May/June

Well since china it's been a mad dash of work and a little play, the play involving a bit of Font, Portland and Cheddar.


So Font the boulders mecca, that is as maybe but in the sun with temps touching 30 friction is far from Bon, that said a good trip was had meeting up with loads of friends not seen for an age!
After a slow start with Lisa and me both thinking it way to crowded we found ourselves at isatis with Lisa making good progress on a steep line not her style at all but making it look good, I had a sneaky peek at a problem I had a look at a few years back. finding fellow sportiva athlete Barnaby under the line we set to making moves higher and higher until feeling brave i did the flick from under the roof to a sloper and then on to the top jug happy days, closely followed by Barns.


Cheddar's been a game of two half's as in most times I have been it's been on the back of not sleeping the first time was jet lagged from china, and all tho did all the moves on a route called homegrown (8a+) I just kept on making silly mistakes so had to leave with no skin and nothing more to show for a days climbing. So the next time in the ched was a little disappointing when after warming up I sent the line with the minimum of fuss! Next up was Bristol weed of the same grade and lo and behold the same result working all night heading to the crag and walking away with shoulders hung low only to return a few days later and bang she's in the bag.

Iv been feeling the pull of the sea for an age now and last weekend I made a start to the season of DWS ( the latest start for me in years ) so with a dash to Pembroke I had a quick look at Neal G's new line from last year an 8a down in lydstep. It was a grey and windy day and after a few splashdowns and the tide going out I had to call it a day with a sequence that I think will work and and a smile on my face that it will go and iv taken my first splashdown of the year sweet, can't wait till I can make it down there again to get back in the sea.



On top of this iv been working loads building Walls north and south, a bit of visual bliss party prettification and setting at climbing Walls around the uk. I am at the moment sat in the work van driving back from Durham a drive iv done twice in the last week and a half !
But on the good side iv got a weekend off in Cornwall to chill out party and have a good time with friends, it don't get better than that.

China

Well on arriving at Getu river southwest china  two days of travel in the bag,  Bristol-London then flight one heathrow - Beijing  10 hours then three or so hours to change plane followed by a three hour flight to Guiyang then a taxi to hotel in the city. Day two picked up by a driver then a 7 hour drive into the middle of know where, that just so happens to be not only beautiful but also where the arch of winners is! 
So on arriving Erwan our host from Petzl thinks the best thing to do is go look at the crag this involves a little walk,  a river crossing helping the motorbikes on and off the small boat then a small set of steps (1477 steps)up into the cave. And what a cave well more of a arch than cave 100 M across 300 M long and 80M high at it's lowest point! With a head wall and wings covered in tufa.








So the brief, with a supply of two thousand bolts, a team of climbers from all over the world manly france Spain and England, bolt as many routes as you can. Right then mission on.
With accomidtion sorted and the food menu worked out I.e two weeks of rice and noodles with spice and random stuff put in to make it yummy, we set to








to get our eyes in we had a climbing day ( a few routes were put up in October ) to see what we were up against, in the arch it was a stiff learning curve as the routes were totally nails and so hard to onsight  as the rock is smooth and all looks the same! But a few new lines stood out to andy and me some easier routes just out side the main cave so we set to bolting five lines over the next few days most in the mid 6 grade. 






with this done we went for a wonder to have a look at the rest of the valley finding with two of the French boys a nice crag that ended up being called fish crag because there is a painting of a fish at the bottom of the cliff! 
As we could get round the tp of this cliff be a little track in the il side things moved along a little swifter as we could bolt top down instead of bottom up, much faster.
Between the four of us we then had the crag set on four or so days with 15 routes from 6c to 8a  not bad I thought.
after this the weather tok a turn for the worse and tho not proper rain we had a fine drizzle so Andy and I hung up our drill did a little climbing and ran for Beijing to be tourist's for a day or so.
meanwhile the rest of the team were going big in the cave with dani bol
Ting an 8 pitch monster thru the middle that will be in the mid to high 8s to climb Toni putting a five pitch route at 7c+ on the left and deago bolting the crag classic a five pitch 7b on the right.
Also many new routes put up in and out of the cave leaving the valley with about 250 new pitches from 5 to 9 not a bad job boys good work !

Comps and Walls

Comps and climbing, well the indoor season for me is very nearly at an end, it's been a bizy few weeks starting with the final round of the climbing academy, well not getting off to a good start falling off an easy problem spent the rest of the of the sesh playing catch up! Well with a good try I missed out on the final by two points but came second overall for the league. One down two to go the next being at the cloning works Sheffield for there yearly comp the CWIF and with an international field was thinking a tough tour and low points was to be my day but low and behold I did quite well climbing the tecky routes with a little bit of stile.
So from a field of 200 men I came 24th not bad, I'm well happy with that!

