Inspector 8b+!

Good work to Inspector Mawsons who bagged his first 8b+ yesterday, Dosis at the Wild Side in Sella. Anyone who has sport climbed with the Inspector won't be surprised about this accomplishment. Good work!
The man at Hueco:

Louis Armstrong 4th ascent

Congrats to Nacho who today climbed Louis Armstrong the classic hard short problem of the cave. Strong git.

Mule bolting up the 8c corner, futuristic shit:

Power Endurance Vid

More Outtakes

Here is WCG outtakes the second:

Hit the Orme and the Mill today. Had a burn on my link in the Cave then got back up on Mayfair wall. Today was fairly crucial. I needed a few good burns to get my confidence up. Ended up having two redpoints the 2nd time managing the crux only to fall off the next move. Chuffed. I called it a day at that as Mule was going downstairs. Ian had a copy of the 8a.nu yearbook. I noticed that they are for some reason trying to upgrade The Big Bang to 9a+. This seems strange to me bearing in mind they know almost nothing about it. Just because its unrepeated doesn't mean its 9a+! Strange!

Realisation

is a chossy route at ceuse. No seriously i had one today. The last few sessions in the Mill haven't gone well. I have struggled to find the form and the motivation. As a result of injury i haven't been cranking in there for over a month. Today however i felt a bit lighter on the warmups and i knew i was back. Ended up having a decent session, wasn't quite as strong as before but i knew i was getting it back. Doing some tricky problems and then some power endurance circuits it dawned on me that this was by far the most important route to rock climbing beastliness. You can't get that intensity outside. I was so powered out and pumped after my circuits it felt great. So despite the nice weather and abundance of outside projects i will attempt to get to this wall 2/3 times a week for a decent sesh. It truly is great!

109 V points- eat yer heart out P-Rob

Yesterday i was getting some footage on the box and ended up clocking up 109 V points (had to repeat some problems a few times). Needless to say i can feel my tips today. Grabbed the hold again on Jack the Drunk but couldn't do the next move, more finger strength required.
Today sausage came down and i tried my Mayfair proj, had my first redpoint on it but it wasn't very impressive. Psyched though. Still bit unsure bout what grade this route is, think i'm gonna opt for a hard grade though rather than a soft one, its a historic wall and doesn't need any overgrading. Later went down LPT, sausage tried Mussel Beach and i racked up this years first bad boy, never get bored of this route.

Quality Ben and Jerry footage

Queens Crag

Yesterday i went to check out Queens Crag on a stone circles mission. We met man of the moment Dan V, Davey J and Chris Graham and Adam W there on a beautiful day. First stop was to check out Dans new problem Ark Royal - a stunning hard world class boulder and a bit scary too. Dan was trying the sitter a bit. Dave tried Red Dragon a bit, insecure 8a arete and wrestled with Queen Kong, once again stunning prow. I was shit so i did some posing for Ray on V2s. The Ark Royal:



Some footage (warning: not much climbing)

Sea of Tranquility

I ended up resting today but went belaying down LPT. All-round hero Mule (E6 flash, F8a and Font 8a+ in ten days look at me) wanted to get back on Over the Moon Direct. This is a fantastic French 8a, highly recommended. There was a good scene down there. Tommy and Holger did Parasite 8a, often ignored but apparently very good. During Mules rest i thought i might check out the holds on Sea of Tranquility, Ben Moons 8c+ from 1994. Now he graded it 8c and in the guide it states that Neil Carson repeated it but i am lead to believe that this is a factual error and Neil did not in fact do this route. Richie Patterson and John Dunne both informed me of this when i met them on the Orme. Would be good to know for certain though. Anyone out there know for sure??? Anyway i belayed both Rich and Mcclure on this a while back. Simpson was trying it Ben Moons original way and couldn't do it. In Spain he mentioned to me that he thought this route was very hard. Steve was slightly left of the original line crimping up some footholds. He didn't do it and has yet to return. The holds are indeed woeful, very hard boulder! Its pretty cool, no LA but would be worth doing if you could hang on the holds. Mule fell off high on OTMD, he should do it next time.

