UKC

Just advising that the post proper won't be up until sometime Monday.  I am away and although I brought my laptop, the WiFi is very poor.  Not home until Monday morning 

In reply to Derek Furze:

A holding note from me Derek. Jet Lag wiped me out for the first half of the week, second half taken up with a regain in work and packing for the house move. Back on it tomorrow. Hope you have a good weekend!

In reply to Derek Furze:

Just a Sunday night passing observation that getting into mountain biking as a secondary hobby risks becoming expensive. Just rode past a local bike shop that has a rather nice looking and seriously reduced carbon hardtail in the window, in my size. Lead us not into temptation.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Remember, the perfect number of bikes is n+1… 

In reply to Derek Furze:

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity. UKC fit club is a rich community with posters sharing their goals, noting successes and failures and offering support to those struggling to maintain motivation. Anyone interested in starting is very welcome to join, but to get the most of UKC fit club you should aim to post each week, every week, however little or much you have done. By making such a regular public record of your activities and by restating your goals every week this new habit will hopefully improve your training habits and drive you towards achieving your goals whatever the level of your chosen activity.

Link to last week’s thread:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_856-7628...

Another lively week of discussions on injuries, DWS preparations and the like.  Another week of late reporting, but I am around next weekend so expect to be on time for my final post of this stint!

Mattrm:  Yes, finding good tradesmen can be a challenge as you find out the poor ones the hard way!  Over the years, I have made it my business to learn as much as possible from every tradesman I have had in (whether good or bad).  I’ve now go the position where I don’t need them for very much, though I’d get in a plasterer if I had a big ceiling to do!  If you start off with smaller sections and mixes, plastering comes quite quickly and is quite satisfying compared to some DIY.

More importantly, although you haven’t stepped up your distance (last week’s plan) you are doing a better job of maintaining a pattern of training with your two weekly runs.  Getting a bimble done is always worthwhile (active warm down or something similar).  Next year’s goals look truly challenging with the July and September ultras, so some work to do to build your mileage and pacing presumably.  That can wait until after Orkney of course, though possibly it is a good place to practice?

 Somerset Swede Basher:  That’s a great bit of walking to do – I think it is a decent bit of coast and a nice way to spend the week.  Not sure how much of a look at Swanage you get though?  Very surprised that you weren’t messing about on the Lulworth DWS as surely some things there would appeal to you?  Perhaps the fingers deload week was a really carefully planned strategy?

You’ve put some travelling in if you came all the way back to Sheffield before heading south again!  At least the car will have been a bit lighter than the Jersey trip, which sounds like a fairly difficult bit of packing.  Thought you said you had ‘done with swimming for the year’?  Obviously getting a taste for it in preparation for the DWS?

Tom Green:   Yes, the continuous and quick movement on frit is probably decent alpine preparation, particularly as the rock has some similarities as well.  If only Windgather had uplift from the road to complete the picture.  68 routes is a big afternoon – at one stage I hankered after the 100, but I think I’m over that now!  500 has been done.

I think that 8 hours plus, an 80+m route and half another, plus 20.9km and a lot of up and down does qualify as a big mountain day.  I have put your case in front of the arbitration panel and it passed with no problems (though to be fair, the cat rarely makes clear-cut decisions).  That said, it is your game, so your rules.

I’m with you on shoulder tweak though it settled over the weekend.  Might dig out The Self-Rehabbed Climber for another set of exercises.  Both your trail runs showed a consistent pace, though both perhaps shorter than the ones you’ve put in of late.  More than compensated by the big hill day.

AlanLittle:  It is the trying that counts!  I always feel more frustrated if I don’t make plans and make the effort. 

Bicycle Repair Man – now there’s a route.  I half thought you’d popped into Staden without telling me!  Mystery click?  You haven’t got one of those clothes peg and card set ups that I remember as a kid?

Perhaps a tired effort on Tuesday, but still perfectly respectable.  Given the protracted nature of the project, it might be worth having something else on the go to help overcome the ‘banging my head against the same half dozen moves’?  At least you have some alternative beta to play with on your next session and will be less tired from the bike ride in due to the newly shod wheels.

Frustrating outing to Konstein, but that the weather for you.  As above, better to have gone and found out, then bailed to a wall, than not gone and missed glorious conditions.  Fingers crossed that you actually get on some rock soon!

Ally Smith:  Indeed, though not sure you really needed a ‘return to form’.  Most of us struggle to touch your lurgy-affected standards.  That said, glad that you are healthy again.

Those max hangs at the start of the week are really heavy.  I haven’t done these with heavier weight for a while as I’ve been doing a cycle of slopers, but just getting back into it last week and was trying hard on smaller three-finger edges at +13.6kg.  To be fair, it does step up quite quickly, but don’t think I will get much beyond +30kg ever!  However, I am inspired to try, which is the point of course.

I’d say the same about side planks – I think they make my shoulders sore without really feeling that they do much for core.

A hard board session on Wednesday.  Clearly with familiarity you learn who sets the difficult problems!  The Thursday session also pretty intense with 10x7b- (possibly harder) as the basis of the session.  Excellent to be getting very pumped and then following it up at the end of the week with another aero-cap session.  You may be not getting out much, but there is going to be a lot of fitness there when you do!  Fantastic discipline to keep this going so effectively.

