UKC

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_858-7632...

Good evening all, I will be your stat man for the next couple months or so. Not sure when Tom said he would take over after me, maybe in the new year or something? You've got me for a while, so buckle up!

Sounds like many of you are making the most of the last of the summer holidays, with many good days out across the board, which is great to see! Great ticklist chat as well. Hopefully more of that coming with the clear forecast upcoming.

Derek Furze: Monstrous Tuesday! I'm pleased to see you're getting out and generally happy with the standard you're operating at, despite not doing as much as you would like. Understandable lack of training for the rest of the week, hopefully it was at least restful from a climbing perspective?

Tyler: A quiet week, yes, but looks like there's been some quality training and new-venue-visiting going on, which is always valuable. Impressive to see a big session at the wall, remembering how much grief your elbows were giving you some time ago, and with another Diamond hit in the pipeline! Hope there was a crisp breeze and smeg-free holds for you, and I'm glad to see the optimism for being on good form in the coming weeks and months.

Randy: Some very calculated training going on there, looking strong. 100 pushups would be a hell of a feat, but if that becomes your goal, wouldn't that just make all these pull-ups become antagonist work How's the foot doing? Is climbing looking possible in the near future or going to stay on the training gainz train for a few more stops?

Ian Parnell: Always happy to see some bouldering! I've never been to Pleasley, but Farley Woods is a pleasant spot to be, especially when the evening sun cuts through the trees. Partner frustration is be a real pain, I'll sympathise with you on that one. Good midweek training as well - are these for any particular goals, or general conditioning and fitness? Forgive me if you've already answered Derek on this!

Steve Claw: That new route sounds brutal! Thin ratting is hard on the skin on worn rock, never mind sharp crozzly fresh stuff! Looking forward to seeing how you get on with a return to it, and I hope you've enjoyed the family getaway.

mattrm: Not a bad week, especially considering the hefty walk. What's the plan for getting the distance up to 15k over the next couple weeks - extending existing runs, or squeezing in an extra one elsewhere?

Tom Green: That is indeed a good week, neat Adder encounter too! Way cooler than the usual sheep poo and midges Good performance on The Jim Grin, am I right in thinking that was one of your S/MTGs for a little while? Good diligence on the prehab and conditioning work.

Somerset swede basher: A steady week, solid repeaters, bodyweight is nothing to scoff at given the ratio of work to rest! Have you got your eye on any local goals once summer is up, and conditions hopefully get a little crisp?

Liam P: Hope the house move is all done, or at least getting there by now. The odd training session plus generally shifting boxes and carting stuff about is probably enough for maintenance anyway, and like you said, no losses, so don't stress too much about any sort of routine until you're in the right place for it.

AJM: Not bad having a week off after what sounds like a good trip. Scotland is on the list to visit for climbing, it's just bloody miles away! Interesting points on that base trad endurance, it certainly is a valuable thing for long onsights (not that I'd know!), is this something you could incorporate into some training, or something to be mindful of when picking something a bit longer to onsight?

AlanLittle: A quiet week, but must be great to see the family again after so long! Hopefully you'll be able to rejoice with some high quality British choss before heading back home.

Ross Barker: Okay I can't actually do this "talking to myself in third person" sort of thing. I'll try to be reflective in my entry but any thoughts from others are more than welcome!

Ally Smith: A real switch from "worst board session" to smashing out a nemesis, having some promising burns on another project! Not forgetting the future neoclassic testpieces from me of course! I'm not sure how busy life is since the arrival of MK2, will there be plans for climbing outside in the coming months, or just quick local/dugout hits when there's a window for it?

the sheep: Best of luck on the half marathon! A solid week of swimming from you as well, plus a couple of runs. Bank holidays do have a habit of muddling schedules and existing habit, but I'm sure you'll be bashing the miles out in the coming weeks anyway.

SteveJC94: Good job on the finger stretching, and general fitness lark. Straight onto the mono one armers this week? keep up the good work!

biscuit: Sorry to hear about the shoulder, but excellent diligence on rehabbing it appropriately as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to hearing how the Leonidio training goes, have you got any specific goals out there or just hoping to be in good shape and have a good holiday?

