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 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-)

Day 261 - GoogleBigs

5p, 32GB

A comment Jezz made in his blog last night provided some handy inspiration this evening, when I was tired and otherwise all out of ideas...

He mentioned macro photography, which reminded me that we have a little macro lens that I've not tried yet (it fits onto our prime 35mm fixed lens)...so I soon found myself scanning my desk for a subject.

I have these little Micro-SD memory cards knocking around as I'm gradually gathering stuff for our trip to Font...and I'm constantly amazed at how small they are, with such huge capacity.

This particular one is 32GB, and you can get them as large as 128GB...these are a rare breed, almost never spotted in the wild, but the technology is there - you can buy them on Amazon...

A 128GB card could hold 24 hours of 720p video...even the 32GB could hold 175 episodes, nearly 8 seasons of Friends. 

I think the first PC I bought, back in the early 90's, had a 128MB HDD...it was the size of a small, thick book, and weighed about a pound!

Now, one GB, (traditionally referred to as one GigaByte) is equal to 1,000 MB (MegaByte)...so this tiny card has 1,000 times the capacity, at 1/1000th of the physical size...stunning!

Around these parts (and somewhat anecdotally), my good friend Andy (erstwhile lead commentator on this blog), coined the perfect alternative word 10 years or so ago, when discussing a technical support issue with me (and simultaneously revelling in his PC-illiteracy, as he was wont to do)...I asked him something along the lines of, how big is the hard drive in that PC?, to which he replied, it's 128...erm...GoogleBigs...?  

Do you see how much sense that word makes?  If I said this MicroSD card can hold 32 GigaBytes, you'd be all, like, oh ok, awesome or whatever, I suppose...

But if I said it can take 32 GoogleBigs, you'd be all like, woah, dude, that thing is huge!  It's like totally rad', brah!

Thanks Andy, I'm still enjoying that one! :-)

Anyway then I realise that that first PC was nearly 25 years ago, and it just makes me feel old...it's not like I was a kid when I got my first PC...

Yet still I do find it absolutely remarkable how tiny these MicroSD's are (you'll have noticed me remarking upon it, mere moments ago...).

And they provide the perfect opportunity for a bit of macro action.  

For scale, I found the shiniest five pence coin in my small change receptacle, and stood it next to the memory card...I took around 30 shots, varying angles and lighting and f-stop with abandon, as I went...

Now, usually when I take multiple photo's I find myself using the first one, and feeling that I wasted all that time taking all the subsequent useless shots, and I should just go with my first instinct.

But tonight, this was the very last shot I took!  I'm fairly pleased to have worked my way towards a half decent capture.

I also learned that the camera can still focus with this combination of lenses, as close as around 3 inches (but no closer).  

I think this photo demonstrates that it has some capacity for capturing the detail of the very small...

Thanks for the reminder, Jezz!

Now I just need to find an actual, non-contrived subject!

:-)

Day 163 - Drizerable Day

rock gear

Typical glorious English Summer Bank Holiday weather today!

(Please note the epic amount of sarcasm dripping from the word glorious...)

It started off dry and mild, so my plan was to take the clippers to my hair, pop to the garage to get petrol and 2-stroke oil for the strimmer (and milk for the coffee), then mow the lawns and strim around the garden a bit more. 

If the sun came out to any degree, I would nip down the lane and have another look at that tree I'm going to climb...

All went well until I went to the garage - by which time it was starting to rain lightly.  Although it had all the characteristics of a brief summer shower, it demonstrated once again how much I know about anything at all, and settled in for the day. 

It's late afternoon now, still raining, and very wet out there...although the rain has been fairly light, in the main, it has now been persisting for several hours.

It's very much the definitive drizerable day.

Drizerable is a word combining drizzling and miserable, and very much describes a day like today.  Don't bother looking the word up, I made it up...having said that, I just looked it up (yeah, yeah, sue me, whatevs...) and it seems Lil Nicki is also claiming authorship...

Shame Nicki can't spell...the word is mine!

Mwahahahahaha

Anyway, nefarious plagiarism aside, fortunately, I had a backup plan (and a preferable one at that, yay rain!)...

Another entry on my list of challenges for the year is to build home music studio, and I realised today was a good opportunity to make some progress.

