Operation Butters Home Made Chilli Powder is go!

I have blogged about my life's culinary mission, to cook the perfect Chilli con Carne, before here and mentioned Operation Butters Home Made Chilli Powder here. With regard to OBHMCP ordering lots of different chillies from the Cool Chile Company was as far I had got - they were left sat in a box till motivation caught up with my ambition which it finally did today. The long wait is over - Operation Butters Home Made Chilli Powder became a reality at long last.

The onset of the mission coincided with the arrival of not one, not two, but three Stevie Wonder albums that I had got off the Bay of Fleas for next to nothing and so Innervisions was thrown on and off we went. Using this recipe as the basis, adapting it with a bit of input from this recipe for chilli powder I found ages ago and throwing in a bit of my own taste (or lack thereof) the oven was fired up and the chillies set to toast.


Above are a mix of Ancho's, New Mexico, de Arbol and Smoked Chipotle chillies with a stick of Cinnamon thrown in for good measure. Simple enough - put in an oven and toast till they are dry and slightly crispy as apparently good dried chillies should still have slight moisture in them. Every day is a school day it would seem.

While that was being done it was time to toast some Cumin seeds in the wok - it has to be said that the Wok in the picture is one awesome piece of kit. I bought it years ago from one of the Chinese shops on London Road for the princely sum of £8 if I remember correctly and it has been a faithful servant ever since, standing up to whatever random cooking abuse I subject it to on a regular basis without complaint.

Enough about the wok though - time for another Stevie Wonder CD, Hotter than July this time which is somewhat appropriate now that I think about it.

Once the cumin seeds, cinnamon and chillies had been toasted it was time to throw them all into the blender, add some Hot Smoked Paprika, Garlic Powder and Mexican Oregano and blitz till it was reduced to a powder with the final result looking like this.

It smells awesome so tomorrow I am off to buy some decent mince and cook up a Chilli con Carne with it - slightly worried that I have no idea what ratio to use it in so I am going to take a stab in the dark and go for 1 tbsp of Butter's Chilli Powder per pound of meat. Assuming that I survive the experience hopefully I will be one step closer to achieving my life's ambition...

Font - Day 5 & 6

It rained on the Thursday night in what sounded like, to judge by the noise of the rain falling on the van, biblical proportions. I laid in pROJECT mAYHEM and was feeling rather grateful that I was not in a tent with just a thin piece of canvas over my head for protection but those thoughts of gratitude were rudely dispelled at 5.40AM when le grand ventre knocked on the door to run him to the station. It was hard not to think that pROJECT mAYHEM was giving with one hand and taking with the other at the time.

Thankfully one of us had had the presence of mind the night before to make sure le grand ventre had all his stuff together necessary to catch his ridiculously early flight from the airport. Probably just as well as it was still bucketing it down and the thought of le grand ventre wandering aimlessly about while he got his shizzle together at 5.40AM would have given a saint murderous thoughts so quite what it would have done to me is not worth thinking about. Anyway we got him loaded up and drove to the camp-site exit only to find that it was locked as was the entrance as well - bugger! Le grand ventre put a brave face on it and duly walked to the station - something I tried very hard to feel guilty about while I reversed the van back the 200 yards it had come and went back to sleep again. I failed.

Upon rising later in the day the weather was looking slightly better - grey and still the odd shower here and there but it wasn't as bad as it had been earlier so there was the possibility of getting something done. Plans were hatched amid much laughter at le grand ventre's bad luck and it was decided to go to the big Carrefour to buy cheese, wine and the like before heading out to find dry rock.

An hour or two later the van was full of wine, random French sausage and stinky cheese and so we set off to 95.2 to have a very enjoyable lunch in the sunshine and then it promptly rained. The next couple of hours were spent driving around the forest and being pursued by rain, where ever we went the rain followed, it was as if we had an enormous rain-cloud magnet attached to the van.

