UKC

This has been flirted with in the normal weekly thread, but I thought I'd launch the usual separate post to give everyone the chance for a year debrief away from the weekly stats.

What were everyone's best routes/problems/mountains/runs/comps?

Were the climbing/running/swimming goals from the beginning of the year achieved?

Did you manage to stick to training plans and tick off training goals?

How was motivation and general mind-set through another challenging year?

What were your best fails? 

What lessons were learnt to carry forward to 2023?

Don't feel that you have to answer all (or any) of these questions... it's equally interesting seeing a list of successes/favourite days out as it is hearing a bit more about the processes that people have gone through.

Last year's round-up: https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fitclub_2021_round-up-...

So get stuck in... (unless you are waiting for a final mega-day of goal ticking tomorrow!)

Good idea Tom, I'll kick it off.

My goal in January was to tick a 7C boulder problem every month of the year. I managed this for 6 months before I decided I fancied something different and changed to seeing how many Classic, Hard or Extreme Rock routes I could do instead. I wanted to force myself to get on routes that I normally wouldn't at crags I wouldn't normally go to and climb with lots of different people. This went well and I did 9 routes from Classic Rock, 5 routes from Hard Rock and 8 from Extreme Rock and had some absolutely banging days out.

Cardio wise I fell short this year. I normally aim for 500kms run and 1000kms cycled. Currently running is at 436km and cycling at 787km but I'm ok with that. It's not too wildly off and there have been days when I've done some long walks or winter climbs etc instead of running so I've not really lost any fitness.

Best Boulder Days:

Doing Made in Sheffield (f7A+) while my daughter was playing next to me was really nice. Loving the beta of, 'well, just don't let go next time daddy' with a little shrug. Made it all sound so simple. Had a great day with Ally at Froggatt, (also with my daughter) right back at the start of the year. Dick Williams (f7B) in a session was really good. Really enjoyed Dangerous Action Man Wrestling (f7C) over 3 sessions. Only just getting Boyager (f7A+) was fun too. Kids in font was great and I'm sure will be repeated. Interesting that none of the hardest climbs I've done this year feature in the best of list.

Best Sport:

Not managed to tick an 8a this year although I never really got stuck into one. By Odin! (f7C) is probably at least 8a so did have some fitness at one point. Got a couple  of 7c+ routes quickly, it was got to go back to The Ring of Fire (7c+) and get it ticked off.

Best trad. days:

Loads to say here, I'll try and not go on too long. Almost all the routes I did are worth a mention. Classic rock wise my 6 north Wales solo routes in a morning were great and I climbed in a couple of new crags like the Dewerstone and Pen Y Ghent. Lots of Hard rock fun was had, apart from Moonraker I did all of these with Tom and the banter was excellent. It was good to meet up with Steve and Berry Head won't be forgotten (ever). I think Right Eliminate (E3 5c) might have been my favourite out of the lot as it's so different to everything else I've done.

Best Spankings:

I don't know if Western Front (E3 5c) counts as I did get up it in the end so I'll go for Strapadictomy (E5 6b). I know loads of people that have climbed this, several first go, and I find it totally desperate. Must be a height thing

Things I didn't get round to:

There is some stuff at cragX I meant to try this year but never got round to. For years I've meant to do the summer circuit up at the Woolpacks but not done that either yet, maybe this year! I arranged a partner for Mortlocks Arete 3 times and it always rained, similar story for Cratcliffe so hopefully I'll get these done this year.

Next year?

Continue ticking my way through CR, HR and ER. Train hard so that these feel enjoyable rather than too terrifying. Keep plugging away at BSMA as I've never done an 8A on grit. Visit some new crags (if AJM is reading I'm keen for a Swanage trad trip, Tudor Rose etc). Support my Sheffield partner on his goals. Try and get to the lakes or north Wales a bit more. Have fun and stay fit and healthy.

I probably covered much of this in responding to the weekly thread, but your questions prompted further reflections.

Did a fair bit of running over Spring and Summer, but stopped when ITBS flared up and it got really hot.

Best route - probably Cemetery Gates though partly the delight of a first visit to the Cromlech since 1976.  Enjoyed lots though, but trips away a bit compromised this year 

Training goals.  Hit some of my benchmarks at some point in the year (bw+ 30% for max hangs and bw pull ups), but not weighted pull ups or sustaining things through work.  To be fair, work really compromised things from September so I lost a lot through travel and tiredness.

