking forward to visiting the other two areas at the Dunnerdale boulders which are tipped as being even better with stand out problems on the "Cool Logic" and "Laser Quest" boulders.
Photo's below are a few from Dunnerdale and I'll try and get a video of Goodnight Mr Hawkes next time I visit.
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| V1 to the RHS of Vegemite |
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| Unknown problem on the Buckstone |
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| The wall of Goodnight Mr Hawkes |
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Apologies that its not clearer but here's the topo of Goodnight Mr Hawkes, the photo doesn't really do the angle of the hillside justice as every time I landed on the boulder mat I slid down the hill for about 20ft.... its definitely a lot steeper than it looks in the photo. The description of the problem is as follows;
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Monday, 4 March 2013
Morning walk
Nipped up to Caley this morning for a walk with Phoebe and Whisper and a quick scout out of a few problems I want to do this year. Caley has been my local crag for a while now.... having said that, I've failed to tick much up there and have only really visited a couple of times with Adam.
Route-wise so far I've done:
Route-wise so far I've done:
- Noonday ridge E1 5b
- Rip Off E3 6a
- Tip Off E2 5b
- Fred Zinnerman E4 6b (dogged my way up on top rope)
Bouldering I've managed to tick:
- Bob's Bastard 1 F6a
- Bob's bastard 2 F6b+
- Low Pebble Wall F6a
- Forked Lightning Crack F6b+
- Otley Wall F6a+
- Ephedrine E4 6a
- Finger Knacker Crack E3 6a
- The Roof Of The World V6
Looking forward to the next outing to Caley!
Sunday, 3 March 2013
A grand day out
Well yesterday sort of went as planned, Toby, Whisper and I made our way to Crookrise and quickly jumped on the trad routes around the Arsenic Slab area. We quickly dispatched Diagonal Crack (VD) and Octopus Direct (VS) after that I had a quick try at Winter Rain (E2 5c) but having not brought along any gear small enough I decided that the consequences of falling off the hard sequence far outweighed any possible glory of bagging the route and so reversed the route. We made a quick trip around the corner to knock off The Shelf (E2 5b) and then onto the first boulder problem of the day - Barry Kingsize. Lacking any real beta we just jumped straight into it and managed to make it to the final move without any real problems. I had been told that to go to the top static was easier to hold though took a lot more figuring out, needless to say with limited time on our hands we decided to go for the harder to hold dyno option. 30 mins later we'd run out of time at Crookrise and needed to head off to Crag X.
Driving over to the new venue into the sunshine we were sure that this was going to be a satisfying afternoon, following a short walk-in we soon decided between us that we should go for the largest " alter of the moon" boulder as I've dubbed it. Through the rest of the afternoon we put up 12 new problems at around V0 to V3 with a mixture of sit starts, mantles and slabs. Toby soon bagged a great slab problem "Thai Green Curry" V0, in Toby's words it was "green and a little bit spicy". Moon Arete soon followed another little gem at V0 with a nice V2 sit start, Larry Smallsize V1 and a collection of other problems followed at around the same grade.
Next visit we'll try to tick a few of the harder lines and one more visit after that should see the majority of the problems up to around V6 ticked. After that I'll submit topos, grade and pictures etc to www.yorkshiregrit.com and www.ukclimbing.com and put them up on here.
Driving over to the new venue into the sunshine we were sure that this was going to be a satisfying afternoon, following a short walk-in we soon decided between us that we should go for the largest " alter of the moon" boulder as I've dubbed it. Through the rest of the afternoon we put up 12 new problems at around V0 to V3 with a mixture of sit starts, mantles and slabs. Toby soon bagged a great slab problem "Thai Green Curry" V0, in Toby's words it was "green and a little bit spicy". Moon Arete soon followed another little gem at V0 with a nice V2 sit start, Larry Smallsize V1 and a collection of other problems followed at around the same grade.
Next visit we'll try to tick a few of the harder lines and one more visit after that should see the majority of the problems up to around V6 ticked. After that I'll submit topos, grade and pictures etc to www.yorkshiregrit.com and www.ukclimbing.com and put them up on here.
Friday, 1 March 2013
New problems
Very excited today as I'm getting prepared for a trip to Crookrise tomorrow followed by putting up some new problems in the afternoon (weather permitting). I've done a fair bit of research and the only reference to any problems I can find are on www.yorkshiregrit.com happily a few of the obvious lines have been bagged but there still seems to be a huge amount of development potential here still. Below are a few photos I've taken of the spot over the past few days.
There seems to be a wide range of problems between font 4 and font 8a (at a guess) so far I've counted nearly 50 possible problems on walks up there with Phoebe and Whisper... just excited to go up with out a 17 month old toddler on my back!
There seems to be a wide range of problems between font 4 and font 8a (at a guess) so far I've counted nearly 50 possible problems on walks up there with Phoebe and Whisper... just excited to go up with out a 17 month old toddler on my back!