Small Step: Derek was indeed an excellent host, so apologies in advance if my standards seem underwhelming! That Thursday session sounds productive, nearly onsighting a 7a in sweaty conditions is nothing to scoff at! Solid work on strength and conditioning during the rest of the weak too - well done.

inglesp: A controlled looking week, well balanced between running and climbing. You're looking in a good position for meeting your 2023 goals, too. Becoming proficient and RPing 7a indoors might be a hard one to quantify, but I imagine as we get nearer winter and indoor climbing becomes more frequent, you'll just sort of feel whether or not you've hit the mark?

Thanks Ross, and thanks for picking up the baton from Derek. Elbows do seem to have improved and I’ve realised that there weren’t many times when I would have been climbing as I am, carrying the weight handicap that I am so re-thought my weight strategy. I consulted a doctor and climbing wad and they both told me that stopping eating and going hungry was the way to do it. I tried that from the end of last week and early results were positive (glycogen dumping?). Unfortunately I’ve been driving and eating for two days so the experiment is on pause for a couple of weeks.

Currently sat in the shade of a tree in French aire so no chance of anything being done today, or the last few days for that matter.

The Diamond on Monday was absolutely mint, got on It Came from Beneath the Sea expecting it to be as soft as the route I did last week but it’s actually quite involved and pumpy (and run out). It top roped it twice after stick clipping but didn’t manage it in a oner (close). 
Wednesday was back to LPT where Joe got agonisingly close to his route twice and I tidied up Thick Skinned (6c+) after putting the clips in. Since then nothing so this week has been very light on volume, I could call it a taper week as I’m going to be climbing with FC’s founding farther for a few days next week!

Hail Ross! Our new stat leader. In answer to your question in terms of what's it all for? I’ve added some new goals. As you can see they’re all pretty vague except for the Autumn run/climb project (which I'm also keeping vague!). The reason being that my youngest’s existential crisis has reached the point where they’ve decided they’re not going to school amongst many other things. So I’m dropping all my big route aspirations and seizing what opportunities I can to get quick hits of climbing sanity. As a result you’ll be pleased to note Ross there will be lots more bouldering.

STG (next month) – maintain a grip on daily life, maintain and enjoy climbing and training when possible.

MTG (next 2 months)– Autumn run and climb project.

LTG (next 6 months) – Give me strength! – fingers, steep stuff and slopers. Also get properly to grips with safe Grit E3s.

Mon – 10.5 mile run, some road, some trail in 1hr 40mins

Tues –  Bouldering at The P in Matlock. Find this place hard – very fingery and not a fan of sit starts. However, it definitely targets a fair few of my weaknesses. Tried half a dozen problems but only got up Car Bound Purile Ticker (standing) (f4) and INdepenDANCE (f6A).

Wed – Quick pre-work session on garage woodie, struggled to wake up and get going properly. Tried 10 problems V2-5, got up 3.

Thursday – 40 mins stretching and shoulder and elbow rehab weights.

Friday – 40 mins stretching and shoulder and elbow rehab weights.

Saturday – 12 miles run in 1hr 55mins.

Sunday – Churnet bouldering. Early start to make the most of a free morning. Cottage Rocks, Pine Buttress and Push Block (latter 2 new to me). Got up Crusty (f4), Billy Bunter (f5), Tufa (f6A), Pushing Forward Stand-start (f6A), Don't Push Me (f6A) and Push the Button (f6B+), tried another five 6A+-6B+s without success. Then thrashed around the rhododendrons until I found the Smelting Block. Managed Serpentine Drive (f6B), Wrought Iron (f6B+) (first go), and The Moac Traverse (f6A).  

Reflection - Really enjoyed the Churnet this morning, such a beautiful spot. Struggled on the fingery stuff and did better on my strengths – traverses and cracks. Pleased with first go on Wrought Iron - a 45 degree overhanging fist and hand crack. Confession I didn’t top out the Push wall problems due to grittiness and no spotter and that you couldn’t walk off anyway as it was under brambles – so I guess not proper ticks.

