Lockdown Diaries: SparkleHunt

 This has been a good week. While this lockdown has been generally rubbish, this week has provided gifts of happiness; those given (NWB Mountain blocs is out!) as well as those actively sought and captured.

I have come to the conclusion through all this that rather than waiting for good things in these dreak times, I need to be actively mining out positivity like an oletimer panning for specks of gold is the way.

For every base unit of fun (joie?) we can scrape together, our life has to be enriched. Every nanojoie generated contributes to our reserves, building towards gigajoie goals..

The week started with an visit to an old project, one I thought was at risk of discovery with the arrival of the new guide. This has unfortunately added to my distant circling pack of black hounds, so it was important for me to draw a line under it, as it were.

I'm sure I will report further at a later date, but suffice to say I succeeded by trying very hard, and was now happy, sore and creaky.

Tuesday marked the arrival of the new guide. It is truly a work of great love. For myself personally I was so proud of of how the author delved into the zeitgeist, as well as embracing the distant and wilderness venues, which while always out of fashion, are forever bursting with passion for me (a megajoie top up guaranteed). The guide is also dedicated to making bouldering accessible, with clear directions, GPS coordinates and really helpful lists and comparison charts to steer your choices. It's giving me loads of Psyche to visit even the classic areas with new eyes.

Wednesday I dragged myself out to hang out with an old friend. Mark and I met years ago in Llanberis and have both worked in the climbing world for almost two decades. We were both having a low energy day, and were keen for an easy day away from the socially distanced crowds. I elected to take us on a tour of the more obscure venues from Clegir's already Esoteric selection.

Judicious use of my new loppers cleared a path to the Crackhouse (coords in the new guide). This was a spot I tinkered in when the twins were little. A bit of a playhouse, it has few strong lines but loads of options to muck about with eliminates.

Today I was nowhere near matching the performance of my younger self, but enjoyed being schooled by these fun problems (and by Mark whose footwork was much better than mine that day).

I was particularly chastised by Barred to the Bone, a blue collar offwidth I could hardly start. Something to come back to for a rematch. 

Having tired ourselves in the crackhouse I thought I'd show Mark an easy slab I'd discovered about the same time as I was hiding from the kids in the crackhouse. 

Indeed, you can see it from the Crackhouse, just down hill. I hadn't even rock boots when I found it, and fooled by its easy angle, woke up near its top in my trainers. An inelegant lunge secured the day, and I reckoned our return visit in rockshoes should be a relaxing jaunt.

Still got scared..

But it's highly recommended

A Friction Romance 4+!

On our way back we stopped at the Bunker, another "shed" venue (coords in the guide). Rock is variable, but the right prow (huggy bear) is good value and a mid 6ish. For those slight enough, the through trip behind it is coolio (however I got temporarily stuck this time..)

All in all, much fun was had, and this week has certainly recharged me (although I feel a little battered) I'm looking forward to some more fun mining out some fun from these gems of obscurity. Enjoying the play, rather than trying to produce any product.

On that note I really enjoyed Jude Spancken's interview on Jam Crack. A proper breath of fresh air and a reminder as to why we all do this.

Finally, it has not escaped my notice that the blog has been getting a few more visitors than usual of late. Whether this is just robots, people searching for obscure places to play, or just relieving lockdown boredom, you're all very welcome. 

There's treasure everywhere! 

Renaissance of the hard move

Inspired by a thread on ukb, I was compelled by an old vid to return to an even older project.

I blogged about it at the time, and included a video still, but I was a bit cagey back then, and a little paranoid it may disappear to some musclebound wad. However, a few years have passed since Skadoosh found its way into North Wales Bouldering, and it still remains, snidely taking the piss. I even know of one rather talented fellow having a go, and not making any headway. Content, I allowed it to sit on the back burner for when I could apply time and effort to building power.

Having passed through a period where time and timing have frustrated my efforts, I thought I may as well just resort to flailing and trying. As this half term has been very trying with the kids, I found myself battered by the winds on the Clegir road, at 1630. Convicing myself of available light and conditions, I staggered down to Skadoosh.

It was Cold.

And Darkish.

In the failing light I pulled out my chalkbag and a brush and willed psyche into the holds. brushing the shine off, and making them more visible in the dusk.

Having flailed together a sort of sequence over the last 3 years I fondled and scratched at the holds in order

Orange for left hand, Green for right. Sometimes the process of analysis and working stuff out is the main meat of the journey. Especially when the finished product seems so elusive.

So Wellies never left my feet, But enough psyche was brewed to 'Walk through'.

This involved putting said wellies against the base of the overhanging wall and clinging my way through the sequence. Blow m if I didn't fall off, maybe next time I'll put boots on..

It was so dark that I've had to try and filter this vid into visibility. Hopefully it'll make you smile as much as I did.

