Life in the 8th Lane

Full Circle

2009-11-29T12:22:00.000-08:00

So that's it I'm back home at my parents place and my "climbing year out" has come to an end. Observant readers will of course say it never ended up being a year, 8 months in fact. if id gone to the US I would have pushed on through I think till 2010 but certain events saw me back in Europe for the fall and a good job opportunity here in London has meant Ive needed to adapt the schedule somewhat.

So has the climber in me sold out to get back in the rat race? Probably a little but for me being successful in a financial markets career is all about running with it when its good and flying for the hills when its bad. It was pretty darn bad in March when I left NYC and now its seems to have turned, so I had to take any re-entry opportunity seriously.

Anyway enough of the job chatter this is not the place for that but I feel that is some justification for why I cut the climbing year short with more thoughts on that to follow. First up how did my last few days before my journey back to blighty finish up? Sending Appartenance was the highlight. A superb highball arete, powerful down low, then balancey and scary up high with a subtle roll out onto a hanging slab using a very rounded rib like feature. As you slowly tip your weight onto the slab you have to make a long reach to a good crimp that marks the end of the difficulties. Problem is to reach the crimp you have to roll loads of weight onto a very high left foot that is smeared precariously on a sloper just waiting to explode off and send you ground ward. it did quite a few times before success. Aside from that I climbed some great low 7's on the final day and managed another quality 7c - Symbiose Gauche at 95.2.

Regrets; I didn't manage to climb the other 2 problems that constitute the big 4 at Rempart. Big Boss I tried and tweaked my shoulder, Big Golden I ran out of time to get on. They are very high on next years tick list as is Beaux Quartier at Bouligny. Talking of ticks I did think about jotting down a graded list of what id climbed over the course of the year but I think that would bore most people and its all on 8a anyway. Stand outs are the 3 8a's since Feb (especially getting one in Font), the slew of top top quality 7c/+ classics i did in Font (and I'm still only about halfway through the list) and sampling Rocklands/Africa in general.

However with highlights there has to be lowlights for sure. Weather was often challenging. More specifically though when I started this year out I stated I wanted to climb the real classics whenever I ended up, but also I did admittedly want to try and push my grade, 8a+/8b was the target. In the 8 months I pulled on one 8b problem for 5 mins, that's it. Not a massive commitment to the cause that. In terms of 8a+, well to be fair I was close to this target. Jack's Broken Heart was a whisker away before it rained for 4 days straight and Swine Flu killed me off when Tea Time With Elmarie had been linked in two halves.

However despite the agonising last day failures Ive come to realise as the year has gone on that genetically I'm not gifted enough to climb this grade (8b). What I mean by this is that just because Ive climbed a lot this year does not mean my body has suddenly got loads stronger or technically superior. I thought by climbing loads my level would have kinda gone through a super cycle and shot up. Unfortunately it didn't, in fact I'm weaker now than when I was going regularly to the gym after work. That does not mean I cant climb 8b full stop but ill have to siege something for months/years even to do that and a trip where you are moving from venue to venue is not the best way to do this.

This in part is the other reason why Ive decided to step back from this full time climbing thing and back into a more balanced work/climb/booze/sleep type lifestyle. If your not super gifted then the best way to push on in a sport is to train I guess and I haven't done that properly really for years...not since I used to climb with Tyler/Geoff Landman on the board at Mile End, 2005 I think. I'm not going to start campussing tomorrow but 2010 i want to put some training plans into practice and go back to short focused trips to US/Europe. When I was in the US I climbed a few 8a's just by existing in one place and being able to pick the great conditions, by being used to the rock type and training a particular crux move of a project at the wall in the week. Basic stuff but it suited me better because my body takes a while to adapt to a very hard move or a very small handhold - that's what I mean by not being necessarily massively genetically gifted at climbing.

So since I'm back into short sharp trips and sieging things ill need to get a UK ticklist I can focus on for late 09 and 2010. Brad Pit is one and id like to get an 8a done on limestone - Tsunami fits the bill. Ive got to decide whether to keep this blog up..its no good just saying I did some campussing 3 times a week is it so a lot will depend on how often I get out and about once the job life becomes normality again. In the meantime ill try and get some piccies up on here. Ill climb a bit now but some proper rest/time out is key and then its Christmas boozing before the new year plan comes into effect.

4 days on....

2009-11-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

Im in McDonalds, internet is crappy so this is going to be shortish. After my last post we finally got a weather window of sorts. Some sun, a bit warm but windy too - it was time to climb. Id written the roof mantel problem at Isatis off, (L'Insoutenable blah blah blah), as a permanent wettie, but when that wind really blows in Font and the leaves have dropped things can dry super-quick.

I knew this problem being dry could be very short-lived so got fired up and sent this one second go in this session. Not the hardest mantel in Font but a problem well worth seeking out, especially in a warm spell in the forest as its always in the shade.

Next up a cracking steep prow at Demoiselles called Home. 7b/+ i think, but here the wind was less prevalent and the thing was a bit damp so 7b+ felt right for sure. Compression moves on wet holds are always quite tough and I found this hard. Took me about an hour to get the hooks right and squeeze the correct slopers to get this one done. Great out of the way problem, in a new area that has been developed by locals. Definately worth the walk-in. Green though.

Finally the last settled day of weather yesterday saw me back up under the big four at Cuvier Rempart. Id had a session previously on Fourmis Rouge and felt ok on it but yesterday I felt confident it might go due to a new factor. When walking out of Demoiselle the other day ive come upon a massive branch, thin and light, that bent slightly to the right. Once id dried this stick out and taped a brush to the end of it I had a secret weapon - I could clean all the higher holds on Fourmis from the ground, due to the sticks length and the way it bent around the nose of the rock. Previously id almost killed myself trying to hang down from the top and brush the top slopers, these things are super marginal so need to be cleaned before an attempt, now I could brush happily in comfort from ground zero.

So after a good brush off with the stick my first go saw me beat my previous highpoint by being able to slap out left to a lumpy sloper right on the top of the prow. From here you have to dig really deep and hike your right foot super-high to a slopey smear before you finally start to get within reach of decent'ish holds and you can stand up and roll off the nose to glory. Despite reaching a new highpoint getting my foot up blindly, really high, onto the smear proved tough. Between goes I was doing all sorts of stretches and karate kicks to try and give me that neccessary suppleness to yard my leg up. Eventually this worked and after a sketchy rock over out right on that high right foot to a good edge I was done. Topping out to a round of applause from French guys sieging Big Boss was a nice touch.

So im pleased because the rain and my fitness had been such that last Tuesday I really thought climbing those three problems in next two weeks before I leave was going to be asking too much. Now today its raining again but at least ive cleared the immediate tick list ready to ship in a load more of course for the final week. In reality there is really two obvious things that stand out. 8a's or above I havent got the heart for the last minute siege to be honest. I still have two of the big four at Rempart to climb and with more rain due, these dry quick so are likely to feature. The other one is Appartenance at Buthier (pronounced boot't'ay im told). This shut me down back in May but today even with the rain, it was actually semi-dry and I managed most of the moves. The top is a problem as it stays wet and it scary to be honest plus the crimps are sharp and tear skin. However this feels doable now and that would be a great way to sign out of Font for this year. C'mon wind do your stuff...

Rain, Smog and Mist

2009-11-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

Im not sure who reads this blog apart from some close friends etc, but for any climber that does have an occasional glance - DO NOT COME TO FONT IN NOVEMBER. If I help convey this message to a few uninformed guys or girls it will have been worth it. Seasoned campaigners in the forest, like Neil H, would have told me November is a dodgy month, but I didn't have that much choice to be honest with the US trip on ice, me not working right now and the Swiss granite also proving to be pretty damp/humid, here was the best bet as I didn't fancy going back to Albarracin.

We tend to look at Accuweather here to get a decent view on the forecast for the next few days, for over a week now Ive not seen a single sun symbol for any time of the day, not even a white cloud. Its been super wet, damp, with grey skies and a stillness that means morning and evening mist - a climbers worst nightmare basically and totally brutal to get much done at all.

Apart from many forced days off the rock (today is day two of another rest period as its lashing down currently), going to London for a job interview and watching X-Factor Ive tried to get out when I can. Since Symbiose on day 1 and the day out at Apremont ive managed to get away with climbing two very nice 7b+'s; Fluide Magnetique, the scary and rather classic blunt arete at Cuvier, and Le Cachou, a compression prow at Isatis. I also had a session on the stand start to the L'Insoutenable roof at Isatis, said to be one of Font's hardest mantels at 7c. Its not to be honest as I did the mantel itself pretty quick in the semi-wet but then worked out it actually starts from a jug under the roof. For me anyway this is the crux and I was planning on going back to get this done, but since that session it been soaking wet so Ive all but given up on this one for this trip.

So with two weeks remaining and the weather so bad, albeit it is meant to be better for a day or two from tomorrow, ive decided to focus a bit of effort on the remaining 3 problems that I have not done of the big four at Cuvier Rempart. These tend to dry quick, quicker than most rock in the forest and of course they are super classic must do's. I got up Tristesse in April so now Big Boss, Fourmis Rouge and Big Golden remain. All are high and scary but I had a go on Fourmis the other day and that seems close so ill see if I can get that and the Boss done. Not sure about Big Golden its a far bit more powerful than the others as you basically have to surmount a large bulge with poor hands but we'll see. At the end of the day weather conditions are such you cant really make any firm plans as it can all go wrong very quickly and you must adapt.

Transition

2009-11-08T03:50:00.000-08:00

Headed out for the final morning at Magic Wood and manged to piece together the link on that Kalorienmonster thing. Its not the best climb ive ever done but it gave me something to aim for, to at least feel a small level of accomplishment, after a pretty naff week in the Wood.

A couple more shots below. The first Sofa Surfer in a dry state with me matching on the slopey rail which marks the end. of the crux really. That was to be my high point on this trip.

The second, Sofa Surfer dripping on the first few days and me trying to use tissues to dry it out (we have been here before with Jack's)...

So with snow clouds beginning to form we made haste from the Alps. Not sure when ill be back here now on the granite, perhaps spring next year, we will see. Font was the final destination but we broke up the journey with a stopover night in Basel. Strange place really. Some locals speak German, some French, the road signs are in German but most other things like shop names etc are in French, but most confusing of all theres a massive Irish bar there playing NFL games all day where everyone speaks English and you feel like your back in the US celebrating Halloween.

At one point a clear Basel local started chatting the barmaid up in German, when he got no obvious response he tried French and when that also failed to get her going he tried drunken English. Even the local guys are confused here it seems.

So now we are in Font. Ive never been here in November before I dont think but its meant to be a wet month for the forest and its certainly living up to that so far. I have managed two days of decent climbing; one day I sought out the classic 7c roof problem of Symbiose at 95.2. It really deserves the reputation I thought it was great. I also got up to Apremont and did a few 7's there including the classic mantel problem Hyperplomb. Aside from that ive floundered about on a 7b+ compression thing at Isatis that Neil H pointed me at that ill need to get back on and the 7c/+ prow of Madarine that feels pretty darn hard to be fair. I think compression strength is something that has flagged a little in me since being here in spring which isnt going to help with many of the problems here being of that style.

Right now im resting as my split from Magic Wood is still not really healed properly and I need to sort that out. Hoping to get out tomorrow, I still do not really have a defintive tick list but to be fair with the weather so volatile perhaps its best not to and to just go with the flow depending on conditions. I only have 3 weeks left now so not a huge amount of time full stop either when you think about it. I really need to try and put Appartenance away, thats it really, that would be great and anything more than that a bonus. More soon...

The Fat Lady Has Sung

2009-10-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

Yep the fat lady has sung her heart out, has packed up and is heading home for supper. What am I talking about? Well thats the end pretty much of another spanking in Magic Wood. I had a rest day Thursday and the split tip looked slightly better Friday PM so headed out again. Warmed up with loads of tape on and felt ok'ish. Up to Sofa Surfer, two goes and the tip has split again with tape on! Game over for Friday.

Today decided to sack Sofa Surfer off as although I feel I can do it its not going to happen with the current gammy finger tip and I actually fancied doing some climbing before I leave this place. Some may say well you have over a month left in Europe so just stay longer, get your finger better and have another pop but the weather window is well and truly closing out as of tomorrow evening. Heavy snow is forecast for Monday to Wednesday in the Alps and if I did ride that out id only experience all the damp issues again like the start of this week, so ive got to call time on this one. Jack's Broken Heart, Sofa Surfer the list of what id really like to climb in Magic Wood is not long but what I do leave behind unfinished does cut a bit.

Anyway so with taped up finger I headed out today trying to get some decent mileage in and climb some of the more obscure problems here. The problem you have with granite is most stuff is a crimp, and typically quite a sharp crimp here in Magic Wood, so actually finding stuff to climb that didn't mean id leave trails of blood on the holds was quite tough. First up I hiked right up to the top of the crag and flashed some 7b called Fleisch something, then I got spanked on some 6c highball wall climbs that took me an hour to work out. Then some local guys pointed me at a 7c+ called Diesel Power, an aesthetic overhanging prow, that had no crimps on it at all.

