UKC

It's that time of year again to reveal just how ludicrously optimistic we were in our hopes for the last 12 months!

Last years thread can be found here; https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fitclub_2017_review_of...

What went well? What didn't go quite so well? What parts of your goals got completely flipped upside down?

For those of you that posted last year, find your goals in the above link, or revisit your UKCFC600 goals and let us know how things have been going.

If you haven't been FitClubbing for that long then you can give us a roundup of your year or just set down some more goals ready for next year.

Participation is absolutely optional for newcomers or old hands, if you've never FitClubbed before, why not make this your first post and set yourself up for 2019?

Last year I had the aims of: 1) Have healthy elbows, shoulders, knees and fingers

TICK - I've remained free of any significant injury this year, bar a few minor tweaks.

2) Complete my Kilnsey project (bonus for doing any other bolted FA)

TICK - The Pirate (8c) and 2 more FA's Bullheart (8b+) & El Regalo del Diablo (8b)

3) >bodyweight 1-handed deadhang on the BM2K lower rung.

Half-tick. I've worked my 1-arm hangs and recently did BW+6kg with a 5kg assistance to keep me stable. For a proper tick i'd have wanted to do a proper hang with no stabilisers.

4) E7 or harder HP (safe routes only "trad climbs for sport climbers")

FAIL - I completed a single trad route this year - an exceedingly hungover ascent of The Plum (E1 5b) the morning after my stag 

5) Complete my 100th route of f8a and above (need 11 more proper 8a's - no blatant soft touches are included)

FAIL - still 3 short.

6) Get married

Best tick of the year

Oops! Did this as this week’s normal post!! 

Copied over for completeness...

1. Scottish VII (X) -did a few VI pitches (and seconded some tech 7).

2. Winter ED1 x 5 (X) -blamed on poor winter conditions in Cham, but maybe also due to a lack of imagination. Climbed a nice, long WI5 that is given ED1 in the old guide, but can't really count it!

3. Ski 5+ Black Runs (/) -ended up with more like 25! Still need to improve off-piste though to help my winter mountaineering. No doubt contributed to one of my favourite mountain days of 2018: SkiMo ascent/descent of Gran Paradiso.

4. ‘Welsh El Cap Nose' Day (X) -will probably roll this on to the 2019 list.

5. M8 Redpoint (X) -how can this be so hard?!

6. E-points on multiple rocktypes (/) -with 2018 training being geared toward mountaineering, rock climbing was deprioritised, but I feel like performance didn't crash too much. Maybe?!

7. 6B in Lofoten (X) -climbed some ace 6A+ problems, but didn't quite manage to grab this goal.

8. Sandstone Trail in <10h (/) -chuffed with this. First ultra distance. Unsupported, carrying all own food and water and felt pretty fit, although my knees/legs didn't enjoy the distance.

9. New routes in Kyrgyzstan (/) -obvious highlight of my climbing year. Little story about it here: https://www.montane.co.uk/blog/2018/11/borkoldoy-robbies-revenge-a-macc-fun...  forgive the cheesy writing, I don't think I'll be getting a Boardman-Tasker prize anytime soon!

10. Schmidt Route on Matterhorn (X) -ran out of time, money, psych for Zermatt-based adventures. Roll over to 2019 goals!

So 4/10 goals hit for 2018! Some goals 'just missed', some not attempted, some highlighting areas to work on for the future.

Cheers Ally. What I said then was:

This was probably the bit where I put in the most hard work. I didn't get the 7B, nor a second 7A+, but tried hard, got ticks in a variety of areas and styles, and made some progress on harder things.

So not a tick, but a decent stab at it.

This was probably the high point.

A glorious summer of primo dws conditions, an ability to work fairly flexibly, and a well timed couple of weekends at home with Team Ting meant a very decent haul of ticks, including Gates of Greyskull (7b+)  and a lot of the classics at Lulworth, Portland (Crab Party (E4 6a) included), Swanage (Freeborn Man (E4 6a) included) and Torquay (part 1 of Rainbow Bridge (7a+), to the climb out, included). The only fly in the ointment was an inability to commit as well at Swanage as down in the playground at Lulworth.

