aww, it was misty

Hope these dumbuck posts aren't bugging you. Don't mean to bug ya. Headed back there today with Nic and Dave. SBI is still out of reach and it's easy to blame conditions. Think I'm also really weak; on Dave's porta-fingerboard I could only manage a handful of pull ups. The route had a wet bottom which made for wet hands and shoes once again. Got the feeling the crag was out to get us when I slipped off clipping the 3rd bolt. Hit the floor on rope stretch and crushed Boost's supply of chocolate peanuts for the day. Chocolate peanuts are a sort of secret weapon to use against Dumbuck. The fall also ripped a flapper on a crucial bit of skin. I have no doubt the crag knew what it was doing. Like a moody teenager, Dumbuck was sneering. It got to me, and I couldn't help but feel sick on my next go. What I was doing there, man?

The mist rolled in and I pulled out the classic joke about what causes mist "...I haven't the foggiest" which lightened the vibe, obviously. The top bit of the route is brilliant fun, reckon there's equally as many toe-hooks, heel hooks and regular feet, along with a great drop knee move. The last heel hook keeps slipping on links which is a bit worrying. As the mist became thicker and the afternoon gloomier, the chalked up holds looked like constellations in the nights sky. I joined the dots of So Be It and got a snake which probably wasn't that imaginative.

So it's a relationship of contrast that I've got going with Dumbuck. I left the crag filthy with mud and with pretty cold feet, and that's that. Would rather be in Spain, but whatcha gonna do?

Dumbuck!!

Another day at dumbuck at this time there was some dryness. Me and Boost going for it on So Be It for about 3 redpoints each. Each redpoint involved a lot of drying holds and warming hands. The crag was mostly dry and should be good for the weekend. Anyway, My best redpoint hit the hold that you throw for, (I throw for most holds, but you know the one I mean... the big one, with the dimple bit), it's tricky for sure. Being able to start off without getting wet feet and hands will make a difference I think. With wet and cold hands and wet shoes, its desperate.

Looking forward to the weekend, I reckon my chances of So Be It are higher than that of winning the lottery. I bought a ticket for the first time earlier this week. I found out after that the probability of that is one in 14 million... I got no numbers. You can't predict the lottery but my prediction for this weekend dumbuck action is that it's going to be happenin'. nuff said.

Dumbuck Devastation!!

I'm not in a good mood with Dumbuck toDAY.


It was along WAY to go. (though chess was good on the train)


I hope next DAY is better than TODAY (though it wouldn't be difficult).


PLease ooo Please be dry for me Dumbuck, PLEASE.


On another note, I am also devastated becuase my team, ITALIA 90 got to the final of the '6 a side' glasgow football league. We LOst! In the final 5-4...

I-TAL-IA!

I'm absolutely knackered.

Co-author: Duboust

Zoo

Nice

Apes were my favourite

I knew this blog was needing a few pics to brighten it up.

Blogpost 101

This works out as blog post 101, but only cos I've written some and not posted them. I've not read 1984, so this isn't going to be some parady or tribute. It's going to be about the Peak, cos I went there last weekend with Dan.

Bit epic, think on this: I had borrowed Nic's big Moon bouldering pad which has a protective cover. The cover is too big for the pad so I thought I'd stuff it full of other things that I needed. These were:
Alpkit bouldering pad
Tent
Sleeping bag
Shoes and chalk
Bit of food

Looked a bit silly, like a giant bodybag for spongebob square pants. We wanted to go to Froggat so got off the train at Grindelford. It was midnight, raining and we had no clue which way froggat was. We had crappy guidebook maps which didn't mark on all the roads. We made it to a signpost which said Froggat was through a field, but it was pretty dark and we couldn't see a path due to dim head torches. I found I had a good/terrible combination of being bent double from carrying the pads and only being able to see a few feet infront, meaning I could at least see the ground. At one point we ended up surrounded by cows, there eyes reflecting off our almost-out-of-battery headlamps. One started towards us and we made a hasty retreat. At about 2am we got to the crag and put the tent up.

Froggat wasn't that good for bouldering and I joined in with Dan on some solos, Downhill racer and Great Slab were highlights. It's interesting. On routes like this where it's easy climbing, you can see the move in your minds eye. From here, whether or not you do is just mental. Being able to trust your minds eye seems to only happen when you turn your brain off which is a bit of a contradiction. You never know if you can trust your minds eye untill after! One thing that helped me get up stuff was thinking about a highball project in inverness; I needed to practice being bold. We got some banter with a team of bumblies. Our hankerings after a lift not registering with them, goddamnit.

