I´m still trying to get a grip on things but managed to get out to the Cova Fuma for an hour on Sat in between planning and running etc... First i warmed up on a nice steep 6c+ and then turned my attention to the next easiest route at the crag. A steep and powerful 7c. It looked nails and the guide warned of an "extremely difficult" crux. After going up the route bolt to bolt and kind of half figuring out a sequence that didn´t quite work i lowered off and did something i hadn´t done before... i untied, pulled the rope and tied straight back in a fought to the chains! Chuffed with this as on a personal scale this felt harder to me than some 7c+´s i had been on in the past. The steep nature of the rock and small edgey handholds meant that there was no magic foot faggotry to get the weight onto the feet... it was a case of beasting it and snatching upwards. I definately felt the few sessions on the bachar ladder are helping my locking on this style of terrain, class!
It´s monday now and we´re just in after stealing a few hours of fading evening light at the crag after work. we managed to knock out 6 leads each before dark from 6b+ to 7b+... great mileage! On that note, anyone out there know where i could order some kind of LED floodlight? Night time climbing is deffo on the cards if i can manage it! All the best and well done to everyone who competed at Dingle at the weekend... was psyched to read about Neal and Sean getting into the finals and NEal finishing 2nd! Good job!!
Friday i fell ill. Sat i was sick, bedbound. Food poisoning we think. Today i woke up feeling shakey but generally better bar a lingering headache. We took a spin to a local crag called Los Pinos and after working a route i redpointed it. Having not really worked all the moves i was throwing, cutting loose, matching hands and feet, heelhooking, toehooking... anything to try and get the load off my arms so that i could get something back and clip the chains. It was another 8a! The Destroyer. In the guide it's 8a and the font of all knowledge (http://www.8a.nu/) shows a mixed bag of opinions. It seems in vouge to downgrade things so it could be 7c+ although apparently according to the local beta I used the harder direct sequence (Haa! I must of missed that bit in between chucking for the best looking hold within reach!). All good in the hood. that was arguably my 9th route in the 8th grade. Personally being a climber more at home on a techy face i felt it was hard enough to warrent 8a but only just. If you're a boulderer then the 6m roof wouldn't pose much of a problem i suppose. Either way, numbers are numbers and will always be used argued over. Today was a fun surprise and the crag deffinately warrents another visit soon. Gaz Parry has put up an 8a, 8a+ and 8b there recently and Jordon Buys an 8a. they are all in a similar style so i've plenty to get on!
Well Caroline did say she wanted to try something harder! Good to watch... this one might make her work for a while at least (although she has gotten all the moves already!)