Smith Rock.

An ace crag, a nice base camp in Bend, a challenging climbing style but as a result ticks felt satisfying.

Less climbing than I might have hoped, and unseasonably hot weather meant I got less time to spend on some of the classic sectors than I might have hoped, but there's always challenges especially with children - I did some good climbing and would happily go back for more.

Packing on the Christmas lard it's a bit hard to say, but qualitatively I let the side down a bit over the summer and autumn, a definite lack of training mojo compared to the winter.

Over the summer I was basically just climbing a lot, and didn't feel like I could fit much else in, and I peaked (in terms of enthusiasm/mojo, rather than physically) with the DWS exploits of the summer, and so when I should have been ramping up my Smith training I was feeling like it was time to sit back and bask in the glow. And again, the good dws weather meant that any planned evening bouldering just didn't happen. I'm going to try and kickstart with Sharkathon in Jan to help rebuild the habit.

For 2019, I've basically got my 666 goals:

- Mark of the Beast (or Blue Planet/Privateer);

- E5 (or equivalent);

- sport onsight/“quick tick”;

- some from Colors/Tennessee/Paradise Lost/Bird of Paradise/Return of the Gunfighter

I'm sure the child will continue to prove a challenge and that spanners will be hurled merrily into the works to stand between me and the plan, but you've got to have goals, right? 

Last year's post:

"Ultimately 2017 has therefore been more about becoming a Dad and just having some fun climbing, and any progression was further stymied by a finger injury from May right through to November. I did get somehow get extremely close to Eastwood Trav on one occasion despite being overweight. Goals this year are to get (and keep) my weight back down closer to 11 stone than 12, do something good in Font at Easter, and do one or more of Tetris, Mentalist, Eastwood Traverse, Caviar. Maybe have a play on Powerband late in the year if I'm feeling good. I did try it in the spring this year; I was a long way off."

To my surprise I did all of my old projects from 2016 (Tetris,  Mentalist,  Eastwood Traverse)  by mid-year and I also had a good time in Font including a super fast ascent of Pensees Cachees with some climbing celebs looking on. I didn't get on with Caviar so gave up after a few trips. I like the climbing on Powerband a lot more but it feels really hard. 

I've been low on psyche recently and had other priorities so only climbing/training about once a week,  and my weight has balooned a bit again. I did get it down to about 11.5 stone when climbing well earlier in the year. 

Currently contemplating when and how to get myself back on the wagon in 2019 - I don't want to be a waster for too long. Need a project to motivate me...

Hmmm! I went for V8+ at BUK. Nothing wrong with being ambitious I guess...…….

Did a V7 or two, but they weren't really V7. 

My general plan for next year is:

Come in top 3 for the Depot Manc and Kendal WBL's EDIT: Top 3 veterans!!!

Crack on with the V6 goals for week 666.

Ski the Haute Route without dying or holding everyone else up.

Finish my degree.

Have a Summer of climbing - trad, sport no goals just try hard when I feel like it and enjoy having more free time.

My goal for the year, at the start of the year, was:

Did neither. Tried to onsight three 7a's, of which did one second go and one third go. And a 7a+ second go. So was close. On the other hand, Kalmynos brought it home harshly to me how very limited I am in terms of style, with a massive discrepancy between what I can do on things within my comfort zone - short, techy, crimpy - versus what I can do on steep pumpy things that intimidate the shit out of me.

I did one 7b, that was basically two boulder problems separated by a hands-off rest and a few metres of easy slab.

I did also do my first 7A boulder, which wasn't on the "official" to-do list but still felt like an important achievement with a view to longer term progress onto routes with moves that are actually hard.

