UKC

Lots of people out on the rock last week. Good to hear.

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.

The following training article by Alex Barrows gives an excellent breakdown on training the four main "energy systems" specific to climbing:- http://alexbarrowsclimbing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/training-for-sport-climbi...     also this - https://www.instagram.com/p/CEGfCg7DbkK/?igshid=4a1o55jwpus2

For those wanting to find out more about training for climbing a number of physical training articles are linked here:- http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=274502

And for those looking for more theoretical background, there's a useful subject index of published research studies on the Beta Angel project. Not sure how actively maintained if is though. https://beta-angel.com/research/research-inventory/

Last weeks post - https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_733-7331...

Lockdown esoterica Shropshire Psyche Vid. Ross, don't watch if you want to preserve your onsight. (And Liam, probably don't listen) vimeo.com/42828581

AJM - lots of rock, lots of family reunions. Sounds like things are looking up in blighty. I assume you'll be back on the paralettes after the hols?

Ally Smith - good combination of family activities & esoterica. Is Birds Nest Cafe now on the projects list?

BarneyLoosemore - good effort putting in a decent training week amid all the chaos & stress of moving

biscuit - if you keep up the onsight chossaneering the falls might take care of themselves. Hope the back's recovered.

Liam P - good couple of days out. The lead head and footwork will come back, and then combined with the new finger strength there'll be no stopping you. Not to mention all the Caps and Pows you'll have if you manage to understand the Barrows stuff.

mrchewy - it least you got couple of hangs sessions in before work knocked you over. I've tried using a kayak paddle without a spray deck too - it really is a very wet experience isn't it?

Rebecca Ting - ha! Spotted you this time. And your candidate for the next (post-) lockdown esoterica video county. When are you stitches out & back to full mobility?

Ross Barker - enjoyed reading about your blissful day. Having lived in Manchester for some time I've climbed at a fair few Lancashire crags, and they weren't anywhere near as scenic as that one.

Si dH - struck down by lurgies, eh? This winter has been so dominated by the Big Bad Lurgy, it's easy to overlook how little there's been of the other normal ones. Hope you & the lad are well recovered.

Somerset swede basher - excellent result on T Crack, and it sounds like the calling of the lime is off to a reasonable start too.

the sheep - two runs better than no runs. Hope you get results from the gear-as-motivation trick. (I'm contemplating new climbing shoes, since all my current ones seem to have somehow shrunk during lockdown)

Tom Green - "couldn't justify training when it was sunny outside" - I'm old school enough to think that this is always true, especially after months of going stir crazy. Valid point about the tweaky elbows though.

AlanLittle - good ARC wall discovery. You need to get back on the antagonist/general strength training wagon though - shoulders starting to feel fragile.

Thanks Alan. Yes - my vague plan is below, but yeah the aim is to keep some antagonist stuff going.

Back at work tomorrow after some time off, which has been great. Useful to unwind, great to see family, lovely to be out climbing. My logbook is mostly full of dnfs rather than ticks, but I feel like I can see encouraging signs in a number of them - I have mostly been trying things that are hard rather than things which are easy! Now back on the training wagon for 7 weeks before Yorkshire/Lakes.

Staycation week #2

Monday - cloudy and cold and miniAJM was not keen. Decided on general admin day...

Tuesday - with sunny weather, low humidity and calm seas I decided it might be time for a morning down on Promontory Roof. My “harder things to try” list had 3 things on it here, although after investigation I decided that Devil Force is not for me - I’m sure you would end up in the drink if you fell off at some points which doesn’t feel like a good place to be pushing the grade! The rest of the session had pluses and minuses:

- on Force Majeure, I felt pretty solid passing the first roof, which is supposed to be the hardest bit - definitely an improvement over the last time I tried it. However, set against that I had lost the aim for the long blind throw to the hold over the second roof, and had completely lost the knack of getting the toehook to stick to match there. I’ve always struggled with the second part more for some reason but never this badly. 

- on Devil Face, at the end of the session, I managed to do and link the first three moves which I think are the hardest ones - I had reached out for the lip before but had never managed to get the other hand out on either the intermediate or the small edge. From there the next hold is very good so if I can keep the feet on and sort myself out I might be through the hardest bit.

More pluses than minuses, I think. Keen to go back to Devil Face, unsure re Force Majeure - I’ve done all the moves and at different points overlapping links, and I guess pushing the grade is supposed to be hard, but I’m not sure I’m really up for a low percentage siege which is how it feels it might play out.