Went to work on this, it was a little wet, so usual drying tactics first off. A few goes and id realised instead of pinching this obvious hold on the arete you could twist your wrist round and kind of undercut it meaning it was a jug. Once that beta kicked in I was up top and mantling out. 7c+ my way no way, its probably more soft 7c or 7b+ even. Still a good problem and I guess most of the grades on the well established problems at Magic Wood have settled down to what is right but the more obscure ones are bound to need some more input.

From here the helpful locals next pointed me at Kalorienmonster. This thing is a monster. Its a slopey, heel hook shuffling, traverse thing. Again no crimps so I had to give it a go but by now it was 3pm and by that time here the sun has dipped below the ridges and the dreaded damp kicks in big style. After slipping off numerous slopers on the route I decided it was not going to happen today but I have a sequence now so unless my finger recovers miraculously overnight and I can crimp again ill come back for this in the AM.

So a short session tomorrow and then we leave pre the snowstorm to go back to Fontainebleau. The forecast looks pretty bleak, lots of rain around, but at least it may be cooling down a bit and I can try and get out in between the showers. Plus Neil H is based in Font and im really looking forward to climbing with him again after spending most of this week mooching around on my own.

One Step Forward Two Back

2009-10-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

Yeah it was going to be a positive post. Yesterday was good, the damp did clear out as predicted with the drier spell and although things were still a bit greasy it was much improved. I fired off Iron Butterfly first try and it felt a hell of a lot easier as I must have been picking up so much moisture on my hands the other day (its a 20 move problem).

So that was good and I walked up to the Sofa Surfer bloc feeling like it could be on. It took a couple of goes to get going but my third and best go of the day saw me reaching for the good right hand edge that marks the end of the difficulties only for my foot to pop at the last minute. Still after a couple more naff goes I left it there thinking by finishing the session strong'ish id be on for it today as that was my best link since June where I fell off the end section due to wet holds.

Sofa Surfer would not be considered a sharp problem for the Wood but it does have a couple of crimps you really bone down on in the middle that do take their toll on your skin. What I did not realise is these edges will really take a chunk out of your index finger if your foot pops unexpectedly. Thats what happened today...again attempt three saw me matched on these crimps setting myself up for the final reaches into the slopey right-handers. Suddenly my right foot popped and I slipped rightwards landing on the pad with a bang. Quick look at my fingers revealed a puncture of my right index finger caused, I guess, because I twisted off rather than fell straight. Its not horrifc but game over of course for the day and now im out tomorow too at least.

I would like to have another lengthy moan about my weak skin and how id be one of the worlds best climbers if I had leather on my finger tips instead, but of course thats rubbish however I split a tip in Magic in June so do feel a little hard done by thats its happened again out of nowhere in cold conditions too. Anyway im not done yet and hopefully with the weather window looking like it will hold good till Sunday I may still have this problem in me before I leave. In the meantime im going to go hiking tomorrow which is the advantage of being in such a stunning place as the alps.

Finally before signing off worth noting that luck, or absence of it in your climbing at a certain point in time is all relative. After my finger incident I went up to spot an Italien guy who has been working High Spirit, an 8a+ boulder problem, for 3 and half years he tells me on and off. He was really up for it today so he said and with my pad meaning he felt more comfortable on the higher moves he fired off a great go getting through all the difficulties only to fall matching at the jug (where the route effectively ends as it does not top out). The Bloke was prettty distraught as it seems his feet popped off alright holds and he did not expect it. After that he was spent and could not get back to his highpoint. Bad days all round then it seems, perhaps its easier just to stick to bouldering 7a.

Not So Magic Wood

2009-10-26T03:38:00.000-07:00

Man, I think from living in the States for a couple of winters id forgotten just how damp Europe can be. Im resting today, but not really from climbing as such really, more from the act of "trying to climb". After I last posted I was more optimistic that the weekend forecast was dry and that dry rock would result. True enough it didn't rain and the sun even came out for some fleeting periods but it failed to penetrate the gloom that currently hangs over Magic Wood.

Its just SO moist in there. You cross over the river to get into where the boulders are and almost instantly are hit with these damp plumes of air, rather like when you visit a cave, the ground is saturated and now with day highs of around 10 degrees max it will not dry out easy. Im starting to think maybe I should have stuck with Font but im here now so gonna have to make the best of it for a week or so I think. The worst thing is (and the reason why I am in need of some rest today) is the rocks themselves look dry. You walk around the blocs and the holds are white with chalk dust, drawing you in, thing is once you do chalk up and pull on you realise you have been duped as the holds quickly turn black with moisture. Of course once that happens then you try and kid yourself that its not that bad, you can still pull these moves off, you start to use tissue paper to soak up the damp, you brush every hold hundreds of times, but of course really unless your climbing way below you limit you've had it really.

Still I got drawn in a plenty over the weekend trying Sofa Surfer, Iron Butterfly and Jack's Broken Heart with very limited success. All three of these problems I was really close to back in June so its a bit depressing but i know im not as strong as then so need to get that back and of course the conditions totally suck so perhaps there is still a chance for some success this trip with time. Either way for that to happen I need it to stay dry, anymore rain and im dead, and then perhaps if Im doing the moves now in the damp they will feel easy when the whole place is a bit drier. Thats the theory anyway. Forecast wise no rain is expected this week now so perhaps thats my window, but today its not raining and yet its still super misty and overcast with no wind so ill need better than this I think. Time for a dvd marathon then...

Judgement Call

2009-10-23T01:27:00.000-07:00

Limited internet right now so a quick update from Euroland...

The van's called Pammy - shes big and busty, dressed in red, a VW Californian too - it makes sense, sort of, we thought.

Aside from that captivating bit of news its been a slow start on the climbing front. Arrived in Fontainebleau Sunday late on but it was a clear night and Monday dawned cold. I was super keen to get out with the cold conditions so I headed over to Buthier to try Appartenance, a highball arete of quality, that is a target of mine in the forest. Unfortunately with Font if its cold that can backfire on you as a shady rock spot wheres theres no wind can get damp. People will talk about holds "going black" in font..meaning usually they are white'ish, a combination of the rock colour and the chalk residue i guess, but then as you begin to touch them working a problem and they warm up they kind of darken with moisture on the hold. Once this blackening effect happens you know you are up against it.

This is exactly what happened at Appartenance. The rock gets little sun and after arriving and feeling the rock was super cold I excitedly pulled on. Within a few goes I was slipping and sliding off the holds and so gave it up pretty quick. It seems at the moment Font is in its transformation phase. Tree leaves are only just starting to turn and theres still a lot of vegetation around. The weather is also erratic, after the cold Monday, Tuesday was hot and humid and by Wednesday it was pouring rain. Im only in Europe till late Nov/early Dec latest and so with the Font forecast looking iffy for a bit I decided a trip back to the Alps (Magic Wood) might be the best bet.

We hacked it through France in lashing rain Wednesday PM eventually making it to the Avers Valley in Switzerland (Magic Wood) by Thursday afternoon. After a quick turnaround I headed out for a short reccy Thursday evening but it was dreadful. The sky was that brilliant bright blue you get in the alpine areas but clearly it had rained HARD at some point in the last 24 hours as the whole of the wood was soaked. One of my main aspirations here is the overhanging wall of Sofa Surfer. I felt I was close on this back in June in the rain.

Remebering that this wall had the ability to stay dry in all but the worst and seeing that all the warm-up probs were dripping I headed up to the Sofa Surfer bloc straight off. Awful damp hell of death greeted me and that was game over for the day. Gutted but theres still time i guess. Today its dry but very cloudy so im not sure how much of the place will have dried but the forecast is better for Saturday so lets see if I can get going in the next day or two...

On way to alps stopping for coffee. Note: always make your own coffee enroute otherwise face a 20 quid sting for two coffess in the garage shop...

Spain

2009-10-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this at my parents place so we didn't manage to leave for Fontainebleau today as originally planned. Still the ferry's is booked for tomorrow morning and I'm chomping at the bit to get out there. The 2 months in Font I did earlier in the year was really great but naturally I left a load of projects that I'm keen to have another go at. Plus i arrived late March and it quickly began to warm up as we moved into April. This time at least it should, in theory, be cooling down as the weeks go on, making the climbing that much easier. So that's the plan till December plus ill probably duck over to Magic Wood if I can for a week or so in between.

So why the slightly later departure for the magical forest? A combination of factors to be honest, some a bit personal to go into here but playing a big part in the delay were my old friends; paper pushing admin that needed to be done (tax disc, ferry booking blah blah) and also; another cold/man flu episode. Still the admins almost all done now and the man flu appears to be abating slightly hence the green light to go.

The man flu/cold episode has definitely been self induced this time so I cant complain, burning the candle at both ends until the candle is nothing more than vapour would sum it up well I think. After I last blogged on the Friday I went up the Castle wall again on the Saturday. Better session than the previous Wednesday so I decided to celebrate and go out with one of my old uni chums for a few that evening. As is often the way with old uni chum beer ups it quickly turned into a massive booze up that ended late. 2 hours sleep and I was up to hot foot it over to Gatwick to get the Pony Jet out to Madrid for my mates 40th do.

After arriving in Madrid early afternoon I was still a mess but had to step up for more alcohol as we headed out for a birthday bash for my mate. By Monday morning I was in pieces but we were up early again driving 3-4 hours east to Albarracin. Albarracin is a great tourist spot with an old castle/fort thing on a hill overlooking a remarkably well preserved village but we were going there because its also meant to be the "Spanish Fontainebleau" and offer superb sandstone bouldering in a forest setting.

Now Ive voiced my opinion previously that perhaps the South African Rocklands do not quite deserve the title of the worlds best bouldering spot but acknowledged that they are certainly on the podium. With Albarracin I feel anyone who hasn't been and hears talk that's its like Fonatinebleau combined with Hueco need to tone down their expectations a fair bit. The setting is beautiful, there is a fair amount of rock there but a large amount of it is pretty poor in my view. Its not a Font and its not really close to the Swiss granite areas in terms of problem quality, volume of problems, rock quality etc.

However considering by Monday evening all of us had started to get the dreaded scratchy throat, (a well known indicator of potential man flu to follow), and we were all still drinking a load of booze nightly, (subtle shift to red wine in rural Spain instead of beer did not improve morning hangovers), we did enjoy our climbing out there. I managed to flash a few 7b+ graded problems, I also did a LOT of mantling which hopefully will help in Font and with our door mat size bits of foam to land on we had plenty of scary moments at the tops of boulders trying to roll out that should help my head game.

I don't think id go back to Albarracin, not because I don't think its pleasant but because I didn't really find any superstar problems that really screamed out to me that I must climb them. Certainly not in the higher grades where by you might try it and fail and in that way have a long-term project to go back to at a later date. To me its just too enticing to go to Font or the Swiss granite if moving around Europe. Unfortunately it seems many people have been enticed by the rumours of a Spanish Font/Hueco and now you have bog roll left everywhere in the woods and loads of broken holds on problems. The rock here is not that much better then High Rocks in my view so that means large things coming off in your hands if you pull too hard after rain for sure.

Anyway the cold fully kicked in on the flight back Thursday night and then I had an early meeting Friday with some ex banking colleagues to discuss the current state of play in that industry (pretty good again by all accounts) It amazes me how quickly that industry has bounced back from the doldrums. Do I need to start thinking about a job again or risk missing the recovery boat? perhaps we'll see. This post has been very sort of nothing I know, but the next one should be much more climbing focused I hope and ill try and get some pics up of project attempts. Its time to climb...

Van

2009-10-09T03:38:00.000-07:00

Some arty and less arty pics of the van. It hasn't really got a name as yet, nothing has really stood out so far, i think its a lady rather than a geezer though, although it does growl a bit in the low gears.

With the continued van admin and some other personal bits and pieces I've had going on climbing has once again started to slip down the list of priorities. Id started to feel pretty fit towards the end of last week. Ive been out with my mate HP on the Peak lime and had managed to bag Bigger Splash from the kneeling start and The Pinch at Cressbrook, both 7c I believe, in not so many goes. Id also had a play on the sit start to Bigger Splash (Tsunami), which is 7c+/8a and done that very quickly in two halves. Now for me Peak limestone grades are pretty tough so I think to hit around 8a on one of these polished walls is a decent achievement and something that will get me back up to the Peak at a later date to try for the full link on Tsunami.

