Three sevens in a day!

After an unproductive trip to Crookrise on wednesday when I slogged up to the crag with 2 mats but failed to do anything new and a brief trip to Ilkley with Matt on friday - got to crag, it was raining, came back for cup of tea - I was keen to get out this weekend. It was wet and windy yesterday but today was forecast to be perfect. I got woken up before 8 by the sun streaming through the windows but Matt was suffering from a night out in Leeds and so it was nearly 12 before he arrived in Burley. I wanted to go to Simon's Seat/Lord's Seat and so after some cunning parking (glad we weren't in my car as I doubt it would have fitted in the space) we slogged up the hill to Barden Fell. This was nowhere as bad as I thought it would be (only 1 mat helped) but I think it was more of a struggle for Matt!

We headed to Lord's Seat first and after a quick warm-up (the grit here's so rough that I was keen to preserve skin) I tried the 7A to the right of the classic prow/arete McNab. Despite having video beta my "flash attempt" was pretty lame. Matt then had a go and found a great heel-toe and with that and a bit more video foot beta a few goes later it was in the bag. I then pulled the mats over under McNab and after some more video beta and a bit of skin loss I got the crucial undercut and was rocking up onto the slabby topout for the second Font 7 tick of the day.

Matt had quite a few more goes at the 7A (Deep Black) with his lanky method and a few other folk turned up. He was looking pretty close but didn't quite have the energy to pull on the crimps so decided to sack it and so we packed up the pads and headed back towards Simon's Seat. On the way we wandered across the moor to what I thought was Hen Stones but as is often the case the great looking crag in the distance turned out to be tiny and the real crag was a bit further away. When I found it the classic arete we were looking for was obvious and some kind boulderers had put loads of stones in the bog below the arete to keep the pads out of the mud.

The right side of the arete gets 7B and has a much less nasty looking top-out than the left side (7A) so we got on this first. After working out the sequence (no video beta) I was ready to throw for the top but didn't commit. Matt seemed surprised as it didn't look that far and next try I did slap up - missing the good hold but the friction was so good that I stuck it and bumped my hands up to get the jug and then top-out the final 7 of the day. Matt had lots of good attempts on this but couldn't stick the barn-doory move lower down. I got Matt to take a post-send glory shot:



I then had lots of failed attempts to pull onto the 7B+ arete of Free Range but only succeeded in wearing through a couple of tips. Matt managed to get off the ground on this (unlike me) with some extreme span, high foot sequence and so he's keen to come back. I then had a few goes on the left-hand side of the arete that Bird Flu climbs on the right but the first time I got up to the top I didn't commit to the scary mantle and the tries after that I didn't really try to get to it (so I didn't have to wuss out of it again!) We headed back in the faded light after a great afternoon.

Pulling through to victory with bleeding tips...

One of my favourite climbing quotes comes from Warren Harding after he climbed the Nose: "As I hammered in the last bolt and staggered over the rim, it was not at all clear to me who was conqueror and who was conquered: I do recall that El Cap seemed to be in much better condition than I was." What that has to do with today's antics should become clear later but first I ought to note down what I've been up to since I last posted.

Once my fingertip had sort of recovered from Earl I had a couple of hours at Brimham where I looked at some of the outlying bits. I did an ok 6C and then had a few goes on Elwood P Dowd but the top sloper was all gritty and the top-out was wet. After both having rather too large nights out in Leeds on friday Matt and I were too hungover to enjoy the sunny cold conditions on saturday but headed out last sunday. We started off trying Cowboy Daze but it's pretty high and the top needed a clean so after Matt bailed off the last holds I wasn't very psyched to put much effort in. The bottom moves are nice though so I guess I should get on it when it's clean. We then had a lot of goes on Boris or Bust which even with 4(!) mats feels scary. It seemed pretty tricky too but it could just be that once you've had one barn-dooring out of control fall off it committing to the moves feels hard!

Matt on Boris or Bust:



Matt off Boris or Bust:



On wednesday it was again cold and sunny with a gentle breeze - perfect grit conditions. I headed back to the outlying bit of Brimham and with the amazing conditions thought I'd done Elwood P Dowd second try. I then tried to do the slightly harder and better line to the left, Harvey. Due to my own stupid fault - not resting properly between attempts, I failed to stick the slap for the top a few times and then my tips were too trashed to do the start. To make matters worse I got home to discover from the fountain of all knowledge UKB that I had used an eliminated hold on Elwood P Dowd and missed out a hard move.

