A SIGHTING!

On wednesday it was my pleasure to witness the man, the myth, the legend, Johnny "G" G. This was one of the greatest moments of my life to see G this close up and to be introduced to him. He was everything i expected humourous, modest and humble. He let it slip that he had been doing some rock climbing. Among other things he has reversed Anathesia to give a probable 8b+ bloc. He was lookin trim, check the pics:




I was at Warton with Greg, Ray Wood, Panton and Nodder. Here's nodder on a 7c:


I climbed twice this week, one time at woodwell trying nice one dave (tricky bloc) and second time at Warton. Best thing i did was Black Light stand up (7a+) very nice. As for work well it was grim, those men in the prison are incarcerated because they have done bad things. It was strange to see them in there.




We also checked out the Lancaster nightlife, quite good, i got a number on the first night so was a good start!

SENT DOWN!

The big news is that tommorrow i'm finally going back to work (in a jail no less). Some may say i've been due a bit of jail time for a while! So unfortunately the blog updates will be a bit less frequent. I intend to begin a seige on the South Lakes limestone while i'm up there so report back to see whats been going down.
Today after not being able to park in the pass i took matt, gave louise and david buchanan to the Plas-y - brenin boulder- a very nice piece of stone I managed a new tick for me, he traverse into the hobbit 7b+ and a very nice time was had by all. Can i also just say it just took me 1 hour 30 min to get from deganwy to holywell- bank holiday cunts!

Your Sunday Sermon - The Art of Crushing

My apologies for the lateness of todays sermon. I have been out for two days carrying out Gods good work (ahem!).
Todays sermon is on the art of crushing - a very important part of rock climbing. A few times a year when the time is right it is necessary for a rock climber to crush. By crushing i mean dispatching or kicking the shit out of a certain boulder problem or sport route (crushing does not apply to trad). One day a rock climber may turn up at the crag to find something magic in the air, everything seems a little easier, there is an atmosphere that the rock climber has not experienced before, and this is when the climber crushes. Crsuhing only occurs a few times a year, if it occured any more than this then it would not hold such special resonance. The feeling of crushing a long term project or ones hardest problem or route is pure ectasy. It is like an orgasm that doesn't end for sometimes even days. Any sexual experience one has had will pale into insignificance compared to these moments. They are very special when they come around and they must be treasured. Sometimes there is a moment in a rock climbers life when the time is right to crush a certain project and one day either side just won't do it. This happened to me on a rock climb called Melancholie. I believe if i hadn't crushed that go i may never have done it. So my children when you know the time is right when your out a the crag and all is perfect go forth and crush!
A man who has mastered the art of crushing - Mr Keith Bradbury:

New Problems

Did some new problems down by the sea today on the orme with Monolith. Seaview Wall and Seaview Prow both around the 6c+ grade. check em:

Forgot

Forgot to say yesterday i witnessed Ben pritch retro flash the undercut move- almost 20 years after he last did it. not bad for an oldie!

NO BOULDERING ON ANGLESEY

Yes its official, me and the dog went to Benllech yesterday after a tip off from Schelmerdine. He had told me about a limestone roof in someones garden and showed me some promising pics. We found it and although promising it wasn't really worth bothering with cos of the ivy on the top and the fact that it is in someones garden. Anyway we checked out some boulders down by the beach and found a rather meaty roof which was quite cool. After we played it safe and headed to the Orme. Cave for a bit and then a nice evening sesh on the box, i started trying the Malteser link, forgot what an awkward little twat the malteser is. Gonna need to get used to it again. Did Jacky D's twice though - rock n roll!

A- team hits the Gop

Gave the North Wales A- Team (Floppy, Nodder, and Hock) the tour of the Gop today. It appeared to be slightly gopping when we arrive but it was nothing that a bit of chalk and enthusiasm couldn't sort. I wasn't sure how the crag would hold up to this onslaught, all are strong climbers although very different so anything could happen!Hock had a bit of an injury (he'd also had 14 days on!) but Dave and Chris soon got started on Push the Button. After playing around on different sequences for the end they eventually listened to me and used my sequence. Then it was time for the first move, Chris was close but didn't quite manage it. Then they got started on blokesmoker low, unrepeated since the foothold went. Nodder got physced, pissing the first move with a right toehook. Chris also got keen and so did Hock who couln't resist any longer. I've never tried this cos i've always seen danny struggle on it, but i thought i'd have a go. After a few goes i was almost as close to the jug as those boys, quite surprising. It seems my extra length helped me out. I spent the rest of the sesh trying Push the Bloke, a straight up problem between Push the Button and Smoke a Bloke, uses holds on both problems, really cool and only one move that i can't quite do. Well physced. Anyway Chris did Smoke a bloke 7b+ to finish off, confirming what we all knew- its nails! And that was that, i reckon those boys will be back there after they've cut down on the pies. I went to my old mans crag and did two very nice new 6c+s. Soundies!