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| Obvious line using the layback crack. |
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| fantastic boulder, the picture doesn't really do it justice |
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| colossal roof (the lip is about 10ft up) the boulder is propped against another restricting the amount of lines but there's definitely possibilty of some scary mantles. |
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| The roof viewed from the side showing the boulder beneath |
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| backside of the roof boulder |
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| a tidy little prow |
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| more sloping mantles and traverses |
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| view from the far side of the boulders |
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| nice shallow groove running up this slabby boulder |
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| hard problem up the sloping arete |
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| lots of potential here |
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Training for climbing part 2
Forget the previous training plan.... go straight to the source!
Great plan by Ned here:
http://www.planetfear.com/images/cms//PDF/Beginners%20Fingerboard%20Training%20Ned%20Feehally%20planetFear.pdf
Gonna follow this for the time being.
Great plan by Ned here:
http://www.planetfear.com/images/cms//PDF/Beginners%20Fingerboard%20Training%20Ned%20Feehally%20planetFear.pdf
Gonna follow this for the time being.
Training for climbing this year
A few years ago I started to record a series of videos of myself training on my home made fingerboard, partly to feed my own ego and partly so I could see how I improved over time. The plan fell apart as I failed to devise much of a training plan and subsequently injured myself through over training. This year is the first year in about 5 years where I feel like I'm injury free (at the moment) and so I'm going to try and maintain a proper diary of training and performance.
Since I started climbing again in November I've been taking part in The Depot (Leeds) winter bouldering series, at the moment I'm sitting in 16th place:
Round #1 207
Round #2 217
Round #3 227
Total Pts 651
Steady increase of 10 points per round, however the last round I made some stupid mistakes which cost me probably the best part of 20 points, so hoping for more consistency in round #4 which starts tonight.
As for fingerboards I'm working from a beastmaker 1000 at the moment, this is my first attempt at a proper training sheet, any feedback is most welcome:
Since I started climbing again in November I've been taking part in The Depot (Leeds) winter bouldering series, at the moment I'm sitting in 16th place:
Round #1 207
Round #2 217
Round #3 227
Total Pts 651
Steady increase of 10 points per round, however the last round I made some stupid mistakes which cost me probably the best part of 20 points, so hoping for more consistency in round #4 which starts tonight.
As for fingerboards I'm working from a beastmaker 1000 at the moment, this is my first attempt at a proper training sheet, any feedback is most welcome:
| Left | Right | How many | |
| Set 1 | 1 | 1 | x10 |
| 30 secs | |||
| Set 2 | 1 | 3 | x5 |
| 3 | 1 | x5 | |
| 30 secs | |||
| Set 3 | 4 | 3 | x5 |
| 3 | 4 | x5 | |
| 30 secs | |||
| Set 4 (DH) | 7 | 7 | max effort |
| 30 secs | |||
| set 5 (lock off) | 3 | 3 | max effort |
| Rest 5 minutes 30 press ups 50 crunches 30 dorsal raises plank for 1 minute | |||
| Repeat x 3 | |||
MRC Fingerboards
A friend of mine has started making some cracking looking fingerboards (great value at £55.00 for a wood board), I look forward to getting my hands on one and trying it out against my well used Beastmaker 1000.
Check out MRC Climbing on facebook!
Check out MRC Climbing on facebook!
2013 Prospects
Ok with the change into 2013 I've decided to start a lame climbing blog thingy. I started a few weeks ago by uploading a bouldering wishlist to my facebook profile so what better way to start than with the wishlist:
Crookrise
Barry Kingsize font 7a
Karjala font 7a+
Sadcocs Wall font 6c+
The crease direct font 6a
Hovis superdirect font 6c+
Green Beret font 6b
Pixie Tits (standing start) font 6c
Woodwell
Tom's Traverse font 6c+
Screaming Slave font 7b **
Crucifix Kiss font 7a+ **
Screaming Slave (using everything) font 7a
Sampson's Stones
Event Horizon font 6c+ ***
The Light of Other Days font 7a+ **
Axions font 7a+ **
Pulsar font 7a **
Thorn Crag
Knights Of The Turntables font 6c 6b **
Elemental font 6c ***
Bad Moon Rising font 7b+ ***
Fix My Sink font 7b **
Mothership Reconnection font 7a+ ***
Burnt Heather font 6b ***
And For My Next Trick font 7a ***
Bowderstone
The Crack font 6c ***
Kentmere
The Karma of Trees (stand up) font 7c **
Stanage Plantation
Brad Pit font 7c+ ***
Jerry's Traverse font 7c ***
Rose and the Self-employed Business Man font 7a+ ***
Pebble Arete - Sit Start font 7a **
The Green Traverse font 7a ***
Satin font 7a **
Eskdale Fisherground
Rob's Wall font 7a+ ***
Strong Arete font 7a+ ***
Problem 6 font 6c+ **
The Lion, Animal Boulder V5 ***
St Bees Head
Yellow Desert Scream font 7a+ ***
Hueco Crack (stand up) font 6c
The Arete font 7a ***
Caley
Horn Rib font 7a+ **
New Jerusalem font 7a ***
Cream Egg Eliminate font 7a ***
Almscliff
The Little Greeny font 6c
There's a very good chance that I won't get half of these ticked but I'm off to Crookrise on saturday so it begins!
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