Crafting Contentment amidst Caca

 It's actually been a pretty ok year. On paper it looks utter dog shit of course.

Having to move house, stress at work, serious family illness and the day to day struggles of neurodiverse kids have meant the minor snatches of adventure have been gold dust. Both in value and scarcity. 

To top it all off a niggling wrist flared up and then POp another pulley injury. Quite possibly the cortisol contributed.

So how's it been ok? Well I've found treasure in the small things, prior to temporarily disabling myself it was easy days bouldering with friends, daft mini adventures with the kids. Post injury it's the planning...

Next year I turn 50. I'm a little fed up with the last two years of injury, and have decided to do something about it.

All my life I've saught adventure, when the going got hard I specifically excersised to overcome the chosen objective, but there wasn't a culture training as we know it. 

Consequently I'm ashamed to admit there's many gaps in my climbing game, and it's quite possible that as I'm no longer "just climbing lots" I'm cashing cheques I can't write ( flip I'm showing my age). 

First I asked a physio to hold me accountable with bi monthly check ups.

Secondly I goal set; to get back to 7B and hopefully beyond by my birthday.

This means infiltrating my life with a culture of training. Not sure what that looks like yet.

Thirdly, as I can't climb yet, I need to have alternative adventures!

Cue digging Binky the Wonder Boat out of storage..

The target was Craig y llam, the site of my first ill fated coasteering session, and source of a massive niggle of unfinished business. I'm sure there's some projects waiting for me.

First thing I learnt was I've forgotten how to row. It may not have helped that the electric pump didn't quite have the guts to get it totally rigid, so the oar holes were flapping a bit.

It took quite a lot of whirligig type buffoonery to get round the fishing rock and to the cliff proper.

Some signs of DWS potential 

Ahoy! An offwidth memory from 14 years ago 

All I have to do now is work out how to pull on. Water seems deep enough and walls are all at least vertical. The chimney extends to an unknown depth within the cliff.

I didn't want to risk popping Binky trying to row to the back. It just occurred to me that I could have swum in, but I had nothing to moor to in any case.

Basically I need to visit in the company of fellow adventurers. Unfortunately being a very birdy cliff, this probably means next autumn.

At least I'll be a 7B boulderer by then.

Keep Exploring 

Burying the previous year

 So another silent 6 months has passed, I've popped the odd thing on Instagram, but not really felt up to splurging on here. .

Rewind to October:

By this point I'm trusting my ankle, having good sessions at the wall, I even started to try this new crack project..

Then got carried away.

Basically, while I was dealing physically and mentally with my bust Achilles, I had stepped away from climbing.

This meant no maintenance, no conditioning, I needed to compartmentalize that away.

When I returned to climbing I was surprised by how little form I'd lost, possibly something to do with how long I'd been maintaining at a certain level of form. However what hadn't stayed the same was my connective tissue. 6 months of stress free living had made my pulleys soft.

Lesson learnt, a little maintenance goes a long way.

One finger max density hangs have been a real eye opener. I use bungies and a home made edge so I can just make myself uncomfortable. I consider these exercises key to my recovery. 10 seconds of pulling in half crimp, then rest a minute. Repeat 5 times.

I did this twice a week for two and a half months. Now I just do it once a week as conditioning and will do indefinitely.

In the meantime I was going for the odd adventure with the kids, like exploring the woods 

I even got an opportunity to walk up a mountain looking for cracks 

They're a bit tall, not sure if they will be highballs or trad. I've not really tradded for 5 year's or more, so that might be interesting.

Finally this weekend Ethan and I returned to the crack

Unfortunately, it was a bit wet and the tools I'd brought to remove the stuck log were insufficient. Even our make shift swing didn't pull it out.

Still, I had a good play, and was reassured that my fingers were back up to this sort of shenanigans.

Something for another visit.

I'm really enjoying these adventures with the kids though. They have very little filter so are quite forthright and refreshing.