Ian Parnell:  Good to hear that the Autumn project may still be under consideration, though it will definitely need some running miles putting in!  Looks like a start made this week anyway.

I like the principle of applying Ally’s aero-cap cycles to your Depot sessions.  It would probably work for me as I can wander around at bouldering walls being a little aimless, though I often set out to do ten reds or whatever.  Anyway, though at a gentler standard, the session you put together was effective if ‘powered out’ was the impact.  Two further sessions at the Depot consolidated this performance, though I think the approach changed slightly there was still a good amount of work being done (as indicated by the photos of your flappers).  Going to be really good for stamina, which cis already in decent order anyway!

Good to see the runs building up and being taken more seriously.  Good pace on that Friday run from my perspective!  Unusual to see your barren stretch continuing, though weather hasn’t helped much again!

Ross Barker:  The aimless bit is something I used to struggle with and it has predictably peverse effects.  I’d get aimless, stop doing it for a bit, the bit would grow, by which time it felt really pointless when I returned to it!  After my last major period of retirement, the grind back to anything like has been a really long haul, so I am resolved to keep it going regardless.  I found changing my goals has helped me get value from a wider range of situations.  I’d note also that you are managing an injury, so probably should avoid some of the stuff that you would normally be trying anyway.  Could you put ‘explore some new areas’ on your target list?  Perhaps going to an easy destination and just enjoying being out might work for a while?

Pigeon’s Cave as described sort of makes my point – ‘a super-steep cave houses burly, juggy routes for bumpy boys and girls’.  I’m not sure this screams rehab to me!  That said, it also sounds a really pleasant place to mess about by the water!

Good to see that the injury management is progressing well anyway.  Those light hangs are routine now and the work on the board is fairly carefully managed.  It will come back (form is temporary, class is permanent).

Randy:  Recovering from your foot injury is talking quite a while and surprising that even short walks are giving you pain.  At least you can feel that things are improving and it has forced you back to a revised programme for one-arm improvement. 

Plenty of Archer pull ups going on.  I have done these, though it is a little bit cramped where my board is hung so I don’t usually do that many.  However, they do work things in a more focused way, so I actually quite like them as an exercise.  Unusually for you to have such a regular pattern to your exercise, with three identical sessions through the week.  As you note, if you are trying to build a base for a particular thing, then you may as well put the groundwork in consistently.

Interesting reflections on the running and the Garmin algorithms.  I guess your running training was pushing things quite considerably so the impact on your energy systems would be significant.  Noticing the improvement now you have switched to high volume sessions is perhaps an indicator of the fatigue that you were experiencing (and reporting)?

Steve Claw:  Interesting comments from Ally on the elbow discussions.  Hopefully, it gives you something else to think about, though from the descriptions of some of the things you like to climb, I doubt if ‘front wheel drive’ dependence is much of an issue for you!  That said, I’ve remarked before how my preferred style changed significantly and how I now need to focus more on making my feet deliver.

Also interesting to see a switch over to a bit more trad, which used to feature much more regularly in your reports.  Lundy certainly needs a decent trad head (and that is just some of the approaches).  Anyway, a good return with a couple of E3s prepped and what sounds like a scary E5 added to the list of projects.  AS Ally noted, these feelings come from all sorts of places and really just have to be accepted – clearly wasn’t the right day.

SteveJC94:  A week on so we are all hoping that this week’s report will have some further progress as the injury sounds pretty awful really.  As you noted, prior to that things were going along pretty well.  Following you recent comment on the optimum number of bikes, I should point out that n+1 is one more to clean.

Onto your week – certainly a great start to your LPT day with UtB and NG, but as you noted yourself, you sort of messed it up thereafter!  Amazing how easily these things can happen on lumpy ground and despite your warning I fell over myself last week at Harpur Hill.  Luckily the only damage was ego.

Quite a bit of cycling mileage across your week with good pace for zone two.  Still no signs of a 100 miler on the schedule, but the base fitness must be there?  Board bouldering decent, though I think your aero-cap sessions get up to 7A+ (?), though quite likely on familiar problems.  Progress on the 7B is good regardless.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Inglesp:  Maintaining any kind of training mindset through the height of summer is often difficult.  Holidays and trying to go climbing usually interfere.  I’d recommend putting something together as I find that it can be a bit depressing to start back and find that it is a bit of a haul to get the basic exercises going again.  That said, you usually do quite a bit at the wall and it is also understandable that you won’t be there so often.  Anyway, it looks like you have a fingerboarding plan in place for September, which is probably a good platform to develop.

Great progress on your HVS list, which has progressed pretty steadily with just the odd glitch.  Both pretty decent routes and neither are giveaways, so finding them OK is a good sign.  Good to see you out of area (Roaches) with the club.  I also saw you were looking for someone for Wales, but the post arrived about ten minutes after I’d made my plans for the week so I couldn’t help unfortunately.  Hope you got stuff done anyway.

AJM:  Taking time from holiday prep to provide DWS advice, especially when my comments were really of general interest anyway, was outstanding.  It triggered a great discussion on chalkbags, liquid chalk and breadbags, to the point where I picked up a liquid chalk in a shop at the weekend, before catching myself in the middle of madness…  I am still planning to visit my sister on the weekend of 1-3 September and am planning to get across on one of the days for some climbing, but will be doing my level best to avoid DWS if at all possible (it may not be of course)!  I shall pack a few pairs of shoes in case the consensus plans are to mess about above the sea.