So not a disastrous year all in all, but somewhat disappointing. Why? Not getting out enough, basically - spring and early summer especially were a complete write-off. Two reasons for this:

(1) Partners. 

One of my regular partners of the last few years - my redpoint tactics mentor, really, - is in a new relationship and no longer keen to be projecting every weekend. Another had long term injuries, and #3 has decided he's more interested in mountains & cycle touring than sport climbing (fair enough). So in general, finding similarly motivated people to get out with has been a huge issue. 

I've taken steps to fix this - joined a local facebook group that's pretty active, and met some good folks that way. And my mate with the long term injuries is back in the game. I'd say generally things looking up.

(2) Health

Had long periods of stubborn low level virus infections. Don't know why, can't imagine I've been training anywhere near hard enough to compromise my immune system. Don't know what to do about it either. Stop getting the U-Bahn to work? One of those stupid looking face masks that Japanese tourists wear?

So assuming I have people to climb with, and am not sick for weeks at a time, goals for 2019?

I did four routes in the 7's in 2018, not enough to build a base of experience for further progress. For 2019 I need to build my mileage base in the 7's and get more comfortable on the big steep stuff. So: double digit 7's, including some 30+ metre pumpfests. I have a really nice 7b+ power endurance project in the Frankenjura, and it would be nice if that were included, but the focus is on building a better base for the pyramid.

Trips: Kalymnos again in May: a week of Adrian Berry / Gaz Parry coaching holiday and an extra week tagged on for projecting. And hoping to get a spot of uk trad in in the summer. 
 

After a look through my logbook for this year I realised how little roped climbing I've done this year. 2 days trad and 3 days sport. I have however done loads of bouldering. Highlights include Young Grasshopper at Anston 7B+ which sort of came together rather unexpectedly. Powerband 7C that I'd never thought I'd manage. Alacrity sit start 7C that I kept thinking I'd get next session but it always needed one more til just before I went on holiday. The blue circuit at Bas Cuvier was great even if the setting wasn't. Cave Pervert stand start was the 3rd time I've broken into the 7C+ grade but I suspect, like the first 2 I did, if may settle at 7C. Finally, although it shouldn't feature in anyone's highlights, I really enjoyed ticking all the traverses at broomgrove! The obvious goal for 2019 is to break into font 8A which might come in the form of some of the tumbleweed variations. 

I've been watching the thread for awhile and decided I would like to join in 2019 if thats ok? So I thought I would start by posting a review of the year. I had written down goals in a similar way to you guys had, and I had a quite a few.

1. 6 x 7A - I managed 4/6 (gorrilla warfare, sing a rainbow, james pond, Riley arete SDS (6c+ in book, 7A on ukc), which i'm happy with as well as Brad's arete 6c+.

2. 4 x 7b+, 2 x 7c - Failed, managed 1 x 7b+ (Morgan , Sikati cave), had a few heart breakers in dorset, falling off last moves (HoM, Zinc oxide). Didnt try enough hard routes. Did onsight a lot of 7as, and climbed some fantastic 7a+s (Voelur de spits, Berdorf / Axle attack, LPT)

3. Climb E3 o/s and E5 (HP if needs be) - A lot of trad mileage around HVS-E2 (grit, pembroke, NW, wye) did a couple of E3s, and a fair bit of HVS-E2. Tried to onsight "Heading the shot" putting draws in but fell off crux.

4. Learn to crack climb properly, I've been known to lay back hand cracks the entire way- started by pumping out on bond street, shamelessly bought some crack gloves, and got into it. More work needed, especially finger cracks, bought someTC pros to help out.

5. Successful trip to alps. Main route I wanted to do after skiing under it a few times "Rebuffat Aiguille du midi" -  Very memorable, blue sky Friday the 13th, got the s-crack pitch, and o/s everything including the top 6b+ sporty pitch, Loved it. Managed 3 routes out of Batoux book, and 5 routes in a week.  stopped off in font on the way back to make it round 30 blocks of Blue circuit in Canche aux merciers, in 30+ heat and no mat.