Thanks Ross and good job getting your first one out so promptly!

Yes, I'm generally happy with where I'm at, which is different from the old days!  If I'd been bumping along like this, I would have given up until I could take it more seriously again!

First week for a while where I got out twice.  Tuesday after work return trip to Pandy.  A further eight routes done including Discovery (6c) and a slightly tainted trip up Manhattan Project (6c) which wasn't very good.  Got me to my target of 35 routes for August, which isn't bad when I've been getting out less.

Saturday trad at Crummackdale, which is a slightly bold place in general.  First trad for ages, but enjoyed Arc Royal (HVS 5a), The Generation Gap (HVS 5a), Olympus (HVS 4c) and a TR flash of Olympus Trip (E4 6a).  Didn't enjoy the scary warm up Juno (VS 4c).  Getting to know where things are now and spotted plenty to go back for - enjoyed it!

No real training, but the last week if childminding, so should have more time now.  Also should note that project CUAMC (cut up and move caravan) was finally successful on Friday evening, where we manhandled half a caravan around onto our patio (essentially through a hedge) to form the basis of a garden kitchen and bar.  Didn't do my shoulder any good with this!

Well, it would a nice break to switch it. But on a serious note, one of the main obstacles for doing to 100 pushups that it would actually interfer with the one-armer. One-Armer Pullups also target the pec muscle at the beginning of the movement and i've noticed that if i do to much pushups work it makes me sore for the pullups.

No real improvements, i am still not able to walk for 10 minutes without some mild discomfort in the foot. I've tried to do some more stretching of my calves, so maybe this will bring some improvements other the next weeks.

Recap last week;

Mon: Rest

Tues: Warmed up for pullups but felt quite sore in my pec and triceps. Decided to abort the session and just did some light stretching

Wed: Rest

Thur: Assisted One-Arm-Lockoffs: 95% BW: 150°: 10s with right arm, 10s with left arm: 120°: right: 10s; left: 10s; 90°: right: 15s, left: 15s; 45°; right: 8s, left: 5s; 6x6x7,3 at 97,5% BW on 20mm egde, 40 Pushups; felt much better but still not 100% recovered

Fri: Rest

Sat: Rest

Sun:  Assisted One-Arm-Lockoffs: 95% BW: 150°: 8s with right arm, 10s with left arm: 120°: right: 10s; left: 7s; 90°: right: 8s, left: 10s; 45°; right: 6s, left: 4s; 6x6x7,3 at 97,5% BW on 20mm egde, still felt tired despite two rest days

Unfortunately, not the best week. Trend on the one-arm lockoffs is rather going down, while i had expected some improvements after not doing them for a month. Best explanation that i have, is that i just was not recovering enough. I will try to reduce volume a little bit over the next week and see what is happening. Maybe i just need some more time to get used the lock-offs again and generally more recovery after max strength sessions than i think.

So the plan is to use a short loop (2k) to add distance on in the form of extra runs.  So currently, that'll be two 5ks a week plus extra loops.  When I build up into three 5ks, I'll look to turn one into a 10k.  So on and so forth.  Less sure how well this will all work over the winter.  There's not loads of tarmac running where I live and I hate that anyway.  Lots of the off road routes will turn into mud baths.  Some might not, so we'll see.  I do have a decent head torch, so can wear that easily enough.  Hopefully should be able to get runs in during lunchtime.

Then hopefully once I'm up to 30k, by christmas time with a bit of luck.  I'll then start into a more proper 12 week running program.  Hopefully that should see me ready for the first ultra in July.

I would do a proper report this week, but it is basically that I went diving on Tuesday, caught a bad cold and then spent the rest of the week recovering from that.  Then drove home.  Still not really fully recovered.  The dive was utterly amazing.  The cold less so.  Hope to be back up to speed this week.

Thanks Ross, good to see you've dived in with a great first set of stats. 

Well, a man can dream...

