Testing, Testing!

 Well it had been 10 weeks to the day that I spannered my ankle. It had been settling down nicely, and was usable to climb. Indeed, I had even accidentally fallen on it with no serious repercussions.

Therefore, I decided it was time to rescue my spare pad from Marchlyn. It had been skulking up there for several months, and I was sure it would need some tlc. Furthermore, I'd need it as part of my pad stack when I revisit the Shard.

I made it up OK, the ankle felt a little stiff, but certainly wasn't shouting at me. The gully was interesting, but OK.. 

The path had been washed somewhat by the rain since my last visit. 

The pad was still there! Visitors subsequent to my accident failed to spot it, so I was a little worried. It looked a little damp, and as I pulled it out, I got a bit of a surprise.. 

I don't know if that was just rain, or if the hydro scheme had maximised their cheap electricity and boon of rainfall, and got the level of the storage reservoir over my little stash spot.. 

Needless to say, there was much wringing out, even then it still weighed a ton. 

Keen to play, I had brought another pad up, and also my posher camera (ie not my phone). It had a 10sec timer, so I got to set up some vignettes and scamper into frame. 

These are Erodeo 5C

Tumbleweed 6B

Seamus 6C

These are Trev's Last Wave 7A 

Following that, and being a little warmed up, I turned my attention to the easiest of the remaining projects. To get the juices flowing so to speak. 

This was one attempt of many many. Some falls more controlled, a lot less. However, the tumbles down the hill didn't result in too much ignominy or injury. I just didn't seem to be able to keep the weight on my heel, and this led to a little heel scrapage and blood letting. Next time I'll bring one of my solutions up (I'm still weary of putting one on my wonky foot).

The walk down was slow due to all the excess water my stash pad was carrying. I didn't fancy risking coming off my scooter. It's the next day now and the ankle is complaining a bit. I think this was mainly due to heavy porterage on the descent. Something to avoid I think. 

Hope you're all overcoming your personal challenges, it's all part of the game. Psyched for the next episode. 

Footwork, and Before the Fall

 Sooooo. Rehab is happening, and the foot is gaining in normality. Spannering myself mid July wasn't a cool move, especially with the kids at home. My wife was quite clear about that. However, lessons in patience and asking for help have been learnt. 

Loads of proprioception work as well as strengthening and massage going on. I'm happy to be top roping up to 7b without too much discomfort, just need to get impact proof before the rematch. 

This pause has given me an opportunity to bring you up to date with some of the other lockdown shenanigans that went un reported. 

Firstly I spent quite a lot of time here:

The Marchlyn super boulder is likely to make its proper debut in the new bouldering guide, and I was keen to mop up any lines that I could sensibly do. I turned my attention to the satellite blocks, especially the Atlantis block, that spends its mornings Submerged, to emerge into the summer sun in the afternoon. First job was a massive patio.. 

Then I got these two done. Proper class slopes. 

 The dark side didnt need the same landscaping, but was more overhanging. One scary highball arete, and a heart felt tribute to an old mate who passed over that month. 

I even stashed a spare pad up there, couldn't seem to keep it dry though.. 

Fairly well hidden though.. 

A couple of things escaped me. This toothy techy crack

And this slopey flailing top out:

A cool place that I hope will not fade back away into obscurity.

A slightly spooky trick of the light on the way down. 

Another thing I was playing with was patioing here:

Another work in progress I'm looking forward to revisiting. 

However, for now, it's rehab rehab rehab. 

Digging in

Worrying times. My place of work is closed, kids all at home, and a lot of fear is rolling over everything like the fog in, well, Stephen King's The Fog.
We're all hunkered down in a house we share with my parents, trying not to do anything that may bump 'em off. There's only so much Boss Baby a dad can endure, and I took an opportunity today to seek solitude up at my boulder at Marchlyn.

The fear is not overwhelming however, I had a nice friendly chat with a elderly (socially distant) lady who was walking her dogs as I set off, curious as to whether my pad stack was so I could stay up there indefinitely. Then a worker on the lower reservoir offered me a lift to the top! (I was wearing gloves, no one coughed).

My samaritan driving off. 

First time for everything and I actually had to do a bit of a warm up at the boulder rather than trying to cool down. At first I found the Connie's a bit slick, a mixture of temps, dampness and glassy skin. I fell off Tumbleweed once and took a few goes to get Ledgehammer. However the regular start to Seamus went promisingly, feeling pretty locked on the crimps. 

Seamus Low has been a project of mine for a couple of years, and it has been always tantalisingly close, with no cigar. 

Today I think I was just a bit more aggressive, and the simpler 'go big' beta I worked on last year meant a little grrr went a long way.

Success vid below(Andy Popp watch to the end) 

As always with this boulder I'm unsure of the grade. Conditions and Psyche seem just as important as fitness. It seemed easier than previous tries, but I'm having to spin on a one arm lock off... I've always thought it would go at F7A+ so I'll go with that. 

