Lockdown Diaries- Opening Entry

So the world is on fire with itty bitty flames and I'm fighting by staying at home with a 4yr old princess, the twin monkeys of CAMHS chaos, a bolshy pre teen, a (obviously) wonderful wife, 2 ducks 5 chickens and 3 rats.
It a been emotional folk's.
What's a man to do? I started like most fathers by tidying the shed:

 Following that I installed a pull up bar in the kids bedroom, as the ancient and Chalk free fingerboard in the kitchen is crap for actual pull ups :

Then I went crazy.

Being without climbing, especially outside, although with the wall where I work closing inside too, I was without means of release. Feeding the rat, blowing off steam, call it what you want. I have lived for the last 33 years with adventure on tap, and was now cold turkey. It isn't just a case of addiction, as addicts can get clean. This was a need. N Jurassic Park, the dinosaurs were engineered without the ability to produce lysine so they were dependent on their captors. Well like those plucky dino's I was determined to find a way around it. I made a decision to comply with the no climbing request from the BMC, despite my Esoteric tastes and such blocs being 40 minutes walk away. It would be sneaky, and even though nobody else would touch the same holds, there were thousands of us not so lucky, and we're all in this together aren't we? 

My first attempt to get past this was a pull up challenge. 100 a day for 5 days. As my 45yr old body protested, I included 100 press ups and squats to balance it all out. 

This didn't hit the spot though, if I enjoyed exercise I would have become a sport climber. 

Ethan, one of my chaos monkeys provided the solution. He wanted to search for a bomb crater from ww2 that was purportedly on the other side of the conifer plantation on the corner of our lane. He also decided that the best approach was through the plantation... 

This is not a well maintained plantation. Its about 400m square, or 16k hectares. 

I'm not as small as Ethan.. 

We went about 50m without touching the ground, indeed we we often a couple of meters off it. 

Sometimes we were quite close.. 

However, this mini adventure was just what we ( oth) needed. You can see Ethans grin, mainly because of the scratches and twigs in my hair.. 

A more open section, wandering over the pile of grubbed up tree roots. 

We did make it out eventually, even though actually finding the bomb crater is an adventure for another day.. 

Other dad jobs include making bows and teaching them not to stab their legs with knives.. 

Even surprised myself with a not totally rubbish flight for the arrows.. 

Another way for me to improve my serenity has been to start painting again. Before marriage and kids I did loads (even sold a couple) and it seemed to click with my climbing head space. I'd recently started again as I found an unfinished painting, and resolved to complete it in my lunch breaks at work. This was as an alternative to candy crush. That one completed, I started a fresh one of the stone wall outside my kitchen. Come lockdown I retrieved it from work.. 

Obviously with my house full of chaos, there wasn't going to be much painting time. My wife and I needed to a) not kill each other and b) have some down time. So we arranged that once a week, each of us could escape to a room for an evening and not deal with kids or each other. Tonight is my night (hence the blog) and I've taken a fresh pic of one of the stones.. 

It's getting there by baby steps.. 

I'll report next week whether I'm still keeping it together. 

Stay safe! And adventure will still be out there.. 

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" 

The Hunt for the Baboon

Another month, another brief weather window allows an adventure. It has long been an ambition of mine to climb the Baboon, ever since its first mention on the North Wales Bouldering blog. It's inclusion in NWB2 and a friends successful adventure, has spurred my efforts, both with initial forays in 2018, and this month's hunt.
My approach was as usual non standard, as I was combining trips with further pebble scoping. Hence my unorthodox approach over Cwm Bleiddiaid.

This did, however, afford myself great veiws of what appeared massive boulders. 

On closer inspection these were a little disappointing, the rock was mainly pillow lava and covered in jugs. Chatting to learned friends I've also discovered that a rare fern resides hereabouts and loves the rock, so no gardening folks! 

Not all the rock was disappointing. This fine finger may please someone. I was without a mat, however, and not interested in such diversions, I was on a baboon hunt. 

Behind a steep boulder I made my incursion back into the forest. I had a Google map pin, location on, and a can do attitude. I soon also had wet feet, as my feet had discovered an insinuating rivulet. This was in fact a boon, being bordered by swamp willows (easier to fight through) and leading straight to the Baboon! 