We did some more walking, this time to Burbage. Bouldering here was better and did some pretty special arete problems around 7a. The next day we had short sessions mixed up with a trip to hathersage for cakes. I was trying Blind Date and got all the moves but couldn't get it in the bag for some reason. I think it's a bit easier than QED at Ruthven, so reckon 7C for QED is ok. Soloing The Knock that evening was pretty good aswell. We had pads, but I still reckon you'd be crippled if you blew the top; good training.

Next day, I went up to a problem called West Side Story which I tried in January in the snow. Conditions were maybe too hot this time... but I didn't care. It's brilliant to feel warm after freezing in a tent all night. I was trying WSS, but just in a pottering about kind of way. I took a photo of it on my phone and made it my wallpaper. Did the top out, but my feel were sore and my skin was thin and red. That was the end of the trip.

I do wonder if I'm getting too old for this kind of thing. Me and Dan were both longing to have a car on this trip... we did so much trekking around the peak and wasted time waiting for late buses. We just got knackered. Suppose it helped pace the climbing so skin held on to the end, but it was pretty miserable at times. Maybe walking at the side of the road was the worst bit.

Dominos

I never used to like pizza when I was a kid. Didn't eat much food except cereal and pasta and cheese. Today is tuesday which can only mean one thing - Dominos two for one. One for dinner, one for breakfast tomorrow. The order is on it's way. Times have changed and I think I've gone too far the other way. I think I'll end up like dave douglas.

Keeping this blog uptodate is a pain in butt, but here's what happened since last time. Don't think pongo is 8a. Did SPA training. Got the ruthven project in the bag after about 3 years trying it on and off, it's not 8a either, but don't let that put you off. I'd like some more repeaters of my problems please!! risking sounding like a dweeb, but at least I'm not like Will who leave anon comments trying to get people psyched for his problems! Only joking. Go check out Electric Feel next time your at Uppercave crag, it's almost permadry I reckon, no run off. If you need directions I wrote them on an old blog post or just go hunting below the crag. Get lost in the woods. It's fun. Better than waiting for them top roping idiots puntering hamish teds to get out the way.

Murdoch Danny Andy and I went to France on a tour de tout le best escalade et half cooked attempts at speaking en francais (french). We went Verdon to Ceuse to Chateuxvert. Key themes were ping pong epics up to 5 (win by two clear points), A big orange tarp called the BOOST 600, at verdon we had epics where SPA skills came in handy (esp italian hitch), at Ceuse I felt great after getting Changement de Look done and at chateuxvert I found I was still too tired after the walk-in sometimes.

Got pretty weak again since, just with uni starting and bad weather - I've been to dumby twice and that's about it. Good thing about being weak is getting that 'worked' feeling is pretty easy. I know I'll be better next time.

Pizza's here....

Pongo

Managed Pongo (8A version) yesterday! Get in. Probably one of the most focused efforts in terms of tactics and dedication I've done - I wanted to get it in the bag before I turned 21 on the 27th.

Went out on Saturday with my bro so spent most my time showing him around, doing classics that I've not done in ages. I'm going to big up "lunik" as a good problem here. So when I went out yesterday I was hoping for some good karma. The crack was weeping. Got it reasonably dry and managed to get pongo (6C+ version (more like 7a)) first go. Got the jump from the block start pretty quickly, then worked out the stand start move and topped that out. With the forecast bad till the 27th I didn't have much choice but to go for it until my body gave in. Got to work on the sitter moves and started slapping at the crux. Eventually stuck the hold, made loads of small mistakes which all added up and almost blew it topping out, my chalk felt like tiny ball bearings rolling me off the jugs, not nice! I ended up throwing myself at something I'd never used before and luckily it was good - maybe thanks to karma in the end.

Pretty made up about it and hopefully on track to catch up with the rest of the Dumby youth scene. Guess Sabotage next... ugg. Although turning 21, I'm not sure if I qualify as a youth anymore... double uggg!