So I rearranged our spare bedroom (the Rock Room), and spent some time tidying and organising gear, and setting up the basics of my music studio.

In the photo above, you can see:

• Headphones
• Stereo Amplifier
• Vocal Processor
• 10:2 Mixing Desk
• DI Box
• Microphones x 2
• Guitar Processor
• Loop Station
• Bass Guitar
• Electric Guitar
• Electronic Drum Kit
• Digital Audio Workstation (PC!)
• Virtual Sequencer
• Virtual Mixer

Now all I need is a Sound Engineer (who would understand how all these work), a competent Musician (who could play all these instruments convincingly), and a Producer (who could bring creative genius and musical ideas), and I'll be good to go!

rock gear

This photo is taken from the opposite diagonal of the Rock Room...now you can see how well named it is!

Thanks, I'm here all week!

;-)

Day 137 - Not Too Loud Enough

no guitar amps

Before I start, I'd just like to remind you that this is Andy's fault.  

Seriously...blame him!

If you're not blaming him yet, I reckon you might be by the end...

Andy's question was (as I'm interpreting it) broadly about how you can get a decent guitar sound in the house, without annoying the neighbours. 

This probably sounds like a silly question - there's a volume knob, right?

(by the way, gecko poo...you know who I'm talking to...)

But it's not that simple... 

The guitar produces a very small, clean signal.  Guitar amps were originally valve amps, which use vacuum tubes to amplify this signal to a level sufficient to drive a speaker, producing a sound loud enough for us to hear.    

When driven through an amplifier at relatively low "gain", an electric guitar sounds smooth and clear - think Hank Marvin (and the Shadows).

However, if you increase the gain up to the point where the valve can no longer cope with it, the signal starts to break up.   In valve amps this signal degradation happens in a smooth, warm way, and if you continue to increase the gain, the signal becomes fuzzy...think Jimi Hendrix on Purple Haze or Voodoo Chile.

Keep applying more gain and you eventually get into Heavy Metal territory.

To keep things simple, I'll just say that gain is closely related to volume...you can only get this overdrive effect by turning the amp right up...and valve amps are loud!!

Many professional guitarists would use amps as large as 1-200 Watts.

I have a 30 Watt valve amp, and it's literally unusable in the house!

In order to drive the valves, you need to apply some power...the net effect of which is that the amp makes almost no noise until you turn it up to about 2, and then it's suddenly so loud it seems like the windows might break. 

So how can we get this tone without the volume, for use at home?   The short answer (you'll be relieved to know) is digitally!

There is an ongoing debate over the merits of digital versus analogue signal processing, but if you look at the quality of, say a video on your smartphone, it gives you an idea of how far digital media has advanced over recent years.  The same is true of sound processing, of course, and I think it's fair to say the quality of digital systems is very high now, and it takes an expert ear to detect a difference. 

What this means to me is that I can use a Guitar Effects Processor to fake this fuzzy, over-driven sound before I amplify it, then I can just use normal levels of gain and volume, and get very similar tone to what you'd get from a large'n'loud valve amp. 

From the top in the photo, there's a vocal processor, a power amp, a small mixing desk, a PC on the right, a guitar effects processor, and a pile of assorted cables. 

The trick is to assemble these in the correct order to create sound!

It should go something like;

1a)  Guitar into Guitar Effects Processor
1b)  Microphone into Vocal Processor
2a)  Guitar Effects Processor into Mixer
2b)  Vocal Processor into Mixer
3)    Mixer into PC
4)    PC into Power Amp
5)    Power amp to Hi-Fi speakers

As I was about to start setting this up, I realised that I've apparently lost the power supply for the Mixer, which as you can see, is right in the middle of this signal path!

So, a quick bit of improvisation, ditch the microphone (I wasn't going to sing along anyway!), 
and this becomes the much simpler:

Guitar to Guitar Effects Processor to Power Amp to Speakers.

job's a good'un

Sorted!

So, Andy, I don't know why you felt it necessary to subject everyone to that.  I hope you're suitably ashamed of yourself!

;-p

Day 120 - Three Points of Contact

down climbing

In order to test my readiness for the 50@50 Challenge, today's mission was to head up to Birchen Edge in Derbyshire, and have a little trial run.

