Some pics from the other day tanks to Nick Hensman.

Ry, getting high

finally!

a bit of barndoor...

wow

Drove up from leicester to Stanage today with some of the Leicester crowd. The weather was looking good which was a bonus.

After warming up i decided to have a quick go on deliverance. First go was a rubbish ranging go. On the second go i committed to the foothold and got the jug ok. It's nice to have done this as it means i don't have to try it again!

Shaggy turned up and quickly did Boston Mess (i fell off the last move, tickling the top). Now we were warm we could get stuck in to the Joker. We were both close to campusing it (hand fully over the jug, but forgetting to hold on) but somehow couldn't comit to the foot on method.

Ryan and Katy arrived and after messing about on a few other things we got stuck into Carless Torque (while Shaggy stayed behind and did Ben's extension - effort). Ryan was crusing the bottom (crux) over an over again but messing up the top. After a big lob from the last move (which was fine) he chilled out and did it easily. This was only his second session on it!

This is one of the most inspiring things i have seen for a long time. Amazing effort.

I slowly made progress until i was getting stood up on the arete and reaching out right to the rail, but messing my feet up. Not to worry. The moves are very good and i can't wait to get on it again. I never thought i would be able to get off the ground!

(Here is Big Malc doing the deed back in 2001)

Now back to training and revising until after exams....

crimbo etc.

Have been in leicester for the past couple of weeks for christmas and all that. I am training a lot on our board and on the fingerboard and seeing improvements which is always nice.

I went on Keith's board last week. His hard problems are HARD and i got fully shut down on them. I managed to make up a nice new problem for him (which i couldn't do!). It's called "squeeze louise". He is in Swiss at the moment with a strong team. I assume he will dispatch (if the weather is good).

Back to revision for me.....

weekend etc.

Friday was the 3rd round of the Leeds wall comp. Shaggy and Sugdon were not there and team tall (Gangle and Adam) were also absent. This meant that Ben/Dave had not set anything too hard so i managed to not a fall off (and win).

One of the easier problems was the coolest thing ever! Starting standing on a ledge, you had to reach out to dangling hold on a piece of cord. You then did a gladiators style swing over to a volume with some edges on it to an easier top out. Amazing.


After that we crashed at Ben and Rach's, and in the morning it was off to Earl (via their new board which is BIG). Earl was freezing. You couldn't stand still. You had to be moving constantly or you got too cold. Ben was close to a new 7c+/8a of Dunning's but we gave in in the end.



After getting home i was keen. I had been talking about 1 armers with Dan the other day so decided try a new exercise. It is a pyramid set or assisted 1 armers. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 with 2-3 mins rest between each set, changing the assistance as you need to.

On Sunday i went up to the school with Paul and Dave to do a rings workout. This was hard work but fun. I tried to hold back a little as we were planning on heading out on Monday.

Monday:
Went to moorside with a strong team to try Superbloc (E8 7A / highball 8A). This problem is amazing.
After sorting the sequence Ry was getting past the crux but tiring. The rest of us were close to the crux move (catching a big move to a small pocket) but we ran out of steam. I am keen to get back on this as it is one of the best problems i have tried in the peak. After getting home i went on the fingerboard for a short session which went well (and turned into a long session).

Congratulations to Ed. He climbed Zoo York on Saturday. Very impressive.

fully full

I had monday off as i was pretty tired from the weekend, but managed to head out on tuesday evening (after an exam) for a night session. Andy has a new lighting set up which worked well. Famous Grouse went down from standing (had no intention of trying the sitter) which is someting i have wanted to do for a while. Stopped after this as i wanted to save some skin for Tuesday.

Tuesday:
Got a text from Dave Barrans. He was going to try 8 Ball (after crushing Full Power very fast last year). This is good as we (the Masonator and me) were planning on going on FP anyway.

Dave B was looking really smooth but not quite getting the sidepull in the right place (the crux) on the link. I am sure he will have it soon enough.

I had a few rubbish attempts, but warmed into it (it was our warm up). Dave showed me some short mans beta, which the flexi hips seemed to agree with, but it still felt hard.

Felt like i was running out of steam so decided to have a last go. Fortunatly it all came togther and felt ok (as they do...) but only after being shouted at a lot to remind me what to do! Thanks guys.

Finished off on Marks Roof (right hand finish - 7c), a nice move off a small ripple.

Probably resting tomorrow then leeds wall comp on friday, followed by some yorkshire action.

last week

Tried to have a session on the board on Tuesday but it didn't happen. We just felt rubbish. My arms felt dead and wouldn't wake up. Not a happy bunny.

Decided to chill for the rest of the week as i had a lot of work due in and I just wasn't at all motivated to train (which is very unusual for me).

Friday was the climbing works comp. Percy and Sam had made things a bit more tricky than before which nice. Keith was looking very strong (as ever) but wasn't in the comp. Dave won again and Jordan, Gaz and Tony all did well.

I was rubbish and dropped loads that i shouldn't have. I am not used to having so many days off!

Saturday was spent training at the new wall in Stockport.
Sunday was spent in Preston running, talking about important stuff and doing circuits (30 seconds on and 3o seconds of on press ups, sit ups campussing etc.). This was a really fun day, but pretty tiring.

Today was spend feeling stiff, but keen to train. Also the weather is looking good for the week. Will hopefully get out and get things done.

half full?

Rested on friday as i felt pretty tired from thurdsay's session and didn't eat properly afterwards (stupid).

It lashed it down on Friday night, but on Saturday morning i was woken up by Dave ringing to tell me that Gardoms south was dry. We went there and met Rhys and Dan.
Dave flashed Suavito, and did Barry Sheen quickly - good effort.

We couldn't decide what to do next, but since conditions were pretty good (the wind was freezing) we thought it would be a good plan to try something sloping.

Of we went to the other end of Gardoms (which is sheltered, so wasn't totally dry) to have a look at Full Power. This is something that i have wanted to get stuck into for ages, but the few times i have pulled on, it has felt too hard.

This time we just got stuck in and worked out the moves. After getting good sequence we started going for the link. I fired through to the move into the stand up a few times on the trot, and called it a day. Didn't want to loose any more skin. Will hopefully be back on it in the week when it has totally dried out.

I wanted to train in the evening, but needed to rest the fingers. A text off Foley reminded me about lock offs. Busted out some assisted 1 armers then lock offs for the first time in about a year. Also closed the CoC no. 2 again. Feeling good at this. Will have to start trying to rep it.

Sunday was spent working followed by the fingerboard. Felt good, had to get the extra 5kg plate.