Still continuing with the finger rehab and starting to up the mileage on the bike a touch

M - Rest

T -  Zone 2 base ride on Zwift. 38 mins / 165 watt average

W - Rest

T - Vo2 max intervals in Zwift. 40 mins / 155 watt average / 340 watt max

F - Rest

S - A hilly zone 3 ride. 49km / 1,027m ascent (900m in the first 25km, ouch!) / 2hrs2mins / 24kph average

S - Zone 2 cafe ride. 26km / 112m ascent / 58mins / 27kph average 

Hi Ross, thanks for picking up the batten with the stats. I've got my eye in a couple of things for this winter. I'd like to do Blackfoot at Rowsley Woods and go back to Earth Quarry for Midnight Caller.

Mon. 58km bike ride, quite fast (for me) at 26.4km/h

Tues. Rest.

Wed. 6 sets of repeaters, 3x10 press ups. 3hr hill walk with the kids. 10km run in the eve.

Thurs and Fri. Rest, emergency car shopping needed.

Sat. Chilled day trip to the lakes for Bowfell Buttress (HS 4b).

Sun. Bouldering. Got completely schooled on String Theory at Rowsley Woods. Will return with crack gloves and hopefully I'll be able to do some more moves!

Must be the end of the summer holidays, forecast for next week looks great!

Thank you Ross,

The sudden change in weather conditions to 26deg full sunshine is going to put a delay to any more time on that one.  Looking to find shaded venues only this week.

Was still away on holiday until mid week, so not much to report.

W - Cleaned another 7a and had a mega day gluing up lots of routes.

F - More cleaning, and to get some exercise, shunted a load of the work in progress. 6a+, 6b+ 6c, 7a, 7a+.

Morning everyone. A sort of medium week from me. The weighted hangs are increasing in weight a little which is sticking to plan, but I think I've missed the mark with some of the session intensity and gone a bit too hard at times. Obviously no good excuse for it but it feels like it's been ages since I've been able to just try something without having to heavily consider how it'll affect my injuries. Is this just normal life now? A perpetual state of rehabilitation?

I had a look through past FC entries to see if I can see any sort of trends between what work I've been doing, and how the pulley has been feeling (since Dec '22, when this left ring first reared it's head in recent times). I'm not actually that sure on the effectiveness of these very light hangs, and a combo of density hangs and ice baths seemed to invoke a decent response.

Last Week:

M - See last week.

T - AM and PM very light hangs.

W - AM and PM very light hangs.

T - Weigh-in at 78.1kg. AM very light hangs. PM BW+10kg 5x7s hangs on 20mm, followed by a quick Moonboard. Couple more 6C/+ benchmarks. Generally felt a bit creaky, but hey, the MB point score is improving which is all that matters!

F - AM very light hangs.

S - Clogwyn y Tarw (The Gribin Facet). Parking was manic, the approach ended up being 2 miles each way! Got on The Punk (V8+), quickly found myself slapping the hold, but unable to stick it. I think I must be moving/tensioning poorly, as I could jump up from the ground and stick it, but there's no outward swing, which I think it's what's spitting me off. Had a fondle of Red Sky Wall (V5) but the conventional beta would've angered the A2, so left it alone. Fancied swinging around on some big holds so quickly visited Jerry's Roof (f7C) and acquainted myself with all the moves. Tourist start of course, I'm not gonna faff around with that crabby local nonsense!

S - Rest. A bit sore all over, fingers feeling it a little bit too. Maybe went too hard yesterday.

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Climbing. Going to keep the intensity low.

W - Rest.

T - Rest.

F, S, S - More climbing!

Goals:

Rehab A2.

Restore DWS head game.

Improve ability on tiny edges.

Work on PE.

Oberth Effect Proj.

Hi folks. Thanks for taking on the stats, Ross. Strong start! 

Week 35:

A good week for climbing -less so for training, due to work and life forcing some dropped sessions.

M: Strength and core.

T: Unplanned rest.

W: Alpine start for work up in Stranraer, then drove/was driven through the night to get down to Ilfracombe.