So after those sessions I was feeling positive but three days for admin duties, followed by a short visit to The Castle wall in London on Wednesday brought me back down to earth. Felt weak, skin was very soft etc etc. Anyway ill try and get back there this weekend at some point to at least try and keep some sort of regularity up before we head off to Font (that is looking like being next Saturday). I have a 40th birthday to attend first (sandstone dyno legend Chez George) in Madrid followed by a few days in Albarracin, the Spanish sandstone mecca. Have heard good things but not been so should be exciting. Only thing is Madrid beforehand will be heavy boozing and due to us flying with Pony Jet we can only take a tiny mat the size of a small doormat so I hope there is some good low level traversing in the vicinity.

Getting Back On An Even Keel...

2009-09-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

I've been spending much of my time van hunting and on the associated paper pushing that goes with that. We think we've tracked a good one down so hopefully next post ill be in possession of the keys and can stick a photo up too. I mean anything has to be better than those Beetles doesn't it.

In the meantime my quest to get back some fitness continued in earnest. I had that other sess at the Bowderstone last Tuesday and managed to shake my way through Coming Up For Air without quite so much pump as before so that was good. Since then I've been dabbling a bit in the Peak but temps have remained stubbornly warm (cue global warming comment) so its still been a bit of a plod.

Ticked everything at the Clifftop boulder Sunday and had a short session at the Tor today. That Bashers problem cannot only be 6c+ can it? It felt like the living end, but then I could only link 2 or 3 moves on the Powerband today, despite being close earlier this year, so that may well be why.

If high temps/humidity continue into early October another edge type problem you can get away with is the Stump Hole Cavern line, near to Gardom's south. Ok the setting is horrific (think Roadrunner Cave when it was alive and kicking) but the moves are pretty nice and interesting, bit sharp tho I suppose. I did the 7b+ sitter on Saturday when temps were around 20 degrees, it felt hardish for that grade but the crimps had started to tear a little by then. Still worth a visit I think especially on a day when there is very little wind going around up top.

Despite the general feel that the weather has yet to whole heartedly give its backing to the proper start of the bouldering season, I did get a sniff of it yesterday up in Yorkshire. A cool wind and overcast skies meant the Almscliff rock felt pretty good. Only ever been here once before, very briefly, so I was determined to climb a few of the classics.

Flying Arete (first pic below) is a really great line as is Morrell's Wall. I flashed the 7a traverse into Morrell's, which is not so good to be honest. Demon Wall Roof was next, the rock is elephant man ugly, but the moves are really cool, as is Dolphin Belly. However my main target for the day was The Keel. A really striking fin of rock that is the real classic here. I sent it pretty quick which was nice, id like to come back one day and try it sans the chip as that looks more technical. Grade wise I thought low end 7c but perhaps the better conditions helped me more than I realised and its only 7b+. Who knows, seems lots of grade debate on this problem.

Before heading off for a beer in Harrogate I wanted to give a quick go to Jess' Roof. Its really rare that you get long roof problems on grit so this is a bit of a gem really. I mean you know your in Yorkshire as you wade through broken glass to find the sit start but once you pull on the moves are really tensiony, like the granite stuff I like. I ran out of steam before I could complete the send, falling on the last big move into the pocket jug, so I rekon ill try and get back up to Almscliff at some point to finish this one off. All in all a decent crag and no cow crap or a midge in site.

All the B's (Bouncing Back, Bowderstone, Breakdown)

2009-09-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

The boozing has started to ease off...I've been at a spa today sweating it out and I'm really keen to start getting fit again as we go into the fall, which is a good sign. The road to some decent fitness started yesterday at the Lake District based Bowderstone. More on this quality lump of stone below.

Right now, aside from upping the climbing intensity, we are hunting for a van conversion to get out to Europe for fall conditions. I am seriously seriously hoping that this auto purchase will be third time lucky for us because after the Beetle debacle in Africa our UK based car (a 1999 Rover) blew up on Saturday. Anyway I've spent far too long on these sort of epic car episodes in the last few weeks so heres some straight climbing stuff...

Aside from just getting a good work out from climbing on the Bowderstone, which is pretty easy as its nice and steep, I wanted to try and get as many of the classics done in a two hour sess. This would include Inaudible Vaudeville (7b+), which is basically a class dyno (below) followed by another big move to a finishing jug

This was followed by Picnic Sarcastic sit (7b, image below) and Power Pinch (7b, image below that). I did fail miserably on Coming Up For Air, another cool 7b, that really highlighted my lack of fitness. Big holds galore, but 3 moves in I was pumped silly and its pretty long. Still ill try and get back for that before I leave...

In Need of a Master Plan...

2009-09-11T11:47:00.000-07:00

All the cars seemed so modern, the roads super smooth, the grass lush and green on the journey back from Heathrow. Africa seemed a million miles away but the pleasure of the experience from going there began to fully sink in. I realised, as i gazed out of the car window on the M25, much of what we take for granted in the UK is absent in Africa and that creates a vastly different experience for the traveller.

Anyway the question was now what? Well to be honest that's still to be fully decided. US visa restrictions have meant that an extended stay in the US of A is not that feasible and a shorter trip doesn't really work with the buying the van and touring around type idea. However this is a climbing year for me and that's what I plan to be doing up to 2010 but i need to iron out location and formulate an exact plan.

Whilst the cogs were turning, trying to establish this master plan, I got out for a few days in the peak. My brother came up from London, he was super keen (Deliverance attempts @ 6.10am for instance), but my psyche was pretty low so we kinda found a happy medium in between.

Highlights for me; a few new things at Stoney up to 7c and Mark's Roof at Gardoms in pretty naff conditions, that was a laugh. Lowlights; most definitely day 1 at Stanage, really humid and still, failed miserably on Brad Pitt and got about 200 (no lie) midge bites that im still scratching away at 5 days later.

Back in London now for some serious birthday boozing (30th and 40th) and once the hangover mist clears ill be on my way again. Just watched Neil H's latest dose from Font and got sweaty palmed. I need to get back to the magic forest soon. The wheels are slowly grinding into motion...

Rocklands Perspectives

2009-09-01T02:29:00.000-07:00

Ignoring the last post as best I can I still think you’d agree throughout my postings from South Africa there has been a slight undertone of disappointment with the place. Partly im sure that resulted from being ill a fair bit and renting a car that really struggled with the roads, leaving us a little isolated, oh and the bugs were tedious. However I also think the place had been put on too high a pedestal in climbers eyes and that also contributed to it inevitably being a bit of a let-down.

The fact is it is a great venue to visit on the world circuit when others are out of season. It is still relatively cheap to exist here. The roads are improving all the time and when the guidebook appears things will become a lot easier. You will climb and look at some of the most amazing lines/features of rock anywhere and for the super elite (8b and above hitters) there are numerous world class problems/projects for you to cut your teeth against. Compared to Font/Swiss though the lines may be better but the actual quality of climbing (the thing I really came to do), the intricacy of moves, the comfortableness of the holds, the amount of rest days you need to take etc, Rocklands is the loser in my view.

Thats my general take but specifically im also pretty disappointed with my climbing performance here. When I left Font I also left plenty of projects but who wouldn’t (ok maybe with the exception of Ty Landman). In Swiss I felt the weather crapping out and some bad rest decisions were the only thing that really stopped me pushing my grade and I was only there for three weeks. However here in SA I had more time, illness/car/warm weather for sure were problematic but ultimately I can only really think of one or two climbing days when I felt I really hit good form. I have pondered why this might be the case and I think psyche could be behind it.

Im halfway through this climbing year out now, when I embarked on it I hoped to take something away from it apart from just the climbing memories. One thought is pre this time out I viewed my job/day to day city life and commitments as a hindrance to my climbing life. Now I don’t have those things I actually think they may have complimented my climbing life rather than get in the way of it. This is not a regret but a good thing I think, it means hopefully I can get more comfortable with my work/life/climbing balance in the future when I do get back to normality.

Ok so the hardcore climbers reading this have perhaps started to think they have a pretender in their midst. No climbing for a week and talk of a balance between a job and pulling down. Please do not dismiss me just yet...im thinking ahead with excitement to the beauty of climbing in the US in fall, the proper cold temps of winter to really keep your skin intact and maybe ill have time to fit in a follow up trip to Font/Swiss in early 2010. Now thats what im talking about....

Rocklands X - Emergency Exit

2009-09-01T02:05:00.000-07:00

“Even the best laid plans can blow up in your face”, I can’t remember what film that is from right now but it fits well with this post thats for sure. Id rested Thursday, bored stupid with the dvd/book supply all well and truly used up, to ready myself for Fridays assault on the rock. Friday dawned to two pretty devastating blows; 1. I was sick again 2. It was silly humid.

Now I don’t want to get the violins out at this stage and feel sorry for myself but it does seem like ive had some pretty average luck in the Rocklands on the illness front. Thats three times now ive been cut down with some sort of lurgy and this time the German’s had left so who knows where this bug came from? Ive either become a kind of Darren Anderton of bouldering, sick note extraordinaire, or perhaps more likely the bugs are new to me in Africa and for whatever reason my immune system did no prior reading before the trip. Similar to the freshers flu phenomenon in a way I guess.

So that killed Friday straight off. Saturday I still felt wobbly but decided I had to get out of the house if nothing else and may as well pull on rock whilst I was doing that. Up to Tea with Elmarie I went, despite me puffing and panting right off from the sit start, I did manage to match my previous highpoint of hitting the sidepull but the pump was so bad by then I was off. I think I was running purely on anger really, after how things had gone, but inevitably I did cool off and once I did the tries got significantly worse.

I think if I cast my mind back to Saturday evening I can remember feeling a bit better after dinner and thinking, “it cant get any worse” and “I still have two days left”. From these truly insightful statements I made another plan. Take some of the airplane sleeping tablets now to get in a lot of zzzz’s, feel better in the morning but take the rest and instead head out by afternoon to crush. My skin would be good, id be rested, the bug should be on its way out...I drifted off to sleep feeling more positive.

Im sure you can tell by my writing tone and the way im setting things up something is going to go wrong at some point here, its like watching an episode of Casualty. It did...on my way out to climb, just as I reached the steeper section of road you ascend to get to the boulders, the Beetle died. The first Beetle failure was easier to deal with as it was due to the brakes and we could at least get home in the thing. This time Beetle two really did just die. The engine stalled, when you turned the key in the ignition to restart there was total silence and all electrics stopped working. Some nice locals stopped, we tried to tinker with this and that, no good. In the end there was no choice but to abandon ship. I managed to hitch back (not so easy with a large bouldering mat) to my house and proceeded to sink a bottle of red.

The Beetle people do say they offer roadside assistance but decline to mention that doesn’t operate on a Sunday. Either way I knew the earliest id have wheels would be late morning Monday if they got their act together and got going early from Cape Town. Suddenly all I cared about was the exit strategy, I was due to fly Tuesday evening and CT international seemed a very long way away. Now I know this post has been shockingly light on climbing fodder but the reality is I haven’t done any for about a week. I could end it here and talk about my final perspectives but I feel I should use up a few more paragraphs to relay the debacle that was my flee to Cape Town. It allows me to vent a little and for any climbers thinking Beetles and Rocklands next year it gives you a little insight to the potential downside.

So I expected the Beetle guys Monday morning and they would have a new working Beetle to give me or fix my current one. Either way I figured maybe by lunchtime I would be mobile again and I could get a final climb in somewhere before the off. By Monday 4pm there was still no sign, climbing had gone I realised that, but were they coming at all? I hitched the 5km back to the farm office to use the phone...the news was they had just left but traffic was bad, ETA was 9pm and they were not bringing a new Beetle as they had none left that worked. By 9pm of course it would be pitch black so there was also no chance to fix Beetle two...put simply the mechanics were coming to provide a taxi service to Cape Town. I booked a hotel room in CT and told the guy I would be checking in late...midnight I figured.

9.45pm and the mechanics turned up in a kind of ice cream van without the graphics on the side of course. My luggage went in the back and the three of us squeezed into the cab, 10pm and we were off. En-route we stopped roadside to get the beetle. The guys had no torch so I helped them by holding a lighter up to the back of the ice cream van so the guys could fit a wooden triangular structure - the towing device. We were off again but within 15 minutes the bumpy dirt roads out of Rocklands had caused the towing device to fail and we’d left the Beetle in a small ditch. 20mins to push it out and re-attach and we were off again. We’d dropped our cargo one more time before we got on the main road to Cape Town but I was getting on well with the guys and now with 120km to go despite it being 1 in the morning my spirits were ok.

The guys then told me that we had to detour off the main road into CT to the coast as another Beetle had been reported with problems. Apparently it was “sort of” on the way so made sense, it wasn’t it turned out and probably added another 100km. Anyway we made it to a township somewhere near to the coast by 2.30am but it turns out the lady that reported the problems was out partying somewhere so the mechanic could not access the Beetle so we left. I was doing Sudoku after Sudoku to remain calm, I knew these guys were simply following orders and did not want to take it out on them.