Getting back into it

Had a bit of a blip in my climbing keen-ness for the past wee while, probably for longer than I think because time seems to be flying by and I'm at the end of the summer hols already. I made a decision to stay down in Glasgow this summer because I thought it'd be easier to get a job. Can't really compare it, but once again I didn't really get what I wanted in the job department. Just now I'm cleaning an office 6 hours a week which is at least something.

In a bid to bulk up my C.V. I went to some volunteering website and clicked "apply" to everything I had the remotest interest in. So now I'm a volunteer boxing coach at a kids boxing club at Whiteinch. Now, I have a mate who's into boxing, but that's about as far as my interest goes. Nonetheless I said I'd give it a go which seemed fine to the coach and there I was, trying to take part in the warm up amongst these local youths... I never mastered the skipping rope at primary school, and I kept tripping over it here. Managed to play it cool and got away with it. Anyway, quite good fun to be feeling out my depth, there were little jobs that kept me busy, and also punched a bag a bit.

Also had a couple trips to dumby, I'm on pongo sit start. Seems like this is becoming a trade route with a good handful of guys getting up it. It's amazing how different a scene dumby has compared to the rest of Scottish bouldering. That pongo boulder must be one of the busiest bits of rock in the UK.

I'm making progress on pongo, and just want to put now a marker now so I can look back. My best link so far is to jump start from the block to the flange, crimp it, foot in crack, cross over to pinch, foot up to block, up to left hand sloper, and fall off trying to get the finger lock match. I think my next link has got to be link the jump start to the top, then from the stand start, then back a move at a time. I really don't want to fall off the top section! Could so easily be done... Anyway I'm back checking forecasts, getting anal about skin and hanging on some finger board holds that I made the other week:

Nice! Click on it for a larger view.

So the problem generally, that knuckle jam - There's no way I could use it unless I taped up and sponged out my fingers. Well there might be a way. I don't really care. I take the "I-want-to-do-what-malc-smith-did" approach, in which i think crimping the top on the block is acceptable seeing as it's just a different way of holding the same hold. I think what's going on is the sense of sentimentality is out-weighing the sense of contrivancy which is why a lot of people are going for the original sequence. Not a bad thing.

Bit of coe action

I reckon I've climbed at tunnel wall 5 or 6 times now and still not done a route. It just isn't my thing. Meh, what you gonna do. I'm getting pretty close to Admission now, learning redpoint tactics from the master redpointer, Dave Redpath. Yup, flicking between holds and getting camped into rests are now part of my skill repertoire. Doing moves that you find easy over and over again can be a bit boring, and I'm not sure if it'll be worth it having never done a mega stamina fest before, but I'm quite psyched to get at least one under my belt. Other good bits about my day at tunnel wall were getting ski jump legs and star jump arms going at the same time, and swinging between Fated Mission and Admission to get the clips out.

The next day we made it up to the lost valley amid lots of funny looks from the tourists and odd comments such as 'now that's a rucksack!' from some walkers. This was because we were carrying boulder pads! Worth it? I thought so! Though Dave spent most of the time asleep, I got stuck into the leaning blocks crimps. Diesel Canary and Helipad are both quality problems and better from sitters. I had a minor epic on Helipad sitter, I think I put a tick mark in the wrong place. Eventually stuck the move but fell off the next move. Got it in the bag after working the next move without using the ground to jump.

I headed over the Glass Is Greener, which gets 7C,(7C+ when you factor in the walk). It took me a while to have a proper go at it, I couldn't find any real footholds. I never actually fully worked out the beta, until I stuck the first move to the micro crimp. From here I looked down at my feet. My right was on a tiny edge, I reckoned I needed it on the next one up. In the mean time I needed to find a left foothold. There wasn't any so I stuck it on the one earmarked for my right. Suddenly the problem made sense, I could stand up on my left and get my right just below my hand on a good foothold. Went for the sharp finger jug from here, my foot popped and I was left hanging by some skin which had caught the sharp lip... nice! I got my foot back on and went to re-adjust when my skin ripped and I was off. Gutted, but even more gutted when I looked at my finger which had lost a chunk of skin and was bleeding.

Dave had arisen at this point and was going to wait for me in the car. I figured ripping a flapper is probably a good point to call it a day, and still be psyched to go back!

Jawa Boulder

Went out bouldering the other day with Cath, made another vid. I don't like this one as much, it's too long. I wanted to show how fustrating I found these problems, but I think with these vids the best bet is to keep um short, sweet and simple.

