Dave

Into the swing of things

2012-01-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

Life at the minute is full to the brim - and for that I'm thankful. I love being kept busy! Between the working and settling back into life in Dublin i've managed to sneek in a few sessions of bouldering during the past few weeks. One awesome day out in the Coolies and 3 evnings indoors. All good. In an effort to knock the cobwebs off I'm getting up early to go out running too and it's starting to take effect. Feeling better all round. The bouldering won't take long to get back on track either and hopefull I'll have access to the Arch soon. Looking forward to seeing a routine emerge from the chaos - but for now I'm content to just keep taking runs and climbs as and when i can get them.

Some BIG news to come but not quite yet....

Back to Scratch

2012-01-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

I'm living in Ireland again!! Woo hoo! Had an epic drive home from Spain in the trusty white van before Christmas and have been on the go ever since. From a climbing point of view not much has been happening. I'm at an all time high (weight wise) and at an all time low (power wise) but my psyche levels are off the chart! Plus there is light at the end of the tunnel - I'm in the thick of my biggest ever project and have begun running again in the mornings. 2012 is a year for meeting and smashing targets! So I'm gonna aim to go large. I'm looking forward to things to come...

Traverse Time!

2011-11-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

My recent playtime on the bouldering traverse I uncovered got me thinking. I enjoyed following Pierre as he pieced together his Full Frontal traverse in Scotland. Also been reading about Chris Davies on his mission to dispatch an unrepeated 8B+ in a single trip – his story is an epic. The focus and drive he poured into training in North Wales with this one goal in mind. Really interesting to read and motivational too! I've also been just enjoying bouldering again. Being able to focus (obsess) on a single move or even on a single hold. It really shows how easy progress is to make once you begin to distil a sequence down into its base components. Below is a short video of my latest – Turmoil Traverse. Nice climbing and subtle too. Poor and often too low footholds and a combination of spaced and frictionless limestone slopers define the crux. Lovely…

So Much To Do!

2011-10-27T03:11:00.000-07:00

I love finding new stuff. The latest find has signs of abuse in the form of sloppy sika dotted around the crag but otherwise no signs of wear. No rubber marks, chalk or even cleaning of loose rock as far as I can see. I spent a visit with gloves and tools clearing all the vegetation away from the base of the wall and pruning back the larger bushes. Then I set to work on levelling the landings and moving the larger "back breaking" rocks from below potential lines. Eventually I ended up unearthing/clearing an entire band of rock at the far left of the crag that had been completely untouched. No sika. And best of all it is home to an awesome natural line taking a rising traverse up leftwards above an obvious sit start. There is another sit start that joins the traverse at half way too which went down pretty quickly after cleaning loose rock and chalking the holds, probably around 6C. The full line is hard though. The first sequence is a long reach to a half pad undercut and feels really powerful. After that things stay steep but the holds turn slopey and the foothold options are few and far between. I've managed all the moves through this section but one. Then the route drops down to join the 6C for a energy sapping finish. Brilliant! I have a project!

I've played on some of the more manufactured lines too. One of them is like a cellar dweller’s dream. Tiny and well-spaced crimps, poor and limited footers and all on an angle similar to a moonboard. Reminds me of Pool of Bethesda in Llanberris – but limestone. The crag traverse, not even including the new rock I uncovered at the left end, warrents a hefty sports grade beyond where I’m at currently. The perfect training ground.

Finding Rhythm Again

2011-10-23T03:07:00.000-07:00

Well after a hefty three months off from almost all activity between June, July and August I've been spending the past two months recovering some sort of fitness and enjoying rock again. Things got really hot here in June so it brought our roped climbing to a standstill before we drove back home to Ireland for our wedding and what I thought would be a summer of Irish trad and bouldering. I totalled three days on rock. Two days out in Lough Dan trad climbing and 2 hours in Ayton’s Cave one afternoon when Caroline was at the hairdressers. Haa!!

Lough Dan is Awesome. It’s beautiful. Both the setting and the climbing. Probably ten years ago I was motivated to try and climb Surfs up there. Mainly due to the picture on the back cover of the old Wicklow guidebook. It raped me… dry. I resorted to fully aiding the line but swore to return. This summer was a different story. After a long season building mileage on sports routes I did a quick mental calculation and translated E4 6a into 6c sports, then adding in the sandbag factor upped it to 7a in my mind, and racked up for a retro flash without any warm-up. You want to know the sad part? I remembered all the gear – yep, every single wire and cam. I opted to just take the small wires and peanuts. Man it was intense. There is so much more going on while climbing a trad route. It is a classic for anyone climbing E4, brilliant! Solid keyhole wire placements, two pegs, great granite, amazing position, lovely movement and climbing. The top out on the other hand was grim. A filthy overgrown slab awaits. Lough Dan is a crag that would benefit from a belay station above the trad lines. Nemesis conquered we ticked all the other routes on the crag with the exception of Archaos. This route has apparently never had an onsight and the pegs would need replacing before I was willing to give it a go and possible fall off. It’ll have to wait.

My little session in the Cave highlighted something that I had suspected for some time. All this sports climbing makes you weak!! I expected to be able to warm up on the problems I had done before and leave with a few new ticks – wrong! Despite the holds being wet I still actually thought it would feel easy, familiar. Caroline’s traverse went as the warm up but then I had to orientate myself amongst the maze of chalked holds. Eventually I found my lanky sequence again and clung on to the end of Loco despite the wet holds. This time even Afterthought felt harder and I used my feet. I worked some of the other lines but my time was up and I had to run back to the car… wedding business.

After two weddings, a christening and 8 weeks meeting, eating with and drinking with family and friends I hadn’t spent enough time with in years I returned to Spain with an extra 6kgs and low energy levels. Within two weeks of eating right and getting out on rock and running I had shed the weight and ticked a few high 7’s and low 8’s. We’ve visited new locals only crags and the psyche is high.

Then we found a real treasure – a 50m long steeply overhanging bouldering wall with flat landings. It had been found by climbers before and they left plenty of sika holds but strangely no signs of wear that you’d expect to see. No rubber work footholds, chalk on undercuts, polish. The fact that the entire crag was lines with scrub and thorny bushes was another strange indicator that climbers hadn’t been here for a long time – or they just came and sika’ed a load of holds but never worked the lines? Either way, two sessions now has seen the crag cleared and tidy. The rock is perfect and there are problems aplenty. Everything from the MEGA 50m traverse of the Gods to vicious straight up problems. I’d love to get some V12 boulderers up there to check out some of the lines. I mean back in Wales I could work things like Mr. Fantastic on the cromlech in sections without too much problem but some of these features are NAILS! I still feel a bit restricted without any pads but I’ll sort that out soon enough :o) Training season has begun – hopefully with a bit of steep rock to play on the edge will come back on the harder sports routes – psyched!!

Tying the knot

2011-10-22T04:42:00.000-07:00

Clare Vale, Co. Wicklow, Éire - July 23rd 2011

Boulder Hunting

2011-07-03T05:58:00.000-07:00

Heres a quick vid of our recent bouldering finds. Can't really try too much of the harder stuff without a pad. Saying that I reckon some of the harder highballs we've already done would get E grades back home or in the UK. The harder lines look quality ... so much to go!

Bouldering... on actual boulders! Really!

2011-06-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

Lets talk some numbers shall we? 1 half-day, 2 people, 35 degrees, 6 litres of water, 13 cairns built, 2 pairs of gloves, 1 saw, 2 secateurs, 1 hatchet, 1 block cleaned, 5 new boulder problems, 3 problems climbed, 2 projects remaining, 0 pads, 20 or more blocks left to tackle... hmmm.

The obligatory before shot. Our first target was the arete block that Caroline spotted a few weeks ago. Fist we had to negotiate the 3m or so of prickly shite to actually get up face to face with it.

And the after shot. A couple of hours worth of ripping, cutting throwing and stomping followed by a fair amount of brushing dirt and muck off the boulder and it sat ready to be climbed on.

Heres a more telling view of the main act - the arete. I'd describe it as feeling like a frictionless, harder, limestone version of Rhythm and stealth in Glendalough with an equally worrying landing. The ground below the arete falls away in a mess of rocks and (now) some bits of trees partially filling a hole. The smooth nature of the rock means you have to bear down on the edges or verdonesque closed pockets that are there and simply do the moves between them. The obvious horizontal break is slopey too leaving some burl for the finish. I couldn't do it. Not without pads or more spotters anyway. To me it's a classic line. Location, angle, obvious feature and the right difficulty for me to work on. Definitely the hardest 6a I've ever laid my eyes on.

Heres what we got done. Caroline got the ball rolling by climbing the first problem. She pulled on from sitting from a knee-height sidepull and then balanced her way up and left. It was cool with a real slopey top move. Problem two starts as for the first but follows features rightwards getting higher and higher above the deck before having to use some slopers and small but positive footers to reach for safety. Problem three pulls on using a steep crack and then moves left on slopers before balancing back right and up to finish. The yellow arete project is worth obsessing over. The green project is an obvious line breaking out left from problem three and finishing up problem two.

After that we hiked back to the car and went for an exploratory hill run. Oh my God! More quality rock and this time we found a trackside overhanging wall - ideal for bouldering/training - not the mention the miles and miles of undeveloped single and multipitch rock, crazy!!

Bouldering potential

2011-06-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

Went exploring a hillside today on a mission to scope out some potential bouldering spots for future development. Straight away we hit gold. Large clean blocks with obvious lines (although many look too hard for me at present). The combination of amazing setting and striking features on these blocks make me feel like we found somewhere special and bursting with potential. Some serious groundwork is needed to prepare a path up to the blocks and clear away some of the vegetation. I'm gonna have to invest in some bouldering pads. But before then it'll be cairn building and cutting steps - I'm psyched :o)

The first cluster while bushwacking up - four blocks with lots of lines

This overhanging arete stood out a mile! Steeper than it looks in this pic and with a good landing

The Motherload

Obvious highball arete

Overhanging face between 4 ans 6m in height

Profile view of the motherload :o)

Looking back before moving on…

2011-06-22T01:18:00.000-07:00

It’s the last week in school now and I suppose it’s as good a time as any to stop and take stock of where I’m at and what has been achieved in the past year. Like a macro navigation exercise through poor visibility. Taking a back bearing to check if any progress has actually been made in the direction you want. If it has - keep going. If you find you’ve not made much progress or have gone off in the wrong direction simply stop, get yourself together and try again.

I pinched this pick from Eamon (hope you don't mind!) as I reckon his devious 300 move sequence through Loco is about as different as humanly possible from my 7 move shoulder span fest.

I can’t believe it’s been only a year since I first climbed at Ayton’s cave in Howth. Heres the blog from June of 2010 with my original rant and topo etc. Reading Trish’s blog lately has been cool. She’s been visiting the cave and seems to be getting into it. It got me thinking about the one and only day I spent there and the manic rush I had to unlock the more obvious lines. Loco has settled at 7a and seems to be a popular one. I’m really happy that people are using the cave and more importantly that people actually like it and rate the problems. I've always liked seeing routes or problems I've done getting attention and ascents from others – theres nothing like it. And of course, Caroline is happy to hear about the high calibre of wad climbing on her line in the cave too. It does make me laugh though when I think about how shit I am at grading, especially boulder problems. Anyway, seems like a lifetime ago when we first explored that place and I’m psyched to get back into it and try and give some of John’s newer lines a go while back in Dublin before our wedding in July.

Back to the year in review. Back during March 2010 I had climbed a couple of 7C boulder problems in North Wales and was loving the bouldering and beginning to feel some strength gains from it. Before moving to Spain I gave away my bouldering pads to a good home and that was that. No bouldering or indoor training whatsoever during the past year and I must admit I’m missing it now.

We moved to Spain and have spent a year or so not really knowing what we would be doing in the future. Staying in Spain? Returning to Ireland? All completely up in the air. Add planning a wedding from a distance into the mix and taking responsibility for two subjects at A-level and GCSE and you have the ingredients for a somewhat stressed Dave. Not much has changed other than the fact that I've learned that often things other than climbing need to take priority in life, even if only for a brief time.

We climbed in Ceuse during August and then spent the autumn, winter and spring working various sports climbs and exploring new crags. Although I've not broken any new ground in terms of grades (unless my first ascent in Echo turns out to be an 8b) I feel that I've grown as a climber a lot. I’m learning more and more every trip to a crag. Strangely I consider myself the most unfit and weakest I've been in something like 5 years yet I’m climbing 7c’s and above every day. So much about climbing well can be unlocked through attitude and removing barriers. It’s given me a lot to think about and redefined my concept of possible.

I suppose taking all things into account I feel like this year has been a success and I've managed to prevent any major regression in terms of climbing while working hard on relocating to a new country, settling into a new job, learning a different style of climbing and of course planning our wedding. I’m pretty happy with all that.

Where would I like to take things in the year ahead? I’d like to travel more and do more bouldering during the weekends. I want to spend the darker winter evenings training. I need to focus on developing some raw power while continuing to project harder sports lines. I want to do some harder trad headpoints in Ireland. Boulder V11. That would be the triple 8 for me and represents something I feel would be worth working towards. Whatever happens being happy would be a good priority to have.

Enough of whats happened – now for what is happening! It’s getting HOT!! Mid thirties during the day is the norm now and it doesn’t make for ideal climbing conditions let me tell you! Dani Andrada, Tom Bolger, Roberto… every one living in Spain has accepted that the climate has called a stop to hard focused cragging. It’s the perfect seasonal spread in many ways for me. During school time when we’re tied here the conditions are mint for projecting September through to May. Then it heats up forcing you to take a step back and relax. Let the body recover from a hard and tiring season. Do some easy exploring or DWS along the coast until school finishes and we can migrate north to cooler climates in France or Germany or head back home to Ireland for a summer of coastal trad climbing built on a solid foundation of sports climbing fitness. Hmmmmm… me likey!

Anywho, the other day we took a run up around the mountain behind our house with the intention of seeking out a rumoured mega crag that is being developed. When people talk of a crag that dwarfs the Wildside and is covered in hard, pure tufa lines you have to give in to curiosity and go look for it. Impossible to find was the description.

Well we found it. Steered onwards at the end by the echoing sound of distant drilling and hammering. It was like finding Jurassic park or something! Huge. HUGE! Overhanging cliff face. At a complete guess I’d put it at something like 200m? HUGE! And full of projects and potential. And that’s just one 200m wide stretch of what looks like over a km of north facing rock. Jesus! If anyone out there wants free accommodation for life I’d like a drill with multiple spare battery packs and a couple of hundred bolts please. I mean wow!

Believe it or not you can actually see one of the guys bolting in the picture above but he looks like a dark dot near the base of the main face! I also scoped out what looks like potential bouldering high on a hillside near our house. A couple of house-sized limestone blocks with overhanging faces in an alpine’esque setting – muy wappa!

On a different note, we bought another rope. Edelweiss 70m 9.8mm. Feels really nice. We’re trashing ropes to beat the band over here! So far I've climbed on Beal, Roca, Sterling, Tendon, Mammut and now Edelweiss. I have to admit that to date my favourite rope has been the Sterling.

Oh, another thing – at the weekend we were feeling a bit rough after a couple of late nights so we headed to a shady little crag above the sea. I climbed two routes. One was a 7b+ that took a direct line through three boulder sections getting progressively easier before an easy finishing slab. The 7c+ beside it climbed up a couple of bolts worth of 7a climbing to a great shouldery opposition move between malnourished tufas leading into an upper wall on tiny pockets. Lowering off the routes the next step was obvious. Combine the most difficult parts of both routes by climbing the meat and veg of the 7b+ before moving right via a crossover using a 1st pad mono to join the 7c+ for the hard finish. I sent it first go without any working of the previously unclimbed link section. Sweet!! Stalking the Shogun, 7c was born – get on it!

Happenings

2011-06-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

In the past two weeks I've turned 29, climbed a few 7c's, a few 7c+'s, an 8a and an 8a+ all in single sessions of work (after work). I've fallen off my nemisis 8a at the Wildside a total of 18 times from above the same bolt, but thankfully, from progressively higher and higher holds. I have now accepted that it just doesn't suit me for lots of reasons but I'm sticking with it to the end - it's working me so hard that it has to be good for something, even just mental toughness. It's been raining here and heating up which is playing havoc with the rock conditions too. I also had confirmation that a route I climbed in October was in fact a first ascent and was considered a "hard eight" project - so 8a+? I want to activate some power again so I've started a bit of light fingerboarding after the crag. I've been doing more running lately too - keen to get fit before the summer. Thats about it, heres some cheese...

A Question of Style

2011-05-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning Caroline warmed up by sending her project at the Wildside. Cuestión de Estilo takes a powerful line up a single striking tufa through consistently steep terrain. It is famous (infamous) for it's wicked crux move that utilises a painful two finger pocket that has to be taken with the front two fingers as an undercut.

It winked at Caroline back in January but she resisted trying it until she had finished her other project. Caroline was inspired to keep trying this route after watching and talking with some members of the Ukrainian climbing team who were visiting and playing on it. One woman, who had to work it a fair bit before eventually redpointing it, was discussing and sharing beta with Caroline as they were of similar height. She reckoned it was closer to 7c+. Later that day her coach informed us that she usually onsights 8a's and had redpointed 8c+, hence her surprise at being spat off a 7c.
Caroline spent some time working on her own sequence through the crux but could never give it more than two goes a day as the sharp pockets would shred her fingers and the powerful style left her wiped out after only a few attempts anyway. Just when she seemed close to sending it the weather stopped play. It turns out that despite staying completely dry in even the heaviest downpour, the route seeps really badly for weeks after heavy rain making it impossible to climb. I suppose all those tufas have to come from somewhere! Sunday we got to the crag and it was the driest it had been in over 2 months. Opting not to take a warm up, Caroline jumped straight on the sharp end and put the project to bed once and for all. A brilliant lead and one I know Caroline is especially proud of for loads of reasons.

Heres the video...

Castellet de Calp

2011-05-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

We've had a good weekend on the rock. I gave my project at the Wildside a good few goes on Sat before ripped skin and tired arms halted play. Ah well progress was made and i came away from it feeling psyched. It's so frustrating. I've climbed the pitch over 12 times now with either one foot slip or a badly caught hold resulting in a fall. It's not a strength issue. It's not stamina either. My sequence is solid. It's come down to tiny differences. Slight imperfections in foot placements or gripping positions on a scale I've never had to worry about before. In alot of ways I'm learning loads. Which is good because in other ways the route (and the fact that i haven't sent it yet) is doing my head in. Of course if I was mutant strong or feather light i wouldn't have to worry about it but I'm neither. Work your weaknesses and play to your strengths.

After Saturday's redpointing i felt tired so we decided to go explore a new crag recently developed close to our house. It was brilliant and home to probably 20 or so routes between 7a and 7c+. A great evening mileage crag and better still, it's north facing which is essential now with temps creeping higher into the 30's. I warmed up on a really nice 7a and then surprised myself by fighting up to the chains of a tough 7c called Chasing the dinosaur. Brilliant steep tufa climbing, big moves - even two impromptu dynos on redpoint. Not bad for a rest day. I'll get some pictures of the crag next visit - it's deffinately worth checking out

Birthday Boy!

2011-05-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

I’m another year older – but not much wiser. Did you know that 29 is the tenth prime number, and also the fourth primorial prime. It forms a twin prime pair with thirty-one, which is also a primorial prime. Twenty-nine is also the sixth Sophie Germain prime. It is also the sum of three consecutive squares, 22 + 32 + 42. It is a Lucas prime, a Pell prime, and a tetranacci number. It is an Eisenstein prime with no imaginary part and real part of the form 3n − 1. Since 18! + 1 is a multiple of 29 but 29 is not one more than a multiple 18, 29 is a Pillai prime. 29 is also the 10th supersingular prime.

Here are some number ones from Ireland back in 1982 (the year I was born) – representing perhaps the pinnacle of music video production – everything since then has just been cooling down

Ooooooh yeah! I know what you're thinking - Quality!

I've also being doing some climbing. The night before my birthday we went to our local cave. I was keen to try an 8a+ that always winked at me. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I hadn’t climbed on anything this style in a while, instead choosing to focus on developing some Sella stamina. This route was more my cup of tea. It played to my strengths. Technical, reach, cruxy. I gave it a decent onsight go but came off after misjudging a sloper as a decent hold. Conditions were not ideal – the rock seemed moist from the days rain and evaporation but the moves came together really quickly. Lowering off I indulged the thought that this would go this evening. Two redpoints later and a lot of chalk to dry the rounded edges and it did! It can’t be 8a+ though – Felt about right at 8a and possibly harder without my reach – but then again I’m sure the soapy two finger pockets would feel more secure to the smaller folk… yadda, yadda, yadda. So that’s 15 or so grade 8’s but not a single 8b (unless my Popcorn first ascent turns out to be one!) – time to pull the finger out! I Spent the free lessons I had in school on my birthday trawling for information on quality 8b’s on the Costa Blanca. Armed with this new ticklist and 10 new draws I am now on a mission – along with plugging away at all the other routes in Sella :o)

Some other stuff that has interested me of late includes:

Ricky’s new E8 at the Head

Cool Video of bouldering at the Head
http://www.vimeo.com/23933949

New route in the Burren by Ron with a alternative start/second ascent by Colm:

Plus a load of desk jockeys typing about how evil bolts are and questions being raised about the past, reality, history and first ascents – Huh! There was me thinking that the person who actually climbed a line first was the first ascentionist. Go figure – perhaps historical accuracy is overrated?