Best fail.  Llithrig free.  That said, it was freezing and spitting with rain throughout, so quite an experience to do it anyway.  Very close to falling off the top pitch (4c!).  Did Curving Crack the same day - put to bed a previous fail from 1976!

Motivation good.  Work the only real issue.  Probably doing less work this year.  Revised goals on next week's thread 😃

Interesting year for me. Not a great start only getting out of plaster in mid-Jan and having to build back from leg-gate. With this being the case plans for a winter alps trip were kicked in to touch and goals for the year were less performance based and more about getting as many quality days out as possible.

Training goals were revised a little as I prioritised the real thing over training. Some of my annual goals that never happen were again added to the list and again didn't happen (running 1000km, El Cap nose day, etc) but I'm not too worried about these 'process goals' as they were shelved/ignored to make way for other things that presented as bigger priorities (e.g. it became obvious that hill walking with a heavy bag was going to be more useful than running in recovering leg condition).

Stated goals at the start of the year:

Roll over of last year's running targets: 35km vert and 1000km. (FAIL - 18.7km vert and 679km)

Weighted Pull-up: 100kg. (FAIL PB of 95kg in April, then did minimal training through summer and regressed!)

Max Hangs: 95kg. (FAIL PB of 91kg).

Weighted hill climb: 2 laps of RT in 30 mins with 15kg. (TICK)

7a (TICK)

ALL of my local must-do list: 6/15 (FAIL -largely because I was away from home for most of summer so local wasn't local!)

Visit at least five of my 'why haven't I climbed here' list: 3/5 (Sad not to get to some Scottish CV gaps -priority for 2023)

Get at least one session at each of my 'I should climb more at this crag' list: 5/8 (Pretty happy with this -some great days out).

Start properly getting to know: Brimham, Almscliff, Caley, Slipstones. (TICK -3 sessions at each apart from 2 at Caley).

At least two days from big mountain list: 2/2.

Late summer/autumn alpine trip (TICK).

Year in numbers:

86 days climbing (23% of the year).

316 routes (including boulder problems) -177 trad routes.

56 runs -fairly pathetic, but accounted for by lots of weeks having a run replaced with a hill walk.

Average run distance: 12km. Max distance: 39.99km!

E2, f6C, F7a, D7+ (and Scottish II!)

Best Trad:

Raindrop (E1 5b) was superb. Quality crack on P1. Proper fight on P3. Gorgeous day.

Elder Crack (E2 5b) was a close runner up. Felt cheeky getting on it, especially early in the recovery from leg-gate.

Honourable mentions to The File (VS 4c) and Little Chamonix (VD) -not sure what took me so long!

Best Sport:

Chuffed to get Arc en Ciel (7a) quite quickly. 

But actually found Allakazam (6c) harder, more frustrating and therefore more satisfying when I finally got it!

Honourable mention to Hrenovka (6b+) at Misca Pec -very aesthetically pleasing holds, scorching sunshine, great combo of thuggy and techy.

Best Bouldering:

Did a lot of bouldering this year, so spoilt for choice.

Elemental (f6C) was a strong contender for top spot: beautiful line, great moves, perfect cons, good craic.

The Flying Arete (f6B) a nice milestone, moving from feeling both hard and scary, to relatively doable.

Honourable (whispered) mention for Grinah Stones. Bloody brilliant.

Best Highballs:

A cheaty way to include more bouldering that I couldn't fit in above! Some excellent moors frighteners were real highlights of my local climbing this year...

The Lion King (HVS 5c) -looks good, climbs good, is good.

First of Many (none 5b) -excellent north yorks sandbagging. Really enjoyed the process of piecing this together, refining beta and pushing a bit higher each go until committing.

Honourable mention to Stewker (E1 5c) -not high, but falling off would be pretty unpleasant! Another one where committing felt haaaaard!

Best Tooling:

The Velvet Pelmet (D7) -early season, felt great to be trying hard -real a muerte vibes.

Honourable mention for Chelly Express (D7) placing gear -pleasantly surprised at how solid this felt.

Best Solo:

Stennis Chimney (S) -hadn't done huge amounts of sea cliff soloing and this felt very, very lonely. A real experience.

Some great solo enchainments too...

Best Enchainment:

An amazing day picking routes up Grey Crag, not long after getting my cast off...