Impressive bit of journeying to get everybody up to northern Scotland via train.  I’d have thought the sleeper would be quite an adventure for kids.  We have also tried to cut back plane travel – fairly successfully in the main – but on the rare occasions that flying is unavoidable, it does seem busier than ever.

Biscuit:  Weather has been poor for a long while now, but I’ve managed to keep plans moving by chasing the dry patches around.  Unfortunately, none of these have appeared anywhere near the Lakes, though Yorkshire has been ok on a couple of occasions.  We actually decided against Yorkshire last Friday, but it probably would have been okay in the end.

Interesting comments re training and staying fresh for climbing.  It probably reflects the fact that I don’t invest loads of time in training, but I don’t normally notice any impact from a training session on the following days climbing.  That probably means a) not training hard enough and b) not climbing hard enough!  Your week did include some proper try hard bouldering on three occasions, which could easily affect a day out.  (though happily, on this report, rescued one of the days out instead).

Re Elvis, I think the first gear is quite high and doesn’t it have a crucial Rock 3?  This may be in my rucksack rather than yours by now…  Good decision to avoid in damp conditions.

The Sheep:  Thanks for explaining the running training approach.  I imagine swimming for triathlons is mostly endurance in nature.  Understandable that you have avoided the weights since your back issue, though I don’t remember it being a particular trigger (?).  Some discussion on last week’s thread about the benefits of strengthening weaker areas as a preventative measure.

Great to see that you got out on some boulders – not something that usually features on your reports though clearly you have climbing in your background.  Combing that with any wildlife sighting is always a delight, but an Osprey!

Good to see you back on it after the time in North Yorkshire.  Straight back into the pool and an 8km run on the Sunday.  This is a distance that I dream of at the moment, but I am sure it will come when I get back to my routine in Autumn.

Small Step:  Yes, I find the whole thing really helpful and although I know that I need a break from it, I am also somewhat reluctant to give it up.  It will give me time to focus on other stuff for a while and I can always come back to it at some point.

Nice session at the wall ahead of your trip away, with a good set of routes completed (or nearly).  Plenty of stretching being maintained, which c is something I need to step up again in Autumn.

The Chiemgau trip sounds like a significant investment for the return, but exploration is always worthwhile in the long run.  !.5 hours isn’t too bad a drive – pretty routine for me for a day’s cragging, but then I don’t usually put in 1.5 hours walk as well!  It sounds like conditions were fairly difficult with residual damp and humidity.  As I read the report about ‘pretty dense scrub’ I was prompted to think about ticks (I’ve been to a couple of tick destinations lately), so wasn’t surprised when you discovered a few.  I routinely spray up my legs and trousers these days.

Tyler:  With car woes a continuing issue it isn’t surprising that you are finding it difficult to get across to the Beacon.  It’s hardly a walk after all.  It does sound like the autobelay mileage might be a plan however and I guess you could apply the thinking to climbing outside on occasion (?).  A good session on the Friday anyway with nine routes to 7a and some bouldering – impressive stuff.

Good work getting The Refrain done in less than optimum conditions.  I understood that LPT could be unbearably hot in summer and I think this can make a very significant difference to climbing.

An entertaining meet up at the weekend that has probably messed up your carefully calibrated diet.  The hazards of a social life!  I am very practiced at a diligent week making up for a debauched weekend.

Liam busy with packing, but due to return soon.  

In reply to Derek Furze:

Finally took Biscuit's expert advice seriously and got back on the training wagon, though only dipping my toes in the water...

Mon - max hangs on small three finger pockets at 13.6kg - three sets only.  Felt hard, but I know it will step up quickly.  3 sets of 10 BW pull ups - first for two and a bit weeks.  3 sets of 10 push ups (likewise), stretching and reverse curls.

Tues - work.  Good job as significant DOMS.

Wed - childminding.

Thurs - work, then pm session at Harpur Hill.  Felt tired and struggled at the outset, but climbed into it a bit.  Did The Omen (6b), which I hadn't done before and was pretty decent.  

Fri - 4 sets of weighted at 9 - 11.3 kg.  Hard, but what do I expect when I haven't been maintaining?  4 sets on wrist roller 4.6 - 5.5 kg. 

Saturday - away, but managed a short run in the rain.  Got very wet, but enjoyed it nonetheless.  Some inclines on route as well. 

Reflection.  Struggling to get much climbing done, but once a week is keeping something going.  At last mixed in some training, so pleased to get back to it.  Running again, however trivial is a bonus.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek, I imagine being near the sea means it’s probably better than many places, the real issue was that we were there in the morning when it gets the sun. As a habitual late riser this will rarely be a problem!

Less volume but plenty of quality this week

M: Walking around London and over eating

T: Nothing

W: Morning went up Dolmen Ridge (Grade-3) and down Bristly Ridge (Grade-2). Thought all my joints had played ball and even the soles of my feet (Plantar Fasciatis?) were not as bad as after walking around London but during the afternoon it all started to hurt and seize up. Dolmen Ridge was amazing, deserves all the stars and felt adventurous enough as the mist rolled in. Evening at LPT where I had a couple of goes on Life's a Beach (7b+) not going on my unfinished business list as it’s too hard and a bit rubbish, not sure why it’s given two stars in the new guide. 