Anyway… Happy cranking!

Lost in Translation

2011-05-16T01:12:00.000-07:00

Sunday was awesome. Caroline had made commitments to help a friend with her business start up so I was sent off to the Wildside with a packed lunch and my Spanish phrasebook. It felt similar to that first day at school memory. I got there early and as usual there was no one around. I spend an hour updating my printed topo to include all the new lines and sorted out the grades to the best of my knowledge. Then just sat down and read till the locals arrived. It's a weird time of year here in Sella. With the season drawing to a close there are no tourists. Just the local scene in it's eclectic glory. Knowing everyone’s names and faces from the previous 3 months of frequenting this rock helps but its a different story when you go scrounging a belay with embarrassingly poor Spanish. Luckily everyone was keen to involve the new kid and unbelievably I never had to wait or even ask for a belay. They're all so sound! I got stuck in with the belaying duties too and also got the beta for a few years worth of projecting. Everyone had their own routes and it was surprising to find out that mine was not the easiest! Everything from 8c+ down to 7c+ was being worked and the psyche (not to mention work ethic!) was high. I gave my route a couple of redpoints - making little progress after a two week break. At one point i was tempted to strip my draws and working something else but then i thought about something i read recently. Work your weaknesses but play to your strengths. And it clicked. At this stage, these sessions are training for the summer's trad. The season is over here and it's not a mission for the next tick anymore. Plus if I can clock 4 laps of a 28m long overhanging crimpfest with one fall each time and then play on all the other equipped routes in the 8's then i'm obviously training for something! All good!

Heres a video from 4 crags all within 40 mins from our house. I was talking to the first ascentionist of the 8b at 2min50 called Clemencia. He was telling me that his original was static'ed through the roof a 8b+ and that the new dyno beta lowered the grade. He also said that it was class and would suit me, a real 3 star route! Oh and theres some shit hard bouldering in there too for any boulderers out there not feeling the love for the climbing with ropes :o)

Trad Summer

2011-05-16T00:55:00.000-07:00

Click!! I don’t know why but all of a sudden I want to climb lots of trad… now! Don’t get me wrong, I’m still psyched as ever for the sports climbing but I'm mega psyched to get down to the Burren and up to Fair Head. Maybe it’s knowing that I’ll have a month in Ireland during the summer. Maybe it’s because I'm feeling a little stronger as a result of the recent mileage on the Spanish sports routes. Or maybe it’s just time I felt I needed to get on some of the best trad routes in Ireland. I think i'm quite seasonal regardless, switching between trad, boulder, sports and training buzz as and when. Either way it’s given my present climbing a serious burst of focus. Doing another pitch at the end of a session has now become a matter of building endurance before the return to Ireland and not purely to help the next redpoint.

I mean, just look through this:

http://wiki.climbing.ie/index.php/Ailladie#DWS_Routes

Everything is quality and within my grade all of a sudden – maybe theres scope for more lines? Of course there is!!!

Writing this has got me thinking of my very last route I lead in the Burren. I think it was 3 or 4 years ago. Myself and Caroline had camped on top of the crag with Belgian Sean and his mate Tom. Our last day in Ireland before returning to Wales. Feeling that we were short on time I went straight down after breakfast to try Sharkbait without warming up - this was going to be my onsight attempt. It went perfectly - climbed smooth and felt easy. I left the Burren knowing that, for me, there was still everything to be done and enjoyed. In fact every crag in Ireland feels like that. I've done feck all before moving to Wales! Even while getting rained on in Glendalough the other week I couldn't help but be impressed with the amount still to do in the valley.

I can't wait!

Power Shortage vs Wingspan Wad

2011-05-10T06:56:00.000-07:00

Last week Caroline and myself headed out to Sella one evening after work. We were due to fly back to Dublin on Friday for the weekend and this would be our last chance to try our projects before taking a week long break. Walking into the crag we could see my line in full sun while Caroline’s tufa stood out as a dark black drainage line, dripping from the heavy rain a few days earlier. What to do? The only other climbers at the crag were Agustin and Ivan who we knew to talk to but didn’t really know that well. They came over and suggested we join them at the VIP sector which was in the shade. Then we got the tour – first ascents, beta, stories of flashes or repeats of every route on the crag. Turns out Ivan and Agustin had climbed everything at Sella – EVERYTHING! Ivan even redpointed a new 9a link up at the Wildside just before Christmas. The weird thing was that I had never met a strong climber with Ivan’s build – he’s like a strong version of me. Over 6 foot and skinny and with not much in the arm department. If he can do it yadda, yadda, yadda. Agustin gave me the history of the unrepeated 8c+. Ivan climbed it years ago but since then his fingers have gotten fat so even fitting into the shallow monos is impossible. Apparently a lot of strong climbers have tried it over the years but Ivan’s huge reach on the crux prevents it from being repeated. Ivan then measured my wingspan and then gave me the sequence… as if! I warmed up on a 6c+ and then got stuck into Desert Storm 8a (pictured above and below).

Boulder problem crux on a mono and two finger pocket off the ground and then just jug hauling to a crimpy move at the chains. It’s nice to have a steep shady crag for the evening after work. Psyched!!! Agustin also told me that he had the first ascent of many of the routes at Cova Fuma and that my ascent of the 7c Impackto was probably the second ascent – sweet!

Back in Dublin we had loads of stuff to do but eventually I made it down to Glendalough… in the rain. I was soo psyched for some bouldering it was a but gutting to admit defeat at first. After a hour or more of wet boulder scrambling looking at wet problem after wet problem, crossing the river and back again we tried to dry off the cherry through sheer positivity and huge amounts of chalk. I had never seen this problem before but it was cool. Man I feel weak. No bouldering has left me with a huge power deficit. I just couldn’t hold the holds. Shocking! It’s kicked me into action regarding training though. Monday I hit the ground running – literally. Mountain run, finger board session and a core workout. This morning another hill run and this evening a session at the crag. Time to shake things up and make some progress. Al’s advise of working bouldering power through working hard sprots routes bolt to bolt makes sence – I know just the route!

Playing with Video

2011-04-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

Heres a short vid of some of our recent climbing antics... well I should say of Caroline's recent climbing. I have been climbing, honest, but i keep sending routes when i'm not expecting to so i never bother setting the camera up! I'll change that tomorrow though... get some falling off and swearing footage of meself.

Been playing with different camera setups and video settings too... amazing what you can do without school work and marking to be done :o)

After 2 days on my current route I've fallen off the crux hold 5 times on redpoint, each time pulling back on and finishing it to the chains in one. Frustrating but fun. Enjoying the mileage it's giving me as it's a 13 cliper :o)

Turtle power

2011-04-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

I’m psyched! Two months ago we adopted Sella Wildside as our new crag. It has been the best period of learning for me in terms of climbing in a long long time. I don't consider myself a very strong climber, I never have. But I do acknowledge that I have some strengths. Figuring out sequences is one of them. Remembering sequences is another. Stamina is definitely not one of my strengths. But progress has been made. I've jumped on loads of routes at Sella over the past two months. I've dogged my way up an 8c, 8b+, 8b, 8a+ and a few 8a’s looking for something to work. Although I really enjoyed the challenge of working something beyond my level I was afraid that devoting a lot of time to hanging and falling while working desperate cruxs would result in little mileage on rock so in the end I decided to tackle my stamina issue head on – Ergometria 8a is one of the top 8a’s in Europe and the crag classic. 26 meters of perfect natural overhanging rock. Boulder problem start, tufas, pockets, cracks, slopers and a lactic infused redpoint crux right at the top by the chains! A full value three star classic and justifiably so. I worked my way up placing the draws and lowered off a sweaty mess. There are rests on the route but I find them uncomfortable and having long legs doesn’t help when trying to sink bomber kneebars so I ended up taking it as a full on stamina pitch only using quick shakeouts. Yesterday morning was my sixth attempt on the line. I knew every move I needed to make but had yet to make it from the deck past the central groove section in one go. After belaying Caroline on her warm up I got straight on it thinking that warming up on anything else would be pointless, I may as well warm up on it and check the holds. Making it through the boulder problem at the second bolt was nothing new but yesterday it felt different, easy. Right then, lets give the arms a proper warm up. The third, fourth and fifth clips passed in a blur of big moves on huge holds and I was at the central section. Moving up to and making the sixth clip I still felt fresh. This was weird, previous attempts saw me pumped out of my mind here before twisting into the ‘could be better’ three finger pocket and spanning out left to the sloper. Not this time. I paused, had a quick shake and chalk, shouted down to Caroline that “This feels strange, not pumped!” Twisted into position but instead of making the span, I made one more foot move higher and locked in the pocket. Now I could skip the first sloper and span to the second, re adjust the feet and stab again to the side of the crack and the dimple inside. The rest of the route just flowed like a perfect puzzle clicking together. Just like I imagined it would have to be climbed. Clipping the chains (without grabbing them of course!) I was chuffed! One of my all time favourite routes and my first stamina pitch. And as a warm up! Straight away I jumped back onto the 8b I had tried weeks ago and made it into and a few moves through the crux first go! Wow!! The stamina cometh!

Oh yeah… Caroline was given a pet turtle as a gift from one of her pupils. Meet Thor...

Busy Dave

2011-04-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

As is always the way - the busier i get the less i post. And i have been BUSY! Anyway, easier to just put soem pictures up of recent adventures - the climbing is great!

Exploring the Water Cave above the Sella valley

The Wildside off in the distance... so much rock!!

Caroline warming up

Afterwork sessions at the wildside...

The most enjoyable way of building stamina - warming up on 8a, redpointing 8a, cooling down on 8a. Keep doing it with one fall now but the fall point keeps creeping closer to the chains - no hard moves, just resistance climbing

Mambo the Wildside guard dog and Caroline

Exploring some of the lesser known crags in the area - this one is full of 7c's and 8a's - short steep and fingery.

Signs you’re a sports climber

2011-03-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

You regularly fall off while leading

Finding a rock shoe with an aggressive last was a revelation of mind blowing proportions

You wear through more than two single ropes a year

Your redpoint rope is between 8 and 9mm in diameter

You know what a redpoint is!

You’ve dug out your trad rack only to strip the 16 or so camming devices of their karabiners so you can make 8 more quickdraws

Your harness only has one buckle and weights less than one rockshoe

When you boulder you say things like “Wow, that would be a class move 50m up a route!”

You convert the grades of any trad routes you do into French grades

Slabs hurt your calves

You own a clipstick

Good heelhooks and dropknees make you all warm and tingly inside

You can give and understand beta in 7 different languages

Anything else? :o)

Pancakes

2011-03-08T09:28:00.000-08:00

So I've been climbing a bit lately. It's not enough. Really! I have this constant urge, constant pressure to climb more but things just keep stopping me from doing it. Weather, work, life in general - excuses could be found everywhere but at the end of the day that’s all they are, excuses. I've found my self in a strange place. A kind of limbo. I'm climbing more on harder lines than I’ve ever done in the past and yet I feel more weak and unfit than I have felt in the last 4 years or so. How can this be? Can being in the right frame of mind account for such a difference? Climbing once or twice a week on rock and never on plastic is just not enough. I miss the power. I miss being able to pull harder on holds and forget about feet for a while. That’s the dark side. Now the bright side. I'm climbing with more confidence. I'm using and finding new techniques, new footwork and adapting to this style of long steep limestone. I’m loving falling. What’s the point of this waffle? I'm climbing away at Sella like I said, once or twice a week. I'm warming up on the 7c's and I’ve tried a few 8's. The 8b I've tried is hard but I know I can do it - problem is it's always busy at the weekends with other locals projecting it. The 8as feel almost onsightable or at least like they'll go in a redpoint or two and that makes them less appealing to me in some way. I feel like a cheat if i'm not working something thats too hard for me. Conscious of the fact that my power levels are at an all time low I want to beast myself on the days I’m on rock. Soooo... do I climb a load of easier stuff and hope the power returns or do I thrash out a path up something fierce and way beyond my limit and shock my system into adapting and powering up? The latter option carries the risk of tweaking a finger or worse...hmmmm... decisions, decisions. I lowered down an 8c on Sat and put some draws in it to allow a quick top rope. All I can say is WOW! A grand total of six mono pockets (mostly drilled and chipped) taken in an assorted array of wide spanning throws or undercuts make up the bulk of the difficulty. The line is completely fabricated. Sculpted by the first ascentionist. Like an indoor climb but on a grand scale. The ethics that allowed such a line to be created and the visual impact of the work deter me from trying it but the movement, now the movement had me keen from the first step off the ground. Now I know how hard something like that is I know what I need to work on. After checking that line out I cooled down by giving an 8a with the draws in a quick go. One fall at the crux then a quick shake out and on to the chains. I should get on it again but do I really want to? No real point to all this - I know that in a few weeks the clocks change and I can climb everyday into the evening. I know that I just need to pick something that I enjoy working and get into battle mode. Once that happens I'll be full steam ahead. For now I'm just waffling because it's raining outside and I’ve work to do. Such is life.

Inspiration

2011-02-27T11:48:00.000-08:00

Nige has sent Monk Life, Font 8B+

I think this is class news and a landmark ascent (in my sphere of infulence anyways) - Legend!!

Monk Life, Font 8b+, Kyloe from Nigel Callender on Vimeo.

Something for the weekend

2011-02-25T00:58:00.000-08:00

Well this week I feel like I well and truely need something to keep me going... Shit week on the work front and will probably have to do some over the weekend with a school inspection due to take place on Monday. After that it's full on battle mode and evening cragging can resume :o)

On the interweb this week - A really honest question and answer session between Pierre and Dave "the short span" Bouldering guide Ireland. Nice to see him getting some credit for his obsession and hard work and great to see Pierre taking the initiative and doing an article for the French mag Grimper.

And now the Psyche!!

The Stuff dreams are made of?

Who needs chocolate?

Better Than Chocolate // Trailer from Haroun Souirji on Vimeo.

Update!!

Check this out... probably why he made Dreamcatcher look almost do-able :o)

Rock

2011-02-21T09:20:00.000-08:00

Back to writing about what this blog was intended for! It’s been a good weekend. Firstly Jo and Steve arrived for a small bit of half term R & R in the sun. Straight away we hit Sella Wildside. Last week I put our draws in two 7c routes that were not my style. Steep tufas and slopers with a small amount of resistance climbing to the chains. Both felt hard at the time and I figured I’d need to work them quite a bit purely to build up enough stamina to redpoint them. Saturday morning I tied in at the base of the first one and swung my arms about – 10 times. Fully warmed up and with not enough quickdraws to lead anything else I started up “Keep the Faith” 7c. Moving into the crux my hands felt cold but I was calm and just shook them out a bit and kept going. The crux passed in a blur and before I knew it I was in a kneebar shaking out one clip below the chains. Relaxed and enjoying the unexpected progress I hung out for a minute or two and then climbed on to clip the chains. Lowering off from the warm up and stripping a project. Brilliant! Next up was Caroline’s turn on “Cuestion de Estilo” (Question of Style). This route has the reputation of being Sella’s hardest 7c. A tricky to unlock section through some steep tufas requiring the use of a two finger pocket and excessive drop knee’ing. Caroline lead up to the crux and began working the moves. Every attempt ending in a fall and slightly refining or eliminating a potential sequence. By the time she had finished the route was looking ready for a send and she was looking tired. I tied in to give it a bash but didn’t expect much. Fighting through the crux whilst making up a sequence got me to within a fingertip of the send but trying to unwind from a deep dropknee with my left foot too low left me hanging from the first pad of my middle finger. Basically mono’ing the base of a crack instead of sidepulling it. I cam off, lowered off and pulled the rope – left foot higher! Next go it sent without a problem! Two steep 7c ticks at the Wildside in a day was an unexpected and awesome start to my Sella climbing. Psyched!! Before leaving on Sat I tied in and tried an 8a+ with the draws in – brilliant climbing! Like Dinbren but 30 meters long and without much of a break. I lowered off before the top but loved the climbing on it so will be back for the send. Sunday morning and with only a little time available for rock, Caroline and myself returned to Sella and I warmed up by going bolt to bolt up a fantastic 8b, “La Criatura”. Superb!! My new project!

Caroline tied in and went for it on the 7c. This time making it into the two finger pocket at the end of the crux before slipping out of the drop knee position reaching for the crack above. Meanwhile in Echo Valley Jo and Steve were ticking away. I mentioned to Steve that in October I had redpointed a route I nicknamed “popcorn”. I forgot to mention to Steve that it took me 5 sessions to figure out the moves and redpoint it (more than any grade 8 I had tried in Spain). Despite having a name painted at its base I could find no record of it having been climbed before so without wanting to overgrade it I suggested 7c although I felt it may be harder. Steve kindly donated some time and finger skin to giving it blast and reckoned it’s an 8 alright and suggested that possibly even grading it 8a would be sandbagging. Steve also reckoned that it’s common place for the bolter to name the routes regardless of whether or not they have been climbed so mine may have been the first ascent – Cool! Very Morpho (reachy) and sharp but hard and I enjoyed doing it. After that Jo and Steve took a trip to Cova Fuma and Steve tried “Gran Fuma” 8a. Although I didn’t get to see him on the route it was cool to see someone else psyched about a route that I thought was quality – He’s keen to tick it before returning to the UK, fingers crossed he does!

Cyber Psyche

2011-02-17T08:59:00.000-08:00

Fuel for the weekend... I'll post it early this week as some people (Neal) are off to Siurana for half term crushing - Raise the bar dude!!!!

News just in from Siurana - Adam Ondra has sent the project in La Capella at 9b!! I remember looking at this pitch. Really short. Really steep. Really close to the road. Looks nails! Don't know if I'd use the word nice... but nails seems to fit! (I know i've posted this before)

ADAM ONDRA - Working Golpe de Estado in Siurana from BERNARTWOOD on Vimeo.

Also this week I've been watching this... raw power, American comp style!!

The ABS 12 National Championships: Stop #1 of the 2011 UBC Pro Tour. Boulder, CO. from NE2C on Vimeo.

And of course, the wonder French Kid Enzo Oddo climbing a V11 highball in Bishop. Camped beside him and his family for a month this year in Ceuse while he worked and sent Realisation 9a+. Nice people and great sends!

Enjoy!!

Goings on in cyberspace

2011-02-17T06:43:00.000-08:00

Wow! I think I miss timed my last post. It was just meant to be an expression of an observation I made about the Irish climbing scene. The up-side of all this has been the positive responses!

I’m going to try and bring a few threads together here...

Firstly Steve from climbing.ie replied with similar feelings to my own. He’s really behind praising any and all achievements on rock but he did make the very valid point that if people don’t make the effort to report their climbs than nothing will ever get said.

Then Pierre summed up the Irish catch 22 very succinctly in his post titled Achievement. Yes, I suppose it really is that simple – it could be down to a cultural mind set.

Meanwhile the grade debate raised its head on Trish’s blog but in a very good and positive way. It seems to me looking at the scene with an outsider’s perspective that the excellent work Dave F has done in producing and publishing his bouldering guide to Ireland is playing a crucial role in the evolution of Irish climbing. The first print edition of grades will no doubt motivate the masses to go forth and repeat all those lovely problems, talk about grades and things should settle – just like what happened with Mr. Pantons first printed guide to North Wales bouldering – Guide gets printed, people get psyched, crush, discuss and guide becomes out of date very quickly. Good news for guide writers :o) They get to work on version 2!

Then today I read Kev’s reply on Stone boulder. "I have heard no song, seen no dance and seen no article in the Mountain log or Outsider mag noting this achievement. People like Caroline, Michael Duffy, Nigel Calendar, Rob Hunter and several more are becoming legends in the ghostly sense - sometimes thought to have been seen out in the boulder fields and crags doing something amazing but how often does the ghost turn into vivid 3D in the climbing consciousness?" I had to smile when I read this. Aside from putting Caroline along side such wads as Michael, Nige and Rob, Kev picked a mental scab of mine. Living away from Ireland the past few years has meant I rarely get a chance to flick through Irish climbing media in its printed form. The last time I did was in Dublin Airport when returning to Spain after Christmas. One article interested me. One. A single grainy picture of Nige at a comp and a small write up about his recent success. Aside from that I couldn’t find much other mention of rock climbing in the issue. Not enough for me to warrant parting with cash to buy the mag anyway! Why? Is it like Steve said – are people hiding their achievements? Are they supposed to write an article and submit it incognito under cover of darkness and then cringe when they see it in print? I don’t know.

Anyway, it’s been interesting reading people’s views on the topic and ‘ve no doubts that with the strength of potential out there things will change in the near future and we’ll be fueling off Irish send psyche in cyber land soon enough. In the meantime and getting back to climbing, here is probably our last vid from the short and sharp Los Pinos crag. This is JogPat a link up of a soft 8a and a stiff 8a+ first climbed by Gaz Parry. It’s brilliant, technical and sustained.