Who knows what tomorrow will bring, in the words of Theodore Logan:

"Be Excellent to Each Other" 

Kicking off my Marchlyn Season

So Seren had her 4th birthday party,  with able support / interference from her brothers.  It was hot and windy, and not a little stressful. So when set free, I had to do something..
However all the crags would be sweaty, unless I slogged in the wind and heat up to Marchlyn!
After all this talk of Foolery,  it certainly fitted,  as I was knackered and weak, but rather than settling for a bit of benchmarking on a random rock. I was keen for my first slog up the hill. I always hate it, but, the boulder was soo good,  and maybe I'll get some progress.  I left the scooter at home as I was having brake issues (I melted my wellies)  and the wind may make it dangerous.
It certainly made it arduous.  Being blown this way and that, a QL workout,  and rarely in the right direction.



A 50 minute slog took me into the shade and presented me with lots of very dry and windy rock!

My usual warm up circuit took place and the friction was ace. However,  fingers were found wanting a little,  and I struggled to drop into Tumbleweed.  It turned out I was trying to drop into the start holds of the stand(which is nails) rather than the correct sloper. That completed I moved onto Edgehammer which rather than requiring fine tuning,  went down without a whimper. 

Taking this as a good sign, Seamus was dispatched and I turned my attention (for the nth time)to the low start project. 

Crispy dry footholds! 

Some time away has somehow allowed me some detachment,  and I felt able to play with the sequence skipping moves to try going big and playing with the energy budget. 

This resulted in a much more workable high percentage sequence.  Not only that but I could quantify my deficiencies and see how to nullify them.

Game on!

It may be a tedious poo of a slog, but it's lovely up here. 

Let's see what winter brings..

Sloughing off the Winter Inertia

So it turns out sacking off January was a good thing. The welsh winter mizzled on without much breaks for a busy bouldering dad. It felt like last year was full of exploring, but not many actual climbs go produced. I'm keen to do a lot of re visiting this year and get some scalps!

To give an Idea this is a typical screenshot of my phone album....

So How to kick start this year? fortunately global warming was at hand to shake off the apathy of winter (at least for a bit). This sent me to the nearest "shed" I could slump to to assess my assets and benchmark my behind.

Skadoosh!

It never fails to expose my weaknesses. Before Christmas it pointed to my lack of bounce, which I diligently worked on in my meager training sessions. This Sunday it looked sidelong at my weak fingers, more things to work on...

Well today was a getting off my bum day, I had to buckle up, stop winging and walk up a big hill with two mats and a scooter.

Yep back to Marchlyn

As I've been in the slough of despond, my fitness was terrible. However, this gave me opportunity to ponder the possibilities of Elidir fach....

It was grrreat to get back to the project boulder, and conditions were mint. There was even a patch of snow above the Pillars of Elidir. While I felt ok going through my usual circuit (aided by a fancy pilates warm up) The Seamus low project still eludes me. However I was able to complete the last of the F6 lines that have cleaned up at the left of the boulder:

Bloody Stupid Johnson 

Bloody Stupid Johnson Right Hand

Fans of Terry Pratchett should know what I'm talking about. They're both in the mid to upper 6's

I Even reaaly enjoyed my scooter down. However, I had to walk the last little bit as I'd worn through another wheel..

So normal service resumed. I have a plan, and I intend to enjoy implementing it.

Come and Play

Territorial Husbandry

Thought it best I get another blog out, as I try to get back into the swing of things now schools back in. However it appears September is not playing ball. Rather than an indian summer, we seem to be getting a soggy one.

However, if you turn back at the first sign of defeat, you'll never get anywhere... And there is always something to do in North Wales.


"If You Settle for Nothing Now..."

So off I Headed into The Mizzle.

The Plan was to tidy up my Marchlyn projects so that I can Start actually ascending some. They got a brief mention in NWB, and this has spurred me into action to get the two lines I've emotionally invested in done. Okay, it should be noted that I do bang on about projects, included these fairly publicly on this blog (and at work, the pub, bus queues etc.), But seeing it in printed on the page has got me jittery..

So back to slogging through the mizzle..

It stopped, which allowed me to admire the view, and play candy crush, which took my mind off the slogging. Usefully, my slight vulnerability to addictive behavior, seems only to apply to  boring things like rocks, comics and kids games, rather than heroin.

I even got a rainbow...

Once at appropriate Altitude, I was pleased to discover a new alternative approach to my bloc (always learning), and settled down to two hours of moving things from one place to another.

The Result!

The Patio is now higher more level, and well on its way to being wider too. I've also opened out the left side of  the boulder, which has presented exciting new opportunities. My main focus is now the sit start on Seamus (the vertical seam in the foreground). It will start off the flake in the steepness below. Its merely quit hard, whereas the true sit into the Tumbleweed stand is still feeling beyond feasibility. However, whilst lugging rocks on this trip I concocted a mishmash sequence based loosely on my original fantastical plan, with just enough bits of my cop out beta to market it to my cynical creaky self.

It may even work, but I need a pilgrimage to Feidr Fw to get a training montage on. Historically this is where I beat myself fit, as I've yet to keep myself off the ouchy stuff indoors enough to sustain a serious unbroken montage.

