Playing with Video

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

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

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

• 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

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.