Perhaps I should explain what the 50@50 challenge is, exactly.  The aim is to climb 50 routes on rock, in a day, at age 50...50 routes at 50 years old...50@50!

A route is a known, named and graded rock climb.   In the Peak District, routes tend to be short (6-25m), and usually start at the bottom of the rock face, and finish at the top. 

Simply, each route is graded in terms of how "hard" it is...this grading includes such factors as how scary the climb is, and how dangerous it is, alongside the more obvious "how hard the moves are" characteristic.

Grades range from Easy, through Moderate, Difficult, Severe and Extreme, with each grade being subdivided further. 

For my challenge, I must climb named routes, and I can either climb up them or climb down them.   However, in order to do 50 of these in a day, there will be no time to set up any ropes, nor any other kind of safety system.   

I have to climb everything solo, which means to free climb, without any aid (assistance) or protection (safety measures).

Soloing is a very personal thing, and a bit of a can of worms, so let's not go there just now.

But it's fair to say that it brings my mind to focus, and makes me climb in a much more controlled manner, which is another way of saying it makes me climb better.

I'm comfortable soloing up to Severe, but the climbing is starting to get serious at this grade, so most of my challenge will be on (variations of) Diff climbs, with a handful of Mod and Severe routes thrown in to shake it up a bit.  

I have a list of 60 or 70 routes at Birchen Edge that are in this grade range, so today I wanted to climb a few and see how they feel.   I needed to assess how doable the challenge seems, how risky, how dangerous, how tiring, how scary, and so on.  

Birchen was heaving today - I've never seen so many people at the crag - and I can't say I liked it!

Here's a photo I took whilst soloing a route in the busy area of the crag:

rammed

This meant that many of my planned routes were occupied (as most people climb mostly in the Diff to Severe range), and if nothing else, this supports my decision to do the 50@50 on a weekday.  

My current target date is the 2nd of May, by the way, if anyone fancies a day out in the Peak?

I also learned that down climbing can be much slower than up climbing, and it's probably not a good idea to down climb anything harder than a Mod.

Just before I get to the facts and figures of the day, and apropos of absolutely nothing, here's a cute little common lizard, who posed politely for me on my rucksack:

say cheese

Stats

Number of named routes climbed: 26
Number of named routes soloed: 24
Number of named routes down climbed: 4
Number of routes in the Mod range: 3
Number of routes in the Diff range: 11
Number of routes in the Severe range: 12

Number of falls: 2

The first was when I was leading one of the two roped routes we did, a climb called Nelson's Nemesis (VS 4b***) one corner crack was very smooth and slippery, and as I pulled up my hand just popped off and I fell a couple of feet...but my gear held (a cam I had in the crack), and Anna caught me!   I think that's the first time I've fallen on my own gear, and the first time Anna has had to catch me in anger (not literally!).  Thanks babe!  So, no harm done, I hopped back on and led the route successfully from the ground up. 

Then on my last solo of the day, I was off route - not following a published line, but just following my nose.   Up on a little ledge near the top of the Kismet Buttress, I decided to head up a side wall.   I reached over the top for a helpful hold, found one, weighted it, and immediately popped off because of all the dried soil in it.   I fell a couple of feet again, but this time there were no ropes, so I thumped down quite heavily on one heel.  Might be a bit sore tomorrow!

Because it was a side wall off a ledge, there was no real danger of a tumble down the face, but it was a bit of a wake up call about climbing off-piste...you don't know what you might run into, and it's significantly riskier than climbing known routes.

Number of routes climbed in the first 30 minutes: 10

This is a useful figure, and I think I could sustain this pace.   So 10 climbs in 30 minutes, then a 10 minute rest...the 50@50 should take me about 3 hours and 10 minutes. 

Number of scary moments: 0

Very promising for the 50@50.

Number of slightly sketchy moments: maybe 3 or 4

Must keep an eye on this.

Number of injuries: 2

My heel from the fall, and a muscle in my rib that I popped whilst climbing a tough arete, early in the day.  Neither injury are serious, and will be fine in a day or two.

Number of other people there: far too many!

Conclusion.

I think I'm ready for the 50@50, and I think it's doable.