By 3am we were under 100km from CT and a bed but hazard lights up ahead warned us of a problem. Turns out a lorry had turned over and the road was closed for an hour or so. Because we were now on the coastal road East there was no way round this one so we had to just sit it out. 4am came and went, 4.20am and we were off. By this stage id started to get blurred vision and this part of the journey seemed to simply fly by. Eventually, after getting lost in Cape Town centre, the guys deposited me at my hotel at 5.10am, 7 and a half hours door to door. Sleep.

Rocklands IX - The Home Straight

2009-08-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

So my final week in the Rocklands began in earnest. Day one 32 degrees, day two 35 degrees, it seems spring is starting to muscle its way in here. Day one I rested in the hope the high temps was just a blip and it would cool back down. When day two dawned and it was hotter I panicked and headed out.

I met up with the American couple (Brandon and Kat), as it was their last 24 hours here before heading back to the States. He fired his 7c bloc, really chuffed for him, and Kat...well she got close to a 6c which would have been new grade terrain for her, but also she got to see the first cobra of the trip. She sent it easily, calmly letting it move off before sidestepping around it, so cool in fact that myself/Brandon actually had no idea there was one there at all. I think I would have bolted for sure.

We also went back to the old campground, this is where the tea pot boulder is and id previously done the Tea Time link-up which is the must do grade 7 at this area I guess. Anyway the day id sent Tea Time id also had a play on Tea with Elmarie (yes its tea mad this place). This is a Lamiche 8a+ that starts as per Tea Time but then half way through the lip traverse it blasts straight up the overhanging face via two very thin sidepulls. It had seemed ultra sharp and I couldn't manage the stand up which goes at 7c/+ so I had disregarded being able to link into this from the start of Tea Time.

Anyway we were back here and Brandon showed me this funky way of camming your left heel which allows you to reach into the first sidepull on the stand-up start to Tea with Elmarie more comfortably. It takes more weight off for sure compared to my previous method of trying to roll weight over my left toe. 30mins or so armed with this new beta and id fired the stand start. I had pretty much given up on finding an 8th grade problem on this leg of the trip that I was suitably psyched for (and had some chance of doing of course), except maybe Nutsa which I had been thinking id give a sess to in the final week. Now this Lamiche link was a possibility but I needed good skin and lower temps for sure.

Tuesday was also forecast to be super hot so it was a no brainer to take a rest day. Wednesday dawned a little cooler so I headed back over to the Tea Pot boulder for a proper go from the sit-start on Elmarie. One of the American guys I live with came too as he wanted to try. Climbing with him makes me realise just how bad my skin is compared to some. Him being from Bishop, his view is most things here are not that sharp (for instance the Barracuda problem that I alluded to in my last post that almost split my tip in 5 goes), feels “ok” to him. I understood, pre my year out, that lots of time behind a desk and only getting out once a week was bound to result in soft tips, but I must admit I thought with me climbing pretty much exclusively outside since March this year it would have improved a bit.

Anyhow where am I going with this...oh yes so the American guy tried but was pumping out coming into the crux move of going up into the sidepull after taking the swing on Tea-Time. I was doing similar, hitting the sidepull on my best try but not holding it, but the guy was saying I was looking so much stronger/fitter on it than him and to be fair he was right. So how come I wasn’t firing it? Skin. I was purposefully allowing him to go twice for every go I was trying the problem, but after my best go still found me back on the mat I realised my tips were totally red raw and the skin had got to that soft slidey stage - game over.

So that was that 5 good goes in total. He was tired too so we moved on. He fired some hard stuff out, I was a bit despondent after the skin meltdown so dropped my grade. Flashed a nice 7a roof called John Denver and a naff 7c dyno called Lord Greystock, that you can just do static at about 7a. I headed home with 4 days left and in need of a plan.

In Magic Wood if id rested a little more towards the end of the trip im pretty sure I would have left there with Jack’s Broken Heart done and maybe also Sofa Surfer, instead I went mad and tried to climb every day just because it was getting to the end of my time there and ultimately killed myself. Success or failure in bouldering can be such a fine line that it is often difficult to take your experiences away and apply them perfectly to another problem you are working somewhere else.

However this time I decided I would try to do just that. Instead of going out again today im resting up and will not get back on the Elamrie problem till tomorrow late afternoon when I have the best chance with temps and hopefully my skin. If I send - great, of course if I don't then ill only have two days left with shredded skin again so that will pretty much put pay to any hope of doing Nutsa. Still im comfortable with the decision in as much as I feel this gives me the best chance of success with my time remaining. As my old Grandma used to say “you can only try your best dear” and that's true enough.

Rocklands VIII - Mange Tout Rodney, Mange Tout

2009-08-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Uneventful restday on the Saturday and I should have been raring to go at Stretched and Pressed/Stargate on the Sunday. That was the plan anyway instead I got up feeling sick again. Id spent some time in confined spaces at the end of the previous week with the German guys from the campsite (the ones who gave us the flu bug the first time round) and so should have known id be at risk. Ive actually since found out that two of their group have been to the hospital with Swine flu! They leave later this week I believe but if I do see them in the interim im going to be running very fast in the opposite direction. On top of me feeling rather naff the weather had got very humid. This is rare for Africa as its a very dry heat here, it reminded me of summer days in New York, suffice to say climbing hard was out.

Monday was the girlies last day before she left me on my own for the final two weeks. She does like to move on rock but is not as obsessed as me and likes to mix that up with other various activities. Unfortunately this area of SA is pretty barren to be fair, there are other tourists here but what you can do is very limited. They seem to just drive about very slowly in their hired SUV’s, eat loads and thus are generally overweight. In the intervening hour after lunch, just before they have another snack at tea they tend to congregate at the various graveyards that we pass en-route to the rocks and snap some pic’s (no offense intended to South African’s I know but this is the Western Cape one of the main tourist hotspots in SA is it not?)

So anyway for our final day together on the Monday we looked further afield and found some hot springs place to go to 80km or so away called The Baths. Having not climbed for a bit I went out Monday early for a short session but as is often the way when you get up early and then feel rushed to climb I was in dreadful form so sacked it off to get to these baths. It was good but it was not exactly Roman baths either. It was basically a hot swimming pool that was pretty rammed or you could just go and run yourself a bath in these private rooms and sit in them for a bit. We did that then grabbed a meal out in Clanwilliam on the way back - good enough.

From Tuesday I was flying solo for my last two weeks here. The day started grey and by lunchtime it was absolutely lashing it down. The roof to my bedroom started to leak so I got the saucepans set up and sat down for what turned out to be a very long 24 hours. The rain kept falling all through Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning. By lunchtime id hit rock bottom with my dvd collection having watched Shrek 2 and The Goonies within a single 6 hour spell!

Some blue sky appeared by Wednesday afternoon and looked promising so without further ado I got myself up and out. First site to hit me as I drove down to the main road and looked up into the pass was snow. Pretty rare for Africa this and not something I expected to see as we are supposedly coming into spring here. It now made sense to me why the roof had stopped leaking in the night, despite continued downpour, it had frozen. Anyway the scene looked spectacular with the golden orange rocks being nicely framed by the white hillsides, it would have made a great shot to stick on here, but unfortunately the missus had taken the camera back with her so you are just going to have to take my word for it.

Jeez just noticed ive typed 5 paragraphs and haven’t even mentioned the actual climbing yet this week. Hang in there this could be a longish post but ill try and keep the climbing update succinct. So I trudged up to the Fortress boulders through the snow, one great thing about the Rocklands boulders is they tend to dry very quickly. Almost everything was in by the time id done the walk-in. I warmed up longer than usual as it was baltic and went round to the Stretched and Pressed roof.

For those that have climbed with me they know I seem to perform much better in close to zero temps. I think its due to my skin being pretty weak etc etc. I actually hadn't given this too much thought up at the Fortress, at least not until I got on Stretched and fired it first go. It had felt easy. Well pleased as its a stunner this one. Another load of snow then rolled through which delayed me a little but once that had passed I moved over to Stargate. This problem is thinner than Stretched and I needed a go just to get my fingers crimping properly again. Next go I sent it easily, I know quite a few people who have taken 7c+ for this, no way 7c is fair for sure.

At this stage I was starting to feel a little cold and damp but spurred on by the obviously favourable temps for me, I decided to slog it over to the Last Day in Paradise boulder. Supposedly Fred Nicole was coming down from the Roadcrew sector, on his last day, a year or two back and spied this perfect 60 degree wall. Either he was tired so it took him a while or he had some bad beta but it ended up rated 8a at the time. Now with a cunning heel hook its a great 7c I believe. Anyway after an horrific hike to the boulder across flooded marsh I was really up for flashing this one. It looked to suit me being very crimpy, the temps were super low and most importantly of all my trousers were totally soaked from the walk in and I wanted to get home asap.

I pulled on from sitting, threw to a decent incut sidepull for the LH, dug my right foot on a spike for maximum tension and reached up to this razor crimp for the RH. It felt good and I felt the flash was on. From here you stick your left heel next to your LH that is holding the good sidepull and really sit down on it. This enables you to lock the RH razor and make a long reach to a slopey pocket for the LH. Once you have this you compose yourself and jump aggressively to the perfect finishing jug. Unfortunately as I reached the sloping pocket and spent a milli-second digging my fingers a little deeper into this hold my heel popped causing a violent swing and I was back on the mat. Flash gone but I sent next go and hot-footed it back to the car park. Great problem, great day.

Next up back to the Pakhuis boulders. Id met this American couple the day before coming out of Fortress and they hadn’t visited either Pakhuis or the 8 day rain sector. I fancied the company so offered them a tour for the next two days. The guy really wanted to get his first 7c in Rocklands and liked roofs so we headed up to Born to Struggle. This is a 7c roof that has good holds and biggish reaches, but with some cunning heel/toe trickery it was not meant to be too bad. Met French beast Olivier Lebreton at the bloc who casually fired the flash off for his warm up. So now we had the inspiration too so we booted up.

After the oh so close flash of Last Day in Paradise I was really up for putting things right on this one. It started well, you make a big throw into a RH slopey pinch from decent jugs and then hit a sloper on the lip of the roof for the LH. Once here all I had to do was put in a double toe-hook under a hidden roof enabling me to slap up again with the LH for a jug without loosing tension, then its 6b to exit. Left toe went in ok I pulled on it and started to move my right in nextdoor, as I did the left toe popped and the inevitable swing put me back on the mats. Another flash blown by a foot fumble, I made a mental note of that and fired it next go.

I then set to work on getting the American guy up it, he’d given me one of those horse hair brushes for free, so I figured I owed it to him. An hour or so later he’d got close but with power gone he had to call it a day for now but he has 3 days left of his trip so the send is still on hopefully. To finish at Pakhuis I decided I had to go and give the big dyno of Black Velvet another burn. I definitely got closer on the jump with finger tips just snagging the finishing jug but I probably need another inch or two to really grab it. “Not much” as Jerry would say but ill need another session or two to get this done and im still not sure I want to really put that much into a dyno, albeit a very cool looking one. Anyway we will see.

So finally 8 day rain sector. Not much to say here really. The Shark I have spoken about before and Barracuda, the 8a line next to it, are both world class. Id love to climb them but another session here Friday has left me dubious about my chances of success. Africa is certainly a continent of extremes, we had snow early in the week, but by the end of it 3 days of cloudless skies had really pulled the temps back up. They are forecast to get much hotter for much of my remaining time here. Shark/Barracuda bake in the sun for most of the day till 5pm or so and by then the damage is done. Plus they are super sharp on the first tip. Rest day was required Saturday after trying them both Friday for an hour or so my skin was totally shredded.

I got back out Sunday, but ill update on that in my next post as im seriously outstaying my welcome in this one, Its now shorts and vest weather as forecast, the snakes will be starting to stir too which isn’t too appealing. Case of “He who dares Rodney” I suppose....

Rocklands VII - Grade Chasing

2009-08-15T07:06:00.000-07:00

I’m just going to come straight out with it and admit it. Since my last post, when I finished off the week knocking off some quality 7th grade problems that had been my projects, i’ve been on the hunt for a doable 8a/+ line. I became totally tunnel visioned, ignoring great lines at a lower grade, and simply zoning in on bits of rock based purely on the grade of difficulty. I think most climbers would own up to being guilty of this act at some point in their climber careers and to be fair i’d said at the start of this adventure in France that i’d like to hit 8a or above in each area, so I was simply putting this goal into action.

However it backfired. Why? Well for numerous reasons really but its probably best demonstrated by the below list I compiled based on my hunt this week purely for a “grade of difficulty”.

Hatchling 8a - good feature but climbing doesn't look that great. very small.

Black Velvet 8a - one move dyno problem. not really my thing. great movement im sure but do I want to session a dyno in Rocklands?

Green Mamba 8a+/b - Very good climbing but hard and sharp. In fact very hard to link from the starting traverse with 7 or 8 hardish moves before the crux. Probably too much for me in the time frame left.