JogPat from Dave Ayton on Vimeo.

Now that we’re working the bigger routes of the Sella Wildside it’ll be some time before the send train stops by I think. But trying hard on these lines is sooo much fun! Sheer climbing joy!

For the record...

2011-02-15T06:58:00.000-08:00

In the big picture of things the grades of what we climb don’t matter. Not beyond the personal scales of effort, satisfaction and reward. Definitely not in Irish climbing circles anyway. For some reason we don’t seem to remember or acknowledge notable ascents that much, not in any real sense other than the few among us with a good memory and an interest in collecting facts. A few weeks ago a friend sent me a message on Facebook saying well done to Caroline and asked what other Irish Women had climbed that hard. I realised that we don’t know. I mean I can only think of a few hard Irish female ascents in rock climbing that I’ve heard about. One is obviously Siobhan Coughlan’s ascent of the Sissy 8a in the Peak District. I’ve read more about that ascent through UK media than in Irish circles. If a climber does anything in the UK it seems to get noted. Female, young, old, foreign, solo, barefoot, hungover, on a cold day with the tale end of a flu… anything seems game to make climbing news and seems to get remembered. Maybe it’s still to come for Irish climbing (although hopefully without the bitchyness associated by some with the likes of the UK forums). Maybe part of the maturing of a climbing scene involves distilling all these great yarns from people’s memory. That’s why I like reading the history sections to the Irish climbing guides. Familiar names and routes. Impressive accounts of who did what when, how and first. At Christmas I was surprised to find out about a whole crop of good, strong climbers coming out of Dublin. Mostly bouldering but bouldering hard. I couldn’t believe that I’d not heard about such raw ability. All I‘d heard about was the odd first ascent. Granted I don’t venture onto the forums much but I do tend to keep an eye out for news that interests me. And for me interest is purely in climbing. What is being done.

Michael, Ricky, Eddie and co are good for the odd bit of news and I love reading it. Irish lads climbing E9 and 8b or harder – brilliant! Michael bouldering 8B in Wicklow – excellent! Nigel competing in the boulder world cup and winning the BBCs – amazing! But what is everyone else at? What standard are we at as a country? What are our highest levels across the disciplines? At a guess I’d say something like E9 hp, E7 os, 8b sports, 8B bloc, M8 mixed. And for the women E5 hp, E4 os, 8a sports and 7c+ bloc. These are just my educated guesses – please feel free to amend or comment. I really do enjoy knowing the ins and outs of our quirky climbing community and I think you have to know where you are before you can get to where you want to be!

Grade Whore seems to be the phrase of choice at the moment back home but I suppose that’s a good sign. The fact that the phrase is being used more often means that people are putting some effort it, meaning standards are being tested. Brilliant! Anyway, was there a point to this? Not really. I just felt like voicing something I thought about and in a way asking the question of “What have we done?”

Any ideas?

Happy climbing!

Sella Wildside, Costa Blanca

2011-02-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

Since Caroline managed to dispatch her project last week we've been free to visit any crags we want to. No choice really is there? It has to be the Wildside! This place is magic. An awesome fin of rock overhanging in it's entire length with heavily featured walls up to 40m in height. Tufas, crimps, pockets - it's got it. Located in a hidden valley and with access conditions that require climbers to have respect not only for the surroundings but also to limit the noise they make while climbing. It is a very special place indeed. It also represents the embodyment of everything I'm shit at. Stamina. Steep climbing on rounded holds and pinches. Nothing i can get my fingers behind or even stand on! Its like someone giftwrapped a crag to work on my weaknesses and put it around the corner from my house. I've so much to learn from this place. New types of footwork. New redpoint tactics. I'm so Psyched!! We've been a couple of thimes this week and I've been enjoying getting some mileage on the longer burly 7b's and 7c's. Full respect to Mr Barbour for his impressive list of Wildside sends! 8b in a day! Wow. I'm so far off the fittness needed for that type of climbing but I'm looking forward to working at it and seeing the improvements. All the routes are all so good that for now i'm going to enjoy doing some ticking. All the 7c's are the targets for now :o)

Our first visit to the Wildside this week we got chatting to the bloke in the picture above. He was a bit quite to start with but the reason became clear - he was redpointing the 8c+ pictured above. Awesome to watch. Every move dialed, he made it look effortless and then out of the blue his foot slipped and he took a huge lob from right at the top. Yesterday we were entertained by another super nice local redpoint Pinoreta 8c! Awesome fight. I saw him work this route on Tuesday evening and he looked miles away from the send but on Sat he made it through the crux and shook out before falling up the remainding 15m of sloping pinch tufas. at least twice the whole crag though he was off but he managed to keep squeezing, totally inspiring!! Venga!!

Heres the online Guide Wildside Topo

Something for the weekend

2011-02-10T11:54:00.000-08:00

The Process

2011-02-09T13:08:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas Caroline eyed up a line of bolts through a roof and decided she wanted a go. Initially even making the long reaches between holds around the second and third bolt seemed impossible. But she kept trying, something about the route took hold of her and she wanted it. I was happy to keep returning to the crag. I had routes of my own that I could work on but even watching the process of someone working a route like this was really inspiring to me. I’ve seen lots of routes projected in the past but I’ve never before seen a route really, truly worked! I think the most I’ve tried a route is nine or ten tries over a couple of days and i don't know how i'd react to taking on a challenge that kept smacking me down. Every move on this route seemed to challenge Caroline in one way or another. Some were scary. Some committing. Some out of her reach and others just plain hard.

There were a few more memorable hurdles though: finding the kneebar after the fourth clip and then the following sequence of toe hooks allowing Caroline to make the fifth clip. That sequence in itself took a whole session to perfect and even then it was still touch and go as to whether Caroline could stick it on redpoint. By far the hardest move on the route is immediately after the fifth clip. Caroline uses this horrible tufa with her left hand as an undercut and snatches for a right hand pinch before popping again to a sharp pocket. To be honest I couldn’t do that move despite trying it a number of times. There is a “Lanky” way of doing this route that moves left to good holds at the fifth clip and then rejoins the original route after Caroline’s dyno on the lip. The left Variant is closer to the 7c mark while the straight up method remains the true line and a much harder proposition. Caroline had no choice as to which way to go because she couldn’t reach any of the holds out left!

Day after day we returned and each day some form of progress was made. A new highpoint, an improved sequence or even just managing to give it 3 or 4 goes despite sore fingers. I think Caroline suffered from the typical trad climber syndrome of wanting to static every move. I’ve thought about this a lot and I’m not sure what causes it to be honest. Is it the serious nature of trad requiring you to make every effort to achieve every move in balance, meaning that if the hold you’re reaching for isn’t good you can feel around for a better one or even reverse to safety without falling? Or is it a lack of commitment? Dynamic moves are only really required to carry you to a point outside of your static reach bubble, aren’t they? Their very nature means commitment. You target, you sway, you kick and throw! If you miss, you’re off. I think Caroline’s height requires her to develop a more dynamic and aggressive style otherwise she won’t be able to reach things. On this route Caroline got a chance to work this… a lot! Once Caroline had exhausted every possible method for negotiating the lip of the roof it became clear that she would have to deadpoint. To throw for the hold. That one move took a session to figure out and many more to stick on lead.

The final spirit-breaker came the day Caroline finally stuck her dyno on redpoint. The final tricky sequence of turning the lip to easier ground spat me off the day I lead it for the first time and I knew it was going to cause trouble. Excited, Caroline made the sixth clip and got her high heel hook but didn’t milk the rest and ploughed on up. Matched on the flatty she completely powered out and came off below the top. Gutted. She had to wait another week before we could return and the previous highpoint and close fail made the difference. The mental barrier of sticking the lip had been removed and there was nothing to loose…

The send was awesome!

Caroline Sends!

2011-02-06T05:40:00.000-08:00

Caroline vs Destroyer from Dave Ayton on Vimeo.

Another good weekend

2011-01-31T09:44:00.000-08:00

Two days on rock working hard. Bliss! I just realised what i like... i like doing hard movement. It's all about the moving between piss poor holds for me... getting pumped and falling off easy moves never really did it for me (although i'm planning on doing plenty of that in the coming weeks).

I have a route that i'm trying. Last week i got psyched because i managed to to the top section. This weekend i gave it 10 goes in total. Each go failing right at the top. With every go i figured out something more. a foot movement, a twist, and clip, refining that poor heel hook etc.. but with each fall my skin and arms were taking a punishing they couldn't recover from. The top couple of bolts worth of climbing are on holds like the namesake pocket on the Gnasher problem up at the Sheep Pen boulders in Ogwen valley. Like a tight three finger pocket full of sharp teeth - ouch! Anyway, i loved trying hard and falling from the top over and over again. It'll go next day out. Chuffed to be climbing through the lower section every time to be honest as it's 8a in it's own right.

Caroline must be building the required stamina for her project because this weekend saw her climb past her previous highpoint and stick the crux dyno and swing. after that she made it a further clip and came off on the final move to easier ground. Brilliant!!! She fell off looking at the chains above her due to the tiredness of two day on and 8 redpoint attempts. Soon now, very soon

This evening theres a light dusting of snow on the mountains around us... didn't expect that!

Keep cranking!

Sat morning Psyche

2011-01-29T02:04:00.000-08:00

I came across this clip this morning over coffee - now i'm off to try and try hard on something - I know Caroline will do the same

Happy climbing!

Into the Swing Thing...

2011-01-26T23:30:00.000-08:00

Keeping true to my word from the previous post I’ve been keeping it honest on the rock lately. Saturday was spent clocking onsights and ticking routes that I had never tried before. I had been so preoccupied with working projects that I had neglected loads of quality routes. Warming up with a 7b onsight up a powerful bulge I went on to onsight a 7a+, 6c+ and a 7b+ before finishing with a lap of an 8a that I have wired from previously working it. Caroline returned to work on her project and managed to make instant progress on her previous highpoint – result! Sunday I decided to take a break from trying Bloque as I felt I was getting limited returns from it. The lower half isn’t hard enough to get a pump going anymore and the crux is just so damn fingery and specific. With the cold wind biting I was hesitant to go snatching from crimp to crimp on the crux so instead revisited a neighbouring route that I had a quick play on before – Ex-Pat, 8a+. The top of this wee beasty is what put me off working it. The route starts up a couple of small tufas which steepen rather quickly to about a 45/50 degree angle and lead to a crux snatch to a crimp from some poor footers. Once you stick that and paste your feet back on it’s a match and snatch again; this time with the left. From here it’s just very sustained pocket pulling and the angle remains constant. Just below the lip of the overhang there are two decent four finger 1.5 pad jugs to clip from and maybe chalk up off before the final big move to the lip and a combination of slopey and sharp holds and a poor heel hook get you established on the upper wall. Toping out you feel like you’ve been climbing, put it that way (well I do at least). I gave this thing one quick working to the chains and one redpoint and managed to string the whole thing together very quickly, falling off the last hard move on the lip – mega psyched to do this and then return to playing on Bloque. Tuesday evening after work we when out again – this time all the keenness in the world couldn’t help the tiredness. I don’t know why but since Christmas we’ve both been exhausted. We tried to pick up our usual running and climbing routine but we just keep having relapses of this feckin lurgy or whatever. Energy levels seem low and it’s the classic catch 22 – I know I should rest but I hate resting and want to be doing something (preferably something that improves my fitness and climbing!). Ahh well…

Rest day today and shopping needs to be done. The tooth is better – no pain at all and I’m loving it! At some point the beastmaking will have to be up’ed a notch and the laddering too. I must drink more water and do more pushups. I see on the net that Neal is training hard for Siurana, Sharma is blogging, Paul Robinson continues to crush, Ondra working a new 9b in Siurana, Tom Bolger has sent 9a+ and onsighted 8b+, Doylo is developing new crags in North Wales and in lovely Wicklow boulderers are bouldering. 2011 seems to be in good order so far… nice!

VIDEO PROFILE: Paul Robinson bouldering in Switzerland from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

ADAM ONDRA - Working Golpe de Estado in Siurana from BERNARTWOOD on Vimeo.

Cheaper by the dozen, demon toothache and excuses for being shit

2011-01-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

I like Reading Pierre’s blog.

It’s interesting and well written and he always manages to highlight something, some aspect of moving over Stone, that gets me thinking. Recently he wrote about excuses, youth and training. I can usually identify elements of myself in his writing and this post was no exception. I know what it’s like to want to climb at your best with your friends, especially when you don’t get to crag with them that often. And when the combination of head games, motivation and physical factors don’t make that magic mix I can recall numerous times when the excuses start to flow. Conditions, tired, sick, skin… all because despite acknowledging to ourselves that there will always be good mix days and bad mix days, we assume others don’t experience this. They crush at their level every day, always progressing, at every discipline – bullshit! Fear is definitely the limiting factor in most people’s climbing. At it’s most basic and tangible, fear of heights or fear of falling. They’re obvious and can be dealt with in an equally obvious manner. Also they don’t seem to affect anything else other than your climbing. But it’s the nasty, insidious other fears that creep in andseep out across lots of other aspects of your life. Fear of failing, fear of looking stupid in front of your peers, fear of creating or damaging any reputation. Ego. Expectations. Its quite common for climbers who push into a new grade to be expected to subsequently float up any route of a lower grade with ease despite style or discipline. It can get to the point where a climber would rather not try a route for fear of failing on it or if they do try a route they opt to hang instead of really going for the move.

Anyway I suppose the point of the ramble is that I’m going to aim to try whatever routes appeal to me regardless of who’s watching or how I’m feeling – no excuses. I simply enjoy working a way through a path of holds that seems impossible for me at first and this will involve a fair ammount of time hanging, falling and figuring out beta – is it being a grade whore? Is it punching above my weight? It’s just what I seem to enjoy most at this minute in my climbing.
Last week I went climbing and I didn’t climb anything. I got to the top of a route 3 times in a session after work but with one fall near the top each time. I know that would be classed by many as a shit day out but I was and am happy with it. I felt I climbed well for my standards and I fell off genuinely fighting, I came home with a slight pump and I got to play on rock. To be honest I like falling on lead so I was happy on all counts.

Good luck and happy failing :o)

Dave

Edit: I typed the above in school last Wednesday. Since then my resolve to stay positive has been tested. I think I had the worst crag day (performance wise) in the last few years – it was a shocker of a day when nothing clicked. But I suppose those days only act to make the perfect days seem even more amazing. Tomorrow I’m finished my antibiotics and am having my demon tooth pulled at last! Last week was a weird and brilliant mix of entertaining guests and meeting new people. I just regret having to work during their visit.
Anywho, best of luck and ride that psyche
… I hate dentists…

Happy New Year

2011-01-09T06:30:00.001-08:00

We spent two weeks back in Ireland over the christmas period. Lots of family days and meetings with people, zero outdoor climbing, three indoor sessions in Dublin's co-op caves, a trip to the dental hospital, two doses of Christmas flu and a few extra pounds. Thanks to everyone to texted about lifts to wicklow and got us into the co-ops! Really appreciate it!

Back in Spain now the psyche is strong - yesterday despite the lingering flu we took our guests to Forada and i jumped on an 8a+ cold. It went well and i'll be back for the redpoint soon. The attempt took it's toll though - i felt it in my shoulders, no power, no umph! After that i clipped up a 7c+ and Caroline worked the moves bolt to bolt. Again, flu symptoms, headaches and lack of energy made everything feel that bit harder but the moves were all done and it's one for her to come back to. By the time Caroline had finished and i went up again to strip the draws i couldn't even pull through the crux without first falling off - completely wasted. after that and with no arms left i had to go up the 8a+ again to strip the draws before packing up. Chuffed that i made it into the crux before draining my fuel reserves.

Today the guests (all 7 of them Irish, Cork, Aussie, Hungarian and American) went climbing and i drove them to the crag but decided a rest day was needed - hard to do when theres a group psyche but i came home to try and do some school work and gobble some more drugs.

2011 is gonna be great! Keep cranking and stay psyched!

Dave

Words

2010-12-16T04:50:00.000-08:00

Falling off the same move over and over again... progress is being made but it's slow, very slow. Skin fluctuating between translucent, ripped and seeping beads of blood to being fresh and tough, solid on the rock. Climbing by headtorch last night after work i warmed up by leading a roof climb that i had redpointed a few weeks earlier. My hardest ever warm up. Felt strong, even messed up the foot sequence at the crux causing me to cut loose but held it and continued on. Getting excited and want to climb more. So happy to be able to climb on rock after work. 30 min drive and it's dark and cold but it's rock. Caroline is close. Soooo close. It's exciting belaying her now. Last night was a new redpoint high. literally one hold away from the send - it's been epic. I want to try something that is as hard as my one move every move! That would be awesome.

Failure

2010-12-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

I've never been so happy with a fail. Today i had my first go at redpointing Bloque. I got into the crux. One crimp from the hold that marks the end of the difficulties. It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine :o)
I'm still having fun playing with my phones camera too...

Playing on Bloque from Dave Ayton on Vimeo.

Day Two - Progress?

2010-12-06T02:21:00.000-08:00

Caroline's project from Dave Ayton on Vimeo.

I think the key to making progress is constantly telling yourself that you are getting better. Maybe not better at achieving you goal but actively looking for things to acknowledge as having improved. For example, yesterday was our second day on and we felt trashed from a heavy day one. With sore skin and heavy arms we made our way to the crag. Although there were no sends i came home feeling like i had progressed. I was trying harder. I held that hold well. I read that move perfectly. I fought to control that swing and made the next clip etc...

Caroline picked a fight with a roof. All the moves have been worked and she has lead from the ground to half way through the crux section before falling. From hanging there she makes it to the chains every time. Time, thats all it's a matter of now. Her project (one of them) is at the point now where she knows it's doable any go - it's a frustrating period of working a route. You know there are no shortcuts, no hidden beta to unlock. The route has been distilled into a precise sequence of holds - your unique path through it's difficulties. Its at this phase in my experience that a few key elements come into play. Fight, preparation, rest and luck. If you can ensure fresh arms, good skin, a good nights sleep and are prepared to really fight then any go could result in a send. At the end of yesterdays climbing i tried recording a video on my phones camera. Don't know why i hadn't tried this before. Anyway, the video above shows the result... not Caroline's highpoint but a great effort at the end of two days on.

Inspired by Carolines drive on her route (and eager to keep some grades between our projects) i tried Gaz Parry's hardest addition to the crag, Bloque 8b. It blasts a direct line through the biggest roof on the crag. I tied in and began working - within 20 mins i was at the chains having done all the moves. It's brilliant! It's like doing 3 or 4 moonboard problems on top of each other with no rests or foot faggotry. The first 6 bolts climb like a powerful 7c+ or 8a in their own right and lead into the crux which feels about V9. After the start you cross over into a pocket with your right and span up to a kind of shoulder press sloper for your left. Hooking your left foot on a spike beside your right hand and squeezing everything lets you reach up to a right hand edge (the praying mantis move!). Cut loose to uncurl. After matching this it's a full on coil and dyno to another high right hand edge. I can keep my left hand on but the feet are well and truely off here. Cut loose and match. Hike feet up and deadpoint to a right hand crimp-pinch thing. Match left foot to hand and bring your right toe onto a mini edge. By this time you're horizontal. Dab left hand on mini intermediate crimp and snatch again to crux crimp (nasty). Adjust feet and spring sideways to a flatty hand hold, again with the left. Swing, match, heelkook, clip and pull to the lip and chains. Wow! I guess I've a project :o)

Day One - Test flight

2010-12-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of our 5 day weekend and we hit Los Pinos. It had been 4 weeks since i had tried anything hard and i was packing a new pair of Sportivas that i was eager to test out on the kind of terrain they were designed for - steep! Warming up i placed the draws on Caroline's project and went for a go on Jordan Buy's Ex-Jog 8a. Things were going great till i crossed over to a pinch and spun off, footless but hanging on i clamped a tufa blob between my feet and moved up to the next pinch. Now pumped and onsighting; i hesitated, threw and fell. Right! This will go. I lowered off and started from scratch but this time ripping a crucial hold off the start... flying again. After belaying Caroline and having a cup of tea i tied in again. This time i wanted it. Moving through the new start sequence i felt strong, no longer onsighting, it went by in a dynamic blur of drop knees, cross overs and throws. Another 8a in a session and possibly the 2nd ascent! A great fun climb and very bouldery. The sportivas are awesome! I'm converted.

After that we explored a hidden valley with a big roof. Must of been a dry river bed because the whole valley floor was covered in clover and lavender. Saw the biggest Owl i've ever seen too, less than 20m away - Huge!

A brilliant day out!

The Best Bouldering In Wicklow

2010-12-03T00:50:00.000-08:00

What is it? Where is it?

I've been looking through Dave F's last great PDF topo for Irish Bouldering in advance of coming home for Christmas and I realised I left Ireland just as things really kicked off. I've not been to half of these places. I'm home for 2 weeks and hope to get at least 5 days out on rock. Every christmas I go home I end up bouldering in Glendalough, doing the same problems - sometimes new ones. This time I would love to explore somewhere different - somewhere new (to me at least). I'll be honest, I'd like somewhere with scope for further development or with lots of projects - that really motivates me. I've bouldered at Glendalough, Lough Bray, the Scalp and once or twice in Glenmacnass.