Anvil

That walk doesn't get shorter second time round, goddamit!!

What's up everyone? Yesterday I was at the anvil which means I had 2 days sport climbing on the trot. Was out out with Nic, Ben, Stew and Dave Redpath. Obviously with so much clipping and hanging on a rope I was bit spiritually a-miss and went back to my comfort zone of bouldering!

Those two problems are on the steep wall just next to the Anvil. Landings are good but for one boulder which I padded out with my rucksack, jacket and midge net. The first one is a brilliant one mover off some crimps which are a bit small. Boost told me I was too weak to pull on them which got me psyched. It climbs like the Shield at dumby 'cept it's not hard to get your foot up, and the top hold is a finger jug so it's a bit easier. The second one, I wanted to climb the arete but it didn't turn out like that. There are no holds on the arete higher up, so did a cool windmill move up to a good crimp then traversed back to the arete.

I realise no one is going to take bouldering seriously at the Anvil so that why I'm going to call them silly names... What about; Raindrops on Roses, Font 7A+ for the first one, and Whiskers on Kittens, Font 7A for the arete-ish one and I've just guessed the grades, hahaha.

After this I was persuaded to try an 8b on account of it has a really hard boulder problem unfortunately located above a big hole. That got me psyched; good effort from the Redpath on the FA, sounded like a real battle. With little skin, I managed all the moves on spitfire again tho still no decent sized links.

P.S. I told everyone to do a mass blogging but I think I might get left hanging...!!

Dumbuck Psyche

Finally made it to Dumbuck. I've obviously known about this crag for about 3 years but never been up. Bit pathetic really. Anyway, I'm in glasgow just now, unemployed, so have got too much free time almost.

Boost and I have headed up to the crag twice now and I think it's ace! The routes are basically long boulder problems so that means I can actually do them, with the pump only just coming in on the last moves. Today I managed 2 really nice 7c+'s, but really it should've been one because I fell off the top move of Flesh For Fantasy the day before. The other route was Awaken which I thought was a bit easier once you work out what to do, but still good. Nonetheless, I'm taking it as my best ever day sport climbing tick-wise and not a bad day for other things either. We made it up the hill much easier than previously, and we had a couple of Yazoo's chocolate milkshakes which were on offer at a shop on the way.

World tour of Scotland

Had a busy week or so cruising around Scotland in a Ford Ka. The weather was a bit mixed but we had a good time doing some touristy and some not so touristy things. Mostly just driving around but tried to stop as much as possible... Here's some pics that I didn't put on flickr.

Driving up the North East coast didn't have much rock to distract me from driving. Stopped in Helmsdale for some trifle and chocolate mouse made by Cath's mum.

We went to Orkney. Here's Cath at Skara Brae. She found cows more interesting than the 5000 year old settlement.

Neanderthals can't grade for shit.

There was one missing.

After Orkney we drove along the north coast for a bit. Stopping here to work on my handstand. Still not quite getting it.

Impressive Smoo Cave would make an amazing sport crag... Bit ming tho.


Made it to the bloodstone for a quick boulder.

And on to this place.

I liked Sandwood bay. It's just massive. There's a line in Stone Country guide, 'even the most dedicated boulderer might be distracted by grander things!' and I was determined to not get distracted.

Some excellent rock here, enough to keep me occupied for a day. The best thing about the place is simply exploring the Geos and crags. I remember at one point just running the length of an empty bay as fast as I could for no real reason. Maybe did get distracted a bit. Could describe more of the climbing but the best bit is exploring yourself so not going to.

I loved the waves here. The sun was setting and back lit the crests giving them an amazing green-blue colour. Camera doesn't do it justice.

Got soaked walking out of Sandwood bay, then we got a flat tyre.

This is Cleric's Wall at Rhue. Rate this venue pretty highly. Went to Ullapool after this for a pub supper then back to Inverness.

Next day we headed to Cummingston for some trad. Is it just me, or have a load of pebbles disappeared from the beach?

Then, finally, headed to Dunkeld for some unfinished business...

Enjoying some victory custard after climbing the problem at dunkeld. Well, it's there, somewhere in the woods. If your looking for it, find the direct approach path to uppercave and follow it downhill till you get to a big broadleafed tree bout half way to the main path. It's just the other side of that.