Wednesday - rest. Aching shoulders from spanned roof antics...

Thursday - Cuttings and New Cuttings with Si and MiniAJM. 

- Had a few more goes on Sub Youth - got the edge out right, which is definitely the way to go, but I’m then left in a position where I feel like I might pull my hips apart trying to move off it! Either I’ve got to get more mobility and strength in my legs to use the super high heel or I’ve got to maybe get strong enough to get the left leg higher from the off before reaching across.

- went down to The Nice Tree boulder. I got on my old nemesis, The Prow, which is I think in the guide at 6C but which has comfortably taken longer than the 2 7As I’ve done there. Finally, using some probably unconventional beta, I got it done! 

- I spent a bit of time opening an account on Liquid Sun too - linked the first half dozen or so moves, worked out the next 3-4 in the middle, which leaves about another 4-5 moves I didn’t get to before you get into a mantel topout that I’ve done before. It’s long, which should suit me, but on the other hand it’s a slopey heel hook traverse which definitely doesn’t! 

-  youtube.com/watch?v=iqwZrW1eDK8& - the sit start to an immediate top out is The Prow, and Liquid Sun is the stand start to the traverse

- I hoovered some beta on Lightning Strike at the end although I didn’t pull on to try it.

Friday - feeling worked! 8km along the beach with miniAJM as active rest.

Saturday - I’ve never been a big believer in flexibility as massively beneficial for climbing beyond as a hygiene factor (I.e. you need some, but beyond a baseline level it isn’t likely to be a limiting factor/training priority in most cases). However I suspect Sub Youth may be one of the cases that aren’t “most cases”, so I thought maybe I’d try to focus on hip mobility for a bit to see if it helps or not - having a project may give me the motivation for it that usually I lack. Would also feed into some of the V sit thoughts I’d been having a while back. Anyway, I thought I’d give it a go and see whether more diligence could bring improvement.

Sunday - boulderfield with Mike and miniAJM. Trying to find a venue sheltered from the wind with decent easier problems, something for me, and a sensible place for miniAJM was something of a challenge. It was cold, nice in the sun but with frequent hail showers at points. I pulled on to Workshy, which is still beyond the realm of what I could believe is possible, and looked at Cavity Search ( youtube.com/watch?v=jhhjrJ-dMFw& ) since I had vaguely hoped I could reach the lip with feet still on the foot block at the back, but I’m not sure I can, it felt a very long way. I sneaked an ascent of the lip start in between some snow showers, plus a few nice easier things I had somehow not done before. A partly social day, partly pottery day.

Ambitious weekly plan for April and May:

- one outdoor or indoor session per week

- 3 hip mobility/stretching sessions per week (incl L sit work)

- 1 antagonist/planche session per week

- 1 aero fitness session per week

- 1 campus/fingerboard and 1 pinch block session per week

2021 Arbitrary training goals:

- 1.5-x-5 solidly on the campus board, then 1-x-5 [1.5-3-5 and 1.5-4-5 going well; 1-4-5 also]

- L sit to Tuck Planche on the paralettes as a marker point for having worked on a weakness [need to try to video this soon again]

- 5x5 @95kg, and actually do some stuff on offsets [92kg]

- some progress on a front lever

2021 Climbing goals:

- make use of continued working from home and hopefully greater tolerance of more remote working in future to do some longer hybrid climb/work trips [3 weeks Yorkshire and Lakes in June]

- make the June-June 12 months my best period of bouldering yet (current score 6700, score to beat c7200) [June feels challenging although a rolling 12 months some point this summer feels plausible]

- climb 7c/+ again

- work on my “why haven’t I already” (0% -> 3%) and “harder local things to try” (13% -> 13%) ticklists

- nail at least one of my Portland dws projects, try mark of the beast, and do some more stuff at Swanage and in south Devon.

Cheers Alan. Not sure what’s going on in the Psyche Vid. Looks like he clips something but there’s no belayer just spotters? Looks nails anyway.

Easter Eggs and crap weather led to an unplanned rest week. Although, I did get a lot of time to review my lockdown goals and plan a new training phase, so all was not lost.

Lockdown Review

Managed to tick L-Sits, Back Bridges, One Arm Push-ups and Wall Handstand Push-ups. The Hangboard took a pummelling and I got my Max Hangs up to 127% BW on 15mm for 7s and Moving Hangs to 10mins with my feet on a stool. I set a goal of carrying 70lbs for 3 hours but called it after 90mins due to joint niggles. Goal weight was 182lbs and managed to bottom-out at 180.8lbs (likely rebounded after the Easter Eggs). All things considered, not a bad lockdown!