Nutsa 8a+ - Great feature/setting/climbing - problem is its very sharp so rest days for good skin are essential. plus to session it you have to join in with loads of guys trying the stand up (sunset arete). +30 people there last time I tried this.

The Shark 7c+/8a - Superb line, sharp (of course its Rocklands). Was given 8a but now some have questioned this it seems. Thing is watching Team America 2 all get shut down on this a few days back im thinking it might still make a soft 8a.

Gliding Through the Waves Like Dolphins 8a (7c?) - silly name. The grade question is due to the fact you can kneebar it or something and make it easier. Lots of speculation on this. All irrelevant to me so far as tried to find the bloc and got lost for 3 hours last week!

Tea with Tommy McBride 8a+ - sharp as sin! 5 goes max a session.

Armed Response 8b - Ha ha..tried it, could pull on but not move. Soft 8b apparently, Ondra flashed it but way too hard for me. Respect.

Paula Abdul 8a - Definitely on for me as have done all the moves in isolation. Good feature, albeit a little small. Problem is the approach road is a total nightmare, epic sand track of hell and the car often gets stuck or doesn’t make it at all.

So there you go, researching the above list, bushwhacking around, pulling on the problems, discussing beta with other climbers, combined with a rest day and a rainy day, has accounted for 6 days of this week. No topping out, lots of being shut down and some pretty low psyche was the result.

In reality in my two weeks left I think only Nutsa and The Shark are problems I might invest some time in but not for the grade really, simply because I think they are great climbs. Why the charge of heart from Tobie Duprey - Mr Grade Chaser? Well because on day 7 I dropped the hunt for my ultimate 8a and just went and tried some great top level 7’s and with it motivational issues were resolved.

First up I sent Tea Time (7c/+) in an hour or so. You basically traverse round the spout of a boulder that looks amazingly like a teapot. You sit start at the right of the spout, pull through the overhang, traverse the lip of the spout on small edges, before turning the corner and ascending the left hand side of the spout to the top. Quality.

Then I went up to the Fortress boulders. Up here there is a super-cool roof problem called Stretched and Pressed (7c+). Its great because before you pull on you feel the handholds and they are big and you think wow this is so on, but then you pull on and realise the feet are awful and all the massive handholds are sidepulls that push you off the rock due to naff feet. Its great, burly and technical, but best of all at the end you turn the lip of the roof to a proper, scary, full press down mantle to jugs.

I worked this for a while and got it all wired but the big moves had blown my arms so I need a rest day before hopefully putting this one away I think. A strong German guy turned up whilst I was trying, I dished out beta like it was going out of fashion, he flashed to the lip impressively but the mantle shrugged him off. I tried some other problems for an hour or so and when I walked past this boulder to go home the German guy was still trying the mantle. Safe to say I really like this problem and its a must do before i leave.

Not much else to say except in the intervening hour before I left the Fortress, when the German was working that mantle, I had a tired go on Stargate (7c i think). This boulder is completely suspended off the ground, supported by other boulders around it, hence the name I guess. This is also one im coming back for after that rest day as I have all the moves sorted and I like.

So thats it, lesson learned for me I think. Only other update is our white VW Beetle has been replaced after concerning rattling noises got worse and the handbrake stopped working so hill starts were a nightmare. We now have a blue one with yellow flowers on it. The white one can hold its head up on its way back to Cape Town though, it made it up the Sassies approach road of death 3 times, it almost always started first time and only needed some oil in it once in 5 weeks. Here is a picture in memory of the white one....

Rocklands VI - short and sweet

2009-08-07T02:31:00.000-07:00

Yes short post this one as we are working on getting a new car sorted for a few weeks. The Beetle, bless it, has done well but after hitting a very large pothole the other day its been making some really strange noises. If it gives up the ghost whilst we are out somewhere it will obviously not be good and then we may have to wait for days before a mechanic can get out here from Cape Town to take a look at it. With this in mind we decided to pre-empt any blow up event by getting a new car for two weeks or so. This will allow us to get the Beetle off the road for a while before I need to use it to get back to Cape Town at the end of my time here. Makes sense i think.

So aside from car admin on the climbing front its been a good week so far. I fired out No Late Tenders at the start of the week. I thought this was 7c+ not 8a in the end but its such good climbing the grade is not that relevant. I also flashed a cool 7b at the same place called Panic Room. Wednesday we went to some new boulders at the De Pakhuis farm that are set on a rocky plateau. There is some very good sixth grade stuff here but also two superstar problems, an 8a called Black Velvet, and a 7b roof called Minki. I got to work on Minki and got that done in a few tries. It is superb, you climb a tufa feature out of a roof and end up inverted at some points with your head the lowest point of your body. Quite hard for 7b i think.

Black Velvet is a classic new school problem. Very steep rock, you pull on from sitting using jugs, move up to slot, match and fire to biggest of all jugs holding the monster swing. I got quite close but I'm not that great at these big steep dyno probs..i think others more skilled in this field could crush very quickly and i think that's why most say its pretty soft for 8a. Anyway ill have another go at some point because its just so cool looking and holding that swing must be awesome, but its not really my style.

Then yesterday we went back to roadside area. I sent Caroline - wow epic! Really pleased as this was a hard one for me and I just love the movement. Got a vid too so that's great. Then after a calmed down I was going to start trying Nutsa properly but some American guys dragged me up the hill to a hidden cave that I hadn't seen before. Here there are two problems both coming in from the left of the cave moving along the lip. Black Spider (soft 7c), i sent in a few goes, continues following the lip of the cave to the far right side before it climbs a thin wall to top out. Really cool prob and quite pumpy. We then started to work the meaty problem there, this is Green Mamba, it originally got 8b i think but feels more like soft 8a+ i think. You basically do half of Black Spider but then head straight up the middle wall of the cave on steep ground. The crux (about 7c/+ on its own) involves you getting your right heel up next to your hands, sitting on it and then slapping into a horrible little two finger pocket sidepull. Once you have this you rock up high on the heel and slap wildly for a very small edge for your left hand. Get this, bone down, and leap for jugs at the top. Very good, sort of like a steeper and more powerful Brad Pitt boulder prob with a roof section into it. Its hard for me but does feel possible so ill be back for another go on Nutsa and this one next week I think.

Rocklands V: Forgotten Testpieces/Hidden Gems

2009-08-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

The week had started off well and i hoped that might propel me onto greater things. It turned out to be a bit mixed with a lull mid-week before decent days Friday and yesterday. The primary reason for the lull was some rain, we hadn't seen a drop for almost 3 weeks so i guess it was due.

It cleared out Friday afternoon, so i headed out to the De Pakhuis boulders. I'd been up to these blocs for a reccy previously and had some idea of what i wanted to do. There's a really cool cave up there with two clear lines climbing out from it. Dirty lies is the easier of the two (7b) and takes a straight line from back to front, via a cool hueco 3/4 of the way out, before an easy lip turn onto the exit slab. There was an Austrian guy there playing rap on loud speakers, which in a big cave sounded pretty good to be fair, so i asked if i could join in.

Armed with the guys beta, i flashed dirty lies and quickly dispatched the extension start that climbs in from the left. With these done, i turned my attention to the 2nd line in the cave, this is No Late Tenders, an 8a from Klems Loskott. It starts at Dirty Lies but heads right with some big moves on sidepulls/undercuts before you get a decent pocket just before the lip and the difficulties ease from there. I made some good links on this one, the climbing is superb, burly but technical too with some toes and heels in there. I'm going to be back for more on this.

Finished off the day climbing Maniac, a 7b/+ over-hanging wall, that requires you to make big moves between slopey breaks, before a final leap for a jug off a lovely RH pinch. I won't say much more on this other than if you ever come to Rocklands, this is a must do - simply superb. There are a lot of hidden gems here at Rocklands, like this one, that you need to do some digging to find. The more i do find, the more that label of the World's best climbing area seems to make a little more sense to me.

Saturday headed back to the Roadside area for session 3 on Caroline. Got through the crux again, but fell after that like last sess. Irritating, but i'll come back for more on this as its quality, basically i need to build up fitness on this one it seems. After that we headed up the hill from Roadside to the Ceder Rouge area. There's a big cave there with the famous lines of Black Spider and Green Mamba. Had a look but the landings are bad, so sacked it off for a bigger team day.

On the way up i'd spied Fred Nicole's ultra hard (8c i think) Black Eagle SS, there was no chalk on it and it looked a bit lichened to be honest. Thought it was a bit sad that one of the world's hardest seems to have been forgotten about, similarly down the hill Monkey Wedding (another 8c) and Olifant's Dawn (8b), that we saw earlier in the trip, have had little or no attention for a while that i can see. These things of Fred's are super hard but seem to climb pretty good lines, its not like Gaskin's stuff that is just plain nasty, so i'm surprised with the lack of attention. Perhaps there is just too much rock here and not enough of the top level climbers to go around, the general standard is high though i think. What we need is a prolific hitter, like Tyler, to get out here and put some of these down.

Anyway i'm waffling again.... back down at Roadside i finished off the day sending Sunset Arete (7c) in a few goes. With the sun going down at the time the rock glows golden orange and it does look pretty magical. The sit down to the line is Nutsa (8a+) which for that grade seems do-able, i managed all the moves last thing yesterday, so i might look to link this one. I do think, like Caroline, its going to come down to fitness as each move is pretty sustained, i wish i had better stamina as i think it would really help out here.

Rocklands IV - I used to hate Monday's

2009-07-30T05:57:00.000-07:00

Monday started off well. A big team of Americans were heading up to the Ceder Spine. I'd said i needed more mats on this one after my initial attempts last week, so i decided to tag along. They were meeting some guys elsewhere first, so we planned to meet late afternoon.

Having rested Sunday my skin felt good so with my morning free I decided to give Caroline another feel. Didn't manage to seal the deal this time but certainly got past first base. I didn't want to have too many attempts in the knowledge there there would be pads/spotters at the Ceder Spine later. As with most things here, Caroline is sharp, but it also pinches parts of your finger as your hand slides in a crack. these can become real painful after a few goes.

The best attempt saw me fall one move from the final dyno ( which is ok ) so i'm feeling confident for next sesh. The crux move, where i fell on most other goes, is the one before. It requires you to undercut a small edge with LH, stand up on a spike on the left foot, whilst simultaneously toe-hooking awkwardly with the right. This enables you to slap up right handed for a semi-decent pinch, then you're close. Its a right good move and super burly for me as its very front on. I've since heard whispers that technical drop knees take a lot of the power out of this move, getting you down to 7c-ish, but i'm stubbornly sticking to my sequence now, as its a great move and 7c+ this way.

Anyway, afternoon arrived so we slogged it up to the Ceder Spine. It was horrific, the normal walk in to the spine is bad enough, but we tried to cut out some of that by going cross-country. Wading through head height reeds, in a semi-swap, worrying about snakes and all sorts, i resolutely promised myself that this problem was getting sent today.

To cut a not-so-long story shorter, it worked. I got up there with ten or so Americans trying the thing, took a swig of water, put my shoes on and went straight up it first go. That's what fear of the walk in can do i suppose, but to be honest it seemed a bit of an anti-climax for such a great line and easy-ish for 7c. Still i was pleased and the vid we got looks great, so good day to start the week after last weeks no show....

Rocklands III - Yearning For Rock

2009-07-26T03:42:00.000-07:00

After three days with my head down the mist finally started to clear on Friday morning. I still had this swollen gland in my neck from the lurgy, it kind of felt like a golf ball and when i turned my head to the right you could see it sticking out. Still i was desperate just to move about on rock and so wrapped up and headed to the Roadside boulders.

It was great to be out again and the warm up probs felt special, its amazing how much you appreciate climbing when you are forced to stop. After 30 mins or so of plodding i decided to give Caroline a go. Now this, along with the Cedar Spine are my two "must do's" that i've found so far. Caroline is a 35 degree overhanging wall that climbs a crack and pinches in opposition. The rock is patina patterned sandstone and it looks gorgeous. Now pinches are not my strong point and this thing is 7c/+ so its going to take a bit of work but i made some good links Friday to feel this is on soon, so will be back.

Yesterday the slow crawl back to feeling human again continued so we headed back to the Sassies for a short session. The Beetle made it the whole way up there without getting stuck in sand once - result! I also got up Pinotage from the high start, that is 7b/+. Now the issue is, i did plan to do the sit to this problem, it was really the one problem i had on my list pre-arrival that i had heard was classic, super etc, etc. However, in my view, the stand is classic, super etc, etc and the sit involves some nasty heel hooking on chossy rock into sharp crimpers that then get you into the stand. Pre-arrival of course i thought that the climb was just a sit start line and didn't know about the funky stand, now i've done that motivation to link from the sit has diminished somewhat. We will see but right now this is right down the list. (Photo of the stand above)

Rest day today, golf ball in neck more like a small marble now. Next week it's on....