Think it looks a bit like a lightning bolt which made be want to call it something like pikachu or harry potters forehead. I've managed to refrain however, and have thought of the name Electric Feel. Struggled to grade it... It's around 7B/+ i think.

Also discovered super macro setting:

Procrastinating...

Still in the thick of exams, Optics this morning - it's amazing how much you think you've learnt about lasers in a day only to find that you don't really know it at all, goddamit!

Taken a couple of afternoons off to head to dumby.

Looking out the window on the train I reckoned you get a decent cross sectional impression of Glasgow. High rise flats juxtaposed with tenements, the big cranes on the clyde of the past, the Scotston sports thing getting done up for 2014, loads of trampolines in gardens and a saltire on the roof of a garden shed. On the way back, I alighted a station early. I felt like a prat asking for directions with a massive bouldering pad... It's easy to think you're getting on fine when in fact you're living in a bubble or a looking through a window. Even though I've lived here for 3 years I don't really know much about the place (eg apparently theres a park the size of the west end somewhere) and I feel this is a poor effort. Next year is my last at uni so will try to engage more with this place but i'm not sure what that would actually involve doing.

Anyway, at Dumby I found that I was not as weak as I had feared! I managed a move on sabotage which got me quite excited. Also tried the B.N.I. lip traverse which I'm sure was done years ago but I've never heard anyone talk about it which makes me feel like a true pioneer and visonary. None of the holds are independent but there's some new moves to work out... The first move is the crux involving a dynamic throw to the BNI direct crimp which is just made for catching! The rest is ok except the top out... I worried I'm turning into a lowballer, not comfortable high up anymore...

Unlike:




Yes, I've put some procrastinating to good use and put together a clip of last years trip to Sagres.

Now, Quantum Mechanics... er...

There is no easy bread

I think that's a polish saying, even if it isn't I think it's more resonant if you say it (out loud or otherwise) with an eastern European accent. Basically, I'm trying to motivate myself to work for exams. What I think I've learnt is no matter how many times you say you 'should' do something you're talking shit so shut up and get on with it. 'Should' is the least convincing word. As soon as someone says they should do something, you know they won't or at least they don't want to...

Which brings me on to will power. I tried to give up chocolate for lent, I don't eat loads of chocolate in the first place, so easy peasy self gratification. I had it up till a few days before Easter when i tucked into an Easter egg. Rather than admit failure, I'm blaming the fact that I didn't really care about it... I only gave it up as a joke, so who cares? What I'm trying to say is that is probably more important to do the things you don't care about because if you do care about something you'll probably going to do it anyway. Take blogs, I don't really care about blogs, but I'm trying to do a post here.

So what climbing has been going down since last post? Well, not Terradets. Ticket booking cock up. Just as well, that training plan was a bit crazy.

Found a bad ass boulder problem near upper cave crag. Some people may think bouldering next to amazing sport and trad routes is silly, but they're just short sighted! I'm dead keen to get back there... Put it this way, I know first ascent mongering isn't everything, when you don't have you're trad rack, and the sport wall is occupied, whatcha gonna doo?

Went to the Anvil for the first time with the J-Dawg and Dave Redpath. It's super cool, the cave is mega and the side wall is of excellent quality. I did a 7a, the all the moves on Spitfire but nowhere near linking them together... Had a play on a 8b+ (Bodyspitblowswervefire) and did 2 moves which i thought wasn't a bad effort. Only a couple more then a big jug, followed by an 8a+.... Psyched to go back there as well.

Blog fans will remember the past couple of years I've spent a few days as a budding lamb farmer person and this year was no different. My favourite jobs are catching sheep, using the crook, feeding the orphan pet lambs and bedding pens with straw. My Least favourite jobs are castration of male lambs, anything to do with poo (smelly), disinfecting pens (boring) and feeding sheep the yucky silage. I'm yet to actually properly lamb a sheep, basically because I'm scared of getting my arm stuck or something.

This fine looking lamb was found down a rabbit hole, chilled and nearly dead. I'm pretty sure I single handedly saved it with TLC, the use of the heat box (lamb oven) and some tasty milk. Word is, she's now running around the hills as happy as can be... Not baaad, eh?

I went back to Inverness for Easter and had three days climbing, one at Duntelchaig, one at Glen Nevis and another at Torridon.



