Awesome Mawsome

Awesome Inspector Mawson took a break from trying Rainshadow on Thursday and visited LPT to have a whirl on Walking Mussel. The Inspector is a very good climber. He's always been a stamina jock but he has got significant power gains from his training over winter. I thought he'd have a good chance of getting it in a session. It's not a very complicated route so if you're going well you've got every chance of doing it quickly. Anyway to cut a short story short he pissed it making perhaps the quickest ascent. The fact that he found the bottom bulge the hardest indicates how easy he found the crux. He said it was a bit similar to the crux of Rainshadow but that is font 7c+ as opposed to 7b+ on WM. It came as no surprise to me that he thought it was a gift for 8b+. It could be 8b though i would have thought one of the other guys would have downgraded it. I went back down to LPT yesterday after an enforced 9 day break from it. It definitely feels like a breach of human rights having to work when the tide is out. I was paranoid about feeling worse on it after the loss of momentum. I've not been doing any hardcore climbing or training in the meantime either. It was still too cold but i suspect folk are tired of me complaining about this so i'll pipe down. I had 4/5 redpoints and on the last one made the breakthrough and grabbed the undercut. I didn't quite wiggle into it well enough and fell off the match but i was happy. I'm having a bit of a different experience on this route. Normally after this many days on something this seeds of stress and frustration start to sprout. I feel none of this though, i just enjoy every go and feel dead relaxed. I think it's partly to do with the nature of the route and partly because my redpointing head feels good this year. I'm sure this will change if i fall off the crack for ten days though. Emma and Jim were trying Youthanasia. I've been going to LPT since the 90s and literally apart from Pete on Wild Youth and i think Keith Sharples once i've never seen anyone try it. This is really bizarre and criminal really. It looks brilliant! Pete said the top moves were some of the best on the crag. I guess Melanchollie is most people's preferred choice. I'd love to give it a go sometime. Jordan Buys has been in Wales over the weekend. I've always admired Jordan's enthusiasm. He just wants to go everywhere and climb everything, no matter how esoteric. He's another one who is doing good things on Rainshadow, good to see the boys trying to step it up. He went to Dyserth Waterfall yesterday and had a go on The Hole Truth, my route from last year. I sent him a message to get his verdict and he replied: "dirty, reachy and sharp but i liked it". My sentiments exactly i thought, this route is meat. He's keen to go back to finish it and Madness Reigns 8a.