Day 295 - Unoriginal Replica

unoriginal?

Whilst wandering somewhat aimlessly around Homebase today, trying to remember why we'd gone there, I stopped short as I saw this interesting wall-hanging, which they're selling as decorative art.

It's not that the view is so interesting and atmospheric, but that it's so similar to a photo I already know well...

Early last year, in order to kick-start our outdoor climbing adventures, we headed off to Snowdonia...we were there to attend a course at the famous Plas-y-Brenin National Mountain Centre.

The course was about learning to climb on rock, in a Traditional style...that is, to learn the technical rope and climbing equipment skills and techniques that would enable us to head into the mountains on our own. 

We were already competent climbers at this point, so the course was focussed on;

• placing gear - putting chocks and cams into the rock to clip the rope to...
• building anchors to, well...anchor yourself to...
• multi-pitch routes - those where it's necessary to split the climb up, and hence the need to build anchors halfway up a cliff face...
• abseiling - for descending, or as an escape route if required...

We'd foolishly not considered the weather when booking a course in the mountains in March, and so were surprised to arrive there in a blizzard!

Due to ongoing wintry conditions within the Snowdonia National Park, we were forced to the significantly milder coastal temperatures, to climb on Anglesey, and later at Tremadog, having many an adventure along the way.

On our final day there, we completed our first multi-pitch route entirely on our own...it was an easy 50m climb up a gentle crack system on the slab of Tryfan Fach (Little Tryfan)...right on the snow line, in bitterly cold conditions, we found we didn't quite have the right clothing!

Yet despite being utterly frozen, we came away triumphant at what felt like a significant breakthrough climb for us...the climb that opened up a great year of adventuring for us. 

We also learned that day that we are not really cold weather climbers...or at least, we need better mountain-wear!

The point (there is a point, honest!), of all of which is, that whilst staying at the National Mountain Centre in Capel Curig, we went for a walk around the lake.

Anna took the lovely photograph below of the view up towards a cloud-enshrouded Snowdon at the top of the valley...

replica?

Homebase stole Anna's shot!  

Then again, maybe everyone who walks up there stops at that point and says, "oh look at the lovely view...that'd make a nice photo...".

At least Anna's is exactly as it came out of the camera...no fancy post-processing.

And beautifully framed, of course...

:-)

Day 294 - Big Rock

gecko

We have three days to go before a very exciting event, so to distract ourselves from this...erm...distraction, we took a trip to Milton Keynes for some indoor climbing.

Ooh, radical and adventurous!

Oddly, though we drove there through wind and rain and a fairly drizerable Autumn day, when we came out 3 or 4 hours later it seemed as though Summer had returned.

The skies were blue and bright...all the way home, I was reminded of the lateness of the year, by the lowness of the Sun!

Anyway, the big bouldering island in the middle of the gym was reset this week - that is, all the holds were taken off and a whole lot of new climbing problems created in their stead.

the island

The setting was done by a couple of famous route setters, Rob Napier and Percy Bishton, who regularly create the problems for the Bouldering World Cup and World Championship series, that take place around the world through the year...so we were keen to try our hand(s, and feet!) on some of their problems.

Suffice to say they were fairly hard!  

Anna found many of the problems quite reach-y...I found them nicely suited to me from that respect, but quite strenuous and very tiring...this was in part down to the fact that they're almost all overhung, but also just the nature of the problems.

They were interesting problems though, and we did quite a few, including some cool ceiling climbs, which I think we climbed quite nicely on. 

We both found ourselves tired though...having exercised regularly in the run up to Font, then climbed every day once we got there, we realised we've come home and done virtually nothing...as of today it was a whole week since we'd done any exercise at all.

All those hard earned gains seem to melt away as soon as you stop training for a few days!

We're going to enter a winter bouldering competition, that requires you to climb regularly all through the Winter...we hope this will get us fit for another trip to Font in the Spring...

We're hoping to have a new member of our climbing party for that trip, which will be fun and different...