Today I went back and worked out how to do the last move on Elwood P Dowd without the disallowed hold (and with tape on most of my finger-tips) which was tricky but much more satisfying. However my tips were so sore and pissing blood on the rock that I was worried I wasn't going to be able to do the start. I had a couple of goes but failed to stick the last move. I then had a go at the top move of Harvey and that felt fine. Carefully constructing the minimal amount of tape protection so I wasn't bleeding but could crimp I pulled on Elwood P Dowd and scraped my way up it. I then dragged the mat over under Harvey and also managed to drag myself up it. No post-send glory shots I'm afraid as there was no way I was pulling back onto those slopers with tips like this:



Going shopping in Sainsbury's with bandaged fingers and blood-stained clothes on the way home drew some interesting looks...

Early end to a day of perfect conditions

Cold and sunny with no wind this morning and Matt was keen for a trip to Earl as he's not bouldered there before. I figured I'm so weak at the moment that anywhere we went I'd be disappointed not to crush anything in the perfect conditions so Earl was as good a choice as anywhere as I know where all the classics are and have done quite a few of them so could spray beta.

We met up at Steeton station and I drove to the crag. It looked a bit frosty at first but all the rock was pretty ice-free. We warmed up on the usual aretes where there were a few folk about. A couple of them were trying Handy Andy's which I did years ago between snow showers on an absolutely baltic day when I'd dragged Nicky to the crag from York - she was upset when the snow started but I was so keen to stay I suggested sheltering under a boulder rather than retreating to the car. I've had a few plays on it since but never seriously as the crimps are pretty sharp. Anyway keen to dole out the beta I pulled on and the crimps felt pretty rubbish - they were caked in chalk and felt a bit greasy. For some reason I kept on (probably because I was doing better on it than the other people there) and a few goes later I fell off when my foot popped off as I hit the penultimate hold. Now I was really keen to get it repeated and kind've ignored the suspicious flat spot in my finger. This was a bit sore from earlier in the week when I slipped with a knife whilst chopping celeriac to make soup (how middle-class an injury is that?!). A couple of attempts later the inevitable happened and I tore a huge flapper.



The rest of the day was pretty useless for me as all the tape on my finger tip wasn't helping my already poor form. I failed to do The Flakes, did the John Dunne Slap the crap non-slappy way after way too many goes trying to eliminate the intermediate crimp and had a few useless attempts on Sloping Beauty - probably more goes than it took me to do it years ago.

All in all pretty useless waste of the best conditions this winter. Really need some motivation to get out and try and regain some of the strength from last year.

Perfect conditions

Ice on the bird-bath and sunshine melting the frost of the roof of the houses signified excellent grit conditions this morning. I met up with Matt at Norwood car park and we drove to Brimham.

We started off on Heart shaped slab, thinking this would make a good start to an afternoon of crushing. After flashing the 5+ mantel to warm-up I got on the arete and first go I was rocking over onto the slab thinking it was all in the bag when my foot slipped and I rolled back off. Another few attempts ended the same way but finally with some crucial differences in foot position and a healthy desire to not have to do it again I grovelled my way over the top. It felt pretty insecure and I was glad I didn't get that far when I was on my own!

I pulled back on for some glory shots:







Matt had some attempts but wasn't getting the toe-heel to stick as well as his first attempt and I don't think my dismounts from the top were helping his psyche!

We then went over to the Anchor and Matt crushed this (and on camera too) making the mantle onto the slab look pretty graceful.

We then headed over to Take a Bough a new problem climbed last winter. The landing to this looked worse than I thought but I soon had my heel on and was attempting the committing moves upwards. I got scared as the heel is so good but the hands felt a bit scrittly and so kept backing off. Just as we were about to sack it some more folk turned up and so with about 6+ pads underneath it I tried again but was still not getting committed. The other guy that was trying it had a couple of goes to but also got scared and once the sun went behind the trees it got baltic very quickly so we sacked it and went home.

When it's this warm inside you know the friction will be good on the grit:

(not quite so) weak at Brimham

I went to Brimham with Matt on Sunday meeting up at the Norwood carpark and sharing a lift to the crag. We started off at the Anchor which was absolutely plastered in chalk with tick-marks everywhere:



This really annoyed me as the tick-marks are pointless on this problem as the only hard bit is the horrific mantel to top out. Also although this is hardly the most tourist-visible bit of Brimham a lot of non-climbers go there to look at the rocks and so covering them with chalk is hardly going to improve relations with the National Trust who own the place. I cleaned off as much as I could and then Matt had a few good attempts but failed to do the mantel.

We then went to a very cold and windy Fantasy League and I still couldn't do the last move - I don't get this problem at all, however strong I feel on the start I just don't have the power to slap round the arete. I think I need some better beta for my feet.

