Over The Moon

The monsoon continues, hopes are raised by a couple of dry days before the crushing dismay of a forecast including 4 days of rain in a row. People go on about the weather being shit in Britain. I guess it is compared to most places but most summers are fine by me. I like it when it's mild and there's usually plenty of dry weather and dry rocks. What we're experiencing at the moment however is complete shite and i think everyone's struggling. We have plenty of rocks that don't seep here in Wales but it's not much use if it rains everyday. My wet hold on Walking Mussel doesn't make things any easier, in fact i'll go as far as to say it's a right pain in the ringpiece. I had a decent session at the start of the week but i ended up cutting my skin and had to stop. However, i have realised that i am a complete arsehole. I've been doing the crack such a hard way. I've been completely tunnel visioned into a blinkered sequence. Not standing on the god awful smear and using the shite slopey bankhand means it's now a lot easier. I couldn't try WM cos of skin last night so to put it to the test i got on Over The Moon, an 8a which also finishes up the crack. I got a bit carried away the first go and tried to do it putting all the middle clips in and not really knowing the moves. I was boxed stupid on the shakeout before the crack but was still really close to doing it. It felt great actually doing some decent climbing and getting pumped rather than falling off the same boulder problem. I really thought the effort had finished me for the day but i managed to get the route next go by climbing it more efficiently. It was the last 8a i had to do downstairs, here they are in order of difficulty, easiest first (IMO):

Mussel Beach - Low in the grade but 8a nevertheless and a great intro to the grade. Always popular.
Over the Moon Direct - Also popular. Hard moves in the middle lead to a decent shakeout before some very droppable moves through the last bulge.
Parasite - More meaty than it's neighbour Mussel B and longer with an excellent finishing headwall. The bit over the lip is hard if you're short and the rockover above is hard if you're tall.
Battle of The Little Big Orme - Prime! Superb rock and moves. One of the best. Helps if you can get a no hands kneebar halfway up.
Statement of Youth - The original classic is still a big draw. Takes in a lot of tricky old skool climbing and has a redpoint crux right at the end. Essential.
Over The Moon - From the shakeout on Over The Moon Direct move right and tackle the burly crack. Pumpy!

Pete was trying Big Bang. He says a lot of the difficulty of the route is tied up in skin issues as it's so savagely crimpy. He's a fat bastard compared to Caff of course. Weightwatcher's for Robins.

It doesn't look like i'll be down LPT for a bit cos of work which is gutting, just gotta keep in shape and get ready to strike when the times right.

Happy swimming people!