6. Try some scottish winter - Had a great weekend in march on the Ben, Followed a mate up italian right hand and Comb Gully, got the final unprotectable snow plod pitch, topping out through a cornice into 70 mph wind. Memorable.

7. Winter room haute route tour - Ticked, well all apart from the classic descent from the Tete Blanche to Zermatt. Fog rolled in and the crevasses are too big, fantastic powder descent back to Arolla.

8. Help my girlfriend climb 7a - She managed to lead a 7a (Peppercorn rate) in July, after starting training in feb grade around 6b. Another 7a in Kalymnos in october, and is now my Fiancee

9. A long weekend for a long route in Nov - Last year trip to Riglos, this year Aiglun for Cerise de la geateau.

10. A few life goals: Learn to paraglide - (Ongoing, completed my EP, and half way through CP), became a chartered Engineer, and got engaged. 

11. Strength - 2 x BW deadlift, 5 reps of BW bench press, 1 arm lock off, +50% bw 1/2 crimp - managed ~+50% bw 1/2 crimp around Aug, currenty not able to. Not quite manged any of the others, but im very close on all of them.

Haven't decicided on next years goals yet, so will have to post next week when i've put them down on paper.

Welcome along!

I forgot to add my 2019 goals before, so here they are:

By this time next year (Dec 2019) I'd like to think I could do some or all of:
1) Have healthy elbows, shoulders, knees and fingers
2) Climb Mecca - The Mid-life Crisis (8b+)
3) >bodyweight 1-handed deadhang on the BM2K lower middle rung.
4) Do all the moves and some decent links on an 8c+

5) 8A not in Parisella’s / 8A+ on link-up style limestone (e.g. Parisella's, Pantymwyn, Raven Tor etc)
6) Stay married

Hahaha! Doesn't hurt to be pro-active I guess! I'm sure you'll tick this one!

Cheers Ally, I came online thinking I really am a bit late in starting this thread so thanks for putting it up before my lazy ass managed to do so.

So how was the last 12 months? Pretty flipping awesome if I'm honest. I started the year with golfer's elbow but that was already on the decline and I have been managing it (read: ignoring it) all year with a steady improvement. I've had no other major injuries, a couple of grumbly fingers but nothing that really stopped me from getting out and pulling hard.
We managed another 3-and-a bit holidays, celebrated the new year in Margalef, then returned in May/June, sweated it out in Kalymnos in September and then back to Margalef this December. The best bit was that 2 of those holidays were full 14 day epics which was fantastic, thanks to Mrs Dandan no longer being a teacher.

I've not pushed my redpoint grade this year, but I did push my onsight grade up to 7c (twice!) and have got considerably more consistent in the 7's than ever before. I decided recently that I now feel about 7b the way I used to feel about 7a, (expect to onsight 9 times out of 10, otherwise 2nd go) which is a solid improvement that I put down almost entirely to climbing *better*, not *harder*. I also climbed a very satisfying 77 7's or harder this year

I really got into antagonisitc gym work and have a new found love for deadlifts, (despite my lower back's early complaints!) the result of that is that I feel bombproof when I climb, fewer tweaks and grumbles, especially around the shoulders.

Goals:
* 150 ticks in logbook - 212/150 massive over-TICK, and with the highest average grade I ever managed, which is fantastic. Not sure I'll be able to match this again!
* tick 3 x 8a - 1/3 FAIL I didn't get an 8a this year until just a couple of weeks ago, but it did go second go which was something of a consolation.
* tick 10 x 7c/7c+ - 8/10 semi-TICK, I think I ticked almost all of the 7c/+ that I tried this year (including 2 onsights) so if I had wanted to meet this target I really should have climbed a few more!
* Go to Kilnsey - FAIL again, back around for next year!
* Get to December without any new injuries - TICK aside from some minor finger grumbles, i'm happy with that.
* +bodyweight pull ups (2 reps) - Almost-TICK I got to 1 rep at +60kg (bodyweight is 65kg)
* Enter BLCC and don't come dead last - FAIL They hosted it in Scotland! Back around for next year!