Here's to trying hard

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

Try Hards and Pebble Helms

I had one more attempt at trying hard since last time down at Skadoosh.  I'm discovering it takes a while to warm into the brutality,  I think when it's actually seeming feasible I'll have to give it more than an hour and a half. Nevertheless,  come the 80 minute Mark, I'd held two new positions and identified a significant limiting factor; namely hamstrings.

My foot is supposed to end up next to my left hand...

In other news,  a minor Pebble Helm reunion was organised at Porth Ysgo. #theonlydryplaceinwales.  AndyF and I and an army of Lancs descended on Saturday,  and we had fun.

This pic typifies the day's events,  where pistaking overshadowed the actual climbing.  Fun times.

Last time I was at Ysgowas at the NWBG Book Launch last November,  where I managed to lose a toenail establishing a new stander called Squishy.  This time I bruised my bum endeavouring to repeat it ( here's the successful video)

I then tricked the assembled wads into giving it a sit start so it wouldn't get ignored.  It was dispatched by keen and strong youth Callum Hamilton, but I was on Brian Spray at the time, so here's AndyF on it instead. 

Starts with left hand on a sidepull,  and right just above where Andy has his right heel. Barry Kershaw managed the second acsent ( despite being somewhat shorter than Callum)  and 7B was the hives concensus on the grade.

Good Times.

Keep Flailing! 

Quickish Hit

Unfortunately the one morning I had off this week was all wet and drippy. However,  my beloved wife got fed up with my moping and kicked me out at 5 O'clock for an hour or so of power.  Only one venue is fit for times like these..

Skadoosh! 

Dry and pretty.  Skadoosh is fast becoming my current Shed. Quick to get to, as comfortable on the psyche as some old tatty pompom slippers.  Everything from the chalking up to the warm ups are familiar friends, happy patterns repeated ad infinitum. The sharp eyed of you will have spotted the mismatch shoe combo. This can mean only one thing.. Projects are Afoot.  Basically I have to get from the chalk on the left to the chalk on the right. James' Sit down into skadoosh.  It's far to early in the process to actually try the crux,  so here's the bit after the crux into holds on skadoosh :

Fairly sure I can hold that swing, then it's the final bopp of Skadoosh.  Hence the left foot solution ( I nailed it earlier obvs).

My next challenge to solve is how to isolate some bits of the crux so I can build some belief.  This may involve using footholds I can't use on the actual sequence, but it'll give me something to flail at.

Keep flailing y'all!

Neverfall: August and eminent

So thought I'd better get a trip into the hole before September kicks off as:
A) Once I can actually go climbing will I want to go digging?
B) I couldn't face visiting in July

I did get in during June with a trowel, and it was very like time-team in that I was dying for a JCB, or at least the fork which I had left at home... Slow going.
This time a coordinated effort between trowel and fork meant many gains were made:

Before and After this visit. It was very productive with all the top edge now exposed and cleaned of loose blocs. There was a large section on the right that I could see had a fracture line and looked loose.. It turned out to be a washing machine size chunk and only pull off-able by people of a size that would preclude an ascent..

The Top Before

The Finished Top. The blig block on the left is level with the top edge. There is then a narrow gully which fans out to a pretty roomy gangway above the main strip

What it looked like before all these shenanigans..

Look mummy! Jugs!

I also took this opportunity to abb the wall for the first time, and blow me the central line between the rails has holds! something for me to climb after all. The lines either side however look good and hard. The patio is all but finished. All the filling is done, the rest of the spill now needs leveling out with a fork (I started but ran out of time). So Please can someone else wander in with a fork, it'll take you half an hour and then you can get first go!

The wall with a scally for scale. The fine spill at the base just needs spreading out and leveling... and about 6 pads popping on it!

Enjoy

Giveaway Project of the Month - September

Clearing out the Shed, this ones now a Open Project.

4 bolts to a lower off, 10m overhanging by 1.5m
 V4/5 into V5/6 into V7
3 good shakes
Prone to seepage, but nothing some Vaz couldn't solve.
I don't expect this one to go unclaimed.
Bottom of Chwarel Fawr, round from Way Down in the Hole, see Ground up Guide

Enjoy

New Shed

A successful Mothers day led to a chance to get out before work today, and a new shed has been discovered.
Although firmly in the wilds, its not quite on lovely CROW land. As such I'll guess I'll have to keep it to myself, which is a shame as it catches the sun, and doesn't require cleaning at all. Pure plug and play.

Another day another highball, and true to form, It veered off and got tricky at the top. No Problem with your attentive spotter to readjust the copious matting. Slight problem when your on your todd.

More probably to come from this shed, so for the moment I shall assign it the name Kerplunk.