;-)

Day 282 - Video Diaries

snippets

The problem with taking lots of video when on holiday, is that you then have to do something with them when you get home...

In Font, we took over 70GB of stills and videos, but of course they mostly contain about 30 seconds of interest surrounded by a couple of minutes of nothing much...and they're all helpfully named 20140919-123745.mp4, or similar.

It seems to me that the only way of getting these hours of media into a form that is even remotely interesting to anyone else, you need to edit (and edit some more), and cut (and cut and cut even more), in order to reduce it to something palatable and digestible...preferably, there needs to be some sort of story...and humour...and action of course...ideally some sort of drama...and appropriate music. 

If this all sounds complicated...well, it is - it takes a great deal of time and fiddly effort to produce even a short video!

The first problem, when faced with masses of media like this, is to find an engaging story...to do this requires a solid familiarity with, and understanding of, the source material.

So I like to start the whole process by taking my raw video files and cutting them up into snippets with actual content, and naming them appropriately.

The folder in the screenshot above shows a series of such snippets, each representing a single little story...in most instances here, each video is a single climb of a single boulder, but there are some contextual shots too.

We obviously didn't take many contextual shots on this particular day, which is a shame - nobody wants to see climb after climb after climb, so shots of the forest, or local flora and fauna, are very helpful for adding variety and interest.

Fortunately I have at least one story to tell of our holiday in Fontainebleau, so that will keep me busy for a couple of days - and you for about 15 minutes, if you can stomach it.

Anyway, watch this space...

;-)

Day 279 - Adieu a Fontainebleau

orange for orange

So today was our last day in la foret, and despite all the niggly injuries, we all wanted to use up all our remaining reserves in one final day of bouldering.

We went to a place called Rocher Guichot (where you can drive a little way into the forest and park right next to the boulders), in order to maximise our available climbing time.

There's an Orange circuit there with exactly 30 problems, so we set out on a mission to climb them all in one day.   They're of a grade where we mostly get up them on our first go, and rarely find any impossible for us. 

In the photo above, Anna is setting off up the final climb of the circuit, of the day, and of our holiday here in Font...

Despite being fairly short (the climb, not Anna! (although Anna too...)), it was the hardest problem of the circuit at 4B - the steep, slippery slab Anna is stepping onto has almost nothing to use for hands or feet, except the odd little depression in the rock, a vague bump, or a tiny flake a mm or two deep that you can just about get a little purchase on if you push your fingertips painfully onto them. 

We were very pleased then, to finish our brilliant trip here with a last great day in the forest, climbing the boulders amongst the trees, alongside the various flora and fauna that abound.

extrovert

For instance, this little chap was bimbling his way up a very steep rock face, all resplendent in his big yellow climbing pants, and his posh red tail. 

That said, despite his obviously advanced climbing skills, his route-finding left a little to be desired...

he's got the look...but not the brains

He's clearly going the wrong way...and what's he doing on an Orange circuit anyway?  He's clearly capable of significantly higher grades than we play about on.

Anyway, there it is...a great holiday in the magical and majestic Foret de Fontainebleau draws to a close...tired, weary limbs and minds...sore fingers, knees, shoulders, arms, legs and elbows...cuts, bruises, scrapes, scratches, grazes, bites, lumps and bumps everywhere...

It's been brilliant!

We've unlocked a whole bunch of Achievements - Jezz did his 40@40@Font...Anna and I completed a fantastic circuit we started last year...we all climbed our first Font 6A graded boulder problems...we completed an Orange circuit in a day. 

We climbed around 100 or so boulder problems each, and we video'd most of them - so you've got that to look forward to!   ;-)   

Haha, only joking, I won't inflict them all on you...just a few, maybe...when I've had time to process and edit them...I promise to cut out as much of the dull climbing stuff as I can bring myself to!

We've had great fun, supporting and encouraging each other up climbs that were hard for us, and we've all found huge personal satisfaction in our endeavours.

And of course I've got a big tick for my list of challenges for the year - Go to Font!