Eventually we gave it up and went to have a coffee in Milly-la-Foret and followed that up with a beer to make ourselves feel better when it rained yet again. While having our consolation beer we got a tip off from Neil at Maisonbleau that there was dry rock at yet another location so it was back into the van and off we went again. You don't really need me to tell you that as soon as we got there it rained do you? Well it did.

It was at that point where we gave up - back to the camp-site to disassemble le grand ventre's tent (not only an onerous task but a rather odourful one too it has to be said) and then wish Dear Boy a bon voyage as he set off back to the sunnier climes of Italy.

Saturday was "get off the beach day" and with coffee made and camp broken the last task remaining before setting off back to the UK was drop the Broken Beagle off at a crag near Milly-la-Foret. From there the long drag home started which was a lot less eventful than the trip down thankfully, the exception being getting off the A6 but compared to the drive down it was a walk in the park.

And so, twelve odd hours after abandoning Broken Beagle, I was back Sheffield just in time to sit down on the sofa with a much needed beer in hand to watch Arsenal getting beaten on Match of the Day. A perfect combination to reflect on an awesome trip over six hectic days with close to 1200 miles of driving and ask myself if I would do it all again? Damn right I would - Font rocks and I still haven't done 6a there yet!

When can we go?

Preparation be damned

Decided that the weather was far too good and we were far too battered following Saturdays exertions to justify spending money to go climbing indoors so we met up at Burbage for a bimble on the boulders there instead.

Had a really good session - didn't do anything new but it was good to be out on the rock and feeling that I was moving well. Helped that the conditions were pretty damned good - not optimum but close would be my assessment and it certainly helped in my best attempt so far on the The Armoured Car Traverse. Still going to require a bit more work through the crux but it feels the closest it has been yet.

Today was another good day out at Curbar - I was feeling ever more battered but decided that I would go and check out the stuff behind the Gorilla Warfare block that is listed in the new Froggatt guide. Slightly disappointing with what I found to be honest - the problem on the back wall was green so that might be better with some dry conditions and a good brush. The two problems on the other face looked less than enticing though - the arête problem has a block that sticks up at the base providing a landing that looks pretty nasty and the face problem to the right has a pit underneath it. I didn't try either problem so it might be a bit of a false impression but neither one really made me feel that confident given I was out on my own.

Back to the old favourites then - did the problems on the slab below Gorilla Warfare and then walked acoss to The Prow which I got utterly spanked on a few years back and haven't been near since. My loss is all I can say - the Left Hand Arête is pleasant and easy enough, the centre line proved tricky to start and I thought that it would be all over once I had negotiated that part but the crux seems to be moving off two decent crimps for the top. On paper it should be easy but it feels really balancy and tenuous and getting the top from there first time was a good feeling - so good in fact that I eliminated the decent hold for the left hand at the start and utilised a small crimp instead. Made no difference to the overall grade that I could tell but it felt that little bit more satisfying to do it that way. Last but not least was The Prow itself and it is a magnificent problem. Good handholds all the way but you have to work to get the feet right - should really have been a flash but I cocked up pulling on so it went second go with a slight wobble reaching for the top when I realised that the mat was placed in a less than optimum position.

From there it was down to Trackside to be confronted by some of the worst chalk abuse I have seen in a long time.


The picture was taken after 2-3 minutes of brushing chalk off with about four different brushes. You could see the break all the way from The Prow - that is how much chalk the bloody idiots had smeared in the break in an effort, one can only assume, to dry it out. Whoever was responsible really needs beating to death with their chalk bag and while it might take a very long time for them to die it will be worth it after I tried the problem and my left hand blew at the top of the mantle resulting in two very skinned knuckles. Still I suppose at least I got to bleed a lot and swear a lot more - not a total waste of a day.

Following that I repeated Strawberries first time - go me - and then played about a bit on what seems to be Crack 'n' Pockets in the new guide. Have played about on it before but today it felt feasible though no progress was made as the crimp for the left hand had been sitting in the sun for a while and so was not feeling great and my skin was feeling in even worse condition. Gave it up as a bad job but it has been added to the projects list for the winter anyway as something to try along with the Ultimate Gritstone Experience.

