One of the reasons that I have been out of the loop re: blogging for a while is that I have been doing stuff on pROJECT mAYHEM though not as much as I would have liked due to missing the best part of a month down to Christmas and then the wintry conditions which followed.
Another reason is that (for me at least) I have been climbing a fair bit in the last week or so. First outing was a part of a mates 40th birthday do in Wales which resulted in a first time visit to the Sheep Pen Boulders. It wasn't the most productive of trips as I had consumed what could quite rightly be called a prodigious amount of beer the night before but spending the night in the van seemed to have mitigated the worst of the ill effects that I really should have been feeling so off we went. The great plan was also hampered by yours truly forgetting to pick up his bag of climbing gear when leaving Sheffield resulting in a rather painful outlay of £80 that I really couldn't afford but the resulting day spent luxuriating in the relative painlessness obtained by going up half a size helped. Unfortunately the new shoes didn't make the walk in any easier (I thought I was Fiend I was blowing so badly) or give me access to vast amounts of previously untapped talent - if anything the talent available was even less than usual. First couple of problems got dispatched and then I had a major wobble topping something out which rather shocked me and things lulled for a while before going on to try a fair few problems at the top end of my ability and not getting too far. This was largely down to the rather awkward style of climbing on the Sheep Pen Boulders (it might be a feature of the rock but I haven't done enough in North Wales to say). This is not to say that the climbing is bad - it is very good but all of us struggled a bit to come to terms with the movement required. A few more trips to figure out how to unlock the rock and I think I could get quite good (relatively speaking) on it as it seems to suit the basics of my climbing with good edges and quite powerful moves all wrapped up in some improbable sequences. Nice! Finished off the day trying Dog Shooter which is totally my style and should go next time with a bit more commitment and a bit more fitness.
Thursday was the Climbingworks with Flipper and Beagles - tried the green and pink spots circuit which started off OK before descending at about problem 13 into a mass of nasty thrutchy oddness which really didn't find any sort of appreciation from me. Did OK though considering I had finished work at 7AM that morning - flashed one of the black and purple spots problems at about 6a+ which I was pleased with and then promptly ran out of steam. Good fun all round but it proved to me that I need to get some fitness and soon!
Saturday\Sunday was spent at Almscliff - the Saturday wasn't much fun with a baltic wind blowing in and the odd shower following it. Went to have a look at The Crucifix but the ground underneath was a churned up bog so sacked that idea, played on Flying Arête and got the start worked a bit better and then decided to sack it off to the pub as we were fed up with being cold and the weather was closing in again. Sunday was a better day - got Pork Chop Slab first time and then played around on the overhanging 6a problem from a sitter to the left until I pulled something in my shoulder\back which wasn't good. Thankfully it only seems to be a minor pull and seems to have settled down OK so just the ignominy of getting burnt off on a problem that I know should have been in the bag and finished with to cope with now.
Gah!!
Another reason is that (for me at least) I have been climbing a fair bit in the last week or so. First outing was a part of a mates 40th birthday do in Wales which resulted in a first time visit to the Sheep Pen Boulders. It wasn't the most productive of trips as I had consumed what could quite rightly be called a prodigious amount of beer the night before but spending the night in the van seemed to have mitigated the worst of the ill effects that I really should have been feeling so off we went. The great plan was also hampered by yours truly forgetting to pick up his bag of climbing gear when leaving Sheffield resulting in a rather painful outlay of £80 that I really couldn't afford but the resulting day spent luxuriating in the relative painlessness obtained by going up half a size helped. Unfortunately the new shoes didn't make the walk in any easier (I thought I was Fiend I was blowing so badly) or give me access to vast amounts of previously untapped talent - if anything the talent available was even less than usual. First couple of problems got dispatched and then I had a major wobble topping something out which rather shocked me and things lulled for a while before going on to try a fair few problems at the top end of my ability and not getting too far. This was largely down to the rather awkward style of climbing on the Sheep Pen Boulders (it might be a feature of the rock but I haven't done enough in North Wales to say). This is not to say that the climbing is bad - it is very good but all of us struggled a bit to come to terms with the movement required. A few more trips to figure out how to unlock the rock and I think I could get quite good (relatively speaking) on it as it seems to suit the basics of my climbing with good edges and quite powerful moves all wrapped up in some improbable sequences. Nice! Finished off the day trying Dog Shooter which is totally my style and should go next time with a bit more commitment and a bit more fitness.
Thursday was the Climbingworks with Flipper and Beagles - tried the green and pink spots circuit which started off OK before descending at about problem 13 into a mass of nasty thrutchy oddness which really didn't find any sort of appreciation from me. Did OK though considering I had finished work at 7AM that morning - flashed one of the black and purple spots problems at about 6a+ which I was pleased with and then promptly ran out of steam. Good fun all round but it proved to me that I need to get some fitness and soon!
Saturday\Sunday was spent at Almscliff - the Saturday wasn't much fun with a baltic wind blowing in and the odd shower following it. Went to have a look at The Crucifix but the ground underneath was a churned up bog so sacked that idea, played on Flying Arête and got the start worked a bit better and then decided to sack it off to the pub as we were fed up with being cold and the weather was closing in again. Sunday was a better day - got Pork Chop Slab first time and then played around on the overhanging 6a problem from a sitter to the left until I pulled something in my shoulder\back which wasn't good. Thankfully it only seems to be a minor pull and seems to have settled down OK so just the ignominy of getting burnt off on a problem that I know should have been in the bag and finished with to cope with now.
Gah!!
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