Big thanks to Jezz for his (contrived) sexy man pose, Anna for her (natural) sexy woman pose, and both for all the top spotting and good laughs, and putting up with my random foibles...we've all survived intact, and I think it's safe to say...we'll be back!

But tomorrow we'll be up early for the long drive back to Blighty...

Pour maintenant, c'est au revoir de France, vous voyez en Angleterre demain...

Au 'voir!

B-)

Day 278 - Balls

summary of the day

All in all, today didn't quite go as planned!

I suppose we set it up badly...after the curious incident of the locked door in the night last night, we didn't finish our dinner until gone midnight, and it was nearly 2am by the time we got to bed.

Unusually, I managed to get back to sleep after being awake at 8am, and eventually awoke suddenly to the sounds of Jezz and Stef (our landlord) standing just outside our bedroom discussing the bedroom door...only to find we'd slept until nearly 11am!

Feeling bleary and behind schedule, and realising that my lurgy (which had been receding) was back with a vengeance, we got up and got on with the day.   It was a really hot morning, high 20's, and Jezz wanted to pop to Decathlon to get a singlet (which he's suddenly developed a bit of a penchant for) before we climbed.  

We headed a few miles north, and grabbed a few items of hot weather clothing...I got some shorts, which I'd stupidly not brought to France with me.

By the time we got to La Foret, it was nearly 2pm...we changed in the car park and wandered in to the boulders, which all looked really high and scary. 

We were at a place called Bas Cuvier, which is one of the earliest climbing areas in the forest, with documented climbing dating back over a century...consequently, the rock is very polished, and the climbing is generally much harder than you'd expect.

On the walk in, the immense power of my middle-aged belly proved too much for the press-stud on my new climbing shorts, which promptly fell apart...

(note to self...stop pretending that you can get into size Large clothes, and just accept that you're eXtra Large)

So I trekked back to the car to change my trousers, whilst Jezz and Anna prepared for the first problems.

Immediately, the climbing was quite tough...for the third of the day, I chose Blue 10, which turned out to have quite a committing, dynamic move up to a high, poor handhold.  On my third attempt, my foot slipped and I fell off from the dizzying height of about 2 feet.   

In an episode eerily reminiscent of when I broke my leg falling off a low boulder at Cratcliffe in 2012, my right toe caught the rock as I went down, forcing my weight into my heel, and consequently bending my foot upwards from the ankle much further than it was really happy to bend.

For a few minutes, the pain was intense, and I thought that my climbing might be done for this holiday.  Fortunately, it turned out to be one of those injuries that quickly eases, and within about 10 minutes I was standing on it again, and prepared to have another go at climbing.

Then Anna announced that she'd felt a spot of rain...sure enough, immediately we could hear thunder rumbling faintly in the distance. 

As we attempted the following problem, the raindrops increased, and so we were rushing more than was sensible...it turns out that there was enough time to injure myself some more!

Climbing Blue 17, I was trying to pull up on a thin crimp (that is, a tiny hold, maybe half a centimetre in depth, which I could just get three fingertips on), but it was getting increasingly slippery in the rain.   I pinged off it two or three times (probably rushing it), and wrenched my right elbow a little in the process.

Tomorrow, both my elbow and my ankle are going to be rudely complaining!

Anyway, to finally put the tin hat on it, the rain, complete with thunder and lightning, set in...

pleuvoir dans la forêt

Anna, who'd very much been up for some hard climbing today, was not amused!

We sheltered under overhangs amongst the boulders, and ate our sandwiches whilst wondering whether we'd get to climb any more this trip, let alone today.

I found lots of little puffballs, and spent a few minutes getting photo's after the worst of the rain had passed.

little ball of puff

Thence, we headed home, a little bedraggled, mildly injured and a little disappointed.

Still, we're off out into Fontainebleau for an evening meal shortly, and tomorrow we hope to get one last session in...more thunderstorms are forecast, but we're remaining optimistic that we'll find something climbable at some point during the day tomorrow.