Adventure awaits 

Back in the Saddle

 So six months (ish) have passed. Lots of baby steps in physio, lots of little exercises. Walks and wanders, dreaming and scheming.

However, today I have returned to my love. Our of the asylum and back to the wilderness; boot and pad in hand.

Mr Fidler ( soon to be Dr no doubt) joined me in returning to a tentative loose end, found while on Deep Recon on the A487. The dolerite dominoes of Llyn Cymystradlyn may well be sandstone (I'm sure a geologist will tell us), but semantics aside, I can assure you of there provision of quality entertainment.

The approach for starters, takes in an inordinate array of bracken and bog. It wasn't until our retreat that the local fishermen imparted the arcane knowledge that boulder hopping the shoreline was a lot drier and ultimately swifter then balancing hummock to hummock across the sprawling bogs.

Once there, Dave got stuck into the big prize while I tentatively pulled on my comfy boots and looked for a lowball to toy with:

I was amazed how much I had to fight on the lowball, so low it probably deserved a ¡ After its lowly 6A¡.

Dave fought hard to make links on the giant roof, but settled on its soaring arete, which jutted proudly over a jumble of distant death blocks, definitely a !!

We had only taken a pad each, as we both had aspects of crippled on. These we placed under the bits where they could actually make a difference, leaving the void to take care of itself. Fortunately the finish was fairly straightforward. So he tells me. I didn't even attempt to pull on.

This became Brithyll Saithliw 6C!!

All the while I kept flailing on my slopey ground hugging traverse, eventually it relented to give the Inconsequential Traverse 6A¡

Amazed at the heady heights I had achieved after only 6 months of semi-recumbant woodlice husbandry, Dave had a go:

Both flushed with this success, we retired to the lower tier, where I quickly scored another prize.

This time it was Slopey Topscrittle; a lurchy F5

I then spent some time trying to be a wad, by brushing the holds to its right. This was mainly in vain. Although it did help to spur Dave onto furthering his efforts to cross the horizontal steepness:

Long video, but Well worth it for the banter.

In between banter, I jolly well got another first ascent- This ones called Moby Dick (there's a whale..) another 5 probably.

 

Laughter. That's what characterized this trip, that and joy, and bog. Plus a bit of choss.

At this point Dave pulled himself together and climbed this:

He called it Throwing Sheeps, due to my mistaking a herd of sheep for seagulls, and claimed it was 7B. I suspect he was being modest.

We finished up a delightful afternoon by hunting for signs of the mysterious G Mawr, and stumbled on this rather pretty boulder that shows signs of cleaning:

 If it hasn't been done before, you can call it Eog and it's about 6Bish ( the jumble of dominoes is in the background). It was too high for me to risk, and has a bum puncher block at its base. Shame really, if it was dug out it would be 3 stars good.

A great first return, I still have to be careful, lower my expectations, as well as the risk and the height. However, I'm reassured that by keeping a steady pace I can be back to being a loon by next spring.

A happy place.

Here be Really Tiny Dragons

 Well I'm now free of the boot and hobbling free. It's still early days, I'm certainly miles away from actually climbing again. However, I have discovered it's all in pretty good shape considering. 

I took it for a test drive.

Turns out with appropriate footwear I can get around a bit.

Yep I also used a walking pole, and had to sit down occasionally, but with care and caution..

I even coped with a little wilderness terrain.

So early days, but the joy of going somewhere I haven't been before, (especially as it felt like somewhere people didn't go often ) Well. It made me feel myself again.

The same time I was filling in the blanks on my personal map, a good friend and wind up merchant James Caff McHaffie was polishing off the original Giveaway Project of the Month from 2009.

I was incredibly made up, as I'd been banging on about the Superprow for, well, 13years. I'd even tried it myself ( too scary) and was building a patio for future highballers. Caff of course added a couple of token stones and cracked on regardless.

Since lockdown Caff has polished off four of my "Too much for Hosey" projects.

It's been really gratifying passing them on and seeing other people catch the vision I had.

