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.

These could be the good old days...

Yeh, so Glasgow Uni has rather wisely decided not to give me any exams this christmas except for one class test worth 0%. The weather has been cold but the sky has been blue and I've had a few really cracking days out bouldering. I've been out of glasgow just about every weekend for the past... ages, and escaped dumby as best I could, I'm not sure I really like it there in winter cos the landings are mud baths and theres not much sun till late in the day. In this case, I'd like to big up a few places we've managed to get to without a car but maybe being prepared to walk further than most... Heath warning: I may have enhanced experiences of these places because they're so different to dumby and I was fed up of the place.

Firstly, Kelvin Hall. Yup, it sucks and is too warm, but for me it's fine. I don't like climbing inside so when Ibrox doesn't give you much change out of a tenner and you need a subway journey too, it leaves you feeling under pressure to have a good session which usually means you can't be bothered... Well that's how I feel anyway. Kelvin Hall is £2 with a student discount card and 10min walk so I feel I can go there and make up problems, feet on feature, etc... and maybe not do much hard stuff but have an ok session. It gets me out the flat, which at this time of year is good cos it's freezing.

We went to Arran - up early, caught a train then a ferry and walked to the Mushroom boulder and Corrie Stones. Missed the bus back but luckily hitched a lift to the harbour. Explaining what the we were doing to the driver was interesting... "we like.. to find boulders and err... climb over them."... "Yup". I don't think he thought we were too weird though, and said there were rocks to cliimb over on Millport. Here's some pics...

Snow?!?

Snow on palm trees?.. wasn't like that on Sauchiehall Street

Mushroom Boulder - It took a while to trust some of the massive holds here and some stuff was wet, but probably worth a trip. Corrie Stones were quality granite though well spread out.

Thirdly, I would like to big up Craigmaddie. Right, I know some people have said that this place was a little disappointing, not much there and so on... well, they're probably right, but use you're imagination!! Look at the place, amazing view, lovely 'fake' gritstone, and a handful of quality problems, it's so different to dumby it has to be worthwhile. You may tick the place really quickly but, for me, climbing on different textures of holds is really important in order to re-awake your finger tips! Having the two contrasting rock types so close to glasgow is ace. You'll end up repeating problems or making up eliminates but I'm finding I end up doing that at Dumby anyway. Obviously it can't replace dumby, but I reckon a couple of trips a semester is ideal. Plus, it only takes like an hour to walk from the train station... err. thats not really a plus.

Farmers Trust (more like 7a+?) on low crag

and again..

Loving the winter sun...

high crag action - check the muppet who thought a quilt would make a good pad..

Boost attempting alchemy

So, I went there with Pete Murray on Saturday and again today with Danny and Nic. Both times had great big blue skins, and short walls were warm in the sun. Climbing in t-shirts, it was quals. I managed the Litster problem, Alchemy, which took a while because I had not done my homework of watching elements for beta. When I work it out, it felt not too desperate so I thought maybe font 7B+ for it. It's a really good problem which needs good timing on the moves to the sidepull crimp and the sloper. Today I managed to traverse the low crag for a new problem which isn't too contrived at all really. The crux is reversing alchemy. Not sure about the grade at all really but I feel bad about downgrading one of bens problems, maybe he can down grade this one?? Though reserving alchemy is pretty damn hard... I'm not actually strong enough to do it, by that I mean, I couldn't actually hold one particular move on it so had to really quickly go to the next move (a jug, thankfully) whilst I was falling off. I figure if I can just go really fast then being weak won't be a problem. And before anyone says I'm not weak, the grand total of arm wrestles I've won in my life is probably 6 or something, and most of them have been against my girlfriend who usually gets disqualified for tickling.

Allakazaam, font 7C+
Start at the right hand side of the crag at a jug, go left along a sensually slopping rail, drop down into alchemy and finish up the brilliant abracadabra.

Stuff at Dumby

That's a rubbish title, I'm sorry.

Can't be bothered with projects once again. This is probably because I'm too weak and also because I need variation in my climbing and Dumby all the time just sucks. But recently I've had a trip to the peak and Brin which allowed my feelings for Dumby to breathe a bit.

Back to just arsing around and stuff. This has led me to do some wacky shit, I've got good beta on Deo Gratis left handed (that's the slab right of Imposter's arete by the way), went up and down slap happy for the first time, campusing mugsy is coming along nicely (one foothold allowed) and my bare foot tick list would make you wet your pants. You might think my motiviation for this kind of stuff will wear off (again) but it's actually not just a piss about. At times I'm motivated for grades , but having my own things that I like doing makes my relationship with climbing more personal and involved than if I was just to slug it out with the rest of them on saboutage, and that's what I'm into.

Weather Woes

Not done a whole lot of climbing of late, instead I've taken up the new sports of volleyball and tennis! Also scored a hat trick in last weeks 6-side football game (15-10 to us, the final score) Weather has been pretty shit which is depressing but when I've got amazing volleyball to look forward to it's alright. Some days I've gone to the wall but I think it's a waste of money for me as I don't really like it. Volleyball and Tennis are free so it's good.

Been to dumby a bit and managed the Shield without that undercut which I think is pretty cool considering how impossible it felt when I first tried to pull on. I don't think I've got much stronger since then but understand dumby a bit more and figured out the way to pull on holds a bit more, I don't know if anyone feels me on that one. Anyway, this takes me another step towards some kind of made-up set of boulder problems that I reckon are big ticks. Since last post, arsing around on the dumby 'playground' problems has lost it's appeal. Doing the shield has made me realise there's also something to get out of a project. With the weather also pretty wack, now probably is a good time to crawl under a roof and see if I can climb out by Christmas.

However the otherside of the coin is that I'm pining for somewhere new to climb, but it's too easy to get disheartened by the forecast.