Goals for the coming year will take a bit of thinking, i'll get back to you!

Hello

I think its that time of the year again to tell myself that I am going to train

I think I need to start posting on fit club again to make sure I stick with things.

Last Years Goals

Mount Blanc in the summer (x) - Fail the midi lift was shut when we got there so we changed plans around and ended up driving though to Italy and went up that way. We did do the Cosmiques Arete and Grand Paridiso from the valley floor to the summit and back in a day. Then quite a few rock routes in the Aiguilles Rouges.

at least WI3 on my trip to Norway (/) - Tick managed to lad quite a few pitches of 3 and seconded some 4. Even managed to top rope a 5

Grade 3 in Scotland (x) - Fail didn't even make it up to Scotland. My wife changed jobs and is now working every weekend. It helps with child care but climbing time drastically reduced.

Get steady on E1 (x) - Defiantly steady on HVS. Cant say steady on e1 as I didn't manage to climb very many but I did lead an e2

Lose my belly (/) - I lost 10kg almost so not to far off on this one. Just need to lose a little bit more now.

This Years Goals

Steady on e1

Run a 50 miler

At least grade 3 in Scotland

Lose another 3kg

An alpine trip - this might be a bit optimistic as we are off on a big family holiday this year so I might struggle

Nice write up looks like you had an amazing trip

Yes in terms of volume, no in terms of doing the muscular endurance phase which really requires more mountain/hill time than I was able to achieve. By week 24 motivation was dropping and I started cragging too much when really I needed to be dragging a tyre up a hill or something. Overall I enjoyed doing that much training and having a sense of purpose.

Fairly well- having a very structured plan with numeric goals worked very well. Using Training Peaks to plan volume, record multisport workouts (ie climbing, gym, running, cycling) and try to quantify overall body stress etc worked fairly well and was motivating, although I found that metric a little gameable. I think I could improve on the Training Peaks algorithm with a spreadsheet for my personal use- it is too weighted towards high output sports like triathlon etc.

Had a bit of EMS initially, but no big deal. Felt good fitness-wise in the Bugaboos which was probably the biggest test of strength and fitness of the year.

I didn't really improve at rock climbing last year- my confidence at trad climbing probably improved and skills/experience with crack climbing went up, but I didn't do anything harder in sport or bouldering. I climbed my first indoor v7 today, so that may indicate bouldering progress, but I think after the Castle downgrading that is about equivalent to the v6 at the end of 2017.

Yes! I think I do because I really enjoy running, but this year a multistage TMB attempt and some organised trail runs will suffice.

I worked with a nutritionist for about 3 months without real success. It was a mega positive step for me to take, but it didn't really help in the way I hoped that it would. That said, I sort of realised that nutrition itself wasn't really the problem, habitual and emotional eating patterns were. I'm currently in a better position with this- I changed my environment by shifting jobs and have spent quite a long time working on mindfulness practice related to eating.

This went well, we made multiple first ascents. It wasn't as full on as I hoped really, but I learned some things.

* Alpine Trips (3x 1 weeks?)

I did 2 weeks in the Bugaboos which was incredible, definitely trip of the year. September alpine rock week was really fun as well, although not that 'alpiney'.

* Scottish Winter (2 x 1 weeks) 

I did a few days with Tom G which provided a lot of psyche, and a week with Jen, sending my first grade V. I also spent a really enjoyable 4 days in Rjukan for some ice cragging.