Rocklands II - Fever Pitch

2009-07-26T03:29:00.000-07:00

Right now i'm writing this latest update because i've got nothing better to do, quite literally, i'm sick as a dog. Had a decent day on Monday, woke up with a fever Monday night and its gone steadily downhill from there. Do they get the flu in Africa? I thought that was cold places primarily...

Anyway, so that's the latest. My ticks in the last few days are not climbing related, but consist of series one of Extras, with the guy from the office, numerous episodes of Only Fools and Horses, and some naff film called Death Sentence. The weather has cooled and it looks great for climbing. Our whole house is still out at the rocks now whilst i shuffle about feeling sorry for myself indoors.

To not set too depressing a tone things have been improving on the climbing front. Sunday the Beetle almost made it all the way down the approach road to the Sassies in one clean go with only one stop to dig it out of sand. Monday we drove to the top of the pass and hiked into the roadcrew sector. Downsides: Its 45 mins hike and the sector is quite small. Upsides: I climbed Ulan Batar, a 7b/+ stunning orange overhang that is just quality and had a play on the Cedar Spine. The spine (SS 7c, 1st ascent Lisa Rands i think) is touted as one of the must do's in Rocklands. Its a big overhanging arete, immaculate black and orange streaked rock with really interesting balancy, yet powerful moves on it. In about an hour i'd worked all the moves bar the top slap for a decent flatty, which is pretty scary, but with more mats (we only had one with us) i think it's on, so i'm massively psyched to get this done when i feel better.

Having come to Rocklands with no real idea of the problems i'd like to go at/ areas to go to, i feel like now i'm getting a better understanding of the place. I wouldn't say i have a firm tick list of what i want to do or anything but some things are starting to make sense. Cedar Spine is a must, Roadside area has some real quality, Sassie's has Pinotage that's sharp but good and there's the DePakhuis areas that we've yet to go to. However, i could still quote a bigger list of what i want to do in Font, no probs. So i'm still to be fully convinced i suppose....

Early Persepectives - Emperor's new clothes?

2009-07-18T03:27:00.000-07:00

Ok so for now photo's/vid's that sort of thing are off for the moment i'm afraid. Ive found some internet on our farm but its some old relic of a PC that grunts and groans if you ask it to load the BBC webpage. The monitor is even worse, the picture is really, really blurry so as i'm typing this i'm having to sort of squint through one eye to get any sense of what i'm writing.

So Rocklands, so far...hmmm. I'm going to start off with something controversial and say i'm not bowled over with the place. It's early days, so my opinion may change, but right now i feel when climbers who visit here get asked what they think about it - its maybe a case of the emperor's new clothes going on. What i mean by this is that in that story the emperor was tricked in to appearing in the nude because everyone had told him his non existant robes were great and he was frightened to question popular opinion. Perhaps here everyone wants to join the herd and say Rocklands is the world's top bouldering mecca just to agree with the pack, maybe i'm wrong..the jury's out i guess.

For me right now, Clanwilliam as a local centre for shopping etc is functional, but the place is pretty soul less. Access to the crag is pretty hard, as the road is often dirt tracks or worse, fine in a pick-up, but remember we came here in a 1977 VW Beetle! Twice yesterday we had to dig it out of the sand, its like the Dakar Rally at times. More specifically there is loads of rock, its golden orange and there is some beautiful features, but its also pretty sharp in places, similar to grit, so pulling hard in the African sun can be painful.

Finally there is no guide as such, so we have these topos printed from the net. They are ok, but not that clear, some are out of date and many of the directions are wrong. It means only around 5-6 of the 18 supposed areas are easy for us to go to without help. It seems most climbers meet in large packs in the hope that someone knows where the rocks are from the car park and its easier, but that means you spend your day with 30 other guys trying the area classic. Ok for beta but if you came here to experience some real wilderness, not really what you'd planned.

Its certainly early days, and i don't want to sound totally down on the place. We have been up to the Sassie's, i've tried Pinotage - a 7c+ classic overhang here - and have a way i think i can do it with some skin. I also did Petit Hueco in a few goes, an amazing 7b+ roof that was high quality. Also, saw Kevin Jorgensen flash some 8a highball arete in fine style that was impressive.

So that's all good, but quality moderates for the missus seem pretty elusive so far and combine that with my earlier points made in this post...then can we really compare this with a Fontainbleau as yet? Maybe for the top level American climbers that we're staying with here, that crush 8a's for warm up's but for your more average Joe, i'm not so sure to be honest.

Today we went to the Riverside boulders. Usual problems finding them of course, but eventually we spied chalk on holds and zoned in. To be fair it was a good day, i climbed a really nice 7b overhang called Dragonfly and then crimped my way up a cool 7c roof called Roof Fighter with a funky toe-hook move. The area was not world class though by any means and we looked at the hard stuff too, like Fred's 8b Olifants Dawn which just looked nasty sharp.

Anyway, things appear to be on the up i guess...weather is forecast to be very settled now and i have that Pinotage thing to go back to at some point. If you've read all this give yourself a pat on that back...

South Africa 1 - tourist trap...

2009-07-11T06:05:00.000-07:00

I know posts are getting a little sporadic but Internet out here is hard to come by as many a climbing blog is suffering right now. We arrived Tuesday into Cape Town. Flight was 2 hours delayed, we'd had minimal sleep and then we had to go and get the car as with the mats and stuff our luggage was huge.

To keep costs down I had heard of a place that hired out old VW Beetles (think Herbie but older) for dirt cheap. Some guy came to collect us and take us to the Beetle place. Obviously since this wasn't Hertz these guys operated out of a less savoury part of town. Although we'd heard all about the problems in S Africa of course it still doesn't prepare you for seeing these townships (slums) up front and personal to be honest. They sort of look like allotments in the UK but with more people, rubbish and they are seriously vast. Anyway safe to say the journey to the Beetle place through these areas was a bit white knuckle with us praying the driver didn't hit a red light and have to stop. Ive been here almost a week now and driving around have seen quite a few of these townships but so far the shock factor has not diminished. Anyway you get the picture.

We got the Beetle, its a total rust bucket, but so far it seems to move so that's the main thing. After that we headed out in Cape Town (cheap beers), had a look at a penguin colony, went on a two day safari and spotted some migrating whales off the coast in a place called Hermanus. So Ive been doing the tourist thing but I know what your asking I came here to climb, potentially the worlds best bouldering is 2 hours down the road (4 in the Beetle) so what the hell am I playing at?

Well suffice to say I'm super psyched to get up to Rockland's now. Ive been dreaming of boulders at night and woke up to some serious palm sweats last night. However I'm only here in S Africa once most likely and the missus is keen for this staring at animals eating for hours on end so I figured I could be patient for a bit. To be fair I also got a finger tweak from my last session at the Tor before leaving so I thought a weeks rest would not be a bad thing. Still my patience is close to wearing out now and even taking down a load of red wine every evening doesn't seem to be helping anymore; we leave for the boulders tomorrow and I'm praying the Beetle holds it together. The weather is threatening some rain but its super cool, much colder than I thought for Africa so conditions could be pretty darn primo. I even saw snow on some of the mountain tops coming back from the safari yesterday.

So next post I'm hoping will be a little more climbing focused with maybe a photo or two..until then over and out...

Countdown to Africa...

2009-06-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

Its been a week since my last update and its now less than a week until I jet off to Cape Town and make my way to the bouldering mecca of Rocklands. This is all new territory for me but noises have been made suggesting this is perhaps the best bouldering in the world bar none. Safe to say I'm suitably psyched.

At the other end of the rock spectrum (no disrespect intended) Ive been bumbling about on the peak limestone for the last week or so. Granted my last post did suggest I was more keen to get on the grit, even trying Brad Pit in June, but since then temps have soared, humidity has gone through the roof and my ideas of doing anything more on grit came down to earth with a bump. 30mins at Stanage the other day, with zero wind, incurring multiple midge bites and greasing off a font 6a most definitely was the straw that audibly broke the camels back.

With this u-turn as mentioned Ive been back on the limestone. Ive concentrated on volume rather than trying anything really hard for me. I figured this would help maintain my fitness best for Africa as well as avoid any potential injury from trying a certain move too much. To be fair limestone bouldering certainly gets its fair share of bad press and yes its not Font by any means however Ive climbed some great problems this week and certainly feel the better for it.

I spent most of my time at the Tor and Stoney. At the Tor the Weedkiller Traverse and Powerhumps hardway are two standouts for me...really good problems and the polish and typically slightly damp holds almost add to the atmosphere of the climbs. I tried Powerband a bit too but the finishing move is nails on the link and I only got the thing dry one day with condensation stopping play after that. Still a great, historic boulder prob no matter what people say and id like to come back to do this.

Still my most fun was had at Stoney. For people who have not enjoyed a session here the place is of course polished beyond belief, not particularly aesthetic and pretty darn greasy. Its also basically like a climbing wall in that every problem is eliminate and is described in acute detail to ensure you climb up the wall in exactly the right way you should. Still if you have a few hours to kill its great fun climbing here. Part of the problem is identifying exactly what you can and cannot use on a problem...to explain see photo below

On the above hold you would crimp the seam and place you thumb round the sidepull edge when trying Sean's Problem. If you were trying Zippy's sidepull you would grab the sidepull hold at the top and place your thumb in the seam to get a good pinch. However Zippy's sidepull 7c variation would mean you'd grad the sidepull slightly lower down and you would not be allowed to pinch with the thumb (so sidepull only). Finally if your trying Seans Problem 7c variation you'd have the sidepull only (no crimp seam), oh yes and remember no feet in the break - you get all that? So you get what I mean, the devil is in the detail. Still Seans Problem sidepull variation (7c) and Ned's Problem (7b+) were two highlights of many 7th grade probs I did here.

So thats it for now, monstrous humidity today meant the lime was covered in a weird sort of waxy slime and tomorrow I head back to London to see the family, booze with the uni mates before heading to Heathrow for my flight on Monday night. Next post South Africa!

Brits Abroad...

2009-06-23T03:44:00.000-07:00

After the last update I stuck with the limestone and headed to Crag X next. Never ever seen this place remotely dry but I guess id never been there in June before. Always wanted to do Sean's problem after watching One Summer so jumped on that. Its a good problem, albeit you have to be clear on the rules. After that I dynoed out Lift Off. Had a look at The Thing but decided to call it a day, might come back here at some point to try that.

This was the middle of last week but by Thursday morning something changed. I woke to strong winds and colder air, although I had yet to visit the limestone meccas of Rubicon, Stoney or the Tor I knew I would not be able to resist a dabble on the grit. An hour later saw me up at Stanage.

I was amazed to see no-one about but then I reminded myself I was acting rather like a typical brit abroad. No local peak climber would be seen doing much on the grit in June as they do not want to battle with unhelpful conditions when cooler temps were needed. Similarly Terry Smith from Basildon on holiday in Benidorm would have no hesitation in cooking himself on the beach at 1pm, guzzling a Stella, when the locals are all indoors having a siesta.

Still there was a coolish breeze and I was unfazed. This winter id be in the US anyway so this was my chance to try something. Brad Pit was the first boulder problem I remember thinking id like to climb when first getting into climbing and yet to this day Ive never actually properly tried it so I decided to jump on that first. Despite it being June, the strong winds were doing something, as I surprised myself being able to get my heel up ok and pull into the groove relatively comfortably. From here you have to adjust your hands, really sit on the heel and pop to the flatty at the top of the groove to finish. Unfortunately this is where I needed those cooler temps. The holds in the groove are pretty slopey and as you get rocked up on them a lot of pressure is applied. Just as id set myself to go my hands would just rip straight off the slopers and id be back on the mat.

In the end I sacked it off with my skin very sore. I really would love to climb this boulder problem and believe its on, however I may have to be realistic and accept its not going to happen on this trip to the peak. The last few days has seen the wind drop and humidity pick up..still I haven't totally ruled out a night time attempt if temps come off a bit so we will see.

In the meantime once id had this taste for grit I couldn't help myself, even in the knowledge I was breaking some cardinal rules bouldering on grit in the summer. The last few days I decided to drop my grade and just climb some other lines id seen or heard about that appealed. I figured that way I could keep my fitness sharp for my upcoming trip and enjoy myself in the process. First up was Dope on a Slope, then we went to Gardoms and I did Perfect Day Direct (photo below) and Marks Roof LH. Finally up at Cratcliffe I campussed my way along Jerrys Traverse and dragged my way up Jerrys Arete. Some really good problems and although my skin is sore today by doing them pretty quickly ill be ok to climb again tomorrow. So there you go peak raiders perhaps Terry Smith sitting on the beach in Benidorm, drinking his Stella has got the right idea after all.

Killing time....

2009-06-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

After two nights on the sauce in Amsterdam I am now back in the UK till the end of the month. From early July we fly out to South Africa which I'm super psyched for but in the meantime I didn't want to be completely idle whilst in the UK. The weekend of my return to the family estate saw the UK basking in sunshine, you could smell the BBQ's going and all the pubs were rammed. The British summer was well under way it seemed. Of course what this also meant was hot and sweaty climbing walls. I dragged myself down to mile end wall to try and get a session in but it was just grim. I lasted about an hour or so and sacked it off.