T: 3x 15 shoulder press on each arm @8kg. No real purpose behind these I was just bored on a call. 

F: Britrock films at Plas y Brenin, all excellent, well worth going to see. 

S: Craig y Forwyn is pretty close to where I was brought up and where I live now so it was a glaring omission from my CV. Finally the stars aligned (it was raining everywhere else) and Tom was keen so when we eventually found the bottom of the crag Fido's Redemption (HVS 5a) and Route 66 (VS 4c) did not disappoint. We were both uming and aaing about The Groan (E2 5c) and despite many reservations and negative thoughts I eventually got on it. Hardest trad onsight since before my op, an absolute three star belter with good holds and gear all the way but you can’t see until you get to them so requires some commitment. Really pleased with how I climbed it but the terrain has a familiar feel for a sport climber. 

S: Another glaring omission from my CV was the Diamond although I’ve only wanted to climb here for 30 years! Again the stars aligned, I had the perfect guide who rope gunned Rub-a-Dub-Dub (7a). My flash go was reasonable but still a couple of moves off completing the crux. By my next go the temps were 29 degrees and I was over heating before I set off. The crux is on minging crimps and I had to quickly paddle through them. Best 7a in the UK and would grace most Euro crags. Even at 7:30 it was too hot so we took the opportunity of an early finish and an easy walk out to complete a pretty perfect weekend (not bad considering we had Storm Betty during that time). 

Disappointingly my elbow is sore this morning but that’s the first time I’ve done consecutive days outdoors for a while, Sunday was pretty brief but I was on the Groan for a good hour (thanks Tom!)

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek, we didn't go all the way back to Sheffield after Jersey, just as far as my parents in Somerset which is only about 2 hrs from Poole. I have done a lot of miles this week though, and it was totally worth it...

Mon. Rest.

Tues. Baggy Point with Steve. Swung leads on Heart of the Sun (E3 5c) then raced the tide for Undercracker (E1 5a). Unfortunately I only had my boulder shoes with me which destroyed my feet on the long slab pitch but great climbing.

Wed. Rest, drove back to Sheffield.

Thurs. It begins... My partner could only get the afternoon off work so I picked him up at 2pm from Sheffield city centre and we drove almost non stop to Kirkibost in Skye for 10.15pm. Packed a bag then walked into almost the base of the Dubh Slabs, into the bivi bag for 2am.

Fri. Alarm goes off at 5am, at the base of the slabs for 6am, 7.20am at the top of The Dubh Ridge (M) abseil, over the Munro behind and onto the ridge for 8.50am, dropped bags and ran out to Gars Beinn and back. It's now 11am, picked the bags up and completed Cuillin Ridge Traverse (Summer) (VD) by 9.30pm. Rope out for TD gap, Kings Chimney, Naismiths and all the abseils. Soloed the In Pin. Dropped off the ridge and back for water about 2/3rds of the way along but it was only a 40min delay and very much needed. Descended the south east ridge til we found a bivi site and went to sleep.

Sat. Overnight rain meant we were both ready to not be in bivi bags by 5am so we got up and got going again. 3 hrs to descend to the main path and another 3hrs to walk back to the car (not sure how far, 15km ish?). Long drive home. Stopped and got a travel lodge part way back to avoid falling asleep at the wheel.

Sun. Finish the drive home. Rest. Feel smug.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Excellent effort on the Cullin, did you carry your bivi gear along the ridge?

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Really excellent.  The ridge has had a FC hammering this year

In reply to Tyler:

Good effort on the Groan!  ...and the Diamond obvs

In reply to Derek Furze:

STG: Tranter Round (not sub-24!)and/or Knoydart Munros
MTG: Autumn '23 tick my first 7a in two years, and/or somthing from my (long) local 6c+ projects list
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 823
LTG: Winter 24 or 25 - do an actual off piste ski tour.

M: Bike one hour
T: Tindeq peak load pulls, weighted pullups, ring supports
W: MTB in the woods 1½ hours

T: Wall, Freimann. Quite an encouraging session. 6a 6a 7a (3 goes on 2 different routes) 6c+ 2nd go. The 6c+ felt quite easy; could have onsighted it if I hadn't overlooked a crucial foothold.
    Bike there & back, which was probably a mistake. It's a bit over an hour each way; enjoyed the ride out, but coming back felt pretty gruelling.

F: Definitely needed a rest day after that

S: MTB 2 hours. The heat & humidity are getting ridiculous again, glad of a bit of shade & cool air in the woods

S: Wall, Thalkirchen. Took a couple of hours off from pre-holiday family duties for a kilterboard/autobelay session at Thalkirchen, but had to curtail it due to rapidly running out of skin in the heat. That hasn't happened to me very often.
    Face pulls, ring supports, false grip hangs
    Bike there & back
 

@Small Step: last week you mentioned "Bremtal, Chiemgau: new crag in the forest". You seem to be more of a Chiemgau local than me - heard anything concrete about the rumoured new guidebook edition?

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek.  I hope you've had a good time away!

No structured training this past week, but had a good 17km run on Tuesday, and then spent an educational weekend in the Peak (better forecast than Wales) with Lee (Climbthatpitch).  Istruggled quite a lot and even found some VSs hard going.  I learnt a lot about both friction (eg Lancashire Wall (HVS 5a)) and jamming (Bond Street (HVS 5a), which I was cross not to get clean).  Looking forward to getting back on some limestone later this week!