T: Sailed to Lundy in the rain, drank tea until the evening sun and breeze allowed a quick hit on The Devil's Slide (HS 4a)

F: Climbing. Five routes, the highlight being Double Diamond (HVS 5b).

S: Climbing. Two routes, the highlight being The Indy 500 (E1 5b) -a race against time before the boat sailed!

S: Trail run. 11.3km, 337m vert, 6:57/km -not sure why it was so slow, other than I stopped to take a few photos?

Week 36:

M: Strength & Core.

T: Run.

W: Prehab.

T: Climbing.

F: Run.

S: Climbing.

S: Strength & Core.

STG (end Sept):

3 off big mountain day list (1/3)

Average twice weekly finger boarding. (dropped off a bit -too much climbing!)

5+ off Lundy hit list (TICK).

MTG (end Dec):

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

100m D6/7 in a session.

110 days climbing for the year (currently 80).

1000 km running (currently 812km) and 40km vertical (currently 26km) for the year.

LTG (end March):

2+ off Scottish VII list.

1+ of Alpine Winter list.

Welcome Ross!

Yes, and I can only climb what's in front of me at the wall!  A target of five RPs by the end of the year should be manageable, but it's possible the limiting factor will be the wall's resetting rate.

After a fairly unstructured summer, I've decided to try to add a bit more structure to my training.  I've found in the past that the best way to stick to something like a training plan is through paying for it, so I've signed up for an account on Lattice's Crimpd and have started their beginner finger strength and intermediate flexibility programmes.  This should give me something to do each day and a way to measure progress, as well as leaving plenty of time for climbing and running.

Mon -- Hip & leg flexibility B, followed by hip flexibility test.  Box splits measured at 153cm, or 86% of my height.  8km run.

Tue -- Indoor session.  Routes up to 6c on autos, followed by working out the moves on a 7a face climb.  There's an easy first third, followed by five crimpy moves, with a tricky deadpointy boulder to finish.  I can do the bottom two thirds and the top third separately; next challenge is to do the bottom part more efficiently so I've got enough left to do the top.  Consensus at the wall is that this isn't a walkover at the grade which is encouraging.

Wed -- 12.5km run.

Thu -- Active hip mobility B, forearm mobility A, upper body mobility A

Fri -- One-arm "max hangs" with feet on the floor.  5 sets of 7s with 1m between sets.  Designed for people new to fingerboarding.  I think the point's to gradually get used to the process.  It took me most of the session to work out how to control the level of load without getting unbalanced and twisting.  Looking ahead in the training plan, week 3 includes a finger strength test followed by proper max hangs at 85% BW, which will mean setting up a pulley system and which I expect to be easier.

Sat -- Wrist curls and finger curls.  I've only got a 4kg dumbbell so not sure about the value here.

Sun -- Repeaters with feet on the floor.  4 sets of 3 reps; 7s on, 3s off.  Both arms, so no problems with stability!  Then active posterior chain mobility A and 6 minute core workout.

Amen!

Cheers Ross, and thanks for stepping up as the Stat Man!

House is slowly getting there but only had time to squeeze in one maintenance session in my new Training Dungeon (got a garage!) Picked up a cheap squat rack, got some rings, and hung the fingerboard on a solid-ish breeze wall so all set for some big sessions.

Sat

• OA Hangs 18mm 6x 7s (78%BW)
• Pistol Squats (small resistance band) 5x 5 - partial reps on knackered leg which was not happy beyond a very limited range/need to get it fixed!
• Pike Push-ups (small resistance band) 5x 5
• Standing Ab Wheel (small resistance band) 3x 3
• Weighted Pull-ups (122%BW) 5x 5

This next week should return to some form of normality, so should have a more substantial post after a few weeks off.

Thank you for picking up the stats mantle.

Not a lot from me this week, with a very painful split under my nailbed on my right pinkie. Unlike a split in a pad, which normally responds well to tape and superglue, this fecker hurts like mad no whenever you apply any pressure through that finger.