Where would you suggest?

Obviously I've a mental wish list of problems that inspire me back home. Leftism, the Big Squeeze and the Groove project on the Holiday boulders - Glendalough. All strike me as being things I aspire to climb - Leftism is probably the best problem in the Valley in my opinion - great work Michael! Leviathan in Portrane. Everything up at the Head - those blocks look Epic!

Neal, Tim, Pierre, Dave, Trish - help me out here!

Spanish Bouldering Info - Hoya Moros & Albarracin

2010-11-30T06:21:00.000-08:00

Hoya Moros

Check this out!!!I came across the topo for Hoya Moros near Madrid yesterday and was blown away by the scale of the blocks and the beauty of the valley. Huge scope for development and a deffinate destination for boulderers looking to try somewhere new. I love bouldering on granite so am already planing my first trip here. The topo is excellent too so i thought i'd share it with everyone!

Download the 40 page topo here:

http://www.nodogmaclimbing.com/croquis/hoyamorosbouldering.pdf

Albarracin

Located about 1.5 hours drive inland from Valencia, Albarracin seems to be the sandstone mecca of Spanish bouldering! I'm psyched to go! Lots of everything from thuggy roofs to Font style slopers... check out Dosage V.

Find out all the info here:

http://www.boulderalbarracin.com/home.html

Interesting facilities include:

4 person cabins complete with kitchen, shower, toilet and TV: 69 Euros per night (17.25 each)
6 person cabins complete with kitchen, shower, toilet and TV: 95 Euros per night (15.80 each)
Boulder mat rental only 5 euro per day
I can do pick ups from both Valencia and Alicante airports (Ryanair flights from Dublin) if people want to share a cabin for a weekend!!! Get thinking...

Boulder hunting - Google Maps style!

2010-11-28T05:54:00.000-08:00

Today i went on a solo boulder hunt. Fueled on too many months without bouldering, too many bouldering videos on my laptop and too many blog posts about you guessed it.... bouldering. All internet trawls for info on Costa Blanca Bouldering result in minimal finds. The best seem to be found on a Beach near Denia (one hours drive north), at a crag called Montesa (50 mins drive north) and in a dry river bed at Castell de Castells (45 mins inland). After scanning the coastline near our house on Google Maps i thought i hit on something worth a look. Two dark grey limestone blocks - bungalo sized on a beach 10 minutes away.

Unfortunately the tide was in and i've no bouldering pads in Spain. BUT at least i know they're there! I think i'll just have to accept that the White Coast of Spain is sports climbing central and not a prime bouldering spot, ah well. 3 hours gets us to Albarracin so i guess we can't complain. Gonna have to get a pad soon though... any suggestions? I'm thinking a simple and cheap Alpkit Phud again (or maybe two)

Oh yeah, Climbing!

2010-11-27T10:30:00.001-08:00

We’ve been doing a bit. Found out that we can get 10 or so routes in each after work at the local crag if we climb by headtorch – guaranteed pump! Great for stamina training and skin conditioning although I’m aware that repeatedly climbing the same routes will yield limited results strength-wise. Still beats going indoors and it’s fun. Oh, and Caroline has found a project… kneebar tastic! Steeeeeeeeeeeeep!!

The BeastMaker cometh…

2010-11-27T10:25:00.000-08:00

It’s only bleedin brilliant! Looks nice, feels great, has a catchy name… whats not to like? I’ve never really trained on a fingerboard before but with the dark evenings and tonnes of hard sports routes to go at on my doorstep I have just begun to apply myself (cautiously) to the board. Grrrrrr…
Anyone out there got any advise? Golden dos or don'ts? Name for the board of righteousness?

Time for a change?

2010-11-27T10:20:00.000-08:00

After 11 years climbing in 5.10 Anasazi lace ups I’ve bought my first pair of La Sportivas. After trying on the Miura Velcros I figured I’d give them a go. All I can say is Wow! My last pair of 5.10 have been used a lot since Easter but are now trashed and useless on small edges. The other evenings climbing in the Sportivas was eye-opening. I can actually let my feet take a noticeably higher share of the load on edges. They’re also the first aggressive pair of shoes I’ve worn. I can’t wait to try them out on the steeper stuff. The heel fits perfectly and theres no empty space. I’ll always have a soft spot for the 5.10 Anasazi but for now and for the routes I’m climbing and want to climb I have to say the Sportivas seem to provide the goods. For Font and trad I think I’d prefer the 5.10s. Anyway, I’ll write more as and when I use them more.

Puig Campana 1408m, Costa Blanca

2010-11-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

Thats the name and height of the mountain in our back garden. Last weekend while my brother Robbie was over chilling out after his graduation we walked up it. Class! Brilliant views over the coast and so much rock in the hidden valleys to the north and west (between Sella and Echo valleys). Anywho, heres the altitude profile and a few pictures. Seeing as how the running is going well now it's looking ripe for a weekend run :o)

Check out all that rock! Not a single bolt or route on the entire ridge... yet!

Coronas at the top... nice!

Ireland Weekend Break - Exploring

2010-11-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

Well I´ve been home to Dublin for a suprise Birthday party for my parents last weekend. After all the fun and craic on Friday night we went out for a stroll on Sunday morning along the North Dublin coastline. My Dad Brought us to one of his favourite dog walking venues; Loughshinny between Skerries and Lusk. It always gets me keen exploring new places and looking for climbing potential! Loughshinny´s rock didn´t yield too much in the way of Portrane-esque steepness but it was a fun ramble and might provide a fun day out for some other local climber eager to find something new. There is a hell of alot of coastline up there and it only takes finding a 10m wide span of good quality steepness to add another venue to Irish climbing. Perhaps with more time a local could really explore that stretch and turn up something good. Happy Hunting!

Dave senior on the lookout for climbing spots!

Lots of steep looking corners I never got to explore

Mini roof with a sloping lip traverse?

Worth any effort?

Nice looking overhanging corner... eliminates?

Getting Worked

2010-11-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

It´s not all wine and roses. After last weeks success on the rock I was eager to step things up a notch and put my money where my mouth is so to speak. I went out looking for something that would stop me dead in my tracks and force me to work hard and get better. Highlighting personal weakness and improving is the name of the game! Well today I found something. In my 2005 guide it´s down as an unclimbed project with a proposed grade of 8b+. In the online topo from 2009 it´s recorded as a work in progress at 8b. But after trawling the web i found out that it had been climbed by Mr Parry at a reasonable 8a+. Score, I´ll give that a go! After 3 efforts working the moves from ground to chain I have come to the conclusion that it´s brick hard! It blasts a line straight through a 60 degree overhang with absolutely no rests. The largest hold on it takes three fingers just past the first joint. There is a depressing sparcity of foot faggotry to be found meaning i´ve spent a considerable ammount of time today clinging to two finger, first joint pockets while trying to maintain tension from toe clamping rounded mini-tufas! I´ve tried finding magic kneebars, heelhooks, even tried perfecting a toehook bathang to make a high clip but to no avail. I can say with no doubt that it feels harder than anything I´ve done... Leaving the crag today there remained only one move yet to be completed requiring a lock off a sloping two pad pocket with a sharp lip to reach a three tip (rest) pocket. The lack of decent feet beat me down off that move time and time again. But i´ll return stronger next visit. Before leaving to pay pennance for my pewney arms i trashed myself by doing some laps on one of last weeks 7c+/8a´s till i couldn´t hold on anymore. 3 laps and then i had to dog to the chains to strip it.

Right now I feel demolished. My skin is sore. My back is aching and my forearms feel like hollow lead weights filled with battery acid.

I am happy :o)

Training for Climbing: Fingerboard, Bachar Ladder and Campus Boards

2010-11-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

Right then. The clocks have changed and now there is just not enough daylight after work to hit the crags ( at least not without floodlight technology! We tried this week and i ended having to top out a route in the pitch black!!). And instantly my mindset changes into winter training mode. Without any consious thought process I find myself wanting to train. Regular, recorded and with sufficient rest training baby! Last year marked my most successful training (first?) winter ever. I didn´t do anything very impressive, i just made a commitment to do SOMETHING regularly and stay injury free till spring. The results speak for themselves. I managed 20 routes 7c or harder and 10 8a´s this year. Now lets get this clear, I´m no Eddie Barbour or Ricky Bell or Al Sarhan :o)! I´m weak and lanky. I´m not ripped. And these kinds of grades were always out of my reach. This winter, spured on by this years success i want to continue to train and see more improvements. Living in Spain has resulted in some differences though. Firstly there are NO climbing walls within 40mins drive! None. So any and all training has to be done at home. Secondly and more importantly i have access to quality sports climbing each and every weekend! Projects i hear you say!

Now, we have a Bachar ladder already set up out in the back garden and it´s showing up my basic power weakness. Arms. Guns. Biceps (or lack thereof!). But it´s not working the fingers. Que payday. I´ve decided to bring on the Beastmaker 2000 AND build a campus board. I think finally after what must be a 7 year break i´m at a level in my climbing where i can use a board again and see some positive results without aches and pains. Bring it on! I'll post about the building and design and any training as and when it happens.

During my psyche scavanging forrays on the interweb i came across these... learn and enjoy!

Grades in climbing

2010-11-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

I read Pierre´s blog post which mentioned his views on grades and then more recently Neals post briefly mentioned the same topic and both made me smile. Pierre divides the field into two distinct halves. Those that climb purely for the beauty and freedom offered by seeking out and executing a perfect move on an aesthetic line regardless of grade… and those who use grades and numbers to gauge their progress and measure their manhood. Is it that simple? I must come across as a number obsessed monster because I must admit I find grades and what they represent very motivating… and sure I write about them enough! Just check out my blog’s latest Wordle!

There is no point in me trying to say that I climb without care of grades because it´s just not true. But at the same time my most proud climbing moments are the ones when everything felt good and there was the perfect balance of movement and tension… grades don´t linger in my memories, it´s the colours, the air, the sounds and the feeling of climbing something well that stays. I know it´s the moves that appeal to me and the feeling of progress that comes with figuring out a path through a poor selection of holds. I know this. But yet grades motivate me in a very real and open way. Experience has taught me that the best movement has been found on the harder lines. I love the feeling of being just on. That on off moment when you´ve latched an edge and don´t know if you´re still on or about to fly. Every second after a move like that is a gift of chance and should be enjoyed. Fighting to the top would be like the cherry on the cake. But as personal standards progress it stands to reason that moments like these only exist at or near your personal limit. It´s inescapable. Another side of my personality could be described as competitive or maybe it´s just a failing in me that I feel I need to prove myself in some way. A byproduct of being the fat kid? Who knows! But honestly I just don´t feel good about my climbing if I’m not giving 100% (as good or as bad as that may be!) and whats the point in doing anything if you don´t feel good as a result? However when I try hard and dig deep (either physically or mentally) I feel great – regardless of success or failure. It psyches the shit out of me to have to fight! And when success arrives it´s a great personal achievement but also it represents something I’ve put a lot of myself into. Thought, effort, training… always on your mind. And it then becomes more and more like something that I want to share. And in that respect grades are useful because I can say “Hey guess what grade I just sent” instead of giving a blow by blow account of every inch of hold and the indescribable tension between each move. Whats the harm in grades? There seems to be such a stigma attached to using them as a tool to measure personal progress. I don´t see why? If the grades weren’t there I’d still be on the same routes and trying just as hard. I suppose I’d just compare routes to each other on a personal scale to see improvement or consistency in effort. Forget it! Keep climbing whatever way makes you happy and I’ll promise to do the same! Theres a lot of rock out there and so far I’ve not found two routes the same. That’s a lot of moves to be experienced and not much time to do it in. Happy climbing!

A Muerte!

2010-11-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

Today we went for a nice run (have a look at the Garmin profile) and then hit the crag. Los Pinos again. After yesterdays success i was keen to try the other dubious 8a, Jog jog. This is an essential piece of climbing if you want to climb Gaz's Ex Jog 8a and Jordon's Jog Pat 8a link ups. And if they can be done I'll have climbed all the moves on Gaz's Ex Pat 8a+. Got it? Didn't think so. Anyway after warming up by placing the draws, i toped it out again to work the crux hand match. After a short break spent belaying Caroline i gave it another go only to realise that i hadn't thought about the clips. Unsuccessful but i learnt something. Last go of the day i made no mistakes and redpointed it. Thrid 8a in a week! Again, this one has had 10 ascents on 8a.nu and 5 give it 8a while 5 grade it 7c+. I suppose the bouldery nature of this ones distinct crux section acts to split opinion. Felt harder than all the 7c's i've done at Dinbren but again, maybe thats just as a result of my style. Of the 3 this week i reckon Gran Fuma at sombre del Leon was the hardest but with each route I try i'm noticing something new in my climbing. I'm bouldering with a rope on at last! I don't think about or even notice the rope anymore and that lets me give every move of every attempt 100%... something i've never really managed before. There is something to be said for having access to sports climbing on your doorstep...

Wierd and Waffle

2010-10-31T11:35:00.000-07:00

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!

Keeping it Fresh!

2010-10-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

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!)

Being wrong and totally psyched

2010-10-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

Er... so you know all that excited rant about having a anti-style project 8a that would work me for a long time but ultimately make me a stronger climber? Well i sent it first go this evening after warming up on a 6c+. It was probably the single piece of climbing that i´m most proud of to date. It was like climbing in a trance. Everything made sence. I had unlocked and pieced together countless subtlities under the surface of my rest day conscious thought and they all played out today perfectly. Cutting loose in the roof after latching the crux deadpoint i swung my feet back on, twisted my hips in and continued past my previous highpoint, skipping a clip. Now, having achieved the sessions target point on the route i had nothing to loose. Shaking out between holds i hiked my feet and threw into the big crossover move. It was hit or miss... i felt my tips skim over a few cm of useless smoth limestone before they found the edge and locked. This is it, my chance to take it unawares... twisting into another egyption i match the intermediate and throw for the good sidepull marking the end of the crux section. After that to the chain was just plain fun! So there it is, 8a, 3rd redpoint, eye-openeing! Happy out!

Doing battle and routes of anti-style

2010-10-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. We got out to two local crags and have both made what feels like progress in the right direction. So far since moving to Spain i feel like we´ve not really began to get our teeth into the climbing. Partly due to temps and conditions, partly due to having guests and partly due to work pressures. This weekend marked the beginning of something different... i can feel it. To date i´ve managed to pick off a few choice routes here and there... always going for ones that play to my strengths (even the 8a+ a few weeks ago was right up my street). Today i began work on what could become a nemisis. Although it´s only 8a, it´s in no way technical and in a very real way feckin steep and powerful! It crosses a 6m roof and then blasts up a beautiful barreling head wall via dynamic climbing on sloping holds and pinches. Absoloutly fantastic!

Cova Fuma

Me taking in what i know will be an ass kicking - Gran Fuma, 8a

Today i gave it two full on redpoints. The first one i was placing the draw but still fought through the crux move, only to fall off above the next bolt. Eager to punish my body into getting fit i tied in quickly with little rest to try again, A Muerte! This time i made it one foot move higher but was soo pumped once i fell off that i couldn´t even pull back on to top out. After a few minutes on the rope i hiked to the chains. Deciding that it would be easier to top rope it to remove the draws in the roof section i got another good workout! but this time came off directly above the crux. Brilliant! This thing will make me strong - i love it!

Even better this evening was Caroline´s performance on her 7b+ project in Echo Valley. During the past few years Caroline has developed a healthy bias towards climbing routes on positive edges. Standing or God forbid pulling on sloping holds was a definate no no and hence avoided. Climbing at Ceuse this summer helped Caroline to get to grips with this style and after ticking a couple of lower grade 7´s near by in Spain she began working a extremely thin and technical 7b+. This was equal in grade to her previous best route but completely against her style. To make things more difficult the meager holds on offer were always just out of her reach. From my perspective Caroline couldn´t have chosen a better route to push herself on. As i keep reminding Caroline, if she wants to climb harder routes she must learn her own techniques for dealing with reach. In this case it involved Caroline literally dancing up the vertical face, coiling, springing and standing full stretch on one tippey-toe to reach a mono edge while the other leg kicks back. A brilliant lead and a flying pass on her "leading thin, technical limestone" lesson. Now... time to find her something that will work her hard...

Life.... but not as we knew it!

2010-10-23T02:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick flash of whats been happening outside of climbing in our lives... Caroline´s sister Joanne has been to visit and is now on her way to London and my parents have had their first trip to Spain to visit us and celebrate my Dad´s 50th. A few brilliant Nights out in the lovely old town of Altea.

Dave and Caroline

Dave and Caroline

Altea at night
The view from our house!

Oh, and my brother Rob made this comic short clip.... has us doubled up laughing!!

:o)

Steady as she goes...

2010-10-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

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!!

Finding my level

2010-10-12T02:13:00.000-07:00

Chaos! Spanish weddings, 3 day maths courses, water companies, telefonica, upcomming school inspections, 3 new schemes of work for A-level, a guest from Oz, two visiting Swizz and my Dad's 50th birthday party! Jaysus wept i've been busy!!! I think things are about to find their level now... fingers crossed.

In the mean time we've managed to squeeze in some climbing. I ticked a 8a+ in under 5 redpoints and managed a possible first ascent in similar time. It could be anything between 7c and 8a and suited my style and reach. Fiercly fingery stuff! I'm still on the lookout for any information of it so i'll confirm what it is when i find out. Caroline managed a few 7b's redpoints after work and we've installed a Bachar ladder and pull-up bar in the garden. Apparently i'm gonna need biceps for this steep stuff so i better start working on them... haa! Next paycheque the campus board is going up too :o)

Also... was beginning to believe that our local crag may run out of 8's for me to play on and then i came across a PDF topo online for a steeper cave EVEN CLOSER to home! Two 8a's, and 8a+ and two open projects.... drool!! The Sleeping Lion. Grrrrrrrr :o)

30 second post

2010-09-14T02:52:00.000-07:00

Redpointed a steep and powerful 8a+ on Friday evening after work... super nice!

I love it here!

Sowing seeds for a future harvest

2010-08-28T01:29:00.000-07:00

“you never climb your best on a road trip”

I can still remember Toby saying this to me over 7 years ago while climbing with him and Neal around Europe but although I could remember the words they meant little or nothing to me until recently. Looking back now I can remember Toby’s frustration with not being able to send routes at his desired grade across France and Germany. It seemed stupid to me at the time because he was able to send every 8a he tried within a go or two. Now, having had a home crag in the UK for a year or so and being able to adapt mentally and physically to its unique style of climbing I can finally understand where Toby was coming from. When you travel you must learn to accept a backwards step in performance in order to learn new techniques and develop new strengths that will ultimately allow progress on to your next level of performance. Being Irish and not having any form of home sports climbing to speak of I had never felt this before. Travelling and going on a climbing road trip was where you collected all your best ticks, surely?! Because there were none at home!

While here at Ceuse I think I must have gone through the following mental mind sets:

I’m gonna flash all the 7c’s and start working my way through the 8’s straight away.
Wow! I don’t remember this place being so technical, where are all the positive edges?
I can’t stand on that!!
I need mileage!
Right, turns out I can pull through all the moves on the 8’s maybe I just need to stick to some hard projects and avoid all that balancy shit I don’t like.
And finally… OK, I can learn a lot from this place and its routes, especially the ones I don’t find easy or particularly like. This isn’t a go for broke climbing trip with a return date set to Dublin. This is the start of a long term apprenticeship with European sports climbing for both myself and Caroline and we need to forget what we think we know or think we should be able to achieve. Our expectations had been calibrated to UK limestone and needed a reset if we were going to move on and enjoy our climbing in Spain.

It’s weird how stuff that you hear or read or think at different stages can all come together at a certain point along the line to make perfect sense and provide the impetus needed to make headway towards the next level. Seven years ago I witnessed Toby’s frustration in Ceuse and Frankenjura and also got an idea of the training he had put into his climbing and how much it meant to him. While chatting to some Slovenian climbers here in Ceuse they mentioned that they had climbed 8b+ at their home crags this year but usually drop their target grades to around 7c for their summers in France and enjoy trying onsights and climbing loads on a totally different style of hold and rock. When they return home for the Autumn they resume training and projecting, you know, pushing their standards. And then there was Jerry. Jerry Moffatt that is. I had been given his book “Revelations” as a going away present from Tim my head of department in Rhyl and had held off from reading it until here in Ceuse. I was never one for reading biographies but this had me hooked instantly. I consumed it within two days and then went back and read it some more. There was so much in it that I could understand, remember feeling myself, relate to, be motivated by and that just plane inspired me. One concept of relevance here that crept up a lot during the first half of the book was what I’m gonna call the “relocation smackdown”. Jerry recounts his early fanatical climbing career relocating from crag to crag. Tremadog in North Wales for two months followed by a two year apprenticeship literally living from the dirt in Stoney Middleton in the Peak District and then onwards to further afield destinations like the States, France and Germany. At every point along the way he details achieving his highpoints at each location before moving on and getting smacked in the face at the next. Climbing and training almost continuously, he repeatedly spent between two and four weeks adapting to each location and style of rock before he could resume climbing at his level and begin sending.