Last Rites Footage

Went to the orme today (surprise surprise) with Dylan, Dobbin and Mason. All were keen for the cave, i felt ok, got to the last move of the link again but this time could of done it, was fresher! Paul Higginson was in the cave getting some footage. Did Rockatrocity and Lou Ferrino then showed Mason the box, he did The greek, pill box original, whisky bitch, mr whippy, last orders, last rites, jack daniels connection. I did Last Rites a few times, here it is, quality problem:

Mule crushes Greenheart

Me and mule went to do some routing on the orme today. We bouldered too though and he did Greenheart, he had such an epic on this problem. Jack Geldard finally did The Higlife and Pete did the 2nd ascent of some minor link called Silk Cut.
I got back on my Mayfair project doing the crux moves again and also the top wall. Took a while to remember how to do it though, mega! Mule did Body Torque 7b+.

Welsh Coast Gimps Outtakes

My new 1TB hard drive arrived today so i've started putting some footage from old tapes onto it. First port of call was to go through the old america tapes, i was intrigued to see what was on these. I wasn't dissapointed. For those of you with as sense of humour i will upload it to youtube. Here is outtake 1:

Cave Lull

Am gonna try and not boulder on ormes as much in the next week or two as i feel a little jaded with it. Haven't felt as strong as the other day when i nearly did my new link up. Have had a good few weeks in there though as have worked out The Wire and have got some good pumps going, all good training. Pete did Directors Cut the other day but dropped the finish of Silk Cut, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry! Went to the mill the other day and that was demoralising too. Haven't been for a month or so after injury and holiday so was crap. Need to get back to a decent standard in there.
Today i was sat in the cave sacked when Tommy suggested we do some routes on Mayfair. About 4 years ago i bolted a new line there so i thought i'd check it out again. I haven't tried it for a few years because of its fingery nature. Going up there today though it felt good. I managed all the moves on the crux lower wall so maybe i can do it with some work. It really is a brilliant route and it made me realise i need to sport climb at the moment to keep things fresh. Deadhangs today and Mill tomorrow. Tommy had his 7th day on Oyster, looked brutal for 7c!!! Jerry sandbag!

Sheffield crushes Gop

Ned, Mason and Ben Thompson came to the Gop today, me and Dan gave them the tour and they seemed to enjoy themselves. Dave and Ben started off by doing Smoke a Bloke 7b+, Ned failed to latch this one but was first up Push the Button 8a, Ben and Dave soon followed. Then Ned got the 2nd ascent of Blokesmoker low 8a closely followed by Ben and Dave.
Push the Button:

Blokesmoker Low

Then Ned had a go at my proj, turns out its hard and too hard for me! Its good to climb with the strong boys, makes you realise there's still a long way to go!
Good effort lads, some Gop footage here

Dead Mouse

Today on the Orme a dead mouse fell out of the sky and nearly landed on my head. After the goat and rock incident i'm starting to think i'm cursed. Anyway today we had a few famous visitors to the Orme, American trad star Matt Segal rocked up to the cave after being washed out of the mountains. Also present was world class boulderer our very own Scott Mclellan. Scott rose to fame by flashing The Joker and doing The Ace next sesh, world class in anyones book (bear in mind that Dave Graham failed to do The Ace after some work). Scott is a nice lad but is a long way from being world class at bouldering. In fact when i've seen people like Malc, Moony who all had to seige The Ace i have always been suitably impressed. Scott told Pritch he did all the moves on Louey Armstrong. Hopefully i'll get to see him do it in the next day or two. Dropped me proj on the last moves 3 more times today! Twat

More Spanish Shots

From Ben Heason

falling footage

Some footage of me failing, first one a 8a siurana, second is le cara, third is Jack The Drunk.