Willows and an insinuating rivulet. 

The Baboon! 

As with all these things, the fun was in the hunt. The actual quarry (meaning prey, not stone extraction) was a little damp and slimy on the left, meaning I had to be fairly selective with my hold choice.

I was dimly aware it had been done from a sitter, but a combination of no mat, concern of an impending battle, and a massive jug just above my head, led to a standing approach.

The first attempt went badly as I hit some slimy holds. It felt quite high and I became jittery about the state of the top out. 

I descended and sort out the down climb so I could assess from above:

Having sat on the summit I could have left it as that. Especially as despite clocking a jug just below the lip, the top would certainly involve some sketchy Heather pulling.

But... 

I sort of pulled on one last time. I've left this unedited for the full giggle :

There you go, adventure is out there. For the prospective repeaters out there, here's the pin:

53.0098430, -4.1461270

Enjoy. 

Those Wile E Coyote moments...

There a definitely some openings for new words in the dictionary. The emotion uprising when  the mud has sucked off one  wellie, and the other starts to sink (soulsquelch?), or the feeling that you have fallen for more time then you had accounted for..
This was my experience during my last window of opportunity in Cwmffynnon (falling, not the wellies, I have the approach dialled).
It was an excellent morning with wintery sun, and inversions in the valleys.

I chose to warm up on Troubles Braids, I'd forgotten what good value it was at a highball 6a. No snappy holds, but certainly wakes you up and set me up for a highball day. 

Frank's Wild Years was next. Softer in grade at 5c, but a few fragile holds and unusual moves requires a steady highball head. 

After that it was off to the days objective. A highball crack I'd spied on the walk last month. 

Unfortunately the crack was still wet from last nights rain. However, I was drawn to the wall to the left. Vertical with a slight scoop around halfway, the top edge was looming at around 5 and a bit meters. There were a couple of edges, but the majority of the climbing was on harder mineral slivers jutting out of the volcanic tuff. Ace when they're bomber, but the odd one occasionally goes bang. Certainly exciting for a highball. With trepidation I sussed out the first few moves, and spied out some form of line. The climbing was tensiony and surprisingly powerful, and this urgency of movement delivered me 3/4 up the wall to a good pinch an no real recollection of how I got there. 

My sequence to this point came in from the left and I realised I had no knowledge of the various nubbins being offered as footholds for the last moves to the top. Slowly getting horribly pumped I poked each nubbin in turn with my boot. Hey ho. I had to commit.. 

Unlike Mr Coyote, I didn't hover in the air as the pebble ejected from the wall. It was a moment mid flight that my moment came, as I sort of assumed I would have landed by now.. Although I did soon enough. 

Slightly giggley and no worse for wear I contemplated my situation. I could call it a day. However, I was so close and if I left it there was an infinitesimal chance some other nutter may do it first..

I'm pleased I persevered, as the moment I blindly slapped for the top sloper is now burned into my psyche, fond memories. 

I named it after a blog post I made on a similar topic; "The Cutthroat World of Esoteric Bouldering" and I guess it's between F6c+ and 7a. I certainly had to dig deep. 

Hope you enjoy the video (I included the fall) and I'm sure there's more to come. 

I'm getting rather overtly keen actually. 

Building Steam

So after my boxing day post the weather has sadly refused to play ball. However, this has given me more time to cogitate on the future pathways my adventures will take me.
As an example, and despite the weather, it took me into the lost bogs of Nant Gwynant.
I was looking for an alternative approach to the wilds of Moel Meirch (previous blog) and saw a footpath on the OS map. Once again, Geograph's OS pop up came up trumps with detailed close up maps, and I scribbled on a screen shot to get me in the right direction..

It turned drizzly as I set off and the navigation through bogs and dead rhododendron was engrossing. 

The mist then descended. However there was still the odd titbit to entice me on

So I eventually made it up to the ridgeline (the brighter of you out there would have already concluded this wasn't to be the quicker route in..)

The blocks I previously saw were, as to be expected, Tiddly.