I decided that outdoor climbing was the way forward. Grit may be out, at least in terms of doing something hard, but Ive done very little on the limestone up north and then there is North Wales that I could pop across to. So I now find myself up in the Peak District National Park having driven up yesterday. After arriving I popped out to Beginners Wall that I had looked at a year or so back but it had been seeping badly at the time. Yesterday the stand start of Neil's Wall, the main line there really, was semi dry with only one damp hand hold and the footholds a bit minging so with my new found experience with the kitchen roll i soon got it dry enough to pull on. The stand is 7c i think and although sharp and of course no top out, its pretty good. I managed to piece it together after 30mins or so. I had a look at the harder sit but it was pretty wet so left that for a particularly dry period of weather.

So that was yesterday and today I was reminded of that other glorious attribute of the great British summer - rain. Not spectacularly heavy rain like what we saw in the Alps but more of a drizzly, blustery sort of nature that seems to be able to go sideways and up as well as the more conventional downwards direction. Anyway I have some plans of what to try and it cant rain as much as it did in the Alps so things are looking up...

Magic 6 - Dark days

2009-06-08T23:32:00.000-07:00

Since my last post it has been 72 hours or so and of that 72 its not been raining for 5 hours in total I think. Of course it may have sneaked the odd dry hour past me whilst ive been asleep, but you get the idea - bleak.

Saturday id planned a rest day anyway so the lashing rain from some huge thunderstorm(s) that moved through the valley did not bother me that much. I simply wondered at the sheer amount of water they see fall out of the sky here and watched some movies.

Sunday morning dawned and I was raring to go. However the rain persisted, in fact as it turned out Sunday lunchtime was simply the halftime interval. At this interval we made a dash for it up to the rocks. Things were sopping, as to be expected, but with some fleeting sun and wind about I optimistically began applying kitchen roll to the holds on Jack's Broken Heart, determined to dry it (see pic above). After an hours or so work the rock was starting to look respectable. No more water as such just a slightly unnerving dampness on some of the holds. Still I pulled on to warm up and surprised myself cruising through to the pinch move and almost sticking it despite the damp. The rest day and a half had done me the world of good and skin/shoulders wise I was back at the level I needed to be at. Unfortunately the weather window was about to close, for good in fact. After resting for 5 mins or so and doing some more drying work I set off again only to be greeted by heavy rain drops hitting me in the face as I peered round the lip looking for the pinch. Game over for Sunday and we walk down in the rain.

Monday morning came around and I was feeling positive. We had checked two weather forecasts on the net and both had said zero chance of rainfall today. I felt despite the large downpour we had caught the start of yesterday the rocks would be dry by lunchtime. It was just a case of waiting it out this morning. Unfortunately by the time I was sipping my first morning coffee it was raining again and it would not stop again all day. As a climber you get used to rain stopping play, you also spend a lot of time looking at weather forecasts in the hope of seeing the sun symbol. What ive never understood is how these weather guys (or girls) can get things just so wrong so much of the time. Do they just have a guess?

Anyway by lunchtime the rain was still coming down but was more akin to English drizzle than an alpine thunderstorm we decided to give it a go and drive up to the rocks in the hope this was the tail end of things on the rain front. Another depressing walk around around wet blocs ensued. I noticed due to the rain being of a lighter nature certain blocs nestled under bigger pines were only damp rather than soaked. To keep me sane I found two 7a's benefitting from this umbrella effect, put the shoes on and climbed them in the damp just to register something on the ascents list. The first one, Heb da Arsch, actually was quite a good climb and worth checking out.

After dispatching these two I went back over to Jack's for a final look, the rock had turned into a small waterfall, I said my goodbyes for this trip and turned my back on it. On the way back I walked past Sofa Surfer, a steep 8a/+ that climbs up a really nice concave overhang, most of the wall was dryish. I decided to give it a few goes, despite the holds going black with damp and it now lashing rain again so the top was dripping. I surprised myself in doing all the moves up to the wet patch in 20mins or so. This could be on I allowed myself to think. I decided to try and stem the dripping flow from above and dry the upper holds and then give it a burn from the start. I pulled on and felt good going into the match on the sharp crimps, from there you reach up RH to a slopey angled hold, work your feet up and match with the LH. I was now one move away from a semi-jug crimp. I steadied myself, eyed up this hold and slapped for it RH. I felt my fingers curl round something pretty positive but a split second later I was back on the mat. I looked up and it became clear. As id been climbing from the bottom the dripping had started up again and got into the hold before I reached it. gutted and time to go.

I feel like this post may be starting to depress even the most optimistic of reader so ill keep it brief from here. Its now Tuesday, the weather prophet had said it would be dry this morning. We leave today but I had entertained going up to Sofa Surfer early if it had dried overnight to give it go or two. The alarm woke me at 8am and it was pouring again so Ive given up and am currently packing up to leave.

Magic Wood is a place of stunning natural beauty but when the weather comes in that could be better described as savage beauty. It hasn't been a great end to our time here. I guess at face value im pretty pleased to have finally sent my nemesis Piranja and Octopussy was a great 8th grader too. However I cant help but feel i didn't really achieve what I could have done here. Jack's Broken Heart was a go or two away I believe and after yesterday I also think I should have added Sofa Surfer to the sent list. Now if I had done these two it would have been a great trip. Still whats done is done, time to go, and this ends our European adventure. Going to take in Amsterdam on the way back to the UK which should be good laugh.

Magic 5 - Something's better than nothing

2009-06-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

In the bag today I had a new reel of finger tape, scissors and a tube of super glue. The idea was get up to Jack's... smear a load of super glue over the hole in my finger, tape it and send the problem in perfect comfort. It did not go to plan.

To be fair, the super glue and tape combo did not hold up too badly. The pain I felt in my finger when crimping down on the edges was more a dull ache rather than anything too nasty. However, yesterday's session had taken more of a toll on my shoulders than expected. I was tired and that along with the tape created too big a hurdle to surmount. I did not really believe I could do it today and after a few half-hearted goes I sacked it off.

Spirits were pretty low, the session had been a big disappointment, the rain was still forecast to stop play most of the weekend, so that might have been my last chance to climb Jack's. I decided rather than heading straight home to sulk I needed to just climb something. I'd seen a video on Dobbin's blog of the stag team making short work of Jack the Chipper and it looked good. Armed with that beta i headed up to the bloc.

The key to the problem is a right foot cam, i managed to get that in good first go and knew the flash was on. A couple more moves on a nice fat pinch saw me reach a good sloper on the lip. The mantel is slightly fiddly but once i sorted my feet out it was easy enough to roll out. This is my hardest flash to date but I'm not sure if its 7c or 7b+ to be honest.

The rain has arrived as I type so its a case of waiting it out now to see if I can sneak one more session out of the Wood in the next few days. Fingers crossed.

Magic 4 - time to get real...

2009-06-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

After another 2 days rest spent hiking and a day trip to Juf, i think one of the highest Swiss villages at 2100m or something like that, it was back to business. Since id managed to climb an 8a bloc here as in Font i wanted to dabble with something harder, problem was what? I had to consider that at best with no rain days i had 3 or 4 good sessions left ensuring proper rest etc. I hopped back on Pura Vida but got no more joy from the end section, it truly is desperate involving crimping the smallest of gnarly pockets or alternatively cutting loose on a dreadful crossly sort of sloper hold at full reach. Hard 8a+ i think this one.

Next up back to Electroboogie. Stunning feature, great pinches and sloper's atypical to much of the climbing in Magic. The problem is 8a+ rated pinching is not really my forte and i find this climb very hard. Id like to have the time to really work it in good temps but with days running out this was not now.

Almost as an after thought i remembered Jack’s Broken Heart an 8a+ next to Octopussy. Considered low-end for the grade i think so it could be a good introduction problem, it has a lot of crimping and body tension so my style i hoped. Downside was i had been told it was sharp but hey right now i had some skin so it might work.

Next session i went straight up to Jack’s to give it a burn. Its basically a series of moves leftwards between some good and not so good edges before the crux involves putting a heel next to your RH in a slot, weighting it very gently because otherwise it pops, whilst at the same time locking off a very sharp crimp with the LH enabling you to reach over the lip of the roof to a good pinch (The pics below show this part of the sequence). Within a few goes i had linked the moves together from the start into this heel move but as i was reaching for the pinch my heel would blow at the last minute and id find myself back on the mat. It was starting to get irritating because i felt if i could get the heel to stay and reach the pinch the rest of the problem was ok so it would be on to finish it from here.

I decided to work the heel move individually a few times to get it wired before going from the start again - big mistake. The LH crimp i knew was sharp but in fact its one of those holds that's so sharp you do not even feel it when it cuts you. After 4 or 5 goes pulling up to the heel i noticed blood on my finger and realised i had managed to bore a really deep hole in my index finger pad. Not good and game over.

So once again the dreaded skin problems have stopped play. To make the issue worse a storm of sorts is forecast for this weekend here that may/may not last into Monday. Our last day climbing is Monday so time is pretty darn short. I really want to climb this problem, yes the grade does mean something, but aside from that i really think the moves are cool and its just a shame the thing is so sharp. What this means is i'll likely have to tape up tomorrow and try and block the pain out and see how i go. If that doesn't work its going to come down to Monday being "last chance saloon" when at least i might have some skin back and the hole in my finger may have healed up.

Magic 3 - a return to form

2009-06-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

In hindsight the split tip may have been a blessing in disguise. It got me away from the boulders for a day or two and i went hiking instead. My skin grew back and perhaps most key was the wind direction changed and a north-westerly cooled the temps right down. I'd had time to think and get a strategy of exactly what i wanted to have a go at once i got back climbing again.

First up was a reccy on Octopussy. Since my chat with the German fella at the problem id done some searching for beta on the web and found that sub six-footers could in fact leap for the sloper and then use some serious body tension to get their feet over left and in the heel-toe cam which is what is needed to finish the problem off as you turn the corner onto the slab. I worked my own sequence on the block with some useful encouragement and advice from fellow Brits out visiting on a stag do. I left for lunch feeling pretty confident this one could go down.

I came back that evening and took a trip up to No Liberty for the first time after it had severed my tip so cruelly. This time i taped the suffering finger with a view id give this one 30mins or so work and see how i got on but no more. 5 or 6 goes later it was done and my first Swiss 8a was on the board. Hopefully from here i could build some momentum.

Next morning we went back to Octopussy. Temps remained favourable and my skin felt good. Armed with my sequence from the day before i got started. A few goes in and it just wasn't happening. I started to feel the pressure a bit, i knew temps were good, my skin too, but i was also aware the powerful dynamic move to the sloper was taking its toll on my shoulders. I needed to get this done. A long rest and i went for it again...this time i caught the sloper just right and the problem went down. Pleased as i feel this is a tough 8a using my sequence...this is captured in the below vid, enjoy....

Magic 2 - down to earth with a bump

2009-06-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

After the great start on day 1 my tail was up but unfortunately my fortunes quickly changed. Temperatures soared, the dreaded humidity came in and then in the evenings a damp sort of mist descended on the Wood. Rock became damp and holds started to turn black whenever you pulled on something as moisture oozed out of the rock.

Unperturbed i started to feel out some problems i wanted to try. Here at Magic there is less to go at compared to Font so i wanted to start to try and project some harder grades (8a and above really) and see how i went. I started off with Pura Vida an 8a+/b that traverses a barrel shaped boulder. The damp holds were particularly bad here but i managed to link it from the start into the ending sequence however at this point i got totally shut down. I tried a few different methods id seen but nothing seemed to click and meanwhile my skin was getting dangerously thin again.

I decided to move on...next up was Octopussy, a really nice looking 8a roof. I got up to it and a German guy was working it. I joined in but screwed the start up and was off. I struck up conversation with the German guy asking for any beta. He told me that for tall people you simply jumped leftwards for the obvious sloper and from there swung your feet over to the arete thing and you were done but that was for TALL people. The guy was 6'3ish and he said it would not work for him so being considerably shorter i ruled myself out of that beta and started trying some heinous hand heel match thing which after 30mins of failure i gave up on.

Days continued like this with very little change in the weather or my fortunes on the boulders. Riverbed seemed too techy for me and long, Electroboogie has some brutal shoulder action and seemed too slopey with currrent temps. Finally i took the walk up to No Liberty, an 8a i had heard was quite straightforward and easy if you liked backhand gaston sequences similar to Michel-Ange. You have to be careful where to start with this one..reach too far right and its 7c or 7c+ but still after working out what holds i could use i got to work. It seemed that if i could pull on ok at the start and make the throw to the gaston (see below pic) it was in the bag for me. 15mins later crimping hard on the starting hold i blew a tip and it was all over. So with 8 days gone since i arrived and sent Piranja i had climbed nothing else and was now staring down the barrel of 2-3 days of forced rest at least. How things had changed....