I'm tired tonight, having done only half of the required routes...but they were mostly in the harder, more challenging Severe range, and there are steps I can take to conserve energy.   I'm pleased with both the number of routes I did, and the average difficulty.   There are some lessons to learn, and it's been a timely reminder to stay focussed on risk, stay within my boundaries, and keep at least three points of contact with the rock!

We finished the day on ropes, on a couple of tough classics, and Anna did a gutsy lead of Horatio's Horror (HS 4a**), which as a second, I found to be disconcertingly challenging!

Go Anna!

And go me for my 50@50!

B-)

Day 110 - Right Route

good gear

I found the perfect use for a day's flex-time today - a day out at The Roaches!

It's a majestic place, really wild and beautiful.

To a climber, it's both an incredible adventure playground, and a daunting, intimidating fear factory.  Much of the climbing isn't that hard (although much of it is absolutely nails)...but it isn't that.  There's an atmosphere about the place.  It's big and bold and exposed, and when the weather is doing its thing, you feel as though you're on another world.

So we headed up there today, determined to blow the stress of the week away, up in a high place.

Then we spent most of the day in the low places - bouldering!  Reacquainting ourselves with gritstone slabs was great fun, despite the lack of altitude or exposure.

There is such a huge amount of climbing at The Roaches, you never know quite what you'll want to climb until you get there.  Consequently, you take all your gear!

As Jezz was with us, we wanted to give him the experience of an adventurous Roaches classic.   And having lugged all the gear all the way up to the crag, we might as well put it to good use by doing our first multi-pitch climb as a trio.

So we chose the low grade but fairly challenging Right Route.

the right route?

It's a two pitch route, and last time we climbed it, Anna led the first pitch, so this time it was my turn...and most entertaining it was!

Having one leader and two seconds presents some subtle challenges to the ropework systems, so it was a good opportunity to test the process all the way through.

Here's Jezz climbing with the blue rope, leaving the red for Anna.

yes, the right route

The top photo is on a ledge between the two pitches...I'm in more or less the same place on all three photo's!

As you can see, I'm not completely on top of my rope management game...but it did all work ok,..and the colours are interesting if nothing else!

Here's Anna leading the high, exposed top pitch, which finishes right at the top of one of the highest buttresses at The Roaches.

neither left nor wrong

I'm still in the same place - it almost seems as though I didn't do much on this climb...I definitely felt more involved at the time!

Anyway, good job, Anna!

Also, what's going on with my hat?!

:-/

Day 109 - Fleeced?!

elite troops

My name is Jonny, and I'm a gearaholic.

There, I said it...

Ok so I know Jonny isn't real, but for the purposes of this blog, I'm him...

...and yep, one day I'll explain who, exactly, the late, great Jonny Hendrix, playboy Grand Prix champion and occasional world record holder, really is.  

Yes, yes, I know, he's not really anyone - but in cyberspace he used to be somebody...and maybe, through this series of blogs, he can be again...

All of which is completely beside the point, please stop distracting me from my confession!!

So, I'm a gearaholic.  I can't help myself...I just keep buying outdoor gear.

There is a breed of website that specialise in last season or end of line stock, sold at fairly large discounts...and they keep mailing me and making me look at all their tempting bargains! 

Do I need another softshell jacket?  Of course!  

How about a fleece jacket?  Well, I have several...but this one is a slightly different colour and marginally heavier...good point, well made - I'll take two!

Would you look at this bargain baselayer...couple of these might make a handy alternative to the other 17 you already have...?  Why thank you kindly, sir, don't mind if I do...

With this type of sale, there's often quite some time, maybe 4-6 weeks between purchase and delivery, and this introduces a cool dynamic...by the time an order arrives, I've often forgotten what it is!  

Surprise outdoor gear presents...yay!

All I can remember about this large, fairly heavy bag of surprise gear, is that it contains 4 items of clothing, and cost around £40...bargain!

Probably...

I still haven't opened it - I wanted to write this without knowing.

Now obviously, with a highly valuable prize such as this, I couldn't let it stand around in the garden unattended, so I have my troops on guard duty.

Nobody's getting at my gear without coming through these three...and I know you are all jealously coveting my sporty-surprise lucky-dip goody-bag. ...

Don't even think about it!

;-)

Day 107 - A Gathering of Wind

empty crag

It's been a long day today, so a fairly succinct précis will have to do.

