Saturday, 26 February 2011

Ouch

Dry days- 26
Days of rain- 31

Last night I chopped the end off my left middle finger whilst chopping spinach. What a tit. Bouldering will be out for a little while.

Friday, 25 February 2011

Buckstone Misery

Dry days- 25
Days of rain- 31

On the way back from The Old Man's I dropped in at a damp Buckstone. Nothing was dry really. I jumped on the Buckstone Dyno and was miles off, but then I moved the right foot to an equally wet smear. Then I was tickling the hild, basically getting one pad over thwe hold. I really felt I wasn't getting the power through thw left foot, thus the lack lack of distance. Anyway, I ended up tired and out of time so I sacked it, and did thje groove. One to go bzck to- I find this hard for a 7b dyno, maybe my legs are too long. Well, crush next time maybe.............

Wednesday, 23 February 2011

Sore skin and Weakness

Dry days- 24
Days of rain- 30

Last night I met up with The Ginnster and BeardyBeast at Wet Poo for some more amazing crush. After touring the parking for 15 minutes I finally got a space and headed in, only to find the place packed out.

Weak Sam was there warming up so the usual chat ensued. We were amused about his deletion from the latest South Lakes lists of 1st ascents and repeats, I assume following his reticence to be named when repeating hard stuff. He seemed quite pleased in his way, although I'm still to be convinced that keeping quiet is the best policy- but that's up to him.

Anyway, BeardyBeast and the Ginnster had brought psyche by the teaspoon full. Amazing. I managed the stupid red V5 I failed on last time, plus the tan V5/6 at the right end. I managed to fall off the Tan V5 on the low overlap from the last move, several times. Bloody annoying. I have quite a few things to go back to. But once again I felt my skin was sore, and I just felt weak. At least I managed to wear my tightest Boosters for an hour, a major acheivement- maybe they are finally stretching.

On a plus side, I see TanMan is holding an Evolv masterclass tomorrow at Wet Poo. We were tempted to go along to learn, for example about tick marks ;-). Hope it goes OK, Tanners.

Saturday, 19 February 2011

Weakness and sore skin

Dry days- 22
Days of rain- 28

At last I had a free weeekend, but typically the weather was gash. Rain all night, and rain tomorrow. After an exchange with the BeardyBeast we opted for a Wet Pooh visit from 13:00.

I was a bit early, and as I was walking from the car park I met Weak Sam. We had a chat for half an hour until the Bearded One arrived, watching him take a tour of the car park before deciding on a space. After saying goodbye to Weak Sam we headed in for some Uber Crush.

BeardyBeast was looking as strong as ever, flashing most of the stuff to V7. I managed to flash a few of the new things up to V5, mostly in the cave. I also managed the awkward red V5 thatI failed on last time. This lot of problems still feels pretty tough.

After 2 hours and a failed chocolate break our skin was trashed and we were knackered, so opted to leave. I hope this weather improves soon, I need to get stronger and get some contact with real rock. There's aims to acheive.

Wednesday, 16 February 2011

Bolts?

Dry days- 21
Days of rain- 26

Weak Sam phoned me today to say there appears to be a new bolt/ hangar in the Shelterstone, left of Vitruvian. I don't remember there being anything there before, but he said there was an inch thread protruding from near the ground. The Stone was pretty dry though. I'll have to investigate whenever I'm next free.

Tuesday, 8 February 2011

New Mat

Dry days- 16
Days of rain- 23

Tonight I headed to Wet Poo to meet the Ginnster. After spending 10 minutes trying to park, watching fools trying to negotiate the car park in their cars, I was in. TanMan was there already. The Ginnster was stuck at reception trying to explain who he was, and trying to convince them he wasn't some IRA faction member. After heading back to the car to collect my shitty boots, I got stuck in.

This set feels stiff. I flashed a few V4s, and did some V5s, but in general it all felt tough. TanMan was crushing as ever. Later on Weak Sam arrived with his bad fingers, and proceded to make everything look easy. The stamina and skin started to let me down.

After giving up, having had enough of failure, I negotiated with the TanMan and came out of it one mat better off. And then it was home time, and BT internet setting up.

Happy Birthday to the BeardyBeast by the way. TanMan was surprised you were under 50........

Wednesday, 2 February 2011

West View

Dry days- 12
Days of rain- 21

My morning suddenly became free today, so I had a wander round Lancashire quarries looking for dry rock. By 10:30 I accepted that there wasn't any, so opted for a West View hit. The Ginnster claimed to be at work, but BeardyBeast agreed to come over.

When I got there I found most of the bouldering was being reset by the Darwen Weasel. Now, when I stumped up my 6 quid nobody mentioned this and it was only when inside the wall that there were any sign to tell me of this. Crap start to the session. There were a few other pissed off boulderers there, moaning about the same issue. C'mon Wet Poo, if you're setting at least tell people before they pay the entry fee.

BeardyBeast arrived half an hour after me, so I'd had time to flash a couple of V5s and get pumped and weak. After an hour I was feeling pretty tired, power was gone. We opted for a coffee and I got some M&Ms (the peanut ones of course). Well, the first packet stuck just before it dropped out of the machine so I had to get a second in order to get the first. Unfortunately the rest did me no good at all and I continued to be rubbish. Then my skin became pretty sore.

So that was that, not bad considering the limited bouldering available. I really need to get going though if I want any success this year. Be nice if it stopped raining too.