The Enormous White Whale of Doom

According to extremely-inaccurate-weather.com the forecast for week ahead is going to feature the word sunny in profusion combined with cooler temperatures. Normally The Met Office would disagree with this and predict the polar opposite but in a rare show of solidarity it is agreeing so the plan for the next 5 days, starting tomorrow, is grit.

Sunday is the only day planned out so far - a day spent worshipping the tyranny of faff with Skippy at either Birchens or Stanage Plantation. It has to be said that neither are venues that I would choose for a weekend visit but I am actually a little bit excited by the possibility of Birchens as it offers the chance to tick a load of easy stuff soloing and I might finally get to do Topsail. Strange how the mind works sometimes isn't it...

The rest of the week will be bouldering so it is just a matter of choosing venues really though a couple of things spring to mind - Mother Cap is an obvious choice since Conan the Librarian is on the tick list of things to do and Curbar for the UGE and Crack 'n' Pockets. A trip down to Cratcliffe is also a strong possibility so that's three days gone already and then it is down how much inspiration and skin are available. I have a feeling that inspiration will outlast the skin by a country mile.

Thursday it is back to night shifts and on Friday the Dear Boy arrives in The Enormous White Whale of Doom to rig up a decent sound system in it. Quite how he has survived numerous journeys back and forth from Italy having to listen to music on stock Merc speakers is beyond me as I would have been forced to take some form of corrective surgery a long time ago. Regardless this is obviously something else to get syked about - a few days playing with amps and speakers, running cables and tweaking is never time wasted.

The tyranny of faff

Back on a piece of string today at Stanage Popular End with Skippy - unseasonably sunny weather for October it has to be said but not hot enough to be sweating off holds - all in all a quite enjoyable day at the crag if the truth be told.

The days tick list:

• Black Hawk Hell Crack - second.
• Manchester Buttress - lead.
• Gargoyle Buttress - second.
• Heather Wall - lead.

Admittedly nothing really hard there and I had done the first three routes before but it wasn't really a day for pushing hard - more a refresher course in the tyranny of faff. Must say that Manchester Buttress was greatly improved by continuing up to the top rather than throwing together a belay on the big ledge after the traverse back round to the right. Doesn't add any hard moves to the route in all honesty but just makes it feel that little bit less of a cop out which was how it felt when I first did it a few years back now.

Heather Wall was a new one for me though and I came very close to blowing the onsight on the opening moves - got established on decent handholds and the sloping foothold and then the foot blew. Thank god for decent hand holds as I just locked the left and held it before throwing in a cam and making a few moves, throwing in another cam which was pretty rubbish and finally a decent nut and then calmed down. From there it was all good really - nice moves from break to break and gear where you needed it and the added bonus of knowing that I can still onsight VS occasionally.

The good things about the day (apart from the onsight) were that I seem to be moving well on the rock at the minute and I am probably not quite as far off route fitness as I thought I was. Even after the moment on Heather Wall I still found it fairly straight forward from a fitness point of view and while it can be argued that the moves are only 4c tops and most of the breaks provide a decent rest if you work a bit it is still a lot bigger than I have been used to climbing recently.

On the flip side - my gear selection is way off after the best part of two years not working those skills on a regular basis and while it was improving marginally as the day progressed there is still a lot to do on that front. I also seem to have tweaked my left shoulder early on and the Heather Wall incident didn't improve matters which is not good as I was toying with the idea of a session on Conan the Librarian tomorrow.

Will just have to see how it is in the morning and go from there.

Interlude

I will get around to the final 3 days of Font updates in due course but following a quick redesign of the blog layout I will follow a slightly different course for a moment or two.

Sat in the pub on Friday night with the usual gang - in summary a varied bunch of mates, some who climb, some who don't, it transpired that John Oz was looking for someone to climb with the following day. I had tentatively planned to go to Baslow on my own to try the green circuit from the new Froggatt guide but nothing ventured is nothing gained so I dropped John a quick text. Plans were made and so we met up the following day at Burbage North for a day of trad and the like.

It has to be said that me and trad have been out of fashion for the best part of two years now - this was going to be my third trad session in that time but there has been a steadily building inclination to get back into the tyranny of faff that is trad for a while now. Part of this is down to reading the ramblings of Paul B who has discovered trad again in a big way, partly from reading Fiend's blog but more so the fact that I have unfinished business in that I know I have the potential to be a far better trad climber than I am on paper. I am, as someone once described me "An E1 leader with a VS leader's brain" - harsh but true...

Paul sums up what trad is all about very succinctly in his latest post:

"It may be easy, you mightn't have to be 'that' strong or fit but in reality it tests a whole different skill set, requires different knowledge and ultimately leads to some amazing experiences."

Boy does it test a different skill set - I have always had major issues with trusting gear and falling on it which I proved to myself by attempting to lead The Chant again. Last time I did it was probably over three years ago - OK I got the onsight but it was a slightly terrifying moment to say the least with the move off the sidepull feeling super tenuous and insecure. Saturday was the same but even knowing the cam I placed in the break was bomber there was no way that I was willing to test it - I reached up to the sidepull, got scared commiting to the move and downclimbed before being unceremoniously spat off when the pump got too much. The gear held obviously...

Three major points from this episode in failure - I have no stamina for routes which leads on directly to the fact that I can not hang on in there to try a move again and succeed or retreat to a rest to rethink the strategy and last but not least even if I had the stamina to hang on in there then I have severe issues with gear and falling. Points one and two are easy to rectify - get back on routes at an easier grade or on plastic and get fit for routes, hanging in there while figuring out the options and also getting the onsight mentality back. The third point is going to be a lot harder but it is, ultimately, the crucial part of the puzzle to solve - placing gear and trusting it and being prepared to lob onto it should that prove necessary!

With all of this in mind I have set myself the task of leading HVS consistently by the end of the grit season and the proof of this is going to be leading what I will refer to as the big six at Millstone - these being (from left to right):

1. Plexity - HVS 5a
2. Dexterity - E1 5b*
3. Lyons Corner House - HVS 5a
4. Great North Road - HVS 5a
5. Bond Street - HVS 5a
6. Great Portland Street - HVS 5b

*There is the option to scuttle left at HVS but this will probably be the last on the list as an E1 attempt.

Of the above I have seconded #2 (with LH exit) & #4 and onsighted #3 & #5 before so it's not a total leap into the unknown it will provide a good test of where I am at. While I am at it I will add a couple more routes to the list as needing to be done soon - the first being The Chant (it's only VS but it's a demon that must be slain) and the other being that old nemesis of mine - Avalanche Wall at Curbar.

Preparation starts tonight with a session with John at The Edge - even with some fantastic weather today I am sacrificing getting out for an evening on the plastic. I will also be doing the green circuit at Baslow but going at it with more of an onsight mentality where possible to get used to hanging in there and committing rather than dropping off for a rethink. Other than that it is going to be as much trad as possible to get the gear placing aspect back in tune again - the less time you spend hanging about placing the right piece of gear first time the more you have to give at the sharp end when required.

It has to be said that I am feeling more than a little daunted by this challenge that I have set myself but why make life easy for yourself?