In reply to Derek Furze:

Afternoon all. Is the weather finally improving or am I just losing my mind? Solid stats as always, Derek.

Now that's a good idea. A lot of my upcoming weekends might be too booked up for that sort of thing but I agree that it would be beneficial. Couple of sandwiches and a nice day in nature pootling about.

I don't think much of the North Coast is particularly friendly for those with injured fingers, but the stuff at sea level can sometimes have some nice rounded features which makes it pretty manageable. That description is for the sport climbing anyway, luckily!

Yeah it's been a good couple weeks for it I think. Steady and controlled, generally feeling pretty good about it. I wouldn't say I'm a particularly classy climber, mind!

Pretty good week from me from a physical POV. Tried to do some DWS at the weekend but my brain is still pretty crappy with it.

Last Week:

M - AM and PM very light hangs.

T - AM very light hangs. PM BW+2.5kg 6x7s hangs on 20mm. Aiming to bump weight up session by session. Individual Moonboard moves but I feel like my movement was rubbish. A2 felt alright though, which is something.

W - Weigh-in at 78.1kg. AM very light hangs. PM light "regeneration" repeaters. 6x7s, 15 sets, 1m rest. Switched from half crimp to 3FD midway through. That's some aerobic exercise done, how long until tech 6b becomes a rest?!

T - AM and PM very light hangs.

F - AM very light hangs. PM BW+5kg 5x7s hangs on 20mm, followed by some steady Moonboarding, made a new one, "Two Cups of Tea". A2 felt good.

S - PM very light hangs.

S - Punting around Llandudno. Started hoping for DWS but my head is still absolutely rubbish, goals adjusted accordingly. Later made some fun moves around the Cave of Justice but nothing particularly of note or completeness. A2 felt good, and even Rock Atrocity (f7C) felt like it could be worth returning for in full health.

Next Week:

M - Evening swim?

T - Climbing.

W - Rest.

T - Climbing.

F - Rest.

S, S - More climbing!

Goals:

Rehab A2.

Restore DWS head game.

Improve ability on tiny edges.

Work on PE.

Oberth Effect Proj.

In reply to Ross Barker:

I imagine DWS needs a session in optimum conditions at a venue with some easy wins

In reply to Derek Furze:

Hey hey. Cheers for the stats, Derek.

Thanks for giving me a pass on the mountain day! ;-p

Week 33:

A week that felt pretty full on, but mostly due to lots of driving and not much sleep. Some good stuff, but some mediocre performances mixed in. A lesson in the value of sleep and not trying to cram too much in, perhaps.

M: Core. Strength.

T: Alpine start and finish for work ate in to both Monday and Tuesday's sleep.

W: Climbing at  Far Hill Crag Nothing too ambitious -felt like I was running on vapours.

T: Climbing on  Esk Buttress (Dow Crag) -a bit more awake and psyched! Highlight was leading the first pitch of The Red Edge (E1 5a). 

F: Hill run over Langdale Pikes. 17.6km, 885m vert, 9:33/km.

S: Climbing at  Craig y Forwyn A rubbish day from a climbing point of view (just couldn't motivate myself for any sort of physical or mental stress!) but nice catching up with Tyler.

S: Rest -unplanned, but felt I needed it.

Week 34:

M: Core. Strength. Prehab.

T: Rest or run -depending on work.

W: Climbing.

T: Core. Strength. Prehab.

F: Run.

S: Prehab.

S: Run.

STG (end Sept):

3 off big mountain day list (1/3 -thanks Derek!)

Average twice weekly finger boarding. (currently 1.3)

5+ off Lundy hit list.

MTG (end Dec):

Hidden Dragon or White Wall (Masson, not Millstone!)

100m D6/7 in a session.

110 days climbing for the year.

1000 km running (and 40km vertical) for the year.

LTG (end March):

2+ off Scottish VII list.

1+ of Alpine Winter list.

In reply to Tyler:

Yes, it ended up being quite a heavy bag but couldn't really see a way around that. Didn't bother with rock shoes to save weight which was a good decision. I think I need to buy a new lighter weight sleeping bag. Mine is 1.4kg and massive overkill for the UK.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Unfortunately, that's pretty much what yesterday's venue was. Nothing too easy mind, but calm sea, short swim and an easy exit. My issues are more irrational and go a bit deeper than I'd like!

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Nice job! Respect for the double bivvy!

I bet the Dubh Ridge was a nice start. I've previously rejected it because I found the idea of going out and back from Gars Bheinn quite disatisfying, but I bet that's outweighed by a more aesthetically pleasing route up Dubh Mor (and to be fair, you're eliminating the out-and-back for that!)

In reply to AlanLittle:

When did the Tranter sneak in to the STGs? That will be ace -what's your plan?

In reply to Tom Green:

The slabs were cool, more visually than climbing wise though, they are very easy. Our original plan had been for a greater cuillin traverse going over the CG ridge and Blabein (spelling?) Before heading round to the slabs and then the ridge and doing the whole lot in a big circle over 3 days. When we saw the forecast for sat and sun we decided to sack off day one and roll day two and three into one mega day which sort of worked but we were pretty ball bagged by the time we got to the final summit.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Yeah, it is taking way longer than expected. At least pain is now gone, just a little bit of a pressure feeling on the heel that i sometimes get after 5-10 minutes of walking. Fingers crossed that this will also be completely gone soon. Till then i will stay careful with the load.