Also, we found this spider doing some web repairs outside our gite when we got home.

henri le spider

Not the greatest photo, I couldn't quite get the lens combination right for the light conditions...and the critics amongst you will no doubt tut and sigh over the vignetting...

But let's see your photo of a French spider, huh?

:-p

Day 277 - l'elephant (part deux)

l'elephant!

Having focussed yesterday on Jezz's 40@40@Font Challenge, today was our turn to work on one of my (and subsequently our) Font missions...to climb a problem graded at 6A.

Most of the climbs we've done this week have been in the 3' and 4's, so 6A represents quite a step up.   

Having said that, mostly we climb problems on our first attempt, whereas to climb something at your limit requires much trying, and failing, and working it out over a series of attempts.  This can be a frustrating process, as you can spend several hours (or days, weeks, months, or even years for the professionals), and never succeed.

So usually we go for climbing lots of problems that we can climb, but now and then it's good fun to work on a problem that initially seems impossible...the sense of achievement upon eventually getting to the top is immense, and deeply gratifying.

So we went to a famous and iconic climbing area of the Fontainebleau Forest, known as l'elephant...and by incredible coincidence, there's a large, elephant shaped boulder near the start of the climbing area!

I'm happy to report that we did get up our first 6A's!  There was some debate over how we climbed the first one, and whether it counted, so we added a couple of hard moves on the beginning (to satisfy the nay-sayers - you know who you are... ;-p ), and then did it again!

Then we tried another one, which started with a mono (a one-finger pocket in the rock) before climbing a steep face to a very sketchy (aka desperately trying not to fall off) climb over the top of the boulder...

Here's me halfway up...

hang in there

This may not look particularly hard, but I can tell you it was physically very challenging!

Of course, Anna flashed it (which means to climb a problem on your first attempt), whereas it took me about 20 goes...which I interpret to mean that Anna is 20 times as good as me...which seems about right, because, well, she is!

Anyway, I've just realised it's gone midnight, and I have yet to shower after a hard days' bouldering...we went out late and bouldered until it got dark, which was a lovely treat, but means we've been behind schedule all evening.

Oh, and in a further adventure, we got back to our gite to find that our bedroom door had mysteriously jammed since we went out at lunchtime.

After a significant amount of messing around trying to get it open, we had to call the landlord, who essentially advised that we break it down using brute force and/or a pied de biche (that's a crowbar to you and me).

We were reluctant to do this in his absence (he was away for the evening), but after his wife came round and egged us on, we did indeed kick/crow/shoulder the door open.  

So not only did we achieve our 6A mission today, but we also have a bed to sleep in tonight...

Yay!

:-)

Day 276 - King of the Swingers

throne of rock

The boy done good!

Here, Jezz sits resplendent on his throne of rock, about to embark on his 40@40@Font Challenge - to climb 40 problems in a day, at the age of 40, at Fontainebleau,

Here's Jezz some time later, looking remarkably less fresh...

four?

...but happy to have successfully completed his mission!

oh!

It was a tough challenge he'd set himself...the thing about bouldering outdoors is that, in order to even qualify as being called a bouldering problem, it has to be somewhat problematic, as a bare minimum.

If it's not really quite hard, either physically, technically, or psychologically, then it just doesn't count.

Of course, what this means is that each of the 40 problems that Jezz had to climb today were one or other of the above...there were no gimme's at all. 

By the end of the day, he was appropriately exhausted, but still elated, at a challenge completed, and a mission accomplished!


In other news, we came across a few lovely boulders that look like something else...this one that I met near the beginning of Jezz's circuit was very friendly and welcoming...

happy boulder

Meanwhile, this ferocious predator was on the prowl...

shark boulder

Fortunately, Simba was watching protectively over us all...

lion boulder

And this humongous denizen of the deep popped up briefly for a breather...

whale boulder

All in all, another eventful and momentous day in la foret...another fine, hot day in Trois Pignons, climbing many problems, facing many challenges, meeting many animal shaped boulders (and standing on their noses!)...