Touching rock

Got out for a attempt at adventure last week to Moose's wall, firstly I forgot My chalk bag, so no real attempts at climbing were made, but mooching occurred. A few scraps of moss were peeled to ho hum over unclimbed boulders (mostly too pretty as the are to desecrate with average problems) and the project was abbed to remember the sequence and try and solve the problem of the kicked off jug (still working on it..). Then it resumed raining, and I retired for Coffee and Terry Pratchett.

not the best of starts, but  a start it is. Just got to fix this shoulder now.

Another Crack..

Another trip to the crack house and Receding hair line went down, see here in all its chalked up glory:

(note the clash stunt pad half over the mat and slope, 2 normal mats abutted should be fine..)

A better foot sequence and the belief my fingers were stronger seemed to do the trick. Start off the undercut inside Barred to the Bone and the flatty seen on the arete and follow the seam to glory. You dont use the foot block or cam the crack, but it feels a pretty natural, non eliminaty problem. V5/6 maybe, no Idea..

On to Toe bar, and got offthe ground a couple of times, but its still hard from here. I started thinking, esoteric technique or not, this was still quite hard, then Crack!

Mid Allez, my foot made the same noise my wrist did when I trashed it on a sloper, basically it gave in and noisily let go of its own accord, the Wuss!

Bit sore today but seems to still do what I want it to, might leave Toe Bar tho' as I can't be bothered to enter a specific training bout.

Should be climbing with a rope at the weekend! happy joy joy

Reality Check

Well its been a year since developing my little bits of Clegir. Thursday Provided an opportunity to have a boulder and after a quick Moose Session, I ambled up to The Crack House.
After my Bunker session I was keen to try the test peices of the venue; namely Shed party, the Rake, Toe Bar and Receding Hairline. I knew a lot had changed for me with the arrival of the twins, dodgy wrists and general lack of excercise, and although I'd trained a bit and regained some fitness, I was keen for a comparision. Also I'm currently questioning my ability to grade, even back then, and this meant I was fairly curious how they'd feel.
First up was Shed Party which I'd given V4. Initial impressions was I was certainly bolder before the twins, as the landing was definitely 2 mats and a spotter territory. Not a mortality thing I think, just not wanting to injure myself and therefore missing the few opportunities I do get to climb (and affect my ability to earn..)
Got it done and I think V4 is about right, compared to say Heelhook traverse at the cromlech.
Next up The Rake, again V3 was about right, Its only one move, but a big one.
Tried Receding Hairline next. I'd given it V4/5 and to be honest thats way off. In 4-5 goes I only managed to get 2-3 moves in, and its pretty sustained. Again one mat wasn't enough as it covers some ground laterally. The Issue was my finger strength as I couldn't hold the Hairline seam. If WireBrush crack is a good V5 and the Edge Problem is currently thought V6, Its certainly closer to Edge Problem hardeness.
Toe Bar was a non Starter as I couldn't Pull on. I gave it V4 which is a joke. the hardest move is the initial pull which is mainly driven by the ankles by a double heel-toe. I'd obviously developed this strength lots with my invert bouldering at Feidr Fw, and so with this esoteric skill set it felt easy and therefore V4. I eventually conceeded to a standing start which i got 2nd time.
The Plan is to work both RH and Toebar and its alternate finishes. This will hopefully give some enjoyment as well as buff me up again..

How Cliff Clilmbs Rocks got its name...

...Plus Clegir is properly Public Knowledge

Quick sesh

Go a couple of hours in occasional light drizzle and bagged this roof problem Gimme Shelter V5

Starts nice and dry right under the boulder on some flakes in the roof, and ends up mantling out at the end after some heel hookery. This pretty much draws my clegir development to a close.



Time to try some classics and find out how off my grading is...

Me Day (well, morning anyway)

The boys are now 11 days old, and Nain took Logan so I could take off for the morning and forsake my familial duties - Bliss.

Once again the crack house was my destination (soon to be fully public) and I went with Pantontino for an ego sesh; basically show and tell and some piccies. Did the last line I was keen to sire. This was Receding Hairline V4/5; a sitter on the right wall of Barred to the bone. It starts off an undercut and a flatty on the right wall and follows the general vicinity of the hairline crack (pretty obvious in the piccy). Apart from ruling out the jug high and deep inside barred, and a big foot block, It felt very non eliminate and Quite powerfull!

Very happy, I packed up the kit I'd stashed there and moved on to a new shed...

Watch this space

Time To Change Hats...

The twins are being encouraged to enter the world this week. With my family jumping in numbers to five, climbing is going to take a back seat for a bit. I popped out this evening for a preparatory play so that I wasn't jittering too much. I had such a good time that I thought I would share these areas with you. contact me if you want locations..