We then did a nice 6A+ wall which I should have flashed but was too busy gossiping and so did second go. Then we moved onto Heart-shaped Slab and tried the 6C+ arete on the right of the slab. After working out how to do the huge reach at the start I had a couple of good attempts but ran out of daylight before topping it out.

I came back to Brimham on Wednesday and tried the arete again. The first moves felt easy and soon I was past Sunday's highpoint and thought it should be in the bag. Multiple attempts later all failing with me rolling backwards off the rockover onto the slab and my skin was too trashed to do the start any more. Really annoying as with the benefit of a spot I think I'd have MTFU'd up and topped it out. Oh well another one to come back for. After this I had a couple of goes on Fantasy League but my skin was too trashed really.

I went to Brimham again today as the cold sunny morning looked really promising. Unfortunately on the way I was chasing some ominous clouds and when I got there it was pretty damp. Fantasy League was too scrittly to attempt so I wandered down to the Pommel area which was pretty green and damp. The only thing that was dry was a crimpy eliminate that gets 7A+ in the new guide. I'd had a few goes on this a while ago but it was sunny and the slopey crimps felt rubbish. In the cold today they felt great and I soon had the hard move done. I then spent a while cleaning holds and finding the most positive bit of the damp top to get the (easy) top out done. This meant I had to match one of the crimps so I could go to the top with my left where it was flatter.





A nervy, slimy grovel over the top and it was in the bag. Not sure what grade this is really as it's pretty eliminate but it has some nice moves. 3 days in 7 on the grit with crap skin have taken their toll though.

Weak at Brimham

I met up with Matt at Brimham today. I wasn't feeling particularly psyched so I was happy to wander over to the Titfield Thunderbolt block and give Matt the beta on that and Whisky Galore. I did the latter 2nd go and then Matt spent a while trying to adapt my short-arse thumb spragg beta into something that would work for him.





I had a few goes pulling back on Titfield but I wasn't really throwing for the top and my skin was getting sore so I went back to spotting Matt and soon he'd got Whisky Galore done. He did it again for the camera and I did it with his beta which had a lovely move for the top.







After that we wandered over to Tom Peckitt's arete problem from last winter. I'd forgotten how bad the landing to this is but with 3 pads Matt got on it and would have done it easily if he'd been a bit fresher. I had some rubbish attempts but couldn't remember my beta but could remember how relieved I'd been to top it out so wasn't really that that keen to get back on it. It's a great problem so I should really get on it again.

Back on the grit

It's been ages since I've been climbing and even longer since I posted on here. I was back in the lab over the summer for about 6 weeks and after that I went on holiday with Nicky. We did some walking with my parents in the lakes:





and some biking up near Nicky's parents in Aberdeenshire. Nicky particularly enjoyed pushing her bike up Clachnaben



only to be confronted with a "Granny-stepped" descent that was a bit too technical for her to ride. I managed to get down most of it - although not without a couple of head-first dismounts and subsequent tumbles down the slope at the side of the path! It was lovely to do a big ride with no tarmac and the views were great.

After the ridiculous temperatures recently that were more suitable for drinking beers in the sun than crushing on the grit, I was pleased to wake up yesterday to a frozen bird bath and frost on the cars outside - a sure sign conditions would be good. As I'd not been climbing for months I thought a trip to somewhere new would be better than failing to do all my favourite warm-ups at the Cliff so I went to Hunter's Stones near Otley. I'd forgotten how rough the grit is here and my skin is so soft after no climbing (and no dosing with 100% ethanol in the lab) that I knew it would have to be a quick session.

I did a nice 6C arete (Mnemonic) in a few goes and then looked at Orion on the side of the big roof but the landing was a bit awkward without a spot so I wandered into the woods to see if the X wall was dry. It was and so I had a look at the left arete of this wall - By hook or by crook - which is 6C+/7A from standing. This looks totally desperate and until I worked out where the crucial heel hook suggested by the name went - I couldn't make any progress. Once I worked this out the next go I was set up to throw for the top but didn't really commit. I climbed over the top to check out what to throw for and the next go it was in the bag.



I thought about trying the sitter but my fingers were already starting to show the strain of pulling on the sharp crimps on this block so I sacked it and went home.



I got back to discover on checking my e-mails that the wrangling with the typesetters was over and my paper that I spent so much of last winter writing has been published. I'm really pleased about this as it's taken up so much of my life for the last 4 years and so it's a great feeling to know it's finally finished - although obviously nothing like as satisfying as latching that pocket on the keel ;-)