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

We're going on a Bloc Hunt..

Wednesday was a window of free time, slightly problematic due to a child off school, and a non ideal weather forecast.  Undeterred,  Ethan and I headed off into the wilderness looking for treasure.

Ethan identifying our first piece of booty ; hazelnuts! 

This was to be a serious mission.  The geology was sounds,  it was a foray to confirm correct topography. 

First signs were good.. 

However,  the going underfoot was less so..

For Ethan at least, first strike gave some fun bloc's. I was looking for something a little bigger and cohesive to get a circuit together. 

One boulder so far,  may not have found the pot of gold this trip. However,  I saw a few outliers that warrant attention when not restricted by little legs.

Lunch with a view. 

Ethan found an erratic fork and proceeded to do Martin Crook impressions. 

Ethan declared the day seized, and broke trail back to civilisation and Sponge Bob Squarepants.

I'm currently waiting for nicer weather to allow some outside climbing in my little freedom windows.  Hopefully the scrabbling around I'm doing indoors will stand me in good stead.

Keep exploring. 

Open Project of the Month - November

Having confirmed the mythical status of bouldering on Carnedd y Filiast, I once more quested into the woods and riverbeds to bring you this:

The Whale of Galedffrwd

Or should that be a Carp as its freshwater? Galedffrwd translates roughly as the hard stream, and it certainly has its fare share of bedrock, as well as these lovely smooth erratics, nothing else as useful as this though.

The fishy juts out over the torrent with its snout over white water..

The side however is above a bedrock shelf. a spotter to steer will keep our intrepid boulderer dry.

(best to pick a dryish period though...)

Finally the scale. Here is my hand firmly grasping the starting jug. This is the incut triangle seen in the middle of the previous piccy.

Standing on the top.

Its the top that its all about, and makes this boulder pretty cool. Its not a small boulder and below the starting jug its undercut and almost completely devoid of holds.

Basically its all top out, lovely smooth holdless font top out. Its surface is extremely tactile, almost animal in substance and I found myself giving it a good rub and slap. Think heels, drags, press downs and piloerectile locomotion....

This boulder is located off the Tai Duon road out of Mynydd Landegai. Best to park near the top of the hill, don your wellies and wander down to these chaps:

The Holly and the Ivy (well it is nearly December) carefully hop the fence and squelch down to the stream and the Whale.

Enjoy

September Sessions - Day 3 (of 3!)

"I'm getting too old for this shit"
-Roger Murtaugh; Lethal Weapon

The Deed is done. I hitched a lift to Bus Stop and met my belayer Ben, Then made my way via all the little rituals on the way. Looning the tube  col, touch my toes, up to the coat huts, touch toes again... abb in and do my kicks and flicks. Tape my elbow, tape my knee. squeak my boots...

In the end it was straight forward, as often these practiced things are, although the panic as I popped out the end of the offwidth section, and the scrabbling for the eagle's nest provided an ethical dilemma. My foot scuffed the bolt below me as I lurched to match the exit crimp. I didn't fully weight my foot but it still wigged me out, spoiling my pure ascent. In the end my solution was to down climb back to left hand on the crimp, hang it footless and swung into the match before climbing back to the nest a little bit happier, if panting a little harder.

So 2-3 years later The Beast in Me is a reality. Hard Very Marvelous 20m 5 bolts and a Cam#2, draws in place on the bolts, Cam placed on lead. All my favorite flavors in one route; offwidth, boulder, technical and a little bit of bold.

The Giveaways have left this my Last Project, and while I'm looking forward to getting on some classics and enjoying other people's work, it felt a bit weird finishing off the last runout.
Flopping onto the top, so in control and titanium, this sense of detachment troubled me. Now that all the adrenaline and bull has worn off, however, I see its just the tension between wanting the project to be over, and wanting the buzz of the chase to continue.

The game is still afoot, just with less cleaning and more stars...

Another Erratic Quickie

the Dry spell between 3 and 4 today was utilies and the Rampline was Sent!
"The Science of the Sword" is somewhere between V5-7 and starts sds on the left on two paralell slanty slopey crimps (10 past 8 O'clock) and follows the swirl through the bulge to the top.