Mainly though, today's plaudits go to Jezz for a great effort in the blazing late summer sunshine... 

Rock that!

B-)

Day 275 - They Have a Cave Troll

behind you

It was a glorious day in the forest today - bright and shady, warm and cool, tiring and invigorating, tranquil and challenging...

When we were in Font this time last year, Anna and I had done the first half of a fabulous Orange circuit at an area of the forest known as Haute Plaines in Isatis, not far outside the town of Fontainebleau itself.   

As it happens to run alongside a yellow circuit, which Jezz was interested in doing, and in reverse order (that is, the orange circuit finishes where the yellow starts) it seemed like a good pick, and sure enough, we had a brilliant day.

Anna and I finished the Orange circuit, which was just as much fun as we remembered it...and Jezz did half of the yellow circuit in a final prep day for his 40@40@Font Challenge, which is currently scheduled for tomorrow.

Some of the problems Anna and I did today were a bit harder than yesterday, and so Anna had her game face on...

elvis?

This was also handy for scaring off the giant cave troll in the red vest top that was hanging about all day (see top photo)...

We saw a brilliant green sand lizard as we walked into the forest, the biggest lizard I've ever seen in the wild, I think...and it was around about this time I realised I'd forgotten the camera (although not very helpfully, I did have the heavy lenses in my backpack).  Jezz had his camera, but of course not the right lens...and conveniently he has Canon and we have Nikon, so they're incompatible.

Huzzah!

Still, I borrowed Jezz's camera to get this cool shot of a spider...

harry the spider

Check out the amazing bokeh on this, that's a nice lens of Jezz's!

Speaking of which, today I sub-contracted out the boulder that looks like something else photo for today to Jezz, who promptly found a submarine...

Good work, buddy!

B-)

Day 274 - I Was, Like, Woah

crush

Rather than bore you repeatedly with endless climbing photo's, instead I'm going to try to bring you a series of unusual boulder shapes...

Of course, I'm still going to talk about climbing,and I'm still going to bring you climbing photo's...maybe just not every day.

Today we went to Rocher Fin, in la Foret de Trois Pignons....we call it three pigeons, but it actually means three hills or something like that.   It's a lovely, big, sandy forest of both broad leaf and pine, and we had a gorgeous sunny day to enjoy it.

We climbed on the Orange Circuit, for the most part, at a grade of Assez Difficile...it was fun, and we all climbed pretty well.   It was Jezz's first day on Font rock, so he was finding his feet as we were rediscovering ours. 

We did around 25-30 problems, which bodes fairly well for Jezz's 40@40@Font Challenge - to climb 40 problems in a day, at Font, at the age of 40...we're hopefully doing that on Tuesday.

Anyway, we all flagged at various times today - we all have ridiculously demanding jobs, working long hours with a lot of responsibility and the ever-present stress that goes with it, and so we're all very tired to be starting this holiday...and of course we had that long and tiring journey yesterday... 

Actually, I was fine all day climbing, but flagged seriously on the long walk back to the car (we'd gone a long way into la foret to avoid the inevitable Sunday crowds).    

And of course I was up at first light this morning, as seems to be becoming annoyingly standard of late...So, you know, poor me, or whatever...

So rather than bore you with all of that, I bring you...

Boulders that look like things!

The boulder pictured above immediately said "turtle" to Anna...it looks just like Crush from Finding Nemo!

alien face

And the couple in the photo above seem woefully ignorant of the giant alien looking over their shoulders.

As we wander la foret over the next few days, I'll keep my eye out for more boulders that look like things!

I know, right?!

You're so lucky - it's almost like having your own personal internet, right there at your fingertips whenever you need it!

;-)

Day 271 - The News

new shoes

There are some illusory elements to this photo...but not related to the relative size of these shoes, which is accurately presented here.

Those diagonal lines on the wooden decking outside really give the impression that the photo is leaning drunkenly to the right...but it isn't!