Soloed Harrow Buttress (D) in to Slabs Ordinary Route (VD) in to Oxford and Cambridge Direct Route (S 4a) followed by a trot around the fells in the snow. After six weeks stuck in plaster it felt very life-affirming and a good confidence boost that I could still climb and shuffle up and down hills.

Best Mountain:

Triglav. Both soloing the traverse and climbing the Slovene up the iconic north face were superb days. What an incredible country. Very keen to return to the Julian alps.

Best Grudge Matches:

Pleased to revisit Nancy Whisky (E1 5b) after backing off previously.

Also disproportionately happy to finally get up Leppert's Leap (V4) -scene of much frustration over quite a few years!

Best Fails:

Failing to get around the Brimham Dirty Dozen felt like a success (mostly just that we survived and nobody got left stuck in a route). Still mystified by Bog Crack (E1 5b) -I feel like I have a little bit of offwidth technique, but just couldn't find a way to make progress!

In general, I failed quite a lot this year, mainly due to actually trying hard (for me) stuff. After a whole climbing lifetime of 'saving routes' and trying not to blow the onsight, this in itself feels like a bit of a win and part of the process of getting better and climbing harder.

Unfinished Business:

Jaz (D8) -yet again, yawn! 

The Jim Grin (7a) -after a couple of recce goes this summer, I'm psyched to get properly stuck in to this next spring. Bring it on!

Thanks for this Tom, I've had a lovely time today reflecting on the year, the people I've climbed with, experiences I've had, lessons learned, and generally getting excited to see what 2023 holds. Maybe I'll do a bit more sport climbing so that I don't pump out on the DWS stuff in the summer?

Mostly just copied & pasted from my UKB post on the similar thread, plus a few musings added to the end. It's been a great year for me, climbing-wise. Pushing physical limits, no game-breaking injuries, just two minor pulley things at either end of the year.

Year in numbers:

Shamelessly stolen from you, Tom, but I do love a good round of stats! 

69 days outdoor climbing (19% of the year). However most likely a couple more unlogged sessions on Rigpa, which spoils the funny number.

173 boulders completed (over 100 above 6B!)

12 trad, sport or DWS (number may be marred by boulders given trad grades?)

Longest approach: Grinah, 5 miles. Double that of 2nd place, Simonside.

Shortest approach: Tom's Cave, about 20 meters. Cromlech might've been closer had I been able to find a good parking space!

Most foam carried in a single approach: ~23kg (4 pads and a little sitter). Only about 0.5 mile, but 100m elevation gain!

Longest run distance: Something like 5km around Portland trying to find a lost shoe, with the longest unbroken stint probably about 2km?

Top three boulder problems, UK

I found it very hard to pick a top three this year, having got out to loads of places and done some great stuff. Funnily enough, these three were all done in April!

The Ramp Up (f7B+) - A grand total of 5 sessions, a couple last year and the rest this year. Definitely my longest project that's an hour or more from my house. Limit grade aside, it's a very aesthetic feature and the climbing is fantastic imo.

Piss (f7B) - A great problem, which combined with some more hard stuff at Burbage North made out to be one of the best days I had one rock, in the dying days of 21/22 grit season. I had also recently came back from Font and the style certainly scratched the itch!

Inkerman (f7A+) - I visited here a few times this year for some hard stuff, but climbing this on my birthday with a few mates made for a truly memorable experience.

Honourable mentions to: The Severed Ear (f7A+), Boyager (f7A+), Douglass (f7B+) (only yesterday, not to spoil the upcoming FC!), Voie Normale ss (V6). Also Grinah and Barrow Stones for the grand day out with Tom!

Top three boulder problems, abroad

Had my first overseas trip this year, certainly won't be my last!

Big Jim (Black 4) (f6C) - Anyone who's tried this can attest to the quality. Last move crux, quite high up above a perfect landing.

Le Pouf (f6C) - Seems underrated, classic Font slapping above soft sand.

L'Oblique (f7A) - Memorable, skin-of-my-teeth flash as the last boulder of the trip before the rain started. Would've been smoother had I not committed to mantel on the worst bit of the lip!

Top three trad routes/solos UK

Didn't actually do any gear-placing this year at all, just one highball and one spur-of-the-moment second.

Summit Arête (E2 6b) - Fun boulder start into juggy romping to the top. Had to be solo as a friend bailed, but kept my head cool and startled a family when I emerged at the top!

Vibram Wall (HVS 5a) - After walking three pads up that massive hill and eating some chocolate, I opted for a quick second up this before heading off to find some boulders. Decent route!