Magic 1

2009-06-03T03:39:00.001-07:00

We arrived in the Swiss region of Graubunden where Magic Wood is located. This was the view that greeted me on the terrace of our small apartment near the Wood.

Spots of rain were around but not amounting to much and temps were so much cooler than Italy or Brione. My skin felt good with the rest too. Despite the 3 hour journey we had just undertaken it was time to get out and climb.

Magic Wood is a wonderful climbing area, it really is. Immaculate steep blocks sit in lush pine woodland above a fast flowing crystal clear river. The boulders are above 1000m altitude wise and so cold air often circulates through the wood making it cool to climb despite blazing sun. The problem is its quite a small area..compared to Fontainebleau its tiny. Its popularity as a summer bouldering venue has had its effect it seems since i first visited this place in 2006. Path erosion is bad, litter lurks and now every weekend it seems the campsite is full to total capacity with vans from many areas of Europe. The place is still stunning, no doubt, so i do not blame any European with a van for coming down here. I just hope the locals can manage it ok so this place does not get ruined by traffic that's all. So far they have stuck in a new bridge at the campsite end to help climbers get over the river. Good idea it seems except the bridge is only shoulder width wide. What that means is anyone with a large mat (which most people have to take into the Wood due to choice landings) has to take it off and drag it over the bridge with difficulty. Not the smartest move. Anyway I'm waffling it was time to climb....

So after warming up i moved up to Piranja a 7c/7c+ problem that had become a total nemesis for me in trips of the past. I was on my own and only had a small mat (the one the goat did its business on) still i just felt so good in the cooler temps i figured it was worth a shot day one. First up i pulled on "the move". You have a two finger crimp in you LH, your right is on a small sloper, you paste your left foot on a small edge and fire up RH to a positive edge taking the swing left your body takes before pulling up to jugs and the finish. It was this swing that had caused me problems in the past. Today though i fired the move off first go. Wow! it was on...A rest, a go to remind me of the start and third go i fire the link and put a nemesis to bed. Great start to my time here and time for a beer...

Brione

2009-06-03T03:04:00.001-07:00

So the plan in Italy was to chill round Lake Maggiore for a few days however i still planned to get some climbing in with a trip or two to Brione. This village is actually only 20mins or so from the Swiss side of Maggiore but involved us crossing the border on each visit.

There is some major access issues with Brione and so at this time there is no guidebook to the place. However some text messages and emails to Tyler got me the necessary beta. With temps high and this meant to be a quiet week on the climbing front I did not have a large tick list for the place. I simply wanted to try Molunk..a steep arete with weird colours running through the rock (see pic above) that many people had told me was the best 7c they had ever done. 30 mins of work and i got the send. It certainly is a great climb, easyish for the grade but the moves are cool, the setting is sublime and the rock itself is so eye catching its a pleasure to move on it.

I climbed a few other blocs in Brione over the next two visits we made but really only scraped the surface of the place. There is so much rock up there. Aside from climbing the valley is such an interesting place to visit. It has a massive dam made famous by Bond jumping off it in Goldeneye, numerous bridges across the fast-flowing river and some awesome waterfalls. Turns out at 220m the Contra dam is 20th tallest in the world or around there with the tallest being one in the former USSR at 335m. Anyway enough of this, on to Magic Wood....

Swiss welcome

2009-06-03T02:28:00.000-07:00

So after a few hours driving we were deposited in the valley of Ticino. The weird thing about Swiss motorway driving is you spend so much time in long tunnels you lose all conception of where you really are and the incredible scenery you are flying past. You can enter a tunnel and it is pouring with rain and come out the other side 10mins later to bright sunshine.

Anyway we came out of one of these such tunnels and Ticino was before us. After some personal admin finding accommodation etc it was out to Chironico to boulder, one of the main climbing areas in the valley.

Now for 2 months id been pulling in the main on subtle sandstone slopers, occasionally an edge but i avoided the sharp ones. The picture attached sums up what granite pulling is about, edges, edges and more sharp edges. The climbing is aggressive, hence why a lot of strong indoor guys do well out here i guess. With humidity high this adjustment in climbing style proved tough for me to carry out...everything just felt damn hard. I tried a few hardish things, scraped my way up a few 7a's but generally it was really feeling like hard work. With screaming tips i started to daydream of swimming in the cool blue water of the Italian lakes.

Thankfully Magic Wood our final stop is a lot higher so typically the air is cooler and conditions better. With that in mind we decided to bag it and head off to the lakes. However Chironico had one final nail in the coffin to offer...as we were packing up a family of goats made their past us. The big one (see below the picture does not do it justice) decided to stand on the bouldering mat. Before i could react it then decided to wet itself on the mat in what can only be described as a mini Niagara falls. Mid-way through relieving itself i did try and push it off but it just pushed me back and kept going. In the end the beast got bored and moved on leaving us with a stinking and stained mat in the car for the hot journey down to Italy.

On the move....

2009-06-03T00:27:00.000-07:00

So we headed south-east from Fontainebleau through France and many of the fields looked like the picture on the left. That's why it was time to move on, spring had arrived in earnest and day time temps in Font were typically +20 degrees. This is too hot, for me anyway, to climb hard and the alps being at higher altitude and having had such a dumping of snow this winter, promised cooler temps to climb in. They also happen to have some of the best mountain rock anywhere.

Our mode of transport is a pretty old automatic Rover that's fuel efficiency is something close to a fully loaded HGV going up a steep hill. Since we had no intention to blow a small fortune getting across France on fuel we had to keep to a cool 60mph top speed. The journey to the Alps was looking long indeed and we decided to stopover en-route in Mulhouse, close to the Swiss border. If you ever come upon this French version of Coventry, keep on driving, the place is pretty awful.

Anyway a restless night in a Formula 1 and we were on our way again with Switzerland in our sights. The plan was to get to Southern Swiss to a valley called Ticino. This is where the boom in Swiss bouldering began and there is plenty of rock here. After spending a day or two there we would move down to the Italian lakes, hopefully i could grow some decent skin, before the short 2 hour drive or so East back through Southern Swiss to Magic Wood for a 3 week stint.

Fontainebleau flashback...

2009-06-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Trying to summarise two months climbing in Font in one post is a tough ask to be fair but ill at least try and give some of highlights...

Having lived in the States for the last 18 months i had not been to Font for a number of years and so on journeying down to the forest i tried to give some thought on what i might expect to climb here. I had become a better climber for sure since my last visit to the forest so i felt i could aim higher in terms of the difficulty of the climbs i attempted but in turn Font is a notoriously technical place to climb, the solution to a boulder problem is often hard to figure out and you can waste much valuable energy trying. I was bound to get spanked on some 4+ graded slab now and then but hey my ego could handle that. I decided that priority 1 was to climb the real classics of the forest in the 7th grade range and if i did sneak an 8a rated bloc along the way so much the better.

So it all started with Hotline an immaculate 7c arete hidden away in a quiet part of the forest. Here i'm working the lower moves and at this stage the problem felt pretty darn desperate due to reach more than anything else.

However after this short reccy i returned two weeks into the trip, armed with spotter and sent this fine line. The quest to climb some of these classic lines had begun....

In the first few weeks by far the stand out day had to be what has become known as the "Bas Cuvier blitz". I hit the crag around 3pm, temps were primo with a slight wind meaning friction was top.

I took 20mins to fire Berezina, from there we went round to Aerodynamite and i did that in a few tries. Next up was Balance, id been told this was tough for 7c by a few strong guys and with it being a slopey, mantle type thing and me being a crimp fiend i thought i was done for. However great friction and some grim determination to not let go saw me top this one out 20 mins later. Two nice 7a's to warm down and it was getting dark.

Great days at Cuvier when you have things your own way are rare and i certainly savoured this one with a few beers after.

So the forest experience rolled on. I climbed a bit with Tyler Landman, one of the worlds best, and his brother Jeff. To gain inspiration from these guys is easy, next up was Eclipse 7c (on the day Ty sent Total) then Surprises 7b+ (but i think 7c) and then Cent Pof at Cassepots (hard 7c) and Triple Axel 7b+.

Around this same time we made a trip to a classy roof, close to JA Martin. First visit i quickly dispatched Vandale, a soft 7c through the centre of the roof. Neil was up there too and showed me a line that traversed the roof to the right and exited at the arete called Contre Sens, given 8a. In the back of my mind i knew i wanted to get an 8a graded line done whilst in Font and this seemed a good place to start. Numerous sessions in the following weeks saw me top out Contre Sens for my first 8a in the forest. If you go to try this one note it tops out directly on the arete and it is definitely not over until its over.

One month in friends and family visited which was great fun and allowed me to dabble on some of the easier problems. However, easier problems still eat skin and my tips were close to see through as people departed. Rest days were required but once back in the fold Sale Gosse and Noir Desir were both dispatched in a session.

Weeks rolled into months and suddenly I was staring down the barrel of a few days left with a tick list of 10 to 20 problems! With that in mind it was time to get out there....first up was Coccinelle. Recommended to me by Tyler, a classic traverse made famous by Jerry in The Real Thing.

At this stage in events having skin on my tips was a long forgotten memory, liquid chalk and tape were getting me through.

Thankfully Coccinelle proved kindly and in 5 goes i got the send.

The final few days dawned, Tristesse was next and then I revisited an earlier nemesis from the trip....Michel-Ange. At this stage i'd sent 20+ classic problems at 7c or above and the individual moves on this felt the toughest of the lot. I wanted to climb it Jacky's original way, with no toe-hook out left, but even if my shoulder took the strain, my feet would pop off the greasy smears. A friend offered me pof, but i declined...this was it last session or nothing. Two goes, shoulder screaming and my feet had blown both times. Chalk up, here we go again, but this time, its different...the feet hold and i'm in the undercut, work the feet up, slap the sloper and it's over. Classic end to a trip...7c+ in my view but this is Font i guess.

So that about rounds it up. I've missed out loads and probably got it in the wrong order but they are certainly some of the highlights. I left the forest pleased with what i had achieved, but of course, i have some problems i must return to. Appartenance at Buthier, i was beaten by the dark on the final day, Beaux Quartiers, a superb crimpy 8a that i simply ran out of skin for and Total Eclipse, after Ty made it look so easy. There is more of course but i've written too much already, what I did decide is i'll return to Font at the end of this trip, coming full circle, so i'll be back... but now attention moves to the granite blocks in Switzerland.....

Backtracking...

2009-06-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

Almost 3 months ago now i made the tough decision to quit my top Wall St job and take a year or two out to realise a dream of travelling and spending time in some of the world's premier bouldering destinations. The financial world had gone into meltdown and with no near-term fix in sight it seemed right timing wise.

With the popularity of modern day bouldering expanding at a rapid rate coming up with a specific list of exactly where to go and when was tough, globally there is just so many top places to climb now. However after some hard deliberation i came up with the below plan of action (subject to some change of course as the year goes on...)

1. What better place to begin than the global home of bouldering - Fontainebleau

2. Continuing the stay in Europe, moving onto the mountain granite in the Swiss Alps

3. From there with the summer heat shutting Europe down we will move to the cooler winter temps in South Africa's Rocklands

4. By now it will be fall 09 and the only place to be at this time is the USA. Many places to visit here but starting in the east and heading west seems to make sense...Gunks in NY state, Colarado, Utah sandstone, Yosemite and Bishop in California, Hueco Tanks in Texas..the list is long...

So with a plan in place in early March i headed off to Dover from my parents house in Essex to begin a two month stint in the magical forest of Fontainebleau in France. So why no blog till June 1st you may ask?

In rural France wireless internet is still a bit of a mystery i am afraid to say and so that put paid to my early blogging plans. However, after this introductory post my next offering will attempt to summarise what i got up to in the forest before i moved to the Swiss Alps two weeks ago. Suffice to say going forward i will try and update this blog a little more often than every 3 months!

So to finish off my first post aside from visiting these temples of rock what am i actually intending to do here? Climb, of course, but more specifically i would like to climb the classic boulder problems in each place, "the rites of passage" you might say, because these are the climbs that stay with you when you leave an area so it seems to make sense.

However no climbing blog is complete without some mention of climbing grades, so lets start here. Aside from scaling the classic lines i have also set myself two (rough) targets with regards to the grades of the boulder problems...

1. To climb an 8a or harder bloc in each area i visit

2. To try and climb an 8b bloc somewhere along the way and achieve this magical grade of difficulty.

So that's its.... that's the plan and with the number 8 being so pivotal "life in the 8th lane" seemed like a clever sort of title. So far i have climbed an 8a bloc in Fontainbleau and in the last week managed two in Swiss so i'm hitting my numbers but really that's only a fraction of the story. Beyond grades I have climbed some truly great, great lines. Read on....