At Duntelchaig, the boost and I went up to pinnacle crag where we top roped Sare which used to be E4 but now is harder because holds and pegs have come off. After linking it on a top rope after a while I went for it as a highball boulder problem. There is a small nut to be placed which would great if you thought you'd blow the top move. But it's also great not to bother, but also pretty silly... or is it??


At Glen Nevis, Boost and I, Murdo and Pete enjoyed some excellent sunshine, first at polldudh where Boost and I did some bouldering and then The Fang which was good fun seeing as it was a bit wet. We then power walked up the glen (or my case struggled - an old grannie we passed said something like "go on, you can run up there!" I was like argg I'm pooped... - not to self: remember boulderers can't keep up with winter climbers at walk-ins, it's knackering, humiliating and sweaty. Best to just take an easy pace) and me and Boost went for Cosmopolitan. The top crack is a sandbag, especially when it's wet and we had ran out of chalk. The escape route was sketchy, traversing right across the crag on mossy, loose looking rock.


Rich and I headed out to Torridon to meet Dan, one of those wad types who had come up from the south for some bouldering action. Had a great time on the blocs, Malc's Arete is amazing after the hold broke, maybe even better. I fell off the top move a couple of times and thanks to some sloppy pad positioning from Rich, landed in the bog. On my third go, Rich assured me he had the mat manourvers mastered which must have given me extra confidence because I stuck the top sloper. Super classic.

So this wad from England had been busy putting up loads of hard stuff with a calculated and precise style and it was great to see someone super strong, super psyched to climb here. That day, the action was taking place is a secret cave, near the ship. I'd seen this cave before but though it looked impossibly blank. Suppose you just need a bit of vision (not just by letting you're eyes adjust to the gloom) and some climbing skills and the impossible becomes possible. Dan had managed a 7C and was close to another before needing to leave... nice.


Rich and I were left trying a few things, There was a kinda cool thing we did, cool if you like caving, it basically climbs the roof of a narrow through hole and tops out by a tree. Gonna call it Ha-Ha Haar, it's about 7A. Next we climbed the sad piano. After that, I wanted to try Vapour Trail, a mega highball arete. Got psyched... and I was just about at the top when I bottled it. Ahh the stress! I started getting cramp in my elbow and didn't like the slopers so tried to down climb but fell a bit further than I'd have liked to, narrowly missed a boulder ('good skills' said rich) but still manage to hurt my ankle. I think that put me off and the next couple of times I was getting scared because it was windy or because I didn't get my hand in my chalk bag first time...

Since then I'm back in glasgow, doing good amounts of work for my 8 exams. I think one of the most important things of education is that it forces you into situations where there is no way around it but to work hard. That said, I been bowling on the greens at Kelvingrove park a couple of times and finding an excellent stress relief... For now though, back to the books.

~Training plan~

Booked a trip to terradets this easter, it's only for a week so I need to make sure I'm totally ready - I wanted to perfect my onsighting skills as this seems to be a cool thing to do at the moment, but looking at the topo, I'll need to pull out all the stops just to onsight the warm which boost tells me is 7b.

Diet: I'm one of the lucky ones in that i eat a load of shit and dont put on much weight, nonetheless I should be careful. I counted the Kcals today and I'm on 2400 so far but I'm going to top that with a Indian later on. I'm sure there's room for impovement here and I'm going to see if i can crank it up a notch over the few weeks. I figure I'm going to eat a lot of shit whilst on holiday, maybe even some beer - so am bound to put on a few kgs. If I'm 60kg and go up to say 63 - thats a 5% increase, my peformance will suffer. However, if i get up to say 100kg, that same 3kg increase is only now 3% and much more managable.

Gym: I'm hoping to be down the gym a lot. The plan is to maybe do a few lengths, nothing too strenuous, then head for the sauna. I really suffer in the heat and tire easily. I'm going to try and structure this as best I can, aim for 15mins on the top seat, 10mins on the middle then 5 on the lowest, go for a drink of water and repeat. This should help me get used to the heat. The reason I do a few lengths is so I don't look like an idiot.

Pumped: Got this covered aswell. I always get pumped on just about every route ever so nothing I can do about this, I'm pretty good a shouting "take", so no problems here.