Top three sport/DWS routes UK

Only got one draw-clipper under my belt this year, but my first DWS weekend as well which was wicked fun, and am looking forward to next season.

Slobberlob (7b) - The boulderer's cheapest ticket to 7b sport stardom. Spent about 20 seconds just fumbling the rope into the anchor, if that's any indication of how little I sport climb!

Temporary Lifestyle (HS 4b) - Very first DWS, was absolutely bricking it. Repeated it a few more times on the same weekend!

Horny Lil' Devil (7a) - See top spankings...

Top three spankings

Horny Lil' Devil (7a) - On my third go I made it to the kneebar rest. At this point, the next bit is a little tricky but not hard, right? Well, being the elite-tier dipshit boulderer that I am, I decided that 15 seconds of rest was enough, I was getting bored, and tried to carry on. Obviously I was very soon in the drink! I also got a horrid calf cramp swimming back at the end of the session...

La Balance (f7C+) - Amazingly fun bouldering. Definitely ruined my elbows for the rest of the trip, mind. Definitely trying it again next year!

Dulcinea (f7A+) - After a tantalisingly close flash go, I regressed, then progressed, then scrittled off the top, then was too tired to get there again. A bit miffed as I don't know when I'll next be up that way, and it's a big walk.

A couple more honourable mentions to Rigpa (V9) and Severus Snape (f7B+), both still holding me off despite feeling within grasp. I think pad/spot logistics (plus recent pulley tweak) is holding me off the former, while a 5h each-way drive and poor tactics is holding me off the latter.

Top non-climbing

Getting engaged to my beautiful fiancée - Not really much else to say about this, we're both very pleased with ourselves!

Got an electric guitar - I'm sure the neighbours are pleased with this one...

I don't think I had any specific training plans or goals in mind, but I think towards the latter half of the year I started upping the volume to a level a bit more conducive to gainz, whereas in the first half I was just hammering it on day trips on weekends, and then only one session mid-week. Of course that wasn't so bad, considering April was probably my most performant month on rock, but I feel physically stronger now than I did then.

Motivation has been strong for the most part, although there were a few lulls between October and November given the decline in weather and probably the shorter days as well. Despite the current finger tweak, I'm actually dead psyched on getting out at the moment, hah!

I think I had a bit of a gradual shift in mindset towards the latter half of the year that led me to chasing the big ticks, easy wins, etc, which I'll detail in the next section.

As usual, I think the variance in training psyche is what caused my recent A2 tweak. A period of time doing day-on-day-off intense board climbing is too much, and that sort of thing has almost always been the cause of my finger woes, so I need to have a bit more self-control with regard to trying fingery stuff or low-intensity stuff when it is most appropriate.

Another big lesson I've learned in past couple months is that it's important to climb things for the right reasons, and that a day's successfulness is not determined by whether or not you ticked a project, or even made a dent in it at all. As long as you had fun, that's what matters. In that vein, it's vital to consider what you find fun at the moment, and remember that chasing a climb just because it's a soft, easy way to get to X grade is shallow, often not gratifying, and if you still can't manage it... leads to some gnarly self-esteem issues!

It's funny how for years I've kind of always known that grades don't really mean much, every route suits a certain style or size of person, yet when I don't keep an eye on it my brain still goes and treats them like a concrete measurement of difficulty! I think that is a lesson that one will never stop learning. Or maybe it's just me, hah!

I already did a round-up in the normal FitClub, but your questions have prompted a few additional thoughts

Climbing wise nothing really, and although I'm in Leonidio now I'm contemplating a rest day tomorrow, so no last minute glorious tufa tick coming up either.

The Zugspitze via the Hollental (PD) was way more scenic and interesting than I was expecting.

Also pleased that in my second season I reached a degree of competence & confidence as an intermediate piste skier, and feel ready to start venturing off piste this season

The shoulder problem was the most challenging aspect for me climbing wise. I'm pleased with how I managed to keep my mountain biking / hiking / general cardio spirits up and general motivation going through the months when I couldn't climb, and that I seem to be regaining a reasonable degree of climbing fitness & fluency fairly quickly. 

My son's newfound enthusiasm for climbing is probably my biggest positive of all. I'm enormously proud of the young man has become, and delighted that he's still keen to spend time with his dear old dad doing something we both love.

Thanks for this Tom.

It’s been a pretty shite year from a climbing point of view but although I’m going to whinge on self-indulgently I do realise how privileged I am to be whinging on self-indulgently about this sort of thing and not anything worse.