The Bunker

From left- 1st a through trip into the bunker itself, then the prow into the slab sds is The Wedge V3, slab into hanging crack, an arbitrary offwidth, next bloc is Huggy Bear V3 sds

The Crack House

A jumble of rather large boulders; the block in front is nice to lounge on and has a sds dyno on its right side The Rake V3 which launches off a phat side pull and a crimpy one for the top. Tucked behind this is the pit which holds:

Barred to the Bone V3

a sds offwidth that overhangs by about a foot. (the bottom of the pit is about 3ft by 5ft for scale)

This is inside the Crackhouse. an enclosure of boulders entered via the wide slot on the right of the main picture. It gives enumerable aretes, cracks, and slabs. These are mainly quite eliminate, although still follow strong lines (i.e. following a slab whilst ignoring its aretes etc). The best of these is the stand up Shed Party V4 which takes the central arete. this picture also gives a sense of scale to the boulders


Toebar V4 goes up the front of the prow from the chalked holds near the vertical pod to top out direct. its a sds which utilises toes cammed into the gap between the prow and the block below.


I finished happy at eleven when I could no longer see the holds ( I didn't pack a head torch to prevent me staying too long) I saw two glow worms on the way home!

Barred to the Bone, Lampyridae, and further Shed Theory

Got out for a boulder to the Crackhouse after work. However, as I finish at 10pm it was rather dusky. Still manage to thrutch myself up "Barred to the bone" a nice gently leaning V3ish offwidth, and fed the midges. The Crackhouse might be another shed addition as its quick to access and exit and has some phone reception. A mans shed is his temporary castle, but most of the time its mainly a refuge from real life. I seem to be collecting them. It was past dusk when I headed home and saw my first Welsh Glowworms!

Lampyris noctiluca

Off to the Bunker

Found a new bouldering spot!
The Bunker is the new area of retreat after the shed, all still a bit hush hush, as I haven't yet fully plundered its potential. Nothing that hard here, a couple of V3's, some squeezes, but round the corner is the Crackhouse, and that is something special.

Have to enlist a co-conspiritor tho' as the monoliths are a bit bunched.

Watch this space

Is this what Doylo calls Progress?

Went to the shed yesterday with the youth.
Draw lengths all seemed to be about right (tick)
Got on 1st Redpoint and climbed clean to just past the 3rd draw (tick)

Seepage was, however, a problem on the top bit. And I am too weak.

Can't seem to work out the easiest sequence on the top bit, as its all just variations on "can't do" and as such they are hard to differentiate between. I think I'm just going to have to get quite a bit stronger before I can really have another worthwhile redpoint, although just getting to the 4th draw would be probably worth a f7b ego tick on its own... so maybe in a bit I'll try that.

The youth had a sort of go at cleaning project red, but it needs a more workman like approach to bring it into nice climbing condition.

I also did the 1st boulder problem to grace the mini barrel, and buried my nice jumper under rubble securing the top out.

Shed Party

Today, my friend Fraser an I had a mornings climbing. The day started with the traditional mick taking of Ollie the Barista, then off to the atmospheric flanks of Mount Doom. Fraser is a dad of two micro climbers and has a non too shabby history himself, but fatherhood and injury have kept him on the couch lately.
Subtle cajooling got him tied on to lead the stroll that is the wriggler's first pitch. I got to lead the second in temperatures over 5 degree's which was a new and pleasant experience for me (I did the 1st ascent in winter to celebrate the birth of my son). Fraser floated up after me and we were able to take the tunnel to the shed. Always seems to take longer than you expect, especially for Fraser as he doesn't own wellies, and opted to take the cave chilled wading sections in teva's.
At the other end, Fraser once again found himself on the sharp end for "Way down in the Hole" another E1: with an extra wire for dad pro, he romped up the 1st pitch, allowing me to lead through to... the belay for the 2nd pitch (wait for the guide). He was half way up this testing arete before he cottoned on to the sleight of hand, but battled to the top with the minimum of brown trousers. I Guess he's now well and truly back in the saddle now.

After this, I stuck up the rope on the project for my first proper toppy. This is what I found out:
I can get to the third clip clean, and it is about V5.
I have a new sequence for the next section at a more amenable V6.
The Top bit is V6/7 but I am firming up a sequence.
I know what length Quickdraws I want on each bolt.
There are no real rests.
My fingers are a little way off.
My Power endurance is a long way off.
It is Feasable!!!

Must start dreaming up an appropriate training thingumy.

Tales From the Shed

Had a free day yesterday, but no climbing partners, and no car for the morning, and had to be in work for 4pm..

But It Was Free!!!

The morning was spent next to the Bates motel, cuddling a lovely new boulder problem which should appear here eventually.

Once the Car was captured, I regained my shunt off of Reeves and hot footed it to the shed.

Oh Balls this projects hard...

The good news is I could probably get up to the third clip with current fitness.

The bad news is its probably then V7/8 to clip four, and then V6/7 to the lower off.

Today I ache.

Might have to get, well, better I suppose.