New Training Plan

After getting stuck in to the Barrows’ Article I’m going to start with an 8 week strength phase. 3x Wall Sessions a week (Strength/AeroCap, Strength/AnCap, Power/AeroCap) and 2x Strength Sessions at home. Some of this will fall away due to climbing trips but I’ll try to loosely stick with it.

New Goals

STG (8 weeks)

• V5/6C indoor
• 10xVS(8/10) Last 2 being a hangover from last year.
• 10xHVS(0/10) Still need to tick Dream! Once the border opens...
• Baseline sports & bouldering grade. Only ever messed around with sports routes & bouldering so can’t really set a goal without knowing my baseline. Plan to sort this in the next couple of weeks.
• Max Hangs (130%)
• Sub 23’ 5km run. Currently at 25’
• Increase HSPU from 3x1 to 3x8
• One Arm Ring Row & Push-up
• Ring Archer Pull-ups
• Ring Tuck FL Pull-ups
• Ring Dips
• Ring L-Sit

MTG (16 weeks)

• Start Board Training. Gonna dip my toe in after reading Neil Gresham’s articles.
• E1. I’ve had a look at Cameo (E1 5a) in Wilton, Lancs and it looks doable but pumpy.

LTG

• Alpine Ticklist. Tentative plans for September but I got caught the wrong side of a Swiss Quarantine last year so may hold off.
• Big Wall. Sardinia trip booked for November.

The walls open tomorrow so should be able to kick-off with a lunchtime session!

Thanks Alan.

M: ill as per last week.

T: slightly frustrating morning at Trowbarrow. I went to do Ned's Problem. Found a slightly better way to do the end and felt like the problem should go easily but for the life of me could not get the starting toe hook to stick. After maybe an hour I belatedly noticed the toe patch on my right boot was half peeled off.  Doh! I switched to a heel hook instead but didn't quite manage it (with a heel the first couple of hand moves are easier but it makes the next move, to match feet, the crux, being very core-y to avoid twisting the right heel off too soon.) Afterwards I had a short re-acquaintance with Shallow Grave and repeated the first two moves a few times but was too tired to progress further. On the plus side of all this, I felt basically over whatever illness I'd had.

W: 'rest' although this involved meeting up with the in-laws at Trentham gardens and walking around in the freezing cold for 4 hours. We underestimated how cold it would be, I was completely knackered in the evening.

T: managed a short 1 hr session with my son at Craig y Longridge trying Big Marine again. Didn't feel great on it. He was in a funny mood and didn't want to get off the mat which made it all a bit stressful. I did a few moves anyway...

F: morning trip to Trowbarrow. With a new pair of Dragos and remembering how to engage my leg muscles, the toe hook on Ned's Problem (f7B) felt straightforward. I ticked it second or third go of the day. Had a quick look at Vitruvian Man but getting my foot on to the starting hold seemed really hard (ie high)? I could only do it with a small hop off the ground, which was low percentage and used up some vital squeezing power. Need to check a few more videos or spend more time experimenting. On the way home I stopped off to look at Warton crag too. Worthwhile doing as I got hopelessly off route on the walk-in!  At least I'll avoid the wasted time doing that when I go back

S: rest day although I did quite a bit of gardening

S: had a rare full day pass and it looked like yorkshire would be snow-covered so I decided to drive up to Carrock Fell. I did Fast Cars & Camper Vans (f7A), which was really good. I went through a tip doing it, and didn't have any fingertape with me (schoolboy error) so couldn't make any progress on the other thing I wanted to try (Hockstack and two broken toothbrushes.) Then it started snowing anyway about 2pm. Will have to return when I find a good opportunity.

Despite illness over Easter I've had a good few trips out now over the last fortnight and am pleased with the two problems I did this week. It's back to work tomorrow and then back to training too. I'll take tomorrow itself as a rest and update my training plan a bit while growing skin.

Si

... pleased to report no issues with my left ring finger in the last fortnight either. It will still be problematic fingerboarding and need care when climbing on the board to be really warm and not be stupid, but as long as I warmed it up well it hasn't caused any pain at all or prevented me doing any moves outside.

Have you moved, you seem to be going to venues near me, I might bump into you at CyL or Trowbarrow one evening (although I’ll be top roping on Red Wall at Trowbarrow not bouldering).  