It's just an illusion (ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, aa-ah).

(little shout out to any 80's kids there...) ;-)

The point is (yeah, there is one!) that climbing shoe sizes are a nightmare.

These two shoes are from the same manufacturer, Scarpa.  They're built for slightly different purposes - the green for comfort and the blue for speed...otherwise they're in many ways a simple variation on a style.

The green pair are Anna's day to day rock shoes (albeit a brand new pair that haven't been worn yet).  Anna has another pair of these in the same size (Euro 38) that are wearing out after a year's heavy use.  They're a little bit big for Anna, which, whilst making them comfortable, sometimes impacts performance as the foot moves within the shoe.   Anna has another identical pair in one Euro size less - 37 rather than the 38 of the one in the photo, but they're a little tight.

So Anna wanted some slightly smaller ones, and was also interested in stepping up a notch performance wise.  Consequently, in the interests of caution, we ordered the blue pair in size 37.5, figuring same make, very similar model, similar construction and materials...  

Yep, the two shoes in the photo are supposedly only half a size different, 37.5 and 38.

Whilst the 38 is slightly loose, Anna can hardly get the 37.5 on her foot...

Of course it's impossible to ever find a shop with a wide enough size range of a wide enough range of shoes from a variety of manufacturer, and more so if you're a woman...

So we always end up having to take a risk and buying on spec over the net...which usually works out ok, but sometimes, frustratingly it doesn't - and then you have all the hassle of returns to go through.  

Ah well, Font in 32 hours or so...woohoo!

Speaking of new things, I have a new job!

Somewhat momentously, I handed in my notice at work earlier this week...in 8 weeks time, I shall be changing career and going off to work for my bro' (that's my actual bro', not, like, my homes, feel me, brah-bro).  

He owns a successful and growing internet retail business, and has invited me to join him, to help grow it further.

It's a brilliant opportunity that I couldn't possibly overlook!

So these rock shoes aren't the only new things in my life at the moment...

I'm starting a new job and a new career, we're looking for a new house, and we're also itching to find a new dog (or dogs).  We've planted new trees for Jazz, and we both have new rock shoes.

I need a new phone, and this time we're taking our new camera to Font.  I'm newly debt-free, so I might even buy a new car at some point in the next few months.

One way or another, the times, they are a'changin'!

It's liberating!

B-)

Day 270 - Climbing Virgins

motley crew

For some reason this photo makes me inordinately happy (and it's not even anything to do with the brilliant photo-bombing...).

This evening Anna and I took four of my colleagues from work for an introductory climbing session.

Ranj (guess which one he is) has recently completed both the Insanity 60 Day Workout, and the Insanity Asylum 30 Day Nutters Nightmare Painfest (available free to the clinically insane) or whatever it's called, and wanted to go and do something adventurous. 

He knows I'm into climbing (I think everyone knows that by now, eh?), so publicly suggested we could go for climb.

Having polled for interest amongst quite a small team, these four reprobates raised their hands and said they'd be up for it...and this evening, they all proved good to their word!

Lisa

In the upper left of this shot you can see Lisa, high above her comfort zone, yet pushing on brilliantly.  She did really well to finish this fairly long climb, and quite a few others!

Good job, Lisa!!

Ranj

Meanwhile Ranj, desperate to push outside his own comfort zone, pointed at a long, steep climb and said, "I want a go on that!" with that slightly insane look in his eye that he has these days.

The wall he'd picked went vertically for about 8 or 9 metres, before going into a slight overhang for the last couple of metres before the top...steep ground for beginners, but he was game so I happily belayed him. 

Sure enough he found the challenge he'd been looking for, and desperately lunging for the last hold, forearms screaming, he popped off for his first fall...brilliant!   Getting straight back on the wall, even more determined now to reach the top, he soon pulled on and got it finished.

This both inspired and encouraged Aaron up the same route...here he's approaching the bit where it starts to get really steep, and showing some good form along the way...