My year has been dominated by a house move and injuries and the two combined (mainly the latter) mean this has been my second worst climbing year since I started but despite that I’ve had some great days out.

Best Hill Days

Snowdon Horseshoe (Bedol Yr Wyddfa!) with Fi, one from her bucket list and as good as I remember. Also many other hill days visiting most of the well known summits of Yr Wyddfa.

Trad

Not the comeback I was hoping for but trad always leaves you something good to look back on. I did manage a day on each of Ogwen, the Pass, Rhoscolyn and Tremadog so not all bad as wells as some memorable easy solos, Amphitheatre Buttress (VD) might have been the best route I did all year, a five star classic  

Sport

Missing my regular partners as well as Malham and Kilnsey but sport climbing by the sea has its compensations and there is a lot for me to go at. My year is best summed up by the list of 13 routes I got on but didn’t do, however,  La Secallona (7a), Born Again (7a) and Pearl from the Shell (6c+) were above average experiences as were quite a few others. I managed to get a regular after work partner once a week over the summer and that was really enjoyable. 

Bouldering

My lack of a regular climbing partner means I did more bouldering than usual. Great to be able to finish work at  6 and still get a good evening’s bouldering in the Pass or Ogwen. Highlights were Tawg (f6C), Caseg Fraith Arete (f6B) and Gap of Rohan (f6C) 

Running and Cycling

Injuries have prevented me doing much but I managed to do my first half marathon in a time I was really pleased with, first time in years I exceeded a goal.

Other

The lack of nearby walls is a pain but I’m very pleased with the board I’ve built. It’s perfect for the sort of climbing I do but I need to be mindful not to set it so that it only plays to my strengths. 
Getting the house sorted has taken longer than intended but there have been gradual improvements with some big jobs lined up for the New Year  

Work a has been as busy as ever and I’m not in a position to ask to go PT yet, again this is something that might change in the new year. It’s prevented Fi and I enjoying our location together as much as we’d like but I’m pretty sure she likes living were we do although it’s taken her further away from her family which has been hard.   

Injuries

These show little sign of improvement but my approach to rehab is as poor as ever. Despite prolonged rest my elbow and Achilles injuries show no sign of improvement. The consultant has advised there’s nothing to be done about my knees and my hips have started playing up again but the biggest health issue happened elsewhere with family so no real complaints. Also Index finger on my right swells and is painful when I climb but I’m not sure this counts as it’s been around so long  

Goals for next year - all injury dependant 

A trip to the alps

The 13 sport routes I didn’t manage this year

7a on-sight

More trad days than this year, aim for 10

Cheers Tom and cheers Clubbers/Statters for my 2nd full year of FitClub

What were everyone's best routes/problems/mountains/runs/comps?

Can’t really argue with the trips I’ve had this year - confirmed by the significant Brownie Point deficit I’m still running.

• Started January with a few bouldering trips with AJM. After a decade of trad, at no mentionable difficulty, it was good to pull hard and was psyched to quickly get up to V for Vendetta (f6C+) before finger niggles ended that.

• As Ranulph Fiennes once said, “You don’t need fingers for Steinpulls” so got the tools out and went to Rjukan in February. Gibbered my way up an array of top-class Water Ice. Short and punchy Ozzimosis (WI-4), 200m of continuous ice on Isroser (WI-3), first WI4 Lead on Vemorkbrufoss Øst (WI-4) and an Alt Ld of Sabotørfossen (WI-5) complete with crawl under Hydro Plant. All washed down with copious amounts of Aass Pilsner (tastes better than it sounds).

• Easter Trip to Puerto Rico to visit family and I was allowed out for a day bouldering at Juncos. Quality iguana covered granite pebbles in the jungle.

• Summer Holiday. First trip to Font, and first climbing trip as a family, went quite well - especially as my Mrs doesn’t climb. Leisurely bimbles around the forest and L'Ectoplasme (Red 41) (f5+) was my first problem so the most memorable.

• Autumn trip to El Chorro for 30c dogs on wet porcelain. Got a tan.

Were the climbing/running/swimming goals from the beginning of the year achieved?

Hahahaha…next question.

Did you manage to stick to training plans and tick off training goals?

Keep going…(Please don’t read my 2021 Roundup)

How was motivation and general mind-set through another challenging year?

Came to the realisation that having a nipper, no local support network, busy job, and being 90mins from the crag is not conducive to climbing.