Also bagged the direct sds line up the middle. "Lessons from a Rainstorm" is pretty dynamic and possibly V4

Grading is a bit confusing at the mo'

Erratic Quickie

Popped up to the quartz block after work for a bit of shower dodging. Managed the SDS on the right arete. Ghostpoet is about V5 and starts L hand sidepull R hand mono.
I spent the rest of my time getting very excited about the rampline project, and even got off the ground before a rainbow stopped play.
watch this space.

Somewhat Erratic

I have achieved the circumnavigation of the quartz pebble of Braich y Foel. (SH569593)

Taking 5ish sessions, a lot of head scratching, swearing and resulting in the loss of a small chunk of my knee; "Somewhat Erratic" is best graded on the Haston scale as HVM. this is mainlt because I'm not sure if its V3 or V6. Probably somewhere in between. Sit start in the cave visible in the piccy (blurred, part of a twighlight boulder sesh) pull out left and keep goin round until above the cave, then saunter to the summit. The traverse follows a fairly obvious line, with hands remaining around head height (thats when standing on the ground clearly).

There are a couple of sitter straight ups; here modelled by Rory, currently projects.On the approach path is this esoteric gem, again modelled by Rory (used flash this time)

Whirligig is sort of V3/4 and Vsmall (3 sessions to eliminate dabs). However the bloc is so undercut, most types should be able to swing their pegs around without dabbing. Right to left, pull on by the flake, then lip traverse until you can pull out with the bore strike.

You may have noticed a dirth of posts about training, this is due to time and boredom. Training is impossible with out motivation. So I guess the next step is to clean the beast in me and see exactly how far I fall short, maybe that'll give me a kick up the arse.

Exploring Happytude

This weekend I had two contrasting sessions on the smaller stones. The weather was mint and my glorious better half sent me off to play (both times phoning to tell me I could extend my sessions) Sunday I shot off up the pass, to crawl back down until a parking spot appeared at the Grochan.

I just missed the crew I was meeting up with and had to set my own agenda.

Not being much of a cromlech boy and lacking the Energy (too many nights of baby noise) to troupe up to the wavelength relaxitude, I turned my attention to Ynys etws and the established "classic" Roof's of Boyson and Crook.

Did Boyson with effort, and couldn't Suss the Crook.

A bit deflated I realised I could no longer Be Bothered and headed down to Fishskin wall as it was officially too hard for me but didn't feel it (Unlike Crook's which should have gone but wouldn't budge). Felt too hard again, but only just, and went exploring again instead, Trainering up a delightful V0 Highball slab that should be a classic but will merely remain a pulse-racing memory (I forgot to do up my shoes... Nuff said)

Contrast this with Monday.

A short cycle lead me to the Erratic (Logan had passed on the glory of first dibs, instead preferring Something Special instead). I have been attempting its circumnavigation, something which has seemed desperate in the past.

This being the first visit in more than a year I spent time re familiarising myself with its quirks, quartz being very quirky, and started re linking sections. The desperate sections started to feel simply hard, and I left having reduced it to two blocks (the climbing not the erratic).

So Sunday I was in catch up mode, turning an initial disappointment into something worthwhile. I was pitting myself against an established bar and coming short, and the best bit was being scared witless in the wilderness entering the unknown. Monday, I had no preconceived goals, just setting out for a Rubik's session, and every step was a success.

The lesson of the tale, seems to be; when your ego is fragile, new routing is always best!

Watch this space...

Day 3 -Adventures in Babysitting

Today I was in charge of the mini me, and coincidentally the clag and grot descended on our happy valley. hey ho, no room for big adventures.. However once Logan refused lunch, and was clearly suffering from cabin fever, I launched into the assembly of his baby carrier.

This contraption is multi strapped and dangly but come with various rain beaters, so once strapped and dangled on my back. We set off on our mission.

One of our agents (Agent 'M') had informmed us of a big boulder up the hillside above the house, and I preceded to get lost in an uphill direction trying to find it.

Much bog insued.

However it really did exist. A quartz marble, 10ft in diameter, all erratic in the middle of a field. Logan touched it first so he gets first dibs, but no doubt Agent 'G' and the Boulder of the Month Beckons.

... Maybe 7 days of adventure was a bit optomistic.