Meanwhile...  There's nothing to see here...

Summer Luvin' part one

Summer holidays are upon us, and between the build up to the holidays (where my tribe of chaos monkeys become overly tired and excited at the same time), and the actual kids holidays, I ain't been very active.

The following is a summary of the last month:

Micro adventure number one!
Must try harder, or rather, try to try harder. Hence I cycled up to the Marchlyn dam to see if  the little bit of extra training I've been doing has made the sit projects anymore possible. The answer is possibly yes... The little puppy in the vid is Seamus 6Cish:

Of all the sit projects this one gave a little ground this trip. As in I got more than 1 move off the ground on it. 2 mats, or a spotter would certainly make it easier to commit.

While I was up there I also took the time to repeat Livesey's Love Child 6B for the vid:

First time with a mat and yes, it did feel easier / less deadly this time...

Away Trip!

Yep I left Wales! This was an opportunity to meet up with a friend Andy "Ex-Ex Climber" Farnell who I hadn't climbed with for 25 years or so, as well as hooking up with Simon "Fatneck" Huthwaite and their friend Caleb "'King" Ainsworth. Fun was had bouldering at Blackstone edge in Lancs, yes that was fun, bouldering , and Lancs all in one sentance. Twice for the pedants.

"'King" Caleb throwing shapes on Trig Arete

Posers

Not doing the 7A.

I has a great time shooting the breeze and hustling the rather warm 6A+'s. I even got accused of schooling them when I hadn't been on Peak grit for 4 years or so....

However, I omitted to mention all the Welsh grit out the back of my house

Marchlyn Bach's petite boulder field. 

One of the few nice-ish blocs. It was here I spent Micro Adventure Number Two!

I've known about this bloc for a couple of years, but never dragged a pad there. I didn't this time either, as I was only out for a walk and scooter. However, I'd packed my boots just in case, and decided to venture onward old school. The following vids are second ascents, as my first attempts and ascents were somewhat trepidatious and took forever.

The central line eng. 5c

The right hand seam, somewhat more eng. 5c

Micro Adventure Number Three!
Exercising the Monkeys of Chaos. Finally built up the courage to take them on some ladders in the quarries.

Dylan and Ethan in Indy's minecart

Logan Ethan and Dylan all attempting to smile for the camera.. Honest

Old Quarry rules, mainly broken

Dylan brought the roof down..

Playing the Oil Drum Glacier Gong Harp

Logan discovering the magic brown crystals

Being a safe dad and employing a rope...

The Cowboy was the reason for Ethan's Choice of outfit.

Fortunate given the alternatives..

So Plenty weeks more fun to come. I'm sure I'll report in before September...

Have fun Y'all

New Year, New Approach

Happy new year and all that. December was a month of Family, work, and thinking about what I want to do next. My ambitions are moving towards closing a number of harder projects, I realise I'm becoming more and more of a boulderer. However, I realise a) I'm getting older and more niggily, and b) my mind remembers being a lot stronger than I am now.

The last concerted effort towards training was for The Beast in Me. That was two years ago. I guess this was because of time pressures, and a series of old man aches, and the fact I don't really like training. A new approach is required.

Its not really training, that's my new approach. Its a series of challenges spaced in time by 2-3 days. Every couple of days I do some circuits, visit a boulder, or go for a stomp. A mix of conditioning and pushing myself in useful ways.
for example:

James boulder, an easily accessible source of good honest ass whipping, if a little limited in scope.

For more variety, and a good cardio work out, I'd take this rig up to 600m for a different set of things to fall off.

First attempt at this was met with mizzle and cloud. Made it up to the dam in 39 minutes and then limped down on the scooter, trying not to wipe out in the wet. a shocking 28 minutes. let down by this lack of action I decided for a second cardio hit and went off to the quarries to check out whats changed since the last guide..

Found this helpful bit of lash together level access...

This rather awesome wall is the result of the big fall in lost world, could make a great venue for high 7 sport routes

A week or two later I made it up to the dam in 36 minutes, beautiful sunny day And I chose to play in the shade. However, I was appropriately dressed, and had packed the hand warmers

Unfortunately, I was also incredibly week after a year of injuries and false starts, I managed the old problems, which are on the main standing starts, but the unclimbed sitters were another matter. I was unable to gain any training value from them as although I could lovingly chalk and brush the holds, I couldn't actually pull on any of them. I'll have to go away and get a bit stronger.

An example of the conditions, enough to pull on, not enough to hit with an axe..

Scooter decent was dry and 18 minutes ish, Need to leave off the brake a bit more to get down to previous records of 10/11 minutes.

LedgeHammer, 6B ish, one of the things I would eventually like to gain from a sitter.

As I write this I'm at home with a cold, so training's on hold a day or so. I've been enjoying using the Beacon too, as it can't all be outdoors, and I've set myself some pretty effective Power and Power Endurance workouts. slow and steady, that's 2017. That and hopefully some very silly adventures.