However, as visibility dropped I discovered that Googlemaps had updated to allow a local offline map, and Location is pretty good for navigation..

On the way down some more scoping occured

Although very high the rock is sadly flakey..

The next lightbulb moment was a convoluted chain of events that led me back to Sheep pen after a hiatus of a decade or more. Meaning to link up with Wolf, I ended up climbing at main block with a whole bunch of nice people, with lots and lots of mats.

It was refreshing and exhausting, and something I'd like to try again.

So...

Brewing future Psyche?

A large part of my life in North Wales has been given to the documentation of those obscure rugosities that were sadly out of favour, The Slate quarries were a start, and were followed with collaboration in a guide. The blog has been a big part of this, as was the Bouldering Guide.

Well the old one is almost out of print, and as the old machine clunks back into life, I've realised vast areas I've dabbled in have remained so. Areas on pause because no one knows about them, apart from the few of you that read this. This has got me a little psyched..

Quite a lot really.

Therefore last Saturday I took a wet walk in Cwm Ffynnon, reminiscing and getting things put in order.

Peach arete area

Misty lumps without ascents

A lump climbed by someone else!?!

What has changed is that I've got a little more tech savvy. Remember Google maps and their offline map? well now I have a shareable record of where all the little conquests and projects are, complete with notes

Not only that, I've got way marker points logged, so you needn't go through all that "oops I'm lost waist deep in a bog" inconvenience. My hope is that I'll get the area oven ready, and that I'll do some of that social bouldering so that I can get some action shots..

Basically it looks like I've got the next bit mapped out.

Enjoy the adventure.

There's treasure everywhere!

Building Psyche for the next Decade

So it's come to my notice that with the end of 2019 we start a new decade. One that will eventually see me in my fifties.
Sobering stuff!
With that in mind, I recognise I need to get a bit of a run up and point the damn bobsled in the right direction.
No point in slowing down, and if I get too safe I'll run the risk of suffocating in mediocrity. However, I do acknowledge that the course of this old pirate ship needs to be properly navigated to prevent my enthusiasm wrecking me on the rocks.
Heavy stuff.
I'm also acknowledging it's getting harder to get the results I'm desiring, be it power or flexibility. I'm either going to have to dig deep, or reset my focus. I do feel I sometimes put too much pressure on myself. There is definitely a desire to leave some sort of mark on this scene I love.
I think I have an Inkling of what course to plot, and it mainly seems to involve wandering around in wellies looking for blocs.
Yesterday was a case in point.
In need of an outlet for festive angst, I headed once more to wilds of the gwynant. My initial thoughts were to actually go bouldering, however, once more Welsh connies were against me. Nonetheless, the wild didn't disappoint.

Freed from the pressure of actually finding something to climb, I relished the hunt. In classical Welsh tease fashion, there was a lot of nearly not quite; too small, too easy, too death a landing. There was enough to keep me keen.. 

So I have a lot of following up to do. I feel like taking company up here, hopefully there is enough to tempt my jaded friends. 

I even feel like there might be something in dragging a rope here.

Nadolig Llawen and all that. 

I feel there is something special just over the horizon. 

The Flirting is in the Footwork

So a particular area of geography has got me all giddy. The initial result is a lot of time on Google maps, and much wellie shod exploration.

First on the list was checking out those blocks I saw near llyn llagi..

They were both far away and small, so much for Father Ted. 

However, the altitude gained provided a unique viewpoint. All that was required was, firstly to work out where I was, and secondly,  how to get somewhere from wherever I was... 

Walls, the ML lifeblood, that and reentrants. 

More walls, and promisingly some rocks. 

  

Definitely promising. 

So armed with a pocketful of promises, the next adventure was, you guessed it, more Daddy time. Logan being this sorties padawan. 

Sunny! But chuffing cold. 

So we got some height, and were treated to visions of distant treasure 

Food for future sorties

We did find stuff though 

Some of it big... 

However, as this hoarefrost demonstrates, a little to chilly for father son bonding over Fa's. 

So this current geography is still teasing me, but maybe the next adventure will be the big one.. 

Watch this space