Aaron

Quite brilliantly for a first climb, Aaron cleanly climbed this hard Grade 5 climb...his forearms are going to be having words with him about it for the next few days!

Not to be outdone, Beki hopped straight on and fought her way up to the hard section at the top...

Beki

Here you can see Beki right in the steepest part of the climb, one or two moves away from the relief of the final hold. 

As soon as the steepness of the wall goes past vertical, it becomes very, very tiring very, very quickly...much of your upper body weight is transferred from your feet (which are no longer directly beneath you) and onto your hands.

Beki found her crux (the hardest part of a climb) right up near the top, but held on determinedly, making it to the top in style.

Then we got to do some bouldering, and I was quite pleased to flash a couple of hard problems (which means to solve the problem on your first attempt).

It was a great fun evening out, lots of friendly banter and mutual support and encouragement...and I think that shows in the genuine smiles in the photo above, which prompts me to match it with a smile of my own each time I look at it...

...and not just because of the brilliant photo-bombing...

:-)

Day 265 - So It Begins

get packing

I'm going to bank on the fact that nobody's listening on a Friday night, and keep this one relatively short.

This evening, I found myself starting to pack for Font...we're not even going until a week tomorrow!

The thing is, I've been gradually gathering odd bits and bobs, and they've been accumulating on my desk, to the point where I'm getting annoyed by all the junk.

There's a travel plug, some headlight deflectors, a magnetic GB Sticker...then there's a bunch of memory sticks, an assortment of camera equipment - lenses, tripods, filters, power adapters...a collection of climbing books, maps, a notepad.  

And some gaffer tape, obviously!

So I went up to the loft and found an empty crate, and started to put all these odds and ends into it...then realised that I'm packing a week early...I had already considered that the crate could go straight in the car with whatever hardware needs to come with us...laptops, ipads, kindles, the camera, and power chargers of various types...

Is it too soon to start getting excited about my holiday?  I'm so ready for it, it's not even funny...and because we so fell in love with La Foret, I'm extra-eager to be there again. 

We've been discussing our climbing goals for the trip...

Anna, showing surprising ambition, wants to have a rest day (like that'll happen).

Jezz has his 40@40@Font Challenge, which I have a side-mission to support him on. 

My own mission is to climb a Grade 6a boulder problem.   The scale goes 3, 3+, 4, 4+, 5, 5+, 6A, 6A+, 6B, 6B+, 6C, 6C+, 7A etc...last year we climbed many 3's and 4's, and two 5's and one 5+...this year I want to go one better and bag a 6A, which is a classic bouldering grade, and in some ways the gateway grade to serious bouldering in Fontainebleau. 

Don't get me wrong, my ambition is not to climb seriously, far from it.   Mostly I just want to climb boulders that are challenging but doable - and that means 3's and 4's.

But an actual Font 6A would be a nice little tick from my 50@50 Challenge list. 

Of course, Anna now wants to climb a 6A too...to be honest, I think there's far more chance of her getting up one than me...but we'll see...

The fun is in the trying...

Bring it on!

B-)

Day 264 - Feel the Forces

shoepile

At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that this is just a heap of old, identical climbing shoes...but wait!

Upon closer inspection, each shoe (or at least, each pair) has its own story...(surely you can't believe that I just randomly buy too much climbing gear for no good reason?!)...

These shoes are Scarpa Forces.  They are a beginner to intermediate all round climbing shoe, well made using high quality materials - suede uppers and vibram rubber soles. 

High performance rock shoes often feature a heavily down-turned toe, and many climbers wear them very small - up to 3 sizes smaller than their normal street shoe size...the thinking behind this is that the tighter the shoe fits, the more it's like a second skin, and the smaller the holds you can stand on...so climbers often wear shoes that require their toes to be scrunched up in the end of the shoe, allowing the application of greater force through the big toe.

Whilst this is all great in theory, in practice it hurts like a bastard!  