Font - Day 4

Day four dawned and some time later - quite probably a few hours after - I half climbed, half fell out of the van feeling (in the most charitable sense possible) as rough as a dog though, in all honesty, if your dog had been as sick as I was it would have been a trip to the vets. Not being of the canine persuasion though I decided the best course of action was to self medicate with strong coffee and a banana. Welcome to being 40 years and one day old - not quite as good as being 40 years and no days old from my once in a lifetime shot at it.

Quite a few hours after that, following many exhortations from Broken Beagle, we bundled into the van and went to Roche aux Sabots where it promptly rained resulting in a bit more R&R being taken.


Eventually it dried off enough that some of the blue circuit was climbable - I flailed up the first problem and having got there laid on the top until I was sure that wasn't going to do a passable impression of Vomiting Veronica. Just to make sure I also sat out the next few problems but eventually the nauseous feeling thing subsided and it was on with the blue circuit again. Another problem got sent before it was on to one which was rather memorable just for being a bit weird in a good way - the crux was a sort of press to a slap for the top which went down about third go. The problem after was just not happening though - there must be a way to do it with a bit of style but I just couldn't figure it out and there was no power in the tank to try and beast it into submission so I played the joker on that one and walked away.

The next problem was number 10 (I think) and it was my go first. To much amazement (most of all from myself) I flashed the thing - a technical slab with a smear to a good foothold for the right foot and on to decent holds on the scaly sort of rock that I was rapidly becoming to associate with Font. If I was to say that it was probably the best problem that I did in Font on the trip it wouldn't be far off - that good!

Did one or two more problems after that and then ran into Dense and the guys he was climbing with and, to everyone's amazement, Dense was actually climbing! True to form he was finding mono's where no one else could but he was actually climbing things!

I was rapidly going downhill again so I only managed about one or two more problems after that before retiring for the day but the blue circuit is definitely a circuit that will have to be done on my return as some of the later problems looked amazing. One in particular - a very technical looking and also rather scary slab with an arête that tapered outwards the higher you progressed is certainly on my list of must do things.

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?

Font - Day 3

a.k.a. le grand ventre's day of sartorial elegance.

Le grand ventre decided that today was the day he would give the birthday boy (me) Broken Beagle and Dear Boy a lesson in sartorial elegance - today was to be veritable tour de force that would shock the fashion world to its very core - nothing less, nothing more. From the simple insouciance of the well-worn Ireland Rugby top to the stylistic brilliance of the Barbour, from the timeless nature of the burgundy cord's to that ultimate statement in fashion: the bright orange Rab, it is without doubt true that le grand ventre has an eye for an outfit. Today was to be no ordinary day though - today's outfit would show the French how simple style was done!

Standing perfectly shod in an immaculate pair of brown brogues with odd socks (pulled up of course) these flowed seamlessly via a pair of pasty white legs into a daring pair of blue gingham shorts. This was nothing compared to the crowning glory of this lesson in style and panache though - a svelte denim jacket (unbuttoned naturally) and no shirt. Without doubt a strong look and one that would make the world of fashion sit up, scribble countless notes on whatever was to hand and wonder just how they had never thought of this before. Unfortunately no one got a picture of the full outfit but we have obtained a picture of said outfit adapted for crag mode - note the fantastic accessory bag which is de riguer for the crag look this season.


Anyway enough about le grand ventre for now - we arrived at Bas Cuvier and tried blue 1 which felt damn near impossible as did blue 2. Then did a few of the orange problems and the world seemed a lot better. Wandered in and found Dense and a few other lads camped out under something steepish before going to look at the days objective La Marie Rose.