Coming back to the real world I can remember going through similar difficult patches moving from crag to crag over the years although, as my standard was never as high as Jerry’s and I never had anywhere near the consistency of constant climbing, I never really noticed it or at least never attributed it to the different rock types. Beginning in Dalkey I got quite good there, leading and soloing lots of routes daily and even managing the odd E4 within my first year on rock. From there my first trip to Glendalough or the Burren stand out as humbling. Their totally different styles seemed way harder to me and I just assumed Dalkey grades were soft in comparison. Over time and through regular visits I gradually adapted and before leaving for Wales I had lead E5 at all these crags. It was the same with my introduction to Fairhead… HVS never felt so hard before but again after numerous visits I had managed a couple of E6’s there. The culture shock on arrival to the Clwyd limestone in the UK was more obvious though. I pretty much got nothing done for the first few years here before one day it finally clicked and this year I managed to tick my way merrily through a handful of grade 8 sports climbs. I had adapted.

It stands to reason then that a similar introduction phase should be due to take place about now on the longer more sustained European limestone routes of southern France and Spain. All of a sudden I am happy with what I’m feeling about my climbing at Ceuse and am enjoying being able to onsight the odd 7b+ and build up some stamina or more importantly begin exploring the ability to recover while on a route! The change in attitude from trying to squeeze in ticks to enjoying learning a new style has been refreshing. And not just for me but for Caroline aswell. After months of moving from project to project in the UK we’ve jumped at the opportunity of being able to do 10 new routes a day and not worry about redpointing. Caroline got a good base of grade 6 routes under her belt and onsighted a long 7a+ to the chains (before unexpectedly flying off, rope in hand about to clip the anchor! A real battle!) during the first two weeks of Team Ireland and also enjoyed playing on some of the crags better 7b+’s and 7c’s just to get an idea of what was to come for her later in the year. It’s our last climbing day of this trip to Ceuse and it’s going to be our sixth day on. During the last five days at the crag we’ve been warming up on 6a’s and 6b’s, climbing classic 7’s all throughout Berlin, Biography and Demilune sectors and finishing up with a good attempt each at something we find pumpy. On Monday I went up Ratman and Bouse de Douce, 8a+ and 8a in the Berlin sector just to try the moves. They both felt great but being honest I knew I didn’t have the time or desire to repeatedly go back on them for the ticks. They’ll be more fun as quick sends in a year or so when I’ve some fitness. Instead I put my draws in Makach Walou a brilliant pumpy 7c+ with no real hard moves. Placing the draws it felt super pumpy for me and I didn’t rate my chances of redpointing it before leaving for Spain but I reasoned that if my draws were in it it’d be more likely to give it another try and hence get to work on learning how to actively recover and depump while on a route. As it turns out it was Wednesday evening before I got back on it to give it my first redpoint attempt. I use redpoint loosely here because I had no real sequence I just knew I could get up it and that was enough. I surprised myself by climbing up above the 5th draw before getting lost and pumped out on the less positive edges below the 6th. Forcing myself upwards I crossed over and kept moving from edge to edge before falling off. Chuffed! I had gone for it and taken a lob whilst trying. Something I have little experience of to be honest and have always found a little difficult to do. Hanging on the rope I rested and then fought my way to the chains in one. Right then, I now had a sequence. Half an hour later came my second redpoint attempt (baring in mind it was our 5th consecutive day on!) with thin skin and tired arms I climbed past my highpoint, clipped the 6th and began to recover on the crimps above before coming off a greasy edge at the end of the hard climbing beside the final draw. I am chuffed. I thought this route was my anti-style and was making such quick and unexpected progress.

Meanwhile Caroline’s attention had been stolen by Saint Georges Picos, a mega classic 7a and somewhat of a rite of passage for Ceuse. It wasn’t the grade that appealed to her about this line it was its nasty difficulty that reacted with Caroline’s determination that got her hooked. As Kev said, “if she’d put that same amount of effort into any of the 7b+’s at the crag they’d have been ticked by now”. The route has an intense first 4 bolts providing the crux and after that takes a sparsely bolted line up an easing vertical wall. The first few moves are reachy and finger intensive, involving some stiff pulls with minimal and polished feet. On Saturday Caroline climbed the route first go after spending some time trying the start the week before with team Ireland. It was a real inspiration to watch someone dispatch their project in such a determined style. Crush mode! Was this really her first time at Ceuse? The route served its purpose well by forcing her to crank and also by ensuring a good head training session on the runout upper wall before the chain. After this everything was game-ball for Caroline as she had overcome her own personal challenge. Aside from climbing on all the 7a’s and b’s Caroline has been working a really nice 7b+ on lead. Tuesday evening with failing light Caroline made short work of the reachy crux for the first time and fought on to reach the decent rest before coming off near the top due to a combination of fading light, not having a robust sequence and not being able to see the footholds! Still though massive progress to be working at her previous best level on such a different style of climbing within such a short space of time.

Today will be our 6th and final day on at Ceuse for a while. Although I’d like to send the 7c+ I’m not too fussed as I feel like I’ve come on a lot in my three and a half weeks here and I now know what is possible for me during future visits. We’re going to walk up, warm up, try some more onsights and finish our trip off on some brilliant routes… School is in.

Team Ireland

2010-08-28T01:22:00.000-07:00

By the end of our first week in Ceuse a decent Irish squad had assembled. Neal and Naomi had been here 3 or 4 weeks, Caroline and Myself had a week under our belts, Andy and Carole had been cutting their teeth at Orpierre while camping at Ceuse for a few days before undertaking the walk in and Finally Kev arrived and wanted a good daily pump fest to provide some mileage and boost his trad stamina for the Autumn. It was great craic both at the campsite and crag. It was interesting to see the effect the different mindsets and agendas had on people’s daily routines. It was something I’d never really noticed before but then again I can’t remember being on a climbing trip with such a varied bunch of converging plans. Neal and Naomi were just passing their holiday midpoint and the drive to go home with some ticks and was clear. They had both been here before and knew what to expect so arrived with a game plan, a wish list and lots of focus. It was unfortunate that we hadn’t all arrived at the same time because I would have loved to be able to join in with their redpoint psyche but we just were not at the point of our visit yet. Caroline and myself arrived after a great few months on UK sports and a healthy redpoint head but 3 weeks of down time and relocating across Europe had taken its toll. We had no route fitness and Caroline had never been to Ceuse before so we needed mileage and lots of it to get use to the style of climbing and the length of the routes. Carole and Andy were at the beginning of their mega trip and just wanted to climb lots and relax. As a result of the different mental phases we ended up climbing with Kev, Carole and Andy more than with Neal and Naomi, only catching up with them occasionally as they whizzed back and forth across the crag to each of their respective projects. In the end I think I worked out best for us. I was able to just climb whatever anyone wanted and place the draws and in the process I clocked up a rake of routes and Caroline enjoyed building lots of easy mileage on the 6’s and 7’s while taking a much needed break from pushing herself. After two weeks or so Team Ireland had dwindled to just Caroline and Myself. Before everyone left we managed a visit to Orpierre and a day bouldering in Ailfroide where we met some more Irish by chance (Howard, Bridget and Niamh). After that we had two much needed rest days and the following day’s constant rain forced a third. In total we had been away from Ceuse for 6 days! With Fatigue no longer an issue and a promising weather forecast for the final week we could look forward to more climbing that tested our weaknesses with no pressure or expectation of success – I just need to climb on a different style of rock for a while and remember to try and learn what I can along the way. Bliss!

Ceuse

2010-08-24T02:37:00.000-07:00

What can I say? The place is awesome! We arrived late in the middle of a thunder and lightening storm after a 12 hour drive and set up camp alongside Neal and Naomi who had been climbing there for a couple of weeks prior to our arrival. They were just getting into the peak of their redpointing after building up some route fitness and getting their Ceuse heads in gear. We knew we were in for a big change in styles but nothing could have prepared us for this. It was my third visit to the Mecca of climbing. My first being during 2003 when I had never been sports climbing before and could barely manage to climb anything. My second visit came during 2007 when Caroline flew off to Turkey to compete in the World Mountain Running Championships for Ireland. I met up with Sean and Kev Marnane and had 5 days climbing. I didn’t climb much but remember trying two 7c’s in Berlin Sector and made it to the top of both with multiple rests and falls – I had no fitness to redpoint anything at that stage but I remembered coming home from that visit feeling like those grades were possible for me with some fitness. This trip was Caroline’s first and the compulsory culture shock took place as per normal. Runouts combined with sustained climbing and the occasional thin technical section all acted to knock us out of whack and presented us with an almost diametrically opposite climbing challenge to what we had grown accustomed to in the UK. Dinbren’s 12 meter long, steep and powerful, crimp-fests were like the opposite end of the sports climbing spectrum to these 35 meter slow burners. No move felt hard compared to our old local but the combination of easy moves and constant steepness presented a new challenge – stamina as opposed to power endurance. Perfect training for a winter of climbing in the Costa Blanca in Spain! I’m expecting a serious smackdown but also some signs of slow progress and gains. Watch this space for more updates on how it goes.

Costa Blanca

2010-08-22T03:07:00.001-07:00

Our new home! We met our landlord and got the tour of our new house. Air conditioning, heating and of course pool maintenance. Once we said goodbye to Mr. Landlord we began unpacking and moving stuff around to make the house feel like a home. The house is in a lovely part of the town in a small residential area high on the hillside of Puig Campana (the towering 1400m mountain). 10 paces from our front door gets you onto wild mountain side trails running up and around the peak. Looking out from the rear of the house you can see Calpe and Altea beaches and the Mediterranean. The first priority after getting settled in was to sort out all the documentation required for working (and being paid) in Spain. Once we got our head around all that we began to explore our local area for climbing and running. Lots to go at but unfortunately August wasn’t the time to do any of it. Climbing in 37 degree heat was just way too much for us but we made a good stab at exploring all the same. There are three big crags that stand out immediately as being the big players in the area all within 30 minutes drive of our house. Wildside at Sella is an awesome overhanging buttress of perfect tufa dripping limestone. Around 30 routes from a lonely 7a to a mega hard 8c with lots to go at in the 7c to 8a range. Stamina is required! Bovedon at Gandia is home to a mind blowing expanse of horizontal climbing. A huge cave on a mountainside and fully equipped with permanent quickdraws, it stays dry in the rain and all winter and is home to a host of routes and linkups starting at a burly 7c and even has a 9a. Forada shines out as a mini Ceuse without the walk in. Lots to go at there from 6c to 8b.

Closer to home we have the gift of the quiet and relatively small Echo Valley. A handful of grade 8’s up to 8b taking powerful lines through some steep terrain will be providing a lot of entertainment during those shorter evenings after work methinks. Despite the temps we tried to climb and felt the need to get something done after the few weeks disturbance to our climbing. I managed a few 7b+’s onsight and Caroline was back onsighting 6c+. With the conditions being poor and so many crags to explore we never jumped onto anything too hard, it was all very relaxed. We were not pressed for time here – these are not our holiday crags afterall.
Anyway, it was way too hot and we had all of our camping stuff to collect from Neal in Ceuse so we hit the road once again, this time bound for Gap, France.

The Road to Release

2010-08-19T01:27:00.000-07:00

It’s dark and wet on a Sunday evening in Llangollen and I’m shattered! 2 days of frantic packing, making snap decisions on what is needed and what should go free to a good home, dismantling the Fringe board and lowering it down the side of a building under cover of night and saying all the final goodbyes to everyone has taken its toll. I had planned on setting off for Dover around 10pm after a few hours of sleep but of course that never happened. It’s 11pm now and we’ve been at it flat out. It’s a strange feeling trying to pack two peoples lives into the boot and backseat of a 307. Strange in a good way – leaving bag after bag of clothes and memories down to the charity shop felt like a release. Throwing away black sack after black sack of junk into the skip had the same effect. It was like the ultimate spring clean and I felt great after doing it. Being forced to evaluate what actually matters and what was needed brought me to the realisation that in fact I don’t need very much at all. It’s the people I’ve met, friendships I’ve made and experiences I’ve had that are the only things I really want to keep hold of – everything else can go and I’m more than happy to start from scratch.

The 1500 mile drive passed in a two day blur. Not much to say really. The car was full, we’d not a lot of money but just enough to make the fuel and toll costs to La Nucia, I couldn’t see out the back window and there was no Air conditioning so the front windows were open at all times. We arrived to our new home hot and sweaty wrecks. But we’re here now and ready to start exploring!

UK round up

2010-07-28T03:49:00.000-07:00

Well it was so manic before leaving the UK that I haven’t written much at all this last month or so. It’s been probably my best time in the UK during the entire 6 years! Lots of friends and family visiting and great nights out, group meals and lots of fun days out on rock. The highlight definitely had to be the Irish invasion. Neal, Naomi, Niamh, Claire, Kev P, Sean and Kev M, Tricia, Daire and Grainne all came to visit and tear the crags up. Naomi, Niamh and Caroline in their 80’s retro gear, classic! It was brilliant catching up with everyone, especially those that I’ve not been out with in years. That night we ate a communal curry and hit the Wine bar for some spinney plate antics and general merriment.

Yes... even Rocky is pretending not to know them :o)

Climbing wise things started to taper off a bit towards our move and the weather began to show signs of weakness too. When I think back to ascents worthy of note only a few come up. Caroline kept bashing away at Bandits till the bitter end. Her best burn got her from the deck, up through the crux and above the 3rd clip before a foot slip spat her off. From there she lead it to the top. It’s a weird route to belay her on because the lower section is so obviously height dependant that I would say for Caroline it warrants it’s original grade of 7c. Either way the grade wasn’t what was motivating Caroline for this line – it was its climbing, its moves and its reputation as one of the most sought after lines at the crag. In the end the packing and bad weather prevented us from getting on it before leaving and it remains unsent despite my gut instinct knowing it was doable very soon.

I went back and repeated “Out of Body Experience” again after the loss of a large hold on the roof section after my second ascent. The start now feels like a much harder boulder problem for me and I have less doubt of it’s 8a status as a result – still a brilliant route and fun, fun, fun! I lead “Highway” again too as Vince was working it and I realised how blinkered I was to stay with a sequence I found nearly 3 years ago despite developing so much since then. I think I was making life difficult for myself! My original sequence felt 8a, Vince’s beta made it feel 7c! Lesson learned. Finally I left my very own little mark on Dinbren (other than a string of broken holds) by linking up two difficult sections of climbing to create a new line. “Elite Deviation” take in all the hard climbing of “Elite Syncopations” 8a before finishing up the crux section of “Bolt from the Blue” E6 6c (7c). This replaces the 7b finish of syncopations with something a little harder. Also the top half of the route is protected by 2 wires in the crack below the final roof adding a little spice to the mix. Although I feel the link is harder than the original I don’t feel it warrants 8a+ so I’m leaving it at 8a.

It has been such a productive 3 months of climbing that I feel I’ve passed a milestone in my climbing as we leave for Espana. I’ve sent every route I’ve really wanted and one or two I genuinely though were impossible for me to booth.

El Rincon, 8a(+)
Out of Body Experience, 8a (x2)
Elite Deviation, 8a
Elite Syncopations, 8a
Rivals, 7c+ (I’ve lead this twice - 8a after loss of good crimp?)
Highway, 7c+ (again!)
Rincon Orgasmatron, 7c+
Dyperspace, 7c
Extreme Ways, 7c
When Saturday comes, 7c

Chuffed! I’m going to miss Llangollen and Dinbren but moving onto bigger and better things. New places and faces are what it’s all about!

España!

2010-07-26T01:51:00.000-07:00

Well we´ve arrived in Spain safe and sound but ... a decent update to follow as soon as things calm down a bit and i can bring myself to sit down and type :)

Psyche live…

2010-06-25T05:14:00.000-07:00

During the past few weeks I’ve been getting out more and climbing with Neal again. I reckon we’ve not climbed this much since out Euro road trip over 6 years ago. It’s funny that we still tackle routes in a very similar way despite having wildly different climbing experiences during the last few years – it all stems back to the DCU wall and Dalkey. Neal has just finished his teacher training year and is emerging out from under the immense pile of assignments, reports, observations, deadlines and standards files back out into the world of climbing and he’s picking up pace fast! Last weekend was an awesome pick n’ mix of climbing. We started off by working an 8a sports route on Saturday morning down at LPT, then a V10 boulder problem in Parasella’s Cave when the tide stopped play on the sports crag, Sunday morning we spent a few sunny hours bouldering on some easy problems up at Monument boulders and finished the weekend off by working an E7 face climb on Nesscliffe sandstone! Brilliant!

Caroline has been taking a break from projecting for a couple of weeks after working her first 7b+. She decided to make a few quick ticks of some 7a’s and build up some stamina by doing laps of one of Dinbren’s more sustained 6c+’s. Well last week Caroline seemed up for a challenge again and began working Walking with Barrence. Originally graded 7b but currently up-graded to 7b+ with the loss of an undercut, this route redefines sustained in the 7b+ grade. Thin and technical with a butch and pumpy finish. Caroline made quick work of all the moves and on her second session managed to link the whole route on a top rope – swift progress! Watch this space…

Meanwhile I went through a period of feeling slightly at a loss at Dinbren. That dark, dark time lasted all of about 37 seconds before I decided to throw myself at working Gwennan till we pack up and leave. At 8a+ and having a very distinct one move crux it’s going to be hard. Hard on the skin to be more precise! Two tiny and sharp two pad crimps need to be boned down upon and dyno’ed from, through a roof, to a jug. A further 7b+ sequence above this and the climbing eases considerably to the chains. If I send this I’ll keep working Insomnia the 8b.

Alongside the Dinbren ambitions I’ve been getting more and more psyched for LPT. Before going down to the crag the other week I showed Neal and Naomi a clip from the Welsh Connections DVD. Pete Robbins crushing Liquid Amber, 8c/+. It always motivated me to hear and see the reactions of Pete’s mates on that DVD trying to articulate their views on his climbing. “He’s applied himself… you mean he lost a stone and a half and trained like fuck!” After watching him redpoint 8c/+ and boulder V13 I can’t help but think I want to do the same – really apply some will power and see some results. It was funny to be down at LPT a few evenings later with Caroline and her sister Joanne – dogging my way up Statement of youth for the first time to feel the holds when Pete turns up and puts his draws in the route beside me. Such a sound bloke – giving advice and much needed beta while working Infanticide an unrepeated 8c himself. As we left the crag I watched as Pete gave the route a full on redpoint attempt… the only other time I’ve watched climbing at this level happening was when Caroline and myself cheered on Chris Sharma redpointing his 9b in Siurana. Pete had it dialled and the climbing looked awesome! He fell off high at the top bolt… it wouldn’t be tonight but he’d have it next visit, I was sure of that and was happy for him. He has now sent it and I have been well and truly motivated to improve my game. I am in school now but will be at LPT by 4:15 this afternoon… game on!

... and on the 6th day

2010-06-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

This evening was my 6th day on. Thurs was spent working Insomnia, Friday on Insomnia, Saterday climbing with Caroline, Neal and Steve at Dinbren playing on Rob's new 8a, Sunday in Parasella's cave and LPT, Monday up at Dinbren and today (you guessed it!) - Dinbren.

Caroline had tried Technicolour Yawn briefly on Saterday and gave it a quick speed ascent on monday while being attacked by Midges and was keen to get back on it in better conditions. I was eager to keep working the tricky traverse of Rob's new and as yet unnamed 8a. At this point it seemed like a possible but distant goal. Caroline was first up and got on her 7a+ without warming up as we arrived late and felt tired. Falling off at the mid height crux due to flash pump and a wrong foot placement. No worries - i was sure she'd send it next go no problem. Lee Proctor (author of the local guidebook and hardworking crag developer) was up at the crag and had checked out Rob's new line before we got there. He was keen to see my sequence and egged me on to try it. So without much of a warmup and with the sun still on the crux holds i tied in and went for the redpoint. The holds felt warm to the touch but for some reason i felt strong on them and made it across the traverse and even made the tricky 4th clip before falling off the warm high sidepull - grrrrrr!

Caroline tied in again and began to climb. This time it was obvious the difference warming up had made. Every move flowed and seemed effortless from the ground. Reaching the crux, Caroline moved her feet up high and latched the right hand pinch, then the left crimp. With her feet high she eyeballed the distant tickmarked edge - the crux deadpoint. But she hesitated. Oh No!!!! Don't blow it here! you've got it!! But then something different happened - Caroline chalked up, crossed over to a previously un-used edge, built her feet up and fell into the ticked jug! Wow! talk about thinking on your feet! From here to the top i knew Caroline would be safe - it was a crack afterall, Caroline's speciality :o)

To most people that send would just be another 7a+ and no big deal but to Caroline it was a bit more. It wasn't by accident that she came back to this route AFTER leading 7b and 7b+ at the crag - for her this 7a+ represented her nemisis! She was rightly chuffed to bits - it was a brilliant and quick send and really worked her weaknesses.