Hence my approach is to wear shoes of a size that means my feet are flat, my toes aren't scrunched up, and I can wear them all day without discomfort.  I figure that the occasions where the reason I'm failing on a climb is because my shoes are too loose can be counted on one hand over the year. 

The vast majority of the time, it matters not a jot...so I always choose comfort over performance. 

So this first pair of Forces I bought were generously sized at Eu46, which is around UK11, against my normal shoe size of UK10.

small forces

I picked these up in late 2011 for the bargain price of £56, against a manufacturer's RRP of £100.

However, although I really liked everything about the look, feel and quality of the shoes, and shape-wise they're a good fit, my big toes were a little squashed in the end of the shoe, and I found them very uncomfortable to wear for more than 20 minutes or so.  I think they might break in a bit better, given time, but I only wear them very occasionally now, when I'm struggling with footwork on tiny (or non-existent) holds.

Because I liked them so much, in August 2012 I bought another pair in a size Eu47, which is UK12...

old forces

These weren't such a bargain price, at £65, but they have been my favourite shoes ever since.  My toes are not squashed at all, and I can indeed wear them all day with no issues.  

Sure, they're a little big sometimes, and small holds can be a bit tricky, but I can counter that to some extent at least with good and careful foot placement.

Anyway, these shoes have been my go-to shoes ever since...I've climbed in them all over the Peak District in all weathers, on Dartmoor in the wind and rain, in Snowdonia in the snow and Anglesey in the cold, in Pembrokeshire and the Lake District in blazing sun, and of course not forgetting the hot and dry Costa Blanca, and the beautiful and atmospheric Fontainebleau. 

All of my significant outdoor adventure climbing has been done in these shoes.  By winter 2013, they'd become very worn, so I got them re-soled, intending to use them solely(!) for indoor use...but still I find they're my #1 pick, wherever I'm going and whatever sort of climbing I'm doing. 

That said, recently they've become very worn again, the soles have thinned and they're less supportive.

In Summer 2013, Scarpa announced the end of the line for this model of the Force, and I really wasn't impressed with the new version...it had turned into a dumbed down beginner's shoe, so far as I could see.   I started looking to buy a spare pair for the future.  However, I couldn't find anywhere that had the somewhat unusual size of 47 in stock.  I'd almost given up hope, when late August last year I found that Newcastle Climbing Centre had a pair in stock for £71...

So despite them apparently getting more expensive as time went on, I had to purchase them, and I've been saving them to transition to these newer ones (below), from the older ones (above).

new forces

I've worn these quite a bit now, outdoors on occasion and whilst the older ones were being resoled.   For all of this year, I've found myself saving them for Font...and now the older ones are really wearing out, I'm looking forward to moving to these.

Then, earlier this week, I noticed a post on the UK Climbing website forum:

FS Scarpa Force size 47, only worn twice.

I opened the thread to find that they'd been on sale for a couple of weeks already, with no interest, and the price had reduced from £45 plus delivery, to £40 including postage!

bonus forces

Of course I couldn't pass up this opportunity, and now I have a virtually new pair to act as standby...I'm sorted for the next couple of years at least.

may the forces be with you

Now I just have to decide how many of these are coming to Font with me...I'm thinking the three newer pairs, but maybe I'll take all of them so none are left out.

In other news, following last night's deadmau5 drama, tonight I got to stem the tide of death, a little at least.

As I made my way through to the lounge, I noticed a tiny wood mouse in a little ball at the bottom of the stairs.  Sighing and swearing under my breath at Loz, I put my bags down and went to investigate...only to find the mouse sitting up and Maisie looking at it with interest...

I put my hand down to pick the tiny thing up, and he ran into my palm, before dashing out again and rushing off into a corner. 

Of course all the skittering activity really caught Maisie's attention, and I had to shoo her away with one hand whilst trying to herd the mouse into the other. 

Luckily, the little fella ran into the slackline sack which was sitting next to the front door.  So I took him over to the hedgerow and encouraged him out, and he ran straight off into the undergrowth.

Take that Loz, you Killer Queen...

Today you lose!

B-)