I had the day off, using up my last day of leave on the last day of the leave year to take a trip up to Windgather with Jezz.   The forecast had been threatening rain for a few days, but so far it had mostly failed to materialise. 

When we got there, we had the entire crag to ourselves - brilliant!

At least, it was brilliant for three or maybe even four minutes, until two transit vans full of students from somewhere or another showed up...

To be fair, though, their leader came straight over to us, asked what we were doing, and said he'd keep everyone out of our way.   We were impressed and appreciative, and replied that we'd go up the far end if they wanted to stay at the near

They didn't bother us all day, which is a first for a group of this type, in my experience - they can completely destroy the peace at a crag!

Anyway we had a great day doing easy trad stuff, literally showing Jezz the ropes.  He's picking it up really quickly, and even led his first climb today!

Here he is girding his loins for his first lead ascent.

loins fully girded

I climbed a couple of VS's, which are near the top of my grade range, and found them quite straightforward...satisfying and encouraging!

I also soloed a few routes, to test my head.  I'm pleased to say that it held up really well.  The only slight pause for thought I had all day was late on, when it had started to rain more heavily.   I was two thirds up a slab, with no ropes, and realised that not only were the footholds very polished, they were also sopping wet.  

It was only a fleeting thought, however, as I realised I simply had to keep climbing upwards, and I made it to the top without drama.   

In any case, I had no adrenaline at any point today.

Here I am climbing a steep, slightly overhanging upper wall, with no ropes:

back on the horse

This was a climb I'd done last year, on ropes, and I'd had a bit of a nightmare on it.   The top section was steep, greasy, scary and exposed, and generally a little bit desperate. 

So obviously, when I was tired at the end of the day and noticed it, I decided to climb it ropeless...

I'm pleased to report that I climbed it much better than last time, and I had no hint of nerves even whilst negotiating the committing top moves...my head is really good on solo at the moment...  

Conditions are starting to look favourable for the 50@50!

B-)

Day 74 - Weighty Matters

too much enough?

The years first climbing adventure approaches!  Only one more day at work now...and I'm starting to get excited about the holiday.

We spent some time the other evening going through all of our climbing gear, trying to remember everything we might need.  Today's photo shows everything we thought of; shoes, spare shoes, harnesses, helmets, slings, quickdraws, slingdraws, chalk bags, rope (in a rope bag), belay gloves, finger tape, prussicks, screwgates, belay devices, HMS 'biners, and walkie talkies. 

Then of course there'll be a rucksack, guidebooks, climbing trews (complete with gusseted crotch, natch), baselayers, windproofs, fleeces, sunglasses, smartphones, headtorches, approach shoes, beanies, plasters, water bottles, and buffs.

Blimey, it's not like we're climbing Everest...yet still we need all that gear?!

There's also the small matter of carriage - someone has to carry all that from the car to the crag, which is usually quite a walk...

And always uphill.  And occasionally a full-on scramble.  And we only have one rucksack. And it's mine.  And it'll probably weigh 40-60lbs.

And I guess it's going to be me that has to carry it...

All that training, lugging Jazz up the stairs every night, should come in handy at last!

It's a good job we've been climbing so hard lately, too...hopefully this will mean we are in reasonable shape, although I am utterly exhausted at the moment.

I've actually been really sore since climbing on Sunday - whilst I usually avoid the more gymnastic climbing moves (due to age, inflexibility, and a more general lack of talent), I did a couple of pretty dynamic moves.

Both involved throwing myself from one set of holds, up high and to the right (all points off), before catching the next big hold with both hands.  Obviously I swing quite a lot, and it takes some effort to get the swing under control, and then lift my feet up and onto the wall.

Normally, your weight sits on your feet, and your core controls the movement of your upper body, mainly by keeping it upright.  

When you invert this, and put all the weight on your hands, then your lower body is hanging off your core, which is in no way equipped to deal with the weight in this way.   Essentially, your legs swing about and wrench your abdominals all over the place, before you can sort it out.  

At the time, this all seems strenuous, but fine...doesn't hurt a bit.

Give it 24 hours though, and the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) will kick in...then you'll realise just how much punishment you gave those muscles.