Motivation is…that won’t last forever and I have a weird fetish for hangboarding. Will end up with disproportionately strong claws, crap footwork, and no stamina but that isn’t far off what I am now tbh.

What were your best fails?

If Redhead heard The Bells! The Bells! then this year I heard The Choo! The Choo!

Was hoping to RP my first 7a and heard Mr. Choo Choo (7a) was soft. However, I’ve lost count of how many trips where it’s been too hot/cold/hungover etc.

Favourite time was when we met a holidaying Austrian from Innsbruck. Lent him some spare shoes and my harness and he shot up it first tie-in. His wife and daughter arrived with gear so gave him the guidebook and they proceeded to climb everything. Chatting to him afterwards he said the crag was massively undergraded and everything felt hard…except Mr Choo! which he said was ‘more like 6b+, 6c, zometing like dis’ hahaha.

Now at a point where I’ve burned through all my belayers so I think it’s a DNF…but at least my harness has climbed a 7a.

What lessons were learnt to carry forward to 2023?

I am definitely not in a place to make specific climbing goals so won’t bother making any. General goal for next year is to train hard and take climbing trips when I can. I won’t have any currency or stamina but there’s no excuse for not being strong and pulling hard.

Specific Training Goals for 2022 are:

• One Armed Hangs and a One Arm Pullup (currently on 2-arm 20mm 138% & one ‘hand on shoulder’ pullup)
• Regain my previous push strength (Bent Arm Straddle Planche)
• Get a good forward bend with palms on the floor.

Have a good year FitClub! 

Yes!

Definitely some of the crag feels hard - I don't feel my gradeometer is well calibrated enough these days to know if it's sandbag, or just short routes in an awkward style feeling hard on the onsight in particular - but I think Mr Choo Choo being 6b+ would be something of a stretch!

I'm keen to go down again at some point before it gets too hot, get miniAJM on some more of the lower tier topropes and maybe try a few of the things a bit further right - so drop me a line if you have any potential dates in mind and I'd happily belay.

Yes. Will give you a bell.

Imagine you could make him a pretty epic rope swing on one of the overhangs!

Reckon so 😃

Well I have totally crashed out of fit club this year. Horrible reaction to a Covid jab floored me which resulted in a longer term lack of energy, almost like reported long Covid!!

As a result physical and mental health have plummeted. Feeling absolutely shit and having to have some serious conversations with my wife to address my sinking into mental illness and excessive drinking 

Whilst only starting to address where I have sunk to I am looking up. My wife and I are training for the salt marsh half marathon at the beginning of April. I want to do an Olympic triathlon, would love to find one with a sea swim 

Anyway ended the year with a 3 km run yesterday and did the same run today with my wife to get a fresh start.

not really following the celebration theme of the thread but I want to feel good enough to be part of this group and this is hopefully a start 

Hi Sheep,

I'm still prepping the opening post of the year, but it features a call out to those missing in action.  Sorry to hear you've had such challenges, but glad to hear that both of you have some goals to chase.  I hope to see you back.

Derek

Thank you,

Looking forward to being part of the community again 

Sorry to hear about your tough year, welcome back!

Thank you 

Looking forward to logging achievements again 

Thanks Tom,

Its been a busy year for me, but not in the way I thought it would be when I set goals at the start of last year.  As the year started I moved much more into route development and have spent the year fully committed to this.  It has effected my top level climbing ability and training as I have not been fully pushing all the time. However, I have become a much more rounded climber with a broad skillset on ropes and rock.

I have had some excellent adventures, most memorable being the day on Moonraker and Dreadnaught at Berry Head with SSB, and the amazing 4 days on Lundy in September.

I have not achieved the 8a redpoint that I would have liked, however I haven't even tried, as I have been concentrating on other things.  I can still normally onsight 7a and get 7b first RP.

I did not do any training for most Summer and Autumn, instead choosing to climb only on rock, which has made my ability to move on small holds / crimps much better.  I have felt like a Fit Club fraud a few times as I have just been enjoying climbing rather than training, but as I knew it was only a temporary thing and the training would return then I kept up the weekly posts.

Moving forward to 2023 I will be redressing the balance a bit more, and get back on the training and hard redpoint goals. 