A combination of trying to set a base and not motivated enough to think of a sensible variation. Will probably continue like that for 1-2 more weeks and then switch things up a little bit.

Recap last week

Mon: Rest

Tues: Archer Pullups: 5x10 with 3 min rest, Fingerboard repeaters: 6x6x7,3 at 95% BW on 20mm egde, 40 Pushups

Wed: Rest

Thur : Archer Pullups: 4x10,12 with 3 min rest, Fingerboard repeaters: 6x6x7,3 at 95% BW on 20mm egde, 50 Pushups

Fri: Rest

Sat: Rest

Sun: Archer Pullups: 3x12,10 with 3 min rest, Fingerboard repeaters: 6x6x7,3 at 95% BW on 20mm egde, 40 Pushups

Similar week as the last one. Felt some improvement with Archer Pullups and switched to sets of 12 though they still feel pretty hard. With the Fingerboard repeaters i also feel a little bit stronger, but it is harder to quantify as it depends more on the conditions which are quite bad at the moment.

In reply to Tom Green:

Well now. I have a big famiy get-together in Norfolk next weekend. The plan after that was to head to Wales for a few days to start my sons trad education. But it turns out he has to go home earlier  for some uni stuff, so I've decided to head up to Scotland and see some places I've always wanted to see.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Nice! Fingers crossed for decent weather. 

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

The greater traverse would be a big old slog! Think I’d do the days the other way to your plan so I could look across at the ridge and think ‘tick!’ instead of ‘aw crap!’ 

In reply to Derek Furze: thank you for your comments Derek. It’s amazing how many different sessions you can get out of a bouldering wall! Although it was a real relief for my sanity to get out on real rock again this week. Good effort on the 3 finger pockets!

Mon – Foot on campus board 65 secs rest between reps, 65, 65, 65, 47, 55, 42, 52 (391secs total). Forgotten how brutal these are, needed both Raging Speedhorn and Slayer to get me through this.

10 mile run 1hr 33mins, 5.30 km/h pace

Tues –  Finger block hangs 10 secs alternate hands 2mins rest; 2.5kg , 5, 7.5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 27.5, 30 (8 secs on left), 27.5, 27.5 (7 secs on left).

Wed – 4 mile early morning plod, struggling to wake up.

Thursday – nothing

Friday – Dumbell windmills 3 x 5 each side, hammer supinations, wrist curls

Saturday – One day hit to North Wales. Tried Red Walls Gogarth first, top roped Wendigo (E2 5b) as a warm up – used up one of my lives as I ripped off a huge flake I tried to use as a directional runner. Cut through the Aramid sling but luckily not the ropes or me! Very high winds made last 40ft and belaying on top feel like being in a tumble dryer. Ran away back to Llanberis. Constant light rain showers and no sign of the forecasted sun so headed to the slate. Descended into Twll Mawr hoping to do one of the multi-pitch sport routes – all were wet. Spotted an isolated semi dry pillar on far side of the scree. This turned out to be Island of Stability (6c) an excellent route on funky greenstone but soft for the grade. Popped into Never Never Land for some dry rock. Took a fancy to Short Stories (E4 6a) which I’d not done before. Not tried any thin slabs this year and found it hard to trust the typical tiny slate foot holds also got pretty scared on the run outs. Eventually ran out of juice at the big holds at the penultimate move and took a sizeable slither down the slab. Felt too drained and nauseous to continue. Top roped it afterwards and was a bit disappointed how reasonable it felt. I guess that’s the difference about being on sight on the sharp end.

Sunday – lots of stretching and tried out hand ice baths as fingers felt like those of a 90 year old.

Reflection - Despite being a bit too much of an eventful day with shoddy weather it felt great to finally get outside. 6 weeks since I’d done any hard outside climbing. Considering that, perhaps a bit ambitious going for Short Stories but couldn’t resist and gave it all I had. Probably the biggest effort I’ve put into a route this year.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Why wendigo as a toprope warm up, out of curiosity? It's years since I did it, but I feel like it would be quite a high faff (and quite physically easy)  thing to get on.

In reply to AJM: it was a stupid idea I’m blaming my partner who suggested it but obviously I went along with it. There were winds up to 50mph onto the crag so it was a way to suss out how climbable things were. As it was communication was impossible so after being terrified by the spike pulling off I abbed down a bit further but my mate didn’t realise I was climbing (he was belaying me from above on the lead ropes). Ended up climbing out on the ab rope which was running horizontal across the whole wall and getting stuck on all those quartzy spikes. Basically we shouldn’t have even tried - an accident waiting to happen!

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Glad you survived, what was the sling being used for or was that the thing that actually ripped? I must say the rock on those ‘easier’ fault lines are pretty terrifying.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

That doesn't sound fun. Kudos for searching out more climbing afterwards, I feel like I'd probably have just retired to the cafe after an experience like that!

In reply to Tyler:

Sling was round a 3 ft spike as a directional for the ab rope and 2 x 8mills. The spike lasted about 2 seconds before pulling straight off and cutting through the sling...eek! I'd clove hitched the ab rope in and it took about 20mins on top for my mate and I to undo the knot due to the high loading. The joys of Gogarth.