I moved up from Derby to Crosby about 18 months ago so have mostly been visiting lancs, west yorks, south lakes lime or n wales when open (it's great to have a change from the peak!)

Ah right, I thought you’d moved even further into Lancs as your movements closely followed mine last week! 

Cool. Hotel Supramonte (8b) is one of the most impressive pieces of rock I've ever seen. Including El Cap and the Verdon.

STG: Weight back below 85kg. 
    Start Couch To 5k. 
    Get back on one of my local project/goal routes: tick
MTG: Complete one of my local (Zellerwand) 7a projects - short, sharp power endurance. Complete Couch to 5k
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber by 2021. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M: Zellerwand. Back on Dookie, my project from last Autumn, and initally felt like I was back to square one. Which is not a bad result at all considering the four months intervening lockdown. Couple of runs bolt to bolt then some links on toprope. Was initially shocked at how hard the start felt but quickly readapted to actually trying properly. Refined & improved my sequence at the crux around the third bolt involving a newly found foothold that I could get weight on quite comfortably in my beloved Testarossas, but turned out to be completely useless when I had to resort to soft slippers later on because of the pain. Interesting. And on the last hard move (12 of 12), which I had previously been trying as a low percentage lunge, my mate found a superior sequence that I can now do quite reliably. Good progress, good day.
 
T: rest
W: No playground ARC session today as planned, because it's *snowing*. Third wave, third winter. Just as well I haven't swapped my tyres yet.
    Made a weak attempt at max hangs instead.
T: Repeater hangs as a (marginal) substitute for yesterday's missed ARC session. 40 minutes box step-ups, 20 minutes stretching.
F: 1½ hours bike, to my current favourite coffee roastery & back. Laying in stock for the next few weeks of lockdown - month six of ???

S: Zellerwand - a good day. Back on the proj, and some decent progress once again via one of my mates discovering a better sequence. I am not good at seing different sequence possiibilities - too much tendency to find one way and doggedly stick to trying that no matter how complicated & strenuous it might be. Fortunately I am ok at noticing and remembering other peoples' better ideas.
    Also took my first decent fall of the year, unexpectedly when my foot slipped on a 6b I was doing to cool down. A good way to get that out of the way.
    
S: rest day

Was giving some thought on Saturday as to whether now is the right time to be locked into what's turning out to be a medium term project. Might do myself more good focusing focusing on hard (for me) onsights / quick redpoints in the 6c-ish range. On the other hand, Dookie is both very nice and good for me because it's anti-style, and lockdown circumstances make it unusually easy to lure partners to the same crag for multiple weekends in a row. And the temperature window for a south facing project will be closing soon enough.

Ash, i live ten mins from Trow now. Drop me a line if you're up this way - even if it's for top roping on red wall. 

Well i might come and say hi and watch you top roping on red wall....

Sounds like you've come out of lockdown in a good place. Nice one. New beta is always exciting!

Particularly when it shows how the beauty of climbing is that it's so complicated & varied.

Monday's sequence improvement: replace a looong deadpoint between big holds with a static move using an intermediate sloper.

Saturday's sequence improvement: replace an intricate tic-tac sequence on small intermediate holds with fewer, bigger moves between the better holds.

I say, if you are enjoying the project, stick with it. You've had a positive week. Take a break if you fail to make further progress and find yourself getting frustrated. (Plus, what Biscuit said.)

Excellent, I was hoping to get up there after work one evening this week but I only have Fi to belay me and reckon it will be too cold. It really is excellent PE training if you are interested in a TR session. 

Hi All. Thanks for another week of quality stats, Alan.

This week was pretty similar to last week, with some fun climbing, some bad elbow vibes and some skipped training sessions. Reasonably good on the prehab though...

Week 14:

M: Prehab (Arms)

T: Routes at Helsby. An awful idea, given the howling northerly, but I'd got a partner who was psyched for it (which never happens, no one ever wants to do Helsby trad) and there are LOADS or routes I'm psyched for. After (literally!) getting blown off some of the slab routes I was keen for we ended up dropping the grade and sticking to cracks, where not feeling my hands was kind of a bonus! Elbows quite tweaky.

W: Dry tooling -a fun session putting in the lower off and then working out the moves and where to put the clips on a new route. It's going to be good climbing, but its pretty steep! Elbows very tweaky.

T: Prehab (Arms + Legs).

F: Trail run: 11.6km, 383m vert, 6:25/km (Z1). Prehab (Arms).

S: Max hangs. TRX (Crimpd Compression). Prehab (Arms + Legs).