Having found the problem Broken Beagle sent it again first time and le grand ventre had a few attempts but was hampered by an injury to his hand but at least he gave me more than enough beta to have a decent attempt. After a couple of failed attempts I could pretty much get my foot out to the left every time but dropping into the gaston was proving almost impossible due to sweaty hands and as the day progressed it just got worse as the sun lit up more and more of the problem. Deciding that it wasn't going to happen concentration was turned instead to the blue slab to the left - once the initial start had been sorted the fun really with a couple of tenuous smears to better holds and the top. Feeling a lot better having got the problem done soon turned to dismay after I realised that getting off the problem was the mental crux of it all and after a few dismal attempts I just decided to down climb the problem I had just done which was no doubt a lot harder than the descent proper but was the only way that I was getting off the problem that day. Well at least I was not the only one to suffer as the Dear Boy showed great solidarity in also getting the fear about getting off it and there is no doubt that it provided amusement for the rest of the climbers at the crag...


Events however must shift back to le grand ventre just as surely as night follows day - having tried and failed to tape his troublesome thumb he had resorted instead to sporadically trying a problem before dropping off with a huge cry of "Ow" and shaking the injured hand vigorously. He would then proceed to telling everyone in the general vicinity that he was injured - it didn't matter what nationality they were or whether they had any great command of the English language, they would be told about le grand ventre's grave injury. The rest of the gang just wandered off and found another boulder to try...

Following a good day at Bas Cuvier (with the exception of the detritus of carnal carnage that litters the place) it was off to Font for a quick beer. Le grand ventre's outfit proved to be a huge hit with the locals and proved it's versatility transforming instantaneously from crag wear to afternoon beer wear by fastening a single button on the denim jacket - oh so chic! Some of the younger element gaped open-mouthed and fell on the floor in amazement and others just could not believe the style that was being displayed and stared at us with open disdain. How could this oaf show such style?

And so it was on to the evenings entertainment - dinner at a posh French restaurant. Thankfully le grand ventre had decided to dress down for the evening and was therefore slightly less offensive to the jealous eyes of the locals. Foie Gras pate (truly amazing food) followed by Swordfish in a delicate curry sauce washed down with a couple of decent bottles of wine and finished off with a stunning Armagnac from 1970. From there it was back to our regular watering hole - the Glasgow Bar - which is better than its name suggests and had the addded advantage of having Desperado on tap for the Broken Beagle. A few pints later and some random shot for me went down quickly and then the wobble back to the camp site followed by possibly more beer and an undignified crash into bed. Great food, great company and all in all a great way to see in ones 40th.

Font - Day 2

After a night spent sleeping in the van (in the campsite car park) it was time to get sorted, make camp, brew some coffee and then hit town for something to eat. Having done that and feeling just a tiny bit syked it was off to Isatis with le grand ventre for an introduction to the sandstone.

Getting there it was decided that various problems on the blue circuit was the order of the day and off we went - bloody brilliant all round - flashed some, got spanked by others and just got used to the climbing style really. Favoutite problem that I did there was one of the early blue slab problems done in two goes - the trick was getting the start sorted out and once you had got established then it was padding up the slab on random bulges with a fair degree of belief. Also flashed the big crack (24 or 26 maybe?) which was very welcome as it all got a bit tenuous towards the top with no spotter in sight. A few more quality problems got done and then a quick wander out towards the far end of the circuit to get inspired by more awesome looking problems (we had sacked it off by now due to the heat and le grand ventre running out of steam half way up a problem) that will have to be done next time I go out. In fact I suspect that the blue circuit in all its entirety will have to be done. Not hard problems but really nice problems.

From there it was back to the camp-site via the Carrefour for the essential supplies such as beer and the like and then it was a matter of waiting for Broken Beagle and Dear Boy to arrive before heading out again, this time to Rocher Canon.

Rocher Canon - different crag, different problems and a different feel to everything - the problems are that bit bigger than Isatis and while I got up one or two problems, overall I just got shut down on the sky blue circuit. Not really sure why it didn't flow - probably a bit of everything really, tiredness, not feeling that I was moving well and the fact that the problems were that little bit bigger and harder than those we were doing earlier all contributed but regardless it was still a good evening bouldering. The gang were in Font and tomorrow was the big day - I turned 40 and we were off to Bas Cuvier to try La Marie Rose - the first Font 6a in the forest and hopefully mine too.