This got me thinking about how much I've explored versus either finding anything, or if I do, actually getting round to climbing these lumps.

From the new perspective of temporary crippledom I'm realising that the hunt is as valuable (sometimes more so?) Than the capture.

A bit of a Google search found I was not alone. Micro exploration has been coined to describe these events. In the past adventurers were drawn to the blank bits of the map. In the modern world, the blank bits are still there. You just have to zoom in a bit, basic chaos theory innit?

All this is weighing on my mind, as climbing seems a long way off ( my gimpy toes only can take about 30% bodyweight). I'm coping with this by concentrating on being an explorer.

My project book is all full of ticks ( mine and other people's) and some unclimbed rock has to be discovered to refill it.

Today I went here:

Random woods on the edges of the map. Not so much a blank bit, as a bit that's been doodled on, had some tea spilt on it and then dropped down the back of the bookcase.

It's these forgotten places that occasionally turn up treasure.

So the gimpy foot generally behaved, apart from when a hidden stick snapping under my heel and shocking the system a tad.  I can keep exploring and finding new happy places.

There's treasure everywhere

Dark Autumn

 Well it rained a lot. And the family got Covid (all except me bizarrely)

To be Frank, my motivation took a bit of a nose dive, I went back to Porth Howel, which was nice..

The autumn storms had brought winter pebble levels. I was pleased to confirm that it didn't really make Barcode Punk easier, and I got to repeat What a Difference a Wave Makes, which again was nice.

I also followed up a hunch and checked the prow project at the old Trefor pier.

So the big prow project is back on... There is a niggle in the back of my brain, and at this point I think the seeds of discontent were sewn. 

I'll explain. 

I've had a great year. Properly Stonking. The motivational boost provided by the new bouldering guide has meant that I've ticked a humongous amount of long term projects this year. 

The shard

George's crack

The Tosheroon 

Barcode Punk... 

But there is still so much to do, and the wave of success has to reach the beach at some point. Fear of Failure has been a long-term foe, one I have repeatedly defeated only for it to jet off like The Claw. 

Throw in some external stress, and it's quickly becoming a bit black. 

Feeling burnt out is OK, feeling incapable and vulnerable is OK. Withdrawing a bit is not bad... But I'll be damned if I relinquish control.

So to try and break this low patch I went back to exploring. 

A bit of Google Swooping* found me a wood with a cliff in it and an adjacent public footpath.

*flying round Google Earth with help from Geograph.Org.Uk

Path was closed due to an exciting bridge (well I enjoyed it).

Turns out the interesting path wasn't exactly public.. 

Proper mushroom circle 

Slightly too small boulder. 

There was a massive and inaccessible cliff in the wood, but by that point I'd had enough, and diverted myself along a contour to check out a dark roof in a cwm. 

English Sheepdog Sheep! 

Turned out to be a slatey hole.. 

All in all a tad disappointing. I was lucky enough to get an actually sunny day, but with little psyche I diverted to more Google Swooping and a hunt for Tone's Golden Boulder. I found it, was underwhelmed, and quested on to see these reprobates:

Not rubbish, but not enough to pull me out of my slump. 

Driven by a unhelpful desire to add to the forthcoming Nwb3.2 idid a last bit of Google Swooping and decided to check out Carreg Lefain. I'd seen on ukc that the parking described in the Llyn guide was no longer welcomed by the land owner. Fortunately, the excellent work on the Mynydd Nefyn footpath network had meant easy access via a carpark just south of the crag. 

The crag itself looked ace, almost tempting me to dust off my rack and revisit in the Spring ;

Slight digital photobomb.. A couple of boulder bits at the bottom, but no pot of gold. 

In nearby mynydd nefyn quarry I found a cool looking crack.. 

And a too small but perfectly formed microgranite boulder. 

So yet another disappointing ramble, at this point I swore off further Llyn exploration.. 

(though I might come back for Gwylwyr quarry). 

