In reply to TonyB:
Cheers Tony. Seen your email too - thanks for that!
> AJM - So what did you do in France?
So much to report........
April 17th - first day at Orgon. Did a 4+, 5 and 5+ to warm up, but also got spanked by a very thin and techy 6a+. Moved to a different sector and flashed a gret 6a and onsighted a cool 6a+.
April 18th - Orgon again. Nasty polished 5+ to warm up, followed by a massive siesta since it was so hot - poor sector choice. Nevertheless, onsighted a brill 6a+ and 6b when the shade arrived. This was all on grey slabs, and felt quite steady given how hard grey slab climbing often is!
April 19th - Mont Gaussier. Flashed a not-so-nice 6a+ to warm up. Then flashed a 6b. Flailed incompetently on a 6c. Then, in a reversal of fortune
flashed a 7a. YYFY! First 7a flash, upped my flash grade in a stroke from 6c to 7a. Watched Audrey redpoint and Adrian flash an awesome looking 7b+ in great style, very inspiring!
April 20th - Mont Gaussier. Lowered off a low 6a+ because it was a bit loose and the holds felt a bit impermenant. Had a few goes on Appel de la Foret, which is a mega fun 6c with big moves on big jugs. High up crux meant I couldn't finish it though, powered out.
April 21st - rest
April 22nd - Mouries. 6a to warm up, then a 6b flash which was nails - unrelentingly sustained and thin, demanding loads of foot focus. Psyched. Had a good go at onsighting a 6c+, and an even better go at flashing a 7a, but no dice on either - didn't have enough juice left after the 7a attempt to redpoint the (brilliant) 6c+ either.
April 23rd - Orgon Canal, since it was raining. Hard to get psyched, but ended up having a go at Sherman Contest, a 7a+/b sort of thing, massive jugs to pull on but awful steep with a crux right at the top. Bolt to bolted it easily (the crux is maybe V2 at most?) and made the three crucial links - ground to first rest, first rest to second rest, then second rest through the crux to the top.
April 24th - Buoux. Felt trashed, so had a go at TCF (7a) but nowhere close to a tick.
April 25th - Back to Orgon Canal in the morning. Bolt to bolt on Sherman Contest again, then 3 redpoint goes. I could recover pump at the jugs well, which was good, but didn't have the power left in the tank for the crux. Made slow but steady progress each time, but no tick. Still, the fitness training undoubtedly did me some good, and it was a fun route to try and to fall from!
April 26th - rest and move to Thaurac
April 27th - Thaurac. Onsighted a bunch of routes to 6a+. Tried a 6c too, but climbed it too directly, made it too hard, and so dogged it. Adrian told me if I had thought it were 6b I'd have gone the right way without thinking, and had essentially failed because I'd expected it to be hard and so made it so.....
April 28th - Hortus. Got on the wrong route, got depsyched, didn't really climb. Brilliant crag if you get on the right stuff (its a big multipitch sport/trad venue, for those who've never heard of it) but I didn't, so didn't enjoy it so much.
April 29th - Cantobre. What a crag! 5+, 6a+ and
2 6c flashes. One of those was smoothly redpointed by agibb of this parish too as his first 6c redpoint. Did however get spanked by a 7a+, which revealed a weakness for powerful moves still. Audrey flashed the crag classic Turbulence (7b+) which looked amazing - must do this route!
April 30th - Thaurac. Couple of 5+s and a 6b flash, which felt quite steady - short and cruxy.
May 1st - idiots playing dance music until 7am the night before made for a rest day and a move to Le Rozier
May 2nd - Boffi. What a crag! 5+ flash, then 6a+, 6b+ and
6c onsight. Dithered for a bit about whether to try anything else, and decided to get on Duriff Fifi, and promptly onsighted it.
First 6c+ onsight - YYFY!.
May 3rd - flat car battery meant another unplanned rest day. Also meant no radio all the way home since it triggered the radio's security code when the battery was replaced.
May 4th - back to Le Boffi. 5+, 6a and 6b flashes. Then got on Les Regles de l'art (6c) and
got it onsight, perhaps the best route I did all trip. Didn't do anything else - somehow felt that I'd got what I wanted - a long sustained 6c climbed smoothly onsight with no panics, no worries about falls, or worrying about being pumped (I was pumped, but manageably so), or whatever.
May 5th - Le Jonte. Fantastc multipitch venue. Did a cracking 4-pitch 5+ on glorious sunshine
That was it - drove to Lyon on the 5th, then dropped my missus off and had the long drive back on the 6th with nothing but engine noise and iPhone speakers to keep me company
Have done some core and antagonists today and going to start a fingerboard session later.
So, the summarised version I think is
+ First 7a flash and 6c+ onsight
+ Lots more 6cs done comparatively. In general I think I've become a lot more competant at onsighting (either that or Boffi is just soft and very onsight friendly?)
- Highlighted a lack of power recovery (on Appel de la Foret and Sherman Contest the reason for the lack of a tick was being unable to recover power for high cruxes) and of raw power (on the 7a+ at Cantobre)
+ Lots of new venues tried and new places that I'd never have been if I hadn't been on Adrian's trip
- The downside of this is that I really think if I'd spent all 3 weeks around Boffi/Jonte I'd have got a 7a onsight out of it and some harder redpoints too. Horses for courses I guess.
+ Already planning a rematch with Boffi/Jonte/Tarn come September/October!
+ projects for return trip - more 6c/+ onsights at Boffi etc, Mac du Mal at Damned, maybe even Damned itself, with long term goals for that area of Turbulence and Sac a Glue
Indoor/training priorities
- Strength/power training to complement outdoor endurance work
- Regular fingerboarding over the year
- Bike odometer record - 407km
- Rolling average weight/body fat - 78.2kg/16.7%
<STG> - pre-midsummer
- Get some classic trad in - some more E2/3 routes. Venues of interest - Pembroke, Gogarth, local crags, Lakes, N coast Devon/Cornwall
- Complete 7b+ pyramid (currently completed 9/8 x 7a, 4/4 x 7a+, 1/2 x 7b, 0/1 x 7b+)
- Maintain good amounts of sport onsighting/flashing to keep lead head in good shape
<MTG> - 2011
- Complete 7c pyramid (currently completed 4/8 x 7a+, 1/4 x 7b, 0/2 x 7b+, 0/1 x 7c)
- Aim for 15 6c or above onsight/flash, moving to a 1:2 ratio or better (currently at 3x 6c o/s, 5x 6c flash, 1x 6c+ o/s, 1x 7a flash)
- Actually do some DWS this year
<LTG>
- Well rounded E3 leader, tackling routes in committing locations
- E4 onsight
- 7c redpoints at Cheddar and Portland
- 7a/+ onsights at hard continental crags
<BHAG>
- Big mountain routes like Tempi Moderne, Comici etc
- E5 onsights
- 8a/+ redpoint
- 7b/+ onsights at hard continental crags
- Some big silly bike ride like Pyrenees coast to coast or Tour du Mont Blanc or something
New focuses now are on strength/power indoors, plus trying to finish off the pyramids and get the trad in. Am also logging weight and body fat with the aim of trying to be more healthy and move towards losing some of the body fat - for the moment just a focus, but I might move to a more specific Racing-Weight-quick-start-esque program once life quietens down again come June...