Well now to the north and a fun week building a small climbing wall in a leisure centre, wit a strong team a big bag of tools and Longy at the helm I think we did it again and made a beautiful thing.

Jan / Feb

tools of the trade

Well it's time to go back to school, when I say school I mean that if you think not climbing routes for four months over the winter then rocking up to one of the biggest caves in Spain with only a few weeks training and expecting to do anything it's lesson one O one.
But first let's go back a week and a bit and talk of Font, a quick weekend trip with some of the Bristol crew. Leaving on Friday eve and headed to the tunnel, iv not had the pleasure of the tunnel before and what a joy 30 mins of standing around and bingo France, So from hear we drove on to the formula one just outside font getting there late and wedging five into a three person room!
The one thing about going with others is they tend to be a lot more on it that me, like for me the day hasn't started in font till at least a coffee and cake has been had In a nice French cafe. Still a gas station coffee and to the climbing, I think on that note all I can say was it was cold and I flapped around like a punter thinking I need to be in the Spanish sun doing routes and getting pumped out of my mind.


the cave, santa Linya


So on to the afor mentioned Spanish sun and the cave! Santa linya, on touching the ground after warming up doing pitch one of airline with said pump I was struck by the thought that fuck that hurts the arms and I might of lost a bit of fitness over the winter so on sighting might be the order of the day on the short but steep routes of the cave can't be that hard steep = jugs surly, so off I went scrabbling my way up 7b+s wile all around others were trying 8c's and that was just the girls!
So day one over and a hand-full of sevens I got to thinking I might be better off just bolt to bolting things working them for redpointing from hear on in and so in this method a few 8's went nicely in the pocket as well.
Day five! And with the rain not coming on day four as forcast that turned into a climbing day instead of rest I was feeling a bit under gunned and in that manner hit the wall of can't pull any more at this grade falling from the last hard move on a 8a+ so after one go I had the rest of the day off thinking day six (my last day in Spain) was going to be a book reading chill day!
Well with Alex having a go on his proj I found myself back in the cave on belay mission but as I s always the way with these things I thought I might have a bit left and lo and behold I did on sighting a 7b,a 7c and the hardest of the day sharmers warm up 7b+ second go but to my defence it's nails hard to read and was wet and everybody comes of the route!
So now on the way home sat on the plane drinking coffee and thinking where next?



readpointing irac attack 8a+

bbs's

to calll it training would be overstating it some what i think, I think to call it training i think you have to have some structure planning and goals, i had one of these a goal the BBC's in London town The british bouldering championship is where the top British boulders go to have at a hard set of blocks.
so back to my goal witch was to come in the results at about mid field so with 52 competing coming around the 25th place is where i was aiming, so after climbing witch i was very happy with the way i was climbing relaxed and feeling strong i came 20th iv got to be happy with that.
so now what ? well iv just entered the CWIF in Sheffield so theres another goal to aim for just need to get round to doing the other two bits structure and planning, till i get round to that (iv never managed it yet) i think ill go have a play at the wall, knowing me ill drink coffee and talk moe than climb but if im in the right place i might get strong by watching others!

2011 jan

well hear she is A new year , What shall she bring, hopefully a good summer to Finnish off my projects the main one being climbing all the deep water 8's in the uk so come on people step up get some new lines done to make my life harder go on i challenge you.
but that Will be in the summer its a bit cold the now for getting in the sea! till then bouldering and sport will have to to but i get ahead of myself work needs to be done evan before that so im off now to take some lights and borbbles down the last remains of 2010 and the year gone by, It was a good one.

Back in the saddle

Well after three weeks in rodellar it was time to head home, with arms failing to do there stuff we decided to give ourselves an extra day to drive home. Ending the trip after 52 days away not a bad way to spend the summer.
The only problem with this is now I'm balls deep in Christmas decorations putting them up for he next month all around the country from Southampton to Glasgow. 

I did manage tho to get a few hours off to go to the opening round of the Climbing Academy's first round for there winter boulder league, tho to manage this I did have to drive on Friday to peterbourgh work most of the night get up early then drive back to Bristol to start climbing at 12!

It was at this point that I found out that wile I'm quite fit and can pull V5 moves after 30 meters of climbing this is my limit and can only do V5 off the deck as well I think some boulder training is in need!!