Back to my project. It would be brilliant to send it this evening but it would require pulling out the stops if i wanted to send it without a solid sequence for the traverse - it still felt like i was winging it. I Tied in and pulled on. By this stage the route had been in the shade for about 20 mins and the difference was just what i needed to get me into redpoint mode. No excuses now, perfect conditions! I move along the initial powerful lip moves and sink the high heel-toe lock. Swaying to get the momentum required for the crossover to the left hand edge, it feels good. Psyched, i dab my right hand on an intermediate sloper and spot my target - a slopey footer. Focused on the foothold i release the heel-toe and cut loose. Unlike the attempts at the weekend though i quickly paste the right foot on and span across to the right hand edge. Myself and Neal had discussed skipping the tough 4th bolt and just launching into the tricky redpoint crux sequence above - risking the lob. Feeling fresh and having climbed with pace to this point i looked and the awkward clip and decided. Move on! Reaching up to the high left sidepull, i hike my feet up onto the smears and reach up for the right sidepull. Gripped, I manage to get my left foot onto the crucial edge just as my fingers slip a little on the warm edge. Solid now i make the moves up to the jugs marking the end of the hard climbing. A bit run-out but onto easier ground. Pulling over the capping roof felt amazing! Chuffed! Another 8a in the bag - progress!

Now theres a good evening! Chocolate and homemade flapjacks were had - good times!

Recent Pics from Dinbren

2010-06-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

The technical crux of El Rincon, Dinbren

Moving through the energy saping bulge on El Rincon, Dinbren

El Rincon, Dinbren

Neal "butching" his way through the bouldery lower roof of Rob Mirfin's latest Dinbren addition

Me finally giving in to Neals beta and using the sweet high heel-toe to cross over on the trav

The redpoint crux traverse - crimpy with no footers!

Route weighs in around the 8a mark - feels harder than Gwennan, Elite Syncopations and the other 7c+'s at the crag (... to me at least)

A huge thanks to Rob Mirfin for his work bolting and cleaning all these great lines

... and for the photos!!

El Rincon

2010-06-03T03:21:00.000-07:00

Lats night i went up to Dinbren and met up with Vince. Rob and his girlfriend were already there brewing up in the car park and everything felt very chilled out. It was warm and sunny and there was no breeze. After Fridays attempts and relative success on El Rincon i was keen to try again but would happily accept more baby steps of improvements - fine tuning a sequence here, fighting a bit more there - i knew this route was going to take some time and i was enjoying the process because it felt so damn impossible in the first place. By the time we had warmed up the sun was just leaving the route but the holds still felt warm. I went up it placing the draws and repeating the big link from Friday evening - sweet! Now if the setting sun would only create that familiar cool breeze i reckon I'd have a really good stab at the redpoint today. Vince went off and he worked and then redpointed Lulaby a nice 7b and then we returned to El Rincon. I tied in and gave it a redpoint attempt with my foot full on the gas! everything felt at my limit and i was grunting and shouting my way up through the crux and then through the traverse... locking off on the split finger side pull crimp i pulled my body in close to the rock, built up my feet and crossed over to the undercut and mini rest but i didn't have it in the tank and my fingers just tickled the good hold as i sailed off, coming to a halt around the first bolt. More progress!! Woohoo!! We moved along the crag once more, this time Vince wanted a go at Lee's Extreme Ways, 7c. Working the climb bolt to bolt Vince echoed my first impressions of this climb - Pumpy! Lowering off Vince asked how many goes do i seriously think i can have on El Rincon in an evening? I didn't know but my fingertips were feeling fairly raw at this stage and things were getting cold - this was going to be the last effort. I tied in and stuck the initial deadpoint crux with ease, no more awkward had faffing, every hold was taken correctly and my new foot sequence executed correctly and quickly. This time i was aware i was climbing quietly, instead of grunting, i sealed my lips and breathed through my nose, keeping tension. At the end of the crux i made a snap decision to clip with my right foot on a higher and far worse hold, allowing me to clip and continue straight into the next tricky traverse sequence without having to reposition my feet. Crossover, gaston, shouldery lock, pinch, snap to undercut, tense, span to split finger side crimp, build the feet, lock it down, huge crossover into the undercut, stand up onto edges and control the barndoor while matching. Relax - it's in the bag! Clip, chalk, breath, side crimps, layaway, high right foot, sloper, backstep, bump the left hand up onto higher edge, smear left foot high and rockover onto it, dab the left hand intermediate, go again with the left to the high sloper, high smear with the right foot and reach to the pinch! Yes!! After that the finishing roof passed in a blur - it had never felt so easy or controlled! 8a+ or nails 8a i don't care. Current consensus at the crag from the Yorkshire wads is that they've been on easier 8b's and i'm happy to give it the 8a+ for now which it was originally graded and get on the current online database. Chuffed and once again my eyes have been open to whats possible with a bit of effort! After that we returned to the 7c and Vince dispatched it no worries, opting as i did to skip the last bolt and run to the chains. A perfect evening!

How to get there?

2010-06-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

Howth, North Dublin.

Drive along the coast road from clontarf until you get to the Sutton junction. Turn right onto the R105. As you crest a hill past the graveyard you’ll notice a railing and public footpath access through the wall on the right of the road. Park beyond this point on the left. Take the footpath through farmland onto the coastal path near Red Rock. Follow the coastal path towards Drumleck point, passing a small beach. The path begins to follow the great wall of Howth. Made from strange shell cement. At one point there will be wall sections on both sides of the path. Jump the wall here and follow the steps down into a secluded inlet with a small sea arch/tunnel on it’s left. Walk out of the inlet and turn left. You’ll be staring at Ayton’s Cave – now get in and start bearing down!

Cave Topo

2010-06-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Caroline’s Traverse, V4/5 ***
Start at the obvious head height jug and traverse out of the cave. Finish by rocking over onto the slab.

Loco Total, V8 ***
Hanging start by clamping the obvious beach ball tufa feature in the middle of the cave with hands and feet. Blast along the tufa line using pinches, pockets, crimps and slopers to a deadpoint into a slot followed by a cut-loose and swing to join Caroline’s traverse. Finish along this and onto the slab outside the cave.

The Kracken Project, V8 (unfinished) *
I’ve done all the moves on this in two big overlapping sections but didn’t climb it in one go due to fatigue. Start as for Loco Total but snatch rightwards from the two finger pocket to the lip of the giant roof crack (possible kneebar rest). Blind slapping and inventive footwork will let you fight your way to the cave lip. Has been completed to the lip after starting from the kneebar at V7.

The Daylight project, V? (unfinished) ***
Match the big bucket jug on Loco before launching to join Caroline’s Traverse and continue straight through the roof to finish on the lip. Brilliant sequence using an undercut for your right hand and snatching to a positive left hand slot. All moves done but not from the start of Loco. Starting from Loco jug to lip felt V8 in itself!

The Destroyer Project, V7? (unfinished) *
Essentially a brutal, energy draining extension start to any of the 3 previous problems. Start at the back of the cave and begin heelhooking and undercutting your way to eventually reach the starting position of Loco Total! Felt V7 in it’s own right but hard to grade as feels awkward for the tall plus one section was damp so it wasn’t climbed in one push. Pumpy!

The Albatross, V? (unfinished)
Sit start on an obvious double handed jug. Reach up and left to a sidepull in a crack, build your feet up and finish rightwards into the roof crack. Perfect bouldering angle, 45degree. Start and finish done separately at end of session – jacked!

Afterthought, V1
Sit start and move up to two massive sidepull bucket jugs. From here jump/reach backwards to a jug on the hanging shelf and campus to the cave lip. May be harder for the tall/short/fat/weak.

The Opposition Party Project, V? (unfinished)
Sit start on good holds, move up until a span to oppose an undercut is possible. Match this and finish in or around the kneebar (or finish along the line of the Kracken!).

For me the line of the cave must be to link Destroyer into Loco and finish up Daylight giving Daylight Destroyer! Something like 16m of roof climbing with no rests and the hardest sequence at the end… Drool!! Also Destroyer into Kracken would be awesome too (with or without kneebar). Starting as for Carolines traverse and reversing a section of loco to finish up Daylight would be class aswell!

Parting Gift - Ayton's Cave

2010-06-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

Typical! Just as we get ready to move to Spain we find an awesome bouldering cave in Ireland that I’d love to put time and effort into developing! But as it doesn’t look like I’ll have enough time or money to get back to Ireland much before we head across to Europe I want to spread the word and ensure this venue gets the attention it deserves. Personally, after only having one afternoon exploring it, I think it is exactly what we were missing back home – long sustained lines through steep territory requiring shoulders, stamina and plenty of burl! We were forced into spending a weekend back home mainly to renew our passports before our move abroad and to catch up with family. However, Saturday morning my dad mentioned that he was keen to show us some rock that he came across while doing one of his training walks before his Kilimanjaro charity climb last year. He wanted our opinion on the climbing potential – he thought we’d like it. Well we did! The rock was solid and of better quality than I expected and it got me thinking… there must be more around here. Sure enough, on a whim I explored a bit along the coast line and came across this beauty! I’d like to call the cave Ayton’s Cave as a thank you to my Dad but get the feeling that this name won’t sit too well with the powers that be – people would rather call it something far less personal or meaningful (to me at least). Sunday after dinner my Dad agreed to drop Caroline and myself off near the cave equipped with picnic blanket, chalk, rock shoes, a wire brush and hammer. We wanted to at least test its quality before ranting and raving all about it. The cave is literally covered with climbable features! And amazingly they’re all really solid so we’d no need for the hammer or wire brush. One thing I will say is that the tufa features have a texture like holding 1000 needles when they’re first used but with some traffic they soon lose their edge and become very ergonomic. It was like bouldering at the Climbing Works in Shef! The first problem was deciding on which line to try! I got straight into working the central lines through the roof while Caroline worked the left wall traverse. Caroline’s Traverse, V4/5 – Starts in a obvious head height jug and traverses left out of the cave – the finish provides the crux. You end up wedges below the roof trying to rock out onto the slab into the daylight. Quality line and well worth the effort. It’s nice to actually feel like you’ve topped out on a cave problem. Too many in my mind just finish on a Jug in space. Loco Total, V8 – Starts clamping the obvious beach ball tufa feature in the middle of the cave with hands and feet and then blasts along the tufa line using pinches, pockets, crimps and slopers to a final deadpoint into a slot followed by a cut-loose and swing to join Caroline’s traverse and finish up this. The full link makes the end of the traverse feel desperate! What a place to blow it!!

At this point I feel I need to justify where I’m at and where I get my idea of grades from. I’ve recently been doing lots of sports climbing – high 7’s and low 8’s most days and am warming up / cooling down on the crag 7b+’s so I suppose you could say I’ve built up a bit of stamina. During the last few months I’ve bouldered over a dozen or so V7’s first try. I’ve bouldered in Font, the Peak and mostly in North Wales. Left wall traverse V7, Beaver Cleaver V8, Cleaver Beaver V8 in Llandudno. Ultimate retro party V8, Bus Stop V9 and Jerry’s Roof V9 in Llanberris. Pantys down V7, Firestarter V7 and Thug Mental V8 at devils gorge.

I figure Loco Toal is harder than all the V8’s I’ve done and as hard as Jerry's Roof and of a similar style i.e. Long! 8m of pure roof before joining and finishing up Caroline’s Trav. No moves as hard as Rock Atrocity though but it is way longer. It could be Font 7c or Font 7a - I'm feeling good at the minute and can do Jerry’s most visits. This is steeper and longer and both problems have no real desperate moves. Anyway, anything I climb seems to get arbitrarily downgraded before people even look at it so I guess I’ll try and beat 'em to it this time and grade it Font 7b (V8) to begin with.

Which brings me to why I’m hesitant to just throw out the Caves location just yet. I feel I’ve been stung a few times by a combination of my ignorance, eagerness to share and by not being one of the “boulderers”. Let me explain. Way back in 1999 I took few trips to Portrane with a few friends to go bouldering. I took some pictures and we did some lines and I stuck them up on a shitty website I had in DCU. Steve McMullan took notice and emailed me suggesting that I should publicise it but being new to bouldering and climbing I didn’t realise the potential and didn’t make much of it. Later that year the foot and mouth crisis lead to Kev Cooper spending a lot of time out there developing the area. He put a lot of time and effort into climbing, exploring and documenting the place and got credited with it’s discovery… Ah well, you live and learn – Full respect to Kev for his efforts.

Fast forward to a few years ago. We come home from the UK for Christmas and took Caroline’s younger brother and sisters for a walk around Glendalough. Hugh spots a hidden block and we cross the river to check it out, I get psyched and return to spend a full day scraping, cleaning, brushing, falling and eventually climbing something like 9 problems in total. The hardest problem being “Hugh” which I graded Font 7b. I named the cluster of boulders “the Holiday boulders” as a reminder of when and how they were developed and also as they represented (to me at least) a holiday or break away from the constantly trafficked problems along the path in Glendalough. I submitted the info, keen to encourage repeats and more traffic. I even documented the stunning project groove line that I gave a cursory cleaning to but didn’t have the time, skin or ability to complete at the time. Without any repeats to my knowledge Hugh was down-graded to Font 7a+ without explanation… it must just be me. Heres the write up in the Guide:
Van Diemen’s Land was the name given by the miners to the valley above the zigzags in Glendalough – so-called after the barren lands in Tasmania where convicts were being sent at the time. There are a few boulders, but seeing as it’s a fifteen minutes walk past the best bouldering in Ireland, it will not appeal to many people. On the south side of the stream beside the first spoil heap is the Holiday Boulder which was cleaned and climbed on by Dave Ayton over Christmas ’08.
If a 15 minute walk along a nice path is enough to put off Irish boulderers then I can suddenly understand why I seem to be lucky enough to keep finding unclimbed rock! Jaysus lads! Before that there was the Hidden groove block blitz – when I graded King Cobra Font 6a people gave out stink insisting it was harder! I’m open to criticism about my grades but would take such grade changes easier if it came from repeat ascentionists who also offered comments on the lines quality and or worth. First ascents take a good deal more time and effort than subsequent ascents and quite often people discover new beta and sequences and grades settle – I know this. Plus I’m aware that I have a bigger reach than most. Combine that with me being way weaker than most and I realise I’m going to be shit at grading!

Anyway – I hope this cave gets known as Ayton’s Cave as I’ll not be around Ireland much and my Dad was out there thinking of us Irish climber types and gave up his time so that this place could be explored. I honestly feel that the potential for hard bouldering in this cave is massive! Enjoy Folks! Topo, maps and a list of whats been done and cleaned or worked to come.

Victory!!

2010-05-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

Well this evening was perfect... Caroline and myself arrived at the crag in perfect conditions and feeling fresh. Dry cool rock, good light and a gentle breeze. Most importantly Caroline's skin was feeling better and her goal was obvious. Warming up on the 6b the rock felt great. Right then straight onto the 7b+. I lead up it putting in the draws and lower off, brushing the holds even though they didn't need any attention... just following routine at this stage. Caroline ties in and flows up to her redpoint crux at half height. Chalking, I could tell she was going to send. Left hand onto the crimp, right foot stepps through, left foot way out onto it's ticked edge and now the crux ... Caroline moves her right hand from the big undercut and latches the small crimp, but only for a moment, she immediately moves it onwards to the high right hand edge... hitting it her body flexes away from the wall and i can see her 3 fingertips just latch the high edge, fingers straight. Previous attempts saw Caroline ping off at this point but this was different, she bounced her right hand into a half crimp and moved her feet across and up onto her familiar edges and slopes and eyeballed the base of the crack marking the end of the technical crux and the beginning of the final 3 clips worth of draining, off balance, stabbing up the finishing flared crack. Switching into auto pilot Caroline just executed each move as she had done countless times before... not making a sound until clipping the chains and letting out a scream that echoed around the crag! Over two weeks of effort and around 15 redpoint attemps. Rain, cold, 27 degree heat waves, fatigue, thin skin, sore shoulders and split tips! Awesome!! After seeing all that I felt motivated to get on El Rincon again – falling off the initial crux move between the first and second bolt I hung on the rope. It was feeling good tonight. I chalked up and pulled on with my feet probably 2m above the ground. Every hold felt positive and I moved through the sequences I had worked placing the draws as I climbed. I made it to the chains without falls or rests!!! YES! Feck!! Now I know it’s on!!! Brilliant!! I gave it two more redpoint attempts but fell off one move from the change of angle and the good undercut above the crux! We finished up with a few laps on Extreme ways for a finger friendly pump. I'd say that was a productive Friday evening alright!!

All the small things

2010-05-27T14:20:00.001-07:00

The past two weeks have passed by in a blur of work and climbing and sore tips. Caroline has been trying her project whenever she’s had a chance and it’s awesome to see. It’s re-defining my ideas of what makes a project. Up until now 5 goes would represent an epic battle… Belaying Caroline for the 14th attempt last night, it was interesting to see the affect coming so close so many times can have on a climber. She wants it real bad now. But the drive to climb it is causing her to want to send it any chance she gets… unfortunately the nature of the crux means Caroline has to pull damn hard on some tiny crimps and hike her feet up high for a deadpoint to another sharp edge. Her skin just can’t take it but her need to finish what she started won’t let her take a break and recover. Catch 22. Last night after a rest day Caroline punctured her tips during her first try of the evening – feeling fresh and having a route dialled was not enough it seems. Logistics and patience. It really is all in the head. It’s also brought the old grade debate into my mind again – does size matter? Obviously it does! It’s clear to see that Carolines sequence is a solid couple of grades harder then the one I use but she still gets the same grade for all her effort. Similarly Neals sequence through the start of Elite Syncopations looked about right for the 8a grade while mine (reach dependant) feels far, far easier. Caroline cut through the bull and put it simply – I don’t care, I just want to do the route. What have I taken from all this? Well in an attempt to avoid hypocrisy I have kept trying the 8a+’s despite feeling like little or no progress is being made. But I can’t NOT try them while Caroline is pushing herself to go through the project process – it’s inspiring. The problem with only having two 8a’s, two 8a+’s and three 8b’s at the crag is that they’re damn hard and can be very specific and/or conditions dependant. All too easy to sack them off as being impossible for me, my style, my height (Yes! Sometimes even being tallish can make a Dinbren move hard!) or being out of condition. Well I’ve done the 8a’s so I’ve no option but to work on the others. Last night marked a milestone for me. The realisation that after 9pm the temps dropped sufficiently for the first crux to be held on El Rincon, kicked my brain into fighting gear and I managed the route in two big overlapping links for the first time. From the deck, through the crux to above the 3rd bolt – and from below the crux (around second bolt), through it and through the bulge, past the rockover and on to the chains. Totally unexpected and marking a huge leap forward for me. All of a sudden it seems possible to me.

I want to get to other areas more now but funds and the cost of diesel are keeping me close to home. Hopefully over the coming weeks we’ll make it to LPT more often and I can start to play on a crag with a bit more variety in the 8’s :o)

Irish Invasion

2010-05-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago we had the all too rare chance to entertain some guests and show some people round our local crag, Dinbren. Sean Marnane, Kev Marnane and Tricia Fox got the ferry over from Dublin and Mr McQuaid (he’s old now so we have to call him that) came by train from Sheffield. Right then, 6 Paddys vs Dinbren…. This was gonna be epic! Haa! After the Marnane morning bakery stop we got to the crag in blue skies and perfect conditions. Everyone went up the 6b warm-up to get a feel for the rock and then we split up and the routes were attacked. Tricia’s lead of the 6b was also her first ever lead outdoors, deadly stuff! Caroline got stuck into her 7b+ and I pointed Sean and Neal towards Fat Boys 7a+ while Kev and Tricia played on Resist and Exist 6b+. Knowing all too well how difficult route reading here can be on first acquaintance I was offering beta out left, right and centre but you know yourself – it’s one thing someone shouting up how to do a move and quite another to actually make sense of it when you’re up there. The day went by and routes were jumped on all over the place. I ended up playing on Gwennan, an 8a+ that had apparently never been repeated. A vicious and stretched sequence through a low roof got you to … Blah, blah, blah! This post has been a stop start thing for two weeks now! I give up... Heres what’s still stuck in my head about it all;

Neal onsighted Technicolour Yawn, 7a+
Tricia lead her first 6c
Kev lead his first ever 7a+, Fat Boys
Sean lead Bandits, 7b+, Full respect after putting in two days of siege redpointing
Caroline made 6 solid redpoint attempts of her 7b+, falling at the top of the crux and then leading straight to the top
Myself and Neal played on two 8a+’s and an 8a on top of all the 7’s
The cakes were great!

By Sunday evening I was wiped out!!!

Awesome weekend!

Thanks to Tricia for the use of the pics!!!

Elite Syncopations

2010-05-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

I first tried this ages ago and thought it was impossible.
Then i tried it before going to Siurana and still couldn't do two entire sections and was convinced that if it was possible it was for only the strong.
Tonight i climbed it - it felt beautiful - the holds felt big and happy - the moves were beautiful and in balance - and the evening sun was warm.

Caroline gave me the beta for my redpoint crux right at the top and the impetus to try it again. I couldn't of sent it this evening without her.

8a and a personal best for me - best for difficulity - best for unexpected - best for personal progress - best for style. So psyched for more it's insane!!!!!!!

