In reply to grubes:
Well, the climbing is done. I was going to write a big essay but then decided that no one was likely to read it anyway (I got part way through and it was huge already) and that really the musings were the only bit that were at all interesting.
So in terms of what I achieved, I ticked a 7b+ redpoint, a 7b redpoint, a 7a+ onsight and a 7a onsight, plus about 4 6c+ onsights and some easier stuff. But I also failed on a lot of stuff...
7a+:
DropZone - last route of the trip, fell off the last hard moves onto the ledge (I think - top looked easy and by that point I was sick of failure so just bailed)
Amele - poor route reading on the onsight go, then dropped it same point on my only redpoint go before sacking it.
Something on the first day that was more like 7b and nails thin...
7a:
Karinca - flash pumped. Woulda thought by now I'd have learned that a techy slab 6b+ is not enough warmup for a pumpy tufa 7a wouldn't you?
Hortum - overbalanced about 3cm from the good holds you get standing on the top of the tufa.
Bartabus - fell off the clipping holds because the chain has been placed in a really frustrating place.
Fight the butcher - fell off the crux at the start of the extension bit.
Notable other failure mention goes to the 7b I did redpoint, which should have gone second go after a fall on the flash attempt but I dragged out to 6th tie-in through sheer stupidity and some bad luck.
Positives and negatives to take away:
+ finding a proper knee bar rest (hands off in a proper core intensive knee bar on overhanging ground) on the 7b+, as well as getting some good knee use on some of the onsights, means my tufa climbing is improving. Whilst I fell off a lot of things, few of them were actually on the tufa sections, although looking at the pattern it seems getting out of the top of tufas, where it all goes slopy, is still an issue.
+ very chuffed with the 7a+ onsight, felt like a lot more of a long fight than the one I did in Rodellar, and I was placing draws too
+ Ally said the 7b+ I did was hard, more so than one of the 7cs he did, which gives me confidence that 2013 will bring the 7c/+ holiday tick
- stupid tactical mistakes like not being warmed up, not working out where to clip a draw from on redpoint, stuff like that - shouldn't be making them!
- far worse success ratio on the 7as than in Buoux/Tarn at Easter
- maybe a lack of underlying aero-endurance/route reading, as several routes I failed on I hung round for too long before committing to moves I eventually fell from.
- bicep issues have returned following the epic battle with that bloody bartabus route. Honest to god, cruxes clipping the chains are just uniformly a shite idea!
Basically, it's been bittersweet. I had bit of a mental struggle going on part way through the trip (I started off onsighting really badly, through lack of rock miles I think) in terms of comparing it to Rodellar and Loup in terms of days climbing vs ticks achieved. I sort of decided to take the gamble, and go for broke on a big onsight push for the second half of the trip rather than sticking within my comfort zone and redpointing stuff. I take some comfort from the fact I'm confident that my "comfort zone" trip would probably have involved a couple of 7b+ redpoints and probably (if enough time at one sector could have been arranged) a 7c too, so that's a sort of progression in itself in that 12 months ago that would have been amazing (although, since I didn't do it, those ticks are purely hypothetical!). But I sort of feel that the gamble didn't really pay off, in that I only really got one very hard (7a+) onsight in, plus the 7a, and spend a lot of time down/cross/raging/etc about falling off shit.
So, back home in the early hours, then back to work Wednesday, going to have a few quiet days (girlfriends parents down at the weekend so probably until then), work on the eccentrics for the elbow/bicep, maybe do some core or something, and get some work on the van done.