Orme crushing

Mule on slate:


The Ormes new found popularity keeps on rolling. Today Tommy crushed Over the Moon Direct and Kook crushed Greenheart finishing up Lip Service, nice. I dropped the last move of my current cave project and had a good go on Halfway feeling as solid as ever on it. Tried Pas de Deux again which confirmed my suspicion that i still can't pull on really shit small holds. Went to the Mill this morning, keen to get back up to speed in there. Haven't eaten a bar of chocolate for two days so progress there. Ted keeps going on the box, he's still trying Drink Driving and even did a new minor link on there, Cypriot/Ain't No Party 7c. Rest tomorrow.

Mule crushes Mussel Beach

Today i saw the Mule climb Mussel Beach 8a. He managed to keep it together well at the top, nice one shag. Pickles did 2nd go too. I tried Pas de deux 8a+, bit nasty but keen to look at it again. Up in the cave we got heckled by six 13 year old girls. I managed to do Broken Heart despite the heckling but it was one of the most surreal moments i've had on the orme! Keen for the coming week!

Spain 3 and The Next Step

The rain kept coming, we climbed when we could so it was not a total disaster. I hurt my hand on a pocket on a 8a+. Have climbed on it since though, doesn't seem too bad. All in all it was a good trip. Good banter and fun and a some quality sport climbing:

Mark trying Pota Da Elephant 7c+

Lu and Kodo

Lu on Kalea Borokka 8b+, 40 metres. Hopefully she'll do it soon:

Cattell cousin Bob on Cara:



In Spain i gave my climbing some serious thought. Things have been going ok since i finished working in Lancaster in September. My level has stayed at a reasonable standard. They're have been hardly any fluctuations that have often dogged my climbing over the years. I think finally my body has adjusted to the increases in weight that it has had to endure as a result of puberty and my sweet tooth. If you keep telling your body to climb and pull hard sooner or later it will start to listen. So feeling pretty good after only minimal training and being over 12 stone is quite a good position to be in. My plan over the next few months is to up the ante. It is my desire to get to the next level and i believe this can be achieved by climbing and training more and adopting a more healthy lifestyle. So barring any major injuries (touch wood) i will aim to climb twice a day 4/5 times a week. The areas i am interested in improving are finger strength, power, and power endurance. I feel as though gains in these areas will benefit me the most. Training wise i will attempt to get to the mill and Matts board at least 3 times a week. Here i will work on the srength stuff obviously but i also plan on starting some resistance circuits which should improve my power endurance no end. I plan to attempt to complete 5 problems on the steep mill board dropping off at the top and pulling straight back on at the bottom. I should be failing on problem 3/4 to begin with and then 5. I'll keep going until i've completed it and then make it harder. Hopefully in den grades the problems should be 7a+/b, 7a+, 7a, 6c+, 6c. Also i may set a circuit in which i stay on the board with a relatively easy downclimb. To link two tricky problems on the Mill would be good training. Now my shoulders better i can also start deadhaning my small bit of wood again. Ten sets of ten seconds four times a week should suffice. I'm gonna keep going out to the crags. I have resistance projects to try in the cave and Pill Box. As well as getting me in shape these will provide hard ticks when they go down. I'm also well keen for some sport routes so i'll get on my projects as often as i can. I have several climbs that i have bolted and it would be cool to complete some first ascents. Maybe the most improtant plan i have is to stop eating copious amounts of cheescake, chocolate, pizzas and sweets. I need to become more healthy and hopefully if i get back on my old diet of fresh fish, veg, rice etc.. i may even lose a few pounds and this will be extremely beneficial. It certainly would be nice to say bye bye to the 'podge'. So there you have it the masterplan. Whether i can stick to it or not and avoid injury remains to be seen. All i know right now is that the psyche raging through my body is as strong as it has ever been.