Den Rebirth

Back in the mid noughties the Denbigh Den was THE training facility in North Wales. Located in the Cattell's shed it contained some of the hardest problems in North Wales courtesy of Danny and Mule. Danny in particular had the style dialled and used to pull out some sick moves. A new grading system emerged, it wasn't based on logic as the gap between the grades got bigger the higher they got. I.e the jump between 7b and 7b+ was bigger than the jump between 7a and 7a+. It worked though and some hard classics were established. Eventually though the Den ran out of steam. It wasn't perfect. There were plenty of nasty holds and we thought we'd give it a complete makeover. The board was stripped and put back together. Things weren't quite the same and we stopped climbing there. The Mill came along and Dannny hardly climbed for a few years. I was chuffed to hear that Dan had been back in there and had tweaked it. I went along the other night and it was great. It has the potential to be better than before and maybe one day now Den 8a will become a reality. It was great to see Danny cranking again. His base level is unbelievable. He is really good at that dynamic snatchy style. He has even reset his old favourite 7c Goin homo and has repeated it already. I'm keen to get there while i'm working in Runcorn. One of my favourite vids, the Den vid:


Another evening i went to try Danny's problem
36 Chambers
at Tremerchion. This is a great great limestone 7c. Obvious stand start to a high jug on the arete. The rock, holds and moves are all first class. It's one of those problems that is hard because you have to ground it up (unless you have a ladder). The finish is easier but quite high. I tried it years ago but didn't get too far. I felt stronger this time and bagged it after a fairly intense session and quite a few go's falling off the last hard move and having to do it all again. I don't know at what point during the last year and a half of route climbing i got better at bouldering but i'm not complaining!
Pic:
The sit start from the big tufa down and right is even better and unrepeated i think. I'm quite keen for it. The next day my elbow felt knackered. I've felt it for a while but the seige on 36 Chambers made it worse. I've never had a elbow problem and it's quite worrying. I have got a lot stronger over the summer, maybe my tendons are struggling to keep up with my biceps. I'm also aware that i have literally just pulled down for 15 years. Never doing any pushing to balance things out. I know this will catch up with me eventually, maybe its time to do some push ups. I'm unsure what action to take with my elbow. Pete Harrison has had elbow issues and he says its good to keep climbing.
Went down the Diamond yesterday. I've done so many new routes this year but no re- equipping yet so wanted to pull my weight a bit and do some. I drilled the old George Smith route left of Skip, Robinson Cruiser 7c+. It looked pretty meaty and hard to me. The top headwall to the lower off in particular looke fairly blank and there is a big run out. May have to put another bolt in. Anyway it should be glued soon so get on it. The LPT brigade heard my rallying call it seems. It was chocker down there yesterday and big queues for Boat People. Jordan and Shauna (FFA) crushed The Waiting Game. I always knew this would become popular!