* Winter sport trip (1-2 weeks, maybe Kalymnos)

No winter sport trip. Instead spent about 4 weeks on the road around Britain ticking off some Hard Rock classics, 

In the interests of ticking off goals through the year, the following would be good:
* At least one first ascent in Kryz! (tick)
* A couple of 4000m peaks (tick if including the above!)
* 3 E2 grit ticks (fail, although I am happy enough with grit progress this year).
* 2 7a+ ticks (fail, didn't even try!)
* 7b tick (fail)
* Hold front lever for 5s (fail although I progressed a bit mid year)

Stretch/ancillary goals:
* One arm pull up (fail)
* First drytooling route (fail)
* Climb with 10 different partners (tick)
* 10 outside boulder problems V3 or above. (fail)

By my goals it would appear to be a very modestly successful year (ie I didnt fail at them all). I didnt forsee leaving my job and taking 6 months out of work at the beginning of 2018. This sounds like absolutely ages, and I surely should have nailed all my goals during this period. However, what with various trips abroad and trips in the van, and the general laziness that not having any sort of routine at home brings, I didn't really train all that much. Over the summer I ticked off a bunch of the hard rock climbs which was enjoyable. 

Looking ahead to 2019... my holiday allowance is now only 25 days, and I'm now working the full 5 days a week. I simply have less time, and cannot have goals in every discipline of climbing. Unfortunately it looks like the most inconvenient ones, are going to drop- alpine, ice and scottish climbing, so I can focus on running, bouldering and sport climbing. I hope to get a couple of long weekends of cold stuff but can't really make goal room.

2019 Goals:

* Run the TMB in 5/6 days

* Compete in 4 boulder comps, 4 trail/fell races

* A new (to me) 7a+ route at Portland, Mindmeld (7a+), Portland Heights (7a)

* Hold a front lever for 5s

* 2 Grit E2 ticks

Thanks Ally and Happy New Year to everyone.

Looking at some of the things I was hoping to improve in 2017 I can see that I have come a long way mentally and I am loving climbing. So that is good.

In last years post I mention how 'I love bouldering indoors so I just started doing that as much as I wanted' - this has stuck and is mostly what I have been doing for the best part of the year.

Trips for this year (2018), in sort-of date order:
Winter trip to Scotland (1 week) - 2019 notes: love being in Scotland and after the initial day of finding mixed climbing pretty tough I got into the swing of it and loved the style. I always struggle a bit with the intensity of these trips as I am a bit of a sunny, sport crag kinda person but they make for some great climbing and cornice epics.
Chamonix Spring/Summer - 1 week - nope
Alpine trips - 2 weeks - nope
Australia - 3 weeks - this was an excellent trip, we did some great sport climbing and lots of hiking.
Sport climbing - 1-2 weeks - nope
Lots of trad and sport weekends away in the UK - did a lot of this earlier in the season and got some great climbing done in the Peak.

Goals from 2018:
Log my Canada climbs from June 2017 - hahahahahahaha
Climb the Matterhorn - nope
Lead 7a+ - nope: bouldered some 7a+ moves?!
Run a trail half marathon - nope
Lead 30 x VS routes - oooh, I actually got a little way towards this and started to really love grit. Did 5 VS and plenty of HS. Hoping it's all still there when we go back!
Lead 5 HVS routes - nope
Climb 5 routes from the Aiguilles Rouges book - nope
Lead The Great Slab at Millstone Edge (HS 4b) - TICK
To complete the TFTNA training plan and compare aerobic performance before/during and after - nope but learned from it
Have an incredible time in Australia with Balls - two possible goals are: Crazy Horny and Beer, Boobs and Jerky at Mt Coolum - well we had an incredible time

Goals from 2019:
- To continue the VS goal and do the missing 15 leads
- 3 HVS leads
- 1 E1 lead
- Be roughly 62kg by the end of the year (currently 66kg)
- Lead 7a+
- Boulder 3 more V7s (indoors)
- Some alpine goal but not sure what yet - will be interested to see what I write for this in 2020
- Front lever, this should be interesting too

Thanks mate, it was great. And really justified all those TFTNA hours in Z1!