Looking back, 2022 went a completely different than expected. After two years of no business related traveling, i took over a new position and spent over 2 months in India spread out over 5 trips. Adding 2 Corona infections to this and it was clear that the original goals were out of reach for this year. Nevertheless, i think i did a pretty good job of making the most out of this situation, though it was sometimes frustating when you are always need to invest a lot just to back to a previous level of fitness.

Did not manage to climb that much outside this year but there were some highlights:

• Die dunkle Seite (6c+), m first 6c+ onsight in the Frankenjura, despite not optimal conditions and little time on the rock in the months before.
• Lutscher (IX-), amazing bouldery route. Unfortunately, i could not send this one though i already had the finish hold in my hand but could not hold the swing (moist conditions definately did not help)
• Chasin' the Trane (Helmut Albrecht Gedenkweg) (7c): Got back on this route after trying it the first time 5 years ago. Got completely shut of on the first session but managed some good links in the second session and i would be very delighted to send this classic next spring

> Were the climbing/running/swimming goals from the beginning of the year achieved?

Did not got even close . The main problem was definately too little time on the rock. Wanted to have 50 outside days starting the year and did not manage half of that.

As far as possible i've sticked to my plans. Nevertheless, fingerstrength was rather plateauing this year and i could not made the progress necessary to get into shape for ticking my longterm goal Slimline (8a+). At least i managed to improve my pull-up strength, though my second Corona infection in the fall prevented any chance of achieving my long term goal of doing a clean one arm pullup. Apart from that, i could also improve my core strength and tick my handstand goal (10s clean hold).

Make the best out of current situation. You can not change the cards that you got dealt, so nothing gained by cursing your bad luck and you just need to make the best out of it. Sometimes that also means not overplaying your hand and reducing training volume when there are too much other life commitments that stand in the way. 

Sorry to hear about the end of your year. I hope health returns with the new year. Keep posting, even if you've not been able to do anything, I reckon itl help.

I forgot to include:

'Best Aid Climb' - Kilnsey Main Overhang (A2) ;-p

Love your best fail! Sounds, erm, atmospheric?!

Great year, Ross. Top effort from start to finish.

Also great write up -especially your stats! 'Most foam carried...' ;-p

Look forward to hearing about more skiing escapades as the winter progresses. Also, really nice to hear about the dad-and-lad climbing partnership.

Given the injury list, it's not a bad year review for running/cycling and climbing. At least one of those ten trad days should be a return to Ynys Mon... I feel like there was unfinished business there from this summer!

Mannod dry-tooling goals were conspicuous by their absence -just an oversight, I assume?!

Excellent! ;-p

Sounds like a rough one. I often think about how, for all of us, the gap between being absolutely great and absolutely rock bottom is frighteningly small. Given what an incredibly consistent part of your week running and swimming were it must have been torture to have that taken away.

Sounds like you've got off to a solid start with this year. Look forward to hearing about the progress (however rocky and non-linear it is!) toward the salt marsh half. I thought that looked like a great race when you mentioned it previously, so hopefully it delivers some good inspiration.

Absolutely not! We all need reminding what the training is for! Sounds like you've had an incredibly productive year prospecting and developing. And, having lived in the south west for five years, it's nice nostalgia to hear about activity from down there. 

Yes - quite spooky considering it was June!  Had big plans for a long, hot day, but ended up the wrong sort of chilled....

Good philosophical approach to the year's challenges. Chasin the trane looks like a worthy goal to keep you going through winter.

'best aided waterfall'

Hey Tom, thanks for kicking this one off. Taken me a little while to get involved, a bit of a complicated year to mull over, no simple messages. Abridged goals from the start of the year were:

There’s probably been three main themes to my year in climbing terms:

1. injury. I picked up a hamstring tweak in February which was ok for vert wall climbing over the summer but fundamentally wasn’t healing for steep bouldering or heel hooking. Combined with a finger tweak at the start of the year and a shoulder tweak right at the end and this kind of out paid to all my bouldering goals and my attempts to work weaknesses at the wall.

2. more time on a rope. Even before my injury I didn’t do much bouldering over the winter because miniAJM seemed quite happy to chill at the crag whilst I went roped climbing. I also did more family faff days where both kids and my wife came out with us, and a bunch of climbing with another friend of mine who lives locally and has a child of a similar age.
 