In reply to Tyler:

By the way well done on Rub a Dub at the Diamond, my Saturday partner (Zippy) has the same opinion - best 7a in UK, He says the 7a+ and 7b next to it are equally good and they're not too bad for the grade I think he said?

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Amazing 

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

How is HotS these days? I never did it when I was more into the Culm slabs, but always thought it looked good...

In reply to AJM:

It's good, we thought bottom end E3, never too hard but lots of quite hard. Steve could answer this in more detail but the modern line has changed slightly from the original line (hence E3 from E2) to take advantage of the best rock and there is a lower off station at the top of the second pitch which we didn't use as we'd left the ab rope in place to get out with instead. The rock was pretty solid and there was loads of gear, I wouldn't consider it overly dangerous in its current state up to the lower off. I wouldn't recommend the top pitch without a rope in place.

In reply to Steve Claw:

Thanks all.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Well he would say that, wouldn’t he?! I’m keen to try them as well but you are aware that the the crag’s reputation is earned further right and there’s no chance of me doing any of those. The good thing about the LHS is that it’s accessible during a lock in.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Morning all, thanks for the amazingly details stats again Derek

Week 33

M – Nothing – feeling nauseated after dinner and had a (relatively) early night

T – Still a bit off – stretching/mobility only

W – Evening board. Progressive warm-up. Feeling light and front-wheel drive, so got on a power problem “Ironarm” (theoretically 7B, but way harder than many 7Cs). Great progress, touching but not holding the crux x3. For comparison, I did Seoldogi4, 7B+ benchmark in 3 goes, and had some good burns on Partboy, 7C & Moon Challenge, 7C+.

T – Annual leave, morning pack and drive to in-laws. Afternoon; squeezed in a short session trying Tower Ridge (E7 6c) with a shunt. Bit of a faff to find the top and tiptoe over the brambles/nettles, but great to be trying something a bit different, i.e. initially got schooled by the technical moves, but fine on the powerful ones! All a bit rushed in the end, and best go was in 3 sections.

F – stretching/mobility only

S – Full day shopping / child wrangling

S – Grabbed another opportunity to boulder while child/wife snoozed (though it turns out Mk2 woke up 30min after I left and needed to be wheeled about in the pushchair).  Dugout to reduce faff. Quick warm-up on familiar 6A-6C+ then 3 goes to do Ross’ Squeezing A Lass (f7B). Fun tension problem. Then got stuck into Sub Moron (f7C+); but that grade is condensed into 3 moves. I got the full shutdown on the original undercut method and spent 45min trying exotic knee techniques to try and take the sting out of it. Eventually found a way to get the lip with the wrong hand, and half a way to release the karma sutra position this left you in. Two options; try this new beta when fresh, or train undercuts until the return match at Christmas? I think I’ll do both…

In reply to Derek Furze:

Cheers Derek. Yes, the “sleepy train” went down well, even if it took ages for everyone to actually fall asleep! It was partly a test of how well the idea works, since travelling far into Europe without flying probably requires sleeper trains (or an inordinate amount of time on daytime trains, which are likely to test child patience!)

A good holiday. It was always planned as something of a mix between climbing and non climbing activity, and that seemed to work well. Did a bit of climbing, nothing terribly hard but everyone had fun with it. A little bit of a shame not to get more done on the Inverness leg of the trip but poor sleep is corrosive on our ability to do things.

Monday - stroll out to Rhue lighthouse, lovely views. Then in the afternoon we went on a boat trip out to the summer isles, which had come recommended by a number of people. Didn’t disappoint. Glorious weather, lots of dolphins, some seals, a sea eagle… cracking rainbow at the end of the day as well.

Tuesday - Jetty Buttress for some roadside climbing. Did 3 VSs with MrsAJM whilst the children played. Really enjoyed 2 of them.

Wednesday - Goat Crag. Did 3 easy-ish sport routes, miniAJM toproped one, MrsAJM toproped two. Sadly the kids were getting a bit tired and emotional after this and so we decided to head down and go to Corrieshalloch Gorge, which miniAJM thoroughly enjoyed (microAJM slept in the car through the whole thing, we had worn her out!). A shame in some ways as I had basically done the 3 warmups, and the hard routes on the crag look genuinely good and things I would love to return to next time I found myself in the general area.

Thursday - took the kids up Stac Pollaidh. They both did really well. Glorious day, wonderful views, the archetypal northern Scottish landscapes of mountains and lochs, views to the Hebrides, etc. Afterwards, we went to Achnahaird beach which was another beautiful spot.

Friday - Reiff - Roinn a' Mhill. Sadly very blowy, which curbed enthusiasm, but we did a few easy topropes with the kids at least.

Saturday - bad weather, rest and transit to Inverness

Sunday - a bad nights sleep, for MrsAJM in particular who was pretty wiped out.  Plans awry, in the end I took them down to Aviemore and up the Cairngorms funicular whilst she slept. With more prep we could have done something more adventurous, but needs must…

Monday - another poor nights sleep! Went to Fort George, afternoon in Inverness, sleeper train home in the evening.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Look out!  Ally's about!