Enter your zone

2010-05-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

Forget what you think you know about where your limits are. Climb without guides. Climb often. Climb happy.

After 9 days of climbing in Siurana and 3 weeks of evening and weekend craging back home in North Wales I am feeling in the best form I have ever experienced. The last two sessions out on rock have totally blown apart the last remains of what I thought was impossible and what I thought was required to achieve personal progression.

I’ve typed about it before and each time I get a little closer to understanding it fully. There really are no limits. Everyone is on an even playing field. We have the same tools, it’s what we do with them that makes the difference.

Friday I had an awesome breakthrough on holds, moves and a route that I previously sacked off and considered impossible. Sunday I had another similar experience on another hard route that I had looked at in the past but considered physically un-doable for me. After aiding up the route to place the draws and brushing the holds, I lowered off, pulled the rope down, tied in and gave it a lead attempt – no expectations, no hopes – just because everything else was busy. I was planning on working one of the many moves I couldn’t do and settling in for a long term project. Without really thinking about it I began bearing down and snatching up the poor holds and steepness… clip, clip, clip, clip. Before long I had climbed through the 8a section and clipped the last draw before the chains. I was chalking up on the rest before the final stiff pull through the crux of a 7b+ that the route joins. I don’t wait long – I expected nothing and have nothing to loose, I launch into the sequence, hike my feet, commit and … my right hand blows out of the wet hand hold. I sail back through the air looking up at the last hold. Only then I realise what I had done and hear the shouts of the people who had stopped to watch. Shit!!!! But I don’t tick 8a’s first redpoint attempt – do I? Why the hell not?!?! I had it!! YES!!!! I can have this anytime!!! Woo hoo!!! I get to climb it again!! That felt amazing!!! I need to focus.

Seeing Caroline working her projects during the past few weeks has given me a kick in the arse. Some days they go smoothly and others it seems like every hold is just a tiny bit too small or far away. Yet she keeps trying and making progress, even if it’s only a new clipping position or finding a different way to hold a piece of rock. From the belayers perspective it’s clear that the ability is there and every move can be climbed so naturally it’s only a case of waiting for a magic moment when it all comes together. But I can see Caroline sometimes doubting if it’s even possible for her some evenings. Obviously it is – and more! I suffer from those same thoughts too… but the beauty of doubt is that it’s very nature insists on there being a possibility of success! From now on, if the move can be done at all – even if it’s only once every hundred tries – I’ll send the route.

Redpointing is all about staying motivated through the hard days and milking any improvements or success’s. Use them to fuel your psyche during the drought periods of repeated failure and fatigue – every moment spent on holds or moving between them your body is assimilating the route – believe. So heres my to do list for the next few weeks out in the open…

Elite Syncopations 8a
Gwennan 8a+
El Rincon 8a+

After payday in a few weeks time I should be able to afford diesel and want to play down at LPT some more… at which point my to do list may well change!

Friday night Progress

2010-05-07T15:08:00.000-07:00

This evening we hit Dinbren feeling very tired. By the time Vince arrived i had warmed up by clipping up Carolines current 7b+ project. Caroline began her lead attmepts in style, cruising the lover roof and dealing with the head games associated with the lead. By the time Caroline clipped the anchors she had clocked up some impressive mileage working the moves and her sequence was clean and efficient - the redpoint is on the cards! Vince warmed up on the 6b and then gave Caroline line a go, finding it difficult but agreeing that it was pure class! My turn. Onto the 8a+... during my last attempt I managed the first "move" but nothing much more. The middle section was untouchable to me. Tonight however things were flowing. I pulled on and Dialed the first crux first go (felt easy! Was this the same route?!!?) and set up for the crux. Holds that felt unusable before gave purchase this evening and i began experimenting with the meager footholds on offer... then click! I discovered my sequence that allowed me to move up on the high left sidepull, hike my feet onto smears, coil up and snatch high with my right to a slopey edge, bump the right toe onto a cornflake and stab again with the right into a sidepull and put the next draw in and make the clip. I had just climbed through the crux and made the clip! The next energy sapping section kept me busy for a while - an obvious chalked undercut kept enticing my left hand but it was foolish... I was Waaay to low for that and it was waaay too shit to be of use yet. The sequence I came up with that allows me to make it to the "rest" undercut is like a complicated dance - I LOVE technical climbing!! The top quarter of the route didn't put up much resistance and i cruised on to the top but i'm not fooled... the redpoint crux will no doubt be the delicate rockover through the top bulge on truely piss-poor slopers! It's on and I'm psyched!!!!

Moving on...

2010-05-06T04:14:00.001-07:00

We relocated to North Wales from Ireland nearly 6 years ago – can you believe it’s been that long?!?! Basically I followed Caroline over when she began her studies at Chester University. A combined honours degree, PGDE and NQT year later and we’ve accomplished what we originally set out to do. Caroline is now a fully qualified teacher and we are ready for another move. Somehow along the line I became a teacher too. Since being over here I got engaged, bought a house, owned 3 cars, changed career, ran for North Wales, adopted Rocky the wonder dog, climbed 8a sports, E8 trad and bouldered Font 7c. I got my Mountain Leader, Mountain Biking Instructor, Raft Guide, Canoe and Kayak coach, swift water rescue and white water safety qualifications. We’ve mostly been skint … but we’ve had a good time together and continue to grow.

Well while climbing in Siurana over Easter we nipped down to Alicante for interviews at an English speaking private school. We both got jobs!! So this July we pack up our lives and hit the road to Spain and on to a new chapter. We’ve both handed in our notices in work and are beginning to get very excited about the whole thing. I don’t have too much more to give away yet but for now all I can say is that the small village of La Nucia, above Benidorm is going to be our new home. And yes, there is plenty of climbing! The Rockfax Costa Blanca guide lists over 3,500 climbs within an hours drive. Plus we’ll be 4 hours from Siurana and the best rock on the planet and 4 hours from El Chorro. Just check out the 8a.nu crag search… Who wants to visit?

Extreme Ways

2010-05-06T03:28:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday we walked up to Dinbren in light rain - our reward was the rain stopping and the sun appearing below the distant clouds before setting, leaving the quickly drying crag still and calm in the gentle warmth. Magic evening to redpoint a brilliant route. Lee's Extreme Ways, 7c. One of my new favourites...

Pembroke

2010-05-06T03:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we packed up the car and hit the road south, destination Pembroke. Despite the appalling weather forecasts we were psyched to get a trad break in and meet up with Neal and Naomi. I had a hunch that the weather Gods would smile on us and that all the forecast rain would fall further inland – I was right! 3 days of clear skies and dry rock were on the cards.

It felt good to be back on familiar ground – we’ve spent a lot of time down here during our years in the UK. But having not lead any trad lines since October I was feeling rusty and Caroline hadn’t lead on gear in well over a year. An easy introduction in Stennis sorted us out and then I ab’ed into have a look at a line I’ve wanted to do for years – Ghost Train, E7 6b. Immediately the rock didn’t inspire confidence and I decided to back clip the line on ab and toprope it. It was brilliantly steep the whole way and relied on 8 points of fixed protection in the form of threads. Two problems though, the rock was filthy and loose and the threads were ancient and creaky! The top peg was completely blown out and rusted and needed backing up by wires too. This felt like it hadn’t been done in a while. Surprisingly the climbing felt easy – despite the dirt and breaking holds. Climbing it wouldn’t be a problem but coming off due to a breaking foothold onto suspect threads would. I climbed it 3 times in all just for some mileage but in the end just couldn’t justify leading it in it’s current state – I would have just been doing it for the tick and not because it inspired or challenged me. Probably 7a+ or 7b climbing and safe all the way.

But it got me thinking a lot while I was climbing other routes. This whole trad thing… seems less about the climbing and more about placing the gear and deciding to trust loose rock. I was missing the physical challenge on these routes and not enjoying the slow pace and bravado associated with what are essentially piss easy climbs. Being honest I was a prime example of a climber playing to their strengths. When I started climbing I was fat and weak – so I climbed to my strengths – my head. When I was 17 I soloed some E4 slabs. Then I realised I was quite good at placing and trusting gear so I targeted technical lines around Dalkey and the Burren with definite cruxes and reliable protection. Eventually I built up the strength to climb steeper lines and could venture onto the sustained cracks of Mirror wall and Fair Head. This was when I began proper climbing. But even then I left the head’s cracks for the more technical and bold face climbs. I found the E6’s at Fairhead easier than the E3 cracks! All this time I avoided sports climbing and hard bouldering or at best treated it as a joke or bit of fun for a while – simply because I was too weak for it. I could just about manage the odd 7a sports route (if it suited me!). Well lately I am feeling more and more comfortable on sports climbs. I am loving the physical difficulty and the falls and the run-outs and the solid rock, small holds, steepness, diversity of the climbing, the power. And although the trad lines are feeling easy they’re not ringing my bells in the same way – I miss having to fight. And that’s where I think things have begun to change – the E7/8 I did in the pass last year was an eye opener. My first true headpoint. 7b+/c climbing in a ground fall position above psychological protection. It needed a sequence, it needed to be precise, conditions mattered and I needed to fight and stay in control of myself. But the rock quality was unquestionable so I could justify the climb through belief in myself – it was like a test of that belief. It’s easy to say “I would never let go” but until you’re somewhere where letting go has a serious consequence – how do you know? In Pembroke I resigned myself to having a fun weekend of climbing low to mid E-grades as I couldn’t justify leading anything harder with the prospect of loose rock. And I wasn’t prepared to devote much time into cleaning when there were others who wanted to climb and nothing that I really, really wanted to climb there. For now at least, trad is taking an enjoyable backseat in my priorities.

Onto Caroline. She was feeling rusty as hell on this trad sea cliff climbing. Double ropes, seconding, carrying a rack, setting up belays, etc… But by the third morning Caroline had adjusted well – her trad switch had been flicked and she warmed up with a onsight of a nice E1 on the White Tower near Mother Carey’s. Straight after that she was eyeing up a neighbouring E2. From the ground it looked spicy and as I had never done any of the routes down here I had no advice to give. Caroline started up off the belay ledge and after placing her first wire was up against a difficult move off an undercut. Making the high step up and span to the next edge meant she was totally committed and in an un-reversible position. Keeping calm and taking time to shake out Caroline managed to place two wires and a small cam and then ploughed on through high steps, smears and sidepulls to the sanctuary of a small detached flake and a sling runner. After that it was like watching a vertical sprint to the belay ledge – it was obvious that the intensity of our recent sports climbing was doing wonders for both Caroline’s endurance and route reading – she was climbing smoothly and with confidence – It’s a good place to be when you get there.

Finishing off the weekend in a café with Neal, Naomi, Matt and Marsha was the perfect ending to a great weekend. I’m gonna have to climb a lot more with these guys before our move!!

Pics

2010-04-27T14:35:00.001-07:00

Success!!!

2010-04-27T14:11:00.001-07:00

This evening after one rest day Caroline redpointed her first 7b in over 3 years!! Walking up to the crag, conditions were perfect. Gentle breeze and warm evening light. Warming up on the crag 6b Caroline felt good, taking her time and chalking up on the smaller holds. I went up the project and placed the draws and noticed the improvement. The friction on the undercuts was waaay better than it was on Sunday and even with just the one days rest my skin was feeling better. Caroline had been suffering sleepless nights due to the 7b… she was becoming obsessed! It’s class! With a extremely powerful crux low down Caroline took a warm-up go to remember the sequence and then lowered off. Unfortunately taking a chunk out of her little finger. It was pumping blood but determined to continue we just taped it up as best I could and Caroline readied herself. Shaking out and chalking up, Caroline looked focused but happy. Styling through the low roof, she arrived at the high undercuts – just below her previous highpoints. Clip, left sidepull, hike the feet, right crimp, right high sidepull, clip – progress! High right crimp, edging the feet up on tinies… at this point Caroline was pumped and this was an on – off move! I remember falling from this point when redpointing this route for the first time AND belaying Nige Calendar during his early attempts on the route when he came off at this move. Caroline adjusted her left hand on the small crimp and then slapped for the high jug, latching it just as one of her feet popped! By this stage interest in the ascent had built at the crag and 5 or 6 people were watching and cheering… finishing the route Caroline was beaming! That was a landmark route and although she had lead 7b once before in France, this is her hardest route to date by far – Awesome!!

Redpointing

2010-04-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

Caroline is breaking new ground up at Dinbren lately. During all the years that we’ve been climbing on Clwyd Limestone, Dinbren was one crag that just kept shutting Caroline down. She’d never lead a single pitch up there before a fourth night ago and now she’s lead 6b, 6b+, 6c, 6c+, 7a and 7a+. All these leads were dispatched pretty swiftly too! One onsight effort followed by working a route to the chains and then Caroline has managed to send every route on her first redpoint effort. Unsurprisingly 7b is next on her list and with a range of powerful 7b’s and b+’s to try Caroline had spent a few session just testing a couple of the better know classics to see if they’d suit her style… who am I kidding?!?! She was testing to see if she could reach all the bloody holds – forget style! First up was Bandits. Originally this was graded 7c+ and now is 7b+ in the guide – people give it whatever they feel it justifies. Caroline managed to do every move pretty quickly but the long burly lurches between undercuts through the lower overhangs left her zap’ed for the thin and technical middle section. A big ask but a worthy project… Caroline is keeping Bandits for a longer term project.

For now she was looking for something that would push her but also allow progress. Fire was next on the list – originally I put Caroline off trying this due to the really reachy starting moves – they’re brutal! Vince had figured out a different sequence to mine for the start and once Caroline had watched him redpoint it she was keen. No top-roping this time, Caroline choose to work it on lead… before long she was clipping the chains and had the rough outline of a sequence – but unsurprisingly it was pumpy. 3 redpoint efforts that day saw Caroline further refine her moves and she was now falling off the upper wall well above the crux out of sheer pump – her carrots were cooked! The following day Caroline felt like she had been run over by a bus – shoulders, biceps and back were all aching. But desperate for the tick she went up again – the route was on her brain and she was wanting it bad. Again, falling off the 5th clip out of fatigue but further refining her sequence. A few rest days are on the cards for us both and it’ll be interesting to see what difference it makes to us both. It’s really interesting to see someone else go through the process of working something, making breakthroughs and having setbacks… from an outside perspective it’s clear to see that they’ll get it any go given the right conditions, rest etc… but from inside their heads it’s this daunting task, this huge obstacle. I wonder do people think I’m such a good bet to send my projects, do I look as close to redpointing every go… I doubt it! I’ll keep posting with Caroline’s progress as and when :o)

Know yourself

2010-04-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

Last week I tried a 7c+ up at the crag…. I couldn’t make head nor tale of the crux – no holds I could use. I felt I gave it an honest go too – tried every combination of handholds, footholds, intermediates, undercuts, crossovers, deadpoints, slaps – nothing worked! Shut down! Some fresh scars on the rock let me know the route had changed lately and the guide description of a good hold by the second bolt was way off – all that was there was an epoxy stain where a glued on hold had once been. Was it still 7c+ or was it now an 8? I lowered off and crossed it from the list of routes to do at the crag – for me this was impossible.

Could someone please then explain to me why on Saturday (my fifth day of climbing straight this week!) when I tied in at the base of the same route (for some unknown reason) I pulled some sick, devious sequence out of nowhere and managed to redpoint it 3rd go?!? I was totally confused! I had really considered this thing impossible and Vince (the Belgian) was surprised too. He had belayed my failed attempts when I first tried it and was there on Saturday to see the redpoint.

I need to realise the HUGE difference working a route makes. Impossible to enjoyable. What was to blame for this drastic turn around? Stronger? Nope! More holds? Deffinately not! Better conditions? Nope – if anything slightly too hot. So it must be my head. I think once I know I have a sequence and something to aim for I’m quite good and just taking a deep breath and blasting through things that really I shouldn’t be able to. If that is a trait of mine i really should learn to take account of it more often and use it to my advantage intentionally. Reminded me of my first 8a. That was another one I had walked away from after having to resort to aiding on bolts to get to the lower off… something pulled me back onto it though and eventually I sent it.

Morale of the story? Keep trying hard – it’ll pay off!

I’ve now sent three 7c’s and two 7c+’s within a session or two - three tries max. This evening (Sunday) I even cooled down by clipping up Friday’s 7c for Vincent to try – no falls, no rests, no hassle! I need to try something harder…

And on the 28th day….

2010-04-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

The smallest things can make the biggest difference. Out of the last 27 days, I’ve spent 23 climbing on rock. That’s 4 rest days out of 27 and one of those I did a board session on the fringe! And somehow my skin is holding out fairly well! I’ve taken to looking after my skin a bit better at the end of a session. Washing the chalk straight off, sanding down any broken or thick skin and then getting some moisture back into them. All I can say is that it’s paying off… and I’ve been climbing on some fingery, sharp and snatchy routes!

Evening light

2010-04-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we made the 120 mile pilgrimage to Malham – it was a scorcher and the place was full of tourists and climbers. First up I jumped straight onto Raindogs , 8a, to get the draws in and try the moves. Finger friendly holds and nice moves all the way but every one burly and every move relies on specific body positions – everything is a undercut or sidepull and all the footers are polished to the point of looking shiny in the dead heat. I gave it one go in the midday heat and then lowered off cleaning the draws – not today! The rest of the day was spent onsighting lower grade 7’s – 4 7a pitches and a 7b finished off the trip. This week the Dinbren fun continues. We’ve been up and climbing tue, wed, thurs and Fri – sweet! This weeks haul of new sends include a 6b+, 6c and 6c+ for Caroline and a 7B+ and 7c for meself, happy days!! It’s been great to be able to get out almost every day just for a few routes and I’m feeling the benefit of the mileage on rock. I love the movement and flow you get to experience on the routes outside – nothing even comes close indoors! This is where I want to be, this is why I climb.

Tuesday was freezing and unsurprisingly we had the crag to ourselves. I was still feeling tired after the weekends climbfest so it was all Caroline this time. First on her list was a short and steep 6c+ with a definite crux move over an overlap. 1st go Caroline got into the crux but due to numb hands hung on the rope. lowering off and pulling the rope Caroline was rubbing some heat and life back into her hands – warm now – send it! Sweet! Second up was a neighbouring 6c which due to a long reach makes it feel much harder to most climbers shorter than 5’10. This used to be Caroline’s nemesis and she never ever managed to climb it in the past. This evening however, the recent mileage on rock and confidence on lead made the difference and Caroline lead it first go – no working and probably a good 2 years since trying it last – very impressive.

Wednesday I was feeling like I wanted more routes under my belt so decided to drop the target grades and aim for some quick ticks – first up was Bolt the Blue Sky Direct – a burley and steep 7b+ with a crux dyno to a jug and a steady top section (if a little run-out). The onsight went well but the prospect of dyno’ing to an unknown hold wasn’t that appealing. I fell off due to hesitating then clipped it up to the chains. 1st redpoint I sent it – happy with that!

Thursday I moved focus onto Dyperspace 7c – this takes a direct line through probably the steepest terrain at the crag. The first 3 bolts see you climb through a 2m horizontal roof, finishing with a deadpoint out of an egyptian to a jug and cutloose. There then follows a redpoint crux on crimps and poor footers leading into another roof with a crack. 1st redpoint I surprised myself by making it through the roof to the redpoint crux but blew off by ripping off an undercut – awesome fall! Now I needed a new sequence for the top – no problem. 3 more redpoint attempts gave me the best burn I had in weeks – leaving the crag I was sated. I knew it was in the bag and I was happy with the session. Friday. With aching shoulders and after a week at school I was wrecked. Caroline wanted to tick off a 6b+ that she’d never lead before so we went up to the crag. The minute I walked under the roof of the 7c I wanted to get the draws in it – Caroline reckoned it was on tonight so I warmed up by swinging my arms around a few times (both directions mind!) and then went up to put the draws in – but it was feeling so good that I just kept going to the chains – Ticked! And I think I have a new favourite route at Dinbren and warm-up :o) Caroline did the same, tied in and flowed up her 6b+ to the chains first go. Happy with that we packed up and went home.