Week 35

BHM – Back on the board, hoping to make progress on Kawaschuwu. No luck, with tired shoulders and poor skin (very sore pinkie nail bed split). Good links on a couple of 7B+ and 7C BMs, but no ticks. Still much better than the previous Thursday session.

T – x1.5 Bar Core B. Max-hangs in RA pocket mimics (B3 left / F3 R; perfect to avoid RH pinkie split). BW+15g. Good progress there, despite not training them specifically – the little yellow board holds doing the trick instead?

W – Daily minimum core; 1min hold / 1min rest for 3x circuit of:

high plank / low plank / L plank / R plank.

Then 5x 1min 10kg hip-thrust / 1min rest.

T – Aborted a wrist roller session, as even that engaged super sensitive pinkie split. F3SHC block lifts; 27kg 40s “density” lifts both sides to completely isolate pinkie. hip mobility/stretching.

F – Eff-all.

S – Shared the load of double child wrangling with the in-laws with while my wife was at a wedding; “nothing”

S – Pinkie still sore, so little regret that the possibility of a Dugout session didn’t materialise. 9pm repeater lifts; F3SHC R / B3 L; 33kg x4 each side. Hard work, but felt controlled instead of tweaky.

Cheers Ross, happily the bank holiday was put to good use and we got a 13k trail run in. it was a slow one as we ended up on some pretty untraveled paths and there was quite a bit of undergrowth to be hacked back before we could proceed, looking at it as a full body workout 

Tuesday 1.5 k lunchtime swim 

Wednesday, pool was busy so rest day 

Thursday, busy day so only a 0.5K swim before stretch class and a nice 20k cycle home after work

Friday, 1k lunchtime swim and 5k run in the evening followed by 0.5k warm down swim

Saturday, rest day but still fulfilling parental taxi and cheffing duties

Sunday, long run day again. Managed a lovely 15k road route with the wife and eldest daughter which puts us slightly ahead of the half plan training curve

New swim season kicks off for the kids this week so i will be out every week night. Planning an exercise session for each evening so that it is not dead time. The performance squad have a new coach who is very good with feedback so no longer feel the need to observe so can have a little me time on the trails or even in the gym!! That will come as a shock to the body 

Even for you that’s a long journey!

For me at least, yes it is absolutely normal to go harder than you should have. It is so easy to think that more volume, intensity etc. means more progress while i probably would be significantly stronger if i spend more time on the couch and that does not even include training time lost due to overuse injuries

Nice.

Mind sharing the other Lundy routes you did?

I'm off there next week and looking for some inspiration 🙂

First time on the island and we were only there Thurs-Sat so I imagine we did the same started classics that all lower grade climbers do on their first visit!

Devils Slide

Horsemans Route

Diamond Solitaire

Double Diamond

Albion

Shamrock

Indy 500

Thanks

Welcome to the pulpit Ross.

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: Lat day of Norfolk family reunion, although actually in Cambridgeshire. I booked my son a flight in a Tiger Moth at the Duxford Aviation Museum as his sixteenth birthday present. It didn't happen that summer because of poor flying weather, then came the pandemic. This time we finally made it - better four years late than never.

T: Quick stop off at Highball in Norwich, my nomination for "most surprising decent bouldering wall in a location where one would least expect a decent bouldering wall". To my amazement according to google maps there are actually now *two* bouldering walls in Norwich. Then Norwich to London for the sleeper to Fort William.

W: I had contemplated starting my Glen Nevis circuit via Tower Ridge. Was already having second thoughts about this given the weight of my rucksack with bivvy gear and three days food, then the rain that started just after I arrived in Fort William provided the definitive answer. Mamores it is then. 
By the time I'd got off the sleeper, had a coffee and bought food & gas it was after noon - and then there were no more Glen Nevis buses running so I had to trek all the way up to Polldubh on foot. Still had time to head up onto the ridge and over the first two Munros before settling in for the night at a convenient lochan that according to the map was the only water on the ridge.