S: Trail run: 9.6km, 254m vert, 6:05/km (Z1). Prehab (Arms).

Week 15:

Daily prehab

2 x climbing

2 x max hangs

2 x strength (IF ELBOWS ARE BEHAVING retest 2RM Max for pull-ups and weight for max hangs)

3 x run (including one with weighted ascent)

STG (End Q2):

Max Hang total 85kg

Weighted Pull-up total 88kg

Thug circuit 1-on, 1-off

Eliminator (V4); 

Grid Iron (6c)

15 Pembroke E-points (I'm going to be based in Pembroke for work for a chunk of time)

Edale Skyline and Cheshire Gritstone Trail

MTG (End Q3):

Yates' Layaway (f6B+) 

Jack the Smuggler (7a)

Black Wall Direct (E2 5c)

Cairngorm Classic Rock IAD, El Cap nose-day (880m climbing) and Welsh 3000s

2021 Goals:

35 E-points

Run 30km vert and 1000km

Thanks Alan, the lime has indeed called and seeing as pretty much everywhere except the cornice seems to be dry it's time to answer! At least that's what I thought before today's snow but that's not going to wet anything. Lots of resting this week due to Easter holidays and doing things with the kids. I've not really done any cross training on my climbing rest days and only got 2 sessions in rather than the usual 3 but managed to pull hard when I did get out.

Mon. Walked the kids up onto kinder for their first time. It was cold and windy but they enjoyed scrambling up Ringing Roger.

Tues. Successful redpoint of Dark Energy (8a). Really pleased with this one and a positive start to lime season. I didn't think I'd get it today after falling 4 moves from the top with cold hands on my first redpoint but it went next go.

Wed. 8km round town on the road bike.

Thurs. Rest.

Fri. Sport climbing. Spent the session working an 8a+, managed it in 2 sections minus the crux move which I didn't manage even in isolation today.

Sat and Sun. Rest/fun stuff locally with the kids. 

Thanks Alan; by default, Birds Nest Cafe will end up on the project list owing to proximity to baby sitting in-laws

Getting out on a rope last week, and the easing of restrictions in UK today has prompted me to revisit medium term goals, many of which involve new route sport projects. In turn, I realise that I need to adjust my training loads and incorporate some specific body positions and grip types. I've found some of these on board projects but think some FB'ing is in order too...

Week 14

M – 5km rowing inc. 2km sprint; 6:51. Not too shabby (but FiL's water resistance machine feels easier than an Ergo for same pace, i.e. I didn’t vom for a sub 7min effort)

T – Hour-of-power. Managed a soft 7C+ I failed on in wk12. Came close on another 7C+ too (fairly honest grades too). 1on/1off aero-cap on woods. Still hard; still unfit. Worked out kneebars for both L & R. Did 4x 30s holds on each side. Hip flexors and core felt nicely wibble afterwards.

W –23km / 50min flat ride. 

T – Rest.

F – Early morning board. Took a while to get moving / coffee to soak in. Some solid goes on 7C-8A problems again, but no ticks. Once I’d gone off the boil on these, I did some 7A/B problems in quick succession to warm down; smashed all of them with ease, guess that shows I’ve progressed :-D

Evening aero-cap: 60s on/70s off on wooden circuits = perfect intensity.

S – Gardening club

S – More board. Managed a soft 7C and a 7C+ I was trying for last couple of sessions. F3SHC@BW+5kg and B3SHC@BW+13kg.

Thanks for the stats as usual! Not fussed about onsighting E7, my plan is to eventually throw a toprope on it and then pad it out highball style. Some day! Thorn is a gorgeous crag, definitely keen to explore some of the bits we couldn't last time.

Very quiet week for me, didn't have any motivation for mid-week escapades as the house-buying and cold weather generally had me beat. Top day out on Sunday, at least, and got to try out my new camera!

Last Week:

Mon to Sat - Sweet bugger all. Should've done some pulley rehab though, I reckon.

Sun - Big ol' day out at  Gib Torr followed by some slab surfing at  Roaches Lower Tier. Started on Stall Start (f7A) and The Fin (f6C+), couldn't get the knacky body position right on either unfortunately. Eventually hopped on Gibbering Wreck (f7B) and took a few lobs mid-blizzard. Struggled to commit 100% on the crux as skin was thin and I was a bit knackered. Snow cleared to reveal gorgeous evening light and we played around the Roaches, whipping from bloc to bloc, the highlight being a retroflash of the über-classic Three Pocket Slab (f6A), had been a while since I had done that!

