Conflict Continues

Well the need to train/wanting to go outside every day and have a nice time conflict continues. I think i'm finally waking up and smelling the coffee though. It took another new project to bring it home. The situation is that i have 5 projects, all of them i cannot climb in my current state. 3 of them are probably 8a+. I would love to do them all this year but if i carry on like i am this is very doubtful. I can keep going out and hanging on the bolts and hoping for a miracle or i can get on the board and get big gains very quickly. Two of my routes are quite bouldery so i need to be pretty strong. Its hard when its nice outside, after hibernating all winter i really want to be outside enjoying the weather but it's not going to get me where i want to be. Training hard doesn't mean climbing outside is off bounds. I can still go and get some ticks but the main focus needs to be strength improvements. My new project came out of the blue. Down Pigeon's is a old project that is always wet. Nodder tried it a bit last year. Me and Dyer noticed a crimp in the wall which looked like it would allow access to a nice visual line up and left. We put a bolt in off a ladder and i tried the move. It was really cool so i came back the next day from the top and finished bolting the line. Next day i tried it with Pete H. It's really good, there were 3 or 4 moves i couldn't do but i could see how they worked. I did the top finishing moves which were ace. So out of the blue i have a very sexy new project on the Orme to get my juices flowing.

We finished re-equipping Fellatio Nelson and Cat Amongst the Pidgeons but i was left wondering if we should have bothered.

The shared finishing moves involve a shoulder popping jump to a rusty old chain. Fellatio has some big holds that are slimey and filthy and Cat doesn't look that good either. Dyer rebolted the short but sweet looking African Headcharge 7a+. Lovely tufas, shame it doesn't go on for 30 metres:



I went to Dulas with Mule yesterday. Some prick has stolen the two draws i left on temple and my project to aid stripping them. It dismays me that there's climbers out there who are happy enough to nick gear. I hope they snap and they break their legs. I worked out some good beta on the proj, the first 2/3 are great and i've got it worked out. Like Temple the important thing with this route is to get the end dialled so it feels piss. Mule flashed Sticky Fingers and had a go on Temple but it didn't really fit him and he found it hard. I went to the Mill after to kick things off again. There is some nice wood in there now, tasty!

Finally in what must be the greatest week ever for women's performances on the Orme Shauna Coxsey completed Pilgrim 8a+ in the Cave. This is a brilliant effort and all the more impressive considering she hadn't climb 8a before. So this makes Shauna the first women to do 8a on British soil and maybe the first to climb 8a+ full stop. Claire Murphy did some hard problems in Hueco but Chablanke is not 8a+ and Sarah gets V11/12 which suggests 8a (some Hueco V12's would be worth 8a in Europe). Pilgrim is undoubtedly 8a+, the first section is hard 7c+ then it finshes up Rockatrocity which is probably hard 7c. Mega!