In reply to Ally Smith:

So that’s what it was! I was guessing something at Harmers so miles off. 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Cheers Derek, unfortunately for me the back injury was of my own making. I was invited to play a one off celebration game of rugby as my old club was disbanding. I agreed and said i would pop on for 5 minutes at the end just for the hell of it. Come game day they didn't have anyone to start in my position so started the game and played 60 minutes in the scrum. Surprisingly i wasn't too bad afterwards, however laying a patio after only a days recovery was a really stupid idea and the combination of compression  then bending and twisting whilst weight bearing totally did me in. Add into this a really bad reaction to subsequent prescription neuropathic pain blockers that amplified the pain and ending up going to hospital in an ambulance as i couldn't walk I'm pretty happy to be back where i am (pun intended    )

Bouldering and Osprey spotting really made for a good trip and im sure you will be smashing out longer runs in no time!

Had another good week of progression that went as follows;

Monday, 1k lunchtime swim

Tuesday, 2k lunchtime swim and 5k run in the evening

Wednesday, rest day

Thursday, 1k swim followed by stretch class and 5k run in the evening

Friday, met the eldest daughter at the pool to help with comments on her turns as she wanted to do a technique session, got some sprints in too and covered 0.5k

Saturday, back on parent taxi duty and family chef for a big multi curry dinner 

Sunday, back out on the trails for a really lovely 12k run. 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks, Derek.

The ticks, yes…certainly not the ‘tick’ I was aiming for…what surprised me a bit was how staunchly they’d clamped on. I only had one from the Saturday but four from the Monday and the new crag – and even after the wonderful hurtle down the river they were still tucked in… I have to concede that, weather permitting, I still go to the crag as if off to the beach…shorts and loose t-shirt. Something I’ll probably never correct…

Quiet week for me, two jobs to finish off, no midweek partner available and thus no plastic training for the first time since Covid in February…

Tue: long hang board session, French pull ups, stretching
Wed: stretching, core
Thu: hang board session, French pull ups, stretching
Fri: upper & lower body / legs, core
Sat: hike, Kraxenbachtal, Chiemgau…one of my favourites. Lots of pools to dip into and cool off on a wilting day.
Sun: stretching.

Almost got the jobs done and my midweek partner is back, so the last week was a winddown…perhaps also what’s needed given the scorchers here day after day, and an opportunity to mull over what I need to do to get out more…not easy for me because it will certainly entail breaking out of / shrugging off (very) old patterns of behaviour...

Good week to all.

In reply to AlanLittle:

Hi Alan,

no, like you just saw it mentioned somewhere - I'm presuming it's a new edition of Müller. Stadler put a lot of Chiemgau into his Panico Bayern guide, which is relatively new.
About time too that something new came out. I've got Müller, 2014, and even for the easier stuff I do there's lots of new areas / sectors.

Have a good stay in the UK.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek, very insightful as ever. 

Very true, and I really do hate cleaning my bike! 

Relatively good news from the physio today. The joint looks very stable so no major concerns for ligament recovery. The physio wasn't a climber and understandably couldn't offer me any climbing specific rehab exercises, but gave an rough estimation of 4-5 weeks before I'm back. I'm off to see James again at the Sheffield Climbing Clinic in a couple of weeks so hoping this will lead to a quicker phased return to pulling on plastic. 

The stitches should be out in another week which will make life a lot easier too! 

All told, not a bad result. No training to report as I thought it best to treat myself to a proper recovery week. 

In reply to SteveJC94:

That sounds quite reassuring.  How goes the loss of feeling?

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thank you Derek,

I bit more back on it this week, and after more elbow inflammation pain (inside the joint) I have started using Diclofenac gel on the joint area, which has helped loads.

M - Rest

T - Heart of the Sun (E3 5c) with SSB. Awesome day out, and although the climb is not that hard, the overall adventure was excellent.  Its graded E3 5c but soft at E3, but taking into account the situation and the rock quality I think it may be a bit much for E2.  Technically I felt the first pitch had 1 move of 5c, and the rest was ok.  The 2nd pitch was possibly not 5c, but a long 34m with lots of hard 5b.

W - Cleaned another esoteric little wall and shunted a nice little steep E3.

T - New sport, 5+, 6a+, 6c.  Then in the evening Critic's Choice (E5 6b) which was good fun, very much my style and nearly went first go, but went the wrong way at the top. 

F - A quick shunt of a 6b+ whist cleaning it.

S - Nothing

S - Evening play in Avon.  Shunted a new E5/E6, feels like hard tech 6b with big airtime.  Will need big boy pants for the lead on this one.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Not too bad now thanks. Plenty of feeling in the pad, just a little tingly down one side for now 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Anyone free for a climb this Sunday at Avon or wye valley?

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks for the excellent statting Derek.

Weight - 12st 6lbs

STG - 15k a week by mid-September

MTG - 10k 1 hour

LTG - 30 mile ultra (July 24) and 86 mile (Sept 24)

M - 5k

T - S - rest

Weekly milage - 5k

I'm fairly sure I went on a run on Wednesday as well, but I can't remember what I did.  Orkney isn't actually great for running really.  Not many pavements for road running, even less footpaths for trail running.  Spent Thursday and Friday driving and on the ferry.  I have been getting amazing sleep tho, as there's no light pollution here and no street lights at all.  Main aim is to do a bit of tick over while I'm on holiday.