Beats, Climbs and Life.

1.2 (waffle)

2012-01-31T11:50:00.003Z

I returned to the Fifth Cloud yesterday. I say returned, I've been back twice since, both too no avail with terrible conditions ensuing. Second time around though I held the hold and in a state of excitement messed up the relatively easy section. Two or three minutes later the snow came. Game over, simple. Perfect conditions arrived and I walked upto that problem with that feeling that everyone has experienced at sometime: you know you can do it, all you have to do is execute. Unfortunately a weekend of having my fingers constantly wet with beer and cleaning fluids meant that my skin was dangerously thin and more worryingly greasy. I tried again and again but kept holding and slipping whilst placing my heel. I was getting frustrated and moved onto the 8 next door. The Darkest Cloud is what I've really wanted to do on this boulder. An imposing arete with a dodgy landing and a heap of tricky body positions. The holds arent bad except for the left hand crimp which, although small, is positive and holdable. The pinch higher up on the Imperfect Catch looks bad but thanks to years of pinching on the board was easy to move around. I was struggling with the start again though, the problem being I dont really know where this is. Theres loads of little undercuts and I opt for one with the left which a is good but faces the wrong way and the gritty crimp for the right hand. Im finding it harder without the toe locks but my feet are thanking me for it and the sequence I use basically involves a hard pull on with my left foot doing nothing, then placing that on the massive foothold just underneath the left hand. A big slap follows to the sloper shelf and after a bit of shuffling around this I'm able to swing the toe hook up. This is a move I thought I'd struggle with but infact isnt too bad albeit it a little powerful. After reaching upto the good crimp I'm a bit lost, but figure that the right foot goes on the crimp next to the sloper and this is followed by a tenous move out to the shit crimp. The links proving hard with my fingers greasing off everything and after a hole emerges in one of my fingers I give up. Game over. I know I need another pad next time for the precarious second half moves but I feel positive about getting up this.

A word on training. It is going well. I managed to do the repeaters on the small crimps on the front two and I'm progressing well with the one arm work. Completing lengthy repeater sets with between 6 and 8 kilos of assistance depending on which holds. Most importantly my fingers are feeling OK with the new stresses being placed on them and two weeks down the line I believe I can reach my goals... I do need to get back inside though but I'm unsure whether, right now, theres much point.

This is the difficulty with training for something like climbing. What is best? How should you do X to get to Y? Theres limited knowledge besides word of mouth and everything I know about training in a generic sense doesnt ever seem to come to fruition. Ive listened to what other people say, do this, do that but it never works. The reason I got up PUTP at the tor was because I hung off the fingerboard alot and climbed on a 50 degree. Not traversing on small holds or anything like that. Theres so many variables involved in climbing and everyone is different. Different responses to different stimuli and all that. I know for me that every grade I've pushed or what gets me strong is using a fingerboard. Not climbing high volumes of indoor problems, campussing or roped climbing but the fingerboard. Maybe its the lack of structure I have with my training 'plan'. I have goals and I set about trying to achieve them. I see so many people at the wall who are operating at V4 or whatever with training diaries next to them and I just think why... Gauging progress? You're either getting better or your not and you don't need diary to tell you that unless your up there training for competitions at an expert level where performance needs to be monitored by coaches or whatever. Day on, day off. Thats all anybody needs to know. One of my good friends wrote that "I don’t think I even knew what the required amount of effort was!" This is true of everyone. Its easy to go to the wall and make steady progress, massaging your ego along the way, but what you need is real effort and a real willingness not only to succeed, but to accept failure. It happens. Everytime I get on my fingerboard I fail but by failing you know that your trying something thats too difficult for you at that moment, and that isthe only way your ever going to improve. I see training not as succeeding but failing. Constantly. The rocks are there for success and if you can do the moves, you can do the problem. Jerry said that the difference between bouldering and other climbing is your either strong enough for it, or your not. I believe and accept that I'm still a way from my potential.

Im hoping to go the forest in October. That gives me nearly nine months to realise this. Ive had a few intermittent periods off climbing lately and I know my body is rested enough for the rigours of training for a substantial period. More importantly I know my mind is ready to accept failure that comes with this.

1.1

2012-01-17T00:48:00.002Z

So first things first. I havent been out climbing much. Instead focussing on finger power. Why? No idea but a few deadhangs can't go a miss. Ive got a relatively rigid structure to the sessions with short term goals being met regularly. Im focussing on two and three digit hangs with an aim to be able to one arm three finger drag the small crimps without assistance, complete repeaters on back two on the small pockets (without injuring the finger again) and full repeaters, front two, on the small crimps. Subsidary to these goals Ive started doing very wide pull ups on an equally wide double door frame. Ive noticed on the couple of indoor sessions Ive had and a very specific problem outside that Im lacking in the shoulder department on these movements. Hopefully this will build up some sort of foundation which I can then transfer to the board. Im aiming to do five sets of ten repetitions with short breaks in between. Currently I fail on the first set at about seven.