Next Week:

House stuff is really ramping up now so not going to plan each day, but I'm going to aim for two pulley rehab sessions plus one outdoor session if the weather allows!

Goals:

Rehabilitate A2 pulley

Suavito

Tierdrop

Rigpa

Ah, I have fond memories of being able to pull sub-7 2k's on the Ergo. In my twenties.

Cheers Alan, only a couple of runs again but they both felt significant in different ways.

Tuesday was a 14.5km trail run. First time in ages that I felt I could really begin to up the distance and realistically plan for ultra training again. Next step is 10 miles and then half marathon before the month is out!

My eldest daughter wanted to beat her 5k PB and get below 35 minutes before  swim training can start up again. So Saturday we went out and i paced her to a very impressive 33.35 smashing her PB 

Thanks Alan. Yeah, I think having some consistent difficulty "yardstick" (a Moonboard) to measure progress and per-session performance has been super helpful in keeping the psyche up long-term! I've not really had that before, living away from any real rock & having local gyms with notoriously inconsistent grading. 

M - rest, stretches

T - (unintended) rest, stretches

W - limit bouldering. Good session. Flashed a BM 6C+ and set a fun 6B+ with a few tough pinch moves

T - scapula activations, then 1-arm lock-offs - this felt quite tough, think in future I need to prioritise this session in terms of being maximally rested/etc. due to the intensity. Boulder triples on some 6A+/6B problems in the eve, and push-up variations later on

F - rest

S - shoulder strength/mobility

S - a big board session. Some limit bouldering - sent a 7A BM that had shut me down previously in a handful of goes which was nice. Then boulder doubles on mid-grade problems. I finished with a pseudo 'route' - a 6A+ problem, followed by 1 minute traversing on jugs/clipping a draw, followed by another 6A+ problem.. and so forth 6 times. Probably had another few 'reps' in me - might go for 8/9 next time, or increase the per problem difficulty/decrease jug rest. After this some bar core, which felt pretty heinous after the long board session 

Thanks for this Alan.

Twas a really tough week mentally, my head was all over the place and this weekend just went for a Burton but...

Mon - Brownlow Rocher. First time there and the first time on rock since last May. Did a few easy problems up to f4+ and helped Dee get her head back, she's not bouldered too much outside.

Nice place, Newly cleaned and most things are sub 6s. Graded much like font in the low grades, which is nice.

Fri - Brownlow Rocher. Did ten easy problems, many of the multiple times which felt nice. A really nice cheaky arete at f3 that's a lovely line. To the right was a 5+ up the centre of the rock, beyond me and would definitely be a 6a+ in font. Holds similar to Spinal Slab at Robin's, just shorter slightly. Needs an upgrade.

That was it for the week, weather stopped play on Sunday. Good to be outside tho.

So, "5B" polished slabs about two grades harder than steep 6B's

?

Looks like the question of whether or not to get back on the proj this weekend will be answered for me anyway: weather forecast says Winter 3.0 won't be over in the Alps until about the middle of next week.

Figured I'd ask you lot here instead of making a brand new thread, but what do you reckon are some really good finger-friendly (specifically RH ring finger A2 pulley) boulders in Snowdonia?

A friend is really keen to get to the Pass and I've not bouldered there before, and most of my experience in North Wales includes a fair few crimps. I was thinking Paul O'Grady (f6C+) and Tormented Evaporation (V7) look good and slopey, does anyone else have any recommendations up to say 7B? Always happy to include easier stuff for when I get spat off and get in a strop!

Thanks Alan. The back is not affecting climbing, so that's the main thing.

M - Can't remember and it says ??? in my diary. I did something but don't know what.

T - trying a cheeky S&C session before work. Went well.

W - Work 

T - Board sesh as rainy - felt good.

F - Quick boulder after work - like Si i had the wrong shoes. New solutions and i coudn't get the toes to stick

S - Back for a quick sesh with a different pair of shoes. Much better. Hit the lipmany times but couldn't hold it.

S - Trad in the Duddon. Made the best of a chilly day. Got another bold E2 which seems to be my thing this year.

I can't put my finger on what's going on atm. I am just not feeling full energy. I've had a good rest this week but it's Saturday as i type this and i still feel tired. Not training tired just not waking up feeling refreshed.  It may just be that i've been on the lockdown hamster wheel for a while and i'm a bit low generally. It may also be juggling the transition between training and outdoor climbing.

I'm having a refresh of my weekly plan this week.