Dinbren Sessions

2010-04-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

In the last 7 days we’ve been climbing up at the crag of justice no less than 6 times… Result! Determined to keep some momentum in out climbing after Siurana we’ve been putting in the hours after work. Sunday after Siurana we headed up with the Doozers to soak up some Dinbren sun and start picking projects. Caroline began by getting stuck into Hot Stuff, 7a. Her Flash attempt went well but route finding and pumped arms forced her to rest above the crux. I went off and had a play on When Saturday Comes, 7c. I had been on this before but it was just too fingery for me back then. This time I got the draws in and worked the moves pretty quickly. Caroline went back for her redpoint attempt on the 7a and dispatched it in one – power roars and all. Awesome! With a steep powerful roof to start and a off balance layback above I reckoned this was probably Caroline’s most impressive lead – despite not having the biggest grade. Well rested from working the 7c it was time for my redpoint – first go I failed on the high crux deadpoint to a tiny edge – after lowering and pulling the rope through I jumped straight on and dialled each move – this time pausing to shake and chalk each hand twice off the undercuts below the deadpoint – pulling into the launch position I felt more in control and latched the edge no problem – feet up on shit footers, clip – sent! Monday evening Caroline moved onto her next project – Fat Boys, 7a+. I hate this route! I had lead 7b+ at Dinbren before I could redpoint this mother – it’s one of those rare routes with a height dependant crux that favours the short! I knew Caroline would nail the crux but on the other hand I knew she would have to fight through the long reaches through the starting roof and upper wall. I got on Insomnia, 8b. The loss of a crucial hold between the 1st and 2nd bolt has made the start of this route impossible for me at the minute – it remains unrepeated.
Wednesday we return and Caroline began the redpoint of Fat Boys. First redpoint Caroline surprised herself by cruising the lower roof and crux section but came off the tricky transition into the upper layback. Lowering off and taking 10 mins rest Caroline was ready for round 2 – Again, the lower roof and crux presented not much by way of difficulties but left Caroline feeling pumped – too pumped to pull the move she had worked into the layback – Fighting on, Caroline just invented a new sequence, more, smaller and harder moves and a hell of a lot of fight got her high up above the bolt and crossing over to the flat hold and a rest – Sent! 7a+ at Dinbren! Thursday evening it was just me and the doozers – while they were working a 6c I went off and clipped my way up a 7c+ I had never tried before, The Rivals. As luck would have it I met a Belgian bloke, Vincent, who was at the crag for the first time and whos partner had to cancel last minute – well I was happy to show him around and he gave me a belay on the 7c+. Another route showing the signs of hold loss – epoxy stains where a hold had been glued on and come off and lots of orange scars of recent broken holds – one move was absolutely NAILS! Everything else felt easy – so one to come back to methinks. To get some mileage in I did a 7b+ and 7a+.
Friday I start checking out El Rincon, 8a+. For me the hardest move is definitely between the 1st and 2nd bolt but I’d imagine on redpoint the top move is killer. Anywho, after a good bit of work I got a sequence for the lower wall and then made a snap decision to try and onsight the left variant, finishing up Orgasmatron with a grade of 7c+. It was a fight to keep it together after the 8a start but with the top 4 bolts only being 7a I managed to keep it together to the chains – nice!! El Rincon is next on the list. After this I lead The Bandits – originally graded 7c+ and 7b+ in the current guide it’s one of those routes whos grade can be argued about for hours. When I first tried it last year I though it was desperate – now it seems I can lead it anytime, placing the draws so maybe for me the 7b+ grade is becoming appropriate. Anyway, I was happy with leading it and now it was time for Caroline to begin to dissect the route into it’s 3 component parts – Burley start through some steepness leads to a fingery middle wall and finally into an energy sapping capping overhang. This is going to be a worthwhile project… watch this space.

Siurana

2010-04-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

Right so… lets lay the cards out on the table. October’s trip to Font marked our re-introduction to climbing – we’d been doing feck all before this and Font marked the starting point. After Font we made a decision to start doing a little and often through the winter. Training indoors and making as many forays out onto real rock as possible to keep the psyche high through the dark months. Around Christmas we decided a trip to Siurana was well overdue so we booked flights of Easter and began making our weekly trips to Awesome walls in Liverpool to get some leads in. All this time I wouldn’t say our training was hard, it was just a gentle way of letting our body’s know they were in for a lot more climbing this year. So Siurana was always intended to act as a kind of introduction to sports climbing and give us a benchmark of where we stood in the scheme of things. Once we had this information we could work on some goals for the summer and really keep the pressure on for making progress. 3 years since out last sports climbing trip! Jeeze!!

Anyway, we arrived in Siurana late on the Tuesday evening exhausted after finishing up a busy term in school and travelling to Spain. It was great to be back and catching up with Toni while flicking through his new guidebook and being shown his latest mountain running trophies. We hit the hay and had what felt like the best sleep in months – the holiday had begun!

Eager to get out on rock, we got up early and headed straight down to L’Olla in the valley to warm up. I jumped on a fingery 6c and due to the early morning chill I was numb by the top – but saying that I couldn’t remember ever finding it that easy before – Caroline followed by leading it but without any sports climbing like this in the last three years or so she took a while to get into the required mind set to climb above the bolts and took a rest above the crux before leading on to clip the chains. I felt curious so just tied in and tried a neighbouring 7c, Ya Os Vale – a few minutes later I was at the top, having totally missed the last bolt in my sprint for the chains! Sweet!! Before long Caroline was in full sports climbing mode and had lead a rake of 6’s onsight and felt ready to tackle a few 7’s. First to fall was an epic long 7a in El Flaco. With a low technical crux and long runouts at the top it wasn’t a route I would have expected Caroline to onsight but before long she was near the top and stuck in a layback position. Out to her right was a large hole but it was out of reach and footholds were sparse – I hadn’t even noticed the reach but it stopped her dead in her tracks! I was thinking about shouting up to try and reverse the layback to a rest nearer the low bolt but before I could say anything Caroline just swung and dyno’ed across to the large pocket, feet swinging out! The locals erupt with “Venga, Venga!!” as Caroline finds something for her feet and clips the draw – the rest of the route was a plod by comparison and Caroline had onsighted her first 7a in 3 years – super nice! A few hours later we headed back to L’Olla and Caroline, fresh from the onsight, wanted a go at a shorter and harder 7a – the fingery and technical “Cargol true banya” was on the hit list – dispatched 1st redpoint. After my early success on the 7c I began to play on Anabolica, 8a. I had played on this with McQuaid 3 years earlier and knew I could do every move but also knew that it was at my limit. Well this time if felt cruisey! The crux under the roof felt solid – But throughout 9 straight days of climbing and with failing skin and strength I just couldn’t do the bleedin thing in one go! The best was two overlapping halves – psyched! Stubbornly I decided not to try another 8 in that sector before I send the classic. Every morning we got up, I had 3 redpoints on Anabolica, we had breckfast and went onsighting, back for lunch and a siesta and out again in the evening for more climbing. I kept to my aim of trying an 8 a day – some 8a+’s and an 8b but I never committed time into any – this was just testing the water for later in the year. Somewhere in there we managed to fit in some running again too. It felt brilliant to be running again such a relief after something like 6 months off due to my back injury. It was also the first trip ever where I never fell of a 7 – altogether I lead over 20 pitches from 7a to 7c, some onsight, some repeats but zero falls or rests! Awesome!

One major landmark for me was a rematch with an old nemisis - 8 or 9 years ago I had my first trip to Siurana and was full of stories of this awesome 7b+, Bistec de Biceps. I couldn't even dog it! I basicially had to Aid up the bolts just to retrieve the draws - it was horrible! People were laughing, my harness was leaving fleshwounds, an English bloke even filmed it and played in back at the restraunt - oh the shame! As a result of those non-to-minor mental scars i had avoided the route ever since - well this time Caroline fancied a go and i duely tied in to clip up the draws - And a Flash! Whats more, it felt EASY!! Whoop! Caroline began working it and really enjoyed the steep powerful style - similar to some of the north Wales bouldering. One for next visit!

And ontop of all the climbing we had our lovely little room, Toni’s Mam’s cooking, Ciabatta bread, fresh fruit, Sunshine, chilling out by the river, reading the backlog of books and just finding some space and time away from life back home – perfect!
Leaving Spain never felt so wrong…

1 Weekend: 2 comps and some real rock!

2010-03-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

Imagine a giant climbers playground buzzing with good tunes and psyched people. Now set 30 problems covering a huge variety of styles and strengths. Now imagine the problems are harder than you first thought. Give it an IBL style scoring format and informality and bingo! You have the qualifing round of the CWIF 2010.

Theres always a few extroverts! Tom and Ryan stand firm for equality and the re-introduction of bright lycra into the world of climbing - respect!

The Semi's

The finals...

My favourite problem of the comp - i wouldn't of tried it if Neal hadn't suggested it. A few things i picked up from the day. I'm just at the point where i can step onto the climbing continium - i havn't even begun to get good or even understand what "good" is! Style is everything - climbing style that is. Generally the problems felt like wrestling giant lego blocks. Pinches on aretes, twisting and clamping with footholds clearly out of fashion. Brilliant, physical bouldering! But a very definate style - never a case of just pulling (bone-ing) down on small edges - everything felt relatively ergonomic. Interesting. Plus gains were seen - there were at least 3 problems i thought i'd never get that i flashed! a definate sign that i don't do enough (any) indoor bouldering... i mean i've lost touch with whats feasable for me. Also, realising that all our training has been directed towards being able to hold on for longer kinda helps to put things into perspective - if i trained for this kind of thing i'm sure i'd see improvements.

Anyway - big thanks to Smacks, Neal and Naomi for entering us, climbing with us and making us tea!

Sunday - Plas Power had another comp! Jaysus! Another epic feeling 30 problems, this time with much more emphasis on just pulling. the harder the problem the steeper the board and smaller the hold - easy! Caroline finished 2nd in the open senior catagory and was happy enough with that. On the way home from the comp we stopped off at compact wall and squeezed in 3 leads up to 6c before the rain just to get into gear for Siurana!

Statement of Intent

2010-03-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

Sat we took the first steps towards climbing outdoors with ropes 2010. LPT - home of mega classics like I've been a bad bad boy, Statement of Youth and Liquid amber.

Everything was wet and it was cold... after a warm up I bit the bullet and got on Statement. No surprise - Its Hard. Evern harder when wet... but it's spell is broken for me now and i'm keen for more.

Surprise 7C!

2010-03-10T10:41:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we took another trip out to Llanberis Pass. This would be our 3rd day on of bouldering and I was feeling abused. Caroline took the sensible option and used the opportunity to take her little sis up Snowdon for the first time (not without incident I might add… two girls in trainers and a Rocky on a snow and ice covered mountain do attract a lot of attention from the crampon wearing gear freak type). I decided to let the girls have some catch up time and hit the rocks again with Sergeant Tom.

Sunday the pass was packed! 3 drives up and down searching for a parking space and eventually we just double parked down by Jerry’s. The place was fully mat’ed! With our 3 pads it brought the total to over 10. I don’t really like a big crowd when I’m climbing but needing to stay within view of the car and wanting to project something I just had to join the gang. Everyone was sound. Don’t know why it keeps surprising me really…. I mean we’re all like minded people there for the rock. A nice group of lads finishing up their weekend away from Birmingham Uni and a local couple. All in all there were 2 people seriously working Jerry’s and 2 or 3 other blokes playing on some holds but not really doing much. Tom’s agenda was Jerry’s – he wants it bad and set to work on the starting moves leading to the crack. This was his second session on the problem and he was making some progress but conditions weren’t helping… believe it or not it was quite hot!

I felt rubbish but got started on Bus Stop, a powerful V9 to the right of Jerry’s. With only 7 hand movements (in contrast to Jerry’s 20 odd, depending on the sequence used) and at the same grade and on the same lump of beautiful rock I was expecting something harder – I got it. Luckily there were plenty of people around to offer beta and different sequences (some of which not too obvious) and armed with that knowledge I got stuck in. The first move has two potential methods – one method using a sidepull for the left hand to reach for the right hand edge, feels easier than the other. The alternative involves starting right hand on an undercut and left hand on an openhanded pinch – but this, harder method puts you in a much better position for the crux which involves a very precise heelhook on the left sidepull and a shouldery lock with the right arm, reaching for a crimp in the roof before a crucial foot move and a pop with the left hand to an open pinch. After that a tricky top out around the lip sees you on the slab and happy out! I could nail the first move every time using both methods but the crux kept me busy for hours. My heelhook kept coming out during the pop to the high pinch. 5 hours of playing on the one problem left me with a durable sequence and completely shattered! I was wasted.
Tuesday evening, Caroline suggested we go for a night bouldering session so we packed pads and lantern and hit the road, after a warm up on the roadside classics I pulled onto the problem and climbed straight through to the lip – and fell off. But I was soo close! Excited, I jumped back on only to fluff up the first move and not land the flat edge correctly. Noooo…. Had I blown my chance first go? A quick brush of the holds, shuffle of the pads, spit n’squeak of the shoes (especially the left heel) – pulled on and topped out! Feckin eh!! Chuffed!

What next?...

The thought that i had done every move bar one on a famous V12 hadn't crossed my mind (honest!)....

Training

2010-03-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

Well things have been plodding along nicely… with training I’m accepting that no incidents are good incidents. I’m still trying not to go overboard and just keep things at a nice level that let me keep training without getting injured. So far so good, thank God! Last night at the end of an easy fingerboard session I tried the weekly test of pull-up power by trying to lift myself off the floor one-armed. This time the scales were reading 5 kg. Right! For some reason I felt (having never managed a one-armer before) sort of out of balance… the disengaged arm didn’t know what to do or where to be… one leg is raised in an almost crunch position the other keeping a toe on the scales. I tried putting my resting hand on my neck and gave it another go, kind of like a self half-hug. And it made the difference – my first one-armed pullup! And a controlled lower back down! Whey hey!! I then tried it on the left and again, it worked! I don’t know why it worked but it did. Its still not feeling easy though and I’m going to revise my target…. I want to be able to do 3 of them in a row on each arm with my disengaged arm across my core, instead of on my neck.

Regarding the details of what I’ve been playing with in order to achieve this – off set pull-ups, high hand on a sloper, lower hand on the smallest edge (openhanded) roughly 6 inches lower. 10 reps, 6 sets, alternating which hand is highest. I’ve also been going sets of 3 reps with a 20kg weight hanging off my waist. Only 4 sets of these making sure to lower very slowly and trying to let the higher arm do most of the work.

This morning I clocked in at just under the 78kg mark and psych levels are tip top! The weekend trips to Snowdonia bouldering are helping no end! This is why I’m doing it (the training). It’s all for the rock and I’m seeing huge progress on problems I really struggled with in the past. I’m keeping an open mind now regarding projects – I want to work something hard, something beautiful, a new level for me – no firm candidates as yet but I’d love to try a V10 or V11. I’m just going to have to try a lot of problems and see what feels worthy of investing a lot of time into :o)

Spending spree

2010-03-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

Wear and tear around the tie-in loop

Well 7 years on I’ve bought a new harness. Yep, I’ve retired my tonne-weight Syncro and bought a super light Petzel something or other… 260g of bright green comfort that’s built for speed. I love it. I’ve also put a voucher for Go Outdoors to good use this week and bought a 60m Topgun II before the Siurana trip… Whoop, whoop, whoop!

Project Fun

2010-03-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

On the road to our playground... Snowdonia!

Still psyched from last weekends bouldering and with the pressure on us to collect a friend from the Airport in Manchester on Sat afternoon - we opted for a Friday night, lamp-light, bouldering session on the cromlech. Awesome! Cold, dark but very Awesome! Caroline spent a good deal of time working her sequence on the backside traverse but the lack of light kept her from sending. I took my turn on Jerry's Roof - I hadn't tried it since i managed to fluke my way to it's top over a year ago after applying siege tactics to it. Friday evening by lamp light i pulled on my shoes and pulled on (no warm up) just to try and get some blood pumping and warm up - i hoped to make it through the start and maybe repeat this a few times before going for it - but it felt so good that i just kept going on the warm up! i eventually dropped off the top-out on the lip due to darkness and wet holds! Shocked! But this was my ultimate problem a few months ago! and now i could afford to be sloppy on it - forget foot holds and sequences, cut loose etc... and still hang on - Sweet! Viva la Training!!

Driving home later that night we were both psyched - Caroline wanted to finish her first V7 (7a+) and i wanted to try and find something hard to project. So Saterday morning we get up and go back for the dispatch. Caroline warms up on the finish of the traverse while i try drying the wet holds - Towel, chalk, brush, chalk. She pulls on and despite the damp holds and tired arms from the nights bouldering she cruises through the sequence to the top out. Her first V7 and a sure sign that the training is paying off.

The problem istelf takes a long (9/10 m) sustained line across the lip of a huge roof behind the Cromlech roadside face. Grades for the problem vairy from V6 to V8+ depending on which problem you choose to exit up - it's a real test of pump resistance especially after the fairly tricky sequence of crimps and slopers at the start.

It was a really good experience to see Caroline go through the process of working something she found hard. Seeing the change as an assortment of holds, that on first aquaintance don't offer a path through them, begin to be linked by altering minute aspects of foot placements or hand sequences. And it was clear Caroline was loving it! She really had to put some thought into her sequence - mainly because the thing was so long and pumpy and any wasted energy at the start would mean the finishing steepness would prove too much for lactic infused arms.

Having worked on this problem during 3 visits to the pass Carolines frustration, eagerness and doubt as to if the climb was actually within her was obvious. On her first go today she was silent as she traversed through the technical crux moves along the lip, no easy to make mistakes, arriving at the large slopers with the potential heel-toe lock, she knew that she had climbed the start as well as she ever could and the send was on the cards. It was obvious as she left the slopers that she was giving it everything - crossing over to the holds in sequence instead of matching - breathing hard and gasping as she lurched between the spaced finishing holds. On landing the top of the boulder she let out a excited scream - chuffed! She really didn't think she had it in herself - i love that feeling. Lets hope theres lots more of this to come in the future...

With that success and with the clock ticking i just jumped on the classic thug fest - The Cromlech Roof Crack, V7. I had no love for this problem - it needs control and arms - plus plety of core tension. Well keeping with current trends - it went fairly handily! Score!!!!

Wet North Wales Bouldering

2010-02-27T14:12:00.001-08:00

Another day, another weather system.... This weekend North Wales will be mostly shity! But we didn't let the rain and sub zero temps keep us off the rocks... oh no!

First on the list were the cromlech boulders. After a couple of V2 and V3 warm-ups we got to work on the Backside traverse, V6/8 (alternate finishes). Brilliant starting moves traversing the lip of a roof on some small, spaced holds gets you to some slopey shelfs and lots of heelhooks. The cramped and contorted finishing moves over the lip, complete with lactic gorged forearms provides the crux. I dispatched the V6 and V7 variants fairly swiftly (thanks to Carolines cunning beta and being lanky) and worked the epic V8 full Backside! Numb lifeless hands called an end to my play and i just spotted Caroline as she worked out a sequence allowing her to traverse the lip. With her sequence solid she made it the full way across, hung out of the slopers at the end of the traverse, shook out and tackeled the finishing sequence. But the pump was too much... tickling the finishing hold at the top of the boulder, her arms eventually gave up and she dropped off - wasted! You know the feeling, every other go after that was building on the pump from the previous tries and Caroline was forced to leave the problem unsent (Till next week!).

With the rain getting heavier in the pass we abandoned ship and headed to The Pit in Ogwen. Everything was wet, it was spiting rain but the Pit was dry - result! The last time i was here i spent the whole time working Harvey Oswald V6 and spotting Nige on the first ascent of the Pit and the Pendulum V8. This time i was curious to see how difficult the V6 felt. Got her first go - even the dynamic finish felt grand - Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!
Right then... what next? I started looking at the Pit Traverse V9. To my surprise it felt great except for the nasty crimpy first few moves and the fact that the finishing V4 arete was wet!

The coolest cross through and twisty-twisty i've ever done on rock - beautiful!

By the end of the session i had linked the start to the jug on the arete - all that remained was the V4 two mover up the arete but after traversing a V9 face i couldn't cope with the wet holds and had to give up - but oh so chuffed with the climbing!! Psyched!!

Snowy North Wales Bouldering

2010-02-20T13:15:00.001-08:00

We got out into Snowdonia today for some rock... Things were wet, temps were cold but our Psyche was high!The Bustach Boulders were our first stop. Below the snowline and in the shadow of Snowdon, they're a hidden gem. Caroline eyes up the Font 6c+ steep line of pockets that make Fagin.

Caroline surprises herself with a quick send. Footwork that makes the most out of the small holds available is the key... or in Carolines case, take your top off and cut loose!

Winter conditions as we move up in altitude towards the Sheep Pen boulders in the Ogwen Valley. Beautiful day and the most inspiring setting you could imagine for bouldering. We were not sure if the problems would be dry or snow covered but it was worth a look.

We found the Sheep Pen in almost perfect conditions. It was Caroline's first time up here and she was amazed by the perfection of the rock and the clean lines. First problem was Dog Shooter a Font 6b that i remmeber taking a few goes at a couple of years back... Caroline onsights it, Haa! Anyway, we end up going through the collection of classics. Toe Dragon (Font 6c) is next, then the obvious and brilliant Toe Dragon into Dog Shooter link up (Font 7a+).

Then Caroline prooves she'd never been here before by suggesting i try "this thing over here". Uggghhhh.... it's The Gnasher (Font 7a). I have tried it before but it's a killer. It needs alot of tension and power to catch a razor sharp tooth filled pocket static or pure ignorance and a high pain treshold to dyno to it! Obviously during past attempts on this problem i tried to rely on the latter.

This time however i could pull on and lock the moves - deadpointing into the pocket in control and moving on to the better finishing holds! The training is working! The first move involves a shoulder high right hand hold (feels best as an open hand) and a knee-height left foot hold (not as large or as positive as you'd like on this angle). The right foot has nothing that fits me and the left hand leaves a flat hold and begins the long journey into the Gnasher's nasty mouth. Brilliant!

Buzzing after that i decided to try one of the 3 remaining problems on the block i had left to do. Toe Dragon into Kingdom of Rain link (Font 7b)... dispatched first go, it was one of those days!