We should definitely try and sneak a repeat of that in this winter (although without both of us having ill days this year!)

Right then, goals set last year. 

Swim 200km

Run 1000km

Cycle 3000km

Complete a half marathon and a sprint triathlon (having not done either before)

I managed to hit the swim goal just before knocking off work for Christmas, fell just short of the run distance by about 50k and only got half way to the cycle goal. Nailed both the half and the triathlon, enjoyed the tri far more and that has given me the motivation to concentrate on triathlons in the next year. 

For the year ahead the distance goals remain the same however to be more competitive in races I want to get my 5k run down to below 20 minutes as this is the discipline im worst at (currently my pb is just under 25). My swim time is good, in fact I work with the bloke who won the last tri i did and im faster than him in the pool. Need to get my cycle mojo back a bit as i have a goal of averaging over 30kph on my 20k training route.

Also helping my wife train for her first marathon too so may well sneak a couple of halfs in as well. Also add into the mix three daughters who do a combination of swim and run training as well as compete in galas and races and its going to be a busy year i feel!!

Just going to add one more thing

I want to complete another full 12 week fingerboard cycle this year. The last one in 2017 was very painful but very effective, and relied strongly on commitment to a goal and charting of progress. I don't have a specific strength goal- in the spirit of that uphill athlete new year post, going through a full cycle is the goal.

I think I ought to put down a few goals as I didn't put any down next year.  Future me will hopefully thank me for it.  I've got my fit club '666' goals to do.  I've just put them down as lead, with no mention of style.  I have a bunch of 6as that I've led before which shouldn't be too hard even with my current weight belt.  I also know of a 6b and a 6c which should be doable without too much hassle if I can drop a decent amount of weight.  Which is basically a diet thing.  However I've also lost most of my CV fitness over the last two years.  So I need to make a start on that.  With that in mind here's the goals:

• 50% exercise (4 mile walk to work counts as an exercise day)
• 30 minute 5k
• Improve diet using DQS
• Lead 6a (any style)
• Lead 6b (any style)
• Lead 6c (any style)

I'm not going to put down a trad or weight goal as that never ends well.  I'm leaving the diet goal fairly open ended.  But realistically if I'm going to do any of the 6b or 6c goals I'll have to loose a bit of the flab.

Cheers Ally. Not sure what my goals were - I think it was something totally un-SMART like sleep, eat and climb better... 

The sleeping and eating aren’t great, and there hasn’t been much time for training, but some okay climbing along the way that was very much reliant on base level.

Some good trips: Morocco (trad mileage); Colorado (Ski touring, snow camping ); Mallorca (7b RP); Alps (Cham, Grossglockner); WCS France; the sunny south with Team AJM.

I think I had intended to get E1-3 trad mileage and wanted to con myself into trying sport redpointing. Trad mileage didn’t really happen as I got distracted taking up Alpine and DWS (high point Animal Magnetism (7a+) ) but when I did get on something at E2/E3 it seemed to be fine. Also picked up loads of classic HVSs on the way: Suicide Wall, Moonraker, Chequers Buttress, Zapple etc.  Have identified quite a few E4/5 for 2019.

Sport-wise, I tried redpointing for a couple of days in Mallorca and it yielded a 7b. The problem is I get much more fun from onsighting 7a and getting mileage on a bunch of lower grade stuff so perhaps I need to either work on something much harder and more inspiring or just admit I don’t like redpointing and not think too much about my sport grade.

Bouldering was fitful - some antistyle (for me) grit heelhook classics including Gorilla Warfare and stuff around Marks. Haven’t really been in the gym enough to have the right kind of power in the second half of this year. Last Christmas I was making up mono problems on the Climbing Unit woody: This year I can barely pull on...

In extra-curricular climbing WCS was hard work but cool, WCS France was lovely, and we actually managed to get the BMC governance thing past the AGM. Did some editing and writing. Coached some kids. 

I’m thinking of goals beyond those I have in 666...