3. “junk miles”. A bit of a glass half empty vs glass half full take on the above, but it’s fair to say that family faff days whilst nursing a variety of tweaks aren’t actually that productive in pure performance climbing terms. It’s fantastic seeing miniAJM get really into trying routes, and having MrsAJM do a bit more climbing too, so it’s certainly not an entirely negative take! But whilst early attempts to start doing some “day on day off” structure with occasional evenings or days entirely child free had some promise, we got knocked off track by a few bouts of illness mid spring, and got out of the habit before it really stuck. So I barely did any trad and not that much time doing harder sport climbing, more time snatching quick routes, setting up topropes or cadging random belays at the crag.

I feel like it was a year of mixed messages. Looking at the positives to take forwards, the injuries seem at least to be on an upwards trajectory, the ability to climb more as a family can only be good in the long term, as the children get older the days on/off should get easier to achieve as well. So fingers crossed, next year could see more of the pieces fall into the place that I had hoped (given the ambitious nature of my goals!) would fall into place this year!

As I was intrigued by the year in numbers, I checked.  I wished I hadn't!

38 days outdoor only this year! (10.4%)

170 routes!  Average of 4.47 per trip.

These really poor stats are partly explained by work compromising both the early part of the year and September onwards, combined with some bad luck with weather.  

1.5 trips per week averaged over the year ought to be possible, which would roll up to around 350 routes.  These are new targets going onto the plan!

If you're projecting something then 4.47 trips per route wouldn't be unreasonable!

Brilliant!  Sage advice as ever!

Thanks Tom, although I gave a write up in last week's thread, i'll repeat and expand on it here so i can find it again in the future.  In addition the specifics below:

I logged 77 ascents, (my lowest total since 2008) which reflected a higher workload, no overseas trips and a bigger commitment to projecting.

Work has definitely been more demanding after getting promoted in February and i've needed proper "downtime" on leave, which has fitted perfectly with a new family dynamic to holidays.

I put a fair few days into a link-up project, which when completed might be my hardest ever bit of climbing.  I did the first hard section (8A) more than 10 times, but fell off the extension (hard 7B+) on every occasion, but sadly it got wet when I was away in Croatia and i doubt it's been climbable since then.  Hopefully i'll get a chance to finish it off this year?

In parallel to that outdoor project, I was however chuffed to complete a Moonboard Benchmark 8A, something that I wouldn't have believed possible even 2 years ago when I first built the board and was getting spanked on 7B+ benchmarks.

Another massive highlight of 2022 was helping Freddie Mead with a training plan, which enabled him to climb his old project Fallingwater (8c) at Cheddar, something we'd bolted together 16 years previously. 

Post-match analysis of 2022 Aims/Goals:

1) Stay happily married and be the best dad I can

TICK.  Squigg is a great fun as a toddler, despite occasionally disrupting sleep or having a mini-meltdown.  (As I'm still discovering, everything is in flux with toddlers, and even one week on from writing that comment she's switched to having repeated toddler tantrums, especially at bedtime.)

2) Have a whole year of healthy elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and fingers (i.e. keep up plenty of conditioning and (p)rehab)

SEMI-TICK; nothing major, but plenty of niggles I've worked around, especially repeated franken-finger/burst blood vessels.

3) Climb 3x new sport routes of 7a or harder (I’ve lines bolted and waiting at Kilnsey, Devil’s Gorge and on the Orme

TICK

Sinful Life (7b+). Pantymwyn. 29-04-22 (bit of a cop-out)

Fancy Pants (7c). Maybe 7b+? Pantymwyn. 29-04-22

Devil's Advocate (7c). Pantymwyn. 18-06-22

Persephone (7c+). Pantymwyn. 07-08-22

On top of these I managed an extra day of bolting and have at 2 more projects ready and waiting for next year.

4)  ≥Bodyweight 1-handed dead-hang on the BM2K lower middle rung (good aim as it’ll need improved shoulder strength/control, some weight loss and of course, increased finger strength)

SEMI-TICK; I got up to BW+10kg for a 5s test hang on the BM2K slot, but needed 2kg assistance to kill the rotation.  So tick for the fingers, but not the desired shoulder gainz.

5)   ≥8a+ redpoint (preferably a newbie – Kilnsey or lines in/next to Parisella’s fit the bill)

FAIL; but I did manage an >8a+'s worth of climbing on Thug Mental SS (7C) into Fancy Pants route (7c) = 8b-ish

6)   ≥8A+

FAIL

Kudos for using the the proper name, all those early mornings chatting to Welsh farmers obviously rubbed off!

Yeah, my post was too high level to detail multiple laps at Manod. Rest assured I’ll be there every time the mood takes me!