A Humid Saturday at Plantation

We managed to get to Plantation again this week, me, my brother and my friends Dayne and Josh got the train to Hathersage then walked up to Stanage. I warmed up then had some goes at 'Deliverance Traverse' (v7) and made good progress, managed to get the side pull and make attempts to finish of towards the arete, except me smears were literally popping off because of the humidity so i have decided to leave that for a couple of weeks until the friction is good enough. So i had a go at 'The Full Green Traverse' (v7) started on the sloper and a little crimp thing and got to the start of 'The green Traverse' (v6) which i did on Monday, the problem with this one is trying to get you body position around and actually onto the V6 traverse without your feet touching the floor, i got this far on my first attempt and only gave it 4 goes in total so i am feeling pretty optimistic in the fact this may be my first v7, my brother wanted to try something else so we moved on. I found myself on the 'Rose and The Self Employed Business Man' (v7) but found it fairly tough to be honest. After a couple more hours of playing about on some easier stuff and trying really hard stuff we couldn't stand the midges anymore and had to leave. My two established goals are The Full green Traverse, and the Deliverance Traverse.

My best day in one day.

Once again me and my brother couldn't take it anymore, we had to climb outside, So even if it was for one day we had to go. We got the train to Hathersage from Scunthorpe at 12.10 and got to Stanage Plantation at about 3.45. We warmed up on some easy slabby prolems (4 - 5+) and then a v3 which i had done before. After some people had moved from the boulder problem i came to do i started looking at the sequence, i spent near 45 minutes getting angry at the hardest move, i could do it on its own but not with the whole the sequence, i eventually calmed down, and found myself on the problem, completely calm, fully zoned out, i finished in, after it felt amazing. I had never really hit 'the zone' like that before and it felt like i was drunk. I was very happy when i finished it, i had completed one of my goals for the end of the year in around 45 minutes... The Green Traverse V6, font 7a.

I also tried the Deliverance Traverse (font V7 font 7a+), i got pretty close, except it was warm and pretty greasy, the sequence is confusing but i have watched a video on youtube and now know how to do it properly, so with a bit of friction, i'll have it in the bag. A picture above shows me trying to work it out on shit smears.

Red Tips, End Of Trips.

What a trip, it was the best climbing trip i have been on so far. We got to climb everyday.My finger tips are red raw as i write this right now. I started of by soloing some Severes - VS 5a's, and then i flashed some easy and classic problems including Crescent Arete which was really good.The next day i did some problems which wasn't in my guidebook and then my brother found a V5 which was perfect for me, he flashed it first then showed me where to go etc.,i then flashed it, i had to dig deep, it was called Right Spur Traverse, after reading an interview whith James Pearson where he explains about his mental attitude to bouldering it inspired me to think about the climbing in a different way, its a sort of now or never way of thinking, like Steve McClure said "if you really wana do these routes,you will just push through it and take it to the next level" i applied this to bouldering.
On the last day i flashed some font6a+'s, font 6b's and one font 6b+.I quess all the training is paying off and that i have been training right. I met some other climbers called James Oswald,Seb and Johny who where really cool guys.
I have decided that i do really like bouldering, and i am going to narrow my climbing down to sport climbing and bouldering. Overall though it was a really good climbing trip.

Moon Training Board

Yesterday my moon board arrived after around 6 days of waiting.As soon as it came me and my brother urgently placed onto one of the beams in my garage where my circuit wall is.I had a one and a half hour session on it, i spent about 40mins warming up on the large holds, i used the large holds on top,the large ones below them, and the large ones down and inwards and did sets of 5 pull-ups on each with 10 seconds rest between each set,then waited for 30/40 seconds and did sets of 3 chin-ups with 10 seconds rest between.I did this regime 4 times, then did some free-style power endurance on the slopping holds till i got pumped,i finished off by dead hanging on the 2nd hardest crimps (the crimps which are on the lowest row and on the ends of the board) using a half-crimp position,holding for 11.07 seconds.I then warmed down and finished.

After doing this session i read the suggested training session on the moon website (see here)http://www.moonclimbing.com/SchoolRoom.aspx?ID=20 , i am going to be doing this plan with my brother at least twice a week.It mentions that you don't really want to be dead hanging for more than 8 seconds, so i will have to listen to the advice there, it also says if you are dead hanging over 8 seconds the hold is probably too big for you, which means i am going to have to go onto the hardest crimps next time.

Overall the moon board seems like the perfect training tool, i think my wall and the moon board should help me break some plateau's which i may find next week when i am in the peak district.

Square Buttress Direct... HVS 5b

This photo shows me on my first HVS, 6 months after i was introduced into climbing, i top roped it once with my brother before i lead it, as i was unsure if i could do it,it was my 6th outdoor route,the next route i top roped was The Strangler 5c (E4 lead) which was a couple of weeks ago.

Training

Me doing some bouldering on the wall.

Training Post For today

The last two days i thought i would have a rest,as a result im getting pumped pretty quickly on the classic circuits on the wall, i didn't think two days rest would hold me back as much as this, i introduced my climbing very progressively, when i first started it was only once every two weeks,and then once or twice a week,then 2 days each week and so on, which means i've played it right so far, but now if i fall back i start to loose it,?, i may be wrong i could just be having a bad day becuase its humid,if i am correct i've fallen into a regieme where i cant slack it anymore.I love it though.

Top training tip for today: Play music that will physce you, and play it loud.

My Goal Chart

Lakes Trip

As you can guess, THE WEATHER. The lakes did give me a about 9/10 hours of solid bouldering though over the 5 days with some classic high-ball problems, the granite is lovely but it was greasy (summer) so my on sight highest was V3, got on a v4 to on sight but it was dusk and the mozzy's were out and also the grease, its horrible when its been warm. We wen to the Kendal Wall one of the days which was really good, i did a f7a+ on top rope with two attempts which was good. Went to Scout Scar today, did one warm up (f6a) and it lashed it down so we had to come home. I would recommend Eskdale bouldering and also The Diamond Crag where i made some first ascents (as far as i know), one VS and a HVS/E1 , ill post some pics soon.