Ive wanted to head upto the Clouds and specifically the Fifth Cloud since the new Peak Bouldering Guide came out to try the two problems put up there last year. On first aquaintance I was shocked to find the first move on the easier path up the wall practically impossible. I decided to see if I could do the upper moves and go from there if I was successful. A cracking stand up in its own right but probably missing the point hence 'The Imperfect Catch" goes at V7 maybe V8 and I sussed the moves and topped out after a few goes. Getting down to the guts of the problem I found rather than throwing for the dodgy edge head on, coming up short by a foot or more, that placing the left foot on a good edge low down and my right foot on a questionable smear on the arete meant I was hitting the hold, even on the first go. I was happy to unlock a bit of beta. A rarity for me I must say. I tried the move maybe forty times never quite grabbing the hold. I was a bit dissapointed. The edge is unusual. It almost looks like a granite hold with strange relief and a good edge emerging on the right. I settled for jump starting from the arete and dropped off from there. I was happy, honestly. I was cheating but something that was impossible had become quite probable in the space of an hour. Maybe on next aquaintance I can hold the move from the proper start.

I know problems like these will contribute towards my conquest. Wide, almost compression movements with a good seasoning of technique, well, body position is just what I'm after. How many more are like this in the Peak? Talking grades this one weighs in at 7C+ and I was, I really was, close to doing it in a session, with no beta. This is when grades come in useful. If i can consolidate around here in the next few months I will feel one step closer to my ultimate goal. So a new short term goal: five 7C's(+) each within one session. I'll settle for two to be honest but thats losing talk.

The Big Four

2011-12-29T02:14:00.003Z

Enchate. Training began yesterday after two or three weeks off. My finger has mended, I think, and I am psyched. This is all I need. The drive to achieve and to experience, first hand, the best of what the forest have to offer. My current abilities on the Beastmaker stretch as far as repeaters on the slopey pockets, on middle two, repeaters on small edges, front two, and repeaters on the small pockets, back two. The odd one armer on the shallow eye usually factors into a decent session as does multiple campus rung one armer sets. Outdoors this years I've climbed the odd nemesis and developed my general ability on a few different rock types. I climb, at worked best 7C+/8A and too achieve this goal, in one holiday, I know this level of skill needs to improve. I've tried the moves on all the problems and I know that my finger strength, except on Big Golden, was not culpable. Compression strength, technique and basic shoulder power are my fundamental weaknesses and over the next few months I will make a concerted effort to document, here, how I have addressed these. Au revoir.

BTSTU

2011-05-14T20:16:00.008+01:00

Ever since I first saw a full ascent, Pump up the Power has been a climb that has fascinated me. The 'vague hanging grooveline' littered by tiny holds looked totally impossible at first. Only three metres of difficulty which rates in at a weighty 7c+, some say soft 8a, is unfathomable as a beginner. How can you see those holds let alone pull on them I thought to myself as the climber dropped off the finishing edge.

Four years later I'm stood under the line, chalking my hands, knowing that if I get the crux position right I've done it. I reach up to the second hold, twisting my fingers into the slot for some extra purchase and ball over with my left to the first hold in the groove. My back three fingers take the strain on the foot swap and I reach out to the gritty crimp just above the hold with my right. I feel strong, paste my left foot on and lunge for the spike, grabbing the hold just in the right spot, the four fingers split between the two edges of relief. I look down at the polished foothold and place the left foot as best I can sinking onto my right arm as my leg takes the strain. The hips twist in to face the rock and I snap into the match, catching it wrong. My left foot slips off and my body swings violently away from the foothold. The crimps feel cold and I control the swing, placing my foot on the polished edge under my hands. I pull my body over my hands, leaning in to the rock as best I can, take a breath and snatch for the crimp. It's positive but small and only really good for three digits. I feel my fingers tighten on the hold and arrive at the crux totally focussed. My right foot places itself on the marble nubin and I stand up quickly, concentrating on hitting the gaston. I feel strong. I float upwards, eyeing the edge till my fingers obscure it. My shoulders tighten and I'm looking at my feet, searching for the foothold as I haul my body up. I've done it. I look to the finishing hold and throw my hand upwards. It's a jug, I've done it. I've done it.