T: Mamores: the rest. I found this a surprisingly long and tiring day - it seems like alpine hiking fitness from going uphill all morning, and downhill all afternoon, is different from and not a perfect preparation for the constant up-down-up-again of a Scottish ridge traverse. 
 I'd hoped to find a water supply somewhere on the way down from Sgurr Eilde Mor, to stay in the breeze and avoid bivvying in the midge infested bogs of upper Glen Nevis, but I didn't find anything passable until I got all the way down to the river. Where, as soon as I started setting up my bivvy, the wind dropped and the midges emerged. Re-packed my rucksack and beat a hasty retreat to the Meanach bothy. It was dark by now, and there's no actual path to the bothy on the side of the river I was on - or lighting inside it for that matter - so I was very glad I chose to bring my night-into-day overkill headtorch rather than something light and minimalist.
    
F: Decision time. I was thinking in terms of a Glen Nevis round over three days and two nights, but I got a late start on the first day and had already taken two days and two nights just for the Mamores. Grey Corries - Aonachs - Ben in a day would be a tall order, and if I didn't do it in a day I'd risk running out of gas and food on a third night out, and I definitely wouldn't have time left for Knoydart. I've done Ben-Aonachs-GC before and I'd never been to Knoydart. So I legged it down Glen Nevis, hopped on the train to Mallaig and made the last ferry to Inverie - which turns out to be an absolutely lovely spot with a really nice village pub right on the waterfront.

S: Knoydart: Meall Buidhe and Luinne Bheinn. An absolutely glorious hillwalking day out, one of the best I remember, over rough country with fantastic views. And, surprisingly given that the ferry yesterday evening was packed and the village seemed pretty busy, I only saw two other parties on the hill all day. Coming to Knoydart was definitely a good call.
    The trouble with the scale of Scotland though is that after a day of excellent hillwalking, you're still faced with ten kilometres more yomping - most of it on a flat and tedious gravel estate road - to get back to the village. I can see why the locals use mountain bikes for the big crag approaches. The thought of my pint waiting at the Old Forge sustained me.
    
S: Boat Inverie-Mallaig, train Mallaig-Edinburgh. A full day expedition - getting anywhere in the Highlands by public transport is a lengthy affair.

Realistically I didn't have time for both of my short term goals. Could have done one or the other but instead did part of each of them: half a Glen Nevis round, two out of three Knoydart Munros. Which means I've done a complete Glen Nevis round, just with the two halves seperated by over forty years, and I have a reason to go back to lovely Knoydart. Excellent.

One thing this trip showed me was that multiple nights out, with a bit of drizzle and some midges, was really pushing the limit of livability and keeping self and kit in order in my army surplus bivvy bag. If I do a trip like this again I should probably invest in a decent lightweight tent. My other major gear learning was more positive: Sea to Summit inflatable pillow. Total game changer compared to the traditional fleece-in-a-stuffsack, definitely the best not strictly necessary 20 grammes I've ever carried.

Yeah trad endurance is possible with the right facilities, but not everywhere has them - my experience is it just needs really long stints on the wall moving and/or at modest rests - the wall in Gloucester used to have a huge bendcrete boulder in the middle that you could just go round and round and round forever, that was very good for it. My home board is a bit difficult, I can do 5-3-5-3-5 but with a lot of on wall shakeouts, but not really anything longer. Ideally, I'd do more trad climbing and keep that going over the winter!

In terms of my week, I went to the wall with miniAJM on Monday, an ok session. Busy week at work but at the weekend we went to Portland on Saturday. Sunday morning I did a circuit of the usual favourites at cave hole. Did a bit of swimming about underneath poor old Crab Party (E4 6a) (I've posted a photo) which has undergone some recent rockfall. Fingers crossed it is still doable - quite possibly the best 6c on Portland...

On Monday miniAJM had an inset day so we stayed over Sunday night for one more day. We made a short hit to a very hot cuttings boulderfield, hiding in the upper stone hut for a little while! I flashed a 6b+, the aptly named Ouch! (f6B+), And did a few other things.