Sore Shoulder: My shoulder is a bit sore, I think this could be arthritis so a few oily fish and I'll be ok. As a back up I'm going to be working on my one-handed skills.

Shiggading.

Peak trip number 4 (i think)

Went to the Peak this weekend past, on the back of a surge of psyche which set me back £63 in train tickets but the wave of keenness could not be damped. haha.



I think I can't be arsed with the 6 o'clock news style blog (this is what I did, here's a pic, it was quite good...) look at Danny's flickr for some pics. So here we go, not with the events but with the emotional development including a lack of vocabulary and spelling... Blogs are ace, eh?



Sigh.....

oh?

you bet!

lalalala Uylsees!

zzz

midnight

bog

burr

dawn

cold

a sense of purpose

an understanding

a few press ups

take my fist

psyche for you

up and down

up and down

chills

crag banter

4 pints in 6 hours... hardcore.

"I wonder what's happening on scottish climbs"

Not keenness

Midnight

cold.

some soul searching

inspiration from an amazing line

a split tip

a big yorkshire pudding

a long journey

Midnight

sore.

Car

The first time I drove a car on my own was the start of the Christmas holidays, around a month ago. My mum's Volvo N-reg, with spoiler for going round corners faster. After picking up P-plates, I drove straight to the Ruthven Boulder. It was soaking wet and really cold, so I drove away. Awesome.... I got lost driving around scrouguie but eventually made it to a steep conglomerate wall in the woods. I split a tip here, but my girlfriend was arriving by bus in 10 mins which meant I had to leave anyway, and I could grow skin whilst she was up. Car parks... waahhh.

A few days later, a swift interchange of girlfriend for climbing mate Danny meant I was back climbing. We went cruising round the bouldering hot spots of Jamie Boulder (mini trad climbing), Brin, and Ruthven. Had a wet morning at Duntelchaig followed by a pumping afternoon in the garage... Went to cummingston and got sore skin and a few good ticks.

Jamie Boulder

Returned to finish the scrouguie project... Walk the Dog - Font 7B+, there's a vid on youtube.

Watch out for dogshit here

After Christmas I went on a road trip, first to Aberdeen to check out the sea washed schist. It was really cold with the wind coming of the sea. But once warmed up by running and jumping I had some good fun at portlethen where I was spanked by kayla but did something like Georgie Boy but not entirely sure and I probably cheated. Boltsheugh was next and I found it hard to warm up here until getting on some highballs which got the blood racing. At Cammachmore, it was cold as well but I was keen to try Optimus Prime. It looked good but I couldn't warm up at all really, the wind was awfy cauld ken fit like min .... Aberdonian for cold.... and the best bit about the day was scrambling along the coast and also trying to sneak a rock in Nic Duboust's bag... This time though, surprisingly, he was too attentative! I suppose even Boost couldn't miss Dunford giggling like a 5 year old girl... Clashfaquahar was our final destinatation, I'll remember that day the most I think. A big choppy sea with a pale winter sun milking light down between dark clouds made the wave cut platform an atmospheric place to boulder. Oh Yes. Rock was better and the problems were ace, Clash arete and others.

Stormy at Clashfarquahar

Cammachmore Banter!

Boltsheugh

Back on the road and I wanted to drive to my girlfriends but before long I realised I'd taken a wrong turn and was driving back to Aberdeen. Anyway, I made it, and had New Year in Glasgow. After this I hit the A9 and was back in Inverness for more climbing action.

HNY

Torridon was were I remember going next with Boost. It was a beautiful day and the glen looked stunning as I drove.. up the road... and... into the...verge... and couldn't drive out again. Just as I thought there was no hope a man turned up in his big truck, and out we went with only a flat tyre and a minor bump to the front fog light.... Got to the Ship just as the sun disappeared behind a mountain, and hurray! the bog was frozen solid. Did Squelch, Malcs Arete and the Mission without losing too much skin and was really made up. After Nic ruined Malcs arete ;), we had a great time keeping warm by running around, climbing anything that looked good or was just there in front of you.


Didn't do much climbing after that thanks to all the rock being wet. I even went to the wall. I was even more impressed with myself that night when I managed to hold down 7 pints!! what's going on there?


Anyway, I think having a car is really good. But expensive. And I think im quite a stressful driver. Doesn't really matter right now as I'm not going to get a car whilst at uni.