Yesterday, I couldn't cough without wincing horribly at the pain this invoked in my core.   Today it's eased quite a bit, although I can still feel it.

Anyway, here's me, wittering on about climbing again.   Sorry 'bout that.  It's just what we're focussed on in the evenings, at the moment. 

You'd better get used to it, mind...we're off on a climbing holiday in a couple of days...did I mention that?

;-)

PS Think yourself lucky...I only just managed to dissuade myself from naming this post Gusseted Crotch.

You're welcome...

Day 73 - Scratting Around

cam again?

We picked up a real bargain on Sunday. 

A couple of winters ago, we'd been climbing for about a year, and decided to enter a bouldering competition at Big Rock Climbing Centre in Milton Keynes. 

In a bouldering gym, there're usually one to several hundred different "problems".   A problem is made up of a set of like-coloured hand and foot holds, bolted to walls of varying steepness, from almost vertical, to extremely overhanging - climbing on a ceiling in some cases.   The objective is to climb from the starting holds to the finishing hold, using only the holds for that problem.

Problems are graded from the very easy (not much more difficult than climbing a ladder), to unfeasibly impossible.   Of course, where "impossible" starts is entirely due to your personal level of technique, skill and strength.

Very easy climbs (indoors at least) start at grade V0, and go up to around V8.  Outdoors, the highest Grade so far achieved is V16, and there are only a few boulderers in the world that can climb at this level.  

But one of the great things about bouldering (or climbing in general), is that everyone has their own personal level of easy, difficult, impossible.

A year ago, we were finding V0-1 very easy, V2-3 quite difficult, and we only managed the occasional V4.    In sport (roped) grades, we were finding f4's easy, f5-f6a+ difficult, and f6b very hard indeed, usually impossible.

This year, we're finding V0-3 fairly easy, V4-5 difficult, and I don't think we've climbed V6.   In sport grades we're finding f5-f6a easy, f6a+-f6b+ difficult, and only getting anywhere on the odd f6c.

But it seems more or less the same difficulty.   We still climb at our limit each time, it's just that that's around V4 now rather than V2-3. 

So, where was I?  Oh yes, bouldering competitions!

From October, they set around 50 new problems each month until March or so.  These will be spread over the grades.  Each time you climb, you tick off those climbs you manage to do.  At the end, the winner is whoever climbed the most problems of the 250 or so set.

We'd usually climb around 15-20 problems each session, although Anna, of course, climbed one or two each session that I couldn't do. 

Then, in December, Anna injured her elbow falling off the wall.   I had horrible shoulder issues at the time, and we missed 7 or 8 weeks of the competition whilst we tried to recover. 

At last we felt able to go climbing again, and tentatively got back into the competition for the last couple of weeks.

I had the mixed blessing of being in the "Veteran" category, but still I ended up 4th with around 100 problems climbed, against a winner with 112 or so. 

Anna was climbing very nicely through that period (injury permitting), and finished 3rd in the tough Womens category, on 115 or so, only pipped by a handful of climbs...a brilliant achievement!

The prize was a small trophy, and a £20 voucher to spend in the shop at the centre. 

Shortly after that, Anna had her hip operation and couldn't climb for 6 months, and we forgot about the voucher. 

It turned up again recently, and as we were there on Sunday we thought we'd see if it was still valid, 2 years later. 

We were looking at quickdraws and the like , although we didn't really need any.  Then someone pointed out the sale rack, with 25% off.  A couple of small cams immediately caught the eye.   As noted earlier, these can be expensive, up to around £60 each. 

The ones in the sale were small, basic 3 Cam Units, which normally cost around £35.  With 25% off, that came to £26.25.   We scratted around in our climbing bag, where there's always loads of loose change, found the £6.25 we needed, and left with what felt like a free cam...bonus!

Of course, we won't need cams on our forthcoming climbing holiday, as it's sport, not trad.

My daughter pin snot and her boyfriend Roob are coming to join us for a few days, which will be great...although it won't change the requirements for cam units. 

For 3 years I've been trying to get pin to climb with me, but so far, no luck.   She's tried it but doesn't like the hard work aspect of it. 

Maybe outdoors in a warm climate will change her mind...

Ok yeah, I'm just wishful thinking now, aren't I?

Sigh...

;-)