I briefly tried Cat Killer (f6B), off the "why haven't I done this yet" list - turns out that alongside it being far from ideal temps for a slopey lip mantle part of the answer is that it still feels bafflingly desperate!

Hoping to make good use of the sunshine this coming weekend and I really need to start doing rehab properly again...

It's still there!  Never seen anyone on it though.

Anyone free Friday for Peak, Yorkshire or North Wales Limestone?

Bloody hell, wonder what caused Crab Party to fall over? There's not been any storms that I'm aware of in the last month since we were there. I imagine somebody would've noticed if it had happened earlier.

There's a few ascents from earlier in the summer in the log, not commenting on things like "this doesn't look like the description. What's that huge boulder doing there!". So it must have been fairly recent. Must have made a decent splash, that's a few tons of rock down in the water now...

Quietness is part of the attraction. Difficult to spend half an hour going round it with other people there. Best indoor trad endurance training I ever found.

Sorted!  Thanks Tom.  Looks like an appointment with Jim Grin is in order 🙂🌞

Somehow, this isn't making me keener on DWS!

Thanks Ross. Good to see you at the helm and thanks again to Derek for his excellent stint. Big shoes, no pressure etc.

The shoulder is a long standing issue that has never quite been bad enough for me to put the effort in. But I'm getting the urge to push on atm and finally sorting this out will be helpful in the long run. I've just ended up aggravating it a bit. It's totally settled again now. Rehab continues but it's feeling much better.

I'm not sure on Leonidio goals tbh. At the moment it's to just be in good shape and I'd like to onsight 7b. But let's see nearer the time.

M - Gym

30 min continuous climbing - 6a, 6b, 6a, 6c 6a 6b etc repeated

Run 30 mins

T - Boulder session

Gym

W - 1 min on/1 min off x10 on 6c. Too easy. I may make this about completing the circuit and resting for the same time rather than bumping the difficulty up. I was climbing at outdoor pace on purpose so was only getting half way round.

T - Trying the 7c circuit to use for broken halves. That was an ego smasher. Dejected......

F - Went to Giggleswick. Feeling a bit rough. Managed a 6a+ second and half way up a 6b i'd cried take twice (on top rope) as I had nothing in the tank.

Belayed Rachel for a bit and then went home to bed.

S  - Still bleurgh

S - Feeling a bit better. Just washed out.

Some sort of a virus (neg covid test) and a bit annoying but all well again.

This week is about some testing and deciding what training to do and where. No climbing outside as I've got family stuff on this weekend. 

We've got some time booked off starting next Friday so fingers crossed this weather stays.

Mentally bookmarked!

The mileage (and hours driving) you put in astounds me!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone do a ‘quick hit’ trip to Lundy before. Fine effort!

Yeah! It astounds me too! 
I’ve become so used to big mileage that it doesn’t even feel much of a big deal. It’s something I’m keen to change… feels like it’s bad for me, bad for the environment, bad for my bank balance, etc. Drove five minutes to the crag last night and it felt amazing!

Hi Ross,

Thanks for taking on the host role – and please, no apologies in advance – or indeed any other time 😉 Slowly feeling better on plastic again after the brief timeout. Alas, a couple of ‘domestic issues’ have cropped up recently…have to see how things pan out in the coming weeks if there’s an impact on climbing…so just briefly:
Mon: hang board (ha, typed ‘hang bored’)
Tue: stretching: yoga hips/lower body - at present trying to turn the stretching into yoga routines…
Wed: wall, Thalkirchen, 5c, can’t remember: 2 routes, 6a, 6b+, 7a/+, 6c+….7a/+ was top rope to test the moves for a possible project; tough route for me, it would be a good tick..
Thu: stretching – yoga
Fri: hang board, French pull-ups, core
Sat: wall, Bad Aibling, another hot day… ‘family climbing’ and feeling a bit strange, so just two hard routes on top rope worthy of note, 6c+ and 6c – after a couple of moves the strangeness fell away and I felt quite good – got up both of them first go, didn’t miss a beat actually…
Sun: stretching – yoga: hips & lower body.

Wishing all a good weekend…