What finally snapped me out of the doldrums was an indoor climbing session with my wife. I hadn't lead climbed apart for when I was setting for months, and it was fun just trying stuff and getting pumped.

It's OK to fail if you're having fun.

Find your own fun, this may not be the same as other people's fun. 

That's OK too (within the usual societal boundaries ofc). 

Thus I found myself going to an old venue, in an unfashionable out of the way spot. I'd told myself that I'd try some of the easy stuff I'd scoped out. However, I soon got sucked into old projects. 

So I'm now looking forward to trying, Failing and maybe succeeding on random things that I find fun. I'm putting aside tick lists for a bit (save some for next year). 

I hope the rest of the winter will be a bit drier, but I won't base my happiness on it. 

Finally I probably wouldn't have exited this wallow quite so speedily without the support and heckling of my wife and kids, and the shadowy network of professional banter merchants known as the Pebble Helms (cheers lads). 

Keep me posted on any virgin offwidth sightings.. 

I'll try not to leave it so long between blogs, but there's always the Instagram.

Forward Always 

Brief Moments Throttled

 So the last couple of months have been pretty dry in terms of adventure, mainly due to being wet in terms of weather.

However, enough brief windows of opportunity have occurred to slap together into a report.. 

So here it goes:

Ymyl Gwyn (not it's real name) 

I discovered this little cluster of gritstone during lockdown, and have been meaning to return. October afforded a morning so I got my stomp on. First highball mission since the Shard debacle and I picked this one.. 

Turns out it needed more than a single pad, and once committed, it was impossible to fall on the one I had. Beautiful arete though, called it "Arrietty" after the studio Ghibli version of the borrowers, as it initially felt small, then I felt very small.. About 6B!

This is Wellington Drudgery, about 6A+. I'm seem to spend an inordinate amount of time on long boggy walk ins. Fortunately it occasionally pays off. 

An attempt on the niche to the left, a decent side pull that just happened to be on the edge of a hollow pocket.. 

Crack ambition! 

I've decided to spend the next few months ticking off and mopping up the last of the major North Wales crack based boulder problems. I'd forgotten how much I loved crack climbing. This little puppy did a 

good job of reminding me. 

Crack Ahoy! Black Country Crack in Parc Dudley

I'd also been having some thoughts about taping up, and happened across a big sheet of 2mm foam rubber.. 

While it is too delicate to form a glove by itself, I was able to fashion templates to build a tape glove over.. 

Boom! 

Unfortunately, while the bottom 2 thirds of BCC were dry and lovely, the top third was not... 

However, it made a lovely excuse to revisit this three star fist crack at a drier date. 

I also foolishly attempted a through trip behind it... 

Foolishness continued as I forgot shears to get the gloves off. I ended up driving home in them (via the Spar to get milk). 

Came off lovely though.. Hand hair intact. 

Finally, revisiting Craig yr ecs (surprisingly also not its real name) 

So a year blighted by restricted travel has past, and yey! I've started revisiting some of these scattered play areas. First job was sorting the landing adjacent to Dutch Trance.  I was keen to play on another line on the same block, but it was blighted by a big spike and a jumble of smaller boulders. 

Firstly move and roll the small boulders and level the ground.. 

Then build up between the Spike and the boulder behind to platform it a bit and soften its pointy ness. 

It'll need two pads at least but safe enough now, just need to get somewhat stronger... 

First go. 

Sharp holds, soft skin. There's work to do. 

Finally tried a project from previous visits. The sit I tried before was still too hard, but I found it had a logical stand, with a tricky dyno.. 

First time I got it, my wife decided to call (that's my ringtone) and I kinda went to pieces. Happily I topped it 2 or 3 goes later. 

Slanted Enchanted, 6C or there abouts. The sit adds 2 moves, but probably bumps it to 7A+ ish. 

So there you go, a few snatched moments, I'm looking forward to a future meeting up with others, getting some pads down. However, for now I'm just loving getting out. 

There's treasure everywhere!